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Found 215 results

  1. Chasethebase
    YouTube appears to be slowing itself down upon detecting ad blockers by Steve Bennett As Google continues to wage war on ad-blocking users who access YouTube, a recent discovery has been made that the site itself will load significantly slower and almost freeze upon detecting an ad blocker. Similar to previous attempts to slow down the site and the introduction of prompts to disable ad blockers, which will prevent viewing of content until the user does so, this change has been discovered to be increasing CPU load for the site, which disappears as soon as the page is reloaded without an ad blocker enabled. In a thread on the YouTube subreddit, users noticed that not just the site but video buffering was slowed with an aim to make YouTube unusable when accessed while ad-blocking software is enabled. An unintended side effect of these changes is that it's causing crashes within another Google product, Google Chrome. https://www.reddit.com/r/youtube/comments/195octe/youtube_started_slowing_video_buffer_with_adblock/ Tests by PCGamer have shown that when YouTube is open with AdBlock enabled, CPU load on the author's specific machine is increased by approximately 17% compared to when the add-on is disabled. Additionally, even when users have YouTube Premium subscriptions, the slowdown still happens, with tests still producing an approximate 15-18% CPU load increase. Google, and therefore YouTube, have declined to comment on the recent discoveries. However, given the implementation of a deliberate five-second delay to video loading that was introduced back in November, this latest move is hardly surprising. Google's position on the matter makes it clear that the company wishes to give users who use ad blockers a "suboptimal viewing" experience. As an online publication, Neowin also relies on ads for operating costs and, if you use an ad blocker, we'd appreciate being whitelisted. In addition, we have an ad-free subscription for $28 a year, which is another way to show support! Source: 9to5Google; PCGamer Update: Adblock has explained why Google isn't even the culprit for the slow YouTube performance.
  2. Chasethebase
    Netflix looking at adding ads to its games, and charging extra for some by Steve Bennett Netflix has been increasing its gaming library significantly over the last 12 months, including adding some headline indie titles as well as some classic triple-A titles. The service is available to all users who are subscribed to Netflix, and platform availability is on a per-title basis. Now, Netflix is reportedly looking into ways to further monetize the games on its platform through a variety of methods not limited to including adverts within these games. The Wall Street Journal has reported that executives at Netflix have been having discussions over the last few months over a selection of options to keep users coming back to the streaming service. Ideas that have been floated are not new ones and already exist within the mobile gaming world. This includes in-app purchases within games as well as charging a fee for titles that are more premium (which may include titles such as the aforementioned indie title Hades). This might also be extended to providing users who subscribe to the ad-supported tier access to the gaming library (something that is not yet available), but these games would then only be available with ads in them. Previously Netflix held the position that it did not want to include ads or other monetization methods within games on its platform. However it appears that has changed in the last few months. WSJ also reports that Netflix games had been downloaded a total of 81.2 million times globally during 2023, which is nearly three times as much as it saw in 2022. It isn't earth-shattering when compared to some larger mobile titles or bigger games on traditional gaming consoles and PC. However it shows that Netflix is seeing growth in the area, and will continue to invest in its library during 2024 and beyond. Source: The Wall Street Journal
  3. Chasethebase
    Meta announces plans to make advertisers disclose AI usage in political ads by Steve Bennett Meta has announced plans that it will begin to enforce new requirements on political advertisements on its platforms starting from the beginning of 2024, The Wall Street Journal reports. These new requirements are specifically around the use of AI to either create or digitally alter media that is used within ads on Facebook, Instagram and more. Examples that Meta specifically highlighted include advertisements where a real person is depicted saying or doing something that they didn't actually say or do, or the digital creation of a realistic-looking event or person, which either didn't occur or doesn't exist. Both of these types of advertisements could have the potential to be misleading or potentially harmful, which Meta aims to mitigate. There are certain requirements to this new policy which determine if the media in question is in scope of the declaration requirement, such as whether it is "immaterial" but if an advertiser doesn't make the disclosure then an ad is likely to be rejected. Advertisers who repeatedly fail to make the necessary disclosures will then incur penalties from Meta, which remain unspecified. Meta has also confirmed that the policy will not just apply to political advertisements, but also to topics and ads related to social issues as well. Additionally, Meta's own generative AI tools cannot be used by advertisers to make political ads. Given that the U.S. election season begins in January with the primary elections, this will be the first true test of the potential impact that generative AI can have on news and information that is spread across platforms around the world. This is the latest step in a wide range of measures taken by companies and governments to moderate and safeguard the use of AI across the world ever since ChatGPT first launched one year ago. Source: The Wall Street Journal
  4. Chasethebase
    Meta begins testing a ‘holiday bonus' for creators on Instagram and Facebook by Steve Bennett Meta has announced today that it will begin testing a holiday bonus (or year-end bonus) payment by invitation only in the United States, South Korea and Japan. Specific creators will be invited to test this feature until the end of 2023, and they can choose to activate it to begin monetising based on the number of reels plays and photo views gained during the bonus period, as long as it passes the standard content monetisation policies. In the same blog post, Meta goes on to announce that Instagram Subscriptions has passed 1 million active subscriptions on the platform, which recently launched in an additional 35 countries around the globe. Meta also announced today that new promotional tools will be enabled for creators to encourage the growth of subscriber communities, such as welcome messages via DMs and Stories, and highlighting the Subscribe button above posts in the feed. Facebook will also gain similar improvements, as well as Meta giving creators the ability to offer free 30-day subscription trials to fans. Meta also mentions that Instagram Gifts, a feature that allows creators to get support directly from fans, is now more widely available to creators in Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Chile, Colombia, Croatia, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malaysia, the Netherlands, Peru, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Sweden, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand and Turkey. It also announces limited-time fall and holiday-themed gifts running from now until the end of the year on Facebook. The final announcement from today’s post is that Meta will be making it easier for creators to participate in ads, by showing additional ad eligibility information when creating Instagram Stories. If a creator selects the “Allow brand partner to boost” option, it will encourage them to address any ad eligibility errors in the content prior to posting.
