WEBVTT - How Ad Blockers Work 0:00:04.240 --> 0:00:07.520 Get in touch with technology with text Stuff from hastuff 0:00:07.760 --> 0:00:15.200 dot com either everyone, and welcome to text Stuff. I'm 0:00:15.320 --> 0:00:18.480 Jonathan Strickland and I'm Lauren bulf Obam. And you know, Lauren, 0:00:18.560 --> 0:00:21.400 one of the the topics that we've had requests for 0:00:21.520 --> 0:00:24.240 multiple times over the years that tech Stuff has been 0:00:24.280 --> 0:00:28.440 around has been to talk about ad block and add 0:00:28.520 --> 0:00:32.800 blocking browser extensions and to just sort of talk through it, 0:00:32.920 --> 0:00:36.480 explain it. And this is one of those really controversial, 0:00:36.560 --> 0:00:41.040 contentious subjects about the Web in general. Oh sure, because 0:00:41.080 --> 0:00:44.240 so much of the Web is driven revenue wise by 0:00:44.360 --> 0:00:47.120 ads um and it is also a huge source of 0:00:47.159 --> 0:00:52.240 annoyance for basically everyone. Yeah, so it's it's a tough situation. Now, 0:00:52.800 --> 0:00:55.160 before we get started on this, we'll go ahead and 0:00:55.160 --> 0:00:58.920 say that you know, there there are the advertisers who 0:00:58.920 --> 0:01:00.920 make ads are not in the necessarily trying to make 0:01:00.920 --> 0:01:04.520 them to annoy you. That would actually be counter productive 0:01:04.560 --> 0:01:06.960 to what the ad is supposed to do. Well. I 0:01:07.000 --> 0:01:10.240 would argue that some ad theory um states that if 0:01:10.280 --> 0:01:13.440 you annoy an audience enough to get their attention, then 0:01:13.480 --> 0:01:16.520 that's a good thing. But that's but, but we're getting 0:01:16.520 --> 0:01:19.080 into sticky territory there and we'll we'll cover all of 0:01:19.080 --> 0:01:21.520 that as we go along. But if you wanted to 0:01:21.560 --> 0:01:24.759 hear a really simple story about how ad block came 0:01:24.800 --> 0:01:29.000 to be, bad news everyone. As it turns out, ad 0:01:29.040 --> 0:01:33.160 block has got an incredibly complex story because it is 0:01:33.360 --> 0:01:35.240 one of those things where it's kind of like a hydra. 0:01:35.760 --> 0:01:38.200 You know, eventually one head would get cut off and 0:01:38.240 --> 0:01:40.760 two other heads would spring up, and those two heads 0:01:40.920 --> 0:01:43.640 would each be doing kind of what the first head did, 0:01:43.720 --> 0:01:45.480 but they're doing it in a different way, and they're 0:01:45.480 --> 0:01:47.520 not really communicating with each other, and when they do 0:01:47.600 --> 0:01:49.920 communicate with each other, they're fighting a little bit. Yeah, 0:01:49.920 --> 0:01:52.040 it's a it's one of those that it's it's not 0:01:52.120 --> 0:01:55.200 so simple as to say, like, uh, you know this 0:01:55.280 --> 0:01:58.200 one piece of software. Now it's version two, now it's 0:01:58.280 --> 0:02:01.760 version three. You actually have lots of forking going on. 0:02:01.840 --> 0:02:05.400 It's more like Windows, how Windows would occasionally fork into 0:02:05.400 --> 0:02:08.240 different groups. And you're like, well, I used to be 0:02:08.320 --> 0:02:10.919 able to explain the history of Windows, but now not 0:02:10.960 --> 0:02:14.600 so much. But you can actually trace it back to 0:02:14.960 --> 0:02:20.200 a single point, a historical moment when the very first 0:02:20.320 --> 0:02:22.840 version of ad block came out, and it originally came 0:02:22.840 --> 0:02:28.320 out for the Firefox web browser. This was a browser extension. UM. 0:02:28.320 --> 0:02:31.960 Firefox being open source, it allows people to developers well, 0:02:31.960 --> 0:02:36.280 I mean developers are people. I didn't mean to. UM. 0:02:36.840 --> 0:02:39.280 It allows you to create extensions or add ons for 0:02:39.280 --> 0:02:42.960 the browser in order to change or improve or to 0:02:43.040 --> 0:02:46.000 increase its functionality. Right, Yeah, because there's some things that 0:02:46.040 --> 0:02:49.440 a browser can do, and then occasionally the web develops 0:02:49.440 --> 0:02:52.280 