XDG Base Directory shell scripting tutorial
Update (): Added the new XDG_STATE_HOME directory as introduced in the XDG Base Directory Specification version 0.8.
Updated entries
TeamViewer installs suspicious font only useful for web fingerprinting
Update (): Updated with a statement from TeamViewer. The company has decided to remove the font in a future release.
Fluxfonts 2.0 for Windows 10
Update (): The Font Enumeration API, newly added to Chromium browsers (like Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge) has reintroduced font fingerprinting. However, the new API requires a per-domain permission prompt, so it’s not as leaky as the old Flash Player based method.
How to detect machine-translated webpages
Update (): Added details for detecting the new Firefox Translations (Bergamot) extension.
Does the web still need HTTP Deflate?
Update (): I just learned that WebPositive, the web browser in Haiku OS, stopped announcing support for Deflate in August 2014. It’ll still attempt to decode Deflate responses, however. It’s the first (and only) web browser to drop Deflate.
Disable processor boost mode to prolong your battery life
Article updated at .
Bing stops accepting Sitemap pings, switch to IndexNow instead
Update (): Bing today published a blog post announcing the deprecation of the bing.com/ping API. The announcement says it’s deprecated “starting today”. However, readers of my blog will know it stopped working five months ago.
Make AdSense faster with preconnect
Update (): If you’re using the newer Google AdSense script where the script element include an crossorigin="anonymous" attribute, then you need to duplicate all the link elements above with a matching attribute. (The current version of Google’s script relies on both anonymous and regular connections.) Check y…
What to <link rel=dns-prefetch> and when to use preconnect
Update (): Quick update to say that nothing has changed! Neither Firefox version 100 nor Safari version 15.4 has addressed any of the issues discussed in this article.
Keep an eye on your certificates with SSLPing
Update (): SSLPing ceased operations in April 2022 after getting crushed by its own technical debt. Read the statement from Chris Hartwig. Most people looking for a free certificate monitoring service are probably already using free certificates from Let’s Encrypt; who’ve automated certificate renewals and se…
Safari’s default media controls get blocked when CSP is applied
Update (): The issue described below was fixed in Safari 15 (released in September 2021). This version is only available on iOS version 15 and newer, and MacOS version 12 and newer.
How to run Windows 10 in GNOME Boxes (and fixes for common issues)
Article updated at .