People regret buying Amazon smart displays after being bombarded with ads
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fellow human
Ars Praefectus
heh I do that too but they still pop up from time to time when you interact with it. When I see one I roughly flip the device face-down. My wife likes seeing the timer countdowns so she flips it back up. It's become something of a household joke.
I'd just toss them except they're great for Home Assistant voice announcements and home voice control. I'll switch to Home Assistant voice when the hardware catches up.
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It sounds like you're describing it's I-have-a-message sound.
Mine just blooped while I was reading this thread--given what it's like outside I presume it's some sort of weather event. I do have weather notifications turned on. We already got a flash flood advisory earlier in the day. Try "Alexa, notifications".
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Maybe I'm remembering wrong, but wasn't that the point of Amazon Fire devices. You get a cheaper device in exchange for more ads. I remember reading something like that years ago, and then refusing to ever even read about another fire device.
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InfiniteJester
Ars Centurion
I know it’s fun to shit on that fruit-named company, but I hope they actually get into this game.
The Apple TV device is worth every fucking nickel to toss the Roku in the garbage.
The Apple TV device is worth every fucking nickel to toss the Roku in the garbage.
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I'm ready to accept the inevitable enshittification of apps, but not of our whole lives. Something as intrusive as this would seriously degrade my whole sense of well-being. Funny, because I used to love reading through all the ads in the printed NY Times years ago...
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This is why I am against automated cars. At first things will look amazing. Car accidents will go down, car rides will be cheaper than owning. You would be crazy not to take advantage. Once everything is changed over, they will convince the state people SHOULDN'T be allowed to drive since automated cars are safer. They will limit licenses and car registrations. Then it'll begin. In car ads on the windows, in the seats, on the dashboards. Then there will be mandatory audio.
First they will sell an ad free subscription for $1.99 on TOP of the ride fair
6 months later they will have some ads at $3.99 and add free will be $19.99, they will cite "inflation" and "rising costs" while they make record profits.
Then they will remove ad free, and $19.99 will get you get reduced ads. Access to air conditioning in Los Angeles will be an extra $9.99. if you want to roll down a window, it'll be $14.99 (Due to "safety concerns"). If you want to recline your seat, you can unlock that feature for $2.99 per ride.
Then there will be surge pricing. The hotter it is, the more expensive air conditioning will be. And you'll pay per minute it runs. "Buy 76 degrees on low for $1.49 a minute"
At the end, you'll be spending $200 to go around the block in standing only with a rope tied around your waist because you didn't want to opt in for seat belt protection (the rope is BYO) and you have to share it with 6 other strangers, one of whom opted into the "Economy Strapped to Roof" option for $179. They will purposely organize everyone to take same route to create artificial road congestion and charge you to take the "optimum route". They'll slow down cars and force you to pay extra to go a normal speed. Then they will build a faraday cage around the cab, and try to sell you their wifi for $4.99. Then it'll come out there are microphones and cameras monitoring you and recording everything and it's being sold to advertisers and the police have free access for "public safety". We'll only find out because a Russian television station bought access rights and turned it into a TV show for entertainment. We'll be the new reality TV.
Local governments will be upset, because they no longer makes billions off of fines, court fees and parking. They will raise taxes on everyone.
In the end, life will be worse.
First they will sell an ad free subscription for $1.99 on TOP of the ride fair
6 months later they will have some ads at $3.99 and add free will be $19.99, they will cite "inflation" and "rising costs" while they make record profits.
Then they will remove ad free, and $19.99 will get you get reduced ads. Access to air conditioning in Los Angeles will be an extra $9.99. if you want to roll down a window, it'll be $14.99 (Due to "safety concerns"). If you want to recline your seat, you can unlock that feature for $2.99 per ride.
Then there will be surge pricing. The hotter it is, the more expensive air conditioning will be. And you'll pay per minute it runs. "Buy 76 degrees on low for $1.49 a minute"
At the end, you'll be spending $200 to go around the block in standing only with a rope tied around your waist because you didn't want to opt in for seat belt protection (the rope is BYO) and you have to share it with 6 other strangers, one of whom opted into the "Economy Strapped to Roof" option for $179. They will purposely organize everyone to take same route to create artificial road congestion and charge you to take the "optimum route". They'll slow down cars and force you to pay extra to go a normal speed. Then they will build a faraday cage around the cab, and try to sell you their wifi for $4.99. Then it'll come out there are microphones and cameras monitoring you and recording everything and it's being sold to advertisers and the police have free access for "public safety". We'll only find out because a Russian television station bought access rights and turned it into a TV show for entertainment. We'll be the new reality TV.
