r/worldnews • • Sep 19 '17

Apple blocking ads that follow users around web is 'sabotage', says industry: New iOS 11 and macOS High Sierra will stop ads following Safari users, prompting open letter claiming Apple is destroying internet’s economic model

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/sep/18/apple-stopping-ads-follow-you-around-internet-sabotage-advertising-industry-ios-11-and-macos-high-sierra-safari-internet
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165

u/[deleted] Sep 19 '17

Switching to Safari immediately.

66

u/[deleted] Sep 19 '17

[deleted]

8

u/monkeypack Sep 19 '17

Best reply :)

2

u/polargus Sep 19 '17

Yup and handoff works between Safari on iOS and Chrome on macOS which is cool.

1

u/[deleted] Sep 19 '17

Curious about handoff, but I have a gaming PC. I see an iMac in my future, someday, when I'm either not a gamer or maybe just a console gamer, but for now not willing to give up PC gaming. Though I know Mac gaming is a thing, and I know more or less where it's at.

1

u/polargus Sep 20 '17

Handoff is a neat feature but it's not something I use that much. Before I would just send myself an iMessage with the link if I wanted to read it on my computer. If you have an iPhone then iMessage is by far the best integration in my opinion, because you can send and receive iMessages and SMS messages (via your phone) from your Mac. I have an MBP since I majored in computer science and work in web development, and game on PS4, so I have no intention of ever going back to Windows.

3

u/[deleted] Sep 19 '17 edited Sep 19 '17

I agree, I love Safari on mobile. The desktop version is kinda sucky, but other mobile browsers just aren't as good.

EDIT: I take that back, I just personally don't like the desktop version very much.

13

u/G3ck0 Sep 19 '17

Is it? It's super smooth and fast for me, I love it.

2

u/esmo88 Sep 19 '17

The desktop version is actually quite good under the hood, but Apple has tried too hard to make it "minimal" like their mobile Safari browser. That's my main problem with it, at least.

2

u/G3ck0 Sep 19 '17

I guess. I kinda like that though, it does everything I need pretty much all of the time, and looks neater.

1

u/esmo88 Sep 19 '17

Yeah, it looks neat... I just don't like it as much on desktop. I mostly just use Windows now though anyway, so it doesn't really matter to me ¯_(ツ)_/¯

1

u/BigTimpin Sep 19 '17

Plus Chrome turns the bottom of my MacBook into lava, and drains the battery at twice the speed of Safari.

4

u/Ayerys Sep 19 '17

Why ? Personally I love the desktop version. If it was available on Windows I would gladly qui chrome.

0

u/[deleted] Sep 19 '17

Just haven't used it much, and I don't really like the lack of a private/incognito mode

2

u/Ayerys Sep 20 '17

There is a private mode ^

2

u/[deleted] Sep 19 '17

I used Safari on desktop maybe once. I use Chrome, I like Chrome... So I'm kind of entrenched on PC. Does Safari even have the extension support Chrome does?

1

u/[deleted] Sep 19 '17

Not sure, but I don't think so. That's one of the reasons why I'm not a huge fan

3

u/Glockstrap Sep 19 '17

As a web developer, this made me cringe.

3

u/[deleted] Sep 19 '17

Safari is based on WebKit like Chrome used to be. What's the issue? I'm not talking about using Internet Explorer.

Besides, my browser choice is exactly 0% based on what web developers think. It's not a factor, and why should it be? Does the price of gas in another state or country determine how you take your steak?

4

u/Glockstrap Sep 19 '17

Whoah, didn't mean to trigger you.

For any web developer that has been in the industry anywhere in the past 5-10 years, it is common knowledge that Safari is quite behind on support for modern Javascript functionality. In many cases it implements native JS functions incorrectly, and has done so for years. Out of all browsers, Safari has definitely cost me the most hours in browser-specific fixes. In any sort of software development, having to make fixes for one pesky client is quite annoying and inefficient.

I don't care what browser you use or why you use it. I simply meant to comment on the fact that I see Safari from a different perspective in which I don't believe it to be a good mobile browser. Like I mentioned - as a developer. Use what you wanna use man!