  5. hellowalkman
    Microsoft's Windows 11 Copilot experience gets worse with it now showing ads on desktop by Sayan Sen Microsoft, this past week, released its latest "Moment 4" feature update for Windows 11 version 22H2. There is another one coming up fairly soon as version 23H2 is also releasing later in Q4 as confirmed by Microsoft. The tech giant released some of the features planned for 23H2 early in 22H2 itself, and one of them happens to be Windows Copilot preview. (Check the full list in this dedicated article.) The experience so far for people since the debut of Copilot has been mixed. AMD graphics card owners, the ones who overclock or undervolt, noticed that their custom tuning profiles that were saved in drivers were being wiped clean after each reboot. Although they were not sure at first, deleting or removing Copilot elements seems to fix the issue. Besides that, Copilot or the Windows 11 Moment 4 update is apparently also causing problems with the Wallpaper Engine from Steam. And what may be frustrating is that there may not be a fix for the issue anytime soon. If you happen to be one of those affected and do not have much use of the feature, you can use our guide to remove Copilot. For those in the EU, Copilot is not available due to a new DMA policy; so it may be a good thing or a bad thing depending on how your experience would have gone. Microsoft is now adding another reason to avoid Copilot. Spotted by Ghacks, the company has started displaying third-party adverts via Copilot. Thankfully, in this case, it was ads for laptops and notebooks, but who knows what else may have been served if users aren't too careful about what they are browsing on their PCs. It looks like Mozilla's concerns may indeed be very valid. And that's not all as a recent report by Malwarebytes suggested that Microsoft is serving malicious ads via Bing.
  6. Qblade_
    Microsoft is reportedly allowing malicious ads to be served on Bing's AI Chat by Mehrotra A Earlier this year, Microsoft announced the Bing AI Chat which offered users an intuitive way of interacting with the Bing search engine. Since launch Bing AI has received several updates to improve the experience as well as bring new features. However, it looks like Microsoft's new chatbot is not perfect. According to a report published by Malwarebytes, Bing's AI is serving malicious ads to the users. While, everyone had expected Microsoft to inject ads into the Bing AI, currently the company is allowing bad actors to push malicious websites to unsuspecting users. Bing AI currently adds hyperlinks to text when responding to user queries and some times, these hyperlinks are sponsored ads. However, when Malwarebytes asked Bing AI how to download Advanced IP Scanner, it gave a hyperlink to a malicious website instead of the official website. While, Microsoft does put a small ad label next to the link, it is easy to overlook and an unsuspecting user will not think twice before clicking the link and downloading a file that could very well damage their system. In this instance, the ad opened a fake URL that filtered traffic and took the real users to a fake website that mimics the official Advanced IP Scanner website. Once some one runs the executable installer, the script tries to connect to an external IP address. Unfortunately, Malwarebytes did not find the final intention or the payload but it could have easily being a spyware or a ransomware. Upon clicking the first link, users are taken to a website (mynetfoldersip[.]cfd) whose purpose is to filter traffic and separate real victims from bots, sandboxes, or security researchers. It does that by checking your IP address, time zone, and various other system settings such as web rendering that identifies virtual machines. Real humans are redirected to a fake site (advenced-ip-scanner[.]com) that mimics the official one while others are sent to a decoy page. The next step is for victims to download the supposed installer and run it. While, this was one instance, there is a good chance that any one can take advantage of this by creating a Microsoft ad account and running a marketing campaign. From the looks of it, Microsoft is not really checking the campaigns once they are submitted to ensure they follow the guidelines and do not target users.
