Thread

1. 9cb14c1ec0 · 1790257028 · focus · HN ↗

   Meanwhile, my non-smart fridge continues to run just fine. Why do we need smart fridges? That was always a bad idea.

   1. Legend2440 · 1790258111 · focus · HN ↗

      The trouble is that 'smart fridges' turn out to be just a regular fridge with an android tablet on the front. Which is useless.

      I would love a fridge with a camera inside and a smart enough AI to tell me (1. what's in the fridge (2. how long it's been there and (3. what I've eaten from it. Some companies have tried making this kind of fridge, but AFAIK they don't work very well.

      1. anentropic · 1790258171 · focus · HN ↗

         Why not just open the door and have a look in the fridge?

         1. Legend2440 · 1790258206 · focus · HN ↗

            ...while I'm at the grocery store on my way home from work?

            1. [deleted] · 1790258326 · focus · HN ↗

               [deleted]

            2. juvvel · 1790258373 · focus · HN ↗

               1. Look in fridge before work 2. Add any missing items to shopping list 3. Reference said list on the way home from work

               1. dotancohen · 1790258764 · focus · HN ↗

                  1. When you finish the milk, voice record "buy milk" on the phone.

                  2. At supermarket, listen to voice recordings.

                  I'm actually working on a pet project to transcribe my 20 years of voice recordings and organise them, then sync them between the phone and desktop. Maybe in the coming weeks I'll know that I needed milk in October 2008.

                  1. stackskipton · 1790259519 · focus · HN ↗

                     I mean, there are plenty of voice assistants these days. We use our Alexa for this but both Siri and Gemini could easily do it. Whenever we run low on something, "Alexa, add milk to our shopping list" and then can look at application at grocery store.
                  2. vel0city · 1790268462 · focus · HN ↗

                     And what happens when its your kid who finishes the milk and doesn't mention it to you?

                     Or you didn't finish the milk, but didn't realize it had gone bad until after you got home with ingredients for a meal depending on milk.

                     1. asdff · 1790284225 · focus · HN ↗

                        Have a shared shopping list with the family. Teach your kid to put the milk on the list after they finish it. Be at least somewhat aware of how old your food is. Problem solved. Somehow we managed this model for a century.

                        1. vel0city · 1790303016 · focus · HN ↗

                           Somehow we also managed to get by before we had pretty much any kind of technology. Somehow we managed without trains, somehow we managed without telecommunications, somehow we managed without refrigeration, somehow we managed without websites and forums.

                           Maybe we could do better. Maybe we can automate this as well.

                           1. asdff · 1790310560 · focus · HN ↗

                              Yup, end game is becoming a Guild Navigator. Obese, immobile, suspended in a tank full of dopamine. Why beat around the bush with all this doing stuff and using our limbs or god forbid thinking? Straight to the neurotransmitters, pure efficiency.

                              1. vel0city · 1790337709 · focus · HN ↗

                                 I take it you don't bother writing things down, wouldn't want to have the paper take the place of your own memory turning your brain to mush right?

                                 And obviously you just walk anywhere and everywhere. Wouldn't want your legs to grow feeble and useless. Even riding a bicycle is reducing how much exercise you'd get otherwise, it's simply a tool for the weak.

                     2. dotancohen · 1790287025 · focus · HN ↗

                        Well, then, of your cows can only be milked on the 'morn you'll have to do with milking one of the goats.
               2. mingus88 · 1790258901 · focus · HN ↗

                  I think the point is these devices sell some kind of convenience. Anyone who grew up of a certain time is seduced with this idea of our world being perfectly in tune with our needs, like the Jetsons.

                  Now we have generations of people who grew up with surveillance capitalism and broken promises I wonder what the next big wave will be

               3. pessimizer · 1790261036 · focus · HN ↗

                  I instead use the technology of "whiteboard on fridge, where I write what I want or what is running out." That way it works when I didn't even plan to shop, because I vaguely remember what's on the whiteboard on the fridge.
            3. matsemann · 1790258624 · focus · HN ↗

               I'm biased working for an online grocer, but isn't the problem really that you are in a store making the decision instead of in your kitchen at home? Half the goods I buy anyways aren't in a fridge, so a smart fridge only solves parts of the problem.

               1. jjulius · 1790258948 · focus · HN ↗

                  Yeah, if the argument truly is, "I want to be able to know everything I need to buy for cooking," then you need "smart" everything - cabinets, bread baskets, a way of analyzing the produce sitting in a bowl on the counter, pantries, freezers, and so on.

