smart home devices

A Samsung software update has inadvertently broken its smart refrigerators, leaving screens and smart features frozen and prompting complaints from owners. Reports of the botched rollout are spreading online, with users venting about appliances rendered partly unusable by a patch meant to improve them. The case highlights how connected home devices can fail when software updates go wrong, turning everyday kitchen appliances into paperweights until a fix arrives.

Tests on LG smart TVs found the devices logging and uploading data even while in standby mode, with microphone recording detected while the TV was offline. The investigation reportedly found Wi-Fi scanning, location data collection, and automatic content recognition tracking what users watch. Privacy advocates are urging owners to avoid connecting smart TVs to the internet.