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The Internet Of Things Is Becoming More Difficult To Escape (npr.org)
An anonymous reader writes: After a long day, many of us try to set down our technology and unplug from the world around us. But, according to a new report by the Pew Research Center and Elon University's Imagining the Internet Center, over the next few years, that will become much more difficult to do. The Internet of things will continue to spread between now and 2026, until human and machine connectivity becomes ubiquitous and unavoidably present, according to experts who participated in what Pew described as a "nonscientific canvassing." About 1,200 participants were asked: "As automobiles, medical devices, smart TVs, manufacturing equipment and other tools and infrastructure are networked, is it likely that attacks, hacks or ransomware concerns in the next decade will cause significant numbers of people to decide to disconnect, or will the trend toward greater connectivity of objects and people continue unabated?" The answers they gave were telling: 15 percent said significant numbers of people would disconnect while 85 percent said most people would just move more deeply into connected life. Unplugging is futile, and plugging in is unavoidable. It's already difficult to create distance from the technology that surrounds us, but as connectivity increases, it might become impossible to do so.
This article focused on how people put up with risk to get what they want, their prime example was car accidents are accepted to because we love cars.
The problem is that the LOT usually is for the benefit of the COMPANY, not the owner. They find something that people want just a little bit and sell it based on that convenience. Take the silly "BUG MY HOUSE" products now being sold, that offer internet searches and music in exchange for letting companies place always on microphones in your home. Huge benefit to the corporations, hue invasion of your privacy, all in exchange for not having to take your phone out of your pocket and tap one button before making the request.
Yes, silly people buy these things. But people d not have to. Their advantage is minimal and I truly doubt it will ever achieve the ubiquity of cars, fridges, TVs, etc.
This is typical. In general IOT is not a huge innovation allowing new consumer things for a minor cost, instead it is a huge corporate benefit with a minor consumer benefit.
It's not revolutionizing our life, it is just revolutionizing corporate business.
As such, it will probably be similar to Premium cable channels, like HBO. Some people, but not all or even most, will buy these things. Many people will refuse.
excitingthingstodo.blogspot.com
What's increasingly difficult to stomach is festering evil pervading tech industry.
Used to be somewhat focused on creating better tools to get shit done.
Now it's basically marketing Trojan horses to the public. Massive firms engaged in intentionally psychologically engineering products to maximize technological addiction and pervasive cyber stalking leveraged against consumer to ensure not one extra cent is ever left on the table.
The reality has always been dwindling returns on connectivity. IoT goons are laughably unable to communicate a coherent value proposition. Just spraying Internet dust all over the place isn't going to make anyone's lives better except those few behind the scenes leveraging marketing terms and virtue signaling to justify further ownage of the user to say nothing of creating unnecessary vectors for compromise by governments and criminal organizations the world over.
The road to hell is the path of least resistance.
To you, they seem silly. To the busy mom or parents, they are a godsend.
Preheating an oven can easily be a 20+ minute affair (I timed it hungry for a pizza one day). Having the option of dropping by the supermarket, picking up a pizza and having the oven ready when you get home so you can shove it in there and do other things while it cooks is something a lot of people do. And when it's finished cooking, you're ready to serve. Sure you could've waited another 20 minutes, but then it's go home, turn on the oven, do stuff until it beeps 20 minutes later, then shove it in the oven, do more stuff and then take it out is an inconvenience and an interruption (i.e., having to stop what they're doing to put the food in the oven after it's finished preheating).
Sure, maybe you don't mind doing it - after all, what's an interruption to whatever you're doing? You only just got into the zone after all. And then there's the parents who have hungry kids who would appreciate not having to wait an extra 20 minutes for dinner.
Ditto laundry appliances. I can't hear the washer or dryer where I am (and they are LOUD). It would be nice to know how much time is left on them so I know roughly how much time I have to do something without having to be interrupted by laundry. Sure I can run up the stairs and check the display and run back down (and that's what I do now), but still, being able to see it on my phone and have it beep when it's done? I would appreciate that. Not enough to actually buy a whole new set of appliances with that feature, mind you, but something that makes the day just a tiny bit less irritating.
Of course, if you really wanted to improve things, design them into a laundromat so users could do something else with their time other than sit around waiting for the machine. Hell, design it with a locking door you can rent so you can bring all your laundry down and secure it and you'll probably be able to charge a premium.so people aren't wasting a couple of hours of their lives.
Of course, I just wish the timer on my washer and dryer was even remotely accurate - where "1" minute left really means 10. And when it can say 8 minutes left, and then turns into 23 a minute later... sort of like old school Windows file copy time estimates.