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Amazon Sidewalk

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Re: Amazon Sidewalk

#291

Post by tw04 »

danpalmer wrote: post #162
ulzeraj wrote: post #147

Earlier quoted context omitted.

IMO. There should be a market for: - Dumb panels (not monitors). Perhaps stripped down recycled smart tvs. - Smart tvs but with user replaceable firmware. Think OpenWRT for TVs. Maybe the same guy who does the dumb panels could sell those but with a raspberry pi in place of the logic board. Of course a monitor solves these issues but these are normally smaller and more expensive.

"Dumb TVs" would cost more. It's hard to market something that costs more and has what most people would perceive to be fewer features. They would cost more because post-sale content sales and advertising generate revenue for TV manufacturers, which they use to subsidise the device sale price, because it's such a competitive, low-margin, market.

That seems extremely unlikely. The "smart" portion is hundreds of dollars in most TVs. A quick search proves that out:

https://www.cdw.com/product/Samsung-40-Full-HD-Non-Smart-Hos...

https://www.cdw.com/product/samsung-hg40nf690gf-nf690-series...

Re: Amazon Sidewalk

#292

Post by bredren »

Someone1234 wrote: post #279

It is interesting how stark the reaction to this Vs. Apple's "Find My" network is. Apple's version adds every iPhone to part of their network. It uses battery AND expensive mobile data even when the owner has no eligible devices, and that isn't considered controversial. But Amazon wants to use data on non-battery/non-pay per transfer lines and this is considered controversial (and an "abuse of their market position")…

Amazon does not treat user data privacy as a core value. That means there is no floor to police those who use this network for data privacy.

Beyond that, Apple mobile devices have the most efficient battery / processor compute on the market. Nothing to be said for mobile data use, though I would be interested to see analysis of how much new bandwidth usage results from participation.

Also, I would expect Apple to be much more aggressive in curtailing unnecessary data usage than Amazon would be. That's just a gut check though.

Re: Amazon Sidewalk

#293

Post by sen »

ulzeraj wrote: post #147
squarefoot wrote: post #50

So, if I buy a so called Smart-TV (not because I like it but because traditional ones are getting harder to find) but don't set up it on my home network so it can't phone home, it could scan around anyway and find other open devices more than willing to participate in my personal data exfiltration? If the Amazon project succeeds, I would expect in a few months most home devices manufacturers, to partner to implement…

IMO. There should be a market for: - Dumb panels (not monitors). Perhaps stripped down recycled smart tvs. - Smart tvs but with user replaceable firmware. Think OpenWRT for TVs. Maybe the same guy who does the dumb panels could sell those but with a raspberry pi in place of the logic board. Of course a monitor solves these issues but these are normally smaller and more expensive.

I replaced my TV with an LG 43” 4K monitor which cost AUD$700 (similar price to a TV of the same brand/size here). It’s not quite the 50” my TV was but it’s big enough for my purposes.

It has 4 HDMI inputs and zero smart features. Turns on in under a second, etc. Before that I had a TV that required almost a full minute to start up before I could change AV input or change channel or do anything because it had to load it’s bloated smart crap.

Re: Amazon Sidewalk

#294

Post by bitlevel »

isatty wrote: post #208
bitlevel wrote: post #196

So - 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…

I would like to give Amazon 0% of my bandwidth. This is a harmful “feature” that the masses will unknowingly eat up and make life harder for everyone else.

My whole life I've been 'Off Narrative'. Don't see any reason to change that now. lol

Re: Amazon Sidewalk

#295

Post by lotsofpulp »

KingOfCoders wrote: post #268
lotsofpulp wrote: post #222

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Then I do not see how ceejayoz is, currently, being fooled by Apple marketing.

https://thelastpsychiatrist.com/2013/05/dove.html

Yes, my point is you can simultaneously be aware that Apple can or will screw you in the future, but also choose to place more trust in Apple compared to Amazon at the present time.

Interesting read though, thanks for the link!

Re: Amazon Sidewalk

#296

Post by goalieca »

hsbauauvhabzb wrote: post #100
satori99 wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is nothing stopping TV manufacturers from putting a 3/4G modem in their products. The billing is likely insignificant compared to the value of the data they can exfiltrate.

Wasn’t the entire point of 5G to reduce the cost so that this dystopian ‘internet of phone home day bypassing all your security controls’?

queue the need for ifix to show how to remove 5g antennas.

Re: Amazon Sidewalk

#297

Post by pabs3 »

ulzeraj wrote: post #147
squarefoot wrote: post #50

So, if I buy a so called Smart-TV (not because I like it but because traditional ones are getting harder to find) but don't set up it on my home network so it can't phone home, it could scan around anyway and find other open devices more than willing to participate in my personal data exfiltration? If the Amazon project succeeds, I would expect in a few months most home devices manufacturers, to partner to implement…

IMO. There should be a market for: - Dumb panels (not monitors). Perhaps stripped down recycled smart tvs. - Smart tvs but with user replaceable firmware. Think OpenWRT for TVs. Maybe the same guy who does the dumb panels could sell those but with a raspberry pi in place of the logic board. Of course a monitor solves these issues but these are normally smaller and more expensive.

Some years ago SamyGO was started towards replacing TV firmware, not sure how far they got though:

https://www.samygo.tv/

Since most TVs probably run Linux it probably isn't hard, but will have the usual problems of non-mainline drivers, blobs etc.

Re: Amazon Sidewalk

#298

Post by ravel-bar-foo »

mikefivedeuce wrote: post #283
sithadmin wrote: post #234

Earlier 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.

This might be out of date now, but 10 years ago I purchased a couple of monitors for a digital display. IIRC the monitors were more expensive because the screen wouldn't "burn" in images if left on the same image for a long period of time.

This is significant. Current OLEDs at full luminance burn in within 100 hours. The problem is mitigated somewhat by the variety of details displayed during typical TV programming, but if you use an OLED TV as a daily driver computer monitor or with a gaming system to play the same games for hours you will notice burn-in quickly.

Re: Amazon Sidewalk

#299

Post by atomicfiredoll »

wlesieutre wrote: post #260
mchristen wrote: post #244

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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...

To offer a non-walmart option, I've been using the Rtings table tool to find consumer TVs are potentially more respectful of privacy. Although I get the impression a number of sets aren't captured here (maybe walmart has some listed that Rtings doesn't), they are fairly thorough.

https://www.rtings.com/tv/tools/table/53948

Re: Amazon Sidewalk

#300

Post by bredren »

squarefoot wrote: post #50

So, if I buy a so called Smart-TV (not because I like it but because traditional ones are getting harder to find) but don't set up it on my home network so it can't phone home, it could scan around anyway and find other open devices more than willing to participate in my personal data exfiltration? If the Amazon project succeeds, I would expect in a few months most home devices manufacturers, to partner to implement…

I know Apple has rejected offering a TV panel, but to offer continuity of privacy into this domain I suspect they still may need to.
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