• Boomer Humor Doomergod
    link
    fedilink
    English
    1509 days ago

    I have a Traeger and saved $200 because it was the model without WiFi.

    I made a delicious turkey breast on Independence Day

      • rem26_art
        link
        fedilink
        749 days ago

        DRM Ribs. The Salmonella will not die until you pay for Traeger’s $19 a month subscription

          • @[email protected]
            link
            fedilink
            38 days ago

            I’m an immigrant (not a refugee to be clear) and this excerpt absolutely nails the camaraderie aspect of it and the way that living in immigrant neighborhoods/buildings feels. Turns out, Doctorow’s father was born in a refugee camp.

          • @[email protected]
            link
            fedilink
            5
            edit-2
            8 days ago

            Wow, that’s super-topical in more ways than I had expected. The more I read, the more scarily insightful it gets.

            spoiler
            • The main character being a refugee, with almost all that entails (can’t blame Doctorow for not anticipating it getting this bad)
            • The dystopian collusion between the appliance-rentiers and the landlord, as well as the climax hinging on lack of tenant protections
            • The way capitalism attempts to subsume all critique.

            This is a story that’s important, that everybody needs to read.

        • @[email protected]
          link
          fedilink
          English
          37 days ago

          The Salmonella will not die until

          Oops, RnD team accidentally created indestructible Salmonella bacteria which consumes flesh. Management was pushing RnD to create a better bacteria because hobbyist grill people were killing the bacteria and bypassing the DRM on the grill, but it escaped the lab. It has infected nearly all animals other than sea fish because of proximity. Survivors build floating cities on the sea and thus we have Waterworld!

        • ssɐqɯnᗡ
          link
          fedilink
          English
          38 days ago

          Someone’s gonna crack that shit and release it as a spice and when you open it a cool as fuck midi techno track plays while you crack your ribs.

        • Midnight Wolf
          link
          fedilink
          English
          38 days ago

          Skill issue. I eat my food raw. The explosive shits are just me speedrunning my bathroom breaks. Efficiency baby!

      • Match!!
        link
        fedilink
        English
        99 days ago

        raw shrimp on a grill staying completely uncooked next to grilled chicken and steak because you don’t have the DRM for SeaPak©️ shrimp (photorealistic, art station, comedy, vivid)

  • @[email protected]
    link
    fedilink
    728 days ago

    I’m an IT nerd but they could not pay me to buy a grill that requires software updates. What a bunch of nonsense.

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      12
      edit-2
      8 days ago

      I will never need a wifi connected kitchen appliance. A grill fits that category. My grill is a disposable item I buy one every four or five years.

      None of my go to devices are internet connected. Not my TV screens. Not my toothbrush. My daily driver is a 2009 Toyota. Its great. No screens and easy to fix.

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        168 days ago

        Just out of curiosity… What are you doing to your grill that you need a new one every few years? Mine is prob. 10 years old and still no reason in sight to replace it.

        • @[email protected]
          link
          fedilink
          English
          98 days ago

          As someone in the PNW, there is not much you can do if you don’t bring the dang thing indoors that won’t leave the thing a pile of rust in 5 years.

          I am trying with a specific form of stainless to see if it makes a difference.

          • @[email protected]
            link
            fedilink
            28 days ago

            Nah, just give it the rattle can and paint it every now and then. “Once dor dust, twice for rust.”

            • @[email protected]
              link
              fedilink
              English
              68 days ago

              Someone will knock it over at some point within five years turning it into a sad jigsaw puzzle.

          • @[email protected]
            link
            fedilink
            68 days ago

            I see, yes i also have a stainless steel one, which is outdoors all year. Good luck, i suspect you might have just solved your “grill consumption” :)

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      English
      148 days ago

      Sending a temp updates to your phone so you don’t have to be standing near it the whole time is a nice feature.

      • Lv_InSaNe_vL
        link
        fedilink
        8
        edit-2
        8 days ago

        My dad’s smoker is also able to set key frames so you can have it ramp up or down in temp at various points while cooking. And it can either be set to change temp at a time or when one of the probes reaches a certain temp. Plus he really likes being able to monitor it from his iPad, especially in the winter or if he has to run up to the store real quick.

