Newsletter Archives

• Which Web browser is the most secure for 2025?

  Posted on April 28, 2025 at 02:44 CDT by B. Livingston • Comment in the Forums

  PUBLIC DEFENDER

  

  By Brian Livingston

  With all the malware threats we face on the Internet these days, running an antivirus program is a must. But your browser can help, too, warning you about shady websites and preventing your browsing history from being tracked by corporations or governments.

  I most recently wrote about protecting yourself while Web surfing in my AskWoody column titled Browsers with the best security and privacy in 2021.

  Much has changed since that time. We need to question whatever our old choice of browsers may have been and update our knowledge with the latest ratings by security experts.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (22.17.0, 2025-04-28).

  Public Defender Brave, Chrome, Edge, Epic, FreeNet, Newsletters, Opera, Puffin, Safari, Security, TOR, Vivaldi, Waterfox, Web Browsers

• Hackers are using two-factor authentication to infect you

  Posted on April 14, 2025 at 02:44 CDT by B. Livingston • Comment in the Forums

  PUBLIC DEFENDER

  

  By Brian Livingston

  We’ve all seen those are-you-human tests that websites use to screen out data-scraping bots — e.g., click all the cars, enter the code we texted you, etc. — but, unfortunately, malicious hackers are now exploiting our trust in these common dialog boxes to trick us into installing malware on our PCs.

  It’s natural for us to simply click through whatever process a particular website may use for two-factor authentication (2FA). But hackers are taking advantage of that sense of familiarity to bypass our usual security measures and infect our machines.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (22.15.0, 2025-04-14).

  Public Defender Are You Human, ClickFix, Multifactor Authentication, Newsletters, Passkeys, Social Engineering, Two-factor authentication

• Apple has been analyzing your photos since September 2024

  Posted on March 31, 2025 at 02:44 CDT by B. Livingston • Comment in the Forums

  PUBLIC DEFENDER

  

  By Brian Livingston

  Apple silently turned on a feature in its new iPhone iOS 18, macOS 15, and other operating systems that sends a version of every photo in your collection to a central server for “evaluation” — with no publicity about the feature and without asking device users to opt into the process. It’s simply enabled.

  The Cupertino corporation released iOS 18 and macOS 15 (code-named Sequoia) on September 16, 2024. When I say the photo-analysis feature was “silently turned on,” I mean there’s no mention of Apple’s Enhanced Visual Search (EVS) in the company’s official What’s new in iOS 18 Web page. There’s a passing reference to using Apple Intelligence, the iPhone’s “smart assistant,” to search for photos in iOS 18.1 (released on October 28, 2024). But there’s been none of the promotional talk you’d expect for such an important change as EVS.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (22.13.0, 2025-03-31).

  Public Defender Apple, Enhanced Visual Search, iOS 18, macOS Sequoia, Newsletters

• What I learned from Woody Leonhard

  Posted on March 17, 2025 at 02:44 CDT by B. Livingston • Comment in the Forums

  PUBLIC DEFENDER

  

  By Brian Livingston

  The newsletter you’re reading today is here primarily because of one man: Woody Leonhard. He passed away on March 8, 2025. May he rest in peace.

  Woody’s early days in the tech business included a stint as a beta tester for Microsoft’s Word for Windows 1.1. That experience enabled him to publish his first book in 1994: The Underground Guide to Word for Windows.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (22.11.0, 2025-03-17).
  This story also appears in our public Newsletter.

  Public Defender Newsletters, Woody Leonhard

• You can stop the avalanche of teen suicides due to social media

  Posted on March 3, 2025 at 02:45 CST by B. Livingston • Comment in the Forums

  

  ISSUE 22.09 • 2025-03-03

  PUBLIC DEFENDER

  

  By Brian Livingston

  The world is suffering from an explosion of teenage suicides and self-harm that are directly caused by the depression and suicidal impulses that young people develop through social-media use, according to medical experts.

  I called attention to these ghastly statistics in my July 8, 2024, column. Suicide rates among children as young at 10 have doubled or tripled since smartphones became glued to teenagers’ hands and social media such as Instagram became kids’ primary method of relating to the world.

  Finally, a respected psychologist — a professor of leadership at New York University’s Stern School of Business — has published a blueprint to end the bloodshed and bring children back into a healthy relationship with their electronic devices and each other.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (22.09.0, 2025-03-03).
  This story also appears in our public Newsletter.

  Public Defender Age Restrictions, Age Verification, Child Security, Depression, Newsletters, Self-harm, Smartphones, Social Media, Suicide, Teen Depression

• How you can make DeepSeek tell the truth

  Posted on February 24, 2025 at 02:44 CST by B. Livingston • Comment in the Forums

  PUBLIC DEFENDER

  

  By Brian Livingston

  The tech world was shocked last month when a Chinese company released DeepSeek, a chatbot that uses affordable, run-of-the-mill chips and consumes less energy per query than other artificial-intelligence programs.

  What’s not so good about DeepSeek is the way it censors or outright lies about political affairs. This includes anything you ask the chatbot that relates to China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Asian democracy, and numerous other subjects.

  But it’s easy to make DeepSeek give you the straight-up truth — and I’ll tell you how to do it.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (22.08.0, 2025-02-24).

  Public Defender AI, China, DeepSeek, Newsletters

• How good is Mac software vs. Windows software, really?

  Posted on February 10, 2025 at 02:44 CST by B. Livingston • Comment in the Forums

  PUBLIC DEFENDER

  

  By Brian Livingston

  The flame wars over whether Apple programs and apps are better or worse than Windows programs and apps have raged on ever since the Apple I was released in 1976. Like a fool, I’m stepping right into the middle of this battle royale with today’s column.

  In the first two parts of my Mac-vs.-Win11 series, I described how to get the best price on the new, 2024 Mac mini with its M4 chip and how to choose an inexpensive keyboard, mouse, and monitor (if you aren’t insistent on buying peripherals from Apple).

  Today, I’m going to cover the software that comes with the Mac mini, as well as programs and apps that you can get as separate add-ons. I’m probably not going to satisfy anyone.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (22.06.0, 2025-02-10).

  Public Defender Apple, Mac mini, macOS, Newsletters, Software, Windows

• The problems and joys of assembling a Mac mini

  Posted on February 3, 2025 at 02:43 CST by B. Livingston • Comment in the Forums

  PUBLIC DEFENDER

  

  By Brian Livingston

  This is not your daddy’s Mac mini. Unlike minis of old, you’ll need some bits and pieces to get it ready to power on.

  Although the original Mac mini was introduced in 2005, it wasn’t until 2006 that Apple replaced the PowerPC G4 CPU with an Intel CPU — at the time a Core Solo and almost immediately upgraded to a Core Duo. The rear port configuration changed, with the large DVI connector replaced by smaller mini-DVI and mini-DisplayPort connections. In 2009, Apple began shipping models that included Mini-DVI-to-DVI and Mini-DisplayPort-to-VGA adapter cables as well as more USB-A ports.

  At that moment, Apple began to actively market the Mac mini as an attractive alternative to Windows PC users because it became port-compatible with peripherals the user already had. This made it possible to buy nothing more than the Mac mini, with no extras required.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (22.05.0, 2025-02-03).

  Public Defender Apple, Apple M4, Mac mini, Newsletters, Peripherals
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