You aren’t wrong, that’s all true. But also there are a lot of reasons to want to “free your TV”. The literal answer is that rooting your TV is difficult or impossible depending on the brand, and the technically true answer is that you can at least get away from the horrible manipulative interface pushed on you by the manufacturer without doing anything difficult. Better than nothing, IMO.

Why has no one mentioned Projectivy?

It’s a regular app, doesn’t require root (though it benefits from it). It’s free unless you want complicated parental controls (I pay for it but otherwise have no relation to it).

I have a Bravia TV, and with it I no longer have ads, I can change exactly what apps show up, including hiding Sony apps, and can totally customize the whole window.

Finding it was a huge relief for me, as there’s no point setting up parental controls for a small child when ads showing horror products show up anyway.

Hope that helps.

You’re very young to have decided that a partner will never happen for you.

The very best thing you can do is socialize without expectation of partnership and learn to have fun and enjoy flirting with people without the intention of following through. When you can get with a bunch of friends, laugh and flirt and go home alone and feel good about it, like appreciate the joy inherent in those moments without ruining it by pining for more… you will be doing yourself two favors.

One, you’ll stop feeling like not dating is celibacy - it’s just where you’re at.

Two, you’ll become much more attractive to potential partners, and you’ll find folks won’t care so much about your looks. The vibe will be way different, for real, because of the self-confidence inherent in enjoying your life without needing anything from anyone else.

Bonus - You might find, by flirting with people you have no intention of sleeping with, that your tastes expand. Just don’t tell a woman you’re not following through because she doesn’t meet your physical standards, that will get you in a dating blacklist in no time.

Being in my 40s, I am relieved to say that I keep finding women attractive that are my age, and I look at people in their 20s as, well, kids. Even in my porn, I keep looking for women more my age.

That’s true physically, but also emotionally. There is a humbling nearly all decent people seem to go through in their late 20s to 30s that at this point is a necessary point of bonding for me.

It’s been a long time since I’ve gone sailing. I do have Plex running but I don’t want to unsafely sail. I see some folks do alternate streaming but I’m sick of relying on a service that will yank things away, I want to store stuff.

I’d like to yarr, especially anything no longer available via any streaming, but I’m well past my Napster days and pretty positive I’ll screw it up, either privacy wise or safety wise.

I do know how to avoid keywords after that ISP-reddit court debacle, tho…