Yeah, because everyone is asking for that. They will force ads into everything they can, because Google is an Ad company.

  • bbigras@sh.itjust.works
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    10 months ago

    I understand putting ads on a free service like Google search or YouTube. But I bought this fucking Chromecast. I even suggested it to friends and family.

    Another case that pisses me off is having bought a pixel watch at premium price and they want me to pay a monthly shitty Fitbit subscription to provide me with some trivial computations.

    Same thing with their Google home screen. You pay a good price and you need a subscription to use the fucking sleep sensor that you paid for.

    Another one is having a premium pixel pro and they still want me to buy a Google one subscription to get useless photos filters with Google photos.

    I love that Android is open source (mainly) but fuck you Google you are an embarrassment to your former self.

    • Ghostalmedia@lemmy.world
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      10 months ago

      There is a reason why these things are under $50, and the boxes without ads cost 3x more. This is always Google’s playbook. Start with limited ads on a free or cheap service, then open things up to a monetization team to milk it.

      • TexasDrunk@lemmy.world
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        10 months ago

        That’s how they started. Small, tasteful, text only ads. It’s how they got all their market share. Everyone loved them because at the time the internet was a nightmare of pop up ads, toolbars, and seizure inducing flashing boxes.

        It’s like when the big box stores come in with lower prices to drive smaller shops out of business then jack up their prices once they’re the only game in the area. It happens less now because they used those tactics years ago to push out Main Street, but you can still see it from time to time.

      • bbigras@sh.itjust.works
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        10 months ago

        Tbh I don’t know if they would cost 3x as much without ads. The hardware is kinda shit. It’s slow are barely working.

        Start with limited ads on a free or cheap service, then open things up to a monetization team milk it.

        Yeah that is probably they plan all along to lock us in and then enshitify it as time go on but even if they sell them at loss, we consume a lot of YouTube (I even rent movies from Google). They can make their money without ads, if they actually cared about having a great product and not just milk us.

    • krimson@feddit.nl
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      10 months ago

      Checkout Projectivy or any other 3rd party launcher on the app store. I installed it on a chromecast and an Nvidia Shield the moment they started showing ads.

      Also won’t be buying these anymore in the future. Rather setup a Raspberry Pi and use that.

      • bbigras@sh.itjust.works
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        10 months ago

        Yeah I already use Projectivy. It’s pretty nice. Thanks.

        I’ll also check other alternatives. I hope there is way to use the Chromecast protocol with Foss servers.

    • bandwidthcrisis@lemmy.world
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      10 months ago

      The Fitbit subscription also includes

      Emergency Sharing, Fall Detection, Safety Check, and reach emergency services and contacts

      So some safety features don’t work without it!