> Given that these new cameras that need accounts sure aren’t showing ads on the feeds either
You haven't noticed many of the companion apps for IoT(of Shit) have those "store"/"discover'/"savvy user center" sections where they try their best to get you to buy more of their devices? Plus a barrage of notifications, in-app banners or emails how you're eligible for a "discount" or "promo"?
This - plus online services (re-broadcasting outside of home network, recording storage, face/object/sound recognition and notifications, etc - any software features that can be pay-gated, especially those that can't be done on-device because the device is ultra-cheap) is how they make money.
> I can only conclude that they must be selling access to feeds
I'm skeptical. Who's the buyer and what are they going to do with those feeds to make them useful? And if it's for something remotely legal - how they're going to untaint this data?
This works in cyberpunk novels - cameras sweeping data, AIs detecting that a neighborhood is $brand turf, classifying all the individuals, ..., massive profit! But reality is messier and way less logical than any fiction (and we don't have any AIs yet, while fiction has them abundant and dirt-cheap). Out of curiosity, I've just had a long session with GPT-4 (which is a really uneconomical way to do advertising, but maybe in 5-10 years?), telling it all I see in my room in extreme detail, down to all the scuff marks and pet hairs. It wasn't exactly bad - it managed to realize the obvious (which is much cheaper to deduce from my search and purchase history, huh), but let's say I haven't made any new records on my purchase list.
You haven't noticed many of the companion apps for IoT(of Shit) have those "store"/"discover'/"savvy user center" sections where they try their best to get you to buy more of their devices? Plus a barrage of notifications, in-app banners or emails how you're eligible for a "discount" or "promo"?
This - plus online services (re-broadcasting outside of home network, recording storage, face/object/sound recognition and notifications, etc - any software features that can be pay-gated, especially those that can't be done on-device because the device is ultra-cheap) is how they make money.
> I can only conclude that they must be selling access to feeds
I'm skeptical. Who's the buyer and what are they going to do with those feeds to make them useful? And if it's for something remotely legal - how they're going to untaint this data?
This works in cyberpunk novels - cameras sweeping data, AIs detecting that a neighborhood is $brand turf, classifying all the individuals, ..., massive profit! But reality is messier and way less logical than any fiction (and we don't have any AIs yet, while fiction has them abundant and dirt-cheap). Out of curiosity, I've just had a long session with GPT-4 (which is a really uneconomical way to do advertising, but maybe in 5-10 years?), telling it all I see in my room in extreme detail, down to all the scuff marks and pet hairs. It wasn't exactly bad - it managed to realize the obvious (which is much cheaper to deduce from my search and purchase history, huh), but let's say I haven't made any new records on my purchase list.