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Google Is Testing Autoplay Videos Directly In Search Results (thenextweb.com)

For a select group of individuals, Google has enabled autoplay videos in Search. "We are constantly experimenting with ways to improve the search experience for our users, but have no plans to announce [the feature] at this time," a Google spokesperson told Search Engine Land. Facebook, Instagram and Twitter all have similar features that were introduced fairly recently. If you find automatic videos to be a nuisance, now is the time to let Google know how you feel about this "feature."

126 comments

  1. Alternative headline by Sebby · · Score: 5, Insightful

    "Google is Testing Pissing Users Off Even More Quickly"

    --

    AC comments get piped to /dev/null
    1. Re:Alternative headline by Cyberpunk+Reality · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Yep. I haven't seen this (at Google or Bing), although with my browser and addon choices I'm probably unlikely to. But the day I do is the day I walk completely away from Google and don't look back.

      --
      Rule 35 of the internet: "If it can be hacked, it will be". - Charles Stross
    2. Re:Alternative headline by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Makes me glad that I don't use google search anymore!

    3. Re:Alternative headline by rogoshen1 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      yep. kill it with fire. autoplaying *anything* is annoying as all get out.

    4. Re:Alternative headline by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      more like Google is aggressively perpetuating fraudulent advertising statistics to sell to advertisers.

    5. Re:Alternative headline by tsa · · Score: 1

      That'll cost them dearly.

      --

      -- Cheers!

    6. Re:Alternative headline by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      and if verizon is throttling that autoplay video? good grief.

    7. Re:Alternative headline by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Correction, the accountants at Alphabet are testing how to generate more beans to count.

    8. Re:Alternative headline by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Absolutely.
      All auto-play video is a major PIA and kills the user experience

    9. Re:Alternative headline by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Glad I stopped using Google Search years ago.

    10. Re:Alternative headline by dkman · · Score: 1

      I don't want auto play videos (my addons wouldn't allow it anyhow). I don't want auto play dvds, I turn that crap off.

      I don't know why anyone thinks people do, or should, want that. People are just lazy.

      --
      I refuse to sign
    11. Re: Alternative headline by Z00L00K · · Score: 3, Insightful

      EspeciaÅly when at work.

      And it's pretty common to search for stuff when at work.

      --
      If builders built buildings the way programmers wrote programs, then the first woodpecker would destroy civilization.
    12. Re:Alternative headline by goose-incarnated · · Score: 3, Informative

      I don't want auto play videos (my addons wouldn't allow it anyhow). I don't want auto play dvds, I turn that crap off.

      I don't know why anyone thinks people do, or should, want that. People are just lazy.

      Google appears to have forgotten how and why they toppled altavista and yahoo.

      --
      I'm a minority race. Save your vitriol for white people.
    13. Re:Alternative headline by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Glad I stopped using Google Search years ago.

      OMG How do you live then?

    14. Re:Alternative headline by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It is the end of the world as we know it...

      No more Google Search for me.

      The Duck will quack more loudly as a result.

    15. Re:Alternative headline by houghi · · Score: 1

      They have not. Why would you think that? The world has moved on and expectations are different now. Most people do not have a 28.8 modem anymore.

      --
      Don't fight for your country, if your country does not fight for you.
    16. Re:Alternative headline by JohnFen · · Score: 1

      While Google's sparsity was an obvious advantage in the days of modems, slow connection speeds wasn't the only advantage.

      It does look like Google's forgotten most of the things that made Google great in the beginning. The quality of their search results has been falling consistently for years now and they keep adding extra cruft to their pages.

    17. Re:Alternative headline by DontBeAMoran · · Score: 1

      Or "Google is wasting people's monthly data quotas without asking them".

      --
      #DeleteFacebook
    18. Re:Alternative headline by DontBeAMoran · · Score: 1

      Well, the only exception is when I go to a YouTube URL of my choosing. But that stupid "auto-play next video" is annoying when I happen to view a video that's part of a playlist.

      The basic problem, for videos and anything else, is always: don't make choices for the user.

