It's Saturday night and I have some leftovers. Let's heat them up and consciously relax for a bit.
- Boot up the 65" TCL. Mind you, I had to factory reset it a couple months ago after first getting it because Google TV was full of ads. Now, it's disconnected from the internet and any accounts.
- The default HDMI input is my Apple TV 4K. For all its faults, Apple hasn't been user hostile and the UI is relatively nice. It's great when I quickly want to cast music or something from my laptop. I had to rearrange the applications on the Apple TV a while back because hovering over some instantly played content.
- The first icon is HBO Max, now rebranded... again. There's a "Continue Watching" section with Aqua Teen Hunger Force, a classic, and Euphoria. I don't watch Euphoria. I didn't ask for this. I did not start watching nor am I continuing to watch Euphoria. No one is signed in to this account elsewhere.
- Hovering over Apple Music, an Alex Warren video plays in the background. I don't know Alex Warren. This is not my music. There is no toggle to turn this off as far as I can tell.
- I love Letterboxd. It's a great and fun way to track things to watch. Hell, I even paid for 1 year of Letterboxd Pro. I've been trying to watch "The Game" for a while and Letterboxd says it's on Amazon Prime. Let's try that.
- I open Amazon Prime. Once I flip past the featured content, I finally get to my movie. Click. Lo and behold, 2 minutes of unskippable ads unless I upgrade for a few dollars a month. No, thanks. Exit.
- Let's try Netflix. I heard there's a new Hulk Hogan documentary that sounds entertaining. Anddddd I'm signed out again. I could ask my family for the login but it's not worth the hassle. This used to work fine years ago.
- HBO has classics. Let's try that. Flip over. My soundbar and subwoofer start blasting a trailer for "Half Man" automatically on opening and hovering. I frantically search for my remote to press the mute button. Silence. That's nice. This one did have a setting that is default enabled for whatever reason.
- You may have noticed YouTube is not in this list. My watch history is off to avoid "the latest videos tailored to you". Don't forget about Shorts!
At this point, I'm surprised there's not an LLM interface in any of these.
My dinner is cold. Maybe I should switch to cable.