Google is planning to add an ad blocker to Chrome, its web browser, and to possibly turn it on by default for all users. That seems counterintuitive for a company that makes the majority of its revenue (read: all the monies) from advertising, but it could actually be a way to beat blockers by becoming one itself, per a new Wall Street Journal report that first reported the news.

If Google offers its own ad blocker in Chrome, targeting specific types of ads that users find particularly annoying, like pop-overs and autoplaying audio and video, those users might never seek out a third-party ad-blocking extension, the logic goes. The WSJ reports that Google doesn’t love the deals it often has to make with third-party blockers like Adblock Plus, which require payment of fees in some cases to whitelist ads by companies like Google who are willing to pay for the privilege of working around their filters.

Chrome’s widespread uptake by internet users means the browser has almost half of the market when it comes to navigating the web, so putting an ad blocker natively within Chrome and turning it on by default would basically stop cold the growth of third-party options: Users won’t actively seek out a way to block ads during their web-browsing sessions if the ads are already blocked to begin with.

It’s a plan that’s sort of akin to operating for years with very thin margins or at a loss to block out the competition, almost the way Amazon approached e-commerce. Google wouldn’t be aiming to eliminate advertising altogether, but a side-benefit for consumers might be the institution of more user-friendly acceptability standards for ads — if you turn off your ad blocker for a second, you’ll find it’s gotten pretty bad out there.

Of course, the plan offers plenty of potential pitfalls. As an advertiser itself, Google exercising stronger controls over ads will definitely draw criticism from industry peers, and possibly also from antitrust watchdog organizations. The WSJ says this isn’t yet a done deal, but if it does come, it might be announced sometime within the next few weeks (maybe at I/O in mid-May?), so we shouldn’t have to wait long to find out how much this rocks the online advertising industry boat.

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Yo dawg, I heard you like basketball, so we built an AR basketball game you can play while you’re at a basketball game.

Ok fine, this isn’t how the Cleveland Cavaliers announced their new Augmented Reality game. But they should have.

Launching today, Deep in the Q (named after Cleveland’s Quicken Loans arena) is an AR basketball game launching just in time for playoffs. 

It’s pretty simple – the app opens to your camera, and once it recognizes a special trigger graphic it overlays an augmented reality basketball net.

A ball then appears which you can flick into the net. The AR tech is pretty good, letting you move your phone around and see the net (and shoot baskets) from all angles.

The game itself is really fun – the AR element makes it much more addicting than a 2D basketball game like the one Facebook recently snuck into messenger.

The Cavaliers plan to incorporate the app into their home playoff games by putting the graphic up on the main scoreboard during the game and letting fans shoot hoops from their seats. They’ll even give a prize to anyone who can make 10 shots in a row, which is definitely doable.

If you’re not at the stadium you can use their trigger graphic (shown below) to play at home. The game also recognizes the Bud Light logo as a trigger, so you can also play by just pointing your phone at a can or case of the beer. Since Bud Light is sponsoring the app you need to be 21 to play, and have to enter your birthday each time you restart the app, which a bit of a hassle.

The app was developed by YinzCam, a Pittsburgh-based app developer for sports teams. They’ve built apps for most of the teams in the NBA and NFL, as well as for events like the Super Bowl and NBA All Star Games.

You can download the app from the iOS App Store here, and use the trigger graphic below to play yourself right in this post.

Oracle just announced that it has acquired ad measurement company Moat.

Founded in 2010, Moat helps advertisers and publishers measure whether people see and interact with online ads. The need to create what CEO Jonah Goodhart has called “the currency for digital advertising” seems increasingly important given advertiser concerns around viewability, fraud and trust, and Moat has been working with some big names, including Nestle, Procter & Gamble and Unilever on the advertiser side, as well as ESPN, Facebook and Snapchat on the publisher side.

And while Moat raised $50 million just over a year ago, the funding landscape for adtech companies hasn’t been great, leading to predictions of more acquisitions and consolidation. (Moat raised more than $67 million total from investors including SV Angel, Mayfield Fund and Insight Venture Partners).

Oracle, meanwhile, has been moving aggressively into digital advertising and marketing over the past few years, with acquisitions like Vitrue and BlueKai.

The company says Moat will continue to operate as “an independent platform within Oracle Data Cloud,” with the Moat team joining Oracle.

“It is with great enthusiasm that we join forces with Oracle Data Cloud,” Goodhart said in the acquisition release. “When Oracle approached us about working together, we began to see the huge potential to jointly drive innovation. At our core, we believe there is an opportunity to fundamentally improve marketing and storytelling by brands and publishers through better data and analytics.”

The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

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