The Chaser Report - SMART-FRIDGE: Into The Shitty-Verse | Welcome To The Future

Episode Date: September 7, 2023

Charles reviews the latest update of the Samsung Smart Fridge, and assesses with Dom how stupid the smart home ecosystem is. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Chaser Report is recorded on Gatigal Land. Striving for mediocrity in a world of excellence, this is The Chaser Report. Hello and welcome to The Chaser Report with Dom and Charles. Hello. And we're going to have another episode of Welcome to the future. And I'm staring into a video camera which makes you feel that this actually is the future. Yep. And the reason those video cameras work is because they don't contain Bluetooth. Now, fridges.

Fridges. Today we're going to have a deep dive. into the smart fridge. Oh, wow. Is that still think, something that they're trying to do? I remember many, many years ago, and we're talking about even

Chase a newspaper days, so probably 15, 20 years ago. Oh, yeah. Certainly we did a sketch. I think I wrote a sketch about the internet freak. Remember LG had an internet fridge with like a web browser

in a screen sitting on it? They still do. Don't tell me they're still trying to perfect that. Oh, yeah. Because it was the stupidest idea, imaginable, just a conceptual level. No, no. No, it's got much stupidest in the end of.

Fantastic. Let's find out why after this. Okay, so we're going to look at the Samsung fridges. Okay. Because I think that they, you know, according to all the Amazon reviews, are going to be the worst of all the fridge. Right, okay. And this was prompted by a thread.

Is that what you call them now? Like a thread. Somebody posted, this user, Shelen, posted... It was in the Threads app. In the Threads app. A screenshot that... So he just bought a new fridge the previous day. And he opened his phone up,

following morning and his fridge had just hundreds and hundreds of notifications on his phone going from the refrigerator saying home door closed refrigerator door open please close the door from the refrigerator door closed so every time door open the door it sends you a phone notification phone notification tell you to close it and that is the default setting like like you have to turn off the notification if you don't want the fridge to tell you whether Your doors open. Well, every time you open and close the door. You know what?

It was a good system, Charles. Yeah. That if you leave the fridge for, I don't know, 30 seconds or something, it beeps loudly to tell you to close it. Because that doesn't send a notification every single time the door opens. And then door closed. You know that the door is closed. You know how you know?

Because you closed it. You just closed the door. Well, anyway, so it made me go, why don't we actually have a look at the smart fridge situation in 2020? I'm amazed anyone who's still trying to make those things. is noble. So, because you've got to think about a fridge, right? Like, it's not just, it's not just a free. It's a member of an ecosystem.

Oh, that's such a good way to put it. It's part of a platform. Yeah, that's right. And so I want to look at a couple of different ways of approaching the platform because Samsung had their own ones called Family Hub 4.0. Oh, that's such a catchy note. Oh, yeah. And by all accounts, definitely don't try 3.0, 2.0 or 1.0.

But, so we'll look at that. And then we'll also look at a sort of, there's a Bosch version of that, which is sort of like an open standard. Oh, okay. So even the Samsung's can be connected to this open standard. That's called Home Connect. Right. And I think that that in some ways offers more opportunities in the smart fridge sector. Well, if I wanted a smart fridge, I definitely want to talk to my smart dishwasher and my smart washing machine.

So before we go down that path, I will just let you know, because I did look it up, how to turn off the notification. on your fridge settings if you do have the Samsung Family Hub. In fact, if you Google Smart Fridges Samsung, the first result in Google is how to turn off notifications on your phone, right? That's amazing. And you go, it's step one, tap the apps, open the Fridge Manager app in the App's app. Fridge Manager. I love there's a Fridge Manager app. And then tap Fridge Settings, and then tap Door Alarm Deactivate, and then tap Proceed.

I'm just wondering, Charles, how much management is. management there is to do of a fridge, right? My general understanding of how fridge's work is that you want them to maintain a constant temperature and keep things cold or frozen forever. What possible management do you? Well, what do you want to do beyond that? Because frankly, if I were a management consultant and I was looking at job descriptions, fridge manager is a job that I would make redundant, just on the name.

Well, this is the thing. It does seem that I don't know who. You're right. Like, who has come up with this idea that our fridge should run our lives. Because I think you're absolutely right. You've nailed exactly the problem with all these smart fridge features. Let's just go through them. Yeah, I'd love to know where is the smartness coming.

Because they're all based on the idea that, okay, you know what, I'm not spending enough time with my fridge. I want to spend more time cultivating my life around the needs of my fridge. Let's give the fridge some stickiness. Because the sticky fridge is always great. The other thing, just before we get to Home Connect, which is a far more interesting place to sort of talk about all this thing. I will just mention that, um, sorry, but as I was Googling the Samsung family, I love these moments in the podcast, yes, somebody was having troubles because the air, the air conditioner kept on sending, sending their phone, um, recipes.

