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Hmmm... Of all the nutty stuff mentioned here a TV is the only thing I would LIKE to have connected. It can be quite handy for watching various broadcaster-"play" services, film channels, or even just your home media center or whatnot. Much nicer methinx than cluttering your rooms with Chromecasts, Apple TVs, media computers wired to the TV. Plus an elephantload of remote controls.
[The "media centre" if I had one in my home would be zero clutter, it would be a server at the back of a closet  ]
... such stuff as dreams are made on
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megaadam wrote: It can be quite handy for watching various broadcaster-"play" services, film channels, or even just your home media center or whatnot.
I don't use streaming services, so this is not applicable to me.
megaadam wrote: Plus an elephantload of remote controls.
I have a single remote that controls all five of my devices.
".45 ACP - because shooting twice is just silly" - JSOP, 2010
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You can never have too much ammo - unless you're swimming, or on fire. - JSOP, 2010
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When you pry the gun from my cold dead hands, be careful - the barrel will be very hot. - JSOP, 2013
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John Simmons / outlaw programmer wrote: We just bought a 4k smart TV, a 4k Blu-ray player, and a new home theater receiver, all of which allow connection to the internet. I refuse to do that.
You should like this one then.
My folks have a Sony[*] 3D TV (from back when 3D was starting to become a craze again). They're not into buying movies, so every once in a while they had a look at one of the built-in apps that showcases the TV 3D's feature. Every few weeks there would be a couple of new short videos.
Then at one point after some update the app just disappeared altogether. They haven't watched any 3D content since, except when I brought them one of my own Blu-ray 3D discs (which I have exactly 4 of).
[*] Not based on my recommendation - I've been boycotting everything Sony for at least two decades.
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Yep.
I work with a guy who has an internet enabled washing machine.
I genuinely wish that I was making that up!
98.4% of statistics are made up on the spot.
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Point, what the heck use is it. The famous 'well, I can tell when the washing is done' can be countered with 'so can I when it stops making sounds' lets not get into the whole thing of some nasty person sitting outside ready to pick up and spoof my IP...
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Well, I did ask him whether it could go upstairs and pick up the washing but apparently it can't. And, let's be honest, it's a brave soul who leaves a washing machine running when they're not around to keep an eye on it. So, yes, I'm kind of stumped as to any purpose other than making life easier for hackers.
98.4% of statistics are made up on the spot.
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Would be nice if you could just turn off the smart portion of any IoT/Smart device and have it function as a normal X. Or better yet, just be able to buy a non-smart whatever! Hybrid vehicles don't suddenly fail when their battery stops holding a charge (at least not yet), the gas mileage they get just drops.
Case in point, my currently place of residence utilizes a robotic parking system. It is nice because there is no way for the idiot next to me to ding my car with their doors. It sucks because it goes on the fritz every two or three days, sometimes 5 or 10 minutes and other times for hours! It needs an analog backup for when the "smart" system fails.
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RJOberg wrote: Case in point, my currently place of residence utilizes a robotic parking system. It is nice because there is no way for the idiot next to me to ding my car with their doors. It sucks because it goes on the fritz every two or three days, sometimes 5 or 10 minutes and other times for hours! It needs an analog backup for when the "smart" system fails.
This also precludes movie companies from making those exciting car-chase-through-the-parking-garage scenes. Automated life is f*ckin boring.
".45 ACP - because shooting twice is just silly" - JSOP, 2010
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You can never have too much ammo - unless you're swimming, or on fire. - JSOP, 2010
-----
When you pry the gun from my cold dead hands, be careful - the barrel will be very hot. - JSOP, 2013
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John Simmons / outlaw programmer wrote: This also precludes movie companies from making those exciting car-chase-through-the-parking-garage scenes.
Funny you should mention that, couple of weeks back someone wasn't paying attention and was still in his car when the system began to park. It takes 8-10 minutes with nothing triggering the bay's sensors for this to occur, so he was distracted in his car for a while.
