Big Tech’s digital billboard revolution
By Jared Newman | Published: 2025-11-02 17:15:00 | Source: Fast Company – technology
For decades, technology companies have promised us a straight future Star Trek.
Instead of being limited to phones and computers, our digital lives will extend to a network of screens all around us, from connected TVs and smart refrigerators to kitchen countertop displays and car dashboards. Tech companies have called this “ambient computing” or “ubiquitous computing” and have praised how it will get technology out of the way so we can focus on the real world.
Here’s what we got instead:
They got the ambient part right, as we now surround ourselves with screens that we have no control over. But instead of blending into the background, screens do the opposite — they distract us with ads in hopes of padding their makers’ bottom lines.
Promises made
Ambient computing began In a more ideal environmentIn the late 1980s at the Xerox Palo Alto Research Center. Mark Weiser, head of the Computer Science Laboratory at PARC (and later chief technology officer), used this term Computing is everywhere To describe how an array of displays of different sizes worksTabs, pads and flaps“Everyone will work side by side to help people accomplish daily tasks.
“Machines that fit the human environment, rather than forcing humans into their environment, will make using a computer as refreshing as walking in the woods,” he wrote.
Technology companies began dusting off that idea a couple of decades later, as lightweight processors, low-cost displays, and broadband Internet connectivity made ambient computing more feasible.
In 2013, for example, Microsoft opened a “Visualization Center“To test surrounding computing ideas, including Head-to-toe touch screens for kitchens and common areas. Cisco showed a demo of “.”Second Screen 2.0A concept with screens that can be integrated with surrounding walls and provide personalized information as needed.
Samsung had a bolder vision, launching “World-centric viewA concept video filled with rotatable, foldable and transparent displays. “Technology starts loving you,” the video declared, before explaining how Samsung screens will one day wrap around coffee cups, spread from nightstands, light up inside car windows, and cover the walls of classrooms.
the term Ambient computing He settled down after a few years. In 2017, technology columnist Walt Mossberg used the term for Describe the technology that got out of your waySoon, Google and Amazon started working with him.
“Technology fades into the background when you don’t need it,” Rick Osterloh, senior vice president of devices and services at Google, said. Announced during the 2019 keynote. He continued to describe Google’s constellation of connected phones, watches, speakers and smart displays as “ambient computing” in the years since, and in 2022 called it the company’s “north star.”
Dave Limp, former senior vice president of devices and services at Amazon, preferred the similar term Ambient intelligencedescribes how cloud computing will power a network of gadgets ranging from Echo speakers to Fire TV streaming players. that Amazon developer blog post From 2021 he declared that “Ambience is the future” and will “make life easier and better without getting in your way”.
Once the stuff of fantasy, ambient computing arrived in earnest, but there was a problem: the ideal was at odds with how these companies made money.
Cheap monitors that you can’t control
It’s not enough to just sell a device, whether it’s a smart speaker, a connected TV, or a refrigerator with a built-in screen. Instead, technology companies expect these devices to generate revenue over time through advertising or subscriptions. In some cases they sell these products at a price Strongly low prices Hoping to recoup the investment later.
Meanwhile, the software running on these inexpensive displays offers much less control than a computer or even a phone. These terminals are increasingly dumb with cloud-controlled software, which means you have few resources when that software turns against you. While you can replace the search engine on your computer with one that doesn’t fill your screen with ads, there is no such alternative when your smart screen starts scrolling through banner ads or Use voice responses to sell shopping items.
Hardware is not easy to replace either. You might be comfortable with a single smart display or speaker, but what if you filled your home with them and built an entire smart home system around them? And what happens when TVs, refrigerators and car dashboards become digital billboards for good measure?
With all this in mind, Samsung and Microsoft’s flashy concept videos of early 2010 take on a different flavour. These companies have sold us a digital utopia powered by ubiquitous screens and connected software without ever explaining how they will pay for it.
Now that we’ve surrounded ourselves with the technology that makes it possible, the bill is finally due.
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(Tags for translation)Advertising
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