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Security The Internet

The Internet Of Things Is Becoming More Difficult To Escape (npr.org) 165

An anonymous reader writes: After a long day, many of us try to set down our technology and unplug from the world around us. But, according to a new report by the Pew Research Center and Elon University's Imagining the Internet Center, over the next few years, that will become much more difficult to do. The Internet of things will continue to spread between now and 2026, until human and machine connectivity becomes ubiquitous and unavoidably present, according to experts who participated in what Pew described as a "nonscientific canvassing." About 1,200 participants were asked: "As automobiles, medical devices, smart TVs, manufacturing equipment and other tools and infrastructure are networked, is it likely that attacks, hacks or ransomware concerns in the next decade will cause significant numbers of people to decide to disconnect, or will the trend toward greater connectivity of objects and people continue unabated?" The answers they gave were telling: 15 percent said significant numbers of people would disconnect while 85 percent said most people would just move more deeply into connected life. Unplugging is futile, and plugging in is unavoidable. It's already difficult to create distance from the technology that surrounds us, but as connectivity increases, it might become impossible to do so.
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The Internet Of Things Is Becoming More Difficult To Escape

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  • Oh, BULLSHIT! (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Rick Schumann ( 4662797 ) on Monday June 12, 2017 @02:24PM (#54604601) Journal
    It's not 'unavoidable' in any way shape or form and this whole story is complete and utter BULLSHIT. You do not have to BUY ANY 'IoT' things AT ALL to start with, and you do not HAVE to use them, either.
    • by Shotgun ( 30919 )

      I agree. Simply refusing to pay for the service will get you disconnected. However, companies are actively pushing these things. I worked for a major (at the time) appliance manufacturer. Why would anyone want their stove, clothes washer, or refrigerator connected to the internet? The lame excuses preferred simply boggle the mind with their stupidity (so you don't have to wait for your oven to warm up when you get home? Really? So you'll know when your clothes are finished washing? Want I know when t

      • Re:Oh, BULLSHIT! (Score:5, Insightful)

        by Nidi62 ( 1525137 ) on Monday June 12, 2017 @02:47PM (#54604799)

        You will be assimilated, or you'll have to wash your clothes with a 20 yr old machine.

        And in a stroke of irony, that 20yr old machine will probably still last longer than a brand new IoT connected machine.

        And that right there is the trick. Until IoT is legally mandated by the government (and I hope that is a long way off, but we all know some kind of connection will eventually be required on things like cars), stick to older cars and older appliances. Get yourself a Jeep, Subaru, Volvo, etc-a car that can run for decades, and barring any bad luck you can avoid a connected cars for years. Ditto for appliances-fridge, drip coffee maker, oven, microwave, etc; unless you have some desire to always have the latest and greatest, any of these should last you a long time as well (again, barring any bad luck)

        • My old GoldStar (later LG) microwave kicked the bucket this year.
          ~~1987-2017~~
          Roast In Peace...
        • It's simple economic warfare; build things that only last as long as you think your target will last before a recession. Then, use the country's patriotic, yet divided, narcissism to make a deal that looks like a compromise. It's not. Well played China.
        • by swell ( 195815 ) <jabberwock@poetic.com> on Monday June 12, 2017 @05:05PM (#54605785)

          I guess you've never read the Consumer Reports magazine. For decades, Jeep has been among the very worst automobiles on the market. All the US made cars were poorly rated, especially Chrysler cars and less so GM cars. But Jeep was just awful.

          Additionally, a motorcycle gang was just busted for exclusively stealing Jeeps. They were able to get key code info from a dealer and they discovered that it was easy to open the hood from outside and disable the alarm system.

          Yes, avoid IoT crap while you can, but note that even the dinosaur Jeep is full of hackable stuff.

      • I would say if I have to either buy a "smart fridge" that won't cool unless constantly connected to the Internet, versus buying an older model which does work, or even a three way fridge (propane/natural gas/electricity), I can go with electricity. Same with washers and dryers and other appliances. A 20 year old dishwasher works just as well as a new one. Nobody will be able to tell that your clothes came out of a gold dryer from the 1970s, provided it works well.

        RVing and camping taught me how little on

      • And they are organizing it so that you have to be connected to get software updates for your appliance to keep working.