  7. Anurag Singhh
    Reddit will force ad personalization based on your activity, and you can't opt out by Anurag Singh Reddit has been making major changes to the platform. It was only recently that the site announced a contributor program, which lets you convert your Reddit gold and karma into fiat currency. And now it is back with some changes to ad personalization and privacy preferences. Among the various changes the site has announced, the most notable one is Reddit "removing the ability to opt out of ad personalization based on your Reddit activity." In simpler terms, Reddit no longer allows you to decide not to see ads that are tailored to your actions on the site. Reddit's head of privacy conveys in the announcement that this change is actually beneficial. Reddit requires very little personal information, and we like it that way. Our advertisers instead rely on on-platform activity—what communities you join, leave, upvotes, downvotes, and other signals—to get an idea of what you might be interested in. The vast majority of redditors will see no change to their ads on Reddit. For users who previously opted out of personalization based on Reddit activity, this change will not result in seeing more ads or sharing on-platform activity with advertisers. It does enable our models to better predict which ad may be most relevant to you. Reddit mentions that this change will not roll out to users “in select countries". The company has not listed which countries are exceptions, but it is possible that EU nations are among them, as the change may violate the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). In addition, Reddit has updated the descriptions of the privacy settings to make them more “clear and consistent across platforms”. You are also given ability to opt out of specific ad categories, such as Alcohol, Dating, Gambling, Pregnancy and Parenting, and Weight Loss. The company has also consolidated location customization settings.
  8. John Callaham
    Amazon Prime Video TV shows and movies will include ads soon, unless you pay an extra fee by John Callaham Amazon Prime Video, one of the many perks of getting an Amazon Prime subscription, is going to be showing ads soon while you stream its library of TV shows and movies, including its many original series and films. Variety reports that the ads will begin appearing sometime in early 2024 in the U.S., U.K., Germany, and Canada. Later, the ads will appear on the service for people in France, Italy, Spain, Mexico, and Australia. In a statement, Amazon claims that Prime Video content will not have as many ads as you will find on old-fashioned TV networks or other ad-based streaming services. If you want to keep watching those films and shows without ads, Amazon will give you that option, but at the cost of an additional fee of $2.99 a month. There's no word if Amazon will offer an annual fee for Amazon Prime Video without ads. The company already offers a completely free streaming service that's supported by ads, Amazon Freevee. With this change, nearly all the major streaming services now offer plans with ads and without ads. At the moment, the only major ad-free service is Apple TV+, which charges $6.99 a month. This is just the latest development in what many have called "streamflation", as streaming services are now less concerned about boosting their subscription numbers and more concerned about actually being profitable. So far, we have seen Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN+ announce major price increases for their ad-free streaming plans, which will start later this fall. Peacock also announced price increases for both its Premium and Premium Plus plans in July. YouTube Premium prices went up by $2 a month to $13.99 a month in July as well. One smaller streaming service, Starz, is actually bucking this trend. It announced a month ago that it has lowered the price of accessing the service on an annual subscription from $74.99 to $69.99. As an Amazon Associate when you purchase through links on our site, we earn from qualifying purchases.
  9. Aditya Tiwari
    WhatsApp head denies reports of ads coming to its app by Aditya Tiwari WhatsApp head Will Cathcart took to his X account (formerly Twitter) and disputed a media report claiming the Meta-owned company is exploring possibilities of displaying advertisements on its instant messaging app. Financial Times reported that some teams at Meta are discussing whether to show ads along with contacts in the list of conversations on the chat page. The interface could appear similar to how ads show up on Messenger. This @FT story is false. We aren't doing this. Also it looks like you misspelled Brian's name... https://t.co/Z47z9FC5yu — Will Cathcart (@wcathcart) September 15, 2023 As per the report, no final decisions have been made and the concept has been debated at a higher level as there are concerns it could "alienate users." WhatsApp said in a statement that it's not testing or working on it, and doesn't have any plans around it. WhatsApp has remained an ad-free app since its inception, and even after the company was acquired by Meta (then Facebook) in 2014. This has been in line with the popular note from WhatsApp co-founder Brian Acton, "No Ads!, No Games!, No Gimmicks!" How WhatsApp made money was by charging users $1 to download the app. And Facebook (said they) supported our mission & vision. Brian even wrote this famous note: pic.twitter.com/A6ufhkMIuX — neeraj arora (@neerajarora) May 4, 2022 In later years, however, Meta started using WhatsApp Business as the money-making machine for the instant messaging platform after ditching the $1 annual subscription fee. Launched in 2018, the app allows businesses to connect with their customers to provide various services and market new offers. It was reported earlier this year that WhatsApp Business reached 200 million users. Meta's other big acquisition Instagram has leveraged advertising for quite some time now. The social media app designed to consume image and video content displays ads in various places, including the content feed, Stories, and Reels. In recent news, WhatsApp announced its Channels feature will expand globally in the coming weeks, starting with India. It also rolled out support for uploading HD videos, multi-account support, revamped macOS app, and more. Some changes seen in a recent Android beta suggest the app might add support for cross-platform messaging in the future.
