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Not Enough Ads? Install Adbar.
An anonymous reader writes "Jesse Ruderman brings the worst feature of Opera, Advertisements, to Firefox with his extension Adbar. According to the page, 'adbar displays Google ads related to pages you view. Because the ads are relevant, they are occasionally useful. When adbar isn't displaying ads from Google, it displays Firefox-related things such as silly Firefox slogans, ads for other Mozilla software, and requests for donations to the Mozilla Foundation.'"
I'm speechless. This is a dumb idea and it made the front page. Not suprised that slashdot has gone down hill in recent years.
And when I'm done, I need to start installing my virus collection.
====
Crudely Drawn Games
or so shouts Admiral Adbar.
-Rylfaeth
but I've been using gmail for a number of months now, and I'm finding their targeted advertising more and more helpful.
I guess I've officially lost at the internet.
Who gets the Google-bucks from the Google Ads?? Dang, now I wish I wrote that adbar thingy...
I was worried I wasn't getting enough google ads reading slashdot every 30 minutes. no, but really, thats how sad I am.. I'm on a 30 minute refresh cycle..
ok.. so heads you lose tails I win. right?
Gosh, I can't wait to download this!
When I'm buying a car or appliance, I like seeing ads - I go through all the catalogs and magazines looking for them.
Although, I wouldnt it it as a sidebar on all the time, and I cant imagine internet ads being usefully targetted.
You can't expect to wield supreme executive power, just because some watery tart threw a sword at you
Google is very strict about where they allow their ads to be shown. For example, Google will not feed ads to sites that express extreme political views, or deal with taboo topics such as internet gambling.
So, I'm wondering if they approved this project. If they haven't, then Google will be pulling the plug very shortly...
Internet Explorer?
The FAQ says it works in AdSense test mode, so Google doesn't pay anyone or charge anyone. It's probably possible to hack it and distribute it as a "customized" version for your users, though.
Google doesn't index user sigs, so stop trying to "Google Bomb" with them.
It's ads are actually GOOD - I've learned to pay attention to them when on Google. I might get this adbar...
Mumia Abu-Jamal is *laughably guilty*. Check the evidence.
Sorry, I prefer to keep my [very limited] desktop space.
Thanks anyway!
-Bullseye
Yay Ads! I was feeling guilty about reading pages without watching ads... I was feeling guilty because seeing content without Ads is like stealing from the content makers. You saved my soul.
I find it funny that thats all I got when I first clicked on the article. Atleast this is an optional plugin, but it'd be funny if you ran it alongside Adblock.
I've discovered a remarkable proof, but this margin is too small to contain it...
Out of the FAQ...
"Who gets money?
adbar uses the "test" adsense mode, so advertisers don't pay Google and Google doesn't pay anyone"
Somehow, I sense that Google's going to be pulling thier new test-viewer feature offline for more security to be added tomorrow.
I wonder what makes the author thinks people will actually use it....
Heck, getting people to install it themselves makes it seem more worthwhile - almost something you should be paying for. Like getting "The Shopping Channel" on your extended cable package.
From the site: "Can I register and get rid of the ads? Of course! Paypal $19 (51% cheaper than Opera!) to me or the Mozilla Foundation, then use Firefox's Extension Manager to uninstall adbar." What a waste of a parannoid attack I had there. Thanks slashdot.
meep
if this gets included and enabled as default with future versions of Firefox/Mozilla.
http://chrono.posterous.com/
I'm going to take a funny stance on this subject. Normally I would be annoyed by this sort of thing, but something occured to me when I read this /. article. Because Adbar is *not* spyware, I'm going to install it. I think people should support advertizing projects that take the high moral road. I'm going to reward these guys for staying legit and we'll see how it turns out. I wouldn't mind Google ads on pages I'm surfing, because there might be cool products or services I can buy related to the stuff I'm looking at. And, no, I'm not affiliated with this project in any way, shape or form, so don't ask! :-)
The dangers of knowledge trigger emotional distress in human beings.
What is the point of posting this story? Is it some kind of clever backhand insult to Opera?
I use Opera all the time: number of times I have even noticed the ads consciously... um, never. Or let's say, just about the same number of times I notice them on SlashDot!
Don't install it next to Adblock! The meeting of these two opposing super-extensions will create an implosion that shall engulf the entire universe.
Here are some tips on how to make Opera 'look like a browser again'. (btw, ironically, this page has google ads)
Install AdBar and Adblock and let 'em fight it out...