      • Ghostalmedia
        link
        fedilink
        English
        28 days ago

        It’s better to just purchase a temperature probe with wifi. Those are handy as hell.

        • @[email protected]
          link
          fedilink
          English
          18 days ago

          I don’t think it’s better. It’s a different way to achieve that, but there is nothing inherently bad with whatever appliance that can do more than one thing. We shouldn’t expect the makers to be satisfied with the shitty job at programming damn things however.
          I do want all my appliances to have wireless connection, I do want to talk to my kettle and set my oven temp on my phone.

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        28 days ago

        I agree, but that should be a separate device. One that I can use in any grill or oven. There’s no reason for the grill itself to have that feature, especially if it can potentially brick the whole thing.

        • @[email protected]
          link
          fedilink
          English
          18 days ago

          Iirc, you can also control the temp, presumably by interacting with the pellet hopper or fan. This will be specific enough for a BBQ that an integrated component makes sense.

          • @[email protected]
            link
            fedilink
            17 days ago

            I can see the appeal. I’ve just had bad experiences with devices that use digital controls, and you necessarily need digital controls if you’re going to automate these things. Everything breaks eventually, but simpler devices can usually be easily fixed whereas anything that relies on specialized circuit boards are outside of my wheelhouse. I would be much more comfortable with owning one of these if they released information on how these circuits worked so that replacements can be made even if the company disappears.

            • @[email protected]
              link
              fedilink
              English
              17 days ago

              That’s reasonable. I, too, like to keep things low tech as much as possible. But I also recognize that there is a legitimate place in the world for wifi enabled BBQs.

        • @[email protected]
          link
          fedilink
          English
          28 days ago

          Sometimes I just need a device that can do what I want it to do. Obviously I don’t want a device that can be bricked, but that’s just a shitty programming, not a condemnation of the whole concept. I have a whole host of devices that never brick themselves, and I intend to get more.

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        English
        78 days ago

        Okay, I’m not a huge griller, but wouldn’t it be better just to build in a thermostat? Let it maintain its own temperature?

        • @[email protected]
          link
          fedilink
          English
          58 days ago

          Commercial grills do exactly that. There’s just a thermostat built into the gas valve which uses a sensing bulb to modulate the gas flow based on actual temp and set temp. They don’t even need electricity let alone wifi.

        • @[email protected]
          link
          fedilink
          English
          38 days ago

          Sometimes you need cook on different temperatures at different periods. Sometimes you want to set it to cool down or heat up and instead of waiting near it, you could just set the target and let your phone ding when it’s time.

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      English
      158 days ago

      Pay me? Fuck yes, I’ll rip that crap out and replace it with a couple of relays or maybe get fancy and arduino -> home assistant.

      I’m betting that someone pay a LOT extra to get that garbage though.

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      18 days ago

      As an IT nerd I got one of these and put it on a different subnet and it’s not able to reach out to anything external but my phone can hit it from a different subnet. Thing works great.

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      58 days ago

      Yesterday my WIFI air purifier crashed after changing the speed with the app and turned itself off and even caused the Ethernet switch to crash and hang.

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      English
      68 days ago

      I have a Masterbuilt that has optional firmware updates sometimes, nothing mandatory and certainly nothing automatic. It’s a gravity fed charcoal grill that works like a computer controlled forced air rocket stove. Gets up to 700 degs from cold in 10 mins if I want or hold 225 for the rest of time as long as I keep feeding charcoal into the hopper and emptying the ash bin. The computer is adding actual value.

      No soggy pellets, no weird feeding issues, the biggest problem I’ve had with it was the hatch sensors all going out over time, but once I jumped the circuit past them it worked fine again to this very day, going on six years now.

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      English
      28 days ago

      Actually the smoker is probably the only one thing I want software on and wifi (but yeah we could do without the updates unless there is some sort of bugs that turn it into a killing machine)

  • @[email protected]
    link
    fedilink
    168 days ago

    Why does a grill need a screen and buttons? Maybe I’m living in the stone age, but what I call grilling involves putting charcoal to a flame.

