Why do toothbrushes need to be able to make web connections in the first place? I get that it's for tracking brushing habits, but can't that be done with local connectivity only, like LAN or something?
Not every toothbrush user has a server at home and the skills to attach to it. I would even say that most of those users had no idea what they enabled when they activated their toothbrushes. And let's not forget about vacuum cleaners, refrigerators, washing machines, coffee makers and the other zillions of "smart" personal data channeling smart appliances. I'd dare a survey, how many HN people actually work on exactly these technologies, how many read these words, and how many actually care?
I have several gizmos which use Bluetooth. They're a little bit slower to connect to than the WiFi ones, but they work fine, and "a bit slower to connect" seems fine for a toothbrush.
I also have several gizmos, including lightbulbs, which use WiFi. To my chagrin, I've had internet outages which meant that I can't turn on a given light until the Internet comes back. I put up with it, because telling my computer to change the lights is too much fun, but when the internet goes out, I'm embarrassed both personally and professionally.
Somehow we've failed as a profession to provide people with a home network which continues to function as long as the router has power, and that sucks.
Just have the toothbrush run a web server and then the user can point a web browser at it. It can also come with a mobile app that would scan the local network looking for the device in order to discover the IP.
> I'd dare a survey, how many HN people actually work on exactly these
technologies, how many read these words, and how many actually care?
This is an excellent question. We'd likely find that there is an
enormous disconnect between high IQ, well educated engineers and high
emotional and social intelligence.
The perennial excuses; "it's just a job" , "everybody's doing it", "if
I didn't build <monstrosity x> then someone else would" ... these have
grown tiresome and weak. Everybody now knows these are stupid and
dangerous things we are doing.
Is there a kind of fatalistic malice at work? How do people who work on
this kind of thing manage the dissonance?
What data though? How would it be valuable? From what I saw they are getting money from the device sale itself. These iot toothbrushes are like $400 and basically just track brushing time and pressure. Those don't seem like super valuable ad tracking metrics.
I was at the store looking at them recently and all the toothbrushes advertise having "AI", an app, wifi/bluetooth etc. I guess it's hard to come up with reasonable upsells on this stuff.
soco|2 years ago
samatman|2 years ago
I also have several gizmos, including lightbulbs, which use WiFi. To my chagrin, I've had internet outages which meant that I can't turn on a given light until the Internet comes back. I put up with it, because telling my computer to change the lights is too much fun, but when the internet goes out, I'm embarrassed both personally and professionally.
Somehow we've failed as a profession to provide people with a home network which continues to function as long as the router has power, and that sucks.
kwhitefoot|2 years ago
nonrandomstring|2 years ago
This is an excellent question. We'd likely find that there is an enormous disconnect between high IQ, well educated engineers and high emotional and social intelligence.
The perennial excuses; "it's just a job" , "everybody's doing it", "if I didn't build <monstrosity x> then someone else would" ... these have grown tiresome and weak. Everybody now knows these are stupid and dangerous things we are doing.
Is there a kind of fatalistic malice at work? How do people who work on this kind of thing manage the dissonance?
jprete|2 years ago
Gigachad|2 years ago
Gigachad|2 years ago
pmontra|2 years ago
IncreasePosts|2 years ago
jawns|2 years ago