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New York Times
6 days ago
- Business
- New York Times
Yes, Your TV Is Probably Spying on You. Your Fridge, Too. Here's What They Know.
Miguel Porlan for NYT Wirecutter By Rachel Cericola, Jon Chase and Lee Neikirk Published June 25, 2025 This is not a conspiracy theory: Many of the devices living in your home are quietly collecting towering heaps of information about you. Your TV, your doorbell, your security system, your thermostat, even your earbuds — all of them are involved. Some of that data may be shared, analyzed, and then sold to the highest bidder, hundreds of times a day, by organizations you've never heard of. To be fair, some of the information is what you voluntarily provide when you decide to use a smart device or sign up for a service. And some of it, you almost certainly agreed to share, accidentally, by clicking through boilerplate terms-of-service pages. Still, more than a thousand so-called data brokers have access to — and profit from — personal data, through a largely invisible marketplace. As Peter Dolanjski, senior director of products at privacy-software company DuckDuckGo, characterized the amount of data collected: 'It would blow the average person's mind.' Explore all articles The story of smart-home devices and your personal data is merely one chapter in a much larger tale, that of the immense, and largely hidden, data industry. More than a thousand companies in the U.S. alone, including companies that make or sell many of the products in your home, are devoted to gathering your personal data. These companies collect and sift through as much data as they can scrounge in order to create a unique profile of every consumer. They package those profiles and sell them, to advertisers and research firms, to banks and credit card companies, to home and health and car insurance companies, to landlords, to government agencies, to law enforcement — essentially almost anyone willing to pay. According to a 2021 report by the Duke Sanford Cyber Policy Program, which examined the collection and sale of sensitive personal data by 10 major brokers, all of them 'openly and explicitly advertise data on millions of U.S. individuals, oftentimes advertising thousands or tens of thousands of sub-attributes on each of those individuals, ranging from demographic information to personal activities and life preferences (e.g., politics, travel, banking, healthcare, consumer goods and services).' The report also lists a number of other collected data types, ranging from individuals' political interests and activities to profiles of current and former military personnel to the current location of people's smartphones. One of the foremost companies, Experian, boasts that its databases hold 'insights on over 250 million US consumers and 126 million US households … and bring in 4 billion devices and 1 trillion device signals to definitively connect offline records to online identifiers.' These personal profiles are also used in what is called real-time bidding (RTB), yet another largely invisible technological layer that everyone unwittingly interacts with hundreds of times a day. Smart devices, such as voice-controlled speakers, Wi-Fi security cameras, TVs, even modern kitchen appliances like smart refrigerators, generate and collect a range of data types, including sometimes very personal information. And because these devices typically connect directly to the internet and require you to manage them using a smartphone app, the data they collect may be put to use in ways that you reasonably may not expect. I Tried, and Failed, to Disappear From the Internet Every time you use a smartphone or computer to visit a web page that has ads, and every time you open many smartphone apps, a series of transactions takes place in a microsecond: Information about you and your smartphone or computer is offered up for auction, and automated bidders the world over get the chance to place an ad in your view. Their bids may be based on profiles that include highly specific traits, details about your smartphone, and your personal interests based on your online activities. This practice is controversial, because not only does the auction winner have access to personal details in your profile, but so do all of the other bidders. And while that data may be anonymized, it can include personally identifiable information about you — even your current location. The issue has been known for some time, and in 2021 a team of US senators released a letter sent to a group of prominent tech companies that broker data, including AT&T, Google, OpenX, Twitter, and Verizon, demanding details on RTB in relation to consumer data sent to foreign countries. 'Few Americans realize that some auction participants are siphoning off and storing 'bidstream' data to compile exhaustive dossiers about them,' the letter noted. 'In turn, these dossiers are being openly sold to anyone with a credit card, including to hedge funds, political campaigns, and even to governments.' Last year, the Federal Trade Commission banned Virginia-based broker X-Mode/Outlogic from sharing user-location data, which the FTC said could be used to track someone to 'sensitive locations such as medical and reproductive health clinics, places of religious worship and domestic abuse shelters.' (This Wired article details how RTB tech physically located Russian president Vladimir Putin.) In January 2025, the Electronic Privacy Information Center, along with the Irish Council for Civil Liberties, submitted a complaint and request for investigation to the FTC. The complaint alleges that for a decade, Google, which makes Nest smart-home devices, knowingly sent sensitive user data via real-time bidding to 'foreign adversary' countries in violation of federal law. At this writing the FTC has yet to respond to requests for confirmation of any pending investigation. We requested confirmation from Google as to whether data used for Google's RTB products and services 'contains now or ever contained any data that could be collected from, or accessed by, Google Nest devices, the Google Home app, or Google Nest app.' A Google Nest spokesperson responded with this official statement: 'Google's Nest products do not sell ads through real-time bidding, nor does Google send sensitive personal data to RTB.' Data brokering is not a new business; it has been around as long as companies have collected information about their customers. But in the modern era, mass data collection has exploded, and a Senate report dating back to 2013 was already raising alarms about the industry. The report goes on to note that data sharing may happen without your