It’s wild just how much they’re trying to shove AI down our throats.
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!
Oh, the same company that screenshots your content even if you use it as a dumb display? Who could’ve predicted this!
Who the fucks connect tv to the internet
I need someone to explain to me, what situation could possibly arise that would require me to use Copilot on my fucking TV?
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.
This comes in handy…
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.
Good.
Remind them who’s in charge.
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
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.
Well LG did me a favor. Don’t buy LG tvs, Samsung appliances or HP printers.
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
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.
So it talks to your media box exclusively and your media box summons the streaming services?
I’ve got a Home Assistant server hooked into homekit with voice (via an Apple HomePod). I can say something like “turn on home theater” and it will turn on the receiver, TV, and Apple TV, and will set the receiver to the Apple TV’s input.
Then, other automations. Like, I’ve got a Lytmi Fantasy 3 Pro light strip behind my TV, and when I launch video (via streaming, plex, whatever) on the Apple TV, it will automatically turn off the living room lights except for the color strip. Then if I stop or pause the video, it will turn them back on. Stuff like that.
Only drawback is the TV doesn’t do wake on LAN unless you use the ethernet connection. If you want it wireless, you gotta use CEC instead, but that’s not too big a deal.
That’s interesting - I have a C1 (2021). Where or how do you block these updates and have it connected to your local network?
It’s blocked at my router. I’ve had two routers the past few years, an ASUS AX5700 (RT-AX86u) and a NETGEAR AXE7800 (RAXE300). Both allow for blocking a device from internet without blocking LAN access. So you give it an IP on your network, and then just block it from internet. I use the Netgear currently and have the ASUS as a backup device.
I don’t know if it’s true, but I’ve read that some TVs will scan and seek to connect to open networks if it’s not connected at all, so I figure that way it’s totally blocked, and I still have access to its APIs for Home Assistant and Homekit use.
You’d need to set up a firewall rule on your router to block that device from accessing the internet. If you’ve got a fancy enough router you could set up a VLAN and second SSID for all your IoT things and only whitelist connections and devices you want to allow. That can get a little tricky to set up though
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.
Last year I quit a job that added AI use to performance reviews.
It was basically “if we’re not all in on AI our competitors will be, we all need to learn it”.
Nobody paid for their product for AI before, they paid for a product that was simple and reliable so that their business didn’t have to worry about issues and could dicks on their core competencies.
I watched some sheisters build some impressive money furnaces, they got the praise while I got sidelined for pointing out the costs. I literally showed the forecasted costs of tens of thousands a week on basically a vanity feature with no payout, and the execs all said yeah that was fine, it’s AI. Then two months later they were asking me why our costs went up so much and why they didn’t know that would happen, and I just pointed to my date stamped presentation of the numbers and meeting notes they approved (and my numbers were 99% accurate to the true costs).
When execs ignore my advice and warnings I leave.
Sorry to hear that. It’s wild. Dell is doing a 30% price hike because of prices. Announced today. I expect us to follow.
That’s not my worst one. I did an analysis for one company which took 2 months since their data was such a mess. They were spending at least $10m/year (20 high comp devs) developing a product that was pulling in 8k/year. They did not have a path to growing revenue 1000x on that one, when I told the ceo and he doubled down that it was a bet they wanted to make. They really just wanted the nice slide deck for the board.
I checked in a year later and they were still working on it. Two years later they mothballed it. They could have saved millions by listening to me.
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.
Yeah the MBA guys who pushed enshitification were empowered because their strategies made more money so they must know what they are doing right? Now things don’t happen because they are better they happen because these guys think there is money. And the guys who used to pick the best ideas are out being rich somewhere
I think this rollout could have been handled better. I am generally pro AI but I do think there are tasks it does not handle well (yet?) and places it is unnecessary or just shouldn’t be used. On the other hand though I do think that it is partly age and being in tech a while you tend to get fatigued. Giddily wanting to try all the latest stuff only really works when the technology is new and immature or that you are new to the technology. People have been around digital technology for a while now so it’s no longer exciting.
In general its just wasteful use of power for answers that are easily found in other ways.
Answering questions is not the only thing it’s used for. Lol.
The stats show people are using it for things like multiple my meal by 18% tip, or give me web link to x product. Instead of using a calculator app, or re gular search. Meanwhile the AI companies are having to build power station. People are stupid, and we will ruin out world because of idiots
Every time I search for a simple answer Google suggests I use Gemini instead, or they show me a “switch to AI mode” pop up that covers the lower third of my screen. I’ve just started receiving emails about using it on my old Gmail account apropos of nothing. These companies are begging people to waste that energy.
And then they’re gonna say “see? Look how many people are using this! I deserve a bonus.” When it’s a setting that’s just on by default.
Yep, you can turn off some of it with the flags settings https://pureinfotech.com/disable-ai-mode-address-bar-new-tab-chrome/
You are the cream of the crop, somehow you not only knew this, you decided that this needs to be shared, even though anyone with electricity has been told this hundreds of times.Thank yooooooooouuuuuuu
“This technology is so useful we’re going to force it on you every way we can think of”
FYI, it won’t let you delete Alexa either. I hate that fucking thing.
