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Google's fast mobile pages coming (with ads) in early 2016
Google revealed the "AMP" endeavor last month to accelerate mobile page-loading times, the slowness of which is a huge user bone of contention. It now says the fast-loading mobile pages will hit search results by early next year, and also gave more details about the project's raison d'etre: ads. The list of partners supporting the effort include its own AdSense, Outbrain and AOL, Engadget's parent company. The AMP project will cut mobile data use and wait times, but Google's not just being altruistic -- it's trying to curb ad-blockers, which heavily impact the company's ad revenue. Apple recently gave ad-blockers a big boost when it revealed it would support them for Safari on iOS 9.
Google Fiber starts testing targeted, trackable TV ads
For all of the other things it does, Google is still a company that makes a ton of money from advertising, and now it's turning that focus to TV. This week the company announced that it's testing a new kind of ad-tracking system for Google Fiber TV customers in Kansas City. Just like any other local cable company, they'll air during ad breaks reserved for local advertisers (that crappy ad for the car dealership around the corner that comes on during The Walking Dead). Where it's different is that advertisers will only pay for the number of ads actually shown, as monitored by the Fiber set-top boxes. Google can insert fresh ads in DVR'd programming too, and target viewers based on their viewing history. Users can opt-out of the viewing history tracking, but that's it.
Healthcare.gov stops passing private details on to advertisers
A few days ago an Associated Press report revealed that the US Government's affordable care portal Healthcare.gov was passing detailed information on to third parties. Now the AP tests reveal those links have been scaled back. Previously, the Eelectronic Freedom Foundation discovered that the site was passing on details like age, pregnancy status, smoking status and more via the URL, which would bypass even protections like enabling Do Not Track in your browser. The data that embedded services like DoubleClick, ChartBeat, Google or Twitter received was apparently anonymous and supposedly barred from use for business interests, but it theoretically could be matched up with other information to identify and target users with ads. The Obama Administration responded to the initial complaints by saying the data was intended for use to improve the website itself, but so far hasn't commented on the changes. For concerned users, the EFF recommends using a tool like its Privacy Badger to block websites from sending your personal information on to third parties.
America's healthcare portal is sharing your personal data with ad agencies
Enabling millions of people to access vital healthcare services they otherwise couldn't have afforded is a very noble cause, but it looks as if those behind the service haven't been playing fair with your private information. A report by the AP has revealed that Healthcare.gov, the Government's affordable care portal, shares some of your personal data with a whole raft of marketing agencies. The action has been independently verified by the Electronic Frontier Foundation, which has found that a person's location, annual income and smoking habits are all being freely distributed.
Google set to launch HTML5 development tool with ad integration in coming months
That little ol' company down in Mountain View is cooking up a new HTML5 design tool, according to a recent blog post by the Goog's advertising arm, DoubleClick. Simply dubbed Google Web Designer, it's ostensibly designed for creative professionals to create "engaging web content" and is integrated with DoubleClick Studio and AdMob right out of the gate. Its advertising roots aside however, it looks like anyone with the proper knowhow could use it to create a web page, similar to the much-neglected Google Sites. Of course, we won't know much more about the tool until it launches, which is said to be "in the coming months."
Google announces Brand Activate Initiative for online advertising, hopes to establish new standard
When Google makes a new move in advertising, people are bound to take notice, and it's made a fairly big one today. It's announced what it's dubbed the Brand Activate Initiative at the Ad Age Digital Conference today, something that initially consists of two new services for advertisers: Active View and Active GRP. The latter is a so-called gross rating point metric that's modeled to some extent on TV advertising, while Active View is something that Google hopes will become a standard for all online advertising. In short, it measures both how long an ad remains on a person's screen and how much of it is viewed -- if at least 50 percent of it is viewable for at least one second it's counted as an viewed impression. Both of those options are rolling out today, but they're apparently just the beginning of the broader initiative. You can see Google itself explain it in the video after the break, and on its DoubleClick blog linked below.
