People regret buying Amazon smart displays after being bombarded with ads
- Thread starter JournalBot
- Start date
Indeed. I am using Google Home devices but would dump them in an instant if ads started showing up. They are useful but not THAT useful. I dumped network TV for a reason and there will always be ways to eliminate ads, legal and otherwise.
Ban something people want and you create a black market for that item. Force ads on people and they will find a way to duck them.
I am happy to pay a reasonable amount for ad free (and do) but if ads creep into something I am paying for (or the ad-free amount becomes unreasonable), either the ads go or I do. I spent the better part of my life having to watch ads and do not plan to spend any more of my life doing so.
I....WILL.....NOT.....WATCH.....ADS......PERIOD.
Upvote
2
(2
/
0)
Upvote
2
(3
/
-1)
But the OP isn't talking about subliminal advertising, which as you say is pretty much universally regarded as so much bullshit. They're referring to ads that create an emotional impression rather than a rational or literate one. Ads overall strive to bypass the rational bits of the brain and go straight for the emotion centers. The last thing advertisers want is for their targets to actually start applying rational analysis to their claims. Visual ads, for the most part, don't tell; they show.
Upvote
9
(9
/
0)
I have no words for the dread I feel in the presence of people who allow themselves to be subjected to advertising. Consuming propaganda is the ethical, psychological, and spiritual equivalent of coprophagia. I pity such individuals and if asked will help, but my disgust for what they're doing sometimes overwhelms me.
It's the same set of feelings I have when someone confesses they listen to Donald Trump. I look across a subway car at someone's screen flowing with sewage and want to scream "For the love of God, stop eating that!"
It's the same set of feelings I have when someone confesses they listen to Donald Trump. I look across a subway car at someone's screen flowing with sewage and want to scream "For the love of God, stop eating that!"
Upvote
3
(10
/
-7)
You're simply mistaken – unsurprisingly since none of this has much to do with the pseudo science that is psychology. Since the 1950's, neurological research has made it increasingly clear that "notice" is a nebulous concept based on fundamentally mistaken assumptions about the nature of perception. So is "choose," given the reality that few human decisions – perhaps none – are made consciously. In practice, we are barely conscious. It appears the evolutionary function of self awareness is post-game narrative – to rationalize our actions after the fact. In terms of survival, any story is apparently better than no story.
The system of falsified metabolic time stamps that make it possible for different processes in the brain to lie to each other is a bit much for an online post, but grimly fascinating. If popular awareness of what's known of neurology were equivalent to that of physics, few people would have heard of Einstein. I suspect this is because the implications of so much of it are so deeply disturbing. Consider, for example, the experiment that demonstrates that the conscious choice to lift a finger occurs after the impulse to do so has left the brain. I do not lift my finger. Someone else does, and then lies to me about when it moved. That it's even my finger turns out to be dubious claim.
There's a simple reason we all pretend advertising doesn't work, despite the mountains of research and billions of dollars that have demonstrated over and over again that it works horrifyingly well. To confront how easily manipulated we are and how little we can control it is an ontological crisis of mammoth proportions. What I mean when I say "I" is not me at all. What does this mean for the survival of our species in an era of instantaneous mass propaganda formed and delivered without human knowledge or participation? Well, I'm going to go listen to some music and pet the cat until the urge to weep passes.
Upvote
0
(7
/
-7)
I generated an ai slop pic of a penguin in an Amazon Prime delivery shirt surfing at Santa Monica, printed it out the old fashioned way, trimmed with scissors and taped it to the display. Old, low tech solution for a modern problem.
As to Alexa+, wow, just wow. Asked her to read an old out-of-copyright poem by Donne and she helpfully told me about kindle books I could buy that contained the poem, but no way in hell I could get her to just read it to me.
As to Alexa+, wow, just wow. Asked her to read an old out-of-copyright poem by Donne and she helpfully told me about kindle books I could buy that contained the poem, but no way in hell I could get her to just read it to me.
Upvote
-2
(1
/
-3)
Amazon's crap with advertising is what made me finally switch our kid to an iPad from a Fire Tablet for Kids or whatever it's called. The damn thing is riddled with icons for other apps and content geared towards kids, it's a pain in the ass to tell it what you do and do not want shown to them, and the only way to make it only display what's actually installed is to put the thing in airplane mode.
