Advice please (Poll)

[LosOjos]

But I just don't see a fridge or light bulbs needing it. It doesn't exactly take a lot to turn a light off, or switch your thermostat down if you're going away for a while.

 

Again, it's convenience. The light bulb one has an interesting security use though - away from home? Turn on the lights at night, off again when you go to bed. Looks like you're home.

 

Not necessary - just convenient.

 

I agree wholeheartedly RE the network security issues though, which is why when I do get around to setting up some home automation, I'll be doing it myself so I can make sure the device security is up to scratch.

 

Most worrying for me is that wireless home alarm systems are now incredibly popular and lots have been found to employ zero security, meaning if I wanted to break in to a house, I could rock up outside with a cheap DIY RF transmitter and turn the alarm off. Worse yet, few of them have any kind of protection from interference, meaning you could take the even less sophisticated step of flooding the atmosphere with radio signal and blocking comms between sensors and the alarm system.

[JRowley]

so fridge notices you are low on cheese and orders just that costing you more in delivery charges than the item itself is worth. It does seem like a solution to fix a non existent problem or one easily solved with a post it/list on your phone infact cortana can do this I jst tell it to remind me to buy cheese when I go to asda. Ive yet to see a use for the iot that to me dosent just smack of ooh look what we can do regardless of it it has many uses apart from remote controlling heating and debatably lighting

 

Why does it have to cost more? Say you buy your milk from a milkman, well the milkman I used to use you could order what you wanted online so it would be delivered the next morning. Where's the extra cost there? I'm just saying if you wanted to do that system properly it wouldn't cost more.

 

Also @Garacesh it's purely intended as an example, and not one I'm likely to ever be interested in, but in my case 'nipping to Tesco' is an hour round trip for me, so this sort of system could have it's uses for some people.

[Garacesh]

Why does it have to cost more? Say you buy your milk from a milkman

Be reasonable. The vast majority of people don't get their milk from a milkman. So if your fridge is buying you milk when you run out (or cheese, or butter) you're paying cost+delivery. Which item-by-item is going to cost you more, rather than if you ordered 10 items at once and paid the same delivery charge. That's what @sted is getting at.

 

but in my case 'nipping to Tesco' is an hour round trip for me

Tesco was more of an example, the point was supposed to be on 'nipping', i.e. quick journey, as the Tesco petrol station is just round the corner from me. If that's not viable, there's always corner shops or other market chains.

 

A fridge saying "Yo, you're low on milk." could be useful. But it doesn't need networking for that. A fridge saying "Yo, you ran out of milk, so I bought you some more." is a big no-no for me.

[JRowley]

I did mean nipping to the shops in general, as I don't drive I walk to the shops and the closest shops are about 20 minutes from my house. Also the fridges that do auto restock group items together so you don't end up spending a fortune as you suggest, they aren't stupid.

 

Anyway it was intended as an example of what someone might want to do. There are already fridges out there that do just this, so in some cases you might want to consider doing it.

[pcstru]

Don't own an IoT fridge myself, but it'd be damned handy if that Cortana/Siri/Calendar reminder was added automatically when my daughter used the last of the milk for her cereal so I knew to get some on the way home rather than scream blue murder that there's none for a cuppa when I get in.

 

Of course nobody needs it, but then you don't need most technology you use every day - it's about convenience.

 

LosOjos : Open the Fridge Door HAL.

HAL : I'm sorry LosOjos, I can't do that.

 

[Garacesh]

Also the fridges that do auto restock group items together so you don't end up spending a fortune as you suggest, they aren't stupid.

Their bloody security (or lack thereof) is though, which is the primary reason I wouldn't ever consider using them. The secondary reason being I'm quite happy to walk to the shops and buy my frequently used items.

[JRowley]

Their bloody security (or lack thereof) is though, which is the primary reason I wouldn't ever consider using them. The secondary reason being I'm quite happy to walk to the shops and buy my frequently used items.

 

Security and stupidity are unrelated however and I definitely agree that developers for IoT need to do a huge amount to address this.

[LosOjos]

LosOjos : Open the Fridge Door HAL.

HAL : I'm sorry LosOjos, I can't do that.

 

 

I'm planning on making the server look like a mini-HAL actually... tempting fate?

[pcstru]

I'm planning on making the server look like a mini-HAL actually... tempting fate?

If you plan to keep your milk in it, yes!

[sted]

Be reasonable. The vast majority of people don't get their milk from a milkman. So if your fridge is buying you milk when you run out (or cheese, or butter) you're paying cost+delivery. Which item-by-item is going to cost you more, rather than if you ordered 10 items at once and paid the same delivery charge. That's what @sted is getting at.

 

 

Tesco was more of an example, the point was supposed to be on 'nipping', i.e. quick journey, as the Tesco petrol station is just round the corner from me. If that's not viable, there's always corner shops or other market chains.

 

A fridge saying "Yo, you're low on milk." could be useful. But it doesn't need networking for that. A fridge saying "Yo, you ran out of milk, so I bought you some more." is a big no-no for me.

 

basically yes. sending an email/adding it to your cortana notebook is i suppose useful but as weve seen recently these things have no security so would you give it access to either of these things i can see spammers etc using them for mass spam or ddos attacks fairly easily

 

I did mean nipping to the shops in general, as I don't drive I walk to the shops and the closest shops are about 20 minutes from my house. Also the fridges that do auto restock group items together so you don't end up spending a fortune as you suggest, they aren't stupid.

 

Anyway it was intended as an example of what someone might want to do. There are already fridges out there that do just this, so in some cases you might want to consider doing it.

 

as to not being stupid they are computers they do what they are told to do. Look at my phone i left the wifi off and it decided to download 20GB of podcasts one night (its set to download 2 episodes max and there were 2 set to download) and ran through an entire months data allowance and £100 extra (ive now set the max i can go over to a fiver among other things). And if someone fires out an update to a fridge whos to say it wont do that or put 10 things on 10 different orders etc. Things being too automated is not necessarily good(thats without "hackers" say deciding to change your ordering preferences to say waitrose for a laugh rather than lidl).

[Oddbod]

Automated restocking of regularly used products, as an example.

 

Much as i’d like to do this, the thought of having to give the fridge access to the net worries me… what if it had a chat with the bathroom scales and ocado… and by mutual agreement, they decided i needed to go on a diet?

“I’m sorry, I can’t let you eat that doughnut, Dave…”

[Oddbod]

A fridge saying "Yo, you're low on milk." could be useful. But it doesn't need networking for that. A fridge saying "Yo, you ran out of milk, so I bought you some more." is a big no-no for me.

 

Yo?!

I would hope it had a better command of the Queen’s English than that… [emoji3]

Interesting question to ask the fridge salesbot…

[CyberNerd]

A topical book review of "abusing the internet of things"

 

Book Review: Abusing the Internet of Things - Slashdot