this post was submitted on 14 Jul 2023
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so basically you're getting a surveillance device shipped straight to your living room.

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[–] [email protected] 66 points 1 year ago (5 children)

Someone needs to jailbreak/root this TV!

[–] [email protected] 39 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I think that would be priceless. Send out a million TVs thinking man we are gonna make bank. Literally 990k jailbreak and use it as a dumb TV lol

(I have so much venom for this idea in general.)

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[–] [email protected] 18 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

They have stated they have measures in place to detect anyone trying to do that and will require them to return the TV or pay for it.

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[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago

get that second screen working with HomeAssistant or somethin

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I think that would be against the contract signed when reviewing the telly so they'd charge them.

For example I think it is mandatory to connect there TVs to the internet

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[–] [email protected] 49 points 1 year ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (2 children)

I mentioned it on the other thread, but free-pc tried this twenty four years ago and it was a dumb idea then.

There was also NetZero, alladvantage, and probably others that I'm forgetting that gave people money and crap for watching ads. It turns out people don't like ads.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago

I remember having free dial-up Internet in the 90s in exchange for an adware banner while connected.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago

NetZero was the best for me, I was in middle school and this was the only way I could get Internet since my parents wouldn't pay for a respectable ISP, anyway I searched for ways to get rid of the banner and finally found one where it would just be a small black square 😄

[–] [email protected] 48 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Nah you couldn't pay me to put this TV in my home.

Also LOL at "smartest" TV. If you can't install your own apps, then it isn't exactly very smart.

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[–] [email protected] 36 points 1 year ago (8 children)

Why would anyone want this? It's free, so it's obviously not even going to be a good quality TV.

There are no upsides to this.

[–] [email protected] 23 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

It's worse than that. If the concept of the book 1984 were a television this would be it.

[–] [email protected] 24 points 1 year ago

“What Orwell failed to predict is that we’d buy the cameras ourselves, and that our biggest fear would be that nobody was watching.”

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[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago

The upside seems pretty clear? It's a free 55" TV. A lot of people won't care that it's not as good as other TVs.

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[–] [email protected] 34 points 1 year ago (3 children)

How does this work as a business? Are ad companies so desperate they will buy ad space on machines destined for people with zero disponible income and zero loan capability? Are the data from stalking people who can't afford anything that valuable?

At the end of the food chain surveillance capitalism works thanks to profit from conversion from ads to purchases. How do they expect conversion by targeting people who can hardly afford rent and necessities?

[–] [email protected] 16 points 1 year ago

Because there are people out there that make FUCKING TERRIBLE decisions. You ever see someone at a big box store trying to load a $3000 tv into a car that has plastic bags taped over missing windows? Or someone parking a brand new car next to their dilapidated doublewide? Those people.

And you will get people taking them up on this to put it in the man cave or the rumpus room thinking they are being slick and gaming the system "lol, its not even my main tv!" not even realising the sheer volume of data they are handing over that way and that wether you like it or not advertisers spend bilions on getting into your head without you thinking its working.

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[–] [email protected] 32 points 1 year ago

Should we put this company on the 2023 deathwatch list or the 2024 list?

[–] [email protected] 23 points 1 year ago

Straight out of idiocracy

[–] [email protected] 23 points 1 year ago (6 children)

what prevents people from covering up the advertisements screen?

[–] [email protected] 41 points 1 year ago

camera that watches you drink the verification can

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago

I would expect them to include cameras that would check that you are looking at the tv and see the ads reflected in your eyes before it lets you play non-ad content.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

The settings menus (input switcher, etc) will be on it. Also it will collect data on anything you view using the main screen (HDMI input, etc) regardless.

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[–] [email protected] 22 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Kinda want to get one and rip it apart to extract the screens, strip the copper, etc. Turn it into a monitor with my own screen driver silicon.

[–] [email protected] 33 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I just looked it up and they charge up to $1000 if you block ads or tamper with it. They have all sorts of crazy requirements too.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 year ago (1 children)

If that’s the case, then it’s cheaper to just buy a 50” tv. Way cheaper than the $1000 they make you pay

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago

That's the point. If you can afford even a $400 tv, you won't buy this. It's for people for whom $1000 is unobtainable. So they'll watch the ads rather than risk a lawsuit and penalty.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago

You could buy four for that price.

Idk how they'd enforce that though.

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[–] [email protected] 19 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

news sticker

does Lemmy have a r/boneappletea replacement?

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[–] [email protected] 18 points 1 year ago (1 children)

It feels like increasingly ads are used to sell ad supported products so you can watch ads for things with ads. And at the end of the road it’s scams and subscriptions. Like it’s a good thing I don’t like capitalism because it feels like it’s looking bloated and a concerning shade of yellow

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

You don't like capitalism because you're the mark. Capitalism is for capitalists. Capitalists own capital. The vast, vast majority of the world, even in wealthy countries don't own any capital. They own possessions, which is different. Capitalists have just spent capital confusing people into thinking they should like it.

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[–] [email protected] 17 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I'm imagining the tv from Idiocracy.

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[–] [email protected] 16 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Did anyone have Fahrenheit 451 on their 2023 bingo card?

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago

Isn't it literally the telescreen from Orwell's 1984

[–] [email protected] 14 points 1 year ago (2 children)

People keep saying that no one will hack it because it will cost them $1000. Plenty of people will pay that so that they can hack it anyway. And those people will come up with the countermeasures for the rest.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Low tech hack: Cover the camera, disable the mic and break the ad display.

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[–] [email protected] 14 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 year ago

Resume viewing.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 year ago

This is such a bad idea that I suspect this is some form of viral advertising.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I genuinely don't know who would ever sign up for this. If you're too broke to afford a TV, just watch on your phone or laptop. Nobody needs a huge screen anymore. Then there's the number of people with ad blockers or paying a small amount per month just to get rid of ads. This just looks like a bad idea all the way from a bad VC investment to a bad job for the devs to a bad choice for the consumer. And at no point did anyone ever say "wait what are we doing again?"

[–] [email protected] 27 points 1 year ago (3 children)

If you’re too broke to afford a TV, just watch on your phone or laptop.

Tell me you’ve never lived in poverty without telling me you’ve never lived in poverty.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago

It's the modern day...they have no bread
...then let them eat cake

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[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Sad thing is, plenty of people will lap this up as a good thing and see it as a benefit. At least at first, until they realize they have to watch some TV based ads before they watch the ad roll on their YouTube video, followed by the second screen showing some banner ad the whole time. Yick.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago

As if a person who can’t afford a normal TV can just buy all the things from all those ads that advertisers think they’re selling.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Okay so this isn’t ever something I’d even consider - but I wonder what’s to stop someone from just putting a piece of paper (figuratively) over the bottom portion of the screen…?

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago

They have said that they can't stop people from doing that, but that the settings menus, such as the input switcher, will be on the bottom screen.

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[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Straight up Fahrenheit 451. Nice.

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[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago

I'm not sure whether this is real or coming directly from a cyberpunk future.

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