Author: Julie Campbell

Firefox mobile browser will automatically block ads

| January 27, 2016

According to the founder of Mozilla, the app currently under development will stop advertising by default.

One of the founders of Mozilla, Brendan Eich, who is also the creator of JavaScript, has announced that there is a Firefox mobile browser in the works which will be called Brave and that will provide users with a browser that will block all ads by default.

In a recent blog post in which Brave, as a company, was launched, Eich described the reason for this product.

Eich explained that he feels that there is a “primal threat” that currently exists in the current internet situation as a result of the disruption of the typical free, ad-supported web. Therefore, he is hoping to create a type of Firefox mobile version called Brave that will offer “a solution designed to avert war and give users the fair deal they deserve for coming to the web to browse and contribute.”

He explained that the Firefox mobile Brave version will be a first step in a new direction for the internet.

Firefox Mobile - Mobile ad blockingIn Eich’s blog post, he explained that the development of this new browser is going to be accompanied by a “private cloud service with anonymous ads”. In this way, the Brave browsers will, by default, block all advertising including “initial signaling/analytics scripts that start the programmatic advertising ‘dirty pipe’, impression-tracking pixels, and ad-click confirmation signals.”

That said, the mobile browser isn’t meant to stand out exclusively because of its ad blocking features. Eich also pointed out that it is being designed to be a “browser-based ad-tech platform.” In this way, it will be removing all ads and, once they’re gone, Brave will place a small number of standard-sized spaces onto web pages through the use of a cloud robot. This will allow the browser to insert its own ads that will be targeted through the use of “browser-side intent signals phrased in standard vocabulary”. They won’t use either persistent cookies or user identification.

The hope is that this Brave Firefox mobile version will help to boost the privacy and speed of internet navigation over smartphones and tablets. This will because it will weed out data-consuming tracking software and ads. The claim from Brave is that this can create a load time that is up to four times better.

Plummeting Canadian dollar means rising prices for Apple mobile apps

| January 25, 2016

iPhone users are suddenly finding that the Apple App Store isn’t quite as affordable as it was a week ago.

The falling Canadian dollar, nicknamed the “loonie” after the loon image on the coin, has been experiencing a steady drop over the last several months, but mobile apps for iOS devices have maintained the same price.

This has meant that Apple will be hiking prices at the Canadian App Store for the second year in a row.

This means that Canadians can expect their iTunes bills to start to rise along with the prices of mobile apps for their Apple devices. The reason given for the change in price is simply the foreign exchange rates. The company expressed that Canada won’t actually be the only country in which iPhone apps will be getting pricier. Aside from that North American nation, there will also be price increases in Mexico, South Africa, Russia, New Zealand, Singapore and Israel. The notice was given to provide consumers with 72 hours of warning.

The announcement from Apple said there would be two new low-price tiers for mobile apps sold in Canada.

Mobile Apps - Prices in Canada ClimbingThat said, Apple did not use the document to explain precisely what the new price tiers for the sales of Canadian iPhone apps would be. The Next Web has released a report that indicates that where the cheapest apps had been $1.19, those would be increasing to $1.39. While that difference may seem moderate, it is in the more higher-priced mobile applications that the difference would be the most striking. The report indicated that apps that had previously been $50.00 would see a new and much higher price at $69.99.

At the time of the writing of this article, Apple had declined the opportunity to comment on the claims made within the report.

This is the second time that the price of iPhone mobile apps has been recently increased as a result of the falling Canadian dollar. Only a year ago, $0.99 apps saw their prices increased to $1.19, with more expensive apps seeing prices rising correspondingly. At that time, the applications were made more expensive as a result of foreign exchange rates as well as changes to value-added tax (VAT).