This is like the Rick and Morty “you pass the butter” joke.

All the talented engineers pouring into AI realising they’ve just been used as tools of the ad-tech market to serve more ads to people. That’s their real purpose.

Please get out and go and make something better. Before even your most treasured moments, like reading kids bedtime stories, become commodified with ads.

https://ai.google.dev/competition/projects/storybook-ai-bedt...

The crazy part of that is how much it undermines all the apocalyptic hype about AGI replacing our entire workforce. Surprise, it's just another app filled with ads and premium subscriptions.

I've seen some on private sites. My guess is they are not popular enough yet. Or pirates are using specific hardware to bypass Widevine encryption (like an Nvidia Shield and burning keys periodically) that doesn't easily get the AV1 streams.

Remember when the Youtube app overrode the AppleTV screensavers, to show their own screensavers if Youtube was paused.

Any other app, you leave a video paused, the OS screensaver will come on. Those beautiful, aerial screensavers that are better than any screensaver I've ever seen in all my decades of working with computers. So of course the Youtube app had to block them with their own shitty variant. They have no taste and no respect.

Your comment is past tense - does that mean they’ve stopped doing this? Please, Lord. I had to set my ATV to go to screensaver in a ridiculously short amount of time to preempt the YouTube one.

It was in place for a couple of days, tops, before they reverted it. The backlash was immense and immediate. And with good reason: in addition to the obvious reasons why it sucked, the YouTube screensavers just looked terrible. I couldn't believe how bad they were.

From what I've seen recently, they have stopped - I get Snoopy (current screensaver of choice) every time, no matter what app is running.

(Although it's on a 5 minute timer which might be short enough to pre-empt everything else.)

YES. That was HORRIBLE. Thankfully that only lasted like a day or two.

The fact that they would ever think that was possibly an OK thing to do though shows you how brain dead they are.

I started out using XMBC on the original XBOX. Eventually evolved it to Kodi and various HTPC setups when HD video became popular.

These days I’ve settled on AppleTV 4K with Infuse. It’s just so much more polished and reliable than anything else.

While I appreciate what Kodi can do, it’s UX is stuck in 2005. And decisions like how it handles the BACK button while playing is just so odd to me.

It's quite obvious that these devices are a prototype for some eventual immersive AR glasses. Sure, they are currently bulky and heavy and have poor battery life and block your face. But these companies hope to eventually iterate all of that away.

This is the groundwork. But I don't know if they have a larger vision (pun intended) other than "oh shit, the smartphone industry has been conquered and now sees diminishing returns, we need something else to generate revenue".

That's actually true. You are absolutely right. Computers used to be a size of a bedroom. So yeah, this is not the end game at all.

I would think that the most ultimate end state would be (sci-fi mode ON) some kind of implants, retina projections... It's ridiculous to say this things, but best form factor is to get the value without any form:)

> What does Apple bundles with their Vision Pro for $3500?

That the device you strap to your face isn't tracking your personal data.

Depends on the TV brand. I use an LG OLED TV and it’s 100% fine being used as a “dumb” TV. I keep it disconnected and use an AppleTV. I never see the TV’s operating system unless I want to adjust picture settings.

Apple gets a lot of criticism but one thing I do like is that their devices at least respect me. The AppleTV streaming box has no ads in the OS and OS-level data sharing is opt-out.

It’s nothing inherently bad with “smart” devices. Just the business models behind them.

For now...

New LG OLED TV’s are fine. You can keep them disconnected and just use external HDMI inputs without any nagging or issue.

My AppleTV 4K’s “reduce loud sounds” and “enhance dialogue” features have made watching TV at night bearable again.