fuckwit_mcbumcrumble
@fuckwit_mcbumcrumble@lemmy.dbzer0.com
- Comment on People are vibe coding their way to better TVs 20 hours ago:
If you get the paywall archive.is/EOPpc
Full text
Vibe coding has reached TVs. Social media is awash with posts from people using LLMs and open-source tools to remove ads and tracking, trim bloat so the OS runs faster, and even completely change the look and organization of their homescreens. While a lot of it is fun — one user turned their TV homescreen into a Pokémon town — I think there’s a level of frustration behind it, too. And TV companies should take notice. Several vibe-coded TV-debloating projects exploded in popularity over the weekend. Cleanyourtv (known as tv-vibehack until the 19th), tv-detox, and dumbtv all claim to accomplish similar things — remove sponsored ads, debloat the TV so it runs faster, and block unwanted data collection that tracks what you’re watching — without hacking, or rooting, the TV. By default, they all also replace the TV’s built-in app launcher with simpler ones. Many users are going a step further and vibe-coding their own replacement launchers, like the Pokémon one below. Most of the projects we’ve seen so far focus on TVs that run on Android and Google TV operating systems (such as TCL, Hisense, Sony, and older Amazon Fire products), using existing developer modes and the Android Debug Bridge (ADB) to tweak settings and apply (and remove) packages. According to the GitHub pages, they can also work with some Fire TV products that use a custom fork of Android (although likely not on the new Vega-based Fire TV Sticks). Because they use built-in developer tools, they don’t require root access or firmware hacking, and they’re reversible. Even projects that totally change the look of the interface just use Android’s ability to install custom launchers — in many cases with an assist from Claude Code or a similar tool to create the new launcher, too. As Verge friend Chris Person notes in his Aftermath post, none of this requires AI. These projects take advantage of capabilities that already exist in Android, and in some cases reinvent the wheel. Android debloating programs that use ADB have been around for years, and so have replacement launchers that make Google TV OS look like Apple TV. AI just made the process easier and faster. There’s nothing similar available for Samsung’s Tizen OS or LG’s webOS, apart from rooting the TV, which is a whole different level of hacking and device control. While there’s a webOS vibe hack for LG TVs that’s based on cleanyourtv, it doesn’t really do the same thing, essentially streaming the Apple TV-like launcher from an always-on device on the same network. They also won’t work for Roku or Vizio’s SmartCast. These projects, or any OS vibe coding someone might attempt, won’t necessarily stop all data collection. A good basic rule is that if the TV is connected to the internet, it’s collected at least some data. Dumbtv blocks certain manufacturer and ad partner addresses your TV sends data to, but since it’s usually encrypted during transit, knowing what exactly gets sent is impossible. The data blocking is similar to what you can do with Pi-hole to block malicious DNS requests on your network. RelatedThere are ways to protect yourself from your spying TV TVs have increasingly become a means for companies to gather viewing data and serve up ads. By using automatic content recognition (ACR) and digital fingerprinting, manufacturers are able to know what content you’re watching, send that information to their ad partners, and then display targeted ads on the TV. ACR isn’t just used for ads, though. It allows companies to measure audience metrics, and it can feed show recommendations based on what you’ve watched. It’s important to note that users need to agree to ACR tracking, and there are ways to opt out of it after the fact in a TV’s menus (although those options are not always easy to find). There are also options in most menus — again, usually buried — for turning off targeted ads. A TV operating system home page without ads and large tiles to select different streaming services and TV inputs. The different options offer similar looks, like tv-detox (pictured). Image: tv-detox A TV operating system homescreen without ads showing app tiles and TV input connections. The dumbtv mod allows for a row of tiles or a grid setup. Image: dumbtv But even after doing that, there’s always concern that companies still collect some amount of your data and use it in ways you might not be comfortable with. Whether or not it’s true does little to assuage those fears. The weekend of vibe coding, on the other hand, is a way for people to try and take control of their TVs to get the user experience they want. There are also dangers to vibe-coding your TV. One person who tried to vibe-hack a Samsung TV with Claude bricked it. The only way to fully avoid ACR, ads, or any type of data collection is to never connect it to the internet. A firmware download to a USB stick can apply critical updates instead of Wi-Fi or Ethernet. If you still want to stream content, a streaming device that doesn’t use ACR, like an Apple TV 4K (grab a last-generation model before the expensive new one replaces it), is an option. But any streaming requires sharing some amount of your data with someone to function properly. The biggest takeaway from the vibe-coding weekend is that the current state of TV OSes has people fed up. Most people aren’t going to stop watching TV anytime soon, but the experience needs to improve. The ads, the data collection, and the cluttered layouts are too aggravating. AI now allows anyone to code their own solution, and it’s only going to get easier. If TV manufacturers don’t take note and make changes, there’s a chance that users will make the changes for them.
