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Microsoft Copilot AI Comes to LG TVs, and Can't Be Deleted

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241–250 of 327 posts

Re: Microsoft Copilot AI Comes to LG TVs, and Can't Be Deleted

#241

My rule for modern TVs: 1. Never connect the TV panel itself to the internet. Keep it air-gapped. Treat it solely as a dumb monitor. 2. Use an Apple TV for the "smart" features. 3. Avoid Fire TV, Chromecast, or Roku. The logic is simple, Google (Chromecast) and Amazon (Fire TV) operate on the same business model as the TV manufacturers subsidized hardware in exchange for user data and ad inventory. Apple is the only…

It frustrates me that this is where we have come too. I refuse to connect any of my TV's to the internet but I have to wonder how long until a few different things happen: - The TV's just connect to unsecure Wifi and collect the data anyways (I think there were reports of at least one manufacture already doing this at one point?). Or just make a deal with xfinity to use their mesh network that seems to be everywhere.…

99.999% of TV's are connected directly to the Internet by their users without any restrictions. Investing in additional hardware or operator deals to capture the remaining .001% isn't typically worth it, for now.

Re: Microsoft Copilot AI Comes to LG TVs, and Can't Be Deleted

#242
post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I'm so much happier using the Apple TV. Then it is Apple that is harvesting your data. They may or may not display ads (I don't have an AppleTV to check), but they are certainly logging your interactions and possibly selling that data with third parties. That is on top of all the data Apple already has on people using iPhones, and the reason why I will never use anything other than a free/libre ROM like Graphene or…

> possibly selling that data with third parties. Nope. According to the privacy policy

The privacy policy literally includes that they do?

> We provide some non-personal data to our advertisers and strategic partners that work with Apple to provide our products and services, help Apple market to customers, and sell ads on Apple’s behalf to display on the App Store and Apple News and Stocks. For example, we may share non-personal data about your transactions, viewing activity, and region, as well as aggregated user demographics such as age group and gender (which may be inferred from information such as your name and salutation in your Apple Account), to Apple TV strategic partners, such as content owners, so that they can measure the performance of their creative work, meet royalty and accounting requirements, and improve their associated products and services.

https://www.apple.com/legal/privacy/data/en/apple-tv-app/

Re: Microsoft Copilot AI Comes to LG TVs, and Can't Be Deleted

#243

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You could install Flauncher or another launcher onto Android TV. Then you don't see ads.

Unfortunately not possible on the Fire Stick (4K Max), Amazon have modified it to disallow other launchers; there are some "hacks" but none have worked for me and the closest one I did get to working was too much of a pain for the rest of the family. I've found no way to root it either so I just want rid of it, every time something appears almost-full-screen on the home page that's inappropriate for the kids with no…

I couldn't work out how to do it on my Fire Stick either. But it does work for my Google TV.

Re: Microsoft Copilot AI Comes to LG TVs, and Can't Be Deleted

#244

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It boggles my mind why anyone would update anything in 2025. Most products are shipped with full feature set and then updates ensure enshittification. The security argument doesn't apply because classic hacks rarely happen, it's mostly social engineering.

Should we assume by anything you mean edge devices? You don't update your PC? Your phone?

> You don't update your PC? Your phone?

You make it sound like it's almost a crime not to.

Re: Microsoft Copilot AI Comes to LG TVs, and Can't Be Deleted

#245
post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> ... and never, ever allow it to communicate over the Internet. I'm pretty sure they're working on solving that problem.

Doubt it, 99% of consumers will connect it to the internet. The remaining 1% will be blocking ads everywhere making the data rather useless and potentially poisoned.

That's what I'm talking about. They'll gradually make it harder to use it without going online. May be by increasing the bootup times. Eventually they'll remove that option altogether. Isn't that what happened with Windows login? We can also expect them to add RF devices like 6G modems as they become more common. These corporations aren't going to leave that choice to you.