        I know they are angling that way...BUT, in my whole adult life, I've yet to have had an appliance (stove, oven, refrigerator, deep freezer, washer, dryer, dishwaher, garbage disposal...etc) to have ever stopped working due to lacking a software update?!?!

        Mechanical failures, sure....but what software update would be needed to simply continue to wash, cool, cook or dry something?

      • Re:Oh, BULLSHIT! (Score:4, Interesting)

        by tlhIngan ( 30335 ) <slashdot@worf.ERDOSnet minus math_god> on Monday June 12, 2017 @04:51PM (#54605691)

        Why would anyone want their stove, clothes washer, or refrigerator connected to the internet? The lame excuses preferred simply boggle the mind with their stupidity (so you don't have to wait for your oven to warm up when you get home? Really? So you'll know when your clothes are finished washing? Want I know when the crappy washer stops banging around trying to throw itself apart?)

        To you, they seem silly. To the busy mom or parents, they are a godsend.

        Preheating an oven can easily be a 20+ minute affair (I timed it hungry for a pizza one day). Having the option of dropping by the supermarket, picking up a pizza and having the oven ready when you get home so you can shove it in there and do other things while it cooks is something a lot of people do. And when it's finished cooking, you're ready to serve. Sure you could've waited another 20 minutes, but then it's go home, turn on the oven, do stuff until it beeps 20 minutes later, then shove it in the oven, do more stuff and then take it out is an inconvenience and an interruption (i.e., having to stop what they're doing to put the food in the oven after it's finished preheating).

        Sure, maybe you don't mind doing it - after all, what's an interruption to whatever you're doing? You only just got into the zone after all. And then there's the parents who have hungry kids who would appreciate not having to wait an extra 20 minutes for dinner.

        Ditto laundry appliances. I can't hear the washer or dryer where I am (and they are LOUD). It would be nice to know how much time is left on them so I know roughly how much time I have to do something without having to be interrupted by laundry. Sure I can run up the stairs and check the display and run back down (and that's what I do now), but still, being able to see it on my phone and have it beep when it's done? I would appreciate that. Not enough to actually buy a whole new set of appliances with that feature, mind you, but something that makes the day just a tiny bit less irritating.

        Of course, if you really wanted to improve things, design them into a laundromat so users could do something else with their time other than sit around waiting for the machine. Hell, design it with a locking door you can rent so you can bring all your laundry down and secure it and you'll probably be able to charge a premium.so people aren't wasting a couple of hours of their lives.

        Of course, I just wish the timer on my washer and dryer was even remotely accurate - where "1" minute left really means 10. And when it can say 8 minutes left, and then turns into 23 a minute later... sort of like old school Windows file copy time estimates.

        • by Rakhar ( 2731433 )

          So...you'd start your home oven from across town, with your phone, without worrying? God forbid there are any flaws in such a system that let people get their lulz by starting random peoples' ovens every day. I can't see someone with kids having LESS worries about such a thing.

        • All these excuses are dumb ones. Sorry.

          Don't want to have to wait an extra 20 minutes for dinner? Plan better. Say no to sports, band, and the other thousand things that most soccer moms seem to spend all their time driving their kids to. My wife and I manage to get home at 5:15 and eat by 6pm. If you're actually cooking a dinner, it takes longer to prep what you're cooking than to pre-heat the stove.

          Want to know when your laundry will be done? Set a fucking timer on your cell phone. Takes

        • by jez9999 ( 618189 )

          To you, they seem silly. To the busy mom or parents, they are a godsend.

          There's your problem right there. Society telling a mom she should be "busy" (and by that, you mean out of the house, working). Society was a lot happier when we had well-defined gender roles and women were not expected to work like a man when they had children to look after!!

    • by Anonymous Coward

      "It's not 'unavoidable' in any way shape or form "

      It is because the masses are stupid. I tried the "disconnect" but all Valve and big videogame companies had to do was wait for another generation of kids teens who are irrational. The fact that world of warcraft exists is a sign we live in a technological idiocracy.

