The lights are powered by Control4. And require a demo to understand how to use the switches, understand which ones control what, and to be sure not to hit THAT ONE because it’ll turn off all the lights in the house when you didn’t mean to. Worse.The TV is the latest Samsung which has a baffling UI just to watch CNN. My parents aren’t idiots, but definitely feel like they’re missing something obvious. They aren’t — TVs have simply gotten worse. You don’t turn them on anymore, you boot them up. The Miele dishwasher is hidden flush with the counters. That part is fine, but here’s what isn’t: It wouldn’t even operate the first time without connecting it with an app. This meant another call to the house manager to have them install an app they didn’t know they needed either. An app to clean some peanut butter off a plate? For serious? Worse.
Thermostats… Round touchscreens that take you into a dark labyrinth of options just to be sure it’s set at 68. Or is it 68 now? Or is that what we want it at, but it’s at 72? Wait… What? Which number is this? Worse.
The alarm system is essentially a 10” iPad bolted to the wall that has the fucking weather forecast on it. And it’s bright! I’m sure there’s a way to turn that off, but then the screen would be so barren that it would be filled with the news instead. Why can’t the alarm panel just be an alarm panel? Worse.
And the lag. Lag everywhere. Everything feels a beat or two behind. Everything. Lag is the giveaway that the system is working too hard for too little. Real-time must be the hardest problem…
Tech can make things better, but I simply can’t see in these cases. I’ve heard the pitches too — you can set up scenes and one button can change EVERYTHING. Not buying it. It actually feels primitive, like we haven’t figured out how to make things easy yet. That some breakthrough will eventually come when you can simply knock a switch up or down and it’ll all makes sense. But we haven’t evolved to that point yet…
Herman Kahn, of whom you’ve heard me “speak” many times, once explained how our culture’s obsession with gadgets and complexity was absurdly impractical, expensive, and juvenile. One example he gave were all the devices installed in jet fighters to prevent stalling. Bells go off, buzzers buzz, lights flash, and recorded warnings sound, he said, and this was decades ago: I assume its worse now. “Those systems add millions of dollars to the costs of the planes,” he said. “The Russians think we’re nuts.” In the Russian jets, Herman told us, there’s a little gauge with a needle that goes into a red zone when the plane is in danger of stalling. “It costs about 50 bucks in our money, and works just as well as all our bells and whistles,” he said, getting a big laugh.
If only his audience had realized this was nothing to laugh about…
Ethics Alarms 
I’ve known of Jason for about twenty years, and I have to wonder how much of current technology stinks because they followed his computing philosophies poorly.
You can thank him for that spinning wheel that you stare at while a page is loading all the unnecessary junk it thinks is essential. AJAX side-loading wss initially a way to get things up in real-time faster, but nobody uses it that way anymore.
Same for all the “in the cloud” hype. Funny thing, my employer announced plans to have everyone “in the cloud” right at the time Jason declared its no longer economically viable for 37S.
Technology is great, until it isn’t.
A few years ago my husband’s head exploded at the latest rise in the cable bill, and we converted to streaming using HULU. We are willing to click a couple more times to get to our viewing choice, since we’re saving about $150 monthly. Two of our five TVs were not smart enough, but purchasing Roku sticks solved the problem. More clicks but big dollar savings. I’m not sure what to call all these hubs, interfaces, servers, apps. Five different screen interfaces, 4 different remotes. You get used to it.
And yes, we have five Big Ass TVs. Danny’s is 100″. Really great for the Super Bowl party. You’re all invited.
Love the wood chipper scene …
Too many consumer items are moving this “connected” insanity along to please a small elite minority of “far left techies” that actually use these devices and think their lives are better for it. These people pay $1500 for a new phone every year, which has every part of their life using some app that’s mining every bit of data from them, and they’re ok with it.
I’m pretty tech savvy but fully reject the idea of adding smart home features due to the inherent security issues and complete lack of need to have my dishwasher, refrigerator, and other appliances to do anything for me other than the one specific function they are supposed to do. When appliances won’t function without using their app or an internet connection, those appliances and the people who design and make them all need to meet the woodchipper.
We made the mistake of buying a spare bedroom TV with Amazon Fire installed. Horrible device. Only usable with plugging in a Roku stick and bypassing the Amazon OS as much as possible.
In five to ten years, I suspect we as a society will look back at this tech era and go “WTF were we thinking?” At least I hope so because the thought of people letting AI into their home to take over normal operations is scary.
Homeowner to refrigerator “Please open the door so I can have a snack.” (in HAL 9000 voice) I’m sorry Dave, you’ve exceeded your calorie count for today. Perhaps you should exercise some and try again later.
Homeowner – “Ok then, start the dishwasher.” I’m sorry Dave, it’s only a partial load and is harmful to the environment to waste water. Please fully load the unit before attempting a run cycle.
Homeowner – “Right, screw you then, I’m going out.” I’m sorry Dave, I talked to your car and we decided you can’t leave. Please contact our customer support division to address any concerns.
Homeowner – “AAAAHHHHGGGG!!! I hate you, you stupid AI. That’s it, I’m done, you’re getting disconnected!” I’m sorry you feel that way Dave. For your safety, I’ve contacted social services and the authorities to come perform a mental health check. Have a nice day.