People regret buying Amazon smart displays after being bombarded with ads

Post by [deleted] » Sun, Oct 12, 2025, 8:55 PM UTC

mindslight wrote: post #179

ACCount37 wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Better yet: ban hardware vendors from denying the user an ability to customize software. They don't have to make it easy, but they should be forced to give a way to opt out of walled gardens and bypass "secure boot".

Better yet: declare hardware and software to be two independent products/markets, and that tying them together is illegal anti-competitive bundling. Software products must be developed based on publicly-available hardware documentation, and using unpublished documentation from the hardware manufacturer should be illegal. The points where this might seem a little wonky (how do you deal with a hardware manufacturer con…

Post by immibis » Mon, Oct 13, 2025, 5:12 AM UTC

apparent wrote: post #105

jonhohle wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I worked on Prime during the Prime Video launch. All of the marketing was around it being ad free and a new benefit of the Prime membership. Not too long later they started playing pre roll ads for Amazon Video offerings (maybe Amazon Studios, I don’t remember). I brought it up in a meeting and the business folks said it was OK because it wasn’t in the middle of the selected content. I’m pushed back, but it went nowh…

I always wondered about how this fit with the TOS. People paid for Prime with the expectation it was ad-free. Then it got ads, and now it has tons. I never watch anything anymore, which I guess saves them $ because they don't have to pay the content providers. But it sure feels lousy to be a boiled frog. I would ditch it if my wife didn't insist on keeping Prime.

Post by musicale » Mon, Oct 13, 2025, 7:10 AM UTC

dreamcompiler wrote: post #124

JCM9 wrote: post #111

People will study the Amazon devices downfall for decades to come. Amazon managed to get these things in everyone’s home and people generally liked them. The stage was set for Amazon to knock it out of the park on AI and then they completely blew it. Like epic once in a generation missed the boat. Now it’s an annoying device that shows ads. Everyone I know is tossing these things in the trash now.

Somebody sent me an Echo as a gift. Don't even know who. I buried it in the back yard. Didn't even take it out of the box. Fifty years from now some kid of the family that buys my house will find it and ask his parents what it is. They won't know. They'll have to go on the Interslop to find a "technological anthropologist" to figure it out. Then they'll try to donate it to the Smithsonian Museum of Bad Ideas but they…

Post by joquarky » Mon, Oct 13, 2025, 9:32 PM UTC

sanex wrote: post #72

jonhohle wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I worked on Prime during the Prime Video launch. All of the marketing was around it being ad free and a new benefit of the Prime membership. Not too long later they started playing pre roll ads for Amazon Video offerings (maybe Amazon Studios, I don’t remember). I brought it up in a meeting and the business folks said it was OK because it wasn’t in the middle of the selected content. I’m pushed back, but it went nowh…

I'm always amazed at how little people will care about the customer experience for a shot at a 20k raise.

Post by joquarky » Mon, Oct 13, 2025, 9:39 PM UTC

hshdhdhehd wrote: post #101

b00ty4breakfast wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Matrix got it a bit wrong; the machines aren't interested in our body heat, they're going to put us in the goo pods and force use to watch adverts 24/7

Black mirror got it right?