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After luring customers with low prices, Amazon stuffs Fire TVs with ads

arstechnica.com

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Re: After luring customers with low prices, Amazon stuffs Fire TVs with ads

#191

Post by Longlius »

Toutouxc wrote: post #166
codedokode wrote: post #133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Macbook costs like 3x compared to competitors. For example, Apple M1 8 Core score on cpubenchmark is about 14000. If you look for non-Apple laptops with equivalent CPU score, they would cost around $450. And they support Linux. The only good thing in Macbook is display, which covers more than 100% of sRGB color space and has giantic resolution. I wish it could be bought separately and installed into a normal laptop.

Most MacBooks feel like Pareto-optimal machines. There exist other laptops with better displays, faster CPUs, better speakers, or just cheaper, but I'm pretty sure there are no alternatives with better or equal everything.

My experience buying laptops in 2023 was that most of what I found was cheap junk. Even when I was buying stuff in the $1800-$2500 price range, it was mostly junk with build quality problems, incomplete support for the hardware (USB-C especially being an issue), and terrible thermals.

I don't really like Apple as a company but I just hand them money and they give me a laptop that works without any nonsense. Maybe I'm just too old and overpaid nowadays but I legitimately feel like laptop manufacturers other than Apple are in a self-destructive race-to-the-bottom with each other.

Re: After luring customers with low prices, Amazon stuffs Fire TVs with ads

#192

Post by Lammy »

pxx wrote: post #140
nvy wrote: post #128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>These shows take pseudo-commercial breaks and send you 2-3 ads tailored to you specifically. My wife didn't believe it until I did a simple Amazon search on my phone for automotive batteries. Not more than 30 minutes later the ads switched to some random LiPo battery for RVs. This is so depressing. We're living in the future and it's awful.

I'd much rather my ads be targeted than generic. It increases value on both sides here. Comparing against the baseline of terrestrial broadcast, this is a far better experience than before.

I wouldn’t because it means they spied on me more often and more effectively. Broadcast TV was one-way except for Nielsen people, and they at least got paid.

Re: After luring customers with low prices, Amazon stuffs Fire TVs with ads

#193

Post by ndriscoll »

pxx wrote: post #163
ndriscoll wrote: post #142

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're making the mistake of assuming the ad is for the best offer you'd be interested in instead of the one that makes the most money from you (i.e. the worst one for you). The expected utility to you is negative.

You're missing an important nuance. The best advertisement is for a product that, in expectation , makes the most money from me. My relative interest is still important, and you can't just jump from the fact that somebody is making money to the unfounded claim that the "expected utility is negative." When I buy an item I'm making a decision that the marginal value of that item to me is worth more than the marginal co…

It's not just that someone is making money. It's not a friendly old man at the local bookstore giving you recommendations based on your tastes. It's a system where all of the battery vendors are bidding in real time to be the one you see, and the most dodgy one with the best margins is the one that can place the best bid, causing you to get the worst possible deal.

These systems are not for your benefit. They are meant to use any information they can to extract more from you.

Re: After luring customers with low prices, Amazon stuffs Fire TVs with ads

#194

Post by nvy »

joezydeco wrote: post #164
nvy wrote: post #128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>These shows take pseudo-commercial breaks and send you 2-3 ads tailored to you specifically. My wife didn't believe it until I did a simple Amazon search on my phone for automotive batteries. Not more than 30 minutes later the ads switched to some random LiPo battery for RVs. This is so depressing. We're living in the future and it's awful.

Eh, it could be worse. For a while Hulu thought I was Hispanic and living in Texas. Got a lot of ads for the Texas Lottery with Spanish audio.

Ads are ads as far as I'm concerned. They're all universally trash.

Re: After luring customers with low prices, Amazon stuffs Fire TVs with ads

#195

Post by graphe »

kkielhofner wrote: post #63
snoman wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’ve had Roku, FireTV, and Chromecast, and I have had hdcp and/or performance issues with everything but Apple TV. I hate that I’ve turned into something of an fanboy but Apple TV follows the same old story from Apple: expensive but it consistently just works.

> same old story from Apple: expensive but it consistently just works. Not to mention at least you know where they're hitting you - up front, on the hardware. It's like the people that complain about a Macbook being 20% more (or whatever), buying a PC-something, and then coming back complaining that Windows is loaded with ads or Linux has all kinds of issues on it. I'm with you - I went from being a die-hard Linux de…

Apple works unless you need something specific that every other devices supports but apple doesn't.

I've never had a great experience with any laptop but at least I can't say I didn't get screwed on the price most of the time (non apple times). Who remembers how apple didn't admit or fix the Nvidia GPU on their laptop for years but it was easy to just get a new ipod?

Re: After luring customers with low prices, Amazon stuffs Fire TVs with ads

#196

Post by Mrirazak1 »

They need to make money of it somehow. The problem with smart home products that Amazon is learning now finally is that their loads of products in the home and you can’t replace all of them. Lots of them are bad ideas to turn into products. Throwing money at the problem doesn’t solve it.

Re: After luring customers with low prices, Amazon stuffs Fire TVs with ads

#197

Post by imp0cat »

Kon-Peki wrote: post #188

I bought a dumb TV from Walmart a few months ago (65" 4K). The brand is Sceptre. Picture quality is pretty much the same as any other 4K TV that you will get for I am not the kind of person that is willing to spend $1000+ on a TV and I don't expect to get the same audio/video quality as that kind of TV will offer. But at my all-in price of about $500, it is outstanding package. We've got an AppleTV, a Wii-U, and a DV…

You can start most Google TVs in "dumb" mode, can't you? I know Sony definitely does have that option available when you first turn them on.

https://support.google.com/googletv/answer/10408998?hl=en

  - Use your device without a Google Account
  - Use your device without an internet connection

Re: After luring customers with low prices, Amazon stuffs Fire TVs with ads

#198

Post by tomcam »

dsdsafklj wrote: post #129
joombaga wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

PlutoTV is the same. I used to put on the Geek & Sundry channel and get ads from my employer.

I know what you mean but I can't help but imagine a 60 year old man pointing at the camera and saying, "Get back to work, Steve."

It's funny reading offhand remarks like this because I laugh and then remember I'm well past 60

Re: After luring customers with low prices, Amazon stuffs Fire TVs with ads

#199

Post by imp0cat »

manicennui wrote: post #33

Are there any Smart TVs that aren't stuffed with ads? Apple TV might be the least bad, but it still allows apps to display recommended nonsense on the home screen when they are highlighted.

Google TV's can be run in "basic tv" mode if that is your thing.

Re: After luring customers with low prices, Amazon stuffs Fire TVs with ads

#200

Post by eastbound »

dsdsafklj wrote: post #129
joombaga wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

PlutoTV is the same. I used to put on the Geek & Sundry channel and get ads from my employer.

I know what you mean but I can't help but imagine a 60 year old man pointing at the camera and saying, "Get back to work, Steve."

Should employers advertise how good it is to work, to their own demographic?
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