“This is getting ridiculous and I’m about to just toss the whole thing and move back to Google,” one Redditor said of the “full-volume” ads for Alexa+ on their Echo Show.
Oh sweet summer child, Google is NOT going to be any better at this. That will just be changing one corporate evil for another.
Installing spyware and wire taps in my home was never appealing to me.
AND not even being paid for doing so. But paying for instead. that’s the most bizarre part of it.
it doesn’t take much critical thinking to conclude that smart tvs are bullshit, but apparently too much for most people
Even worse than not-really-understanding-any-of-it is the wilful ignorance shown by some. “I have nothing to hide” is the epitome of obedient worker-ant stupidity.
“ok. tell me your account and routing numbers then”
What are you going to do, send them money? That information isn’t private, people have to give it up all the time to receive money…
ok. tell me your account and routing numbers
That’s from the ancient banking system designed in the 1940s that is still lurching around. The protection on a check isn’t cryptographic - it relies on the issuing bank to confirm the authenticity by examining heuristics on the paper check like paper type, ink and font used, check number, issuing address and the person’s signature. It used to be that you would deposit a check at your bank and then it would be mailed to the issuing bank to be cleared for transfer. You wouldn’t just deposit it and get your money instantly, it would take up to 10 days.
Honestly it is bewildering to me that they haven’t changed the system to issue cryptographically secure deposit-only numbers and unique withdrawal numbers that at least verify the authenticity of the check itself.
Ha! Try that with a german boomer. It’s one of the most well guarded secrets to them.
AND not even being paid for doing so. But paying for instead. that’s the most bizarre part of it.
Any ads is a no-go for me.
“Advertising is a small part of the experience”.
Well great Amazon. Nobody is asking for this ‘experience’.
What you mean you dont watch the superbowl for the commercial advertisements that take up approximately 80% of the time of the 6 hour game?
This week Amazon starting pushing ads to customers paying extra for ad-free Prime Video.
Corporations are now so powerful they don’t have to abide by reasonable norms, contracts, or laws any longer. Any fines are just a cost of doing business and are a small fraction of the profits they generate.
What are customers going to do anyway? Go to other businesses that are doing the exact same things on different days?
People should give up streaming subscriptions. How long would it take to learn how to get movies another way, from a friend who is already doing it.
People dont even own their media anymore and it can be removed at any time. And they are paying for that. Lols.
I think you are severely underestimating how computer illiterate most people are. Many people I know struggle to use their Iphones. Not long ago a friend asked me to help him turn on subtitles on a streaming service on his smart TV.
I learned how to sail in 5 mins from a friend the other day. It’s stupidly easy.
This is clicking buttons on your device. How did people install Instagram and use that without a degree?
I think people are just afraid of it.
The shittiest apps come pre-installed.
We’ll kick piracy into high gear.
Then they’ll make any ISPs suspecting people of piracy to be forcibly shut off.
The real question is what will we do then?
After your internet is shut, you’ll be forced to buy Google Prison Internet, where you’re surveiled 24/7 and you’re only allowed to download ads.
What are customers going to do anyway?
Convince themselves that it’s necessary.
… and all the actual tech nerds who told everyone they should avoid smart devices like the plague laugh and laugh…
You think “actual tech nerds” don’t like smart devices? I don’t think you know what a “tech nerd” is.
I get that we should expect shit like this from Amazon but at the same time, they bought something and the maker completely changed how the device worked after they bought it.
I’d be pissed too. We have to hold these companies accountable.
Yeah, they totally deserve to be sued and pay a $5 fee as punishment.
That will teach them!
I’m kind of glad that I don’t mind flipping switches and pressing buttons. I’ve never felt the need for a smart home, so this stuff hasn’t affected me much personally.
Home assistant is the way to go, all run locally on a homePC, I have ZigBee lights and switches automated
An example is my front deck lights turn on at sundown, at 10% brightness, at 11;00 pm they drop to 1%.
If motion is detected they brighten up for a bit. On holidays they have appropriate RFB effects.
