Newsletter Archives

• The best stories of 2024 — updated!

  Posted on December 30, 2024 at 02:45 CST by B. Livingston • Comment in the Forums

  

  ISSUE 21.53 • 2024-12-30

  Look for our BONUS issue on January 6, 2025!

  PUBLIC DEFENDER

  

  By Brian Livingston

  The year 2024 is now in the books. I’m pleased to report some positive moves this year that may make the tech industry’s products better for us all.

  I’ll give you some important updates today on (1) keeping artificial-intelligence services from creating malicious images, (2) minimizing social-media websites’ negative effects on users’ mental health, and (3) discovering how “answer engines” are improving on the tiresome linkfests of old-guard search giants.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (21.53.0, 2024-12-30).
  This story also appears in our public Newsletter.

  Public Defender AI, ChatGPT, DALL-E, Deepfakes, Generative AI, Google Gemini, Newsletters, OpenAI, Perplexity, Social Media

• Do you need Microsoft’s ‘Windows 365 Link’ cloud-only PC?

  Posted on December 16, 2024 at 02:44 CST by B. Livingston • Comment in the Forums

  PUBLIC DEFENDER

  

  By Brian Livingston

  Information-technology pros are agog about the latest entry into the field of highly secure devices: Microsoft’s Windows 365 Link, a paperback-sized device that works as a PC only when connected via the Internet to Redmond’s cloud-computing service.

  The Link has been called a mini-PC. But it’s more accurate to describe it as a thin client. This is the industry term for a small device that has no real computing power of its own. Instead, it displays applications and graphics that are sent to it from a cloud server.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (21.51.0, 2024-12-16).

  Public Defender Dell Latitude 5450, Google Chromebox, HP Elite t755, Newsletters, Thin Clients, Windows 365, Windows 365 Link

• Are patents killing tech innovation?

  Posted on December 2, 2024 at 02:44 CST by B. Livingston • Comment in the Forums

  PUBLIC DEFENDER

  

  By Brian Livingston

  Some say patents are an essential way to convince inventors to discover novel technologies, while others feel that overly broad patents are blocking tech inventions that would benefit us — well, who’s right?

  The Business Software Alliance — an association with offices in more than 30 countries — counts among its members numerous computer giants including Adobe, IBM, Microsoft, Oracle, and more. To “support US technology leadership,” the BSA strives for the co-licensing of Standard Essential Patents (SEPs). This ensures that its members can coordinate each other’s’ claims on Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, 5G, HDMI, HTTPS, and other widely used protocols, according to the BSA’s Patent Policy Agenda.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (21.49.0, 2024-12-02).

  Public Defender Innovation, Intellectual property, Newsletters, Patents

• Perplexity is 10 times better than Google

  Posted on November 11, 2024 at 02:45 CST by B. Livingston • Comment in the Forums

  

  ISSUE 21.46 • 2024-11-11

  PUBLIC DEFENDER

  

  By Brian Livingston

  The chatbot wars are well underway, and one result is that I find myself using the new Perplexity search engine 99% of the time, falling back on Google only to look up a street address or some trivial factoid.

  Google has served up its now-familiar list of 10 links for years. Perplexity also points you to several websites and videos. But its result pages begin with a well-written summary of what you’d learn if you actually visited all those links and vids.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (21.46.0, 2024-11-11).
  This story also appears in our public Newsletter.

  Public Defender Google, Newsletters, Perplexity, search engines

• Write 200 social-media posts in 10 minutes! Quality, right?

  Posted on October 28, 2024 at 02:44 CDT by B. Livingston • Comment in the Forums

  PUBLIC DEFENDER

  

  By Brian Livingston

  I’ve been thinking about the profession of journalism lately, given the emails bombarding me these days about how I could create 240, 300, or even 1,200 articles per hour if I would only use the latest in chatbot tech.

  YouTube’s funny farm is overflowing with videos of such miracles. They tell me I could write a whole ebook in 24 hours — true writers never sleep, you know — and make $8,327 a week ($433,000 a year) merely by pressing a few buttons.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (21.44.0, 2024-10-28).

  Public Defender AI, Chatbot decay, Chatbots, ChatGPT, Generative AI, Newsletters

• Microsoft Defender could be your free antivirus fix

  Posted on October 21, 2024 at 02:44 CDT by B. Livingston • Comment in the Forums

  PUBLIC DEFENDER

  

  By Brian Livingston

  Microsoft Defender — a free antivirus app that’s included in Windows — provides a highly rated service, but it’s rarely mentioned in comparative reviews of AV programs by security blogs. Why not?

  Ever since Windows 8 came out in 2012, a service originally called Windows Defender (WD) has been enabled by default in the OS. Prior to that, you might remember, was Microsoft Security Essentials (MSE), a free download that Redmond first released in 2009. MSE is no longer with us, because WD — renamed Microsoft Defender in 2018 — has completely replaced it to block viruses, rootkits, Trojan horses, spyware, you name it.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (21.43.0, 2024-10-21).

  Public Defender Antivirus, Microsoft Defender, Microsoft Security Essentials, Newsletters, Windows Defender

• The US has banned Kaspersky software — should you worry?

  Posted on October 14, 2024 at 02:45 CDT by B. Livingston • Comment in the Forums

  

  ISSUE 21.42 • 2024-10-14

  PUBLIC DEFENDER

  

  By Brian Livingston

  The popular Kaspersky antivirus program quietly disabled itself on computers in the US last month, making millions of users fear malware had struck them.

  The switcheroo was prompted by the US government banning Kaspersky Lab, a Russia-based company, from sending updates to American devices after September 29, 2024. Kaspersky had sent out an email — which many users didn’t read or felt was unclear — before its app shut down on September 19. Kaspersky then remotely installed on US computers a little-known antivirus alternative called UltraAV.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (21.42.0, 2024-10-14).
  This story also appears in our public Newsletter.

  Public Defender Antivirus, Kaspersky, Microsoft Defender, Newsletters, Privacy, Security, UltraAV, Windows Defender

• Perturbed by porch pirates? Catch them by using tech.

  Posted on September 30, 2024 at 02:44 CDT by B. Livingston • Comment in the Forums

  PUBLIC DEFENDER

  

  By Brian Livingston

  With our craze for same-day deliveries, package theft has soared; it cost online shoppers $13 billion in 2023 in the United States alone, according to a Capital One Shopping report.

  That’s 119 million stolen packages in the past year, the contents of which averaged $112.30 per parcel. One in seven Americans lost packages in this way, studies show.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (21.40.0, 2024-09-30).

  Public Defender AirTags, Newsletters, Porch pirates, Post Pirates
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