      Take videogames on the PC for instance, DRM/MMOS/STEAM exists because the average person on our planet is technology illiterate to an extreme degree. If you want to game you have no influence

    • Maybe.... my wife's new vehicle comes with 3G internet built-in... there are dubious for-pay features, but even if you don't pay, they're apparently required to give you free 911 and Assistance calling. She's not asked me to look into disabling it, but it isn't hard to imagine that (even if it isn't the case now) it'd be considered safety equipment and be illegal to disable.
      • I've never bought a new 4-wheeled vehicle (motorcycle, yes, car/truck, no). The newest I've owned is a 2007 Tacoma. No touchscreen(s), wireless connectivity to anything, etc., and it's a good truck. First thing I'd ask if I was looking at a new one? "Can I get one without all these extra accessories? I have no use for them, they're just distractions; the most basic model you have, please? I'll wait for the factory to make it for me, if I have to". I'd buy a stripped-down fleet version if I had to, with manu
        • We just brought a used 2015 Mazda 5 (the most recent model in the states, they stopped selling them after that). It seems to be free of wireless connectivity and touchscreens, but that didn't stop the salesman pushing their crappy and very expensive warranty, because "There are lots of computers in there and they might break".

          Watching a salesman trying to instill a fear of computers in me was fascinating, given I've spent 30 years designing them, some of them designed to go in cars.

        • "All I want is a heater/air conditioner that works, maybe cruise control, and a stereo with decent FM sensitivity/selectivity and enough station presets"

          You are like the Amish: when is something "too modern"? You have a list of things that you want in a vehicle. Other people have a different list. It seems silly. Maybe your list is too much for me! What do you need cruise control for?
          • Re:Oh, BULLSHIT! (Score:4, Insightful)

            by Rick Schumann ( 4662797 ) on Monday June 12, 2017 @03:32PM (#54605169) Journal
            What do I need cruise control for? Because my foot gets cramped sometimes on a 3 hour trip and I'd like to be able to change the position of my right leg/foot. ;-)

            Why are there some people (like you apparently) who INSIST that you either immediately adopt ALL new technology, OR you're a Luddite, rejecting ALL technology? Why is it so hard for people like you to understand that some of us use technology WE feel is appropriate for our needs/desires/uses, and the heck with the rest of it? I need a car or pickup truck that is good at being a car/pickup truck, not a rolling Lifestyle/Fashion Statement/Entertainment Center. I find all that crap distractiing and annoying, and by the way just more expensive junk to break down and make my life miserable when it does. Give me a vehicle that is RELIABLE, with a decent stereo, and climate controls that work, and I'm happy.
            • "Why is it so hard for people like you to understand that some of us use technology WE feel is appropriate"

              The irony here is incredible. It is like you are dumb or something.
        • First thing I'd ask if I was looking at a new one? "Can I get one without all these extra accessories? I have no use for them, they're just distractions; the most basic model you have, please? I'll wait for the factory to make it for me, if I have to". I'd buy a stripped-down fleet version if I had to, with manual everything.

          Unfortunately, and sadly...this is getting harder and harder to find.

          To make matters worse, many of the new vehicles not only have wireless 3G or better transmitters on them, but the

          • To make matters worse, many of the new vehicles not only have wireless 3G or better transmitters on them, but they are so tightly integrated into the cars system, that you cannot simply disable them, without crippling the car to the point to where it may not run.

            That's not believable. That would create a HUGE safety problem. Anyone who told you that was lying to you, friend, trying to sell you shit you don't want or need.

            • To make matters worse, many of the new vehicles not only have wireless 3G or better transmitters on them, but they are so tightly integrated into the cars system, that you cannot simply disable them, without crippling the car to the point to where it may not run.

              That's not believable. That would create a HUGE safety problem. Anyone who told you that was lying to you, friend, trying to sell you shit you don't want or need.

              Not just dealers saying that, but from research I've done on forums and with owner

      • my wife's new vehicle comes with 3G internet built-in... there are dubious for-pay features, but even if you don't pay, they're apparently required to give you free 911 and Assistance calling.

        This is one of the few areas where I have a legitimate ethical dilemma about requiring IoT-style connectivity.

        Having a vehicle summon help automatically after an accident and provide advance information to emergency services if no-one in the vehicle is able to do so is literally a life-saver, and is fast becoming a legally mandated feature of new vehicles in much of the world.

