21–30 of 195 posts
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Amazon no longer allows eBook downloads from their website.
Then don’t buy from them, plenty of venues
Amazon can can go forth and multiply with itself.
It's not conspiracy or hypothesis that the only point of these products is ads, it's the straight up business model. When are we going to hold people accountable for being surprised by the obvious actions of these companies? It wastes our time and it's boring to keep responding with, what did you think was going to happen? We've tried not shaming these people, will shame get them to stop buying this stuff and actuall…
> When are we going to hold people accountable for being surprised by the obvious actions of these companies? How should they know? Genuinely asking. Yeah WE know, we've known forever because we're the people who make this shit, both professionally and in our spare time. We know the costs associated with making these little magic devices, and we know the ongoing cost of powering them. Your average consumer does not.…
Because they’ve got eyes, memory, and a working brain? Every product Amazon has ever put out has wound up with ads in it, as has Amazon itself, so why in gods name wouldn’t this new one be covered in ads? It’s not 2005, this stuff shouldn’t be surprising anymore - everyone is on Facebook, TikTok, or Instagram, and if you can’t recognize that those are ad platforms from ad companies and you somehow haven’t heard from anywhere anything about the surveillance capital aspect of this (not the term, but the actual practice), I’m not sure what to say at this point except we fucking tried.
And I agree, we _shouldn’t_ have to worry about any of this crap, but were we’re well past the point where that should be considered a reasonable expectation by anyone. We’re a quarter century into this now, anyone who’s still surprised by it, yeah, that’s a “them” problem.
Now, everything is global - so are we looking at European users or American users complaining ? If an American user says it’s an unbearable, then it’s unusable. If a European user complains… it depends ( and these days, it’s at least to me unusable, but I obviously can’t speak for everyone)
These days, the general rule is to avoid buying anything 'smart'. They are all filled with advertisements and data-sharing practices and are designed to target you through their user interface and applications. They bombard you with offers for their other products and deals.
I'm technically ignorant on this but would GDPR apply to this type of thing as well? (I hope so)
It's not conspiracy or hypothesis that the only point of these products is ads, it's the straight up business model. When are we going to hold people accountable for being surprised by the obvious actions of these companies? It wastes our time and it's boring to keep responding with, what did you think was going to happen? We've tried not shaming these people, will shame get them to stop buying this stuff and actuall…
Advertising will expand to the point where we won’t take it anymore. And ultimately it comes down to power. If we can’t stop it ads will arrive. On the display on your fridge. (Unless you can stop it) on the display in your car (unless you can stop it) Where’s the line for you? And have you preserved your power so you’re in a position to stop it?
The major platforms like Reddit and Facebook have restrained them to the maximum people will tolerate and reducing the performance disruption and layout changes that the smaller sites are plagued with.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> When are we going to hold people accountable for being surprised by the obvious actions of these companies? How should they know? Genuinely asking. Yeah WE know, we've known forever because we're the people who make this shit, both professionally and in our spare time. We know the costs associated with making these little magic devices, and we know the ongoing cost of powering them. Your average consumer does not.…
> How should they know? Because they’ve got eyes, memory, and a working brain? Every product Amazon has ever put out has wound up with ads in it, as has Amazon itself, so why in gods name wouldn’t this new one be covered in ads? It’s not 2005, this stuff shouldn’t be surprising anymore - everyone is on Facebook, TikTok, or Instagram, and if you can’t recognize that those are ad platforms from ad companies and you som…
Because not everyone has been immersed in that world the whole time. A whole lot of people don't know fucking anything about Amazon beyond it being the best store on the Internet. I've got relatives who still don't understand email requires Internet access brother, because when you're not a nerd, this computer shit just doesn't matter to you. I get that it's hard to empathize, but like, a HUGE swath of the public just doesn't fucking care. They don't know how computers work, they don't know how surveillance advertising works, all they know is the man at Verizon said email is this icon, and web browsing is this icon, and their grandchildren are in this other icon. That is the extent of their technical knowledge and they desire no more.
And like, I don't they should need to have it. I don't need to know shit about plumbing, about electricity, about carpentry, or any one of dozens of specializations utterly crucial to my ongoing existence in this world. I know tech, because it's my job. People who's job it isn't shouldn't need to know shit to move safely through the world.
I thought people loved targeted ads! ;)
I recently bought a Kindle/Fire device pre-owned, to save money. But seeing full-screen shitty consumer products ads on the 'covers of my books', sitting around my home was so depressing, I paid the extra $10-$15, to retroactively turn it into an ad-free device.[1] Though, even with Special Offers disabled, it still puts oversized icons for marketing promotions, bursting out of the search bar at the top of the home s…
I sometimes wonder whether there’s an eu vs us difference here. At least when it comes to tv, I found the hard way ( a long time ago ) that the amount of ads Americans are exposed to is simply unbearable. This extends to youtube and similar services. Now, everything is global - so are we looking at European users or American users complaining ? If an American user says it’s an unbearable, then it’s unusable. If a Eur…
Imagine buying a tennis racket and being interrupted, as you are playing, to be told to buy something else. That would be ridiculous but that's we're been told is a valid business model today.