in such a way where there's some really awesome stuff 0:02:52.320 --> 0:02:54.760 you could do if the browser just supported it, and 0:02:54.800 --> 0:02:58.560 the extensions kind of allow you to create that ability, right, 0:02:58.720 --> 0:03:03.400 and so according to one Vladimir Poland, a Danish programmer 0:03:03.520 --> 0:03:06.840 by the name of henryk Ostav Sarson, I think I 0:03:06.880 --> 0:03:09.840 got that right. Yeah, we definitely better than I could have. 0:03:10.400 --> 0:03:14.240 Um who developed this extension? I I don't remember now 0:03:14.280 --> 0:03:16.800 if we said already in two thousand two. No, we 0:03:16.840 --> 0:03:19.040 did not. Yeah, by the way, the reason why we 0:03:19.080 --> 0:03:21.880 said we don't know already is because you guys do 0:03:21.960 --> 0:03:24.680 not get treated to the fact that our buildings started 0:03:24.720 --> 0:03:28.880 to vibrate because of something going on somewhere inside this building, 0:03:29.400 --> 0:03:33.760 and we figured you'd rather be you know, saved that experience. 0:03:33.840 --> 0:03:36.240 But yeah, three minute break in which we went what 0:03:36.440 --> 0:03:38.800 is that, yeah, But in two thousand two, in fact, 0:03:38.800 --> 0:03:43.160 he did begin development on this. This was formally the 0:03:43.600 --> 0:03:47.280 ad Block Extension, and at that point it was spelled 0:03:47.440 --> 0:03:51.000 A D little B L O c K. No. The 0:03:51.000 --> 0:03:53.880 reason I say little B is because the other versions 0:03:53.880 --> 0:03:57.680 will talk about differentiate themselves with capitalization as well as 0:03:57.720 --> 0:04:01.520 adding other words. But this is the first one. Now, 0:04:01.680 --> 0:04:04.680 this one could block images, which at the time was 0:04:04.720 --> 0:04:08.360 pretty much the main form of web advertising. It wasn't 0:04:08.400 --> 0:04:10.920 the only one that was the main one. So things 0:04:10.920 --> 0:04:13.440 like banner ads that were at the top, or the 0:04:13.440 --> 0:04:15.040 ones that are along the side of the column, or 0:04:15.080 --> 0:04:18.680 even just inserted directly as like a picture inside an article. 0:04:18.839 --> 0:04:21.000 That's the kind of stuff that would block. Sure. And 0:04:21.080 --> 0:04:23.719 so if you found an image that you didn't like 0:04:23.920 --> 0:04:27.159 a probably because it was an ad, you could add 0:04:27.240 --> 0:04:31.120 that that that images r L to a list of 0:04:31.200 --> 0:04:33.479 blocked images, right, and it would actually go all the 0:04:33.480 --> 0:04:36.240 way back to where the source of that image came 0:04:36.320 --> 0:04:39.760 from and then start blocking other images from that source. Because, 0:04:39.760 --> 0:04:43.560 of course, if there's one advertiser that happens to run 0:04:43.600 --> 0:04:45.600 a lot of different campaigns, and back in those early 0:04:45.680 --> 0:04:47.400 days of the web, there were a few that had 0:04:47.480 --> 0:04:50.920 lots and lots of clients. You could essentially blanket block 0:04:51.680 --> 0:04:54.760 a whole list of advertisements, right. It was pretty effective 0:04:54.760 --> 0:04:57.120 at the time. Yeah, yeah, for for images. Anyway, they 0:04:57.480 --> 0:05:00.200 did have some downs sides. One of the downside was 0:05:00.240 --> 0:05:04.120 that it did not actually prevent the web page from 0:05:04.200 --> 0:05:07.440 loading the image. In fact, that the earliest version, which 0:05:07.480 --> 0:05:11.440 they called point three. Uh I assume that versions point 0:05:11.520 --> 0:05:14.720 one and point two were earlier data Yeah yeah, and 0:05:14.839 --> 0:05:19.320 never were released. But this point three one, it did 0:05:19.400 --> 0:05:22.039 not prevent the images from loading at all. It would, 0:05:22.080 --> 0:05:24.840 in fact, first load the entire web page images and all, 0:05:25.000 --> 0:05:28.280 and then block those ads. Right now, this was an 0:05:28.320 --> 0:05:31.359 important deal, Like people really wanted to have it blocked, 0:05:31.400 --> 0:05:34.840 not just you know, from