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uBlock Origin 1.20

github.com

111–120 of 338 posts

Re: uBlock Origin 1.20

#111
post #47

I've just noticed Safari is stuck at 1.16 and I've been using a fork. Anyone here uses Safari as their main browsing tool and has a good alternative? I mean 1.16 seems to do the job just fine, but if it falls behind too far...

Setup a Pi-Hole and don't depend on browser-level but network-level ad blocking.

Re: uBlock Origin 1.20

#112
post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Isn't Microsoft selling ads too? I believe they do (that's why bing was created). If so, I don't trust their ad blocking initiative any more then google's. Maybe in short term, as they want to steal users from Chrome, but in longterm, they'll in same position as google is now.

They probably do, but Microsoft isn’t an ad company like Google, so that danger is probably fairly existential to them.

It is difficult to assess which company is more 'good' or 'evil' nowadays. Microsoft did a lot of good by competing with UNIX in the 90s (Windows NT was cheap compared to UNIX). They also did bad with their embrace & extend and other anti competitive behavior.

Microsoft is a much older company who recently transitioned from being a proprietary software company selling licenses to a company who sell that but who also do services such as cloud (Azure) and who also do all kind of FOSS and tracking (Windows 10).

I fear the future is going to be that the poor are paying with their privacy/time/focus (as a result of advertising and tracking), while the rich buy licenses to pay off the licenses. Heck, it is already like that. My Scrabble clone application (Wordfeud) costs ~3 EUR in the Play Store. The free version costs nothing, but shows ads (not sure about tracking). I figured 3 EUR is a good deal for me for a perpetual license to never see ads. However, 3 EUR for me could be a lot of money for someone who's more poor than me.

Re: uBlock Origin 1.20

#113
post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would think it's more likely they legislate against us, i.e. making it a crime to circumvent advertising (see: circumventing DRM).

You wouldn't download a car, you wouldn't block an ad! :)

As always: I would download a car if I could :).

Re: uBlock Origin 1.20

#114
post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The bright side of Google's anti-ad-blocking efforts is that ad-blocking is clearly no longer just an insignificant blip on their radar. There must be enough users of ad-blockers now to start to significantly affect their bottom line. There might even be a critical mass of people who are against advertising to attempt to make some legal headway on this issue in Washington. Just as there has been legal action against…

> The bright side of Google's anti-ad-blocking efforts is that ad-blocking is clearly no longer just an insignificant blip on their radar. There must be enough users of ad-blockers now to start to significantly affect their bottom line. I think the issue is that shareholders want to see significant year-over-year growth, something that isn't sustainable in the long-term. We're merely being seen as an untapped market…

Here's a thing: the shareholders may very well know not to expect gains in perpetuity, but surely something could be done to boost growth just this last time? Given how much money is at stake, plenty of extreme things can be done before the particular growth source is exhausted. And we all have to suffer the collateral damage.

Re: uBlock Origin 1.20

#115
post #54

I am dumbfounded that uBlock Origin, arguably the single most important extension in modern web browsing, and one that makes millions of lives easier by making their web experience bearable at all, all of this depends on one single person, working for free. Now there's also the list maintainers, who also work for free. Still makes you wonder about how the world works. There's probably many other similar instances. In…

There are definitely a few OSS that don't get anymore as much love as they deserve. VLC and OBS are two example of programs that are so damn good, even paid alternatives hardly can compete.

OBS is interesting because not only is it one of the best programs available for what it does (and cross platform to boot, which is huge), but it's also a catalyst for making people an absurd amount of money.

Pretty much every top streamer uses it. I wouldn't be surprised if OBS was responsible for generating over $75 million worth of earnings for just the top streamers on Twitch in the last few years, then there's Twitch's cut on top of it. That's going by 1 article saying just the top 10 streamers alone earned $20 million last year alone.

OBS is one of those products where I bet if they put up a Kickstarter asking for support they would end up raising a few million. Come to think of it now, I wonder if Twitch has tried to buy / fund OBS in the past.

Re: uBlock Origin 1.20

#117

After Chrome API changes announcement uBlock Origin news at HN became more popular than before. I like it.

It's become a pattern across many Google assets. The massive price increase of the Maps API, the order of magnitude limitations placed on the YouTube API, and now the neutering of ad blocking on Chromium. Google built an empire, and now they're cashing in their chips. I can't say I blame them, but they are no longer a platform that enables innovation. So now my only question is what's next? Which Google product will…

The Youtube API restrictions are completely ridiculous, you use up the entire daily allocation by searching 3 times, or viewing like 10 video metadata blobs.

They might as well just scrap the free API completely, because its now worthless.

Re: uBlock Origin 1.20

#118
post #54

I am dumbfounded that uBlock Origin, arguably the single most important extension in modern web browsing, and one that makes millions of lives easier by making their web experience bearable at all, all of this depends on one single person, working for free. Now there's also the list maintainers, who also work for free. Still makes you wonder about how the world works. There's probably many other similar instances. In…

There are definitely a few OSS that don't get anymore as much love as they deserve. VLC and OBS are two example of programs that are so damn good, even paid alternatives hardly can compete.

MPC-HC and mpv are much better than VLC.

Re: uBlock Origin 1.20

#120
post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You wouldn't download a car, you wouldn't block an ad! :)

As always: I would download a car if I could :).

Fun fact: the line of the ad was twisted by internet people for meming purposes. The actual line is "You wouldn't steal a car".
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