just an asterisk

I hate, HATE, the new trend of ads that scream at you. I have no interest in hearing about car insurance while I’m browsing, especially when I have to scramble to mute my speakers in a crowded place. Do you think, after you’ve embarrassed me publically, that I’m going to click on your stupid ad?

I declare war.

If you read this and you’re using Chrome, install Adblock. Teach the jerks at these ad agencies that you’ll not only ignore their messages but you’ll block ALL messages going forward because of their abuse. What is Adblock? Here are some examples of how it works on Chrome (but it’s available for Firefox too).

Here is a Google search for “Super Bowl” without Adblock – notice the ads on the right.

The same search with Adblock turned on – notice the lovely blank space (you can turn off this type of blocking within Adblock’s settings).

Here is another example – the main page of the New York Times with ads and with Adblock turned off.

Here is the same with Adblock turned on.

I understand that some might find this duplicitous, taking the free content without looking at the ads that fund its existence. However, please believe that my goal isn’t to hurt anyone’s livelihood. Instead, I hope that by rejecting ads temporarily, we’ll provide a simple message to ad agencies – be creative, sway our opinion with wit and originality, not with loud ads that interrupt our browsing experience. After all, we didn’t come to the site to hear about refinancing out apartment – we just wanted the weather…

Let me know your thoughts in the comments – do you think this is cheating?

~ab

So your colleagues showed up at your desk with a bottle of beer or a Starbucks gift card or a little box with a bow and you’ve managed to suppress the BUT I DIDN’T GET YOU ANYTHING! for about the 10th time in one day.  Sigh… This is the holiday season in an office and although you love that people make the effort, you may feel a little overwhelmed buying even more presents (and for people you barely know outside of work).  The good news is that it’s completely avoidable.  You can arrive ready and not break the bank in the process.  The trick is to give everyone a custom tailored version of… the same thing.  This year, the price of digital media is so low, that I recommend a flash drive with portable apps.

Read more »