view, but blocked period. So 0:05:34.920 --> 0:05:38.440 wouldn't download, not just because people thoughts or at least 0:05:38.480 --> 0:05:42.440 some people thought that advertising was really intrusive and and 0:05:42.520 --> 0:05:46.080 it decreased their enjoyment of the surfing experience visually annoying, 0:05:46.120 --> 0:05:52.080 but also was using up precious memory and uh usage bandwidth. Yeah, 0:05:52.200 --> 0:05:55.400 so it would take you extra time to download a 0:05:55.400 --> 0:05:58.160 web page because it had to download all of those assets, 0:05:58.160 --> 0:06:01.040 including the ads. And if you could turn those ads off, 0:06:01.279 --> 0:06:03.240 than the web pages would load faster. You know, this 0:06:03.320 --> 0:06:06.479 is the era of dial up. You know, I remember 0:06:06.480 --> 0:06:11.279 that era well, uh, not happily, but I do remember 0:06:11.279 --> 0:06:13.720 it well. I couldn't have find memories of it, not 0:06:13.800 --> 0:06:17.360 at all. Uh. You know when when someone would would say, hey, 0:06:17.400 --> 0:06:19.320 you need to go and look, there's this funny picture 0:06:19.680 --> 0:06:22.279 and you click on it and then six minutes later 0:06:23.000 --> 0:06:24.720 you go and make yourself a cup of coffee. Right, 0:06:24.760 --> 0:06:26.440 You're like, well, you know, I'm just gonna go wander 0:06:26.480 --> 0:06:29.560 off for a bit. But anyway, So this ad block 0:06:29.760 --> 0:06:34.360 version was limited in its use, but it had potential. 0:06:34.960 --> 0:06:37.880 And so the next version of ad block came along 0:06:37.920 --> 0:06:43.960 from someone else. Because Sorenson was interested in creating this tool, 0:06:44.040 --> 0:06:48.640 but not necessarily interested in continually updating it and uh 0:06:48.720 --> 0:06:51.680 and and and giving it more features. It was kind 0:06:51.680 --> 0:06:55.520 of a one off for Sarrenson. So we then have 0:06:55.880 --> 0:06:59.479 a mysterious figure. So someone by the handle of Rue, 0:06:59.640 --> 0:07:02.920 who's name I'm still not sure of. Yeah, Ru are 0:07:03.000 --> 0:07:05.760 you e? As in uh, you know that that spelling 0:07:05.800 --> 0:07:09.680 not r O O. But the Rou created ad Block 0:07:09.920 --> 0:07:13.680 zero point four and went in a completely different way 0:07:13.800 --> 0:07:17.640 used XML binding language also known as x b L. 0:07:18.200 --> 0:07:22.680 Now that's a web markup language. So HTML is hypertext 0:07:22.800 --> 0:07:27.480 markup language. This is similar except instead of it telling 0:07:27.960 --> 0:07:31.920 specifically like a browser, how to display things, it's more 0:07:31.920 --> 0:07:36.200 about defining specific behaviors of elements that would be displayed 0:07:36.200 --> 0:07:39.840 in a web page. So it's all about letting a 0:07:39.920 --> 0:07:43.440 program know what any particular element is supposed to be 0:07:43.480 --> 0:07:45.880 able to do, so that the computer does that thing 0:07:45.920 --> 0:07:48.520 when you make the command. So an easy example is 0:07:48.520 --> 0:07:50.760 a scroll bar. If you were to put a scroll 0:07:50.760 --> 0:07:53.840 bar within the context of a web page itself, you 0:07:53.880 --> 0:07:56.200 know this isn't this isn't the browsers scroll bar, but 0:07:56.320 --> 0:07:59.080 something that's inside the web page. Then you might use 0:07:59.280 --> 0:08:02.320 XBL to define those behaviors, so you say, when the 0:08:02.440 --> 0:08:05.400 user drags the scroll bar, this is the thing that's 0:08:05.400 --> 0:08:08.200 supposed to happen. Now, in this case, they were using 0:08:08.720 --> 0:08:12.920 XBL to sort of, uh, just prevent again these these 0:08:13.000 --> 0:08:16.720 display these ads from displaying. But it could prevent more 0:08:16.800 --> 0:08:20.640 than just images because it was working within the code 0:08:20.640 --> 0:08:24.920 of the browser. It could also prevent flash and Java objects. Right, 0:08:25.000 --> 0:08:28.120 And this was another big advance as far as ad 0:08:28.120 --> 0:08:30.960 blocking was concerned, because