  10. TarasBuria
    Hitting new lows: Windows ads beg Chrome users to make Bing their default search engine by Taras Buria Aug 29, Update: A Microsoft spokesperson confirmed the company has stopped issuing Bing ads targeting Chrome users in Windows. Original article below Windows and Edge customers are no strangers to ads, banners, and constant prompts to change the default browser or search engine, reset app defaults, or enable telemetry data—just to name a few. And even though customers are constantly asking Microsoft to relax and take one step back, there is simply no end to the company's effort to enforce its products on frustrated users. According to a growing list of reports (and our observations on local machines), Microsoft's latest attempt to increase its user base is to spam Chrome users with Windows ads begging to set Bing as the default search engine. Steven Parker, Neowin's co-founder, discovered the ad on his computer running Windows 10 this morning. The banner tried to tempt him with your typical cheap tricks promising an "improved search experience," Microsoft Rewards points, and the new AI-powered Bing. Unlike Windows 11 upgrade prompts with two "yes" buttons, this time, the thing lets you refuse the offer with the "Don't Switch" button (we could not find what happens when you agree since probably no sane Chrome user would accept the generous offer from Microsoft). An intrusive ad in the bottom-right corner of the screen is not everything you get. Customers who were unlucky enough to experience Microsoft's latest trick also reported seeing an unknown "BGAUpsell" process located in the C:\Windows\Temp\MUBSTemp folder with denied access. A quick Google search revealed the first reports of the banner dating back to June 2023 (the BGAUpsell file is signed with a seemingly valid certificate from May 25, 2023). We contacted Microsoft and asked the company to shed some light on the controversial ad, and we will update the article once we have a response. The banner asking Chrome users to switch to Bing might be an experiment targeting a specific audience in specific regions or other criteria. Virustotal scans show that the executable pings multiple browser-related parameters, such as browser version, defaults, identifier, and more. Despite making genuinely great products—no one questions that the new Bing is good—Microsoft is getting increasingly desperate with its aggressive marketing, completely ignoring the customer backlash. And with Edge injecting ads on the Chrome website and Windows 10 nagging Chrome users with full-blown banners, one may rightfully ask how hard the company is willing to annoy its core audience for a fraction of new customers and when using a Microsoft-made product will start resembling that Futurama episode about streaming ads into dreams. Are you switching?
  11. TarasBuria
    AdDuplex is shutting down after 12 years of service on Windows Phone and Windows by Taras Buria AdDuplex, a cross-promotion ad platform for Windows and Windows Phone apps, is shutting down. Alan Mendelevich, the company's founder, announced the journey's end, citing the "shrinking industry and the community" the platform serves. AdDuplex allowed Windows and Windows Phone app developers to promote their projects for free using cross-promotion ads. In other words, display ten AdDuplex-powered ads inside your app and get eight impressions of yours for free. The platform was one of the largest independent ad networks on Windows available in more than 200 countries, with more than 5 million ads served daily. In addition to helping developers promote their apps and games, AdDuplex was a source of monthly stats about Windows and Windows Phone. The platform offered insights into the most popular Windows Phone devices, OS version breakdowns, country-specific data, and more (you can check out the last report from June 2022 here). According to the blog post, AdDuplex will stop serving cross-promotion and commercial ads on July 17, 2023. After that date, apps using the AdDuplex SDK will continue receiving the "no ad" response so that they can react accordingly and switch to other ad providers (if implemented). AdDuplex also plans to turn off its client area on August 1, 2023, and the company urges developers to download their stats before the end of this month. At the end of the post, Alan Mendelevich thanked everyone for their support and participation: I want to express my gratitude to everyone who joined AdDuplex as a cross-promotion or advertising partner, everyone who supported us with media coverage or just good vibes, everyone who collaborated with us at Microsoft, Nokia and other companies in the Windows ecosystem. I hope we made a positive impact on your businesses, careers, and hobbies. Thank you and I hope we cross paths in the future! Developers can learn more about the incoming AdDuplex shutdown on the official blog.