        On the other hand, having such a phone-home system used for anything else, including things like sending telemetry data back to the v

    • It's not 'unavoidable' in any way shape or form and this whole story is complete and utter BULLSHIT. You do not have to BUY ANY 'IoT' things AT ALL to start with, and you do not HAVE to use them, either.

      The proliferation of IoT in damn near every device around you is exactly why this whole story is NOT bullshit. Even if YOU choose to not to participate, you WILL become part of the bigger monitored world, whether you like it or not.

      And the more YOU choose not to participate in a society that desires and demands interconnected citizens, the more YOU will become a monitored anomaly. The analogy today would be refusing to wash your body or wear deodorant on a regular basis; certain actions make it rather eas

      • The proliferation of IoT in damn near every device around you is exactly why this whole story is NOT bullshit. Even if YOU choose to not to participate, you WILL become part of the bigger monitored world, whether you like it or not.

        And the more YOU choose not to participate in a society that desires and demands interconnected citizens, the more YOU will become a monitored anomaly. The analogy today would be refusing to wash your body or wear deodorant on a regular basis; certain actions make it rather easy to find the outlier.

        OTOH, refusing to wash your body or wear deodorant on a regular basis will make it harder for anyone to get close enough to monitor you.

      • The proliferation of IoT in damn near every device around you is exactly why this whole story is NOT bullshit.

        You like being afraid, eh? I can't say I get it, but it seems popular these days. Until manufacturers start either requiring an internet connection to function or bundling a 4G modem with a lifetime data plan, I can avoid IoT devices. I have a "smart TV", which is disconnected from the internet. It was cheaper than a dumb one, which is why I bought it. I have some smart lights which are isolated on the local network and not allowed out. Could they somehow be nefariously communicating with their masters? Sur

        • The proliferation of IoT in damn near every device around you is exactly why this whole story is NOT bullshit.

          You like being afraid, eh? I can't say I get it, but it seems popular these days...I blackhole most ad networks, noscript and purge cookies. I use an RSS reader instead of visiting websites, facebook, or twitter. I log into gmail on Firefox, and chrome gets a different google account associated with it. I have a name_phone@gmail.com address for my Android, which doesn't connect to my other google shit...

          Ironically, you've certainly gone to some rather extreme measures to avoid "bullshit".

          Regarding partial data sets, voids and outliers are often far more valuable and interesting to some than others. One mans trash is another mans treasure.

    • Are you sure?

      Are you going to be able to buy a "non-smart" TV in the near future? Or will all of them include some kind of networking? Worse, how long until TV manufacturers think it's a good idea to make you connect to their central server to "register" your TV. Of course so you can always get the latest and greatest updates. You don't want to? Sorry, no option, because your TV gets delivered with just the firmware to download the programming fitting your country. Of course, for your convenience.

      Nobody is

      • >You want to buy a "dumb" TV? Try EBay.

        Or don't plug in the ethernet and block its MAC address on wireless.

        That's what I did. It took 30 seconds to block the MAC address and -10 seconds to not plug in the ethernet.

        • Yeah, that works. Or you can just go buy the same display from the business division of the company; they still exist.
        • Again, what if the firmware only lets you download the "real" firmware, fitting your country of origin (doesn't make sense? 3 letters: DRM. You don't think that you'll forever be allowed to use VPN to watch content on Netflix that isn't supposed to be available in your country?), and without internet connection, you have no way of installing what's necessary to make your TV "whole" enough to actually display anything meaningful.

          • Again, what if the firmware only lets you download the "real" firmware, fitting your country of origin (doesn't make sense? 3 letters: DRM. You don't think that you'll forever be allowed to use VPN to watch content on Netflix that isn't supposed to be available in your country?), and without internet connection, you have no way of installing what's necessary to make your TV "whole" enough to actually display anything meaningful.

            WTF are you blathering on about? I don't find watching TV very challenging. Why do you?

            • The topic isn't whether watching TV is challenging, the question is whether it's possible to continue escaping the encroaching IoT craze. My opinion, that I stated above (and in the preceding messages), is that if TV makers want to make you go online with your TV, there will be very little you could possibly do to avoid it, and that the various entities interested in content protection will actually push towards having to have your TV connected to the internet so it becomes possible to determine what you ma

              • I work around all the 'smart' in my smart TV. the video goes int the HDMI. I don't use a HDMI cable with the embedded ethernet wires. I don't let the TV connect to the internet. I use other devices (PC, Roku, HDHomerun) to get the video.
                 