Local governments will be upset, because they no longer makes billions off of fines, court fees and parking. They will raise taxes on everyone.
In the end, life will be worse.
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For the shipping and unlimited photo backups. I have terabytes of photos, and that would cost more than I pay for Prime to store anywhere else. If there was an option not to pay for Prime Video, I'd take it.
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How did anyone buying these things not know this is what they get? They've done it on their tablets since the beginning, and on everything else they have.
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I have a Google Home. I have yet to see a single ad on the screen.
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And then there is product placement in the shows.
Its like turtles all the way down.
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I don't like the video ad downloads clogging my link. The static ones are OK because we don't really look at the device that often. But when they do show something in an ad that interests me... They don't let me rewind the ad content or see what has been shown. She can't recall what she was advertising ... Sort of like that black mirror episode...
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Im working on phasing mine out in favor of more home assistant displays. The audio only ones seem to be still a bit useful but man amazon has ensured I will not buy a single one anymore.... and I used to buy a lot of them.
I absolutely will pay a bit more for hardware of whatever- as long as it has a clean ad free user experience. Im sick of being spammed by ads every second of my life.
I absolutely will pay a bit more for hardware of whatever- as long as it has a clean ad free user experience. Im sick of being spammed by ads every second of my life.
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Just too, mine to Goodwill.
Alexa+ is much, much better than Google Assistant, but the ads and 'feature promos' just killed the Echo Show for me.
Alexa+ is much, much better than Google Assistant, but the ads and 'feature promos' just killed the Echo Show for me.
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I always thought ads were part of the deal with Amazon. I’m shocked to hear that people bought these devices thinking ads were a thing of the past. Amazon’s business model is to sell things to people.
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Does anybody else remember the days when internet-centric companies aimed to make things better? Like how Amazon was once a virtual book store that helped students get their hands on books that their campus book stores/libraries didn't provide at a decent price, or how Google was a search engine that took a minimalist approach, did its best to present helpful and relevant search results, and had a company ethos of "Don't be evil"?
Now Amazon is a megacorp that's threatening the entirety of retail with warehouses full of abused workers, Google is an intrusive entity trying to pry into every aspect of your personal life, and new technology and the startups of the 2020s are all focused on how to extract as much money from us as humanly possible with little to no concern about making anything better for anyone other than their shareholders and/or VC funders.
And the ads. Oh yes, the ads.
Everywhere ads. Google is now an ad-broker who happens to have a search business as a side-hustle, Amazon charges you for the privilege of having ads shoved at you, and the ML startups are mostly focused on ways to shove more ads in front of you whilst contributing as much to the climate crisis as the aviation industry.
I miss the good old days when we all thought the internet was going to be a good thing, that the startups like Google and Amazon had cracked the secret of compassionate capitalism, and that all our boats would be lifted by the tide of the new technology.
Now Amazon is a megacorp that's threatening the entirety of retail with warehouses full of abused workers, Google is an intrusive entity trying to pry into every aspect of your personal life, and new technology and the startups of the 2020s are all focused on how to extract as much money from us as humanly possible with little to no concern about making anything better for anyone other than their shareholders and/or VC funders.
And the ads. Oh yes, the ads.
Everywhere ads. Google is now an ad-broker who happens to have a search business as a side-hustle, Amazon charges you for the privilege of having ads shoved at you, and the ML startups are mostly focused on ways to shove more ads in front of you whilst contributing as much to the climate crisis as the aviation industry.
I miss the good old days when we all thought the internet was going to be a good thing, that the startups like Google and Amazon had cracked the secret of compassionate capitalism, and that all our boats would be lifted by the tide of the new technology.
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I mean, it was rather obvious this would go on this way. In my country, we don't have these devices. But even if they were, I'd rather pay (much) more for an iPad who serves as smart display, music station and more and absolutely sits quiet when I don't use it than underpriced junk who compensates with your data and attention.
