This is a good example, why not all devices should be connected to foreign servers. Errors can happen everywhere. But it could end badly, if some Corporations make errors and creating trouble, which would otherwise not happen.
In the case of the 3D-printer it is not that bad (except it destroys itself or even gets on fire), also you can turn it off. But imagine a smart stove top that lights up a towel (or something similar) while nobody is home.
Not, that I think that it is not useful to have something like that, but wouldn’t it be nice, if that stuff would work locally? (with the WireGuard integration in modems, the access from outside of home with the smartphone, should also be no problem for non-tech people)
This is the best summary I could come up with:
3D printers are one of the few remote-controlled devices in a house that can get hot enough to start a fire, and now, we’re learning that remote control system wasn’t fully thought through.
(Even if Bambu’s printers do have thermal runaway protection that might prevent a true fire from breaking out, Maker’s Muse suggested in January that system needed improvements, too.)
“Our team is working closely with our customers to provide the necessary assistance and make sure they are able to get back to printing in the shortest time possible.”
Issues like this also make us wonder about potential misuse and hacks, of course — if this printer can be remotely controlled by cloud servers to such a degree, what’s to stop Bambu employees and hackers from abusing that, including the live video feed from its cameras?
To Bambu’s credit, the company has a robust LAN-only mode that you can turn on in the printer’s settings, which allows you to send jobs over home or Wi-Fi instead of across the internet.
(Bambu even recently updated it with live video streaming over LAN, though you can currently only access that from the desktop slicer app, not your phone.)
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