LG promises to make home appliance software upgradeable to take on new tasks
- Reference: 1643093892
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2022/01/25/lg_upgradeable_appliances/
- Source link:
The company today announced a scheme called “Evolving Appliances For You.”
The plan is sketchy: LG has outlined a scenario in which a customer who moves to a locale with climate markedly different to their previous home could use LG’s ThingQ app to upgrade their clothes dryer with new software that makes the appliance better suited to prevailing conditions and to the kind of fabrics you’d wear in a hotter or colder climes. The drier could also get new hardware to handle its new location. An image distributed by LG shows off the ability to change the tune a dryer plays after it finishes a load.
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Another scenario suggests adding a filter to an air purifier, so it performs well if you acquire a pet. To get the best from the special purpose hardware, LG suggests also adding a new software program to the gadget to make the best use of the physical filter.
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“We want customers to experience the feeling of getting a new washer or refrigerator throughout the entire lifecycle of an LG appliance, not just the first time they bring the item home,” said Lyu Jae-cheol, president of LG Electronics Home Appliance & Air Solution Company.
Ending planned obsolescence is another ambition.
[5]Of course a Bluetooth-using home COVID test was cracked to fake results
[6]Secure boot for UK electric car chargers isn't mandatory until 2023 – but why the delay?
[7]Smart things are so dumb because they take after their makers. Let's fix that
[8]UK.gov emits draft IoT and smartphone security law for Parliamentary scrutiny
Just how this will all work was not explained, but more info has been promised for followers of LG Appliances’ Instagram account.
Hopefully Insta users get more than lifestyle shots because there is obvious security risk if evildoers upload something nasty into an appliance. That’s not The Register being paranoid: in 2017 [9]Check Point Software demonstrated LG account takeovers that allowed remote control a robot vacuum cleaner, refrigerators, ovens, dishwashers, washing machines and dryers, and air conditioners. As we reported at the time, “devices could be switched on and off, settings changed and more.”
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And as our columnist Mark Pesce has imagined, a compromised connected gas oven could [11]blow up your house .
LG has promised it will announce 20 upgradable appliances during 2022. The Register will try to take one for a spin, because we would like to play with both the security features and – if possible – see if this stuff can help us to brew better tea. ®
Get our [12]Tech Resources
[1] https://www.theregister.com/2022/01/25/john_deere_right_to_repair_lawsuits/
[2] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2Ye-YVyBF3IdsUlVWQXCRsQAAAIc&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44Ye-YVyBF3IdsUlVWQXCRsQAAAIc&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33Ye-YVyBF3IdsUlVWQXCRsQAAAIc&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[5] https://www.theregister.com/2021/12/22/ellume_home_covid_test_cracked/
[6] https://www.theregister.com/2022/01/11/electric_car_charging_security_uk/
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2021/11/29/smart_things_column/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2021/11/25/product_security_telecoms_bill_parliament/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2017/10/26/lg_iot_smart_home_hack/
[10] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44Ye-YVyBF3IdsUlVWQXCRsQAAAIc&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2015/04/17/the_internet_of_things_is_great_until_it_blows_up_your_house/?page=2
[12] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Re: A clothes drier that adapts itself to prevailing conditions
I would up-vote you but you have not lived in a monsoonal climate, have you, especially with a new baby in the house. For most of Oz, though, a sensible attitude.
Re: A clothes drier that adapts itself to prevailing conditions
Not that many monsoons in Yorkshire, to be fair, nor in Germany where I live now.
But at the flat in Copacabana we used a hanging rack...
I do appreciate your point. But still, for most of the world, it's an unnecessary luxury (and just a luxury for the rest).
to take on new tasks
beyond the 'regular' (read: basic) washing programmes. You want 'superquick'? You want 'woolens'? You want to operate at night-time, to take advantage of more economical (slightly less rip-off) tariff? You want to tune down the volume of adverts blaring out from the built-in, unblockable speaker? Well, this one-off discounted, monthly SUBSCRIPTION will help you do just that!
but hey, there's this 'darknet' thingy, where your penile avatar can travel, and grab this 'free' file to remove those unfair constraints (and add a little mike feature and others too ;)
so what do those dial thingies and buttons do ?
Another set of complications, buggy software and security problems solving no problems coming up.
Re: so what do those dial thingies and buttons do ?
The issue is that is is now cheaper to have buggy software and a few push buttons or worse a touch screen than have real switches.
The excuse that is often touted is that it is more reliable.......
What they actually mean is "it is more convenient for the manufacturer".
The cynic in me
> use LG’s ThingQ app to upgrade their clothes dryer with new software
I reckon this is just a ploy for the company to extract more revenue (nobody said these upgrades would be free ) from existing products. Maybe even as a marketing ruse to increase the price above and (far) beyond the actual cost of the additional hardware.
OTOH, "upgradable" is just another word for hackable.
On the gripping hand, it means they can do away with their software testing team. Gotta bug? Never mind, we'll just push a patch.
Re: The cynic in me
I would say the 'Cynic in you' is functioning well, although it missed the opportunity for LG to gather more data on changes of circumstance of it's users.
'We see you have moved to a warmer climate, you may be interested in LG's new Smart AI Mojito Maker.....'
"An image distributed by LG shows off the ability to change the tune a dryer plays after it finishes a load"
Hurrah! If only Samsung did one for my (non-i'net) washer that only has the option of a never ending tune or silence... whatever happened to using a few 'pings' to alert me to the fact that it has finished
"An image distributed by LG shows off the ability to change the tune a dryer plays after it finishes a load"
I'm glad there focusing on the important things in life...
No more obsolescence?
That would be nice. Most of the "Smart" features in my LG TV stopped working after about 5 years after Youtube et al changed the protocol version and LG didn't update the firmware.
How long?
"I am sorry Dave, I cannot update my software to fix the bug, open my door and release your hand, LG ended my software support last month."
Does this mean that my LG heat pump will be upgradable? (once they get around to installing a network connection on it)
And maybe they should change the company's name to the "Sirius Cybernetics Corporation"
The problem is with making devices "smart" in the first place...
A clothes drier that adapts itself to prevailing conditions
I am obviously a child of the sixties (oh, wait, I am a child of the sixties).
In the cellar here, next to the washing machine, are a couple of racks upon which wet clothing taken from the washing machine may be hung. Above the racks is a window which may be opened or closed as desired, depending on current climatic conditions.
I'm really struggling to see how I update its software.
(oh, and if you were wondering: I consider an electrically powered clothes drier an utterly pointless waste of energy. You may of course have a different opinion).