Hide all Amazon search results containing a keyword

How to hide all Amazon search results containing the word Bluetooth.

Why use this:

i) Let’s say you are searching for wireless headphones. You want headphones with a proper radio-frequency wireless base-station that uses a rock-solid 100-yard range, and not those that use the infernal and unreliable Bluetooth system. You thus want to remove the vast number of Bluetooth headphones from your search results. But Amazon’s filtering system won’t allow you to do that.

ii) Or perhaps you simply want to remove all results with a title containing your own chosen keyword. Again, this assumes that Amazon lacks the required sidebar filtering, and that you have hundreds of results to manually trawl through. In which case, just change the keyword used below.

Required:

Use this simple code with the popular free Web browser add-on “uBlock Origin”, by adding it to uBlock’s filter list. Simply paste the code to the list and save.

! Hide all search results on Amazon which contain bluetooth in the title
amazon.co.uk##[data-component-type="s-search-result"]:has-text(/bluetooth/i)

Of course you should also change amazon.co.uk to whatever your usual national Amazon store is, if you’re not in the UK.

You should not find it also interfering with your Wishlist pages, but if you do then whitelist in uBlock’s ‘Trusted Sites’ thus…

www.amazon.co.uk/hz/wishlist/ls/*

Thanks to RraaLL for suggesting an improvement to my initial way of doing it. Post updated.

Multi-column fix for DuckDuckGo

I made a super-simple fix for the current lack of DuckDuckGo multi-columns on a desktop PC. Multi-columns broke a few days ago.

Works with the Stylus UserStyle addon for your Web browser. Tested in Opera on Windows…

@-moz-document url-prefix("https://duckduckgo.com/") {
}
.react-results--main {
column-count: 3;
width: 1500px;
background-color: #eff2f7;
}
.wLL07_0Xnd1QZpzpfR4W {
display: inline-block;
width: 450px;
}

It’ll do as a temporary fix, until the vastly more complex DuckDuckGo – Multi-Columns – UserCSS (userstyle) v.40 is fixed.

Nothing moves on Reddit

Block autoplaying animated loops and mouseover videos on Reddit…

Add to the ‘Filters’ list of the popular uBlock Origin browser add-on, and save.

There is the ability in Reddit’s main User Settings to stop auto-playing videos. But “…when in the viewport” is the kicker on that setting. The only other option in User Settings is to ‘Reduce Animations’, rather than actually eliminate them. The above, plus a GIF blocker, makes absolutely sure that nothing moves on Reddit.

You’re welcome.

Block “recommended videos” at the foot of YouTube playlists

When you make playlists on YouTube, you often don’t appreciate YouTube inserting its own naff or unsuitable ‘recommendations’ below your human-curated list. Recommendation bots are notoriously wayward, and YouTube’s is no exception.

So here’s my filter for the popular uBlock Origin element-blocking add-on…

Tested and working. Why is this needed now? You used to be able to stop these with the browser add-on Unhook – Remove YouTube Recommended Videos. But it appears to have stopped working, at least for playlists.

To save you some re-typing of the above filter, here are the elements you need to target…

//ytd-playlist-video-renderer
playlist-video-renderer-style-recommended-video

//ytd-item-section-header-renderer
ITEM_SECTION_HEADER_TITLE_STYLE_PLAYLIST_RECOMMENDATIONS

Be sure you’re typing straight quotes in Notepad or Notepad++, and not fancy curly-quotes in Word.

Use Search Regex to delete part of a URL, in WordPress

Problem: You need a working regex to delete an /unwanted section/ of a URL, as found in old blog posts on a self-hosted installation of WordPress. The /unwanted section/ is different in each URL, and you have hundreds or even thousands of such URLs to deal with.

Solution: If your /unwanted section/ string has a repeating section of the URL in front of it, then you’re in luck. The popular free WordPress plugin ‘Search Regex’ and this small regex, will do it. The regex is seen here working as expected in the RegularExpressions101 sandbox…

What it’s doing: The desired repeating URLpart2 in the URL path is being found and marked, along with its following / slash. This and whatever follows the found section is also marked for deletion, even if what follows is different in every URL. The ‘marking for deletion’ stops at the next / in the URL.

