Ad on Amazon

[JettsPapa]

This popped up when I was looking at my Returns and Orders page.  I'm pretty sure that if your fish are furry it's too later for General Cure.

[nabokovfan87]

Gotta love it when you get the robots telling you how to do things. So ridiculous how many major companies have such poor algorithms or.... Overbearing to a fault sending you extremely bad recommendations.

Oh whale.

[Cinnebuns]

On 4/8/2022 at 2:45 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

Gotta love it when you get the robots telling you how to do things. So ridiculous how many major companies have such poor algorithms or.... Overbearing to a fault sending you extremely bad recommendations.

Oh whale.

Sometimes it's creepy af. The algorithms knew my sister was pregnant before I did and was sending me ads for baby stuff. 

[nabokovfan87]

On 4/9/2022 at 12:57 AM, Cinnebuns said:

Sometimes it's creepy af. The algorithms knew my sister was pregnant before I did and was sending me ads for baby stuff. 

A lot of that happens from the phones with mic permissions. SUPER weird stuff. Absolutely. I will have a conversation and then see it show up.

[Widgets]

On 4/9/2022 at 4:01 AM, nabokovfan87 said:

A lot of that happens from the phones with mic permissions. SUPER weird stuff. Absolutely. I will have a conversation and then see it show up.

Not just phones. Think about all the corporate data mining devices that the big tech companies have convinced people to pay to have in their houses, monitoring and tracking them 24/7. How "smart" is that?

[Tanked]

That seller could have a bright future as a copy editor at my local newspaper.

[drewzero1]

On 4/9/2022 at 7:00 AM, Widgets said:

Not just phones. Think about all the corporate data mining devices that the big tech companies have convinced people to pay to have in their houses, monitoring and tracking them 24/7. How "smart" is that?

Technology is my business, and knowing about how tech works only makes me more pessimistic about new tech products. I don't trust any of the "smart" assistants not to phone home and tell their company what they might be able to sell me. I even managed to avoid having a smartphone until recently. Unfortunately, it's getting really hard to avoid getting stalked by corporations without going completely off grid.

It's sad. Twenty years ago I was excited and optimistic about how the progress in tech and information could empower us. Instead, it's used to farm us all for data, and the tech giants hold the power.

[Widgets]

On 4/10/2022 at 10:35 AM, drewzero1 said:

Technology is my business, and knowing about how tech works only makes me more pessimistic about new tech products. I don't trust any of the "smart" assistants not to phone home and tell their company what they might be able to sell me. I even managed to avoid having a smartphone until recently. Unfortunately, it's getting really hard to avoid getting stalked by corporations without going completely off grid.

It's sad. Twenty years ago I was excited and optimistic about how the progress in tech and information could empower us. Instead, it's used to farm us all for data, and the tech giants hold the power.

I remember editing files on dumb terminals connected to a mainframe, where each keystroke was sent back to the mainframe for processing and the updated display was then sent to the dumb terminal.

Then there were smart terminal where the editing was all done locally on the terminal and the end result was sent back to the mainframe. 

Now there is a whole industry of "smart" devices that send everything back to the corporate server for processing. That is the very definition of a "dumb" device, but corporate marketing folks have convinced folks that this was a good or necessary thing.

George Orwell predicted this in his book, "1984", but could never have predicted that instead of the government forcing these eavesdropping devices on everyone, companies would convince people to pay to have the eavesdropping devices in their home.

[Guppysnail]

Thanks folks. Now I feel paranoid.  THEY ARE OUT THERE….THEY ARE WATCHING 🤣

[Tanked]

On 4/10/2022 at 11:31 AM, Widgets said:

George Orwell predicted this in his book, "1984", but could never have predicted that instead of the government forcing these eavesdropping devices on everyone, companies would convince people to pay to have the eavesdropping devices in their home.

1984 was required reading when I was in school but nobody was paying attention.  I always assume that someone is watching or listening when a smart device is nearby.  When I plugged in my first Smart TV It called home!  A friend's Alexa volunteered an answer to a question that it wasn't asked.  Sooner or later we will read about somebody's Mirror Home Gym camera being hacked.

