Watches
I never saw the point of them. I don’t see the problem with analog or digital watches. Everything is regressed to a tiny square of a screen, that you barely look at. I just find it as an unnecessary distraction.
Light Bulbs
I work in retail and I stock these things all of the time. We have light bulbs, that are smart now because why? They’re stuffed with wireless functionality, just so you can simply change a color or maybe dim it through phone. More unnecessary apps, more unnecessary functions just for cheap attraction.
Kitchen Appliances
I’m bundling them all here.
There is nothing you’re gaining an advantage of, when slapping a screen on any appliance and relying on some unsupported app on your phone for basic functions.
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I used to have my lights change color when I had motion in the driveway, and dim at night.
I also had a button for bedtime, it would turn off the main lights, turn on dim red lights, then it would turn on the TV. When I was ready to sleep I had one button that turned the black lights UV light on for a minute, then it turned off the TV and the red lights. Then I would sleep with glow in the dark stars.
I gave up on smart watches. Pain to charge them constantly and I feel it’s another spying device.
My wife leaves lights on all the time. I gave up and just put in smart plugs and lights so I don’t have to get up and turn them off.
Typically I prefer plugs, but with things like a nightstand lamp that has USB charging ports on it, I don’t want to turn off the whole device, so I use smart light bulbs.
The only smart appliance that I’ve found useful is the oven. If my wife leaves it on I can turn it off from my phone.
An in-law of mine got a smart toaster and loves it. Her elderly mom was so excited about that she got one too. I couldn’t get either of them to express an advantage over a regular toaster, they each just like having it.
I didn’t bother mentioning possible privacy concerns, more power to them if it makes them happy.
I don’t have a problem with smart devices. I’m a tech head. I LOVE GADGETS. My issues are that smart devices tattle on me to their corporate daddy without my knowledge or permission. My issues are if they aren’t online they don’t work. My issues are if their parent company goes out of business, or stops supporting the devices, or decides I’ve violated a TOS the device becomes a brick. My issues are a lot of smart devices are perfectly pointless and exist solely for the purpose of data harvesting. My issues are I don’t own my smart devices, I’m leasing them.
Home assistant FTW
I prefer to have dumb, discrete devices in near all cases. TV, appliances, bulbs AND switches. Watches (mechanical only, please). I don’t connect any game consoles to the internet. I can’t think of any devices that actually need “smart” features.
All of those have uses.
They add convenience in various ways. It’s kinda neat that my fridge can text me to say the door is open or the filter is due (but I don’t have it connected).
Smart watches have barely anything to do with telling time; they’re remote terminals for your phone for communication in both directions. Think like not holding you phone while exercising, checking if a text is urgent, tracking your steps, or dismissing timers. I don’t have one.
Smart bulbs let you have much more control over your lighting. Have 6 overhead lights over your TV room? Shut the opens over the screen, dim the rest. You can’t do that with a normal switch on a single circuit, like most homes will have. Best you can do is dim them all together with a dimmer switch. Sure, it also let’s people be extra lazy by not getting up at all. I don’t have any.
It’s really easy to see how these smart features add convenience. I hate them because they usually come with atrocious security and privacy flaws. Worse, many are specifically sold as spying devices under the guise of convenience. THAT is why when smart devices are the only/best option, I don’t connect them. And if setup seems to demand connectivity, I change my wifi password, connect and setup, then change it back.
Yeah, the post reads like a rant from someone who can’t put themselves in the shoes of someone else, so it has to be completely worthless.
I’d actually add that one of the biggest uses for so many “unnecessary” devices is opening up ability/convenience to people with various disabilities. Practically every worthless “as seen on TV” gadget has a niche use for someone. Jar openers help arthritis. Pouring gadgets help people with reduced motor control. Smart bulbs help people who are in pain whenever they get up.
You know how nice it is to hit one button on your phone at night and for all needed lights to go off?
So nice to have them on a timer so when you get home your house isn’t dark.
I think smart switches are really nice but for lamps not on a switch. Smart bulbs work great
its not really about watches. its about a two way wrist communicator. Its just a smaller cell phone. I don’t like smatphones but im kinda tempted by a watch I can make phone calls on.
My Apple Watch is way better than a traditional watch. One reason I like it is because it’s not an unneccessary distraction. Before I had one I’d get pings from my phone and have to dig it out to see what the text/email/etc was, now I just glance at my watch briefly and go back to what I was doing unless it’s an important message I really need to act on straight away.
I just wear a mechanical watch and keep my phone on silent 100% of the time. I’ll look at it eventually.
I guess you’re lucky enough to not have a job that relies on you being available should shit hit the fan.
Yeah, pretty much. Mechanical engineer, but on the tooling side of things and not production. When shit hits the fan, it’s typically during office hours. Honestly, I haven’t even charged my work phone in probably 6 months because it’s so rare anybody needs me when I’m not at my computer.
But my personal phone is always on silent, too. Not even vibrate. To the irritation of my wife.
This is why I like my Garmin: It’s mainly a watch but has some extra functionality like heart rate, GPS, etc. It’s easy to block apps too.
My dishwasher doesn’t even have a proper screen, just an LED timer, some buttons, and a few status LEDs.
