"Although the blog will be the main home for all my stuff (you can follow it via RSS and I think you should, because RSS is possibly the best and purest tech we still have)"
This. I watch youtube through my RSS feed. The videos actually loads instantly, without their BS loading times if you load it on their page (in FF with adblock). I can set up rules in my RSS feed to filter out previews/trailers from channels I follow. I can sort my YT channels into categories (music, sports, etc). It's actually usable, and the controls are in my hand.
More people needs to use RSS feeds. Don't let algorithms dictate your life. Youtube engineers are the worst.
Don't act like your opinion is the only one that matters. You may not, but other people do care about their privacy.
"Here's the thing: Google promises that under normal circumstances, Gemini cannot read or summarize your WhatsApp messages. But, and this is a big but, with the "help" of the Google Assistant or the Utilities app, it may view your messages (including images), read and respond to your WhatsApp notifications, and more."
Doesn't matter what your opinion is on privacy, google doesn't give you the option to opt out.
- "regardless of whether your Gemini Apps Activity is on or off."
I'm just using it for sports news, and it's been great for that (i.e. "wojbombs" for breaking NBA trade news). It's also a great place to get fanarts (anime, gacha games, etc). I don't engage though, only passively use it.
Maybe you can just block all URLs that falls under /shorts/