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Google is Exploring an Alternative to Cookies for Ad Tracking

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Re: Google is Exploring an Alternative to Cookies for Ad Tracking

#81
post #3

I've used chrome because it was faster than Firefox ( and didn't crash so often ). I've switched to Firefox a few weeks ago and couldn't be happier. It seems that all the stability issues were resolved. I urge everyone to do the same.

The worst part of Google software is the included always running updater program which in addition to using unnecessary resources, probably does other unknown tasks (spyware related).

Re: Google is Exploring an Alternative to Cookies for Ad Tracking

#82

Wow. "Don't be evil" is really dead and buried isn't it?

Duh, it stopped when organic growth stopped. But we were stupid to have believed it in the first place. Now they are desperate: ads everywhere, penalties everywhere (makes you advertise to replace lost traffic) and so on. They still make north of 95% of their income on ads with all their supposed innovation. I don't trust them at all. On anything. I wonder what Google Search "Quality" has in store for 2013th fourth q…

I don't believe most of these claims, but I am linking to this:

http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=3891677&cid=44076497

An important information from the "confidential" studies here for example would be what kind of monitors were tested.

Re: Google is Exploring an Alternative to Cookies for Ad Tracking

#83
post #80
post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

fwiw the address bar does most of what Chrome's omnibar does, out of the box. It's just a bit hidden because they include the search field by default.

Except that it won't search for things that look roughly like an URL or a hostname.

Not sure what you mean. If I type "youtube" it starts autocompleting as "youtube.com", but the search results below the bar include youtube.com videos, a random news article with 'youtube' near the end of the URL, etc. If you want to search google or whatever from there just hit spacebar or backspace to reduce it to a bare word, and hit enter.

Tbh I prefer this over what Chrome tends to do to me. In Chrome, if I type "youtube" and hit enter it searches for youtube, despite having many such URLs in my history, including youtube.com. Firefox will just take me to youtube.com immediately.

Re: Google is Exploring an Alternative to Cookies for Ad Tracking

#84
You can do a hack with ETags - that was the first thing I came up with after 30 seconds of brainstorming how you would do it, and it looks like sites are already using them for that purpose. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HTTP_ETag#Tracking_using_ETags

Re: Google is Exploring an Alternative to Cookies for Ad Tracking

#85
post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm currently using Nightly UX. I've been using it for quite awhile and I haven't had any problems with it. That being said, you should keep in mind that this is a pre-alpha release and it wouldn't be surprising to run into some problems. If your browsing experience heavily depends on extensions, I'd recommend you not to use Nightly, though. I only use NoScript and AdBlock Edge as my extensions, but if you install 10…

I've used Firefox all my life because of Firebug. Then after a while it just got so slow that it was unusable and the experience became terrible. And then I switched to Chrome. I'm not fond of their developer tools as much. Not as good as Firebug. I guess I'll give FF another shot.

I switched for the same reasons but kept FF around mainly for Firebug. After using and getting use to Chrome Dev Tools, it is actually no different and in some cases better. I don't do as much front-end dev as I used to though... But I do remember reading that the FF team worked with developers of popular plugins like Firebug to help make those plugins run better, use less memory and cause less memory leaks. You may find those plugins a lot better now.

Re: Google is Exploring an Alternative to Cookies for Ad Tracking

#86
post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I trust Mozilla more than I trust Google. No company working with the NSA can ever be trusted. That only leaves Mozilla. Plus, are there any other companies that are not-for-profit, like Mozilla? Because this point gives them a huge credit.

What makes you think that Mozilla are obliged to cooperate with the NSA any less than Google are?

For the most part, Mozilla concentrates on releasing software rather than storing copious amounts of data about users. (Perhaps their "startup" Persona service is an exception to this, but I doubt it.) NSA is more likely to target all that juicy user data that Google has. They might also seek to undermine the security of software, but Mozilla aren't going to make that easy for them.

Re: Google is Exploring an Alternative to Cookies for Ad Tracking

#88
Well, what could they do? Google is not making enough money :P

I think in 10 years we'll all be buying ad-supported Google PCs for free and they'll have a little window that you cant get rid of - that will show you ads. And probably have eye tracking that will blank the monitor every hour if you dont look at the ad.

Chrome has already turned into a keylogger than can also browse the internet. I remember watching a really old screensavers episode with Patrick Norton discussing how cookies were evil and how websites voilated user privacy by saving their IP addresses !. Hell.. Netscape was sued 13 years ago just because they captured what links you clicked.

http://www.wired.com/politics/law/news/2000/07/37435

Re: Google is Exploring an Alternative to Cookies for Ad Tracking

#89
post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Those are features that don't focus on the UX or the design. I think that build is labeled Aurora Nope, Aurora is something else. It's the build after Nightly. Nightly includes pre-alpha releases, Aurora includes alpha releases. You are however correct that Nightly and Nightly UX are not the same thing. Although if I'm not mistaken the only difference between two of them is that Nightly UX also gets pre-alpha UI cha…

Which one would you recommend I get? Am currently using Chrome and wouldn't mind switching to FF.

Which Chrome release channel do you currently use: Canary, Dev, Beta, or Release? I haved used Firefox Nightly as my primary browser for almost two years and have only hit a few major problems. Aurora is a nice balance between stability and new features and optimizations.

Re: Google is Exploring an Alternative to Cookies for Ad Tracking

#90
post #88

Well, what could they do? Google is not making enough money :P I think in 10 years we'll all be buying ad-supported Google PCs for free and they'll have a little window that you cant get rid of - that will show you ads. And probably have eye tracking that will blank the monitor every hour if you dont look at the ad. Chrome has already turned into a keylogger than can also browse the internet. I remember watching a re…

A computer in 10 years, by Google, that can black out your screen. Google Glass?
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