  12. zikalify
    Netflix wants to make you care about ads by turning them into episodes by Paul Hill Netflix is looking to run episodic ad campaigns to boost viewer engagement, according to advertising executives speaking to the Financial Times. As Netflix has the ability to track what you’ve watched, advertisers could make a 15-episode ad campaign where a new episode is played the further you advance through a TV series you’re watching. By keeping adverts different, episodic ads could help to capture the viewer’s attention better than an ad they’ve already seen ten times before. The ad format could work especially well in the case of brands viewers actually care about - perhaps something on the level of Apple’s Get a Mac ad campaign. Rather than being something to avoid, viewers may start looking for the next episode of an ad. Speaking to the Financial Times, an unnamed advertising boss said: “They’ll know what you’ve seen. So the old days of making episodic work may be back because before you could never guarantee what people have seen already. Now you can write 15 episodes of an advert and guarantee that the viewer will see them in the right order. So that’s really interesting.” Another ad boss told the FT that Netflix was now making more money per user with its advertising tier than the standard tier. Due to the positive reputation of Netflix shows, he said that advertisers are keen to advertise their brands on the platform. He did admit, though, that the audience for Netflix ads was still small. Netflix first launched its lower-cost ad tier in November in just a handful of markets: Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Spain, the UK, and the US. By mid-May, the tier had already got five million monthly active users. During the first month of availability, several ad agency executives complained that Netflix had underperformed expectations but judging by the more recent comments, ad agencies seem to be coming around. Source: Financial Times
  13. zikalify
    YouTube limits viewers to three videos if an adblocker is detected by Paul Hill Do you remember several years ago when it became trendy for websites to detect adblockers and make you disable them? Well, it looks like that’s coming to YouTube. According to Redditor Reddit_n_Me, YouTube now issues a popup to people using an adblocker on YouTube that informs them they can only watch three videos while blocking ads. It then gives you the option to allow ads or try YouTube Premium, which gives you an ad-free experience for a monthly fee. Neowin already reported on the fact that YouTube was trialling a popup to stop adblockers but it seems that the latest iteration of the blocker is more lenient and allow you to watch three videos before you're made to turn off the adblocker. In the popup shown to users, it reads: It looks like you may be using an ad blocker. Video playback will be blocked unless YouTube is allowlisted or the ad blocker is disabled. Ads allow YouTube to stay free for billions of users worldwide. You can go ad-free with YouTube Premium, and creators still get paid from your subscription. According to the Reddit user, he was using Adblock with Chrome when the notification popped up. It’s not clear whether all adblocking software will cause the popup to trigger or just some of them. The popup has been confirmed by YouTube to BleepingComputers. The company said that it was running a small experiment globally that urges YouTubers to allow ads or try YouTube Premium - if you haven’t seen the popup but use an adblocker, it probably just means you’re not included in the trial. YouTube Premium is not exactly the cheapest option around, coming in at $11.99/£11.99/CAD $11.99/AU $14.99 per month. YouTube Premium is also not available everywhere in the world so some people would be forced into watching ads. We’ll have to wait and see if the notification becomes a permanent fixture but for now, it’s limited to just a select group of users. Let us know in the comments if you have seen this popup and which browsers and adblocker combo you use. As an online publication, Neowin too relies on ads for operating costs and, if you use an ad blocker, we'd appreciate being whitelisted. In addition, we have an ad-free subscription for $28 a year, which is another way to show support! Source and Image: Reddit_n_Me (Reddit) via BleepingComputer
  14. Aditya Tiwari
    WhatsApp Business reaches 200 million users, will allow Facebook ads without an account by Aditya Tiwari WhatsApp Business now has over 200 million users, the company revealed as part of its announcement discussing some updates coming for small businesses. The Meta-owned company said that businesses will soon be able to run Click-to-WhatsApp ads on Facebook and Instagram without having an account on these platforms. Businesses will be able to use the WhatsApp Business app to create, purchase, and publish ads on Facebook and Instagram, the company said in a blog post. They just need an email address and a payment mode to get started with Click-to-WhatsApp ads that can appear in places like News Feed, Marketplace, and Stories. The users who click on these ads on Facebook and Instagram will be redirected to the business' chat page on WhatsApp so they can ask questions about the product and make purchases. "These ads are one of the most powerful ways to drive potential customers to message them on WhatsApp and this will open new opportunities for WhatsApp-only small businesses that need a simpler way to get started with advertising," it said. WhatsApp will bring another paid feature that will allow businesses to send personalized messages to their customers automatically. For instance, they can send updates about upcoming sales, birthday greetings, or appointment reminders, etc. The feature will allow businesses to group customers into different lists based on the context. They will be able to send messages to a list with a customizable call-to-action button and schedule the date and time as well. While there is no word on how much the messages will cost, WhatsApp said it will begin testing the feature soon and drop more details in the future. Earlier this month, the instant messaging app also rolled out the Channels feature in Colombia and Singapore as part of the Updates tab. The feature allows admins to send one-way messages to their followers similar to Telegram. WhatsApp said it wants to support admins who want to build a business around their channel.
