We need to revive the days people write blog posts to help others instead of pushing ads to make money. The content was far better.

Remember the northeast blackout of 2003? My landline still worked fine…

I haven’t tried that, but I might.

I have a few roku boxes and a Google TV Chromecast. The Samsung TV I bought is a smart TV and it’s slow as crap. I ended up putting a Roku box on it and use it that way. Now when the TV starts I have to hurry up and hit a button on the Roku remote to wake it up otherwise the TV starts auto playing a random channel from their new TV app that you can’t seem to uninstall. I’m really just waiting for the tv to die so I can go find a new TV that isn’t smart. The problem is those seem to be more expensive now.

I like the Google TV Chromecast because it aggregates all the services you sign into and can start showing me things I like and may want to watch next, right from the home screen.

But you are right, the tv itself being the smart device just isn’t worth it for me. I’d rather have a dongle or box I can swap out if it starts going south. I have a Plex server and I need something in order to play that on the TV unless I just start getting a casting device and just cast from a phone.

And the video itself is monetized.

I’m usually ok with some data collection to get stats, like memory CPU usage, etc, especially if they are using it to figure out how to make their software more efficient… But this? Hard pass on this. Especially with collection of other devices on the lan. Wtf Intel?

I’m using connect and am enjoying it. It works really well. I would like an option to always open links in the system browser instead of the built in one.

With the state of internet speeds in the US? No. This won’t work.

If you need beta testers, sign me up!