Go Google Chrome

[Edward64]

I'm sure there is alot of grey as to what's acceptable or not and pretty subjective, but there are some websites that are just obnoxious.

Adblock Plus works pretty well but there seems to always be something "new" that bypasses it and they have to catch up ... so its a continuous hassle.

I'm glad Google is doing something about it.

https://techcrunch.com/2017/09/15/up...laying-videos/

One of the most annoying things about surfing today’s web – besides all those ads, of course – is landing on a site and getting blasted by a video that starts playing automatically. Not only does the experience surprise and annoy web users, it can also consume power and use data – which is concerning for mobile users, in particular. Now Google says it will do something about the problem. In the upcoming version of the Google Chrome web browser (Chrome 64), Google will limit the ability for sites to autoplay videos.

[JPhillips]

I'll bet good money that the eventual work around for advertisers will be to pay Google a fee.

[Suicane75]

Never had these problems on my old Geocities pages.

[CrescentMoonie]

I'll stick with DuckDuckGo.

[Edward64]

Woo hoo. Its in beta. I'm going to check it out.

https://www.theverge.com/2017/12/15/...utoplay-videos

Back in September, Google said Chrome 64 would address several user concerns around content that autoplays, most notably, the ability to have autoplay videos go silent by default. Now, if you’re really keen on testing it out, you do so today by downloading the Chrome 64 beta, as spotted by Engadget. The company said the full autoplay video blocking feature, which is part of a broader ad blocking effort in Chrome that’s been in the works for quite some time, would arrive in the consumer version of the browser come January.

The setting to have autoplay content automatically muted is in Chrome 64’s permissions bar. Unfortunately, this isn’t a one-and-done setting — it has to be done for every website you want it applied to — but it will mute sound for any content that is navigated to under the parent domain.

Other bonuses in Chrome 64, as noted by 9to5Google, include an improved pop-up blocker, additional security measures that prevent malicious auto-redirects, and support for HDR video playback when Windows 10 is in HDR mode. On Chrome OS, there is also a new “split view” feature that allows for easier multitasking with multiple windows.

[Fidatelo]

Unfortunately, this isn’t a one-and-done setting — it has to be done for every website you want it applied to

Ugh, why?

[JPhillips]

Because they want to simultaneously say to consumers that the ads are blocked and to advertisers that ads aren't blocked.

[CU Tiger]

edit: meh stupid joke

[Edward64]

A little more info.

They should also force a feedback mechanism to the owner of the ads where I can tell them to F-off (e.g. cnn.com)

Google Chrome browser gets native ad-blocking Feb. 15, 2018 - CNET

In June, Google announced that its Chrome browser would block ads on websites that are not compliant with the Better Ads standards. We now know when this functionality will go live: Feb. 15, 2018.

It won't block all ads, just ones that are deemed aggressive by the Coalition for Better Ads, whose members include Google, Facebook, Procter & Gamble, the Washington Post and groups from the advertising industry.

Better Ads' standards mean no pop-up ads, no ads that prevent web content from being displayed until a timer counts down, no ads that cover large portions of a website and no video ads that automatically play audio. It's worth noting that the native ad-blocking feature on Chrome won't prevent ads from tracking you.

As first reported by VentureBeat, Google revealed in a blog post for developers that native ad-blocking will go live on Chrome starting Feb. 15.

[Edward64]

Really glad this is happening. I've been using the beta version and its not as good as I would like it to be but a good start.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/publish...wer-1518690600

Publishers are greeting the launch of Google’s ad blocker with a mixture of relief and unease, pleased that it is purging intrusive ads but worried over the internet giant’s power to quickly overhaul the industry.

Beginning Thursday, Google Chrome, the world’s most popular web browser, will begin flagging advertising formats that fail to meet standards adopted by the Coalition for Better Ads, a group of advertising, tech and publishing companies, including Google, a unit of Alphabet Inc. GOOGL +0.90%

“I think getting those bad ads out of the ecosystem is better for the rest of us who are doing these things well, but it’s worth discussing that one company has that much power over the internet and what gets monetized,” said Neil Vogel, the chief executive of Dotdash, a digital publisher with sites about topics such as health and wellness, home improvements and travel.

