OMG, have TV commercials always been this dumb?

[tek_heretik]

For the paranoiacs in the room...and people who just don't like.....stufffffff ..... TOR.

woodsmoke

WHO'S PARANOID?! *spins head*...not many people get that joke, usually it whooshes right over their heads.

[HalationEffect]

WHO'S PARANOID?! *spins head*...not many people get that joke, usually it whooshes right over their heads.

Just because you aren't paranoid doesn't mean THEY aren't out to get you anyway

[woodsmoke]

I find that TOR slows things down a tad but when one gets used to it..but again it is just one remove from a regular browser...so they are going to get at your data no matter what...

woodlookoutforthatdronesthattheadministrationjusta pprovedsmoke

[tek_heretik]

I am past the point of caring, if no-life government creeps want to see what I search at Home Depot or what computer parts I research, if that gives them a thrill, good for them, what the problem is, at some point online political activism will be monitored, then goons break down your door and haul you off on some bogus trumped up charge to make your life miserable, scare you and shut you up. That's my worst fear, Big Brotherism on the internet, not Hollyweird protecting the pathetic junk they are churning out.

[Robtygart]

I do not watch TV, I can't stand any of it. I agree with Bill Hicks “I can't watch TV longer than five minutes without praying for nuclear holocaust.”

[jlittle]

I'm a bit unclear what your point is. Based on what you've written, it would seem that your point is the following: because Google has successfully sucked revenue dollars away from something, that they then shouldn't be criticized for...anything?

The point was your complaint about "TV commercials" being dumb, and that Google is mitigating that directly.

Google is deserving of criticism for certain mistakes.

I must concede that.

they've demolished individual privacy to the extent that "customers" are actually products to be sold. Only bad things can result from this.

They're an advertising company, and such have always done that, and bad things certainly have resulted. From my point of view, it's less bad with Google's approach, there's much less wasting of my time and less brainwashing involved. Broadcast TV is too powerful a medium for unrestricted commercial advertising IMO. It's not as bad a thing when the "customers" can easily avoid or ignore the advertising that results. Sorry, I'm not making point coherently, but I have a sense of much less of a bad thing being good.

Perhaps in the US you'd feel your privacy less "demolished" if you had serious data protection laws.

I would be interested in more specific arguments you might make against any of the statements I've made about Google.

I'm just conscious of your being down on Google, and can't help thinking that you've carried a prejudice from a former employer. Of course, my prejudice is that anything Microsoft doesn't like has got to be a good thing, (except when it's Apple).

Regards, John Little

[SteveRiley]

The point was your complaint about "TV commercials" being dumb, and that Google is mitigating that directly.

I started this thread just to vent a bit about TV advertisements specifically; Google was far from my mind. So I still a little mystified why you'd try to draw some kind of analogy. But, here we are.

it's less bad with Google's approach, there's much less wasting of my time and less brainwashing involved.

Is it? Allow me to finally offer an actual criticism: Google can track a broad swath of your activity across the web. This makes them far more pernicious than broadcast advertisers.

Perhaps in the US you'd feel your privacy less "demolished" if you had serious data protection laws.

Indeed, you are absolutely correct here.

I'm just conscious of your being down on Google, and can't help thinking that you've carried a prejudice from a former employer.

Which one, Microsoft or Amazon? Again, this seems orthogonal to the intention of the thread. The reality is, I don't harbor any particular competitive prejudices from either. My work at both places was not involved with the groups that might compete against Google. I never had, nor have, a particular axe to grind against Google to the benefit of Microsoft or Amazon.

[capt-zero]

I stopped watching broadcast television years ago...oops, caught in a lie. Actually I cannot, for the life of me kick my weekly "Antiques Roadshow" addiction. I do kinda feel TV comercials lead toward advanced gullibility. My nephew keeps spouting "facts" he heard on TV commercials at me. Once, while working in surgery, I had to listen to a doctor expound to everyone about "the other white meat".

[Detonate]

I still watch TV. I have Dish Network. I enjoy some of the shows and I record them, so that I can watch them commercial free. Love that fast forward button. It cuts a 1 hour show down to about 38 minutes. Dish Network also has a new DVR called the "Hopper" which lets you automatically skip the commercials. I don't have that one yet but it sounds interesting.

[james147]

I still watch TV. I have Dish Network. I enjoy some of the shows and I record them, so that I can watch them commercial free. Love that fast forward button. It cuts a 1 hour show down to about 38 minutes. Dish Network also has a new DVR called the "Hopper" which lets you automatically skip the commercials. I don't have that one yet but it sounds interesting.

I still have to wonder what the advantage of this is over the tried a trusted technology called the Internet that the media companies seem so keen on ignoring :P

Personally I would love to just download a TV show and watch it when I wanted to... not have to worry about making sure I recorded it on time, or that I could miss the beginning or end or even the entire thing if I get the timing wrong or the hdd fills up, or have to skip through the commercials... etc...

[oshunluvr]

I have "cut the cord" from pay tv services and watch DVD movies, internet streaming services, or OTA television. I saved almost $1000 the first year. I'd rather record a show on my DVR and watch it off-schedule and FF though commercials than pay over $100 a month for the same privledge with a couple 100 channels I don't watch on stand-by. Besides, without commercials how are you supposed to refill your wine glass during a show? Three minutes seems exactly right to grab a snack, re-fill a glass, and take a quick potty break!

I wonder how long before we have a totally new idiom for TV. I suspect as the population ages bringing the younger folks into the primary advertising group the current ad models will become increasingly invalid. I had hope for the UbuntuTV project, but it doesn't seem to be getting traction.

