What sort of grill needs a firmware update lol
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Probably a security update to try and keep it from being part of a botnet maybe? What would work better though is never connecting it to a network or even better, just don't make it smart for no dam reason, lol.
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Have you tried ceramic? I don't know if it makes sense but just a doubt
Someone will knock it over at some point within five years turning it into a sad jigsaw puzzle.
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There was a silly little movie in the 80's called "Maximum Overdrive", written and directed by Stephen King.
In it Aliens somehow cause machines to 'turn' on human beings and attack us.
They could remake that movie now but instead of Aliens causing the machines to attack people, it could be malicious 'hackers' that do it, and it would be more believable that the original film.
Oh, so like Die Hard 4.
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Not everyone can live in California wine country.
Most people live where it gets either dangerously hot or dangerously cold for large portions of the year.
It's dangerously cold for maybe 10 days during the 3 months of winter where i live (temperaturs below 20F). Far from the 3 months of temperatures that never drop below 95 degrees in Texas. The Midwest, the Rockies, Pacific Northwest, and mid to north Atlantic of the US are all well within normal human habitation ranges.
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Have tons of devices that can connect to the Internet. Apparently I'm the only one here resourceful enough to not connect them
I'd rather not reward manufacturers that include that just to raise the price and track and sell your data with my money.
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While I agree that real charcoal is superior in every way, a good grill and the person running it needs to be able to control the temperature while cooking. It might be just fine to burn those hot dogs or hamburger patties, but if I want to roast a potato or an onion, I need to be able to control the heat to something less than the surface of the sun.
If you don't know how to control the temp on a cheap charcoal grill, that's fine, but don't pretend it can't be done.
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I'm an IT nerd but they could not pay me to buy a grill that requires software updates. What a bunch of nonsense.
I'm an IT guy, if my printer made a noise I don't recognise I'd shoot it.
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I have a Masterbuilt that has optional firmware updates sometimes, nothing mandatory and certainly nothing automatic. It's a gravity fed charcoal grill that works like a computer controlled forced air rocket stove. Gets up to 700 degs from cold in 10 mins if I want or hold 225 for the rest of time as long as I keep feeding charcoal into the hopper and emptying the ash bin. The computer is adding actual value.
No soggy pellets, no weird feeding issues, the biggest problem I've had with it was the hatch sensors all going out over time, but once I jumped the circuit past them it worked fine again to this very day, going on six years now.
Gets up to 700 degs
That's a furnace. Aluminium melts at 700 degrees. Gold at 1000.
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I'd rather not reward manufacturers that include that just to raise the price and track and sell your data with my money.
I think you missed the bus.
I'd rather not reward manufacturers that include that just to raise the price
Cool cool, you do you homie
and track and sell your data with my money.
If you didn't connect the device to the internet... Then... There is no "data"
This isn't a difficult concept. The device didn't ship with your WiFi broadcast ID and password preset in the firmware. Are you saying that the product has a sim card that will just relay info back regardless of whether or not you connect it? And the manufacturer is cool just paying for this connection? What "data"???
Yet again, don't willingly and intentionally connect it to anything that has access to the internet. JFC, is it really that abstract of a concept that confounds all others? I don't think I needed to be told this. It's the very definition of self-evident.
What the absolute fuck is happening? Did everyone eat brain tumors for breakfast?
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I rip the wifi card out and if that's not available all things can be solved with the proper application of an angle grinder.
Careful, the last person with a modicum of common fucking sense almost got flamethrowered by Beef Supreme.
"Hey, I just thought of something crazy, maybe DON'T kick yourself in the balls?"
one-of-us^one-of-us^one-of-us^one-of-us^one-of-us^one-of-us^one-of-us^one-of-us^one-of-us^one-of-us
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My parents old farmer house had a smoke cabinet (wood chips heating). You put meat in, let it smoke and take smoked meat out, done. Though it makes a mess.
My point is, what do you need to monitor that for?
Depending on the internal temperature curve I may need to change cook temps in the pit, which I can do remotely. I also monitor the curve to determine when to spray and wrap, and other activities, depending on what is smoking.
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I think you missed the bus.
I'd rather not reward manufacturers that include that just to raise the price
Cool cool, you do you homie
and track and sell your data with my money.
If you didn't connect the device to the internet... Then... There is no "data"
This isn't a difficult concept. The device didn't ship with your WiFi broadcast ID and password preset in the firmware. Are you saying that the product has a sim card that will just relay info back regardless of whether or not you connect it? And the manufacturer is cool just paying for this connection? What "data"???
Yet again, don't willingly and intentionally connect it to anything that has access to the internet. JFC, is it really that abstract of a concept that confounds all others? I don't think I needed to be told this. It's the very definition of self-evident.
What the absolute fuck is happening? Did everyone eat brain tumors for breakfast?
Whether it actually happened or not, that was their intent. If you're happy to reward that behavior, well, "you do you."
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Grill, Dehumidifier, Air con, Fridge, Dishwasher, Washing Machine, Lightbulbs, Ovens, Doorknob…
None of that should be smarter than "press button, get action".
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Probably a security update to try and keep it from being part of a botnet maybe? What would work better though is never connecting it to a network or even better, just don't make it smart for no dam reason, lol.
Probably a security update to try and keep it from being part of a botnet maybe?
