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Android TV Update Puts Home-Screen Ads On Multi-Thousand-Dollar Sony Smart TVs (arstechnica.com)
Google is testing a new "Pilot Program" that puts a row of advertisements on the Android TV home screen. XDA Developers, which was the first to report the program, says: "We're currently seeing reports that it has shown up in Sony smart TVs, the Mi Box 3 from Xiaomi, NVIDIA Shield TV, and others." Ars Technica reports: The advertising is a "Sponsored Channel" part of the "Android TV Core Services" app that ships with all Android TV devices. A "Channel" in Android TV parlance means an entire row of thumbnails in the UI will be dedicated to "sponsored" content. Google provided XDA Developers with a statement saying that yes, this is on purpose, but for now it's a "pilot program."
Sony has tersely worded a support page detailing the "Sponsored channel," too. There's no mention here of it being a pilot program. Sony's page, titled "A sponsored channel has suddenly appeared on my TV Home menu," says, "This change is included in the latest Android TV Launcher app (Home app) update. The purpose is to help you discover new apps and contents for your TV." Sony goes on to say, "This channel is managed by Google" and "the Sponsored channel cannot be customized." Sony basically could replace the entire page with a "Deal with it" sunglasses gif, and it would send the same message.
Sony has tersely worded a support page detailing the "Sponsored channel," too. There's no mention here of it being a pilot program. Sony's page, titled "A sponsored channel has suddenly appeared on my TV Home menu," says, "This change is included in the latest Android TV Launcher app (Home app) update. The purpose is to help you discover new apps and contents for your TV." Sony goes on to say, "This channel is managed by Google" and "the Sponsored channel cannot be customized." Sony basically could replace the entire page with a "Deal with it" sunglasses gif, and it would send the same message.
Those of us that bought the original sony google TVs and were abandoned by both sony and google have never forgotten. Pretty sure none of us will buy Sony again - definitely not TVs at least.
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The TVs are no longer "smart" if they simply shovel Google adverts into your face like you're some kind of ad-hungry maggot. (For once I'm glad I have a dumb smart tv... aka, Panasonic.)
Why are people surprised that companies are NOT interesting in your time, space, and money? All they care about is selling you out in order to make a few bucks.
Is Sony, etc. going to stop? No, all that will happen is that a few people will complain about how disrespectful this is and absolutely NOTHING will change. :-(
Boycotting these companies won't stop this stupidity. Most people just don't care.
I'm not sure what a good (or practical) solution is to get this to stop. While banning ads would solve the problem too many people just don't give a fuck about blatant (commercial) propaganda.
The way this was sneaked in is alarming.
AC comments get piped to
This is why you shouldn't connect your TV to the internet. In fact, you should generally avoid connecting things to the internet.
My sig doesn't address Anons, sigs aren't visible to them.
That law makes anything a federal judge doesn't like retroactively illegal...Are you a federal judge?
John McAfee 'It was like that time I hired that Bangkok prostitute; to do my taxes, while I fucked my accountant'
Trust me, buy whatever TV looks best, but do NOT put it on the network. Buy something like a ROKU, then you are in control of channels, ads, etc. The roku client is better than the smart tv client for many services like HBO and network. On top of that you can replace your roku without replacing the entire TV. It also lets you view local content with Plex or similar software.
1) Never EVER give your TV direct internet access
2) If you want a “smart tv”, use an external box which serves content to the TV via HDMI
3) See #1
These devices aren’t supported more than two or three years anyway - if you give them internet access, you’re providing a nice easy way for bad guys into your home.
Think of a smart tv as just another badly designed IoT device.
#DeleteChrome
and if you already have one reset it to factory settings and see if it forgets your internet configuration, it is does not then either unplug the ethernet or change the wifi password and dont update your TV, i dont let my smartTV connect to the internet because i dont trust it
Politics is Treachery, Religion is Brainwashing
What is the deal with scroll bars? It's bad enough that they collapse width just like Windows 10 does. But now clicking on the empty space brings the page position to where you clicked. It used to scroll one page. A real pain in the ass if you're dealing with a 1000 page long pdf document. Why would you change functionality that has been the same for decades? Who asked for this?