      • Freind bought a smart TV because that's what was on sale at Costco. Told her all I knew about them. After her eyes stopped showing so much of the whites, we made sure it's not in any way capable of connecting to the Internet. They want to make it required to connect to 'register' your new TV? You connect it ONCE, then pull the plug.

        For my part if I somehow get roped into some shitty TV that uses tactics like that, I'll call and tell them "I ain't got no 'internet', how do I make my teevee work?" and if t
        • If you have cable, you almost certainly have internet. Hell, the chances of you NOT having internet when you want a TV get smaller every day, it's actually more likely that you have internet than a coax cable feeding your tube.

          Sooner or later the amount of people not having any kind of internet will simply be such a small demographic that TV makers won't give a shit about them anymore. You have no internet? Don't buy our TV. Simple as that.

          You think that some manufacturers will pick up the slack? Look at th

          • I really DGAF. I can't see a world where you're REQUIRED to have always-connected internet to watch over-the-air TV, DVD, or local video files. I'd rather be left behind than be forced to do shit I don't want to do, and I know I'm not alone in that sentiment. IDGAF what 'everyone else' is doing, either.
            • You think people would not accept that their TV is connected to the internet all the time? Why not, it's not like it's using a lot of bandwidth, and it's so convenient, all the current programs available. You can even program it to inform you about your favorite shows coming on, even if they weren't scheduled. You'd like to see Night Court reruns? Just program it to watch out of it, maybe some network will eventually run it again, and you will NOT miss it just because it was on some obscure channel you neve

              • A 'person' can be smart. 'People' are dumb panicky animals, and you damned well know it.
                I am not 'people'; I am a 'person', and again: IDGAF what 'people' do, I am not a Lemming, either. I do not want a 'smart TV', I do not see the POINT to a 'smart TV', and I am not ever buying a 'smart TV', and if I'm not given a choice, I will hack my way AROUND it being connected to the gods-be-damned Internet, one way or another. Hell, I'll use a computer monitor for my DVR instead of a TV if that's what it comes down
                • Yes. You. You don't count in the calculation of a corporation.

                  People do.

                  Because one sale lost and a thousands made is a good deal.

                  • There will always be people who are poor and can't afford high-end things, and therefore there will always be things with fewer extra features that are more basic devices -- and that's what I'll be buying. All it has to be good at is being a television set -- not a computer, not a web browser, not anything but displaying a picture. Are you trying to convince me to change my mind and go "Oh well I guess I just be part of the herd and get a smart everything, be monitored 24/7/365, LOL!"? Because that's never
    • by Calydor ( 739835 )

      You will be one of the few who doesn't buy any, but you know how herd immunity works for vaccinations, right? This will be the same basic idea.

    • Very true. My time at home at the end of a long day in front of a computer is spent on a bicycle or crawling around in my garden and flower beds. As I've gotten older I've found a lot of satisfaction in very simple, very "analog" things. I like to target shoot and none of the pistols I own have IP addresses. I like to read and I prefer to read from paper (though to be honest I like reading on my iPad as well). None of it has to be connected to the internet. Most of the best stuff still isn't.
    • Ah, one of the 15%. You'll fit right in here.

      Slashdot, pioneer of unsocial media.

    • And if the only option does have them (thinking small appliances, not cars), find the wifi and break it. If the device stops working, return it as defective (as in fails to operate without the crap I don't want).

    • by Talla ( 95956 )

      Eventually pretty much the only options will be to buy into the IoT shit or live in a cottage in the woods. These days you can't even play solitaire on Windows without being online and logged in to an Xbox account. This will spread everywhere.

