iOS ad blockers might be messing with your online shopping
Ads pay the bills for a lot of sites (including this one). But they can also be intrusive and with some of the tracking abilities available out there, a bit creepy. To combat some of that and to speed up page loads Apple introduced a Content Blocker feature for mobile Safari that allows third-party developers to create extensions that are “a fast and efficient way to block cookies, images, resources, pop-ups, and other content.” Apparently people really hate advertisements on the internet because ad blockers have rocketed to the top of the paid app section of the App Store. But the side effect of at least a few of these apps is that it screws up shopping on the online versions of Sears and Walmart. Fortune talked to the developer of Crystal, an app that’s messing with some shopping sites. After they informed him about what was happening, he said he would remove the sites from a blacklist. But, during our test, we were still unable to get to some product pages on Walmart.com to load. So, we decided to test some more online shops to how much commerce is being thwarted by a hatred of ads.
As expected the online Apple store worked flawlessly. But it wasn’t the only ecommerce site to keep plugging along ready to take your money even with an ad blocker installed. Staples.com worked just fine and I almost ended up with a new shredder. Sears.com worked, but we were presented with a pop to take a survey which seems like the kind of thing Crystal should block. Mega-site Allibaba worked great as did Amazon. Target on the other hand wouldn’t load individual product pages or the cart. Macy’s worked but also loaded a survey pop-up. Buying a Nexus device on the Google store seemed to be going well until it was time to check out and everything came to a screeching halt because you can’t get to the cart. Crystal isn’t the only content blocker that stops users from buying stuff.
Another ad blocking app featured in the top paid charts, Purify Blocker, while offering more options (like whitelisting sites) had nearly the identical effect on the shopping sites. Sites like Amazon worked flawlessly, while Walmart and Target crashed and burned. Actually, with Purify Blocker some of Target’s pages presented a blank screen. Even after whitelisting the page, it still made shopping on Target.com impossible because nothing would load. On the plus side, I was able to get to the Google Store checkout page with a Nexus device even though that I would be foolish to buy anything branded Nexus at this point.
So if you’re trying to buy a new sweater or phone online from a retail site and nothing seems to work, it’s probably a good idea to turn off that content blocker you added to Safari.
Source: Fortune
The EPA is cracking down hard on auto industry shenanigans
The smogging scandal that has enveloped Volkswagen has also left the Environmental Protection Agency with something of a black eye. So even though the EPA failed to catch on to VW’s games this time, the agency is damn sure not about to let it happen again. Like, ever. “The Volkswagen violations before us now make it clear, we need to adapt and step up our oversight,” Janet McCabe, acting administrator in the EPA’s Office of Air and Radiation, said during a press conference.
The EPA outlined its plan in a strongly worded letter to car manufacturers on Friday. Those plans include spot checking vehicles for the so-called “defeat devices” in addition to the normal rounds of smog testing. The agency did not specify how it would actually do that, given that these devices are really just lines of computer code scattered through the 10 million or so that modern vehicles require to operate.
What’s more, the EPA won’t be relying solely on vehicles provided by manufacturers for its baseline standards testing anymore. It will now borrow specific models from private citizens and rental companies as well. The agency also plans to redeploy some of its 23 mobile emissions testing platforms, the system that West Virginia University researchers used to discover the testing scam in the first place. Almost all of these platforms are currently being used to test big rigs and other heavy duty vehicles for NOx emissions — even though these heavier vehicles actually account for 98 percent of nitric-oxide emissions.
Of course Elon Musk, founder of electric car manufacturer Tesla, didn’t miss the opportunity to throw shade on his fossil fuel-powered rivals. Take a look at his remarks in the video below, at the 1:12 mark.
[Image Credit: Getty]
Via: Autoblog
Source: EPA
The EPA is cracking down hard on auto industry shenanigans
The smogging scandal that has enveloped Volkswagen has also left the Environmental Protection Agency with something of a black eye. So even though the EPA failed to catch on to VW’s games this time, the agency is damn sure not about to let it happen again. Like, ever. “The Volkswagen violations before us now make it clear, we need to adapt and step up our oversight,” Janet McCabe, acting administrator in the EPA’s Office of Air and Radiation, said during a press conference.
The EPA outlined its plan in a strongly worded letter to car manufacturers on Friday. Those plans include spot checking vehicles for the so-called “defeat devices” in addition to the normal rounds of smog testing. The agency did not specify how it would actually do that, given that these devices are really just lines of computer code scattered through the 10 million or so that modern vehicles require to operate.