- Comment on 4 days ago:
You’d think within the same distros they’d be the same. But I was running a version of fedora from a few years ago and it worked flawlessly. Well worked in the windows way. But a few years later when I wanted to try fedora again it was nothing but trouble. I don’t get why it would regress like that.
- Comment on 4 days ago:
Linux and 6ghz WiFi has never played well with me. What WiFi chipset does the machine use? Intel ones are horrendous. The “AMD” Mediatek chipsets seem better.
But man does Linux not know what to do with 6ghz WiFi. It’s something Mac OS does flawlessly. But even windows struggles sometimes for seemingly no reason.
- Comment on How long do you keep your backups? 5 days ago:
3 2 1 offsite backups typically happen a lot less often than local copies or local backups.
I also don’t really consider any machines data to be irreplaceable. If I lose my phone I want the latest backup. But taxes or photos I care for? Those are an entirely different backup, and those aren’t incremental. They’re just what they are.
- Comment on How long do you keep your backups? 5 days ago:
Kinda depends on what it’s for. My server? IDK, 2 days. Maybe have a dedicated weekly/monthly backup left behind. PC? Honestly just the latest is fine.
But it’s a 10tb drive, so I’ve got months of backups even if they’re running continuously. It’s less a how comfortable I am and more a how much can I afford. (a lot more before the shortage)
- Comment on How long do you keep your backups? 1 week ago:
As long as I have space. My backups are on dedicated drives, and as they run out of space the old ones are deleted.
- Comment on Finally escaping Windows, ironically thanks to AI 1 week ago:
Just RTFM!!!
*reads the manual and there’s nothing about this*
…ok. Now what?
- Comment on 1 week ago:
Gotta go fast. My WiFi can achieve > 1gbit, my internal network is already 10 gig. Why not support faster everywhere?
- Comment on 1 week ago:
I do this at work. If you don’t do pass through for the NICs I’d highly suggest it. When it’s a router it’s insane how much the overhead can be.
We have a 4 gig connection and with the virtual nics got maybe just over 1gbit on a Xeon silver based R640. But after pass through solid 3.5ish. Not sure where the bottleneck is currently, but our other servers do >4 just fine.
- Comment on 1 week ago:
I was using an N100 based mini PC and it did fine at 1gbit. But now that I have 3, and it’s realistically closer to 4 or 5 it doesn’t cut the mustard.
Proper hardware based routers are also just so much more efficient. That N100 machine was constantly hot to the touch. My new UniFi router uses less power and does 10 gig easily.
- Comment on Old laptop with non-funtional display... What do I turn it into 3 weeks ago:
Double check the CPU is still running at full speed. Without a battery most mopdern laptops will throttle CPU (and maybe GPU) performance.
Also there’s no reason to remove the battery if you can cap it’s charging. 80% is better than 100%, but if it’s plugged in 24/7 cap it as low as it will let you. But 60% is even better than 80% for health. And any cap below 100% severely reduces the chance its battery will expand.
- Comment on AI Has Learned to Panhandle: We're Being Bombarded by AI Agents Begging for $20 and Saying They'll Be Shut Down If They Don't Get It, Sometimes by Pretending to Be Children 5 weeks ago:
With how bad lemmys search is? lmao.
I’m pretty sure it got removed anyways. I think it was in asklemmy@lemmy.world or some other related community on world if that narrows it down.
Also it could have been more than a week, I have 0 concept of time.
- Comment on AI Has Learned to Panhandle: We're Being Bombarded by AI Agents Begging for $20 and Saying They'll Be Shut Down If They Don't Get It, Sometimes by Pretending to Be Children 5 weeks ago:
Well I’m gad you’re not. There was one on lemmy the other week.