Throw in any time an app needs updated you have to switch out of kid mode and to the regular Fire OS, and even then apps would just randomly not work, so I got fed up and picked up a base level iPad on sale back in July. Told my wife we had a two week road trip coming up, and the last thing she'd want is a kiddo upset they can't use the tablet how they want, and me upset because I'm angry at how bad Amazon's tech is.
Throw in any time an app needs updated you have to switch out of kid mode and to the regular Fire OS, and even then apps would just randomly not work, so I got fed up and picked up a base level iPad on sale back in July. Told my wife we had a two week road trip coming up, and the last thing she'd want is a kiddo upset they can't use the tablet how they want, and me upset because I'm angry at how bad Amazon's tech is.
Upvote
8
(8
/
0)
The best way to improve the ad experience is to not have it. And if you propose for me to pay you for the hardware, you'd damn well better not have an ad experience at all.
I get it. The business model never made any sense. You get a one time infusion of cash when you sell a device but you have an ongoing expense of providing the back end computation for who knows how long. Amazon expected that cash to come from impulse buys. That didn't happen. Something has to replace it. But to seize control of something people bought and own to force feed ads that benefit no one but you and annoy your users is not it. Kinda glad I ditched Alexa.
I get it. The business model never made any sense. You get a one time infusion of cash when you sell a device but you have an ongoing expense of providing the back end computation for who knows how long. Amazon expected that cash to come from impulse buys. That didn't happen. Something has to replace it. But to seize control of something people bought and own to force feed ads that benefit no one but you and annoy your users is not it. Kinda glad I ditched Alexa.
Upvote
6
(6
/
0)
Shouldn’t Step 2 be to Jailbreak and then install an open source firmware?
Upvote
10
(10
/
0)
Ads and incompetence. For some reason, my parents' Alexa device started announcing the weather at 6:42 PM EVERY DAMNED DAY. We never found out why, but I did find plenty of other people who experienced the same thing... some at nearly the same time of day.
It took far longer to figure out how to shut the thing up other than getting rid of it, since this scheduled interruption wasn't listed under any place we could find in the menu system. I don't even remember what BS name the moron "designers" gave it.
It took far longer to figure out how to shut the thing up other than getting rid of it, since this scheduled interruption wasn't listed under any place we could find in the menu system. I don't even remember what BS name the moron "designers" gave it.
Upvote
0
(0
/
0)
There was a This American Life just on where a journo made a digit al copy of his voice and then setup and agent as himself and handed out the phone number. Nothing short of fascinating about the way humans make many decisions about who they are talking too.
Upvote
0
(0
/
0)
Might I ask, what's wrong with the Nvidia Shields? Ive followed the guide to debloat it (and installed a custom launcher) and I don't think I have even seen a single ad. I do use Adguardhome to filter ads, wonder if that might be the cause? (And I consider most things ads, like amazon prime recommending amazon prime things or series, for example)
In fact I love the shield so much I am waiting for them to release an improved one! Though I am always looking for more/better/alternate options, too.
Upvote
1
(1
/
0)
It was my mother's, so I didn't mess around with changing anything. The default setup is pretty ad-infested, although it's my understanding that this was forced by Google, and wasn't a thing NVidia wanted.
Upvote
0
(0
/
0)
I would love to have some voice commands toys and security cam. However, I definitely do not feel comfortable to link more of my information to Amazon, Google, Apple. I already a bit bother by the fact that I need a Google/Apple account to use my phone.
Upvote
1
(1
/
0)
If you want cameras and a slick system where you own all your data and don’t pay subscriptions or have to juggle BS just set up a UniFi system.
Set it up over POE and you don’t even have to think about WiFi security or issues. (Like getting jammed.)
Set it up over POE and you don’t even have to think about WiFi security or issues. (Like getting jammed.)
Upvote
5
(5
/
0)
I'd be a little surprised if the hardware margin is thrilling; but $150 for what's basically an 8in tablet without a battery and internal specs so thrilling that they aren't mentioned (beyond 'octa-core') doesn't seem particularly atypical.