What’s more, the EPA won’t be relying solely on vehicles provided by manufacturers for its baseline standards testing anymore. It will now borrow specific models from private citizens and rental companies as well. The agency also plans to redeploy some of its 23 mobile emissions testing platforms, the system that West Virginia University researchers used to discover the testing scam in the first place. Almost all of these platforms are currently being used to test big rigs and other heavy duty vehicles for NOx emissions — even though these heavier vehicles actually account for 98 percent of nitric-oxide emissions.
Of course Elon Musk, founder of electric car manufacturer Tesla, didn’t miss the opportunity to throw shade on his fossil fuel-powered rivals. Take a look at his remarks in the video below, at the 1:12 mark.
[Image Credit: Getty]
Via: Autoblog
Source: EPA
Tell us how you really feel about iOS 9
Sure, new iPhones are being released today, but plenty of you have already made the jump to iOS 9. And, while we loved its refinements enough to call it “a must-have update,” we’d like to know how it’s faring out in the wild with our readers. Head on over to the Engadget database page to let us know what you think of all the improvements, including smarter Siri features, Slide Over multitasking and the Apple News app. Then, we’ll feature some of your more eloquent and astute comments in a future post.
Comments have been turned off for this post; please go to the iOS 9 page to write a review. If you don’t have a database account, sign up here!
Amazon Echo connected home control reaches Insteon lights
The Amazon Echo just got a bit more useful with today’s announcement that it would be integrated with Insteon’s connected lights, dimmers and relays. In addition to the expected on and off capabilities, devices and lights can be part of five-item groups and dimmed with voice command. For example: “Alexa, set living room lamp to 50 percent.” The Echo currently doesn’t support Insteon’s Scenes feature with its ability to combine an unlimited about of devices quiet yet. But, the company says that adding that capability is a high priority. Also, Echo integration will work with the company’s latest regular Hub but not with the Hub Pro which was built specifically for HomeKit. The Echo already supports Philips’ Hue, Belkin’s WeMo, HomeKit and Samsung’s SmartThings. By adding Insteon, the voice-activated tube from Amazon is becoming more and more sleeper device in the connected home.
Source: Insteon
Twitch goes full HTML5 in 2016, revamps private messages
Twitch is revamping its live-streaming systems in 2016, starting with a rollout of HTML5 video players and controls in Q2 2016. This means Twitch is officially ditching Flash. Second, Twitch’s private-message program, Whisper, is getting an update that pops out personal messages so users don’t miss them. Plus, these conversations will transfer from web to mobile and vice versa. Twitch will also allow streamers to create custom thumbnails for their past broadcasts and highlights. All of this info comes courtesy of today’s TwitchCon 2015 keynote address.
Bugs and software fragmentation spoils Samsung’s premium devices
When Samsung released the Galaxy Note 4 and Note Edge last year, both devices screamed premium and were laden with features beyond all other phones. Out of the box the devices ran Android Kitkat 4.4 which was rather stable. Since then Google has released Android Lollipop 5.0 with Material Design but that release was laden with bugs like memory leaks and terrible battery life.
Due to the fragmentation of Android, many of the most expensive Android devices, from less than a year ago, are still dealing with issues because they are still running Android 5.0. Even though Samsung was testing 5.1 back in the summer, very few Note 4 devices got the upgrade to 5.1. I happen to be one of those AT&T Note Edge users who has been dealing with incredibly poor battery life, memory leaks, display issues, and laggy performance when users of almost most other flagships are running 5.1 and are not having issues. When I ask AT&T customer support for help they tell me they have no time frame but to continue to look for updates. (Thanks AT&T!)
Fragmentation is a huge issue for manufacturers and only a couple have made a firm commitment to get updates out within a reasonable time frame, which Samsung is not one of those companies. They make deals with carriers to further customize their software, and in my case I have over 20 apps that I cannot uninstall because of AT&T. Those apps and customizations add another layer of fragmentation to my updates.
If Samsung wants to fix their sales and stop laying people off from poor sales, they need to stop selling out to the carriers as well as focus on getting updates out to their phones more quickly. Sure I bought the Note Edge for $945 without tax, which was my fault for not knowing Samsung and AT&T was going to leave me hanging, but shouldn’t customers expect their phones to work for more than a year without major bugs? I almost feel as if those of us dealing with bugs should get a manufacturer’s replacement device of choice because our software does not work. My Note Edge battery life lasts an incredibly short five hours and that isn’t five hours of on screen time. That is five hours of being disconnected from the plug.
By the time most of us power Note users get Android 5.1, the rest of the Android community will be on Marshmallow 6.0.
