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Volume toggle plug-in

Send advertisers a message...
 
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I've been seeing more and more frequent news articles about companies such as Facebook and Google finding more and more ways to flood our viewing space in movies and games with advertisements. I've personally noticed a disgusting amount of commercials that must be watched prior to viewing content on sites such as YouTube and Spike TV.

Every time a commercial pops up in a web video, I mute my speakers. I can't be the only one who does this, either by toggling a physical scroll wheel on the speaker itself, pressing a volume up/down/mute key on the keyboard, or the volume toggle embedded in the video itself.

What I'd like to see is twofold. First, I want to let the advertisers know that their obnoxious crap is being tuned out with a browser plug-in that detects the volume being cut off or reduced below a certain threshold. The plug-in then sends a notification to the content provider that yet another commercial has been ignored. This would work great in conjunction with other ideas I've seen on the HB, such as the one that automatically mutes the volume upon detecting the presence of an ad.

Second, I'd like to see keyboards and speakers with USB connectivity and an uploadable app that communicates with the browser plug-in to tell it when the volume has been physically muted/lowered.

21 Quest, Aug 13 2012

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       If this product were made, you do know how it would be advertised, don't you?
  

       I too am vexed and uneased by persistent advertising. On the other hand, maybe YouTube would not be viable as a free public service without the revenue. If enough people so wish, Rentisham's might consider buying up all the available advertising space. Rentisham's advertisements are already quite muted, so your product may be unnecessary.
MaxwellBuchanan, Aug 13 2012
  

       //First, I want to let the advertisers know that their obnoxious crap is being tuned out with a browser plug-in that detects the volume being cut off or reduced below a certain threshold//
  

       You know what happens then don't you ?
  

       m-f-d rant.
FlyingToaster, Aug 13 2012
  

       Rant? It's quite clearly an original invention.
21 Quest, Aug 13 2012
  

       Meh. There are many browser extensions which remove ads. Problem solved.
  

       Telling the agency that their ad isn't being watched achieves nothing. Just hide it and forget about it.
mitxela, Aug 13 2012
  

       [+] Train advertisers to do adds that are helpful and not annoying. For example a few very short relevant text based ads along the margin or something.
  

       You'd think advertising professsionals would be able to figure out what is effective and what just annoys people and makes them want to boycott their products.
scad mientist, Aug 13 2012
  

       //makes them want to boycott their products.//
  

       Exactly.
  

       //On the other hand, maybe YouTube would not be viable as a free public service without the revenue.//
  

       See above quote. If advertisers would stop simply trying to bombard potential customers with massive amounts of advertising media and start to advertise more effectively, revenue would increase would and consumer satisfaction would increase. Take, for example, the smartphone maker HTC. Their motto is 'quietly brilliant'. Their advertising is much more understated than that of Samsung, yet their share of the smartphone market is still huge.
  

       The fact is, if advertisers want to make money, they need to consider the needs and wants of their target audience. They need to be considerate. If Youtube and other popular video- viewing websites stop being available for free because the advertisers are driving their audience away, it is the advertisers who will suffer, not the viewers. I can find find free video content without the ads. Obtaining it legally is, frankly, a courtesy.
21 Quest, Aug 13 2012
  

       My now-3-year old HTC G1, the first Android phone that was made, still works flawlessly as a phone, web browser, and music player. The trackball has never failed and the back-lit keyboard still works perfectly. It'll also go a full 2 days on a charge under moderate usage.
  

       You want to complain about battery life? Look how big the screen is on the Sensation. Add to that always-on 4G data connectivity, GPS tracking, etc, and you expect battery life on par with what you yourself described as an older model? You can also extend the battery life if you know what you're doing. There *are* apps out there designed to do things like turn off the 4G data when in standby, dim the screen during certain times of day, turn off the GPS and Bluetooth when not in use, etc.
  

       HTC does make a brilliant product. They can't be held responsible for the intelligence of their consumer base because they don't handle the bulk of their advertising. They also don't use Android exclusively. You'll find multiple OS's on HTC smartphones.
21 Quest, Aug 13 2012
  

       //car battery// tsk tsk, why not use a telephone battery ? Anybody remember those things ? big cylinder about 8-9" long, 2.5" wide, 1.5V .
FlyingToaster, Aug 13 2012
  

       The app is a convenience, not a necessity. If you wanted, you could easily keep your screen brightness dimmed, the GPS, WI-Fi, and Blueooth disabled when not in use, mostly though the pull- down control panel accessible from almost any screen. Those simple steps right there will make a huge improvement in your battery life. There's an app called '2x Battery' (developer is Sam Lu) that automatically disables your mobile data connection when the screen is locked and reenables it when you unlock the screen. Makes a huge difference in battery life, but the reason it doesn't come as a default setting and you need an app is that you will miss any incoming emails and internet-based notifications while the screen is off, which many folks will not accept as a trade-off. You can set it to enable the data connection every 15 mins or so, so it receives any pending notifications and alerts you, then it shuts back off again.
21 Quest, Aug 13 2012
  

       Marketing style evolves to feedback, whether it is sales numbers or data showing that ads are ineffective. If you tell the marketers what you are ignoring, they will adapt and find more annoying methods of advertising that you cannot ignore. Be careful what you ask for.
swimswim, Aug 14 2012
  

       So you're grumbling about minor inconveniences in a free service that you use are not obliged to use?
hippo, Aug 14 2012
  


 

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