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.
Oh, BULLSHIT! (Score:5, Insightful)
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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)
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)
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~~1987-2017~~
Roast In Peace...
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Re: Oh, BULLSHIT! (Score:2)
Re:Oh, BULLSHIT! (oops!) (Score:4, Informative)
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.
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GE has a device that connects to the appliance's serial bus. Many of the appliances have a separate computer for the display and control boards. The serial bus is very close to the CAN bus used in modern autos. The ~$50 device is a wireless module that you register through a website, and you interact with the appliance with a poorly rated phone app. Many of the more recent models have the wireless module built in.
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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
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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)
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.
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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.
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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
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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!!
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I don't know why exactly appliance manufacturers want their products to be connected. I really don't.
It enables planned obsolescence. Got that from the horse's (jackass' ?) mouth. Marketing exec at a major appliance manufacturer that is no longer manufacturing appliances. Why do you need a computer in stove... a glorified heating element? Because, you can add whiz bang feature that make the appliance a fashion statement instead of an appliance. (Now with BLUE LEDS!!!)
Dude, I am quite serious here. Appliances are not a growth market. They have reached an end to engineering improvements that actually
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"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
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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.
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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)
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.
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The irony here is incredible. It is like you are dumb or something.
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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
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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.
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Not just dealers saying that, but from research I've done on forums and with owner
Cars are an interesting case (Score:2)
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
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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
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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.
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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
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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.
Sadly, that is not enough any more (Score:2)
I admire the sentiment, but unless you really are going to live as a hermit off the grid, just doing what you can to avoid this sort of intrusion personally is never going to be enough in our brave new world. What we actually need is for our laws and more importantly the social/ethical views motivating them to catch up with the capabilities of modern technologies.
The real solution to excessive privacy intrusions and security lapses by businesses is remarkably simple: they just have to cost the businesses an
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you WILL become part of the bigger monitored world, whether you like it or not.
And that's the biggest pile of bullshit yet. BET ME. You will NOT take away what little privacy I have left. You WILL have to pry it from my cold, dead fingers, and I WILL make a LOT OF NOISE in the process. I do not participate in so-called 'social media'. I am weaning myself off paying with plastic and going back to cash. Might even start writing paper checks for my bills again. I do not have and will not have a smartphone. I use Tor as much as I can (that, they're making hard to do). I do not have 'IoT' devices nor will I buy them. I do not have or want a 'smart TV'. My pickup has no GPS or any other wireless connectivity. I ride a bike, a LOT; try tracking me or surveilling me in the middle of nowhere. They can TRY to surveil me all they want. They'll find out little. They can datamine me all they want; they'll find nothing of interest. If we actually come to the point where someone like me, who just wants to be left the hell alone gets arrested on 'suspicion of being suspicious', held without charge, bail, or representation, and so on, then I, you, and everyone else is totally screwed anyway and I'll make them kill me, there won't be anything left to save. But we are not at that point, privacy still means something, and I'm not going to lie down and take it just because you or people like you have given up and ARE lying down and taking it.
Ironically you've proven my point as to just how much of an outlier you will become in the future society. They make look to dig deeper into your affairs simply because you've chosen to live your life like a wanted felon. Yes, privacy still means something. I agree with many of your points, and despise a lot of what is coming. That doesn't remove the fact that it is inevitable. Your "dumb" truck still has a license plate that is read by dozens of traffic cameras every time you use it. Your "dumb" phon
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Ok, but what's the problem with GPS?
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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
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>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.
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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.
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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?
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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
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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.
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>What do you do when you can't turn off its wifi, and it connects automatically to your neighbor's xfinity free wifi? how you will you even know when this is happening?
Nominally I can turn off its wifi. That might be an unsound assumption, but I do have free wifi in my house (we have a store downstairs), so I blocked it at the AP as well.
Of course there's some corner case scenario where someone determined to hack my TV might be able to exfiltrate data, but I don't see how that can be monetized so I'm not
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Of course there's some corner case scenario where someone determined to hack my TV might be able to exfiltrate data
so there is a tornado/flash flood/armed gunman/gas leak/etc in the area, you're watching TV to see if you are in danger, it's hacked, and you die
Apparently I should be concerned mostly about poisoning. https://www.google.com/imgres?... [google.com]
But this one says heart disease first, then cancer : https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fasta... [cdc.gov]
At least my TV isn't doing the cooking.
Re:Oh, BULLSHIT! (Score:5, Informative)
Xfinity free wifi is only free after you enter your customer login, which your TV will not have. Unsecured wifi networks are rare, and 95% of those that exist only appear unsecured but actually throw up a login page when you connect.
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>Unsecured wifi networks are rare
Why do you equate "open" wifi to "unsecured" wifi?
Our shop (a yarn store) has open wifi for the customers to use to connect to the internet. There's no stupid interstitial or UAM because when we wrote the 802.11 spec, we called it "open auth" because it's open.
Nothing bad has happened. The sky didn't fall it.
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Believe me, if I want your TV with the WiFi that cannot be turned off to connect to my AP so I can hijack it, the AP will be unsecured...
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Xfinity free wifi is only free after you enter your customer login,
so you know for certain that there is no back channel here? really? how did you come to this determination?
Well the bad guys can pay for a login. So I don't think that's an insurmountable barrier.
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A) Probably that won't happen.
B) The FBI would be in a position to examine the ARP tables (they're there in the router for a while) as long as they got there in time.
C) I leave the store wifi open so customers are happy. The personal wifi is password protected. This isn't complicated.
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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.
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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.
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Ah, one of the 15%. You'll fit right in here.
Slashdot, pioneer of unsocial media.
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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).
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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.
Re: Oh, BULLSHIT! (Score:2)
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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
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There's a marketing force to put IoT functionality, because is cheap and is a selling point
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Sounds like you need to grow some balls buddy....
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decade? (Score:3)
> 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)
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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
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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.
Huge Mess for Control (Score:5, Insightful)
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.
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...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
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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
Cliche (Score:2)
The old science fiction cliche repeated again
Resistance is futile!
Resistance is useless!
The Paranoid Path (Score:1)
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.
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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
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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.
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+1 mod please (Score:2)
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.
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Article focuses on misuse, not dislike (Score:5, Interesting)
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.
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It just seems silly to us, because we don't have it and it's new and unnecessary in most cases. But
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God's Debris (Score:2)
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
As GE CEO Immelt Announces Retirement, (Score:2)
It wouldn't be so bad if (Score:2)
... 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?
'Connected' is not the problem... (Score:5, Insightful)
Even my new CPU cooler requires cloud login! (Score:3, Informative)
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.
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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.
Cracked pottery dialed up to 11 (Score:4, Interesting)
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.
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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
Here is why people embrace it (Score:2)
Here is why people embrace the IoT no matter what. [smbc-comics.com]
Somebody clarify me ... (Score:2)
The real news (Score:2)
"News" About the The Internet Of Things Is Becoming More Difficult To Escape
The only thing that'll stop this... (Score:2)
...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.
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