[HN Gopher] Google pushes update to Lenovo Smart Display to disa...
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Google pushes update to Lenovo Smart Display to disable viewing
websites
Author : Stratoscope
Score : 78 points
Date : 2022-02-07 22:31 UTC (29 minutes ago)
(HTM) web link (support.google.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (support.google.com)
| post_break wrote:
| I have one of these smart displays. I love the look of it, fits
| in with my decor in my kitchen. And this update pisses me the
| fuck off.
| websap wrote:
| How does a company like Google end up doing this? I'm assuming a
| decision like this has multiple stakeholders? Is there nobody in
| the room who is the voice of the customer?
| WheelsAtLarge wrote:
| I wonder if this is related to the Sonos patent dispute they
| lost. Here's the headline from the New York Times, "Google
| Infringed on Sonos Speaker Technology, Trade Court Rules. The
| company will not be allowed to import products that infringe on
| Sonos patents, including smart speakers, video streaming devices,
| and some computers and phones."
|
| https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/06/technology/google-sonos-p...
| PixelPaul wrote:
| theshrike79 wrote:
| Good thing I didn't get a bunch of these when they were super
| cheap on Black Friday.
|
| This is just one notch for me not using any Google products. They
| at one point just plain disabled Routines from Google Home with
| an arbitrary region lock. So my Nest is now useless.
| jlkuester7 wrote:
| This is very frustrating. But it does serve as yet another
| reminder of the dangers inherent to closed ecosystems. I think it
| is great that I can cast my Amazon Prime Video from the app to my
| Chromecast, but I have been around long enough to remember that
| was not always the case (and I also will not be surprised if
| (when) I wake up one day and that functionality is no longer
| available). And don't even get me started on the joys of trying
| to use a Chromecast from an Android device without the Google
| Play Servies rootkit....
|
| More and more I find myself investing in open systems (playing my
| own movies off of my Plex server...).
| warning26 wrote:
| For those who don't feel like reading the whole thread, the
| relevant part is:
|
| _> "Important: Access to the web isn't supported on Smart
| Displays made by manufacturers other than Google"_
|
| That seems...weird.
| ladyanita22 wrote:
| The thing is, the software platforms are completely different.
| The smart displays market right now is a hot mess. Only
| Google's or Amazon's should be purchased.
| colechristensen wrote:
| Or none of them. Buying anything marketed as "smart" seems
| like a bad idea these days.
| Spivak wrote:
| Assuming that you want to rent content via a streaming
| service you basically have to buy into one of these devices
| just to have something that supports DRM. You can use a PC
| but just the processor that supports L3 DRM is more
| expensive than one of these dongles.
| Stratoscope wrote:
| Let's say you ask your Lenovo Smart Display, "What is a Rat
| Terrier?"
|
| You get a nice summary screen with a photo of a Rat Terrier, and
| the assistant says, "According to Wikipedia, the Rat Terrier is
| an American dog breed [and goes on from there]"
|
| There is also a handy Wikipedia link in the middle of the page if
| you want to read more.
|
| Last week this link - and all other viewing of web pages - was
| disabled by a Google update. This is not a "bug" from Google's
| point of view, it was a deliberate and documented change.
|
| > _Important: Access to the web isn't supported on Smart Displays
| made by manufacturers other than Google._
|
| https://g.co/assistant/web-filter
|
| Of course it was supported before this forced update!
|
| I am thinking of filing against Google in small claims court to
| be refunded the price I paid for my three Lenovo Smart Displays.
|
| Also discussed on the Lenovo forum:
|
| https://forums.lenovo.com/t5/Lenovo-Link-App-Smart-Home-Esse...
| smnrchrds wrote:
| 99% of people wouldn't dare taking Google to court because they
| use Google services and if Google decides to close their
| accounts and stop doing business with them going forwards, they
| stand to lose much more than the price of the device.
| martimarkov wrote:
| Then you take them court yet again this time for
| discrimination.
|
| Also this is not a thing that can happen I think. Like for
| example epic vs Apple. Apple didn't have the ability to close
| down all accounts of epic.
| ocdtrekkie wrote:
| Apple _tried_ though, and the only reason they didn 't
| succeed is Epic has high priced lawyers like Apple does.
| These companies can just bankrupt you with legal fees.
|
| For an individual, tech companies can absolutely beat you
| over the head illegally and count on their better lawyers
| to make it stick. Unless you're Tim Sweeney level loaded I
| would recommend against trying it.
| Stratoscope wrote:
| Oh, good point! I wasn't really serious, but it seemed like
| cheap entertainment. But now consider me terrified.
| ocdtrekkie wrote:
| This is a very big risk here. Parent should definitely not
| still have everything pointed at Gmail before they file
| anything.
| bryanrasmussen wrote:
| yes, obviously should move everything off services before
| proceeding, proceed, and be ready to write an article on
| Medium about Google disabling your services when you take
| them to small claims court after they ripped you off by
| turning your smart display into a dumb one.
| the_other wrote:
| Isn't this reason enough to stop using Google?
| websap wrote:
| I really hope you do.
| GEBBL wrote:
| Look like their own support agents are unaware of the change.
| 2OEH8eoCRo0 wrote:
| > I am thinking of filing against Google in small claims court
| to be refunded the price I paid for my three Lenovo Smart
| Displays.
|
| I hate to break it you you but those displays are not yours,
| unfortunately.
| bryanrasmussen wrote:
| that's for the court to decide. Probably google won't show up
| so I would think it likely with a receipt for payment the
| court would decide the devices were indeed his/or hers.
| yumraj wrote:
| > I am thinking of filing against Google in small claims court
| to be refunded the price I paid for my three Lenovo Smart
| Displays.
|
| IMNAL, but won't you have a better chance of success going
| against Lenovo than Google, since it's a Lenovo device.
|
| Just for record, when Sony killed support for their smart
| clock, forgot what it's called, they gave everyone something -
| we got a Sony bluetooth speaker.
|
| Edit: In Android generally you can uninstall updates for
| individual services - did you try that?
| paxys wrote:
| Why would you sue Google and not Lenovo? Google didn't promise
| you anything to begin with, the device manufacturer did.
| radicaldreamer wrote:
| Is this update to prevent users from streaming video outside of
| Youtube on these devices or is there some more mundane reason?
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(page generated 2022-02-07 23:00 UTC)