This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.
Oh, the same company that screenshots your content even if you use it as a dumb display? Who could've predicted this!
I need someone to explain to me, what situation could possibly arise that would require me to use Copilot on my fucking TV?
The same reason why windows has that stupid desktop search - so that some twat with an MBA can brag about user engagement and justify his existence. Also, to hoover up user data for slop machine training.
Don't think about what copilot can do for you that's some socialism talk!, think about how it could squeeze profits and data from your instead ~Microsoft lunatics
Play the movie where Darth Vader dies.
Of course there are features enabled by ai. But to force it down our throats, that's the problem.
I'll throw my money at any TV manfucturer that just sells me a dumb OLED TV with great picture quality. Heck, even drop the speakers, I won't be using them anyway. Just a dumb panel with plenty of input/outputs.
The LG TVs are basically that if you just ignore the LG ui. You can plug in whatever input you want and have it automatically go there on power on
I never see the LG UI. Only my nvidia shield
You'll never get a high quality panel like you want because there's only so many that produce the panels. And without a value add nobody makes any money.
FYI, LG and Samsung were both confirmed to take and upload periodic screenshots, whether you're using native apps or an external input.
Shitty article with guide to disable ACR: https://appleinsider.com/inside/mac/tips/how-to-stop-your-lg-or-samsung-smart-tv-from-tracking-you (you might want to block traffic altogether knowing what they are ok with doing)
Primary source for finding: https://arxiv.org/abs/2409.06203
Who the fucks connect tv to the internet
Straight to the work bench, remove the back, physically remove the wifi adapter, replace back of TV. Yay, i am ready for xbox.
I just set up a rule on my firewall to disallow outgoing web traffic from my TV so I can still control it over the wifi. Then if I want to sell it I haven't broken any functionality.
If I had done that, I would have never gotten the firmware update to enable VRR support on my HDMI 2.1 ports…
There's probably a procedure to load firmware from USB. Maybe.
Probably not unless you have the signing keys.
Buy products based on the features they have out of the box, not promises about future updates
This comes up a lot, and I don't necessarily get it. I have all smart TVs, and I just never, ever, EVER let them connect to wifi even ONCE for any reason. It's not like it NEEDS it for anything.
It’s not like it NEEDS it for anything.
I see this take online a lot, but in person, everywhere I go people play netflix and whatever directly on their TV. I think there might just be a huge divide in perspective between those with and without game consoles of some sort always connected to their TV.
Incredible. What a shit idea.
Anyways, kids, remember: never let your smart devices talk to the internet. We actually love our LG OLED - it's fantastic hardware. But it has not once, and never will, get the chance to phone home.
My company received an email from Microsoft this week.
“From our data you are not selling Ai features as much as your competitors and we suggest that you start changing this or you will be left behind.”
It was a completely bullshit email. But the stupids at my company are now worried that Microsoft is tracking the features we’re selling with our computers. Like if that wasn’t the most glaring red flag “we have spent way too much money on this and we need you to prove we aren’t dumbasses” I don’t know what is.
I still will not sell Ai outside of its basic uses. And I’m backed up by the old heads in my department. Ai is not for everything.
One day, literally every Gsuite product immediately and incessantly started nagging us to use Gemini. Fortunately our tech staff quickly switched it all off. We have slowly been re-enabling features that are useful like meeting transcriptions. I just wish these corporations could have more restraint. In previous waves of improvement in tech, usage dictated investment in new products. These days, they seem to feel the need to coerce us to use their products as they insist we should. I think users are getting fatigued by this dynamic. I used to be the first to install every update and try new apps and products. These days, I'm excited when I can stop using a product, and I don't think it's just due to age. It means I can stop having to be vigilant about some company I know is searching for ways to exploit me.
You can often buy the "digital signage" of TVs. Same pannel, but it's just a screen. I think it's targetting businesses but you can buy them too!
Well LG did me a favor. Don't buy LG tvs, Samsung appliances or HP printers.
This shit is why more people now have dabbled in DNS blocking and vlans. Its "your" equipment but you need to literally treat it as hostile.
The controversy centers on a Reddit post in the r/mildlyinfuriating subreddit, where a user lamented the unexpected addition of Copilot following an automatic update. The post, which garnered thousands of upvotes and comments, describes the AI tool appearing as a non-deletable app on the TV’s interface.
"Widespread backlash" 🙄
So glad I blocked my LG C1 from the internet ages ago. Haven't received updates in forever, don't care. It's a TV, it shows pictures. I even still have it LAN enabled so it can be controlled via Home Assistant automations, it just can never leave the home network, and that's how I like it.
I can't even remember how long ago I set it up to do this, I think it was when I heard rumor they'd be including ads in the UI, maybe 2023 or so.
LG's recent software update has forcibly installed Microsoft Copilot, an AI assistant, on smart TVs without removal options, sparking widespread user backlash over privacy, bloatware, and loss of control. This highlights growing tensions in smart devices, where monetization often overrides user preferences.
Sure is ironic that the article summary is itself AI-generated.
Who’s going to step up and start creating a “dumb” version of absolutely everything? One brand dedicated to just making the thing do the thing it absolutely must do and nothing else.
Would be great but the manufacturer would be at a disadvantage because that bundled bullshit effectively subsidizes the device. So you'd have to either raise prices or accept a lower profit margin.
Due to the high barrier of entry (e.g. because of patents) it's unlikely that a privately owned company can make a big market entry, especially across countries. And a public company will be forced by the shareholders to maximize profit so either you bundle crapware or they fire you as CEO.
Of course if you look outside the TV market such devices already exist. High-quality digital signage devices can easily be had – for about three times the price of an equivalently-sized TV.
FYI, it won't let you delete Alexa either. I hate that fucking thing.
I have my TV on WiFi network that has no Internet access so at least I can control it via homeassistant still. It doesn't need Internet for anything but the UI so just get a shield and strip that down
If you root your lg oled you can truly block automatic updates. You can also install ad free youtube with sponsorblock integrated plus a bunch of other stuff that is of varying utility depending on your use case.
In general though just don’t connect it to the internet and get a $100 box for jellyfin from china (ugoos am6b+ works great and can playback basically anything but av1 natively if you flash Coreelec, the android side can still run streaming apps if you insist or iptv apps like tv mate since iptv support in kodi/jellyfin suuuucks).
Lg has proven they don’t respect consent by silently opting you in to data collection with updates. The updates never add features or bug fixes, just ugly UI changes and shit like this. It’s almost never worth updating unless someone is specifically saying “you should update, it fixes/adds ____
In the future don’t support them but at the same time it’s the “who the fuck can you support/oh you use an iphone under capitalism” problem. Yeah you don’t need a big tv, you don’t need an oled, you can buy a far more expensive commercial display, etc. I dunno
is it that hard just to a regular TV? i think with all the AI backlash and Smart TV fatigue that's kinda a reasonable solution. Def won't hurt anybody
The companies making TVs don’t want to sell simple displays, they want to expand their businesses beyond just one time sales of hardware. So they and the store fronts don’t offer the average consumer a simple display. People can still find them, but they need to be actually looking for a dumb TV and know what to look for.
This, this finally made me reach back my LG TV and disconnected the Ethernet cable.
My next tv (don’t have one) is just gonna be attached to a laptop by hdmi. That’s it.
Easy way to never get this. Don’t connect the tv to internet. Literally get an Apple TV or fire stick or something else as a media player.
