NO MORE "SMART" APPLIANCES

[vk6zgo]

Can anyone tell me why, oh why, does an airconditioner have to present as an alternate WI-FI link to that provided by my router, & if there is any reason, why is the dumb thing "open", so you don't need a password to connect to it?

My iPad has an annoying habit of losing the connection to the Wi-Fi from the router.

This was aggravating enough, but the iPad sometimes connects to one of two neighbour's airconds.

The problem is that I can't connect to the Internet via them, or even use them to mess with someone's airconditioner! 

I recently received a W10 laptop as a gift, & I will give microsoft this-----it doesn't auto connect to the friendly neighbourhood airconds!
They do appear alternate Wi-Fi links, though!

[AVGresponding]

Can't you tell it to ignore those connections?

[vk6zgo]

Can't you tell it to ignore those connections?

It doesn't seem to want to let you do that, but all is not lost------if you deliberately select the unwanted connection, then deselect it, the iPad gives you the option for it to "forget" that connection.

W10 seems to ignore them by default.

[james_s]

I could swear I've gotten my iphone to forget a wifi network it had joined in the past but I couldn't remember how so I looked it up. Try this and see if it will do what you want.

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT208941

[vk6zgo]

I could swear I've gotten my iphone to forget a wifi network it had joined in the past but I couldn't remember how so I looked it up. Try this and see if it will do what you want.

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT208941

That's the method I used to forget them.

[Kasper]

My new fridge has french doors. If you close one just right, the other one pops open and stays open. Seems pretty dumb but it is atleast smart enough to beep to tell me the door is open.

Both my new fridges were designed such that if it is installed beside a wall, you cant pull some drawers all the way out.  Because the door needs to open more than 90° to give room for the drawers.  Not sure if I should blame the home builder or the fridge designer for that. Probably both.

[SilverSolder]

My new fridge has french doors. If you close one just right, the other one pops open and stays open. Seems pretty dumb but it is atleast smart enough to beep to tell me the door is open.

Both my new fridges were designed such that if it is installed beside a wall, you cant pull some drawers all the way out.  Because the door needs to open more than 90° to give room for the drawers.  Not sure if I should blame the home builder or the fridge designer for that. Probably both.

Or blame the purchasing department? 

[Kasper]

My new fridge has french doors. If you close one just right, the other one pops open and stays open. Seems pretty dumb but it is atleast smart enough to beep to tell me the door is open.

Both my new fridges were designed such that if it is installed beside a wall, you cant pull some drawers all the way out.  Because the door needs to open more than 90° to give room for the drawers.  Not sure if I should blame the home builder or the fridge designer for that. Probably both.

Or blame the purchasing department? 

Blame everyone! Except myself I could have not bought the house because it wasn't perfect but I'm yet to see a perfect house.

[SilverSolder]

My new fridge has french doors. If you close one just right, the other one pops open and stays open. Seems pretty dumb but it is atleast smart enough to beep to tell me the door is open.

Both my new fridges were designed such that if it is installed beside a wall, you cant pull some drawers all the way out.  Because the door needs to open more than 90° to give room for the drawers.  Not sure if I should blame the home builder or the fridge designer for that. Probably both.

Or blame the purchasing department? 

Blame everyone! Except myself I could have not bought the house because it wasn't perfect but I'm yet to see a perfect house.

A real-estate friend says that if you can get over 80% of your wishes granted with a particular house, you are in good shape!

[james_s]

House, wife, job, etc, there's always going to be some aspect you don't like, life is full of compromises. You just have to figure out what is most important to you and what compromises you can live with and choose the best you can.

[LoveLaika]

Compromise is the shared hypotenuse of the conjoined triangles of success

[gcewing]

This was aggravating enough, but the iPad sometimes connects to one of two neighbour's airconds.

The iPad obviously thinks it's an AirPort device.

[newbrain]

In fairness, they haven't seen continuous use for all 31 years, but still...  I'd buy this brand again!

AEG?
Do yourself a favor and don't.

AEG is, as of today, a crappy Electrolux brand.
I had a fridge that lasted two fucking years before kicking the bucket.
Never again.

[SilverSolder]

In fairness, they haven't seen continuous use for all 31 years, but still...  I'd buy this brand again!

AEG?
Do yourself a favor and don't.

AEG is, as of today, a crappy Electrolux brand.
I had a fridge that lasted two fucking years before kicking the bucket.
Never again.

Yeah, the smart-ass MBAs are buying all the "known good" brands and cheapening them, so brands really have little or no meaning any longer... 

[eti]

This bloke is either sold on them, or is raking in enough ££ to pretend he is (he's a little irritating [WARNING])

[eti]

Yea it's marketing, product differentiation - we gotta one-up the competition with some feature they don't have. But sure, maybe a line of super dumb appliances would be a way to do that eventually ... 

The one thing I do want brought back...the fully automatic Sunbeam toaster.

