#while running adblockers no less

[clatterbane]

Actually just saw something else about this.

Youtube confirms intentional slowdown of adblock users 🤦‍♂️

(Where this guy is a pretty well established anti-fan of Google in general.)

This was still a shitty move, but in a more expected direction given some of their other behavior lately.

I haven't personally verified this as I'm not at a computer, but multiple people in multiple places are saying the same thing. This is fucking insane. First the endless war on UBlock, then the Chromium changes to shut out some blocker functionalities entirely next year, now this?

Something is deeply rotten in recent Google/YouTube policy. I can't imagine that this is legal - how is this not anticompetitive? Google needs to get mega fucked in the press and the courts sooner rather than later.

And I need to switch to Firefox as soon as I get home.

[all-the-fish]

Oh, you know, just the usual internet browsing experience in the year of 2024

Some links and explanations since I figured it might be useful to some people, and writing down stuff is nice.

First of all, get Firefox. Yes, it has apps for Android/iOS too. It allows more extensions and customization (except the iOS version), it tracks less, the company has a less shitty attitude about things. Currently all the other alternatives are variations of Chromium, which means no matter how degoogled they supposedly are, Google has almost a monopoly on web browsing and that's not great. Basically they can introduce extremely user unfriendly updates and there's nothing forcing them to not do it, and nowhere for people to escape to. Current examples of their suggested updates are disabling/severly limiting adblocks in June 2024, and this great suggestion to force sites to verify "web environment integrity" ("oh you don't run a version of chromium we approve, such as the one that runs working adblocks? no web for you.").

uBlockOrigin - barely needs any explanation but yes, it works. You can whitelist whatever you want to support through displaying ads. You can also easily "adblock" site elements that annoy you. "Please log in" notice that won't go away? Important news tm sidebar that gives you sensory overload? Bye.

Dark Reader - a site you use has no dark mode? Now it has. Fairly customizable, also has some basic options for visually impaired people.

SponsorBlock for YouTube - highlights/skips (you choose) sponsored bits in the videos based on user submissions, and a few other things people often skip ("pls like and subscribe!"). A bit more controversial than normal adblock since the creators get some decent money from this, but also a lot of the big sponsors are kinda scummy and offer inferior product for superior price (or try to sell you a star jpg land ownership in Scotland to become a lord), so hearing an ad for that for the 20th time is kinda annoying. But also some creators make their sponsored segments hilarious.

Privacy Badger (and Ghostery I suppose) - I'm not actually sure how needed these are with uBlock and Firefox set to block any tracking it can, but that's basically what it does. Find someone more educated on this topic than me for more info.

Https Everywhere - I... can't actually find the extension anymore, also Firefox has this as an option in its settings now, so this is probably obsolete, whoops.

Facebook Container - also comes with Firefox by default I think. Keeps FB from snooping around outside of FB. It does that a lot, even if you don't have an account.

WebP / Avif image converter - have you ever saved an image and then discovered you can't view it, because it's WebP/Avif? You can now save it as a jpg.

YouTube Search Fixer - have you noticed that youtube search has been even worse than usual lately, with inserting all those unrelated videos into your search results? This fixes that. Also has an option to force shorts to play in the normal video window.

Consent-O-Matic - automatically rejects cookies/gdpr consent forms. While automated, you might still get a second or two of flashing popups being yeeted.

XKit Rewritten - current most up to date "variation "fork" of XKit I think? Has settings in extension settings instead of an extra tumblr button. As long as you get over the new dash layout current tumblr is kinda fine tbh, so this isn't as important as in the past, but still nice. I mostly use it to hide some visual bloat and mark posts on the dash I've already seen.

YouTube NonStop - do you want to punch youtube every time it pauses a video to check if you're still there? This saves your fists.

uBlacklist - blacklists sites from your search results. Obviously has a lot of different uses, but I use it to hide ai generated stuff from image search results. Here's a site list for that.

Redirect AMP to HTML - redirects links from their amp version to the normal version. Amp link is a version of a site made faster and more accessible for phones by Bing/Google. Good in theory, but lets search engines prefer some pages to others (that don't have an amp version), and afaik takes traffic from the original page too. Here's some more reading about why it's an issue, I don't think I can make a good tl;dr on this.

