Newsletter Archives

• Kape Technologies, formerly Crossrider, now owns 4 top VPNs

  Posted on September 27th, 2021 at 02:43 Brian Livingston Comment on the AskWoody Lounge

  PUBLIC DEFENDER

  

  By Brian Livingston

  A holding company with a controversial history — Kape Technologies — announced this month that it had purchased a leading virtual private network, ExpressVPN, adding it to a collection of three other major VPN companies that Kape acquired in 2017 through 2019.

  This concentration of VPN services has raised concerns.

  Read the full story in the AskWoody Plus Newsletter 18.37.0 (2021-09-27).

  AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Public Defender, Security AskWoody Plus Newsletter, privacy, Public Defender, security, VPN

• Sanas makes emerging-market English sound American or British

  Posted on September 20th, 2021 at 02:41 Brian Livingston Comment on the AskWoody Lounge

  PUBLIC DEFENDER

  

  By Brian Livingston

  A tiny tech startup says its software can almost instantly convert the accent of an ESL (English as a Second Language) speaker into a stream of audio that sounds almost exactly like an American or a British native speaker.

  Sanas — whose domain name is Sanas.ai — is based in Palo Alto, California, and has used artificial intelligence to analyze thousands of ESL speakers in India, Latin America, the Philippines, and elsewhere. The AI system picks up differences in their speech patterns compared with Western speakers who learned English in childhood. The software’s output is like a 3-D printer for sound.

  Read the full story in the AskWoody Plus Newsletter 18.36.0 (2021-09-20).

  AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Public Defender AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Public Defender, Speech

• Judge halts over-the-air TV streaming by Locast

  Posted on September 13th, 2021 at 02:45 Brian Livingston Comment on the AskWoody Lounge

  ISSUE 18.35 • 2021-09-13

  PUBLIC DEFENDER

  

  By Brian Livingston

  A nonprofit organization that uses the Internet to stream live, over-the-air television signals to digital devices has suspended its service throughout the United States after a federal district-court judge ruled that the offering didn’t fully comply with an exception Congress wrote into the US Copyright Act.

  Read the full story in the AskWoody Plus Newsletter 18.35.0 (2021-09-13).
  This story also appears in the AskWoody Free Newsletter 18.35.F (2021-09-13).

  AskWoody FREE Newsletter, AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Public Defender AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Jud, Public Defender, streaming media

• Apple plans to break its end-to-end encryption

  Posted on August 30th, 2021 at 02:42 Brian Livingston Comment on the AskWoody Lounge

  PUBLIC DEFENDER

  

  By Brian Livingston

  Apple Computer shocked computer-security experts when the Cupertino company announced on August 5 that it plans to circumvent end-to-end encryption in Mac and iOS software, reporting US users if more than a few photos in their iCloud account match a national database of child pornography.

  “We want to help protect children from predators who use communication tools to recruit and exploit them, and limit the spread of Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM),” Apple said in its announcement. But people with experience in the subject said the technology would be used for everything other than that.

  Read the full story in the AskWoody Plus Newsletter 18.33.0 (2021-08-30).

  AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Public Defender Apple, AskWoody Plus Newsletter, encryption, privacy, Public Defender, security, Surveillance

• The Internet passport is coming — are you ready?

  Posted on August 23rd, 2021 at 02:43 Brian Livingston Comment on the AskWoody Lounge

  PUBLIC DEFENDER

  

  By Brian Livingston

  If you’re tired of inventing new passwords to suit every different system, while hackers keep finding ever more clever ways to steal your identity, you’ll love being able to ditch passwords entirely yet still avoid hacks — if websites and services can get enough users to buy in.

  Read the full story in the AskWoody Plus Newsletter 18.32.0 (2021-08-23).

  AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Public Defender AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Biometrics, Public Defender, security

• Is your smartphone giving you brain cancer?

  Posted on August 9th, 2021 at 02:43 Brian Livingston Comment on the AskWoody Lounge

  PUBLIC DEFENDER

  

  By Brian Livingston

  A group of scientists and researchers is actively promoting findings that the use of smartphones is associated with an increase in brain cancer and related tumors.

  Joel Moskowitz, director of the Center for Family and Community Health at the University of California, Berkeley, told the Berkeley News on July 1: “More than 250 scientists … have signed the International EMF Scientist Appeal, which calls for health warnings and stronger exposure limits.” He added that the new 5G standard, which is replacing the old 4G network, “is an even bigger reason for concern.”

  Read the full story in the AskWoody Plus Newsletter 18.30.0 (2021-08-09).

