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Temptations of an open-source Chrome extension developer (2021)

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Re: Temptations of an open-source Chrome extension developer (2021)

#281

Post by ummonk »

mktk1001 wrote: post #278
ummonk wrote: post #262

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When I worked at Meta, the execs said that many users think they're being spied on when they see ads based on a conversation they've had in real life, but the execs categorically denied that this could be happening, and said it's all just a coincidence. I thought this was a completely unfounded denial, since Meta had no way of auditing 3rd party apps on the user's phone, and it's perfectly plausible for another app t…

Wdym? You cannot target specific individuals when creating ads on FB/IG?

You can (e.g. by email address), which is why it's impossible for Facebook to guarantee that ads weren't targeted based on listening in on conversations. It has no ability to determine how an advertising purchaser generated / obtained the data it is using to for ads targeting.

Re: Temptations of an open-source Chrome extension developer (2021)

#282

Post by [deleted] »

cal85 wrote: post #94

FWIW, and since a few of you probably use it… I own the JSON Formatter extension [0], which I created and open-sourced 12 years ago and have maintained [1] ever since, with 2 million users today. And I solemnly swear that I will never add any code that sends any data anywhere, nor let it fall into the hands of anyone else who would. I’ve been emailed several tempting cash offers from shady people who presumably want…

[deleted]

Re: Temptations of an open-source Chrome extension developer (2021)

#283

Post by exikyut »

Pxtl wrote: post #242
versteegen wrote: post #234

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wait... what? As someone who's always tried to target the oldest Android version I can which Google Play will still allow uploading (for a long time, Android 2.3), this is alarming. Why don't they run now? I don't actually play games on Android myself.

No idea of what API they're hitting but basically half of my old humble library won't run anymore - they show a warning about old APIs, show the title screen, then crash to desktop. Even some old games I paid for are gone from the Play Store too. Like, I paid for Puffle Launch and it's just plain gone from my library. Edit: ahah, I was looking in the wrong spot! Its still in my "not installed" list, just not in my "f…

Ah, 2011, the age of so many Angry Birds clones...

I just found https://archive.org/details/PuffleLaunchAPK and https://archive.org/details/PuffleLaunchAmazonAPK (both point to each other), with a note that says that the latter generally works and the former crashes. I can verify this; on my (Android 8, 32-bit compatible) device the Play version crashes with:

  08-10 14:55:03.864 25995 25995 E linker  : ERROR: OOPS:     0 cannot map library 'libmono.so'. no vspace available.
  08-10 14:55:03.864 25995 25995 D AndroidRuntime: Shutting down VM
  ...
  08-10 14:55:03.865 25995 25995 E AndroidRuntime: FATAL EXCEPTION: main
  08-10 14:55:03.865 25995 25995 E AndroidRuntime: Process: com.disney.PuffleLaunch, PID: 25995
  08-10 14:55:03.865 25995 25995 E AndroidRuntime: java.lang.UnsatisfiedLinkError: Bad JNI version returned from JNI_OnLoad in "/data/app/com.disney.PuffleLaunch-rjdXjIyhGz7STdfxQ9xH2g==/lib/arm/libmono.so": 0
I'm always on the lookout for old interesting games, and maybe there are workarounds for the other titles in your library too. What's the list?

Re: Temptations of an open-source Chrome extension developer (2021)

#284

Post by Semaphor »

nerdponx wrote: post #244
alooPotato wrote: post #207

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This seems so weird to me. You're clearly providing value to the world, and according to my moral view, should be entitled to capturing some of that value without resorting to something shady. I'm the founder of Streak where we directly monetize our extension (as do others like Grammarly). Have you tried directly asking your users for $ given the effort you put in?

I use several Firefox extensions that periodically nag me for money. I appreciate it because otherwise I would forget to donate. But now that I have monthly donations set up for several of them, I wish there was a way to turn it off.

> I wish there was a way to turn it off.

Most FOSS android apps asking for donations do that: Sometimes a button in the donation-nag "I already donated", but pretty much every time a setting "stop asking, I either already donated or won’t donate".

