The Downside Of Too Much Choice

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They say the miser pays twice.I’ve seen it countless times in reality with physical products -- cheap micefalling apart, a Meow Meow Co. power supply failing, etc -- but it looks like now wecan’t even download an ad-supported copy of Bejeweled without gettingbitten in the ass by this old truism. According to a study conducted by researchers from Microsoft and Purdue University, 75% of the energy used by free Android apps is used to serve ads. And that’s being generous -- one app could drainyour battery in around 90 minutes, according to theresearch.That may seem ridiculously high forjust an ad, but most embedded ads aren’t only a simple rotating picture. Theuser-tailored ads send your location data to the ad server and then downloadlocation-specific content via the wireless network. Just that step alone consumes 45% of the total app CPU usage for Angry Birds. That’s power that could be used to make the birds fly smoother and angrier.Astute readers areprobably crying foul about the Android bent of the research -- iOS has ad-supported apps,as well. It’s true that all ad-supported apps suck juice, regardless of platform.The only thing I can think being different about iOS is its lack of Flash ads, whichwould be even more battery draining. Thankfully, Adobe’s putting a bullet in thehead of mobile Flash. That will soon pay off for all users who once thought this flashyscourge was a good thing. Continue Reading

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