cross-posted from: https://lemmy.zip/post/51856491
Here’s how to opt out.
Archived version: https://archive.is/20251027141201/https://www.theverge.com/report/806797/samsung-family-hub-smart-fridge-ads-opt-out
Opt out is idiotic. Don’t buy this shit! You to not own it. What fuckwit dumbass rents a fridge someone else controls for $2k. I bet it has a camera inside to sell grocers a list of what to mark up for your custom pricing nonsense because you bought a billboard that screams I’m a gullible moron with more money than sense.
I need my refridgerator to be a box.
A box that gets cold inside.
Thats it. Just a cold box.
If you eat like shit, that info can be sold to health providers, insurance for that sweet sweet premium increases too.
Here’s what they look like on my fridge:
I would not buy appliances with ads,
I would not buy them, Sam-I-Am.
I was ready gawk at what ads on my fridge would look like, and then this. I don’t know what I expected.
Guess what they look like on my 250 Dollar dumb fridge.
I can even keep my food chilled with it. Plus I can freeze stuff. Even has a light when I open the door. Super practical. You guys should come see it!
This is an amazing article. I’m serious. Very well written. This is my favorite part:
I asked Higby why they were bringing ads to the fridges. He said via email, “This pilot further explores how a connected appliance can deliver genuinely useful, contextual information. The refrigerator is already a daily hub, and we’re testing a responsible, user-controlled way to make that space more helpful.”
This is similar to the justification Panos Panay, Amazon’s head of Devices & Services, made to me last month when I asked him about advertising on its Echo devices. He said it was looking to be “elegantly elevating the information that a customer needs.”
Do these people actually believe this? Do they see advertisements in their own lives and think, “ah yes, that was useful and contextual. That was a helpful ad, elegantly elevating my information.” I’ve seen some delusional people in executive-level roles, but that would be a special new class of delusion. Nobody likes ads. I recognize that some people have higher and lower tolerances for them, but nobody is actually grateful for them. Right?! I need to believe this is true.
Both companies claim they want to offer “curated,” “relevant” ads that might “enhance the experience.” I can buy that to some extent when it’s ads for features that your smart fridge or smart display offers. This tech is complicated and capable, and most people only tap into a fraction of what their devices can do.
That’s generous. But ok, maybe I can grant the premise.
But there is no future where third-party advertisements will ever be welcome in people’s homes like this — even if they happen to show me a brand of pet food right when my dog is looking at me with hungry eyes.
Right. Exactly. No matter what, I can think of no situation in which an ad is serving the customer’s interests. Maybe in the case of a coupon? But even then, I think it’s dubious.
Unfortunately, it is paywalled. Can you copy the text for the rest of us?
There’s an archive.is link in the original post: https://archive.is/20251027141201/https://www.theverge.com/report/806797/samsung-family-hub-smart-fridge-ads-opt-out
I’m wary of running afoul of copyright laws to literally paste it here, but I think you should be able to get it there.
can’t wait for the ice dispenser dlc
Since it’s a Samsung ice dispenser, that’s a recurring charge: Service calls.
(Seriously though, I’ll never buy another Samsung appliance after my experience with that fridge’s ice dispenser)
Same experience with them here. The LG replacement fridge w icemaker also sucks and stops working for months at a time.
Oh! I’ve had no real problems with my LG.
The made ice occasionally gets stuck and has to be knocked loose, but that’s no big deal - not like the Samsung freezing the whole mechanism into a huge block that prevents accessing it to clear it out.
It’s already a subscription model called a water filter.
Every day an open source initiative for applicances makes more sense
Worth pointing out that that “Target figured out a girl was pregnant before her father did” story is almost certainly untrue: https://www.predictiveanalyticsworld.com/machinelearningtimes/target-really-predict-teens-pregnancy-inside-story/3566/
I agree with the article that getting ads on a device you’ve already paid for with no hint that there would be ads is intrusive and a sad sign of how tech is going (in the same week that it was announced that Apple are going to be adding ads to Maps, too). But I also can’t help but wonder - who the fuck wants a smart fridge? Like, legitimately, what is the advantage over a normal fridge?
Not a “smart” fridge per se, but I can see the use of a screen on my fridge; something where we can see our family calendar, leave notes for each other, and maybe also be able to access the grocery shopping list. Weather would be nice too, though you can keep the news widget (yikes). Something in a visible location in our house, where we go every day.
I’m not sure what other features they advertise with a smart fridge, but those few would be nice; especially if I could just plug a raspberry pi into it and skip all of the Samsung nonsense entirely.
I don’t even like water/ice dispensers on the door. I love the interior water dispensers.
I agree with you there.
We already do all of that (except the weather) why would I need a screen?
We’re a family of six, and the kids don’t have phones. It’s tough to coordinate schedules already and it’s only going to get worse.
I recognize that I’m an edge case.
You’re not an edge case. My family isn’t that large but we still have challenges with this exact thing.
There’s a screen device that my wife gets incessantly advertised to her that is probably a better option than it being built into a fridge that has been engineered to last 3 weeks longer than the warranty.
I was trying to say there is paper. That’s what we always did.
And still do for that matter.
We’ve tried paper. And dry-erase. The problem is that we keep our calendars and todos and schedules on our phones, which don’t automatically update the paper; and by the second week, we tend to just stop manually updating it. There’s a paper calendar in my office that I just flipped to October last week (from August).
The only way that really seems to work, where we don’t forget an event, is having a single digital shared calendar.
and the kids don’t have phones.
So just the two of you?
Also, if you do end up sharing a digital calendar on a device you already have, what is the fridges for?
My wife and I have phones where we keep our shared calendars, yes. But we have four kids who also have their own lives and schedules, and they often want to know what’s going on, what our plans are, etc. They would value being able to see the day’s upcoming events, too; when the play dates are, when the dentist appointments are, when the days off of school are, what we’re eating for dinner, all of that. Currently, their only access to that information is through our phones.
Having a screen in the kitchen that only shows calendars and a couple of other pieces of data would be useful. We wouldn’t want to be able to watch videos or browse websites on it, though.
Normal fridges are dumb. Smart fridge smart.
Unless you build it and code it yourself, do not get a smart device at any cost. Even if they’re on sale for $5. (Unless you’re just planning on reselling them I guess)
Happy with my ad-free dumb fridge.
Let me know when the smart fridge can track when I’m low on essentials and toggle them unchecked on my shopping list, WITHOUT phoning home, and with no fucking ads. Don’t need a screen either.
“Smart” fridges are the dumbest shit ever; given that, pi hole or some ad blocking DNS? Block access to Samsung servers?
Don’t understand people who are willing to let all that data pass through 3rd party servers
Pi-Hole?
in case someone only wants to use the block without setting up a server (& trusting others) https://fmhy.net/privacy#dns-adblocking
“fridge, I need a 12 pack of beer and two large pizzas”. Uber eats shows up 45 minutes later. We’re all doomed! Ha ha ha.
Can’t believe the number of tool boxes in this comment section say “oh gee, I can really see how this unnecessary feature improves my life because I don’t know how to breathe on my own or live”
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