Samsung Brings Ads To US Fridges (theverge.com) 247
An anonymous reader shares a report: A software update rolling out to Samsung's Family Hub refrigerators in the US is putting ads on the fridges for the first time. The "promotions and curated advertisements" are coming despite Samsung insisting to The Verge in April that it had "no plans" to do so. Samsung is calling it a pilot program for now, which -- I kid you not -- is meant to "strengthen the value" of owning a Samsung smart fridge.
Going for gold (Score:5, Insightful)
..in the enshittification olympics
Re:Going for gold (Score:5, Insightful)
They didn't say whose value it strengthened. And I'm sure this strengthens the (monetary) value for them of you owning their shitty refrigerator.
But I supposed one could, if one was stuck with one of these shitty devices, spray paint over the screen, and cut the wires to the speaker. Or dump the whole piece of crap into a river somewhere and buy a real refrigerator.
Re: Going for gold (Score:3, Interesting)
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Re:Going for fecal matter (Score:2, Interesting)
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If it can't get ads from the internet it will show built in ads, probably for Samsung stuff.
But that's crippling the product. You don't buy a fridge with a screen if you don't want that functionality, and it's bound to only work when online.
Re:Going for gold (Score:5, Interesting)
Consumers need to reject it. Return the fridge if an update brings ads.
In countries with stronger consumer rights there is little question that this kind of enshittification would be a refund issue. It fundamentally changes the product, intrudes into your private space with unwanted and obnoxious ads, and it cannot be repaired.
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Re:Going for gold (Score:5, Insightful)
It's easy to reject: don't put your refrigerator on the internet.
Coming soon: the fridge will not work unless it is connected to the internet.
Re:Going for gold (Score:4, Informative)
It's easy to reject: don't put your refrigerator on the internet.
Coming soon: the fridge will not work unless it is connected to the internet.
But you need to connect to the internet in order to enable your subscription to the "keep food cold" option!
Re:Going for gold (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Going for gold (Score:4, Interesting)
How about we put this much hyped AI to good use by employing it to automatically shut the door in such cases?
While we're at it, I could use an AI robot dishwasher that can actually clean pans, determining whether to use scouring powder and then use it or not, and position dishes itself, no more need for the user to carefully position everything, just dump the dirty dishes in the machine.
Too bad all the hoopla around AI was hype, and AI still can't do such simple things.
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"Strenghten the value" (Score:3)
LO freaking L. Can I install uBlock Origin?
Re:"Strenghten the value" (Score:5, Insightful)
Pi-hole.
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Pies belong in the fridge. Having to resort to a Pi outside the fridge the fridge makes Samsung a big nope for me. Why in the hell would I want a fridge on the Internet any way? This IoT bullshit is obviously used to fleece customers.
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Crossed them off the list.
It's not being a Luddite to want LESS FEATURES. The Keep It Simple, Stupid principle seems to be greatly ignored today, at the peril of manufacturers. Build something simple and reliable, and they will come.
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Crossed them off the list.
It's not being a Luddite to want LESS FEATURES. The Keep It Simple, Stupid principle seems to be greatly ignored today, at the peril of manufacturers. Build something simple and reliable, and they will come.
Speed Queen washers and dryers wave hello! They're expensive, but those bastards are made like they used to make them, and will last you a lifetime.
Re:"Strenghten the value" (Score:5, Informative)
Crossed them off the list.
Wow. Their refrigerators reportedly have among the worst reliability stats [usatoday.com] out of all the major brands, but ads are the reason you're rejecting them? I'm kind of assuming the ads are to recover the unexpectedly high cost of warranty repairs and food loss claims. :-)
Having used a lot of their Blu-Ray players and TVs over the years, Samsung reached peak ensh*ttification a long time ago, IMO. What remains is the long-tail death spiral.
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Just like sitting on a jet, where I tear off the cover of the airline magazine and cover the screen, I'd do the same thing to a fridge.
But Samsung as a brand left a long time ago from this household.
I use various browser plugins for the same reason, and delete selected cookies from my cache because they're not paying rent.