Also since I used this in the tags, here's some reading about enshittification and why the current mainstream internet/services kinda suck.

[shinelikethunder]

THANK YLU SO MUCH OH MY WORD????? I actually feel like I understand all of this now… thank you for going through it so thoroughly, that’s so nice of you oh my gosh🥺

Also yeah Firefox rules— but… ahsjshdh again, weird question, any particular extension you’d recommend (other than uBlock origin)? I’ve seen people say you should keep extensions to a minimum as to not make your browser fingerprint super unique or something? But blocking cookies does sound cool, and I also didn’t know you could do that w/ extensions? I’ll leave you alone now I promise😭

you're welcome! i can't believe i've become one of the obnoxious Linux evangelists, but much like Tumblr, it's become the least-bad OS left standing just by continuing to get minor quality-of-life improvements while its competitors race to make themselves annoying to the point of unusability.

so the thing about browser fingerprinting is 1. it's less common than abuse of tracking cookies, and exists partially as a fallback to keep tracking you even when you're blocking the easier methods, 2. Firefox now does its best to block it, 3. if you're using Firefox on a desktop Linux computer, that is probably much more identifying in and of itself than any given combination of popular extensions. i've pretty much embraced privacy nihilism on that particular issue.

you still want to be choosy about your add-ons, though, because they can see and manipulate pretty much everything you do in your browser, and malicious ones can really fuck your shit up. uBlock Origin is maybe the most trusted adblocker out there, Multi-Account Container tabs is developed by Mozilla itself, and Privacy Badger is an EFF project, so i have no qualms recommending any of them. personally i run a few more on top of that: Decentraleyes and ClearURLs to mop up a couple more kinds of tracking crud; separate extensions to force all Amazon/Facebook/etc browsing to be quarantined in dedicated containers; a password manager; and just for the sake of fun & minor website tinkering, Tampermonkey and XKit Rewritten. your mileage may vary on the risks vs. benefits; useful and popular browser add-ons have been taken over in the past by bad actors.

i'm definitely not claiming this add-on stack is a cure-all for anything, because there's no way to fully escape the data parasites while still existing in society. it does, however, noticeably increase my level of peace and fucking quiet on the interweb, as well as affording me the petty satisfaction of making their jobs more difficult.

[oidheadh-con-culainn]

Yeah from the looks of things on google, while both Android and iPhone offer stop/reduce motion in their accessibility settings, one would have to do some major programming within the phone itself to guarantee no movement on any app. Maybe someone out there is working on/could be commissioned for an app that could do such a thing, but it may require a fairly up to date phone to even have hope of running both that app and the app you're attempting to use.

(doesn't help that most of the google results are just tips for web devs to keep in mind when designing their sites, rather than solutions for the user's side)

Still, it sounds doable for the right person, and there might be a nonprofit willing to look into assisting with that.

it really shouldn't be necessary, though

like, i already have autoplay turned off in the tumblr app, so gifs or videos only play when i click on them (and thus not when i'm scrolling past, which is a big vertigo trigger). except for some reason tumblr decided this rule doesn't apply to adverts. so although they've now fixed the part where they autoplay with sound, they still override my app settings to autoplay, making them both a visual hazard and deeply fucking annoying

it shouldn't be on me to figure out a workaround to that, though! i already toggled the relevant setting! it's hostile web design to let things continue to move when a user has told them not to!

plus nobody wants their websites to have things readily visible and everyone wants flashy transitions when you click on a menu so everything's slipping and sliding about all over the place. my platonic ideal of a website belongs somewhere to the 2006-2011 era where we'd mostly got past the eyestrain colour combos and tiny text of the early 00s but we weren't yet into Everything Moves. think your average 2010 wordpress blog with a wide main column of text occasionally punctuated by an image, a static sidebar with page links, and a static top menu beneath a still image header which would take you to other pages. if you clicked on a link, the new page loaded. there was no transition animation. nothing whipped itself to the side and was replaced by ten more images. you also didn't need ten different adblockers to hide all the intrusive pop-ups and interjections

bonus: imagine how much less data this would use when browsing on mobile

[daz4i]

listen. sometimes idm ads. i do want sites i use or youtubers i watch frequently to earn money so i can keep using/watching them, and i won't spend money myself, so this is a good compromise.

