Adrian J Cotterill, Editor-in-Chief
Sort of hidden at the bottom of the latest ‘Samsung Family Hub for 2025‘ software update is a ‘New Widget Pilot for Cover Screen Themes‘ which, as well as displaying useful day-to-day information such as news, calendar and weather forecasts includes curated advertisements!
The release does stress that “Family Hub owners will have the option to turn off Cover screen ads in the Advertisements tab of the Settings menu” and that “Ads can also be dismissed on the Cover screen”.
Specific ads will not appear again during the ‘campaign period’ and Samsung also note that advertising will not appear when Cover screen displays Art or Album theme BUT all of this has caused deep consternation amongst the technical literati and social media platforms such as Reddit have seemingly blown up with adtech-angst.
Samsung’s Family Hub software enhancements started rolling out in October for fridge owners and included a more intuitive user interface, improved AI Vision Inside capabilities, Voice ID capabilities with Bixby and upgraded security with Knox Matrix:-
- Unified Experience Across Screens
The refreshed One UI design that was first seen on Samsung’s 2025 Bespoke AI appliances will be coming to 2024 Family Hub™ models. This advances Samsung’s vision to bring a unified, seamless experience across the screens of its ecosystem of smart TVs, mobile devices and home appliances. In addition to enabling intuitive navigation and region-specific settings, users will get convenient access to features like Family Care, Pet Care and Home Care. - Smarter Food Tracking with AI Vision Inside Refrigerators
Family Hub™ refrigerators with AI Vision Inside technology will receive upgrades to enable recognition of frequently used packaged foods and even more fresh fruits and vegetables to help families reduce food waste and save money. AI Vision Inside will now recognize 37 fresh food items, including apples, cherries, cucumbers, mangoes, kiwis and more. In addition, AI Vision can now identify and suggest labeling up to 50 packaged food items that are frequently placed in the fridge.[5] - Personalized Intelligence for Every User
Meanwhile, Bixby gets new Voice ID capabilities, allowing it to recognize who is speaking and switches to their Samsung account. This makes it easy for users to access their calendar and view their photos or find a misplaced phone, even when it’s on silent. - Voice ID also enhances accessibility by syncing the refrigerator’s display with the visual settings on a user’s Samsung Galaxy phone, such as color inversion or grayscale. And for quicker access, users can now activate Bixby with a simple double tap on the screen.
In our eyes it’s an interesting story only because Samsung buried the advertising part or at least did not make a big deal out of it. You could pay me a lot of money and I still wouldn’t have any form of intelligent appliance in my kitchen or house but the adverts can easily be turned off. It’s no big deal unless, like on #TwiX you forcibly get adverts unless you pay more via subscription to not get them.
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