this post was submitted on 16 Aug 2024
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[–] [email protected] 162 points 4 months ago (4 children)

Translation:

“Fuck you for not replacing your perfectly fine and still working 10 year old machine and making our line go up more. We’re gonna do our best to brick it because we want all of your money.”

Fuck capitalism. I will (and have been) doing my absolute to avoid buying any kind of physical device that requires an app to function

[–] [email protected] 48 points 4 months ago (1 children)

I will (and have been) doing my absolute to avoid buying any kind of physical device that requires an app to function

Same. It’s becoming more difficult every day.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (1 children)

And that's so sad. There are a lot of (mainly Elderly people) who don't even have a smartphone who now often can't use the most basic stuff necessary because it needs an app.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 4 months ago (1 children)

A lot of this stuff is only useful if you have money, anyway. And poverty rates among the elderly have been climbing since the Housing Crash of '08

[–] [email protected] 8 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (2 children)

I've said this before, I'm going to say it again: people with money spend it to save time.

Managing 2FA, software updates, account signin, device pairing, billing, privacy policy updates, cookie notices.... This shit does not save people time. It does the complete opposite.

These products are not built for consumers. These products are purely anticompetitive schemes, propping up crappy business models, trying to cash in on the data harvesting gold rush.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 months ago

I've been screaming this at the top of my lungs for 20 years, and oh my god the "I told you so"'s I get to say now feel SO good.

i mean, I don't have any friends anymore, so mostly im just calling up people who hate me now and saying "I told you so", but, like I DID, so, worth.

I mean, not, like, 'worth' in the sense that anything in my life works or wasn't torn apart by my adherence to materialism and avoidance of dark patterns, but, like, you know, feels good for a few minutes when they haven't changed their number.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 months ago

These products are not built for consumers.

they're often built for investors. they are feasible enough products that some people will even buy them, so you get investors. then, the thing is always just "one more issue we need to fix" away from "mass adoption", "for real this time"... to keep milking the investors as long as possible.

[–] [email protected] 17 points 4 months ago (2 children)

if I see something requires an app, no matter how good it is otherwise. the product is dead to me. I know it is, effectively, going to break within a year or two.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 4 months ago (1 children)

I have one of these, and I use it just fine without an app fwiw

[–] [email protected] 4 points 4 months ago (2 children)

you never know for sure until you try though, so if it requires an app, it's dead to me and I don't trust anything else the company makes.

if it has an API i get very wet very fast.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 4 months ago (1 children)

That’s fair, but the point I was trying to make was that I have tried and, for the one I’ve got at least, the app isn’t required. I’m not trying to defend them or anything, I just thought it was worth mentioning.

Tbh I’m kinda glad it doesn’t have an API, because I’d end up wasting a lot of time playing with it haha.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 months ago

see, if it had an API, I could integrate it into an open smart home app, and it would be cool as FUCK.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 4 months ago (1 children)

About two phone changes ago I never reinstalled the anova app.

It's like pressing the buttons on top of the cooker with extra steps.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 months ago

yeah there are apps I want on my phone, but if anything says 'there is an app' I'm instantly averse.

even the things I do want phone apps for, I have to browse on fdroid because default options are all terrible. basic shit like file browsers and media players in commercial OS's are just, like, vile and do not function. even if I didn't care about the endoscopes they try to snake up every orifice, they are deliberately nonfunctional.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 months ago (2 children)

I'm getting that same way.

Currently trying to chase down some automatic sun shades that don't need an app to do time-based cycles. Shouldn't be this hard, but every band wants you to use absolute garbage apps.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 months ago

if its not open source; it doesn't exist.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

Switchbot (hardware) and home assistant (controlling server) might fit your needs. It still would require an app, but home assistant is self hosted and is a fantastic automation platform. It won't be as smooth as an all in one setup, but I find the tinkering is half the fun.

I've installed so many hardware items that are either "appless" and are controlled by home assistant or home assistant is compatible and replaced the app. Absolutely worth it IMO. I have been able to make a full self hosted/controlled and offline functional smart house.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 4 months ago (2 children)

Yeah, I need to start being better about this. It's a shame because I bought my joule sous vide because I like the simplicity and ability to monitor and program it remotely (helpful when cooking for 5-6h). App stopped working properly and now they've been purchased by breville and if I want to use it I need to switch and I'm guessing it won't be long before they start to drop functionallity or require some sort of subscription. There are things like this where the app is much more than a gimmick. But it sucks to have some company pulling the strings of what you can or can't do with your own hardware.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 months ago

water+heat proofing is hard, or I'd suggest a DIY solution.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 months ago

can't just root the sous vide?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 months ago

I mean it is shitty still, but people with an old device and an account already are unaffected, plus the old devices like the one I have is completely operable offline. I've not connected it to WiFi except when I first got it to check the app out.