Google - Blog Posts
So Google, not just Chrome, but Google itself, hates ad blockers.
I get it, ads make money for way less effort and customer involvement than subscriptions and paywalls.
The problem is, as cybersecurity professionals have said, ads are a security risk for every system they interact with. Even if you don't click any ads ever, they're still a security risk.
How are they a security risk? Because ads are allowed to run code to perform their tasks. This code is supplied by the ad provider, and if all it ever did was provide a link, a hovertext/description for the visually impaired, and maybe a non-gif animation, this would be a non-issue on all but the weakest internet connections.
They are not all like that, though.
Endless cases of ad providers, site providers, even your actual ISP (Internet Service Provider) have been proven to inject arbitrary code, capable of doing a great number of things, into ads, links, images, video, etc.
This code has had scripts to use your computer's processing power to help mine Bitcoin so long as it's on the page the code started on, it's been used to install malware (even by your ISP in one particularly bad case), it's been used to just install viruses or keyloggers or so many more things.
Hell, even the not-malicious code can just bog down your computer by being terribly written messes of badly functioning code, so something that should run with barely any impact instead takes up ridiculous amounts of processing power and capacity.
This is a problem, and it's largely solvable by simply blocking ads. There's no native way to prevent ads from running scripts or code without disabling all JavaScript on every page, which effectively kills most pages you go to since every drop-down menu, every page-altering section (like the Google images thing), most search bars, video playback, and so much more, all depend entirely on JavaScript.
Google wants to take away that necessary security of blocking problematic ads, rather than just make a way to disable the problematic aspects of ads.
I dislike ads, especially when they take up more than about 25% of the screen. I'd ideally like to see little to no ads ever, but I understand how ads support the sites they're on, support creators on streaming services, etc.
I'd be okay with classic banner ads, basic image/link ads, even the before/during/after video ads, if they weren't almost guaranteed to be literally hostile. If Google hates ad blockers so much, they should make them less of a safety requirement by letting us choose to disable ad scripts, or even just block that entire concept, because no ads for any worthwhile service or product have ever needed to run scripts. If an image or GIF of your product/service, maybe with a quick description, isn't selling your product/service, then making it hover over the page content, make noise, and mine Bitcoin will only piss your target audience off, while proudly claiming that you are the one doing it.
Would you buy a product that tricks you into interacting with it through just being annoying and pulling the sibling trick of "I'm not touching you, see? I'm touching your computer, not you?"
Hell, pop-up ads were basically scriptless and still managed to piss off most of the people who encountered them. The guy who invented them made a public apology for having developed that 'extremely intrusive' marketing method. Now ISPs have been caught injecting malware into links that you click on while using their service, with the express intent of installing them to your computer to monitor what you do and block access to sites they don't want you on.
You want the Internet to be safe? Don't fight porn or violence, that has never done anything but drive up interest. Fight the people actively making the Internet literally unsafe to use regardless of age or system.
I'll accept ads if ad providers stop making automatic malware.
Sorry for the rant, I'm tired and annoyed.
you know sometimes it shocks me too but google really is free and it’s right there in your hands
I’m sorry, what??? Really google?
new tumblr game: google ur username, go to the images tab, and see what comes up
me looking stuff up: world development questions...
google: that help you get pregnant.
me: .....that help you pol-
google: that help you pollinate
me: .....
me: .... polish your world.....
google: ....
me: ...
google: ....lyrics...
What happens when you google the word 'gay' 😭😭
Social Media and Browsers
[Patreon]
GOOGLE DOODLES ARE VERY CUTE
Like, look at this!
(Instead of getting ready to go to school I was doing the puzzle haha)
I got this in the questionnaire! ↓
I am hydrogen 😭!
(I love chemistry)
if you just use this on firefox, it opens you to the web tab on chrome instead of the main tab.
This is how google usually opens.
and this is how the extension opens it. The only difference is it opens to different preset tabs on the google site.
Me, getting on Tumblr: Alright, now no getting distracted! We're here for writing ideas.
Tumblr: Lol, look it's a gay character.
Me: Liked and moving on to-
Tumblr: He's played by Finn Wolfhard
Me: ...reblogged and away I go to find-
Tumblr: Oh look the post below has something Ben Schwartz related on it...
