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Google Removed ClearURLs Extension from Chrome Web Store

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Re: Google Removed ClearURLs Extension from Chrome Web Store

#131

Post by Jonnax »

anonymousDan wrote: post #47

I would really like to uninstall chrome from my Android phone but it appears to be impossible. Am I missing something?

Do you get the option to disable it? When you look it up in the apps list?

I don't know about how it is in the latest phones. But at least for older phones apps which are bundled as part of the OS have a version of the program in the read-only system partition which is used to do factory resets.

So disabling deletes the latest version of the software, and stops it from running on the phone.

Re: Google Removed ClearURLs Extension from Chrome Web Store

#132

Post by urthor »

eertami wrote: post #126
shilgapira wrote: post #13

Well it turns out that I just installed this addon on Firefox yesterday after hearing about it here or on Reddit. This move does well to reinforce my loyalty to Firefox as my main browser. Hopefully it has the same effect on others.

>Firefox as my main browser I tried last year, and honestly it isn't bad. But I use the Chrome "install this site as an App" functionality a lot and Firefox's "app tabs" didn't work nearly as well. Plus, I hear they've removed or are removing said single site browser functionality. This might be a somewhat niche case but it makes it really hard to switch as much as FF does have some nice features (picture in picture…

On Firefox Android the same button for install this site as an app is right there?

It's called Add to Home Screen

Re: Google Removed ClearURLs Extension from Chrome Web Store

#134

Post by mantap »

skinkestek wrote: post #115
blunte wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ddg is usually adequate for my needs, but especially with code related searches, I often have to fall back to google. I’m glad ddg exists, and it’s nice to see them improving over time.

I have this workflow: - use DDG - if I can't find it, attach !g to my query and be instantly on Google - either confirm Google can't find it either - or found it this way DDG get important data to improve their technology, I avoid being tracked most of the time and I get the same results for the cost of a few seconds here and there. Yes, DDG isn't exactly amazing for anyone who used Google before 2009, but neither is…

You can use !s instead of !g and you get the google results through startpage without going to google directly.

Re: Google Removed ClearURLs Extension from Chrome Web Store

#135

Post by SSLy »

retyurt wrote: post #110

Contrary to other posters here I'm not sure this is a conscious decision on Google's end. I know of plenty of add-ons that got delisted at random and that were promptly re-instated like ublock ( https://github.com/uBlockOrigin/uBlock-issues/issues/745 ) or firenvim ( https://github.com/glacambre/firenvim/issues/518 ).

First time would be a coincidence, third time is a broken (or working well, depending on your PoV) process/culture.

Re: Google Removed ClearURLs Extension from Chrome Web Store

#136

Post by Satam »

ErrrNoMate wrote: post #118
passerby1 wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do I understand correct that duckduckgo is there already?

It's not a search engine, it's just something built on top of Bing. We need something independent to cut through this, it can't have these ties.

Independence on its own, would not be a competitive advantage. In reality, for the most part, people do not care enough about minor privacy violations. The outrage you see online rarely bleeds into the average user's day-to-day decisions.

I wonder how the next disruptive innovation is going to look in the search engine market?

Re: Google Removed ClearURLs Extension from Chrome Web Store

#138

Post by astura »

madspindel wrote: post #84
llampx wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Could you elaborate on how Chrome has better security?

Not OP, but Chrome has end-to-end encryption option for Chrome Sync.

Um, so? The question was "[in which way does] Chrome has better security?" Not "Can anyone name a random Chrome feature?"

Firefox's Sync appears to be just as secure if not more secure (there's no option to NOT have end to end encryption): https://hacks.mozilla.org/2018/11/firefox-sync-privacy/

I think sync is a pretty niche feature anyway.

Re: Google Removed ClearURLs Extension from Chrome Web Store

#140

Post by kevingadd »

blunte wrote: post #83
baybal2 wrote: post #30

This is what Googlers did to AdNauseam too

I think it’s important to be specific. Probably it was not who we think of when we say “googlers”, but rather it was upper management within Google. Frankly, I see two googles: the people who make a lot of decent or great stuff, and the upper decision makers who act against the interests of the other group and the consumers.

It's not accurate to blame this on upper management. Someone, somewhere, pressed a button - either a human reviewer (yes, takedowns are often issued by a human) or someone who set up whatever botched ML algorithm decided to nuke this extension. It sounds to me like this was definitely humans.

Humans also handle disputes, and Google's staff that handle them are borderline incompetent and don't respect developers or end-users.

You can say "upper management sets the policies" but I think that's giving people with some degree of control a pass. A highly-compensated SWE definitely has the option to not just go with the flow.

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