I have great hope that something more interactive and useful springs up. With giant TV's getting cheaper and cheaper and all of them having internet connections, I suspect Google will sell all that tracking info to content providers and you'll see ads targeted specifically at you on your TV. They're already marketing their own pay TV service in Kansas City, MO.

Maybe I'm nuts - but what if you gave up a few inches of screen space on your 60+" TV to targeted banner ads in exchange for no commerical breaks? Would that sell? With interactivity, you could even choose the current model or the banner model. TV Show's would no longer have a schedule. It would be replaced by release dates and might only be available for a limited time. This would remove the need for a DVR and allow the advertisers to tailor ads to the specific viewer.

Personally, I have the willpower to avoid running out and purchasing everything I see when I'm forced to sit though a commercial, so they don't bug me much. I realize this is the model that pays for the entertainment I receive via the newly installed antenna on my roof. When we do watch a commercial; we usually critique (like Steve) the content, message, and appearance of the actors and rarely remember the product when the show resumes. Often enough, the commericals are half the entertainment anyway. Our current favs are the Ford commercials where "Nick" is selling trucks/cars. The hunter that says he hunts deer and then panics when he turns and sees Santa appears to be the salesman and immediately says "Fish, I hunt fish. I don't know why I said deer." always brings a chuckle. I mean hunting fish? Now that's funny, I don't care who you are!

[james147]

I have "cut the cord" from pay tv services and watch DVD movies, internet streaming services, or OTA television. I saved almost $1000 the first year. I'd rather record a show on my DVR and watch it off-schedule and FF though commercials than pay over $100 a month for the same privledge with a couple 100 channels I don't watch on stand-by. Besides, without commercials how are you supposed to refill your wine glass during a show? Three minutes seems exactly right to grab a snack, re-fill a glass, and take a quick potty break!

If only there was a way to... umm.. pause... entertainment like this...

I suspect Google will sell all that tracking info to content providers and you'll see ads targeted specifically at you on your TV. They're already marketing their own pay TV service in Kansas City, MO.

If it gets rid of those anoying ads I hate seeing (or rather hearing) then I am fine with them "tracking" me

Maybe I'm nuts - but what if you gave up a few inches of screen space on your 60+" TV to targeted banner ads in exchange for no commerical breaks?

You are nuts... I would hate have to have a flashing banner ad distracting me from what I am trying to watch... I find the super bright and blinking led on most equipment annoying enough. I much prefer the on-line model of forcing you to watch a 30 second ad before a program starts... they can change the ad each time and it is not to annoying.

TV Show's would no longer have a schedule. It would be replaced by release dates

This I would like to see...

and might only be available for a limited time.

But I see no point in this... what happens if I only find out about a show half way though a season? Why can I not watch it from the beginning? I found BBC iPlayer annoying for this reason. I really want to see a global TV/Movie archive where we can just go and watch anything we want when we want like we can with youtube... we currently have one but it is a tad illegal sadly

Personally, I have the willpower to avoid running out and purchasing everything I see when I'm forced to sit though a commercial, so they don't bug me much. I realize this is the model that pays for the entertainment I receive via the newly installed antenna on my roof.

I like the new payment models that are appearing with indie films, basically crowdsourcing the funds. You have an idea, you ask people for money to do your idea and if they like it they fund you. There are currently sites that can help you with this such as VODO. All the shows there you can download for free and watch whenever you want and donate to the shows you really like to help continue development. Unfortinually there are not many good shows on there atm. I recommend Pioneer one if you want to try one out or even Sintel (this one was done entirely in the opensource software blender to show off what it can do, it is only a very short film however).

[oshunluvr]

I like the new payment models that are appearing with indie films, basically crowdsourcing the funds. You have an idea, you ask people for money to do your idea and if they like it they fund you. There are currently sites that can help you with this such as VODO. All the shows there you can download for free and watch whenever you want and donate to the shows you really like to help continue development. Unfortinually there are not many good shows on there atm. I recommend Pioneer one if you want to try one out or even Sintel (this one was done entirely in the opensource software blender to show off what it can do, it is only a very short film however).

Cool idea, but a long ways from being implemented in this country! It reminds me of what some new music artists are doing - selling directly to the public. Great idea in concept but more often not practical. The current model requires an investment in marketing to make a good product sell well enough to be worth the effort. I suspect movie studios / TV stations lose on more shows than they profit from, but when they have a hit the profits pay for the losers too.

If the crowd-sourcing idea could get shows into main-stream outlets it might take off. Sort of like Hulu and Netflix producing their own content.

[oshunluvr]

BTW, the on-line adds can usually be blocked with a good hosts file. If I recall correctly, this works with Hulu but not ABC online.

[james147]

Cool idea, but a long ways from being implemented in this country! It reminds me of what some new music artists are doing - selling directly to the public. Great idea in concept but more often not practical. The current model requires an investment in marketing to make a good product sell well enough to be worth the effort. I suspect movie studios / TV stations lose on more shows than they profit from, but when they have a hit the profits pay for the losers too.

If the crowd-sourcing idea could get shows into main-stream outlets it might take off. Sort of like Hulu and Netflix producing their own content.

Checkout vodo.net, it already have some fairly successful shows on there. And it is a site devoted to this model so it is already starting to pick up.

There is also similar models for starting up businesses (based on an idea for a product), such as kickstarter. The model is sound and is being used to develop some new and interesting things.

I think what these sites currently need to make them more successful is more people to know about them. Once they hit the main populations eye then they should take off very fast. Also, I see no reason any country is excluded from this model as it is based on the internet