2025-11-09: SEO changed the web

by: lesserRaptor

search engine optimization (or SEO) has drastically changed how the web looks.

here's what i mean. go to google and search for "bicycle": google search for bicycle

then, in a new tab, also do a neocities search for "bicycle": domain search of neocities for bicycle

when you leave google up to their own devices, you can see that it becomes a much more product-centric search. the listings you're seeing tend to want to sell you a bicycle rather than discuss bicycles in some other way. (i know, i see reddit and wikipedia on there -- those are definitely exceptions)

when you look at the neocities search, though, you see something like what you used to see on the "early internet". it's all over the place. some people are talking about riding bicycles, some people are talking about their favorite shops, someone is even talkign about devinci's bicycle sketch. there are some products mixed in here, but it's almost accidental.

i'm not sure which is better. when we focus a lot on SEO, and making sure our website ranks well on google, we end up focusing a lot on businesses and products instead of content. if you're looking to buy a new bicycle, this is clearly a great outcome -- you find reputable businesses that will sell you a bike. but if you're just searching the web for information, or maybe for other people who are interested in the same thing you are, then a bunch of products feels pretty cold and sterile.

though i think i prefer the more random results, i'm not going to lie and say that the old web was better. it's a bit of a crapshoot, really; you never know what you're going to get when you click a link. having search results that are more likely to be up to date, relevant to your search and even help you buy a product isn't a terrible outcome -- but it's lifeless. and it's biased. i would rather read about people's honest opinions about bikes first before i search for a product.

2025-11-08: android tv mods

by: lesserRaptor

i did this a while ago, but i wanted to publish it here so i don't lose it.

if you have a smart tv that uses android tv, you can easily customize it to remove most of the visual bloat that a smart tv comes with. additionally, you can use an android app called "smarttube" to watch youtube instead of the native google client. smarttube blocks all youtube ads, and it also cuts out any in-video sponsored content if it's already been flagged as sponsored content. it's really great, especially if you have kids that you don't want exposed to ads all day long. (i mean, youtube is a bit of an ad all by itself, but they're already paying with their attention, they don't need to also pay with money)

here's the steps to install flauncher:

• if you prefer to read this on the flauncher site, go here: https://gitlab.com/flauncher/flauncher
• install flauncher using google play. nothing fancy here.
• once you have it installed, you can disable the default launcher. this is a bit risky, but it can be undone. first, install adb on your computer.
• use adb to connect to the tv: adb connect your.tv.ip.address
• now, disable the google provided ad-machine launcher: adb shell pm disable-user --user 0 com.google.android.apps.tv.launcherx
• also, disable the fallback launcher: $ adb shell pm disable-user --user 0 com.google.android.tungsten.setupwraith
• note that this will probably kill some of the features of your remote, in particular the "voice commands" stuff. that stuff creeps me out, so i was ok with this loss of functionality.

here's the steps to install smarttube:

• make sure you have adb installed on your computer
• download the latest smarttube release here: https://github.com/yuliskov/SmartTube/releases
• use adb to connect to the tv: adb connect your.tv.ip.address
• you'll probably need to use the tv remote to "allow" your computer to connect to it. it's best to have a laptop in the same room as the tv so you can look at both screens at once.
• make sure you are in the directory that contains the smarttube file you already downloaded, and tell adb to install it: adb install SmartTube_stable_22.44_armeabi-v7a.apk
• give the smarttube app install rights so that it can update itself later: adb shell appops set com.liskovsoft.smarttubetv.beta REQUEST_INSTALL_PACKAGES allow
• later, if you can't remember that the smarttube package was called "com.liskovsoft.smarttubetv.beta", you can look it up with this command: adb shell cmd package list packages | grep smart