I turned off that AI stuff as soon as I saw it. Click the gear icon in Notepad in the upper right to open settings and turn it off.

From the SmartTube GitHub:

install Downloader by AFTVnews on your Android TV, open it and enter kutt.it/stn_beta or kutt.it/stn_stable, then read, understand and confirm the security prompts. (You can also enter 79015 (for beta) or 28544 (for stable), but this requires an extra step to install the AFTVnews Downloader browser addon if you haven’t already.)

The AFTVnews Downloader is available on both Google Play and Amazon Fire TVs. After installing SmartTube, it can self-update on its own without needing another app.

It supports casting via the YouTube phone app (or YouTube ReVanced app).

Kodi—It can connect to a media source via FTP, so I was able to effortlessly connected it to my online storage to download shows and movies from it to watch on the fly, and on my TV no less. Without that, it’d be a huge pain just to get the file onto my TV.

SmartTube—It’s an ad-free YouTube video app for Android TVs, and it has Sponsorblock included. You could say it’s YouTube Vanced for Android TVs.

Discord bots—I’ve setup my own personal Discord server (no other humans allowed in it) and set it up with various bots that do things ranging from posting tweets/ posts from Twitter/ Bluesky to letting me know when specific channels have uploaded a new video on YouTube or gone live on Twitch. I’ve also got another bot monitoring some RSS feeds.

Didn’t they recently go public? They’re traded as RDDT on the New York Stock Exchange.

Windows accepts either one.

To be clear, uBlock Origin isn’t the problem, either.

YouTube is.

There’s an add-on to help find the people you followed on Twitter on Bluesky, FYI.

Chrome: https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/sky-follower-bridge/behhbpbpmailcnfbjagknjngnfdojpko?hl=en

Firefox: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-CA/firefox/addon/sky-follower-bridge/

Excuse me while I go bleach my eye holes.

I’ve had the odd stability issue every now and then. (There was one ongoing issue with my wifi that was caused by a bug in my manufacturer’s driver, but that was years ago on Windows 10, and they eventually fixed it.) But I honestly haven’t had any issues caused specifically by Microsoft recently that I can recall.

Any problems caused by major features updates are usually solved by simply reinstalling the driver. (And I haven’t had any of those sorts of problems in at least a couple years.)

It… only updates once a month, though. The second Tuesday of every month.

Any other updates are from the manufacturer/ software developer and not from Microsoft.

Wasn’t ten years ago just Chrome, though?

I think you mean 20 years ago.

They must’ve done it in the hyperbolic time chamber.

No, viruses don’t mean the scientific definition of life. IIRC, the primary reason why is because, in order to make copies of itself, it must hijack a living cell’s reproductive system to do so. It can’t simply divide to make more of itself.

It’s worth noting that the saved pages are the only thing that are back for now. Their other services have not yet been brought back online.

Honestly, the only reason I remembered Prime Day last week was because an order I’d placed for something was scheduled to arrive then. (The only reason I ordered the thing from Amazon was because it was the only place to get it. I much prefer ordering from Best Buy and using their store pickup.)

Good thing I don’t use Tabs.

Most stores around me thankfully don’t even use the weight station. I don’t even think Walmart does anymore since they “upgraded” their checkouts recently. (The self checkouts have completely taken over and have a sort of open floor concept going on.)

That’s an option at some stores in the US. I believe Walmart has that option for Walmart+ members, and I know Sam’s Club has the option available in their app for all members.

In the US, you typically have to type in your debit/ credit card’s info (the 16-digit number, the 3-digit security code, the cardholder’s name, and the billing address on file with the bank) on a website in order to purchase something unless you’re using PayPal, Google Pay, or something similar to that that the website supports. If you’re using any of those, a pop-up usually opens asking for login info, then you select a card or bank account to use for the purchase.