A HTPC requires a tech savvy person with a lot of free time. A Google TV box is better for most as they are as easy to use as the TVs own OS but don't have the crapware.
Buy an Onn / Thomson box, set it to apps only mode, and there you are. They're Google TV so Netflix is just as easy to use on it as on the TV itself, and as Google TV is Android based you can sideload whatever apps you want, copyright law compliant be damned.
I am okay with illegal immigrants being turned away as we have no idea about their criminal history and ignoring them allows drug dealers and gangs to sneak through.
But this is too far. Taking away the citizenship of those who have worked to legally become American for no reason but to hit a quota is not okay.
Onn / Thomson sticks seem to be the best available option.
They use the Google TV OS but you can turn off the tracking (Advertising ID / Usage Data / Personal Results) and enable apps only mode to disable Google's crap and have a clean UI with just your apps.
You can turn off resistFingerprinting in the settings then disable the URL tracking protection and URL shortener filter lists in uBlock Origin to fix it. I think Librewolf's default settings are too cautious as Mullvad Browser serves the maximum privacy niche.
They make money from non-tech savvy people who are recommended Firefox as the pro-consumer alternative but leave it on default settings which are just as bad as Chrome.
Exactly. I have heard a teacher at my college say he's switched to Firefox to get away from Chrome, however he is clearly not in the know as he has Adblock Plus installed in Chrome on his work machine instead of uBlock Origin.
I don't understand the downvotes. In the current market of the Chromium and Firefox duopoly the only real options we have are forks that remove the greedy features. Ladybird is not ready yet.
You currently have no other choice but to use Librewolf, Helium, or one of the other Firefox or Chromium forks if you want to minimise support for Mozilla and Google.
I agree, but for now, Librewolf is the best option we have.
Ladybird isn't very usable yet, and Librewolf removes the features that produce profit for Mozilla so you are not directly supporting them.
The alternative is Chromium based browsers, and Helium is a good Chromium equivalent to Librewolf if you prefer the Chrome engine, but it uses a greedy company's engine just like Librewolf, so the indirect support is identical.
You can already do that. Just skip the WiFi step in the setup then plug your own box into the HDMI port.
Google TV, WebOS and Tizen models let you do this, only Roku and Fire TV don't AFAIK.