My TV (dumb but attached to a Roku Express) died last month and since then I’ve been watching on computer + Zen Browser + uBlock Origin, with zero ads.
And noticing that I don’t see a single TV for sale in nearby shops that is not a (usually Roku) smart TV, i.e. data surveillance capitalist tool.
I’m fearing when my tv finally dies. It’s a 15 year old 75", and I know i won’t have the money for a new one when the time comes. Especially not enough to shop around for a dumb tv the same size.
Instead of looking for a tv, look for a commercial display. They’re basically a computer monitor the size of a TV. Samsung makes a line that we use at work, and the cost is similar to a mid-range TV. They can function completely without internet.
The funny thing is you can just use an external box and never connect your tv to the internet at all. Let it collect all the data it wants. It’s not like it can tell anybody.
It may not be that way for much longer. Take a look at Amazon Sidewalk. They’re using low power, long range mesh technology so Ring Doorbells and Echos can communicate without access to the internet. That may not sound like a big deal, but the potential is huge.
If companies like Amazon/Google are able to create a “side network” they could use it to provide low bandwidth backhaul for other companies that want to get telemetry from their airgapped devices.
So, for example, you get a new Roku smart TV and don’t connect it to your Wi-Fi, but your neighbour has a Ring doorbell so it just uses that.
Mesh tech is awesome, and so is tech in general, but we are so slow at regulating it. This stuff needs to be opt in at the absolute minimum.
My TV (dumb but attached to a Roku Express) died last month and since then I’ve been watching on computer + Zen Browser + uBlock Origin, with zero ads.
And noticing that I don’t see a single TV for sale in nearby shops that is not a (usually Roku) smart TV, i.e. data surveillance capitalist tool.
I’m fearing when my tv finally dies. It’s a 15 year old 75", and I know i won’t have the money for a new one when the time comes. Especially not enough to shop around for a dumb tv the same size.
Instead of looking for a tv, look for a commercial display. They’re basically a computer monitor the size of a TV. Samsung makes a line that we use at work, and the cost is similar to a mid-range TV. They can function completely without internet.
Something like these: https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/buy/commercial-displays/ci/35567/N/3538895735
Awesome advice
Amazing! That 55" is about what I paid for the Roku tv before all of this blatant “shit on the user” bullshit, and it still suuuuuuuuuckss
Edit: the Roku tv sucks… Not the Samsung dumb tv
The funny thing is you can just use an external box and never connect your tv to the internet at all. Let it collect all the data it wants. It’s not like it can tell anybody.
It may not be that way for much longer. Take a look at Amazon Sidewalk. They’re using low power, long range mesh technology so Ring Doorbells and Echos can communicate without access to the internet. That may not sound like a big deal, but the potential is huge.
If companies like Amazon/Google are able to create a “side network” they could use it to provide low bandwidth backhaul for other companies that want to get telemetry from their airgapped devices.
So, for example, you get a new Roku smart TV and don’t connect it to your Wi-Fi, but your neighbour has a Ring doorbell so it just uses that.
Mesh tech is awesome, and so is tech in general, but we are so slow at regulating it. This stuff needs to be opt in at the absolute minimum.
Why not librewolf, Firefox has native vertical tabs since Firefox 136
Video playback smooth in Zen but jerky in Firefox. Haven’t tried in Librewolf or Firedragon.
Are you using Linux? Do you have the right codecs installed? Firefox shouldn’t be jerky.
Linux: Yes, Linux Mint Xfce 22.1
Codecs: Yes,
mint-meta-codecs.Everything seems fine in Zen, Falkon, FreeTube, SMPlayer, VLC etc.
But the one time I tried watching video in Firefox recently, it was jerky.