      --
      #DeleteFacebook
    19. Re:Alternative headline by DontBeAMoran · · Score: 1

      Having a high speed connection means the auto-playing video starts annoying you instantly

      --
      #DeleteFacebook
    20. Re:Alternative headline by houghi · · Score: 1

      They are in the business of selling us to advertisers. And they are making more and more money from that, so I would say that they are doing pretty well.

      The ads are a means to get their product coming back for more. So they are pushing in the direction of more clicks as that means people will stay longer on YouTube and will see more ads and that means more revenue.

      Now if the test determines that it means less income, they will not roll it out for everybody, but just roll it back. Their data will determine if the cruft stays or not. I do not like it either, but that is the way it will be.

      --
      Don't fight for your country, if your country does not fight for you.
    21. Re:Alternative headline by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Did you use Yahoo and Altavista to search for prostitutes to bang?

  2. Google copying Microsoft? by Computershack · · Score: 1

    Bing has had this for a while. Unfortunately almost nobody uses Bing so everyone will think Google invented it.

    --
    I only please one person per day. Today is not your day. Tomorrow isn't looking good either. - Scott Adams
    1. Re:Google copying Microsoft? by mccalli · · Score: 4, Insightful

      In fact Google recently pushed me over to Bing with their terrible, terrible Google News re'design'. It's truly awful, and Bing News is closer to the older Google News layout so off I went.

    2. Re:Google copying Microsoft? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      MS sucks. Google has become worse. Yeah, the old Google is dead and gone. Been that way for awhile. The inline news was awful as you already said. Even turned off, Chrome still bogs down compared to the version before news was implemented.

      They bombed on the Photos app update 1-2 years ago. The new app still doesn't work right.

      Inline searching sucks rocks.

      Search results are also piss poor given the constant revisions. Old searches pinpointed detailed, unique information right away. Now it's all popular results and ad pages that suck down contextual searches because Google has become so stale, the spam web pages predict them easily.

      It's so bad I swear before the browser starts, it hammers overloaded Google servers and slows the launch and interface responsiveness.

      Gmail app doesn't check mail promptly anymore. Probably by design, and they'll say oversight.

      They can't build a browser with bacic options in settings to be easily turned off, like the aforementioned news. You still can't turn off the url bar from becoming a search bar in Chrome on Android. And half the crap are under flags buried in a slew options, some of which could eaisly be condensed into somethign simpler in settings.

      And don't get met started on the hundreds of thousands of devices they don't support but use their OS because Google was too stupid to make downstream device manufactures provide reasonable updates. Complete trash policy, and complete trash that OS updates.

      We all know it. Google is an ad company. They are no longer a tech company. MS or Amazon aren't this bad, and that's saying something. Really, Google, you're buying Roomba information? If there was an open source tablet company that worked, I'd dump their asses today completely and use duckduckgo or bing. Probably the only thing they make of any interest anymore is Glass and Youtube, and they still managed to mismanage both.

    3. Re:Google copying Microsoft? by jafffacake · · Score: 1

      i can't find bing news in the app store, do you just use the website? genuine question (because i don't like the new google news layout either!)

    4. Re:Google copying Microsoft? by mccalli · · Score: 1

      Yes, I just use https://www.bing.com/news/. Primarily read on a laptop rather than mobile, but then the same was true for Google News. On mobile I mostly use an RSS reader to collate multiple sources.

    5. Re:Google copying Microsoft? by dogvomit · · Score: 1

      I just installed this addon and set it to pick firefox os for news.google.com. Seems to flawlessly give the old news page.

      --
      Happy happy oh my friend.

    6. Re:Google copying Microsoft? by rtb61 · · Score: 1

      Worse than that, Google not-News will send you crap advertorials as breaking news, really crap ones and it can be a real pain to uninstall on Android. Definately a big do not install on Google News and thats to the big shit at Alphabet, Google major advertiser censored and package news, will only get worse.