In WordPress: Here’s how it’s applied in Search Regex in WordPress. Because this example is also deleting the repeating URLpart2/, that gets added back via the “Replace” box.

Warnings: Always preview first, using “Search”. Only if you are absolutely happy with how the URL now looks in the previews, should you then press “Replace All”. Always make a backup of the WordPress install before attempting such changes.

SMS as voicemail on a home phone – how to translate the number being read out

Another handy tip for wrangling with online life.

Situation: An online service requires verification of your new phone number. It’s a home phone, not a mobile, but they still send you an SMS message. This is delivered, great. But… your phone service has turned it into a spoken voicemail. The user only hears the vital verification number being read aloud thus…

Two hundred and ninety-five thousand two-hundred and forty-two

Problem: This is puzzling to many users, especially older people. Even if they can write it all down in time, what are they meant to input into the confirmation-box on the website? 20095000242? 295000242? 295,000,242?

Solution: None of the above. What the above read-aloud number actually translates to, in numbers is this…

295242

So write it down ‘as spoken’ first, then translate it back to (most likely) a six-digit number.

The above should also work if the same method is used by your service for ongoing two-factor verification. That’s if the same phone is also used for two-factor.

How to block the mouseover pop-ups on Archive.org search results

How to block the mouseover pop-ups on individual Archive.org search results, in the annoying new flickering / flashing search interface…

1. Go to the top bar of your Web browser | click on the uBlock Origin extension icon | Click on its cogwheel icon.

2. In the uBlock Origin Dashboard | go to “My Filters”.

3. In the My Filters list, add the new line…

archive.org##tile-hover-pane

… and save. Reload the results page. The item ‘preview’ popup panels will have all been blocked. You can still right-click on any result tile, and launch a new tab showing the main page for that result.

The above is for a user who uses the Grid view…

The above fix at least removes one of the main annoyances of the new faster, but regressive, user interface.

Delete small pure silences in an audio recording

How to find and delete small pure silences in an audio recording?

These silences are known in the audio recording trade as “dropouts” or “RF hits”, commonly caused by tiny failures in radio microphone transmissions. But they can also be caused by having to record on a desktop PC from a huge video that’s streaming down to someone with a relatively poor Internet connection. The video playback stutters and stalls a bit. Each stall results in a perfectly silent pause in the recording.

So let’s assume you’ve either captured a field audio recording using a flaky RF mic, or have captured the audio going through your desktop sound card by using something like Total Recorder. Either way you find there are silent skips, and now you need to delete these tiny bits of silence. All 250 of them. Automatically.

The powerful audio repair suite iZotope RX 7 should help here, and do this for you in a few clicks. But rather surprisingly it doesn’t have such a thing. You instead have to have PhD in using its complex ‘Ambience Match’ and ‘Spectral Repair’ modules. There must be an easier way for non-professionals.

There is. The quick, easy, automatic and free solution is actually (you guessed it) good old Windows desktop freeware. Here’s the workflow…

1. In this case the freeware really is a dinosaur, or rather the Wavosaur. Download and run. Admire the groovy retro 1995-style icon with the dinosaur face. Actually it’s not that old, and the Wavosaur’s current version is July 2020.

2. Load your .WAV file into the mighty mammal-munching maws of the Wavosaur. Then go: Tools | Silence Remove | Custom. It’s that simple.

3. “-90” = find real pure silence, not just lecture room ‘ambience’. “0.25” = the silence is only to be deleted if longer than 0.25 seconds. Run “OK”.

4. Wavosaur will stomp through the .WAV and find and delete silence, also close up the resulting gaps. There is no notification this has been done, but it has. When you go to see if it worked, you won’t be able to find all those former “flat bits” in the audio signal. Though the “ambient room noise” heard in the speaker’s pauses should still be there, as you can see here…

That’s because they had a tiny bit of noise in them, lifting them above the -90db threshold needed for deletion.

5. Now you can save and then load the cleaned .WAV into Ocenaudio (also freeware, and a great replacement for Audacity) and from there quickly save out to an .MP3 file.

If you’re going to do this a lot, note that Wavosaur can do MP3 export, but it first needs lame_enc.dll installed correctly.

