The world wide web is a tricky place. Websites take advantage of “dark patterns” to trick users into doing things they might not want to do in order to benefit the website/service in question. Disguised ads, hidden costs or forced continuity are just some examples of “dark patterns”.
Apple publicly rereleased iOS 11.3. The new iOS update introduces new features including ARKit 1.5 with support for more immersive augmented reality experiences, iPhone Battery Health (Beta), new Animoji for iPhone X users, and more. This update also includes stability improvements and bug fixes.
Jump over the break to check out what’s new in iOS 11.3 …
Don’t want to use YouTube? Here’s the Hooktube link
Moment is making the legendary anamorphic lens available for the iPhone, Galaxy and Pixel devices. For more info check out the video above and the official Kickstarter page…
Don’t want to use YouTube? Here’s the Hooktube link….
AdGuard for iOS is now 50% off in the App Store [limited time – direct link]. The free version is a great way to block ads in Safari. But if you pay for the app, which is now only $0.99, you can do so much more with it.
You will be able to select different DNS providers ( or add your own ) for enhanced parental control, protection from phishing and malware and shielding your DNS traffic against interception and snooping. This way you will also be able block in-app ads too.
There’s also a Privacy module that detects trackers in real time and lets you decide which to block and which to let through. It also includes popular adblock filter subscriptions such as EasyList, EasyPrivacy, Fanboy’s Annoyances, Malware Domains.
You can also import custom hosts file. Up until now, you could edit the iOS device’s hosts file only if you were jailbroken.
The new update, which was released a few hours ago, comes with a redesigned dark theme look and DNSCrypt support.
All in all this seems to be the best AdBlocker app in the App Store right now. The fact that it blocks in-app ads will do it for most people, but I suggest you spend some time with its settings and research how can you set it up to get maximum protection while not affecting usability. Also keep an eye on trackers the first time you open an app ( and maybe a good idea to keep an eye on the trackers after you apply app updates ). See what connections it makes and blacklist useless crap and known offenders like Google services, Facebook/Instagram.
We all need and use password. The passwords we use should be complex and unique. Password re-use is a huge problem with large data breaches becoming more and more common these days, with billions of data records lost or stolen since 2013.
So how are we suppose to remember tens of strong, complex and unique passwords? We don’t! We only need to remember one good password and use a password manager.
There’s a whole bunch of password managers available, and most of them are not free. Some of them even offer subscriptions. I don’t know about you, but I find the idea of renting software retarded.
Some vendors even advertise their password managers as “military grade” or “bank level” secure. But how can you be 100% sure your data is actually stored securely? There certainly was no lack of breaches and vulnerabilities found with most of the popular password managers in the past.
Using the built-in manager of your favorite browser is definitely not a good idea either.
Ideally we would use a password manager that we’re in full control of.
These days, pretty much everybody is using a cloud file hosting service. Might be iCloud, Dropbox, Google Drive or Microsoft OneDrive.
Preferably you would ditch all those services and choose a self-hosted cloud server software, but the next best thing is to encrypt your files before uploading them to the cloud.
We’ve talked about VeraCrypt before. Now let’s take a look at Cryptomator – a free and open source client-side encryption app.
The app is available for free ( “pay what you want” option is available if you want to support the development ) for Mac, Linux and Windows and you can get it here. The iOS app is available here ( $4.99 ) and Android app is available here ( $4.99 ).
Check the video below to see how stupidly easy it is to encrypt your files for your cloud services…
Don’t want to use YouTube? Here’s a Hooktube link….
When it comes to tearing down new tech, nobody does it better than iFixit. Most of the time it doesn’t matter if you’re the first to do it as long as you do it better than everyone else. However, in this case, iFixit is not always the first to do it but also the best. So how do they do it?
Motherboard followed iFixit on their race to teardown the new iPhone X, literally traveling to the other side of the world to be the first to learn what’s inside Apple’s latest and greatest phone.
Don’t want to use YouTube to view the video? Here’s the hooktube link…
When you say “Google”, 9 out of 10 people think of “searching the web”. The other guy thinks of mass surveillance. Seed-funded by the NSA and CIA, Google was merely the first among a plethora of private sector start-ups co-opted by US intelligence to retain ‘information superiority.’
But you don’t have to think just about the search engine, and all the wonderful, life-saving services they offer us, for “free”. They also have a phone in millions of people’s pockets. So how much information is Google getting from those phones?
Ads are not only used to advertise products and services, but also to track your activity and behavior on the internet, steal your data and infect you with malware. The worst part? You don’t even have to click on ads to be affected by malware, tracking and ransomeware.
In the past uTorrent quietly installed cryptocurrency miners and The Pirate Bay was discovered to run browser-based miners. YouTube was recently caught displaying ads that covertly leach off visitors’ CPUs and electricity to generate digital currency on behalf of anonymous attackers.
There’s a few things you should take care immediately…
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