consent or your knowledge of what data is being collected, who is seeing it, how it is used, and how you may be affected. More than a decade since that report, things have only intensified as a result of faster technology, the advent of AI, and the proliferation of listening devices such as smart speakers, smart-home devices, and smart TVs. The average American home has 17 internet-connected devices silently observing their activities — and more than 40% of households have smart devices (or 66% if you count smart TVs). They might have an Amazon Echo and a Roku TV. Or perhaps a Google Nest Thermostat and a few iPhones. If you've ever wondered whether these pieces of technology are passively ingesting information about you — listening as you go about your daily life, synthesizing information about your habits and preferences to help you, sure, but also to sell you things and perhaps sell your data to unknown actors — well, so have we. When we speak about smart devices, we're referring to internet-connected devices in your home that you can access using an app, many of which can be automated. That includes your smart thermostat, for example, but also your smart TV, your security camera, your smart kitchen appliances, your smart speakers, and so on. In order to do smart stuff, these devices rely on different types of data, including data that they detect — motion, voices, the temperature — but also data that they access from the internet, as well as data that is specific to you or your home, such as your location. Data is the fuel of the smart home. Enjoying the benefits of smart devices involves a fundamental trade-off: They and their associated smartphone apps track the various ways you interact with them. When you open and use a smartphone app to turn on a lamp, or ask Alexa a question, or check on a Nest camera, or watch a movie on Tubi through a Roku device, the companies behind those devices and services, and sometimes their partners, are paying attention and keeping a highly detailed record of every interaction. That data creates a unique profile of you. Some of that harvested data is used for product development and refinement. Companies refine their products, discover and fix bugs, and create new and better smart devices. But sometimes that data is also used to market other products to you — as well as to other people like you. What is especially concerning is how difficult (impossible, we'd argue) it is for a device owner to grasp what data is being collected, especially if you link one of your smart devices from one company with a device or platform from another company, such as linking your Tapo camera to your Alexa speaker. Although companies, especially large, well-known ones, do take meaningful precautions in the way they handle your personal data, they may also be overconfident in their ability to secure your privacy at best. And at worst, they fail to exercise restraint when monetizing your personal data. So if you're interested in using smart devices, and internet-connected devices in general, you need to use your own best judgment to determine whether that trade-off is comfortable for you. One of the experts we spoke with, Omar Alrawi, a scientist at Georgia Institute of Technology, noted that he operates under the assumption that a data leak of security camera footage is always going to be possible. So while he wouldn't put security cameras inside his home, he does have them outside, where he is less concerned. Share this article with a friend. Similarly, if you have smart speakers, it's prudent to consider where you place them. We also strongly advise adjusting the privacy settings in the speaker's companion app to ensure that you are comfortable with what data you allow it to access. Peter Dolanjski of DuckDuckGo noted that it's common for tech companies to rely on third-party analytics and advertising tools in their smartphone apps, including some used to manage smart devices. 'We tested the top Android free apps in Google Play, and 96% of those popular free apps contained trackers, companies that were different from the owners of the app — 87% of those send data to Google, and 68% send data to Facebook,' Dolanjski said. The issue is that when you use those apps, your personal data is shared with those third parties, which you may be unaware of. In tests of a few smart devices conducted by Wirecutter, we confirmed that some were indeed sending data to third-party endpoints. We should note, too, that data is part of the cost of affordably priced technology. It helps device makers keep track of bugs and make improvements or add new features. And as long as the companies employ proper security measures, and you as a device owner take standard privacy precautions, you should feel safe using your devices as usual. Part of our investigation was to find out if all that is true. We examined the privacy policies and data-collection practices of some of the most popular smart and connected devices, and consulted more than a dozen industry experts, to understand what risks, if any, they present. We also assembled specific instructions for how to protect yourself. Let's begin with the always-on devices that many people have invited into their homes. It's useful to think of voice-controlled smart speakers such as Amazon Echo devices, Apple HomePods, and Google Nest models as part quirky entertainment devices and part data-collection machines. You generate a ton of tempting data. When you set up a smart speaker, you need to use a companion app to set it up, and in doing so you are asked to provide a lot of personally identifiable information: an email address, your physical address or zip code, your smartphone's location, your contacts, and potentially even your photos. But what makes smart speakers unique is that almost every interaction you have with them is an expression of your interests. The music you like, the news stations you choose, the sports you ask about, the places you mention, the definitions you ask about — all of those add rich details that refine your profile. Your speaker is always listening, but not like you might think. Smart speakers have microphones that are always on. But Amazon, Apple, and Google Nest confirmed with Wirecutter that their speakers must hear a precise sonic pattern, a wake word, in order to begin recording (though they do make mistakes). Whenever they are recording, they signal it by lighting up or playing a tone. Zach Oberman, of marketing consultancy Launch Ready and a former ad product specialist at Google, confirmed what the companies claim. In reality, the giants that make smart speakers are too concerned about the reputational damage from getting caught being sneaky. 