Enlarge / This hypothetical dishwasher owner is one of a minority of smart appliance customers getting the full value of their device, including timely reminders to buy more of the company's recommended dishwasher tabs and cleaning packs. (credit: Dani Serrano/Getty Images)

Appliance makers like Whirlpool and LG just can't understand. They added Wi-Fi antennae to their latest dishwashers, ovens, and refrigerators and built apps for them—and yet only 50 percent or fewer of their owners have connected them. What gives?

The issue, according to manufacturers quoted in a Wall Street Journal report (subscription usually required), is that customers just don't know all the things a manufacturer can do if users connect the device that spins their clothes or keeps their food cold—things like "providing manufacturers with data and insights about how customers are using their products" and allowing companies to "send over-the-air updates" and "sell relevant replacement parts or subscription services."

“The challenge is that a consumer doesn’t see the true value that manufacturers see in terms of how that data can help them in the long run. So they don’t really care for spending time to just connect it,” Henry Kim, US director of LG's smart device division ThinQ, told the Journal.

Enlarge / Home security cameras are some of the first devices to be considered for a security “nutrition label” that could launch in spring 2023. (credit: Getty Images)

The White House issued a statement today that said, essentially, it hosted a big meeting on Wednesday, with big names, and that some kind of security label for smart devices will come of it in spring 2023. Here’s a good deal more on what happened, and what’s likely to come out of it.

One of the top-level recommendations of the US Cyberspace Solarium Commission, named for the Eisenhower administration’s drive to rethink Cold War strategy , in its March 2020 report was to, “Establish a national cybersecurity certification and labeling authority.” A “non-profit, non-governmental organization” will become a labeling authority for at least five years, tagging products based on the consensus of the departments of Commerce and Homeland Security, and “experts from the federal government, academia, non-governmental organizations, and the private sector.”

And that’s about who showed up, according to the White House. Amazon, Comcast, Google, Intel, LG, Samsung, Sony, and other private entities showed up. So did the Connectivity Standards Alliance, the consortium behind Matter , along with the American National Standards Institute (ANSI), Consumer Reports, and the Consumer Technology Association, CTIA, and National Retail Federation lobbying groups. Add in just about every security-touching government agency, and you’ve got the panel the Solarium Commission recommended.