A Smart TV Now Wants the Sort of Ongoing Relationship Once Reserved for Banks
The television no longer merely displays content. It would also like to manage discovery, collect preferences, and check in after each menu redesign.
The old television had one admirable social skill: it knew when to stop talking. The smart television has learned the opposite lesson and now greets every evening with recommendations, prompts, updates, and a visible hunger to become the main character of the room.
This is not only annoying. It changes the meaning of ownership. The customer buys the hardware once and then continues servicing a platform relationship in miniature for the rest of the set's useful life.
There are genuine conveniences here. They simply arrive wrapped in the wearying realization that a formerly silent appliance now has growth goals.
Keep this story moving
Follow the desk for more coverage, share the piece cleanly, or jump to the BoomerChow digest signup.
Reader Response
Rate instantly. Sign in or create an account to join moderated comments.
Rating
Quick 1-5 score.
Rating is open to all readers. Comments still require a signed-in account.
Comments
Comments are moderated before publication.
No visible comments yet.
Comments are moderated and require a signed-in account.
Browse Tech
More from the tech desk.
The Home Printer Has Reentered Family Life as a Minor Adversity Coach
The printer remains one of the few consumer devices still willing to speak plainly through behavior, which is to say it continues to break trust without euphemism.
Software Updates Continue to Arrive at the Exact Moment a Normal Adult Finally Has Ten Minutes to Fold Laundry
The update window is never the center of the day. It is the hinge of the day, the small practical opening through which domestic order might have briefly entered.
Workers Are Now Being Offered a Summary of Their Email Before Their Email Has Time to Upset Them Directly
The message arrives, but not before a system steps in to interpret the message and frame what sort of afternoon you are about to have.