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Adblock: Google did not slow down and lag YouTube performance with ad blocker on
hellowalkman posted a topic in Front Page News
Adblock: Google did not slow down and lag YouTube performance with ad blocker on by Sayan Sen Back in November, the internet was abuzz with conspiracy theories of Google purposely slowing down YouTube on Mozilla Firefox while its own browser, Chrome, would work fine. However, those rumors were shot down soon after as Google explained that it was not just Firefox that was the subject of "suboptimal viewing" experience and that it was happening irrespective of the browser. Google put the blame on "installed ad blockers." Fast forward two months, now in January we just had another similar incident with several user reports online of YouTube being slow with adblockers. As is usually the case in these instances, most netizens of course were quick to once again point the finger at Google. The issue was first brought to attention by Reddit users and the thread blew up with many more chiming in to say they were experiencing a similar thing. As it turns out, the bug was not YouTube or Google and was in fact a problem with Adblock and Adblock Plus' recent update Version 5.17.0. Hence if you were using something else like uBlock Origin (like me), you probably did not notice any slowdown. Adblock Plus developers noted the issue as performance regression on its GitLab repo. It wrote: Recently, ABP released version 3.22 which upgraded the bundled extension engine version to 1.1.1. AdBlock released version 5.17.0 which also updated the extension engine to version 1.1.1. We've had several reports of slow response time since the update. It appears to be an issue in the extension engine since ABP, AdBlock, and the EWE test extension all seem to experience a similar issue with the 1.1.1 version of the extension engine. The issue has now been fixed with the latest eyeo's Web Extension Ad Blocking Toolkit (EWE) version 1.1.2, where the breaking change has been reverted. Name: @eyeo/webext-ad-filtering-solution New version: 1.1.2 Reverted "Content filters are now updated via the history.pushState() event, when single page apps navigate using the browser's history API (EE-14, EE-90)". Breaking changes: None. Other changes: Reverted performance regression. Hence, if you are one of those users who is experiencing issues with Adblock and Adblock Plus, you should update your extension. It is also advised not to run multiple content filters or adblockers on your browser if you are facing performance issues. 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! -
Google explains why it did not make Firefox load YouTube slowly on purpose
hellowalkman posted a topic in Front Page News
Google explains why it did not make Firefox load YouTube slowly on purpose by Sayan Sen Earlier today, we covered an interesting story wherein users online reported about YouTube loading slower when using Firefox. What was curious about it was the fact that YouTube would load perfectly normally if the browser was tricked into thinking it was Google Chrome using a User Agent switcher. YouTube loading slow on Firefox This behavior was picked up by Reddit users mainly and although it may seem to be like a performance optimization issue or a lack of it by the Mozilla Firefox development team, sharp-eyed users noticed code sections that had a 5000 ms or a five-second delay that appeared to be intentionally placed there for some reason. When requested for comment on the matter, Google provided the following statement to 9to5Google: To support a diverse ecosystem of creators globally and allow billions to access their favorite content on YouTube, we’ve launched an effort to urge viewers with ad blockers enabled to allow ads on YouTube or try YouTube Premium for an ad free experience. Users who have ad blockers installed may experience suboptimal viewing, regardless of the browser they are using. Hence according to Google, the delay was due to installed ad blockers which was leading to a "suboptimal viewing" experience. Interestingly the tech giant further added that this was to be the case "regardless of the browser they are using" suggesting that it was not just Firefox that should be affected. So it seems like there is more than meets the eye because at quick glance, most would assume foul play is involved especially since spoofing Chrome seems to work. And there is apparently an explanation for that too. Another Redditor frisch85 went deeper into the suspicious code and it seems to nicely align with the statement provided by Google. They explain: I checked the code with the part you quoted, I doubt this is firefox related as there's no check on the user agent when this code is executed. It looks more like an ad-thing. .. this seems to be just lazy implementation instead of doing anything shady,.. To me this looks more like the lazy attempt of ensuring an ad is being displayed for at least 5 seconds until the actual video is going to load. Why is it slow the first time someone loads and not every time? Simple, YT doesn't reload the page as we would expect it to reload, instead it prevents you from reloading the whole page but causes itself to reload the contents without reloading all of the scripts, which some websites do these days and I don't like it tbh as it will load faster but it's not an actual reload. Hence, the example of YouTube running perfectly on Chrome after struggling on Firefox could have more to do with how YouTube itself "reloads" instead of some shenanigans being involved. -
