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September 18, 2024

Burner Lattepunks

Lattepunk

Email addresses are overtly tied to us, yet we give it away so easily. Why?

This coding stuff is for the birds, reader. My class instructor has been so useful and has shared so many resources with me. For practice, she’s recommended sites like LeetCode and Codewars. Like every other website on the internet, they want me to sign up for an account. Another item in my password manager...ugh!

Instead of digging in and cramping my fingers testing my skills and practicing, I decided to rant to you. Why does every website want my email!? The irony is not lost on me reader, I asked for your email so I could pester you myself. But with all these data breaches leaking our emails (you use different passwords for each account, right!?), we shouldn’t be handing it out all willy nilly. You don’t just want out our phone number whenever someone ask, do you?

Look, it’s not just me who thinks you shouldn’t be telling everyone your email address. Good ole bastion of privacy Apple (this is sarcasm) offers this as a feature. You need iCloud+, cause your privacy doesn’t come for free. But alas, I come with alternatives.

Want to make multiple accounts for some video game? Maybe get some Temu discounts without pestering your friends? Don’t want some random coding website (or random newsletter!) to have your actual email? Services like addy.io and SimpleLogin are here to help us.

How does it work

It’s simple. You make an account (yup) then set up a new “email” account. Then you can create emails on the fly! All the emails forward to your actual email address. That’s it! The website or person doesn’t get your actual email address. If it starts getting spam sent to it, delete the email address. You can even reply through burner emails in case you actually need to deal with customer service or something.

That’s it. This was a short PSA week. I have to go do my node.js homework and sign up for some coding challenges. But if you got something interesting you think I should see, email it to me at lattepunk@littleleo4.anonaddy.com.

You thought I was going to give you my actual email address??


Recommendations:

Something I was I could buy:

Huawei made a tri-fold phone. This thing looks utterly insane. It’s called the Mate XT. Why can’t I buy it? Cause it’s exclusive to China. But more importantly, it cost $2800.

Read:

AI-

Google’s AI Will Help Decide Whether Unemployed Workers Get Benefits | Todd Feathers for Gizmodo

Human drivers keep rear-ending Waymos | Timothy B. Lee for ArsTechnica

Apple Intelligence Promises Better AI Privacy. Here’s How It Actually Works | Lily Hay Newman for Wired

My dead father is “writing” me notes again | Benj Edwards for ArsTechnica

Meta fed its AI on almost everything you’ve posted publicly since 2007 | Jess Weatherbed for The Verge

How Memphis became a battleground over Elon Musk’s xAI supercomputer | Dana Kerr for NPR

Microsoft’s Hypocrisy on AI | Karen Hao for The Atlantic

Social Media-

Rage bait is all the rage on Threads — so I tried it. I'm sorry? | Katie Notopoulos for Business Insider

Snapchat Reserves the Right to Use AI-Generated Images of Your Face in Ads | Emanual Maiberg for 404 Media

Crypto-

The World’s Biggest Bitcoin Mine Is Rattling This Texas Oil Town | Joel Khalili for Wired

Environment-

This Is How Johnnie Walker Made the World’s Lightest Whisky Bottle | Chris Haslam for Wired

Oregon’s Largest Natural Gas Company Said It Was Going Green. It Sells as Much Fossil Fuel as Before. | McKenzie Funk for ProPublica

Shein is officially the biggest polluter in fast fashion. AI is making things worse. | Sachi Kitajima Mulkey for Grist

Healthcare-

The company behind a 'mental health action shooter' envisions a health insurance-funded 'golden age' for gaming, and it just got FDA clearance to treat stress | Tyler Wilde for PC Gamer

Finance-

One of the Nation’s Largest Auto Lenders Told Customers, “We’re Here to Help.” Then It Took Their Money and Their Cars. | Ryan Gabrielson and Byard Duncan for ProPublica

America Must Free Itself from the Tyranny of the Penny | Caity Weaver for NY Times

Space-

Two private astronauts took a spacewalk Thursday morning—yes, it was historic | Eric Berger for ArsTechnica

Security-

New Vo1d malware infects 1.3 million Android streaming boxes | Lawerence Abrams for Bleeping Computer

The Dark Nexus Between Harm Groups and ‘The Com’ | Brian Kerbs for Kerbs on Security

Inside Elon Musk’s Mushrooming Security Apparatus | Kirsten Grind and Jack Ewing for NY Times

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