Newsletter Archives

• Are Google’s Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) good or evil?

  Posted on May 9, 2022 at 02:44 CDT by Will Fastie • Comment in the Forums

  PUBLIC DEFENDER

  

  By Brian Livingston

  A programming technique that Google says will speed up websites is actually slowing them down, according to major Web publishers and browser makers who are actively blocking it or working around it.

  The technology is called Accelerated Mobile Pages or AMP. The search giant has been working on the technique since at least 2015. But AMP has become a hot potato only recently.

  Last year, publishers and Web developers began realizing that Google was favoring its own AMP systems and silently diverting to itself a large cut of websites’ advertising revenue, according to a lawsuit filed by the attorneys general of 16 US states.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (19.19.0, 2022-05-09).

  AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Public Defender AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Google searches, Online advertising, Public Defender

• Secret Photoshop feature won’t open images with certain filenames

  Posted on April 4, 2022 at 02:43 CDT by B. Livingston • Comment in the Forums

  PUBLIC DEFENDER

  

  By Brian Livingston

  An undocumented feature of Adobe Photoshop, Photoshop Elements, and related programs makes the applications open but fail to load an image — and the apps then close abruptly — if you launch the apps using a filename with specific characters, according to numerous licensed users.

  This weird behavior, which is either an inadvertent bug or a deliberate Easter egg programmed in by some Adobe developer, can be seen on releases of the software all the way back to Photoshop version 5 (1998) and through Photoshop 23.2.2.325, which is the current version in Adobe’s Creative Cloud 2022.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (19.14.0, 2022-04-04).

  AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Public Defender Adobe, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Photoshop Elements, AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Public Defender

• ‘Matter’ wants to talk to all your devices. Should you talk back?

  Posted on March 21, 2022 at 02:43 CDT by B. Livingston • Comment in the Forums

  PUBLIC DEFENDER

  

  By Brian Livingston

  The most exciting development coming in wireless connectivity this year was quite the rage at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in January. Since all the cool names were already taken, the new technology is called simply “Matter,” and it promises to unite the devices in your home or office that you can talk to — and which may even talk back.

  The platform isn’t the brainstorm of some garage startup. It’s being brought to the market by heavyweights such as Amazon, Apple, Google, and many other household names. They’re united under an umbrella organization called the Connectivity Standards Alliance (CSA), which includes more than 400 companies. At first glance, that’s an impressive exercise in herding cats.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (19.12.0, 2022-03-21).

  AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Public Defender AskWoody Plus Newsletter, IoT, Public Defender, safety, Smart Devices, Smart home

• Look who’s stalking 2: Apple responds to AirTag security threats

  Posted on March 7, 2022 at 02:45 CST by B. Livingston • Comment in the Forums

  

  ISSUE 19.10 • 2022-03-07

  PUBLIC DEFENDER

  

  By Brian Livingston

  The Apple AirTag, a $29 tracker the company started selling last year, has been criticized by experts for its weak protections against criminals who use the device to stalk people and pinpoint vehicles to steal. In response, Apple posted last month a response that promises only minor upgrades to the gadgets’ software.

  Meanwhile, a developer announced recently that he had built — using a few dollars’ worth of electronic parts — an AirTag-like clone that takes full advantage of Apple’s free and worldwide Find My communication network. As an illustration of the weakness of AirTags, the clone easily defeats all of Apple’s existing security and detection systems, including the new features the corporation said last month it was planning to implement in the future.

  Read the full story in the AskWoody Plus Newsletter 19.10.0 (2022-03-07).
  This story also appears in the AskWoody Newsletter 19.10.F (2022-03-07).

  AskWoody FREE Newsletter, AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Public Defender AirTags, Apple, AskWoody Plus Newsletter, privacy, Public Defender, security

• How to find out who owns that website you hate

  Posted on February 21, 2022 at 02:43 CST by B. Livingston • Comment in the Forums

  PUBLIC DEFENDER

  

  By Brian Livingston

  Sometimes, you really want to look up the email address or phone number of whoever owns a particular website or domain name.

  Unfortunately, this is becoming more difficult as various “privacy” services attempt to hide this information from the global WhoIs system. Surprisingly often, these cloaking mechanisms fail to provide website owners with true security and actual privacy — while seriously frustrating the rest of us.

  Read the full story in the AskWoody Plus Newsletter 19.08.0 (2022-02-21).

  AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Public Defender AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Domain names, Public Defender, WhoIs

• 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

• ‘Fake’ HDMI 2.1: The standard that isn’t

  Posted on January 24, 2022 at 02:43 CST by B. Livingston • Comment in the Forums

  PUBLIC DEFENDER

  

  By Brian Livingston

  If you’re interested in buying new monitors for your business or home that support the latest HDMI 2.1 standard — such as many displays that were demonstrated at CES (the Consumer Electronics Show) earlier this month — you may be surprised to learn that HDMI 2.1–certified monitors may not necessarily support the enhanced features that have been heavily promoted.

  The shocking truth is that the HDMI Licensing Administrator (HDMI LA) — an organization in San Jose, California, that has authority over the trademarked term HDMI — is certifying as “HDMI LA compliant” monitors that support as few as one of the at least seven new features that HDMI 2.1 offers over 2.0.

