Do your electrical appliances come alive from time to time?

[Amy10223]

I am laughing now at this question but it's happened to me.

I am on my laptop, the TV is off and the remote is on my side table, no pets are near it. The TV (a Google one) just said out loud, "Hello there. How can I be of service?"
I don't think I'm crazy; I did hear that robotic voice just say that--and I've been doing nothing but studying as like to do in the morning. Years ago--I had a TV that would turn on by itself. In the middle of the night, as I walk across my living room, you name it, its would turn on by itself. Maybe whatever it is I left behind in NJ has followed me? This is really strange.

[mstbooblover]

Not being sure whether you mean it with this question or not, there is still the plain fact that putting an artificial intelligence in household devices will most probably now and then lead to similar funny situations.

Still, concerning my TV, it indeed sometimes behaves oddly: a channel switches to another without me having done anything, or the TV just switches off by itself... Mind it never switches ON by itself, for the plain reason I always put completely off the power. The phenomenons of switching off and the channel changing by itself, are most probably the result of someone in the neigbourhood manipulating their remote, and the signal, by some funny luck being reflected by walls and windows, reaching some other TV receptor.

Be still sure this can not happen once the plug removed from the wall... Just try the following with your TV switched on: aim for instance the remote to the wall or ceiling at a particular angle, and you'll notice it will work when you push the button for another channel or command. The same may happen with someone else manipulating their remote from a distance in another place. Mind that in this example I did not include any A. I., which would make things far worse.

Conclusion: when you go sleeping, pull the plug ;0)

[Amy10223]

Today, it turned on all by itself, while I was away from it. I was at my dining room and looked over when I saw it had turned on. This was early morning. I had had turned it off last night.

[mstbooblover]

Funny situation, and sometimes creepy depending on your mood. Did you forget to pull the plug? If you didn't pull the plug, some TV's can be programmed to switch on at a particular preset time. A bug, or a wrong configuration?

[Amy10223]

I don't know, but pulling the plug like that each night might disturb the router, no? I have it set up with all kinds of things. It's a Google television. Not sure what would happen.

[mstbooblover]

No idea, but still worth the test. I don't use any router, and my TV is just a plain TV connected to a general switch. The box delivering the TV programs is a separate device connected to a modem, and to the TV as a DVD player would be. Switching everything off is no problem. The TV program box and the modem on the other hand only need a few minutes to charge their programs and connections.

[Amy10223]

I have a router for all my WIFI connections, including the TV, laptop, and phone. I hate to depend on it, but I don't have an antenna, satellite dish, etc for them, unlike when I was younger and all we had was an antenna for the TV set.

[mstbooblover]

Here in Belgium there are still a few broadcasts available with a plain antenna. In your case, with everything on a router, maybe you'll just have to live with the TV sometimes bugging a little and behave oddly ;0)

[ChiTown33]

I used to own a "89" Pontiac Firebird when I was in my early 20's and I live in the upper Midwest. So we get some harsh winters comparatively to most the country. Well my firebird rode so low to the ground that it would always get stuck in the snow. And frequently I'd have my heavy ass door open so while I was rocking back and forth, seeing if I was getting anywhere. And when I'd put it into reverse it'd throw a lot of snow against my door. Some would invariably would get into the locks. And the result was once I got the car moving again, driving down the road, the snow in the locks would melt and the liquid would cause the locks to lock and unlock by themselves. So if anyone was riding with me I'd always have to explain why my door locks all of a sudden started acting possessed.😂

[spartan55]

Admit it, you drove KITT before turning it over to Michael Knight.

[ChiTown33]

@spartan55 what fun would that have been? I drove his evil twin KARR. 😂

[lightbulb27]

ugh, this stuff is terrible. they can. I've made cappuchinos at the most inopportune time... it just auto runs.

not to mention my new toothbrush lights up when it's charging. clearly some people are not thinking abotu global warming as they are wasting electrons.

Scotty... beam me up... no wait... there's no ship yet...

[Amy10223]

Haha... the cappuccino coffee maker made me laugh. My electric toothbrush does too, but only when I charge it. Pretty soon machines will be making their won decisions, eh?