Consultancy: If you're not part of the solution, there's money to be made in prolonging the problem
hey thanks for the spyware kit, i can now hack it about and re-release it for those suckers who have mozilla's activeX clone installXp feature enabled (by default)
spyware doesnt just have to be for win32 now, hooray !
good to see mozilla is emulating all the features from MSIE, we wouldnt want anyone to miss out
Two weeks ago Blake Ross tried to get slashdot to put up info on Mozilla's week 4 marketing program. It's good to see something so stupid making the front page, but something important (requiring much community support) does not.
Here's a big FUCK YOU slashdot!
Some guy decided to write an extension. It's interesting research -- can ads be made useful enough that people will actively seek them out? It isn't included with Firefox, and it isn't taking up a single byte of your download space. I think that denigrating the guy is going a little bit over the top. He could just as easily say "I'd like to see AssProphet writing some useful open source instead of wasting his time insulting me."
May we never see th
The space unintentionally left unblank.
You don't understand, if a programmer is bored, he almost has to do something completely useless.
Who will win, in a fight to the death vs. Adblock
JAY
OH
KAY
EEE
It is missing critical features like popup windows that pop-up even though you have pop-up blocking turned on. and it needs to hijack ad's on websites.
Come on, how are we ever going to catch up to the wonderful bar set by gator and claria????
Here on Earth, we call this a "joke".
- These are not the ads you're looking for.
- You can go about your business.
- Move along.
I'd rather be a conservative nutjob than a liberal with no nuts and no job.
Some TV ads are so funny, you look forward to watching them (until you get sick of them.....WISE.....ER......BUD).
I accept the usefulness and necessity of ads for providing "free" access to some information that would not otherwise be free of direct cost (or even possible) otherwise. This may sound surprising to anyone who has read the About page on my web site, where I diss advertising executives. But that's different. I run a hobby site, just for fun, designed to make people laugh and then go about their lives. I pay for this myself and I don't believe advertising belongs on such Web sites, sites the Web was created for (person-to-person communication, not selling wares). But I don't hate advertising as a whole. I just want to see it kept in its proper place.
And if you can make the ads relevant, interesting, useful, and even fun, it helps a LOT.
Someone please tell me why I would ever even think about installing this thing
A far more useful extension is this one
http://adblock.mozdev.org/
Just kidding.
/.
First, thanks Mike.
A little extreme on the politics, but the hosts file works fairly well. Should change the 127.0.0.1 to 0.0.0.0 instead, or so I've been told right here on
Also, Mike could use a little primer on copyright. Statement may be ok for commercial distribution, but doesn't work for private individuals.
Two problems not covered by the hosts file, at least on windows. The above file works great on Linux clients, but for Windows, using Mozilla, I still have to "block images from this server", even though the url is covered in the hosts file. Apparently, Mozilla keeps its own list. I've got quite a few urls blocked with Mozilla, but when other users are logged on and using Mozilla, they have to block the same urls I already blocked when I was logged on with my own user account.
Any way of sharing the url block list in Mozilla from one user so that all the other users benefit, instead of having to block the hundreds of urls I already did?
Also, I just ran into this problem yesterday: Some ad server urls are using ip addresses, instead of domain names. So the hosts file isn't checked, as their is no ip address translation going on. Any way of blocking ad servers by ip without resorting to using a firewall on individual clients? I can't block at the perimeter, as the perimeter is a nat device, not a computer.
Also, some sites use a redirect from their own site url for the images, or use a subdirectory within their own url for image serving. Any way of blocking, for example, a single subdirectory of images for a specific site (ie: http://nytimes.com/ads/intrusive.jpg, blocking http://nytimes.com/ads/ without blocking content from http://nytimes)?
And the redirects from above? Can't remember a specific example, but I'm sure some of you using an ad blocking hosts file have run into, and remember what I'm talking about. It's not a big deal since most sites work with the hosts file, and I don't burn too much bandwidth downloading the ads, but I ran into a few sites last week that were really unusable because of the ad layout and sheer size of the downloads required to view the ads, and this is a killer for speed, usability, and cost when using dial up (no free minutes beyond the first minute at one location, paying for every minute I'm online).
I, and my wallet, thank you in advance.
.. whether or not Mozilla (most likely pressured by AOL) starts to bundle this extension with their browser distro. Of couse, the likelihood of this happening is so small, simply because it would most likely alienate about 98% of their current market. Aside from that, an extension that displays advertisements in a browser? Sounds like a horrible idea. Shame on the developer.
Tab Browser Extension has an undo close tab feature, too. If Firefox doesn't have something you want, there is probably an optional extension.
So based on the assumptions about slashdot users, you will get even MORE ads about "enlarging your member" based on surfing habits.
