Does an external Roku device collect ACR based data?
You'll see highly targeted ads on all Roku devices -- like based on what you search for and which show/movie listings you view. However, AFAIK ACR is only on when Roku the TV OS. AFAIK, for ACR, it's on when Roku is the TV OS but off when Roku is a standalone device. They don't make that totally clear, though, so you should check the device. That said, even for standalone devices, there's plenty of other data to targ…
Thank you very much for putting all that together.
1. Turn off your Samsung TV's internet connection 2. Connect Apple TV via HDMI Not only does this improve your privacy, but it improves the UI and remote of your TV.
The skinny, slippery, round cornered, black AppleTV remote seems to be designed to be as easily lost as possible. Weeks often go by without finding it, during which we use other streaming devices instead. The Amazon FireTV remote is quite easy to lose, but I stocked up on spares when it was on sale for $15. The TiVo remote is not only too big to lose, it has a remote-finder feature where you can induce it to play a t…
If you have an iPhone, it can function as an Apple TV remote.
1. Turn off your Samsung TV's internet connection 2. Connect Apple TV via HDMI Not only does this improve your privacy, but it improves the UI and remote of your TV.
Samsung can still try to connect to open WiFi networks. Not accepting the EULA makes this irrelevant.
I’ve been contemplating a computer monitor and a sound bar. I would prefer to have a remote with on/off and volume but I guess I can use my phone for most of that.
Where can you get a 55 inch computer monitor?
... and there I go again assuming people want the same things as me. I want a good quality, high resolution 32-40 inch tv.
I wonder if there is a market for dumb TVs. They basically don't exist today. Closest thing I could get was a Dell conference room monitor, which is $1200 for a 55 inch, and $4500 for a 75 inch. A far cry from the $700 I spent on my current 75 inch TV, but I'm strongly considering it.
There's probably a market, but the question is how big? TV's have gotten so cheap because of the ads and data mining, so a TV that doesn't have that would be considerably more expensive. People on HN might spend more for some privacy, but most average consumers definitely wouldn't. I almost would like to see Apple release a television that has tvOS built in.
But the cheapest TVs on the market are the super-no-brand models which aren't smart/ Clearly these are unsubsidized.
I spent around $1,200 on my 4K HDR Samsung TV a few years ago. It was great, but lately has been unbearably slow and frustrating to the point where we'd stop watching TV in the living room all together. Not a great experience. To try to remedy the issue (knowing it was slowed down by the disgusting ad platform), I installed a Pi Hole in the house to see if that would alleviate the problem. The TV felt a bit less clun…
> The Pi Hole statistics were terrifying at around 12,000 blocked Samsung requests per day (around 6-7 hours of shared TV usage) The stats can be misleading. It's just trying over and over again when it has a failure. If the first attempt was successful, you would have a lot less requests.
Sure, but is it trying 3 times per failed request or 100? Either way, it’s far too many requests.
> Not only does this improve your privacy, but it improves the UI and remote of your TV. Two out of three anyhow... the Apple TV remote is pretty mediocre. Gets rid of a lot of junk I never use, and a bunch of stuff I really miss (the mute button for starters).
Using your phone as a remote is awesome. If your HDMI has CEC/ARC you can switch the TV in just by pulling down the remote widget and pressing the screen. And you can fill password and search fields. And anyone can use it once they’ve paired
Most of the time the Apple remote is just fine... mostly it's the fact that it's easily reversible and lacks a mute button that bugs me.
This is a temporary measure. Soon enough, they will have 5G or 6G modems inside, a special arrangement with carriers (a la Amazon’s whispernet), and You would have to wrap it in tinfoil to stop it from reporting on your viewing habits and showing you ads.
IIRC don't Samsung TVs already connect to any open access point they can find in an attempt to upload analytics, or was that Vizio? I definitely remember someone was doing that, meaning not connecting to the network only worked if there were no open APs around. I'm sure soon enough the TVs will refuse to boot unless connected to the internet.
I recently turned on my Vizio to see it had updated its firmware and I was forced to accept terms of use and privacy policies from both Vizio and Google before I could do anything else on the TV. It was essentially bricked unless I accepted. I accepted, then immediately unplugged the TV from the network, removed the WiFi information and manually entered bad DNS settings. I rebooted the TV and it reconnected to WiFi automatically! Not happy. Forget network, re-enter bad settings, check router logs... it’s no longer connected in any way that I’m aware of, through my network anyway. Very negative experience.
Recent model toyota vehicles come with a "telematics" unit with a built-in SIM card that sends GPS data, driving data, video from the front camera, etc. to Toyota and the "agreement" in the manual says they can do ~whatever they want with it. If you power down the telematics module (by removing the fuse), the carplay microphone doesn't work (because the microphone runs through the telematics module). If you remove or…
Thanks for sharing that. Is the SIM card removable like in mobile phones?
Dunno about this unit, but a lot of satellite decoder boxes come with the smart card 'chip' soldered onto the board and the smart card slot remains empty until they need to change the security.