A patent application from the company spotted by Lowpass describes a system for displaying ads over any device connected over HDMI, a list that could include cable boxes, game consoles, DVD or Blu-ray players, PCs, or even other video streaming devices. Roku filed for the patent in August 2023 and it was published in November 2023, though it hasn’t yet been granted.
The technology described would detect whether content was paused in multiple ways—if the video being displayed is static, if there’s no audio being played, if a pause symbol is shown anywhere on screen, or if (on a TV with HDMI-CEC enabled) a pause signal has been received from some passthrough remote control. The system would analyze the paused image and use metadata “to identify one or more objects” in the video frame, transmit that identification information to a network, and receive and display a “relevant ad” over top of whatever the paused content is.
Good way to kill their product…
Sadly they already have all the money
So we just ordered a new tv and just want the universe to know that Roku wasn’t even considered and this shit is why.
I mean, yeah sure, but are the alternatives that much better in this respect? Which alternative non-ad-ridden, privacy-respecting smart tv would you recommend (or ended up buying)? Asking for my future tv choice…
Samsung, but I’d rather report back when I see if it’s a mistake.
I intend to keep using my AppleTV and hope that’s the end of it. But the Samsung was a process of elimination of Roku and LG via shitty experience with the WebOS on the work TV. If Tizen doesn’t stay out of the way then I’ll start playing router games.
I’m glad they patented it so that any of the products I actually buy won’t be able to do this
Parents can be licensed for use by other companies.
Autocorrect or comment on society?
If it’s patented, it can also be hacked more easily.
Why?
I think they’re erroneously stating that there will be so much technical information in the patent that it will be trivial to reverse engineer and remove from Roku products.
Unfortunately that isn’t the case.
Ahh you’re right that’s probably what they meant, but yeah in that case every patented software would be hacked
Well, the idea is that anything and everything can be hacked. It’s just that the difficulty varies wildly; some being trivial whereas others are impossible until someone finds an exploit. If you’re working with a total black box, you’ll have to make many assumptions, which means that figuring stuff out may take a while. If there’s at least some documentation, such as a patent, you won’t have to guess absolutely everything. That doesn’t guarantee that it’s going to be easy. Maybe the patent doesn’t go into much technical detail, but still manages to describe the product in just enough legal detail that the company can sue anyone trying to come too close.
It will be licensed to manufacturers with advertising incentives and packaged into consumer electronics.
Savvy electronics users will supply their own HDMI cables; this product will be for people who only understand enough to plug the ends between their box and the entertainment system.
Hell, you might even see these cables being handed out for “free”, akin to the AOL disc days.
roku has patented a way to go fuck itself
I’ve just invented a way to never use a Roku product again, and I’ve chosen not to patent it.
The process is this:
- Don’t buy anything from Roku anymore.
Now, if only they would invent the exact opposite of this, I would buy it
I want zero ads. Ever.
They did! Its called a pihole plus ublock origin plus piracy.
You can’t buy it, only the hardware, but the software is all free.
You can’t defend against ads with pihole if the ads server has the same address as content server
This is true. Hence the piracy. Only way to go ad free.
But with the risk of malware infection, unfortunately.
When something is free, you’re the product.
I’d advise to continue to use non-pirated products, but only from those companies, whose service you’re satisfied with.
And if there’s none, don’t consume product at all. It’s not like movies are vital for you.Vlc is pretty good, and I run a pretty strange distro. If I’m extra scared, I’ll use qubes or get a sacrifice machine.
I think the poor having culture is important. Either art is important, or it Fucking isn’t. You seem to be arguing its the frivolity, not the substance and fruit of civilization.
Video isnt my favorite medium, I have a lot of criticisms of it, but its still art, still precious. And so everyone deserves to have it.
And so everyone deserves to have it.
And authors along with those, who maintain content distributing infrastructure, deserve to be rewarded for their labour.
But I can’t pay them. Its not generally an option. Have you seen the terms on their Fucking contracts?
Literally the closest I can get is wandering around Los Angeles giving money to people who look vaguely familiar or give off writerly vibes.
Have you heard about our new ad-blocking TVs?
Thanks to our patented Ad-Away technology, they’re guaranteed to keep you free from all ads! Get yours now, Ad-Away subscriptions start at $49 a month!2 years later, somewhere in their sales and marketing departments:
“Hey, you know what would make us even more money?”
“No, but do tell”
“Advertising”
“Genius - how is it nobody has ever thought of this before?”
Lol 😂
Nice 😆💀
On this episode of Black Mirror…
I’m tired boss…
Hopefully this ends up something they never actually do like that sony patent for ads that only go away if you call out the name of the product.
Sony fabitch!
if they patent this, it could be slightly good thing because it might prevent other companies from doing it
Lmfao…
Hahahahahah
They’ll just license the tech to everyone.
still, others will have to pay for it which might reduce how widely its used.
Sometimes i wonder if it could be worth it to invent shit like this and patent it just so no one else cant do it themselves
This is like Windows putting ads in the fucking startmenu…
More like Windows showing ads even when you boot Linux
More like your monitor showing you ads is while using Linux.
Please don’t give them ideas.
deleted by creator
Is this real? I’ve never seen a native ad in windows and honestly don’t know if maybe it’s some kind of a regional thing.
That’s some scummy shit…
Everything owned will do this sooner or later.
owned
I do not think that word means what you think it means.
My TV set is like a dumb monitor: HDMI in, colorful image out, basta.
Not even audio. And of course it does not get any internet connection. And I don’t feed it any caviar.
TIL what ‘basta’ means.
Please don’t tell the idea to HP or they might get inspired.
Time to go back to books, fellas. This party is done.
Amazon/Audible walks in.
“Guess what industry I just exploited the shit out of!”
deleted by creator