      When they screw with news, you only give them one chance, get it badly wrong and drop them and never ever go back. News is meant to be there in the interests of society, not as propaganda, not as marketing lies, not censored to protect the criminal, blow it once in a big way and you are done, as should be the way.

      --
      Chaos - everything, everywhere, everywhen
  3. Not a good idea. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Really? More crap to put up with.

  4. In other news... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Bing marketshare sees unexpected 10000% increase.

    1. Re: In other news... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      All the way up to 250.

  5. About that by alvinrod · · Score: 5, Insightful

    "We are constantly experimenting with ways to improve the search experience for our users"

    Then why the hell are you using autoplay videos?

    1. Re:About that by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Video ads pay more.

    2. Re:About that by Hognoxious · · Score: 5, Insightful

      As my physics teacher used to say: if you know the result beforehand it's not an experiment - it's a demonstration.

      --
      Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
    3. Re:About that by alvinrod · · Score: 2

      I don't think I'd want to associate my brand with something that is just going to piss people off. There are plenty of products I refuse to buy or companies I won't do business with over annoying practices similar to this.

    4. Re:About that by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Someone up the ladder said "Hey, I bet we could sell more advertising if we did this..." and an engineering manager decided to run a limited demonstration of why that would be a bad thing to do.

    5. Re:About that by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      But have you told them the reason why you are boycotting their products?
      Until enough people do (or take the US option and sue) then the company will carry on doing what annoys you.

    6. Re:About that by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "We are constantly experimenting with ways to improve the search experience for our users"

      Then why the hell are you using autoplay videos?

      So they can run adverts. Don't forget: To Google & Co you are merely a product being sold to advertisers.

    7. Re:About that by bigfinger76 · · Score: 1

      If an acceptable alternative exists, then buying the alternative is all the communication necessary to get the point across.

    8. Re:About that by JohnFen · · Score: 1

      There are numerous companies that I won't do business with, although I wouldn't call that a "boycott", exactly, as I'm not trying to make the companies behave any differently.

      So, no, I don't tell them. Why bother? I don't personally care if they improve unless I have no option but to do business with them (I'm looking at you, Comcast), and they'll ignore me anyway.

  6. Sounds like a great idea by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Now quit being fucking DICKS and invest some of your money in small broadband companies or pay off the FCC to release more spectrum so that we can support that bandwidth for a reasonable price since you have that fucking much saved up and won't hire people who apply you fucking ASSHOLES.

    1. Re:Sounds like a great idea by GrumpySteen · · Score: 1

      Someone sounds a bit bitter

    2. Re: Sounds like a great idea by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Why would you want to work for an advertising company anyway? Unless your only other option is tobacco...

  7. As if by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The javascript version of their search results is already sufficiently awful that I disable the javascript. So I can imagine how tasteful this will be..

  8. First they screw up news, now the search... by Blinkin1200 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I disable video in the browser... replaced with click to play, but I would rather not wait until the video download completes.
    MSN is my current substitute for Google News, anyone find anything else?

    1. Re: First they screw up news, now the search... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Yeah I use this site called slashdot. They had autoplay ads and pissed everyone off for a little while. Hopefully they won't do that again.

    2. Re:First they screw up news, now the search... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Digg for main stream "news" stuff and interesting things to read. For tech, OSNews, Ars Technica and /.

      DuckDuckGo for search.

    3. Re:First they screw up news, now the search... by dogvomit · · Score: 1

      I just installed this addon and set it to pick firefox os for news.google.com. Seems to flawlessly give the old news page.

      --
      I struggled with destiny up on the ledge, and gasped when, defeated, he slipped off the edge.

    4. Re:First they screw up news, now the search... by Blinkin1200 · · Score: 1

      Thanks! That worked... until they get around to checking for firefox os. I had chased a few other similar options, but the google kept catching up to what I was using.

      Funny thing... on my phone, I keep checking the box to see the desktop site. Haha!

  9. What is needed is a hardware mute button. by captaindomon · · Score: 1

    What I want is a hardware mute button that actually mutes. Everything. Like it disconnects the speaker physically. I'm so tired of "mute" being "mute ringtones but not video game noises" or "mutes videos on youtube but not text messages" etc.

