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Google move signals the death of hated Flash advertising
Yahoo Finance ^ | 9-2-2015 | Aaron Pressman

Posted on 09/02/2015 2:17:05 PM PDT by Citizen Zed

The day that Steve Jobs prophesied back in 2010 in one of his most famous screeds is finally upon us -- the death of Adobe's Flash web format.

Beloved by advertisers, hated by users, security experts and pretty much everyone else, Flash is still all too common, especially on media sites. One survey found 90% of all so-called rich media ads -- the ones with videos or other moving elements -- relied on Flash in the first quarter.

But starting today, Google's Chrome, the browser of choice for a majority of desktop users, will be effectively cutting off Flash advertising at the knees, ignoring those intrusive, battery-sucking, fan-spinning, auto-play videos and banners. (Now people will have to click on the ads to see them in Flash.)

Google's move follows a similar anti-Flash play by Mozilla, the third-most-used browser, and Amazon's recent decision to ban Flash-based ads from its ad network. Microsoft and its No. 2 browser, Internet Explorer, have long had a complicated relationship with Flash (though the company's new Edge browser includes built-in support for the hated format).

After years of sticking with Flash for desktop browsers, the big software firms and advertisers are suddenly getting scared straight by the prospect of ad blocking. People have been increasingly turning to browser add-ons that block advertising (and the creepy tracking and security vulnerabilities that come along with many of the ads). By preventing people from seeing ads, blocking software will cut off $22 billion in advertising revenue this year, up 41% from last year, according to a recent estimate from PageFair and Adobe.

Apple, which never allowed Flash on the iPhone, has also stoked tremendous interest in ad blocking with its decision to allow the same kinds of blocking add-ons on the next version of its mobile browser.

(Excerpt) Read more at finance.yahoo.com ...


TOPICS: Chit/Chat
KEYWORDS:
Flash crash?
1 posted on 09/02/2015 2:17:05 PM PDT by Citizen Zed
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To: Citizen Zed

Anybody else that does NOT like the new Google logo?
It seems ‘dumbed down’,& stripped of individualism.
I’m not afraid of serifs, nor am I even distressed by the mixing of fonts.
I predict they eventually go back to the original logo, or find a way to incorporate it for today’s user.


2 posted on 09/02/2015 2:24:00 PM PDT by lee martell
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To: Citizen Zed

Yahoo is one of the biggest users of flash.


3 posted on 09/02/2015 2:24:09 PM PDT by minnesota_bound
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To: Citizen Zed

Conservative news sites drive me up the wall with all of their damn Flash junk. I’ve stopped visiting most because I’m sick of them slowing my browser to a crawl.


4 posted on 09/02/2015 2:28:03 PM PDT by VanDeKoik
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To: Citizen Zed

Does that include those maddening side loading ads on Breitbart?


5 posted on 09/02/2015 2:31:31 PM PDT by Wiser now (Socialism does not eliminate poverty, it guarantees it.)
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To: Citizen Zed

Good


6 posted on 09/02/2015 2:49:16 PM PDT by smokingfrog ( sleep with one eye open (<o> ---)
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To: Citizen Zed

The problem isn’t even really the flash ads because those can be easily blocked. The real problem is it seems like the bulk of corporate websites have used flash for programming nearly all of the interactive functions of their web sites.

By tossing flash, chrome has pretty much rendered half the internet non-functional. Go Chrome!


7 posted on 09/02/2015 2:55:49 PM PDT by catnipman (Cat Nipman: Vote Republican in 2012 and only be called racist one more time!)
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To: lee martell
Anybody else that does NOT like the new Google logo?

Man, I hear ya! The new Google logo is absolutely terrible. It looks like those Sesame Street letters that pop-up in the corner.

8 posted on 09/02/2015 3:09:31 PM PDT by Extremely Extreme Extremist (Bush [the 90s rock band] for POTUS 2016!!!)
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To: Citizen Zed
ads? what are these ads of which they speak??? i haven't seen one in at least ten years... AD Block Plus baby
9 posted on 09/02/2015 3:10:16 PM PDT by Chode (Stand UP and Be Counted, or line up and be numbered - *DTOM* -w- NO Pity for the LAZY)
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To: Citizen Zed

So flash is unacceptable to google but their adaware on 80% of websites using unique machine identifiers and tracking everywhere you go on the Internet is okay. Forgive me if I do not stand up and cheer.


10 posted on 09/02/2015 3:55:11 PM PDT by cyberstoic
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To: Citizen Zed

My browser often got really slow when I opened several web sites. Then I found how to disable Adobe Flash and it was like a new world!


11 posted on 09/02/2015 4:58:34 PM PDT by Ruy Dias de Bivar
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