Technology

In a follow-up post a day after his initial Tweet, Johnie noted “inaccuracy in the ASUS router tool,” with regard to Apple iMessage data use. Other LG smart washing machine users showed device data use from their router UIs. It turns out that these appliances more typically use less than 1MB per day.

the writer knew that the stats were bunk, yet wrote the article anyway. the site knew this, too, tacked-on the clickbait headline and published it. toms really has gone to shit the last few years--at least under the current ownership (last changed hands 2018).

Yes, socks can turn into a lot of data really fast, especially if they are multithreaded. Which is why I only use single threaded socks to protect my dataplan.

SOCKS

Given that one sperm has 27.5 MB of data (which means each orgasm has over 7 petabytes of information!) I think we can safely assume which socks his washer is transmitting.

I tried it with our dish washer, just to see what it's about. Turns out it's all about nothing. It's absolutely void of any useful functionality.

I can think of a very valid reason. I very often forget that I ran the washing machine, I'm already investigating how to send a notification to my phone or computer after it is done. Right now I am checking how much electricity it consumes and when it stops doing it. But a API would be nicer.

Yeah, I don't get it. I guess I can see the appeal of some "Internet Of Things" connected appliances, like smart fridges suggesting recipes and keeping track of stock and auto-populating shopping lists for you. I don't need that personally, but I can see why it could appeal to some people.

But things like washing machines and dishwashers? You need to be there in person to fill them up just before they're ready to go on, and to empty them when they're done. And when they're not turned on, they're sat there doing nothing. What "smart" functions can they even offer?

I'm too lazy to come up with a witty money laundering joke.

The 'S' in IoT stands for security

Internet of Targets

Some people have hourly electric pricing, in their case it's worth scheduling stuff based on predicted pricing. How that should work is that you'd have a home server which controls your IoT stuff (so the gadgets themselves can be firewalled from the internet and controlled only by you) and then your server would fetch pricing data and pause stuff that doesn't need to run when prices are high and run stuff like washing when it's cheap

Turning your fridge off for an hour will not cause your food to spoil. You probably won't even notice a difference since they are well insulated. Turning off the compressor during the hour where most of everyone gets home and turns on their AC can have a noticeable effect on grid stability if done widely enough. I do this with a smart switch connected to my HA server instead of using cloud based connections, but the effect is the same and I've never had my food spoil because of it.

It's starts with a sales pitch (not just to you, it's sales pitches all the way down) about how the washer can send the user status, maybe let them schedule, etc. They probably have an app to pair with it to keep it all in-house. One thing leads to another, every appliance gets wifi and sends a ton of data to a totally undoubtedly secure and anonymous centralized server full of harmless data for the sake of saving the customer 15 steps.

Big Brother didn't ride in on the back of a commie tank, he was invited in for the slightest increase of convenience.

At least regarding the last point: maybe because there was no other option.

If you need specific features or have certain space constraints, you may end up with only two or three devices.

As an example: try to find a TV (not a monitor, a real TV with tuner, etc) without WiFi. Almost impossible.

So that they can call it "smart" and charge more for it.

The article mentions that his router is probably to blame.

What do you think it's sending?

Sure they have, put down the bong and stop hallucinating. Phones counting, backwards even, and making noises lol sure thing, Cheech.