Roku is exploring ways to show consumers ads on its TVs even when they are not using its streaming platform: The company has been looking into injecting ads into the video feeds of third-party devices connected to its TVs, according to a recent patent filing.
This way, when an owner of a Roku TV takes a short break from playing a game on their Xbox, or streaming something on an Apple TV device connected to the TV set, Roku would use that break to show ads. Roku engineers have even explored ways to figure out what the consumer is doing with their TV-connected device in order to display relevant advertising.
Any company trying to use the HDMI-CEC protocol in such a subversive manner should lose their license to the HDMI standard IMO.
The HDMI forum is run by big companies so that is not happening, sorry
Death to HDMI. DisplayPort is the superior port.
I’m sure that a DisplayPort device in a chain can also inject video, but I have to admit that I would kind of like to not have two competing video standards, and my impression is that DisplayPort tends to lead HDMI technically, so…
DisplayPort: We have
- Higher maximum resolution.
- Better support for higher refresh rates.
- Multi-stream transport so you can use a single display cable for multiple monitors.
HDMI: Oh yeah? Well, we have
- Royalties.
- Specifications hidden behind contracts.
- An emphasis on implementing DRM technology that makes it hard to use a capture card.
Fuck HDMI.
Oh and HDMI prevents open source GPU drivers supporting HDMI 2.1 natively.
Imagine being the guy working on this and how much you hate yourself anytime somebody asks you what you are working on.
Even worse: Imagine being the guy working on this and being proud of yourself.
I think the former situation is worse for the person working on it.
Unfortunately, I bet these guys don’t care. I used to work at a company you might have products from and I would constantly hear “Hey, we’re a business” as an excuse to degrade the user experience. :(
I remember having an argument with my teacher in college about this. He asked us what we would do if we were asked to code something that could be used for things you personally don’t agree with such as the government using tools to “help” but also remove peoples privacy. Or corporations being able to show you more ads. I told him i would refuse. And he said that it would be my job though and sometimes you have to do things you don’t like. So i told him i would quit. And for some reason he could not really comprehend that and we got into an argument.
You were talking to a teacher who probably couldn’t afford to pay rent if he ever quit his job.
Some people also have no qualms in doing the dirty job. They get paid and they don’t care.
I recall watching a defcon speech given by someone who used to make malware. He opened the speech by apologizing and saying that he knows that he will burn in hell.
The shittiest of enshitifications.
"People are taking the piss out of you everyday. They butt into your life, take a cheap shot at you and then disappear. They leer at you from tall buildings and make you feel small. They make flippant comments from buses that imply you’re not sexy enough and that all the fun is happening somewhere else. They are on TV making your girlfriend feel inadequate. They have access to the most sophisticated technology the world has ever seen and they bully you with it. They are The Advertisers and they are laughing at you.
You, however, are forbidden to touch them. Trademarks, intellectual property rights and copyright law mean advertisers can say what they like wherever they like with total impunity.
Fuck that. Any advert in a public space that gives you no choice whether you see it or not is yours. It’s yours to take, re-arrange and re-use. You can do whatever you like with it. Asking for permission is like asking to keep a rock someone just threw at your head.
You owe the companies nothing. Less than nothing, you especially don’t owe them any courtesy. They owe you. They have re-arranged the world to put themselves in front of you. They never asked for your permission, don’t even start asking for theirs."
– Banksy
Didn’t Banksy sell out to corpos?
Not that I’m aware of. But secondly… it doesn’t matter if this quote is from a pure soul or a broken one - the we can gain value from its message either way.
Imagine a world where talented engineers would put their minds to work for solving big problems instead of … I’m not sure wtf this is.
Increasing profit margins…which is the thing our society puts above all else.
Is it really “society” doing this? Or just the deliciously looking, juicy, meaty, 1%?
The 1% - but unfortunately this includes our leaders and lawmakers; so that puts power in the hands of those who value money above all else. And that power is used to extract more money and power from everyone else. Advertising always reinforces their message of course.
The 1% is society.
When was the last time you, or anyone you know, had an actual voice in how things are run?
But that’s the opposite of “society”…
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Is there an anti-ad community on Lemmy? Or another non-Lemmy place to work through blocking/avoiding this bullshit? I’m so fed up with the advertisement industry. I don’t want ads on my devices. I don’t want ads in my operating systems. I don’t want ads in my content. I don’t want ads in the sky. I don’t want ads in the ocean. I don’t want to be forced to see or hear ads while putting gas in my car.
I really can’t emphasize how much I am willing to go through to rid my life completely of advertisements.
Rate those places online to warn others. fucking hailCorporate nonsense
Perfect. Then people can avoid ads at that gas station by going to another gas station with ads!
If the gas pumps have those unlabeled buttons around a screen, try pressing all of em. The pumps around here (nebraska) will mute the audio when you press one of the buttons, it just isn’t labeled. I’ve taken to writing “mute” on the magic-button with a sharpie whenever I pump my gas.
Wait, the thing about ads while fueling your car is real?
WTF?!
Man… My personal list of banned companies not to buy from is getting scary long.
At this point just start using a white list.
If a consumer watches something on their Apple TV and then presses the pause button, a Roku TV set could use either audio or video-based content recognition technologies (known in the industry as ACR) to identify what’s being watched, match the current scene to a database and extract relevant information to pair an ad with it.
Wow somehow their idea is even worse than I imagined, glad I don’t own a Roku now.
Yeah way to fuck 80% of the purpose of pausing. This is basically malware.
Late Stage Capitalism: Using a microscopic laser, we are able to burn our advertiser logos directly into our customer’s retinas, so they will see them even as they sleep.
Shareholders: 👏 👏 👏
our customers’* retinas
Used to recommend Roku to others. I will never buy anything from them or recommend them to anyone again.
Someday maybe boards will figure out that “business” people have no idea what they are doing.
Oh please don’t misunderstand my post. I’m in total agreement that this bullshit can’t go unchallenged and that posting about it is necessary and good. It’s just that, like public comment town halls, all the complaining in the world does not affect change.
Instead, I meant to imply that more needs to be done and in a way that people who have already paid can use to fight against them.
Like encouraging all Roku TV owners (and eventually all Smart TV owners) to contact their local, state and federal representatives to demand they enact consumer protection laws against post purchase forced software changes to functionality of the product (aside from security patches) or forced acceptance of ‘terms of service’ that essentially take away your right to your preferred method of recourse.
I mean, the idea that we buy something for the features and capabilities it gives us just to have it changed at the whim of a corporate moneymaking scheme is insane. Even moreso when policy changes mean you accept something you don’t want to or lose what you paid for (i.e. Roku’s forced arbitration acceptance that would otherwise brick the TV).
It’s fine to vent frustrations but in the long run, jailbreaking and looking to buy something different doesn’t resolve the root problem. Greed overcoming consumer protection in the name of shareholder interest (most of which are corporate C level douches).
Sorry if I wasn’t clear with my opinion but my posts usually are already too long before they even start. lol
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Over my dead body
I was permitted to close my account…without any hassle. Sign into my.roku.com and delete account is as the bottom. Selecting “don’t want to use this anymore” gives you a box with 255 charachter limit (because of course they don’t want to hear a real reason) and then when you hit send you just get “Thank you, account closed, if you come back you will need a new account”
Surprisingly, suspiciously, painless.
I’ve never given money to roku, and now I’ll never will