Ingenious mechanisms which leverage the laws of physics in a simple, repeatable and reliable are ALWAYS welcome (bimetallic strips spring to mind as an example of this)

[eti]

You sound like that old Ozzy Ozborne reality show where he would get frustrated and confused by modern tech.



Everything has a microprocessor, been that way for at least 20 years! Don't like it? Wash your dishes in the sink, use an old washtub and washboard with a crank ringer and clothes line, and get an ice box.

You just wait till all the yuppie hipsters get their way and you have to pair your phone and subscribe to data farming to toast your damn bread.THEN, you can complain, untill then, RTFM! [/rant]

Whenever I see someone use the phrase "Ok boomer" I instantly think that they're an idiot and wonder if they even realize how dumb it sounds? I'm a generation younger than the boomers. It's going to be funny when you get old and the kids start insulting you for being out of touch with the latest fads, it will happen.

I concur, and I think "Oh wow, another meme sheep that is too lazy to think up something which is of actual wit"  - the plague of this is YouTube.

[eti]

I hate them all. 

The dishwasher complains if it isn't level enough, or if the water doesn't get hot fast enough, and the stupid soap cup never opens right.  AND WHY DOES IT NEED TO SING TO ME!!!!

The washing machine also complains about water temperature, or a load imbalance.  The motor control wizardry seems to be too weak for the motor it's driving.  AND WHY DOES IT NEED TO SING TO ME!!!

The dryer has hell with the dryness sensor...GAAA!!!  That's it's one flipping job!!!

The refrigerator, oh the refrigerator...I hate it the most!  Two ice makers that never want to make ice, one of which can never decide if crushed or cubed.  The ice makers have heated tubes to keep the water from freezing on its way to the ice maker, and they fail.  IT even spits water from the door sometimes while being told to dispense ice!!  The control system can be deprogrammed down to some fail-safe state with a combination of button presses but can only be restored to full function by replacing the motherboard.  Somebody please tell me why I need a refrigerator with a motherboard???  It annihilates fruits and vegetables in days, I haven't found the setting to stop that.  It always wants its filter changed ($60 each).  It even had to have a door seal changed on the freezer.   Every systems seems to be tied to every other system by an under-powered power supply that is of course part of the motherboard.

I want my appliances dumb.  Real dumb.  Tired of this overpriced, under-performing garbage.

I also get annoyed by some of the tech. I love technology, but I really hate technology for the sake of technology, especially when I know the underlying machine is a flimsy piece of crap that is almost guaranteed to break down in a few years and probably have close to zero service information. I do love my Roomba vacuums but even those drive me crazy sometimes, if they get stuck they sit there and beep at me repeatedly for 10 minutes, I can't stand it! Why why why must it keep nagging me? I'll get up and help it out next time I get up, vacuuming the floor is not an emergency. I have zero interest in any of my household appliances connecting to the internet, I added a wireless notification to my washer and dryer that allow my Home Assistant server to tell when they've finished and ping my phone, other than that it's electromechanical timers in everything.

Look for some older appliances and pick those up, it's not too hard to find stuff from 10-20 years ago that has minimal "smarts", and if you're willing to work on it yourself you can keep it going almost indefinitely. Lots of people still using 30-40+ year old washers and dryers, lots of old fridges and dishwashers around still. Yeah they use a little more energy but unless you have 8 kids and run everything constantly I doubt you'll even notice the increase on the bill.

I once watched a TV show about Cuba. A lovely old woman had owned this fridge since 1942, and it was still working fine

[eti]

You sound like that old Ozzy Ozborne reality show where he would get frustrated and confused by modern tech.



Everything has a microprocessor, been that way for at least 20 years! Don't like it? Wash your dishes in the sink, use an old washtub and washboard with a crank ringer and clothes line, and get an ice box.

You just wait till all the yuppie hipsters get their way and you have to pair your phone and subscribe to data farming to toast your damn bread.THEN, you can complain, untill then, RTFM! [/rant]

Whenever I see someone use the phrase "Ok boomer" I instantly think that they're an idiot and wonder if they even realize how dumb it sounds? I'm a generation younger than the boomers. It's going to be funny when you get old and the kids start insulting you for being out of touch with the latest fads, it will happen.

At least our generations grew up with the internet and computers. Sure "fads" come and go and we all get "old fashioned", but actual tech progress isn't a fad...it's inevidable.

I don't know, nor care what a "boomer" is, since I do not categorise people or their abilities by their DOB. I am 46, I grew up with computers - NOT ONLY that, but I grew up knowing that to do something (BBC Micro), one HAD to type commands into what is now seen as a "scary" terminal - there was no slick UI to prevent you doing  "dangerous" ( ) things - <------ and I am gonna cringe now at this IDIOTIC phrase computer nerds use ... "dangerous". If these hipsters were handed a computer PSU and a screwdriver, and told to replace the leaky caps, they'd spend a week on it, and then crow about it with hundreds of photos, via Twitter (and secretly shit themselves, but not admit it, when they accidentally touched the mains input terminals - how's THAT for "DANGEROUS!" ?)

