You know when you’re cruising around the web and you keep seeing that same ad for that BS $30 gadget that promises you’ll never, ever have to pay for cable again… because you clicked on it like an idiot six months ago? Google says that beginning Thursday, their popular Chrome browser is going to update and those annoying repeat ads are going away. Hopefully.
According to a post on Google’s Keyword blog, Chrome is going to start blocking ads that repeatedly get flagged by users, including ads by, well, Google. “Your experience on the web is a higher priority than the money that these annoying ads may generate—even for us,” Chrome VP Rahul Roy-Chowdhury says in the post. The Chrome update will reportedly banish those autoplay videos, giant pop-ups and more, so start flagging away.
Tech you can wrap your head around
The secretive AR developer Magic Leap got everyone excited about the possibilities of augmented reality years ago, and raised eyebrows with the announcement of their somewhat stylish-but-still geeky Magic Leap One AR glasses kit, which will hopefully hit the market… one day. But now, Magic Leap’s CEO says he believes full-on streaming of holographic content is only about two to five years away.
In an interview with The Verge, Rony Abovitz says the tech to pull off that trick is pretty much available now, and he calls it “volumetric live streaming.” Instead of using a bunch of big broadcast cameras, Abovitz says a system would incorporate numerous small, fixed, high-resolution cameras streaming to a computer system that would build the holo-stream and then let users get in the mix and maybe even move around the scene as things go on. He thinks sporting events, like basketball, could be the first sources for this new kind of AR experience.
And stay off the lawn, too
Everyone who sees Apple’s shiny new headquarters, called Apple Park but better known as the Apple Spaceship, has marveled at the $5 billion project. But if you’re thinking about heading to Cupertino to take a guided tour, you might want to reconsider those plans.
Business Insider reports that at a recent shareholders meeting, Apple CEO Tim Cook crushed the hopes of one fan/investor when he basically said the chances of the public peeking around inside the giant facility were essentially slim to none. Why? Basically, because there so much secret stuff going on that he can’t afford for some wayward fanboy or girl to wander into Jony Ive’s super-secret laboratory and snap a pic of the iPhone 15 or the secret Siri hologram.
Because, of course, that’s probably what they’re up to. But basically, yes, Cook said that keeping the lid on Apple secret s is essentially the “bane of my existence” and that sentiment was echoed by Ive, who called the solar-powered doughnut “our house” and that “we didn’t make Apple Park for other people,” as in, people who don’t work there. So, want get an inside look at the spaceship? Then you’ll need to get a job at Apple.
We’ve got more news on our Facebook page and YouTube channel, and be sure to tune in to this week’s DT podcasts: Trends with Benefits (general tech shenanigans) on Thursdays, and Between the Streams (movie and TV topics) every Friday.