Save 80% on this Price Dropped lifetime subscription to AdGuard Family Plan
News Staff posted a topic in Front Page News
Save 80% on this Price Dropped lifetime subscription to AdGuard Family Plan by Steven Parker Today's highlighted deal comes via our Apps + Software section of the Neowin Deals store, where you can save 80% on this Price Dropped lifetime subscription to AdGuard Family Plan. Get rid of annoying and intrusive ads and protect your device from malware with this advanced ad blocking app Meet the world's most advanced ad blocker! AdGuard is a unique program that has all the necessary features for the best web experience. The software combines the world's most advanced ad blocker, a whole privacy protection module, and a parental control tool—all working in one app. This amazing software deals with annoying ads, hides your data from a multitude of trackers, protects you from malware attacks, and lets you restrict your kids from accessing inappropriate content. Install AdGuard and see the internet as it was supposed to be: clean and safe. Get rid of annoying banners, pop-ups & video ads once and for all Hide your data from the multitude of trackers & activity analyzers that swarm the web Avoid fraudulent & phishing website and malware attacks Protect your kids online by restricting them from accessing inappropriate & adult content Important Details Family Plan Length of access: lifetime This plan is only available to new users Redemption deadline: redeem your code within 30 days of purchase Max number of devices: 9 Access options: desktop & mobile Software version: AdGuard Family Updates included Here's the deal: A lifetime subscription of AdGuard Family Plan normally costs $129.99, but this deal can be yours for just $24.97, that's a saving of $105. For full terms, specifications, and license info please click the link below. Get this Family Plan for just $24.99, or learn more See all discounted Neowin Deals on offer. This is a time-limited deal. Get $1 credit for every $25 spent · Give $10, Get $10 · 10% off for first-time buyers. Although priced in U.S. dollars, this deal is available for digital purchase worldwide. We post these because we earn commission on each sale so as not to rely solely on advertising, which many of our readers block. It all helps toward paying staff reporters, servers and hosting costs. Other ways to support Neowin The above deal not doing it for you, but still want to help? Check out the links below. Check out our partner software in the Neowin Store Buy a T-shirt at Neowin's Threadsquad Subscribe to Neowin - for $14 a year, or $28 a year for an ad-free experience Disclosure: An account at Neowin Deals is required to participate in any deals powered by our affiliate, StackCommerce. For a full description of StackCommerce's privacy guidelines, go here. Neowin benefits from shared revenue of each sale made through our branded deals site. -
Save 76% on a lifetime of AdGuard Family Plan by Steven Parker Get rid of annoying and intrusive ads and protect your device from malware with this advanced ad blocking app Today's highlighted deal comes via our Apps + Software section of the Neowin Deals store, where you can save 76% Lifetime Subscription of AdGuard Family Plan. Meet the world's most advanced ad blocker! AdGuard is a unique program that has all the necessary features for the best web experience. The software combines the world's most advanced ad blocker, a whole privacy protection module, and a parental control tool—all working in one app. This amazing software deals with annoying ads, hides your data from a multitude of trackers, protects you from malware attacks, and lets you restrict your kids from accessing inappropriate content. Install AdGuard and see the internet as it was supposed to be: clean and safe. Get rid of annoying banners, pop-ups & video ads once and for all Hide your data from the multitude of trackers & activity analyzers that swarm the web Avoid fraudulent & phishing website and malware attacks Protect your kids online by restricting them from accessing inappropriate & adult content Important Details Family Plan Length of access: lifetime This plan is only available to new users Redemption deadline: redeem your code within 30 days of purchase Max number of devices: 9 Access options: desktop & mobile Software version: AdGuard Family Updates included Here's the deal: A lifetime subscription of AdGuard Family Plan normally costs $129, but this deal can be yours for just $29.99, that's a saving of $99.01. For full terms, specifications, and license info please click the link below. Get a lifetime AdGuard family plan for just $29.99 More Neowin Deals. Although priced in U.S. dollars, this deal is available for digital purchase worldwide. We post these because we earn commission on each sale so as not to rely solely on advertising, which many of our readers block. It all helps toward paying staff reporters, servers and hosting costs. Other ways to support Neowin The above deal not doing it for you, but still want to help? Check out the links below. Check out our partner software in the Neowin Store Buy a T-shirt at Neowin's Threadsquad Subscribe to Neowin - for $14 a year, or $28 a year for an ad-free experience Disclosure: An account at Neowin Deals is required to participate in any deals powered by our affiliate, StackCommerce. For a full description of StackCommerce's privacy guidelines, go here. Neowin benefits from shared revenue of each sale made through our branded deals site.
