Non smart stuff.

[jimallyn]

But those don't seem to be able to connect to the internet. What if I wanted to flush it remotely? Looks to me like they've still got some work to do.

[Amii_Leigh]

I think some of you already know about my non-smart car: a 1990 Chevy Corsica, we also have an old Sony KDL-32L5000 'big' screen television/monitor we usually have hooked up to the downstairs laptop. I say 'big' because it's not as big as what we 'could' get, but we thought we would favour a local business with our business, despite the fact it doesn't have a remote control, it works fine. We also have a eight to ten year old Amana refrigerator, and another out in the garage that still works, the only reason it's out there is because we wanted to keep a small puppy from going under it,and potentially getting trapped or worse, plus two still working microwave ovens and a crock pot, that all still work fine..
I still have a working twenty year old (at least) Montgomery Ward Signature 2000 television that I watch sometimes. I also have a somewhat working vcr and dvd player hooked up to it as well. None of that stuff is 'smart' and I'm very happy to say that, lol.
My 'free' "smart" telephone died, no idea why. I don't want to bother getting another one, despite my roomie telling me it's a necessity. I don't feel it is.If it's something I 'have' to know, I'll look it up in my Webster's New World Dictionary (abridged) circa 1955. I also have a manual typewriter I got from my parents, though they weren't sure what I was going to use it for.
I could go on and on in further detail about what all I've kept and kept running over the years, despite the planned obsolescence going in full swing.I'm not saying it's easy to keep some things working, but on the whole, it's preferable to buying anything that would force it's ways upon me to make me change mine. So sue me, I'm stubborn.
I also have a Yamaha PortaSound PS-200 I'd love to learn how to play. If anyone could help me out with that, that would be one of the nicest things anyone could help me with.

[JerryF]

But those don't seem to be able to connect to the internet. What if I wanted to flush it remotely? Looks to me like they've still got some work to do.

[samriggs]

Almost everything in my place is dumb and not smart.
all appliances is dumb, my tv is dumb, ok the coffee maker has a digital screen but it's pretty dumb also.
I use my blue ray player to convert my tv into a smart one, it has everything in it, also just got a tivo which has some smarter things in it, like I'm gona check facebook on my tv so ya I guess that's pretty dumb to include that in a tivo, no use to me whatsoever, I just use the tivo for the recording capabilities.
Our alarm clock is digital and I don't even know how to set the thing, it's the wife's toy, she always makes fun of me about that one, "your a programmer who doesn't know how to set a clock", she says to me and others about me to get a giggle
Ya give me the old wind up ones and watch me go with that.
By the way my toilet is still dumb also, but it is a water saver toilet that takes 2 flushes to get the toilet paper down now because it's a water saver one, so I guess that was a failure.
Kind of defeated the purpose there. Ya it's real dumb.
I want to keep some things dumb still including the tv, I just use a add on if I want to give it a brain that way I can keep it stupid for 99% of the time and just have it do what I need it to do.
The wife is smart though

[Portreve]

I don't remember if I happened to mention on here that about two-ish months ago I bought a 23 inch (58,4 cm) monitor for my laptop.

Anyhow, thus far it's the only HDMI-equipped device in my house.

The reason I mention this fact is that I not only don't have a smart television in my home, I don't have a digital flat panel television in my home, either.

I am completely dissuaded from buying any smart tv just based on the revelations of Samsung devices actively spying on behalf of the NSA and others.

I completely agree with the comment above about not buying something you don't want, and not supporting something you don't wish to support as a means of influencing producers to make more of what you do support instead. I'd like to add further to that comment by saying I'm past the point of giving a **** (that would be the s-word, for those interested) what companies want, care about, or pay attention to. They exist in their present form to drive company policies and meet quarterly financials, and in many cases to jump in bed with certain specific groups in order to curry favor. Yes, I absolutely do vote with my wallet, every time, but I only buy what I want to have. If I can't get what I want to have, I don't bother buying anything.

There's not enough out there in TV land which interests me to justify spending money on a television. Most things are either an insult to my intelligence, or just not something I'm interested in. Why in the world would I want to buy a new TV set so that I can watch stuff I'm not interested in seeing? That itself makes absolutely no sense to me.

[Amii_Leigh]

Our alarm clock is digital and I don't even know how to set the thing,
Ya give me the old wind up ones and watch me go with that.

I used to get electronic alarm clocks from Salvation Army, but after one blew a fuse and only through diligent searching finally found the culprit, but couldn't find any blown components inside the alarm clock to cause it to do that, so I thought I'd do what I thought was the wiser thing and stop using old electronic alarm clocks. I have a key wound one now, it works fine.