Sites with unacceptable ad formats—annoying ads like pop-ups, auto-playing video ads with sound and flashing animated ads—will receive a warning that they’re in violation of the standards. If they haven’t fixed the problem within 30 days, all of their ads—including ads that are compliant—will be blocked by the browser. That would be a major blow for publishers, many of which rely on advertising revenue.

[Edward64]

Any feedback from Chrome users?

Hard for me to say I notice any difference because I've been using the beta version.

[RainMaker]

I've been using the Beta. Haven't really noticed much. I do think it's funny that autoplay video ads are disabled on sites but YouTube is given a convenient exemption.

[Edward64]

All my desktops and laptops have 8GB RAM. Not sure if this will noticeably impact me but I guess its for the greater good.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/gordonk.../#3359185a1777

In a blog post, Google has admitted the newest version of Chrome rolling out to customers worldwide is going to consume up to 13% more of your system memory. For a browser whose biggest failing has long been its excessive memory consumption (1,2,3,4,5), this is the last thing users will want. Especially those with older systems and less RAM.

Google also confirmed this is a cross-platform change and will apply to Chrome on Windows, Mac, Linux, and Chrome OS. The last of these could be particularly impacted as Chrome OS systems often ship with only 4-8GB of RAM.

So why has Google done this?

It’s all in the name of security. The new, more bloated Chrome contains a feature called ‘Site Isolation’ which combats the serious Spectre vulnerability which exposes computers at a chip level.

“Site Isolation is a significant change to Chrome’s behavior under the hood, but it generally shouldn’t cause visible changes for most users or web developers (beyond a few known issues),” explains Chrome software engineer Charlie Reis in the blog point.

“It simply offers more protection between websites behind the scenes. Site Isolation does cause Chrome to create more renderer processes, which comes with performance tradeoffs: on the plus side, each renderer process is smaller, shorter-lived, and has less contention internally, but there is about a 10-13% total memory overhead in real workloads due to the larger number of processes.”

[Edward64]

I was an IE user until the Edge fiasco. I switched to Chrome full-time and never looked back.

Report: Microsoft is scrapping Edge, switching to just another Chrome clone | Ars Technica

Windows Central reports that Microsoft is planning to replace its Edge browser, which uses Microsoft's own EdgeHTML rendering engine and Chakra JavaScript engine, with a new browser built on Chromium, the open source counterpart to Google's Chrome. The new browser has the codename Anaheim.

[Kodos]

Firefox is the best if you want to maintain your privacy on the web.

[chinaski]

Recently switched to Firefox as well. The javascript performance seems much better and send tab to device is pretty sweet as well. Sucks I cant cast with it tho.

[Edward64]

Originally Posted by Edward64

I was an IE user until the Edge fiasco. I switched to Chrome full-time and never looked back.

Frakking Chrome. I'm getting way too much Autoplay on Chrome nowadays. I know I can turn off mute but still BS.

Giving the new Edge version another shot. Is working well so far.

[Fidatelo]

Why not try FireFox?

[Edward64]

Dunno. It's always been IE, Chrome, and now Edge.

I think its probably that's what I used at work as the company & client standards.

[RainMaker]

Just a heads up that there is a new ad tracking system in Chrome that is really intrusive. If that bothers you, there are ways to turn that off in the settings.

Or move to Firefox which doesn't have that and is as good or better than Chrome these days anyway.


https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2023...hes-in-chrome/

[GrantDawg]

I have been using Firefox for many, many years. Never needed to change.

[Edward64]

I've pretty much converted to Edge now.

There were some funky config that I need to google on (yeah, Google is still my search engine with Edge) to figure out. Microsoft Edge vanilla is too busy, wants to push too much irrelevant info to me (e.g. shopping coupons which we know are junk).

There are still some sites where Edge doesn't stop autoplay but the better behaved sites are under control now.

I wish there was somehow I could provide direct feedback to Google and tell them I went to Edge because of your stupid, no-way-to-turnoff-autoplay BS.