this post was submitted on 24 Sep 2023
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This should be read and understood by everyone and everyone needs to cancel their smart devices from Amazon. The company needs to be broken up.
We should also be able to delete apps on our devices. I have an LG TV that keeps wanting me to use Alexa, but I'm not positive it's not doing its shitty thing anyway because I can't delete it.
Man that huge one for me. Samsung phones have so much bolated wear and you can't delete the apps. Also should be illegal to add games to my device after an update.
Use your wallet. Don't buy products like that.
Which products don't have that? I'm seriously asking, I would buy those.
Fairphone?
Maybe? It seems like from their site that they're more interested in saving the planet but it is bare bones. It doesn't really make any declarations on that front.
It doesn't come with preloaded shit though, so in that sense it's a good option.
I didn't see that on their site, that's good to know.
Search ADB OTG pm uninstall -k --user 0 [PACKAGE NAME]
Thank me later
It comes with stock Android, no additional bloatware. There are various tutorials to install other OSes.
Pixel devices, devices with custom roms, and devices that you used ADB bridge to disable or uninstall "system" apps.
Pixel phones are not saints either. They keep pushing google products/servicea down your throat.
Not if you install GrapheneOS
https://itsfoss.com/open-source-alternatives-android/
So, you would have to root kit it, right? I'm not sure I trust myself to be able to do it. I guess I could try it on an old phone or something.
Disconnect the tv from the internet. Use an AppleTV or Nvidea Shield.
Some of them will auto connect to open WiFi signals without advising you just to dial home.
The only open signal in my area is actually a paywalled network that uses a portal to make you pay
The Motorola phones I've been buying for ages are usually real light on bloat. Worst I had was having to remove Facebook from my phone using CLI commands (I think with adb?)
Pixels...
Their TVs are annoying as fuck. I’ll never buy anything Samsung again.
That's probably more on the carrier than Samsung themselves. I've genuinely never had an issue like that since switching to an unlocked device.
https://monero.town/post/631850
When reading about "smart" thermostat. It has been found that these would listen even though there is no account is linked nor it is activated.
I already did this by never getting smart devices.
It's increasingly difficult to get a TV nowadays that isn't "smart".
Don't connect it to the Internet
That's easier said than done. I've had TVs that wouldn't work unless TOS were accepted and I've had TVs scan for open networks.
I'm at the point of opening TVs to disconnect the wireless antennas.
Remember that if a TV is connecting to random WiFi spots, it is breaking hacking laws if it logs into someone else's unsecured WiFi where you don't have permission to join. Permission, not security measures like passwords, is the key part that defines the legality or otherwise of what you are doing
I ended up just getting a big monitor.
I have two TVs. One is an small 720p set we keep in the bedroom with a connected Chromecast, and the other is a 1080p "smart" TV, but they made the mistake of building a Chromecast into it, so we literally never use the "smart" features and just cast from a phone or computer.
I don't care if that's "low resolution." I grew up with CRT TVs. 1080p is terrific as far as I'm concerned.
Smart Devices are fine. Buy devices that use Z-Wave or ZigBee and run them with something like Home Assistant. All local processing, no internet needed.
I have a couple of smart bulbs and switches and a couple of wyze cams around but I don't want or need a smart doorbell, thermostat, etc. I like being able to turn off our bedroom light from my watch or phone and the smart switches work well for devices that need to be plugged in where the actual power cable is hard to reach.
Because that solution worked so well in the telecomms industry.
We need a solution, but breaking up businesses isn't the only one - and arguably isn't a good solution when they can more or less carry on with the same practices under more complex ownership structures. A better solution is regulation and enforcement. The government is supposed to regulate to level the playing field between consumers and big business.
Too bad our regulation framework is captured by the same people who own those companies and their friends.
I think we need new legislation that prevents companies with a valuation over a certain inflation-adjusted threshold, say $10 billion, from participating in mergers. Then split up the big troublemakers. This way, they can’t just buy each other out until there are only a few left. They have to innovate and compete to keep growing.
I would love to get rid of my smart devices from amazon/Google but I have yet to find a single plug and play device that allows me to control all my lights, plant humidifiers, aquariums, TV, and whole house music by voice that isn't from them or even better FOSS.