Ads and tracking infiltrated TVs. Now they’re coming for monitors.

Monitor vendors are playing with fire.
Scharon Harding – Aug 24, 2026 4:17 PM 

Credit: SeongJoon Cho/Bloomberg via Getty Images


Consumer CheckpointThe tech products we rely on are constantly changing. Sometimes those changes bring improvements; other times, they frustrate users or make beloved products worse.

Each month, we’ll examine the biggest controversial changes to tech products: what changed, why it’s happening, how users are affected, and how companies can do better.

Ads and tracking have turned TVs into privacy nightmares. Both are so widespread among smart TVs that I’ve written a guide for avoiding them. One recommendation in that guide is to use a computer monitor. But in recent years, monitors have become more capable of pushing ads and tracking users.

Without more straightforward approaches from vendors, such as easily comprehensible privacy policies and avoiding inappropriate ads, monitors are dangerously encroaching into smart-TV-like territory.

Tech giant is rolling out new robots to replace workers in hotels, airports and supermarkets

South Korean tech giant LG Electronics said Thursday it will showcase three new "concept robots" at next week's consumer electronics show in Las Vegas

A McKinsey report released in November said that up to 800 million workers could be affected globally by automation and the rise of artificial intelligence

Tech companies are testing robots to carry out various tasks that could affect the services industry, which employs nearly 50 percent of the global workforce, according to the International Labour Organization

Saheli Roy Choudhury | @sahelirc

Published 9 Hours Ago Updated 1 Hour Ago CNBC.com

Source: LG
LG launches self driving robots to assist travelers at South Korean airport.


A Korean tech giant on Thursday announced new robots that take aim squarely at the jobs of many services industry workers around the globe.

There have long been predictions that advances in artificial intelligence and automation could end up eliminating millions of jobs over time, and tech companies have been testing robots to carry out a variety of tasks — from working in a pizza parlor to making deliveries that could greatly affect the services industry in the future.

For its part, South Korean giant LG Electronics is the latest company that is planning to sell robots to solve tasks currently completed by humans.

On Thursday, LG said it will showcase three new "concept robots" at the global consumer electronics show, CES, in Las Vegas next week. Those robots are designed for commercial use at hotels, airports and supermarkets, according to the company. An LG spokesman later told CNBC that the robots are still "concept" products and that they are "a long way from ready to go public."