Please excuse any errors today. I had a root canal this morning.
Stuff I bookmarked recently. Some off topic, some not:
Win10 Update Shenanigans
Woody is asking for help to try and figure out why Win10 updates or doesn’t. It is a Charlie Foxtrot for sure.
Google Chrome Shenanigans
Saturday I read a blog post by a Geek named Bálint that complained that starting Chrome 69, “any time someone using Chrome logs into a Google service or site, they are also logged into Chrome-as-a-browser with that user account.” I had already noticed that when I logged out of Gmail I was not logged out of Chrome. So, I bookmarked the article and got on with my weekend. I awoke this morning to find a growing furor over this issue had ensued in the last 2 days. Geeks are pissed off that Google was keeping them signed in. This is of course being seen as yet another way of Google trying to track you because the end result is that the change allows this to happen. A change that happened without notice.
The best article I’ve seen on this: Why I’m done with Chrome by Matthew Green (cryptographer and professor at Johns Hopkins University)
Google scrambled to get employees to delete internal memo detailing plans for censored search in China, says report
“Google’s human resources department reportedly told employees to delete a memo that was circulating with details about the company’s secretive plans to launch a censored search app in China, according to The Intercept. The memo reportedly appeared to contradict comments from Google CEO Sundar Pichai that the project was in its early stages.”
‘One in three TripAdvisor reviews are fake,’ with venues buying glowing reviews, investigation finds
I would have thought the number was higher. That goes for Yelp too.
How Tiger Woods overcame pain, scandal and age to triumph again
Good to see him win again! Next he will help the U.S. win the Ryder Cup.
How to sack a quarterback in the NFL
When Alphabet (Google’s parent company) dropped the “Don’t Be Evil” motto in 2015, who believed this ongoing cascade of evil would befall all of us? I too have encountered this issue with Chrome … log-in and log-out of a Google service using a Web page, but continue to be logged in under Chrome … and it ALARMS and SICKENS me.
Did anyone watch the 60 Minutes broadcast (perhaps a re-broadcast) in the USA last night? This company is nothing but a controlling, monopolistic, competitor-busting invader of privacy who is now even willing to kiss the human-rights-hating and perverse ass of China. SICK! Underhanded!
I too am working to dump Chrome from my devices, re-select e-mail accounts from other providers, and abandon Android/Google software and apps too. The process seems arduous and daunting at this point, but Google’s behavior has become completely unacceptable.
So, ERIC … anything that you and your readers can identify and illuminate that will make this process easier, less costly and still enable usability of software/hardware would be most appreciated!