  15. Chasethebase
    Amazon Prime Video is reportedly working on an ad supported tier by Steve Bennett As reported by the Wall Street Journal, Amazon is looking into multiple methods of increasing its revenue from advertisement across the business, and that includes Prime Video, which could have its tiering system changed to introduce an ad-supported tier. Given Amazon's prominent position in the digital advertisement space sitting third behind Google and Meta in terms of revenue in the United States, advertisers are keen for Amazon to make this move. This would follow in the footsteps of Netflix bringing in an ad-supported tier at a lower price point than the standard subscription Advertisers are most interested in having access to premium films and programs on the service, which have until now remained mostly ad-free. With the amount of interest that these shows and films can generate, being able to have advertisements on them would potentially be very profitable for the advertisers and by extension, Amazon. At the moment, Prime Video is available with the standard Amazon Prime membership or as an $8.99 a month standalone. subscription. It doeshave some ad-supported coverage already with some of its live sports coverage and product placement within shows on the platform, as well as content from Freevee which is Amazon's free ad-supported video service. One of the routes that Amazon is said to be considering is introducing the ads into the existing tier of Prime Video membership, and offering a higher tier which would then include the benefit of being ad-free, which would follow a similar path to Amazon Music where it gave Prime members more songs but removed the ability to get most of them on demand. Amazon is very keen to expand its content library on Prime Video to compete with the large array of competitors in the space now, through bidding for rights for NFL games and having more original shows. This would be one way that it could pay for the cost of bringing more content to the service. Source: WSJ
  16. hellowalkman
    Microsoft now showing ads for Teams when you try to "Get Help" on Windows by Sayan Sen It is not wrong for a company to place ads and promote its own products to the user, however, they can get annoying when such advertisements are placed in inappropriate places. Microsoft is always trying to promote its features, products, and services on Windows 11 or Windows 10, and the latest place (via GHacks) where it is now placing ads is in the Get Help app. When a user opens the app to probably seek assistance on something on their PC, a banner about Microsoft Teams Essentials is displayed. The ad has a learn more link that directs users to the Microsoft Teams Essentials webpage. Thankfully though it can be closed. The ad reads: Increase productivity and collaboration all while staying organized, using a new meeting solution designed for small businesses. Learn more. The Get Help app can be accessed by either selecting the Get Help link when you're in Settings to learn more about a setting or by launching the Get Help app directly. The slightly irritating thing about this promotional banner is that it appears to show the same Teams Essentials ad no matter which setting you are in, even if the topic is completely unrelated to Teams itself. So a user who wants to understand, say, something about the System, a Teams Essentials link is definitely not helpful in any way. While we are on the topic of Settings and ads, last month, the tech giant pushed some more promotional content inside the Settings app too where advertisements on Microsoft 365 were displayed. Previously, such adverts for Microsoft 365 also appeared in the Windows 10 Out of Box Experience (OOBE) as well. In April this year, the company pushed more MSN news and ads in its redesigned Weather app on Windows 11, though such code was later removed and a widget was placed instead.
  17. Chasethebase
    Mozilla stops displaying full-screen VPN ads within Firefox after backlash by Steve Bennett Users of Firefox started reporting on Reddit yesterday that when browsing websites, a full-screen ad for Mozilla's VPN service which launched two years ago would randomly pop up. This advert would effectively disable clicking anywhere else in the window or page until it was dismissed or interacted with. This led to users of Firefox going straight to Bugzilla to raise reports, however, these were closed with tags that confirmed the behaviour was working as intended, and deliberately implemented by Mozilla into the browser. However, Mozilla has since confirmed that the adverts have been disabled from the browser and this can be found when digging through the about:config menu under the flag browser.vpn_promo.enabled. Source: Reddit Other users, not just on Reddit, but also on Mozilla's support forum highlighted that the pop-ups could be prevented from appearing by using some ad-blocking extensions but not all prevented it because these look for ads within pages rather than being presented by the software itself. Mozilla initially replied to consumer complaints with the below statement: "Thank you for reaching out with your concern. Firefox is committed to creating an online experience that puts people first, as such we quickly stopped running the ad experience, and are reviewing internally." Following the backtracking of this, Mozilla has communicated further stating the following about its decision to revert the change, but not denying that it may be implemented again in a different format in the future. "We’re continuously working to understand the best ways to communicate with people who use Firefox. Ultimately, we accomplished the exact opposite of what we intended in this experiment and quickly rolled the experience back. We apologize for any confusion or concern." Given that Mozilla has continually put itself forward as a 'user-focused' company, touting that it cares about privacy and security, it seems strange that it would start implementing adverts like this within the browser, but the product is a significant income stream for the not-for-profit company. Source: Bleeping Computer
  18. zikalify