    --
    Just because I can hook a shark from a boat, I do no offer to wrestle it in the water.
    1. Re:What is needed is a hardware mute button. by rogoshen1 · · Score: 2

      step 1. buy cheap headphones
      step 2. cut both cables off at the plug
      step 3. enjoy looking like the cool dude whose smartphone still has an antenna.

    2. Re:What is needed is a hardware mute button. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      And I'm tired of the mute button on Dell laptops not working. What's the point in spending money to add it if it doesn't work?

    3. Re: What is needed is a hardware mute button. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You're tired of the mute button on YouTube not muting everything?
      WTF KINDA COMPLAINT IS THAT????

    4. Re:What is needed is a hardware mute button. by Zaelath · · Score: 1

      My Samsung tablet still plays an alert through the speakers when I get an email and have headphones in, so...

    5. Re:What is needed is a hardware mute button. by nospam007 · · Score: 1

      step 1. buy cheap headphones
      step 2. cut both cables off at the plug
      step 3. enjoy looking like the cool dude whose smartphone still has an antenna.

      Why do you think they are removing that plug?

    6. Re:What is needed is a hardware mute button. by DarkRookie · · Score: 1

      It does work. Install the drivers

      --
      The millennial that doesn't like most of the stuff designed for millennials.
  10. Internet is a pull system, by CptLoRes · · Score: 5, Insightful

    stop trying to make it a push system instead.

    1. Re: Internet is a pull system, by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Your pullover is covering your eyes. Or maybe you're a pushover. ;-)

    2. Re:Internet is a pull system, by TeknoHog · · Score: 1

      I'm trying to make it a pull system in the sense of British nightlife.

      --
      Escher was the first MC and Giger invented the HR department.
  11. No to auto play. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    There should a law preventing big companies from implementing anything that has the 'auto' word in its name and lives in the browser. Perhaps with an exception of auto-correction.

  12. what a coincidence by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    For about a year I've been testing not using any google product for any reason.

    Pretty happy with results so far.

    1. Re:what a coincidence by rnturn · · Score: 1

      Yeah. Haven't been doing it as long as you but the results have, so far, been promising.

      --
      CUR ALLOC 20195.....5804M
  13. Congratulations! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Google has finally figured out how to tank its most profitable division. I know that I certainly won't be using Google if this pull off this bullshit.

  14. one step closer to Google TV by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    you won't have to search for anything soon, they will show you whatever they feel like....

  15. Shame on you by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    if you're using Google as a search engine anyway. Do you want them to know everything about you? Android isn't enough for some? Well, hey, whatever...

    No need to sling insults, but most people are super-fuckin'-retarded.

  16. Configure your browser to stop it by Picodon · · Score: 4, Informative

    In Firefox (about:config), setting “media.autoplay.enabled” to “false” normally cures the problem. Obviously, it’ll affect all sites, including those where autoplay is largely expected (for example, YouTube), but it’s easy to get used to it.

    1. Re:Configure your browser to stop it by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Autoplay expected for YouTube? Opening a bunch of links in background tabs is a fantastic way to browse, but it becomes infuriating when a few of the links happen to be YouTube videos.

    2. Re:Configure your browser to stop it by Picodon · · Score: 4, Informative

      For that (completely valid) use case, Firefox has “media.block-autoplay-until-in-foreground” (set it to “true”). Of course, that’s no longer necessary if you disabled autoplay entirely with “media.autoplay.enabled”, which affects both foreground and background tabs, and which you might like better.

      I mentioned YouTube in particular because, in my experience, when autoplay (“media.autoplay.enabled”) is disabled, the YouTube player appears to be started but seeking, and requires clicking twice on the “play” button (once to pause, and once more to really start the video), which is a bit befuddling the first time. It’s only a glitch, though, and I still prefer that rather than having videos start in foreground tabs for all sites.

    3. Re:Configure your browser to stop it by antdude · · Score: 1

      Is there a way to have it not buffer the videos like on YouTube?

