Stream of Reading (Prepare to be Forwarded) – An Archive of What I'm Reading
So let’s talk about ad blocking. You might think the conversation about ad blocking is about the user experience of news, but what we’re really talking about is money and power in Silicon Valley. And titanic battles between large companies with lots of money and power tend to have a lot of collateral damage. iOS…
The release of iOS 9 and its content-blocking features yesterday has reminded everyone of what they can gain from blocking adverts, including better battery life, a faster machine, and a better web browsing experience devoid of frustrating adverts. And by some stroke of luck the NYTimes has decided that yesterday was the best time to…
âSee if there’s a way to be sustainable (especially at small scale) while accommodating concerns. Maybe tracking is more ok on smaller sites?â Anil Dash on Twitter: “See if there’s a way to be sustainable (especially at small scale) while accommodating concerns. Maybe tracking is more ok on smaller sites?”.
In case the hysteria over ad-blocking software wasn’t already at a fever pitch, Apple’s new iOS version is now in the wild—complete with built-in support for ad blocking—and several ad blockers are topping the most-installed list. Is this an apocalypse for publishers, especially small ones? And if it is, does installing and using an ad…
In a 1997 segment on the short-lived tech TV show The Site, host Soledad O’Brien sits at a bar in front of a laptop computer, talking to Dev Null, a full-scale human avatar with frosted fuchsia tips and a soul patch. Motion-captured from the show’s second host backstage, he swivels from side to side, arms…
Over the last few weeks and months there has been increasing alarm that today, September 16, is a critical one for publishers — and by critical, I mean the diagnosis that most publishers will soon be in critical condition. After all, today Apple releases iOS 9 with support for “content blocking extensions” which will effectively…
For three weeks, an online criminal gang used popular sites such as eBay, the Drudge Report and Answers.com to try to infect millions of internet users in one of the longest malvertising campaigns ever seen, according to a security firm. Using booby-trapped ads, commonly known as “malvertising,” is quickly becoming the most common way for…
While publishers scramble to figure out what ad blocking is going to do their businesses, those creating and buying the ads — brands and agencies — couldn’t care less. RAPP USA chief creative officer Frank Iqbal said that while privacy is something that many in the agency are always discussing, he has never heard clients…
\When media orgs hurt the people who need them most News that the Washington Post is going to war with ad blocking software — with tactics reminiscent of the bad old days of nagware — has stirred debate, for lots of good reasons. Friendly to rather aggressive popups are nothing new on the web, but the Post’s application feels…
If you want to read The Washington Post’s coverage of the newly discovered human species Homo naledi this morning but you’re using ad blocking software, you’re out of luck: The paper is experimenting with blocking access to readers who give ads the stiff-arm. One message that greeted WashingtonPost.com visitors with ad blocking software engaged. “We’re…