LocalLLaMA

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[–] Freeposity@lemmy.world 2 points 1 day ago (1 child)

More than anything, we need to stop buying this shit.

Or we can pull together and design boards as drop in replacements for the circuit boards in the SmartTVs. I'm shocked at how cheap it is to get custom boards printed these days. Since SmartTVs are sold at a loss with the intent of making even more money by selling your data, replacing the hardware in the device should still end up being cheaper than the cost of an unsubsidized TV.

With the AI tools available for designing boards now, it shouldn't be terribly difficult for those with the right skills to do this.

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[–] foodandart@lemmy.zip 1 point 19 hours ago

Hmmm. that is a great idea.

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[–] greybeard@feddit.online 11 points 4 days ago (5 children)

This is way too complex of a topic to leave to "consumer choice". There are layers upon layers of complex systems at play, not to mention miles of legalize and precisely crafted PR statements to say one thing and mean another.

The only way this gets better is with government regulation, pretending consumers can make a difference here is blaming the victim.

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[–] UnequalExchange@lemmy.world 1 point 3 days ago (1 child)

But the government itself has bbeen bought out by most of these bige companies ...so....

What 'government regulations' you thinking of? I sure theyll all be very helpful... 🤭

Bro the government itself is part of the prpblem cauae the government is A-OK with a capitaliistic set of governmental regulations that give the richest capitalists many freedoms even when theyre being 'regulated'. These government regulattions you speak of will be like palcing these rich companies under house arrest....in a 26,000 square feet mansion!

We have tto destroy the system itself in its entirety, both the bribed governmeent and the capitaliists that contorol our economies and our governments.

Why cant WE be our own government? Werecognize that thhere is a problem. We investigate the problem and recognize that this is psychopathic. We recognize that the execs at companies thatt do this type of bullshit should be arrested , or worse, and then have their assets nationalized ... We cant do this shit our selves?

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[–] Freeposity@lemmy.world 2 points 1 day ago

Why cant WE be our own government?

Because most of "we" are checked out dummies who are easily manipulated by unscrupulous entities. And the more money you have, the more dummies you can manipulate.

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[–] foodandart@lemmy.zip 1 point 3 days ago (2 children)

I'm gonna have to disagree with you on that.

As someone that spent 15 years in the Nielsens Homescan Consumer Shopping survey (rebranded as National Consumer Panel) the power IS in the hands of the consumer.. Hence the huge industry effort on determining what advertising does and does not work.

In that survey, one would scan ALL purchases and send in the data weekly and the company would then send questionnaires on WHY one buys an item and what, if any, commercials they see (in print, radio or TV - then later online) and if the ads were memorable.

As I was answering the questionnaires, I was also noting how they framed the questions, and what assumptions they made in the pre-selected answers we were to use. (..you'd be astonished by the assumptions that are made about the public..)

The fact that panel members didn't even have the ability to use their own words to say what they did or didn't like about their purchases or the businesses and instead it was about feelings.. that right there told me that emotional manipulation was/is the main leverage point used by advertisers and corporations.

The consumers have ALL the power in the equation, as all a consumer has to do is say "no".. the level of manipulation that industry has to go to - and the surveying and the depths to which people are plumbed and pumped for info - is more about maintaining customers through deception than it is about keeping them by creating high quality goods and services.

Used shit is the way to go.. or better yet, be the cultural change yourself and jettison the old media. For sure I did by cutting the cable TV in 1999, ...and we haven't looked back.

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[–] Freeposity@lemmy.world 2 points 1 day ago (1 child)

you’d be astonished by the assumptions that are made about the public…

Please provide an example or two. I'd like to be astonished.

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[–] foodandart@lemmy.zip 1 point 19 hours ago

The best one was the pharma survey.. They assumed that EVERYONE in middle age is on meds.

I got sent a pharmaceutical survey and how those operate is you would get a mailer with a series of questions and you'd use the barcode scanner to scan the answers.

I got into that targeted survey (somehow) and was sent a three ring binder of pages and pages of drugs.

The first four pages were questions related to when you'd started on meds, for what illness and when did you stop taking them and why..

Nowhere in the initial survey questions was the option to say "I have not STARTED taking medicine / have no need.."

I called in and talked to a representative and she couldn't wrap her brain around the concept that as a middle-age American there were ZERO prescription drugs being taken by anyone in my home.

I had to ask her why the survey was predicated on the belief that everyone was on drugs - and she got a bit testy and huffed "well, I wouldn't say that!" and I asked her where the "no use or need for meds option" was on the survey if that wasn't the case.. she replied "well, don't you need medicines?" and I said "Nielsen has our full scan list of the food we've bought and eaten for the last decade and no one can draw a connection between proper food and health?"

Crickets..

"Oh, you must be really healthy!" "Yeah.. we don't eat garbage.." More crickets..

Then she credited me the points for the survey (It was a big one so it tallied large - I got two iPods out of that year's totals..) and quickly hung up.

The assumptions that we also watched TV and the questions about ads on it that we'd seen were pretty interesting. they also sent out a Media Recording device (looked like an old-school pager) that would listen all day for an ultrasonic sound that was broadcast on the various Clear Channel radio stations and we were to wear it as we went about our day. Sorry to say that one was a bust - by that time I'd discovered somafm online and was well into streaming radio.

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[–] ZombieCyborgFromOuterSpace@piefed.ca 6 points 4 days ago (1 child)

My car is a 2010 Mazda 3.

My TV is a 32 inch 2009 Sony Bravia 720p compatible with both analog and digital TV signals, and has coax cable and RCA inputs and outputs among others like HDMI of course. I can still hook up my original NES and even a VCR to it. It's the best TV I will ever have and I hope it never dies out.

My PC is running Linux 100% now.

We go to the local library to rent DVDs for free, buy them used from thrift shops, or download from TPB. I have a USB disk hooked to an NVidia Shield to watch them on VLC on my old TV.

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[–] foodandart@lemmy.zip 3 points 3 days ago

This is the way..

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[–] Kenny4tunes@lemmy.world 4 points 4 days ago (1 child)

If all manufacturers of smart TV's with the best picture qualities are using this targeted avertising/spying firmware, as much as I agree with your sentiment, it's not really a viable option for someone who's in need of purchasing a TV.

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[–] foodandart@lemmy.zip 1 point 3 days ago

Is there a reason that a TV needs to be new? I picked up a 50" plasma for 80 bucks last year, for use in my work studio. NGL, attaching it to a MacPro that's used for graphics - with the color saturation on that thing? - holy hell, it's beautiful and I can match the outputs to the color profiles for the print jobs I run off.. Facebook marketplace for the win, my man.