Samsung warns customers that Smart TVs are always listening (2015) (opens in new tab)

> Imagine you didn't have to worry about security, privacy, or out-of-date hardware and software. Would you still not see any benefit to having your fridge (or coffee pot, or oven, or ...) connected to the network?

No I don't. Well I kind of do, but the cool features you'd want it for are the things everyone stops using after a day or two.

The reason the get included is to drive sales, manufacturers need a way to differentiate themselves in a saturated market, they know hardly anyone uses the features and that even if they do then they get the bonus of planned obsolescence.

> Imagine you didn't have to worry about security, privacy, or out-of-date hardware and software.

But you have to worry about this and weight cost and benefit, it's just not worth the hassle most of the time,

> But just imagine if smartphones and tablets today were in the same poor state the IoT ecosystem is currently in. There would be a non-trivial amount (more) people wondering if they were worth the trouble.

I don't need to imagine, security, privacy, or out-of-date hardware and software is a huge problem there, too.

Wouldn't a wireless keyboard that can send signals to your TV be a cheaper and less error-prone solution?

Yes, thank you for saying that. I understand that different people have different use cases, but there is an environmental cost to owning too much shit that no one talks about.

Here's an example. I own a surface pro 3, and a smartphone. The SP3 is a tablet when I want it to be one, and a proper laptop when that's what's required. My brother, by contrast, has a Fitbit smartwatch thing, an iPod for music, a kindle for books, a Nexus tablet (just for flights!), a smartphone and a laptop!

And the industry seems to insist that even this is not enough. No, clearly, we must also own wifi connected anal probes, refrigerators that tweet, and coffee machines that need firmware updates before they can give you your morning cup. How do we end this madness?!

It's an odd problem. My partner insists on keeping a shopping list. But mostly I remember what we have in the fridge and store cupboard, as I frequently cook. I don't actually forget that many items when shopping. Toothpaste I don't keep in the fridge. Being able to have a quick glance remotely could help, but I'd probably then abandon trying to remember, and it would probably take me longer. My partner recently tried a little stretch of buying online and collecting from the store. But for me, it took all the fun out of shopping. I actually enjoy strutting the supermarket - and some domestic tasks. My partner likes certainty. I like mixing things up a little.

What you can do now is do your shopping from your kitchen and get it delivered. So convenient.

It probably will just order some overpriced eggs from (and only from) the manufacturers partner store.

Of course, but I for one haven't come across a smart TV that has a decent user interface (not necessarily in features, but responsiveness). Some will regularly prompt the user to connect the device to the internet if there's no connection. There's also the issue of long startup times should the whole device be powered off.

If we're to think of this from an economist's perspective, then you would want to get an equivalent television without the voice command feature, and it would be cheaper.

I wouldn't trust that security model. Ultrasonic communication and other covert channels still provide a way to exfiltrate data. Best to remove the microphones personally.

It's just insidious though isn't it? There's a scare that we might have internet connected energy meters. You end up with dozens of devices that have connectivity and you don't actually know what they do. I have a satellite box, that I manually connect to the internet every once in a while for on demand services. But I have no idea what information it sends back. Could send back my entire viewing history for all I know. Or rather it might be collecting and storing data to later send.

I noticed my satellite box trying to pull a web page from my computer. Malware is another problem.

I presume sometime in the not too distant future, all TV's will have cameras and mics.

I wonder if dumb TV's will disappear before long?

I added it after...