      --
      Ant(Dude) @ Quality Foraged Links (AQFL.net) & The Ant Farm (antfarm.ma.cx / antfarm.home.dhs.org).
  17. Websites should pay users when anything autoplays by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Unless I choose to start the download, it's not your bandwidth, I am paying for it not you, so I should have the choice of if I want to use it. Unless you want to pay for my internet..

  18. Netflix too by jetkust · · Score: 2

    Netflix did a similar thing to their roku app, and it's horrible. What do these companies gain by doing this? The user experience is no different than an intrusive add. And if companies start paying to get their videos to autoplay, then it IS an add.

    1. Re:Netflix too by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yeah, I agree. I'd even be willing to deal with them auto-playing video (though that is distracting) but the sound... ARG!

      The first few days of it, my wife was always, "don't start it without me!"

    2. Re:Netflix too by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      This alone is a reason I am replacing Roku devices I have with either NVidia ones or something that will not auto-play, when people ask me if Roku is a good device I tell them upfront that Netflix app will auto play and it will drive you crazy with how annoying that is.

  19. People still use Google for search? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Seriously, I switched to duckduckgo years ago, and feel funny when I use a browser that still uses google.

    if I want to search for something on amazon:

    !amazon some product

    if I want to search for a general term

    !wikipedia general term

    If I am desperate I man type in:
    !google something

    but usually that would not give more information.

    1. Re:People still use Google for search? by vux984 · · Score: 1

      !g is shorter than !google.
      !b is bing if you ever need it.

      I also use !gi (google images) and !gm (google maps) regularly.

    2. Re:People still use Google for search? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      site:amazon does the same thing on Google. !amazon means "not amazon" in pretty much every language in existence, so they probably need to fire whoever came up with the design. But if it works, it works. Yeah it saves about a tenth of a second typing. But overall that's a pretty worthless excuse to use any given search engine.

  20. Don't /.ers know better than to use Google Search? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    DuckDuckGo for one is a substantially better choice

  21. It's Google .vs. Apple by chrism238 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    And, fortunately, Apple is blocking the autoplaying of videos in its next release of macOS.

    1. Re:It's Google .vs. Apple by hawk · · Score: 1

      That's why I'm using the High Sierra beta on this machine.

      It works well--although it failed tis morning, autoplaying on the first foxnews page I loaded.

      Foxnews.com is also the only place I've found with an option on it's web player to turn autoplay off (at least without logging in). However, it seems to reset itself to "on" every few weeks, which it had done (and then safari failed to block it, even though it was set to "never autoplay")

      or the most part, thought, it works (I hadn't used inn's website for years over the inability to block autoplay. I cn, now, although the layout is still "bad", an improvement from "horrible" . . .)

      hawk

    2. Re:It's Google .vs. Apple by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What, you need an OS update for that? Is macOS just a reskinning of iOS now?

  22. Design by committee strikes again. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

    a Google spokesperson told Search Engine Land. Facebook, Instagram and Twitter all have similar features that were introduced fairly recently

    So what if they have ? This just screams of "me tooooooo!" and is not a valid reason to do something.

    Rule #1 of embedded videos, NEVER EVER autoplay unless that video is the main content of the page. Ignoring that just pisses off your users.
    We've all been there, followed a link to an interesting page and started reading it. After a few seconds there's an annoying voice waffling on (and it's always one of two people that do the voice overs.. a manically depressed male who couldn't give a toss what he's reading, or a hyperactive female who sounds like she's just drunk a gallon of Red Bull) about something completely irrelevant.
      So now you're frantically scrolling around the page trying to find the damn video amongst all the other flashing animated adverts to try and stop it so you can get back to the content you were part way through.

    Come on Google, you want to sell advert space, so why give viewers yet another reason to install an ad blocker ?

    1. Re:Design by committee strikes again. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      NEVER EVER autoplay unless that video is the main content of the page.

      Almost, but not quite right; I'd prefer:

      NEVER EVER autoplay video.

