EDIT: A rough timeline of events here:
- In 2024, a user noticed this odd traffic on their local network, took a screenshot of the graph, and posted it to Twitter
- After discussing the issue with other Twitter users, the original poster realized that this graph was actually a mistake with their router or something. This reporting software was reporting some other device’s network traffic as being the washing machine’s traffic. The washing machine was actually only using a reasonable amount of data.
- Despite this past revelation, in 2026, someone put together a “meme” of sorts comparing the supposed events in that 2024 graph to what people in the past had predicted the future to be.
- For whatever reason, that “meme” was put through AI post-processing of some sort. Was the attempt to “upscale” this image after it had been passed around and been automatically compressed down by various platforms? Or was it someone using some newfangled AI-assisted compression technique in an attempt to create a smaller file size than any of the more traditional compression techniques? No idea. Whatever the reason was, the image was left with a bunch of nonsense text on the graph portion.
- I saw this “meme” and decided to share it here without scrutinizing the text on the graph. As mentioned in my first point, this graph was originally posted years ago, so I was already familiar with it and did not feel the need to read into it in the image I was sharing. I felt safe assuming it was just the same graph that I remember seeing years back.
- After users here called out the nonsense text, I just recreated the “meme” from scratch. I grabbed the original screenshot of the graph from Twitter and a stock photo of clouds, and then combined them along with some text so that this is more-or-less the same exact “meme”, just without the AI gibberish.
WHY DO WASHING MACHINES HAVE ACCESS TO THE INTERNET???
Related: a criminal group managed to steal data from a casino thanks to their internet connected fish tank. In 2017
HAHAHAHA
Lesson: never buy an appliance that has internet connectivity.
What is a reasonable amount of data for a washing machine to use (other than zero)?
There is no other reasonable amoujt
My dishwasher keeps begging for internet. And it can keep on fucking begging.
New kink unlocked
Depends on the manufacturer, it can be useful. Here’s my dishwashers internet usage:
Basically two notifications, one that it’s done one that a machine cleaning is needed. Less than a Kilobyte of data.
I know that it’s done when it stops making noise.
My dishwasher is not audible in the middle of the night if I stand more than 5 steps away. During the day with all the noise of daily life… not even if I hug it.
That’s fair, honestly I was mostly joking. I just have a fairly deep distrust of IoT devices, even if not for the privacy angle they’re generally not built with robust network security in mind.
Yeah but i did the same thing with a zigbee socket.
Which i just stuck in there as a route booster between the main house and basement brewery (under kitchen)
It’s not the same (I have that setup for the washing machine which doesn’t have wifi). You just get on/off status and power usage, enough for notifications alone. You don’t get other info, or control. Like start the dishwasher remotely on a fast cycle because unexpected guests. Or on the eco cycle when solar power is available. Or pre-heat the oven when leaving the store with frozen pizzas.
It’s not a must have thing, but a nice comfort feature.
any kind of unified interface for all those smart gadgets?
Home assistant
groovy
If only there was a way to show that information on the actual machine. The one you need to be in front of to do anything about the information.
If I’m in my office I need to first get to the dishwasher. If I’m on my way home I can’t turn on the oven to preheat. If my kids leave the fridge open I want to be notified before all the food is ruined, even if I’m at work.
I know that lemmy is fully of contrarians, but not everything is a conspiracy theory. Sometimes progress is useful.
You really should not turn the oven on remotely, especially when you have kids. Also your food will definitely not be ruined because your kids leave the fridge open for a few hours. And for the dishwasher you can just set a timer.
You really should not turn the oven on remotely,
Neighbors house almost burned down because of remote controlled device. It was a sauna stove instead of a oven and didn’t even have network, just control panel outside of the sauna where you could turn it on without checking the stove first. Kids had left some plastic toy on the stove. Gladly they noticed the smell just in time, few minutes more and smoke would have ignited, at least according to firemen who were alerted on site.
My stove has option for remote control too via simple relay input so I could just throw in esphome or whatever on it and control it across the world over home assistant, but for that exact reason I didn’t install anything on the header.
If you have meat or dairy items in your fridge, those can become unsafe to eat after only 2 hours. Since the cold air is more dense, it spills out the bottom of the fridge and gets replaced by room temperature air rather quickly. I’ve definitely eaten my fair share of questionable foods going past this, but the calculus changes if you’re giving that food to other people.