'The data-care policies that every Google employee has taken are extensive,' Oberman said. 'There are numerous, numerous privacy reviews — nobody needs the drop in stock price that would come [from a data leak].' The more you connect, the more you share. Amazon, Apple, and Google each have their own privacy policies, which state what types of data they collect, how they use it, and whether they share it. And all of them note in some form that once you integrate a third-party device with one of those respective platforms, how your data gets treated may change based on the policies of that device. (For example, Nest's policy states: 'When you use third-party services integrated with Google services, their own terms and privacy policies will govern your use of those services.') That means that if you use, say, a WiZ smart bulb in a bedroom lamp, you can look up that company's privacy policy and know how your data is protected. If you then decide that you want to control your bulb with Alexa, Apple Home, Google Home, or any other third-party service, however, the data that WiZ has access to also gets shared with that third party, and that company may use the data differently than WiZ would. As the Philips Hue privacy policy notes, once you pair your Hue bulbs with a third-party service, 'We may collect and process functional data (such as registration data, usage and diagnostic information) and your usage thereof.' Your Phone Is Stolen. Your Laptop Gets Lost. Here's What to Do. Gen AI is changing the playing field. The current versions of Alexa and Google Assistant rely on AI to perform their tasks, and on relatively basic levels they 'learn' and are improved, but only in general, not specifically tailored to you. In contrast, powered by generative AI, the emerging Alexa+ and Google Gemini (gen AI Siri is still in the distance) are intended to be highly personalized and far more proactive. During an Alexa+ demonstration event that Wirecutter attended, the presenter noted that users will be able to tell Alexa their personal preferences, including likes and dislikes in foods, songs, movies, and so on, which will get incorporated into future interactions. So if you tell Alexa+ that you are allergic to mushrooms and also music by Bob Seger, Alexa+ will filter those out when you ask for recipes or request music. Alexa+ will also make inferences about you — the more you interact with it, the more it will extrapolate. (We've begun testing Alexa+ and posted our initial experiences here). Similarly, Google says that a substantial amount of user data is collected by Gemini, and while you can prevent your data from being reviewed, it's still collected: 'Even when Gemini Apps Activity is off, your conversations will be saved with your account for up to 72 hours.' The company claims that data won't be used to serve you ads, but it leaves the option open for future changes. It makes no difference whether your TV is an LG or Samsung or most any other brand, or whether it has built-in Roku TV or Google TV. Modern smart TVs all have one thing in common: While you're watching them, they're paying attention to you, too. Your smart TV is screenshotting your shows. When you first set up your TV, you probably inadvertently agreed to enable software called Automatic Content Recognition (ACR). This technology takes a screenshot of whatever shows or movies you watch, identifies them, and sends that info to your TV's manufacturer (and potentially its partners, too). Yash Vekaria, co-first author of a study of ACR published last year, told us that ACR is 'like someone has installed a camera 24-7 in your living room.' Some TVs capture your viewing as much as multiple times a minute. Although companies are now required to ask TV buyers to opt in to ACR (following a 2017 FTC action against TV maker Vizio), most people end up doing so without knowing it. To opt out, you have to wade through your TV's settings menus to find a specific privacy setting (more details below). ACR takes in everything on your screen, not just TV shows. The built-in ACR software in your TV isn't just monitoring and reporting on your devotion to Today or even your Netflix binge sessions of Love Is Blind . ACR is capturing anything that appears on your screen, including YouTube videos, personal photos, security or doorbell camera streams, and video or photos you send via Apple AirPlay or Google Cast. ACR can even snag content from other devices connected to your TV by HDMI, including personal laptops, video game consoles, and Blu-ray players. What manufacturers do with that data is completely out of your hands. 'As of now, this data is freely bought and sold in the data broker economy,' said Vekaria. He cautions that data can be used maliciously. Your Data Appeared in a Leak. Now What? A study published in 2024 by the advocacy group Center for Digital Democracy looked at commercial surveillance in the streaming era. The authors cite a number of ways in which personal data harvested by ACR could be used to micro-target people individually, including through personalized pharmaceutical ads or manipulative political ads. ACR is tenacious. The Center for Digital Democracy's study found that in the smart TVs they tested (from LG and Samsung), ACR continued to run and capture data even when the smart TV was offline. So even if you disconnect your TV from the internet, should you ever reconnect it to your home's network, perhaps for firmware updates, it'll forward saved data to the content-recognition servers as soon as it can ping them. Short of disconnecting your TV, if you want to prevent ACR from sharing your TV viewing, you'll need to turn it off (see below). Home security cameras alert you when packages are delivered and tell you when someone is at the door. And of course, they offer priceless peace of mind, keeping a record of your environment even when you're not around. But they have the ability to capture, and share, much more. Security cameras do more than watch. According to a 2024 Surfshark report, home security cameras collect more data points than any other consumer smart devices. Luís Costa, research lead at Surfshark, further told us, 'Outdoor security camera apps are among the top collectors of user data. On average, they gather 12 types of data, which is 50 percent more than what's usual for other smart home devices.' That includes video and audio, but also data from motion, light, and temperature sensors. The Surfshark report, which focused on popular camera models (from brands such as Arlo, Eufy, Nest, Ring, TP-Link, and Wyze), notes that many cameras collect personally identifiable information (PII), such as email addresses, phone numbers, payment information, and precise location. And of that data, seven out of the 12 data points are linked by the app to your actual identity. 