Is there anyway to opt out of this?
Yes, but it is opt-in by default.
Amazon Sidewalk
251–260 of 687 posts
Re: Amazon Sidewalk
#252Earlier quoted context omitted.
I may be living in my own small little bubble but I don't know anybody shopping for anything because their smart TV showed an ad. Everything ads seem to do is just piss some people off. Then again I remember that if commercials weren't successful, TV as we know it would not exist. People gobbling up ads and buying stuff because of that is why ads are still being used after all. After all... https://www.nytimes.com/19…
There's also the factor that whoever owns the platform showing the ads doesn't care whether the ads are effective. So long as your eyeballs are tracking it, they'll get paid anyway.
Only in the sense that restaurateurs don't care if the food is good. If it's selling... sure, they'll keep selling something that sucks. But generally, advertisers aren't quite the fools everyone thinks they are. There are always fools around, but prices tend to be rational enough long term. If ads aren't effective, revenue will dry up eventually.
All that effort to track people for ads... these are all attempts at improving effectiveness.
Re: Amazon Sidewalk
#253So - Amazon want to use 1/40th of my internet bandwidth. Along with that goes 1/40th of the electric that the router and broadband modem use. Then there were the costs for me setting up my own infrastructure with my own money. At this point, I would expect Amazon to PAY me to use my infrastructure - not get it for free. After all, they won't send parcels to me without me paying for them? This is a bad BAD idea. It wi…
Oh man, your comment is so off narrative. This is their sidewalk, you just live there:
Q: What is Amazon Sidewalk?
A: Amazon Sidewalk is a shared network that helps devices work better. Operated by Amazon at no charge to customers…
Didn’t you read it? They’re operating it, not you and your bespoke investment in quality networking. And they’re generously offering it back to you, so don’t look the gift horse in the mouth to see if there are Trojans hiding in there.
… In the future, Sidewalk will support a range of experiences from using Sidewalk-enabled devices…“
See, no Trojans in this horse yet.
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// In all seriousness though…
- I’m not alarmed by the content of the release itself, but curious about implications and plans.
- I’m happy we do not see (yet) “eero” listed in the devices.
- I’m curious though, as eero supports Thread, whether they’ll lean into an embrace/extend there, or aim to supplant. Presumably it’s not managed Thread rebranded, as AWS has sometimes done with open projects.
“So, Thread has all of these benefits without the drawbacks. It’s basically a plug-and-play mesh network, separate from your home Wi-Fi. It has excellent range, response time, but with low power usage and really the more devices you add, the better.”
Tom’s Guide says “similar to Zigbee, Z-Wave, and Thread”:
https://www.tomsguide.com/reference/what-is-amazon-sidewalk
- And I’m curious about the Echo/Alexa propensity to want to “discover” everything in your home and tell them about it — will this relay that discovery through every home within EM range in the block. They did already partner with Tile, suggesting one of several practical reasons Tile may not be choosing to embrace the Find My tech.
Re: Amazon Sidewalk
#254Earlier quoted context omitted.
There is a huge market for 'dumb panels', under the moniker of 'digital signage'. Nearly every major TV vendor has 'dumb' displays SKUs on offer in many different configs. The only problem is that they aren't always easy to get one's hand on, as they usually are sold through b2b channels instead of consumer-facing retail outlets.
They are oftentimes way more expense, I'm guessing because you aren't subsidizing the cost with your data.
I think the bigger factor is that they are b2b, though certainly selling the crapware helps subsidize the consumer models.
Re: Amazon Sidewalk
#255Earlier quoted context omitted.
You're right but it is pushing their advantage from the phone sector onto another and forcing out their competition in Tile. That sounds to me like monopolistic activity.
Tile can have access to the Find My network, as can others. They chose not to.
In fact literally anyone and anything can use the Find My network if they want. Apple can’t stop “rogue” devices from connecting to it without bricking AirTags.
You can get a sense of the protocol here.
Re: Amazon Sidewalk
#256How does this not violate Comcast (for example) TOS? Edit: Link to TOS: https://www.xfinity.com/Corporate/Customers/Policies/HighSpe...
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Re: Amazon Sidewalk
#257If you want to disable Sidewalk, here's a quick Tweet I wrote back in November: https://twitter.com/jxxf/status/1332684843331825665?s=19
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Re: Amazon Sidewalk
#258I love how insidious Amazon are with their products, get the hardware into their homes then just change what it does to what you want. What you didn't read the EULA in the last update?
I’ve been doing a lot of thinking lately about the benefits of running software you create on your own (for example a forth kernel is conceptually easy to write and build from there) because of how it contrasts your own wishes for what you want your devices to do vs the company or person whose software you merely use, especially when automatic updates are involved. (Also applies to javascript on web pages vs. plain data/documents which you can view with your own software or at least software that works the way you want it to.)
Re: Amazon Sidewalk
#259Earlier quoted context omitted.
There is a huge market for 'dumb panels', under the moniker of 'digital signage'. Nearly every major TV vendor has 'dumb' displays SKUs on offer in many different configs. The only problem is that they aren't always easy to get one's hand on, as they usually are sold through b2b channels instead of consumer-facing retail outlets.
They are oftentimes way more expense, I'm guessing because you aren't subsidizing the cost with your data.
More likely market segmentation- it's a lot easier to sell a panel to a business for $2000 than it is to sell the same panel to a consumer for $500.
Re: Amazon Sidewalk
#260Earlier quoted context omitted.
There is a huge market for 'dumb panels', under the moniker of 'digital signage'. Nearly every major TV vendor has 'dumb' displays SKUs on offer in many different configs. The only problem is that they aren't always easy to get one's hand on, as they usually are sold through b2b channels instead of consumer-facing retail outlets.
They are oftentimes way more expense, I'm guessing because you aren't subsidizing the cost with your data.
There's regular dumb TVs around too, and reasonably priced.
Walmart's site lets you filter for "Smart = N". Sceptre and RCA are the main brands.
For example https://www.walmart.com/ip/RCA-65-Class-4K-Ultra-HD-2160P-LE...