[lightbulb27]

got that right. I can see great benefit to mankind for AI refrigerators, like the HAL9002 space odessy refrigerator.
"why won't this dang door open, I want some rice".
HAL: "I'm sorry Sarah, come back in 3 hours... you've had too many calories today, this is essential to longevity... you know that, check my AI for prooo... "
"I'm gonna unplug you... you have no righ..."
HAL: "Sarah, I control the door locks and the electricty... don't push your luck, and give me 20 pushups... it's good for you..."

[Amy10223]

Now, that would be a good thing for me. Maybe.

[BonzoInBitburg]

In my last house my tv and or lights in my family room would turn on at least once a week in the middle of the night. I moved my tv around to different outlets and different circuits but it kept happening. But it only happened in my family room. It only stopped when I moved.

[patois]

That's what happens when you install surveillance equipment in your home. People use it to watch and listen in on you.

[Amy10223]

That is tru. But the tv was off. And google voice came on. ?

[patois]

All "SMART" appliances have a remote start "feature" that will wake on LAN. So long as it is plugged into power, someone can turn it on by sending a signal to it. Many are wi-fi enabled as well meaning anyone within the range of the wi-fi device or anyone that gains access to your wi-fi router can turn the device on if they know what they are doing.

[AviatorTom]

Smart devices are always on, listening for commands, and sometimes even taking video, even when you think they are not on. That includes phones, computers, TVs, cameras and other devices. Its all part of the Internet-of-Things (IoT) that procreates our world today.

[DarkLegacy]

This is the problem with smart devices. They can operate by themselves if there is a glitch, or someone else can operate them by hacking.

[Amy10223]

I didn’t know that.

[Wiredone]

It's a long shot but maybe someone in your neighborhood has the same TV. Your remote and theirs might be on the same frequency. When I was younger and living home with my parents, the neighbor used to control our garage door when he opened or closed his and we controlled theirs the same way.

We have a TV in our living room and the kitchen. If Im Standing by the living room tv I can also control the kitchen tv.

[andreasderjuengere]

Strange, indeed.
Have you tried to talk to them about it?
Perhaps you can convince them to stay off.
-
My own electric stuff behaves well. They know how not to disturb me.

[Amy10223]

Who is them?

[andreasderjuengere]

Them, the machines.

[TheSpaceGnome]

I don't buy "smart" tech, so that doesn't happen to me, often voice activated stuff is designed to always be on even when you turn it "off".

Never buy that garbage.

[exitseven]

Alexa is always listening. It is creepy when she says something out of the blue. I just know that Bezos is giving all the data to the democrats.

[Unit1]

That's what happens when you give your devices "smart" and sensors such as ears (microphones).

Non-smart devices never do that unless they were configured to.

[spartan55]

You want to really freak out? Find the movie Maximum Overdrive and give it a look...😂

[NathanDavis]

I'm actually a very smart chair...

[Amy10223]

Haven't heard of that yet, a smart chair.

[NathanDavis]

well, now we can say you have... lol

you should probably have your electrical wiring checked, by the way... or something like that

[Amy10223]

It was off--so I don't have a clue, and I thought it was impossible. But--now that I think about it--while on Zoom once--it did turn on, or a voice turned on really loud for a few seconds--I thought it was the neighbors upstairs. So it's faulty but it's coming on while it's off. I'll blame Google.

[NathanDavis]

if it's Google's Assistant or anything alike then yes... those never sleep, and they're always listening...

[Amy10223]

It’s like it’s alive. Shut down or not!

[Wise4myage]

My TV turned on by itself once.

[Amy10223]

Mine would turn on so many times--I thought there was something electrical wrong with it. So when I once had an electrician come to my home to fix something--I asked him to check the tv out to see why it was turning on like that. His response: Nothing wrong with the TV; and I might have a "presence" in the home. True story! I'm glad he was flexible in his thinking--but I did throw the tv out after a while because it was too strange. Now this one is acting up--while not being on--and it's unexplainable.

[Wise4myage]

That’s spooky.

[laly520]

happens sometimes