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Monthly Archives: September 2015
The biggest boycott in world history
According to Business Insider, ad blocking is now “approaching 200 million.”† Calling it a boycott is my wife’s idea. I say she’s right. Look at the definitions: Merriam-Webster: “to engage in a concerted refusal to have dealings with (as a … Continue reading
Posted in adtech, advertising
68 Comments
Where the dead receive guests
This is about visiting my great-great grandfather, Thomas Trainor, dead since 1876 and reposing in Calvary Cemetery in Queens, New York. Thomas and a friend bought the Trainor family plot, two graves wide, in 1852. It now lies roughly in … Continue reading
The Adblock War Series
Here is a list of pieces I’ve written on what has come to be known as the “adblock wars.” That term applies most to #22 (written August of ’15) those that follow. But the whole series works as a coherent … Continue reading
Posted in adtech, advertising, Blogging, Business, Identity, infrastructure, Internet, marketing, Personal, publishing, Technology, VRM
7 Comments
How adtech, not ad blocking, breaks the social contract
Advocates of adtech—tracking-based advertising—are lately claiming that ad blocking is breaking the social contract. This is self-serving and delusional bullshit. Let me explain why. In my browser, when I visit a page, I am requesting that page. I am not … Continue reading
Posted in advertising, Business, infrastructure, Internet, marketing, News, problems, publishing, Technology, VRM
17 Comments
What are the the balls on Prague’s spires called??
One of the things that fascinates me about Prague are the skewers atop the spires of its many iconic buildings, each of which pierces a shiny ball. It’s a great look. I am sure there’s a reason for those things, … Continue reading
Posted in Architecture, Art, Geography, history, Travel
7 Comments
Debugging adtech assumptions
In this post I respond in detail to assertions made in a pair of pro-adtech pieces: Advertiser’s Mandate In The Age Of Ad Blocking: Blend In, by Pat LaPointe in MediaPost; and Welcome to hell: Apple vs Google vs Facebook and … Continue reading
Posted in advertising, marketing, publishing, VRM
6 Comments
How old aren’t you?
Bing’s image search now has a #HowOldRobot that appears when you mouse over an image in the results. Click on it, and you get an age. Here’s one of Catherine Deneuve: Interesting that most of the guesses for her are … Continue reading
Posted in Internet, Personal, Photography, Technology
1 Comment
Valley Fire losses
Here is the current perimeter of the Valley Fire, according to the USGS’ GEOMAC viewer: As you see, no places are identified there. One in particular, however, is of extremely special interest to me: Harbin Hot Springs. That’s where I … Continue reading
Posted in Friends, Geography, infrastructure, Journalism, Life, Links, News, Personal, Photography, Places, problems
6 Comments
Content as Icebergs
(Cross posted from this at Facebook) In Snow on the Water I wrote about the ‘low threshold of death” for what media folks call “content” — which always seemed to me like another word for packing material. But its common … Continue reading
Posted in Blogging, Broadcasting, Future, Geology, history, infrastructure, Internet, Journalism, Live Web, Personal, Photography, problems, radio, Technology
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If marketing listened to markets, they’d hear what ad blocking is telling them
What follows is my comment (the first one!) under Confusion Reigns as Apple Puts the Spotlight on Mobile Ad Blocking, in AdAge. I’ve added some links. Marketers should be looking at what the market wants, and why. The market is … Continue reading
Posted in advertising, Journalism, marketing, problems, Technology, VRM
30 Comments