Owners mourn spoiled food after firmware update bricks Samsung smart fridges(arstechnica.com)
316 points by nonfamous 19 days ago | 326 comments
tl;dr: A botched Samsung firmware update bricked an unknown number of smart refrigerators in Korea just before the Chuseok holiday, spoiling food and leaving owners without repairs potentially until October. Samsung acknowledged the error, is prioritizing emergency service, and aims to fix some units by September 24. Frustrated users are warning others never to update their fridges—or to avoid internet-connected appliances entirely.
HN Discussion:
  • ↑Samsung appliances are known to be unreliable despite consumer popularity
  • ↑Forced updates and feature creep exemplify modern engineering incompetence
  • ↑Smart fridges are unnecessary and solve non-existent problems
  • ↑Cooling systems should be architecturally separated from smart features
  • •Practical workarounds exist: don't connect appliances or use local control tools