Amazon won't release Fire Sticks that support sideloading anymore

croes

So goodbye FireTV sticks. Getting worse on every metric isn’t a system seller

cyanydeez

On the plus side, they'll probably vibe code a bunch of security vulnerability and the highseas will be filled with a new generation of pirates!

ranger_danger

How does this work when apps use GPLv3? Isn't the user supposed to be given a way to replace/update the code themselves?

bigyabai

Boy, I sure am glad that HN contributed to the vilification of sideloading.

BFV

Sideloading was basically the main reason people picked Fire Sticks over more locked-down options. Without it, it just becomes another closed streaming box, and a lot of the “power user” appeal disappears.

j45

Is this supposed to stop Android folks?

fishgoesblub

"Sideloading" is just a term to make installing software on your own hardware sound scary.

mattmaroon

Meh. These sorts of restrictions are a problem with cell phones because you have two choices. For this application, you can just get a raspberry pi for about the same price. And they’re not even taking it away from ones that I already had it. They just aren’t selling the ability anymore so you know it when you bought it.

y-c-o-m-b

I'm personally seeing an explosion of people embracing piracy. People that were previously vehemently opposed to it (like my in-laws) are now pirating large amounts of content. The rise in streaming service costs while simultaneously reducing catalog content is pushing a lot of these folks over. What we have now is almost worse than cable TV, so it makes sense.

yjftsjthsd-h

So does the fire stick have any advantages over Walmart's Onn streaming sticks?

dataflow

What's the best Fire Stick model that doesn't have this issue?

an0malous

I don’t know how, but somehow this is Apple’s fault

spwa4

This sort of thing brings back the late 2000's in Europe. Governments demanding devices "don't support piracy". Tech giants (really: Microsoft) responding, kind of, and failing.

burnt-resistor

The one of most important things alternative app stores allowed on Fire Sticks was the ability to change the apps remote buttons invoked rather than whichever dumb partners Amazon foisted on its users. Now, it becomes a jail break necessity for reusing and freeing locked-down corporate garbage. Oh and a hack to remove home screen ads or replace the home screen launcher would be awesome.

ottah

These devices and services are not nearly as sticky as these greedy lizards want to believe they are.

like_any_other

> In the fall, Amazon started blocking apps that the Alliance for Creative and Entertainment, a global anti-piracy group, has blacklisted. I love how corporations are building an ecosystem where they don't have to bother with courts or the police, they can just ask each-other to limit what citizens, sorry, consumers can do. Fortunately they also spy on us profusely, which makes it less likely they get it wrong when those restrictions are used in more punitive ways.

raw_anon_1111

All of the streaming devices except for the AppleTV are sold at or below cost subsidized by advertising. If you care about a good streaming devices with anything above bottom of the barrel hardware and you don’t want to buy an Apple device, get an Nvidia Shield.