the problem is!!!!! ads make these sites lag, sometimes cover pages and make them unusable, or they clog videos and pop up so often and are so long they're practically as long as the video itself, to the point i just stop watching youtubers who have too many ad breaks even if i do like their content

and i gotta say, i don't get it? like being annoyed with an ad won't make me want to get the product - and i know that's not the point, the point is to put it at the front of your mind for when you or someone you know need the product this company provides - and i do end up clicking ads for things i find interesting sometimes

and the thing is. with video ads especially. i think smaller is better for everyone. one 5 seconds ad is so much less annoying than a 20 seconds one or even just two 5 seconds ads, even if it appears multiple times per video, bc psychologically it feels more bearable, yknow? the product is still gonna be in my subconscious or w/e but now i won't associate it with being painfully annoyed, so this is better for the advertisers too. so why not go for that!

also, sometimes ads are taken straight from tv directly to youtube (probably why some are very long), and the problem with that is their volume. like. if i'm watching smth in the middle of the night and your car insurance ad is twice as loud as the video i'm watching, i'm gonna hate it even more (a friend who learned copywriting told me they make ads louder on tv bc if you lower your volume during an ad break and tune out or just change channels quickly, it's more likely to catch your attention this way. i get that but why not just do this very minor adjustment when you sell that ad to youtube. please)

as for websites, some of these ads are so fucking evil 😭 i ranted abt this before but oh my god weight loss and especially fasting apps ads should be illegal i am not even slightly exaggerating. ads literally being malware??? not even getting into how scary algorithms can get.

and as i mentioned about lags, so many ads running at the same time, or the same ad space changing rapidly make things so slow that i once again have to wonder who's benefitting from this. i can't even see what some of the ads are bro, and i don't want to, but like, you're just losing money here, and if i know a site doesn't work well with ads enabled i will either switch to a browser with adblock (tbc, talking abt mobile here. firefox's app is shitty but necessary) or, if i can't use adblock, won't use that site anymore. so again. who's benefitting from this.

idk what the point of this rant is. ads today literally exist for the sake of existing i swear. i don't think they help sell things more at this point, which is the whole point of ads in the first place. and for smaller or newer businesses, they sometimes have to raise prices to make up for paying for their advertising campaign (drew gooden's videos about buying random items he gets ads for showcase this phenomenon well i think) which makes people less likely to buy them, and i can't help but wonder if some products would be better if their companies spent less money on just advertising them and instead actually invest in quality (see also: any shady company that targets youtubers for sponsorships constantly while having an extremely bad product, or barely paying their employees a living wage, etc)

anyway yeah these are my probably not too uncommon thoughts on the matter. have a nice rest of the day

[forklift-certified-catgirl]

Honestly the reason I didn't switch to firefox for years was because people got so pretentious about it, and now that I *do* use it, the only benefits are that it has an internal task manager, and it's not google so I don't have to worry about adblockers suddenly vanishing. It doesn't even use less memory like was advertised for years, it often uses *more* while running more or less equally well, and it doesn't deal with rss well

The biggest reason to switch to Firefox for me is the more popular and the more people use Firefox, the less of a monopoly Google will have on the browser market. Also the fact that we will always have adblockers and the amount of privacy features Firefox keeps adding to the browser by default is really nice and makes me feel much safer browsing the web.

If we let all these chromium BASED browsers best out Firefox, suddenly Google has an almost complete monopoly on browsers to do with whatever they want. And frankly I do not want Google managing how I use the web.

[werewolf-kat]

How can Google's decisions for Chrome get any WORSE? What on earth is this?!

The gist: Google wants to implement a "feature" for website owners/developers to be selective on who can see their website. These devs (or their malicious higher-ups) could block out or limit Firefox users, Safari users, open source or indie browsers, etc. from their website; and worst of all, they could block or limit as far as the device you use.

Major concerns:

How can people even WANT this other than corrupt companies trying to force competing users to tediously go through the needed hoops to access the website? There's already the web design standard of optimizing load times to be welcoming for visitors. This ain't going to encourage anyone to have interest in your website (or its company by extension). It really will be a test of consumer trust.