Opera has been doing this for a while now. I have no idea why this article is about Mozilla. Adsense is built into the free version of Opera.
Everybody hates ads, but at the same time everybody loves Mozilla. Ads don't equate evil. Non-profit organizations need money to operate too. So how can you help support the foundation? Well of course, you could always donate, but honestly what percentage of users do you think have donated? Personally, I would install a text-style advertisement extension, if proceeds went to help support future development of great software by the Mozilla Foundation. As long as it remains optional (and not installed by default, aka Opt-In), what's the harm in something like this? How many Slashdot readers would install this adbar if it meant hiring more full time developers?
If the Mozilla foundation (or EFF) got the money, I'd install it in a second.
The google ads while doing a google search are often very useful.
I normally avoid software/shareware with built in advertisements, and prefferabling useing open source software where possible (Mozilla, OpenOffice, FileZilla, VNC, Media Player Classic, etc).
However, being able to CHOOSE to see ads supporting one of my favourite foundations is a GOOD(TM) thing.
"It's the smell! If there is such a thing." Agent Smith - The Matrix
Take the Superbowl, to use television as an example. People tune in to that event even if they're not football fans just to see the ads. Millions were spent on those thirty second spots, and in a situation like that, millions more get spent on ad agencies to come up with entertaining ads.
As more people learn how to "block" ads on different mediums one way or another, the greater the demand will become to write and produce advertisements entertaining enough that people will want to see them in addition to companies creating several different ads at a time so viewers do not get hit with so much repitition. This Firefox plugin illustrates my points by allowing proud consumers to be informed about what they could spend their money on by filtering out ads that will most likely be of no interest to that Firefox user. This way, if Firefox somehow figures out that you already have a big penis by analyzing your slashdot posts, then you won't be seeing that type of spam. Instead you'll be advised of products that your computer deems worthy for that purpose by judging its relevance to your MO (deduced by Firefox from your web behavior).
If ads could be both very entertaining and minimally invasive, in addition to pushing products/services you'd most likely want to buy in a spontaneous situation, why wouldn't you install this? Not all of us are broke, and most of us want more stuff.
I just invented a reverse TiVo. It extracts all the commercials from a given time slot for viewing at a later date! One at a time folks!
Yep, sure is another sign of the apocalypse.
But the eyecandy graphics just sounds like a complete waste. WTF does this do for anybody?
Engineering is the art of compromise.
Can you post it on /. ?
irc.enterthegame.com #linux
It is obvious, this guy is *evil*! Think I'm overreacting?? Just check out the url in the last screenshot.
See? Evil.
It advertises for mozilla (in mozilla). It advertises things I'm already looking at. Does it advertise itself? I've been searching for this exact set of features! It's like the second coming!
I know more than you drink.
Masochware: Software that hurts so good.
Instead of ads that try to target you all the time, instead the ads should be coralled into a place where they stay until you want to look at them. For example, if I wanted to buy a new fridge then I could go to the ads and look through as many as I want, but the rest of the time they stay suppressed (an ad aggregator of sorts that's not in your face all the time). Ads are useful under certain circumstances. It's my opinion that the current ad process in the browwer doesn't work anymore because people are too accustomed to it. Of course it doesn't work for me (and many of you at all) because of Firefox/Adblock, etc.
Isn't that the same guy who runs Pornzilla?
Ads cost money. Whenever I see an ad for a product or service I automatically think that there must be a competing product that's cheaper. If there's no competitor then why advertise?
I might actually install that if they made so that income generated from selling the ad space went to the mozilla foundation. I'd get to be cheap and financially help out mozilla.
Mathematics is made of 50 percent formulas, 50 percent proofs, and 50 percent imagination.
maybe thats what he wanted
to advertise bush/cheney
Unless I'm horrendously mistaken, XPI files are in plain text, and are script files. So while there may be a way to sort of hide it (javascript's encode() comes to mind), but it would be easily defeated.
So, really, what's stopping someone from creating one of these that sits in the background (no adbar) and generates clicks automagically? That would be a whole lot of free money to the person who convinced people to install that extension.
The previous sig has been removed due to
What a great segment to have by the short hairs: people stupid enough to download and install this. Require them to enter valid credit card numbers which charge them for the products advertised unless they "opt out" and you have the pinnacle of marketing genius.
This is the most retarded thinking ever. This is like saying, I'll support the clips they play in the beginning of movies because they are taking the moral high road. What?