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      38 days ago

      It’s a smoker add on. I’d assume so you can adjust the temperature without actually opening it.

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      78 days ago

      It’s a smoker, with a port for a temp probe in the meat.

      When you smoke something for 10-12 hours it’s nice to get temp readings from wherever. It might also have automatic control for temperature management.

          • @[email protected]
            link
            fedilink
            English
            37 days ago

            That’s a pretty basic program with simple software needs.

            If the programming is such shit there is a chance they need connectivity to update it or patch the code once it’s gone into production, it might be best to look into another product.

  • @[email protected]
    link
    fedilink
    138 days ago

    I have a Christmas tree with built-in LED lights where I can change their colors and make patterns and animations. Every year I get it out I have to do a firmware update on my Christmas tree before I can use it 😂

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      5
      edit-2
      8 days ago

      If they are WiFi controlled that’s actually a good thing, as it sounds like the manufacturer is still supporting it & hopefully updating it to prevent security issues & hacks!

      But this is also why I personally try not to buy WiFi enabled gadgets unless it really needs to be remotely accessible.

  • @[email protected]
    link
    fedilink
    168 days ago

    There was a silly little movie in the 80’s called “Maximum Overdrive”, written and directed by Stephen King.

    In it Aliens somehow cause machines to ‘turn’ on human beings and attack us.

    They could remake that movie now but instead of Aliens causing the machines to attack people, it could be malicious ‘hackers’ that do it, and it would be more believable that the original film.

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        58 days ago

        The original story was written before the Internet and so before hackers even existed. One of Stephen King’s cocaine fever dreams iirc.

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        58 days ago

        You can’t really (remotely) hack a machine that doesn’t have wireless capabilities or computer chips in them.

        In the movie it was just regular, non electronic machines like (pre-computerized) diesel trucks and lawnmowers etc.

    • I Cast Fist
      link
      fedilink
      48 days ago

      The plot that kicks off Battlestar Galactica (2004) happens because pretty much everything uses wireless communications, including most systems within the space ships

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      28 days ago

      You could hack a futuristic firmware upgradable power knife, but how do you hack it to hack off fingers?

      Aliens had the supernatural power to be the machines

      A self driving tesla trapping people in a gas station is 100% more believable than the semi.

      Something is there…

  • @[email protected]
    link
    fedilink
    278 days ago

    Grill, Dehumidifier, Air con, Fridge, Dishwasher, Washing Machine, Lightbulbs, Ovens, Doorknob…

    None of that should be smarter than “press button, get action”.

    • Ghostalmedia
      link
      fedilink
      English
      128 days ago

      Connected HVAC can be pretty damn great depending on your house. It’s changed my energy usage a lot, and I like being able to adjust temps without walking downstairs in the middle of the night. Although having your thermostat lose cloud support ever 10-15 years is pretty shitty.

      Connected doors are also great for handing out virtual keys and ensuring that stuff is shut and locked when you’re away.

      • bitwolf
        link
        fedilink
        English
        38 days ago

        The Honeywell thermostats support z-wave. So no cloud shenanigans.

        • @[email protected]
          link
          fedilink
          27 days ago

          If you are into that: then tplink kasa switches and plugs can be reconfigured via hs100 app on git hub, so that they only look local and don’t try to reach out to a remote server. You can use the app to connect them to your local WiFi. Then you can control them via home assistant locally (or remotely) and not rely on a corporate server and android app for use

          • bitwolf
            link
            fedilink
            English
            27 days ago

            I actually have a few of the Matter supported Kasa smart switches.

            They work incredibly well, but they still haven’t been updated to Matter 1.3 so no power consumption statistics in Home Assistant.

        • Ghostalmedia
          link
          fedilink
          English
          48 days ago

          I ended up going down the matter, home assistant, HomeKit route so I have some options for local network control.

          • bitwolf
            link
            fedilink
            English
            18 days ago

            That’s primarily what I seek out, but my rental has the Honeywell.

            Have you found a decent matter thermostat? I’d love to get one when I get a house

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        27 days ago

        I’m warry of electronic, wireless, and sometimes third-party cloud dependent services, having a say in how I lock my doors or control heating.

