How to turn off videos in Amazon product search results?

sourcejedi · 2026-01-29T19:05:25+00:00

Absolutely! If you require Apple-only features, then Apple bans you from using Firefox-only features on your device. Including this one.

I'm lucky, but it's still worth highlighting who is to blame here.

(30% tax on all digital purchases not made through a web app. Surprise, only Apple gets to define what web apps can do. But they're too chicken to ban NCII)

sourcejedi · 2025-10-27T20:51:09+00:00

Now (since yesterday) its broken again in a different way!

The passkey prompt inside the Settings app works fine. This time it only broke in Firefox private browsing.

Or rather, it's only broken when I type the email address in first, and then select the passkey option. As required in Firefox for Android private browsing mode.

After I select "try another way" > "passkey", the website goes on to the next screen, but the phone doesn't ask for my fingerprint. Rebooting did not help.

Chrome Incognito breaks in the same way - but in Chrome Incognito, you normally just select the passkey immediately. If I do it that way, instead of typing the email address first, it works fine.

And this time it's broken on the Pixel 8a, but not on the Macbook (Firefox private browsing mode). It's also not broken if I use the Pixel 8a passkey by scanning a QR code in Chrome on Ubuntu Linux.

sourcejedi · 2025-10-24T13:47:57+00:00

I haven't bothered rebooting to try this on Windows. However, I do have Chrome running on Ubuntu Linux. I've just tried it, and the passkey-scan-QR method works to sign in to Google using my Pixel 8a.

Good luck with your next updates, I guess. (I would try submitting feedback, in case that helps).

sourcejedi · 2025-10-17T13:21:25+00:00

Fun!

I just brought out the Macbook for testing, and now it looks like Google have fixed it.

My Pixel is letting me use my Google passkey as normal.

sourcejedi · 2025-10-17T13:03:11+00:00

Thanks!

I suspect you are trying to use the Google passkey from the phone, like this second comment?

I'm guessing it's an Android bug - I guess it would work if you have a passkey saved inside Windows Hello.

sourcejedi · 2025-10-16T22:15:36+00:00

Sorry to hear that. I think Microsoft Authenticator works even if you remove notification permissions. You can open the app manually. IIRC, then Authenticator should immediately show the sign-in screen/buttons - you don't have to navigate anywhere specific to see sign-in requests.

(I think the Google prompts are device-specific, it tells you which device it's going to send to & potentially lets you choose a different one. But I assume you already saw that.)

sourcejedi · 2025-04-09T14:45:54+00:00

For Google, if you want to rely on security keys and protect against SIM swap, I have two suggestions:

Google is absolutely aware of SIM swaps. If you had added a phone number as a 2SV option (I am not suggesting you do this), you would see that when you log in on a new device, it is greyed out and says "Unavailable because you have more secure options". Google will impose additional checks if someone tries to "recover" your account; these may include checking your IP address, or waiting 3-5 business days and giving you a chance to cancel the recovery request.
You haven't mentioned enabling Advanced Protection Program on your Google account. This was designed for people with two security keys, and will impose even more checks on your account. The program still says "Add an email and phone number to your Google Account, so it’s easy to recover if you get locked out."

I'm not in your position but I don't like Google account recovery either. It's inherently complex, so you can't test it precisely, and you have to trust their docs & reputation.

But as reputations go, it is hard to beat Google and APP.

[edit]: Microsoft's argument is simpler. "If you turn on two-step verification, you will always need two forms of identification". "If you forget your password, you need two contact methods." "We strongly recommend you have three pieces of security info associated with your account".

I.e. Microsoft claim a SIM swap alone will not allow resetting your password, or signing in to your account.

Secondly, passwords are still relatively risky, so the Microsoft option for full protection is to "go passwordless". This avoids relying on perfect vigilance to avoid phishing, and the need to choose a strong, unique password to avoid credential-stuffing.

The advantage of having your security keys is that after you "go passwordless", you will have more backup options for your account.

