by Scott Creighton (H/T T)
Yesterday's rant was a result of some stuff building up down here in the land of the Big PX. Stuff I did not share in the video. But it was also an organic reaction to Amazon bricking my Fire Stick connection to its remote so I would have to:
download their APP on my phone to diagnose the issue (and they could make money off it)
end up buying a new Fire Stick since warranty was over on that one (and they could make money off that)
I have resolved the issue by deleting my Amazon Prime account and I am going to completely delete my 20-year-old Amazon account in total today, this morning, out of disgust with these greedy people.
The tech guy lied to me saying 'it's impossible for Amazon to 'brick' any part of the Fire Stick system in your home'
I knew that was a lie intuitively.
Thanks to 'T' I now know factually.
'Amazon bricks long-standing Fire TV apps with latest update... Affected apps include programs that let you bypass the Fire OS home screen.' Ars Technica Feb 2024
Yep. Amazon got busted less than 7 months ago bricking apps and entire Fire Stick sets because people had the audacity to set em so they could bypass the home screen and all those precious ADs Amazon made money off of.
Yep. Amazon would BRICK a device you paid for... because you were hurting their bottom line.
'It’s not hard to see why people might want to avoid the Fire OS home screen nor why Amazon would want to force users to see it. Like many TV vendors, Amazon is trying to drive long-term revenue from TV sales by including ads into the TVs' OS, allowing Amazon to sell ad space and insight around ad engagement. Fire TV streaming devices and televisions have made names for themselves with low prices. But since Amazon debuted Fire TV in 2014, it has updated Fire OS to include more ads and has plans to increase ad revenue further as it works to build the generative AI version of Alexa.
We’ve previously seen what Amazon is willing to do to protect Fire TV-related ad revenue. Last year, Amazon broke Remapper, a free app that made Fire TV remotes programmable. Remapper was a revenue threat since companies pay Amazon (and other companies with TV OSes, like Roku) to put their streaming service buttons on remotes, which drives subscriptions.' Ars Technica Feb 2024
So how much of a stretch would it be for someone like myself to conclude Amazon decided in their little bean-counter rooms, to BRICK Fire Sticks that are now no longer covered by warranty so they can sell replacement units while simultaneously forcing their customers to download their intrusive APP which will make Amazon ever MORE MONEY?
That's not a stretch boys and girls. Back in the day of real journalism, that goes to motive, as they used too say.
Here's potentially another motive:
' The change has possible implications for how Fire TVs’ app ecosystem might look in the future, when Amazon has even more power, as it's planning to ditch its Android-based Fire OS in favor of its own OS. Codenamed Vega, the upcoming OS is expected to be based on Linux. It’s unclear how Amazon might use its in-house OS to control the Fire TV experience further, including whether it will continue to allow sideloading apps.' Ars Technica Feb 2024
Have they already made the switch? Is this a way they can get folks like myself off the older Fire Sticks and on their newer ones?
I don't know but I will tell you this: you will hear more about this in the near future.
And lets put this lie from the Amazon technician to rest:
Yes, Amazon CAN and HAVE bricked their own customers Fire Stick units because Amazon wanted MORE MONEY.
That's a damn fact.
Fuck Amazon.
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