You pay to go see a movie, not to go see a 15 to 30 minutes of ads. It doesn't offset the cost of the movie. The samething for everything else. Advertising, unless it's specific product placement on high traffic sites is useless. Voluntarily subjecting yourself to a barrage of ads is like giving your address to a "direct marketing" unit. Ad's make sense in TV in sports arenas, newspapers, slashdot, google. They simply don't make sense on my desktop, that I pay for, that I pay bandwidth for, that I foot the bill for.
Of course if you're comfortable with the fact that you are footing someone elses bill while having to pay for your own; at detriment to yourself. Then more power to you.
Unlike you, no one is thinking about morals and high roads in the ad industry. This is just another way they can stick a piece of paper, image, video, link in your face. It's business.
In addition, we get to see a Bush-Cheney ad in his home page.
With the new "feature", and the ad above, we can safely conclude that this Jesse guy is clearly a Republican, right?
Can't say I've noticed...
GENERAL PUBLIC SIGNATURE (GPS) Any replies (derivatives) of this post must also use the GPS
When I had a TV, I spent at least a session of twenty minutes in front of TV Shop a week - I never bought anything, but it'd get my dose of ads straight, plus offers don't come greater than on TV Shop (Wait, are we counting the Internet? Don't forget that the Internet sucks.)
Take off every 'ZIG' !!
Not enough porn? Install pornbar!
Kinda like setting up an Amazon affiliate link on your own page to get a 15% discount on books?
Should get the same thing we wanted to do the clown that invented the pop-up.
He should be tied to a tree and fed ex-lax for a week!
Professional Politicians are not the solution, they ARE the problem.
BAH! I can't middle-click or control-click on it to open the ads in a new tab. What good is that?!? :)
The World Wide Web is dying. Soon, we shall have only the Internet.
Luxuriousity software, makers of LuxuriousityPhoto and LuxuriousityOffice, have already begun work on a new web browser based on FireFox with Adbar. It will be called LuxuriousityInternetBrowser, and it will be free for download.
it would be great if a "sensing" ad technology could also determine that i have no fucken disposable income, and just go dark to save us both the hassle.
pr0n - keeping monitor glass spotless since 1981.
> you're just another schmuck who hasn't read the damn article
I did RTFA, and I posted my response to it. The fact they are doing the test thing doesn't bother me. Google will likely make them change servers, so it's kind of a non-issue to me. Their product will move to whatever mechanism works. The fact they say you have to pay to be removed is likely a joke, but even if it isn't, I would rather know that kind of stuff *up front* rather than find out after I've installed something that it won't come off (like Gator). And it's the fact they have designed this project knowing full well that many people won't use it because it's ads, but yet they still branched the advertising medium into something else -- something moral -- I just feel like they deserve to get as many people supporting them as they can. Really, wouldn't you like to see the Internet advertising medium shift gears into something that doesn't hijack your computer? I certainly would.
The dangers of knowledge trigger emotional distress in human beings.
Do not try to block the ads. That's impossible. Instead only try to realize the truth. There are no ads. Then you'll see that it is not the ads you block, it is only yourself.
Let's not forget that one can hate his government, but love his country.
The concept is obviously a joke but I can see something like this being a good idea.
People mainly object to ads because of the format in which they're delivered: popups, Flash, spam, etc. People don't have a problem with advertisement-sponsored content itself (well, some do, but fuck 'em).
Well, if we accept that we "pay" for content by exposing our eyeballs to advertisement, wouldn't it be useful to control the way in which we are subjected to adverts? For example, a site could provide meta-data, so to speak, about an ad, and the client will determine how to present it, based on use preference (ie, do you want the ad embedded in the page, or as a popup, or in its own frame, or whatever)
This would be a pretty good concept because it means that advertisement would be delivered to you in a way which you mind the least (or perhaps is the most useful to you)
Just thinking.
Ecce Europa - Web Design for Business
I've recently started to use Adblock with Firefox. Now, not only are all my pop-ups blocked, but I never saw an ad. It seriously took me a week to adjust to actually reading the information in front of me. Before, I'd automatically scan past most pictures and words before reading anything.
Honest to God, it freaked me out. I even mentioned how weird it was to other people. Of course they gave me a weird look by saying all of this, but nevertheless it's true.
as in the Superman movie of 25 (?) years ago, every cigarette pack or banner just happened to say Marlboro. It's happening much more nowadays due to Tivo, by which people skip over commercials, in shows such as American Idol where the contestants are shown in (show sponsor) Ford vehicles.
So it will be impossible to tell where the "entertainment product" ends and the advertisement begins. But there's always been a little of that all along.
Tag lost or not installed.
Yes they are, but sometimes they can provide enough good that they overcome their inherently evil nature (kinda like Angel) -- as long as you don't climb bed with them, then all bets are off.
