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Amazon Sidewalk

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Re: Amazon Sidewalk

#441

Post by zymhan »

ActorNightly wrote: post #420
bredren wrote: post #292

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

Is this a joke? Amazon certainly does treat user privacy seriously. When is the last time you have heard of any data leaks from Amazon? Meanwhile, Apple App store still is littered with apps that violate user privacy. Also, did we already forget about the celebrity photo iCloud leak due to poor authentication?

"Privacy" is not limited to leaking user data. It's also related to what data you collect, what data you store, and how you use that data for ads.

Re: Amazon Sidewalk

#442

Post by tehwebguy »

pupdogg wrote: post #363

If anyone is interested, I wouldn't mind collaborating to create a privacy oriented SmartTV or PC for devs or simply an industrial grade dumb TV. I have experience designing and building 70" industrial displays that utilize Samsung LCD panels. These "industrial" panels are normally twice the price of consumer grade ones but are designed to operate 24/7 with a MTBF of 100k hours (approx. 11 years) and are usually twic…

If you make this happen consider making them more easily serviceable too. My guess is TVs are a big landfill problem because they are too inexpensive for most people to bother getting repaired.

Personally my ~8-10 y/o Samsung LED has a periodic problem that I’ve been diagnosing with YouTube, it seems like a lot of issues are caused by something simple like loose connectors inside.

Re: Amazon Sidewalk

#443

Post by teekert »

gjsman-1000 wrote: post #434
pupdogg wrote: post #363

If anyone is interested, I wouldn't mind collaborating to create a privacy oriented SmartTV or PC for devs or simply an industrial grade dumb TV. I have experience designing and building 70" industrial displays that utilize Samsung LCD panels. These "industrial" panels are normally twice the price of consumer grade ones but are designed to operate 24/7 with a MTBF of 100k hours (approx. 11 years) and are usually twic…

That's very interesting. I wonder if you would consider doing something like the (unicorn) new Google TV devices which have the ability to turn off the smart features entirely - except with Kodi or stock Android for the UI. Heck, even if it was a Smart TV that could run an open-source Android build instead of the proprietary bootloader-locked stuff there'd be a niche for that too.

Yeah, or perhaps build it on Ubuntu Core (their transactional/IOT version of the OS)

Re: Amazon Sidewalk

#444

Post by Forbo »

rswail wrote: post #403
pupdogg wrote: post #363

If anyone is interested, I wouldn't mind collaborating to create a privacy oriented SmartTV or PC for devs or simply an industrial grade dumb TV. I have experience designing and building 70" industrial displays that utilize Samsung LCD panels. These "industrial" panels are normally twice the price of consumer grade ones but are designed to operate 24/7 with a MTBF of 100k hours (approx. 11 years) and are usually twic…

Is that something like this: https://displayy.studio/ I remember seeing them on HN a year ago, I assume that they haven't moved that far because COVID etc?

> "Designed for the smart-phone generation; we removed all the hassles and added simplicity."

> "This TV has everything you need, to start streaming your favourite content, from your favourite devices."

This sounds like exactly the opposite of what I want. Just give me a dumb display, ffs.

Re: Amazon Sidewalk

#445

Post by zschuessler »

pupdogg wrote: post #363

If anyone is interested, I wouldn't mind collaborating to create a privacy oriented SmartTV or PC for devs or simply an industrial grade dumb TV. I have experience designing and building 70" industrial displays that utilize Samsung LCD panels. These "industrial" panels are normally twice the price of consumer grade ones but are designed to operate 24/7 with a MTBF of 100k hours (approx. 11 years) and are usually twic…

I don't know if this falls in your vision or not, probably not, but I'll say I would pay top-dollar for an Android TV that was veritably privacy focused.

I purchased a Sony TV that runs Android and adore it. I initially purchased it because it was a no-nonsense take on Android with high-rated privacy support. Sadly, over the past year they have begun introducing ads, promotions, and privacy policy readjustments that I don't agree with.

An unlocked Android store would be great value. I can currently sideload Android apps on my TV. I can SSH into it if I want to, run my own server, etc. It has a high powered processor and good RAM so I can even multitask apps in it. I love everything about the TV except the privacy changes.

Anyway, best of luck - I love the idea of dumb/privacy focused TVs :-)

Re: Amazon Sidewalk

#446

Post by zanderz »

rfrey wrote: post #303
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.

I don't believe for a second that data is subsidizing anything. It's a revenue stream, sure, but prices haven't gone down as data collection went up.

I worked at a company that was attempting to sell software to consumer electronics manufacturers as per the divx model - some of us remember when you couldn't buy a dvd player without that logo. But when streaming began to replace physical media, I was told that services such as Amazon and Netflix began paying to have their software in the devices. I'm curious whether that's still a revenue source for manufacturers.

Re: Amazon Sidewalk

#447

Post by gjsman-1000 »

teekert wrote: post #443
gjsman-1000 wrote: post #434

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's very interesting. I wonder if you would consider doing something like the (unicorn) new Google TV devices which have the ability to turn off the smart features entirely - except with Kodi or stock Android for the UI. Heck, even if it was a Smart TV that could run an open-source Android build instead of the proprietary bootloader-locked stuff there'd be a niche for that too.

Yeah, or perhaps build it on Ubuntu Core (their transactional/IOT version of the OS)

Ubuntu actually made a "Ubuntu TV" almost a decade ago that was based on Unity. It never had a TV actually go for sale with it (as far as I know) and the project was abandoned.

Re: Amazon Sidewalk

#449

Post by pupdogg »

gjsman-1000 wrote: post #434
pupdogg wrote: post #363

If anyone is interested, I wouldn't mind collaborating to create a privacy oriented SmartTV or PC for devs or simply an industrial grade dumb TV. I have experience designing and building 70" industrial displays that utilize Samsung LCD panels. These "industrial" panels are normally twice the price of consumer grade ones but are designed to operate 24/7 with a MTBF of 100k hours (approx. 11 years) and are usually twic…

That's very interesting. I wonder if you would consider doing something like the (unicorn) new Google TV devices which have the ability to turn off the smart features entirely - except with Kodi or stock Android for the UI. Heck, even if it was a Smart TV that could run an open-source Android build instead of the proprietary bootloader-locked stuff there'd be a niche for that too.

Sure. I think it would be best to keep the solution platform agnostic by utilizing an embedded PC and developing a browser based portal (which could work offline as well) for managing playback of various services. With WebRTC in play these days, I'm sure some very interesting solution could be developed.

Re: Amazon Sidewalk

#450

Post by bredren »

tootie wrote: post #364
bredren wrote: post #292

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

Amazon's user data policy is very similar to Apple. They have more of it because of their reach but they don't sell it.

Having a policy is not the same as a core value.

You are right that Amazon has far more data, including purchasing history and intent (inclusive of grocery for some customers)

Most of the concern shown in this thread is this retroactive ToS change for something that to Amazon Echo.

It is reasonable to have greater concern about a ToS governing this data because it can be combined with other data Amazon collects in its other businesses and is inherently more sensitive.

I do not recall Jeff Bezos going to conferences or sitting for interviews where he puts focus on customer privacy. Whereas practically every major interview Tim Cook gives he speaks to the importance of privacy.

Cook was doing this long before the current dispute with Facebook entered public awareness.

Company culture starts at the top.

I am interested in any debate around how any other consumer products company including Amazon might have led Apple in any of the following areas:

  - Identifying privacy concerns

  - Creating simple interfaces for making choices about sensitive data

  - Offering a platform that consistently enforces the use of newly introduced privacy controls by 3rd party applications
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