Author Topic: CES Was Full of Useless Robots and Machines That Don’t Work  (Read 3574 times)

SwissVee

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CES Was Full of Useless Robots and Machines That Don’t Work
« on: January 15, 2018, 03:23:38 AM »
https://www.thedailybeast.com/ces-was-full-of-useless-robots-and-machines-that-dont-work

Saw this article being discussed on Hacker News, and thought it would make for good fodder here.

Why do you think designers and tech people have lost all imagination and seem to be driving full throttle towards the Internet Of Shit world where you can't get coffee if you're not connected to the internet, and your expensive gadget stops to work when the company inevitably goes bust or stops supporting the software after two years?

zolotiyeruki

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Re: CES Was Full of Useless Robots and Machines That Don’t Work
« Reply #1 on: January 15, 2018, 07:51:15 AM »
I must be getting old, because I see a lot of this tech as a hammer in desperate search of a nail.  Cool tech, sure, but mostly useless, at least in its current state.  I guess it's the idea of "sufficiency"--what I have works quite well, thankyouverymuch, and I'm not interested in spending lots of money to solve a problem that resides somewhere in the region between nonexistence and inconsequentiality.

Camarillo Brillo

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Re: CES Was Full of Useless Robots and Machines That Don’t Work
« Reply #2 on: January 15, 2018, 08:04:14 AM »
Yep, some of the innovation is ridiculous and pointless. For example, when I see the huge tablets built in to the Samsung refrigerators I want to cringe.  I don't give a flip about looking up a recipe or creating a shopping list while standing in front of that fridge.  There are far better ways to do those things.

But, on the other hand, when I see dishwashers have the ability to send an alert to a smartphone when it's starting to leak on a hardwood floor, or when I see pill bottles send an alert when an elderly person misses an important dose, that's pretty darn useful and cool. 

At some point, the useful applications will emerge and overshadow the ridiculous ones.

In the meantime, some of you guys can still rant about how your old horse does everything a car does, and yell at those little bastards to get off your lawn : - )

Rockne

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Re: CES Was Full of Useless Robots and Machines That Don’t Work
« Reply #3 on: January 15, 2018, 08:16:45 AM »

In the meantime, some of you guys can still rant about how your old horse does everything a car does, and yell at those little bastards to get off your lawn : - )

If that ball comes over my fence one more time, I'm keeping it!

MgoSam

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Re: CES Was Full of Useless Robots and Machines That Don’t Work
« Reply #4 on: January 15, 2018, 10:01:23 AM »

In the meantime, some of you guys can still rant about how your old horse does everything a car does, and yell at those little bastards to get off your lawn : - )

If that ball comes over my fence one more time, I'm keeping it!

You're killing me smalls!

NorthernBlitz

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Re: CES Was Full of Useless Robots and Machines That Don’t Work
« Reply #5 on: January 15, 2018, 10:48:58 AM »
https://www.thedailybeast.com/ces-was-full-of-useless-robots-and-machines-that-dont-work

Saw this article being discussed on Hacker News, and thought it would make for good fodder here.

Why do you think designers and tech people have lost all imagination and seem to be driving full throttle towards the Internet Of Shit world where you can't get coffee if you're not connected to the internet, and your expensive gadget stops to work when the company inevitably goes bust or stops supporting the software after two years?

Because holding your customers hostage is a good business model (see cable companies / ISPs).

mustachepungoeshere

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Re: CES Was Full of Useless Robots and Machines That Don’t Work
« Reply #6 on: January 15, 2018, 12:56:28 PM »

In the meantime, some of you guys can still rant about how your old horse does everything a car does, and yell at those little bastards to get off your lawn : - )

If that ball comes over my fence one more time, I'm keeping it!

You're killing me smalls!

Hey, you wanna s'more?

nobody123

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Re: CES Was Full of Useless Robots and Machines That Don’t Work
« Reply #7 on: January 15, 2018, 01:54:04 PM »
I must be getting old, because I see a lot of this tech as a hammer in desperate search of a nail.  <snip>

Ha!

