Crystal – iOS 9 ad blocker • Hacker News Board

Re: Crystal – iOS 9 ad blocker

#141

Post by Yetanfou » Thu, Sep 17, 2015, 3:24 PM UTC

heinrich5991 wrote: post #23

LeoNatan25 wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Content blocking requires a 64-bit CPU.

Interesting. Why is that?

Because apple knows ad-blocking is a much-desired feature, and as such can be used to 'convince' people it is time to ditch their 'older' devices (which, technically speaking, have no problems whatsoever in running ad-blocking software) and buy the latest&greatest.

For those doubting ad-blocking works on 32-bit ARM, have a look at the multitude of Android devices. Nearly all of them use a 32 bit CPU. Many of them run some form of ad-blocking software, ranging from proxy-based systems (a la privoxy) to browser plugins to host-based blocking. Often a combination of these are used, all on those 32 bit CPU's.

Re: Crystal – iOS 9 ad blocker

#142

Post by Yetanfou » Thu, Sep 17, 2015, 3:29 PM UTC

choppaface wrote: post #53

ytch wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe 32/64 bit isn't the issue, Apple just choose it as a flag to exclude slow CPU?

The 64-bit CPUs have a wider (and thus effectively faster) bus, and content blocking is probably rather strenuous on CPU cache (lots of string/pattern matching?). While the 64-bit cutoff is likely mostly a marketing artifact, content blocking on 32-bit CPUs could actually be 2x slower or worse than 64-bit CPUs and thus make page rendering times very painful for some sites.

Nope, it is pure marketing. There is no technical reason whatsoever for ad-blocking to require a 64 bit CPU or databus. It actually works fine on a single-core sub-Ghz ARM7 like that used in my phone (Motorola Defy) with all of 512MiB of memory.

Re: Crystal – iOS 9 ad blocker

#143

Post by stephenr » Thu, Sep 17, 2015, 3:29 PM UTC

narrowrail wrote: post #138

monochromatic wrote: post #134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Does iTunes not require a credit card on file?

It does not. People typically just use an iTunes gift card in order to limit possible damage.

I don't think 'no cc on file' is 'typical' behaviour, but it is an option.

Re: Crystal – iOS 9 ad blocker

#144

Post by heinrich5991 » Thu, Sep 17, 2015, 3:39 PM UTC

nailer wrote: post #95

lstamour wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That said, none are perfect. Swapping between all three and reloading Slate.com, it seemed impossible to block an after-page-load ad inserted at the top of the article via JS. Except when I ran Purify with Scripts disabled on Slate, then the page loaded instantly with no ad for obvious reasons. (Sadly Purify is missing an extension to selectively enable JS.) Searching the store, Blockr looks nice enough, specifically…

I don't mind most ads, but I'd happily pay just to block EU cookie warnings (with a good UX).

I guess the easiest way to do that would be to collect the "EU cookie warning seen"-cookies.

Re: Crystal – iOS 9 ad blocker

#145

Post by roosterjm2k2 » Thu, Sep 17, 2015, 3:57 PM UTC

stephenr wrote: post #124

roosterjm2k2 wrote: post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you not see the sense of entitlement in that? If the site has too many ads for your taste, simply don't visit that site. You have some sense that you are entitled to whatever efforts the site owner has committed to bring you content (obviously enough effort to be interesting to you) without supporting them through the ad service they chose. If you don't like their ads, you could simply move on, but now you're taki…

So your suggestion is that instead of trying to convince these "publishers" (as people like to call them apparently) that they should use a less user-hostile ad/analytics solution, we should all just boycott their publications completely? I bet they'd all love that - no visitors because of their shitty ad network choices, thus no costs right. They can eat their own failed dreams for dinner. Is this the ad-blocking eq…

How would that be any different than any business model? Don't do what customers like, or do specifically what they hate, you have less success...

Re: Crystal – iOS 9 ad blocker

#146

Post by roosterjm2k2 » Thu, Sep 17, 2015, 3:59 PM UTC

karlshea wrote: post #140

roosterjm2k2 wrote: post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you not see the sense of entitlement in that? If the site has too many ads for your taste, simply don't visit that site. You have some sense that you are entitled to whatever efforts the site owner has committed to bring you content (obviously enough effort to be interesting to you) without supporting them through the ad service they chose. If you don't like their ads, you could simply move on, but now you're taki…

So you must have the built-in pop-up blockers built into almost all browsers turned off too, right? Since that's the only non-hypocritical way to make the argument you're making.

No, because as a developer of a site, you know the defaults... if browsers defaulted to predictably blocking ads, content providers would adjust accordingly. There is a difference between a standard on pretty much every browser and an addon.

Re: Crystal – iOS 9 ad blocker

#147

Post by joeblau » Thu, Sep 17, 2015, 4:04 PM UTC

lukeholder wrote: post #58

PSA: If any content blocker is breaking a page you can touch the refresh button in mobile safari for 2 seconds and an option to reload the page without content blockers will appear.

Thanks for that top tip! Just tried it on Bloomberg and it worked.

Re: Crystal – iOS 9 ad blocker

#148

Post by wanderfowl » Thu, Sep 17, 2015, 4:22 PM UTC

graystevens wrote: post #73

Received their 'Out Now' email yesterday, after signing up from the post here on HN regarding the app and its beta testing phase. Don't have a problem with what I received, in fact it was something I was hoping to play with after installing the iOS9 GM, so was very happy to be notified very shortly after its release. What I wasn't keen on however, was the use of emoji's in the subject. This instantly got deleted by m…

Language change, oh horror of horrors.

Re: Crystal – iOS 9 ad blocker

#149

Post by stephenr » Thu, Sep 17, 2015, 4:30 PM UTC

roosterjm2k2 wrote: post #146

karlshea wrote: post #140

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So you must have the built-in pop-up blockers built into almost all browsers turned off too, right? Since that's the only non-hypocritical way to make the argument you're making.

No, because as a developer of a site, you know the defaults... if browsers defaulted to predictably blocking ads, content providers would adjust accordingly. There is a difference between a standard on pretty much every browser and an addon.

Pop up blocking wasn't always a standard feature. Then it was.

Re: Crystal – iOS 9 ad blocker

#150

Post by pinewurst » Thu, Sep 17, 2015, 4:36 PM UTC

LeoNatan25 wrote: post #27

heinrich5991 wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Interesting. Why is that?

Ask Apple :) See this tweet: https://twitter.com/awfulben/status/638510622167052288 Apparently, content blockers work on 32-bit CPUs, but Apple is restricting them on the store to 64-bit only. So you can go the BlockParty + EasyList route: https://github.com/krishkumar/BlockParty It works very well.

As a data point, I just built/installed BlockParty on iPhone 5 and iPad Retina and see nothing but performance improvement. Many thanks again for the link!