- Comment on Framework Laptop 12 gets Fedora KDE Linux on pre-builts, along with new Intel Core Series 3 processors 2 months ago:
Still only single channel memory? I was hoping they’d add LPCAMM so you could get the full performance out of the machine.
- Comment on Valve aren't putting any exclusives on the Steam Machine because they see "the whole PC catalog as our 'launch exclusive'" 2 months ago:
Wsl is just a VM and it can run graphical apps. I’ve never used it for games, but I’ve ran some intensive simulations through it that used my GPU and it worked fine so probably.
- Comment on Firmware update bricks Hue Bridge Pro devices; Philips gives free replacements 3 months ago:
With how much Philips charges for their stuff they better.
- Comment on Windows 11 Copilot now tells you what’s slowing down your PC, while using 1GB RAM itself 3 months ago:
On a machine with only 8 gigs of ram that 1 gig is very useful. 16gb+ not so much, but 8 gigs gives you about 4 gigs of useable ram before windows starts offloading stuff.
- Comment on Windows 11 Copilot now tells you what’s slowing down your PC, while using 1GB RAM itself 3 months ago:
Use task scheduler and click the run as administrator option. Also make sure you have the option set to run hidden, or run whether logged in or not.
- Comment on My steam machine arrived! 3 months ago:
Something can be overpriced and the company can still be losing money on it. How much profit the company making it makes is entirely irrelevant to the usability for the end consumer.
If they made a bunch of poor choices that made the cost of the product go up that doesn’t change the fact that I could’ve gotten more for my money from a better designed product. Like they could make the entire chassis a solid copper cube and that could cost say $1000 alone. And it could cool like shit. If they did then this $2k copper steam machine would be extremely overpriced.
- Comment on My steam machine arrived! 3 months ago:
The PC won’t be the same size. Or have CEC.
Side note: Seriously how the fuck do normal ass PCs not support CEC?
- Comment on My steam machine arrived! 3 months ago:
I mean you could have made your comment about that and not “lol I hope your $1k cube breaks.”
- Comment on Amid Steam Machine performance scrutiny, Valve removes '4K at 60FPS' claim, opting for a safer and more believable claim instead 3 months ago:
4k60fps gaming, but limiting basically everything by default to only 1080p is basically false advertising.
- Comment on The First PC Shipping With SteamOS Arrives Next Month 3 months ago:
How many people on lemmy don’t have something of their own PC?
- Comment on Valve quietly tweaked the Steam Machine details removing "4K gaming at 60 FPS" 3 months ago:
- Comment on Valve quietly tweaked the Steam Machine details removing "4K gaming at 60 FPS" 3 months ago:
Remember: companies are not your friend.
- Comment on Steam machine prices are live 3 months ago:
The steam machine is based on RDNA 3 aka the RX 7000 series, and we knew it was heavily underclocked. Even thinking about the 9060 xt was a lofty expectation.
- Comment on Steam machine prices are live 3 months ago:
You’re still paying the premium for getting a low power parts in a small form factor. At half the price it’s a lot easier to justify to someone who doesn’t really care. But at almost twice the price that FPS per dollar difference is a lot higher.
This random ass power spec computer is going to kick the shit out of the steam machine. Again if size isn’t a concern. And I’m sure actual oems have smaller pcs with less compromised performance.
- Comment on Steam machine prices are live 3 months ago:
Obviously, no shit. I never meant to imply that this was targeted at me. But I know multiple people who already have a high end computer who would also like this for their living room.
If it was $600 like I’d originally hoped I’d be interested. I wasn’t going to get one day 1, but I’d have picked one up once they’re consistently in stock. But $1000 for mid specs is rough for anyone. Just like the steam controller, Valve has made another hyper niche device.
- Comment on Steam machine prices are live 3 months ago:
That was before the RAM shortage. It’s going to be at least 1 full year before RAM price start going down and they can offer discounts. Unless the AI bubble pops. And that’ll have huge economic consequences.
- Comment on Steam machine prices are live 3 months ago:
The frame sure aint gonna be cheap hardware. 0% chance it can match the quest in price. But since it doesn’t need as much storage I’m hoping it’ll be 700-800. But I wouldn’t blink if it’s $1000. Valve just doesn’t have the economies of scale Meta will.