Tag Archives: browsing

AdTrap: Adblock in a Box

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Whether we like it or not, advertisements are a vital part of our Web browsing experience. It’s what enables us to read, watch or listen to most online content for free, like the website you’re on right now. But sometimes these ads can be intrusive or slow down your browsing experience. Hence the popularity of ad-blocking software like Adblock Plus. Now someone’s come up with a hardware equivalent of such software.

adtrap by chad russell

Invented by Chad Russell, the AdTrap is an open-source device that has a wider reach than any ad-blocking program. The AdTrap blocks online ads for all devices – from a desktop computer to a smartphone – in the same network. You simply plug the AdTrap in between your modem and your router, then reset your modem. Any and all ads should be gone when you’re back online.

Fortunately the AdTrap also has a whitelisting feature so you can instruct it to display ads on certain websites – *hint hint* –  or let certain ads through. You can actually do much more than that if you have the know how, because the AdTrap is designed to be hackable.

As of this writing a pledge of at least $99 (USD) on its Kickstarter fundraiser qualifies you for an AdTrap. If this device is successful, I’m guessing Russell and company are going to come out with a router (or a modem-router combo) with AdTrap built-in.


Cloak VPN App: Encrypts Connections When Using Public Wi-Fi

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It’s true that surfing the web through public connections isn’t that safe. I still remember a crazy computer virus I got in Thailand that migrated from my compact flash card onto my home system. Cloak aims to improve network security by sending traffic through a VPN that encrypts all of your Internet traffic.

cloak vpn app ios osx private browsing

Cloak is easy to set up and currently only works for iOS devices and OSX computers. Android and Windows versions are coming along though. This app is to be used in unsecured networks, like at the airport, coffee shops, and while you’re traveling. It looks like something that’s worth using if you use public connections a lot.

cloak vpn app ios osx private browsing enabled

Cloakis free for the first 2 hours per month or 1 GB, but after that you’ll need to sign up for a premium account, which cost between $8 and $15 per month depending on your data needs.

[via The Next Web]


Facebook’s new Recommendations Bar pops up, just wants to be liked

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Facebook's new Recommendations Bar pops up, just wants to be liked

Facebook's Recommendations Box sits passively on many websites, allowing us to engage or ignore as we see fit. But too much of the latter option has led to something slightly different: the new Recommendations Bar -- a pop-up variant which, when integrated by your favorite page, plugs site-specific links based on your friends' thumbs and shares. The Bar is similar to the in-house recommendation pop-ups we're all familiar with, but adds a like button for posting the current page to your timeline. It shouts much louder than the Box, so it's no surprise that in early tests the new plug-in produced a three-fold increase in click-throughs. In this case, privacy wasn't an afterthought -- Bar integration, like the Box, is at the site's discretion and sharing pages is very much on your terms. Just try not to accidently hit that like button during your daily scan of Bieber's homepage.

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Facebook's new Recommendations Bar pops up, just wants to be liked originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 27 Jul 2012 09:16:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Browse John Peel’s legendary record collection, travel back in time

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Browse John Peel's legendary record collection, travel back in time

The Peel Sessions -- those are three blissful words to any music enthusiast. John Peel's BBC radio show was the stuff of legends. It launched entire careers and created a legacy of eclectic and intimate musical snapshots by our favorite artists. Can you imagine exploring his record collection? Well, now you can. The Space has created a wonderful site that lets you browse the late DJ's record archive one virtual shelf and album cover at a time -- complete with links to iTunes and Spotify. It looks and feels like the real thing, and provides a fantastic journey back in time. Only the letter A's been cataloged so far -- additional letters will be added (one each week) over the coming months. This is your chance to discover music curated by a man with impeccable musical taste over a period of four decades. Just follow the source links below.

Browse John Peel's legendary record collection, travel back in time originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 02 May 2012 07:42:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Gizmodo  |  sourceThe Space (1), (2)  | Email this | Comments