  23. To improve the search experience by OneHundredAndTen · · Score: 4, Insightful

    It is bad enough for big companies to indulge in all sorts of dubious practices, but, I, for one, find it even more irritating that they regularly take us for complete imbeciles. Google, what you want to do is get more money from your search stuff. So, be bold and say so. Do not pretend you are doing this autoplay nonsense, which is bound to annoy most people, because you want the best experience for your customers. Which you do not. What you want is more money from your customers - a very different proposition.

    1. Re:To improve the search experience by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      They do want the best experience for their customers. It's just that Joe/Jane internet user are not their customers, the advertisers are. We're the product, not the customers.

  24. Oblig. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    http://lmgtfy.com/?q=rick+roll

  25. How can I disable all autoplaying videos? by SoftwareArtist · · Score: 2

    I'd really like advice on this. I absolutely never want a video to autoplay. Period. NoScript seems to block most of them, but occasional sites still get through. Are there other tools I should look at?

    --
    "I'm too busy to research this and form an educated opinion, but I do have time to tell everyone my uninformed opinion."
    1. Re:How can I disable all autoplaying videos? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/umatrix/

      More powerful than NoScript. Slight learning curve. Intuitive after a little while of using it.

      Combine with https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/ublock-origin/ for greatest effect.

      The author of both plugins is not affiliated with any ad company and does NOT accept donations.

      Enjoy!

    2. Re:How can I disable all autoplaying videos? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      0. set up a raspberry pi with pi-hole, and use that for your DNS server. It's not perfect, but it will block an awful lot of the crap advertisers come up with.
      1. install privacy badger and train it to block any domains that are causing you grief. Right now it is telling this very page has 16 domains that may track me, 11 are blocked. The sliders will allow you to block content servers (i.e. advert crap).

    3. Re:How can I disable all autoplaying videos? by tepples · · Score: 1

      set up a raspberry pi with pi-hole, and use that for your DNS server.

      That's fine at home, but what on cellular or on public hotspots?

    4. Re:How can I disable all autoplaying videos? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Disable HTML5 Autoplay so far it works well

  26. In Firefox... by Picodon · · Score: 2

    In Firefox (in “about:config”):
    - set “media.block-autoplay-until-in-foreground” to “true” to disable autoplay in background tabs (until you switch to them).
    - set “media.autoplay.enabled” to “false” to disable autoplay in all circumstances (see my comment earlier about a small glitch in YouTube).

  27. Sorry I didn't notice since by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I switched to DuckDuckGo for regular search a long time ago. If I decide to hit up the Goog for some reason, I'll count on my browser autoplay blocking to stop it.

  28. Assuming that someone at Google reads Slashdot.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    ...I'll provide my feedback here:

    Do this at your own risk. Despite your size, there are other search engines out there. In fact, my default search engine is currently not yours. I made the switch on a trial basis but adding autoplay videos will guarantee I won't be going back.

  29. Dear Google by Ol+Olsoc · · Score: 5, Informative
    I really want to blow through my dat cap. What is the best way to do that?

    Oh, you've already got an implemation planned?

    Thank you for being so responsive!

    --
    The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
    1. Re:Dear Google by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "I really want to blow through my dat(a) (sic) cap. What is the best way to do that?"
      Just because a Video isn't being played by various means does not mean that it isn't being downloaded. How many News sites are there now that refuse to show a Kilobyte of Text until a few Megabytes of ignored Garbage are loaded first, including an obnoxious blocking Popup that only occurs after half of the first Paragraph is read?
      You still pay in one way or another for redirecting >/dev/null
      The mechanism needed has to be on the ISP side; an option that _prevents_ delivery of any content, not just Advertising Videos, not wanted. This is unlikely to happen because Data Caps are proving to be quite profitable in the US, especially with Cellular connections.

      "Thank you for being so responsive!"
      You are programmed to receive. You can check out any time you like, but you can never leave.

  30. Seriously, fuck right off with the autoplay. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    How many sites do I have to put on my no-visit list before these idiots realize there isn't a single person on the planet that actually wants a video to autoplay?