Re: Temptations of an open-source Chrome extension developer (2021)

#285

Post by eipi10_hn »

chii wrote: post #243
btown wrote: post #220

Earlier quoted context omitted.

uBlock Origin is also an incredible success story here!

and you are essentially trusting the moral integrity of the current maintainer. why can't there be a method for making sure that such trust cannot be abused? Is this a tractable problem at all?

I don't think there's a solution for it after all. At the end of the day, you need to trust someone / something, unless you are the one who writes the whole code.

Which browser are you using?

Re: Temptations of an open-source Chrome extension developer (2021)

#286

Post by hoseja »

wddkcs wrote: post #270
LoganDark wrote: post #246

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're protecting yourself from targeted psychological manipulation. It's like the difference between someone spraying a cyber-attack over the entire IPv4 space, or spending a while trying to drill into a specific server. The latter is much scarier and harder to resist, but it's basically what targeted advertising is these days. They supposedly want just to help you find what you want to buy, but they do this by tryi…

Of course, someone who has been successfully manipulated would also think they've escaped manipulation. Isn't that the scariest part

At some point a reality check should be possible. Do you find yourself spending money on advertised-things?

Re: Temptations of an open-source Chrome extension developer (2021)

#287

Post by YeBanKo »

chii wrote: post #243
btown wrote: post #220

Earlier quoted context omitted.

uBlock Origin is also an incredible success story here!

and you are essentially trusting the moral integrity of the current maintainer. why can't there be a method for making sure that such trust cannot be abused? Is this a tractable problem at all?

There is a method. Designing plugin and system API in such a way that allows users a granular control over plugins or apps permissions and network activity.

Re: Temptations of an open-source Chrome extension developer (2021)

#288

Post by q87b »

alooPotato wrote: post #207
cal85 wrote: post #94

FWIW, and since a few of you probably use it… I own the JSON Formatter extension [0], which I created and open-sourced 12 years ago and have maintained [1] ever since, with 2 million users today. And I solemnly swear that I will never add any code that sends any data anywhere, nor let it fall into the hands of anyone else who would. I’ve been emailed several tempting cash offers from shady people who presumably want…

This seems so weird to me. You're clearly providing value to the world, and according to my moral view, should be entitled to capturing some of that value without resorting to something shady. I'm the founder of Streak where we directly monetize our extension (as do others like Grammarly). Have you tried directly asking your users for $ given the effort you put in?

Why would money be the only value, that is a really sad view on life. The developer gets joy and gratitude, they can live a happy life. Why bring money into it. Money does not make happy.

Re: Temptations of an open-source Chrome extension developer (2021)

#289

Post by tommica »

mfrisbie wrote: post #14

ChatGPT for Google was #1 on HN earlier this year. Check out the GitHub repo now: that person sold the extension. I had a small side project extension, ~25,000 installs & free to use. I got enough inbound interest trying to "help me monetize" that I thought it would be worth cataloguing all the different unsavory avenues: https://mattfrisbie.substack.com/p/the-ugly-business-of-mone...

Man, being offered $11k for an extension would be hard to say no to... With that a down payment for a house is a much smaller problem. It's always a good idea to consider where the line is for ones own ethics.

Re: Temptations of an open-source Chrome extension developer (2021)

#290

Post by 3abiton »

tiffanyg wrote: post #269
ummonk wrote: post #262

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When I worked at Meta, the execs said that many users think they're being spied on when they see ads based on a conversation they've had in real life, but the execs categorically denied that this could be happening, and said it's all just a coincidence. I thought this was a completely unfounded denial, since Meta had no way of auditing 3rd party apps on the user's phone, and it's perfectly plausible for another app t…

Realistically, in a simple statistical way, plain "coincidences" have a significant "expected value". I.e., if you simply take the billions of people across the planet, and look even across a single day, lots of coincidences occur. Now, add in psychological effects - "synchronicity", "frequency illusion" ("Baader-Meinhof"), "recency illusion", confirmation bias, etc... I'd expect a fair bit of compounding*. Then, add…

> Billions of people > lots of coincidences

While that is a positive take that could explain it, I am not convinced by that number crunch. 2/situations per year, per person, that is still "a lot" to be considered plausible statistical coincidence.

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