Software : Microsoft will bake ad blocking into its Edge browser

Microsoft will bake ad blocking into its Edge browser

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Microsoft is planning to build ad blocking directly into its Edge browser on Windows 10, and that integration will be coming soon.

This fact was revealed at the company's Build conference in a session concerning what's coming next for Edge, where a slide was shown detailing incoming improvements ranked in terms of their importance – with number one on the list being extensions, unsurprisingly.

Extensions will be going live in the next version of Edge, which will arrive in the next major Windows 10 Anniversary Update (although they're live in preview already, in a limited form anyway) that lands later in the summer.

Integrated ad blocking is number four on the list – so a pretty high priority – and is also targeted for that same version of Microsoft's browser coming in the summer. That could render extensions like Adblock Plus unnecessary before they've even had a chance to emerge on Edge – depending on the quality of Redmond's effort, of course.

Block around the clock

Microsoft already has some anti-advert measures in Internet Explorer in the form of Tracking Protection Lists which block some ads, with Firefox offering similar measures, and of course recently we've seen other major browsers plump for integrated ad blocking.

That includes Apple's Safari on mobile, and Opera has recently baked in ad blocking on its desktop browser with the facility also planned for its mobile browser – and what's more, Opera has gone for a proactive blocker which will intervene and ask the user if they'd like to 'block ads and surf the web faster'.

All of which leaves Google's web browser looking rather out in the cold with a definite dilemma. Advertising is Google's lifeblood in terms of revenue, of course, so integrated ad blocking isn't something the company wants to go near with a barge pole – yet if these developments are ignored, Chrome runs the risk of looking outdated compared to the competition, offering slower surfing, and it could effectively become seen as the 'new IE' of the current browsing era.

Those are risks Google will somehow need to balance, but it will be a tricky juggling act to pull off to say the least.

Via: ZDNet

10 ways Microsoft can improve its Edge browser

Opinion: Microsoft's Bots could be its biggest contribution to computing since Windows

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On stage at its annual Build conference keynote, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella painted a picture of our lives being made easier with bots, intelligent agents that live within apps and services. But, would that life be much better, or less connected than it already is – or both?

Nadella and team's vision for conversational computing comes just a week after their first public experiment in the field, Tay, came crashing down in a spectacular display of human depravity. Not exactly the best argument for a world run by bots.

The newly-appointed executive addressed the Twitter chat bot experiment head on during the March 30 Build 2016 keynote with a three-fold plan for bots that he believes are the new apps.

bots

To Nadella, so long as bots and the digital assistants that use them are built with the intention to augment human ability and experience, with trustworthiness (privacy, transparency, security) and with inclusion and respectfulness in mind, we'll be OK.

Or, at the very least, we'll avoid another Tay scenario.

And, on paper, that generally checks out. Of course, the bots that Microsoft envisions aren't necessarily accessible by the masses all at once, but individuals through specific communication programs or through assistants, like Cortana.

Still, Tay was demonstrative of the sheer power that such intelligent, semi-autonomous software can possess. But I'm worried about another facet of these bots' power.

bots

Do we need another crutch to connect?

That's my simple question to everyone: are the lay people of the world ready for such power, just as we're learning empathy on the internet? But, I'll follow that up with another one.

What will that power do to a society that's more connected than ever yet whose people struggle to meaningfully connect with one another more than ever?

Take Microsoft's demonstration of Cortana using bots to facilitate uniting with an old friend in Dublin, Ireland on an upcoming trip. Looking at it one way: Cortana and its squad of bots just helped someone connect with her old friend.

But, try and look at it this way: wouldn't that person have remembered that old friend without Cortana's help? Americans don't visit Ireland every day, after all. Or, would she not have, for the effects of "connected" tech have already created a crutch for her to lean on to facilitate human interaction?

I like to call this "The Facebook Effect." How many of your friends and family members' birthdays do you actually remember now that Facebook reminds you? (I won't even bother counting myself.)

What happens when we apply similar use cases to far more powerful pieces of technology? My guess is that it won't be long before we rely on bots to remind us to connect with one another much less order a pizza.

At that point, I don't know how much bots are helping so much as hindering our ability to meaningfully or earnestly connect with one another. In the above Dublin scenario, the woman didn't even reach out to her friend on her own – Cortana did it for her.

bots

Bots for tedium, brains for relationships

Now, don't mistake: I couldn't be more excited for for bots to intelligently update my calendar and remind me that I'm on deadline for that laptop review. But, I'd rather handle communicating with other humans on my own, thanks.

Technology by its very definition makes life easier, we'd be nothing without it, but just how much do we want to lean on technology to foster human relationships?

As we enter this new phase of automation, we could do with asking ourselves that question more often.

Windows 10 is about to get quite interesting

Yahuui Blog

Thursday, March 31, 2016