  31. What you all are missing.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Is that the average non-slashdotter thinks that video autoplay is normal and there is no remedy or drawbacks (turning off the option in Facebook that is on by default has helped quite a few acquaintances for example). Also what most Slashdotters don't realize is that 1 video autoplay in the advertising world is a chargeable action onto their customers, who happily pay for video views.

    In short, this is an industry-wide scam that all of the big players are doing and no one is calling out.

  32. DO NOT WANT by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    DO NOT WANT.

  33. @Google by thegreatbob · · Score: 1

    Go fuck yourself. Automatically playing video on the loading of a page, when the page being loaded was not _explicitly_ intended to present a video (e.g. YouTube, you should know this!) is user-hostile, and, frankly, a total dick move. I'm on the verge of relegating Google searches to lynx on a VPS on some other planet, as the alternatives are slowly catching up in capability.

    --
    There is no XUL, only WebExtensions...
    1. Re:@Google by thegreatbob · · Score: 1

      Also @Google, if you can't understand this, and need an analogy, it's like using a remote control to turn on someone's TV through their window at 4AM. You just don't do that. Sad how aging companies often seem to regress in maturity.

      --
      There is no XUL, only WebExtensions...
  34. Newspeak by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Were George Orwell alive and writing these days, I'm sure he'd have integrated this one word in his newspeak: "Experience".

    Whenever I hear this word in the current context, I feel the urge to punch someone in the face.

  35. ddg !g by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    And this move would guarantee that I would NEVER use Google search at work, ever again.
    In fact, I can even foresee corporate IT forbidding Google search completely.
    Aside from unnecessarily consuming the company's bandwidth and impeding business, it tells everyone within earshot that I'm not a "serious player".
    Fuck - I'd even prefer to use the next-to-useless Bing now, and I fucking HATE Microsoft with a vengeance.
    It's ok - I've got duckduckgo as default for the moment, and on the few occasions that I want a google result, I just use a "bang".
    It's so much easier to deal with, and bangs have the side affect of being ecologically sound as well.

    1. Re:ddg !g by Ol+Olsoc · · Score: 1
      Duckduck Go has served me pretty well since I went to it.

      I left Google during the days of second party link farms. This would be if I'd google for say "Barney Rubble". The top of the results would come back with links like "Best deals on Barney Rubble" and "Find all your Barney Rubble needs here! The first page and half of the second page was completely useless.

      I guess that's been cleared up, but I see no reason to go back.

      --
      The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
  36. Competing with Microsoft? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Is Google jealous of Microsoft's abuse?

  37. Autoplay video are a pox. by nosfucious · · Score: 1

    So, in general,
    - Uninstall, or better, never install flash.
    - If you must install flash, ensure it's set to require permission to run.
    This should stop flash being used to load video.

    Then one method to stop HTML5 video, in Firefox and it's derivatives:
    - about:config, then
    - search for "autoplay". Until you land on "media.autoplay.enabled". Then toggle to false.

    This stops videos in their tracks.
    Or use a good plug-in to stop this.

    But yeah, I won't be using google for search if this is a thing.

    Autoplay video must be opt-in (just like spam). A lot of sites let you disable them, but then you need an account to set this. Eg opt-out. No, I will not create an account on your site. All site accounts do is make me less likely to use your goods and services and hand over real cash (or virtual cash).

    --
    Q:I was listening to a CD in Grip and it sounded horrible! What's up? A:Perhaps you are listening to country music
  38. Stupid Idea by dcw3 · · Score: 1

    Imagine how that's going to play out at your office when you innocently google something that turns up a Not Safe for Work video.

    Our office has our browsers pretty locked down, so we'd probably get a warning message up front, but I'm sure that's not the case at many businesses.

    --
    Just another day in Paradise
    1. Re:Stupid Idea by JohnFen · · Score: 1

      Doesn't everyone keep their work machines muted anyway?

    2. Re:Stupid Idea by dcw3 · · Score: 1

      Muted or not, if you happen to accidentally put an "x" in front of hamster and get videos from that site, you're likely to get a call from HR.

