
Safari 5’s ‘Reader’ Nudges Web Publishers to App Store - mattmaroon
http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2010/06/safari-5s-ad-blocker-nudges-web-publishers-to-app-store
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eddieplan9
Last time I checked, adBlock is a welcomed thing and one of the most popular
among Firefox and Chrome extensions. Now apple did it, and everybody is crying
and said this would hurt publishers. We actually are only seeing this "Reader"
feature in the desktop Safari, not MobileSafari (at least for now). There is
also no App Store for desktop. So why this is nudging web publisher to App
Store since there is no "Reader" on iPad/iPhone and no App Store on your
desktop?

I don't see this too different from the "Popup Blocker" feature. Remember the
days when popup window was the standard way to display ads. Now pretty much
every browser comes with popup blocker.

It's just time to change how you build and place your advertisement. Don't be
annoying, otherwise, there will be people rushing to get rid of the things
people hate to please the users. There is no law against it.

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masklinn
> Now apple did it, and everybody is crying and said this would hurt
> publishers.

Not even that, Reader is not an ad blocker it's a reformatter, it's a built-in
Readability and nothing more. And you have to see the page before you can even
_trigger_ readability, so really it's not like it's disappearing your ads.

> I don't see this too different from the "Popup Blocker" feature. Remember
> the days when popup window was the standard way to display ads. Now pretty
> much every browser comes with popup blocker.

In fact, Reader is much less anti-ads than popup blocking ever was.

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aufreak2
I downloaded Safari 5 more or less as a routine update, but I must say I'm
very pleasantly surprised by its speed and Reader. S5 rocks on Snow Leopard.

That said, S5 is still plagued by some of the problems I had with earlier
versions - such as "completed 7 of 8 items" ... (I'm waiting), not logging in
to my univ's network, etc. So Chrome it is, for now.

~~~
logic
If you enjoy Reader in Safari, may I suggest the Readability Redux extension
for Chrome?

[https://chrome.google.com/extensions/detail/jggheggpdocamnea...](https://chrome.google.com/extensions/detail/jggheggpdocamneaacmfoipeehedigia)

(It's basically a port of arc90's Readability to Chrome.) In a perfect world,
it would do something similar to the Reader-esque lightbox styling, but it's
proven to be pretty usable for me regardless.

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jrockway
This is a way of sticking it to Google that I can really get behind. Does it
also block the Analytics tracking bug?

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BenS
Also a way of sticking it to web publishers who collect roughly 70% of the
money from google-placed ads and 100% of direct ads

~~~
jrockway
The sooner people actually ask me for money instead of force me to be
brainwashed by people selling sugar water, the better.

~~~
xavoy
Believe me when I say that you are _by far_ the minority. _By Far_. I run a
web site with over 16,000 registered users. They use the web site regularly
and I get countless emails from people telling me how much the site has helped
them. And yet, less than 2% pay for a cheap upgrade which gives them a access
to a heap of new features and some amazing downloads. I've had one donation
_ever_ (in over five years) and every time I ask for support or offer
membership upgrades I loose massive amounts of email subscribers.

Whilst it's true that my marketing skills (or lack thereof) are partially to
blame for these reasonably pathetic results, it's also compelling empirical
evidence that you are in the minority (less than 2%).

If it wasn't for the on site advertising, which barely covers hosting costs, I
would have shut the site down years ago. It eats up way too much of my time as
it is.

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jrockway
Nobody is going to pay for something they can get for free. You set an upper
bound on the price when you gave your content away.

My guess is that the porn companies, which make you buy annoying
subscriptions, make a lot more money that way than they would with some Google
text ads. It's because they don't set the price at $0 and then ask for any
amount of money. The set the price at $30 and ask for $30. Don't have $30? No
soup for you.

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xavoy
A lot of what I'm selling is not given for free. And the point wasn't my lack
of success, but the fact that you said you'd give your money to someone who
asked for it.

I'm just saying that even if this was true (which, based on what you just
said, is not the case) that you would be the minority by a long, long way.

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bhiggins
I find the timing hilarious. Will Safari's Readability clone also block iAds?
Can we get an add-on to block out annoying iAds in app store apps? Somehow I
doubt it.

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chc
Given that it is a feature of desktop Safari, I don't see how it could
possibly affect a program on your iPhone.

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bhiggins
Yes... exactly.