Guy panicked and ended up driving partway off the 'sled' before the elevator started to move back up and lifted the rear of his car. He got out when it was tilted up at almost 45 degrees. Very narrowly avoided being crushed when it slammed down on top of him once it finally slipped off the end of the elevator platform. Car was totaled and it destroyed one of the robots. Took the garage out of commission for almost an entire day.
If the elevator were a bit faster, I could see doing a pretty nifty car-chase scene through it with the multiple levels.
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The "Flippy" robot was taken offline because it was too slow as well.
".45 ACP - because shooting twice is just silly" - JSOP, 2010
-----
You can never have too much ammo - unless you're swimming, or on fire. - JSOP, 2010
-----
When you pry the gun from my cold dead hands, be careful - the barrel will be very hot. - JSOP, 2013
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RJOberg wrote: Would be nice if you could just turn off the smart portion of any IoT/Smart device and have it function as a normal X. Or better yet, just be able to buy a non-smart whatever!
Heck I'd line up to buy a TV without even a tuner and speakers - just give me a large number of inputs and outputs. As far as I'm concerned, that should be the extent of a TV's job - it needs to do that, and do it well, and nothing else. That'd be a winner in my book.
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dandy72 wrote: I'd line up to buy a TV without even a tuner and speakers
These days that's called a monitor. Modern TV's are simply a monitor plus enough computer/IO to handle the various input sources and formats, along with an audio subsystem.
Software Zen: delete this;
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Exactly. I want a monitor and nothing more. It's the "everything else" they throw in that turns perfectly good "monitors" into "smart TVs" that are obsolete after a few years. The less of that extra hardware, the better.
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I remember hearing a debate a good while ago where the claim was that even Apple's top-of-the-line gold watch, which retailed for something like $15K, was going to be completely worthless in a few short years because the OS/electronics would quickly become completely obsolete, unlike a traditional watch that can be handed down for generations. After a few years, it'd only be good for melting down for the actual gold.
Can anyone honestly find an argument against that? Who wants a 10-year old smartwatch? (or a brand new one for that matter, IMO, but that's another debate)
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BryanFazekas wrote: Let's say I buy a "smart" refrigerator. 3 years (or 5 or 7) from now the vendor says, "sorry, we're no longer supporting that model".
Does this mean I need to replace a working refrigerator because I can't update the software?
It's worse than that. You can continue to use that senile refrigerator as long as you don't mind it's senility. However, since the smarts of that refrigerator are also the smarts controlling its cooling functions, when the manufacturer abandons the platform, they will start releasing updates that stop supporting it's hardware, eventually they'll get to a point where it stops supporting refrigeratory things, like running the compressor.
You scoff now, but this is the Apple and Windows 10 plan, and they've already started putting it into action -- people with older hardware are finding they get updates forced on them that make their hardware stop functioning. Are you sure vendors of other platforms won't follow Microsoft's lead? After all, it is a good way to boost sales.
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patbob wrote: You scoff now,
I don't see anyone scoffing. If anything, the vast majority of replies agree.
I've had major appliances last 12-18 years. Current manufacture of any major appliance is lower in quality -- I'm expecting half the life span from my current appliances. There's no doubt in my mind that the vendors will happily produce the situation for a 3 year replacement cycle.
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Reduced life because the manufacturing quality is lower, yes, people are annoyed, but accepting that. But things like major appliances haven't yet had a reduced life because the manufacturer intentionally unintentionally made them stop working. I think that people are accepting that that's just the way things are going to be, rather than fight it.
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I want any type of credit or debit cards real time offers data in my .net application, Any API for that
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Yes, just Google "Nigerian prince", and all will be revealed.
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This brought a smile to my face for 12.3 seconds. 
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Slacker007 wrote: 12.3 seconds
Is that a record?
Everyone is born right handed. Only the strongest overcome it.
Fight for left-handed rights and hand equality.
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There it is again...record extended?
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Excellent answer, but really smart people will also include the term "urgent" in their search.
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Tsk, tsk. You must try to keep up, and get down with the kidz.
Everybody knows it's "URGNTZZZZZ!!!!!" because it's quicker to type...
Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...
AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!
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