Free Software: Like love, it grows best when given away.
Now if I could just get more spam too! Perhaps a new plugin in Evolution 2.0 will provide that! Next I'll start using more !s too!
PCB#@~
free ipod and free gmail!
I always hate to see people actually go for something like this. Advertising is the one industry which provides nothing of value to society. The only ones who gain from advertising are medium to large businesses, as they are the only ones with the investment capital to saturate the market.
That said, if these people can get anyone to fall for this, more power to them. That's capitalism. At least they are up front about it, and not sneaky and underhanded like Gator & the like.
-Amalcon
That and people are stupid enough to actually pay him.
Your hair look like poop, Bob! - Wanker.
This must be the long awaited Mozilla Internet Exploder Compatibility Suite (MIECS).
:-)
Be careful, M$ may want to sue you over patent technology of some such thing, that is if Darl wont get you first.
You want a signature? You can't handle a signature!!
While you are at it, could anyone give me a linux binary for Bonzi Buddy?
* sob * I do feel lonely
"adbar uses the "test" adsense mode, so advertisers don't pay Google and Google doesn't pay anyone."
Finally...Opera-users have no excuse!
http://archonon.sytes.net/
and block all traffic from *.google.com/* !
This Sig is removed due to factual inaccuracy
Web browsing is different because the only thing you're paying for is your bandwidth. Even your browser is free, and it runs on a computer you're likely using for other stuff.
Somebody earlier made a much better comparison to leafing through a trade magazine, looking at ads that you want to know about, because those ads are for stuff you're interested in.
The main reason why I wouldn't use this isn't because I object to advertising, it's the wasted bandwidth and screen real estate that annoys me. Imagine buying a TV with an ad marquee along the bottom of the picture. UGH!
Advertising Mozilla != advertising advertising Mozilla.
Hey Todd!! Hey Todd!!!
Maybe I should download it and find out.
Forecast for tomorrow: A few sprinklings of genius with a chance of DOOM!
*crickets chirping*
Local test ads eh? You can block them with a hosts file.
add:
127.0.0.1 localhost
Oh wait...
And remember kids: Never trust a computer you can actually lift.
You pay to go see a movie, not to go see a 15 to 30 minutes of ads. It doesn't offset the cost of the movie.
I agree. I paid for the movie. Assuming the ads make the theater $1/ticket, I feel like I'm being paid $1 for watching 15 minutes of ads.
I'm ok with movie trailers, though. I don't know how to reconcile that with being against other ads before movies.
Ad's make sense in TV in sports arenas, newspapers, slashdot, google. They simply don't make sense on my desktop, that I pay for, that I pay bandwidth for, that I foot the bill for.
Developing software costs money too. You can choose not to use Opera or Adbar because you'd rather not see ads, but it does make sense for the free version of Opera to include ads if it makes them money.
Unlike you, no one is thinking about morals and high roads in the ad industry.
Google puts a lot of effort into making its ads unobtrusive and useful. Perhaps they do this because it will help them make more money in the long run rather than because they prefer not being evil, but does it really matter why they do it?
The shareholder is always right.
GHOST-BUSTERS!
now where's my giant twinkie?
Replying to myself...
Perhaps they do this because it will help them make more money in the long run rather than because they prefer not being evil, but does it really matter why they do it?
Never mind. Now I see that you were responding to "I think people should support advertizing projects that take the high moral road."
The shareholder is always right.
Not to inject some seriousness into this conversation, but why doesn't the Mozilla Foundation release something like this for real? They could set up an account with Google and then get paid for all those clicks on targeted ads. And I know what you're thinking, what kind of an idiot would voluntarily install such a monstrosity as an adbar. But c'mon. You know theres plenty of Google/Mozilla Fanboys out there that would be perfectly willing to whore a couple of pixels out to the Foundation!
It's a joke to advertise this as something "useful". If it was being advertised to help raise money for whatever, maybe I would buy into it... but frankly this is a joke. Unless it is a way to get around the adwords terms of service (you can't even imply that people should click to raise money for you) but still, it is quite a far shot to market this as being 'useful'.
someone out there has too much free time to waste... aaarrrrgggghhhh
Adbar: Aliens
Adblock: Predators
*SPOILER ALERT*
Adbar was created to lure in more victims to grow more preys for Adblock.
People support a site by letting a non intrusive ad load... Nevar!
Hmmm... I use Firefox. Amount of extra space I have by picking a kickass browser: tonnes.
09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 C0
I'm going to have to stop reading the comments on /. if every other post includes the sentence "I'd hit it.".