    Linda Yaccarino brings ads peace, GroupM says Twitter is no longer high risk by Paul Hill GroupM, which is owned by the world’s largest ad company WPP, has said Twitter is no longer considered high risk, the Financial Times has reported. Following the takeover of Twitter by Elon Musk, GroupM declared that the social media platform was “high risk” to brands, but it has now changed its mind with the installation of the new CEO Linda Yaccarino. The reversal in GroupM's position is pretty simple to understand. Unlike Musk who can be somewhat erratic on Twitter, Yaccarino comes from a solid background in advertising as she was the former head of advertising at NBCUniversal. GroupM reportedly removed Twitter’s “high risk” designation on Monday, according to three people familiar with the matter. The move should see more clients resume advertising their brands on the social media platform. The news should be very good for Twitter because it has been struggling financially and Musk had been trying to find ways to solve this by reducing the headcount and by introducing a premium tier called Twitter Blue. A person with knowledge of the matter told the Financial Times that GroupM had been holding off on reversing its designation until Musk sorted out his senior leadership team. The source also said GroupM had been working with Twitter to ensure ads don’t appear with problematic content. GroupM has not spoken publicly on the matter just yet, so things could still change. Ad revenue, as on many websites, is crucial for the viability of Twitter because most users don’t subscribe to Twitter Blue but still use the website which runs on resources that have to be paid for. While Twitter will still seek other ways to monetize the company, having the ad revenue coming in will be a boon for it. Linda Yaccarino is expected to take on the CEO role from Musk in the coming weeks. Source: Financial Times
  19. zikalify
    Netflix ad tier has five million monthly active users six months after launch by Paul Hill Netflix’s ad tier now has five million monthly active users, The Hollywood Reporter has said. The streaming company revealed that the median age of users on the ad tier is 34 and that its ad tier customer numbers have doubled since the start of this year. According to the company’s Co-CEO Greg Peters, more than 25% of sign-ups in countries where the ad tier is available are to the ad tier. He also confirmed that, despite the ad interruptions, the levels of engagement on the ad tier were about the same as on other tiers. Commenting, he said: “The signals are promising: engagement on our ads plan is similar to our comparable non-ads plans. That’s critical because it all starts and ends with consumers. It’s why, despite all the competition out there, Netflix is the most popular streaming service today. To be the one to watch, you need everyone watching. And that’s what sets Netflix apart. he One to Watch.” The company announced the ad tier figures on Wednesday afternoon. After the markets closed, there was a spike in the share price to $341.25 but it has since retreated back to $340.20. It’ll be interesting to see tomorrow when markets are open to see whether there’s any more price reaction to this development. Source: The Hollywood Reporter
  20. TarasBuria
    Microsoft removes ads and news from the Weather app, adds a useful widget instead by Taras Buria Last month, Microsoft released a redesigned Weather app for Windows 10 and 11. The new version introduced a redesigned home screen with a few questionable changes, such as MSN News integration and ad banners. Windows users, already annoyed by the influx of ads, recommended content, and other unfriendly changes in the OS, did not like the new app. As a result, a wave of criticism forced Microsoft to remove the controversial parts of the new Weather app. As spotted by Deskmodder, the latest MSN Weather app update replaced banners with a widget for sunrise/sunset and moonrise/moonset. Integration with MSN News is also gone—the only thing you see when scrolling down to the bottom of the home page is a set of recommended weather maps, such as 3D Earth View, 3D Cloud View, 3D Rain View, temperature, winds, and more. Interestingly, this is not the first time Microsoft tried to earn some cash by placing ad banners in the Weather app. In the early days of Windows 10, one of the updates added a similar block for ads that were later removed. The second attempt in 2023 did not work either, so maybe this time, Microsoft will remember that displaying ads in stock apps is not something users will tolerate. You can download the MSN Weather app from the Microsoft Store.
  21. Chasethebase
    YouTube confirms that it is testing out blocking ad blockers on the site by Steve Bennett Even though many websites on the internet are available for free, a large proportion of their income comes from advertisements, especially on YouTube where a lot of content creators earn income from ads within their videos. There are ad blockers out there however which prevent these adverts from displaying, denying the sites of income. Earlier this week, reports were posted to Reddit that, when attempting to play videos on YouTube a prompt was displayed that prevented playback until ad-blocking software was disabled. This was later confirmed by a YouTube employee on the YouTube subreddit. While it may be fairly clear why YouTube has decided to start testing this feature with a view to implementing it in the future, given that a large portion of income for not just YouTube but creators as well comes from the ads. However, many users in the same thread have expressed frustration at YouTube with their apparent increase in ad placement within videos on the site. Of course, the same prompt encourages users to try YouTube Premium, which includes the removal of adverts within videos, and YouTube is wanting to drive subscriptions to the platform, hoping to capture users who wish to continue not seeing adverts on the site. Even though YouTube has looked into separate tiers of Premium to just block ads with no other perks, this has not come to light and only the main tier continues to exist in individual and family plans. Source: 9to5Google
  22. Chasethebase
