Unless you pay $13.99 per month for YouTube Premium, you'll have to deal with ads when you watch videos on YouTube. Thankfully, skipping the ads has always been easy, but over the past few days, YouTube has made a subtle change to the user interface on desktop and mobile that makes it more difficult to find the skip button while an ad is playing. Last week, I began noticing that the countdown I was used to seeing in the bottom-right corner of YouTube videos was gone. Previously, it would count down before turning into a clickable skip button. Instead, a yellow line now appears at the bottom of videos that moves at variable speeds depending on the length of the ad. If it's a long ad I could skip after 5 seconds, the yellow line will race to the end, and then the skip button will suddenly appear in the frame. If it's an unskippable ad, the yellow line will correspond to the actual length of the ad. YouTube's nefarious new skip button shenanigans. Image source: Jacob Siegal/YouTube This seems to be one of several tests that YouTube is conducting at the moment. As spotted by Android Police, a Redditor noticed that YouTube was using black rectangle overlays to hide the skip button. I'm not sure which of these two tests is more annoying, honestly. Android Police also pointed out that the yellow bar I'm seeing is beginning to show up for some mobile users as well. It is possible that YouTube is conducting A/B tests to see which method is more likely to trick users into spending more time watching ads. YouTube's global ad revenue in 2023 was $31.51 billion, which was an increase of nearly 8% over 2022. Of course, no amount of revenue is ever enough, so even the slightest changes to potentially increase ad revenue are always going to be on the table. So far, YouTube hasn't shared any official statements about the changes to the skip button. We will keep an eye out to see if the company makes an announcement. Don't Miss: YouTube will start showing even more ads soon The post YouTube is trying to hide the skip button so you’ll watch more ads appeared first on BGR. Today's Top Deals ECOVACS Fall Prime Day blowout: Up to $350 off best-selling robot vacuums like the T30S Best Apple iPad deals of Prime Big Deal Days 2024, with prices from $199 Top Prime Day deals: $169 AirPods Pro 2, $170 Apple Watch SE, laptops, Bose headphones, robot vacuums, more Today’s deals: $50 off Eureka E20 Plus robot vac, $1,100 off LG C4 OLED TV, Blink cameras from $20, more

Ongoing excavations at Halaesa Arconidea, in Tusa, Sicily, have revealed one of the island’s largest Roman thermal complexes to date, showing the luxurious facilities at the ancient city. The city was founded in 403 BC on a hill overlooking the Tyrrhenian coast and the valley of the river Tusa, and was one of the first of the Sicilian cities to side with Rome during the First Punic War. The finding, announced on October 6, 2024, follows the fifth excavation campaign conducted by the University of Palermo in collaboration with the Archaeological Park of Tindari and the Municipality of Tusa. What in the Roman Republic is this Giant Pool Found Outside Rome? Luxurious Roman Villa On Display Under Lavish Modern Apartment Block Uncovering a Monumental Roman Bath Complex The excavation has revealed a thermal complex spanning approximately 800 square meters (8,611 square feet), making it one of the largest baths ever found in Sicily. Key features include two rooms with mosaic floors, as well as a courtyard with porticoed wings, which likely served as social spaces for the city's elite, notes a release from  Regione Siciliana. Read moreSection: NewsHistory & ArchaeologyAncient PlacesEuropeRead Later 

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