In case you've ever wondered why you keep getting pop-up or pop-under ads, even though you have pop-up blocking enabled in Safari or Firefox, MDJ has the answer in today's issue:

Several people have noticed more pop-up and pop-under Web ads recently, even if Safari's pop-up blocker is turned on. Safari can't block them because they're not coming from JavaScript - they're coming from Macromedia Flash content. Macromedia has spent the past few years bragging about Flash's browser ubiquity, convincing developers to create everything from simple animations to full-fledged video in Flash because every browser can run it.

Now we're seeing the dark side of that - Flash content can also open windows, and advertisers are using it to subvert standard pop-up blocking, which typically prevents JavaScript code from opening new windows unless you clicked on a link to do so. So there you have it. Yet another reason to hate Flash.