Microsoft buys Activision/Blizzard. Thoughts?

[WoodenSaucer]

Some people think its a good thing, I feel its an invasion. Younger generations won't think anything of having all their stuff reporting its status at all times. Being listened too. All the time.
Why does our washing machine need WiFi?
I don't even want a smart TV but its too late as brother bought us apple TV so its always listening anyway.
I don't want fridge telling supermarket what its empty of.

Haha. I'm almost 50 years old, and I have an Echo Dot (Alexa) in almost every room of my house. I also have lights that are controlled with it. I love it. The way I look at it is if there is somebody listening in on my house all the time, they have a very boring job. Lol

As for appliances, I saw a refrigerator with a WiFi-enabled large touchscreen on the door. You could write notes or a grocery list on it. You could watch Netflix or play Angry Birds on it. I'd never spend the money on that, but it was awesome.

The things that make the most sense to be connected to me are things that you might want to control from your phone away from home. Like I love smart thermostats. I can't have one, though, because I don't have the extra power wire they require. I know a lot of people freak out about this stuff. My brother is majorly against the thought of Big Brother watching us. I love it, though.

 

[Brian Boru]

Why does our washing machine need WiFi?

I assume so you don't have to remain housebound to use it? Who wants to be a slave to their washing machine?

I don't want fridge telling supermarket what its empty of

How about it telling you what it's out of, as you pull into the store parking lot on your way home from somewhere? Probably also save a lot of those "Remember the milk" texts or calls

Its not offering me anything new

Then you're not its target. Things like the above will be new for a lot of people tho, those are the target. I'd definitely like an app to turn on the outside lights and a couple of inside when I arrive home on a dark rainy night.

I think there's plenty of older people who don't realize at all how connected everything is nowadays

Oh for sure, and not just connected but also inter-dependent—eg the whole Supply Chain system might as well be on Red Dwarf for all they know of it.

an increase of privacy laws as time goes on, so it seems like we're going in the right direction

Yes, it and all the other new techs breaking thru at the moment are to be managed, not feared. People fear change in general, so it's important to factor in a comfort level as we adopt them—the changes, not the people

if there is somebody listening in on my house all the time, they have a very boring job

That's not how it would work. It would be AI sifting, looking for keywords or phrases.

a lot of people freak out about this stuff

Right. Back when they invented writing—I was a young 'un then, did I tell you I'm a Highlander?—you wouldn't believe the mass protests. "There's going to be a RECORD" Next step in that tech was printing. "Everyone will be able to read what I said"

Problem is they're right sometimes. Most of you won't remember the Chicxulub event, but the flyers were warning for hours. "The sky is falling!"

 

[Colif]

How about it telling you what it's out of, as you pull into the store parking lot on your way home from somewhere?

But I don't want my house knowing where I am all the time. I don't like being followed. I don't even like having a mobile phone. I try to leave it in other rooms and people bring it back to me...

I am what you say, Not the target audience.
I question who this helps more, me or advertisers who will know what I need before I do, and can tell me about their latest thing that I don't want.

 

[WoodenSaucer]

How about it telling you what it's out of, as you pull into the store parking lot on your way home from somewhere? Probably also save a lot of those "Remember the milk" texts or calls

Yeah, that's cool. But I did see a commercial for one thing that scares me. An HP printer that orders your ink for you when you're getting low. I don't want a machine deciding when to spend my money. That machine doesn't also have the ability to look at my checkbook and budget and make sure I'm in a good financial spot to order the ink before making a purchase.

That's not how it would work. It would be AI sifting, looking for keywords or phrases.

Oh, I know that. I was just being facetious. The only reason Amazon has an AI sifting through keywords and phrases is so they can target advertising to us to have better chances of their ads succeeding.

 

[Brian Boru]

I don't want a machine deciding when to spend my money

Already happens a lot, with all those 'Bill Pay' facilities banks have, plus of course the direct debit thing which has existed since last millennium. Then there are the monthly subs—Netflix, Game Pass etc etc—which happen automatically.

User choice and control—and regulation re default settings—is of course paramount.

 

[WoodenSaucer]

Already happens a lot, with all those 'Bill Pay' facilities banks have, plus of course the direct debit thing which has existed since last millennium. Then there are the monthly subs—Netflix, Game Pass etc etc—which happen automatically.

User choice and control—and regulation re default settings—is of course paramount.

Yeah, and I use all of that stuff, too. But there is one huge difference you're overlooking. With all of those, I know exactly when I'm going to get charged, and how much. I have it all built into my budget, and it works exactly the same every month. But with a printer, I have no idea when I'm going to run out of ink. It's not going to be every month on the 5th, or whatever, and it may need more or less cartridges replaced than last time. So at any time, the printer might decide it's time to buy ink, and maybe I'll need two of the cartridges replaced; who knows? You can't create a budget around that.

 

[flashn00b]

So i heard some news about testers at Raven Software wanting to form a union though that implies that Microsoft managed to restore their free will. Wonder if the souls of other Activision studios will be released.

 

[Pr0udCh0sen1]

I'm excited about this. Microsoft adds cloud streaming for all their games recently and adds them day one to gamepass on console and PC. They already stated they will keep the games going on other platforms. This also means that the catalogue of games should eventually release on Steam as most of their other games are.