zlacker

>>anothe+(OP)
One of the worst offenses I've ever seen as an example of this is this trend with newer refrigerators (which I'm sure will brick after 2-3 years when the manufacturer stops supporting the software) where they have a camera inside that projects to a screen on the door. Cool, you can see what food is inside the refrigerator!

Do you know how else you can do that? by opening the door. We need to stop "innovating" features that absolutely no one needs, because clearly the result isn't a better product, just a messier, more complex one that is frequently over-engineered and under-supported.

>>JohnMa+5W1
The worst refrigerator innovation is including an RFID tag in water filters, and refusing to make ice or dispense water unless the filter is replaced within a certain timeframe. Google for GE RPWFE

The hack is to cut the RFID tag off a blank that bypasses the filter and tape it to a cheaper 3rd party filter.

The amusing thing is that its actually cheaper to replace the RFID sensor board in the fridge & use a generic filter than to use an official GE filter (re-using the cutout RFID tag from a genuine GE filter). The RFID sensor in mine died, and prevented it from dispensing water/ice. And no, I didn't choose this fridge. It came with the house when I bought it.

>>drewg1+Td2
A great crowdfunded business would be to sell aftermarket kits for all the enshittified appliances. This somewhat exists already (my samsung fridge had frost buildup on the sensor, causing the fridge cycle to never come on!), so the business would be to cover 95% of all appliances in the last 15 years. The best innovation would be to develop a lego-style board repair kit that can be tailored to any specific model. So the same board can be used (with nominal reconfiguration) to repair/replace a Kenmore icemaker vs a GE. A deeper option would be to sell "retrofit kits" that allow you to gut everything except the motors/compressors/refrig circuitry. Or for a dishwasher, toss all the circuits and just use the frame.