Smart TVs
The other day I read this article about an operating system for smart TVs, and I have to confess I was taken by surprise, though I shouldn't have been, by the idea that a TV would need an operating system. Of course it does; it's basically a small computer connected to the internet and attached to a display.
But there's a huge problem with this operating system. It is of course embedded with the TV. It's part of the package; you're not even aware of it. And now it's designed by an advertising giant, whose sole interest is to spy on you and flood you with advertising.
Then I realized that for once I was way ahead of the game, because I had turned my decidedly not smart TV into one years ago.
Here's what happened. In the Leastaction household we used to watch (and mostly still do) two things: PBS and Home and Garden Television. And occasionally Netflix. Most of our TV diet is PBS. It's the vegetables and grains component of our TV diet. So I decided one day it wasn't right that we were watching PBS for free, a broadcaster that depends to a large measure on voluntary donations from viewers. PBS is of course an American broadcaster, but in our Canadian neck of the woods it is served by KSPS in Spokane, Washington, which also covers Calgary and Edmonton as well as the American Northwest. (If there's one place in the US I'd like to visit once the nightmare is over and Donald Trump is finally jailed it's Spokane. I feel I know it already. )
So I decided to make a regular donation to PBS. Now this entitled me to access their web streaming service called PBS Passport. But then this required a browser, which should then be displayed on the TV. So obviously the TV had to be connected to a computer, via an HDMI cable.
A Raspberry Pi wouldn't work very well, but there is such a thing as minicomputers. They are just as efficient as a regular desktop, just very compact. You want a keyboard and mouse? Get a wireless one and put a dongle into one of the USB ports. You want a display? Plug one into the HDMI port. I went for a relatively inexpensive Chinese one, called Aerofara. Installing Linux Mint on it was a breeze, and voila, I had myself a smart TV. Our Samsung TV had two HDMI ports, so one would be for the regular cable TV service (remember Home and Garden TV), and the other for the Aerofara. Best of both worlds. On the minicomputer we could watch PBS Passport, and Netflix, and indeed anything that came over the internet. Over time I added Kanopy, the Calgary Public Library's free streaming service, CBC Gem, Vimeo, and a few other things.
The Linux desktop offered some nice customization features. You can easily set up a launcher with an icon that will run a program when you double click on it. So for example I could create one with the PBS logo that launches a browser with the URL of the PBS site. And you can also set a picture as the background, and there's a little app you can download that will change the picture every day. So I built up a library with pictures of the family, and we can see a different picture every day of our children or grandchildren when we watch TV. That's the sort of targeted advertising I want to see.
I want to emphasize that none of this is particularly difficult. You just have to know that these things exist, that Linux and minicomputers and HDMI cables exist. And now you do. I'm writing about this for a reason. I want to liberate people from invasive commercial technology. So, if you want a hand with creating your own smart TV, let me know. I will be more than happy to help.
PS: As I began to write about this, it occurred to me that there might already be a distribution of Linux specifically designed for making a TV smart, so I looked it up, and indeed there is . I haven't tried this yet, so I have nothing to say about it other than it exists. But I do have another little minicomputer, and you can be sure I will be experimenting with it. Stay tuned.
PPS: A reflection on the evolution of television in recent times. Web streaming services were a big blow to cable TV, but obviously they presented a difficulty: You need a browser. Hence smart TV's. Also, cable companies realized they could make a deal with streaming services like Netflix, and add them to their channel line-up. Telus has a Netflix button on their remote. I can't imagine how much Netflix paid for that button.