iPad Browser Questions

[Timman_24]

I'm enjoying surfing the web with my iPad, but I have a few questions regarding blocking certain things. I use Ghostery and Ad Block in firefox on my desktop computer and want something like that for the iPad too. Too many ads pop up on the sides and I want to be able to block those intensive dynamic ads from slowing the loading times. Also, I would like to not be tracked so something like Ghostery would help too.

Is there anything like this for iPad? Too bad Mozilla backed out of making iOS apps. I'd pay to get firefox with plug-ins on the iPad.

What would you recommend for lightweight surfing on the iPad?

[ua549]

AFAIK the browser is Safari. There is an adblocker for it.
I have not heard of an tracker blocker for Safari. Go to your iPhine and ask Siri.

[ImaNihilist]

There are no extensions for Safari on iOS.
The only other browser on iOS is Opera, but it doesn't support extensions or ad blocking either.

[MrDigital]

If you're jailbroken there are adblockers on cydia but I couldn't tell you how well they work.

What's quite effective is just a hosts file block: http://www.howardforums.com/showthre...3#post11700613

[Timman_24]

I'm not jailbroken and I don't think I can be since it came updated to iOS 5. It is a shame that someone doesn't offer a way to block content so the pages load faster. The iPad is faster surfing than I thought it would be, but a bit of code could make it blazing fast.

[ImaNihilist]

I'm not jailbroken and I don't think I can be since it came updated to iOS 5. It is a shame that someone doesn't offer a way to block content so the pages load faster. The iPad is faster surfing than I thought it would be, but a bit of code could make it blazing fast.

You might be able to use something like OpenDNS to block some stuff.

[Timman_24]

It looks like this browser features ad blocking:
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/atomi...347929410?mt=8

It is called Atomic. I might give it a try.

[Timman_24]

Atomic browser is what I needed. It has custom filters. I was able to block everything on sharkies and it is blazing fast now.

[MrDigital]

I'm not jailbroken and I don't think I can be since it came updated to iOS 5.

What do you mean? There's an iOS 5.01 jailbreak for A5 devices, but you'll want to do it ASAP before Apple stops signing the 5.01 code once 5.1 comes out.
http://modmyi.com/forums/how-jailbre...e-windows.html

If you have an original iPad you can use redsn0w to jailbreak it (again, something you'll want to do sooner rather than later).

There's a lot of benefits to jailbreaking, the mods you can find through cydia are pretty sweet.

[Timman_24]

Thanks Mr. D, I just JB'ed it. Kind of unsatisfying because it was so easy haha. I'm used to taking apart the entire system, putting in a james bond game, playing the first level, stopping the disk while it loads the next level, swapping the 007 disk with a burnt bootloader while it is spinning at full speed, and crossing my fingers.

What do you recommend to start with now that I am JB'ed?

EDIT: Hmmm, strange. A lot of good stuff actually costs money, seems counter intuitive to a hacking/homebrew movement. I got Atomic Browser for 99c that has AdBlock, but some dude on Cydia wants 2.19 for an AdBlock plugin for Safari. Not even Apple's homebrew community is open source lol.

[MrDigital]

You should play with winterboard, barrel, activator, sbsettings, springtomize and dreamboard. You can modify the entire way your device looks.

You could also install the hosts file adblock if you wanted. You could also get iFile and some of the various utilities like Mobile Terminal. One thing which I recommend if you get really crazy with Cydia stuff is xBackup, which will backup all your jailbreak mods. Otherwise you'll lose it all if you ever restore.

Graviboard is fun for about 30 seconds too.