'The risk of sharing this information with these vendors is the same as any other company that may offer digital services like Google, Apple, or Microsoft,' said Alrawi of Georgia Tech. 'As a consumer, I have no control [over] how these vendors secure my information, and if it were to be leaked, I would simply get an apology letter with an offer for one year of fraud monitoring.' Companies that leak customer data are at risk of potentially steep regulatory penalties and civil actions — but once personal data is leaked, there's no way to undo it. Although security camera companies may not be sharing your video, audio, and still photos, we looked at the privacy policies for Eufy, Google, Ring, and TP-Link, all of which state that they do share personal data for marketing purposes. All of these policies also include a clause that the companies will respond to legal requests, with Ring stating that it may even share recordings without a court order in circumstances 'when we believe disclosure is necessary or appropriate to prevent physical or other harm or financial loss.' Although most privacy policies say similar things, it's reasonable to be concerned that this type of information could fall into the wrong hands as a result. For instance, in August 2024, ADT confirmed it had been hit by a cyberattack; the company said that the attack didn't involve access to customers' systems but did include theft of customer information. AI supercharges, and complicates, everything. AI is commonplace in security cameras, serving to discern what the cameras have detected. Some models, such as Nest video doorbells, can identify specific people by name using facial recognition (which some states, such as Illinois and Texas, and localities like Portland, Oregon, have banned). Some can detect sounds such as alarms, breaking glass, or crying. All of those capabilities require AI, and AI requires training in order to work its magic. Representatives from Eufy, Google, and TP-Link (maker of Tapo cameras) all told us that user videos are not used to train their AIs and that instead they use publicly available and open-source data. Domek Yang, product security director and chief information security officer for Eufy Security, also noted that 'videos voluntarily donated by users are used to improve the models.' For example, if you send a report through the app because a video is mislabeled, it could be used for training. A Loved One Dies. No One Knows Their Passwords. Here's What to Do. More powerful AI needs more personal data. Both Google and Ring (which is owned by Amazon) have demonstrated features that let you use keyword searches of your camera recordings to find highly specific people, or moments, or objects. For instance, you can ask for videos of every time your spouse enters or leaves, or when a red car drives by your house, or whenever the raccoons visit. Those capabilities are possible because of updated versions of the companies' AI, in this case Gemini and Ring IQ, respectively, which are in the process of being rolled out. This may change the way user data is put to work, especially with smart cameras. For instance, Google's privacy policy for its AI specifically notes that Gemini employs human reviewers of user data; the policy also urges customers not to expose 'confidential information in your conversations or any data you wouldn't want a reviewer to see or Google to use to improve our products, services, and machine-learning technologies.' That may be a technically correct solution to prevent device owners from accidentally sharing confidential information, though the notion that people who own Gemini-powered smart speakers have to adjust their everyday behavior to cater to their device is concerning. All of this doesn't necessarily mean that your data is in jeopardy and that you are at risk. It may simply mean that the way you use devices impacts the way they function, and some of that may make you a valuable target for marketers and advertisers. But if you take simple precautions, you'll have less to worry about. It also depends on the trustworthiness of the devices that you invite into your home, which is why Wirecutter works hard to vet the makers of products we recommend. Discouragingly, in May 2025 the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau abandoned a proposed rule put forward by the Biden administration in 2024 that would have curbed the sale of some types of private data by data brokers in line with the way credit bureaus and background-check companies are restricted. However, the Federal Trade Commission, one of the federal agencies with regulatory power, has launched investigations into some of the related practices that have emerged, such as surveillance pricing. And the Federal Communications Commission is also in the process of launching an Energy Star–like program for certifying smart-home products, called the U.S. Cyber Trust Mark. The program aims to provide the public with an easy-to-understand way to verify that a device meets a set of security and privacy standards. Share this article with a friend. In the meantime, here are a number of simple steps you can take that will have profound impact, plus a few device-specific ones: Reputable data brokers have a process for letting you opt out of having your data collected and sold. The process is onerous, though. You'll need to contact each broker individually — and estimates indicate that there are more than a thousand. The Privacy Rights Clearinghouse outlines the basic process: Go to a data broker's privacy policy on its website, locate where it keeps its instructions for deleting personal data (usually under wording like 'consumer privacy rights,' 'delete your information,' or similar), and then file a request. You'll need to verify your identity, which may require submitting personal information. For instance, to delete your personal information and prevent the sale of your data by Acxiom, one of the largest data brokers, go to Acxiom's opt-out page and enter your details. Click the + icon beside each type of data to add it to your request, and then click Submit. You will receive an email with a confirmation link. Rinse, repeat. This Vice article contains a useful list of brokers with links on how to opt out for each one. A common feature of home Wi-Fi routers is the ability to create a secondary or guest Wi-Fi network, which stays disconnected from your own. Use that network only for your smart devices, so they don't have access to the internet activity of all the