Worryingly, lazy or more apathetic web developers might use this to dance around compatibility challenges in their websites. I've seen my fair share of these types of devs in the community who take the frustration of browser compatibilities too far. They're a minority (thankfully, seen in the video is the Chrome repository getting completely flooded with criticisms). But, yeah, pro-tip to web developers: Learn to prioritize the layout and order of your content in plain HTML first before you jump into design. And then build the CSS from there in a "ranking" of completely compatible with all browsers, to less compatibilities. So you can manage and keep track of how your site will look on anything out there.

The sheer fear and worry for accessibility in web design that I'm feeling from this, man. Again, it's not just browsers... Malicious entities making decisions for websites could block out or further limit accessibility devices (if they're counted) because of the extra work that comes with ensuring a website is accessible to a wide range of disabled or impaired users. I can't fully tell if screen reader software could somehow get affected, but who knows how far Google will want to go in this nightmare of a proposal.

Read more on this situation:

"It is also interesting to note that the first use case listed is about ensuring that interactions with ads are genuine. While this is not problematic on the surface, it certainly hints at the idea that Google is willing to use any means of bolstering its advertising platform, regardless of the potential harm to the users of the web."

Vivaldi Article

||

"The proposal threatens the free and open internet in a number of ways, but one of the biggest revolves around the fact that should there be a central server that attests to whether a browser can be trusted or not, it means that anything non-standard will not be trusted. In other words, new browsers would not be trusted, and legacy software would no longer be able to access much of the internet after a certain length of time. Given that it verifies the integrity of the browser, it could also technically block certain extensions (such as Adblock) if Google were to go down that route."

XDA Developers

||

"What makes the fingerprinting process somewhat insidious is that, unlike web cookies, no residue is left on a user’s computer – everything can be stored in the cloud. The fingerprint data can be collected even if users run private or incognito browsing sessions. Worse yet, each user’s fingerprint can be shared across websites without the user’s knowledge."

Silicon Angle

[diet-poison]

This is mostly already here in the US, shows I've watched two or three times ad-less are now all under "Watch With Ads"

HOWEVER. At least for right now (youtube is real fucked but hopefully ublock will catch up), if you watch Hulu and Amazon "With Ads" with ublock origin and adblock plus both installed in Firefox (I think you only need UbO but I have both cause I dunno what I'm doooiiing) it blocks all the ads!! There might be a stuttering moment of black when they want to run the ad and it can't, and a few months back Hulu got real fucked out when they tried to do some stuff to get around adblockers (long story), but a couple days later it was back to normal.

TLDR: -Firefox (I had some problems with Chrome/Hulu a while back) -Ublock Origin & Adblock Plus -Blocks the ads on Hulu and Amazon confirmed (11/28/2023) -I don't know about Netflix cause I pay their accursed fee

Source

Source

[eigwayne]

I restarted The Golden Eyes, which I had watched the first eps of and then had to find a new viewing platform, because iQiyi does that thing where they upload the first 1-5 eps of a show and the rest is only available on their own app for premium members. And I am that stubborn person that won't pay for yet another streaming site unless it's a necessity. And if I didn't get premium iQiyi for Ultimate Note I am damn well not going to get it for The Golden Eyes. Sorry not sorry.

Anyways, it's available with ads on Rakuten Viki. Viki's anti-adblocking is actually better than my current setup but their ads are also less frequent and obnoxious than Youtube, so I sucked it up and restarted it there.

Despite the really dramatic opening, it's kind of leisurely paced. And I originally had no idea how they're going to get 50+ eps out of this but it is trotting along at its own speed so they can probably stretch it that far. If you watch Candle in the Tomb or Daomu Biiji and are more into the seedy underbelly and daily lives of the antique world than the ghosty horror of tomb robber shows, you'd probably be interested in this show.

I'm not quite sure how I feel about most of the characters and acting. Zhang Yixing is probably at his Mystic Nine level rather than his more skilled Ming Dynasty level, but the character is also kind of an awkward dude so maybe it's the character. Imagine, my DMBJ friends and neighbors, if Wu Xie got into mystical shenanigans while running his shop at the beginning of the franchise. I could easily see Zhang Yixing pulling that off based on this show.

However, I do not like the police lady, neither the character nor the actress, and Zhuang Rui's bestie is alternately amusing and annoying so I don't know what to make of him. But Yin Nanfeng's actress showed up and she's a delight~ Hong Xuan could totally play Liang Wan (and judging by Back From the Brink, Yang Rong could pull off Yin Nanfeng).