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Me too. We were so naive back then, like when I blushed asking a girl out to the movies when now it's a non-stop boob show on reels. But people are hooked, so the models won't go bust anytime soon.
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To be honest, isolating from ads pretty much improves my (and maybe your) quality of life.
Resist "free" TV supported by ads, use Adblock Plus or uBlock Origin with a supported browser and avoid social media forcing ads on their users - these simple measurements alone will
- make you want less things you cannot afford
- give you more free income for things you need because of 1.)
I personally blame ads for many social problems (including a good part of property-related crime) in our society.
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And yet without ads Ars wouldn't exist. We have an ad-free subscription, but not enough people pay for it to keep the site alive if we just stopped selling ads.
I'm not really into being moralistic about ad blocking or piracy or whatever else. People gotta do what they do. But there is a certain level of "if you don't support things in other ways then what?"
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I refuse to let advertising be so intrusive and would hope that everyone else would agree and not purchase those brands that did so, sending a message that there is a point at which ads will not cross.
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Ok, touché. I guess that's a clear case of "put your money where your mouth is"...
I just subscribed.
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If you throw it in the trash, they’ve at least made some money and the resources are wasted.
Give it away to someone interested and Amazon lost a customer. When they realize how awful it is, they will give it away again. We‘ll only need a single device to go full circle to efficiently teach everyone how awful it is.
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Luckily I have a Google Home Hub. Unluckily, it'll probably follow suit.
We only ever use it to set kitchen timers. I should look into open source alternatives.
We only ever use it to set kitchen timers. I should look into open source alternatives.
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I don't understand why anyone would pay for a device that uncontrollably spews adverts. What does this device do that's so amazing. Why are people buying this crap?
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Bill Hicks had it right. When I become supreme overlord of Earth, my first act will not be to solve the problems of hunger or world peace, it will be to burn the entire advertising industry and its apparatus to the ground.
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chateauarusi
Ars Praetorian
I'm not surprised that Amazon is doing this, but I'm also a little perplexed because I'm not personally seeing it. I can only assume that it's because I'm in Europe, whereas this behavior and most of the Ars readership is in the U.S., which lacks meaningful consumer protection. My Amazon device sits obediently on the kitchen counter, doing nothing until triggered.
My guess is that Amazon hasn't been as aggressive about this stuff in the EU because its advertising program is inextricably tied to its personal-data/targeting algorithms, to the point that it simply doesn't know how to run generic ads without that targeting, and it doesn't want to get hammered with more GDPR violations.
e.g.—
https://www.reuters.com/technology/...d-812-mln-luxembourg-privacy-fine-2025-03-19/
My guess is that Amazon hasn't been as aggressive about this stuff in the EU because its advertising program is inextricably tied to its personal-data/targeting algorithms, to the point that it simply doesn't know how to run generic ads without that targeting, and it doesn't want to get hammered with more GDPR violations.
e.g.—
https://www.reuters.com/technology/...d-812-mln-luxembourg-privacy-fine-2025-03-19/
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Frankly, the notion that Amazon or anyone else is in any way benefiting from "targeting" consumers seems ludicrous. Amazon has an extensive purchase history on me, yet they "target" me by pushing stuff on me that I've already bought - mostly non-consumables that I have no reason to buy again - and apparently random stuff like bras, despite not being female, not browsing for or purchasing women's undergarments. Their "targeting," if it actually exists at all, is horribly bad, and that seems true of the rest of the InnerTubes, where I pretty much never see any "tailored" promotion of goods that match my actual interests. It's the same old random, scattershot face-shoving advertisers have employed since the beginning of time, with no benefit from data collection.
I do think it's possible they do - or at least could - use personal information like income and zip code to jack up prices for me, relative to others who, say, make less. I guess I could set up a stealth account in a VM to test this, I've heard some companies are at least looking into such chicanery, but in terms of "targeted advertising" meaning promoting products that somehow match my interests, it's not working.
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The whole advertising thing is why I’m open to America imploding and China becoming the new dominant super power.
The amount of tracking placed upon me on by services I don’t even use, then having ad after ad placed infront of everything I do. Can’t wait for that to end.
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I ditched my 4 Echo shows years ago after the first ads started to appear. Also, I have not renewed my Amazon Prime and will not be. Basically, Amazon is dead to me. It's working out well, turns out I don't need it. I can buy stuff from other places.
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