I guess we all know this by now, but google doesn't care about your being able to use its products in a reasonable way. In some sense, this makes sense since I bet the overlap of power users and people with ad blockers is pretty high.

Maybe you should speak for yourself? I do not run ad blockers (much less anything targeting Google ads!) and the experience I get as a power user on Google services is no better than anyone else's - although, to be fair, it's not noticeably worse, either. (And mind you, the average ad supplier on the Internet is a hell of a lot shadier than Google, Facebook or any of the big "household name" tech companies!) I'm sure that plenty of other people here can confirm my POV.

Google's trouble engaging with power users as of late is entirely self-inflicted. There's quite simply zero doubt about that.

It always annoys me that giving users options they can control is viewed as complex but search engines that return whatever they deem as important aren't viewed as complex.

What you’re after already exists, the “recently uploaded” section on the home page.