App Request: Adblocking in Browser

[youxing]

Hey everybody, I'm sure everybody of you knows Adblock Plus, a really handy extension for the Firefox Browser.

addons.mozilla.org/de/firefox/addon/1865

It blocks out unwanted text ads, flash based ads and graphics that can use up valuable time and traffic.


Since the Pre browser is based on a WebKit engine and not a Gecko engine, it's not possible to port the extension over to the Pre directly.

Some iPhone developers have written an adblocking solution for mobile Safari, which is based on WebKit also.

cocoamug.com/adblock/index.html

I think that on a mobile device, every ad that takes up real estate on the small screen is annoying. It would be great if somebody could come up with an adblocking solution for the Palm Pre.

Youxing

[morningisbad]

it would also speed up the internet when im stuck on 1x. not having to load that extra image (or flash object when palm gets that goin) would be a nice boost.

[kesne]

EDIT: Ahh, wrong area, sorry!

[Blubble]

This would be a great addon. It's definitely something I would pay for.

[enormous]

I just downloaded an ad-blocking hosts file and appended it to my /etc/hosts. No more ads!

[billybennett]

Originally Posted by enormous

I just downloaded an ad-blocking hosts file and appended it to my /etc/hosts. No more ads!

I can't believe I didn't think of this! Good stuff man thanks.

[Sunsparc]

Originally Posted by enormous

I just downloaded an ad-blocking hosts file and appended it to my /etc/hosts. No more ads!

Care to tell us where you got it?

[Abyssul]

To use an ad-blocking hosts file:

Root:
-Download file from [URL="
-Copy hosts file to Pre USB storage
-Open root
-Type in
[code]
mount -o remount, rw /

cp /media/internal/Hosts /etc/hosts
[/code]

WebOS Quick Install:
-Run Webos quick install
-Download hosts file
-Go to Tools - send file
-For destination, set it to /etc/hosts
-Then select the hosts file in the file input box.
-Click Send to Device


There you go. Should work. They update the file almost every day so you can manually update it every week. If you are more experienced they provide a linux bash script that will update with a cronjob.

If this works, don't forget to thank me.

[jp22382]

Great idea, used WebOS Quick Install and this http://jamesisbored.com/iphone/content/hosts.php

Seems to be working pretty well so far.

[morningisbad]

Originally Posted by Abyssul

To use an ad-blocking hosts file:

-Download file from here
-Copy hosts file to Pre USB storage
-Open root
-Type in

mount -o remount, rw /

cp /media/internal/Hosts /etc/hosts

There you go. Should work. They update the file almost every day so you can manually update it every week. If you are more experienced they provide a linux bash script that will update with a cronjob.

If this works, don't forget to thank me.

could you repost the link? or check it? it appears to be broken

[Abyssul]

Originally Posted by morningisbad

could you repost the link? or check it? it appears to be broken

Hmm... thats weird. I was just browsing that website a few hours ago. They must be down temporally. In the meantime, use the link jp22382 provided. It should work.

http://jamesisbored.com/iphone/content/hosts.php

[Sunsparc]

I can post my modified hosts file if anyone wants.


It's a combination of the file from MVPS.org and SaferNetworking's Spybot S&D program hosts file generator.

[youxing]

That would be great if you could post your host file! Thanks for your responds

//EDIT: BTW: I just thought of that! Using that huge host file from MVSP.org, does that actually slow down the performance of the Pre?

[Sunsparc]

Originally Posted by youxing

That would be great if you could post your host file! Thanks for your responds

//EDIT: BTW: I just thought of that! Using that huge host file from MVSP.org, does that actually slow down the performance of the Pre?

Not that Ive seen. Web browsing is indeed a lot faster without the ads.

I'll edit in the link to my hosts file when I get home. I dont have access to the phone over EVDO, just Wifi.

[enormous]

Originally Posted by youxing

//EDIT: BTW: I just thought of that! Using that huge host file from MVSP.org, does that actually slow down the performance of the Pre?

I haven't noticed any slow down on my web browsing, and my hosts file is very large.

[bcombee]

The hosts file is only used during DNS lookup, then the address is cached in the browser. It's much faster to look locally on the device for the name than the query a remote DNS server, so it should be faster with all of those names there.

[xcomputerman]

Originally Posted by Abyssul

To use an ad-blocking hosts file:

-Download file from here
-Copy hosts file to Pre USB storage
-Open root
-Type in

mount -o remount, rw /

cp /media/internal/Hosts /etc/hosts

There you go. Should work. They update the file almost every day so you can manually update it every week. If you are more experienced they provide a linux bash script that will update with a cronjob.

If this works, don't forget to thank me.

You know, Linux computers have this nifty little command called "wget" that allows you to download anything directly from the command line.


# cd /etc/
# mv hosts hosts.backup # always backup what you overwrite
# wget http://hostsfile.mine.nu/Hosts -O hosts

On a tangential note, most people don't know that you can install any homebrew app directly in two steps from the command line:

# ipkg -o /var install http://www.packagedownloadurl.com/filename.ipk
# /usr/bin/luna-send palm://com.palm.applicationManager/rescan {}


Instead of having to type the long luna-send line above, you can just create a short script /usr/bin/luna-rescan with the contents:

#!/bin/sh
/usr/bin/luna-send palm://com.palm.applicationManager/rescan {}


and then type chmod 755 /usr/bin/luna-rescan to make it executable ... then you can just type "luna-rescan" anytime you make a change or install a new app.

Ok, enough tips and tricks for now.

[Abyssul]

I had forgotten about the "wget" function, but it should work regardless.

[meinvein]

@jp22382

I feel lost...I just started using WebOS Quick Install, how do I use it to add the hosts.php? Really appreciate the help. Thanks in advance!

[youxing]

First of all, you need to rename hosts.php to hosts (without extension). Then, you need to upload it to your phone into the folder "etc"

The path should be /etc/
If that doesn't work, try uploading as /etc/hosts

Unfortunately, I don't have the Pre to test it yet.
I used PuTTY to get access to Linux, but it was just the emulator. It worked great there!