It stopped working about a month ago and I was livid when I learned why.
The tech who came to fix it, said it probably needed a software update, removed the toe plate, plugged a wifi hotspot into a network jack I didn’t know about, and the thing started working fine 5-10 minutes later.
I didn’t even know the thing had software to update.
I prefer smart switches to bulbs myself, but not everyone is comfortable doing electrical work or setting up a local home automation hub.
I use them to simulate home occupancy. The lights in the rooms facing the road simply turn on and off at night so the house never looks empty.
I also setup my bedroom to simulate a sunrise with the lights turning on low and slowly getting brighter before the alarm goes off.
I was very dismissive of smart appliances but then again I have some skill in the kitchen. For people who manage to burn water in a microwave or just don’t have the time, the right smart appliance could be realy helpful.
I have mixed feelings on fridge screens. The concept seems great. It’s essentially free real-estate. Having a recipe visible but out of the eay, along with multiple, visible timers, could be great. But not when it comes with high costs, ads, add on expenses, lock in, etc.
Vibrators. I don’t want to use a fuckass app. Include a fucking remote control in your product.
Isn’t the fuckass app for use with the smart buttplugs?
Yes, that too.
I disagree on the smart watches, but I know I’m in the minority in how I use them. They actually help me disconnect from my phone better because only select apps send notifications to my watch, so if I get a vibration on my wrist, I check, see if it needs action or not, then move on with my life. In my work I often get messages that need immediate action, but I’m often in situations where I can’t be distracted in the moment, so smart watches have been super helpful.
As for all the fitness features or app control, etc. etc, I don’t really care. It’s nice that I can control my music, I played around with using it as a remote for my camera, but really, all I need is good, controlled notifications on my wrist for ambient awareness.
Pebble watches have always been the best and I’m eagerly awaiting my Pebble Time 2
Definitely agree on the bulbs though. Having color control or a dimmer is great but doesn’t need to be an app.
They is exactly my philosophy for my watch. And it got rid on the phantom vibration I used to have from my phone in my pocket. Thinking I had notifications when I didn’t.
Let me know I have a notification, and then I can decide whether to deal with it now or ignore and leave it for later without having to get my phone out.
Also sleep tracking. But that just requires a basic accelerometer with Sleep as Android anyway, nothing special
The original Pebble was perfect.
Agree, my smart watch has stopped me grabbing my phone all the time and helps me get less distracted.
As someone with ADHD, I 100% agree about the watches.
Personally, I have an old Garmin and literally all I use it for is; telling the time; alarms; notifications of messages (Signal, WhatsApp, SMS, and that’s it) and calls; and counting my daily steps. That’s it. And that’s all I need it to do.
If I had to take my phone out every time it buzzed with a notification, I’d lose at least 15 minutes to scrolling. Instead my watch buzzes, I see who the message is from, and then either take my phone out and reply/answer, or ignore it to look at later.
I’ve had an iPhone and Apple Watch in the past, and was never really able to work out much of a use-case scenario for spending that kind of money on one, but to each their own, I guess.
Pebbles were the best. Having one taught me a lot about the best tech not having all the bells and whistles. It’s better to have only what you need done well.
I disagree on the smart watches, but I know I’m in the minority in how I use them. They actually help me disconnect from my phone better because only select apps send notifications to my watch, so if I get a vibration on my wrist, I check, see if it needs action or not, then move on with my life. In my work I often get messages that need immediate action, but I’m often in situations where I can’t be distracted in the moment, so smart watches have been super helpful.
This is the way. Filter what comes to your wrist. Text from my wife? Absolutely. Ebay badgering me to buy more stand mixers because clearly if I bought one I need 17 more? Fuck off.
Uhh, damn near all of them. But, that’s an opinion coming from an able bodied person. A lot can be useful for those with mobility issues.
I was just sitting here thinking that yes, most smart appliances are just a tax on vain people, that have to have something extra to show off how special they are. But then I read your comment and got a dose of reality check.
oh yea like the samsung FRIDGES, washing machine,ovens, and people too ignorant/dumb to figure out you wont have this problems if you got a normal one. and the SMART MATTRESSES that malfunctioned.
Non able bodied person here. I’ll keep the dumb versions thanks.
Not to nitpick, but can you give an example?
I can’t think of any which don’t already have a better non-“smart” alternative.
I’m not claiming they are the best solution. Just that they can be useful. Smart thermostat, you don’t have to get up to change the temp, or deal with any small buttons/controls. Smart light bulbs. Again, don’t have to get to turn the lights on or off. They’re are a variety of ways to do this without smart bulbs though.
The list is gonna be similar reasons for most of them. If it’s difficult to get around, anything you can do without having to move can be helpful.
Oh, speakers.
I don’t need a speaker to be smart. I just need it to connect to my device so I can play music through it. I don’t want to talk to a speaker if I can help it, and I certainly don’t want to have to figure out how to ask it to play ‘d|| tl | | |’ by 65daysofstatic while I’m cooking my dinner.
If we must talk to our things, then sure, have little microphone pucks about the place. But the speakers themselves are perfectly fine just being speakers.
