I’m not sure whether to add that smiley here. That would have been a big middle finger to their customers, but the alternative they chose turned out to be worse for many customers. Maybe, the rule should be “if a product requires a subscription, the product should be free”?
In WD’s case, it surprised me their cloud still supported a device they stopped supporting in 2015.
* Contains forward-looking statements. These statements are not guarantees of future performance and undue reliance should not be placed on them. Such forward-looking statements necessarily involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties, which may cause actual performance and financial results in future periods to differ materially from any projections of future performance or result expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements.
Although forward-looking statements contained in this presentation are based upon what management of the Company believes are reasonable assumptions, there can be no assurance that forward-looking statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. The Company undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking statements if circumstances or management’s estimates or opinions should change except as required by applicable securities laws. The reader is cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements.
The My Toaster is just a regular USB toaster.
Yet.
They said the next newer model of that will no longer receive updates at the same time.
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Pepperidge Farms.... D: NOOOOOO
https://www.heb.com/product-detail/pepperidge-farm-original-...
My grandmother made those in her Sunbeam toaster before loading them with room-temperature butter and Laura Scudder's smooth peanut butter. (Yes, my grandmother kept butter at room temperature but refrigerated the eggs. Go figure... grandmothers.)
American commercial eggs (and this has been true for a long time) need refrigeration because thet are washed, which reduces surface pathogens but compromises the eggs natural resistance to environmental pathogens and spoilage. Meanwhile, in most climates, butter is safe out of refrigeration. So, your grandmother was doing it right.
We buy the single brick of European butter for toast and daily use. It stays in the butter bell on the counter. We also buy sticks of unsalted butter for cooking and baking. Those live in the fridge until needed. Thaw on the counter in the morning if you need it soft when cooking.
Generally, I assumed if it’s in the refrigerator in grocery store (which butter is) then it goes in refrigerator at home.
I assume that's what you're talking about. Keeping the butter dish in the fridge at all times would be pretty strange--butter is good for weeks at room temp, far longer than a single stick is likely to last.
Or do you mean something else than butter?
I grew up on a farm and the first first 15 or so years of the life ordinary butter was the onlh alternative.
It had to be kept in a jar at the counter or it would become unusable.
Generally, I see people using the spreadable alternative to butter though.
The RFID chips make the toast taste better!
welcome to paradise!
Then they let you customize the alarm noise, so that you can choose how to be alerted of the future house fire. Soon, companies get rich selling $3 "toaster fire ringtones."
Eventually, even after fire-less toasters are "invented," people prefer the old, "still catching on fire" ones, since "toasters have always worked that way."
All the while I couldn't help but want to share how good pan-fried/toasted bread is. It's the butter of course, just generously butter up a pan, spread the bread so it soaks up the butter. Takes a little longer, but you also get to feel like a cook.
and no ads
Luckily the world is burning, so many people just cook on the sidewalks. The smart cooks learned that the solar panels get pretty damn hot, so they've been hijacking the roofs. Electricity prices now vary with meal timings (as well as everything else).
And Lehman’s Non-Electric Catalog is looking better than ever.
Every home I've ever seen has a cook top. Everyone has pots and pans. What am I missing?
Is this not an ad for pan-fried bread?
[0] https://www.mcpressonline.com/programming-other/microsoft/mi...
As a 28 year old in tech for the last 7 years, I am definitely a Luddite.
Its heartbreaking some of the most talented minds in software engineering are just making ads appear.
The internet is an ad network with content at this point.
Samsung fridges have machine vision systems to catalog their contents, then combine the data with data from samsung smart TVs. That way, they can be joined against your tv watching habits. This is all to better target ads.
If you disable it, then it breaks the demand response function on the fridge, indirectly killing polar bears and other living things.
They cost as much (or more) than non-connected versions.
They’re really years ahead of the pack in this villainy, so I don’t doubt that it’s true.
”There is no planned release date for Bixby Vision for refrigerators, a company spokesperson told VentureBeat. It’s more of a concept than a feature today”
On the other hand, that’s from over 2 years ago, and https://www.samsung.com/us/support/answer/ANS00062803/ says
“Did you ever think the day would come when you could talk to your refrigerator, and it would actually listen? With Bixby on Family Hub, you can ask to see the contents of your fridge or even start playing music without lifting a finger.”
So, the camera is there. Whether it has machine learning to detect contents and connects that with you tv, I wouldn’t know.
Except they all got killed by people who tampered with the safety features in their refrigerators.
Except the bread bin your mother gifted you for Christmas is a Google device, and the two do not work together. As such your toaster is always adding a reminder to buy bread onto your Amazon Fresh grocery list. Your fridge is constantly reminding you about this, whenever you are more than 2m away, and it is in "suggested products" mode.
Compared to the adverts you saw before - often for processed junk food even though you are trying really hard to be on a diet - you actually find the bread adverts a relief and less distracting.
Here's the process, for those interested. And I did work hard to see if there's any other way.
1. You download the printer "install software" from Canon's website.
2. Run the installer. It makes you read a long legal agreement, including that you won't use the printer for any antisocial purposes.
3. And then asks for your permission to install monitoring software to collect data from your printer. Probably including whatever confidential documents you print? Apparently in China all this stuff gets sent automatically to a "research firm". Oh yeah, and if you don't agree, it installs the software anyway but they say they won't use it.
4. The printer initially acts as its own WiFi access point. Your PC disconnects from its router and connects to the printer. What if your neighbour has the same printer? Who knows. Maybe you'd connect to that too.
5. The PC then connects back to the router's WiFi network... And the printer does 's too. Somehow. Never gave it the WiFi password. But I'm guessing it just asked my PC very politely.
Scary stuff.
The obligatory Technology Connections link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1OfxlSG6q5Y
Not sure if we have to wait until 2050
(from Red Dwarf)
Edit: or you can switch to The Daily Cannibal. The freedom of choice is yours to enjoy.
(Because outlets require certified chips with power-certificate-chain validation on both sides of a power cord, if you ever get your hands on such an old-fashioned hardware.)
It’s a contraption that exists because there a rule that each new version of a thing must consume more resources than what can before.
You know, for the economy.
(thanks for your dystopia, they sometimes show up on HN and I love them. This one is very well written)
[0] https://www.newyorker.com/humor/daily-shouts/l-p-d-libertari...
Bread will be though.
I don't want bluetooth in my toaster. That shit is hard to clean.
I don't want a flashing OLED emoji on my toaster judging my diet. I do plenty of that myself: flashing emoji.
I don't want a toaster with a "personality." I want it to toast, only toast, and nothing but the toast, so help its electronic soul.
Sunbeam Radiant Control: ride or die. Anything made after the 60's is junk by definition.
Not wanting an overtly fancy contraption you pick a no frills unit that includes a touch screen along the side. A few hours later it arrives. Setting it up was almost as easy as your old one. Plug it in, enter your wi-fi password, and a credit card to start your free pro trial of the monthly subscription service that tweets at you when the toast is done. It says you can cancel at anytime but it requires a 5 day waiting period. It also requires access to your contacts.
Tired and just wanting your toast you agree. You insert two slices of white bread and press the big red GO button on the touch screen. An electrical motor whines from inside the toaster at it begins to retract the toast into itself. There's a few seconds of silence as the toaster slowly heat ups. While awkwardly standing there you notice the touch screen flickers and begins to display a buffering icon. An ad for I Can't Believe it's Not Butter begins to play. To make matters worse you can't even ignore it by looking away due to a small tinny sounding speaker playing the company's jingle.
This is your new morning routine.
Welcome to the future.