Fridge ads? If they were the best rated and most reliable, I'd still tape something over the screen. Billboards are bad enough. Not in my kitchen.
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Crossed them off the list.
I did so already a while ago.
Their phones just kept worse and worse...they kept removing genuinely useful features (headphone jack, SD card slot, etc.) and what did they offer in return? Turned your power button into a Bixby button. Oh, wow! Just what I always wanted.
Their 64GB Fit Plus flash drive is basically a scam. I have had several become corrupted when I stored more than 32GB data on them. I wouldn't be surprised if they actually only had 32GB that is deceptively shown as 64GB and then something myst
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Well... it will "Strengthen The Value" of my Wi-Fi network, anyway, because that will one less device that I'll allow to connect to it.
Re: "Strenghten the value" (Score:2)
I'd tell the reseller to come pick up this PoS. It'll Strengthen the Value of their business when it's on their dock and out of my house.
Of course, that's as though I'd ever buy a "connected" appliance that has no business connecting, or put it on my network if I wound up inheriting/forced to use one somehow.
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You know they will probably pre-load an ad-set just in case the device loses connectivity.....
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Find the uart pins for the console and see if they left the root password blank.
allow me (Score:4, Insightful)
never, not ever, fuck you samsung and every company that looks like you
This is what happens when Brave New World and Idiocracy haved a baby.
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sorry bout that chief
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Make it free (Score:5, Interesting)
I'd accept a Fridge that had ads if it were free. Otherwise I can't see it. A fridge can last a decade easily and you can get them for less than 2 grand. 2 grand a decade = 200 a year, and that works out to less than a dollar a day. My time is worth more than that.
So unless the ads paid for the entire fridge I can't see paying cash for it.
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Most ads we are stuck with because we want the media or service that the ads support. Oh, you want to watch two teams of 53 millionaires play football? OK, but 30% of your time will be watching ads.
On a fridge what is the payoff?
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On a fridge what is the payoff?
Money, money, money, money you say? [youtube.com]
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Fret not, citizen, we have the perfect solution for you. We can retrofit a vintage CRT monitor on your KitchenAid and put ads on it! Then you too can benefit of progress and innovation. Also AI.
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It was never a secret. (Score:5, Insightful)
"Smart" devices were ALWAYS a vector for advertising. First it was a vector for data collection to better target ads, now it's just blatant advertising all the time. I've shied away from smart devices whenever possible, and if I'm forced to buy a smart device to replace a defective device I don't enable the network. "But you're missing out on features, man!" Yeah, I'm missing out on yet another advertising and propaganda channel. Boo hoo.
Smart devices were *NEVER* about adding features for the end user. It was always, and always will be, about advertising. Don't fall for it. Don't support it.
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Smart devices were *NEVER* about adding features for the end user.
Unfortunately this either or mentality makes people dismiss you as a lunatic. It's the same as the "you're the product" comment that very much ignores the complexity of the business relationship.
Hint: If adding features for the end user wasn't a core component of smart devices, then they would not be of any benefit to the user, meaning the users won't buy them, meaning they can't be a benefit for building an advertising platform.
Using the words Always and Never are intellectually regressive.
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Smart devices were *NEVER* about adding features for the end user.
Unfortunately this either or mentality makes people dismiss you as a lunatic. It's the same as the "you're the product" comment that very much ignores the complexity of the business relationship.
Hint: If adding features for the end user wasn't a core component of smart devices, then they would not be of any benefit to the user, meaning the users won't buy them, meaning they can't be a benefit for building an advertising platform.
Using the words Always and Never are intellectually regressive.
When non-smart devices start disappearing from product categories, it's deserved aggression.
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I have a GE Profile Gas stove. Several of it functions require and internet connection to make work and an app on you phone. Yeap you guesed it the only thing they have done is deliver ADDS.
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Rule #1: Never purchase anything that requires an "App" or "Internet" to get full functionality. It's code for "we are going to eventually screw you whether you like it or not."
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Deserve what you get (Score:5, Insightful)
If you were dumb enough to buy one of these "smart" refrigerators, you get what you deserve. There is absolutely no reason to have a "smart" refrigerator. It's a refrigerator. It should only do two things: keep the stuff in the fridge cool and the stuff in the freezer frozen.
