What's a big tech product that you actually find useful?
Most of us in Lemmy know the importance of privacy and owning your devices in a big tech owned world (me included) but for once I thought to make the opposite question and ask if there are products by them that you actually use and enjoy them.
Important to say, I mean products you use even though there are alternatives, not monopolies like YouTube.
I’m not sure if that would count. I certainly find them useful for my main hobby. Which is playing video games. And they are made by big tech companies. 🤷🏻♂️
I’m glad you’ve had good luck with your Samsung TV. We have a Q60 and I absolutely despise it. I can’t wait to get rid of it. Apple TV had made it useable, so I’ll probably stick with it until it dies. My problem with it is the OS. It’s absolutely garbage in my opinion, and slow as hell.
My TV is very old, it only has 1080p with 50 hertz. I don’t usw the OS of the TV itself very offen, but what I can say is that, when switching sources it’s a real pain, especially with HDMI-CEC.
I have Google smart speakers in every room except the children’s rooms. the fact that the music can be played synchronously in every room alone is worth my data to me.
I love Google maps but recently the “Recommendations” and “Reviews for things close by” gets annoying. It’s.becoming intrusive that I might switch to other service. I just want A to B direction, not “A to B and everything in between you might like.”
I feel like it depends on where you are. I used to travel a lot for work and Google maps would be less reliable than Here maps. Kept taking me to unpaved roads that no one used or like dead-ends. It was even more useless in a lot of third world countries I went to. They are really good at navigating around traffic and their POI data is way bigger than any other mapping solution.
I have too many to name honestly but one that comes to mind (but not really “big”) is a travel router.
It’s amazing being able to VPN into either my cloud server or home network all over an encrypted WireGuard tunnel. I use the same SSID/password as my home network so that I only connect the travel router itself to whatever network (Ethernet, WiFi and even hotel WiFi with the terrible portal) and all my devices just automatically get online.
Important to say, I mean products you use even though there are alternatives, not monopolies like YouTube.
I don’t think this is quite true when it comes to YouTube. There are plenty of alternatives that content creators could use (and some do), from Vimeo to Nebula to PeerTube.
The reason content creators prefer to upload on YouTube are the user base and monetization opportunities. They’re not forced to do so, and in fact YouTube is facing competition from e.g. Twitch and TikTok.
I fuckin’ hated it and even the idea when it was new. I liked updates and being able to download my games (even though I just had dial-up at the time; it was slow, but at least I could get any game and not just what was available at the local EB). I didn’t like the idea of not having it stored off-site, though. I didn’t like the interface or having to run an extra thing. I especially didn’t like not being able to use the online gaming services I had been using for years because they shut down WON.
The thing I like most about Steam is that games under Linux just work, for the most part. I don't play AAA games online multiplayer which is, I believe, where that falls down, but other than that it really is pretty seamless
This, my dad refuses to download proton or lutris and prefers to use wine baseline, and he has been waiting for months now for his game to be playable again, meanwhile I’m over here installing games right and left and just playing them, even newly released games, it just works (most of the time)
Even then with AAA multiplayer, it's not a guarantee it's unplayable. Every Halo game on Steam works just fine, and Apex Legends was one of the first AAA MP games to support the Deck.
Agreed. I hate, however, that I don't "own" the games, I can't play game A on computer 1 and game B on computer 2 at the same time even though I bought game A and game B.
You can with Family Sharing. It also can be done a bit easier with some games that are otherwise DRM free by just running the executable from its install directory instead of through steam. Like Kerbal Space Program.
The latter method will even sometimes allow you to play the same game on two machines over the internet. I don’t know if you can do that with Family Share.
Not sure if it’s big tech but anyways… The Stream Deck (not to be confused with the Steam Deck portable gaming console). This macro keyboard brought my productivity through the roof and now I don’t understand how I went so long without it.
Yes I guess you’re right… I wouldn’t know because I don’t stream or create content. The device is marketing towards those types… But it’s really a productivity tool that anyone can use.
No one product, but more of a collection of technologies underlying the Apple ecosystem. For example, AirDrop or Continuity (drafting something on one device and continuing/finishing on another).
Universal Control is pretty magical. I love having both my work and personal laptops connected to an ultrawide monitor and using my mouse/keyboard (actually Magic Trackpad, Magic Keyboard) across the two.
When I’m waiting for something for work I can slide the cursor over and do something on my personal computer.
My only paranoia is that the work laptop can track what I’m typing but that’s why I use the peripherals connected to the personal laptop to control everything.
I love my Google Home and how it’s connected to my Phillips Hue bulbs. I love being able to just yell “hey Google, nightlight” when I stumble home after a long night out, no need to fight with switches and too-bright lights after drinking
I have 3 Google nest mini speakers or whatever they’re called, and I bought these smart outlets at target.
Connected 2 of them in the master bedroom, to bedside lamps for wifey and i. Being able to use the Google home app from our phones to control, or as you said just “hey Google, turn on Daddy’s lamp” is fucking solid. I hate flicking on light switches. Never realized it until I set this up.
I use Home Assistant to connect all the proprietary trash together but talk to my Watch rather than a smart speaker. I just haven’t got into the speaker lifestyle thus far.
Honestly… I might get some pushback for this but Chromecast audio. Being able to get full home audio streaming for a fraction of the cost of a normal system with a few of those and a few old hifis. Worth it for me
I had some best buy house brand speakers that stopped working in groups when Sonos won their case. They were battery powered and sounded great! But they didn’t get updated so now they’re e-waste.
Where I am, your ISP always provides a free TV streaming box with your router. They’ve been Android for years now so my Chromecasts have been stuck in a drawer gathering dust
Ah this isn’t the chromecast streaming devices I’m talking about. It’s the older pucks that plug into an aux cable that you can stream music from your phone to
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