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Comment by ppetty | Hacker News Reader

I really thought that one of the worst technological advances was the Smart TV. When my 10 year old Sharp died, the search for a Dumb TV with the same quality as a corresponding Smart TV came up empty. It seems like maybe not connecting a Smart TV and hopefully having vestigial parts inside is the best I can hope for … but it’s just a TV.

Dumb cars might be ridiculously hard to come by, and sooner — maybe — than anticipated; but this seems like a space just waiting for innovation.

All I have to offer is an idea for branding:

LobotomizeMyDevice

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It feels inevitable. Between the scent of subscription models in the water, paired with a desire to do away with the concept of ownership and potential of inflated maintenance margins by limiting where vehicles can be serviced, it feels like consumers will "choose" these things because there will be less choice available in the first place as all the manufacturers jump on the bandwagon.

I'm having flashbacks to certain trends in the video game industry. Can't wait for an ad on my dashboard when I start the car offering to unlock AWD for a "season pass" promotion because the always on GPS told the manufacturer the weather forecast was bad.

> All I have to offer is an idea for branding: LobotomizeMyDevice

#BuyDumb

Just don't connect your smart TV to the internet and it will remain "dumb".

This is exactly what I've done with several TVs over the past 5 years.

Skip the internet setup, plug in a chromecast, and never utilize any of the built in "features" of the TV. It's worked great for me so far.

Some manufacturers have been caught connecting themselves to any open WiFi they can find.

This seems like a bit of an edge case though. How many open WiFi networks are laying about the regular apartment building or house?

Still slow to turn on and off, still makes me pick an input device 100% of the time on startup (not remembering my last selection), still crashes occasionally, still 40% of menu items are advertisements for various services.

Not all smart TVs are like this. Next time, go to the store and ask to have a play around with it.

That has nothing to do with smart features. That’s most likely related to energy saving features.

It has everything to do with the operating system that it wouldn't have if it weren't a smart device.

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