Shaving is an example of how consumer products extract more money
&gt;Other examples of products that seem to exhibit a similar trend, where purported convenience leads to higher prices<p>&gt;Cooking equipment: essentially indestructible Cast Iron skillets transition into teflon pans. The newer pans perform worse, and must be replaced on a shockingly regular basis. They also seem to be poisonous.<p>They have their uses. I wouldn&#x27;t try frying eggs in a cast iron, for instance (technically you can, but it requires an absurd amount of oil). Also, claiming that they &quot;seem to be poisonous&quot; without any qualifiers is a little misleading. To my knowledge they&#x27;re only poisonous during manufacturing (ie. the precursor chemicals) and when they get too hot.<p>&gt;Nespresso machines, and other coffee pod brands, replace many styles of coffee brewing. Provide much worse coffee, at a higher price but are superficially convenient.<p>Why are they only <i>superficially</i> convenient? They seem pretty convenient to me.<p>&gt;Televisions moving from being screens which accept input, to self contained &#x27;smart&#x27; devices that require software updates and thus have a shortened useful lifespan.<p>I thought it was the other way around? ie. smart TVs are cheaper than dumb TVs because they&#x27;re subsidized by ad revenue. Also, the claim itself doesn&#x27;t really make any sense. Even if you stop getting software updates, that doesn&#x27;t prevent you from using it as a dumb display.