I rarely criticize things I don't care about.
http://googlefight.com/cgi-bin/compare.pl?q1=adbar &q2=adblock&B1=Make+a+fight!&compare=1&langue= us Google Fight
If you check the http://www.squarefree.com/extensions/adbar/ page you can pay $19.95 and get rid of the ads?
whats the point of an AdBar with no ads ????
-= Technomancer =-
I have hacked my DVD Player to play 5 minutes of advertisements after every 10 minutes of the movie. And my TIVO plays stored ads even when I watch the premium ad free channels.
Surely Yahoo targeted promotional e-mail, based on keywords in your inbox, can be useful sometimes. Also, I have been hearing about those beneficial worms patching windows holes. Perhaps a firewall plugin is in order.
A adbar killer A simple xpi that removes adbar.
Yes I am this nasty Yes it will happen.
Note just delete adbar.jar after installing by by adbar no way will people like me allow people to pay 19 dollars for spyware remove if I can stop it.
giving people the choice to add ads is pretty interesting... my first thought was "who would willingly expose themselves to extra advertising" but then i remembered some of the magazine junkies i know who buy the publication for the sole reason that they have a good advertiser list...
All the torrents you could want.
I am just waiting for an adbar that pops up links for goatse.cx and the like, so I don't need to log into slashdot anymore for online spam ;)
Saying your OS is the best because more people use it is like saying MacDonalds make the best food
If the author was really smart, he/she incorporated banners ads from a pay-per-click plan they signed up for before releasing the plugin
This story is very unfair to Opera. You get ads if you use the fully featured free version of Opera and it even gives you a choice between the types of adverts.
Not all software is free.
I wish I had the same for Mozilla Thunderbird, so I can get more spam...
If they ever come up with a device for my computer that shoves a hot poker in my ass every so often, I'll be in heaven!
Close...
--Dan
The post is quite trollish... I use opera all the time, and I chose not to pay and use google ads instead. They're not intrusive, and sometimes, they're even useful..
|/usr/games/fortune
you gotta love it when you see:
*
Luxuriousity Slim
Weight Loss Hypnosis Audio CD
more info
*
advertised next to:
*
Luxuriousity CAD
AutoCAD DXF Compatible
Computer Aided Design Software
(WINDOWS version)
(MAC version)
(CAM Expert Professional Version
*
they have their target audience covered all right!(fat nerds)
world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
This is just one more reason for advertisers to choose google.
Last month I used was in a internet Cafe in Dublin, that used CenturySurf Linux/firfox PCs. The only program they could was Firefox.
I can see someone installing 1000's of public PC's wanting to put ads on them.
who modded this as funny? he did buy the uid on ebay A very little amount of research will also reveal the uid of the user who bought it.
Many /.ers might find this part of the article more interesting:
Pornbar for Firefox
Inspired by the Bible Toolbar extension for Firefox, Billistic made Pornbar. Sadly, he based his extension on the Eurekster toolbar, not the Bible Toolbar.
Update August 15: Pornbar is now listed on the Pornzilla site.
Posted on August 01, 2004 at 02:54 PM in M
[ ] National Extra Corn Day
[ ] National Free-Range Love Day
[ ] Thanksgiving
When I am king, you will be first against the wall.
The real question here is weather this ad bar will give us better Pr0n links. If it doesn't then who needs it?
- I'm on a site that deserves a few more cents,
- the advert sells something that I oppose.
For example, if I'm on VersionTracker looking for Mac shareware, I'll click the ads for Windows crapware. If I'm on a Libertarian site, I'll click the ads for W Ketchup or stupid fake polls like peel.comand
AdWords as a force for social justice...
If you think about it, it's not wasted space at all. The point behind advertising is to increase brand awareness.
For men, the ONLY reference point we have for panty liners, tampons, etc IS advertising - women don't talk to us about that stuff much.
So, when we're asked to go buy some feminine hygene products (wife in hospital, etc), there's a high likelyhood that our choice of brand will be influenced by the advertising. That's a win for the ad companies.
Been there, done that.
And now, back to your scheduled insanity.
Opera never was just a browser in the first place. Even Opera 3 had a newsreader! This "Opera is becoming another Netscape" screaming has been going on since some time around version 5 when the program became ad sponsored instead of limited to 30 days. Suddenly, everyone had an opinion, and obviously the new people who didn't know anything about Opera kept yelling about how "Opera should go back to its roots as a browser only application".
But it's crap. Opera never was just a browser. Anyone who speaks fondly of "the good old days when Opera was just a fast browser" obviously haven't been using Opera for very long, and they are showing some incredible ignorance.