other devices you use at home on your regular Wi-Fi network. To set it up, log in to your gateway (combo modem and router, if you rent one from your ISP) or router (if you have your own) and enable a 'guest network,' giving it a name and a new password. Peter Dolanjski of DuckDuckGo told us that using unique burner email addresses that forward automatically to your main email address creates a barrier that helps prevent data brokers from joining together all the various logins and subscription services you have. The Best Data Removal Services We've written before about ways to protect your privacy, including services that allow you to relay your email address. Apple's Hide My Email is one good option built into iOS devices and is free with an iCloud+ subscription; Firefox Relay provides five addresses for free or 99 cents per month for unlimited addresses. When installing a new app, you get a prompt to allow or deny permissions for the app to access data, including your location, contacts, and photos, as well as Bluetooth or other devices on your network. At the point of install, deny all of those; then, turn them on only as needed when an app prompts you. For location, choose Only when using app . Unlike computers, all smartphones have a unique advertising identifier — representing your unique profile — that is stored on your device, and which by default is accessible to advertisers on apps and websites. You can prevent apps and sites from tracking your habits and activity by adjusting the settings. On an iPhone, go to Settings, scroll down to Privacy & Security, select Tracking , and toggle it off. In the Privacy & Security page, scroll down to Apple Advertising and turn off Personalized Ads . On an Android device, go to Settings and then Privacy, select Ads , tap Delete advertising ID , and confirm. You have a few ways to prevent ad services from collecting data on you and your devices. There are services that allow you to block ad tracking for all the devices on your Wi-FI network, though we don't currently review them. Apple iPhones have a pair of built-in do-not-track features for both the Safari web browser and Mail. When you're using Safari, iCloud Private Relay (included in a subscription to iCloud+) is a system that keeps the unique IP address of your smartphone separated from your web activity, which is encrypted. Mail also prevents trackers that are embedded in email messages. On an Android device, you can download the free DuckDuckGo web browser, which includes a feature called App Tracking Protection. Once enabled, it blocks most trackers in all the apps on your phone. (Some trackers are allowed, as turning them off may cause apps or sites to malfunction.) The Electronic Frontier Foundation's Privacy Badger, one of our picks, is a good and free choice. A VPN service can prevent your devices and your online activity from being tracked. It's a smart option for people who frequently travel or use public Wi-Fi. Each of the smart-speaker platforms handles voice requests and recordings differently. And the newer Alexa+ and Google Gemini, powered by generative AI, will bring changes. Using the Alexa app, you can view or listen to all of your voice interactions and correct them or delete them. You can also limit how long Alexa keeps recordings before automatically deleting them. Amazon says that it takes up to 48 hours for a deletion to complete. Amazon does not record video calls. Google Nest does not save chats with Google Assistant unless you specifically opt in, and it doesn't save video calls, either. Google Nest states that it keeps 'video footage, audio recordings, and home environment sensor readings separate from advertising, and we won't use this data for ad personalization.' However, interactions with Google Assistant may be used for personalization. Google does offer comprehensive controls for limiting what data can be collected, used, and stored, including the ability to delete history. (Note that Google has announced that Google Assistant is in the process of being replaced by Google Gemini on Google and Google Nest devices.) Share this article with a friend. Siri processes some voice commands locally and some in the cloud, where they are stored for up to two years. You can decline to have your recordings saved by Siri, though Apple will still send a transcript of your command to the cloud. Unlike with Amazon and Google, there is no longer a way to view a history of your interactions with Siri, though you can opt to delete your history by opening Settings and going to Siri , choosing Siri & Dictation History , and then tapping Delete Siri & Dictation History . The golden rule of internet-connected security cameras is to never point them at anything you wouldn't want the world to see — your driveway or porch might be fine, but your living room, maybe not so much. Otherwise, several models of smart cameras, such as this Eufy camera, allow you to store recordings on the device itself using a removable memory card, or sometimes on a hub. By keeping your recordings in your devices, you lower the risk of recordings being leaked in a data breach or otherwise abused. That said, the devices we recommend encrypt their recordings, so we generally recommend a cloud subscription for most people. If you didn't explicitly choose not to allow ACR when you set up your TV, you'll need to do it now, manually; fortunately, federal law requires TV makers to let you opt out. Doing so may take some digging around, as the process sometimes changes between TV model years and software versions. This SlashGear article has directions for TVs from a number of popular brands, though they may have changed. For LG TVs, this multi-step explainer from the company gives directions that differ depending on the year your TV was made. Here's the short version of how to disable or limit ACR on the TVs that we currently recommend: Hisense: Toggle off Viewing Information Services in the Privacy menu. Toggle off in the Privacy menu. LG: First, find Additional Settings in the System menu, and turn off Live Plus . Then go to the Advertisement submenu and turn on Limit AD Tracking . First, find Additional Settings in the System menu, and turn off . Then go to the Advertisement submenu and turn on . Roku: Find Smart TV Experience in the Privacy menu and toggle Use Info From TV Inputs to off . Find Smart TV Experience in the Privacy menu and toggle . Samsung: In the menu, find Privacy Choices and toggle off Viewing Information Services . In the menu, find Privacy Choices and toggle off . Sony: Go to the Initial Setup menu and disable Samba Interactive TV . This article was edited by Jon Chase, Grant Clauser, and Jason Chen.