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Google postpones switch to Manifest V3 again citing new features and unsquashed bugs
Karthik Mudaliar posted a topic in Front Page News
Google postpones switch to Manifest V3 again citing new features and unsquashed bugs by Karthik Mudaliar Back in September, we reported that Google will be disabling support for Manifest V2 in Canary, Dev, and Beta builds for Chrome starting January 2023. With less than a month remaining for the change, Google has announced that the transition from Manifest V2 to V3 has been postponed, again. On Friday, Simeon Vincent, who is in charge of developer relations for Chrome extensions, acknowledged the complaints from developers in a post on the Chromium extensions developer forum. He posted: "As we head towards Manifest V3 migration, we are intently monitoring comments from the developer community to help inform our timelines. We’ve heard your feedback on common challenges posed by the migration, specifically the service worker’s inability to use DOM capabilities and the current hard limit on extension service worker lifetimes. We’re mitigating the former with the Offscreen Documents API (added in Chrome 109) and are actively pursuing a solution to the latter." Vincent added that Google is committed to helping developers overcome challenges with the new Manifest V3 API, and will provide them with new functionality, bug fixes, and enough time to make the transition. As a result, the company has decided to postpone its plan to disable Manifest V2 extensions in pre-release versions of Chrome, which are used by developers, and is also reconsidering its timeline for further changes. He further added that an update on these plans will be provided in March of next year, and the goal will be to give developers enough time to update and test their extensions before disabling Manifest V2. Google has been updating the way extensions work in Chrome and its open-source Chromium foundation because the old API, called Manifest V2 (MV2), was easily abused and could negatively impact browser performance. The new API, called Manifest V3 (MV3), is supposed to be more secure and perform better, but it does not support certain capabilities that are commonly used by ad blocking, content blocking, and privacy extensions. Despite objections from the Electronic Frontier Foundation, Google has maintained that MV3 is necessary and that it plans to support common use cases like content blocking with the new API. However, others, including the creator of uBlock Origin Raymond Hill and the CEO of Ghostery Jean-Paul Schmetz, have argued that MV3 is indeed harmful. Developers of popular content-blocking extensions are working hard to make sure that users will have a similar experience when they switch to Manifest V3. AdGuard had also released its first experimental Manifest V3-based extension, which is significantly limited compared to the current version but shows that content blockers can still function after the switch to Manifest V3. On the other hand, privacy-focused vendors like Brave and Mozilla plan to keep some of the capabilities that Google is removing or offer alternative options. According to data from chrome-stats.com, only about 30,000 of the approximately 166,000 extensions in the Chrome Web Store have been converted from Manifest V2 to Manifest V3. This means that only about 17.84% of all extensions in the store have been migrated. Even many of Google's own extensions have not yet been converted. If Google follows through with its plans to disable Manifest V2, the vast majority of extensions may stop working. -
Save 94% off this Internet Privacy & Security lifetime subscription bundle
News Staff posted a topic in Front Page News
Save 94% off this Internet Privacy & Security lifetime subscription bundle by Steven Parker Today's highlighted deal comes from our Apps & Software section of the Neowin Deals store, where you can save 94% off this Internet Privacy & Security Lifetime Subscription Bundle. Stay private online and keep your passwords organized and protected with these highly reviewed, top of the line apps. This bundle consists of the following items: Ivacy VPN: Lifetime Subscription Give Yourself Complete Online Protection Without Slowing Your Browsing Down Password Boss Premium: Lifetime Subscription Total Organization, Total Security: One Master Password to Rule Them All ThunderDrive Personal Plan: Lifetime Subscription Safely & Easily Manage Your Files with a Cloud Service That's 6x Faster Than Amazon Storage AdGuard: Lifetime Subscription Get Rid of Annoying, Intrusive Ads and Protect Your Device from Malware with This Advanced Ad Blocking App Timelinr Personal Plan: Lifetime Subscription Rapid Road Maps & Smart Timelines Make for the Ultimate Collaboration Tool Good to know Length of access: lifetime Updates included Redemption deadline: redeem your code within 30 days of purchase For specifications per item and license info please click here. What's the benefit? This Internet Privacy & Security Lifetime Subscription Bundle normally costs $1,738, but it can be yours for just $89 for a limited time, that's a saving of $1,649 (94%) off for you! >> Get this deal, or learn more about it here << See all of our current Apps & Software and VPN deals This is a time-limited deal. Get $1 credit for every $25 spent · Give $10, Get $10 · 10% off for first-time buyers. Not for you? That's OK, there are other deals on offer you can check out here, but be aware that these are all time-limited offers. If you are uncomfortable sharing your details with a third-party sponsor, we