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Comment by u2077 | Hacker News Reader

u2077

Imagine a future where the city allows companies to book ad slots in these.

Pfft next on your slippery slope you'll be making silly predictions about adverts in ridiculous places like the Start menu on Windows computers.

Why do you think they won’t let us fill the menu with pins?

Windows users can't be trusted with more than a few sharp items at a time?

Hence the rounded corners.

Don't tell Xiaomi or other vendors that ship a device with OS

Oh god, it is one thing to have it in Windows on a PC, but imagine having it on a device with a locked bootloader.

Obviously you should never pay for a device where they won't support you, the owner, unlocking the bootloader, but obviously people do. I'm not sure if Xiaomi are one of the manufacturers that do not support it.

UEFI Ads. Next big thing! Offer a replacement computer just when yours is being a bit annoying …

Pfft. Start Menu ads are for losers. You should advertise with File Explorer [1] to get to more people.

[1] : https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/microsoft/microsoft-is...

Meanwhile some cities introduce stricter rules for ads in public places. The billboards and logos are either taken down or have to stick to a toned down color palette and cannot exceed certain dimensions. I’m a big fan of this trend. Maybe it will expand and maybe we’ll see fewer ads in public spaces everywhere.

Freestanding billboards are banned in Singapore. This is one of those things where you don't realize how nice it is until you go to a neighboring country and your eyes start bleeding on the drive from the airport.

It's not hard for me to imagine. The closest gas station to my house has ads on all the gas pumps.

The worst part is that the sound from all the pumps are slightly out of sync from each other. Which I assume will happen with these things as well.

"While waiting for the walk sign, please enjoy this message from our sponsors!"

Come to think of it, no different than some gas stations already.

I would pay an extra $0.05/gal if it forced the next person using the pump to listen to marketing from the political party of my preference. $0.10 if it couldn't be muted.

Okay, I'm stumped. /Why/?

Probably because I'm a tiny minority in my effectivly one party state and annoying people who vote the other way is about the best I can realistically accomplish.

I feel the same way, only not about politics, but aesthetics. I would gladly pay extra at the pump to force people to listen to snatches of noise music, like the Boredoms or Merzbow; or mini documentaries extolling the virtues of Dadaism or Brutalism.

You are asking why people pay for advertising?

Yes, I too wish to live in a society in which the rich can leverage their wealth to force others to listen to their propaganda.

I've already made it a point to stop using those gas stations. As soon as it starts I stop fueling and let the station get charged the credit card fee on 45 cents worth of gas. Advertisements playing at the fuel pump make me want to smash the screen.

Yes, I know I can mute them but I don't care. I hate it.

Damn shame if a bit of the gasoline "accidentally" got on the screen. Solvents and plastic generally don't mix.

> Yes, I know I can mute them

Most places I’ve seen them, they cannot be muted.

Try all of the buttons. One of them will mute. Usually it's the bottom right one but not always.

The talking Sh_ll stations around here all seem to use the peninitial button on the right side. I carry a paint pen in my vehicle and write "<-- MUTE" any time I encounter one and there is no possible argument that could make me feel bad about it lol https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01E7EG3NM

I applaud the sentiment, but I think you are spitting in the wind. The cost to you in time and expense to go to a new station is surely more than the cost you are inflicting on the gas station. It is a battle you can fight, but not one that you can win alone.

Which is why he posted here,to get others to do the same.

Having to actively mute is still participating and interacting, which is actually way better from their point than ignoring.

You are entirely correct and rational for hating this.

I wonder what happens if hypothetically, someone were to push something really sharp into the speaker or the screen, or silicone caulk into the speaker to act as a hardware mute feature.

How much does the ad-free version cost?

“Amazon Prime members receive 50% shorter wait times! Please press with your registered palm”

"Didn't you have ads in the 20th century?"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XPGgTy5YJ-g

Ironically that video is behind a tracking-for-ads 'cookie wall'. (I assume most people don't make google not track them and thus don't notice this wall at all anymore.)

I mean I can totally see this as a great way to make money while also making the world worse, but only a little worse. And maybe somebody would like to know that there is a McDonalds on the other side of the street they're going to cross right now? I mean maybe I would actually be providing a useful service for some people, and only be making the world a little worse for most while I was getting rich, rich, rich!

Yet another reason to avoid touching the button and just crossing during the appropriate traffic phase.

In some cases if you don't press the button the light will never change, like a small side street intersecting a major road.

Not to mention that blind people exist

And people that are mobility impaired, such that they cannot get across the street in a shorter amount of time or be agile enough to dodge vehicles that behave unexpectedly. But that's not really relevant to the vast majority of people being goaded into using walk buttons. Many times, it's just a disservice to yourself and a disservice to vehicles.

And yes, ideally we'd use our collective political will to stop further dystopian developments like advertising at traffic lights for everyone. But when that fails (which would be likely given how saturated our society is with advertising), it's still important we exercise our individual ability to reject it, even if not everybody can.

That's far too easy to imagine.

I’m trying to decide whether that’s more dystopian than password-protecting street crossings.

Can we instead imagine a world where everyone who ever seriously considers such an idea is rounded up and put in a rehabilitation facility far away from the general population for the good of human society?

You mean the Bay Area? ;-)

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