WIRED
15-07-2025
- WIRED
This Guy Attached 21 Chef's Knives to a Slicing Robot Arm to Determine Which One Is Best
Jul 15, 2025 7:00 AM Certified kitchen knife nerd Scott Heimendinger used a robot arm on multiple chef's knives to collect 100,000 data points about which blades cut most efficiently. He's ranked them from best to worst. Scott Heimendinger's slicing robot arm prepares to apply the blade of a chef's knife to a helpless piece of bread. Courtesy of Scott Heimendinger People occasionally ask me if AI is coming for my job. I'm pretty hands-on, which gives me a bit of a feeling of security. But that feeling dropped a bit when I saw a robot with a knife in its gripper, testing its edge. The robot is a side project from Seattle Ultrasonics, a tiny operation run by Scott Heimendinger, an alumni of Modernist Cuisine and Anova, and cofounder of the beloved Sansaire sous vide company. Before all that, he was at Microsoft, working on software that became Power Query and Power BI. 'I'm pretty ridiculously good at Excel,' Heimendinger says, referring to his time at Microsoft before pausing. 'I'm very good. I was a whippersnapper.' More recently, he's been working on creating an ultrasonic knife for home kitchens, due out later in 2025. It looks like a regular chef's knife, but it vibrates almost imperceptibly, allowing it to cut incredibly well. The knives tested in Heimendinger's lab. Courtesy of Scott Heimendinger But it's Heimendinger's data-gathering side project, which he calls the Quantified Knife Project, that has grabbed my attention. For the experiment, he bought 21 chef's knives, attached them to a robot arm, ran them through a battery of tests, then crunched the gobs of data to calculate a "food cutting rank." To do all of his testing, he did a weekday's worth of ingredient shopping, queued up the Real Genius soundtrack, and ran his robot arm hard over a full weekend to collect the data. Five different foods sliced five times each, times 21 knives. That's 525 individual robot cuts, from which Heimendinger accrued 100,000 data points for his rankings. Dedicated knife nerds will be happy to know that he also ran each knife through a BESS sharpness test that measures the force needed to cut through a synthetic wire and sent the blades away for CATRA edge-retention tests. He then incorporated that data into the cutting rank. I suppose I should have been scared, or even jealous, of what he and his robot arm were doing. But mostly, I was intrigued. There were things I was curious about, and while I might have made little modifications to the tests or chosen different knives, mostly it just felt exciting. The Excel nerd now had reams of data. Spreadsheets galore! By crunching the data, he could rank the knives. I wanted to see for myself how he was testing, learn more about the knives he thought were best, compare our testing styles, and see how my favorite knife compared to his. A Cut Above I put that favorite knife, a Glestain with enormous dimples, in my knife roll and went to visit Heimendinger at his downtown Seattle lab. There's a lot to take in in his tiny space: a drill press, 3-D printers, specialized photo and video gear, a tiny shop vac, optical and digital microscopes, his 'crazy handy' oscilloscope. There's also the robot arm, a uFactory xArm 6, which he has dubbed Dr. J. Robot Choppenheimer. You can move this "cobot,' or collaborative robot, around while it records the movements, then it will mimic those movements over and over again. "It means it knows how much force is being applied and can stop if too much resistance is being met," he says. In other words, if you've got the settings right, it won't chop through your table or your arm. Scott took my knife, attached it to the robot's gripper, and started collecting data, running through the same battery of tests as his other 21 knives. First, it cut through five tomatoes, one at a time, through the equator. He mounts everything he's cutting to a 3-D printed plate with spikes that keep it from rolling or sliding away. That sits on a scale connected to his computer, allowing him to create a graph of how much force is being applied as the blade moves through the food. Tomatoes, for example, require a knife edge to exert a relatively large amount of pressure to break through the skin, then much less to complete the cut. After the fifth tomato, I had to know how my knife did. Without judgment, Heimendinger announced that it placed "second to last in the cohort." I felt responsibility for this knife, and a little embarrassment, until I remembered his knives came straight out of the box and into the testing process with an unblemished factory edge. My knife, on the other hand, had been in regular use in my test kitchen for more than six months receiving only the occasional honing. Plus, I noted protectively that these tomatoes appeared bigger than the ones he used during his main battery of testing. He continued through the other four foods: potatoes, cheese cubes, baby carrots, and King's Hawaiian rolls, the latter chosen for their extremely uniform interior. A test knife slices through a piece of cheese. Courtesy of Scott Heimendinger Bread rolls were also used in the testing. Courtesy of Scott Heimendinger Understandably, my knife didn't fare particularly well, but I was able to get an appreciation for Scott's testing and data-gathering process. Even with the robot, collecting this amount of data took a lot of time. Every piece of food needed to be loaded and unloaded from the scale, the knife wiped, cleaned, and dried after every stroke, the room kept cool, the whole thing happening during that monotonous bender of a weekend, Don Henley and Tears for Fears playing over and over. Once he got all that data and made dozens and dozens of charts and graphs, what did he learn? 