A peep at Content Marketing

I had cause to take another peep at SEO, this time specifically the role of Content Marketer. A role completely unknown to me before now. Last week I could only have guessed, if you had asked “what does a Content Marketer do?”. Yet it’s basically what I’ve been doing for decades (albeit mostly without pay).

Some maxims and tips on this topic, from my jotted notes…

Your written content should not be self-serving, even if that will please your boss. You should try to serve your intended audience first, and educate your boss about the need to place the audience first. Quality is important, and needs to be consistent. Don’t outsource your vital customer-facing writing to someone in Whereizitagain who says they’ll do it for $10 an article.

Rather surprising was the advice to never overlook or dismiss old-school methods. Handwritten letters and targeted informative direct-mail “can still work wonders”. If done from a trusted source, done correctly and especially to a receptive older audience.

A writing Content Marketeer doesn’t just churn out SEO-focused robo-articles. Which was news to me. Such a writer could be undertaking: how-to tutorials / quarterly industry reports / buyer guides and reviews / news about new releases, with a touch of analysis to add value / long-form interviews / white papers / contributions to annual reports / and making online microsites and infographics.

One might also be polishing, SEO-buffing and revising/re-formatting older media content. If that hadn’t already been done by the previous post-holder. But link-rot is ever present, and old Web links will always need to be regularly checked.

One would ensure that all of the above are sprinkled with calls-to-action and (if needed) explicit “buy now” calls, as well as SEO-derived keywords. Web links would be added at the most relevant points, and these must be coloured so as to be clearly visible as links.

Monitor the competition. Note their topics, phrases and infer any new audience profiles they might be trying to address.

Monitor the commentators and contrarians. Comment on their posts, though be careful and don’t spam or aggravate.

Occasionally coin meaningful new phrases and even words and tags (e.g. ai-gen as an easily tag to identify AI generated content). Also consider local keywords, or timely ones relating to the trade-journal or hobby-magazine lead articles / news that your audience will be reading that month. You are of course also reading these journals regularly, and ideally doing so before everyone else.

Avoid writing “Top 10”, “7 best” etc article headlines. The savvy have long since learned that such headlines lead to untrustworthy articles, most of which appear to have been written by robots.

Monitor both customers and potential customers. Get a feel for things like their literacy level and the length they like to read. Do they have the ability to ‘skim and skip’, or do they just back off when faced with a long text? Can you break up a slab of text with nicer typography and spacing, break-out boxes and pull-quotes? Pictures should be unique and tailored to both the content and the audience, ideally, not just hastily-grabbed stock. The best writer is also ideally a crack picture-researcher and accomplished picture-processor.

Build a mental map of ‘where the audience is’ in the seasonal buying cycle (e.g. they may be saving up their PayPal for Black Friday, or flat broke after a big family spend at Christmas). Also develop a map of the favoured places visited by the decision makers in the audience, and when they find time to engage/post in such places.

Explore the potential for infusing what may be a rather staid corporate “brand tone” with touches of good-natured humour and subtle “insider joke” nods to the audience. Also explore the potential for weaving developing personal stories across your output. These stories should be genuine and as close to the grassroots as possible.

Pitch ideas to the legacy media via press releases, and perhaps also pitch directly if you have a relationship with a journalist or editor.

Actively pitch ideas to bloggers, audio podcasters and especially YouTube influencers. Make sure the pitch is individual and tailored to them and their audience. An inbound Web link from a blog is (apparently) worthless for Google Search SEO ranking, but that doesn’t mean it’s not valuable.

Make sure your content is easily shareable. But remember that not everyone does Facebook and Twitter, and in that case they can’t even see your posts on those closed services.

Don’t overlook the need for good writing in “thank you” messages, and even in receipts. Avoid flowery language and gushing cliches. Keep it simple, and add a nice straightforward coupon-code for a discount on their next purchase.

In spare moments, inventory the firm’s back catalogue of media, if that has not already been done. Is anything still useful, but gathering dust?

---

That’s the gist of what I noted during my reading and listening on the topic. Please comment and let me know if there’s anything I’ve missed.

Microsoft Teams – no-nag

A new UserScript, Microsoft Teams – Use Web App Instead. Stops the Desktop version of Teams from nagging you, if you’ve already launched (and want to use) the almost-identical Web browser version of Teams in Edge or Chrome.