Me: Oh fuck that would be a problem but there's not enough Ben content on here to make me spend an hour looking through it so it's fine-
Google: Hey, Pinterest has a notification for you also one of your mutuals on Tumblr just posted.
Me: OH SHIT-
google W H Y
so I was on my laptop and I wanted to look at the other photos you can have of Crome new tap page so I go into customize Crome and I find a pic and I click and my Crome thingy ( you know when you type in a website well there that’s what I’m talking about ) turns a poop color and I’m there in customize Crome or whatever it’s called for like 10 mins and I didn’t even remember it being so hard to change the color before so I look up if they change it and the answer I get is something I long the lines of ✨yes we did so you have the perfect colors✨and ok if you want to give preset colors that’s ok but LET ME MAKE MY OWN all it let’s you is slide the hue ( hue is the color like red blue vomit yknow colors) like WHY and the worse part is not only did they get rid of the old colors which were good but all the color are either SOO dark you would think they tried to mix black and gave up or so palest you were a newborn and then there’s a device option so you would you could make your own color WRONG ITS JUST THE DARK UGLY POOP COLORS AGAIN if you don’t already have your google home page or whatever customized you should see how bad it is and then look up the old one and if you have your google home page customized KEEP IT THE WAY YOU LEFT IT AND DONT MAKE MY MISTAKE I’m left with a dusty baby boy and it looks horrible with the photo I’m using
Caine Aus
New thing where I take a character and do them in a swap universe, fell universe, and horror universe (based on arguably the three most popular Undertale Aus Underswap, Underfell, Horrortale). Swapping them with another character in their universe. Making them evil (or good if they already were evil)+angsty. And then making them in some sort of horror universe. Today's specimen is Caine from TADC
Swap: The Amazing Digital Funfair
Caine takes the role of bubble. He's a chatty little chattering teeth set that's always just yapping much to Bubbles annoyance. Not as unhinged as Bubble but is constantly interrupting Bubble and rambling so bubble forcefully shuts his trap, knocking all his teeth out
Fell: The Terrible Digital Circus
Caine is the main antagonist of this Au. He loves torturing the cast for amusement. He sets them on impossible missions that they are doomed to fail from the start and usually ends with all of them dying painfully only to be revived to do it all over again. He particularly likes to pick on Jax and sometimes Pomni. He is unable to feel any empathy so he sees the "Circus Freaks" as toys to play with and if he gets bored of a toy he'll make them more interesting like altering Gangles Mask to be angry or practically brainwashing Kinger to make him like a mini Caine. Some notes are that the shaded parts are meant to actually be golden not grey/black and also his one fang doesn't merge with his eye it goes behind it
Horror: The Amazing Digital Battle Royale
To make this different from the popular horror au Freakshow by @hootbon (tho I did take alot of inspiration) this one is set in a Hunger Games style Battle Royale but a bit worse. While they are battling to the death Caine will bring all the losers back to life after the battle to compete again so they're stuck in an infinite loop of dying and killing each other. If the battles too dull he'll add something interesting like acid candy, piranha like Gloinks, poison gas, or a psycho yandere moon. If the players refuse to fight each other Caine will have Bubble spread misinformation about each other in their voices (like uses Ragathas to make Pomni think she's gonna betray her) if that doesn't work he might take control of one of their bodies and force them to kill and maybe cannibalize their fellow players all while still conscious of their actions. But if a player is just too boring he'll abstract them by causing their insides to slowly destroy themselves giving them a slow painful death. So in short: He's kinda a meanie :(
What set top box is in your living room?
The contenders are the PS3, xbox360, Google TV, Boxee Box and the Apple TV. There are others, but in terms of what is sexy and usable and what will actually fit in most living rooms by the time you have your cable/sat box and your amplifier, I think this covers it.
Since believe in full disclosure, I think it's best I disclose my living room setup, which changes often as my wife or babysitters will tell you. I have a Dennon amp, an Aquos TV and my devices are a Wii, xbox360, and an Apple TV (the new one).
Apple TV
Pros:
Easy to use, very inexpensive, small, low power, networked, iTunes, Airplay, massive potential
Cons:
No 1080p, minimal codec support (formats must be apple friendly), No Games, No Camera
Xbox360
Pros: Powerful, kinect, games and set top, networked, can replace sat/cable box (for AT&T UVerse)
Cons:
Loud, expensive, Zune, requires xbox live gold for Netflix and other things that are free on other systems, has a poor track record for delivering on promises (media center, etc), requires media center to play networked media on a broad scale
PlayStation 3 with Move
Pros:
Blue Ray Disc player, high powered, Networked, Games
Cons:
Expensive, Weak media store, playing local movies requires hacking the system, No Camera, and yes - Blu ray (because who would consistently pay $30 for a movie you watch once?)
