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back to article YouTube strips page clutter with 'Feather'

One problem with small, cheap computers is that even the internet staple YouTube can slow such a machine to a crawl. And what's the point of a $300 computer if you can't watch a dog riding a skateboard immediately? To address this issue, YouTube launched an experimental "Feather" viewing option on Thursday that strips out many …

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  1. mittfh
    Badgers

    Greasemonkey

    So they've finally noticed the numerous GreaseMonkey scripts that already do this for computers running Firefox? Of course, FF can also kill the ads :)

    2 0
  2. Dan Herd
    Stop

    Not the problem

    I don't think page clutter is the issue - my Dell Inspiron mini 9 is pretty good at cluttered HTML, but anything involving flash hangs like a monkey in Hartlepool.

    Intel and Adobe really need to sort this out because the Atom should be better than it is at playing flash. My ARM-based mobile phone is better and the chip in that is teeny compared to the netbook...

    1 0
    1. Shades
      Reply Icon

      Flash, Aaaaaah, its the saviour of the universe!

      Are the Mini 9's really that rubbish or is it a problem with your Flash installation?

      My NC10 is running 48 processes (including Skype*, Firefox**, AVG***, a few visual enhancements**** and all the other system stuff) and can STILL play flash with no problems. Now, this is not particularly aimed at you but I'm STILL constantly surprised by the power of the Atom processor, it deserves far more credit than the processor snobs give it. Perhaps I've just got low expectations but its never failed to handle anything I throw at it and it really does get given some stick! OK, it can be a bit slow at raw number crunching (like encoding MP3/OGG/Video) but it CAN play 720p AND 1080p video and even gets used for playing music***** (with a hardware controller/multi-out sound card) in a multi-million pound nightclub. Anyone who says a netbook (or the NC10 at least) is only capable of a bit of surfing, email and word processing clearly shouldn't be allowed near a computer or is frankly talking out of their arse!!

      * Chatting to someone as I type this.

      ** With the following plugins: CustomizeGoogle, DOM Inspector, Download Statusbar, DownThemAll, FavIcon Picker 2, Firebug, Foxtab, IE Tab, Long URL Please, NoScript, Open Image in New Tab, Personal Menu, Skype Extension for Firefox, URL Link and User Agent Switcher!

      *** Everything enabled.

      **** UberIcon and WinExposé

      ***** and has never crashed, which is more than can be said for my fellow DJs Macs!

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  3. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    ...Or you could use Quietube

    And get a much cleaner experience.

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  4. Big-nosed Pengie
    Thumb Up

    @AC re Quietube

    0_o

    Brilliant! Thanks!

    0 0
  5. Anonymous Coward
    Thumb Up

    Nice

    Works for me. A few less comments and it would be about perfect.

    And that's on my desktop with a 22" screen.

    0 0
  6. bocan

    What ads?

    Youtube has ads? Heh heh. Why do they bother nowadays? Surely no one can see that kind of junk anymore.

    0 0
  7. Simon
    Joke

    So ...

    this would be the feather lite version? ;-)

    0 0
  8. James Dunmore
    Dead Vulture

    Reg Feather

    Reg Light? I mean miss out the stuff like the article, and cut straight to the comments page ;)

    0 0
  9. Dom 3

    MySpace

    Now can someone strip out the unwanted cruft from myspace pages? The following is a rough idea of what one would look like, post-processing:

    0 0
  10. Simon Harris

    When I saw 'strips' and 'feather' in the title...

    I thought it was going to be more on yesterday's PETA article

    http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/12/03/peta_angel/

    0 0
  11. Elmer Phud
    Happy

    Comments

    "And reading fewer YouTube comments is absolutely key to balanced mental health"

    yEAH FUCKIN AWESOM

    0 0
  12. Watashi

    I win

    I predicted this would happen - can I have a prize?

    0 0
  13. Anonymous Coward
    Badgers

    How about

    letting video buffer for a while before automatically playing it? That's only slightly less annoying than the comments.

    0 0
  14. Anonymous Coward
    Paris Hilton

    I like a little open source app called..

    ..Minitube. It's really nice, I run it on MacOS and Linux (I don't use Windows enough to comment), and find it a very nice browser-free interface.

    Also, there's a brilliant Chrome extension to make youtube useful, if you want to use a browser- it's all relatively fast/light.

    0 0
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