Tag: app-subdomain-redirection:adblock

This week on 5 Apps to Try this Week we look at a mobile browser that removes online ads, navigate around the latest iteration of Google Street View, and check out three other interesting apps that caught our eye.

First up is the Android Wear app for iOS (iOS). This app lets you pair your Android watch with your iOS device – perfect for fans of wearables who don’t think the Apple Watch is for them.

Next we have Puzzle Craft 2 (iOS), a game that merges together match-three puzzles and the city building genre. Certainly worth a look for puzzle fans.

Third is the new Google Street View (Android|iOS) app. This incorporates Google’s Photo Sphere Camera, letting you upload panoramic pictures from your city to expand the service’s catalog of images to ensure that it is constantly up-to-date.

Mirrativ (Android) is next, an app that lets you easily stream gameplay directly from your Android phone or tablet screen to anyone else on the service. Just open the application and a few clicks later you can be sharing your gaming skills.

Finally we have AdBlock Browser (Android|iOS) for mobile, the browser that hides website ads and stops malware contained within. However, if you regularly visit a site, do remove it from your blocked list as ads are what enable it to keep bringing you content.

That’s it for this week, as always remember to subscribe and have a look at our other great videos. See you next time.

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Adblock, Apple, and EA news

Follow me on Twitter: @DoFuss

Adblock Plus released an Android browser that blocks annoying ads. The browser is based on Firefox for Android and it looks and feels extremely similar. Firefox for Android users will feel right at home.

The Adblock Browser is currently in beta, so it’s not quite ready for prime time just yet. However, during my short testing, the browser never crashed and worked as well as Firefox for Android. The biggest drawback so far is the lack of integration with Firefox Sync. This means you won’t be able to sync your Firefox settings, tabs, history, or passwords with Adblock Browser just yet. Hopefully Adblock Plus includes this feature in a future release.

If ads annoy you, Adblock Browser works wonders. This beta is just as effective as its browser add-on for Chrome and Firefox. By blocking ads, web pages load faster and you’ll use less data too. But if you’re already using Firefox for Android, you can enable “reading mode” on any page to get a focused view of the page, showing only text and images. This won’t block pop-up ads but it’s a nice feature nonetheless.

By default, some non-obtrusive advertising is allowed but you can tell the browser to block all ads if you want. But please don’t as this is how sites like ours make money. In fact that’s how Google and Microsoft make money too and as a result, both companies have struck a deal with Adblock Plus to be whitelisted.

Adblockers have always been controversial since that’s how a majority of internet sites make money. Adblock Plus hopes to put pressure on sites and advertisers to increase the quality of their ads and decrease their annoyance.

If you want to try the Adblock Browser, scan the QR code using your phone or click on this link. You’ll also need to enable installing applications from unknown sources. See this guide for how to enable this feature.

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Follow me on Twitter: @lewisleong

Popular adblocking extension, Adblock Plus is being sued in Germany. Media companies have banded together, arguing that Adblock Plus is affecting revenue by blocking ads.

Adblock Plus acknowledges the lawsuit and provided the following statement:

“We’ve received one lawsuit, but if what is being alleged in the press proves true we may well expect a few more. We view this situation with relative calm given that already in 2004 the Federal Court of Justice, Germany’s highest court, confirmed the general legality of adblocking with a ruling regarding blocking ads on television. In addition, just last year the District Court of Hamburg essentially validated our specific model after a huge publisher withdrew a case directed against Adblock Plus.

Adblock Plus will continue to represent the end-user by providing a tool that helps put the Internet back into his or her hands. At the same time we will endeavor to work with publishers, insofar as they permit us to, in order to encourage unobtrusive ads and a sustainable Internet ecosystem.”

Note that the company doesn’t want to get rid of ads, it just wants them to be “unobtrusive.” In fact, the company admits to being paid by bigger companies to whitelist their ads. Search giant Google is one of the paying companies. Adblock Plus estimates that only about 10% of companies actually pay.

This controversial whitelisting will undoubtedly play a role in the lawsuit.

Source: Spiegel (Google Translate)
Via: Neowin

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The popular Adblock Plus extension may be hogging your computer’s memory. Mozilla developer Nicholas Nethercote published a blog post today explaining why Adblock Plus doing this.

The problem comes from Adblock Plus loading custom CSS stylesheets into every website it loads. This wouldn’t be a problem except for widespread use of iframes, which act like separate websites, causing Adblock to load the stylesheet many times.

Each stylesheet takes up 4MB, which can add up for websites that feature lots of ads with iframes. Even social sharing buttons for Facebook and Twitter are created with iframes.

It’s a bit ironic that Adblock Plus is causing performance issues when it aims to increase performance by not having ads load.

Mozilla and Adblock Plus are working together to resolve the issue. You can follow the bug report to see what’s being done.

“We’re doing the best we can to figure out what’s wrong and where, then fix it if it’s on our end,” said Adblock Plus spokesperson Ben Williams.

If you find Firefox or Chrome running slowly, you may want to disable Adblock to see if performance improves.

Source: Nicholas Nethercote

Follow Lewis on Twitter @lewisleong

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Last week Google removed all ad-blocking apps from the Play Store, triggering outcries from many Android developers and fans. One of the affected apps, Adblock Plus, released a new version of their ad-blocker for direct download today. Many fans of Adblock Plus will no doubt be upset; the company gained just under one million users within the three months of being in the Play Store.

They’re not the first company to circumvent Google’s Play Store to push updates. Last week, Facebook quietly began testing pushing updates directly to its Facebook app for Android.

Google’s official response to the removal of ad-blockers cites section 4.4 of the Android Developer Distribution Agreement. Here’s what it states:

“You agree that you will not engage in any activity with the Market, including the development or distribution of Products, that interferes with, disrupts, damages, or accesses in an unauthorized manner the devices, servers, networks, or other properties or services of any third party including, but not limited to, Android users, Google or any mobile network operator.”

Image credit: Linkedin

I emailed the co-founder of Adblock Plus, Till Faida, about the future of Adblock Plus and what this move means for consumers.

Here’s what he had to say. Continue reading “Interview with Adblock Plus’ co-founder Till Faida”

A week ago, Google quietly removed all ad-blocking apps from its Google Play Store. Android has long been known as the “open” platform for smartphone users to install whatever they want. This move by Google has infuriated many Android users who think Google is turning away from Android’s open roots.

Developers like Adblock Plus aren’t taking things lightly and have begun offering their app as a direct download from their site. Android users will have to enable installing apps from “unknown sources” in the setting but the rest will be easy. Users won’t even need to type in a URL on their phone as Adblock Plus provides a QR code for users to scan.

Changes in this version of Adblock Plus include the ability to automatically update the app, something Facebook is currently experimenting with. Here’s the full changelog:

• Implemented automatic updates
• Added a dialog to help with the manual proxy configuration
• Separated filtering and proxy activation settings to avoid loss of connectivity after manual configuration
• Switched to the Holo user interface theme
• Improved icon hiding
• Implemented a workaround for a Chrome issue causing blank pages
• Fixed an issue with URLs containing apostrophes

While it’s a minor annoyance to have to sideload Adblock Plus, it’s nice to see the company standing behind its product and providing its users with a means to continue using Adblock Plus.

Source: Adblock Plus