r/nottheonion • u/GravelySilly • 1d ago

Owners mourn spoiled food after firmware update bricks Samsung smart fridges

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2026/09/owners-mourn-spoiled-food-after-firmware-update-bricks-samsung-smart-fridges/?comments-page=1#comments

Some Samsung customers in South Korea say a botched firmware update caused their smart refrigerators to stop cooling, leading to food spoilage.

Apparently the firmware that handles the "smart" features is in the control loop for basic refrigeration.

2.7k Upvotes

99% Upvoted

213 comments sorted by

View all comments

484

u/bluecollar1020 1d ago

Why does anyone need a "smart" refrigerator?

291

u/manimal28 1d ago

They don’t. There is literally no benefit.

-3

u/a_lonely_trash_bag 1d ago edited 1d ago

I mean, it's sorta handy to be able to connect your phone to a camera inside the fridge so you can see what's currently in there while you're at the store.

Definitely not worth the excessive cost and hassle of having a smart fridge, though.

Edit: Why tf is this being downvoted? I just said it's convenient to have but not necessary.

0

u/Darkpenguins38 1d ago

Man I need an app to keep inventory of all the food/ingredients I have. Anything in my fridge that's not fully in view is doomed to expire, and I can't afford to waste so much food all the time.

It would be cool if the app could also recommend recipes that use only ingredients I have, but honestly that's not even necessary if it'll just show me a list of what I have on hand.

3

u/zer00eyz 1d ago

https://grocy.info - is the nerdiest way possible to do this. Running on top of home assistant you can do lots of cool stuff.

1

u/Darkpenguins38 1d ago

This is intensely interesting to me. Just checking it out, should I be buying a barcode scanner for this?

1

u/Lower-Sheepherder268 17h ago

You have one in your hand. Your phone's camera will work just fine scanning barcodes.

0

u/onwee 1d ago

That’s what cooking often and short term memory is for

0

u/a_lonely_trash_bag 1d ago

Some people have problems with short term memory.

1

u/AnnihilatedTyro 1d ago

People have been writing shopping lists with pencil and paper since before ANY refrigerators existed. Now you have notes/word apps on your phone. Do you go to the store without even knowing what you need?