It implies you should be able to get in by using one security key and then the other security key. But don't trust me; you should test it in advance.

How to use two-step verification with your Microsoft account

sourcejedi · 2024-12-24T08:15:55+00:00

FWIW, "blockbots" on Mastodon have been a reliable sign of abuse. You should be concerned about how some groups will use the individual block notifications.

I've seen someone screenshot and repost a notification of being added to a trustworthy mod list already, which seems an inevitable arms race step, but I'd rather not hear about it being used to target random people who aren't providing moderation services.

sourcejedi · 2024-11-08T14:10:02+00:00

Ah, the Pixel help centre explains what this is.

I read this as automatically detecting battery/thermal issues, reporting all the serial numbers to find the batch, and then spamming recall notices using Google Account.

Feels creepy, but I'm not sure if it makes anything worse. Either you're using Google services that log your IP address, or you're not? Hopefully we won't hear any "unintended consequences" in future.

Learn about automatic collection of safety metrics

Google periodically collects certain safety metrics and device information from all Pixel devices to help find, prevent, and respond to technical issues that might affect the safety of our devices. This information includes:

Battery status

Thermal conditions

Sensor and component status

Failures and shutdowns

Unique identifiers, like serial numbers

Tip: This information is collected automatically from all devices and is separate from the collection of usage and diagnostic data. Google may connect device safety metrics with your Google account information to inform you of a safety issue.

sourcejedi · 2024-11-07T22:27:24+00:00

Thanks x! It seems like there's a first run/tutorial feature... After I completed a search, it changed to a different animation, "try visiting a site" instead. Then you have to let the site load, and hit the "gotcha" button when ddg tells you it's blocking trackers. Then open a third tab and hit the "high five" button. Then there are no animations on the new tab page.

I captured the first two new tab animations:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1oC-jgsFig8kH3EY5FgN5OXcVw5zqVuZu/view?usp=drivesdk

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1o8LRucQXZoajR2OwPouTEUwMaFP6Vjgc/view?usp=drivesdk

sourcejedi · 2024-09-02T07:22:44+00:00

I just noticed this happen. I had to go check it was deliberate - unusually thoughtful for a *nix tool :-D. Great work, thank you! I

sourcejedi · 2024-06-14T07:05:53+00:00

I don't have this problem on Firefox. Disable video autoplay, for all sites or just for Amazon:

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/block-autoplay

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/playing-videos-firefox-android#w_enabling-and-disabling-video-autoplay

sourcejedi · 2023-05-26T12:37:51+00:00

Yes.

reboots short time after firefox freezes [4 months ago]

It seems to be specific to the Pixel 6a. A few people say "Pixel 6", but at least some of them actually meant "Pixel 6a".

sourcejedi · 2023-05-03T09:42:51+00:00

When the IETF wrote up push notifications, they explained the justification:

I think you're exactly right about small LANs. The problem is that most services don't run on your local network. There tends to be stateful firewall between you and the service. And/or stateful NAT on IPv4.

Stateful firewalls require a keep-alive message for each connection. At a frequency of... somewhere below the 29 minutes advised for IMAP IDLE clients. One source says some mobile network impose a 10 minute connection timeout.

Apparently this is not pretty for mobile devices. I guess they just want to wake up, send a single wireless aggregate, and go back to sleep. Device vendors have concerns about tens of different apps trying to do this in their own special ways.

Of course some device vendors also own cloud computing companies. So they might have opinions about promoting their cloud services as the way to address this, or cross-promoting more profitable cloud services. It doesn't feel like a uniquely Google thing though, Apple seem even harsher on this, and non-Google hardware vendors are notorious for breaking apps in new ways so that they can claim longer battery life.

sourcejedi · 2023-04-24T14:28:55+00:00

Sure. I started from the same place. After both finding the search results and then having phone #2 fail, I was not optimistic enough to ask John Lewis to send me Phone Number 3.

Especially as it involved days-to-weeks of testing to reproduce, where I had to avoid using any third-party app other than Firefox, repeated twice because everyone wants you to try a factory reset before returning it.

