Smart TVs are not great

Have you noticed the product recommendations on Amazon whenever its ~~spy~~ Echo device is in the same room as you and hears your conversations?

I usually ignore these recommendations anyway because they are actually way off of what I’m looking for (or already have it) so there is no value in these personal advertisements.

BTW, personalized ads is something that I opt out whenever I can. I do not want or need them. But Amazon thinks I need to see it anyway – which makes me just more mad at them.

Always worth a rant, Amazon. Haha. Now actually I wanted to note that I removed the microphone of my smart TV. I own that device since 2018/19 and it actually never came to my mind that these devices could also spy on your conversations – but the possibility is there and since I never use the voice command function of my smart TV I decided to remove the mic.

close up pic of the hole in the remote control — The hole for the mic on my remote control is located at the top

The mic is usually located very easily, though the elements below the hole are very, very small. I used a sharp cutting knife and a sharp side cutter to remove the tiny circuit board.

a picture of the circuit board and the shielding — There is a very small hole in the shielding that surrounds the small components on the “microphone circuit board”

picture of the cutter: a sharp triangle kind of blade — These are often used on electronics workbenches to cut all sorts of things

The microphone circuit board was connected on four points which I cut with this cutter slowly and precise.

for reference: same as before, but with the head of a match beside - they are like the same size — A reference picture so you get a clue how small this circuit board actually is