Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Lenovo tablet forced update shows un-dismissable, un-mutable, ad notifications

twitter.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

281–290 of 321 posts

Re: Lenovo tablet forced update shows un-dismissable, un-mutable, ad notifications

#281

Post by furi »

q-rews wrote: post #128
xg15 wrote: post #106

What is increasingly scaring me: This time, the vendor was "nice" enough to only force you into viewing a subscription offer. However, there is really nothing technical that would keep them from forcing you to take the subscription if you want to continue using your device. Vendors have enough control about locked-down devices that they could play ransomware and make arbitrary demands to their users without many prob…

Yeah, sure, technically any vendor can push updates to brick your device, but that doesn’t happen because of the law. This stuff often gets through because it’s small enough, gray enough, and done by smaller companies. Have Apple pull something like this and you’ll see on the NYT.

I didn't follow it super closely but if I recall right Nest bought a competing brand of smart home devices (Revolv). They kept it around for a year or two and then in 2016 turned off the servers that mediated between the phone app and the device, bricking the devices.

Re: Lenovo tablet forced update shows un-dismissable, un-mutable, ad notifications

#282

Post by allarm »

fomine3 wrote: post #222
2muchcoffeeman wrote: post #180

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At least within the eco system, Apple aren’t going to push ads onto your computer. The dichotomy isn’t Apple vs PC anymore. It’s walled garden vs freedom. If you’re going to choose a walled garden, Apple sure is the nicest. If you want to own your hardware you need to start supporting the smaller players.

I don't believe Apple will pushing ads, but their laptop can't run OS other than macOS. So if they do harmful thing for macOS, there's no way to escape with same hardware, until Linux hackers make it possible to run Desktop Linux.

I run Linux on my Macbook Pro 2013.

Re: Lenovo tablet forced update shows un-dismissable, un-mutable, ad notifications

#283

Post by 8note »

elric wrote: post #42
tehjoker wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

I've never encountered any ads in printed books. Edit because I can't be bothered to reply to all the comments below: excerpts from other books (often by the same author, or in a similar genre) are not ads IMO. They're not intrusive. They're pretty much always relevant. They're fun to read. They don't contain tracking cookies. They're as benign as it gets.

My Newfoundland community recipe book is chock full of ads. Especially useless ones considering how far away I live from all of those stores

Re: Lenovo tablet forced update shows un-dismissable, un-mutable, ad notifications

#284

Post by aliswe »

throw_m239339 wrote: post #144
jrockway wrote: post #138

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It feels wrong to buy a Linux laptop from the company that makes Github? The Microsoft of the 2020s is a very different company from the Microsoft of the 1990s.

> It feels wrong to buy a Linux laptop from the company that makes Github? that bought Github, and don't worry, Github is going to morph into yet another Microsoft entity in the next 5 years and everybody will move somewhere else...

Microsoft is actively dismantling Azure DevOps and is moving all of their talent into Github.

Re: Lenovo tablet forced update shows un-dismissable, un-mutable, ad notifications

#285

Post by pritambaral »

genewitch wrote: post #232
lrem wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Weren't there ads in Ubuntu?

There were suggestions when you used the meta?(windows) key and then typed something in Ubuntu. Windows does this too, I forget who did it first. I went from xp x64 to win 7 ultimate to win10pro and managed to keep the telemetry to a minimum as much as I could. IIRC the Ubuntu change was pushed in a non-LTS distribution. As an aside I think 5 year LTS is too few, with the advances made in AI/ML in the last decade fiv…

> advances made in AI/ML in the last decade five years on os support means that 80% of all the tooling is broken now, at least without spending lots of time backporting or hacking fixes in.

Ubuntu LTS releases are 2 years apart. You don't have to keep using 5-year old LTSes, do you?