understand. Check out the Neowin Store for our preferred partners. The Win Your Dream 2020 Tesla Model 3 Giveaway Ivacy VPN - 5 year subscription for just $1 per month NordVPN - 2-year plan 68% off +3 months for free (total of 27 months) Private Internet Access VPN - 3 year plan at 86% off ($2.19/month) Unlocator VPN or SmartDNS - unblock Geoblock with 7-day free trial Subscribe to Neowin - for $14 a year, or $28 a year for Ad-Free experience Disable Sponsored posts · Neowin Deals · Free eBooks · Neowin Store Disclosure: This is a StackCommerce deal or giveaway in partnership with Neowin; an account at StackCommerce is required to participate in any deals or giveaways. For a full description of StackCommerce's privacy guidelines, go here. Neowin benefits from shared revenue of each sale made through our branded deals site, and it all goes toward the running costs. -
Vivaldi 3.2 launches with improved tabs interface by Paul Hill Vivaldi 3.2 has launched today, the update brings improved tracker and ad-blocking functions as well as improved tab management. As with other updates, Vivaldi 3.2 ships with other minor improvements such automatically changing backgrounds on Speed Dial when you’re in dark mode, profile pictures can be synced across Vivaldi installations, and the ‘Copy to note’ feature has received a fix after users experienced difficulties. The biggest feature in this update is the re-organisation of the tabs interface. With all the tab function buttons being moved to the bottom bar, users will be able to press them with just one hand. These buttons let you open tabs, switch to private mode, bring up recently closed tabs, and list synced tabs. If you fancy yourself as a bit of a privacy aficionado, you’ll be glad to hear that Vivaldi 3.2 introduces custom block and unblock lists to let you choose which sites you want to block trackers and ads on; this extra control allows you to put truly irritating sites on a leash while continuing to support your favourite sites through ad revenues. A final point worth mentioning is that Vivaldi’s Tab Strip has received a name change; it’s now called Tab Bar. The firm said this offers uniformity across its desktop and mobile versions of the browser. If you’re not a fan of the tab bar on mobile, you always have the option of disabling it in the settings. In order to begin using the Vivaldi mobile browser, head on over to the Google Play Store. The available version contains all the new features mentioned above.
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Google explains its new extensions policy that has drawn the ire of ad blockers
+MJK posted a topic in Front Page News
Google explains its new extensions policy that has drawn the ire of ad blockers by Muhammad Jarir Kanji Google has recently come under fire for a new change to the way the Web Request API works in Chrome. This API is used by many extensions, and the changes could affect the ability of ad blockers to function properly. Google is charging ahead despite the controversy, however, and took to its security blog to explain why it thinks the changes are necessary for the protection of users, and to also quell concerns about the change potentially neutering ad blockers in Chrome. The company explains that the explosive growth in the popularity of extensions has resulted in the Chrome team having to take drastic measures to reduce their abuse by nefarious actors. This comprised of not only various changes to how extensions are reviewed, but Google has also increased the number of reviewers by 400% in the last year, alongside a 300% increase in the size of the teams that work on extension abuse. This has already resulted in the rate of malicious extension installations going down by 89% since 2018, but Google feels it needs to do more. Its solution has been to change how APIs relating to extensions work. Previously, extensions such as ad blockers would be able to request all information about a network request - which would include possibly sensitive information - from the browser in order to perform their specific functions. With the change, Google will be replacing the Web Request API with the Declarative Net Request API, which allows extension makers to have granular control over exactly the information they need from the browser, without receiving information that is sensitive or otherwise irrelevant to their function. The blog uses the following simple schematic to explain the difference: Google concludes the post by admitting the change has been controversial, especially with regard to ad blockers, but reiterates that the change would not necessarily neuter ad blockers. Developers would simply need to change how their extensions work using the new API in order to provide the same functionality. Other Chromium-based browsers like Opera and Vivaldi have declared that they will continue to support the old API for extensions, despite Google's changes. For Chrome users, the only exception to the new rules, once they're implemented, would be to switch to the enterprise version of Chrome, which will continue to support the old API. -
Microsoft patents browser plug-in designed to conserve bandwidth
Hamza Jawad posted a topic in Front Page News
