From 2000-2003 I worked for a product strategy consultant; we helped computer companies (what today we would call tech companies) decide what hardware products to build ~5 years out.
The Internet-connected refrigerator was predicted and/or introduced, in some form, at least once a year even back then. It became our punchline when talking about poorly conceived converged devices. Reality continues to bear out that opinion.
The problem was never the cost of the computer part--people will pay ridiculous amounts of money for "high end" appliances. The problem was always: how will the manufacturer meet consumer expectations, and then keep meeting them over the typical lifespan of a refrigerator?
People even today have a hard enough time managing the computer they know they have--how will they manage a computer buried in a fridge? Answer: they can't, as illustrated by that Google support thread.
And worse, appliance manufacturers are no better at managing computers than consumers, again as illustrated in that thread. Samsung did not plan to support their fridge computer, and now that they are being asked to do so, they can't find their ass with both hands. Every appliance company is this bad or worse with software and networking.
So, an underpowered embedded computer that doesn't function as advertised is not shocking at all. That doesn't mean it's not amusing how stupid/terrible it is.
The Internet-connected refrigerator was predicted and/or introduced, in some form, at least once a year even back then. It became our punchline when talking about poorly conceived converged devices. Reality continues to bear out that opinion.
The problem was never the cost of the computer part--people will pay ridiculous amounts of money for "high end" appliances. The problem was always: how will the manufacturer meet consumer expectations, and then keep meeting them over the typical lifespan of a refrigerator?
People even today have a hard enough time managing the computer they know they have--how will they manage a computer buried in a fridge? Answer: they can't, as illustrated by that Google support thread.
And worse, appliance manufacturers are no better at managing computers than consumers, again as illustrated in that thread. Samsung did not plan to support their fridge computer, and now that they are being asked to do so, they can't find their ass with both hands. Every appliance company is this bad or worse with software and networking.
So, an underpowered embedded computer that doesn't function as advertised is not shocking at all. That doesn't mean it's not amusing how stupid/terrible it is.