Anything else is a waste of money.
Re:Deserve what you get (Score:4)
The big problem with these "smart" things is that it's getting hard to avoid them. Several years ago I was looking for TV. A few dozen "smart" TVs to choose from but exactly 2 non-smart TVs. I don't mean 2 models, I mean 2 TVs in the whole store. Luckily one of them was suitable.
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Projectors were a good way to avoid smart features on TVs for a while as modern ones are really good but we're starting to see them there as well. It sucks.
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The problem is that the volume of dumb people will get it inflicted on the rest of us. Try buying not a smart TV today. You either have to get some sort of commercial offering, that comes with a crazy price premium or you're getting smart tv that spies on your and sprinkles in ads all over the place.
All because to many people decided they'd rather pay 499 instead of 599 because that is just how little they actually value their privacy and user experience.
Sure you can not connect it to the internet, but th
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It should only do two things: keep the stuff in the fridge cool and the stuff in the freezer frozen.
Slight pushback: It should also dispense chilled water and ice. Now that I have a fridge that does that, I'd cut my pinky finger off before I bought one that didn't. I have a buddy whose fridge also shits out large ice spheres for whiskey and such, that was also pretty bad-ass but certainly not worth having to deal with "smart" features.
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If the only thing required is a refrigerator then this might make sense, but refrigerators go into kitchens, and kitchens have more requirements than just cool and frozen.
There are good reasons to want a tablet in a central, accessible location in the kitchen. Apparently, Samsung isn't it, but that's not a condemnation of the idea.
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There are good reasons to want a tablet in a central, accessible location in the kitchen. Apparently, Samsung isn't it, but that's not a condemnation of the idea.
I'd rather duct-tape an iPad to the refrigerator. I don't need to replace the iPad if the refrigerator breaks, and I don't need to replace the refrigerator if Apple stops posting security updates 6 months after I buy it.
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And for the love of all things good ... DO NOT purchase a fridge with the ice maker located in the fridge section. They ALWAYS fail one day after the warranty expires.
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They made plans (Score:2)
They claimed to not have plans, and now they do, surprising nobody.
If you are shopping for a fridge... (Score:5, Insightful)
I can't recommend enough this guys channel, "Ben's Appliances and Junk" he runs a used appliance sales and repair shop and does deep dives on appliances and his opinions based on repair ability and reliability. He actually just did a video a few weeks ago on fridges for 2025 and in general he doesn't seem to recommend Samsung all that much due to issues with getting parts.
The BEST Refrigerators of 2025! What to BUY & AVOID! [youtube.com]
The porch fridge would never (Score:2)
It might freeze your milk a little after 40 years of operation, but it would never force ads on you. Because how would it?
Better question (Score:3)
Why did you buy a fridge with a screen in the first place?
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Why did you buy a fridge with a screen in the first place?
I recall laughing at these Samsung fridges when I first saw one on display at Best Buy. They're expensive and the screen really is just a gimmick.
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about the only case I can think of is interactive recipes.
Think about being able to check off ingredients or steps as you complete them.
Maybe being able to click and ingredient and select "recommend substitutions" - conceivably the smart fridge might know what you actually have to chose from.
The ability to note you are out of something and build up a shopping list, better than on paper because the system can sort the list by category / alphabetical / however later so its ordered sensible for the shopping tr
Sickest burn contest (Score:3)
At this point I think it's just a competition between big tech CEOs to see who can get us plebs to pay for the best insult to us. Winner gets a seat on the first Mars rocket.
No shit Sherlock! (Score:5, Insightful)
How many of us here - including me - have been predicting exactly this for years now?
My first thought was "Maybe this will wake people up and they'll stop buying IOT shit that has no business being connected to the internet".
My second thought was "No, they'll keep doing this, just as they did with Facebook and smartphones, because they never fucking learn". I hope at least some of them will figure out how to disconnect the fridges from the 'net - provided that doing so doesn't brick the fridge...
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Well, there is IOT in idIOT...