Microsoft patents browser plug-in designed to conserve bandwidth by Hamza Jawad Bandwidth conservation holds a lot of importance for users who do not have the facility of expensive 'unlimited' internet packages. Even those who do have that luxury sometimes face issues like webpages taking too long to load, which may end up becoming quite a hindrance in their browsing experience. Now, a newly published Microsoft patent filed by the company only a few months ago has emerged. The patented technology is a browser plug-in that may help conserve bandwidth, time, and even the computing resources required to load webpages. Microsoft believes that modern webpages contain lots of content that holds no interest to users. Most of the time, such content is retrieved from a lot of different data sources - a process that requires multiple redirects. Even a simple act such as scrolling down the screen can initiate more content retrieval requests. The patented add-on would help identify links that obtain additional data and block, move, or redirect the action of retrieval based on user interest. This chosen action might be taken based on some sort of identifier associated with said data, with the webpage being rendered and displayed according to the taken decision as well. The aforementioned identifiers would be managed by users themselves and could be stored locally or in trusted cloud locations. They are supposed to act as descriptors for the 'areas of interest/disinterest' - categories upon which the task of data retrieval would depend. This concept could be extended further as well. For example, a person's social media profile might be used by the plug-in to automatically formulate their areas of interest. This add-on could also work in a manner such that even before receiving data, it could send information in order to identify data of interest (or otherwise). Based on the received response, unwanted data will not even be retrieved, let alone being downloaded or displayed. Furthermore, the irrelevant information could also be redirected to be presented in another location, leaving its original location blank. Microsoft has highlighted the fact that any such plug-in would be quite different to ad blockers. This is because instead of 'blocking' scripted content, it would work directly with servers to only identify and download data that is relevant to the user. That way, it will manage to reduce time taken, number of redirects, bandwidth usage, and computing resources in a much more efficient manner. Technicalities regarding the whole process of avoidance of unnecessary data retrieval can be read in detail by clicking the source link provided below. However, bear in mind that there is no guarantee that Microsoft aims to pursue the creation of any such browser plug-in; a patent merely provides it the exclusive right to inventions covered more or less under the scope of what has been described. Source: USPTO -
Ad blocking is coming to Microsoft Edge for Android by João Carrasqueira Microsoft's Edge browser has been available for Android for a while and it includes a number of interesting features, especially for those who also use the browser on a Windows 10 PC. However, it lacks extension support, as many mobile browsers do, which means features such as blocking unwanted ads on the internet aren't available unless they're built into the browser itself. Fortunately, that's precisely what Microsoft is doing, as MSPoweruser reports that a new update is now rolling out to those who signed up for the browser's beta program in the Google Play Store. The new release brings the version number up to 402.0.0.2055, and it includes a new "Block content" option in the app's settings. The report was confirmed by a tweet from Vishnu Nath, Head of Program Management for Microsoft Mobility Experiences. Microsoft seems to be using Adblock Plus to power the ad-blocking feature. Adblock Plus is likely the most popular tracking protection browser extension - which is also available for Edge on Windows 10 - and it even provides its own Adblock Browser for Android. As of the time of writing, the update hasn't shown up on our test devices yet, so it would appear that it's rolling out gradually to those in the beta program. If you haven't received it either, don't fret - it should be available soon. If you haven't downloaded Edge for Android yet, you can do so here. As an online publication, Neowin too relies on ads for operating costs and, if you use an ad blocker, we appreciate being whitelisted. In addition, we have an ad-free subscription for $28 a year, which is another way to show support! Source: MSPoweruser via On MSFT
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Google has just launched Funding Choices into 31 additional countries
zikalify posted a topic in Front Page News
Google has just launched Funding Choices into 31 additional countries by Paul Hill Google has announced that it is launching its Funding Choices programme into an additional 31 countries over the coming weeks in order to help website publishers all around the world to recover lost revenue due to ad blocking. Funding Choices gives content creators three ways to control their content in a way to ensure an increase in revenues. The first option allows content creators to display a message to users asking them to either pay for an ad removal pass or allow ads, and offers the option to just dismiss the message and continue on to the content. The second option is the same as the first but limits the number of articles a person can access. The third option forces the user to either pay for ad removal or enable ads. In the announcement, Google claimed that Funding Choices has, on average, seen a 16 percent increase of former ad blocking users allowing ads. It claims that these rates have been as high as 37% - hardly an insignificant number. With Google’s dominance on the web, it may try to push Funding Choices strongly when the programme leaves beta. While this does seem quite monopolistic, it did confirm that it has also begun a test that allows publishers to use their own proprietary subscription services within funding choices. As an online publication, Neowin too relies on ads for operating costs and, if you use an ad blocker, we appreciate being whitelisted. In addition, we have an ad-free subscription for $28 a year, which is another way to show support! Source: Google -