WSJ: Safari loophole lets Google track Apple users through web ads
Stanford researcher Jonathan Mayer has discovered a curious Safari loophole that allows Google to track a user's browsing activity via cookie-laced web ads. As it turns out, Apple's browser normally accepts cookies from sites that a user visits, but automatically blocks them from third-party advertisers. As Mayer found out, though, advertisers can still circumvent this filter by enticing users to interact with ads in different ways. In the case of Google, the search giant embedded a "+1" button on ads produced with its DoubleClick technology, as part of an opt-in feature for Google+ users. If a user was logged in to Google+ and had agreed to see +1 ad displays, he or she would have a cookie planted on their device, thanks to a system that sent invisible forms from Apple computers or iPhones. This made it seem as if a user actually submitted the form intentionally, thereby convincing Safari to allow cookies. These cookies were only temporary, with shelf lives of up to 24 hours, but they could open the door for many more, since Safari allows sites to plant them after having received access to install at least one.After the Wall Street Journal notified Google of this loophole, the company promptly disabled it and duly apologized, adding that it didn't realize that its +1 system would plant tracking cookies on a user's device. "We didn't anticipate that this would happen, and we have now started removing these advertising cookies from Safari browsers," Google's Rachel Whetstone explained. "It's important to stress that, just as on other browsers, these advertising cookies do not collect personal information." An Apple spokesperson, meanwhile, issued the following statement: "We are aware that some third parties are circumventing Safari's privacy features and we are working to put a stop to it."
Clever iPhone 4S tricks: Look at your own ear (Updated)
Have you ever wanted to look in your own ear? Or at the nape of your neck? Or behind furniture? If you own an iPhone 4S and an Apple TV, you can wirelessly beam the picture from your camera to your large screen TV. Just enable AirPlay. Double-click the Home button, swipe to the right twice, select your Apple TV as your AirPlay destination and enable Mirroring. Then, click Home and run the camera app. You'll be able to see what the camera sees because its preview mirrors to your home TV, even when your arm is stuck behind a dresser. You can also point the iPhone camera (front or back) at your ear, your nose, or your back -- letting you see through your phone by watching your TV. You may want to use a flashlight along with your phone as you explore darker parts of your house, like under your couch when looking for spare change or that missing remote. Update: TUAW reader Sam W suggests mounting the iPhone onto a remote controlled truck for full-house surveillance.
WSJ: Google 'agonizing' over user privacy, 'vision document' suggests selling data
It was just last week that the Wall Street Journal reported Microsoft's decision to limit private browsing in IE8 as part of its ongoing series on online privacy, and today the focus is on Google, which is said be "agonizing" over the balance between user privacy and advertising opportunities. It's a long piece that you should read in full, but essentially the WSJ claims that Larry Page and Sergey Brin have gone from strictly forbidding any efforts to track users online to a more subtle interpretation of their famous "don't be evil" motto which allows them to leverage user data and sell finely targeted ads without "exploiting customers." According to the WSJ, the change in attitude came with the rise of upstart ad firms that lacked Google's scruples and the search giant's purchase of DoubleClick, which led to Google's first use of cookies. What's more, once at Google, former DoubleClick exec Aitan Weinberg produced a seven-page "vision document" that outlined several strategies to profit from user data, ranging from building a "trading platform" for user data to allowing users to pay directly and get rid of ads all together. (Google says the document was for "brainstorming" and that some of the proposals are "complete non-starters.") The WSJ also says Google's working hard on that rumored social networking service to go head-to-head with Facebook, complete with a "like" button it can put across the web to build an even better profile of your likes and dislikes, and that the company is considering mixing user data from across services like Gmail and Google Checkout to make those profiles even deeper, all while trying to balance privacy, security, and legal interests. This balance appears to be causing significant tension between everyone at Google, Larry and Sergey included: the WSJ says the two founders have had shouting matches over things like selling "interest-based" ads, and that Sergey has been more reluctant than Larry to take advantage of user data. Like we said, it's a good read, so hit the source link and get to it.
Mac 101: Right-click on a laptop
Oh, the one-button mouse. You either love it or you hate it. Veteran Mac users adore the elegance and simplicity; switchers bemoan the loss of a second (or third) mouse button. Of course, the problem is easily fixed by either holding down the Control button or -- wait for it -- buying a two-button mouse.On a laptop, you've got another option. MacSupport points out this simple method of using a "two-finger tap" in place of a right click. To set things up, follow these steps. In the Keyboard & Mouse preference pane, select "Trackpad Gestures" under the Trackpad section. From there, select "Tap trackpad using two fingers for secondary click" and you're all set. Now, tapping the trackpad with two fingers will execute a right click.
DoubleClick takes internet ads HD
We're not sure who asked for high definition-enhanced online advertising, but its here all the same. DoubleClick has announced its ability to deliver HD ads through Adobe Flash. The first one to take advantage is Epson's "Epsonality" ad campaign, created by Butler, Shine, Stern & Partners and encoded in h.264. Questions of how much bandwidth this will take up aside, we're content in the knowledge that least on this site if such an ad pops up unprompted, few will complain about how annoying it is, just how badly its been compressed and how much better it would be on (insert format here).
