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welcome to the deep dive great to be here today we're looking into something

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pretty interesting actually it's a different way to interact with one of

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the biggest websites out there yeah we're talking about YouTube but through

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a different lens exactly we're diving into something called invidious now for

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this deep dive we're mostly pulling from the project's own words you know the

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descriptions on their github page where the code lives and also bits from their

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official website right going straight to the source our goal here is really to

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unpack what invidious actually is why would someone use it instead of you know

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regular YouTube and what are the key features yeah exactly and we want to

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make it easy to understand even if you've never heard terms like alternative

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front-end before it should make sense absolutely keep it approachable before

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we really get into it though just a quick thank you to our sponsor this deep

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dive is supported by safe server safe server is great because they actually

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handle hosting for this exact kind of software you know open source stuff they

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can really help out if you're looking at your own digital transformation projects

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so if you need hosting or support you can find out more at www.safe server

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dot DE just type that in www.e.ufsafarver.de to know okay so let's tackle

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this term alternative front-end right what are we actually talking about here

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when we say that about YouTube well the project itself calls invidious an

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open-source alternative front-end to YouTube right so think about the normal

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YouTube website or the app on your phone that's the usual front-end the interface

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right how it looks how you click around how you watch videos the part you

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actually see in you exactly invidious is what's a completely different interface

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built by a totally separate group of people okay it still connects you to the

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same videos the huge library on YouTube it just presents everything lets you

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interact through its own design its own rules almost and it's open source you

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mentioned yeah that's key open source means the code the blueprint for how

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it's built is public anyone can look at it use it even suggest changes or

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contribute so it's not run by like a big corporation with the same motives as

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YouTube itself precisely this different team this community they have different

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priorities different goals for what the experience should be like okay and that

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leads to the really interesting question I think why bother right if the regular

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YouTube site is right there why use this this different doorway what's the draw

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well the benefits the invidious project emphasizes really come down to giving

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you the user more control and just a very different feel okay like what a

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huge one probably the biggest for many is privacy ah always a big topic

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definitely the sources say it's privacy focused they explicitly stated aims to

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protect you from the prying eyes of Google no and features no tracking so on

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regular YouTube pretty much everything you watch click on search for it it's

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tracked logged linked to your account yeah for recommendations ads all that

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stuff right in videos tries to act as a shield there when you use it the idea is

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your viewing habits aren't being scooped up and tied back to a big Google profile

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in the same way so you can watch without leaving quite so many digital footprints

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behind for you know data collection exactly it's about separating the

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watching from the harvesting you could say okay privacy is a big one what else

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what's another really practical benefit one that pretty much everyone notices

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right away no ads oh really no ads at all the documentation is clear in videos

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allows you to watch videos without being disturbed by annoying ads Wow they even

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mentioned it supports sponsor block which is slightly different that's about

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skipping sponsored segments inside videos but the main point is the platform ads

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gone so no pre-roll ads no mid-roll interruptions nope that alone makes the

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viewing experience totally different for a lot of people I can imagine that's

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huge okay so privacy no as what about just using it how does it feel compared

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to standard YouTube is it just like bare bones not necessarily bare bones but

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definitely different by design they describe it as lightweight lightweight

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meaning probably faster loading less demanding on your computer or phone they

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also mentioned no JavaScript required for basic viewing now that's a bit

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technical yeah what does that mean for me the user it generally means things

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might load quicker especially if you have a slower internet connection or

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maybe an older device it uses fewer resources okay and they also talk about

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it being ethically designed they use the term humane design you mean design that

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sounds interesting the idea it seems is to help you regain focus so the

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interface isn't constantly trying to grab your attention autoplay the next

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thing keep you scrolling forever fighting against the infinite scroll and the

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algorithms designed to keep you glued kind of yeah it feels more designed for

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you to watch what you intended to watch rather than getting sucked down a rabbit

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hole more intentional that really speaks to how some people feel overwhelmed by

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modern platforms so invidious offers a different philosophy there exactly and

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that ties into another aspect independence how it handles things like

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subscriptions and accounts oh right you don't need a Google account you can

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create accounts within invidious itself and build playlists but crucially the

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sources say this is without needing a YouTube account so my list of channels I

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follow my saved videos yeah it all lives just within invidious yes your

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subscriptions are independent from Google you can basically build your own

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little YouTube world without ever logging into Google that's a level of

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like digital autonomy you don't often get on the big platform precisely and

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it's not like it's missing features either the sources list things you'd

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expect light and dark themes always popular right a customizable home page so

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you see what you want first notifications for channels you subscribe

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to okay and a really neat one an audio only mode oh like for playing music or

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podcasts yeah and it can even play in the background on mobile devices so you

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can listen with the screen off that's super useful definitely and it can even

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pull in ready comments for videos sometimes which is an alternative

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discussion source plus lots of language translations thanks to volunteers Wow

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okay that's actually pretty complete package for an alternative hmm so if

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someone's listening and thinking all right I'm curious I want to check this

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out what's the easiest way do I need to download code and be a tech wizard no

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not at all this is where the quick start point they mentioned is perfect for

