7 ms·

I have a pixel watch, and my main use for it is setting reminders, like "reminder 3pm put the laundry in the dryer". It's worked fine since the day I bought it.

I have a pixel watch, and my main use for it is setting reminders, like "reminder 3pm put the laundry in the dryer". It's worked fine since the day I bought it. Last week, they pushed an update that broke all of the features on the watch unless I agreed to allow Google to train their AI on my content.

Teever 10mo ago
International coordinated action by consumers taking a company to small claims court at the same time around the world to see redress about defective products would be an effective strategy.
- Y_Y 10mo ago
  Are you proposing a "World Sue A Tech Giant Day"? A global bonanza of micro-litigation that bleeds AI-leviathans dry by a thousand cuts? I'm in, but let's have it in October or something when I'm less busy.
  - ryukoposting 10mo ago
    I like this idea, though I'm concerned about how we could make sure the courts are ready to handle the deluge of activity. Update: talked to some experts. IANAL, and they aren't either. This would be cataclysmic for the courts unless they knew it was coming AND every claim was filed correctly (fees paid, no errors, etc). Even if everything was done perfectly, it would be a ton of work and there's no way every case would be processed in a day. It's also likely that all the identical cases filed in a single jurisdiction would be heard together in a single trial. There's also weirdness when you consider where each claim is filed. Quote: "you may be in the right, but I can guarantee you would have a terrible time"
    - cj 10mo ago
      The point isn’t to win every individual case, is it? I assume the main point would be getting the attention of politicians who would step in and intervene. Especially if it’s a situation where the courts are truly overwhelmed.
    - immibis 10mo ago
      Why would that be anyone's problem? If users keep having to sue Apple to get stuff Apple was supposed to have given them, courts may impose higher and higher penalties until Apple starts just giving them to users without wasting anyone's time.
  - deleted 10mo ago
    [deleted]
verisimi 10mo ago
> I have a pixel watch you rented/leased a watch for an undefined amount of time.
quantified 10mo ago
Did you agree, or did you give up your data?
state_less 10mo ago
My Android phone comes hobbled unless I give it all my data to be used for training data (or whatever). I just asked, "Ok Google, play youtube music." And it responded with, "I cannot play music, including YouTube Music, as that tool is currently disabled based on your preferences. I can help you search for information about artists or songs on YouTube, though. By the way, to unlock the full functionality of all Apps, enable Gemini Apps Activity." I'm new to Android, so maybe I can somehow still preserve some privacy and have basic voice commands, but from what I saw, it required me to enable Gemini Apps Activity with a wall of text I had to agree to in order to get a simple command to play some music to work.
- SoftTalker 10mo ago
  Just stop talking to your computer and use the screen interface, that still works.
  - DerCed 10mo ago
    How long, though, until every input is AI-interpreted and your intention is "helpfully" translated to "what you meant"
    - SoftTalker 10mo ago
      To be fair it seems to already be happening. My phone keyboard, always prone to interpolating what I type into utter nonsense, seems to have gotten worse in the past year or so.
      - mwarkentin 10mo ago
        If you’re on iOS, and don’t use swipe keyboard, disable that functionality. I found it made a big improvement for me.
  - state_less 10mo ago
    When I'm on my bike, it's difficult. I will ride no handed and change a track, but it's more dangerous than it needs to be. I might switch back to my iOS device, but what I'd really like to do is replace the Andriod OS on this Motorola with a community oriented open source OS. Then I could start working on piping the mic audio to my own STT model and execute commands on the phone.
Polizeiposaune 10mo ago
We need consumer protection laws that protect against functional regressions like this -- if a widget could do X when I bought it, it should keep doing X for the life of the product and I shouldn't have to "agree" to an updated license for it to be able to keep doing X.
- bigstrat2003 10mo ago
  Or even updates that introduce new, undesired functionality. When I bought my PS4 (at launch), the section of the UI for video apps was pleasant and straightforward. It had the various video apps I had installed and that was it. Fast forward several years, and Sony updated the UI to prioritize showing apps that they wanted you to use (whether you had installed them or not), and even showed ads for movies and such. I don't think it's asking too much to not make my product worse after I buy it, and I think we need legislation to prevent companies from doing that. I'm not sure what that would look like, and the government is bought and paid for by those same companies, so it's unlikely we will see that. But we do need it.
  - mrcsharp 10mo ago
    > not make my product worse after I buy it How can such law be written and how can a lawyer litigate that in court? The way you've phrased it is very subjective. What is an objective measure that a court can use to determine the percentage of quality drop in a product against a timeline?
    - anonymouskimmer 10mo ago
      Easy, mandate that any UI changes be revertable for the life of the product, or until the company goes bankrupt.
      - mrcsharp 10mo ago
        How would that work in real life though? Now every change made to any program must be tested against an ever growing combination of enabled and disabled UI changes.
DrewADesign 10mo ago
Yeah my pixel watch went straight into the trash. All set. Based on my conversations with folks working on these price products, it seems they simply can’t fathom why anybody is so concerned about privacy when giving it up yields so many useful products and services.
throw-the-towel 10mo ago
You still have automatic "updates" on? In 2025?