They couldn't work out how to. said, had to stop their air conditioner. The air conditioner is getting snacky. Extraordinary. So you've got an uprising. And the apps had obviously never thought, oh, yeah, there needs to be a setting to stop. So you've got, so you're free, you're just sending you far too much information about whether it's open or closed.

And meanwhile, your air conditions, why does air conditions, what does it want a recipe? And what does an air conditioner want to eat? Well, I think part of it is that they've now sort of started incorporating AI. into some of these machines. Oh, we're going to have such fun with walking to the future once all this stuff starts rolling out. Yeah, so your air conditioner sort of goes, well, I noticed my fridge was getting more attention

because it's been sending recipes to... This is like my children. I'm going to get in on that. Or is it just like, you've got the heater on, therefore you probably want some soup. Oh, yeah, okay. You've got the, you know, here's an ice block recipe. Yes, exactly.

Okay. Well, maybe that does make sense. So, Charles, my memory of the internet fridge was that it had, This is the first version. Yeah. It had a couple of, you could watch TV on it, because the place you want to watch TV is standing in front of your fridge. Oh, okay.

So the latest Samsung has that capability. It's got a 21-inch screen. This is the latest Samsung smart fridge. So if you've got a very short attention span, presumably you can walk up from your couch, and the same Netflix show will then sink onto the, okay. No, because this is the thing about, and this is why you probably shouldn't buy the Samsung smart fridge.

Oh, dear. Because there's several reviews of it, including product review.org, which is quite a big website, which points out that you can't natively install the Netflix app on the latest Samsung fridge. You can install, there's a YouTube app, and there's a stripped down version of the Spotify app, but there's no Netflix. Thank goodness. Because if there's one thing I want when I'm browsing in the fridge, it's tunes. Like, you know, your average song is three or four minutes. How often do you spend three minutes at your fridge? No, but the thing is that the stripped down version of Spotify doesn't include a login setting.

Wow. So it gives you the ads version of Spotify. And so what they actually said is honestly true, they suggest the way around that problem is to instead connect your fridge using Bluetooth and use it as a Bluetooth speaker. Because the speaker is actually quite good, but you don't, you can, you should control, you know, your Spotify or whatever, from your phone. Okay. So if I'm looking at my fridge, what I'm seeing is a giant speaker,

a giant Bluetooth speaker. Yeah, yeah, with a 21-inch screen. Which is useless. Which is essentially useless. How amazing. So there's the media device. But then the other whole thing was, I just want to see if it's lived up to the promise that the theory was that you

would use the fridge to manage your shopping. So there'd be like a to-do list and try stuff. And it would potentially scan things on the way in and track them. Yes. But again, we all have smartphones now. Yes. We didn't have them when the first LG internet fridge is... Like, we actually didn't have smartphones back then

when we were doing that for CNNN. Yeah. So the question is, what can the fridge possibly do that is better than the phone that's already in your hand? Well, the answer is not a huge amount. The innovation that's happened in the last few years is they've put cameras inside the fridge. Oh, great.

So your fridge can surveil you. But apparently, so according to the Amazon reviews, the internal camera is not good. It's too low a resolution, nothing like what you see in the marketing photo. So there's a camera actually inside the fridge and tell you if the fridge is dirty or not. No, no, no, it's to show you what's in your fridge, right? So you can... Oh, so if you're at the shop, you can log into your fridge and go, oh, is there any milk left?

But, so there's a few problems with that. The first one is, it's a terrible camera. You can't actually see anything. You certainly can't see the expiry date, which is what the promise. Which is the one thing you want to know. The other thing is that you can only see a very small portion of what's in the fridge. And that's because there are things, like whatever's in front, in the front. front part of the shelf blocks the view of the rest of the fridge, right?

Right. And I don't know if you've got a fridge by mine, but like... They get quite full. Yeah, it's quite full, right. And so what you need to do, what it suggests is the only way it would be a useful function is if you sort of arranged everything in your fridge around... Sort of sideways. You know, taking into consideration the best angle for the camera.

Because you know what that makes me? It makes me a film director. Yeah, exactly. I've always wanted to think about the cinematography in my fridge. And then when you get back from a big shop, what you go is, you know what I want to do? I want to spend a lot of time thinking about the angles. I think the term is Miz en San.

It's right. The Chaser Report, now with Extra Whispers. It absolutely has an app that allows you to log everything in your fridge, which is the problem. It doesn't have a scanner, though. So what you have to do is honestly true. You have to add the items and expiry dates manually. So you have to type them in.

Using an on-screen keyboard. Yes. Which is the last thing that you want to do. when you're putting your groceries away after a big shop. So you're putting in, I don't know, a can of tuna or something, and you've got to type to in the date. And in the date. Right.

