You can't watch videos on the DNS browser on any website, however you can on Twitter via the Social applet: https://browsedns.net/topic/558/videos-sent-through-twitter-somehow-work-on-the-switch-browser?_=1653066005506 via DMs. That's a pretty specific use case, but could work if absolutely needed.

hi

@Pentatom As Almond mentioned, the group needs to be joined first. This was a move to cut down on chat spammers

@bludclat indeed

Hadn't heard of these but got lalalala on an online quiz

Switchbru uses your IP address to "remember you" across browser sessions. For most websites, this is a bad way to identify repeat users, but on the Switch there are no cookies, so it's the only way it can work.

For browsedns, it's just a normal website. Username and password, and you sign in each time.

And to be a little more specific, one of these links/images was shared around to various users, and we're taking action by blocking websites that help enable this kind of IP-based tracking.

Basically, every website you ever visit (on any device, on the Internet) is able to see the IP that you're connecting and viewing it from. (And this is one reason why VPNs advertise themselves as helping improve privacy, as they mask your IP). So, if someone links you to a suspicious looking website or image, it can be possible to fully view IP + browser info.

That being said, though, an IP does not usually enable someone to do something malicious. The worst is often location-leaking (as IPs are issued for different general regions). As a tip, you can likely easily to get a new IP by disconnecting your modem/router from the internet for ~5 min, and the ISP will issue you a new one.

GraphCoder is a site where you can experiment with an introduction to basic coding concepts (loops, conditionals, arrays) using mathematical graphs.

Commands and examples are here.

The examples where it increments x each time, and then runs the equation to find the value of y, and plots the pixel x, y on the graph, is actually similar to how a graphing calculator works. It goes between the window size (xMin -> xMax) and draws the location of y on the screen.

higher quality video

This free Wii channel used to run surveys every few days and show the results!

It would be interesting to revive something like this again!

@Mia_Mai-0 Yes, it's the "chatgpt" model from OpenAI with a few custom information set at the start of the conversation (info about browsedns / the service).

Probably most of the boringness are the usual constraints OpenAI has on ChatGPT. Adding in user-specific information is a good idea though, maybe it could pull in the names of all the groups the user is in, and their profile?

Just came across this website https://howdns.works/ that explains what a DNS server does with helpful illustrations!

When a device goes to connect to a specific website domain, it first asks the DNS server for the IP in order to make the connection. Through this manner, browseDNS is able to redirect, on some devices, an initial network connection in order to bring up a captive portal browser.

No we can't, and it's not possible either if the connection to the site you're viewing is encrypted via HTTPS. You can verify this by pressing Plus and checking the connection status, in the Switch browser applet.

More info on HTTPS: https://blog.mozilla.org/en/privacy-security/https-protect/

If an invalid certificate is present, the Switch will actually warn you and present a notice. That all being said, a malicious DNS server could use a technique to remove HTTPS and the cert called sslstrip!

Technically any entity on your Internet stack could override your DNS and use sslstrip, so you should always check that the certificate status with a site is encrypted and valid. We are not, but it's something to keep in mind and verify.

Factory resetting is unlikely to help as it's a networking problem, not an issue with the Switch itself, so please don't be concerned. Check out the article I linked from Nintendo and try the troubleshooting steps for error code 2809-1028.

To reassure you, there is no known browser virus targeting the Switch in the last several years, and changing DNS settings is a supported and normal feature of many Internet-enabled devices. The Switch also has many security features to ensure that the software it runs will not be modified, and the browser itself receives modern security updates.

I suggest you set your DNS to 8.8.8.8 or try another Internet access hotspot so you can confirm to yourself that it isn't an issue with the Switch. If it's truly a networking glitch, it will probably resolve itself as time continues (the Nintendo article mentions this too).

To clarify one more time: The browser popping up is not an exploit or a hack, and is instead is an intended use case for logging into hotel and airplane wifi networks. The only difference is our DNS server redirects you to Google instead of an internal captive portal.

As for accessing Google on Switch, using a DNS override (like browsedns or switchbru dns) is the only option at this time. If that's now not working, make sure that the redirect is enabled at the lanechange URLs I provided. We want Nintendo to add a browser in the future though! Then we would not need to rely on networking configs to access the Internet.

There are some more troubleshooting steps you can do with a computer, outlined on our FAQ: https://faq.fortheusers.org/#troubleshooting-1 But in general, if it is an issue with your ISP (Internet Service Provider), you would either have to wait, or contact them. I have helped a user in the past check with their ISP and confirm that the ISP's DNS was improperly caching the browser, and they were able to issue a reset remotely.

You might also have luck changing your DNS settings directly on your router: https://www.avast.com/c-how-to-change-router-dns-settings If you'd like to talk through this more specifically with your model router, we can chat over DM.

Oh, I would also recommend trying the DNS value 8.8.8.8 for "Manually enter an alternate DNS". This IP is Google's DNS service and it should resolve normally, assuming there are no major network issues.

Nintendo's pages also recommend 8.8.8.8 for resolving these kinds of issues: https://en-americas-support.nintendo.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/22411/~/how-to-manually-enter-dns-settings

This is a networking problem, some ISPs or router configurations will improperly cache DNS responses, resulting in this kind of behavior.

Check Nintendo's own page for advice on how to fix it: https://en-americas-support.nintendo.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/43120/~/error-code%3A-2809-1028

The most useful advice from that article is probably: restarting your router or trying another hotspot. Your Switch is totally fine though.

Also, if you really want the browser to stop appearing, you can disable the redirect on our end, for your IP from these pages, from a PC or Switch:

Switchbru DNS: http://lanechange-controller.fortheusers.org/manage/
BrowseDNS US: http://lanechange-us.browsedns.net/manage/
BrowseDNS UK: http://lanechange-uk.browsedns.net/manage/

Choosing "Disable Forever" or one of the other options on each of these pages will stop the browser from appearing, even if the networking situation isn't resolved.