Re: Lenovo tablet forced update shows un-dismissable, un-mutable, ad notifications

#286

Post by unraveller »

xg15 wrote: post #106

What is increasingly scaring me: This time, the vendor was "nice" enough to only force you into viewing a subscription offer. However, there is really nothing technical that would keep them from forcing you to take the subscription if you want to continue using your device. Vendors have enough control about locked-down devices that they could play ransomware and make arbitrary demands to their users without many prob…

>only force you into viewing a subscription offer

Nothing only about it, considering any offer is like requesting a quote for my time. It's a task I must assess. I never feel bad about using adblocker or coupons to excess because gaining the opportunity to form my habits is something I charge for.

In this case I am thinking about entering the display advertising business and declaring their overlay ads as anti-competitive computer hacking and vandalism on my equipment.

Re: Lenovo tablet forced update shows un-dismissable, un-mutable, ad notifications

#287

Post by _t9ow »

CaptainZapp wrote: post #273
neogodless wrote: post #150

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Anecdote: Over the past few years, I've owned an Asus laptop (thin/light), two Lenovo laptops, and an HP. Before that, a large Dell gaming laptop. Most recently, I had bought the HP Omen 15, but realizing that the screen used PWM below 100% brightness, I sold it and bought a Lenovo Legion 5. The previous Lenovo is a Y540. The Y540 is arguably "good but not great" build quality. If you squint, it looks kind of like th…

After adding dangerous spyware to their "consumer models" [1] Lenovo wound up on my eternal shitlist. This list consists of companies that I will never, ever do business again. No matter what, period. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superfish#Lenovo_security_inci...

Do you mind sharing the other companies that are also on your shitlist? Thanks!

Re: Lenovo tablet forced update shows un-dismissable, un-mutable, ad notifications

#288

Post by 2muchcoffeeman »

webmobdev wrote: post #280
2muchcoffeeman wrote: post #180

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At least within the eco system, Apple aren’t going to push ads onto your computer. The dichotomy isn’t Apple vs PC anymore. It’s walled garden vs freedom. If you’re going to choose a walled garden, Apple sure is the nicest. If you want to own your hardware you need to start supporting the smaller players.

They too bundle useless apps like News, Stock, etc. even if you don't want it or will ever use it on every Apple device.

You can delete most iOS apps: Stocks, News, Mail, Safari are all removable. Also they are not ads and can actually do something useful. MacOS is also ad free.

Re: Lenovo tablet forced update shows un-dismissable, un-mutable, ad notifications

#289

Post by Varriount »

zdragnar wrote: post #233
kcb wrote: post #229

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Dell XPS and Surface

I'm always surprised that the XPS gets so much love. Everything about it felt sub-par to me. I was pretty happy with my surface, while it lasted anyway. Ended up with a defective touch screen that couldn't be replaced, so I just got a full refund (thank you extended warranty).

For me, the big thing I've liked about the XPS is that it has a good balance of powerful hardware, weight, battery life, and looks. I especially enjoy the fact that it has a dedicated graphics card, since usually only gaming laptops have those. The only laptops with comparable specs (gaming laptops) are either too heavy, have poor battery life, or are just plain ugly.

That being said, the touchpad on it is just barely "ok"-level and the webcam (on my older model) is just awful. The friction on the touchpad is so high my wrist becomes sore, and the webcam is located on the bottom of the screen (with a microphone on the bottom front edge near the trackpad!). Even though these flaws have required me to switch to a wireless mouse and external webcam, I'm still pretty satisfied.

For my next laptop, I'll likely either buy the newest XPS model (the newer ones have webcams at a usable position), or try the Razor again (the one I previously tried had quite a small battery life).

(I would love to know the series of events that led a high-end laptop to have a webcam placed at a position that is only optimal for looking up one's nose.)

Re: Lenovo tablet forced update shows un-dismissable, un-mutable, ad notifications

#290

Post by lokedhs »

varelse wrote: post #218
qwerty456127 wrote: post #203

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> will never purchase another Lenovo product again. Even a ThinkPad?

You mean a laptop in 2021 that still only supports 1920x1080 resolution without a docking station? Or did they finally fix that nonsense?

I have the T490 bought a couple of years ago. It came with a 1440p screen.

I guess some models still have lower resolution screens, but I didn't look at then when I was evaluating the various options.

Post reply on HN