    • I second that. I think people like Elon say things like this to make morons feel as though whatever Silicon Valley is pushing is inevitable and therefore mind as well assimilate. Or, it's a last ditch marketing tactic to target an audience that knows better, ie almost everyone in tech that cares about privacy and security. Make us feel little because we don't want to be a part of the social Darwinism.
    • by Rakhar ( 2731433 )

      Ditto on that. The only devices in my house that are connected to anything (or even have the capability to) are my XBox, my PC, my phone, and Chromecast. With the exception of my phone, all of these things are powered down when not in use. None of my televisions are smart TVs, none of my clocks are even digital, my oven/fridge/washer/dryer/etc are all 'dumb' devices. I want as few points of failure as possible in any expensive thing, so all of those bullshit features turn me away before I even have to a

    • by havana9 ( 101033 )
      The fact is that a lot of things you but have IoT functionality buried somewhere even for low-end models. You can't but a new TV without "smart" features, even of off brand cheap brands, and the few non-smart tv are actually smart tv without the ethernet or wifi connection. Same thing on some injet printer that have a network port and phone home to check for firmware update or "cloud" services.
      There's a marketing force to put IoT functionality, because is cheap and is a selling point
    • Even if you don't personally connect you will be living in a connected world. When you walk into a store it's likely to be IoT-enabled. (Some experiments have been happening for years, like the supermarkets that replaced conventional shelf price labels with networked e-Ink signage.) If you drive you'll be interacting with IoT-enabled cars. (And it's only a matter of time until human drivers are banned in some places because they represent an unacceptable risk to the other cars.) You will have to move to a r
  • by Frederic54 ( 3788 ) on Monday June 12, 2017 @02:31PM (#54604655) Journal

    > concerns in the next decade will cause significant numbers of people to decide to disconnect

    Not in the next decade, but now.

    30 years ago I wanted things like "networked thermostat or blinds or whatever", it was called domotic, it was on an intranet and it seems cool, but very expensive.
    Now there is a lot of connected devices (some still $$$) but there is no way I want my devices on others people servers (clouds) with poor security and closed firmware.
    And you know what, finally, we don't need IoT, I don't need my washer/dryer on the internet, I can close my blinds myself too.

  • Why? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by avandesande ( 143899 ) on Monday June 12, 2017 @02:38PM (#54604713) Journal
    Why would you want to add all this complexity to your life, I just don't get it. Appliances are supposed to free up your time but if you go gonzo trying to optimize their use you will achieve exactly the opposite.
    • Because it's marketed as convenient and a time saver. Marketing is really, really good at convincing a moderate percentage of the population to give away their money.

      Mom stops in the parking lot with a shopping cart full of groceries. Pulls out her phone, clicks, "Preheat to 350", puts it back, drives home, takes a fully trussed and stuffed turkey out of her bag and throws it in the hot oven.

      Mom is out walking the dog, and her phone buzzes. "Washing Machine has 10 minutes remaining." She t

    • It's not about what you want, it's about what the manufacturer wants. With IOT they can collect and sell your personal info. This is more valuable to them than you realize it is valuable to you.

  • by mfh ( 56 ) on Monday June 12, 2017 @02:41PM (#54604749) Homepage Journal

    The internet of things is a mess. I really dislike that catchphrase too. I believe the idea of a physical connection to the internet being unavoidable is very much a logical fallacy.

    I prefer things that do not loop in because I can control them better. When I buy them I own those products and that means I get to decide how to use them.

    The moment I realized I would have to install an app to make my coffee maker work, was the same moment I bought a stainless microfilter and a french press and took that thing back to the store.

    Throw out anything that loops in -- you don't need it! The ONLY reason they want to do that is to get you hooked. Either so you don't use someone else's coffee or so you don't use refilled ink. Whatever. Just put your money on good quality gear that is more analog and you'll be MUCH happier.

    And the last place one should look for any kind of scientific discovery is through non-scientific canvassing. The opinions of the unwashed masses are popular ones, but that does in no means make them correct.

    • ...I bought a stainless microfilter and a french press...

      I have a drip to make coffee while I'm in the shower. Set it up the night before, stagger out, mash the button, go shower, and come out to coffee. But on the weekend? I'll happily take the 10-15 minutes to make up a nice french press coffee. It's just so much better than most any other coffee I've ever had. If the pour-over wasn't so labor intensive, maybe I'd like that as well, but fuck that shit. I have no idea how adding any amount of tech will ever be able to beat a good coffee, coarse ground, in a sta

      • by mfh ( 56 )

        I have no idea how adding any amount of tech will ever be able to beat a good coffee, coarse ground, in a stainless steel french press.