Okay. And it's saying, oh, look, in the future, there'll be an AI that works the same way as Woolies checkout. I mean, in a theory. And so that means that every time you put some bananas in the fridge, it'll log it as a can of Sprite or something. So, but I mean, in theory, you could get a delivery from Woolies and it could import the data from your last order, but I bet it can't do that now.

Yeah. And the other thing I should just note is, apparently if you've got an Android phone, logging into the phone camera via the Bixby app or something, is not too painful. Right. But if you have an iPhone, apparently it takes forever for your phone to log onto your fridge.

And so it becomes not worth it. Like, apparently you're at the store. You want to see what's in your fridge. You're better off going home. home, seeing what's in the fridge coming back. I'm fascinated just thinking of inside a fridge. Where would you put the camera so you could even see everything? Well, I think they're in the door.

Yeah, but how many of them are there? They're like a whole bunch of different cameras to see shelf? I can show. Oh, no. And you wouldn't be able to see the most important thing, which is the milk inside the fridge door. Oh, it's pathetic. Like, because the review had some screenshots and you can hardly see a thing. Like, you could just see, like, a bottle of milk and that's it.

Like, if your fridge was completely empty and you somehow forgotten that. Well, that's what happens in the product shots. They have, like, three things in the fridge, and you go, oh, that's amazing. Right. Okay. Anyway. Does it have an external camera that shoots the whole of your kitchen and allow Samsung to remotely monitor? Yes, but I'm sure it does, but it's secret.

Okay. Now, so, but let's get to Home Connect now, which is the whole platform, the ecosystem. And here are some uses that I want to give to you, because it's not just about the fridge. It's about the whole, all the appliances, right? Yeah, working together in concert. So I really strongly urge everyone. to go to the Home Connect website because you will not believe

what I'm about to tell you. You will want to see it for yourself because you will think that I'm lying. I'm not lying. This is honestly some of the use cases. So the slogan is a network full of possibility. Wow. And what they clearly haven't done much thinking about is

those possibilities, right? So the first one is, it says that you can connect your washing machine to your Fitbit. Wow. Yeah. Right. So, and they're just going to think,

although what possible reason could you want to connect your washing machine to your Fitbit? Done a big workout, got lots of sweaty clothes. Oh. Better do a wash, which is also the process of just thinking about it and putting them in the washing machine and turning it off. Yes, but why would you ever remotely need to... Oh, remotely.

Like, you know, you can remotely control. Because it's got a picture of somebody out on a jog with their Fitbit talking to their communicating with their washing machine. I suppose you could start it to wash, but just before you came home. Well, this, I think this is... Okay, so you click through. There's a part of the website. I swear this is true.

Called Possibility. Possibilities. Right. And so these are the possibilities that they propose. So I'll go through the more. Turn on the oven by your smart watch. This is like with the 50. Yeah, yeah.

While you're out on a run and come home to the smell of freshly baked warm claspol. Oh. Yeah. Thus, they're completely undoing all the benefits from the run. Okay. That sounds like me. It's sort of plausible. Yeah, I mean, like, it involves you putting the,

Quassants in the oven beforehand. And not knowing how to use the timer. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. But knowing how to install an app on your Fitbit that allows you to do that. With Home Connect, all your smart home appliances, washing machine oven, coffee machine vacuum clinic can be controlled remotely with ease.

Right. With ease. So, so, you know, you really want a coffee and you go, I don't want to get a coffee out because I'm out at the moment. I'll get the coffee machine to make me one. I'll just contact it now. and it'll make me one at home, which is where I'm not. So your coffee is...

You'll come in and all you have a cold coffee way. It's piping cold. Amazing. Well, Charles, what I'm really hoping is I'm out of my run. Yeah. And I'm just doing the, you know, up and down, just really... I can't really imagine running, but, you know... Yeah.

And you get a message saying, fridge tour is closed. Well, this is the thing. So, um... I love that. Because people are saying it would actually be useful if it had a little motor that closed the door She left the fridge door open And it was able to close it for you

But then why would it need to contact you? Why wouldn't it just close the fridge door And not bother you with that mundane thing? And I'd also want another minute later I want another update just to reassure me It was still closed and no, I'd come and open it Anyway, then the next possibility is Because they clearly are going

How we're going to fucking justify this, yeah Need to get to work But want your dishwasher to start at 2pm with Eco 50 degrees so that it's finished when you get home? No problem. With Home Connect and your smartwatch, you can set the time when your appliances should run. Use the new individual setting to make your life easier. Why wouldn't you just put the dishwasher on before you...

Before you left? Before you left. Because it's cool to use your Fitbit to do it at 2pm. But I don't understand. Who leaves the house with a full dishwasher that's completely ready to go and doesn't go, I'm going to turn on the dishwasher? who really like doing things at the last minute. But also, it's lovely.