A 'normal' tablet at that price point is going to have dreadful speakers by comparison, and be wifi/bt only; but will have a battery and a fair number of them are some combination of higher resolution and 10 inch; so (while I'd be open to the possibility that a BoM analysis shows otherwise) there's nothing about eyeballing it that suggests you are getting some sort of too-good-to-be-true price there.
Not that I'd trust the firmware on those ones I'm comparing it to; though they are more likely to be sheer apathy rather than dedicated malice.
Upvote
0
(0
/
0)
Yea then you scroll down to pawn stars on the "I am Stupid" channel and say to yourself why has noone syndicated the presidents show the "Apprentice"
Upvote
-7
(0
/
-7)
That sort of crap is the online equivalent of going into a store and being followed around by shop staff insisting that hanging around like a lonely puppy is 'giving good customer service'. As for giving feedback - it never damn well works, the number of times I've told YouTube I'm not interested in a particular advertisement yet 5 minutes later the exact same damn ad appears again (thank god I've got YouTube Premium at home). It appears this whole idea of 'giving feedback' based on my experience with Amazon, Google and others is that it is the equivalent of pressing the 'close door button' in the elevator that isn't actually hooked up to anything.
Upvote
1
(1
/
0)
Money well spent. Real journalism is vanishing ever so quickly, as everyone kisses the ring. Ars may well be sacrificed by those above Ken/Aurich when Trump's social media gestapo start making calls to Conde Naste about the hotbed of truth and facts herein, but let's hope a better outcome lies ahead somehow.Ok, touché. I guess that's a clear case of "put your money where your mouth is"...
I just subscribed.
Upvote
6
(6
/
0)
Think of a person of average intelligence. 49.99% of the population are working below that threshold. They're actively being marketed BS to deceive them as well.
Upvote
0
(0
/
0)
I mean, it could be that there's not a single person of average intelligence, most people are geniuses, but there's this ONE massive idiot of such ineptitude it drags the average down.
Upvote
2
(2
/
0)
That's some mental gymnastics, and hopium right there. Or wilful ignorance.
The Trump goon squads being hired to trawl through online posts are drooling about trying to reach the levels of surveillance that China already has enacted.
China is literally the antithesis of the idea of a saviour from a surveillance state.
Upvote
9
(9
/
0)
It's very easy to stop the auto-sub renewal with Ars. I earn likely an order of magnitude less than the majority of posters here, and renew the sub when I can. The fact that they don't have dark patterns making it hard to turn of subscription auto-renew is a big positive to me.
Upvote
6
(6
/
0)
I can honestly say I've never broken my Amazon purchase virginity. Have never bought anything directly from them and never ever had the slightest urge to shit in my own nest by buying one of their ad-servers masquerading as something useful. Their corporate presence always stank of evil to me. I'd rather pay more to a less evil supplier.
I use Google products way more than I'd like to, but there's a limit to what you can avoid with such a huge market reach. It's still a bit tricky for example to buy a Fairphone in Aus. Hoping that changes eventually.
Upvote
1
(1
/
0)
Hey! I already know I'm not the sharpest tool in the shed, no need to rub it in.
Upvote
5
(5
/
0)
Pretty much agree, but I do like smart light bulbs. The ability to dim and change color temperature/color from couch or bed is really nice. I recently switched to Ezviz bulbs from Philips Hue. They're about half the price and support Matter. And they don't require you to create an account to use them. Even the app is easier to use
Upvote
2
(2
/
0)
Because the concept is decent: there’s a legitimate appeal to having a device in a common family space which can display photos, play music, have your shared calendar, take reminders, etc. That’s legitimate and, for example, parents who think that’s better than having their younger children starting with a phone/tablet aren’t wrong, not to mention the older people who like to see what their grandchildren are up to without having to remember to charge / find a tablet.
Unfortunately, that’s not wildly profitable but we have a generation of people who’ve been trained to think of this stuff as super cheap–the better not to think about how their financial security has been eroded by the rich–and most tech companies have the baseline for comparison (both internal and external) set to the money-printing era of Google/Facebook where growth and profits grew in ways which aren’t possible for most businesses. Things like the Alexa/Echo lines were seen and promoted as “platforms” and the only way third-party developers are going to show up to your platform is if there are enough people there to turn a profit, so they subsidized hardware heavily trying to build a market. That failed but now the investors want to see returns on all of those billions and the Devil is always there promising that ads will make everything successful.
