Amazon Drops Product Display Ads, Launches Lockscreen Ads for Authors
Over the past few months I have been hearing rumors of Amazon changing its ad program while at the same time I’ve been seeing indie titles...Continue reading
Category: Advertising
Salon.com No Longer Lets You Read Stories for Free – Wants to Use Ad-Blocking Readers’ CPUs to Mine Bitcoin
In what is almost an ironic twist on the material cost of online advertising, Salon now wants readers who run security extensions, err, block ads, to...Continue reading
Why Blocking Ads is About Security, and Always Has Been
I have long held the view that blocking ads in a web browser is a basic and standard part of web security. You should be blocking...Continue reading
Chrome Will Start Blocking Ads on Noncompliant Sites on 15 February
Back in April Google announced its plans to add an ad-blocking component to Chrome, and now they’ve set a release date. It turns out that this...Continue reading
AdBlock Plus Relaunches Flattr Micro-Payment Service
AdBlock Plus parent Eyeo has relaunched Flattr six months after acquiring the company. Flattr was previously known for enabling users to make one-time payments to reward...Continue reading
Inara to Launch Ad-Funded eBook Service in September
In February 2016 I broke the news on Eleven, an ebook service from Breakaway Media that wanted to let users read for free in exchange for being...Continue reading
Google Contributor 2.0 is DOA
If you didn’t notice that a month ago Google launched its second go at developing an alternative funding model for websites, don’t be too surprised. I...Continue reading
F*** Mobile Usability – Google Now Allows 300×250 Adverts Above the Fold on Mobile Sites
Google is a schizoid company. On the one side, we have engineers inventing tech like AMP, a search engine, and self-driving cars and generally making the...Continue reading
Lessons Learned from “Google Eating a Business Whole”
The Outline published a story last week on CelebrityNetWorth.com and what happened after Google appropriated the site’s work for Google’s search results. That is the focus...Continue reading
Google is Making an Ad-Blocker for Chrome, But You Will Never Be Able to Fully Trust It
The WSJ has reported unconfirmed but reasonable sounding claims that Google is working on an ad blocker for Chrome: Google is planning to introduce an ad-blocking...Continue reading
Google Contributor Isn’t Dead, it’s Just Pining for the Fjords
About a week ago Android Police reported that Google Contributor, the service where users can sell adverts to themselves, had shut down. According to a statement from...Continue reading
Disqus Now Requires Either Ads or Paid Subscription for its Commenting Platform
When it comes to managing comments on a website, the free options include WordPress (and other native comment systems), Facebook comments, and Livefyre (now owned by Adobe). You...Continue reading
Why Did Chrome Delete AdBlock Plus During Its Latest Update?
Thanks to problems like malvertising and performance-crippling video adverts, security extensions like Adblock Plus are now a basic tool for anyone who goes online. These extensions...Continue reading
Author Tool: Amazon Associates Link Builder Plugin
Between building websites for authors and running a new blog I try to stay on top of useful WP plugins. Here’s one which hasn’t gotten a lot of attention yet....Continue reading
Google Contributor Stops Accepting New Signups, Will Relaunch Next Year
Google Contributor, a program which turned a website’s visitors into its advertisers, is no longer open to new participants. The program’s status changed with little fanfare...Continue reading