        I’m a bit old fashioned, but also have to work with solutions where considering the consequences of a compromised entry point is vital. I’d be ok with a way to check that the door is locked, but something that can lock (and, so, unlock) my door remotely? Not a chance. At least, not for a place a value.

        • Ghostalmedia
          link
          fedilink
          English
          17 days ago

          Re the locks - my general thought is that if you really want to get into my house, you’re going to get into my house. A rock or brick is very effective.

          Locks just lower the potential for easy crimes of opportunity.

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      178 days ago

      I once wondered why the fuck an oven should need WiFi.

      Then last week I was stuck in a traffic jam coming home from work, and took 2 hrs to do what should’ve been a 1 hr drive. (45km distance)

      Then I had to make dinner, and I had such little time to have dinner, clean up from dinner, shower, walk the dog, and settle down for bed for work in the morning, I was angrily wishing I could preheat the oven while I was on my way home from work. That’s when I realized the reason for a WiFi oven.

      Also, being able to say “hey Google lights out” when I’m tired as fuck about to go to bed and the light switch is on the other side of the room opposite direction from the bedroom, is nice too.

      Actually, as someone who has little free time when not stuck at work or in traffic, I’m probably more likely than the average person to appreciate things having wifi.

      Doorknobs though, I’ll draw the line there so we can both at least agree on something together

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        English
        17 days ago

        I was angrily wishing I could preheat the oven while I was on my way home from work. That’s when I realized the reason for a WiFi oven.

        Maybe a better oven is better than wifi. It only takes my oven a few minutes to get up to temp.

        I come home, turn it on, fiddle with “getting home shit”, and by the time I’m done it’s ready to go. No wifi needed.

        • @[email protected]
          link
          fedilink
          27 days ago

          Rental. I’ve got no choice than to use the shitty Samsung crap they put in these apartments, which you have to set 25 degrees higher than all the cooking instructions in the world say to, and it still takes 50% longer to cook than it says.

          Besides, electric ovens always take FOR EVER to preheat no matter what

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        27 days ago

        I’m worried about anything that can be controlled through a third-party online service. The amazon doorbell thing is a prime example of what can go wrong, but it can be more subtle, too. And I’m not even talking about obsolescence. Frankly, I’d still be worried if it was a self-hosted, properly configured system where I’m the only one with a legit access.

        I understand the convenience of all this. I also have to deal with the risk balance of security vs convenience, which causes me to not tolerate that “too tired to go across the room” justifies “a third party have full control over my doors, lights, heating, ovens, etc.” (not shooting fire at you, see this as a generic example).

        The bare minimum would be a fully self-hosted solution, which is possible, although difficult because hardware manufacturers don’t always play nice. And even then, proper, secure setup and maintenance is not for everyone. In the meantime, yeah, I’ll have to move myself when I want to turn on my dishwasher.

        Though I’ll admit, I have some lights that are controlled wirelessly… my old phone have an IR port, and they have IR remotes… Technically, an attacker could probably turn them on/off/change colors from behind a window :D

        • @[email protected]
          link
          fedilink
          17 days ago

          Yeah, like Idek how I would self host any of my gear, beside running it through my NAS, which also runs with its own software, which is no different than running stuff through the apps they came with. If I knew how to program stuff myself, and had the fuck around time to do it, I would.

          So for now I’m just living with the easy option of using my roomba, and my cameras with the apps they came with

  • @[email protected]
    link
    fedilink
    English
    198 days ago

    Probably a security update to try and keep it from being part of a botnet maybe? What would work better though is never connecting it to a network or even better, just don’t make it smart for no dam reason, lol.

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      88 days ago

      Probably a security update to try and keep it from being part of a botnet maybe?

      Then we’re back to the same question. At what point a grill have anything that could be part of a botnet :D

  • @[email protected]
    link
    fedilink
    519 days ago

    It’s a smoker with wireless controls

    Instead of having to keep checking on it for several hours, an app on your phone will show the temperature and allow temperature adjustments online

    • FiveMacs
      link
      fedilink
      899 days ago

      ok but why aren’t you outside with a beer…pretty sure that’s a part of the meat smokers law

        • @[email protected]
          link
          fedilink
          69 days ago

          Seems like we shouldn’t encourage people to live in locations where being outside for 6 months of the year is hazardous

          • @[email protected]
            link
            fedilink
            18 days ago

            Not everyone can live in California wine country.