anyone who has been using the 0:08:30.960 --> 0:08:34.480 web for a while knows ads that are just pictures 0:08:34.520 --> 0:08:37.160 that appear on the top or the side, or within 0:08:37.200 --> 0:08:40.160 the context of an article or something. That's just a 0:08:40.280 --> 0:08:43.800 small slice of the types of web advertising we've seen 0:08:43.840 --> 0:08:45.400 out there. There are a lot of things that have 0:08:45.559 --> 0:08:49.920 float over ads, float under ads, auto play ads, which boy, 0:08:49.960 --> 0:08:53.600 are those my favorite. I definitely feel some sympathy here 0:08:53.640 --> 0:08:56.240 for folks who really get tired of ads that have, 0:08:56.880 --> 0:08:59.160 you know, a negative impact on your user expect if 0:08:59.200 --> 0:09:02.200 they're intrusive. Absolutely. I mean, if I go to a 0:09:02.240 --> 0:09:05.240 website where there's some sort of audio component that I 0:09:05.240 --> 0:09:08.280 want to listen to, and because I moved my cursor 0:09:08.360 --> 0:09:11.720 and it goes over a ad panel and then some 0:09:11.800 --> 0:09:15.880 advertising audio starts playing at the same time, that's clearly 0:09:15.920 --> 0:09:19.120 not an enjoyable experience. You can't really get around that. 0:09:19.800 --> 0:09:23.160 But anyway, Yeah, this meant that it was more useful 0:09:23.320 --> 0:09:26.840 than the point three version of ad block, But it 0:09:26.840 --> 0:09:29.520 should be said that because it was using a different approach, 0:09:29.800 --> 0:09:32.720 while it was called ad block zero point four, it 0:09:32.800 --> 0:09:37.840 wasn't necessarily a direct descendant of ad plock ad Block 0:09:38.000 --> 0:09:41.320 zero point three. And this is where we already have 0:09:41.480 --> 0:09:45.439 some confusion, right right, further confusion would happen because, um, 0:09:46.000 --> 0:09:50.240 Ladimir Punt who who we mentioned earlier, was basically unaware 0:09:50.400 --> 0:09:54.000 of of this update going out and created his own 0:09:54.720 --> 0:09:58.720 point four Right, So you have Ladimir saying, okay, I 0:09:58.800 --> 0:10:02.800 know that this this thing that Sarnsen did was useful, 0:10:02.840 --> 0:10:05.320 but it was very limited. I want to make my 0:10:05.360 --> 0:10:09.800 own approach and try and create a more versatile, useful 0:10:09.840 --> 0:10:14.240 platform to block this sort of intrusive advertising. Uh, and 0:10:14.600 --> 0:10:16.920 started working on it and then was prepared to release 0:10:16.960 --> 0:10:21.120 it and then discovered through some I have no idea 0:10:21.160 --> 0:10:23.720 what the tone was from the basis of the history 0:10:23.760 --> 0:10:27.960 that that that Pollent wrote, I would like to imagine 0:10:27.960 --> 0:10:31.080 that Rue was a little miffed. Great was the message 0:10:31.120 --> 0:10:34.920 thereof and that um and that Vladimir found out that 0:10:34.960 --> 0:10:37.079 he couldn't release it as a point for because there 0:10:37.120 --> 0:10:40.679 was already a point for. So now comes the discussion 0:10:40.679 --> 0:10:44.120 of whether or not Vladimir's work should be incorporated into 0:10:44.200 --> 0:10:48.120 a point five version. So keep in mind that while 0:10:48.200 --> 0:10:51.760 this is all going on, Firefox itself is continuing to 0:10:51.840 --> 0:10:57.160 slowly release updates, which necessitates that browser extensions be updated 0:10:57.160 --> 0:11:01.920 as well, because exactly, yeah, um, so this was not 0:11:02.559 --> 0:11:05.679 you know, just an academic discussion of should this go 0:11:05.800 --> 0:11:08.600 forward or not. It needed to keep developing for it 0:11:08.640 --> 0:11:12.160 to be useful, so his approach was to look at 0:11:12.360 --> 0:11:17.080 content policies to both predict and block ads, which ended 0:11:17.160 --> 0:11:20.800 up being an advance over the previous versions because it 0:11:20.840 --> 0:11:24.360 was finally allowing the user to have these ads blocked 0:11:24.400 --> 0:11:27.320 before the page even loaded. So now we get into 0:11:27.360 --> 0:11:30.760 that that era