So this kind of whining is not new, far from it. But it doesn't get any more clever of you to wish yourself back to the days when "Opera was just a fast browser", because those days never existed!
Clever signature text goes here.
But it's got nothing to do with spyware. These ads don't "spy" on anyone. The user knows damn well that the URL needs to be reported back to Google for it to work. The user is told up front!
And that, my friend, is not spying. It is not spyware.
Clever signature text goes here.
Install Ackbar? It's a trap! Oops, wrong site...
Now I won't have to wait for the eMailman to make a delivery... I can get all those pesnis pills, hormones and loan approvals FAST! Whoo hoo! I might even get that college degree I always wanted...
The converse is: Why advertise when you've hit saturation?
Is there anyone out there who doesn't know of Coke? Does anyone buy on advertising anymore, or is it pretty much "I buy Coke because it's cheaper" or "I buy Coke because it tastes better"?
How much money does Coke spend on ads in a year?
How much money would go directly to their profits if they stopped advertising?
How much money would they lose in sales if they stopped advertising?
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Mod me down, you fucking twits. Go ahead. I dare you.
(I read with sigs off.)
...the adverts could be stored on servers that the advertisers could pay for... then we'd want a search mechanism to find the relevent ones... we could call it "The Internet"...
Justin.
You're only jealous cos the little penguins are talking to me.
Does no-one in this thread think it's a joke? It appears to be functional, but it is clearly humourous, satirical, ironic - that kind of thing. Hats off to them.
On the public channels like ZDF, ARD and so on, they have been interrupting programs for ads but not as often as the US. At one stage, they even used to put your VCR on pause whilst sending the Ads. The private broadcasting networks like RTL and Pro-7 are sending enough ads now to be obnoxious, again a lot less tha the US though. Unfortunately no TIVOs here.
See my journal, I write things there
It took me FOUR HOURS to fix the mess you made me cause. I was like, "Ok cool I don't gotta pay his money." Then I played around and it TOTALLY WORKED. I'm thinking, cool great I win. Then I went to find some pics of Bea Arthur in a g-string and I COULDN'T SEARCH. I was like, no worries cause I remember changing something, I'll just search and find out what I changed and I COULDN'T BASTARD. So I had to go to EVERY PAGE ON THE INTERNET to find this page again ( I had gone to it last so it was on the bottom of my list of all the pages on the internet) before I finally found it. Thanks alot, your childish games are better off somewhere else.
Never confuse volume with power.
When I read it, I threw up a little in my mouth. That's all we need, MORE ads. Can I get a bar that also gives me more spam and disables my popup blocker? Maybe I can buy all of them in a bundle for one low price.
When did my cousin become famous enough to be featured on Slashdot?
Hmm, I recall Douglas Adams describing video recorders as machines designed to watch all the television you don't have time to see, and monks as machines designed to believe in anything you don't have time to believe in.
/dev/null :-).
Does anyone have some "ad-glare" product that can check out all the adds for me so I don't have to worry about it? I have endless storage in my
If advertisers pay by the click it should be easy to ruin them just setting up ad-glare robots to check out every advertisement...
One could ask if it is posible to ruin those who pay for spam the same way?
I just used this awesome plugin to find a $50.00 software package that blocks ads from my computer!
>But it's crap. Opera never was just a browser. Anyone who speaks fondly of "the good old days when Opera was just a fast browser" obviously haven't been using Opera for very long, and they are showing some incredible ignorance.
I'm the linked blogger for the entry on Making Opera Look Like A Browser Again, and I've been with Opera since v3. In retrospect, my claim that Opera is "going the Netscape way" was incorrect, especially since much of the bloat about which I complained was in Selector Panels, not in the overall installer size. (Still 3.4MB!) My complaint had nothing to do with ads so much as with the crufty layout of the new interface. While other Opera users may like having IRC, "Notes," and syndication in their sidebar, I was putting forward a way to get all that out of the user's face and putting the browser back at full front and center.
But what you say is quite true, and maybe I should have phrased my blog entry differently. Opera was never just a plain-vanilla browser, but for the time I've used it, I've used it primarily for its browsing capabilities, and nothing else. That's what I love about Opera: the browser, so in my use of Opera, let nothing get in the browser's way.
http://www.squarefree.com/archives/000553.html#com ments
***parse error***
It's easy to get just the browser too. Just disable M2 from the "programs and paths" prefs.
Clever signature text goes here.
I am married, and thus don't have any money to be spending anyway.
I wish there was a way to rate these articles too...insightful, funny, troll etc.
This article's just funny !
I intentionally set up my Ebay acct with my old /. nick because I did not want to mask the fact that this happened and which nick I used before this transaction.
