Technology

Maybe it's just me, but I've always found smart TB UIs to be totally unnecessary and kind of an annoying feature. I've got a Sony smart TV and have never used the UI. I just use it as a monitor for my PC, and if I'm watching TV, it's via the web or something. So personally, this doesn't seem like that big of a deal, aside from the principle of it, which is absolutely a big deal and super shitty.

Maybe some of this is being terrified about the quiet spreading of the IoT and how that feels like a really fucking half baked idea that's going to be a big problem later on.

At this point, I'm not even sickened any more. Anyone who buys these consumer goods and willingly uses them as intended DESERVES this shit. Fuck them. Before someone says "It's all I could afford" or "What's the alternative? We can't seem to find "dumb" TVs anymore!"

Dead. Simple.
Buy that trash Roku TV. Take it home and set it up. NEVER, EVER allow it to connect to the internet. Set it to ALWAYS go to the "PC" hdmi input and put a tiny, cheap Linux PC on the end of it. If you need a remote, there are dirt cheap gyro mice "remotes" on Ebay.

to its smart TV

I don't feel pity for anyone who bought one of these. You knew what you were purchasing.

Since there are a lot of comments here I want to ask this: we purchased a xiaomi tv stick (specs below) and a 15 year old intel pentium dual core w/ android runs circles around it with the exact same apps plus the PC has significantly more stable network connection. The stick's OS is old however not bloated and it even blocks google banner ads OOB. Did we get a very bad unit or are all of TV sticks / boxes unusably slow unless you get a shield or an apple tv?

https://www.mi.com/us/product/mi-tv-stick/specs

Mine doesn't look anything like that. You can turn off those recommendations and set the icons to large.

The ad will be over on the right, but I never even notice it.

And you can still block it if you want with a dns rule.

EDIT: I didn't realize they were talking about their TV's. That's different. Avoid them anyways! Roku is in a class action lawsuit right now last I checked about their TV's.