Google TV
Pros:
1080p content, Truly a media player, integrates with existing sat/cable box (this is being blocked for some providers), apps, Fling (I haven't seen this working)
Cons:
Different manufacturers with different approaches, no networked media serving working (the revue promises this, but reviews are saying it's not working http://gigaom.com/video/google-tv-review-a-first-stab-at-a-powerful-concept/ ), usability is good for a techie but bad for a novice
Boxee Box:
Pros:
1080P contentTrue media player, apps, content en masse
Cons:
more expensive than Apple TV, the box is awkward and too big, usability leaves something to be desired
To cut the cord..... It's not quite there yet. I don't think any of these players make cutting the cord a reality for the majority of consumers, however, there are certainly a lot of people that are now able to do it. I think Apple may have the best shot at pulling this off in the short term, but if they do, Google will be right behind them. Apple is about 3 major networks away from the tipping point on making iTunes a replacement for a cable box. The issue will be timing. So, the episodes should be available as of the moment they air to download. If they aren't, cutting the cord will remain elusive because as Americans, we want our content, now and real time.
Oh, my beloved Boxee box... I have awaited you like a Cubs pennant or that next flight delay update, or for a politician to actually do something... You get the picture :) I have you installed on every computer, I have the original XBMC by which you are based, but alas you have failed me in timing and design and cost. With Apple TV being so small and cost efficient, I have to say you lose and I would be open to you coming to my jailbroken Apple TV or Google TV in the near future.
Sony, you will fail because of arrogance sadly. By trying to keep things in a closed system (blocking unix installs, etc), you are locking out the potential for what your system could be. The PS3 is probably the one piece of hardware that could do it all, but Sony will never let it happen. To win, Sony could create a small app based on VLC that has the basic network protocols for Mac and PC AND partner up hard with Amazon or GASP iTunes to provide your other content. That doesn't sound so hard does it? The problem is am I going to buy a PS3 for every TV in my house, probably no.
Microsoft, as Forrester said: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ov98MFgrp2g&feature=share, you could dominate it all. However, charging me an additional $60/year to watch my Netflix that I already pay for combined with forcing me to use Media Center on a PC that I don't want in order to stream my local library of HD movies makes you a losing proposition. I have 2 XBOX 360s and I have tried for YEARS to make this setup work and no one wants to wait 45 seconds to boot up the XBOX and then 2+ minutes to get Media Center working which may or may not fail if the PC has crashed just to watch a movie on my local network. To win, the formula is the same as it would be for Sony and PLEASE forget about locking me to a Windows machine. At the prices you can pickup an XBOX 360 now, this "could" be an every TV solution.
Apple, well, so far I have you in a dead heat with Google TV. Cost is the major factor here as well as your ability to link up to my iTunes library which contains my library of local content (NAS issue solved), however, please allow the VLC app into Apple TV or "Plex" so we can use additional codecs. Continue to work on NBC and a the HBOs of the world to hit the tipping point for cutting the cord. I REALLY wish you could push 1080p content though and that's really the only big mark against you (although in practice, videos are looking better on my Apple TV at 720p than my XBOX360 at 1080p and I don't know why).
Google, your path is the easiest I think. Lower the price to match Apple and add a VLC app that has networking protocols in it for NAS based playback. The problem is that I don't think Google "can" lower the price to match Apple, so therein lies the conundrum.
What does it all mean?
Well, what is best for you largely will be based on what your home setup looks like already and what is important to you. I don't really see the XBOX or PS3 really making it to every TV in the house (currently 2.93 - http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/consumer/u-s-homes-add-even-more-tv-sets-in-2010/ ). So, that leaves the Google TV and Apple (since I have essentially eliminated Boxee based on the odd design and massive delays). If I had to choose today, I would say most people have an iTunes account (Mac or PC) that they use to a large degree, so the Apple TV makes the most sense based on it's low cost. For $100, you could buy an external USB harddrive to store movies plugged into any computer with iTunes and for $300 you could put an Apple TV at each of your average 2.93 TVs for a grand total of $400. That's palatable for most of us that are into these things. That said, I see a lower cost Google TV on the horizon that could totally change my opinion.
