Yeah, because everyone is asking for that. They will force ads into everything they can, because Google is an Ad company.

    • LoganNineFingers@lemmy.ca
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      9 months ago

      You

      Have made my day, most likely my week. Ads aside, I friggin HATE the Chromecast UI

      Now, let’s pretend that I’m 5 yrs old. How do I get this to. Be the default launcher? I’ve already combed through the settings options and can’t seem to figure it out…

  • EnderMB@lemmy.world
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    9 months ago

    Has there been a company that has experienced such a fast fall from grace as Google?

    Mere years ago they were viewed as the bastion of intellectuals in tech. They worked on stuff that was deemed “not evil”, people that worked there were deemed the best and brightest, and their culture was celebrated so highly that literal movies have been made about working there.

    Obviously, the reality is different from the vision, but in a short amount of time they’ve implemented URA, have had multiple mass layoffs where people were locked out overnight with no more than a sentence in an email after a decade of work, have doubled-down on enshitification of their services, and have alienated a significant chunk of their workers through RTO and cost cutting.

    • gaifux@lemmy.world
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      9 months ago

      Anyone who bought into the don’t be evil story / marketing is being willfully naive. Like all the big tech companies they’re basically intelligence fronts. Big tech is big brother. You don’t even have to look hard to see how intertwined with the CIA / NSA Google had been from the beginning. Furthermore, Snowden’s exposure of PRISM made it clear that it wasn’t just a few grants early on, it was setup by design to limit govt liability yet allow mass surveillance to go on unabated and the entire launch of Gmail is yet a single token example. Don’t trust big tech.

  • cbarrick@lemmy.world
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    9 months ago

    God damn it Google.

    When I turn on the TV, it’s fine if the masthead is a banner advertising a new show. I’m literally using the product to find things to watch.

    But fast food? That can fuck right off.

    • pete_the_cat@lemmy.world
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      9 months ago

      I’ve had an Nvidia Shield since they came out, about 6 months ago when I started seeing a car ad I was like “it’s time to switch to something else…”

      • Dark Arc@social.packetloss.gg
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        9 months ago

        What did you switch to?

        My shield has always been laggy… I’d like to find a TV “OS” that can run apps and is actually fast.

        • pete_the_cat@lemmy.world
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          9 months ago

          The Zidoo Z9X Pro, it’s about the same price and supports Dolby Vision and Atmos in Kodi (they have their own build called ZDMC) and is generally faster then the Shield (USB 3, SATA, 4 GB RAM, etc… ).

          It doesn’t seem to support the DRM protected streaming apps that use Widevine though (Netflix and the like) since I can’t find them in the Google Play Store, which sucks, but I can just use the smart apps on my LG TV for that.

          It seems that it’s really difficult to find a STB that supports everything these days and doesn’t come with shitty specs/is years old 😑

  • redcalcium@lemmy.institute
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    9 months ago

    This is ridiculous. I would understand if this is subsidized devices where you pay less in exchange for having ads. You already bought the device and suddenly it got shittier. Might as well get a free, big brotherly tv with ads from Telly.

    • Ghostalmedia@lemmy.world
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      9 months ago

      It always has been a device that is primary subsidized by ads and selling your behavioral data.

      There is a reason why an Nvidia Shield or AppleTV costs a lot more. They’re making more from the price at the register than the ads and data sales.

      • redcalcium@lemmy.institute
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        9 months ago

        People in this thread said their Nvidia shield has ads too now. I guess costing a lot more doesn’t guarantee the device won’t be updated in the future to include ads.

        As for apple tv, is it usable in a household that’s primarily use Android? Can you cast stuff from Android apps to it? Or is it only supports airplay from apple devices?

        • Saik0@lemmy.saik0.com
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          9 months ago

          Nvidia didn’t push the ads. Nvidia got their pound. Google is pushing the ads onto the shield.

          • redcalcium@lemmy.institute
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            9 months ago

            So, the price of the hardware is not an indication whether the device will have ads or not later down the line? Even if you spent your money on the top of the line models it’ll eventually got ads if it’s running Google TV OS?

            • Saik0@lemmy.saik0.com
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              9 months ago

              Correct. GoogleTV is completely owned by Google. Nvidia has no say in what google pushes to the platform. If you don’t want Ads… stay away from google/android TV.

              I own 3 shields (pre-ad-gate purchases). I was a huge advocate for it. It was a great device that did everything I wanted a tv console to do. I would not buy a new one. And will not buy a shield 2 if it has the same OS on it.

              The best you can do is stop the upgrades… or use a custom launcher. But the OS itself is going to find a way to get ads because that’s what google programmed it to do.

              It’s actually in Google’s best interest to do this anyway. Nvidia likely didn’t pay google anything to have the OS on the device. This is google’s way of extracting money out of you in this process.

  • gravitas_deficiency@sh.itjust.works
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    9 months ago

    I guess it needs to be said again: “smart TVs” are cheap because of post-purchase monetization. That is: they gather your viewing and UI interaction behaviors (and, in some cases, ambient sound) for analysis and sale by the manufacturer.

    The TV is a product, sure, but so are you when you use a “smart TV” like that without mitigating its connectivity by not letting it on your network and just using a discrete streaming peripheral of some sort instead.

      • gravitas_deficiency@sh.itjust.works
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        9 months ago

        Dude, do you remember how expensive a 65” 4k TV was when the technology debuted? Paying $1000 nowadays for what’s basically cutting-edge display tech is nothing - they were in the neighborhood of $10k or more when they were first produced. And you can get one with older tech from TCL or whatever for like $3-400 now, which is embarrassingly cheap for a 65” 4k.