Newsletter Archives

• How can an e-cigarette know the age of its user?

  Posted on August 7, 2023 at 02:44 CDT by B. Livingston • Comment in the Forums

  PUBLIC DEFENDER

  

  By Brian Livingston

  The dominant e-cigarette manufacturer Juul filed in the US last month an application to sell a new technology that requires age verification and prevents the use of third-party, candy-flavored vaping cartridges.

  Juul nearly went bankrupt in November 2022 after agreeing to a $439 million settlement with several US states. The attorneys general of those states successfully argued that the company had marketed fruity flavors specifically to appeal to minors.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (20.32.0, 2023-08-07).

  Public Defender Age Verification, Bluetooth, health, Newsletters, Pod ID, Regulation, safety

• Dealing with a data breach

  Posted on June 26, 2023 at 02:42 CDT by Susan Bradley • Comment in the Forums

  ON SECURITY

  

  By Susan Bradley

  Recently, the MOVEit system from Progress has been in the headlines, and not in a good way.

  MOVEit is used by many businesses and governments to transfer files. Those same entities are now sending out notifications that your personal information may have been stolen by attackers using a vulnerability discovered in MOVEit.

  Although the problem has now been patched, attackers had a window of opportunity for at least several days during which data was captured in the clear.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (20.26.0, 2023-06-26).

  On Security data breach, Newsletters, Patch Lady Posts, safety, security

• Will PayPal fine you $2500 for trading artistic nudes?

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

  PUBLIC DEFENDER

  

  By Brian Livingston

  PayPal, the giant online payment-processing service based in San Jose, California, put itself in hot water last month by releasing, and then disavowing, a document that threatened to deduct $2500 or more from PayPal users’ financial accounts if any of their transactions “appear to depict nudity” or “promote misinformation.”

  Setting aside that vague and confusing language for a moment, PayPal’s checkered history with regulators is worth recalling. For instance, the company was recently subjected to a number of actions.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (19.47.0, 2022-11-21).

  Public Defender Financial, Newsletters, PayPal, safety, terms of service

• Should you try USDTea technology or leaf it alone?

  Posted on June 6, 2022 at 02:43 CDT by B. Livingston • Comment in the Forums

  PUBLIC DEFENDER

  

  By Brian Livingston

  A new cryptocurrency that trades on the Ethereum blockchain — USDTea — promises to maintain a stable value equivalent to $1.00 essentially forever. But is it a scam, a joke, or a new kind of technology that you could actually put to use in your own life?

  At first glance, it would be easy to assume that any new crypto coin is a con game. After all, 81% of initial coin offerings were found to be outright scams — that is, the promoters disappeared with all the money that eager investors poured in, according to a 2018 study by Satis Group LLC.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (19.23.0, 2022-06-06).

  AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Public Defender AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Cryptocurrency, Fintech, Public Defender, safety

• ‘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

• Anatomy of a malware

  Posted on May 10, 2021 at 01:08 CDT by Ben Myers • Comment in the Forums

  ISSUE 18.17 • 2021-05-10

  SAFETY

  

  By Ben Myers

  Things are not always as they seem. What might appear to be a devastating, PC-destroying piece of malware can sometimes be a spoof.

  Recently, a client gave me his laptop, which displayed a frightening message as soon he logged in. This variety of malware is all too popular. Here is a step-by-step process to remove it, expecting that the antivirus software installed in the computer cannot do its job. Along the way, you will see where malware is often hidden.

  Read the full story in the AskWoody Plus Newsletter 18.17.0 (2021-05-10).
  This story also appears in the AskWoody Free Newsletter 18.17.F (2021-05-10).

  AskWoody FREE Newsletter, AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Hardware AskWoody Plus Newsletter, hardware, safety, security

• Working outside an admin account: Safe but annoying

  Posted on November 18, 2019 at 01:00 CST by Tracey Capen • Comment in the Forums

  WINDOWS

  By Lincoln Spector

  You’ve probably been told to have both a standard Windows account for safety’s sake and an administrator account because Windows demands one.

  But let’s face it, most of us have ignored this advice because … well, juggling two accounts isn’t much fun. It’s especially annoying when using a standard account and you’re constantly asked for the password proving you’re allowed into the administrator sanctum. It’s worse when you’re not asked for the password — and you have to figure out how to bring up the dialog box for entering it.

  Read the full story in AskWoody Plus Newsletter 16.42.0 (2019-11-18).

  Windows Security Accounts, AskWoody Plus Newsletter, safety, Standard account

• Windows 7: Preparing for an uncertain future

  Posted on July 1, 2019 at 01:15 CDT by Tracey Capen • Comment in the Forums

  ON SECURITY

  By Susan Bradley

  By now every Win7 user should know that official support for the venerable OS ends next year.

  The final updates should go out on January 14, 2020 (more MS info) — at least they’ll end for those of us who don’t have deep corporate pockets to pay for extra patches.

  Read the full story in the AskWoody Plus Newsletter 16.24.0 (2019-07-01).

  On Security, Windows 7 AskWoody Plus Newsletter, safety, security, updates, windows 7