Your display might be good for 10 years. The "smart" part is going to be good for 2. Plugging a smart device into HDMI makes about 1000 times more sense.
Bruce Perens.
Can someone tell me when "pilot program" started to mean "will the people flip the fuck out because we're doing shady shit"?
Seriously, it's like they'd invent screens small enough to be in the back of our eyelids mostly so we can be advertised to in our sleep...
Your mind is like a parachute. It works best when it's been opened.
The purpose is to help you discover new apps and contents for your TV.
What if I don't want help? What if I don't want to be forced to discover new apps and content?
In any case, 99.9% will probably be crap and the other 0.1% I won't want anyway.
Your sense of "improved experience" may not be mine.
It must have been something you assimilated. . . .
You have to disable all the spyware ? In a TV. Fuck no I paid for it. Go away.
That is really it. If we techie/hacker types want to live in a society we believe in, now is the time to say 'This is ENOUGH! THIS IS NOT WHAT I SIGNED UP FOR!', leave the country, renounce your citizenship, and band together anew, whether squatting territory that is technically another's, pretending there is still Terra Nulla and colonizing it, or building a seastead and finding the goods and services that will allow you the purchasing power to collectively own what you want.
Why is this necessary? IP Laws, followed by collective bargaining/purchasing power, followed by a direct democracy of your peers (hint: the average citizen in your country is *NOT* one of your peers. Hell, many of us can agree the majority of our family members are not either. If you disagree, consider yourself lucky. You have either have a smart family, or are suitably average yourself!) With those three issues out of the way hardware can be purchased tailored to the market, or sufficient dedicated individuals will be collected to rapidly reverse engineer, exploit, reflash, or redesign a device to meet the needs of the domestic public. Anything short is simply pissing unwind and wondering why you're wet and reek of piss afterwards.
WUT?!
I've got a Samsung Smart TV, but it keeps trying to switch me to their online Korean channels. Everytime it starts, by default, its on their channels, trying to show me k-pop or some such. I got sick of it, unplugged it from the internet and use a TV box instead. The TV still switches to its default channels every-time, but they don't get the benefit of forcing me to watch the channels they control, instead it just shows an error message.
It's not just the TV, Bixby! It pops up, to use it you have to agree to an invasive EULA, to turn it off, you have to start it up, agree to the invasive EULA, then it only turns the button off, not Bixby or the invasive snooping it does. That cost them a smartphone sale on the last upgrade.
The TV shit will cost them a TV sale on the next upgrade of TVs.
Dear Samsung, Fuck You.
An ex-customer.
If enough of us ask smart TV manufacturers for our data perhaps they will have second thoughts.
We should however be prepared to pay more for TVs if they do.
These guys seem to have a decent howto:
https://www.datarequests.org/blog/sample-letter-gdpr-access-request/
I'm thinking about replacing my 16 years old Sony projection TV - which has performed like a champ, but is getting a bit long in the tooth. Sony was the top contender - not only because they have some pretty good offerings, but specifically because they didn't put ads on my screen.
Now Sony is also out, joining Samsung, LG and Visio. I'm starting to think the issue is actually with Android. Everywhere you get Android, ads will follow sooner or later, like a rash. Not to mention that you have to sign on with Google every bloody time.
Can we break Google in an Android company that makes and sells the software, and an add conglomerate that can FOAD?
Sony basically could replace the entire page with a "Deal with it" sunglasses gif, and it would send the same message.
Sony could also change the home screen to remove the advertising, could they not? I mean, like any mobile phone maker they have their own special "customized experience" on their Android smartphones, are they not able to make the same changed on the Android TV UI?
Indoctrination. It's easier when you start them young, just like religion.
It's just weird that a country would need to do this, as if they might all grow up resentful of their country for some reason.