where things can be sped up because 0:11:30.800 --> 0:11:33.680 you don't need to load all the assets. He also 0:11:33.920 --> 0:11:37.040 had this discussion with Rue about what needs to be done. 0:11:37.080 --> 0:11:40.080 They decided to kind of collaborate, but according to uh 0:11:40.280 --> 0:11:46.360 Polance history, he got very frustrated that RU would kind 0:11:46.360 --> 0:11:50.880 of piecemeal pick the bits that Vladimir had created and 0:11:50.880 --> 0:11:54.040 then ignore everything else. And Vladimir felt that a lot 0:11:54.080 --> 0:11:57.480 of the things he had contributed were being ignored, and 0:11:57.559 --> 0:11:59.880 that UH and that some of the things he had 0:12:00.080 --> 0:12:03.560 made we're being used in ways he had not intended. 0:12:03.880 --> 0:12:06.760 There was one in particular ways that users were complaining 0:12:06.760 --> 0:12:09.679 about this particular interface, and the problem was, I had 0:12:09.720 --> 0:12:12.880 never intended users to be activating this interface. It wasn't 0:12:12.920 --> 0:12:17.360 meant for. But now it's part of what because I'm 0:12:17.360 --> 0:12:20.120 not the one who I don't own ad block. I'm 0:12:20.120 --> 0:12:23.559 not implementing these changes myself, and so that became kind 0:12:23.559 --> 0:12:28.480 of a sore subject. So you move forward to two 0:12:28.520 --> 0:12:33.880 thousand five, and no one had really worked on ad block. Yeah, 0:12:33.880 --> 0:12:36.439 that there was still some of that xbl stuff involved, 0:12:37.160 --> 0:12:41.280 and and some of Ladimir's approaches were in there. He 0:12:41.400 --> 0:12:43.960 was kind of a mishmash. It was like a Frankenstein's 0:12:44.000 --> 0:12:47.880 Monster version of the of what what each person like 0:12:48.000 --> 0:12:51.360 rou and Ladimir had both had in mind. But out 0:12:51.360 --> 0:12:54.439 of this grew um what was going to be called 0:12:54.440 --> 0:12:57.360 ad block Plus. Yeah. This is when a fellow named 0:12:57.400 --> 0:13:01.680 Michael McDonald who used the handle mc m came along 0:13:02.200 --> 0:13:05.560 and he created a new version going back to point 0:13:05.600 --> 0:13:09.480 three as sort of the point of inspiration with enhanced features. 0:13:09.679 --> 0:13:12.480 He did call it ad block Plus. And at this 0:13:12.520 --> 0:13:15.080 point one of the things that was added was this 0:13:15.160 --> 0:13:19.760 ability for users to white list certain file sources so 0:13:19.800 --> 0:13:22.760 that they would still get those shown to them, right, 0:13:22.840 --> 0:13:26.280 white white listing being the opposite of blacklisting, and he's 0:13:26.360 --> 0:13:29.320 certifying that a certain thing or person or entity is 0:13:29.440 --> 0:13:33.840 acceptable exactly. So instead of just having a giant X 0:13:33.920 --> 0:13:38.240 over any advertising, this would allow you to be more selective, 0:13:38.559 --> 0:13:40.720 so you could say, no, I want to see these 0:13:40.760 --> 0:13:44.960 particular types of ads, these ads are okay. So Vladimir 0:13:45.000 --> 0:13:50.400 and Rue continued there discussion about what should be ad block, 0:13:51.440 --> 0:13:54.640 and Ladimir even went so far as to offer to rewrite, 0:13:55.080 --> 0:13:58.120 uh the zero point five version of ad block and 0:13:58.160 --> 0:14:00.760 then adding the new features as well as try and 0:14:00.800 --> 0:14:03.199 tweak some of the stuff that he felt was clunky 0:14:03.520 --> 0:14:08.120 or not user friendly. But there was more disagreement between 0:14:08.200 --> 0:14:12.439 Rue and Ladimir, and then eventually Ladimir contacted McDonald mc 0:14:12.760 --> 0:14:15.760 m about ad Block Plus. Yeah, and mcm said, you 0:14:15.760 --> 0:14:18.880 know you can, you can come on over, you can 0:14:18.880 --> 0:14:21.680 come on over here, because I don't really want to 0:14:21.680 --> 0:14:26.680 to forever be developing this this extension, just like you 0:14:26.720 --> 0:14:30.760 know Starnsen did years ago. He you know, Sartinson said, No, 0:14:30.880 --> 0:14:32.400 I made this thing, but I