It would be fine if you willingly buy stuff which shows you ads. But what happens is that you buy stuff without realizing it shows ads, or - even worse - it starts showing ads long after you bought it.
Case in point, my echo show first showed ads months after I bought it, but only once every few days. Now, it shows ads almost all the time.
I wonder how this is even legal here in Germany.
juntoalaluna · 1h ago
I confirm I will never buy a Samsung fridge.
matthewdgreen · 26m ago
Ok, I know we always say this kind of stuff on HN and then the product is hugely successful anyway... But seriously, why am I even interested in buying a fridge with a display? That seems annoying even without the ads, and the ads are a product-killer.
htatche · 1h ago
I’m just picturing a scenario where the fridge won’t open its door unless you finish watching an AI generated, very low quality, scammy ad. Looking at you, YouTube…
prettyblocks · 1h ago
Philip K Dick's worst nightmares are coming true.
antisthenes · 5m ago
"Should you really be having that 3rd ice-cream today?" the fridge said. It sounded smug.
professoretc · 12m ago
And with eye/face tracking it can tell if you really watched it, with a smile.
For a while now Samsung and LG have been on my list of appliance makers not to buy. And this simply confirms that decision. I do not want smart features in my dishwasher, laundry, stove, or any other appliance, and I sure as hell don't want them to be internet-capable.
Taek · 21m ago
It frustrates me greatly how little people, and especially regulators, value attention in modern society. Your behaviors as a human are largely driven by the things you pay attention to, and advertising is a form of driving your behaviors by bringing your attention to things that are good for them (and not necessarily good for you!).
In other words, advertising is a form of mind control. By hijacking your attention, it hijacks how you think about the world and changes what sorts of things you focus on every day, pulling your mental cycles into products when maybe without seeing that ad you'd instead be thinking about family.
I really think the social and societal cost of advertising is immense, and that it should be strongly regulated. Especially because most people greatly under-value their own attention and under-estimate how much seeing ads in their kitchen every day is going to disrupt and hijack their normal thinking patterns.
horsawlarway · 34m ago
I can't possibly see how this wouldn't warrant an immediate full refund for the fridge...
dekken_ · 1h ago
This should be considered theft, they are stealing electricity to perform rendering/computation
duxup · 1h ago
I get the idea that "oh man we've got billboards in every home, imagine the money" motivation.
I don't get how that gets through the usual meetings and there's no sense of "people won't like this, they will associate our products with obtrusive ads".
jihadjihad · 1h ago
> I don't get how that gets through the usual meetings and there's no sense of "people won't like this, they will associate our products with obtrusive ads".
Ever turned on a Samsung TV?
duxup · 1h ago
I don’t think I own one, granted mine is perpetually offline too.
SomeoneOnTheWeb · 1h ago
Most people's TV show ads nowadays, be it Samsung or a competitor. The thing is, people don't care about ads. They just deal with it. Hence how Samsung gets away with this sh*t.
fullshark · 59m ago
They care but not enough for "the free market" to generate an ad free competitor that can be trusted to never show ads for the lifetime of the product. Especially because they'd have to charge more for that product.
Government regulation is the only way to stop this.
gryfft · 1h ago
The fact that this is true feels like we as a society just shrugged and gave up about something like, say, ubiquitous lice or ticks. "Yeah, everyone just has those, all the time."
dragonwriter · 14m ago
Hey, so remember COVID?
zoky · 52m ago
I mean, to be fair, most people’s TVs have shown ads since forever. Granted, those ads were distributed by the broadcaster rather than the TV manufacturers, but the association between TV and ads goes back far enough that it’s just sort of part of the cultural consciousness. I’m not sure that means that people “don’t care about ads”, especially when they are appearing in their homes through channels other than television. It may be that people who normally wouldn’t accept having ads on their devices have a blind spot for TV ads, just because that’s how TV has always been.
inferiorhuman · 50m ago
Samsung appliances are already well known to be among the most problematic around with about the worst warranty service (and lowest rates for techs who work on them) in the industry. They probably figure anyone who's okay with that nonsense is also okay with a few ads.
unconed · 1h ago
Because the person whose job depends on keeping the customers happy is not the same as the person whose job depends on making spreadsheet numbers go up.
lousken · 16m ago
framework will now also have to make fridges
someotherperson · 47m ago
How long until this is in computer monitors as well? Seems like that's the last frontier of Samsung screens that don't come with ads.
nicce · 42m ago
Many Samsung monitors are not monitors anymore. They are mini TVs with ads.
cschep · 51m ago
can you imagine allowing this into your house? who is this for? I guess maybe if they give the fridges away.. oh god don't give them ideas.
mrkeen · 31m ago
Don't give them ideas you say?
What if they develop an iconic fridge and dial up the brand recognition to 11 via an intensive and prolonged ad campaign.
Introducing...
The KAGE
No embedded ads yet. Then they wait for the reviews in all the usual places to be released.
After the dust has settled, they push the ad update remotely.
You don't connect your fridge to the internet, like some kind of Luddite?
No worries, they thought of that and bundled a sim card with it.
pickleglitch · 38m ago
No, they won't give the fridge away. It will be like Smart TVs. They will be slightly cheaper (allegedly) because they are "subsidized" by ad dollars.
thatgerhard · 48m ago
I'll take the free fridge and jailbreak it
Havoc · 1h ago
2025: you need an ad blocker to keep your beer cold
t1234s · 54m ago
Any statups working on where a homeowner can just "subscribe" to their appliance set for the house? With appliances getting more and more high-tech, low-quality and not worth repairing its not sustainable to keep replacing appliances every few years.
pickleglitch · 40m ago
How about a subscription service that just sends you a new fridge full of food every week and takes the previous fridge back to be refilled. Instead of doing dishes we could also have a subscription service that delivers a whole new set of dishes and cookware every week. No more dishwashers!
