Posted on 05/01/2017 11:39:15 AM PDT by C19fan
I have a dumb flip phone on purpose, since that was all the defense contractor I worked for over a decade allowed on the premises (and not even that in highly restricted areas). Kept it because no one wants to steal it, don’t care if I break it or child drops it.
I bought my two children the same type of phone. My daughter’s classmates said “you have to do this app, it is how we keep everyone in touch for band”, she pulled out her phone. The other children publicly pitted her and asked what she did for the punishment. She admitted losing her old one, and they asked if she’d get a new one by summer. No, the old one was the same as this one. OMG, your mom is giving you the Amish punishment? When polled, the next dumbest phone in the group is an iPhone 4.
My daughter hates me for it, but it lets her call when she misses the bus or has after school events pop up. And that’s all she needs.
Your freedom of travel being lost because your ID is denied use of self-driving cars and there are no others, and the same act could ban you on public transit.
The other dangerous impact of self-driving vehicles - driver is the biggest single job category in most states. What the heck are those people going to do? We already have the working class dying from depression and drugs because they are crowded out by both immigrants and automation.
We built a new home 5 years ago and put in all new appliances, etc. Nothing fancy. Farm house on acreage in the country. Basic stuff. Bought them all at Lowe's in the big city because they give veterans a discount.
Every kitchen appliance but the range/oven had a defect in it, either physical damage (dent or ding or scratch of some kind) or operational (water dispenser in refrigerator wouldn't stop running) at the time they were delivered.
We had three microwaves delivered before one actually sat flat on the countertop and didn't rock or didn't have a dent or crease in the metal cabinet.
I talked to the sales manager at Lowes and he said we didn't even set the record for the number of MWs returned. One customer went through five of them before it was accepted.
Our brand new upright freezer stopped working at eleven months to the day after we bought it. Turned out to be the thermostat and it was under warranty. Great. But we almost lost $2,500 worth our farm fresh beef we had stored in it.
Water heater's gone out twice, washing machines twice, ice maker in refrigerator once, dishwasher leaking water once and all of this less that 5 years into the deal.
Nothing is made to last nowadays so buy as cheap as possible because you'll, end up buying another one before long. Many things you can't even repair. Just throw it away and get another one. And even if you can repair it, the parts, shipping and labor costs are more than just buying another one of whatever it is.
My other concern on IoT for energy savings is that it lets the utility company see what appliances you have draining energy and choke them or turn them off based on THEIR standards, not yours.
I love my smartphone, PC, and tablet. I enjoy streaming video on my tv with Roku and SmartTV Apps.
All that being said, I otherwise run a pretty analog home. No computer controlled keys. I don’t desire to have everything connected. Seems to me to be unwise.
Maybe I’m just old but wifi to me is a “hobby” connection, “real data” goes on wires. So my smart TV goes through the jack, don’t think I’ve even configured the wifi.
Easy part there is don’t let it. All that stuff is configurable. And most of the utility companies have a “just give me electricity and leave me alone” rate, which is higher but well worth it.
I’m in agreement, the dumbest appliance is the best.
The purpose of the Internet of Things, from the manufacturers point of view, is to be able to gather as much information about you as possible. The manufacturer can then sell the data.
The new fridges are coming with internal cameras to let you see if you need milk. Want to bet when the fridge makers will start looking at the pictures? They already track when you open the door.
While they all claim the information isn’t “personally identifiable”, its all linked back to the device/network, so, yeah, it pretty much is personally identifiable.
That’s why we don’t have an Icemaker....they break!
I get a kick out of people who think Asian women are submissive!
Pictured above: Dishwasher, coffeemaker, and Sandwich maker!
Not sure those are affordable anymore
[ Pictured above: Dishwasher, coffeemaker, and Sandwich maker!
Not sure those are affordable anymore ]
They are fairly affordable, but the disposal fee is cost prohibitive.....
If you think there’s no privacy now, just wait another 10-15 years. The “internet” will know the dimensions, consistency and weight of every turd you drop. “It” will know the hours you keep, what you watch and read...and it will link it all with your purchasing data. How often you wash whites vs colors...whether you’re heating your water beyond “recommended” and how often you run your AC.
The “internet” will know when you are home and when you are not...and where you are. Who you talked to and what was said.
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Most of this is already known you can receive and hour by hour electric usage report and this info is kept indefinitely. You are already watched a lot.
Smart meters.
And another thing that is not good is multi-task machines. If one part breaks then you can’t use the other.
“I was perfectly happy living in the 80’s.”
I always felt that technology could have stopped after the invention of the VCR, but of course then we couldn’t all be here at FR.
Reminds me of the old Woody Allen story about how he got mad at his TV and “beat the hell out of it”. Later on all of his other appliances surrounded him....”Aren’t you the guy that hit the TV?”
I will stick with simple, dumb appliances. The few advantages of being able to check on your stuff when you’re not home are vastly outweighed by the trouble caused by electronics failures and people looking to raise havoc.
Hi .. milk and eggs ? .... OK .... I love you .. CLICK.
That's all it does and I don't feel deprived.
Actually, I'm blessed.
I made that call in the middle of the night, in the middle of a snow storm, ten minutes from home that took an hour and we were both secure to hear each other's voice.
I called Verizon to put my Iphone 4 back on my account when my fancy 4G Android phone’s screen broke. The tech was not amused. He made sure to tell me this 3G phone would be slow and not have all the features of newer phones. He is right...it is slower but I think it does not have the same snooping capabilities of the newer stuff. In retrospect, I think I’ll just keep using it.
3G on line? .. No problem, keep it turned on ... click
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