If you bought a Note 5, S6, S6 Edge or S6 Edge plus I sure hope Samsung gives you updates after the first six months. Until Samsung makes a commitment to pushing updates out on a timely basis, my future phones will only be pure Android Nexus devices. I would never buy an iPhone ever again, but at least when an update is published, every phone/tablet within the last three years has access to it.
Most of you readers here are super users and would tell people like me to flash their devices. For a flagship device, I shouldn’t be forced to flash it and void the warranty just for it to perform normally.
Are you a 2015 Galaxy S6 or Note 5 owner? Are you worried about not getting updates?
Or if you do happen to be one of the lucky Note 4 and Note Edge users on 5.1, is it running smooth for you?
I posed the question to my colleagues here at AG ,”If you didn’t switch phones so quickly, do you think you would be okay with fragmentation?” Out of all of the writers only one, Benton, has used a phone for two years and he has a Moto X(2013) which is one of the phones to get updates on a regular basis. Personally I do not think most Android bloggers would be okay with fragmentation if they used their phones like normal people and hung onto them for two years.
Let me know how you feel in the comments.
The post Bugs and software fragmentation spoils Samsung’s premium devices appeared first on AndroidGuys.
ICYMI: Farming indoors, realistic robot baby study and more
Today on In Case You Missed It: University of California San Diego researchers are using the creepiest baby robot you have ever seen (seriously) to compare how human babies get parents to respond with loving facial expressions. Canada is overhauling food production with LED lights, recycled water and conveyor belts in a way that could well be replicated in spaces across the U.S. And in a moment that makes us pause to marvel at technology, Bluetooth connected electrodes were used to help a paraplegic man walk for the first time since being injured.
If you enjoy virtual reality news, the full clip of a VR experience that mimics being an animal in a forest is worth the watch.
If you come across any interesting videos, we’d love to see them. Just tweet us with the #ICYMI hashtag @engadget or @mskerryd.
US will probe Google for anti-competitive Android behavior
The FTC and US Justice Department have launched an antitrust investigation into Google’s Android operating system, according to Bloomberg. US regulators reportedly decided to launch the inquiry after meeting with rival tech companies, which complained that Google limits their access to Android in favor of its own apps. The US move follows a similar investigation into the Android platform in Europe, where regulators are looking into Google’s search and bundling of apps like Gmail, Chrome and Play. The concern is that it creates a monopoly and crowds out rival apps like Microsoft’s Outlook or Nokia’s Here mapping.
Microsoft, of course, was itself dinged heavily in EU for pre-installing Internet Explorer on Windows 7 without giving consumers other browser options. Google’s situation with Android is similar, given that it owns over 50 percent of the smartphone market. However, consumers have realistic options to Android, like iOS, Windows Phone and Blackberry, so according to US law, regulators may not have a case. For now, the FTC and DoJ have reached a “clearance agreement,” that lets the FTC take charge of the query.
Two large regulatory bodies — the FTC and European Commission — are now investigating Google’s Android practices.
The proceedings, of course, may never amount to anything. In fact, the FTC launched a similar probe into Google’s search business in 2013, but elected to not bring any charges. However, the FTC was heavily criticized for that decision, especially after it accidentally posted a document leaking the names of the complainants in the case. This time, however, two large regulatory bodies — the FTC and European Commission — are investigating Google at the same time (though not exactly for the same thing). It could get awkward if they arrive at different decisions. There’s no word about the investigation yet from Google or the FTC, but we’ve reached out for more information.
Source: Bloomberg
Android Marshmallow update for the Nexus 5 and Nexus 6 should arrive Oct 5th
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Google is holding an event on September 29th, and while most of the attention will be on the new Nexus smartphones, the Nexus 5X and Nexus 6P, owners of the older Nexus devices are mostly just interested in when they’ll be getting the next version of Android, Android Marshmallow. Thanks to Canadian mobile provider, Telus, we might have a tentative date for the Android Marshmallow update for the Nexus 5 and Nexus 6 – October 5th. The information was available for all to see on the Telus forum earlier today, but has since been taken down – naturally, we have a screenshot of the information in case you don’t believe us:
If that’s the timing of a carrier-based update to Android Marshmallow, the update to unlocked devices should be even faster – whether it will be available as soon as Google says the word on September 29th seems doubtful, but it does seem like it will only be a matter of days. It’s also important to keep in mind that carrier updates take a few weeks even if they start quite early, so don’t get your hopes up too high just yet.
What do you think about the timetable for the Android Marshmallow update for the Nexus 5 and Nexus 6? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
Source: Telus via Android Police
The post Android Marshmallow update for the Nexus 5 and Nexus 6 should arrive Oct 5th appeared first on AndroidSPIN.
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