I could do something similar. But it gets menothing I want/need in terms of media access/streaming.
99.9% of my video streaming is direct from source (Max, Netflix, Disney+/Hulu, F1TV, BritBox and Prime), so the native apps on an Apple TV are as smooth, simple, and fast an experience as exists. The boxes are ~$150 and literally set-and-forget, and they don’t periodically want to be updated AS I’m about to use them.
Music at home is all via Roon serving my local library, TIDAL and Qobuz - and all of the endpoints there have built-in native Roon support at this point.
It’s literally just rare, random, usually odd-ball, cheep and/or Chinese stuff that needs an actual x64 Windows machine to do firmware updates on (maybe virtualized Arm Windows 11 would work with x64 drivers now; I just haven’t tested it). That need is becoming less common. More and more the stuff just mounts as a USB drive, you copy the firmware file over, and reboot … no “updater” needed. I was surprised the W4 still needed an updater … the Lotoo Paw S1 didn’t, and that’s years old.
I think I paid the same for my PC. It was cheap but it does the job. I trade set-and-forget convenience for the ability to block ads and trackers, as well as run a VPN. These days I don’t trust walled-garden hardware and apps, as they monitor your behavior and then filter content or market every which way. I want a more random, unfocused, unpredictable experience.
The only ads I see are for shows the services themselves are streaming (most of which are embedded in the stream intro or are live previews during navigation), and the only tracking data they can glean is the list of what I watch (which you cannot get around with streaming services), I’m not worried about it.
And that’s all those boxes do.
There’s no YouTube, Vimeo, TikTok, or any other apps, social media or other media services in use beyond the ones I listed.
I’d be more worried about unsigned and/or remote code execution exploits on any general purpose OS that was open to the internet and running 24/7. Or if I was browsing on those screens, but I’m not.
I don’t use VPNs for media access … there’s nothing I want to see badly enough to need to pretend I’m in a different region. And half of those keep logs when they say they don’t, and don’t notify users about data requests when they say they will … so I don’t really trust them any more than the streaming sources in the first place.
I know that I cannot meaningfully resist either our tech overlords or talented hackers. The really good ones get the info and don’t leave a trace.
My goals are often mundane: avoid pop-up ads and those creepy cross-site tracking ads. With a simple browser switch (e.g., brave.com), one can see many trackers by default and indeed avoid most web ads. Some of my mobile account apps went through marketer overload periods, where I avoided them because I couldn’t complete simple tasks without clicking away half a dozen ads.
My goal with VPNs is also mundane, as many websites tailor content by IP address. I wanted to read/watch the top news stories in other places to understand the extent that various issues are covered elsewhere. But…my USA IP address gets me bounced back to good old USA only ‘tailored, relevant’ stories…
A side bonus of using an EU country with a VPN is that websites must be explicit about tracking and have easy-to-use tracker rejection options.
On a general purpose machine, or one I’m using a browser on, the precautions I take are very different. Even “unhealthy” levels of paranoia are a good idea in such cases.
But the point of using Apple TV boxes, for me, for paid video streaming services is that there simply isn’t an avenue for 3rd parties to insert, or track, anything anywhere. Nor anything else to think about.
Now, for those running games and other free apps on the thing, that are ad supported, it’s also another matter. It’s just not me.
Thank you, I’m home and the initial report was positive. However it will take a month or two to know.
Have a bit of tinnitus – more than my usual quite low level. The anesthesiologist mentioned shortly before I went under that I might notice a taste in my mouth or a ringing in my ears. I hope it wears off Not bad, except at low noise levels or in the rare case that you are afflicted with audiophile syndrome.
Well good luck to ya. I’ve had tinnitus since my Jr year in college in 73. Playing a rock band and drag racing didn’t help either. And so I’m left with the little buzzing of high flying mosquitos and my test show I maintain a freq of around 9300khz. I was tested for canal blockages, Meniere’s disease or stiff inner ear bones (otosclerosis) but nope its just plain old tinnitus, with NO magic cure in sight. You learn to live with it, as your brain adjust. I don’t hear the pitch these days unless I actually concentrate to hear it or I go into a quiet room and there it is. I get tested by my otolaryngologists every every 2 years.
The tinnitus seems a bit less today, down to my normal level. Yes, the frequency of my usual tinnitus- never been tested for it specifically seems to be about that of a flyback transformer in an old TV. Somewhere up high, near as I can tell around 8Khz. It’s only occasionally annoying, brain adjust. What’s an otogynocologist?
Feeling pretty good today, asked the doctor for the explanation of what gets done from the standpoint of someone who was in medical publishing and understands basic electricity. The written explanation for customers was pretty basic. Turns out there is a device that may be similar to a sea anemone with about 20 wires and probes coming out of it. Pretty controllable. They know the general locations for common arrythmias like flutter and AFIB. these probes can touch the heart, map the multiple locations, test for resistance. They can also read voltages and send current to stimulate areas and read results. This lets them precisely locate the spots to freeze.
The table is next to a high-res 55 inch monitor. Obviously I didn’t see it in operation, but it was pretty clear that it was going to be modeling what was going on inside.
Maybe that the reason you haven’t had a good diagnosis, you are seeing the wrong kind of doctor. IF someone is telling you to spread um, its not a good place.
I don’t think the W4 will arrive today. Does not show shipping in Amazon tracking. Just ordered and “arriving today by 10 PM. It’s about that now. No out for delivery. I know it gets flaky with the USPS connection also. Hopefully tomorrow.
This seems like the appropriate thread. For those that were at CanJam NYC 2023, you got to see the limited edition of this shirt dedicated to New York.
While now, it’s widely available in a couple of different colours and sizes. It’s our first piece of official merch with a lot more fun stuff coming down the line.