Google adds additional adjustable ad block functionality for annoying ads
+JKeefer posted a topic in Front Page News
Google adds additional adjustable ad block functionality for annoying ads by John Keefer In an effort to give users of its products more control over what they see - and what they don't want to see - Google has updated its Ads Setting and Mute this Ad functionality with more options. Jon Krafcik, Google's group product manager for Data Privacy and Transparency, explained in a blog post that users will now be able to mute reminder ads from websites you have visited and possibly started a purchase. Log in to your Google account, go to Ads Settings, find “Your reminder ads,” and then click or tap the X next to the advertiser whose reminder ads you'd like to remove. This will work on PCs and Android devices, providing the company running that ad has partnered with Google. Two changes came out today for the Mute This Ad functionality as well. The tool now will save your preferences across devices where you are signed in. Muting an ad from your phone will keep it muted on your laptop. In addition, Mute This Ad will also start to work with a greater number of apps and websites that show Google-partnered ads. "Millions of people use Mute this Ad on a daily basis, and in 2017, we received more than 5 billion pieces of feedback telling us that you mute ads that aren’t relevant," Krafcik said. We incorporated that feedback by removing 1 million ads from our ad network based on your comments." While this is just from browsing right now, the functionality will be added to YouTube, Search, and Gmail over the next several months. -
Chrome will start blocking 'intrusive' ads starting February 15
+MJK posted a topic in Front Page News
Chrome will start blocking 'intrusive' ads starting February 15 by Muhammad Jarir Kanji Earlier this year, Google surprised us with the announcement that it would soon include a built-in ad-blocker in its popular Chrome browser. The company had announced the move as being part of its endeavour to improve online advertisements, with ads that were considered intrusive being automatically blocked by the browser. We now have a date for when these changes will take effect: February 15. Chrome will filters ads based on the Better Ads Standards by the Coalition for Better Ads, which Google also joined in June of this year. Examples of ads that are considered intrusive by the organisation include pages that require you to wait for X seconds before displaying the content, auto-playing videos and sounds, large sticky ads and pop-ups, among others. The company also provided more details on how the process for blocking ads will work for website owners, with violations of the above standards being reported to Google's Ad Experience Report. This is also where alleged violations can be appealed by website owners. Sites that do not resolve these issues within 30 days of being reported will have all ads blocked by Chrome, which will hopefully encourage online publishers to maintain a high standard of accessibility in choosing which types of ads they display. 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: Google via The Next Web -
Fraudulent ad-blocking extension tricks 37,000 Google Chrome users
+MJK posted a topic in Front Page News
Fraudulent ad-blocking extension tricks 37,000 Google Chrome users by Muhammad Jarir Kanji While Microsoft doesn't have enough extensions for its browser, Google has too many unwanted ones. An extension that tried to mimic the popular Adblock Plus extension was not only allowed into the Chrome Web Store but it was also only taken down after 37,000 users had already downloaded it. Making matters worse is the fact that it was only removed by Google after an anonymous cyber security account on Twitter noticed it, and brought it to the company's attention. The extension had the same name as the official Adblock Plus - which has more than 10 million users - except for a capitalised 'b'. It also used the same logo and spammed the relevant keywords in its description to skew users to itself when they were searching for the real extension. Google allows 37,000 Chrome users to be tricked with a fake extension by fraudulent developer who clones popular name and spams keywords. pic.twitter.com/ZtY5WpSgLt — SwiftOnSecurity (@SwiftOnSecurity) October 9, 2017 It's unclear if the extension was malicious and what, if any, personal data it may have stolen from the users who were unfortunate enough to fall for the ruse. @SwiftOnSecurity also pointed out that this is not the only instance of such a blunder and that fraudulent extensions like this, which are apparent clones of more popular extensions, are regularly allowed onto the Web Store, unfettered by the company's vetting process. Indeed, not only is this not the only case of a fake extension disguising itself as another, it's not even the first time an extension has tried to mimic Adblock Plus. Google itself has been the victim of a similar name spoofing scheme when attackers used an app named Google Docs to carry out a phishing attack earlier this year. The company had then promised to put into place measures to prevent this kind of thing from happening again but five months later, the problem still persists. Source: @SwiftOnSecurity via The Verge -