            Most people live where it gets either dangerously hot or dangerously cold for large portions of the year.

            • @[email protected]
              link
              fedilink
              18 days ago

              It’s dangerously cold for maybe 10 days during the 3 months of winter where i live (temperaturs below 20F). Far from the 3 months of temperatures that never drop below 95 degrees in Texas. The Midwest, the Rockies, Pacific Northwest, and mid to north Atlantic of the US are all well within normal human habitation ranges.

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        99 days ago

        Funny enough that’s what I’m doing now, then my cousin leans over with his phone to show me his brisket is sitting right at 225

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        English
        289 days ago

        Some people also think the point of fishing is to catch fish and not to chill out by the bay with some light beers.

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        69 days ago

        I mean that’s what I do when it’s something small, but when it’s something that takes 10+ hours, that’s a lot of beer and standing.

        Though right now I just have an alarm to check it every half hour. Considering wiring up something with an arduino and appifying my meat without any proprietary tech.

        • @[email protected]
          link
          fedilink
          39 days ago

          I have a non digital charcoal kettle, and I found good options for blowers and temp control in China.

          It’s a simple fitting that I only use doing very long cooks. Saves all the mucking around with the official stuff

        • @[email protected]
          link
          fedilink
          29 days ago

          Considering wiring up something with an arduino and appifying my meat without any proprietary tech.

          I had the same thought and went with a HeaterMeter, although I haven’t finished building it yet.

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      English
      31
      edit-2
      9 days ago

      You can also just get a normal smoker and a wireless thermometer that works with RF, which has a range of like 700-1000ft, and while it has some theoretical security flaws it results in a situation that is infinitely more secure than a WiFi/app situation. Even if someone bothered to sniff the rf traffic what are they going to do, see the temperature of your brisket? Oh no

      Additionally this way the smoker is basically invincible because it’s not digital and as long as you don’t let it rust out it will last forever. If you somehow break the thermometer it’s like $30 to replace but I guarantee you can find models that are somewhat repairable and have user replaceable batteries, which guarantee this thing doesn’t

      • Adubya
        link
        fedilink
        English
        289 days ago

        Just waiting for the day an evil hacker leaks someone’s smoker data to the neighborhood, exposing they cranked the smoker to 375° when they bragged about their brisket cooking 225° the whole time.

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        3
        edit-2
        9 days ago

        You make some good points.

        I live a mile and a half from the ocean and run my smoker for long periods. It’s really nice to monitor and change the temp while I’m drinking the beer you refer to from the sand. I make a few quick runs back up the hill to tend to things, but mostly I’m free to be elsewhere for the 12-ish hours the smoker is running. It’s really nice, not a hard requirement, but really convenient.

        • @[email protected]
          link
          fedilink
          1
          edit-2
          8 days ago

          My parents old farmer house had a smoke cabinet (wood chips heating). You put meat in, let it smoke and take smoked meat out, done. Though it makes a mess.

          My point is, what do you need to monitor that for?

          • @[email protected]
            link
            fedilink
            28 days ago

            Depending on the internal temperature curve I may need to change cook temps in the pit, which I can do remotely. I also monitor the curve to determine when to spray and wrap, and other activities, depending on what is smoking.

        • @[email protected]
          link
          fedilink
          English
          49 days ago

          Expensive options: thermoworks smoke-x

          1-200 depending on 2 or 4 channel version, legally can only be used in the us and Canada because they use a custom rf protocol. As a result the range is 1.24 miles. Thermoworks is pricey shit but it lasts long, can be calibrated, and generally is one of the most accurate cooking thermometers you can buy

          (albeit much much much more expensive than a $10-30 k type thermocouple and a used reader for $50 that is way more precise and usually will do data logging) also granted for most people a $20-40 thermometer would be fine with like 300-500ft range

          My issue with “smart” anything is not the inherent concept, it’s the execution 99% of the time. I have plenty of smart stuff in my house but it’s almost never convergence devices. I’ve learned that these types of devices are more than anything designed to be disposable trash. Designed as cheap as possible, cut as many corners, introduce as many security holes as possible, etc. we have 0 consumer rights so even if it’s strong they’ll change the tos after the fact when their profits fall and they need to make the line go up.