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"the 's' stands for security"
Ha ... well ... (Score:3)
If you bought one of these things, you deserve it. :)
This reminds me of a story too. I was working at a place just rolling out Microsoft Office 365 and the whole 2 factor authentication thing. We started looking at the devices people had registered for MFA. Obviously, you mostly had various smartphones and a few people even used iPads or other tablets. But this one guy had a Samsung smart fridge as his device. He explained that, "I work from home and have a desk in the kitchen. So it's easy to confirm the authentication from the refrigerator screen. And this way, I know I won't just lose it someplace like I might lose my phone!"
But seriously, I really dislike this trend of making basic home appliances Internet connected and/or computerizing them needlessly. My old Black & Decker 4 slice toaster finally gave out on us last week. I was shocked by how much a new toaster costs now! I was expecting to run out and grab something for maybe $20 or so? Nope! Many of the highly rated models are well over $200! The cheapest I could find was about $45, for one at Costco that has 2 digital strips down the front. One side lights up with icons of toast, in various levels of darkness, and the other depicts all the different foods you mgiht toast; bagels, waffles, pastries, toast...
We got it home and tried it out, and guess what? When you select toast with a darkness of "3 out of 6", shown as a medium brown? It absolutely burns it! The lightest setting just ejects warm, untoasted bread. I couldn't find any point to a setting on the thing other than the second-lightest one! Highly inaccurate. All of this seems really unnecessary, when the light/dark knob on my old toaster worked just as it was supposed to.
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the light/dark knob on my old toaster worked just as it was supposed to.
I recently replaced my toaster oven because the mechanical timer knob was becoming quite variable and inaccurate to the point I needed to set a backup timer on my phone. This is the very same reason I replaced my previous toaster oven as well, so this time I got one with a digital timer. I'm expecting it to be more reliable, but only time will tell (no pun intended).
No internet of course, will be a cold day in hell I put my appliances on the internet.
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Ah come on, if your toaster was internet-enabled, we could sell you a subscription for a timer...
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The cheapest I could find was about $45, for one at Costco that has 2 digital strips down the front.
There's your problem. Costco is primarily where people go to buy a truckload of toilet paper and 50 lbs of frozen chicken breasts, not appliances, so their selection tends to be quite limited. They do have a pretty decent return policy and it looks like Walmart still sells your original toaster. [walmart.com]
Re: Ha ... well ... (Score:3)
Costco had a 90 day return policy with free delivery, installation and hall away. All appliances have a 2 year warranty and the extended warranty 3-5y is much cheaper than at other places
Lowe's has a 48hs return policy and the delivery, installation, hall away are usually extra.
I bought an LG oven from Lowe's a few months ago, came with a broken trim part and after a few months of back and forth with LG support they told me I should have returned it to Lowe's. Costco concierge would facilitate the resolutio
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Yeah, I was talking about the brick-and-mortar stores. If you need an appliance yesterday and are heading out to pick one up with your truck, Costco's selection is very limited.
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In the UK, which (I think that's like consumer reports in the US) has basic high performing models for £30, so 40 bucks?
With that said, it'll get near daily use and probably last a decade. Even at $200, that's 2c per slice toasted. Though apparently often the expensive toasters aren't that good.
I am shocked- (Score:2)
Drink a verification can (Score:3)
4chan shit post coming true. https://www.reddit.com/r/4chan... [reddit.com]
ChatGPT will be next.... (Score:2)
Get ready for the AI slop of ads. It's coming, and soon. Ask ChatGPT for the best fridge? "Samsung with front facing display is highly rated. Click here to buy one!"
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I tried that just for fun, and ChatGPT offered me the Samsung fridge RF65DG9H0ESR with a large vertical screen as the 2nd suggestion... Scary.
Smart / connected features longevity? (Score:3)
What's the long-term game-plan for "smart" / connected appliances? My Whirlpool refrigerator was left by the previous owner when I bought my house in 1993, so it's at least 32 years old, and we got our Kenmore washer and dryer in 1993. All three still run great. On a related note, my 2001 Civic and 2002 CR-V are still running well. Thankfully, none of my appliances/cars have this crap. Are companies planning on supporting these "smart" / connected features and touch screens for 30+ years? History so far says nope.
