YouTube is fighting Ad Blockers again, cutting off the signal if your browser is cutting off the ad. Can be fixed by F5, but still a bit annoying.

Funny enough, YouTube employees were not initially informed last summer about this trick, so YouTube-Julia created a support forum topic where she said they are investigating the issue and will fix it. Now the page only exists in an archive. Because it's intentional. Dumbasses!

#YouTube@GameDEV
#Google@GameDEV
#SocialNetworks@GameDEV

If you correctly google for Groundhog day, it will ask you Did you mean: groundhog day?

#Google@GameDEV

Everything in the YouTube studio now shows you AI-something. BRAINSTORM VIDEO IDEAS YOUR ASS, Google...

#YouTube@GameDEV
#Google@GameDEV
#AI@GameDEV

Fortunately, the test of this "new feature" is limited. Do not fall for it, never turn off ad blocking on YouTube (saying this even as the person who technically monetizes videos).

#YouTube@GameDEV
#Google@GameDEV

aIDE 🫡

#AI@GameDEV
#Google@GameDEV

Who would've guessed?
(Literally everyone)

#AI@GameDEV
#Google@GameDEV

Google stated to change web pages titles in search to make them clickbait.

As The Verge noticed back in 2025, they were already doing it for Discovery and News sections. Now it's in the basic search as well. And as of now users and website owners can't turn it off.

Most of the time the title is getting altered too much and it can even completely contradict the real article.

#AI@GameDEV
#Google@GameDEV

Chrome creates a local AI model in AppData Local, you have to disable all Gemini flags in Chrome://Flags, then remove the file, then restart.

Chromium engine browsers are also affected but in a limited scope: many of them have these flags removed or disabled.

#Google@GameDEV
#AI@GameDEV

Last year a YouTuber won his case against Google. They failed to prove he violated anything, despite initially claimed strong evidence on their side. Then they... ignored the court rule and still pretend it never happened.

#Google@GameDEV
#YouTube@GameDEV

The new Google "Gradient" icons redesign surprised me with very poor contrast, the icons are barely readable.

Even on a big HDR screen they are incredibly bland and on an average sRGB screen they simply fall into banding due to selected color schemes. Just why?

#UIUX@GameDEV
#Google@GameDEV

Japanese manga artist Masahiro Itosugi lost his entire Google account simply for uploading his own old private comic files to Drive.

- Your files in the cloud ARE NOT YOURS, THEY ARE NOT PRIVATE

- Everything you ever uploaded online STAYS THERE, even if you no longer can access it

- Don't use Google Login (unless it's required)

- Keep personal Google and Work Google separate (if possible)

Kind reminder that Apple suddenly restored photos and videos deleted up to a decade ago, sometimes on devices of a new owner. Yes, including very private shots.

VKcom did the same about a year before Apple did it. Long-deleted albums re-appeared and often private albums were no longer private. Even if people no longer have had access to their old accounts, their friends and family members could seen stuff for several weeks.

During the last couple of years all companies confirmed they will analyze your files in the cloud with AI and will take actions against you (even if it's false positive)

#Google@GameDEV

Google is trying to kill ad blocking (again), episode 451... technically, under the promise of "safety" Google yet again tries to make it harder to block ads. But many companies already adjusted.

At worst, you will now see some ads during to initial boot, not while surfing and switching tabs.

#Google@GameDEV

Apparently, there are some court activities around Google trying to maintain and commercialize fakes in AI summaries.

Google is now legally responsible for its AI generated "facts" in the overview section.

In some cases they were actually keeping some of wrong things as the preferable answers if they were getting more attention from users = improved their revenue from the search request.

#Google@GameDEV
#AI@GameDEV

Google and University of San Diego are trying to make the first major data center out of ~2000 used Pixel phones.

They are most often simply dumped without a proper recycling. And they consume a very limited amount of power thanks to ARM processors. Which may allow universities and medium-sized businesses around the world to compute on a budget.

#Google@GameDEV
#DIY@GameDEV

You can no longer properly evaluate YouTube engagement on your own videos (without plugins). YouTube studio removed likes and dislikes.

#YouTube@GameDEV
#WTF@GameDEV
#Google@GameDEV

Oddly enough, you can find Likes and Dislikes (after they were removed from YT Studio), but obtaining such a sacred data now requires a dozen of clicks. You have to:

- Switch to Analytics - Advanced
- Set the Date Range
- Set the Metrics (Likes, Dislikes, Ratio)

#YouTube@GameDEV
#SocialMedia@GameDEV
#Google@GameDEV

Google just discontinued the biggest GIF storage API keys. Of course, "to focus on stuff that makes the most $$$". And they propose developers to go fuck themselves or something...

Smaller apps that don't have the storage were often using it as their source of GIFs. Telegram has their own storage though, but the official @GIF bot is also Tenor based.

#Google@GameDEV
#WTF@GameDEV