          So it comes to this. I’m not opposed to “smart” devices. They just have to occur in a dumb, roundabout way. They have to work without being connected to the internet, or in some rare cases by being bridged to the internet via home assistant from an isolated vlan. If I want a smoker I can monitor on the fly I will look at something like that thermometer paired with a standard steel smoker that will last decades. If I need to adjust it remotely I will look at why I need this option first: is it realistic that I would just adjust it without checking the contents? If I would then check open source and if nothing exists make it. It sucks but this where our garbage profit driven society led us, to shitty products that fill landfills and waste resources

          • @[email protected]
            link
            fedilink
            18 days ago

            Again, you make some great points, especially about profit motive and lack of strong consumer rights.

            If I want a smoker I can monitor on the fly I will look at something like that thermometer paired with a standard steel smoker that will last decades.

            When I’m not going old school with my stick burner I run a Yoder YS640S with a Fireboard controller. The Yoder is an extremely high quality pellet smoker which given proper maintenance will last longer than I’ll be alive. It and the Fireboard are designed, built, and shipped from the US (where I live), which is also nice. I don’t know exactly how Fireboard runs their cloud services, but from looking at the privacy policy and sniffing the unit’s traffic (a few years ago) it looks like Google Cloud and Analytics. They also disclose that if you use the Fireboard outside of the US, that your data will be stored and processed in the US, which is interesting, but may be misleading.

            Fireboard is an interesting company, they started out by making temperature monitors and blowers for retrofitting into home built smokers, which I think is pretty cool.

            I had a fire unrelated to my smoker which destroyed the smart bits of the Yoder, and both Yoder and Fireboard customer support were excellent to work with to help me rebuild my smoker.

            I’m not stanning for either of these companies, perhaps just explaining why I’ve opted to make some tradeoffs for the convenience this particular product offers.

            If I need to adjust it remotely I will look at why I need this option first: is it realistic that I would just adjust it without checking the contents?

            Yes. I’m primarily looking at internal temp curves. Sometimes that prompts a simple pit temp change, sometimes it means I need to interact with the contents like spraying or wrapping. I’ve cooked often enough on this unit to know what the contents look like and how they react to smoke given the internal and pit temp curves.

            Generally speaking I agree with your take on garbage consumer products being designed to extract money from the consumer before crapping out early and being thrown away. I think I’ve done well to select the products I have to keep that from being the reality with my pellet smoker.

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      English
      79 days ago

      OK, that seems smart. But why would it need updates? Been in IT 30-years, I get updates, but something that simple should have been hammered out before it left the factory.

      • Vivi
        link
        fedilink
        English
        99 days ago

        It’s because of the reliance on hundreds of thousands of third party web dependencies that are constantly updating and constantly getting security patches (and introducing vulnerabilities)

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        English
        79 days ago

        For that and fear the company getting bored and pulling the plug on servers, leaving me with a paperweight, is why I didn’t get much into the IoT stuff.

        One time I bought some under armor shoes with bluetooth. They would connect to my phone and an app would take measurements on my stride and angle of my foot in my runs. At some point they decided to make the app a subscription. They wanted a whole $15/mo! I decided to just run like a caveman instead.

        • @[email protected]
          link
          fedilink
          English
          69 days ago

          I see it this way: If there are enough dumbasses willing to pay, go for it. I choose not to participate. OTOH, idiots paying subscriptions can hurt us all through enshittification.

          On Nextdoor.com I brought it up that Trump’s admin was trashing NOAA and the NWS, which we literally live and die by in Florida. One woman was quite proud to pay $15 for her Accuweather app. “And where do you think they get their data?”