  AskWoody Plus membership, Public Defender AskWoody Plus Newsletter, health, Public Defender, smartphones

• Revolutionary battery tech changes the way we charge

  Posted on August 2nd, 2021 at 02:43 Brian Livingston Comment on the AskWoody Lounge

  PUBLIC DEFENDER

  

  By Brian Livingston

  The dream of renewable-energy advocates everywhere may finally have been realized. The goal is a battery technology that stores solar and wind energy and releases it for days on end. Now, a new tech allows companies to meet demand at peak times with no need to fire up any spare fossil-fuel generators.

  Read the full story in the AskWoody Plus Newsletter 18.29.0 (2021-08-02).

  AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Public Defender AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Batteries, Public Defender

• What’s up with Firefox 90? Should you go back to version 88?

  Posted on July 26th, 2021 at 02:42 Brian Livingston Comment on the AskWoody Lounge

  PUBLIC DEFENDER

  

  By Brian Livingston

  In rapid succession, the Mozilla Foundation recently released versions 89 and 90 of its Firefox browser. Cries of pain immediately arose from users seeking a way to roll back to Firefox 88.

  What’s the problem?

  Read the full story in the AskWoody Plus Newsletter 18.28.0 (2021-07-26).

  AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Public Defender AskWoody Plus Newsletter, browsers, Firefox, Public Defender

• Have a smart home? A company may change your thermostat.

  Posted on June 28th, 2021 at 02:43 Brian Livingston Comment on the AskWoody Lounge

  ---

  PUBLIC DEFENDER

  

  By Brian Livingston

  You may be surprised to learn that installing “smart home” devices could mean that a private company can turn your thermostat up and down — no matter what setting you thought you had entered.

  As parts of the US swelter in a heat wave — Houston hit a blistering 95°F (35°C) on June 19 — area residents reported to local station KHOU-TV that energy companies had remotely raised their thermostats from 74°F to 78°F without their knowledge.

  Read the full story in the AskWoody Plus Newsletter 18.24.0 (2021-06-28).

  AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Public Defender AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Electricity, Public Defender, Public Utilities, Smart home

• Amazon quietly halts arbitrations — consumers can now sue

  Posted on June 14th, 2021 at 02:43 Brian Livingston Comment on the AskWoody Lounge

  PUBLIC DEFENDER

  

  By Brian Livingston

  With no announcement, Amazon.com has changed its terms of service, which previously compelled aggrieved consumers to submit their claims to mandatory arbitration. But last month, the retail giant eliminated arbitration as a requirement and now allows customers to join in class-action lawsuits.

  This may make a big difference for you — and for anyone who’s ever used any of Amazon’s products and services — because you may someday be eligible for large, court-ordered refunds.

  Read the full story in the AskWoody Plus Newsletter 18.22.0 (2021-06-14).

  AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Public Defender Amazon, AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Public Defender

• Buying crypto? Watch out for these 100 problems

  Posted on June 7th, 2021 at 02:45 Brian Livingston Comment on the AskWoody Lounge

  ISSUE 18.21 • 2021-06-07

  PUBLIC DEFENDER

  

  By Brian Livingston

  People in the tech industry tend to find cryptocurrency very attractive as a concept. After all, crypto coins are totally digital — there are no paper bills or metallic coins to handle — and you can transfer these “digicoins” to anyone in the world, instantly (in theory).

  The reality is that digital money is prey to all kinds of hacks and cons. Many people have lost their life savings because they converted their hard currency into crypto and got hacked. Bad actors used one security flaw or another to transfer the victims’ funds to themselves.

  Read the full story in the AskWoody Plus Newsletter 18.21.0 (2021-06-07).
  This story also appears in the AskWoody Free Newsletter 18.21.F (2021-06-07).

  AskWoody FREE Newsletter, AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Public Defender AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Cryptocurrency, Public Defender

• Don’t click those pop-ups that say you’ve been infected!

  Posted on May 31st, 2021 at 01:03 Brian Livingston Comment on the AskWoody Lounge

  PUBLIC DEFENDER

  

  By Brian Livingston

  It’s been said before, but it bears repeating — when you see a pop-up window on your desktop, laptop, or smartphone screen that says you’ve been infected with a virus and must act immediately, don’t click it!

  These frightening warnings are invariably “bad ads” that use advertising networks to insert these pop-ups into websites and phone networks. Their goal is to get you to click a link and download malware, whether it’s a fake “antivirus program,” a malicious “virtual private network,” or some other backdoor into your personal life.

  Read the full story in the AskWoody Plus Newsletter 18.20.0 (2021-05-31).

  AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Public Defender AskWoody Plus Newsletter, phishing, Public Defender, security
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