A few years ago someone showed a BMW concept car with an LCD Panel as the entire body of the vehicle. I called it back then, we're going to need Ad blockers for everything.
No, it won't, because it will never, ever enter my house.
toephu2 · 55m ago
It's already bad enough we pay $1k+ for a TV and cannot turn off ads coming from the OS (ahem Roku, Fire TV). Now refrigerators?
jes5199 · 45m ago
hell Windows shows ads now on regular computers with nothing installed
jdalgetty · 1h ago
If there's a screen, there will be ads.
the_third_wave · 44m ago
"The cause of the recent crash of flight ADZRUS-666 has been determined to be a badly scheduled ad impression which covered all screens in the glass cockpit to show aan ad of a dancing hippopotamus in a tutu selling skin care products while the plane was on final approach in IFR conditions."
lawlessone · 17m ago
"We have determined removing the ads will cost us more in lost revenue than compensating victims families the occasional time this happens."
fsflover · 55m ago
Not if it runs free software.
xnx · 49m ago
"Smart" devices have become so ubiquitous that we don't use the "Internet of Things" buzzword, but this Twitter account is still doing god's work documenting the insanity: https://x.com/internetofshit
reify · 1h ago
Ive noticed an increase in white goods appearing in my network-managers SSID list.
I currently have a Samsung fridge/freezer and a delonghi espresso machine in the list in nmcli dev wifi.
My friend has recently moved and bought a new Samsung fridge/freezer for her new home.
I did a quick wifi scan on my phone and there it was. The new samsung fridge/freezer waiting to be connected to the internet via the app you have to download.
It works fine without connecting to the internet.
I told her not to install the app or connect it. So she hasn't.
Maybe in the future, if you are obese, or struggle with food, the manufacturers will be able to monitor the contents of your fridge, how often the door was opened, how much food is eaten, take a quick photo of you each time you open the fridge to monitor your weight, and, if it has become a problem, lock the fridge so you cant eat any more food.
The fridge then contacts all the local fast food restaurants and supermarkets you use, to prevent you from buying any more food until you lose a few pounds.
The new wegovy-ai-fridge.
cool!
WhyNotHugo · 47m ago
It's more likely that they'd monitor your consumption, and send it to your health insurance so they charge you more due to your "unhealthy habits", while also showing you ads for more addictive junk food.
jonbiggums22 · 1h ago
More likely they'll identify you as having a weakness for junk food using your image and fridge contents and show an ad for cheezy blasters every time you walk by the fridge.
Someone · 1h ago
> The fridge then contacts all the local fast food restaurants and supermarkets you use, to prevent you from buying any more food until you lose a few pounds.
Where’s the money in that? They’ll tell them to bombard you with weight loss adverts for expensive products that don’t work well or at least require you to keep buying them for life.
atmavatar · 1h ago
> The fridge then contacts all the local fast food restaurants and supermarkets you use, to prevent you from buying any more food until you lose a few pounds.
That may be how it works in other countries, but I can assure you in America, it will target ads towards those things you consume the most and related items so you consume more.
2OEH8eoCRo0 · 1h ago
Mine doesn't have screens but it has a BS wifi network that shows up. I disabled it via button controls but it came back so I had to open the back of the fridge and disconnect it from the board. Very annoying!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pj2bZCwJeVc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=foT2kCByOgs
> soon toilets will be photographing your butt to fingerprint your anus, while data brokers sells your poop data
Life imitates art: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DJklHwoYgBQ
[0]https://www.theverge.com/news/780757/samsung-brings-ads-to-u...
In other words, advertising is a form of mind control. By hijacking your attention, it hijacks how you think about the world and changes what sorts of things you focus on every day, pulling your mental cycles into products when maybe without seeing that ad you'd instead be thinking about family.
I really think the social and societal cost of advertising is immense, and that it should be strongly regulated. Especially because most people greatly under-value their own attention and under-estimate how much seeing ads in their kitchen every day is going to disrupt and hijack their normal thinking patterns.
I don't get how that gets through the usual meetings and there's no sense of "people won't like this, they will associate our products with obtrusive ads".
Ever turned on a Samsung TV?
Government regulation is the only way to stop this.
What if they develop an iconic fridge and dial up the brand recognition to 11 via an intensive and prolonged ad campaign.
Introducing...
No embedded ads yet. Then they wait for the reviews in all the usual places to be released.After the dust has settled, they push the ad update remotely.
You don't connect your fridge to the internet, like some kind of Luddite?
No worries, they thought of that and bundled a sim card with it.
I currently have a Samsung fridge/freezer and a delonghi espresso machine in the list in nmcli dev wifi.
My friend has recently moved and bought a new Samsung fridge/freezer for her new home.
I did a quick wifi scan on my phone and there it was. The new samsung fridge/freezer waiting to be connected to the internet via the app you have to download.
It works fine without connecting to the internet.
I told her not to install the app or connect it. So she hasn't.
Maybe in the future, if you are obese, or struggle with food, the manufacturers will be able to monitor the contents of your fridge, how often the door was opened, how much food is eaten, take a quick photo of you each time you open the fridge to monitor your weight, and, if it has become a problem, lock the fridge so you cant eat any more food.
The fridge then contacts all the local fast food restaurants and supermarkets you use, to prevent you from buying any more food until you lose a few pounds.
The new wegovy-ai-fridge.
cool!
Where’s the money in that? They’ll tell them to bombard you with weight loss adverts for expensive products that don’t work well or at least require you to keep buying them for life.
That may be how it works in other countries, but I can assure you in America, it will target ads towards those things you consume the most and related items so you consume more.