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I now assume that all ads on Apple news are scams

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Re: I now assume that all ads on Apple news are scams

#491

Post by tomjen3 »

crote wrote: post #165
WarmWash wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Generally if all the ads you see are scammy, it means you probably are using some form of tracking/privacy protection. When an ad network has a strong profile on you, legitimate companies pay good money for those ad slots. When they don't really know who you are, only bottom feeders bid on the ad slots you see. In a way, it almost acts as retribution for not submitting to the anti-privacy machine.

I consider even "legitimate" ads scams. My products are more expensive (the marketing budget doesn't fall out of the sky, after all), and I am rewarded by being forced to view extremely annoying content in my day-to-day life? As a consumer, that sounds like a horrible deal to me! On top of that, most ads provide no value whatsoever. Take the classic Coca-Cola vs Pepsi: they are fishing from the same pool so ads are p…

While I tend to agree with your general example, there are lots of products that people don't talk about because they are icky, personal, or embarrassing but also really useful. Period cups fall into this category. Ting or whatever needs to advertise because nobody talks with their friends about phone subs.

Re: I now assume that all ads on Apple news are scams

#492

Post by pfdietz »

direwolf20 wrote: post #400
StilesCrisis wrote: post #349

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They tried to kill _competitors'_ ads. Everyone else gets "Ask Not to Track" while Apple gets "Personalized Ads." It's so glaring once you see it.

The ad industry can't destroy itself soon enough.

I'm dreading the day Amazon puts ads in e-books.

Re: I now assume that all ads on Apple news are scams

#493

Post by akdev1l »

diegof79 wrote: post #227
esskay wrote: post #141

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Arcade is comically poor value. I can't tell if Apple doesn't care, or they're just so deluded due to their insular nature and crap attitude towards gaming that they genuinely think its a good service to offer mediocre mobile games for a premium.

I agree that Arcade is poor. However, I’ve been subscribed to it since its inception because it is the best way to have games that my kid can play without shady ads or engagement practices. I know that is not going to last, as my kid is now a pre-teen and likes other types of games (like Hollow Knight) that are not available on Apple Arcade. But the current state of the gaming industry is terrible, especially on mobi…

I like Apple Arcade because it has non-shittified versions of classic games

Like Angry Birds, the official version is fucked up to the gills with ads

Re: I now assume that all ads on Apple news are scams

#494

Post by SkipperCat »

chaostheory wrote: post #451
ksec wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ever since Apple moved to Services Strategy in 2014 it has been like this. Services were not there so they could provide a better experience for its " customers ". I use the word " customer " here which is what Apple / Steve Jobs used to call their loyal fans, and not user . But to further growth their Revenue pie because they foresee iPhone one day will stagnant. You now have Apple Fitness+, Apple TV, News, Music, A…

Fitness, Music, Apple TV, Arcade, and even News are all fine at their price point. Apple News is the most affordable way to access paywalled mainstream news TV has decent shows Games has decent games without IAP Music is decent without ads Fitness has gotten me in shape at a fraction of the cost of Les Mills or Beach Body

Agreed. I used to subscribe to the WSJ and WashPo and I cancelled both because I get both in Apple News. Plus I get the Atlantic, New Yorker, Wired and so many other magazines.

The user interface sucks. Sometimes I go to the actual websites to find articles and then search for them on Apple News. But for $13 USD a month, its a huge bargain and worth the crappy interface.

Another thing that kinda helped me was that Apple News doesn't give you access to the comments sections in these publications. Reading comments in the WSJ was just a huge rage-bait time suck and my life is probably better off not seeing that stuff.

Re: I now assume that all ads on Apple news are scams

#495

Post by SkipperCat »

projektfu wrote: post #490
speak_plainly wrote: post #54

Apple News and News+ represent everything wrong with modern Apple: a ham-fisted approach to simplicity that ignores the end user. It is their most mediocre service, jarringly jamming cheap clickbait next to serious journalism in a layout that makes no sense. The technical execution is just as lazy. While some magazines are tailored, many are just flat, low-res PDFs that look terrible on the high-end Retina screens Ap…

Does Apple News still share Apple News links to articles instead of the canonical link? When I had an iPhone, I uninstalled/disabled Apple News because I don't like distractions but when people shared with me an Apple News link I couldn't open it, because it would go to the app store instead of a redirect for the article. Ironically, on Android, that wasn't a problem. I'd get the article.

When I click on links in Apple News, it stays in the Apple News app. That's the same on my phone, iPad and MacBook.

Re: I now assume that all ads on Apple news are scams

#496

Post by AlienRobot »

recursive wrote: post #428
AlienRobot wrote: post #366

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But by what metrics?

Metric implies there is some way to objectively measure it. I'm not sure if that's true. But almost everyone thinks the same as you do, and yet ads are huge business. How are you affected? I don't know, but my first guess is brand perception, regardless of your self-diagnosis. If a company is advertising a certain time-limited sale, some of their value will come from conversions taking that offer. But some, maybe mos…

Does the average person really think the same way I do? I'd assume the average person does click on an ad for something they want sometimes, and they do convert. They do things that are measurable, so they have ad profiles that show the sort of ads that are effective on them.

I'm not saying that I'm immune to ads. What I'm saying is that my "ad profile" probably only says what sort of content I consume, if anything at all. Ironically, since I barely consume gaming-related content these days, I assume there is no way for ad companies to figure out that's the one thing I would actually buy from an ad.

Instead they show me ads for things I would never spend a cent on, like Decentraland, just because I've watched some tech videos.

Re: I now assume that all ads on Apple news are scams

#497

Post by lossyalgo »

giraffe_lady wrote: post #334
pjc50 wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The only way out of this is to make ad platforms liable for scam ads. At the moment it's simply too profitable to print lies.

No there is another way. We can ban advertising completely.

How else do you make your product known? In many markets, there are just too many competitors, and so the only way to make any money at all is to advertise. I also hate ads, but I also think there is a better way, and better regulation would go a long way to making ads more bearable.

Re: I now assume that all ads on Apple news are scams

#499

Post by kasperset »

browningstreet wrote: post #309
ksec wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ever since Apple moved to Services Strategy in 2014 it has been like this. Services were not there so they could provide a better experience for its " customers ". I use the word " customer " here which is what Apple / Steve Jobs used to call their loyal fans, and not user . But to further growth their Revenue pie because they foresee iPhone one day will stagnant. You now have Apple Fitness+, Apple TV, News, Music, A…

Against Youtube Music and Spotify, Apple Music rates quite well, at least IMO.

Apple Music is ok but it is not as good on MacOS as it is on iOS. It will skip some songs sometimes and the ui is not very consistent for the player bar.

Re: I now assume that all ads on Apple news are scams

#500

Post by lossyalgo »

flkiwi wrote: post #335
qwerpy wrote: post #288

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apple stocks app has a similar obnoxious pattern. It’s a genius UX. Why is this stock up/down today? Conveniently a bunch of articles are displayed that explain it. But there’s no way to block news sources that are paywalled. But there was a workaround in which you could individually block each news source. But then Apple gave themselves a way out. If “Apple editors” choose to highlight an article then you’ll be forc…

I actually tried Ground News for a while because, you know, why not? I appreciate what they're trying to do, but the signal to noise ratio was so, so unfavorable between the UI clutter, the curious lack of certain categories, and the oddly slow update rate.

I also tried Ground News multiple times now, because I think it's a great idea but as you said, the UX is just so atrocious and completely unusable. I'm completely overwhelmed whenever I visit that the only choice I have is to close the tab and go read news somewhere else.
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