In the early 1980s IBM was the one to watch for anything involving home/personal computing.  Cellphones as we know them cost more than a home computer system, and were lucky to provide a clear conversation let alone sellable data. They (IBM) were slow to adapt and resistant to change, so the world passed them by in less than 10 years.  In the future, I am predicting that we will pay for the privilege of having Apple and Google battle for supremacy over all of our lives and data, much like Omni Consumer Products (OCP)

[Hobbit]

My husband’s a computer science professor so we’re also aware—and honestly somewhat resigned—that we’re always being monitored. Not necessarily for nefarious purposes, but it’s still creepy. A few days ago Facebook suddenly started showing my husband ads for chicken stuff, and we figure he must have gone to a website that mined his data and matched it with mine.

We avoid having any “smart” devices other than our phones. I remember a few years ago there was a baby monitor company who’s monitors were hacked. And then the thing with the smart doorbells being hacked, was it last year?

Last week I was complementing my brother on his new gaming mic and when he told me it was a knockoff from China, we ended up giving a 10 minute political speech to whatever Chinese agent might be listening. It was a joke of course, but still.

[JettsPapa]

It's not unusual for me to get an ad on Pandora that's in Spanish.  I don't speak Spanish.  I'm convinced it's because I have a Johnny Rodriguez station.

[Guppysnail]

Hubby has been searching different health care on his phone (different phone plan different phone carrier than mine) so now I get 5-10 insurance sales calls a day 😡

[gardenman]

It's impossible to hide. Data is worth money, so companies will do whatever they can to mine it and profit from it. It's not really that much different from what they've always done. I've been targeted by one source or another most of my life. Back when I was born 63+ years ago, my parents got deluged with offers from baby related companies offering coupons for formula, diaper services, etc. When I was in school the schools and testing services sold our information to colleges, and you got deluged in college flyers as they tried to recruit you. 

I have an Echo, an Echo Dot, a Fire TV, several Fire tablets, a Google Home Hub, and more. All anyone watching/listening to me is going to learn is that I talk to my fish, cats, and plants. Sometimes the targeted stuff saves me money. I've had really good deals pop up on stuff I'm interested in. Saving stuff to a wish list will often find it getting marked down and offered to you at a lower price later. It's not all bad.

[nabokovfan87]

Saw this today.

Had to giggle.  It has no reviews, no photos, no description, no nothing. Took me far too long to figure out what it actually is even after going to MFG website.

I just don't understand sometimes.



And I was intrigued, making sure it wasn't something special for this guy.... it wasn't.

Edited April 18, 2022 by nabokovfan87

[Baphijmm]

On 4/17/2022 at 7:40 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

Saw this today.

Had to giggle.  It has no reviews, no photos, no description, no nothing. Took me far too long to figure out what it actually is even after going to MFG website.

I just don't understand sometimes.



And I was intrigued, making sure it wasn't something special for this guy.... it wasn't.

The more I read that ad, the more I have to squint. What on EARTH is that for? I assume it's a food? That maybe helps keep your fish regular?

[JackH]

On 4/8/2022 at 2:43 PM, JettsPapa said:

This popped up when I was looking at my Returns and Orders page.  I'm pretty sure that if your fish are furry it's too later for General Cure.

That’s pretty funny but kinda creepy that they’re tracking you, maybe look into a vpn or ad blocker.

[Wrencher_Scott]

On 4/17/2022 at 6:40 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

Saw this today.

Had to giggle.  It has no reviews, no photos, no description, no nothing. Took me far too long to figure out what it actually is even after going to MFG website.

I just don't understand sometimes.



And I was intrigued, making sure it wasn't something special for this guy.... it wasn't.

 

Looks to be some VERY special Betta food. Seachem sure is good at that very special crap. Oh lord.

NutriDiet® Betta contains only the highest quality ingredients (Chlorella algae & fish meal) without low nutritional value fillers (e.g. corn meal).   

Funny, it says no cheap fillers but it's number one ingredient is alfalfa meal. I'm not so sure that is any better, maybe if your Betta has four stomachs like a cow....lol 

Edited April 18, 2022 by Wrencher_Scott

[JettsPapa]

On 4/18/2022 at 11:02 AM, Jack Hanson said:

That’s pretty funny but kinda creepy that they’re tracking you, maybe look into a vpn or ad blocker.

I don't know that it would do any good.  It's an Amazon ad on an Amazon page, and I assume I got it because I order quite a bit of aquarium supplies from Amazon.

Besides, I don't really mind that I'm being tracked.  Just because they show me an ad it doesn't mean I have to buy something.

Edited April 18, 2022 by JettsPapa