Teever 10mo ago

International coordinated action by consumers taking a company to small claims court at the same time around the world to see redress about defective products would be an effective strategy.

Y_Y 10mo ago
Are you proposing a "World Sue A Tech Giant Day"? A global bonanza of micro-litigation that bleeds AI-leviathans dry by a thousand cuts? I'm in, but let's have it in October or something when I'm less busy.
- ryukoposting 10mo ago
  I like this idea, though I'm concerned about how we could make sure the courts are ready to handle the deluge of activity. Update: talked to some experts. IANAL, and they aren't either. This would be cataclysmic for the courts unless they knew it was coming AND every claim was filed correctly (fees paid, no errors, etc). Even if everything was done perfectly, it would be a ton of work and there's no way every case would be processed in a day. It's also likely that all the identical cases filed in a single jurisdiction would be heard together in a single trial. There's also weirdness when you consider where each claim is filed. Quote: "you may be in the right, but I can guarantee you would have a terrible time"
  - cj 10mo ago
    The point isn’t to win every individual case, is it? I assume the main point would be getting the attention of politicians who would step in and intervene. Especially if it’s a situation where the courts are truly overwhelmed.
  - immibis 10mo ago
    Why would that be anyone's problem? If users keep having to sue Apple to get stuff Apple was supposed to have given them, courts may impose higher and higher penalties until Apple starts just giving them to users without wasting anyone's time.
- deleted 10mo ago
  [deleted]

verisimi 10mo ago

> I have a pixel watch you rented/leased a watch for an undefined amount of time.

quantified 10mo ago

Did you agree, or did you give up your data?

state_less 10mo ago

My Android phone comes hobbled unless I give it all my data to be used for training data (or whatever). I just asked, "Ok Google, play youtube music." And it responded with, "I cannot play music, including YouTube Music, as that tool is currently disabled based on your preferences. I can help you search for information about artists or songs on YouTube, though. By the way, to unlock the full functionality of all Apps, enable Gemini Apps Activity." I'm new to Android, so maybe I can somehow still preserve some privacy and have basic voice commands, but from what I saw, it required me to enable Gemini Apps Activity with a wall of text I had to agree to in order to get a simple command to play some music to work.

SoftTalker 10mo ago
Just stop talking to your computer and use the screen interface, that still works.
- DerCed 10mo ago
  How long, though, until every input is AI-interpreted and your intention is "helpfully" translated to "what you meant"
  - SoftTalker 10mo ago
    To be fair it seems to already be happening. My phone keyboard, always prone to interpolating what I type into utter nonsense, seems to have gotten worse in the past year or so.
    - mwarkentin 10mo ago
      If you’re on iOS, and don’t use swipe keyboard, disable that functionality. I found it made a big improvement for me.
- state_less 10mo ago
  When I'm on my bike, it's difficult. I will ride no handed and change a track, but it's more dangerous than it needs to be. I might switch back to my iOS device, but what I'd really like to do is replace the Andriod OS on this Motorola with a community oriented open source OS. Then I could start working on piping the mic audio to my own STT model and execute commands on the phone.

Polizeiposaune 10mo ago

We need consumer protection laws that protect against functional regressions like this -- if a widget could do X when I bought it, it should keep doing X for the life of the product and I shouldn't have to "agree" to an updated license for it to be able to keep doing X.

bigstrat2003 10mo ago
Or even updates that introduce new, undesired functionality. When I bought my PS4 (at launch), the section of the UI for video apps was pleasant and straightforward. It had the various video apps I had installed and that was it. Fast forward several years, and Sony updated the UI to prioritize showing apps that they wanted you to use (whether you had installed them or not), and even showed ads for movies and such. I don't think it's asking too much to not make my product worse after I buy it, and I think we need legislation to prevent companies from doing that. I'm not sure what that would look like, and the government is bought and paid for by those same companies, so it's unlikely we will see that. But we do need it.
- mrcsharp 10mo ago
  > not make my product worse after I buy it How can such law be written and how can a lawyer litigate that in court? The way you've phrased it is very subjective. What is an objective measure that a court can use to determine the percentage of quality drop in a product against a timeline?
  - anonymouskimmer 10mo ago
    Easy, mandate that any UI changes be revertable for the life of the product, or until the company goes bankrupt.
    - mrcsharp 10mo ago
      How would that work in real life though? Now every change made to any program must be tested against an ever growing combination of enabled and disabled UI changes.

DrewADesign 10mo ago

Yeah my pixel watch went straight into the trash. All set. Based on my conversations with folks working on these price products, it seems they simply can’t fathom why anybody is so concerned about privacy when giving it up yields so many useful products and services.

throw-the-towel 10mo ago

You still have automatic "updates" on? In 2025?