Yes, I absolutely do vote with my wallet, every time, but I only buy what I want to have. If I can't get what I want to have, I don't bother buying anything.

There used to be a guy that worked at the local walfart store that would make fun of me whenever I stopped in there to look for 'only' an mp3 player instead of the upscale isomethingorother things they had for sale. Consequently, I wouldn't buy what I wanted there. I last found 'only' an mp3 player that only plays mp3 files consecutively with no display to run down the battery. Guess what? It was made in China.

[samriggs]

I absolutely do vote with my wallet, every time

In Canada here there all pretty much the same with little differences, so I decided long ago to only vote based on entertainment purposes.
I figured if there all gona mess me over anyhow at least give me some entertainment value for my vote.
Unless of course there is a really good reason to get rid of someone then I'll pick the best one out of the batch to take over, but other then that it's all based on entertainment value.
My all time favourite was Chrétien, king of the hill.
He was worth buying tv just to watch him and was more entertaining then most tv shows now a days.
Other then that I only buy what I want, so that will drive the message to the companies, if no one buys they will change their tune no matter who they are sleeping with, or go out of business.

[JerryF]

...
There's not enough out there in TV land which interests me to justify spending money on a television. Most things are either an insult to my intelligence, or just not something I'm interested in. Why in the world would I want to buy a new TV set so that I can watch stuff I'm not interested in seeing? That itself makes absolutely no sense to me.

Here, here. We always go back to the old shows of the 60's and 70's for that same reason---awful current shows!

[Portreve]

...
There's not enough out there in TV land which interests me to justify spending money on a television. Most things are either an insult to my intelligence, or just not something I'm interested in. Why in the world would I want to buy a new TV set so that I can watch stuff I'm not interested in seeing? That itself makes absolutely no sense to me.

Here, here. We always go back to the old shows of the 60's and 70's for that same reason---awful current shows!

What really gets me is that it's not like there isn't any good contemporary content out there. There absolutely is. However, you generally have to pay for a bunch of prerequisites, and frankly I'm just not interested in doing that. It makes it cost-prohibitive for me to gain access to the little bit of content I would probably enjoy.

There used to be a guy that worked at the local walfart store that would make fun of me whenever I stopped in there to look for 'only' an mp3 player instead of the upscale isomethingorother things they had for sale. Consequently, I wouldn't buy what I wanted there. I last found 'only' an mp3 player that only plays mp3 files consecutively with no display to run down the battery. Guess what? It was made in China.

Speaking of music players and such things, I'm starting to see a (slight?) uptick in devices which support FLAC. Why they don't support OGG Vorbis as well, I haven't a clue, but at least they do support FLAC, and I have to admit, I've seriously considered buying another, newer head unit for my car which will support my collection of FLACs. That would, frankly, be pretty darned awesome.

I could easily pick on a walfart employee, but the honest truth is general ignorance is so ubiquitous that it's not just people working there.

If you came over to my house, you may (or may not) be surprised by the sorts of common, modern-day (or not even completely modern-day) stuff I don't have. Frankly, commoditization of technology has been a real turn-off for me for a great many years. All the things we've come to learn since, let's say, circa 2013, have only added to an existing list of personal reasons for me to be selective in what I own and use.

[Citizen229]

I use a TV as a monitor. Its difficult enough keeping a PC secure, let alone a TV in which you have little control over. or a toaster,or water heater etc etc. I havent had actual television in 10 plus years. I gave up on TV when the History channel stopped doing history documentaries.

On the plus side, some company is re-releasing TV series from the70's, 80's and 90's. My local WalFart has a small shelf devoted to them. "Quantum Leap", "Magnum PI", Bill Bixby/Lou Farigno "hulk" series, etc

[BG405]

All a TV needs is a tuner and inputs to suit your various devices. My main TV is a 32" CRT and the only thing it lacks which would be useful these days is HDMI support. Heck, it doesn't even have a digital tuner, but I can use an HDMI to RCA converter for that.

I'm one of those left out in the cold with regards to "smart" devices and subsequent termination of support; bought a Sony blu-ray player a few years back primarily for its included YouTube player, so I could watch YouTube videos (and the occasional rented or borrowed disks) only to have that cut off within about 2 yesrs. Now it is gathering dust. Luckily that only cost £70, some people paid over a thousand for the Sony smart TVs.