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beginners you absolutely do not need to install anything yourself just to try it

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okay good so how does it work then well because it's open source lots of

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different people and groups run their own public versions of the Nvidia

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software these are called instances instances okay like different public

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servers running the same software that's it exactly so the easiest way to get

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started is just to find one of these public instances the project website

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usually has a list ah so there's a list somewhere yep you literally just select

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a public instance from the list and start watching videos right now click a

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link it opens in your web browser like any other site and boom you're using

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Nvidia's no installation needed just to watch nope super easy to just test the

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waters that is really low friction just pick a server from a list and you're off

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but I assume for people who are more technical the option to host it yourself

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is there oh absolutely the full documentation is available if you want

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to get into the weeds set up your own private instance on your own server or

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even contribute code back to the project make sense and you mentioned something

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earlier that helps make it seamless browser extensions yes the sources

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mentioned those two yes like browser add-ons yeah they often recommend things

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like one called privacy redirect the idea is simple you install this little

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add-on in your browser okay and then if you click a regular YouTube link

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anywhere say in an email and social media whatever or if a website has a

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YouTube video embedded the extension can automatically send you to an invidious

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instance instead of the main YouTube site oh clever so it routes you to the

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alternative automatically pretty much it helps you kind of default to using

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invidious without having to consciously think about it every single time that's

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a neat way to integrate it okay so we've covered the what the why the how to

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start you touched on this briefly but that technical point about API's does

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not use official YouTube API's can you elaborate just a bit on why that's

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important yeah it's actually pretty crucial to how invidious works API's

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application programming interfaces are basically the official approved ways

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that companies let other software talk to their services like an official

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handshake kind of yeah the documented supported way to request data or embed

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things invidious the sources say specifically doesn't use these official

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YouTube API's so it's going around the official channels in a sense it has to

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figure out other ways to access the video streams and the information about

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them this is how it can do things like well avoid delivering the ads that the

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official API might enforce or handle user data differently because it's not

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playing by YouTube's official rule set for developers exactly it gives it

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independence but it also means it's potentially a more complex path

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sometimes things might break if YouTube changes how things work unofficially but

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it's fundamental to offering that different more private ad free experience

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so it's a deliberate choice to trade off to gain that independence and offer those

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features precisely and as we said it's truly open source the license is the

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AGPL 3.0 that's a copyleft license which often encourages sharing improvements

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back with the community and you mentioned contributors before yeah the

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sources listed I think 348 contributors that's a lot of people involved it

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really shows it's a community effort that's impressive a global community

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building this thing it is but with that kind of decentralized community thing

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there are some important caveats warnings almost especially about

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liability ah okay what do the sources say there they're very clear there's a

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statement saying the project creators take no responsibility for the use of

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our tool or external instances provided by third parties meaning just because

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the code is out there they don't control every single server or someone sets up

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using it exactly anyone can host an instance so they can't guarantee how

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reliable or trustworthy every single public server is right use public

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instances with awareness and they also strongly recommend you abide by the

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valid official regulations in your country they explicitly refuse liability

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for any inappropriate use and they mentioned illegal downloading as an

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example so the tool is there to watch videos available on YouTube but it's on

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you the user to make sure you're using it legally and responsibly where you live

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spot-on the responsibility lies with the user they say it's provided in the

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spirit of free open software think freedom to use study modify not freedom

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to break laws that's a crucial distinction okay so let's try and pull

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this all together for you the listener yeah let's recap we've looked at

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Nvidia's it's this alternative way an alternative front-end for YouTube right

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same videos different interface and its big selling points seem to be

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prioritizing your privacy cutting out the tracking as much as possible

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getting rid of those disruptive ads and offering an experience that's designed

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to be maybe calmer less distracting more focused yeah lightweight

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customizable ethically designed plus it's open source built by a community

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and lets you manage your subscriptions and playlists without needing a Google

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account giving you that independence so understanding what Nvidia's is tells you

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something important doesn't it it shows there are alternatives out there even

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for massive platforms absolutely it shows that different choices exist built

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on different values privacy user control no ads it gives you options for how you

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engage with online video and manage your sort of digital life which does raise a

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question maybe for you to think about what does it actually mean for you that

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these kinds of alternatives can exist alongside the Giants yeah what does that

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possibility signify it definitely makes you pause right right if communities

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can build tools like this focusing on privacy and user control instead of say

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maximizing engagement time or data capture what does that tell us about the

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trade-offs we usually just accept on the standard platforms and maybe more

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personally how much value do you put on having that choice that control in your

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own online experience it's definitely something to mull over indeed well that

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brings us to the end of this particular deep dive into invidious thanks so much

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for joining us to explore this yeah hope it was useful and remember this deep

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dive was supported by safe server if you're looking for hosting maybe for

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your own projects or need support with digital transformation check them out at

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www.safeserver.de that's s-a-s-e-r-v-e-r.de right and as the invidious project

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shows if you are

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interested in learning more there's plenty of documentation out there and

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that list of public instances is waiting if you want to give it a spin yourself

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lots more to explore absolutely we hope you found this insightful we look

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forward to digging into more fascinating information with you next time on the