        Hence the microfilter. I fine-grind my coffee using a Vitamix and store a week's worth of ground in a lock2lock tupperware container. I measure out 30g or slightly more in the french press. Once the water is boiled I let it sit a little then pour it into the french press. Ten minutes of steeping, then I press and pour into a pitcher. I dump the grounds and rinse out the fren

  • The old science fiction cliche repeated again

    Resistance is futile!

    Resistance is useless!

  • The real reason incandescent lightbulbs were terminated is that LED bulbs are so much easier to build advanced tracking electronics into without notice, and since they last much longer the devices will be in place for much longer...

    Paranoia or Future Reality, you decide. Something to make you wonder the next time you see an abnormally cheap LED bulb.

    • They're very often 'abnormally cheap' because they're subsidized to encourage adoption of lower-energy-usage lighting products. They did the same with CFL bulbs. Where I live (Sacramento valley), SMUD (local power company) often subsidizes things like that -- and not IoT lighting, either, by the way.
    • ..oh, but would I put it past IoT manufacturers to sell at a loss, just to encourage people to buy? Sure I would.
    • If you break open an LED bulb you might find a small black chip wired to the power lines, and it might have printed on it: "NSA PoE: You No Touch!" If you do, and it does, you are being spied on. The LED bulb has a camera with sends 64K resolution films to the NSA using their own super-secret proprietary Power Over Ethernet back all the way to their secret headquarters, which is NOT that big black glass building in the mall parking lot.

      Oh, if it doesn't have the chip, the LED bulb was OK, but you can't u

    • Incandescent bulbs are huge waste of electricity and have a very dull ugly color. That might have something more to do with it. They cost more now than the house brand LED bulbs at HD or Lowes
      • Incandescent bulbs are huge waste of electricity and have a very dull ugly color.

        No, CRI of Incandescent bulbs is 100. Name any commercially available LED lighting system that achieves the same. You of course can't because no such thing currently exists.

    • If I want to get paranoid about LED bulbs, I'll ask why an LED lamp that lasts 100,000 hours is married to a driver (DC power supply) that lasts 15,000 hours. When I do the math on lumens per watt, to get lumens per ampere, I find that 36VDC can provide the same amount of light (from 3 each 12VDC LEDs in series) per ampere as 120VAC can provide using 4 foot fluorescent fixtures. So, the same wiring can be used for DC leds that last 100,000 hours in the lighting fixture when a 36VDC driver that has a signifi
      • If I could I would travel back in time to set up a second Slashdot account, spending decades living on the proceeds of my foreknowledge just to arrive at this moment in time where my elderly account could mod up your comment since it had not yet posted.

        • Or, you could invest a small fraction of the proceeds of your foreknowledge in a lighting company.. Thanks for your kind words.
  • by gurps_npc ( 621217 ) on Monday June 12, 2017 @02:49PM (#54604819) Homepage

    This article focused on how people put up with risk to get what they want, their prime example was car accidents are accepted to because we love cars.

    The problem is that the LOT usually is for the benefit of the COMPANY, not the owner. They find something that people want just a little bit and sell it based on that convenience. Take the silly "BUG MY HOUSE" products now being sold, that offer internet searches and music in exchange for letting companies place always on microphones in your home. Huge benefit to the corporations, hue invasion of your privacy, all in exchange for not having to take your phone out of your pocket and tap one button before making the request.

    Yes, silly people buy these things. But people d not have to. Their advantage is minimal and I truly doubt it will ever achieve the ubiquity of cars, fridges, TVs, etc.

    This is typical. In general IOT is not a huge innovation allowing new consumer things for a minor cost, instead it is a huge corporate benefit with a minor consumer benefit.

    It's not revolutionizing our life, it is just revolutionizing corporate business.

    As such, it will probably be similar to Premium cable channels, like HBO. Some people, but not all or even most, will buy these things. Many people will refuse.

    • It's silly to think they won't be connected. I'm sure people 30 years ago thought it would be silly or impossible to carry a computer around with you daily, or being connected all the time to make calls or text or communicate, or that cars would need to have computers, or that 'simple' devices like washers or fridges or dryers would ever need to be 'electronic'. Now look at what we have and what we do.