Overall, I'm enjoying it. But I'm 13 eps in and they've barely touched on the mystic eye baloney, so we'll see if this leisurely stroll towards the plot pays off.

[adblockfortwitch7]

The Rise of Ad-Blockers: Balancing User Experience and Online Advertising

In today's digital age, where the internet plays a central role in our lives, the use of adblock for twitch has become increasingly prevalent. Ad-blockers are software or browser extensions that enable users to control the advertising content they encounter while browsing the web. This technology has raised important questions about the relationship between user experience and the economic model that sustains much of the online content we consume.

What Are Ad-Blockers?

Ad-blockers, as the name suggests, are tools designed to block or filter out online advertisements. They work by detecting and preventing the display of ads on websites and within apps, providing users with an ad-free experience. Ad-blockers come in various forms, including browser extensions, standalone software, and mobile apps.

Reasons for Using Ad-Blockers

The growing adoption of ad-blockers can be attributed to several factors:

Enhanced User Experience: Online ads, especially invasive or poorly designed ones, can disrupt the user experience. They may slow down webpage loading times, cover content, or even deliver intrusive pop-ups. Ad-blockers help users enjoy a smoother, more focused browsing experience.

Privacy and Security: Some online ads track user behavior, collect personal information, or, in rare cases, distribute malware. Ad-blockers offer a layer of protection by preventing certain tracking scripts from running and blocking potentially harmful content.

Reduced Data Usage: For users on limited data plans, especially on mobile devices, ad-blockers can help conserve data by preventing the downloading of ad content.

The Ethical Dimension and the Future of Online Advertising

The use of ad-blockers sparks a debate around the balance between user experience and the sustainability of free online content. Content creators and publishers rely heavily on advertising income, and the widespread use of ad-blockers challenges the traditional revenue model.

Looking ahead, the industry may witness changes in the presentation and monetization of online ads. Advertisers and publishers are exploring less intrusive and more user-friendly advertising formats. Additionally, addressing user concerns regarding privacy and security may lead to more transparent advertising practices that reduce the need for ad-blockers.

In conclusion, ad-blockers offer users more control over their online experience, but they also disrupt the traditional advertising ecosystem that supports free online content. Achieving a balance between user experience and content monetization remains an ongoing challenge as the digital landscape continues to evolve.

[leam1983]

Money-to-Mouth Syndrome

In the wake of what's transpired considering Tumblr's turbulent future, I've decided to chip in with an Ad-Free subscription, being someone who used to run primarily off of adblockers.

Mastodon isn't growing as well as I'd hoped, and most of its users are people who would've subscribed to it out of ethical concerns. It's not the popular platform, as it were. I don't like the idea of the server that was pitched as being the "best match" for me being an exclusively IT-focused one, and I don't like the sense that Mastodon is fast becoming an island unto itself - basically what Linux was before Ubuntu broke into the mainstream and helped to usher in today's distro-filled world. People talk about the Fediverse without really understanding the concept of federating communities, and it feels like the terminology is calcifying before my eyes.

Threads is a waste of time for me. It's so focused on being "friendly" that it offers less features than Twitter and seems to be geared towards base visibility. I never used Twitter to step forward, I used it as a second glorified RSS feed.

Bluesky is a non-entity as of now, as it's tiptoeing towards a public release. As for Facebook, it's mostly where my parents share old one-panel Bizarro strips. I have zero interest in it.

That leaves me with Tumblr - and only Tumblr.

I like the people I know from here. I enjoy reading my mutuals or picking stuff out of the dashboard. The closest analogue is Facebook, but it's actually far more sanitized. Not every post comes with thousands of comments spewing hate and misinfo. Yes, there's a few and I'm sure I'd find a ton if I bothered to check out the Alt-Right or Radfem circles around Tumblr - but I don't.

If you give me a choice between voting with my wallet or watching while Mullenweg et al. divest Tumblr of its purpose for the sake of base profitability, I'm whipping out the ol' VISA without so much as a second's worth of hesitation.