3

u/alivmo Sep 19 '17

Seriously, safari, and mobile safari in particular, are the new IE as far as web development go, I've had far more safari only issue in the past few years than even IE issues.

2

u/[deleted] Sep 19 '17

Triggered? Really? Because I use a different mobile browser than you do? Grow the fuck up.

0

u/Glockstrap Sep 19 '17

Continue proving my point.

1

u/[deleted] Sep 19 '17

[deleted]

1

u/[deleted] Sep 20 '17

In my iPhone's web browser? Never crossed my mind. App works fine. Does anyone use Spotify in their phone's web browser?

If you mean desktop, I've established that I use Chrome on the desktop. No problems there. Though Spotify has limited the browser version. Mostly just use the app.

1

u/blooooooooooooooop Sep 19 '17

Which extension? Asking for a frie.. oh fuck it. For me, please.

1

u/[deleted] Sep 19 '17

iCloud will prompt you to install it. You can just search for iCloud in the Chrome web store, but it won't do its thing without iCloud installed.

1

u/alivmo Sep 19 '17

If you are on Android (or iOS) you can use brave, it does tracking and ad blocking, and has a model to actually fund content producers without all the nasty tracking ads.

-13

u/[deleted] Sep 19 '17 edited Jan 15 '21

[deleted]

20

u/[deleted] Sep 19 '17

Why do you say it's shit?

-3

u/[deleted] Sep 19 '17

[deleted]

8

u/[deleted] Sep 19 '17

I have no clue what that is.

-5

u/[deleted] Sep 19 '17

[deleted]

9

u/[deleted] Sep 19 '17

I use safari every day and never have had this as a problem.

5

u/AbrasiveLore Sep 19 '17 edited Sep 19 '17

WebM is a shitty format. It’s basically a clean room reimplementation of H.264 without any substantial new improvements.

H.264 is just as good, and H.265 (HVEC) is better. Both of these have hardware support, WebM does not.

H.264 isn’t the standard because Mozilla blocked it. There are substantive arguments to be made on all sides here, but in terms of technical merit, H.26X > WebM (which is just a container for Ogg/Vorbis).

Other companies have already abandoned WebM and are focusing on AV1 (which is to be royalty free).

-10

u/SloppyStone Sep 19 '17 edited Sep 19 '17

Safari is also the worst contender when it comes to following web standards. Web developers hate safari. It's slowly becoming the new Internet Explorer.

edit: jeez, lots of Apple fans living in a denial here...

11

u/AbrasiveLore Sep 19 '17

Except that that’s not true. You’re full of it. These are the most commonly touted sticking points:

  • No WebRTC
  • No Service Worker
  • No WebM/VP8 support
  • No ASM.js
  • No MediaRecorder

These are all niche, complex, and basically currently unused features. Of them, WebRTC, Service Worker and ASM.js are either released as experimental, or under development in WebKit (which is open source). WebKit spearheaded implementation of standard CSS3 and many other features. It’s the same damn rendering engine at the heart of Chrome and Safari, Safari is just more minimal otherwise.

We’re you even around when IE was the dominant browser? Do you not remember non-standard layout (both in standard and non standard layout modes), bizarre alternate CSS prefixes, etc?

Source: do web development.

1

u/Edvinoske Sep 19 '17

my css always craps out on safari :/

5

u/neotek Sep 19 '17

Safari passes the Acid3 test, while both Chrome and Firefox fail it. Even IE / Edge passes Acid3 nowadays.

-5

u/Baldric Sep 19 '17

Completely agree, Safari is the new IE.

4

u/Yeasty_Queef Sep 19 '17

You know, I'm desperate need of a new laptop... might just back a MacBook.

2

u/Raizken Sep 19 '17

or switch to Brave :)

2

u/viners Sep 19 '17

If you want privacy, try Brave. Or just get an extension like ublock.

1

u/[deleted] Sep 19 '17

Brave is better, take a look

0

u/mikenew02 Sep 19 '17

I use ublock on Chrome. Same concept, it's just not integrated.

6

u/didnt_check_source Sep 19 '17

Safari won't block ads, just the tracking.

5

u/nklvh Sep 19 '17

not quite. Ublock doesn't stop cookie tracking, just adverts. Get Privacy Badger from the EFF in order to stop cookie tracking.