It's a smoker, with a port for a temp probe in the meat.

When you smoke something for 10-12 hours it's nice to get temp readings from wherever. It might also have automatic control for temperature management.

It’s a smoker add on. I’d assume so you can adjust the temperature without actually opening it.

It's very possible, dare I say preferred, to have a traditional Thanksgiving spread getting made in the kitchen while someone grills up some veggies.

My dad's gas grill doesn't do this either. Sometimes the boomer inability to understand technology is a blessing. Now if only he'd stop downloading sketchy slots games and getting viruses...

Looks like it is a crysis already.

Connected HVAC can be pretty damn great depending on your house. It’s changed my energy usage a lot, and I like being able to adjust temps without walking downstairs in the middle of the night. Although having your thermostat lose cloud support ever 10-15 years is pretty shitty.

Connected doors are also great for handing out virtual keys and ensuring that stuff is shut and locked when you’re away.

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

If they are WiFi controlled that’s actually a good thing, as it sounds like the manufacturer is still supporting it & hopefully updating it to prevent security issues & hacks!

But this is also why I personally try not to buy WiFi enabled gadgets unless it really needs to be remotely accessible.

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.

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 :D

As an IT nerd I got one of these and put it on a different subnet and it's not able to reach out to anything external but my phone can hit it from a different subnet. Thing works great.

Pay me? Fuck yes, I'll rip that crap out and replace it with a couple of relays or maybe get fancy and arduino -> home assistant.

I'm betting that someone pay a LOT extra to get that garbage though.

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'm an IT guy, if my printer made a noise I don't recognise I'd shoot it.