As for the main point, agreed. I’m definitely not a luddite, but if I had kids who weren’t yet responsible enough to not leave a fridge open for hours, I think I’d just put child locks on the fridge and make sure they had access to something else.
Pretty disappointed in Lemmy not noticing and downvoting this AI slop.
I’m all for calling out bullshit IoT garbage but zoom in and look closer.
Update: op updated the photo with a non AI image that’s the same but without hallucinated text. The original graph was real and made by a human, but through memes got degraded and an AI upscaler added new hallucinated text to it. Mystery solved and fixed.
1980: “I bet there will be flying cars in the future!”
2026: “Oh…nonononononono. That would be far too dangerous. Not after 9/11.”
80: “9/11?”
26: “Yeah, they flew a bunch of planes into buildings, and blew up the pentagon, and the world trade center buildings, and an empty field in PA.”
80: “Why would they blow up an empty field?”
26: “Because those men and women inside that plane are HEROS!”
80: “I don’t understand…”
2020: “Hey guys!”
26: “Oh god! 1980, put this mask on. 2020 is here.”
80: “I don’t understand whats going on…”
20122016: "I just shot a gorilla, and altered the future!20 and 26: “FUCK OFF
20122016!!!”Harambe was in 2016, unless you’re from the alternate timeline where the event actually happened in 2012.
Harambes demise was fortold by the Mayans.
…ok, either you somehow have the ability to alter google results before I search for them, or this is some Bearenstein Bears Bullshit!
I SWEAR it was in 2012…wait, was Kony 2012 not in 2012? I remember them both happening in the same summer.
The world ending thanks to the mayans was 2012, harambre was the confirmation that the world ended in 2012
What the fuck kind of data could it be? Crazy shit
Money laundering.
the hell? why the fuck a washing machine needs a wifi for? to google how to wash clothes?
Just wait until you find out about wifi connected toothbrushes
man, i’m living under a rock - why the fuck would you need a wifi on a toothbrush?
If they ever sell a smart hammer that measures my impact strength and sends it to some system somewhere for further analysis then I’m giving up building. Let the damn AI build. Why does the world incorporate tech even when it adds nothing to a pre-existing method and drives up the price? Oh…I get it now.
Because “data is the new oil.”
Doesn’t matter what that data is, collect it first, and figure out how to sell it later.
except this oil is like 99% useless given the current scope of data collection.
You say that, until your hammer data is used to detect improper use, which your employer’s insurance can use to deny a claim.
Or it can be used to void a warranty. Or it could detect G-forces of your commute to work and raise your car insurance rates for hard accelerations. Or a biometric sensor in the handle can tell your boss if you can work another 30 minutes before there is a financially significant risk of heatstroke.
You get the idea, that data is useless, until some hairbrained jackass packages it and sells it’s to an even more unscrupulous asshole.
“Sock! Sock! Sock! Sock! Sock! Sock! Sock! Sock! Sock! Shirt! Sock! Sock! Sock! Sock!” - LG Dishwasher, probably.
I believe that if a dishwasher sees a sock, it might be used for the wrong purposes.
If you give it a sock, it will become a free dishwasher.
For what it’s worth, my LG washer has sent 14.3 MB in the past MONTH, but my Unifi router has misidentified my Nvidia Shield TV as another LG washer. The Shield has downloaded 11.6 GB in the past month, mostly from YouTube. While I don’t doubt it’s possible for a washer to send/receive that much data if it’s compromised and part of a botnet, I’d also question whether the device in question is actually an LG laundry appliance.
why do you even need to have your washer connected to the internet at all?
Knowing when the washer is done with a polite buzz on my wrist is way better than not hearing a beeper from 3 rooms away. It also reports your energy and water usage so you can learn about where you use resources.
There’s a lot to be gained from smart appliances, it’s just that our current system makes the manufacturers adversarial to the users unfortunately.
I just set a timer. As for knowing how much energy it uses: How much can you change once you know? You only get a few options on the machine to make any difference. Knowing this stuff is useful before you buy it, not after.
I wonder what happened to the capability of people to remember a time and read a watch.
because those people don’t think, they do what they are told by companies. there is ZERO logical reason to have the thing connected to the internet.
it won’t add soap…it won’t add clothes…it won’t remove clothes…
there is nothing that machine can do better while connected to the internet vs offline…if there is, then it’s a limitation/problem specifically designed to make the product worse, in order to manipulate people to sign up for stupid crap.
