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Google Foresees Ads On Your Refrigerator, Thermostat, and Glasses

Posted by Soulskill on from the brought-to-you-by-melancholy dept.

New submitter waspleg sends news of a letter Google sent to the Securities and Exchange Commission in which the tech giant laid out its vision of an ad-filled future. They wrote, "We expect the definition of “mobile” to continue to evolve as more and more “smart” devices gain traction in the market. For example, a few years from now, we and other companies could be serving ads and other content on refrigerators, car dashboards, thermostats, glasses, and watches, to name just a few possibilities. Our expectation is that users will be using our services and viewing our ads on an increasingly wide diversity of devices in the future, and thus our advertising systems are becoming increasingly device-agnostic."

27 of 355 comments (clear)

  1. Nope. by danomac · · Score: 5, Insightful

    First thing I'd do is disable networking on these devices.

    1. Re:Nope. by NapalmV · · Score: 5, Funny

      Then you'll see only the same old built-in ads forever.

    2. Re:Nope. by danomac · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Just render the ad screen unusable. Why the hell do appliances (especially a fridge) need a screen for? Oh, wait - they want us to buy a fridge every few years because of course the fridge won't work without an operative screen.

    3. Re:Nope. by Rosco+P.+Coltrane · · Score: 5, Funny

      Just render the ad screen unusable. Why the hell do appliances (especially a fridge) need a screen for?

      Exactly! The first time I saw ads on my new TV set, I smashed the screen with a baseball bat. Since then, problem solved. No more ads!

      The programs suck though...

      --
      "A door is what a dog is perpetually on the wrong side of" - Ogden Nash
    4. Re:Nope. by BasilBrush · · Score: 4, Insightful

      What does a printer need a screen for? Printers used to get by with maybe 3 LEDs for status. Anything more than that was given as status on the computer it was connected to, providing you had more than a basic driver.

      But now, the cheapest sub $50 printers have screens built in. (And a scanner too)

      Screens have got so cheap, there's no reason not to include them in cheap devices, if they can come up with the slightest excuse. A consumer might chose the device with the screen over one without if there's little difference in price.

      And in Google's dystopia, the ones with screens could actually be cheaper, subsidised by the advertising.

      The excuse they'll use to market fridges with screens will probably be some connection to home shopping. Finish the milk? Show the barcode to the built in camera, and the screen will offer the option to order another.

      The camera would be more of a cause for concern, given that people aren't always dressed in the kitchen. Especially given today's news that LG are spying on consumers with their smart-TVs.

    5. Re:Nope. by Burdell · · Score: 4, Funny

      What does a printer need a screen for?

      How else will it tell you "PC LOAD LETTER"?

    6. Re:Nope. by mlts · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Even better, buy a fridge that doesn't have a screen. Kitchen appliances are going on 60 years without requiring screens, Internet connectivity, or some companies to push ads to them for basic functioning. We don't need them now.

      If one wants to pay for a better refrigerator, doesn't mind venting it, and has either propane or natural gas, buy a two-way (gas/electric) fridge. That way, your stuff stays cold even if there is a multi-day power outage. That is far more useful in the long run than any electronic doodads. If one really wants a screen on the fridge, a low-end Android tablet is a couple C-notes, and $5 gets you a roll of double-sided tape.

    7. Re:Nope. by Obfuscant · · Score: 4, Informative
      Or "Cyan toner low", or "Fuser needs replacement" or any number of other status outputs. Or to make setting the IP address parameters easier. Or to display help to the newb user who needs to change a toner but doesn't know how.

      Simple stupid inkjets plugged into one computer don't necessarily need a screen, but a good networked one does.

    8. Re:Nope. by pr0fessor · · Score: 4, Funny

      Your drone strike will start after this brief advertisement.

    9. Re:Nope. by Arith · · Score: 3, Funny

      What does a printer need a screen for?

      How else will it tell you "PC LOAD LETTER"?

      Sorry, the correct answer was: WHAT THE FUCK DOES THAT MEAN?

    10. Re:Nope. by Obfuscant · · Score: 4, Informative

      I can diagnose that too.

      It helps if you quote at least enough context so people know what you mean by "that".

      If the browser won't connect, it's power or network. The lights let me decide which.

      Yeah, the little lights will tell you that the subnet mask is set wrong, or that the IP address isn't what you thought it was, or that the HTTP port is disabled, or ...

  2. Impossible by PvtVoid · · Score: 5, Funny

    I have Adblock on my refrigerator.