As for Twitter - it's irrelevant now, and it's been that way long before Musk got involved. Twitter's death knell sang the moment you heard about Right-wing firebrands launching their own little echo chambers. The dream of the Online Public Space is dead, we've instead formed cliques and fostered an increasingly divisive climate that's had catastrophic consequences for the world, the environment and our sociopolitical development. Things went south at Twitter the exact moment Jack Dorsey stopped being the public face of the company. The place used to champion clarity of expression and base fucking decency, now it twists democracy out of shape because you're supposedly expected to let the howler monkeys flinging poo have their own shot at "self-expression".

Sure, the artists on the Bird Site cling to it because it's where their communuties developed, but communities are like flocks. If you're worth it as a creator, you'll be followed elsewhere.

As for NSFW content... Shit, find an oligarch with an unlimited firehose of seed money, settle your server architecture in the Bahamas and take the occasional errant payment in crypto, and chances are you could survive a few years as a platform that allows smut, by virtue of being wholly unknown of standard credit issuers. Eventually, though, the same secrecy that enables the existence of smut on your platform could be abused by bad actors for all sorts of things, too. Considering, I just don't see porn ever featuring on a platform in a permanent and visible capacity.

[getvalentined]

I actually don't think that Premium is the goal here—I think the goal is to get as much user data as possible regardless of whether or not they're paying customers. I have a very good reason for believing this.

See, I have Premium, and I have for like four years. I am exactly what you would assume they want all users of the platform to be. I pay monthly for access to a handful of features that I find useful, and they don't serve me ads at all.

I still make sure to block all tracking cookies whenever possible, because I'm not using the Internet strictly for YouTube, and I'm not in the business of allowing myself to be tracked all across the web when I can avoid it.

A couple weeks ago, YouTube stopped working for me entirely. After having it running in the background more or less all day while I was drawing, it suddenly stopped loading anything but the skeleton.css stylesheet, which looks like this:

Nothing here is clickable, it's literally just a bunch of static graphical elements. I couldn't access my account, settings, anything. I was completely locked out of the service.

I did some digging, and found out that this is one of the things that happens when the anti-adblock protocol catches up to uBlock Origin and shuts down people who refuse to remove that protection. But...I have Premium. The platform doesn't serve me ads at all. There is absolutely no reason for them to block my access to the platform.

Still, I tried turning uBlock Origin off, and it didn't change anything. Weird.

Eventually I got ahold of someone in tech support, and I was told to do the following:

Stop using Firefox, reinstall Chrome, and only use that to access YouTube. This is because that is apparently the only browser that is "truly compatible" with the platform, and if I'm using another one then they can't promise that it will work. (This is a lie, and after a half hour of back and forth with the agent she admitted it, linking me to a page showing all compatible browsers, among which Firefox is prominently listed.)

Completely uninstall any adblockers I have on any browser that I use, because having them at all could cause YouTube to block my access. I was not told to whitelist YouTube, I was told to completely uninstall the extensions on any and all browsers, and then try to access the platform again. This kind of explains the fact that turning UBO off didn't work—the implication here is that my account was flagged as having an adblocker active, even on an alternative browser, and the account itself would be blocked until they were removed.

I was told that unless I completed both of these steps—and these were the first troubleshooting steps offered to me, as a note—then we wouldn't be able to move forward with the tech support process. Literally, if I did not do these things, the agent would not even attempt to provide any more help. I basically told her that was unacceptable, and we went back and forth for a while longer. She told me that adblockers are not a form of Internet security, so removing mine would not leave me vulnerable to anything, and told me to install Chrome an additional four times. I told her that I was not going to install Chrome. She told me that we couldn't move forward unless I carried out every step she instructed me to do in order to fix the problem.

I told her that I was sorry if I seemed nasty, but it seemed like she had no intentions of actually offering any help and was just following a script telling her to make me install Chrome—and that she needed a better script. Her response was "I'm sorry I don't have better news for you," and that ended the conversation.

Again, one more reminder, I have Premium. I am not being served ads at all. That didn't matter, I was still instructed to uninstall those extensions outright, and refused assistance or access to a platform I pay for unless I agreed to do so.

Want to know how I got the platform to load again?

I manually turned off JUST the tracking cookie blocker.

They don't care about users' money, they care about users' data. They care about knowing what you are doing and where you're doing it, even when that information isn't being used to serve ads.

