Newsletter Archives

• The best tech secrets of 2022: AirTags, TikTok, Twitter, oh my

  Posted on December 26, 2022 at 02:45 CST by B. Livingston • Comment in the Forums

  

  ISSUE 19.52 • 2022-12-26

  Look for our BONUS issue on January 2, 2023!

  PUBLIC DEFENDER

  

  By Brian Livingston

  Amid my efforts to help you protect yourself against some rather aggressive technologies, I’m glad to report that there’s been at least some progress this year on the worst aspects of our “labor-saving” devices.

  Please note: I’m not claiming that my columns by themselves caused any of the changes I describe below. I just report the problems. We can all celebrate when bad tech is improved, whoever may have developed a particular solution.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (19.52.0, 2022-12-26).
  This story also appears in our public Newsletter.

  Public Defender AirTags, Cryptocurrency, Newsletters, NFT, privacy, security, Surveillance, TikTok, Twitter

• Are NFTs a plague on humanity or a technology you can tame?

  Posted on February 7, 2022 at 02:43 CST by B. Livingston • Comment in the Forums

  PUBLIC DEFENDER

  

  By Brian Livingston

  Seemingly out of nowhere, people are paying thousands or millions of dollars in cryptocurrency to buy NFTs, otherwise known as “nonfungible tokens” (a term I’ll explain in a moment). Can NFTs be good tools for you, or are they too corrupted by the bad reputation they’ve earned because of recent schemes and scams?

  NFTs are nonfungible because they are unique tokens. Each token is written to a blockchain by a maker or a seller of physical or virtual merchandise. (For an explanation of blockchain technology, see my June 7, 2021, column.) Here’s how to distinguish fungible and nonfungible.

  Read the full story in the AskWoody Plus Newsletter 19.06.0 (2022-02-07).

  AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Public Defender AskWoody Plus Newsletter, NFT, nonfungible token, Public Defender