  Read the full story in the AskWoody Plus Newsletter 19.04.0 (2022-01-24).

  AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Public Defender AskWoody Plus Newsletter, hardware, HDMI, Public Defender, Standards

• Look who’s stalking: Protect yourself from Apple AirTags

  Posted on January 10, 2022 at 02:44 CST by B. Livingston • Comment in the Forums

  PUBLIC DEFENDER

  

  By Brian Livingston

  Ever since Apple started selling $29 tracking devices called AirTags last April, criminal types have used them to tail people, pinpoint and heist their cars, and worse — but warnings of planted devices were made available only to iPhone owners. Now, people who have more common phones can find out whether they’re being tracked, too.

  The AirTag is a small, plastic-encased device that’s approximately the size of three or four dollar coins stacked on top of each other. It competes with such trackers as the Bluetooth-based Tile Pro and the GPS-based Verizon Hum^x. But most Bluetooth devices connect only to phones within 50 meters or so, and GPS trackers require you to pay monthly fees.

  Read the full story in the AskWoody Plus Newsletter 19.02.0 (2022-01-10).

  AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Public Defender AirTags, Apple, AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Crime, privacy, Public Defender

• Roll back Windows 11 after more than 60 days

  Posted on December 27, 2021 at 02:45 CST by B. Livingston • Comment in the Forums

  ISSUE 18.50 • 2021-12-27

  PUBLIC DEFENDER

  

  By Brian Livingston

  I wrote “Win11 isn’t a must-have upgrade yet” in my October 18, 2021, AskWoody column. However, for true experimenters, I explained a single Registry line that enables you to install Win11 on what Microsoft calls “unsupported” CPU and TPM chips, in case you really need one of four new Win11 features.

  Since that time, it turns out you can fix one of Microsoft’s most restrictive new policies. To the frustration of many, Win11 can’t be rolled back to Win10 a mere ten days following an upgrade. Fortunately, you can end that limitation by using a couple of very simple steps.

  Read the full story in the AskWoody Plus Newsletter 18.50.0 (2021-12-27).
  This story also appears in the AskWoody Free Newsletter 18.50.F (2021-12-27).

  AskWoody FREE Newsletter, AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Public Defender AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Public Defender, Windows 10, Windows 10 rollback, Windows 11

• Mad at costly Grinch bots? Get yourself a free one.

  Posted on December 13, 2021 at 02:44 CST by B. Livingston • Comment in the Forums

  PUBLIC DEFENDER

  

  By Brian Livingston

  This year’s global supply-chain crunch is making numerous electronic items go in and out of stock at retailers, and the problem has been made worse by “Grinch bots,” automated tools that some operators use to snap up whatever hot tech and toys may momentarily become available.

  Some worried tech buyers — and a few desperate parents of kids who “need” this year’s must-have toy — have tried to subscribe to their own Grinch bot (formally known as a shopping bot). But the services can cost $99 per month plus initiation fees, and they offer no guarantee you’ll actually score the items you want.

  Read the full story in the AskWoody Plus Newsletter 18.48.0 (2021-12-13).

  AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Public Defender AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Online shopping, Public Defender

• Browsers with the best security and privacy in 2021

  Posted on November 29, 2021 at 02:45 CST by B. Livingston • Comment in the Forums

  ISSUE 18.46 • 2021-11-29

  PUBLIC DEFENDER

  

  By Brian Livingston

  Most of us use a Web browser on our personal computers or smartphones every day, but few of us truly know what those browsers are really doing for us — or to us.

  Too many browsers “leak” information about us and our everyday activities to backend servers, which are run by ad-tracking firms, search-engine giants, or the browser makers themselves.

  It’s extremely difficult to guess which browser is the “most secure” for surfing the Web. There are, to be sure, many respectable review sites that rank browsers. But most of the reviews weigh a browser’s security against unrelated features — ease of use, speed of throughput, memory usage, etc. — producing only a composite score.

  In this article, I focus solely on how well browsers deliver security against malware and protect the privacy of your personal identity.

  Read the full story in the AskWoody Plus Newsletter 18.46.0 (2021-11-29).
  This story also appears in the AskWoody Free Newsletter 18.46.F (2021-11-29).

  AskWoody FREE Newsletter, AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Public Defender AskWoody Plus Newsletter, browsers, Public Defender

• Bulging batteries in Surface laptops are a growing issue

  Posted on November 15, 2021 at 02:44 CST by B. Livingston • Comment in the Forums

  PUBLIC DEFENDER

  

  By Brian Livingston

  More and more users of Microsoft Surface 2-in-1 laptop computers are reporting a bent and battered screen that’s been curved by a dangerously bulging battery that protrudes from its frame.

  This was first covered in an AskWoody post on December 5, 2019. At that time, the post linked to 10 forum threads at Microsoft Answers, Reddit, and elsewhere. The forums contained dozens of stories describing similar-sounding problems.

  Read the full story in the AskWoody Plus Newsletter 18.44.0 (2021-11-15).

  AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Public Defender AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Batteries, bulging battery, Microsoft, Public Defender, Surface
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