All I wanted was a cheap, solar spotlight. You know you stick it in the ground and it lights up whatever it's pointed at. Simple right. $20 and done.

NOOOOOO they are now all wifi enabled and controlled by your phone. They have 5 different colors to display and multiple patterns. OH, and this comes for the paltry price of $89.99!!!!

ARE YOU KIDDING!?!!?!

Twelve bucks at Lowe's.

Two for $15, and 200 lumens, to boot.

^ Buyer beware
Not those specifically, but the solar path lights we got at HD are already dim & don't stay on as long.
Cheap, but not long lasting.

Might spring for a wired solution later, these are at the corners of my culvert, so we don't drive off into the ditch when backing in at night.

Drives my son and me nuts as well.

We opted for a NON WiFi pellet smoker as an example. Don't need all those extraneous bells and whistles as we prefer to cook with "eyes on."

This message has been edited. Last edited by: bald1, May 26, 2023 11:30 AM

Milwaukee power tools. Do I really need a wifi enabled impact wrench that I can program with my smart phone? Nope, I don’t.

The motorcycle safety airbag vest I discussed in another thread? WiFi enabled! And a subscription based phone app, too.
Better road rash through technology!

The whole point of being Wi-Fi enabled everything is to get you to create an account. This is twofold. One is so they can sell your data. Two is subscription models. Corps want people to get used to paying for access to tools/services they already own. Hell they got subscription models for heated seats in cars YOU own. Eventually you’ll need an account just to have access to your Milwaukee impact.

How else would they be able to track you?

quote:

Originally posted by .38supersig:
How else would they be able to track you?

I agree. Looks like George Orwell was correct!

The friggen stove and fridge we bought for our new kitchen has Wi-Fi, SMDH

I still have not set it up and probably never will

They’re everywhere.

quote:

Originally posted by PASig:
The friggen stove and fridge we bought for our new kitchen has Wi-Fi, SMDH

Our stove, clothes washer, and clothes dryer are all WiFi-enabled and I connected 'em.

It's handy for knowing when the oven pre-heat is done, something's done baking, the timer is done, the washer or dryer are about done, etc. My wife wasn't interested until I enabled the stuff and showed her how useful it could be to her. Now she loves it.

We get a lot more use out of those than we would, for example, a WiFi-connected thermostat.

I took out my fancy home thermostat & went back to a simple dial. OBTW, I have a woodstove also.

Who wants to fiddle on the phone with apps all day? I’ll let the younger people do that.

quote:

Originally posted by ensigmatic:

quote:

Originally posted by PASig:
The friggen stove and fridge we bought for our new kitchen has Wi-Fi, SMDH

Our stove, clothes washer, and clothes dryer are all WiFi-enabled and I connected 'em.

It's handy for knowing when the oven pre-heat is done, something's done baking, the timer is done, the washer or dryer are about done, etc. My wife wasn't interested until I enabled the stuff and showed her how useful it could be to her. Now she loves it.

We get a lot more use out of those than we would, for example, a WiFi-connected thermostat.

Now that's interesting.

I bought a matching suite of Whirlpool kitchen appliances when we remodeled a few years ago. The microwave will tell me when it's done (which I find annoying, but haven't bothered to disconnect yet). The oven is supposed to connect, but only for the purpose of keeping the clock set correctly. I've never been able to get it to work, however.

What I'd REALLY like is for our washer and dryer to connect (especially if I could program and re-start dryer cycles remotely), but I bought those around the same time as the kitchen appliances based on performance and reviews, and they don't have any "smart" features. Oh well.

As for the thermostat - I installed an Ecobee3 Lite and use it now and then to adjust the temp without having to go to the thermostat (or if we've been away before we get back home - that sort of thing).

-Rob

quote:

Originally posted by Vgex:
The whole point of being Wi-Fi enabled everything is to get you to create an account. This is twofold. One is so they can sell your data. Two is subscription models. Corps want people to get used to paying for access to tools/services they already own. Hell they got subscription models for heated seats in cars YOU own. Eventually you’ll need an account just to have access to your Milwaukee impact.

I don’t mind the WiFi enabled, but as you’ve pointed out, that usually means your WiFi has to be connected to the internet and you have to have an account.

Our whole house generators up in MI are WiFi enabled and there’s a great app that lets you see all sorts of stats and lets you do some diagnostics. Or it would, if we had internet up there.

Connectivity can be an useful utility but in many cases it can be a useless novelty made just for promotion/sales.
This is especially evident with phone apps and a lot of those are just mechanisms to force ads upon you, charge you for ad opt-outs or to charge you for subscriptions, data mine your every movement.
Or all of the above.

quote:

Originally posted by bald1:
We opted for a NON WiFi pellet smoker as an example. Don't need all those extraneous bells and whistles as we prefer to cook with "eyes on."

I am very much the luddite, but I have to say that having my grill app on the phone is pretty dang handy, especially in the winter.

quote:

Originally posted by smschulz:
Connectivity can be an useful utility but in many cases it can be a useless novelty made just for promotion/sales.
This is especially evident with phone apps and a lot of those are just mechanisms to force ads upon you, charge you for ad opt-outs or to charge you for subscriptions, data mine your every movement.
Or all of the above.

I think that covers it pretty well .

The Toilet and Its Role In the Internet of Things

Wired Article

Research "The Internet of Things" (IoT) and who is pushing it and you'll have the answer.

Here is a link to get you started.

https://www.weforum.org/agenda...-internet-of-things/