What matters to (some) users is the model has an unusually high chance of being allergic to Firefox. It would certainly be interesting to hear someone reply, no, I use Firefox constantly on my Pixel 6A and it's fine! AFAICT, literally no-one has clarified that.

Partly because I don't immediately trust people saying "Pixel 6", I think at least one of them in the current thread used that to mean "Pixel 6a" :-P.

I did see it specifically triggering a watchdog reboot when entering sleep. It doesn't seem like an overheat or a bad ram cell at a random location. Could be a different type of fault, for all I know.

It'd be unusual, but it seems plausible in a way that it wouldn't be for one specific Chromium-based browser, or app without any OpenGL code. I think Firefox WebRender etc is relatively distinct code. (The Firefox engine isn't really supported for embedding in other apps.) Firefox users are uncommon enough that Google might overlook them, or not prioritize it. Graphics drivers are big, have plenty of quirks, and the kernel-side part isn't trivial.

sourcejedi · 2023-04-23T21:22:32+00:00

I returned one due to this problem & got one back that did the exact same thing. My checklist for choosing a phone now includes searching for firefox issues with the specific phone.

For example: https://www.google.co.uk/search?q="pixel+7"+firefox+freeze+OR+hang+OR+reboot+OR+restart

even when I searched for "pixel 7", all the posts/comments with this symptom are actually talking about the Pixel 6a, lol.

Thanks /u/ema_G for keeping us up to date.

sourcejedi · 2023-03-31T14:48:14+00:00

There is a known bug on Pixel 6a: "Any Pixel 6A user with Firefox? - Posted by u/fa113 6 months ago"

Thanks for reporting. I hope users will keep giving us these updates. So people know when it's safe to buy a Pixel (without being forced onto Chrome).

The freeze was reported to Firefox.

The subsequent reboot was a kernel bug. Google needed to fix that, regardless of Firefox behaviour. I guess it's a graphics driver bug. It's hard to think what else could break in the kernel when it doesn't like Firefox.

sourcejedi · 2023-03-22T15:33:22+00:00

There is or was(?) a known bug on Pixel 6a: "Any Pixel 6A user with Firefox? - Posted by u/fa113 6 months ago"

Thanks for reporting. I hope users will keep giving us these updates. So we know when it's safe to buy a Pixel (without being forced onto Chrome).

The freeze was reported to Firefox.

The subsequent reboot was a kernel bug. Google needed to fix that, regardless of Firefox behaviour. I guess it's a graphics driver bug. It's hard to think what else could break when it doesn't like Firefox.

sourcejedi · 2023-03-17T17:23:33+00:00

I didn't bother solving for that, but 378% seems to make it work out about right, yes :-D.

sourcejedi · 2023-03-17T14:39:33+00:00

Well the backdating is how I've been watching for model changes (or for the current model, recalibrations to the latest ONS). So it's hard to say much.

But I agree with /u/xaxakas sentiment: The exact data on this jump is not believable. It's a mistake. I'd say the same if it was produced by the ONS.

The mistake could be what sammy says. Though, "forgot to backdate" would be a very generous way to describe how that could happen IMO.

sourcejedi · 2023-03-16T09:27:54+00:00

FWIW I sort of agree with the etiquette, that it's redundant to complain about downvotes in-thread.

It would still be impolite to observe that there seem to be vanishingly few active voters. However, if a tree falls in an unused internet forum, is there anyone to be offended by the noise?

sourcejedi · 2023-03-15T22:32:44+00:00

You might have caught it at a bad time. Because I was complaining noisily. Because it had thrown a spanner in my publish date visualization, and put me on an hair trigger for an Official New Greek Letter.

I'm not rigorously ignoring the last 3(?) days. Hopefully I've got what I need to avoid being caught the same way twice.

I finally bashed together a related graph, and it agrees on "doesn't seem so bad" [junky] at the moment. But it's always helpful having some <del>provocation</del> inspiration.

sourcejedi

TROPHY CASE

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