Re: Microsoft Copilot AI Comes to LG TVs, and Can't Be Deleted

#246
post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I'm so much happier using the Apple TV. Then it is Apple that is harvesting your data. They may or may not display ads (I don't have an AppleTV to check), but they are certainly logging your interactions and possibly selling that data with third parties. That is on top of all the data Apple already has on people using iPhones, and the reason why I will never use anything other than a free/libre ROM like Graphene or…

> Then it is Apple that is harvesting your data. They quite literally have settings to disable that. There are no ads in the operating system. https://support.apple.com/en-au/guide/tv/atvb66239fa1/tvos I'm sure some conspiratorial thinking would lead people to the conclusion that Apple are secretly tracking and selling data. There is no evidence to suggest this is happening. It's probably the next best thing to setti…

My samsung and lg tvs also have options to disable data harvesting. The problem , however, is that just like the apple tv they all are black boxes that have no intention in respecting your choices, thus you can't trust that disabling those options is actually disabling all the data harvesting and tracking. Apple is not a saint.

Re: Microsoft Copilot AI Comes to LG TVs, and Can't Be Deleted

#247

My rule for modern TVs: 1. Never connect the TV panel itself to the internet. Keep it air-gapped. Treat it solely as a dumb monitor. 2. Use an Apple TV for the "smart" features. 3. Avoid Fire TV, Chromecast, or Roku. The logic is simple, Google (Chromecast) and Amazon (Fire TV) operate on the same business model as the TV manufacturers subsidized hardware in exchange for user data and ad inventory. Apple is the only…

Maybe this is what I need to do. I disconnected our living room LG TV from the internet and got a Fire Stick 4K Max, but I hate it; 90% of the screen is advert, and you get a tiny sliver for the 5 apps it lets you see, and you have to go digging for the rest, not to mention the home-screen advertising isn't always appropriate for young children. I hadn't considered Apple TV because I've never been an Apple user, but…

Before you buy an Apple TV you can try installing ProjectIvy launcher and see if that suits your needs. It's basically a simplified launcher UI for Android TV devices.

It's not perfect, not if it suits your needs you won't have to buy another device.

Re: Microsoft Copilot AI Comes to LG TVs, and Can't Be Deleted

#248

My rule for modern TVs: 1. Never connect the TV panel itself to the internet. Keep it air-gapped. Treat it solely as a dumb monitor. 2. Use an Apple TV for the "smart" features. 3. Avoid Fire TV, Chromecast, or Roku. The logic is simple, Google (Chromecast) and Amazon (Fire TV) operate on the same business model as the TV manufacturers subsidized hardware in exchange for user data and ad inventory. Apple is the only…

What do you think of Nvidia Shield? I haven't tried it, but I think it should also belong to 2). It's clearly much more expensive than a FireTV, but as you say it shouldn't be subsidized by ads. As an Android device it should be more open than an Apple TV. While I recognize the near flawless UI and high hardware quality of most Apple devices, I disagree with their "golden cage" or walled garden approach.

I use the non-Pro version for 1080p streaming and have for years. It’s great, does what I want and gets out of the way. Some years ago they were forced by Google to use the standard AndroidTV UI instead of their own custom one, which means it now shows ads on the home screen (a carousel of “watch this on service X”), which are inoffensive enough I haven’t bothered to circumvent them. You can swap to your own custom UI if you want with some ssh futzing.

Re: Microsoft Copilot AI Comes to LG TVs, and Can't Be Deleted

#249

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>First off, the number of movies and TV shows that merit even being watched is dwindling The first item in your list to others is subjective

That's a popular and socially safe point of view, but it's completely wrong. Artistic merit, like truth and beauty, is an objective quality completely orthogonal to cultural differences or personal opinion. To illustrate this orthogonality, I invite you to realize there exists art which has great merit and yet which you personally do not like. You should be able to do this, if you can't manage I can provide my own ex…

You're acting as if your personally held philosophical beliefs aren't contradicted by some of the most famous minds in history.

Re: Microsoft Copilot AI Comes to LG TVs, and Can't Be Deleted

#250
post #235

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I like rewatching old TV shows and films, streamed from my Jellyfin server. For me, my rule is to get a Google TV, because I can change out the launcher to Flauncher. At least that way I don't see any ads. Google may well still be tracking me, but they do all over the web and I have an Android phone so they've already got plenty of data on me. I just avoid their ads so that it minimises the profitability of that data…

I agree. My Google TV with Projectivity Launcher shows zero launcher ads unlike my Apple TV. As a bonus, it lets me install SmartTube and use DeArrow and Sponsor Block. I just wish I could get something similar as a native iOS app. Although I can use Safari extensions, the Safari YouTube experience on iOS is terrible.

I love Projectivity Launcher on my Google Streamer, but I can't figure out how to really replace the built-in launcher. Sometimes the device falls back to the default launcher until I press the "home" button on my remote.
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