don't want to have 0:14:32.480 --> 0:14:34.960 to keep making it. H And especially at the time 0:14:35.000 --> 0:14:37.800 Firefox was going through this kind of like update every 0:14:37.800 --> 0:14:40.920 other day sort of process, it was really rapid. Yes, 0:14:41.440 --> 0:14:43.880 So McDonald said, you know, I really don't have the 0:14:44.040 --> 0:14:48.320 time and effort that to to be the steward of 0:14:48.400 --> 0:14:51.040 this extension. So so Latimir, if you want to take it, 0:14:51.560 --> 0:14:55.880 take it and Latimer said, yeah, okay, fine. So in 0:14:56.040 --> 0:15:00.000 January two thousand and six, they launched ad block Plus 0:15:00.200 --> 0:15:03.840 zero point six. So again, the versions are starting to 0:15:03.840 --> 0:15:07.040 get a little confusing because this ad block Plus was 0:15:07.080 --> 0:15:10.560 not directly connected to ad Block. It existed as his 0:15:10.680 --> 0:15:14.320 own thing at the same time. So we have two 0:15:14.320 --> 0:15:18.320 different versions going on, two different approaches um and two 0:15:18.320 --> 0:15:22.720 different communities of users. So then Pilot decides he'll he'll 0:15:22.800 --> 0:15:27.120 keep on working on ad block Plus and he wanted 0:15:27.160 --> 0:15:29.800 to try. You know, it's not that he hated the 0:15:29.840 --> 0:15:34.320 old ad block. He actually tried several times to address 0:15:34.440 --> 0:15:40.040 issues because as the the extension got older and less relevant, 0:15:40.560 --> 0:15:43.600 it also became clear that there were some security vulnerabilities, 0:15:44.560 --> 0:15:47.680 and so he said, listen, guys, I found these vulnerabilities. 0:15:48.120 --> 0:15:50.280 You really should patch them. You need to. You need 0:15:50.320 --> 0:15:54.120 to update ad block so that this doesn't remain a 0:15:54.160 --> 0:15:57.720 vulnerability for users. And then it got to a point 0:15:57.720 --> 0:16:01.120 where it's like, really, I mean, I I can help 0:16:01.240 --> 0:16:03.720 do this if you need to. But it was kind 0:16:03.760 --> 0:16:06.000 of one of those things where ad Block just sort 0:16:06.160 --> 0:16:08.960 sort of began to die out at that point. In 0:16:09.040 --> 0:16:13.600 ad Block Plus was the it's wrong to say the 0:16:13.640 --> 0:16:15.800 winner because it wasn't like it was a real battle, 0:16:15.840 --> 0:16:18.440 but it's the survivor of the two. Yeah yeah, I 0:16:18.440 --> 0:16:21.520 was about to say it sounds like like internet Darwinism. 0:16:21.760 --> 0:16:25.360 Yeah yeah, it kind of is. So h then you 0:16:25.440 --> 0:16:28.080 get into I got really snarky with this note, y'all, 0:16:28.160 --> 0:16:32.120 But I'm going to go ahead and include it because schadenfreude. No. 0:16:32.280 --> 0:16:37.400 In two thousand seven, PC World, the magazine named ad 0:16:37.440 --> 0:16:40.960 Block Plus one of the one best products of two 0:16:40.960 --> 0:16:44.000 thousand seven. The reason why I felt the need to 0:16:44.040 --> 0:16:47.440 include this is because today PC World is online only. 0:16:47.560 --> 0:16:51.800 It ended its print uh format in two thousand thirteen, 0:16:52.520 --> 0:16:56.200 and now it depends very heavily on the online format, 0:16:56.240 --> 0:17:02.120 you know, the one that is sported. Yeah, so um, 0:17:03.720 --> 0:17:05.280 I did. I didn't want to mention though, that that 0:17:05.280 --> 0:17:08.560 it's certainly not the only award that ad Block Plus 0:17:08.720 --> 0:17:11.680 is one. Um. For example, it also nabbed the best 0:17:11.720 --> 0:17:16.200 Firefox extension from Lennox Magazine, in which, by the way, 0:17:16.240 --> 0:17:18.640 you can still get in print, So bully for them, 0:17:18.720 --> 0:17:22.880 how about that. So then we move up to December eight, 0:17:22.960 --> 0:17:28.000 two thousand nine, and boy, we just we just got 0:17:28.000 --> 0:17:29.880 to the point where we narrowed it down. Ad Block 0:17:29.920 --> 0:17:32.040 Plus was the only player in the game. It was 0:17:32.040 --> 0:17:33.840 gonna be so much easier to talk about this for 0:17:33.880 --> 0:17:36.760 the rest of this podcast. And then Google made an 0:17:36.760 --> 0:17:40.119 announcement which led to a whole bunch more mass happening. Yeah, 0:17:40.160 --> 0:17:42.760 in fact, we'll talk about that in just a moment, 0:17:42.800 --> 0:17:45.480 but before we get into this fun Google let part 0:17:45.520 --> 0:17:48.399 of the discussion, let's take a quick break to thank 0:17:48.400 --> 0:17:52.480 our sponsor. Don't block our ad Okay, So December eight, 0:17:52.600 --> 0:17:55.160 two thousand nine, and this is the first time where 0:17:55.200 --> 0:17:58.040 we can actually put a specific date on one of 0:17:58.080 --> 0:18:01.639 these things. You know, again to evelopers don't necessarily write 0:18:01.640 --> 0:18:05.600 down stuff for historical records, which, guys, you've got to 0:18:05.640 --> 0:18:08.960 start doing that. Yeah, seriously, everyone get on that. I know. Well, actually, 0:18:09.000 --> 0:18:10.720 I mean everyone is on that at this point because 0:18:10.760 --> 0:18:13.560 of the popularity of blogging and micro blogging. But at 0:18:13.600 --> 0:18:17.199 any rate, Right, this is when Michael Gunlock developed his 0:18:17.320 --> 0:18:21.840 own ad blocker called ad block with a capital B 0:18:22.119 --> 0:18:25.320 this time. Right, that makes it totally different obviously spelled 0:18:25.359 --> 0:18:28.080 the same way as the original ad block, except that 0:18:28.160 --> 0:18:31.240 the B is capitalized. Like you said, Look, it's the Internet. 0:18:31.280 --> 0:18:34.119 Things can be case sensitive. I just think that's funny 0:18:34.160 --> 0:18:36.399 that you already have a product called ad block Plus, 0:18:36.480 --> 0:18:38.159 so clearly what you want to come out with is 0:18:38.280 --> 0:18:41.199 one called ad block. But you know, again, these are 0:18:41.280 --> 0:18:45.320 open source approaches. It's not like these these different developers 0:18:45.320 --> 0:18:47.840 are all getting into it in order to make book 0:18:47.840 --> 0:18:50.359 who's amount of money. It's stopped something that they felt 0:18:50.600 --> 0:18:54.959 was necessary to extend this functionality, and it's a passion thing, absolutely, 0:18:55.160 --> 0:18:59.320 So this is totally separate from the original ad block 0:18:59.520 --> 0:19:03.760 and also add block plus. And originally this was an 0:19:03.760 --> 0:19:07.480 extension for Google Chrome. And in fact, the reason why 0:19:07.520 --> 0:19:10.600 I said December eight, two thousand nine, is that's also 0:19:10.760 --> 0:19:15.000 the very first day that Google allowed extensions in Chrome, 0:19:15.400 --> 0:19:17.920 only in the beta version of Chrome. Actually at the time, 0:19:18.119 --> 0:19:20.919 it would roll out extensions for for Chrome as a 0:19:20.920 --> 0:19:23.800 as a whole a couple of months later. But you know, 0:19:24.040 --> 0:19:27.600 they made this announcement and gun Lash checked to see 0:19:27.600 --> 0:19:30.320 whether there was already an ad block for Chrome, and 0:19:30.400 --> 0:19:33.040 specifically ad block plus for Chrome, because he really liked 0:19:33.040 --> 0:19:35.960 that block plus, it was his favorite Firefox extension. And 0:19:36.000 --> 0:19:38.600 he saw that there wasn't and started coding one like 0:19:38.760 --> 0:19:42.080 on the spot. Yep, and so uh and now these 0:19:42.160 --> 0:19:45.480 days you can actually get it from multiple UH browsers, 0:19:45.520 --> 0:19:49.320 not just Google Chrome. Also there's a version for Safari 0:19:49.400 --> 0:19:52.200 and one for Opera. Ad Block Plus, by the way, 0:19:52.520 --> 0:19:57.640 also available on multiple browsers, including Chrome, Safari, UH as 0:19:57.640 --> 0:20:00.320 well as Internet Explorer and of course Firefox where it 0:20:00.359 --> 0:20:04.679 got started. So now we're covering pretty much all the basis, 0:20:04.720 --> 0:20:07.119 and some of these you know you're you're limited on choice, 0:20:07.240 --> 0:20:13.040 Like if you're using Opera, Uh hello, Now, I mean, 0:20:13.119 --> 0:20:15.240 I know that the Opera fans out there