So looking back, I had the experience of 80s & 90s era computing **AND** the latest junk (which I know INSIDE OUT - computing is little more than muscle memory, knowing what to type and click, where to do so and when) which the new kids think they themselves conceived the very notion of.

I find the elegance of dealing with things controlled by physics - the laws of nature - INFINITELY more satisfying than the "laws" of some 18 year old Californian "coder", who changes the rules every six months "just because".

[TimFox]

There is a term of art called "appropriate technology".  It is usually used by humanitarian engineers developing a useful gadget for use by poor people in developing countries, appropriate to their resources and needs.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Appropriate_technology
I believe that the term has wider application than that laudable goal.

[eti]

The boomers grew up with computers too, in a sense. My dad used one in college, sure it took up a whole room but it was a computer, and you had to be a lot smarter to use one in those days than you do now. That generation laid the groundwork and invented most of the concepts that went into modern computers. I know plenty of old farts who are tech savvy and know how to use all the latest gadgets, they're not idiots. Technology is great when it serves a useful purpose, I love technology when it makes my life easier or takes care of doing something boring and tedious so I don't have to do it. What I don't like is technology just for the sake of technology, adding complexity, cost and potential failure points with dubious benefit. Replacing something simple that works with something complicated just because we can. I really like having a computer controlling the fuel injection in my car, it's far superior in almost every way than a carburetor. I love having a smartphone, a versatile communication device and multipurpose tool that I can carry with me everywhere I go. The internet is great, I love being able to access datasheets for all sorts of parts, order items or check on the security cameras at my house from anywhere in the world. On the other hand I see no value in connecting my dishwasher or my refrigerator to the internet. I don't need or want an app for absolutely everything. I don't like it when "smart" devices try to predict what I want because invariably they get it wrong and create extra work for me at least as often as they get it right. I don't like it when a stream of frequent updates is constantly making changes to the look and functionality, it makes the device feel like some person's half baked hobby project that is never finished and I resent the waste of my time, even if in small amounts having to learn and adapt to some new change I never asked for. I refuse to buy hardware that depends on cloud infrastructure to work, I've already seen numerous cases of a company going out of business or discontinuing a product line which results in a bunch of bricked hardware because the proprietary infrastructure is gone.

You need a trophy for this post. I totally concur, dear Watson.

[eti]

At least our generations grew up with the internet and computers. Sure "fads" come and go and we all get "old fashioned", but actual tech progress isn't a fad...it's inevidable.

But my Boomer generation INVENTED computers (*) and the internet.

 (*) "Modern" computers, anyway.  The Eniac etc. were before my time.  We all stand on the shoulders of giants!

They didn't invent jack diddly.

Motorway analogy, forgive me, pedants, if my road laying knowledge isn't up to speed  :

They *found* a new type of road surface which makes travelling down it, easier and smoother. The hard work (the tarmac, the hardcore, the underlying layers of compacted aggregates, the plumbing, the mains wiring, the 1800s copper telephone network, the drainage...) were all there when they decided to pop out of their Mummy's womb and say hello.

[eti]

“I’m smart…”
If they have to tell you they’re smart, they’re probably not.
It soon becomes obvious.

When someone proudly, boastfully proclaims "I'm an expert in <blah>", I am reminded of this: "An 'ex' is a has been, and a 'spurt' is a drip under pressure"

[vk6zgo]

You sound like that old Ozzy Ozborne reality show where he would get frustrated and confused by modern tech.



Everything has a microprocessor, been that way for at least 20 years! Don't like it? Wash your dishes in the sink, use an old washtub and washboard with a crank ringer and clothes line, and get an ice box.

I still wash dishes by hand, washing machines without silly internet connections work just as well.
If the microprocessor hides away for 20 plus years in the guts, just doing the same job as a mechanical timer, there is not a problem.

Clothes dryers are a ridiculous way of drying clothes in any part of the world with reasonable weather, & spend a lot of the year just sitting there---AND they worked just as well with mechanical timers!

By the way, you might want to backdate your advent of microprocessors another 20 odd years----ham radios used them in the early 1980s!

You just wait till all the yuppie hipsters get their way and you have to pair your phone and subscribe to data farming to toast your damn bread.THEN, you can complain, untill then, RTFM! [/rant]

What manual?

By the way, I'm a "war baby", not a Boomer------damn young whippersnappers!

[james_s]

Yeah, the smart-ass MBAs are buying all the "known good" brands and cheapening them, so brands really have little or no meaning any longer...

That's been going on for a long time. I remember about 20 years ago I started seeing defunct 1970s HiFi brands showing up on cheap new junk. It's a classic example of burning up long term reputation on short term gains. Marketing types obsess over brands, but they are all but irrelevant and getting more so all the time. There are not that many companies that actually make stuff like appliances anymore, it makes very little difference what brand it is. There are only a few companies that make furnaces anymore, if you look at the spec sheet where it shows you how to decode the model number the first letter usually indicates the brand. The units themselves are identical across 5 or 6 brands, they differ only in the badge and the styling of the stamped metal access panels.