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Google Reverses Its Decision to Ban Ad Blocking Apps from the Google Play Store
- AlexandrB 11y agoGoogle is set to launch their own mobile HTML replacement (AMP[1]) where ad blocking may be difficult or impossible. Allowing ad blocking apps on the Play Store would encourage publishers to switch to AMP. [1] http://adage.com/article/digital/google-amp-launch-looms-search-engine-scores-follow/302599/ http://adage.com/article/digital/google-amp-launch-looms-sea...
- 542458 11y agoWow - thats the first I've heard of AMP. I've gotta say, I can't say I'm comfortable with the idea...
- igordebatur 11y agoWhy not? The current HTML standard and downloadable apps is so oldschool, AMP looks like a leap forward.
- yareally 11y agoThe concept behind amp is also quite "old school". https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wireless_Markup_Language https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wireless_Markup_Language
- igordebatur 11y agoYep, but with Google, there is a big chance of success. The technology itself was not enough, it needs an execution, an example for others to follow, like Google did with material design
- acdha 11y agoAMP doesn't do anything you couldn't do just by shipping an optimized website. The only difference is that you're outsourcing a lot of the experience to Google, hoping that better ad sales will balance out the loss of control.
- jchendy 11y agoThere's also a difference from the user perspective. Presumably Google will indicate AMP content in the search results page (with an icon, etc), which will let users know the page will open "instantly." If you build a great mobile site yourself, users will never know that until they actually load your page. I can definitely see myself being more likely to open a result that I know will be performant.
- Zaephyr 11y agoGiven that recent reporting has shown that ads and tracking are the biggest culprits in page load times, AMP appears to be solving an ad/tracking problem more than a web page problem.
- acdha 11y agoThat certainly could be the case, although I'd imagine Google will tread lightly in that regard to avoid anti-trust concerns. They've already taken a policy of using load speed as a quality signal and I wouldn't be surprised if they simply stuck with metrics like that where AMP will do well without showing any sign of favoritism.
- mtgx 11y agoAMP is open source. The problems begin when companies do indeed just let Google handle everything, like they've done with Google Analytics.
- deleted 11y ago[deleted]
- dheera 11y agoRight, I would have much wished it provided access to dropping in native Android components (even simple things, such as a ViewPager) into a webpage. Implementing a simulated ViewPager in HTML5 including swipe gestures is a horrible CSS and JavaScript mess, a waste of resources, clunky, a choppy experience on anything but the most high-end phones, and is very easy to become inconsistent if your implementation of said gestures differs slightly from someone else's.
- BrandonSmith 11y agoLet's dispel once and for all with this fiction that Apple/Google/Facebook doesn't know what they're doing. They know exactly what they're doing. Apple/Google/Facebook is undertaking an effort to change content creation and consumption, to make their own platform less like the rest of the Web for their own gain.
- digbyloftus 11y agoLet's dispel once and for all with this fiction that Apple/Google/Facebook doesn't know what they're doing. They know exactly what they're doing. Apple/Google/Facebook is undertaking an effort to change content creation and consumption, to make their own platform less like the rest of the Web for their own gain.
- rpgmaker 11y agoI think the joke got lost on the HN crowd. +1
- tyre 11y agoFor those who got lost, this is a play on US Republican presidential candidate Marco Rubio at the last debate. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u9OZ8xHTX7c https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u9OZ8xHTX7c
- fwn 11y agoI thought the joke is that we behave like if we were on Reddit - except we aren't.
- mercer 11y agoI'm sorry to be a bit negative, but is there any way we can keep these things on Reddit? It's not that I don't enjoy it; my late-night Reddit session was all the more enjoyable yesterday because of Rubio and what came from that. But I specifically like Hacker News because it generally avoids or downvotes this kind of stuff. I just don't see how making HN more like Reddit is good for anyone :-/.
- mcrae 11y agoWhat about AMP prevents ad blocking? Wouldn't blocking be trivial since all ads are in a special AMP/HTML element (<amp-ad>)?
- AlexandrB 11y agoYou may be right, and I must admit ignorance on the technical side of the format. But the intent seems to be clear [1]: > A goal of the Accelerated Mobile Pages Project is to ensure effective ad monetization on the mobile web while embracing a user-centric approach. [1] https://www.ampproject.org/docs/support/faqs.html#how-will-advertising-work-on-accelerated-mobile-pages https://www.ampproject.org/docs/support/faqs.html#how-will-a...
- lost_name 11y agoAMP is just a subset of HTML/JS/CSS, but there is also an AMP CDN and the implication that you agree to allow your content to be cached by third parties. I think this means that the agreement concerning the AMP CDN says you don't use bad ads, thus discouraging ad blocking.
- greggman 11y agoDoes "cached by 3rd parties" = "serve from same origin so ads appears to be content" ?
- lost_name 11y agoWell, it might. The FAQ only says this: https://www.ampproject.org/docs/support/faqs.html#who-will-be-able-to-use-accelerated-mobile-pages https://www.ampproject.org/docs/support/faqs.html#who-will-b... By using the AMP format, content producers are making the content in AMP files available to be crawled, indexed & displayed (subject to the robots exclusion protocol) and cached by third parties. https://www.ampproject.org/docs/support/faqs.html#how-do-accelerated-mobile-pages-work https://www.ampproject.org/docs/support/faqs.html#how-do-acc... In addition, AMP files can be cached in the cloud in order to reduce the time content takes to get a user’s mobile device. By using the AMP format, content producers are making the content in AMP files available to be cached by third parties. Under this type of framework, publishers continue to control their content, but platforms can easily cache or mirror the content for optimal delivery speed to users. Google has stated that it will provide a cache that can be used by anyone at no cost, and all AMPs will be cached by Google’s cache. Other companies may build their own cache as well. I imagine that means Google will be caching AMP pages in full, so if your search turns up an AMP page, it will be served from Google's CDN. Presumably, it will be more difficult to determine what is an ad if it's all cached, but maybe ads are an exception to cache -- you can't target a static ad very well.
- deleted 11y ago[deleted]
- shostack 11y agoBeyond that, AMP conveniently gives Google all of the data from all of the ads running through an AMP-configured site, whereas before they might only get data from stuff hitting their ad network or if the publisher was using DFP (and only a fragment of that from advertisers using DCM). It is a massive data play on Google's part against competing display inventory networks/exchanges, and ALSO happens to be pretty beneficial for end users from a speed standpoint. Pretty genius business move on their end.
- NiftyFifty 11y agoNow if Google would just reverse their blocking of applications that allow us to limit certain what apps have access to on my phone for privacy concerns, then I'd be happy. Might switch over to a Blackphone 2 just for this reason alone.
- Conlectus 11y agoThis is already part of the built-in permissions management in the latest version of android, no?
- NiftyFifty 11y ago"In case you haven't heard ... I'm kind of a big deal."
- bpg_92 11y agoAdds are not the problem, the problem is the problem is the quantity of Adware. I whitelist the pages and creators I want to support because I know they make a living out of that. Removing add blockers won't fix the problem, removing adware will.