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. phoghed · 1790258979 · focus · HN ↗

            Why not do the more labor intensive, higher energy use, higher friction, less convenient version of anything? Why automate anything?

            1. jjulius · 1790259335 · focus · HN ↗

               Why the blind insistence upon automating everything?

               1. phoghed · 1790260367 · focus · HN ↗

                  It’s not blind insistence, and that framing reveals a real lack of imagination on your part in my opinion. A truly smart fridge that had an inventory of all my stuff, knew expiration dates, etc. hooked up to my chat agent would be wonderful.

                  1. applfanboysbgon · 1790260899 · focus · HN ↗

                     Do people have the memory of a goldfish or what? "I can't remember what's in my fridge" is not a problem I've ever had in my entire life. What is there even to automate? If you were talking about a smart fridge with an accompanying robot that automatically orders groceries, picked up the deliveries itself, and stocked your fridge that'd be something, at least... still an insanely, unbelievably wasteful use of both your personal and our planet's resources to save five minutes a week, but something. But that's not even what smart fridges promise. They promise to automate looking in the fridge, an activity that you must do every time you withdraw or deposit food from/into it anyways. Wonderful.

                     1. vel0city · 1790267706 · focus · HN ↗

                        > "I can't remember what's in my fridge" is not a problem I've ever had in my entire life.

                        I take it you've only ever lived alone then? Its pretty easy for someone in my household to consume food or add food without me knowing about it. And I definitely do not take a full and complete inventory every time I open the fridge.

                        I'd find it very handy to look at a glance and see the current stock of stuff I have in my house. I definitely don't know exactly how much butter I have at the moment, I don't know what the date is on the almond milk versus the whole milk, I don't know how many string cheese sticks are left after the kids grabbed their snacks for school. I don't know exactly how much salt or pepper or smoked paprika or herbes de provence or curry powder or semi-sweet morsels or baking soda I happen to have on hand.

                        I don't know the technology to seamlessly track all of this is realistically at hand, but it sure would be nice. I do agree, every smart fridge today either doesn't even try with this or just totally sucks at it.

                        But hey I guess you just have all that data totally memorized and you're entirely omnicient about everything your household consumes. Sure seems nice.

Unofficial Hacker News client; not affiliated with Y Combinator.