I don’t see a way out in the United States other than buying Apple and hoping they don’t succumb but I’m hoping that European privacy laws will create a market for devices built on other business models so there’ll be something decent to import.
Upvote
7
(7
/
0)
Yes, some chains, such as AMC, have actually come right out and told people to expect up to a half hour of crap before the movie starts (AMC now warns moviegoers to expect ‘25-30 minutes’ of ads and trailers).
I rarely go the theaters for movies anymore but when I do, this is why I show up late and don't sit down until 25 minutes after "showtime."
Benefits:
No line to get tickets
No line to get any crap to eat or drink (if forced to by companions - I never do that for myself at a theater, as I'd rather bring my own, better, crap.
)Little to no advertising I'm "forced" to watch.
If you go to the restroom during that 25-30min time, reduced chance you'll need to go during movie and miss something.
Drawbacks:
None, other than the possibility of reduced seat choice, which typically doesn't matter to me, but if you go the movies on opening weekends, it might matter to you.
Upvote
6
(6
/
0)
Yeah, I don't go to the theater much anymore either - whatever's there is going to be streaming well within a couple of months - and when I do go it's pretty much all reserved seating online, so I grab those and there's no need to sit through all that crap. I don't mind 2-3 trailers, but I'm there for the movie - not the ads. It's not doing the theaters any good, either, and only adds to their complaint of falling audience. They're doing it to themselves.Yes, some chains, such as AMC, have actually come right out and told people to expect up to a half hour of crap before the movie starts (AMC now warns moviegoers to expect ‘25-30 minutes’ of ads and trailers).
I rarely go the theaters for movies anymore but when I do, this is why I show up late and don't sit down until 25 minutes after "showtime."
Benefits:
No line to get tickets
No line to get any crap to eat or drink (if forced to by companions - I never do that for myself at a theater, as I'd rather bring my own, better, crap.
Little to no advertising I'm "forced" to watch.
If you go to the restroom during that 25-30min time, reduced chance you'll need to go during movie and miss something.
Drawbacks:
None, other than the possibility of reduced seat choice, which typically doesn't matter to me, but if you go the movies on opening weekends, it might matter to you.
Upvote
4
(4
/
0)
Ads... sometimes I feel like a goose that they are trying to force feed. Recently stopped listening to the radio during rush hour. I noticed I listened mostly to very loud screaming ads on steroids for half an hour. Tried to change the channel, but the ads seem to be synchronized. Only the classical music channel was ok. Too bad, because I really liked the shows.
I wonder if this is all still normal, the way people push their products and try to invade our homes.
Oh well... got an old USB stick out with lots of music on it. I am noticeably calmer now in the mornings. These things have more influence on us than we expect. Probably why they invest so much money in it. Throw it all out. It is not worth it. Polite people ask permission before they shove stuff in your face.
I wonder if this is all still normal, the way people push their products and try to invade our homes.
Oh well... got an old USB stick out with lots of music on it. I am noticeably calmer now in the mornings. These things have more influence on us than we expect. Probably why they invest so much money in it. Throw it all out. It is not worth it. Polite people ask permission before they shove stuff in your face.
Upvote
2
(2
/
0)
I've never had these things. They look stupid. I have owned their kindle tablets. They don't last long and are made to an inferior spec and quality to almost every other country. An iPad makes a better e-reader than their kindle devices. I'm going to look into a Samsung tablet on my next go around. We threw away their fire stick devices decade ago. To much glad handing their own stuff. Roku was more neutral historically but getting into ads now too.
Upvote
-2
(0
/
-2)
HomePods exist. I have two used Minis. No ads. No talking to Apple unless I invoke it. Just saying. Also no screens.
HomePods aren’t perfect but the sound is surprisingly good. I use one as a white noise machine and mostly as a smart hub. The other was given to my mother but she didn’t want it, so it’s in casual use. They’re cheap when used. I think many buyers realize they want their potential but not their reality, like so many gadgets.
HomePods aren’t perfect but the sound is surprisingly good. I use one as a white noise machine and mostly as a smart hub. The other was given to my mother but she didn’t want it, so it’s in casual use. They’re cheap when used. I think many buyers realize they want their potential but not their reality, like so many gadgets.
Upvote
4
(4
/
0)
