[HN Gopher] Launched Playtoob, a simple YouTube companion, becau...
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Launched Playtoob, a simple YouTube companion, because my 5yo
daughter loves it
Author : devrimco
Score : 38 points
Date : 2023-11-22 12:53 UTC (10 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (playtoob.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (playtoob.com)
| devrimco wrote:
| Hi, this is a very simple Youtube playing companion, to watch
| what you actually choose. I'm a father and a developer. My
| children needed this. So, I'm lucky I could build it. This became
| also my preferred Youtube watching experience. Please try?
| chankstein38 wrote:
| It says it plays "The best videos from the channel". How is
| that decided without algorithms? I'm not challenging you I'm
| just curious. This seems like a great thing, like the copy says
| "Now there's easily something to watch during dinner" I just
| don't understand if it's just most recent videos or what.
| devrimco wrote:
| yeah. full disclosure, i go far back to get latest couple of
| hundreds of videos. (i may increase this in the future) and
| filter out the crap that is live, shorts, and all the
| restricted non embeddable ones. and i get all their stats. so
| i try to have around at least 100 "proper" ones of the latest
| videos.
|
| even for mrbeast for example it goes back till 2019. and
| believe me, old videos are not that attractive to "kids", i
| was going to say, but i found myself skipping them too.
|
| and present the user with an option to order by highest rated
| or highest viewed.
|
| this way i get latest videos of the channel. eg. ordered by
| the most viewed. and it plays continuously. shuffled in
| batches of 5.
| krisoft wrote:
| What you described is clearly an algorithm. But i assume
| what you mean by "no algorithm" is that you are not using a
| machine learning based recommendation engine.
| devrimco wrote:
| No AI, but it plays latest proper videos from the channels you
| pick. It doesn't suggest any weird video to your kids. Your
| children watch whatever you pick to watch.
| gus_massa wrote:
| > _Just select the channels you love, paste their IDs._
|
| [feature request] That's too technical. add all the other way to
| get to the chanell like https://www.youtube.com/@Disney
| https://www.youtube.com/Disney
| https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_5niPa-d35gg88HaS7RrIw and the
| youtu.be version and even paste one video and get the full
| channel.
|
| > _No algorithms._
|
| Why? I like algorithms. I used yahoo seach untill altavista
| created the algorithm.
|
| > _No suggestions._
|
| Not sugesting other channels is a feature for me. Some channels
| are very stupid but my children love them. Not sugesting them is
| a huge win.
|
| [super bonus feature] filter videos by date. Old Super Slime Sam
| videos are nice, but the recent ones are not.
| devrimco wrote:
| noted the feature requests, thank you. already started working
| on the channel name thingy.
|
| i also like algorithms but i decided it was not for kids, when
| i saw a friends little son watching video of a toy spiderman
| being bathed by a toy barbie acted by an old bald russian man,
| i decided it was not for kids. :)
|
| also i would like to watch the latest high rated videos from
| only my favorite channels while i'm having a sandwich at my
| desk.
|
| super bonus feature is also nice i'll try my best on that, as
| it requires a mega youtube request..
|
| cheers.
| cooper_ganglia wrote:
| Agreed, YouTube Kids is not always for kids. There is some
| very weird, sinister stuff on there that isn't in-your-face
| obvious. Stuff like that is just weird, it's definitely
| better to approve certain channels and keep the kiddos from
| getting pulled into any algorithms!
| velavar wrote:
| Folding Ideas had a great video on it!
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LKp2gikIkD8
| masspro wrote:
| > i also like algorithms but i decided it was not for kids
|
| Yeah, I've only ever heard negative things about video
| suggestions for kids. I guess the key search term for those
| who don't know is "Elsagate". Normal looking videos that draw
| in kids with popular characters and then suddenly they are
| doing bloody surgery on each other or whatever. I don't even
| know if there's negative intent on the part of the creators
| or if it's just algo-profit drive led to this.
| chankstein38 wrote:
| >negative intent
|
| I think clickbaiting children in to a less-than-savory
| theme so you can get their ad revenue is probably enough
| negative intent to make me grossed out by them.
| masspro wrote:
| Very fair. You just exposed a part of my brain to me,
| where I put "bad profit-driven motive" into a separate
| bucket that I consider less severe than "direct evil
| desire for harm", and now that I see that I'm not sure
| how bad that thought process sucks. It's definitely
| driven by getting (too?) used to things having an average
| level of shittiness.
| chankstein38 wrote:
| I totally feel that! I'm there too. The average level of
| shittiness has increased so much I basically don't expect
| things to work unless the specific feature makes the
| company money. Otherwise, it feels like an afterthought
| that may or may not function properly. Also, in case it
| was unclear, my original response wasn't meant as any
| criticism towards you. More just disgust towards those
| folks.
| ge96 wrote:
| no gif to show it working? just a form to sign up?
| devrimco wrote:
| i have this screenshot: https://storage.googleapis.com/indie-
| hackers.appspot.com/pos...
|
| but you're right. will do. thank you.
| devrimco wrote:
| some more screenshot : https://snipboard.io/acH8wg.jpg
| furyofantares wrote:
| Sounds excellent.
|
| I download whole channels and serve them on Plex. It requires a
| fair bit of management, and doesn't work when traveling, or if my
| desktop PC is VPN'd somewhere or off. This is all to prevent
| suggestions and random browsing. A much simpler solution is very
| welcome.
| Cyph0n wrote:
| Same, but served via Jellyfin. If you haven't already, make
| sure to check out Tubesync. It makes managing the downloading
| side a breeze.
|
| https://github.com/meeb/tubesync
| devrimco wrote:
| you guys are muuuuuch moooore talented than I am. :)
| tikkun wrote:
| Related: I recently learned that in the youtube kids app the
| parent can sign in and select only pre-approved accounts, and can
| disable search and recommendations.
| devrimco wrote:
| yeah you're definitely right. i tried it. it is extremely
| painful to add any channel to it. its country limited, and
| afaik you have no free option to add any channel you choose.
| and it still suggests some stuff, channel bundles, which are
| boring to children and such.
|
| plus, there is no option for me :) i'm also thinking of myself.
| devrimco wrote:
| i guess i already hit some quotas somewhere. i'm very sorry. i
| wasn't expecting this. :(
| recursive wrote:
| Behind the signup form is a thumbnail for this video.
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jaiKVF2QhnM
|
| It's definitely not one I'd choose to showcase for child safety.
| devrimco wrote:
| oh no you're right its randomly picked from the already added
| channels. until you pick your own channels i chose to do that.
| but, yeah you have a point. maybe i'll remove that option? or
| pick 10 safe ones only?
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(page generated 2023-11-22 23:01 UTC)