New Lattepunk Resolution
Lattepunk
It’s a been a long time, I shouldn’t have left you...
Happy New Years reader!!! What have you been doing since I’ve been gone? I can tell you that since I’ve been neglecting you, I was able to accomplish so much...SO MUCH! Let’s see what I was up to:
Managed to save the citizens of Halcoyon
Tried my hand as a bounty hunter to a dope beat
Took down a Mega Corporation
Killed demons on both Mars AND in Hell
Fought off an invasion on a space station
Saved Krat from some weird puppets
Helped some unique characters escape a space station (different space station)
Won a grand tournament
And... I helped some wizards stop World War 5
Needless to say, I’ve been busy! But, as always, I’m here to make time for you reader. With that said, I can’t think of anything of value that’s happened since I last wrote. Crazy right!?
And since NOTHING has happened, I have no clue what to talk about. WILD! So this is email where I become your life coach and say something motivational to inspire you to become great...but, I need to save all that stuff for myself. Sorry reader.
I could talk about the how Apple uses all your photos to identify landmarks without your consent. But you read the terms of service. You know what Enhanced Visual Search does. But just in case, go to Settings => Apps => Photos and take look at that toggle that you definitely switched on.
PSA: Since you’re already in settings, make sure your iPhone is updated to iOS 18.2.1
But not everyone has an iPhone or a Mac. That would be a boring read. Maybe we can talk about cars! Volkswagen specifically (and EVs specifically because I need to keep the tech theme), but what about them? Did they leave location data for, checks notes, 800,000 EVs out in the open for anyone to get? Yup. But you aren’t some LOSER that drives an EV! So that probably doesn’t apply to you either.
Is the US Treasury Department a hot topic? That’s what the kids are on about on TikTok nowadays right? The US Treasury Department? No? Well they had a security breach. I don’t need to stress the importance of online security, you use password managers and 2FA all the time.
Right?
I guess...let’s talk about Pornhub.
Pornhub!?
Yeah. Samantha Cole at 404 Media has a good piece on it:
Pornhub Is Now Blocked In Almost All of the U.S. South
It’s not a porn ban but more how conservative US states want to protect children from bullets...no, sorry...wrong newsletter. Protect children from something more dangerous than bullets, porn. They are mandating websites that show sexual explicit imagery verify that their users are indeed, older enough to view this content. Pornhub themselves have a good explanation of it, go read it.
Instead of invading users privacy in that way, they just refuse to comply. Pornhub is getting the majority of the headlines because they are just the most popular, but this applies to all sites that have what is deemed “adult content”. It’s weird cause conservative’s favorite social media platform for some reason doesn’t have to abide by these rules, even though they allow it. Strange, isn’t it?
This has nothing to do with tech you libtard, why talk about this?
I’m getting to that reader, this is the funny part I want to show you. Google Trends for VPNs is, let’s say, interesting:
Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) have many uses. One is that it can make it seem like you are visiting a site from a different location. Live in Florida and want to slap the salami or flick the bean really quick to your favorite adult star? Going to have to make it seem like you aren’t in Florida to accomplish that nowadays.
But VPNs have other uses. Your locally government suppressing access to the internet? You could use a VPN to get around it. I’m super simplifying it but this is how they work: Your device connects to the internet via whatever servers your internet service provider let you use. Hence when you connect to a website that wants your money, it knows to show you the currency of you country. VPNs get in the middle of that connection. You connect to the VPN servers (let’s say the servers are in New York), then you connect to whatever website you want to visit. To the site it looks like you’re connecting from New York and to you it shouldn’t look different.
Most big companies have a local intranet that you can only connect to when you are on their local internet. But if you work from home, they still need to get you on that local intranet. They use a VPN to mimic it. These things are common. But should you be using one?
That’s not an easy question to answer. It’s actually really recommended you don’t connect to public Wi-Fi. You don’t know who’s controlling that Wi-Fi, so whoever is in control of it can see what device is going to what website, which means they could see what information is being passed. Your local coffee shop SHOULDN’T care about that, but if a bad actor decides to setup and identical looking Wi-Fi account and you connect to it...
So I need to use a VPN on public Wi-Fi?
Well...sure the person controlling the Wi-Fi can’t see your internet traffic, but someone can. Your VPN provider. This is why it’s hard to blindly recommend one. You need to trust that the VPN isn’t just turning around and selling that information. I’ve used and still do occasionally use VPNs for certain things. But it’s something I think you should consider. What’s the harm of checking your Instagram on the coffee shop? Meh. But maybe wait till your home to check your bank account.
I do have some Lattepunk resolutions for this year, including some changes. But we’ll talk about those later. Lets talk some other tech things. Do you hate CAPTCHAs? Do you even know what a CAPTCHA is? Well, when on a VPN, you are going to see a lot of them. Since you and millions of Florida residents start using the same VPN service, websites get suspicious of all that internet traffic coming from the same “location”. CAPTCHAs are used to make sure you are an actual human. How many times have you had to click on a bicycle to prove you aren’t a bot?
They are annoying and you’ve probably been helping train A.I. by doing it. What if there was a better way to prove you were human? Like killing demons? It’s only a cute proof of concept and will never be used anywhere, but I thought it was super clever.
To keep with the Doom theme: Have you ever want to see an art gallery but thought “There’s not enough...Doom Guy?” Well bobatealee has got a game for you! Try it out here. It works on mobile too!
i did read somethings
Passkey technology is elegant, but it’s most definitely not usable security | Dan Goodin for ArsTechnica
Chicago keeps its New Year’s resolution: All city buildings now use 100 percent clean power | Juanpablo Ramirez-Franco for Grist
‘World of Warcraft’ Roleplay Is the Twitch-Era Soap Opera We Need | Kazuma Hashimoto for Rolling Stones
How a Mole Infiltrated the Highest Ranks of American Militias | Joshua Kaplan for ProPublica
12,000 People Are Playing ‘Artifact’ Right Now And No One Knows Why | Mike Stubbs for Forbes
Gone in 15 days: How the Connecticut DMV allows tow companies to sell people’s cars | Dave Altimari, Ginny Monk for CT Mirror and Haru Coryne for ProPublica
Awesome Games Done Quick is currently happening. Go watch people beat video games very fast to raise money for the Prevent Cancer Foundation. Twitch link here.
If you enjoyed this, share it with someone.