Google wants to fix online advertisement with a new Chrome that automatically blocks ads by Muhammad Jarir Kanji Intrusive ads and ad blocking extensions have been the source of much discussion recently, as the increasing use of ad filtering has led to a significant decrease in online content creators' bottom lines, with many publications even starting to withhold their content until they've been whitelisted. Google wants to fix the problem and is working on a new version of Chrome that will automatically block many ads. "Online ads should be better," say Sridhar Ramaswamy, Google's Senior VP of Ads and Commerce. As a result, he announced that Google will be joining the Coalition for Better Ads and is intent on supporting their Betters Ads Standards on a future version of Chrome, to be released in 2018. What this means in practice is that Chrome will, by this time, come with a built-in ad-blocker that will automatically stop ads from displaying on sites that do not adhere to these new standards. This will also include ads owned or served by Google. Examples of ads that the Coalition for Better Ads classifies as intrusive include pages that require you to wait for X seconds before displaying the content, auto-playing videos videos sound, large sticky ads and pop-ups, among others. As part of this new initiative for better ads, the company also announced Funding Choices, which is now in beta, that will allow publishers to display an automated message if the visitor is detected as using an ad blocker, asking them to whitelist the site or purchase a subscription to remove all ads through Google Contributor. Many publishers already do this but it's nice to see Google building the capability natively. Google's larger vision for this new world of online ads is to not only provide a better browsing experience for the end user but to, hopefully, also prevent excessively intrusive or annoying ads from driving users to ad blockers in the first place, thus allowing content creators to still generate revenue as long as they abide by a few common sense rules. Hopefully, this will serve as an acceptable compromise for what is becoming a growing problem. As an online publication, Neowin too relies on ads for operating costs and, if you use an ad blocker, we appreciate being whitelisted. In addition, we have an ad-free subscription for $28 a year, which is another way to show support! Source: Google
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Adblock Plus launches new platform so it can sell 'acceptable ads' that won't be blocked
zikalify posted a topic in Front Page News
Adblock Plus launches new platform so it can sell 'acceptable ads' that won't be blocked by Paul Hill Adblock Plus, which is running on more than 100 million active devices, will now display more “acceptable ads” to users, as its owner, Eyeo GmbH, has decided to set up its own ad-tech platform, which has launched in beta. The interactive platform will allow publishers and bloggers to choose from a marketplace of pre-whitelisted ads that they can drag and drop onto their sites. Till Faida, a co-founder of Adblock Plus, revealed the company's motives for launching the platform: “The Acceptable Ads Platform helps publishers who want to show an alternative, non-intrusive ad experience to users with ad blockers by providing them with a tool that lets them implement Acceptable Ads themselves. There are two ecosystems of online consumers out there right now: the one composed of people who block intrusive ads and the other where people do no. The Acceptable Ads Platform lets publishers reach the former group without changing anything about how they're reaching the latter.” Adblock Plus introduced its Acceptable Ads guidelines in 2011. According to the ad-blocker, more than 90 percent of its 100 million users leave their ad-blocking settings on the default which allows Adblock Plus' “respectful and useful ads” to display on websites they visit. Although stats show 90% of its users do leave the default settings of Adblock Plus as they are, that could just be a result of inexperienced users not wanting to mess with the settings in case it leads to problems. If this is the case, the expansion of the ad-tech platform could be viewed as a double-handed move by Adblock Plus to rake in a bit more cash, rather than to tidy up the online ad market. Just like many other people, Eyeo GmbH, says it has been getting fed up with the current state of advertising online, Till Faida went on to say: “We've been waiting years for the ad-tech industry to do something consumer-friendly like this. So finally we got tired of waiting and decided to just do it ourselves.” To use the service, publishers will need to integrate a single tag into their page to begin using the new ad-tech platform. The beta is open today for publishers and advertisers who want to test it out and a full launch will take place later in the Autumn. You can find out more on the Acceptable Ads website. NOTE: If you use ad blocking software we would greatly appreciate it if you whitelisted Neowin. Advertising enables us to continue the Neowin community. Neowin also offers subscriptions which remove advertising without the need for extra software. Source: Business Wire via Ars Technica -
Richard Stallman: Publishers should let readers buy articles anonymously
zikalify posted a topic in Front Page News
