Edit: I guess this post is free advertising for these shitters, so I will describe what I previously linked.
There is this TV you can get for free but it has a ads on screen constantly and it has a camera pointed at you to record your reactions to ads and to ensure you don't cover up the ad portion of the screen.
Exactly, what's the use of a smart TV when I have a game console capable of streaming everything a "Smart TV" can AND playing games/browsing the Web?
9/10 times people use a fire stick or cable box to watch TV anyway, all I need is volume, input selection, and power.
The use of a smart TV is to make manufacturers money by selling your personal data to advertisers as part of their post purchase monetisation strategy. Literally admitted by Vizio's CEO (who are really following other brands).
People encourage this as "I got the device for cheaper, so it's you who's wrong." you can't stop morons with logic or mockery, you need laws restricting companies. It's something the US has big trouble with and that's not supposed to be bashing.
Up until a few years ago, I honestly thought that the best thing we could do with stupid people (conspiracy theorists, flat earthers, fundies, etc...) was to bring back public shaming. Make them so damn embarassed to believe what they that do that they just shut the fuck up about it for fear of mockery. As a result, at least their children might see them as being the backwards ones and we nip that shit in the bud in a generation or two instead of each new generation seemingly witnessing their parent's idiotic beliefs being seemingly validated in public by being treated with any validity at all.
But then MAGA arrived, and I realized that many of these people simply have no shame, so ruthlessly mocking them won't work.
"Telly takes the privacy of its users very seriously. For the current Telly Product Privacy Policy please visit [INSERT LINK TO UPDATED TELLY PRODUCT PRIVACY POLICY]."
Yeah. I'm completely behind the complaints people have with a lot of modern world problems in this regard.
Ads on TVs you paid for
Ads on streaming services you paid for
Actually, ads on cable/satellite TV with a subscription in general. What a ridiculous concept of paying twice!
Subscriptions for hardware features already installed (although I am fine with a one-off payment to activate them. I can see the argument for a single SKU with all features installed and deactivated for making the production line simpler)
But in this case, they're very clear. They are making hardware available at no monetary cost. Therefore, you MUST know they're monetizing you somehow, and this is the somehow.
Having said that, yes, the description does seem like the dystopian tellyscreens in nineteen-eighty-four. But they were mandatory for everyone, which is the main difference.
Actually looking through the site. I don't really see how they're going to make enough money on this.
I cannot see anywhere on their site that suggests the camera will be watching you (and there's probably laws against that, even in the USA!) and the FAQ specifically says the camera has a cover and only an app using the camera will make that open, and you have to accept the permission.
Also, it seems they play the ads on a separate screen. Which suggests there won't be sound either. So they don't even expect you to be paying attention to the ads, because it seems they won't block content for them.
I expect there might be an initial interest in advertisers. But if they don't see a decent conversion rate, I cannot imagine they will keep paying enough to cover the TV for ads.
Also, what happens when one of these breaks, they replace it for free? I'd imagine they would need to because otherwise the hardware they paid for is no longer generating revenue.
Having said that, yes, the description does seem like the dystopian tellyscreens in nineteen-eighty-four. But they were mandatory for everyone, which is the main difference.
This is actually closer to Brave New World than Nineteen Eighty-Four. In the former, citizens voluntarily buy huge TVs to adorn their living room walls because their whole society is built around pleasure-seeking and entertainment. These displays are then used by the powers that be to distract and pacify the population, prevent critical thinking and reduce political unrest.
Fuck it. Free TV. I can probably disable the ad screen somehow (even just covering it but leave the camera uncovered) Certainly would be fun to see if it can be hacked.