    Windows 11 is about to start showing more ads, this time in Settings [Update] by Steve Bennett It’s no secret that Microsoft has been looking to increase advertising for its products within Windows 11, and investigation by Twitter user Albacore into recent Insider builds has found that the Settings Home page will soon start to present adverts for Microsoft 365 products in the near future. A banner asking users who aren’t subscribed to the platform to “Try Microsoft 365” shows at the top of the Home tab in Settings in the screenshot below. Below the advertisement there is a section that will show the current storage status for a user’s OneDrive account, and then a security tips section for users to secure their account. This isn’t the only version of the Home tab that has been seen, with another version having the storage information listed first and the Microsoft 365 prompt to Sign In listed below. The final update that has been seen during this investigation into the Settings tab on this Insider build is a small prompt on the Accounts tab, which shows information about products that are installed to the users system that have reached end of support, such as Office 2013 which is shown in the image below. This isn’t the first time that Microsoft has been incorporating adverts into its operating system, with Start Menu ads being seen in the Start Menu of Windows 11 since November 2022. Microsoft is keen to drive more subscriptions to the 365 platform through these adverts and its apparently intrusive approach to advertising, such as the full screen upgrade ads presented to users in February. Albacore hasn't stated which build number these were found in, but we have reached out to confirm this. Update: Albacore has confirmed in a tweet the build information below, which is the recent Dev channel build 23451: This page has been hidden in builds for a few weeks and it's slowly getting more cards added to it These screenshots are from 23451 — Albacore (@thebookisclosed) May 8, 2023
  23. Ishtiaqe Hanif
    Google is now serving ads in search history on Play Store by Ishtiaqe Hanif Google adds another place to put ads with their April 2023 Google System Updates. While it brings useful updates including Wear updates to improve battery life, improved privacy, and stability for Auto, PC, and Android phones, the update also includes a few ways to push ads to consumers through the Play Store. According to the changes posted on its support page, Google rolled out new features to help users discover the apps and games they love. It also writes, phone users will see suggestions for limited-time events and sponsored suggestions next to past searches while starting a new search. You can observe this behavior without any user input, just after tapping on the search bar inside the Play Store. According to a few users on Telegram, the Google Play Store is starting to show ads for apps in the search screen. Is anyone else seeing this? I've only heard two users report this so far. pic.twitter.com/j32RpBIWBq — Mishaal Rahman (@MishaalRahman) April 25, 2023 While the Play Store is filled with ads in every nook and cranny, the only screen without any ads was the overlaying search bar with past searches. Besides ads, it can also show useful highlights for apps and games. These banners will disappear once shown and usually doesn't show a second time. This update is being pushed out to users with the Google System Updates April 2023 and Google Play Store v35.0 onwards. Via: 9to5Google
  24. Qblade_
    Here's how you can get rid of annoying Gmail Inbox ads by Mehrotra A Recently, Google had decided to inject ads between emails in Gmail which rightly so, had annoyed the entire of the email service's user base. Luckily, there is a simple way to dodge the ads if you are one of the Gmail users suffering from in-line ads. Currently, Google is serving these ads to users who have turned on tabs which lets Gmail segregate incoming emails into different categories like Promotion and Social and Forums. You can turn off categories by following the steps below: Open your Gmail account and click on the Settings button on the top-right corner Click on 'See all settings' on the top of the sidebar Click on the 'Label' tab on the top-left Scroll to the Categories section Click hide for Social, Updates, Forums, and Promotions under the Show in message list section This will turn off tabs for your Gmail account and will remove the in-line ads. You can still access the different categories from the left panel if needed. It is currently not clear if Google is just testing the waters with these ads or if the company plans to role it out to all the free Gmail users. This is not the first time an email service has decided to serve ads without any prior notice. Last year, Microsoft confirmed that it will start serving more ads to Outlook users who are not paying for Microsoft 365 subscription.
  25. TarasBuria
    Microsoft is now injecting full-size ads on Chrome website to make you stay on Edge by Taras Buria Being the default out-of-the-box browser on Windows 10 and 11 makes Microsoft Edge a go-to utility for downloading Chrome or another browser. That upsets Microsoft so much that it constantly comes with more aggressive and user-hostile methods to make customers stay on Edge. An attempt to install Chrome using Edge Canary now results in the browser displaying two ads: the first (tiny one) will pop on the screen when the Chrome website loads, and the second, a humongous full-size banner, will appear once the download starts. Yikes! Microsoft also plays with words to throw shade at Chrome. The banner states that Edge uses the same technology as Chrome with the "added trust of Microsoft." The "trust" that your computer will connect to ad providers the moment you turn it on for the first time. The "trust" that Edge will shove more "recommended content" down your throat and enforce Bing without you even making a click. The "trust" that you cannot remove Edge from your computer and many more. To be fair, Microsoft is not the only one practicing questionable things to increase the user base. Google also shows banners to promote Chrome, but they appear only on the company's websites. Google is not injecting ads on the Firefox website, nor does it cry foul whenever you want to download another browser. Google is using much less annoying banners to promote its browser. More importantly, only on its own websites! It is worth noting is that I could not get the banner in the latest stable Edge release, so the abomination might be a thing Microsoft tries on a limited set of Edge insiders or only in specific regions. Whatever happens in Microsoft's software labs, there are no signs of the company making its browser (a great browser so far) less irritating, which is just sad.