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These companies have been proven to turn the sound on in your house and record your conversations, even when the TV is off. Most people have no clue...they are so trusting! Please look this up; I couldn't make up some of this, if I tried!
pffftt. Apple can find more interesting things to monitor than conversations between biscuitmom and biscuitpop.
That's a ridiculous notion. It hasn't got anything to do with 'older people' and being 'forgotten'.
There is a market for advancing technology that provides more features and functions, people want it and people buy it. If you don't want it, you don't have to have it. No one is forcing you to have it. I have one TV that is in just that state, it is [currently] hooked up to nothing but an antenna- you just push the big, red 'Power' button and it comes on, and you change channels and volume.
If you don't want any more than that, then the answer is simple- Don't buy any more than that! Easy-peasy, eh?
If you live in an area where the only way, to watch TV is with cable or satellite. Then in most cases one is stuck with their remote. An antenna would not work here at this location.
Be careful what you wish for. These companies have been proven to turn the sound on in your house and record your conversations, even when the TV is off. Most people have no clue...they are so trusting! Please look this up; I couldn't make up some of this, if I tried!
For my part, I'm just glad that we stopped watching TV over a decade ago. This gets us out of the house and moving and looking at much nicer scenery than what's on TV. And with our own eyes, too!
What companies, sounds and devices? What part does the TV play in this scenario? I am a bit confused to the facts this may be based upon as you provide no links to your wild declaration.
Glory Hallelujah! The time I've spent dancing nude in front of the TV while reciting my own poetry has not been wasted! Big Brother must have some fried eyeballs by now...
Quote:
Originally Posted by Nor'Eastah
Be careful what you wish for. These companies have been proven to turn the sound on in your house and record your conversations, even when the TV is off. Most people have no clue...they are so trusting! Please look this up; I couldn't make up some of this, if I tried!
What companies, sounds and devices? What part does the TV play in this scenario? I am a bit confused to the facts this may be based upon as you provide no links to your wild declaration.
I am not as worried about it, but the devices are pretty much anything running Android or a variation (many smart TVs; not just phones) or Apple devices. Basically if you can wake it up to do things with a voice command, it is always sensing sound. I say "sensing sound" rather than listening because the way they work internally is to barely pay attention until they detect what may be the wake up sequence. With phones, they run at lower power to do this. Then once they sense that, the software tries to interpret voice commands to do things for you. Since they do have the capability to communicate over the net and they do have the ability to pick up sound, it is technically possible for them to eavesdrop. The likelihood that someone can get away with it is low; there are just so many people involved in the various aspects of the hardware, software and communications plus the huge staff they would need to weed through the audio for anything of interest. If it is being done, it is likely tightly targeted espionage and not regular household conversation they are after.
Logitech makes universal remote units which are easy to use. However, set up requires some work.
That would be the Harmony remotes. Select your components online and update the remote. DW can now operate the TV and switch to DVD and back. Nice unit.
If it ever looses the settings you just reload it.
That would be the Harmony remotes. Select your components online and update the remote. DW can now operate the TV and switch to DVD and back. Nice unit.
If it ever looses the settings you just reload it.
The other thing I like about the Harmony is the Help button. It doesn't give you instructions; it just tries something that is likely to fix the problem as asks if it worked. That is useful because most components have a single button for power, so if it is already on, it gets turned off. So the universal remotes sometimes are out of sync because they can't "know" that someone turned on the Blu-Ray player by hand, ejected the RedBox DVD and left it on. If the first thing doesn't work, it tries the next logical thing. It will try 2 or 3 things (usually works!) before giving up and asking you to go make sure everything is powered off and try again.
If you live in an area where the only way, to watch TV is with cable or satellite. Then in most cases one is stuck with their remote. An antenna would not work here at this location.
That's the way it is here. You can pick up shows, but you have to adjust them constantly and the wind can mean reinstalling them. I'm not going to do that. I have Dish, and have nearly since I moved here. They provide dependable service and unless you need to have the everything package, the price is okay. I'm now on my third box. I do not look forward to the fourth. It took a bunch of calls to Dish tech services to get it set up right. Now its got set up what I use but it was annoying. Occasionally I get into something I normally don't use and set it to do things like record every one of some old show which is on everwhere, but I know how to cancel things.
The other gripe with their remotes is the batteries. Buy a supply and store then in the frig. You'll need them.
Thing is, there is the tv remote and all I do with it is set it to channel 3 and adjust the sound, turn it off and on. And add batteries.
Then you have the dvd recorder/player and while I haven't used it much lately I tend to when the weather is cold and you'd like to veg with a whole season of Star Trek. The connecting dvd player part to the tv is not so complex, but setting it up to record is.
The other thing is they make wonderful cat toys. I have a 'sweeper' which can go under the couch and rescue them when they vanish into nether regions.
As for phones, I have a smart phone and never do anything 'smart' with it. I'm thinking of when the contact runs out if they can do a mostly not smart one with texting and save money. The aps just drain away the battery even when not in use. But I want a NEW, not refurbished phone...... hard to find simple phones like that.
What I'd love is the Star Trek remote which does all the conventional stuff but looks like a communicator of old
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pffftt. Apple can find more interesting things to monitor than conversations between biscuitmom and biscuitpop.
