Let me guess! If you try to use PiHole or some other network Adblocking mechanism, the Fridge will either brick itself OR will fail to start the compressor. Right? It’s not like that didn’t happen before, when Google Calendar went down. We all know this is going to happen, and Samsung is going to push this wide scale. The extra revenue from ad space is too irresistible to avoid doing the sensible thing.

The smartest any of my Fridges ever became was having a small computer on the front panel to record voice messages, which also doubled as the Water/Ice dispenser function selector, and to have a timer on the dispenser light so it could turn on and off automatically. That was an Amana fridge I had back in 2002, which lasted until 2019. My current fridge has a basic computer inside of it to monitor and control the interior climate, to save energy by recirculating cold air from the freezer into the Fridge, and to beep loudly if there’s a problem.

Companies are locked to Microsoft Office whether we like it or not. Many don’t seem willing to contribute to LibreOffice to make it beat out Excel in terms of performance, or to replace PowerBI, or any of the many Add-ins that are specifically written for Excel by Governments, etc.

We also both know, the moment any country or significantly large business starts talking about replacing Microsoft products, Microsoft is going to take notice and do the absolute bare minimum to save themselves. That’s what makes all of this so difficult. At least as a consumer, I’m happy to run Linux and LibreOffice on my hardware, and I’ll promote the usage of both to anyone who asks.

I say the same thing about Cisco Meraki (not Meraki Go). Who likes paying yearly for Cisco network hardware that bricks itself and takes down your network if you forget to pay the licensing? At that point it’s not even about having the support contract to get firmware updates and support. It’s just a company dragging you by the balls for recurring revenue, after you already paid for the hardware. But companies keep buying that crap because the product makes management of the hardware easy enough to make it seem valuable. I’d much rather buy Ubiquiti UniFi gear.

Gotcha. Yeah, my longest lasting Washing Machine was a Maytag or GE that ran from the mid-80s all the way to about 2005. It only died because the wash tub bearings (or whatever they are called) started to fail and leak the wash water everywhere. The wash motor was also extremely loud just before that happened, so it was either already struggling against failing parts, or, it too was failing. It survived a house move as well. Electronically, there was no computer. It was just a dial controlled machine with various cycles tied to certain positions in the dial.

After that I had a Kenmore, which died after about a decade. It, too, developed a leak in the wash tub that couldn’t be fixed effectively without effectively buying a new machine.

The LG still works today, over 10 years later.

Funny you mention the suspension going bad. The manufacturer price for suspension rods for my washing machine was $230. I was able to source the part online for about $30. All I had to do was toss in some new grease on the joints after taking the top of the machine off, and replacing each rod. The Sump Pump Motor was about $120 from the manufacturer. I sourced the same part from the upstream supplier (which, as it turns out, is used in non-LG washers as well) and that was $60.

Samsung Washers haven’t had a great reputation. A lot of people I know still recommend purchasing something like a Kenmore or Maytag, or Speed Queen. I have an LG Washer which has been pretty solid, but, yeah… repair costs if you go through a company versus doing it yourself can be insane.

My 10 year old LG Washer, to repair recently, would’ve cost around $550-$600 for Diagnostic, Repair, and parts if I went through a service center. That is the cost of a new machine. What I needed were new suspension springs (10 years of wear & tear), and a new Sump pump as the motor housing started to leak. About $100 in parts and a half hour of time. Through the repair company, the labor would’ve been half the cost. The parts? The other half.

I believe with their phones, it is because the hardware is honestly solid compared to much of the competition. Samsung phones (ESPECIALLY during the TouchWiz days) haven’t been known for having the best software.

Their TVs on the other hand, a lot of that is because they put underpowered SoCs in the TVs. Their high-end OLEDs are quite good, but that doesn’t fix the fact that Tizen is still a little clunky. Samsung LCDs on the other hand, unless you spend over $2,000 on one, tend to be junk, mostly because the backlights are too dim to accurately reproduce content except in a dark room, or because the backlights fail out too soon. You can get much better performance out of something like a TCL or Hisense for the money, as long as you have trust in those brands… being Chinese and all.

Especially lately. The screens used to just be for controlling the pump or letting the station show a silent ad or two for products in their convenience store. Or community ads.

NOW THEY BLARE RANDOM ADS AS YOU GAS UP YOUR VEHICLE.

It’s bliss after hours when the gas station is about to close and the ads stop. You can pump up in peace. Although when the ads crash the pump, have fun paying for gas.