I hope you enjoyed my take...
accidentally searched cattleship instead of battleship. was not dissapointed.
I have been a long time supporter of Google and they are very entwined into my online existence. I realize my voice is probably of very little consequence, but this enrages me.
After writing to them to express my displeasure, I am going to start the process of disentangling myself from them. My phone is a Google Pixel, but there are things I can do. I am already using Duck Duck Go as my default browser and email address. I am investigating Proton.me as an alternative email and storage client.
I have already divested myself of Amazon (except for my Kindle), and Instagram. I have stripped all my content from Facebook as I need to use Messenger to be in contact with relatives. Now Google. It is a sad world today.
Seriously, Google? You actually changed Gulf of Mexico to Gulf of America on Google Maps?
What the fuck?!
Guys holy shit Teufort is real it’s an actual place, the address btw is
Saskatchewan highway 683 weldon city Weldon elevators
hi! you’re super cool <3 could i respect some hcs of watching cartoons with google? (was watching some clips of the grim adventures of billy and mandy and was laughing so hard. yes i am easily entertained, what of it)
Cartoons with Google (HC's)
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Tws: None
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He literally will say random statistics for certain things as your watching like TV, like he will literally fact check them sometimes
He tries his best to understand your humor but he doesn't always get it. God forbid you say "sheeshhh" or "yeet" near him. If loading screen was a person that would be him after you saying those things
He tries to be sarcastic sometimes but it always comes out super monotone and like, he always has to say hes joking. He again, doesnt understand the concept of it so sometimes some of the "jokes" he says can get pretty dark and he doesnt understand why your not laughing
Sometimes he will cite information about your favorite characters, and if you ask him, he will notify you when its your favorite characters birthday.He doesn't feel the cold but he likes to wrap you up in blankets whilst you two are watching cartoons, will make you a human burrito 100%
He loves watching cartoons with you, his favorite is Gravity Falls oddly. His favorite character is Bill Cipher.
Will always let you pick the cartoon unless you ask him to pick it and he will ALWAYS pick Gravity Falls. Like ALWAYS. Unless it isnt on, then he will give you the choice again.
New Things to Beware on the Internet
On May 3rd, Google released 8 new top-level domains (TLDs) -- these are new values like .com, .org, .biz, domain names. These new TLDs were made available for public registration via any domain registrar on May 10th.
Usually, this should be a cool info, move on with your life and largely ignore it moment.
Except a couple of these new domain names are common file type extensions: ".zip" and ".mov".
This means typing out a file name could resolve into a link that takes you to one of these new URLs, whether it's in an email, on your tumblr blog post, a tweet, or in file explorer on your desktop.
What was previously plain text could now resolve as link and go to a malicious website where people are expecting to go to a file and therefore download malware without realizing it.
Folk monitoring these new domain registrations are already seeing some clearly malicious actors registering and setting this up. Some are squatting the domain names trying to point out what a bad idea this was. Some already trying to steal your login in credentials and personal info.
This is what we're seeing only 12 days into the domains being available. Only 5 days being publicly available.
What can you do? For now, be very careful where you type in .zip or .mov, watch what website URLs you're on, don't enable automatic downloads, be very careful when visiting any site on these new domains, and do not type in file names without spaces or other interrupters.
I'm seeing security officers for companies talking about wholesale blocking .zip and .mov domains from within the company's internet, and that's probably wise.
Be cautious out there.
I’m sorry friends, but “just google it” is no longer viable advice. What are we even telling people to do anymore, go try to google useful info and the first three pages are just ads for products that might be the exact opposite of what the person is trying to find but The Algorithm thinks the words are related enough? And if it’s not ads it’s just sponsored websites filled with listicles, just pages and pages of “TOP FIFTEEN [thing you googled] IMAGINED AS DISNEY PRINCESSES” like… what are we even doing anymore, google? I can no longer use you as shorthand for people doing real and actual helpful research on their own.
Don’t forget guys- for April Fools’ Day we all gotta Google “Bing” and make it the #1 searched word
i've gotten to that point in math where i can try putting the problems through google or mathway or symbolab or wherever else and they're all like: nah dude you're on your own for this one