      --
      Just another day in Paradise
  39. do no evil? by v1 · · Score: 1

    I thought this was like the company mantra?

    As far as web browsing goes, aren't autoplaying videos" the de-facto definition of evil?? THE most despised advertisement ploy that marketing has been able to devise?
    How on earth do they think this is a good idea? (or are they just trolling us with this idea?)

    --
    I work for the Department of Redundancy Department.
    1. Re:do no evil? by JohnFen · · Score: 2

      Google gave up on "don't be evil" a rather long time ago.

    2. Re:do no evil? by DontBeAMoran · · Score: 1

      No they did not. They simply removed the first six characters.

      --
      #DeleteFacebook
  40. Let Google know how you feel? by houghi · · Score: 1

    If you find automatic videos to be a nuisance, now is the time to let Google know how you feel about this "feature."

    Since when has Google EVER listened to what the people want. What they look at is if it increases income or not.
    Since dejanews.com they have NEVER listened to their customers. Sometimes they did what their customers wanted, but correlation is not causation.

    --
    Don't fight for your country, if your country does not fight for you.
  41. ..to piss off our customers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    We are constantly experimenting with ways to.....to piss off our customers. Yeah the first time that happens will be last time I use Google.

  42. You don't need to configure your browser by Godai · · Score: 1

    What the article fails to mention is that they also added a toggle to turn off autoplay.

    So, yeah, the feature is stupid, but you can turn it off if it offends you.

    Source: http://www.androidpolice.com/2...

    --
    Wood Shavings!
    - Godai
  43. NO. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    WTF Google, how could you possibly think anyone would want this.

    DO NOT WANT.

  44. You'd make it illegal to show you the Carfax by tepples · · Score: 1

    There would need to be more exceptions than that, or your proposal would end up taking everything related to cars off the web, such as automobile price comparison sites, automobile parts e-commerce sites, do-it-yourself automobile repair reference sites, and automobile insurance claim history sites ("Show me the Carfax").

  45. Re:Websites should pay users when anything autopla by tepples · · Score: 1

    Then get a browser that enforces a total file size quota per page view, or install or make an add-on to do so in your existing browser.

  46. slashdot is wise by vladimir.sakharuk · · Score: 1

    Slashdot have asked people if they want videos or not, and follow the majority respond. That was priceless.

  47. Racism, Hate, Bigotry, Terrorism, Auto-Play Video by enjar · · Score: 1

    We could do with considerably less of all the above. For a while there the menace of auto-play video was actively and widely discouraged as really bad practice, like the blink tag or doing your whole site in Flash. Somehow, though, it oozed itself out of the grave and has started sprouting like so many mushrooms on your lawn. I don't know who or what wants this. I do like sites that disable autoplay when you are running an ad blocker, and throw up a message that says something along the lines of "we won't be auto-playing videos because that takes bandwidth, and that costs money, and your ad blocker blocks our money". Actually, if you weren't auto-playing videos you might save money on bandwidth. In addition, there's a special circle of hell for sites who start autoplaying, then move the video to the lower right hand corner of the page after you stop the video and start playing again.

  48. Only way to fix it is to sue the shit out of them. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Hope the EU slaps them with billions in fines for wasting people's data and electricity with unsolicited video playback.

  49. I am testing disable autoplay extensions. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Lets see who wins.

  50. Feature request for auto-play videos by iTrawl · · Score: 1

    Great, I love auto-play videos! But do you know what I love more? When the video I'm watching is suddenly interrupted by an interstitial in the middle of a consonant, just as the story becomes interesting. Don't forget that feature.

    --
    "Everybody's naked underneath" -- The Doctor
  51. I made the right choice! by JohnFen · · Score: 1

    I've moved to using DDG entirely, to the point where where typing it is just muscle memory now.

    I still can't quite get on board with saying I "duck" things, though.

  52. I've got one word for this by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    No.

  53. search experience by maxies · · Score: 1

    Does it really improve search experience of users?