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On a search for "avi to mp4": - Google shows CloudConvert, then some helpful Reddit threads, then Ask Ubuntu, then some spammy SEO-optimized converter websites
by rafram 1y ago
On a search for "avi to mp4":
- Google shows CloudConvert, then some helpful Reddit threads, then Ask Ubuntu, then some spammy SEO-optimized converter websites.
- Kagi shows CloudConvert, then pages and pages of spammy SEO-optimized converter websites.
Google clearly wins there.
- prophesi 1y agoOpposite here, but I also don't have a personalized Google search experience, and an exhaustive list of sites in Kagi that I raise/lower/block from the results.
- 28304283409234 1y agoHappy paying customer of Kagi here. because to me intention counts. Kagi has the explicit intention to serve me their best results. Google has the explicit intention to get me to click on their customers results. Happy to pay kagi.
- rafram 1y agoUse an ad blocker.
- infinitifall 1y agoNow Google has no intention to serve you
- rafram 1y agoI've never had any issue using any Google service with an ad blocker. They make plenty off of me via YouTube Premium and Google Flights commissions - both services that I think are valuable, and one that I actually gladly pay for.
- 28304283409234 1y agoYou do you. I do me.
- tim333 1y agoI think Google has the intention to get you to click on their ads. Which they can achieve by providing ok search results.
- mvieira38 1y agoDid the same here on my Android phone. Google:First result, occupying half my screen, was a sponsored Google Play junk app, then CloudConvert, FreeConvert, Convertio, Adobe Express, Restream (this one seems like garbage), then a second Play widget and then SEO slop. Kagi: FreeConvert, CloudConvert, a youtube tutorial, a Quick Peek widget with unhelpful topics, Restream, Adobe Express, SEO slop at the end. Not that much better by Kagi, but it's pretty good not having any ads. I'm curious why you'd think leading you to Reddit when you searched for a converter is a desirable result, though, and I think you got that because you search for "[term] reddit" so much it defaulted to it via algorithm
- rafram 1y agoIt's not just me getting Reddit discussion results - Google has an exclusive deal with Reddit to list it in search results [1], and it tends to be ranked highly now for more subjective/recommendation-based queries. (And I did this test after clicking the "Try without personalization" link in the Google footer.) I didn't list the ads in the Google results because I didn't see them. There's no reason not to be using an ad blocker, and unlike Kagi, it's free. [1]: https://www.404media.co/google-is-the-only-search-engine-that-works-on-reddit-now-thanks-to-ai-deal/ https://www.404media.co/google-is-the-only-search-engine-tha...
- mvieira38 1y agoSo you're saying it's good to have your results influenced by megacorporation exclusivity deals? I didn't use an adblocker because I was using the app, and having to rely on adblockers is cheating for Google, the services should be judged as is. Google isn't above blocking you from their services for using adblockers, too, as we can see from Youtube
- rafram 1y agoDid I say that?
- tombert 1y agoI hadn't heard of that deal. How is that not blatantly anti-competitive?
- amelius 1y agoAvi to mp4 is best done with an ffmpeg command written by an llm. But OK, I get that that was not the point.
- rafram 1y agoIf you already have ffmpeg, you shouldn't need an LLM to write `ffmpeg -i video.avi video.mp4`.
- amelius 1y agoThe llm will tell you there are lots of interesting options.
- nimih 1y agoAs will the manual of ffmpeg itself, for what it's worth.
- throwaway314155 1y agoIf there is perhaps just _one_ thing that we can all admit that LLM's are good at, it should be bash one-liners for common tasks. Which is to say, I highly recommend using an LLM for exploring commands to run in a terminal. Once past the learning curve, it is a good way to avoid dozens to hundreds of cryptic short-options (just ask for only long options).