...Setting a nauseating lowbar to appliances (Score:2)
No funny? (Score:2)
Active "discussion", but no funny? Okay, I admit that all the jokes I can think of sound cheesy.
"Buy more cheese!" said the refrigerator. "I'm really good at storing cheese."
It's not funny because the big-cheese companies will just pay/bribe Samsung to send those messages.
ads (Score:3)
Cheap TVs (Score:2)
For me it's a okay because my TV is really just a monitor for the living room PC and handful of consoles hooked up to it. So I don't really care that if I used it for Netflix I get a bunch of ads. The TV itself never gets connected to the internet.
Where it becomes a problem with some of the appliances is that they sometimes don't have proper controls so you have to co
Futurama (Score:2)
Didn't you have ads in the 20th century?
Well, sure, but not in our dreams.
Only on TV and radio. And in magazines and movies and at ball games, on buses and milk cartons and T-shirts and bananas and written on the sky.
But not in dreams. No, sir-ee!
I must be a defective American. I don't understand why so many people tolerate ads in their Smart TV, on their Kindle sleep screen, in their children's classrooms [wikipedia.org], and now on their rather costly appliances. I don't even like having ads on paid TV or streaming services. Or ads on my web browser (that's MY bandwidth you're streaming video w/ audio ads to)
It's a twisted idea that every activity in life has to be related to marketing and commercialized. Some kind of hyper-capitalism, where we double down on con
Smart 'fridge (Score:3)
The only justification for a smart fridge that I can think of is to have it reduce the temperature of the freezer section when electricity is cheap, it can then work less hard when electricity is expensive. In order to do this properly, it needs some kind of interface so another machine can tell it that there is spare solar power at the moment etc. Obviously such a machine should have a method for setting times of day when power is cheaper, for those who have cheap rate power at night.
The amount of "smart" required is trivial and can be achieved without a screen at all. A 2x32 character display and a few buttons would suffice.
This is the sort of "smart" I want in my household appliances - features that improve performance or reduce running cost. If I want my fridge to display stuff I can simply attach my choice of display device to it... currently the display device on my fridge consists of a couple of sheets of A4 with my daughter's school timetable printed out, attached with magnets. Insanely reliable, low initial cost, no running cost, very hard to hack, doesn't "phone home" and never displays adverts.
Say NO to Samsung (Score:2)
My wife and I are looking to replace our old refrigerator. Samsung is off the list of companies to look at.
Pay the customer, then (Score:2)
Pay the customer, then, for the advertisements since it's too late to offer a discount off the price of the unit.
Maybe run ads for fridge repair techs (Score:4, Insightful)
Plan? (Score:2)
It's not a "plan" if it's already in motion.
This is just the start (Score:3)
Just wait until they activate the microphone so they can improve ad performance with spying on your conversations. (alexa does this all the time and records all of your conversations)
Re TVs that do this, easy solution... (Score:2)
Fuck you, Samsung, fuck you (Score:3)
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Now, please don't give ideas to Samsung's engineering team...
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Would you keep your voice down? Maybe they haven't thought of that yet!
Re: Tell me you don't know the US without telling (Score:2)
The way to end this is to scream bloody murder - NOT at Samsung (though it's their fault) but instead at the resellers/dealers that stock their fridges.
On the phone to Home Depot or Brand Smart or Best Buy talking to the store manager every time an ad pops up.
Sue them all (Score:2)
Including that nitwit Kevin at Worst Buy that convinced you to buy the TV and was already fired for smoking pot in the stock room.
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I had 2 GE wall ovens and an electric cooktop unit from 1968, when the house was built. It worked fine except the push button for the hood exhaust was broken, just the button and it was a pita to disassemble the thing. A few years ago, after over 50ys of service the controller board finally croaked.
We took a while but we remodeled a few months ago and upgraded to an Ikea induction cooktop and replaced the ovens with a heavily discounted unit from LG. The top oven is a microwave/convection oven for smaller s