Anyway I cleared my cache/cookies, updated the extension, logged out, restarted Firefox, manually turned the tracking blocker back on, and logged back in. It's worked fine since then.

[byz-was-here]

Single Board Computers, They’re exactly what it says on the tin. It’s essentially an entire computer soldered to a single circuit board. I like SBCs because of the most well known one, the Raspberry Pi. I’ve used a pi 0 (that cost me 15 bucks) to run an adblocker across my whole wifi network, and I’ve used raspberry pi 3b+’s, which cost me $35 each, to run home-built network storage drives, media servers, retro game emulators, and as a cheap desktop alternative on occasion. 

However, I’ve hit a snag. Raspberry Pi’s ain’t cheap anymore. (presumably because they’ve started selling them en-masse to businesses who want to use them for commercial applications instead of to enthusiasts (like me)

So, I wanted to see what was out there for a decent price range.  Ramble under the cut. Its a longish one. 

Now, I’ve used mini pc’s before, and those usually run windows and are, to put it mildly, hot garbage. Those rely on x86 processors, who take up more resources and really aren't suited for SBCs. (For a small, cheap windows pc, you’re usually better off buying a refurbished business pc like a dell optiplex or lenovo thinkcentre. Those will usually run you about 80-90 USD and aren’t that bad a value for money, especially if you want something for a home office.) SBC’s usually have an ARM processor like you see in a smartphone or tablet. They take up less resources, draw less power, but currently, you can’t get windows running on them. 

Which brings up the first barrier to those wanting to use them.

Linux Operating Systems. 

I like to describe Linux as being like Mac OS, if a mac took a STEM degree instead of liberal arts. (Apple can bite me. Screw you and the garden you walled off)

However, there’s a lot of linux distros that are pretty user friendly nowadays, like Ubuntu or Mint. And you can absolutely run Ubuntu on an Arm Processor. 

(Rasbian OS is also an option, but as it’s optimized to work only with raspberry pi’s, it usually has issues on other SBC’s.)

As for the computers themselves, I found myself looking at the boards made by the Libre Computer Project. They have computers with about the same price and size as a standard raspberry pi 3b+, and the gpio pins are largely compatible. 

However, I would note that none of their models have a wifi radio on the board, unlike most raspberry pi’s do. So if you get one, you will have to hook it up via ethernet or resign yourself to sacrificing a usb port to the wifi gods. 

Another thing I noticed, is that while the specs for their bottom two boards match up with the raspberry pi 3b+, they apparently have issues with running hot and throttling, so you will want to get a heat sink and/or a case with a fan. (Chill. The heat sinks usually have adhesive and you just stick em on.)

There’s a $20 model, the ‘Le frite’ which WOULD be a very good replacement for projects involving something like a pi zero, however, instead of using an sd card for memory, it uses eMMC cards. Which most people lack a reader for. 

Bit of an issue, there.  They do sell them along with the SBC on the site, but. Nah. 

Next is a charmingly named $35 model called “Le Potato” It’s essentially the same dimensions as a pi 3b+, which is nice since while Pi Boards are expensive as hell, you can still get their accessories for relatively cheap. It also uses an sd card for a hard drive, which is much easier to deal with. It does not have usb 3.0, which is a bit of a bummer, but, it does have 4 ports like a pi. Still need to sacrifice one of em to the wifi gods if you don’t want to hook it up via ethernet. For most projects, this will probably work fine. Just get you a heat sink.

Finally, they have an exciting 40 dollary-do option called the renegade. (It’s edgy because this one comes in black.)

It’s essentially punching into Pi 4 Territory, except it only has a 3 usb ports, one of them being 3.0. It seems to lean more into video encoding, so if you want a cheap media server or a retro game emulator, this one’s probably ya boi.  It also has a 50-dollar option with 4 gig of ram. If you want a cheap desktop you can keep in your pocket, this is what I would get. 

Again, unfortunately, one of those 3 slots will probably be sacrificed for a wifi dongle, and it also seems to have an issue with overheating, so you WILL need to shell out for a heat sink or a little case with a fan. Again, luckily, accessories for a Pi 3b+ will fit it just fine. 

