Print a webpage without the ads: Go to PrintFriendly.com and paste in the URL to turn that page into a fully print-ready version. Click the yellow Preview button and that’s it. Nice!
📺 Ads as far as the eye can see: Walmart just spent $2.3 billion to buy Vizio. Why? Because they want to put their ads right in your living room, track what you watch and sell your data. Over 19 million people use Vizio’s SmartCast system. Here’s how you can turn off the tracking on your TV, Vizio or otherwise.
Winging it: Forget those small prop planes carrying advertising banners over beaches. Drones are replacing planes in places like Miami Beach. They’re quieter and — get this — they track ad views in real time and fly about 400 feet lower than planes. There’s no avoiding ‘em.
🤠 Don’t make me go all Beth Dutton on you: Coming soon to Warner Bros. Discovery, AI-driven ads for shopping while watching. “Shop With Max” identifies products in shows or movies and displays a QR code for you to scan with your phone and buy, buy, buy.
🚨 No one wants to give you money for nothing: X rival Bluesky just hit over 20 million members. Big shocker (not), crypto scams are now everywhere on the platform. There’s an AI-generated pic of Mark Zuckerberg promoting a fake “MetaCoin.” Others are dangling “FREE Bitcoin & Ethereum.” Don’t take the bait; report the spam and move on.
🎄 This is soda-pressing: Coca-Cola’s new “Holidays are Coming” commercial was made entirely with AI. Gone are the real actors and trucks decked out in Christmas lights. Comments online called the ad “garbage,” “ugly,” “too niche” and “lazy.” One X user said, “I feel like I’m watching the death of art and our planet unfold in front of my eyes.” OK, that’s a little much. Watch it here and tell me what you think.
ChatGPT, find me customers: Use AI to find out what people are saying online so you can better target your company’s ads. Take a lesson from Shake Shack: They used a bot to scan 80,000 Reddit threads about chicken sandwiches, narrowed it down to the 30 most active and ran ads for their new sandwich. It worked — sales were 31% higher.
🤐 Get off my PC: Windows 11 crams ads for apps into the “recommended” section of the Start menu. Yes, it’s on by default. I’ve got the fix: Go into Settings and select Personalization > Start. Then, toggle off “Show recommendations for tips, app promotions and more.”
😚 Bye, bye, bye: When you see an ad you don’t want to see again on Facebook, look in the top right corner of the ad itself. Find the three-dot icon and tap Hide Ad.
Speaking of Alphabet, “G” is also for Gemini: Gemini AI in Google Maps can help you find interesting spots nearby, and it even summarizes others’ reviews. Any chatbot can use this data to answer location-based questions. In Waze, you can report accidents just by talking to the app, too. They’re hoping more eyeballs in the apps equals more ad dollars.
💳 ICYMI, a PayPal update: Starting Nov. 27, PayPal will share all your purchasing data with third-party merchants — think products, preferences, sizes and styles. Yes, you can stop it. In the app, tap your profile photo at the top right, followed by Data and privacy. Under Manage shared info, tap Personalized shopping and toggle off the switch. On desktop, click the settings gear icon in the top right, then select Data & Privacy > Personalized shopping to toggle off the slider. It never stops …
Windows, quit showing me ads: Microsoft places ads in the Start menu. Go to the Start menu > Settings. Choose Personalization > Start and toggle off Show recommendations for tips, shortcuts, new apps, and more. Magic? Nope — tech smarts!
Jeff needs the money: Amazon is going to double its Prime Video ad volume in 2025. Right now, you’ll see two to three-and-a-half minutes of ads per hour, with no commercials in the middle of content. How much worse will it get? Expect around six minutes of ads per hour. Bet that’s long enough for some people to cough up the extra $36 a year to go ad-free. Btw, Netflix and Disney+ run five minutes of ads per hour.
Told ya this was going to happen: Google Search is losing money with so many of us relying on ChatGPT, Microsoft Copilot, Perplexity and other AI bots instead. Now, Google’s serving up AI search results with a twist — ads. You’ll see “sponsored” next to the content. Say you search for “how to get grass stains out of jeans.” Along with the tips, Google will display ads for cleaning products. Be careful where you click.
Double trouble: Scammers are creating copycats of major retail sites and hitting you with “card declined” messages when you try to pay. It’s a trick to get you to enter another card number so you pay twice. The sites are spreading in search results, social media ads and email links. Always check the URL closely, and if your card declines, call your bank first.
📺 A TV is a watching machine: LG smart TVs now show ads before the screensaver kicks in. No word yet if it’s limited to specific models, but they’re live on the new flagship G4 T showing LG products and third-party promos. Fortunately, you can turn it off. If you have an LG, go to TV Settings > Additional Settings and disable Screen Saver Promotion.
Facebook ad tip for small-biz owners: Use Engagement Custom Audiences to target people who’ve already interacted with your content (e.g., someone who has liked one of your posts or watched a video). This cuts the cost of getting a qualified lead. Love that! To get started, go to Ads Manager > Audiences > Create a custom audience.
🖨️ HP is adding AI to printers: The Perfect Output feature cleans up webpages, automatically detecting and removing ads and weird formatting so you only print the text and images you want. It optimizes spreadsheets, too, keeping charts and tables on one page. OK, this is genius.
🚨 Scammers are gonna scam: When there’s a Big Tech product release like the iPhone 16, scammers get busy. They used trusted names (think Apple and Microsoft) to get into search results and lure you into opening spam emails. Their tricks hide in pop-up ads, too. Stay safe: A trusted brand will never ask you for personal information out of nowhere.