I have a theory that a few years from now, somebody will write malware or ransomware that affects a very large number of "smart" TVs -- perhaps all of a particular brand, or all running a particular firmware. On that day, every one of us who never gave their "smart" TV the wifi password will be able to say "I told you so."
Install a pihole on your land and laug hat all the suckers that have to watch ads!
However, it should be illegal to present ads on a device you paid the full price for. Would a class action lawsuit help to curb rhis behavior?
Crossing Sony TVs and Android TV devices off the list of products I'd consider buying
All I want from my TV is several fully capable HDMI ports and stunning display and a trivial way to switch between the inputs (heck my audio receiver probably will be handling that function anyway, so not so many HDMI inputs). Definitely no "smarts". Would likely live without speakers (sound provided by external receiver system) and tuner. I'll attach an AppleTV or Chromecast or even a laptop with my own selection of software when I want "smarts".
As soon as I unboxed my Sony XBR 75 and just after I got it set up I plugged in my Roku Ultra4k. I only use the internet to update firmware on the TV never the smart features.
What does the firmware do, other than support the framework for the "smart" part of your TV? Do you even need to update the firmware?
"That's the way to do it" - Punch
Not both. If you want to build ads into my TV, you're giving it to me for free, not thousands of dollars.
Android TV, not Android. It's a different OS.
However, it should be illegal to present ads on a device you paid the full price for.
Such a law would have to define "full price" in such a way that a company can't claim that full price is half the company's market cap. What would be, say, the "full price" for a year of Google Search service? I'm interested to read how you might approach writing that law.
We have a Sonia Bravia 65" smart tv. I reluctantly attached it to the internet for updates.
I don't watch much TV, but my wife does.
I rented 2 DVD's recently, Creed and Avengers: Infinity War.
My wife is watching her full-blown stream of solved/unsolved murder investigation programs and she starts yelling at me about Jason Momoa's picture and ad promotion of Aquaman that keeps popping up on the entire screen every 5 minutes.
I have no idea what the heck she's talking about, but I was taking heat for what kept interrupting her tv watching. She was truly annoyed, and I correctly surmised that ad's were being injected, but didn't know by who. But the correlation to "super hero movie ads" and my rare use of the TV for watching action/super hero movies makes me wonder if HDMI traffic from the DVD player is being tracked as well.
I'm seriously upset about this ad injection crap, and I'm about to try factory refreshing this tv and removing any semblance of internet connection from it.
Sony, your bed-buddy choice is going to make you some serious enemies that your ad revenue isn't going to replace.
Stay. Out. of. OUR. TV. Viewing. Choices.
My current TV had firmware updates that fixed the color settings - there were some options that didn't work correctly and some input signals that were flagged wrong. I know I'm in the minority that have a TV where firmware updates actually fixed bugs. I don't use its smarts.
Google isn't damaging their reputation. They're damaging the manufacturer reputation. In the end, the average consumer is not going to realize it's Google - they're going to complain to the manufacturer.
You keep repeating that. Fuckoff Drinkypoo.
John McAfee 'It was like that time I hired that Bangkok prostitute; to do my taxes, while I fucked my accountant'
Any company will push for what bring them money. The time to push back is now while it's still a pilot. Some people with cheap access to lawyers looking for full refunds on their Sony smart TVs because of admitted malware installation. Organized boycotts of the companies. Charges for theft of services of internet access for unwanted ads. I'm sure there's more ideas, which regardless of individual merit have a nuisance factor that will signal to Sony and the others this is not acceptable.
It is natural for companies to try to make new & increased revenue streams. If it's in a way that you find intrusive you need to be willing to push back otherwise it will happen.
LITTLE GIRL: But which cookie will you eat FIRST? C. MONSTER: Me think you have misconception of cookie-eating process.
Android TV, not Android. It's a different OS.
No, it isn't. It's a different launcher. Android TV is Android.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
this is the evidence https://pasteboard.co/I8KMamT....
Make sure you don't have any open WiFi.
So what. Sony put an advertisement on their home screen. What's the big deal?
You're getting updated. What's wrong with that? Nothing's free after all.