Privacy
Windows Timeline browser add-on raises few privacy concerns
New browser extension integrates Firefox and Chrome browser histories with Windows Timeline. Well-received by the press despite negatively impacting user privacy.
Latest
Browser Extensions
BATify extension brings Brave Rewards to Firefox and Chrome
A new browser extension, BATify, brings Brave Rewards’ creator-tipping system and BAT-wallet features to Firefox and Google Chrome.
Authentication and Passwords
Firefox, Security Keys, U2F, and Google Advanced Protection
How to use U2F security keys (USB A or C, Bluetooth, others) with Firefox and Google’s Advanced Account Protection program.
Privacy
Personal data should be auto-delete after a few months by default
The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) makes it clear that apps and services must delete their customers’ data when it’s no longer useful.
Web Analytics
How to detect Brave despite it not having a unique User-Agent
Brave browser pretends to be Google Chrome to avoid being blocked. You can, however, still detect it by analyzing its uniqueness.
Open Standards
New Google Podcasts app: who needs data portability anyway?
The new Google Podcast app doesn’t play well with other podcast apps. It doesn’t support some podcast standards, or importing or exporting subscriptions.
Android
Don’t trust YouTube’s break-reminders
The YouTube app is supposed to remind you to take periodic breaks, but fails to prompt users across devices. Feature is of limited use.
VPS
Moved to Hetzner VPS: Shorter legal docs as a competitive advantage
Linode required me to agree to updated Terms of Service with not enough time to review them. Hetzner’s full contract was shorter than Linode’s preamble.
Linux
How to monitor system bandwidth usage statistics with Darkstat
Set up network monitoring and measure bandwidth consumption using Darkstat on Fedora Linux with systemd service management.
Apache HTTPD
Problems to expect when using the Apache mod_cache module
Five implementation problems and gotchas when using Apache’s HTTP caching module. Learn how to keep your HTTPD caching proxy server from messing up.
DNS
Actually secure DNS over TLS in Unbound
Resolve a common DNS over TLS configuration mistake in the Unbound DNS server that makes you vulnerable to attacker-in-the-middle resolver interceptions.
MacOS
Get the Apple News app for MacOS in unsupported regions
Here is how to enable and unhide the Apple News app on MacOS when you’re not in one of the News app’s supported countries.