I am probably going to buy one of these, either the renegade or the potato, and give em a whirl for a week or two. After that, I’ll give more of my thoughts

[hadenclairee]

Social Media in 2023

Twitter:  Hope you don’t need 2FA or to PM people ever again.  Downtime?  No, think of it more like “I can’t believe it’s only down temporarily”  No, actually, it’s more like “thank God it’s down, now I can enjoy life”   Just know that Downtime will never happen when it’s your turn to get flamed and suibaited by bigots.  Or worse, by your own community.  The site will be up and running smoothly while your notifications fill with people earnestly telling you to KYS for your lukewarm take on a piece of queer terminology. 

Facebook:  You've carefully trained the algorithm to stop showing you every time your elderly Grandma comments “Amen” on one of those posts, but you can never train the ad algorithm to stop showing you ads from Daily Wire hosts (how many are there?  you’ve blocked a couple dozen of them already!)  Adblock?  Don’t make me laugh, these are merely *suggested* posts.  There’s a plugin to hide these too, but it makes the entire site utterly unusable at random times.  Speaking of utterly unusable, the mobile app once drained your phone battery from 100% in 25 minutes and you vowed to never reinstall it, and the mobile website is breaking gradually and will probably just stop working eventually.  It’s for the best, that’s one less tab to refresh every time to you go poop. 

Reddit:  Wanna see the same content over and over and over again until you finally go find a new subreddit and then see the same content over and over and over again until you finally go find a new subreddit and oh god, you’re finally in one of *those* moods and it’s 1AM and you’re 30 minutes deep into reading the discussion on a post and replying in full paragraphs and on the other side of the screen, your high school english teaacher is preparing to type his reply which is a thousand words of “well, actually...”.  Reddit *Chat* flashes.  Nobody uses Reddit *Chat*, this can only be one of two things.  Time to play “chaser or outrageously angry bigot”.  Oh, this time it’s both!

Tumblr:  You’ve had an account here forever, your main blog has ~80 followers, half of them are spambots, and of the other half, most are inactive.  You came back here when you started transitioning because you know there’s a community here but fuck all if you know how to find community here.  Usually when you post you *might* get one or two likes on a properly-tagged post in the first couple of days.  And then another like 2 or 3 years from now.  Oh, nevermind, that was a spam bot.  There’s a thriving community here somewhere, though.  You just... don’t know where.  Or what tags to use.  Or how to appeal to its members and gain access.  You’re on the cusp of 30 and this website was popular when you were a teen, right?  Suddenly you feel old.

Mastodon:  Oh, god.�� Fuck.  I forgot this exists.  Let me open the app really quick.  Hmm..  Hmm, okay, yes.  I see.  So that’s why we let algorithms organize our feeds.

[lastoneout]

Ask A Mortician has also been dealing with this despite her videos 100% following content guidelines re educational content. She even said that when channels get big enough they are supposed to be assigned a liaison who works at youtube to help them out with things like this and she legit cannot get into contact with hers at all.

And I know ymfa, a very popular gaming youtuber, has had basically every video he's recently uploaded get flagged despite again, not containing anything worse than video game violence and a few swears.

Seems like youtube is becoming more and more hostile to content creators and at least in RTGame's case I know he said he's considering leaving the platform all together and only focusing on his twitch channel cuz it's just not worth putting the editing work into videos that won't make any money.

And while I'm not anywhere NEAR as popular as any of these creators I know as a twitch streamer this has fully convinced me there's no point in uploading my vods to youtube, which sucks because that's usually a pretty good way to grow your channel, but yeah knowing I could get nuked to the bottom of searches for swearing while playing Elden Ring or whatever has made me give up. It's not worth it. Like twitch sucks too for it's own reasons but at least I'm allowed to make money while playing Bloodborne and swearing.

Tbh this does kinda make me wonder what the real push behind this is though, because I get the exact same ads on twitch that I do on youtube and twitch again doesn't care what you do or say as long as you're not straight up naked or playing a porn game. And I mean...ads have run on TV when the shows are violent and have swears and shit? Is it seriously the advertisers insisting on these regulations? I use adblocker so I don't see a lot of ads in general but I do wonder if this is less youtube trying to appease advertisers or more them trying to find a way to avoid paying content creators the ad revenue earned on their videos, but that's all speculation.

Anyway sorry for the long response, this is just some serious bullshit and I am definitely both sick of it and confused as hell.

This comment about the shit going on at YouTube is so real