I feel like I got a good deal on it. I was prepared to go higher than that price.
I've always been a huge fan of Slasdot, and I started coming here when UIDs were about in the 4 digit range, but I never registered then and only posted AC. I bought this acct for my birthday, as the ultimate geek present to myself. My wife looked at me like I was nuts! (She still does)
This acct was originally a beta tester's acct, so I think it's just a cool thing to have and I would never sell it. I'm not sure why anyone would sell their low UID for beer money.
If you look back at my comments, you will see that I have made good use of this acct, and contribute positively to this community. At least a troll didn't get it, right?
The dangers of knowledge trigger emotional distress in human beings.
All your base are belong to us
-- Segmentation fault. Core dumped
My cpu cycles would be better spent running an RSS feed aggregator...
Lodragan Draoidh
The more you explain it, the more I don't understand it. - Mark Twain
How much would you pay for a two digit telephone number? No area code, no "dial 1"... just dial 5,6 and wait a second... {{RING}} {{RING}} "Hello?" "This is bgarcia (33222)" "Hmmm 32?" "No, 33222"
"Never heard of ya." {{CLICK}}
The dangers of knowledge trigger emotional distress in human beings.
Although not obvious, I think this little doosey will dramatically improve Mozillas installed base.
Clone PC makers are always looking for a way to make a few extra bucks on a PC - the fact is by removing IE and replacing it with Mozilla and installing AdBar those PC's will (after a few years) generate more revenue than they made by selling the PC -- this leads to an interesting model of being able to sell computers at near zero cost, or at least to raise their margins.
I would venture to guess that the majority of the computers sold never have their default browsers changed.
So do the community a favor - next time your in a clone shop ask if they install Mozilla by default on all new systems? Then when they say "No" ask "Okay, so whats the catch -- why are you guys leaving money on the table" then they say "huh" then you explain why they ought to be installing Mozilla with AdBar and they'll start getting checks every month from Google.
Ironic isn't it?
Just imagine what would happen to Mozillas #'s if a Compaq or a Dell did that? Even a tier 2 seller like Tiger (who hawks stuff on QVC).
AdBar is an awesome idea, kudos to the author!
... HELL NO!
Yeah, I realize that the extension is a joke, but something like it would actually be a good idea. If the ad views actually earned money for the Mozilla foundation, people could voluntarily(!) install the adbar as a cashless donation. A lot of people who wouldn't want to pay money for a web browser--even if it's a voluntary donation--may be willing to view ads instead.
It's certainly worth trying, anyway.
I know at least some google ads are paid for on a per click basis. Mind you the google ads are not (at the moment...wait 5 years) intrusive. Does anyone know any software that will download shit loads of advertising material while you are not using your network? It's important never to have to look at any of it.
Advertising in its current form should be illegal. It's particulary bad to advertise to children....I hear in some Scandinvavian countries they're no adverts on kids tv.
I really hate adverts. I left London a lot because I felt sick being dragged through all that conusmer bullshit everyday. (Now I live on a small Pacific Island....you can avoid most of the adverts.)
Ads are insiduous, creeping unwanted into your head. If I am forced in front of an advert I always take care to pay attention to the branding and think really bad things. An unadvertised alternative wins lots of points.
You do know what the author does in his spare time, don't you?
The Burning Edge
Security holes in Mozilla the author's found
The author's checkins to Mozilla source code
Helpful bookmarklets for searching through Bugzilla, Mozilla's public bug database
You can also view the credits in Firefox as well. (I'd link to the specific line in code, but because it's in an HTML page LXR displays the HTML instead of outputting it by line number.) I'm pretty certain the author qualifies as a useful open source contributor.
I would never choose ads, because I don't like being targeted. Ads that I consider legit are placed on web pages, including affiliate links. I also run across products of interest when I'm searching Google - I found FastMail through doing a search and have never seen them advertised outside of their e-mail support forum. I like finding what I want, not being recruited. Anything that uses forced advertising, targeted ads or pop-up ads on other sites, I will not buy. Obviously someone is buying stuff, or there wouldn't be these types of advertising. As for Opera, I love it, and even though the Google ad is unobtrusive, it is easy enough to customize it away. I've ordered some Opera stuff at CafePress, so I guess I like the way they advertise. I've never used eBay because when I used IE, I'd get eBay pop-ups on other sites, and when I tried to go to another page, another one would pop up.
I must admit that although I hate ads, this is actualy kinda funny... I mean sometimes there can be some usefull stuff in those ads, although I wouldn't use it too often, Opera users might complain of Firefox stealing there features ;)