          • @[email protected]
            link
            fedilink
            English
            59 days ago

            One woman was quite proud to pay $15 for her Accuweather app

            Damn these smart capitalists figured out how to get a weather satellite into space for that cheap? No wonder socialism failed/s

            For real tho it reminds me of that joke about libertarians being like cats. Also $15/mo feels way to high for weather updates

    • Adubya
      link
      fedilink
      English
      39 days ago

      Knew someone who had to rush a family pet to emergency vet and they were able to keep an eye on the brisket cooking.

      Keep it Low & Slow!

  • Sundray
    link
    fedilink
    English
    179 days ago

    “Le Firmware? WHAT THE HELL IS THAT?”

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      English
      168 days ago

      Iirc, these grills are wifi connected so you can remotely monitor and control temperature. Makes sense if you are bbqing something that is gonna be in there for 12 hours. But then, you kind of lose one of the benefits of bbqing - sitting next to a grill and drinking beer with your friends for 12 hours.

      • Rob T Firefly
        link
        fedilink
        English
        28 days ago

        For this you could have a timer on the thing you set when you start it up and can then walk away from. You don’t need the damn net to have a clock in the appliance.

        • @[email protected]
          link
          fedilink
          English
          17 days ago

          I mean, I personally am not going to buy one. But if someone was adamant that this would measurably improve their life, who am I to contradict them?

  • @[email protected]
    link
    fedilink
    1129 days ago

    I will never own a grill that has to connect to wifi. In fact, I actively avoid any appliance that adds unnecessary IOT functionality.

    • Riskable
      link
      fedilink
      English
      26
      edit-2
      9 days ago

      I know, right? Why send my BBQ data to the cloud when I can just cook with a handful of GPUs, locally? To start the grill you just ask the animated waifu to dance and sing a random, AI-generated song that matches your taste in music. Then the fans spin up and send scrumptious GPU heat into the grill, cooking up a delicious hallucination where your animated waifu sings, “That looks yummy! Yummy yummy yummy! Hai hai hai!”

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      English
      13
      edit-2
      9 days ago

      We’re starting to add some IoT stuff (mostly sockets and leak sensors for the basement brewery) but it had to wait until i’d built a beefier firewall and the HA server. 'Cos that shit is not leaving the house

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      17
      edit-2
      8 days ago

      It’s great for smoking though. I’ve done it the old fashioned way of staying up all night to feed wood into the smoker and I’ll gladly take a wifi-enabled pellet smoker with a temperature probe over it.

        • @[email protected]
          link
          fedilink
          8
          edit-2
          8 days ago

          To get the temperature probe data on your phone so that you don’t have to repeatedly get up to check it. It’s particularly useful for turkey, where the difference between moist and horribly dry white meat is only 5-10 degrees.

          • @[email protected]
            link
            fedilink
            58 days ago

            I’ve got a Bluetooth temp probe set. They work a treat. And I totally forgot to even use them when I got smoked a salmon and chicken wings for Canada Day.

            • @[email protected]
              link
              fedilink
              38 days ago

              I’ve got a bluetooth temp probe set too. I use it in my smoker. I’m not trusting that expensive piece of meat to the whims of the gods. I need to know what the temperature of the meat is and when it hit’s the target temps.

              • @[email protected]
                link
                fedilink
                38 days ago

                TBF, I absolutely should have used them, but I was cooking for 25 people, and honestly totally forgot about them. I was rushing about with the BBQ, into the kitchen switching out cooked pizza for uncooked and trying to catch a sip of beer in between all that… As a result the salmon came out amazing, slow smoked at 60° for 3 hours because I totally forgot about it until the wife would occasionally say: the smoker’s not smoking!

          • MeatPilot
            link
            fedilink
            English
            6
            edit-2
            8 days ago

            Why not just buy a wifi probe instead of an entire grill? I’d rather a tiny thing stop working than being unable to use my grill at all because it’s jammed with too much tech.

            Truly do they do anything else worth it? I’m a plain charcoal grill person, so never wanted or looked into anything beyond that.

            • @[email protected]
              link
              fedilink
              38 days ago

              All I can think of is reminders to fill the pellet bin. On balance I don’t think that’s worth it