I work for a company that is heavily into the IoT space.  The real value in having a connected appliance is marketing.  The product registration post cards that are in the packaging have something like a 10% rate of actually being filled out.  The company then has to pay for a survey to be run against those that return those cards to ask for data, which is not necessarily representative of the customer base.  Now, you hook your fancy coffee pot to your WiFi so you can turn it on or off from bed via your iPhone.  The stupid app that has no real game-changing value for the end consumer.  But, that now lets the manufacturer gain a whole lot of usage data about that coffee pot.  How many cups do you brew a day, how hot you like the water, how often do you turn it off/on, what days of the week do you use it, brew cycles until failure, etc.

Lets say they find out that 90% of their customers never set the water temperature higher than 150F.  Well, they can move to a cheaper heating element that only goes from 100 - 180 instead of up to 200F.  They can sell your address to a coffee company to send targeted ads because they know there is a coffee drinker there.  They can send you an ad for their latest model that has enhanced functionality for the features you use a month or so before they predict yours will break.  Based on your usage pattern, the app can suggest a purchase of coffee / actually perform the transaction.  Lots of possibilities...

Cowardly Toaster

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Re: CES Was Full of Useless Robots and Machines That Don’t Work
« Reply #8 on: January 15, 2018, 04:48:08 PM »
I must be getting old, because I see a lot of this tech as a hammer in desperate search of a nail.  <snip>

Ha!

I work for a company that is heavily into the IoT space.  The real value in having a connected appliance is marketing.  The product registration post cards that are in the packaging have something like a 10% rate of actually being filled out.  The company then has to pay for a survey to be run against those that return those cards to ask for data, which is not necessarily representative of the customer base.  Now, you hook your fancy coffee pot to your WiFi so you can turn it on or off from bed via your iPhone.  The stupid app that has no real game-changing value for the end consumer.  But, that now lets the manufacturer gain a whole lot of usage data about that coffee pot.  How many cups do you brew a day, how hot you like the water, how often do you turn it off/on, what days of the week do you use it, brew cycles until failure, etc.

Lets say they find out that 90% of their customers never set the water temperature higher than 150F.  Well, they can move to a cheaper heating element that only goes from 100 - 180 instead of up to 200F.  They can sell your address to a coffee company to send targeted ads because they know there is a coffee drinker there.  They can send you an ad for their latest model that has enhanced functionality for the features you use a month or so before they predict yours will break.  Based on your usage pattern, the app can suggest a purchase of coffee / actually perform the transaction.  Lots of possibilities...

The Illuminati just called and said to stay right where you are.

WhiteTrashCash

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Re: CES Was Full of Useless Robots and Machines That Don’t Work
« Reply #9 on: January 15, 2018, 09:11:56 PM »
It kind of reminds me of infomercials where bumbling everymen and everywomen can't do simple tasks without a new gadget.

There's so much useless technological crap out there these days. We're solving nonexistent problems and wasting potential on cynical attempts to cheat venture capitalists out of their investment cash. It reminds me a lot of the insanity that happened before the Dot Com Crash back in the day.

I'd like to remind everyone that instead of moon colonies we got the Juicero.

zolotiyeruki

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Re: CES Was Full of Useless Robots and Machines That Don’t Work
« Reply #10 on: January 16, 2018, 07:31:42 AM »
It kind of reminds me of infomercials where bumbling everymen and everywomen can't do simple tasks without a new gadget.

There's so much useless technological crap out there these days. We're solving nonexistent problems and wasting potential on cynical attempts to cheat venture capitalists out of their investment cash. It reminds me a lot of the insanity that happened before the Dot Com Crash back in the day.

I'd like to remind everyone that instead of moon colonies we got the Juicero.
A moon colony is also a hammer looking for a nail :)