'How scattered the results are.' Per his testing, three chef's knives were fairly blazingly fantastic, doing well across the board: a Shun Classic Hollow Edge, a Moritaka Hamono, and a Tojiro Professional. Number four was weird: The $300 Wüsthof Amici (very similar to their fantastic Classic but with a different bolster and handle) aced everything except the carrots, at which it was quite bad. The last two slots, 20 and 21, were also well secured, by a Henckels Classic and the $18 Zwilling Solution Fine Edge. Yet the stuff in the middle—slots five to 19, more than two-thirds of the test group—were what he was referring to when he said 'scattered,' performing well in one category and poorly in another. "You would think that a great tomato knife would make a great potato knife," he said before noting that wasn't necessarily the case. "It's bananas." Tomatoes are a real test of slicing ability. Courtesy of Scott Heimendinger Same with potatoes. Courtesy of Scott Heimendinger Those three knives at the top of his rankings feel like safe bets. I'd even feel pretty good about lumping that Wusthöf in there. And if I had been considering purchasing one of those two at the bottom of his list, I'd abandon the idea. But those 15 in the middle? What about them? For his part, Scott appreciated their lack of predictability. "Nobody's done this sort of evaluation. This might be the first time we're understanding that what matters for a tomato is different than what matters for a potato," he said. "When you get these kinds of answers in science, these are the most exciting." So what is best for a tomato? I thought he was going to generalize about blades, but instead he said the Wüsthof Amici, which, thanks to a particularly well-honed apex, just sliced right through. "It's all about breaking the skin!" Personal Touch To me, his testing and the way he chose to do each test leaves a fair amount of subjectivity to the whole thing. Then again, the way I test probably feels subjective to other reviewers. There's stuff in his criteria for everyone obsessed with knives and robot arms and databases, and there are other things that other testers would change. If it were my test, I'd make Dr. Choppenheimer's tomato motion more of a slice. I'd use bigger hunks of cheese in the cheese test, I'd throw out bread as a criteria because I don't use my chef's knives as bread knives, and maybe I'd reposition the carrot to be closer to the heel of the knife where I usually cut them. Something I'd want to feel more sure of are things this testing doesn't take into account. How comfortable is the handle? Is the top of the spine rounded where pinch-grip user would lay their index finger over it so they get blisters while chopping up a bag of onions? Is the blade tall enough so the fat fingered among us don't whack their knuckles on the cutting board? Is it weighted in a way you like? Some knives are center-weighted while others feel heavier toward the front of the blade or back in the handle; years ago I tested a Shun nakiri that was super weight forward, which, I learned, was not my jam. What you like about a knife is very personal. If you don't take stuff like that into account, the possibility that you'll like your new knife is kinda up in the air. For Heimendinger, this is by design. He intentionally leaves out what he calls "objective and personal stuff." I took my Glestain to a professional sharpener then, a few days later, brought it back to Heimendinger to run the tests again. I'd noticed his ability to be dispassionate about his wall of beautiful knives he'd amassed for testing, but I still I hoped he'd be interested, even excited about mine, with its monster dimples. But no. Mostly, it was just the 22nd knife he ran through its paces, though he did say "Nice! These will make for better numbers," when he ran it through the BESS tests. As someone who wears his knife-sharpness pride on his sleeve, I was happy to see that the Glestain leapt into eighth place in his rankings after it had been sharpened. Not that the two of us had staked out opposing positions on that first day in the lab, but I started appreciating how this data would make a nice addition to my kind of testing. He certainly understands the value of hands-on time with whatever blade you're researching. If you buy a knife that feels good and is backed up by his data, I dare say you'll be ready to slice and dice to your heart's content. "There isn't just one test or one answer to how a knife performs. Hold one. See if it speaks to you. You could hold the worst performer and love it," he says. "I hope you are happy together."
Sky News
16-06-2025
- Business
- Sky News
Are your smart devices spying on you? Watchdog issues new privacy guidance
The makers of air fryers and other smart home appliances have new guidelines around what information they can collect from people's homes. The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) released the guidance today after an investigation by Which? revealed in December that some air fryers, smart TVs and smartwatches are collecting data on their owners. "In our increasingly connected world, we shouldn't have to choose between enjoying the benefits of smart products and our own privacy," said Stephen Almond, executive director for regulatory risk at the ICO. "We all rightly have a greater expectation of privacy in our own homes, so we must be able to trust smart products are respecting our privacy, using our personal information responsibly and only in ways we would expect." 2:03 Three air fryers, made by China's Xiaomi, Tencent and Aigostar, recorded audio on their owners' phones for no specified reason, according to the Which? study. The Aigostar and Xiaomi fryers also sent personal data to Chinese servers, although this was flagged in the privacy notice supplied with the product. "Whether it's an air fryer that wants to know your exact location, or a smartwatch app that listens while you sleep, it's clear that some companies have been pushing the boundaries of what's acceptable on privacy," said Andy Laughlin, a tech expert at Which?, in response to the new rules. "ICO's much-needed guidance marks an important first step towards ensuring consumers can have confidence when buying smart products for their home - but this must be backed by effective enforcement, including against companies that operate abroad." Four out of five people in the UK are thought to own at least one smart appliance, according to research by TechUK, and the new guidance is designed to protect them from disproportionate surveillance. The ICO says manufacturers and developers must "adopt a data protection by design and default approach". This means considering data protection while the appliance is being designed and then all the way throughout the lifecycle of the product. The ICO recommends a series of questions developers should ask themselves including: "Do you need to use personal information?" Smartwatches and fitness trackers are also included in the new guidance, with the ICO warning information like a user's BMI or fertility counts as special category data and should be treated with extra caution. Which?'s investigation found the Huawei Ultimate smartwatch requested nine "risky" phone permissions - the most of all the devices in the study. "Risky" permissions generally include knowing the user's precise location, the ability to record audio, access to stored files or an ability to see all other apps installed. Huawei said all of the permissions it asks for have a justified need. There is no suggestion of illegal behaviour by any of the companies mentioned in the study. "We want to help organisations get this right from the start - but we are ready to take action if necessary to protect people from harm," said Mr Almond.