Then we're back to the same question. At what point a grill have anything that could be part of a botnet
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Expensive options: thermoworks smoke-x
1-200 depending on 2 or 4 channel version, legally can only be used in the us and Canada because they use a custom rf protocol. As a result the range is 1.24 miles. Thermoworks is pricey shit but it lasts long, can be calibrated, and generally is one of the most accurate cooking thermometers you can buy
(albeit much much much more expensive than a $10-30 k type thermocouple and a used reader for $50 that is way more precise and usually will do data logging) also granted for most people a $20-40 thermometer would be fine with like 300-500ft range
My issue with “smart” anything is not the inherent concept, it’s the execution 99% of the time. I have plenty of smart stuff in my house but it’s almost never convergence devices. I’ve learned that these types of devices are more than anything designed to be disposable trash. Designed as cheap as possible, cut as many corners, introduce as many security holes as possible, etc. we have 0 consumer rights so even if it’s strong they’ll change the tos after the fact when their profits fall and they need to make the line go up.
So it comes to this. I’m not opposed to “smart” devices. They just have to occur in a dumb, roundabout way. They have to work without being connected to the internet, or in some rare cases by being bridged to the internet via home assistant from an isolated vlan. If I want a smoker I can monitor on the fly I will look at something like that thermometer paired with a standard steel smoker that will last decades. If I need to adjust it remotely I will look at why I need this option first: is it realistic that I would just adjust it without checking the contents? If I would then check open source and if nothing exists make it. It sucks but this where our garbage profit driven society led us, to shitty products that fill landfills and waste resources
Again, you make some great points, especially about profit motive and lack of strong consumer rights.
If I want a smoker I can monitor on the fly I will look at something like that thermometer paired with a standard steel smoker that will last decades.
When I'm not going old school with my stick burner I run a Yoder YS640S with a Fireboard controller. The Yoder is an extremely high quality pellet smoker which given proper maintenance will last longer than I'll be alive. It and the Fireboard are designed, built, and shipped from the US (where I live), which is also nice. I don't know exactly how Fireboard runs their cloud services, but from looking at the privacy policy and sniffing the unit's traffic (a few years ago) it looks like Google Cloud and Analytics. They also disclose that if you use the Fireboard outside of the US, that your data will be stored and processed in the US, which is interesting, but may be misleading.
Fireboard is an interesting company, they started out by making temperature monitors and blowers for retrofitting into home built smokers, which I think is pretty cool.
I had a fire unrelated to my smoker which destroyed the smart bits of the Yoder, and both Yoder and Fireboard customer support were excellent to work with to help me rebuild my smoker.
I'm not stanning for either of these companies, perhaps just explaining why I've opted to make some tradeoffs for the convenience this particular product offers.
If I need to adjust it remotely I will look at why I need this option first: is it realistic that I would just adjust it without checking the contents?
Yes. I'm primarily looking at internal temp curves. Sometimes that prompts a simple pit temp change, sometimes it means I need to interact with the contents like spraying or wrapping. I've cooked often enough on this unit to know what the contents look like and how they react to smoke given the internal and pit temp curves.
Generally speaking I agree with your take on garbage consumer products being designed to extract money from the consumer before crapping out early and being thrown away. I think I've done well to select the products I have to keep that from being the reality with my pellet smoker.
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Sending a temp updates to your phone so you don't have to be standing near it the whole time is a nice feature.
I agree, but that should be a separate device. One that I can use in any grill or oven. There's no reason for the grill itself to have that feature, especially if it can potentially brick the whole thing.
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Iirc, these grills are wifi connected so you can remotely monitor and control temperature. Makes sense if you are bbqing something that is gonna be in there for 12 hours. But then, you kind of lose one of the benefits of bbqing - sitting next to a grill and drinking beer with your friends for 12 hours.
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I agree, but that should be a separate device. One that I can use in any grill or oven. There's no reason for the grill itself to have that feature, especially if it can potentially brick the whole thing.
Iirc, you can also control the temp, presumably by interacting with the pellet hopper or fan. This will be specific enough for a BBQ that an integrated component makes sense.
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Grill, Dehumidifier, Air con, Fridge, Dishwasher, Washing Machine, Lightbulbs, Ovens, Doorknob…
None of that should be smarter than "press button, get action".
I once wondered why the fuck an oven should need WiFi.
Then last week I was stuck in a traffic jam coming home from work, and took 2 hrs to do what should've been a 1 hr drive. (45km distance)
Then I had to make dinner, and I had such little time to have dinner, clean up from dinner, shower, walk the dog, and settle down for bed for work in the morning, I was angrily wishing I could preheat the oven while I was on my way home from work. That's when I realized the reason for a WiFi oven.
Also, being able to say "hey Google lights out" when I'm tired as fuck about to go to bed and the light switch is on the other side of the room opposite direction from the bedroom, is nice too.
Actually, as someone who has little free time when not stuck at work or in traffic, I'm probably more likely than the average person to appreciate things having wifi.
Doorknobs though, I'll draw the line there so we can both at least agree on something together
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Sending a temp updates to your phone so you don't have to be standing near it the whole time is a nice feature.
Okay, I'm not a huge griller, but wouldn't it be better just to build in a thermostat? Let it maintain its own temperature?