All of this is automated, none of it talks to the internet.
My current project is making a harry potter style “clock”, with hands for me, my wife, and kids. Can set up some geofencing. Run off some ESPhome and the HA app, which reports directly to my install, without releasing tracking info.
That’s awesome, but I don’t need it. :)
Oh, for sure, it’s just for fun
My entire design goal is making it invisible for my wife, so things just work. As an example, I took our doorbell, and made it smart… Not a smart doorbell, but I have an esphome between the doorbell and the chime, so I can turn the chime off, or I can have our phonea get notified.
Smart Home is really good for me bc I have trouble remembering things, but I’m for building my own and running it on my own server vs using corporate bullshit.
Good to see you get some good utility from it. 💪😎
I’m about to just toss the whole thing and move back to google.
… Ah yes. Here we see that, while frustrated, the consumer remains largely undeterred from fitting into the boxes outlined by our fearless corpo overlords.
“I gave Amazon my money and I’m mad, so I’m going to give even more money to another billionaire corp.”
Google is NOT going to be any better at this. That will just be changing one corporate evil for another.
Personally, I disagree with the first and agree with the latter. I have a Nest Hub, and there are no ads on that. But I would still urge the redditor and myself to get acquainted with Home Assistant instead of bothering with the offerings from Google and Amazon.
Agreed. Amazon is a sales company. Google is a data company. Open Home Foundation is a better company.
Yeah but not Google. Just get Chinese, they won’t be able to do anything to you even if info is collected
Or just don’t buy products from companies that don’t respect you…
Buying chinese is like going to the guy who beats you less because he spending half the time at his other girlfriend’s house.
All companies resell from china, just with added tracking. Avoid ads and added tracking by buying direct
There are better options.
Like what?
Don’t buy it… These trash devices are absolutely a discretionary spend
I don’t. Never used it In my life.
I even switched my android TV to alternative launcher because I don’t want Google peddling shit
This is a simple problem. Destroy it and end your Amazon prime subscription. Now, your Samsung fridge that shows ads is a different problem.
Why the fuck anyone needs a smart fridge is beyond me. Just open the door and write down what you need. The only thing a good refrigerator needs to do is keep shit cold
I can see the logic of being able to set certain items that you always want in stock, and your fridge being able to tell you if you’re running low or if it’s beyond its expiry.
Can smart fridges do that? I don’t think so.
Even if they can, it’s probably not worth the extra expense, complexity, data mining, security concerns, or the fact that Samsung or whoever can shut down functionality whenever they want.
I just want a basic fridge-freezer.
There is a special kind of person who buys a smart fridge. But even they must realise after a month that standing in front of a frige and looking at a screen isn’t really a thing anyone does.
Yeah that was my first thought. Better learn about corporate greed from a “smart display” then a >$1k appliance (but better not to buy them at all).
People seem to never learn. Same behavior for decades now from these companies but people are shocked. :)
The low cost of these devices doesn’t help, and the constant “sales” they have throughout the year.
Yeah, ppl say ‘if it’s free, you’re the product.’ and that sentiment feels like it applies here.
But it’s so cheap.
Yeah and you get what you pay for
Never saw this coming (said no one ever).
Well, you would be surprised, I bet at least 50% didn’t see that coming.
We’re in a sad state of affairs in this world.
Wait until your smart TV starts playing adds every 10min no matter what your watching, or even if the TV is “turned off”
“Drink a verification can to continue”
Or use eye tracking to automatically pause the ad if you look away from it and hold up everything until you actually watch it
The only ads I’m watching are the previews 💪
Kudos on the N64. What game is loaded? I bought me a Retro-Bit Tribute64 controller and got Rosalina’s mupen64 Emulator going on. Oh my sweet sweet Perfect Dark…
Ambient display ads.
“Honey, you know what would really tie this room together? A giant electronic advertising billboard!”
“That giant electronic advertising billboard really tied the room together.”
“And he peed on it.”
People regret buying skunks after being sprayed by skunks.
People regret buying …
They will continue to support …
