This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.
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
Depends on the country, but yes it is actually difficult to find a TV that is not android TV based or at least has WiFi and smart features built in, especially above a certain size/price threshold.
damn.
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.
everything gotta be scaling, eh. seems like a dead end.
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.
For your protection!
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.
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.
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.
Anything you didn't program yourself should be assumed hostile.
Lots of open source gets a pad because grumpier people than me review it and they seem to have good taste, but I still don't blindly trust it.
FYI, it won't let you delete Alexa either. I hate that fucking thing.
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.
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" 🙄
Never connect your TV to your wireless and wired internet, even on initial purchase. Use a USB when updating your TV.
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.
For the love of Mithras do not get a fucking firestick. The amount of data collection and phone home requests those things do is actually insane. Not to mention they're locked down hard now, you can't even change launchers. You'll be back at square one with a TV spewing ads at you without consent, and you can't do shit.
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.
