[thomascgalvin]

I have a pixel watch, and my main use for it is setting reminders, like "reminder 3pm put the laundry in the dryer". It's worked fine since the day I bought it.

Last week, they pushed an update that broke all of the features on the watch unless I agreed to allow Google to train their AI on my content.

[state_less]

My Android phone comes hobbled unless I give it all my data to be used for training data (or whatever). I just asked, "Ok Google, play youtube music." And it responded with, "I cannot play music, including YouTube Music, as that tool is currently disabled based on your preferences. I can help you search for information about artists or songs on YouTube, though. By the way, to unlock the full functionality of all Apps, enable Gemini Apps Activity."

I'm new to Android, so maybe I can somehow still preserve some privacy and have basic voice commands, but from what I saw, it required me to enable Gemini Apps Activity with a wall of text I had to agree to in order to get a simple command to play some music to work.

[bjelkeman-again]

That is the point when I turn around and walk away from that company.

[SoftTalker]

Just stop talking to your computer and use the screen interface, that still works.

[ChoGGi]

You can switch from Gemini back to Google assistant.

https://support.google.com/gemini/community-guide/309961682/...

[petre]

Siri still works fine, I guess. I almost never use it (Android user) but got exasperated with Apple CarPlay's menus and asked it to play something in my wife's car.

[Polizeiposaune]

We need consumer protection laws that protect against functional regressions like this -- if a widget could do X when I bought it, it should keep doing X for the life of the product and I shouldn't have to "agree" to an updated license for it to be able to keep doing X.

[bigstrat2003]

Or even updates that introduce new, undesired functionality. When I bought my PS4 (at launch), the section of the UI for video apps was pleasant and straightforward. It had the various video apps I had installed and that was it. Fast forward several years, and Sony updated the UI to prioritize showing apps that they wanted you to use (whether you had installed them or not), and even showed ads for movies and such.

I don't think it's asking too much to not make my product worse after I buy it, and I think we need legislation to prevent companies from doing that. I'm not sure what that would look like, and the government is bought and paid for by those same companies, so it's unlikely we will see that. But we do need it.

[Eddy_Viscosity2]

Which political party do I vote for to make this happen? In the US, both parties are fully captured by corporate lobbyists. The democrats put on a better show of being more consumer friendly, but when they are in power the sit on their hands. Republicans are full force anti-consumer. Even in the EU, who just passed chat control despite it being wildly unpopular are becoming less and less responsive to what the citizens actually want.

[Teever]

International coordinated action by consumers taking a company to small claims court at the same time around the world to see redress about defective products would be an effective strategy.

[Y_Y]

Are you proposing a "World Sue A Tech Giant Day"? A global bonanza of micro-litigation that bleeds AI-leviathans dry by a thousand cuts?

I'm in, but let's have it in October or something when I'm less busy.

[DrewADesign]

Yeah my pixel watch went straight into the trash. All set. Based on my conversations with folks working on these price products, it seems they simply can’t fathom why anybody is so concerned about privacy when giving it up yields so many useful products and services.

[verisimi]

> I have a pixel watch

you rented/leased a watch for an undefined amount of time.

[quantified]

Did you agree, or did you give up your data?

[throw-the-towel]

You still have automatic "updates" on? In 2025?