  3. a future filled with black tape by rogoshen1 · · Score: 4, Funny

    I foresee a future in which black tape or other opaque adhesive objects will be used to blot out the ads. Maybe I should get a patent..

    "a device which obscures the user from seeing mind-numbing and intrusive advertising on products which have already purchased"

    Google can shove their ad-laden future straight up their collective asses.

    1. Re:a future filled with black tape by i+kan+reed · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Wait until they scan your behavior and lower the temperature until you remove the black tape.

  4. A different race to the bottom by Kardos · · Score: 4, Insightful

    If adverts get that pervasive, the value of each one is going to decline substantially. If I see 40 adverts before breakfast, I can't possibly buy each and every one of the products. There's only so much disposable income. If this gets pushed out, it's going to be self defeating.

    1. Re:A different race to the bottom by Overzeetop · · Score: 4, Insightful

      We passed that point decades ago.

      --
      Is it just my observation, or are there way too many stupid people in the world?
    2. Re:A different race to the bottom by Aeonym · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Oh, there's so, so much further that advertising can go:

      http://www.lightspeedmagazine....

  5. Re:news at 11. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Publicly-traded technical advertising company announces expectation of profit in advertising on tech devices. Stop the presses.

    Much of Slashdot (and others) still seems to have a problem recognizing that Google is an advertising company. All their cool stuff is to support this core business.

  6. better question... by Connie_Lingus · · Score: 5, Interesting

    ...would you be willing to receive a brand new $2000 frig/freezer for free IF it showed ads on it?

    that's the real issue...i think alot of people would...hell I probably would.

    --
    never bring a twinkie to a food fight.
    1. Re:better question... by ggraham412 · · Score: 3, Insightful

      If enough people do take that tradeoff, eventually you won't ever be able to buy an ad free Fridge for $2000 because they'll stop making them.

  7. What is it then? by SuperKendall · · Score: 4, Funny

    What is Glass with networking disabled? Just a device to trick people into punching you for no reason?

    --
    "There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
    1. Re:What is it then? by lgw · · Score: 4, Funny

      I was with you up to "no reason".

      --
      Socialism: a lie told by totalitarians and believed by fools.
  8. I foresse a world by gurps_npc · · Score: 3, Interesting
    where people burn the Google campus to the ground and spit on it's grave.

    Yes, I see where they would want that.

    Yes, I see how looking at facebook et al. makes people think that privacy is dead.

    I also realize that we are still in the infancy of the internet revolution and you can't project current uses forward, but instead must realize that the tide will turn against them.

    We are currently in the pre-OSHA stage of the Internet Revolution.

    Just as people had to fight for safety and work limits during the industrial revolution, we will end up stopping people from abusing our privacy. It just takes a little bit of time for the regulations to catch up.

    --
    excitingthingstodo.blogspot.com
  9. Mike Judge is a prophet by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Just watch Idiocracy

  10. The more they advertise, the more I ignore by ewibble · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I think advertisers are shooting themselves in the foot with this, I have recently noticed just don't believe a word any of them say anymore, Its like I am building up an immunity to them, and they need to create bigger and bigger lies, ops I mean deceptions.

    Before I saw a sale advertised as "Demolition", I went in and it was 10% off, well I could negotiate that any time, hardly a demolition sale, now I just don't even bother going in. If I need something I go in sure, but I don't go in because of a sale or stated discount, because they are so likely to be lying that it is not even worth the effort step inside the shop to find out.

    My daughter asked me how much I believed the advertisements on TV, and I said not at all, I then started paying attention to the ads and rating if I believed them, and if i thought they where using hiding some important fact from me. The answer was unless it was a public service ad where they where not trying to sell me something, like don't speed, I didn't believe them at all. And even public service advertisements I think they are fudging the truth in order for them to get me to do what they think is best for me.

    What we need to do is start charging to be advertised to, I think this specifically applies to junk mail, which goes directly in the bin, since I have to pay to dispose of it.

    1. Re:The more they advertise, the more I ignore by Oligonicella · · Score: 4, Interesting

      When my daughter was young, we had a little exercise. During the commercials I would ask her "What is it you think they want from you? How are they trying to convince you? Do you think they're lying?" In time, that was the way she looked at all of them. Programmed cynicism.

  11. What! by Stormy+Dragon · · Score: 3, Funny

    There's no way I'm going to accept advertising on my souvenir Iron Man 3 soda cup!