Richard Stallman: Publishers should let readers buy articles anonymously by Paul Hill Richard Stallman, known for creating the GNU Project and initiating work on the popular Emacs text editor, has proposed that online publishers should allow users to buy individual stories, anonymously. Stallman took the opportunity to mention that the GNU Project is working on a new piece of software that will allow his suggested anonymous payments. GNU Taler (Taxable Anonymous Libre Electronic Reserve), the software the GNU Project is working on, saw its first alpha release in June. With the 0.0.0 release, the following functions work: Exchange implements the full Taler protocol, but does not integrate with traditional banking systems (only with Taler's own “bank”). Wallet can withdraw and spend coins, but does not yet handle refreshing, refunding, synchronizing, or export of cryptographic proofs. Some error handling may be insufficient. The wallet was only tested with Chrome/Chromium. Merchant backend can generate contracts and handle payments, but does not yet offer full back-office support for tracking payments received. Frontend examples are available in Python and PHP. The bank can manage accounts, allows the wallet to withdraw funds and can receive payments from the exchange. The key open issues include: Wallet transactions are sometimes linkable because refresh is not implemented. There is no auditor, and hence components do not properly support auditors either. As a result, a dishonest exchange could embezzle funds. No integration with “real” banks, so only toy currencies are available for now. Documentation, testing, error handling and usability still need to be improved. There are many reasons people may turn to ad-blocking, including security reasons and data caps, Stallman, however, comes at it from the perspective of privacy. He doesn't think that subscribing to a publication is the correct course, saying: “Magazines such as Forbes and Wired began denying access to visitors running ad blockers. It seemed they were saying that if readers don't like ads, and don't want to let ad networks track them, then readers should subscribe to the publisher and let them track their personal interests instead. Yet this “solution” is another for of the problem – no thank you!” By adopting GNU Taler, Stallman hopes that readers will be able to pay for stories individually in an unlinkable anonymous fashion so that reading habits can't be tracked. Elaborating on this idea he said: “The system should be unlinkably anonymous, meaning that if you pay for one story today and another story tomorrow, the publisher's site can't tell that those two transactions were both done by the same person.” GNU Taler is just getting off the ground and so the struggles surrounding ad-blocking will ensue for a while to come. It's highly likely too that there are still issues that people can find with this approach due to the multi-faceted nature of the problems that exist around the question of ad-blocking. NOTE: If you use ad blocking software we would greatly appreciate it if you whitelisted Neowin. Advertising enables us to continue the Neowin community. Neowin also offers subscriptions which remove advertising without the need for extra software. Source: The Guardian | Image via Aitnews -
Opera beats out Microsoft Edge in new battery life test, Microsoft says it doesn't count
Vlad Dudau posted a topic in Front Page News
Opera beats out Microsoft Edge in new battery life test, Microsoft says it doesn't count by Vlad Dudau A few days ago Microsoft put out a video and an article showing that its new Edge browser offered the best battery life for your mobile devices. Now, Opera, one of the browser that Edge beat in that test, is disputing the results and putting out a test of its own. Opera says that it does not agree with Microsoft’s results and that, as any team of engineers would do, they’re accepting the Windows maker’s challenge and running the test again. Unfortunately, Microsoft did not provide the exact methodology it used to test Edge’s battery drain, so the Opera team did their own separate test. The company ran a developer build of its own Opera browser, with all of its power-saving and ad-blocking features enabled. It pitted the browser against the likes of Chrome, the most popular browser in the world, and Edge, Microsoft’s own special baby boy. The test cycled through popular websites continuously until the device’s battery was drained. Perhaps not surprisingly, Opera came out on top achieving just shy of 4 hours of continuous browsing time. Microsoft’s Edge came out in second place, with 3 hours and 12 minutes of browsing, while Chrome was happy to kill the device’s battery after less than 3 hours. As a reminder, in Microsoft’s tests, which were focused on video streaming, Edge came out on top with 7 hours and 22 minutes, while Opera came in second with a score of 6 hours and 18 minutes. Blocking ads on hand selected ad heavy sites reduces battery consumption. Who knew? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ https://t.co/crCztLivZD — David Storey (@dstorey) June 22, 2016 So is Microsoft phased by the new results from Opera’s tests? Not at all. The company is still claiming a win, and dismissed Opera’s findings as relying on ad-blocking technology, something Microsoft did not use in its own tests. Purists might agree with that assessment, but then again the whole point of these tests is to see which browser, overall, is better. So it wouldn’t make much sense for Opera to not rely on a feature it had introduced earlier this year. Source: Opera -
I have done google searching for this mater and none of the recommendations work (adblock plus video, etc) does anyone know of a method for stopping ads in youtube videos?