CTV News
09-06-2025
- General
- CTV News
Bird watching goes ‘digital'
Kaelyn Bumelis and Mike Burrell are looking for birds in Bruce County. But this isn't an idle hobby, they're leading a cross-Ontario bird data collection project. 'The Ontario Breeding Bird Atlas project is a community science project where a bunch of volunteer birders and Atlas staff all go out and try to document Ontario's breeding birds. And essentially, we're trying to figure out their distribution and their abundance across the province, which is a huge province as you find out when you're trying to cover it all,' said Bumelis, who is the project manager for Ontario's Bird Atlas, with Birds Canada. Collecting data for Ontario's Breeding Bird Atlas happens every 20 years and takes five years to complete. This is year four of data collection for this Bird Atlas, where the province is broken up into 10 by 10-kilometre sections, for over 2,000 volunteers and Atlas organizers to find and document as many birds as possible. BIRD (St. John Alexander, CTV News Vancouver) This year's Bird Atlas will have the benefit of the digital age, specifically the Nature Counts app, which eliminates paper and pen documentation in favour of a new app developed in partnership with Birds Canada. 'You don't need to even know where you are. Your phone has a built in GPS, so it records exactly where you are, and knows what time it is, what day it is. So, it gets all that information for you, and it just makes collecting the data so simple. It really makes us not only be able to get better data, but a lot more information as well,' said Burrell, who is the Bird Atlas co-ordinator with the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources. 'It knows where you are. Obviously, you know, it records the time, date, and exact location. Then, you can just get to surveying without having to enter all that data later, which is honestly super helpful,' said Bumelis. This is the third Ontario Breeding Bird Atlas, which means there is bird data dating back to 1981. Burrell said bird health and abundance is usually a good indicator of how Ontario's entire ecosystem is functioning – or not functioning. Mike Burrell and Kaelyn Bumelis Mike Burrell and Kaelyn Bumelis documenting birds for Ontario's Breeding Bird Atlas on May 30, 2025, near Chesley, Ont. (Scott Miller/CTV News London) 'Species like Canada geese and wild turkeys and red bellied woodpeckers are doing great. Their numbers are just so much higher than they than they were 40 years ago. But other birds, like some of the grassland birds like swallows that feed on insects in the air, the aerial insectivores, as we call them, some of those are not doing so well,' said Burrell. 'Red bellied woodpeckers in Ontario, they're definitely increasing. They're moving up further north into Ontario. 20 years ago, they were really in deep southwestern Ontario, but they're moving northeast. Whereas, you know, other bird species tend to be declining. We're seeing fewer Blooming Teal and other bird species,' said Bumelis. Bumelis said data collection should wrap up next year for Ontario's third Bird Atlas, and the final results will be released by 2027. The information is vital, she said, for all Ontario stakeholders. 'It could be for governments to make decisions. It could be for bird conservation organizations to plan conservation strategies. It could be for land trusts to decide, 'Oh, that's an area that has a lot of rare or declining species, and a place we need to protect.' It can be used by industries, and folks like that to make the most effective business decisions as well, when they need to consider those things,' said Burrell. You can learn more at Ontario Breeding Bird Atlas.
Yahoo
07-06-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
La. DOTD collects data with traffic count devices
SHREVEPORT, La. (KTAL/KMSS) — If you're wondering what the devices on the street signs next to various local roads are, they are not traffic cameras, but 'traffic count devices' being temporarily installed in several parishes across northwest Louisiana. The Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development (DOTD) posted via social media on Thursday, June 5, that the traffic count devices are for 'data collection.' The DOTD states that traffic count devices are being installed in Caddo, Sabine, St. John, St. Martin, and Red River parishes. When is I-20 reopening in Bossier City? 'These devices are used to collect valuable information on traffic volumes, vehicle types, and roadway usage patterns. The data supports future decisions related to transportation planning, infrastructure improvements, and maintenance priorities,' posted DOTD. 'The equipment is non-invasive and does not pose a risk to the public or vehicles. Typically, traffic counters appear as small electronic devices placed near street signs or along the right-of-way. DOTD asks the public not to tamper with or remove the devices to ensure accurate data collection.' Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