Don't you like having a nice hot glass out of the dishwasher? To ruin the wine. Bluevine. You know what? I can think of two examples where this would be useful. The first is if you have some sort of solar array and you want things to run when they're using solar power and not, you know, power from the battery.

But the second case, and this is the thing that would be useful for me, is when I've done a load of washing, forgotten about it for several days, it smells appalling, and then it's you run again. That's the, if it popped up, and said, please, you've left this thing here for two days. It smells awful. There's mold everywhere.

But why wouldn't it, but sure. Someone has to put soap in it and run it here. Yeah, why wouldn't it send you a notification like an hour after you've done the washing? That's the only case to say, hey, by the way, because I constantly forget loads of washing. So I constantly smell like mold. It's because, yeah, it's actually not me. It's actually the clothes I forgot to wash. I was going to mention that to you.

Maybe I should just buy you a smart washing machine. A smart washing machine, yeah. Yeah. Probably because then you'll just watch YouTube on it all day. Okay, next possibility. Done with work and on your way to the grocery store, but forgot to check your fridge to see what you have left at home. This is your use case, right?

Check out where you have left via the fridge images on your smart watch and make grocery shopping easier. I'm just imagining how small. You've already sent to shit camera. I've got a one inch wide image at the fridge. And I can definitely say that we're out of pasta. And why wouldn't you use your phone? Your smartphone.

Why would you have to... Anyway, whatever. It's a very good question. You can also use your smart watch. This is the part that got me. You can also use the smart watch to adjust the temperature of your refrigerator freezer or wine cooler on the go to have your food and drinks at the perfect temperature when you get home. Now, who adjusts?

Whoever adjusts their fridge temperature. I mean, that is the one thing you don't want it to do. Yes. You want it to just keep it all. Because fridge just don't work on the fridge cool. Oh, you know what it is? You've left the fridge. But Charles, imagine, okay, I've got some cheese in the fridge, right?

Yes. I've got some delicious cheese in the fridge. Oh, I see. When I get home, I want that fridge to be room temperature. I don't want to be cold. Of course. So just turn off the power and admittedly everything else in the fridge will spoil. But the cheese will be delicious.

The milk will be undrinkable. The milk will be cheese by that stage as well. But at least I'll have the amazing mouth feel of room temperature cheese. I want all my groceries to go on. At the same time. And maybe I can have a smart alert so that five minutes after I walk out the door, the fridge switches off. Just to make it as smelly as possible. Okay.

And then the rest of them are just all about how in the future, the camera in your fridge will be able to take photos of what you have bought. And using AI, it will come up with recipes that it will then send your air conditioner. Wow. Charles, you know what? We've spent so much time pouring shit on Bluetooth. I fear we've neglected the smart home as an entire thing. I think we need to turn this into an internet of shit. Like the shittification of the internet of things.

You've heard of the internet of things. This is the internet of shite. The internet of shite. It's a great idea. Yes, okay. So do you want to run through the reviews or should we not bother? I mean, I'll just, okay, just for sense of completion, Let's just run through the reviews.

So there were no five-star reviews of the Samsung Smart Fridge. You know why? It's all written by the air conditioner wants to bring that thing down. There's 37% of them are one-star reviews. The total that it gets is 2.5 stars. And there's lots of ones which are four stars, which is like, I think that that's written by some SEO sort of thing. But the main complaints are that actually this internet fridge

is really, really hard to connect to your Wi-Fi. Oh, the one thing. Yes. It's very much in the you had one job category, right? Yeah. So if you have a router that has been bought in the last sort of seven or eight years, you probably have a router that has both 2.4 gigahertz and 5 gigahertz. Yeah.

Wi-Fi. So this Internet fridge, which was made in 2023, can't handle having the two different. Oh, so it won't work on any modern Wi-Fi. It won't work on modern Wi-Fi. But if you're the type of person who buys a smart fridge, you're not going to have modern Wi-Fi. You wouldn't have a recent router. Yeah. And then there's all these terrible things about the camera.

Just on the Wi-Fi, Charles. Yeah. You know what's really hard for Wi-Fi, actually. It's device is made out of metal. So presumably the entire fridge blocks its own Wi-Fi signal. So what you really need is a fridge made out of a different substance. Like a wooden one With no insulation

But it has good Wi-Fi signals A fridge that keeps the door open That'll be much better So there you go That's the Samsung smart Are you going to buy one? I mean You had me a Fitbit

Our gear is from Road We're part of the iconoclast network We're still willing to get a free one To review by the way Samsung If you want to send this one We will try it out Yeah And the other thing is it costs, so it's basically the same as a normal Samsung fridge,

but it costs $960 more in Australia. So there you go. You could just glue a fucking tablet to your fridge for 200 bucks. The other thing is, we did get a whole of suggestions for some amazingly good Bluetooth devices from a listener. But we'll cover them next week. Catch you then.