Do fridges, toasters and other household appliances may come with “smart functionality” or wireless connectivity these days. In the case of some, TVs for instance, the functionality may also be used to display advertisement to users and collect data about users.
Samsung recently announced that its smart fridges would start showing ads. A software update introduced the feature and first reactions of customers are not exactly glowing.
The company introduced the change for some of its Family Hub refrigerators in the United States. This turned the screen of the device into a vehicle for ads. And who does not love ads, especially for items that cost thousands of Dollars?
Techspot reports that the update introduced new Terms of Service and a Privacy Notice that covers the addition of advertisement. Samsung’s smart fridge displays the ads on the fridge’s screen. It appears when the screen is idle, which likely means most of the time and only if users have selected certain themes, including weather, daily board, or color.
Users may enable certain themes to avoid ads for now. If the cover screen is set to art mode, which displays photos, then no ads are shown. A setting to fully disable ads is not provided, but users may block certain ads from reappearing.
You could disconnect the fridge from the network, but might not be able to use most of its functions in that case.
Samsung says that the advertisements “are designed to enhance value for owners”. I’m pretty certain that most owners would beg to differ.
Maybe next time, it would be better to buy a “dumb” fridge or other items, especially if the provided functionality is not adding value or has the chance of being turned into something that is highly annoying or invasive.
I think appliances will go the way of streaming services. You will have to buy the appliance first and then pay subscriptions to use it with ads or no ads.
There is of cause smart solution to this problem. Do not use “smart” features and never connect it to your Wi-Fi. I am not sure if this voids Warranty, though.
When a product is advertised as “smart”, it is designed as such for the people who make the product, not for the people who use it.
This is one of the many reasons I only have 2 devices that maybe considered “smart” my phone, and a roku express. Nothing else. The tv is a 55 inch actually monitor with no built in connectivity or tuner, connected to the roku express works fine.
I just saw someone software locked out of their oven with these so called “smart” devices.
As far as I am concerned, if any of these products are to exist then they should be open source based software and there should not be any ads ever. There is no justification for this.
Samsung has an absolutely terrible reputation as far as white goods (home appliances) are concerned. I have seem to remember their washing machines or dryers were causing fires some years ago and required some sort of recall in some countries
Again. The only things in your home that should be connected to Internet are Computer/Phone and Tablet Wi-Fi/Game Console (regrettably)/Streaming Box. Everything else included Printer/TV/Thermostats/Kitchen Appliances and any other smart device should never be connected even for one second.
And if said widget/appliance would not work without Internet connection, immediately return it as broken. Do not try to explain anything about Internet. Just say it is broken and does not work and if they want to troubleshoot it through Internet, ignore it and just return.
Enhances value??? Tf is that? People want their private home free from commercialization, child’s first memory is the fridge brainwashing them to have a nice refreshing coke and Tony the tiger wishing them a happy diabetic bowl. I wouldn’t take the fridge even if it was low cost/free or had a forever warranty. Nobody is gonna make money from their machines in my own house.