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Roku has patented a way to show ads over anything you plug into your TV (arstechnica.com)
submitted 2 years ago by to c/technology@lemmy.world
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[–] 75 points 2 years ago (11 children)

You know, this a good thing. Now nobody else can do it, so I just need to never buy a Roku.

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  • [–] 10 points 2 years ago* (8 children)

    Remember when Netflix started showing ads on a paid plan, and everybody was saying they'll quit.

    "Haha! Look how Netflix will be thrown into the hole with Blockbuster, so nobody will follow."

    So, where are we today? Everybody starts doing it, and Netflix is better than it was then.

    Yeah, you'll have to forgive me for not being so sure Roku will eat too much shit over this, and that more companies will not follow.

    I see Samsung's boner from here.

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  • [–] 6 points 2 years ago (4 children)

    I fully do not expect Roku to face any consequences except more sales, sadly.

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  • [–] 6 points 2 years ago (3 children)

    I think it's because people (some) are all talk. We bitch about corporate greed and stuff like this, but when it comes down to it, when you need a new electronic device and one's half the cost, which one do people buy?

    The one with ads and that's made by slave wage third world workers, or the one that's twice as expensive?

    As a whole, we tend to be garbage and materialistic...

    I won't be buying Roku either.

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  • [–] 4 points 2 years ago

    Yes, that’s what I’ve learned.

    Everything is just about lowest cost and least effort.

    Like Twitter, nobody I knew left, despite it being free to do so. Same for Facebook, Reddit, WhatsApp, etc. Each scandal nobody seems to do anything.

    I expected people to so watching ad supported Netflix, but it has seen huge growth and is their highest profit source.

    I’m disappointed because I know I’m going to get ads everywhere no matter what now, and it’s on every electronic device, which need “secure boot” and whatever else so you can’t circumvent the ads. .

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  • [–] 3 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    As a whole, we tend to be garbage and materialistic…

    This might be one way to see it. I think a lot of people WANT to resist, but resistance costs a lot of mental and sometimes tangible energy. If you can smooth out a lifestyle that naturally excludes stupid brands like Roku, great.

    But there's a point when you want to participate in the rest of society, and people will break down for that. I do my best to avoid walmart, amazon, and other abusive tech companies, and educate others to do the same.

    But someone still gifted my mom-in-law one of those stupid "alexa" spheres that I immediately put on its own V-LAN, and the family wanted a TV so they brought home a TCL/Roku because it's what they could afford. (It was a good value at the time, years ago.) PiHole showed me exactly why it was so cheap.

    Companies know after all the stresses you already encounter in your adult life, you're gonna run out of bandwidth and cave eventually, because you're human, and the path of least resistance becomes more tantalizing. That's why they bombard you relentlessly, and evil tech is the most immediately accessible and familiar.

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