YouTube Vids May not Play if You Have 3rd Party Ad-Blocker; Threads Tests Realtime Search Results; Rivian R1S-4th Best Selling EV; Apple Adds Redundant Action Button to All iPhone 16’s

YouTube is bolstering its resistance to third party ad blockers. Be warned that if you are using one, the videos you try to watch may just not play at all. Zdnet.com reports that users may have buffering issues, or get an error message that says “the following content is not available on this app,” stopping you from watching the video at all. YouTube says the company doesn’t want you using ad blockers because such tools prevent video creators from being compensated based on the number of views. The company sees those ads as important and essential because they support creators financially. Let’s be clear…mostly, they are concerned about the revenue THEY get from the ads, not the money that goes to creators. Since YouTube has done this to varying degrees before, expect people to devise hacks and work arounds. 

Threads, the Meta competitor to X, is testing real-time search results. According to engadget.com, an issue has been that the present algorithm when you use the ‘For You’ selection can often show you days-old posts next to current ones. I can verify this as well. More often, I just read my ‘Following’ feed. At any rate, the new search feature they are testing will let users filter by recent posts. I hope this is an easing of their tendency to minimize news…it would really supercharge Threads as X continues to become less useful and relevant by the hour. 

Rivian has had some good buzz with their electric vehicles…no pun intended…and now, in first quarter of 2024 the Rivian R1S claims the #4 sales slot for new EVs sold in the US…beating out Hyundai’s Ioniq 5 and Volkswagen ID.4. Electrek.co says the top 3 are the Tesla Model Y, the Tesla Model 3, and the Ford Mustang Mach-E. Rivian expects to make about 57,000 vehicles this year, but should see growth next year with the cheaper R2 SUV, which will be base priced at $45,000.

Apple is apparently adding the relatively worthless ‘Action’ button to the whole iPhone 16 line. Macrumors.com notes that the iPhone 15 models already carry this button, which lives above the volume buttons on the left side of the handset. You can program it to open the camera, or assign shortcuts to it. I set mine for camera, but it’s really easier to just use the cam button on the lock screen. Note that the button replaces the mute/silence button, so if you don’t like your phone ringing, go turn off the ringer in settings. A survey that MacRumors did of 7,000 users found over half forget the action button is even on the phone! Yep…another bloatware feature. 

I’m Clark Reid and you’re ‘Technified’ for now.