      It just seems silly to us, because we don't have it and it's new and unnecessary in most cases. But
  • Scott Adams might be right. God committed suicide and we are the aftermath trying to put him back together again. Once computers are omnipresent, our only choice will be to become one with the hive mind.

    On a more serious note, computers have been for several decades now enhancing our human ability. Very few jobs are immune as a person that uses a computer can out compete the person who doesn't. In areas like accounting, one person can now do the job that 10 people used to do. As computers continue to m

  • Industrial IoT Strategy Is Top Of Mind For Partners....yep, harder. http://www.crn.com/news/intern... [crn.com]
  • ... these things had good security. It seems that you can't go a month without hearing about some IoT hack or another. It's bad enough when it's an IoT camera in a kid's toy (or nursery camera), but how long before somebody uses an IoT stove to start a house fire?

  • by DidgetMaster ( 2739009 ) on Monday June 12, 2017 @03:09PM (#54604989) Homepage
    ...it is what it is connected to! I like the idea of devices all around me sending information to a central information hub that I can query and control. I don't like the idea of each device sending sensitive information to its 'true owner's web server' somewhere in the cloud where it can be mined, hacked, or outright stolen by an employee. I don't want all those companies able to disconnect me from my data just because I don't feel like paying some exorbitant monthly fee. There are a whole host of issues with the current IoT architecture. We need a completely different architecture where all MY devices send and receive data to/from MY central controller. I get to choose how the data is used and who I want to share it with.
  • by bigmacx ( 135216 ) on Monday June 12, 2017 @03:12PM (#54605011)

    I bought one of these awesome, super duper water coolers from NZXT. The Kraken X62

    https://www.nzxt.com/products/kraken-x62

    Pretty cool colors and what not. The control panel for it (CAM software) asks for a cloud login which then of course runs every time you login. There seemed to be a problem just after I got it where the settings for fan, pump, and colors would not save between restarts. It has a guest mode, but even that lost settings or would insist on loading with reduced functionality without the cloud login. Huge support thread ensued.

    http://support.camwebapp.com/forums/252256-cam-bugs/suggestions/17316232-kraken-x62

    You know it's getting bad when even a CPU cooler "requires" a cloud login to work properly.

    • by gweihir ( 88907 )

      Indeed. But for a long, long time there will be the option to buy something else or to modify these things, making them a bit more expensive and less functional, but hugely more reliable. Of course, that will require some engineering-skills.

  • by WaffleMonster ( 969671 ) on Monday June 12, 2017 @03:22PM (#54605101)

    What's increasingly difficult to stomach is festering evil pervading tech industry.

    Used to be somewhat focused on creating better tools to get shit done.

    Now it's basically marketing Trojan horses to the public. Massive firms engaged in intentionally psychologically engineering products to maximize technological addiction and pervasive cyber stalking leveraged against consumer to ensure not one extra cent is ever left on the table.

    The reality has always been dwindling returns on connectivity. IoT goons are laughably unable to communicate a coherent value proposition. Just spraying Internet dust all over the place isn't going to make anyone's lives better except those few behind the scenes leveraging marketing terms and virtue signaling to justify further ownage of the user to say nothing of creating unnecessary vectors for compromise by governments and criminal organizations the world over.

    The road to hell is the path of least resistance.

    • by gweihir ( 88907 )

      I think it is the changing buyer-population. People that want this tech have less and less of a clue about what they buy. Hence the market for computers and networked machinery has gone from professional to power-user to somewhat-knowledgeable to moron. It can be observed in different areas, IoT is just one. For example, in gaming everything has gotten far too easy and even professional reviews are now written by "gamers" that are simply incapable to play well. A recent review described partitioning in Debi

  • ... Until it is *mandatory* to connect your IOT fridge to the internet, which i am pretty sure will never happen (data protection, right of consummer, and the problem of legacy place without internet) , what's the problem to buy an IOT fridge which is not connected to anything whatsoever ?
  • "News" About the The Internet Of Things Is Becoming More Difficult To Escape

  • ...is widespread advanced brickerbot software. When everybody's internet-connected-whatever gets bricked a week after they buy it, the manufacturers will feel pain. And I can assure you that they probably don't have a clue about real security, either.

"The vast majority of successful major crimes against property are perpetrated by individuals abusing positions of trust." -- Lawrence Dalzell

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