Stream of Reading (Prepare to be Forwarded) – An Archive of What I'm Reading
In case the hysteria over ad-blocking software wasn’t already at a fever pitch, Apple’s new iOS version is now in the wild—complete with built-in support for ad blocking—and several ad blockers are topping the most-installed list. Is this an apocalypse for publishers, especially small ones? And if it is, does installing and using an ad…
In a 1997 segment on the short-lived tech TV show The Site, host Soledad O’Brien sits at a bar in front of a laptop computer, talking to Dev Null, a full-scale human avatar with frosted fuchsia tips and a soul patch. Motion-captured from the show’s second host backstage, he swivels from side to side, arms…
Over the last few weeks and months there has been increasing alarm that today, September 16, is a critical one for publishers — and by critical, I mean the diagnosis that most publishers will soon be in critical condition. After all, today Apple releases iOS 9 with support for “content blocking extensions” which will effectively…
For three weeks, an online criminal gang used popular sites such as eBay, the Drudge Report and Answers.com to try to infect millions of internet users in one of the longest malvertising campaigns ever seen, according to a security firm. Using booby-trapped ads, commonly known as “malvertising,” is quickly becoming the most common way for…
While publishers scramble to figure out what ad blocking is going to do their businesses, those creating and buying the ads — brands and agencies — couldn’t care less. RAPP USA chief creative officer Frank Iqbal said that while privacy is something that many in the agency are always discussing, he has never heard clients…
\When media orgs hurt the people who need them most News that the Washington Post is going to war with ad blocking software — with tactics reminiscent of the bad old days of nagware — has stirred debate, for lots of good reasons. Friendly to rather aggressive popups are nothing new on the web, but the Post’s application feels…
If you want to read The Washington Post’s coverage of the newly discovered human species Homo naledi this morning but you’re using ad blocking software, you’re out of luck: The paper is experimenting with blocking access to readers who give ads the stiff-arm. One message that greeted WashingtonPost.com visitors with ad blocking software engaged. “We’re…
Google and Twitter are working together to help publishers show “instant articles” to people who use their services on mobile phones. The plan, which is supposed to launch with a small group of publishers this fall, is an effort to make it easier for publishers to distribute their stuff on mobile devices. It is also a response to similar…
Legend is a movie about a pair of notorious London gangsters, twins Ronnie and Reggie Kray. It stars Tom Hardy, who fills the shoes of both brothers, but, according to The Guardian, the film is “a disappointingly shallow take on a fascinating period of time and leaves us sorely uninformed, as if we’ve skim-read a pamphlet.”…
Reports on the IAB’s (Interactive Ad Bureau) early responses (who can we sue?) to their adblocking crisis were quickly and easily critiqued (clean up your adtech?) by the companion industry association that represents the makers of content, DCN (Digital Content Next). We have reached a point of inflection, a tipping point, a watershed moment and…