                  Perhaps it's because I'm the cook of the family, but to my mind, if you're in your kitchen on a daily basis, it's incredibly easy to have a strong idea of what you have at home when you're at the store. It's never perfect and once in a while you double up or miss things, but that's life!

                  1. bluGill · 1790260702 · focus · HN ↗

                     I'm not the only cook in my family though. Last two nights I made dinner, but Monday my wife did. I'm not sure who will cook tonight (I need to get my kids to start doing more of that). The result of that is nobody knows exactly what the other person used up.

                     We do have a shared shopping list. If I remember I'll put things I use up on the list, but often I'm busy at the time I notice because the thing on the stove needs to be stirred constantly... Last night I used one can of beans leaving two more - I didn't put beans on the list, but maybe I should have. Overall this system is working, but it is annoying and sometimes not ideal.

                     1. jjulius · 1790263099 · focus · HN ↗

                        >I'm not the only cook in my family though. Last two nights I made dinner, but Monday my wife did. I'm not sure who will cook tonight (I need to get my kids to start doing more of that). The result of that is nobody knows exactly what the other person used up.

                        My wife cooks sometimes too, but usually it's fairly easy for me to observe what she made and have a good sense of what went into the meal.

                        >We do have a shared shopping list. If I remember I'll put things I use up on the list, but often I'm busy at the time I notice because the thing on the stove needs to be stirred constantly... Last night I used one can of beans leaving two more - I didn't put beans on the list, but maybe I should have. Overall this system is working, but it is annoying and sometimes not ideal.

                        Same for us. I wanted to make pinto bean tacos last night but forgot the pinto beans at the store last weekend, because I'd assumed we'd had some. We used it as an opportunity to pivot and have a random meal that involved using up extras in our pantry and freezer. Life will always have annoying moments that aren't always ideal, there's no amount of automation that will eliminate them. It's good for us to experience those moments and use them as growth opportunities (not saying you don't, I'm just speaking generally here).

                        1. bluGill · 1790285884 · focus · HN ↗

                           Last night I was cooking while my wife took my kids to practice - they got home just as I was putting everything on the above. In short she couldn't observe everything. This happens commonly in my house these days.
                     2. asdff · 1790284393 · focus · HN ↗

                        > Overall this system is working, but it is annoying and sometimes not ideal.

                        And costs you nothing. Is easy to roll out. Doesn't ever need replacement. Doesn't ever fall apart. Lasts forever.

                        The smart fridge will also screw up and not get it all right 100% of the time. And for that, it will cost you handsomely, will be difficult to implement in all your kitchen, will need constant replacement, will fall apart, will not last forever.

                        Framed like this, the smart solution is actually worse.

                        1. bluGill · 1790285680 · focus · HN ↗

                           I remember when someone got a car to 100k miles - they called all their friends to see the car turn over to all 0's. They had to add oil before they left, and drove off in a cloud of smoke. They had to avoid puddles or the spray through the floors would get mud all over everybody...

                           Point is things advance. the first iteration might be as bad as you say, but they are likely to fix the bugs and make it better over time.

                           1. asdff · 1790285947 · focus · HN ↗

                              Well you are still paying orders of magnitude more than a pen and paper grocery list. For what in my mind is no new real functionality. Just the ability to get a bit lazier and think a bit less. I don't know about you but I'm trying not to get senile here. Thinking is actually a good thing, not a chore. A muscle that isn't under use atrophies.
            4. netrap · 1790258743 · focus · HN ↗

               makes me wonder maybe if NFC/RFID strips were cheap enough you could have all the items tagged in the house and your phone could tell you what you have.. but probably causes e-waste though

               1. vel0city · 1790268653 · focus · HN ↗

                  The other problem is that just an equivalent barcode but NFC product tag isn't going to tell you that you're down to half a stick of butter, it'll just say you have butter. And that's assuming you keep the packaging.

                  Anything you've prepared at home will also not be tracked by such a system.

            5. crisnoble · 1790259088 · focus · HN ↗

               Everyone is arguing over a feature that this fridge does not have.

               1. phoghed · 1790260655 · focus · HN ↗

                  And everyone is aware of that, because it was explicitly stated by the commenter that kicked this off, /user?id=Legend2440

                  It’s “wouldn’t this hypothetical feature be great” vs “my feeble mind cannot even imagine why anyone would ever want that”

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