Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Audio / Video
  3. News

AI-generated ads will soon grace your TV screensavers

From idle to interactive: your TV’s finally got something to say!

Add as a preferred source on Google
glance-ai-directv-ads-screensaver
Glance x DirecTV

What’s happened? Earlier this year at CES, Glance announced that it will bring AI-driven TV screensavers. Now, it is living upto its promise by teaming up with DirecTV to make idle TV screens smarter and more fun. Starting in early 2026, users streaming via DirecTV Gemini devices will see their screensavers evolve from static wallpapers into immersive, AI-powered experiences.

  • Instead of staying idle, your screen could display personalized visuals, from trending videos and news bites to travel ideas and shoppable content
  • The experience is powered by AI built into the device, meaning it can learn what you like without sending your data all over the internet
  • You can even interact with what’s on screen to explore content, browse products, or just enjoy visuals that actually match your interests

Why is this important? This partnership signals that TV is evolving from passive viewing into an interactive gateway that will blend entertainment, shopping, and personalization into one seamless experience.

  • For DirecTV, it’s a smart way to stay relevant as streaming takes over and people spend less time on traditional TV channels
  • For Glance, it’s a chance to expand its lock-screen magic to a bigger screen
  • And for viewers? It’s a glimpse of how AI could make TV a two-way experience and not just something you stare at
  • Since the system uses on-device AI, it offers faster responses and better privacy

Why should I care? Because your TV might soon start knowing what you like, and it could actually be useful.

  • If this experiment succeeds, we can expect similar innovations across TVs, streaming boxes, and smart home devices.
  • You could discover cool videos, local updates, or even shop for things without reaching for your phone
  • The line between watching and interacting is blurring, making the living room a more dynamic space
  • And let’s be honest, if you’re going to stare at a screen anyway, it might as well do more than display a mountain photo
Manisha Priyadarshini
Manisha Priyadarshini is a tech and entertainment writer with over nine years of editorial experience.
I desperately want a new classic Walkman, but Sony probably can’t give me one
Tech minimalism is begging for a new Walkman. Though rebuilding it may be close to impossible
Sony Walkman WM2011

Every few months, another piece of tech that seems obsolete crawls out of a drawer and becomes cool again. The age of minimalism has revived the popularity of iPods among younger buyers. Dumbphones have become an escape hatch from endless notifications. Similarly, digital cameras are dangling from bags again. Physical media keeps attracting people who want something they can actually hold instead of another frustrating subscription.

All of this makes it the perfect time for Sony to bring back the classic Walkman, which was a phenomenon during the 80s and 90s. I would love one. Give me a compact cassette player, physical buttons, and wired headphones. Keep the apps, notifications, and algorithms that shape your taste of music. No more AI assistants or personalzied feeds, just you and your Walkman. There is only one problem though. Recreating the Walkman that people love and remember, would be far harder than putting an old design back into production.

Read more
Proton reveals how smart TVs track you and the escape situation is pretty grim 
Modern smart TVs fingerprint your screen content at the chipset level.
Google TV applications on the Sony A95K TV.

Your smart TV may know far more about your viewing habits than you realize, even if you rarely use its smart features. In a new privacy explainer, Proton warns that many modern TVs quietly collect data about everything displayed on the screen and share it with manufacturers, advertisers, and analytics companies.

The worrying part is that escaping this tracking is becoming increasingly difficult because many privacy controls are buried deep in settings or enabled by default. Proton argues that buying a smart TV today often means accepting a level of surveillance that most people never knowingly signed up for.

Read more
LG is cracking down on smart TV apps that quietly turn your TV into a secret proxy
LG OLED Settings

If you own an LG smart TV, there's a chance one of your harmless-looking apps has been moonlighting as an internet relay for someone else's traffic. According to a report from KrebsOnSecurity, LG says it's finally stepping in to stop this menace. This week, the company confirmed it plans to suspend any webOS app that turns a TV into what's called a residential proxy node.

The move follows a report from security firm Spur, which found that more than 42 percent of apps on LG's webOS store include SDKs that quietly reroute internet traffic through your TV, indefinitely. Samsung isn't spared either, with over a quarter of Tizen apps carrying similar code.

Read more