All a toaster needs is:
A. Slots deep enough for standard-sized sliced bread; fed up with having to watch the toast and turn it over part way, or get half-burnt and half-raw slices. Might as well have a grill.
B. Some sort of optical sensor so it doesn't spit it out raw or burn it.

Lights? I use timers indoors and dusk to dawn sensors outdoors. Using low energy lights in common areas so there are always lights on somewhere, no need to control those remotely. Certainly don't want anyone potentially remotely snooping on that as it would be so easy to work out peoples' movement patterns or were in fact out.

Smart fridge? Seriously?

Smart toys .. I know I wouldn't allow them if I had kids now. Any more than I'd volunteer to have my house bugged. Oh, wait, those ARE bugs, aren't they?

Smart dunny might be useful where some people occasionally forget to flush. These were featured on a tech programme recently. Built-in bidet too. But absolutely no need for internet connection.

Smart washing up bowl might be an idea; a.k.a. one that empties itself when it's been left half full of scummy water again and signals a smart sprayer tap to come on and rinse it out. Again no need for internet connectivity.

I can see the advantage of being able to switch on an oven or coffee-pot remotely (e.g. if you're working late) but even this can be done via more traditional means; a SIM card could be used to receive your text with e.g. ON-time, OFF-time and heat settings. No need for third party TCP/IP routings via the utility companies' data collection centres.

Basically what I'm saying is that there is no need to connect the majority of devices to the Internet as there are other ways to remotely-control devices.

[MintBean]

Smart toys .. I know I wouldn't allow them if I had kids now. Any more than I'd volunteer to have my house bugged. Oh, wait, those ARE bugs, aren't they?

Yeah, like hell would I let any kids have one of these smart toys, like this creepy Barbie powered by a remote server. Barbie's smart and she can even learn all about you so she has material to bring up in future conversations!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RJMvmVCwoNM

Then there's a swathe of new, affordable 'robots' like Jibo. Jibo recognises your face, takes photos (for who?) and can even relay emails and social media to you!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-3NYBpYRC-s

CIA Chief: "We'll Spy on You Through Your Dishwasher"
https://www.wired.com/2012/03/petraeus-tv-remote/

[InkKnife]

Stay well away from new Vizio "Smart" monitors, they do not have tuners and do not come with a remote. Instead of a remote you have to use an extremely crappy app on your phone.

[jimallyn]

CIA Chief: "We'll Spy on You Through Your Dishwasher"

KellyAnn Conway: "Or through your microwave."

[MintBean]

CIA Chief: "We'll Spy on You Through Your Dishwasher"

KellyAnn Conway: "Or through your microwave."

Not heard of her before - not a TV watcher or newspaper reader and I don't really follow politics. Did she make some statement along those lines?

[Portreve]

One of my co-workers basically only is into video games, his married life now with a son, and certain very specific other things. That's it. He doesn't follow any current events, never watches the news, does not follow politics or vote (though to his credit he never complains about anything political — how could he, he has no clue what's going on) and when Hurricane Irma was coming this way, his first awareness of it was when he learned he was going to have to evacuate.

The two of us were in a cooler at a store one time, and it was a serious mess. I mean, it was very awful, both disorganized and utterly unkempt. This was our conversation:

Him: This cooler is a [----] wreck.

Me: Yeah, this cooler is a [----] wreck. It's such a wreck that Jacques Cousteau wants to come back from the dead just so he can dive on it.

Him: Huh?

Me: I said, [repeated the above].

Him: Who's that?

Me: Jacques Cousteau? Famous French diver?

Him: *shakes head*

Me: Invented Scuba?

Him: *shakes head*

At some point, one is obliged to be aware of the world around oneself.

[jimallyn]

Did she make some statement along those lines?

Yes, she did. She is currently Counselor to the President.

[MintBean]

.........At some point, one is obliged to be aware of the world around oneself.

Thanks for the lecture?
I may be 'less informed' in some spheres in comparison with those who read all the papers or are glued to their television programming but I'm also exposed to a damn sight less propaganda. Prefer to form my own opinion rather than be given it by the press.

[MintBean]

Yes, she did. She is currently Counselor to the President.

Thanks Jim. Boy, they're not even subtle about it these days are they.

[Viking86]

It depends on what you'd like to do with the TV. If you're a gamer I'd do more research and make sure the Input delay isn't too bad, around 30ms is something you should aim for. I've had the misfortune of playing on a friend's tv that had about a second delay before the action you input was recognized and displayed, making FPS games unplayable. Vizio is one of the best brands and sells at wal-mart, as for being smart, they probably all are nowadays, and I share your sentiment. For movies and tv in General I'm sure it's fine.