are big 0:20:15.280 --> 0:20:19.080 passionate fans. They love that browser. I just I think 0:20:19.080 --> 0:20:21.480 there might be three of you. But hey, if you're 0:20:21.480 --> 0:20:23.000 one of those three, write us and tell us why 0:20:23.000 --> 0:20:24.840 Opera is the best, because I would I would love 0:20:24.880 --> 0:20:27.280 to hear it. I've I've used it a couple of 0:20:27.280 --> 0:20:30.439 times and that's all I know about it. So at 0:20:30.480 --> 0:20:35.160 any rate, UH, you had ad block going under version 0:20:35.240 --> 0:20:38.680 numbers like two point oh, being the first one that's 0:20:38.720 --> 0:20:42.639 being released for actual use, So we're no longer at 0:20:42.640 --> 0:20:45.520 the zero point whatever. For ad block, it's it's on 0:20:45.560 --> 0:20:48.720 a totally different path. Again, it's not really connected to 0:20:48.760 --> 0:20:51.280 those other ones other than the fact that the end 0:20:51.320 --> 0:20:55.640 result is it blocks ads. Right, it's supposed to concept 0:20:55.800 --> 0:20:58.680 so it was written from an entirely separate bit of 0:20:58.720 --> 0:21:03.560 code exactly. So. Uh. One of my favorite stories about 0:21:03.600 --> 0:21:08.000 the the ad block extension is what happened on April 0:21:08.040 --> 0:21:14.280 Fool's Day two thousand twelve. So this day, the developer 0:21:14.320 --> 0:21:17.080 decided to do something playful by tweaking the code a 0:21:17.119 --> 0:21:19.520 little bit, so instead of just blocking ads so that 0:21:19.560 --> 0:21:23.160 you don't see them, it replaced ads with the Internet's 0:21:23.160 --> 0:21:27.000 favorite things, little cats. So it became cat block for 0:21:27.160 --> 0:21:30.200 a day. And in fact, it got so popular that 0:21:30.440 --> 0:21:32.639 and people loved it so much that they went ahead 0:21:32.680 --> 0:21:37.960 and added cat block as an as an optional add on. Yeah, 0:21:38.040 --> 0:21:41.560 you could subscribe and get cat block if you wanted 0:21:41.600 --> 0:21:45.199 everything to permanently everything, all the ads to permanently be 0:21:45.280 --> 0:21:47.879 switched over to cats, not not the entire and not 0:21:48.000 --> 0:21:51.760 just a cat browser. Although someone's got to have done that, 0:21:51.840 --> 0:21:57.040 I'm sure, right, I'm positive anyway, Yeah, so uh interesting 0:21:57.200 --> 0:22:01.800 yeah yeah. So. Features of good launches ad block are 0:22:01.880 --> 0:22:04.760 that it can it can block resources in Google Chrome 0:22:04.880 --> 0:22:08.800 so that the elements won't even load in the browser, right, um, 0:22:08.840 --> 0:22:13.520 and that includes uh, not just pictures but also flash elements. 0:22:13.520 --> 0:22:16.000 It can block ads and videos like if if YouTube 0:22:16.000 --> 0:22:18.560 plays an ad before a video, it can just wipe 0:22:18.600 --> 0:22:21.639 that from creation, right ye, at least as far as 0:22:21.880 --> 0:22:25.760 your concern. Um. The current version I believe is available 0:22:25.760 --> 0:22:28.960 in more than thirty languages. Yep, yep, it's got international 0:22:29.160 --> 0:22:32.159 capabilities built right into it. Also a note of interest 0:22:32.240 --> 0:22:36.800 in good Luck launched a successful Crown funded campaign to 0:22:37.160 --> 0:22:40.199 and and follow me closely here, kids create ads for 0:22:40.240 --> 0:22:43.080 ad block so that ad block can block more ads. 0:22:44.000 --> 0:22:47.359 I'm pretty sure you're talking about bob blah blaws law blogs. 0:22:49.560 --> 0:22:51.960 That's that's what it sounded like to me. It was 0:22:52.480 --> 0:22:56.480 that the campaign was to advertise his his service ad Block, 0:22:56.760 --> 0:22:59.720 because not that many people use it. I mean I 0:22:59.800 --> 0:23:02.800 think that as as of the campaign, he was saying 0:23:02.840 --> 0:23:06.359 that only three and ten Internet users had any kind 0:23:06.400 --> 0:23:09.399 of ad blocking software at all. Um. And so he 0:23:09.920 --> 0:23:12.680 thought that, you know, more people need to know about 0:23:12.680 --> 0:23:15.680