Don't Buy a Refrigerator That Needs Internet Access

I feel sad that I even need to type that title. Ars Technica brings us a story of insane use of tech, and the mishaps it causes. Owners mourn spoiled food after firmware update bricks Samsung smart fridges - Ars Technica

Samsung released an update for their "Smart Fridges." It bricked the fridge. It didn't just kill the internet access for the fridge, it killed the freezing and cooling function.

Affected fridges “suddenly lost power and stopped functioning immediately after” trying to issue a firmware update through SmartThings, Samsung’s smart home platform, per Star News Korea. The SmartThings app then showed the devices as offline. Some users said that their fridge’s internal display was stuck showing the message “Checking SmartThings app during update.”

This seems to be limitied to Korea, but they were stupid enough to release the update right before a Korean holiday.

The complaints seem to originate only from Korea, where the problem has been made worse because it’s happening during a major Korean holiday, Chuseok, which celebrates the autumn harvest and starts Thursday.

“Customers only trusted Samsung Electronics and made an official update, but it is so absurd and embarrassing that they can’t even use refrigeration and refrigeration functions before the Chuseok,” a forum user wrote, per a Google-provided translation.

Samsung's "support" initially said that options were limited due to the holiday. That was before they realized they shot themselves in the head.

I don't want a smart fridge. I don't want a washing machine that connects to the internet. I want appliances that last, though as Keon notes in the video (see link below) that is from a bygone era. My position is summed up by the image below.

The hat tip goes to Kneon at Clownfish TV and the video Samsung Smart Fridges Made WORTHLESS by Update...

Why? Why? Why are we putting AI into our refrigerator?