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A Skeptic’s View On Google’s Intent To Deprecate And Freeze The User-Agent Header
February 27, 2020, by The Skeptic
Some people call me a skeptic, but I don’t believe them… Google intends to deprecate and freeze the User-Agent header due to privacy issues. Privacy issues, really Google? For some reason I doubt that Google is acting altruistically here. Their actions over the years suggests that there might be ulterior motives. So, with that in... Read More
The DeviceAtlas guide to detecting iPhones
January 3, 2019, by James Kielty
The latest DeviceAtlas whitepaper explains the difficulty around accurate device detection of iOS devices. In all Apple devices, the User-Agent string only indicates the hardware type, not the model. By parsing User Agents alone, all you’ll know is whether you’re dealing with an iPhone or an iPad. This leaves some useful properties outside your field... Read More
Surveillance capitalism is killing the web
May 30, 2018, by James Kielty
As GDPR rolled into town, we spotted some odd examples of how companies and news websites are dealing with their newly enforced responsibilities. Instead of submitting to the spirit of the whole exercise, many high-value sites chose to segment their traffic into EU v Non-EU, and provide the former with a stripped down, minimal version... Read More
The Physical Web is dead, long live the physical web
February 2, 2018, by Martin Clancy
Launched in 2014 Google’s Physical Web project promised much, but seems to have died a quiet death over the last few months. This post takes a look at what the technology promised, and the speed bumps it hit along the way that may ultimately prove to have derailed it. Everything is a tap away Google’s... Read More
Mobile ad UX: how to use ads and alienate people
July 27, 2017, by Ruadhán O'Donoghue
As a follow up to our previous article on the rising prevalence of ad blockers we thought it would be useful to review the types of ad that are likely to deliver a poor user experience, annoy your visitors, and sink your conversion rates. Ads, even at the best of times, aren’t particularly liked by... Read More
