Title text:
It's important for devices to have internet connectivity so the manufacturer can patch remote exploits.
Transcript:
[A store salesman, Hairy, is showing Cueball a dehumidifier, with a "SALE" label on it. Several other unidentified devices, possibly other dehumidifier models, are shown in the store as well.]
Salesman: This dehumidifier model features built-in WiFi for remote updates.
Cueball: Great! That will be really useful if they discover a new kind of water.
Source: https://xkcd.com/3109/
The built-in hygrometer's not necessarily going to be as good as a well-designed home automation system, especially if the fan's not running all the time, so it has to wait for damp air to diffuse into the machine. It also lets you do other things, like not bother turning the dehumidifier on if there are open windows if you've got some way to detect that, or report the humidity to something that will graph it. It's not stuff that most consumers will care about, but a microcontroller with WiFi like the ESP8266 or ESP32-C3 costs less than an accurate hygrometer chip, so it doesn't make much, if any, difference to the final price, particularly if the product was going to use a microcontroller anyway.
It's ironic that you can implement all this cool automation for a device but in the end still have to manually lug water to it.
Like how every source of power is still steam since before the industrial revolution.
Just most sources of power. Photovoltaic, wind and hydro aren't steam based.
Almost no cars, trucks, or tractors are steam based anymore. I believe most ships are ICE as well, not to mention rockets, and animal/muscle power. As such I'd need a very deep analysis of the situation to believe any claim. (deep because in an ICE a large part of the power comes from burning fuel producing steam, so we can start debating how much of an ICE is steam - have fun).
In any case my local electric utility generated more power from wind than all customers used last year, so I can make a good claim most of my power isn't from steam. If your utility isn't in the same situations or close you should be demanding they get with the times.
And your moms power is hip based.
I'm not going to knock her putting them to good use! It's done well by her so far. 👍
That's the spirit!