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Filed under: Multimedia, Internet Tools

Safari AdBlock Frees Hulu

by Erica Sadun (RSS feed) on May 13th, 2008

TUAW reader Eric F sent in a note letting us know that "Safari Adblock allows you to watch Hulu programming completely commercial free!" I gave it a try. I downloaded a copy of Adblock from its SourceForge repository, installed it, activated it, and fired up Hulu. A nearly complete episode of Buffy later, I can confirm that I wasn't shown commercials.

I haven't give this enough of a test obviously, to be able to say decisively one way or another -- especially since I don't regularly use Hulu -- but the news is promising enough that I thought I'd share. Let us know in the comments if this solution works for you.

Tags: Adblock, Hulu, Safari

Filed under: Software, Internet Tools

Safari Block 2 released

by Christina Warren (RSS feed) on Dec 15th, 2007


Mat posted about Safari 3 Adblock earlier this week. To me, the most impressive feature of that plug-in is its support for Adblock Plus filter subscriptions. In that same vein, SafariBlock, a program TUAW has covered in the past has received a significant update. In version 2.0, not only is the plug-in now open souce, but it is also compatible with AdBlock Plus subscriptions! It's Leopard compatibility has been improved from version 1.3.1 as well. I had some trouble getting SafariBlock 2 installed (the installer and a manual installation gave me errors), but the plug-in ended up working just fine.

Having played around with both plug-ins, I think that they both have their pros and cons. While SafariAdblock seems to be a little bit better at distinguishing between ad and non-ad flash videos (SafariBlock automatically whites out some video windows that are actual content, even if they appear near an ad header), SafariBlock is much better at working with web forms and sites that need to launch an action in either another window or in some sort of pop-up.

In any event, AdBlock Plus filter support has instantly transformed my Safari experience - bringing one of my favorite Firefox features to a browser that tends to be more stable on my system. Plus, SafariBlock is free - and I'm a big fan of free.

Thanks egordin!

Tags: adblock, adblock plus, AdblockPlus, plug-in, safari, safariblock

Filed under: Internet Tools, Open Source, Leopard

Safari 3 AdBlock

by Mat Lu (RSS feed) on Dec 10th, 2007


I know some folks have been looking for an AdBlock plugin for Safari that works with Leopard's Safari v3. The excellent Pith Helmet ($10) is now Leopard compatible, but the relatively new Safari AdBlock is open source and free. It's pretty much install and forget. The most recent version also includes initial support for AdBlock Plus style lists as well.

Safari AdBlock is a free download from sourceforge and is Leopard-only.

Thanks to everyone who sent this in!

Tags: AdBlock, Safari, Safari-AdBlock

Filed under: Software, Internet Tools, Leopard

SafariBlock: More powerful ad blocking

by David Chartier (RSS feed) on Jul 14th, 2007

Since its inception, Safari has been able to block pesky popup ads from clogging your display, but it's fallen short when it comes to blocking ads on a web page. Firefox, with its open plug-in architecture and enthusiastic community, has enjoyed an AdBlock add-on for some time which allows users to right-click an ad section and forever filter it from that page. But what's a programmer who prefers Safari to do? Why, write a plug-in that brings the same functionality to Apple's browser, of course! SafariBlock from FSB Software (click on SafariBlock in the sidebar; I can't link directly to it) aims to duplicate Firefox's AdBlock features by bringing the same right-click-to-filter functionality to remove ads from your browsing experience. A recent update even brought compatibility for Safari 3 beta users so everyone can give it a whirl.

It should be noted, however, that SafariBlock functions as an InputManager. The specifics of what that means aren't really necessary to delve into right now, but as far as I know, the rumor is still that Mac OS X Leopard will remove support for plug-ins that run as InputManagers when it's released (hopefully) in October. What this means for the future of plug-ins like SafariBlock is still unsure, but it seemed worthy of mentioning.

Tags: ad blockers, adblock, AdBlockers, ads, advertising, safari, safariblock

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