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Comment by frankus | Hacker News Reader

It's kind of baffling that in 2024 there are appliances that exist for which I have to manually set the time, or at least have to go through some cumbersome IoT set-up process, that most likely is absolute garbage security-wise if it isn't actively acting against my interests (like those fridges that only work with first-party water filters).

Maybe I'm under-thinking this, but couldn't my Wi-Fi router just broadcast the current time (and time zone) every minute or so in an unencrypted fashion to all devices within range?

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It could – but it could just as easily (either accidentally or on purpose) broadcast the wrong time, greatly annoying everybody within broadcast distance.

Of course the same is also possible for WWVB, but at least there, I suspect that some agencies might take objection and convince you to stop sooner or later.

It is baffling that in 2024 that my appliances don't have a battery backup for the time. It costs less than 50 cents and requires the battery be changed no more than every 20 years.

But still every time the power goes out I need to reset my clocks.

I have thought that Matter should have a time broadcast message that can be sent over Wifi, Bluetooth, and Thread. Which should be enough to set the time for any Wifi device that doesn't need NTP, and low-power devices with Bluetooth and Thread.

One problem is that need to pair with Wifi, Bluetooth, and Thread. The other problem is the cost to add time sync. And probably couldn't remove the UI for setting the clock because need it for people without technology.

> appliances that exist for which I have to manually set the time

I've never owned an electric oven that could configure its own time. Anytime there's a power cut, I have to do some crazy dance - which usually involves digging out the oven's manual. It's the same for microwave ovens. I don't know why they don't at least store the time in a scrap of NVRAM, like a PC motherboard.

NTP (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Network_Time_Protocol) can be run on any OpenWRT router. Too bad it isn't a standard feature of every router and appliance.

Yes but then that would require consensus on protocol, encoding/decoding, etc., aka the things large companies are the worst at aligning on.

Plus you have to defend yourself from the neighborhood kid who thinks that it'd be a laugh riot to randomize everyone's clocks at 5:15 in the morning.

That would have absolutely been myself, wardriving at 16 (back in the early aughts). Sending nonsensical print jobs and then setting everyone’s clocks to 4:20.

I'm in my mid 30s and I still regularly tell unattended Google Homes and Alexa's to set an alarm for 4 AM.

I'm not that malicious, I just like picking up friends' unattended phones and snapping a goofy selfie for them to discover later.

There is only one government

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