Newsletter Archives

• Lincoln Spector: Hate Facebook? There are alternatives

  Posted on February 4, 2019 at 04:09 CST by woody • Comment in the Forums

  My name is Lincoln, and I’m a Facebook addict.

  Lincoln Spector is back with a Facebook takedown that’s different — there are problems, yes, but there are also alternatives. You aren’t stuck in the Zuckerberg rut. Get going with a site that doesn’t sell you out to Cambridge Analytica or Russian poll trolls.

  Out this morning to all AskWoody Plus members in Newsletter 16.4.0.

  Other Facebook, Lincoln Spector, MeWe

• Facebook blocks 90 million accounts, 50 million have stolen user info

  Posted on September 28, 2018 at 13:36 CDT by woody • Comment in the Forums

  This is just breaking, but the best report I’ve seen is from the Washington Post.

  The company said as many as 90 million Facebook users — out of a total of 2.2 billion — will have to log back into their accounts as a result of the breach. Notifications will appear at the top of the Facebook news feed for the 50 million who were directly affected, executives said on a call with reporters.

  Sure to be a big topic over the weekend.

  UPDATE: Facebook’s official notification.

  UPDATE: From Brian Krebs:

  The company said it was just beginning its investigation, and that it doesn’t yet know some basic facts about the incident, such as whether these accounts were misused, if any private information was accessed, or who might be responsible for these attacks.

  Other Facebook

• Petition: Facebook should tell users how they were exposed to Russian propaganda

  Posted on October 15, 2017 at 07:45 CDT by woody • Comment in the Forums

  I just signed it. Suggest you do, too.

  Facebook enabled Russian interference in the United States election in 2016, but refuses to provide a full account to the public. In fact, it has recently removed data that allowed independent researchers to understand the nature and scale of the problem.

  American citizens that use Facebook deserve to know how they were exposed to Russian disinformation and propaganda. Facebook should provide this data to users in an application that makes it easy to understand.

  Users should be able to see how content and advertising messages from identified Russian sources appeared in their timeline, whether they interacted with such media, and basic metrics that quantify their exposure.

  Other Facebook

• The scale of tech winners

  Posted on October 14, 2017 at 16:01 CDT by woody • Comment in the Forums

  Fascinating piece from Ben Evans:

  Microsoft was working on smartphones and mobile devices 20 years ago, and now it’s killed Windows Mobile, acknowledged that the PC is going the way of the mainframe and, like IBM, has to make its way in a market shaped by other companies. There probably won’t be a technology that has 10x greater scale than smartphones, as mobile was 10x bigger than PCs and PCs were bigger than mainframes, simply because 5bn people will have smartphones and that’s all the (adult) people.

  Check it out.

   

  Other Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Google

• On Facebook Secret Conversations…

  Posted on July 8, 2017 at 18:02 CDT by Kirsty • Comment in the Forums

  In the wake of the recent Snapchat location sharing change, I received a message concerning end-to-end encryption in Facebook Messenger:

  “… as of late last year FB messenger has end to end encryption BUT…one has to select it for each message they want to make “secret”.

  It won’t work with MS desktop FB unless its Win 10 (never for me).”

  Now I’m not a Facebook user, but this intrigued me. What I found did not seem to be very user-friendly.

  The app that introduced encryption is only available from the Microsoft Store for “Windows 10 and Windows 10 mobile”, but only the mobile app appears to have the chat encryption. It seems older OS devices must use prior app versions which do not support encryption. Naturally, apps are also available for Android and iOS.

  
  (and note the mediocre ratings…)

  HowToGeek.com have a post which details the rigmarole required to effect the much-lauded chat encryption. It discusses what parts of conversation are actually encrypted (not any video calling, or any images it allows you to send), and problems with using more than one device with the app.

  Their post contains details on how to select which device you’ll be using, how to start a new Secret Conversation, changing an existing conversation to a secret one, confirming your conversations are secret, self-destroying messages and deleting secret conversations.

  I was surprised how difficult this all seemed, when other messaging apps seem to be a little simpler.

  Thanks to @hiflyer

  Other encryption, Facebook

• Yes, I’m mirroring on Facebook

  Posted on October 6, 2015 at 16:44 CDT by woody • Comment in the Forums

  Several of you use Facebook all the time – and FB is becoming the news source for a lot of people. So, with my wife’s help, I’m dipping my toe in the Facebook neighborhood. (Actually, I’ve been on Facebook for years, but only for family stuff – and not very frequently.)

  Anyway, if you’re on Facebook, drop by https://www.facebook.com/WoodyOnWindows and give it a gander. Or search for “AskWoody.”

  Other Facebook

• Ace this test and get a job interview with Facebook

  Posted on October 25, 2011 at 07:58 CDT by woody • Comment in the Forums

  Want to make $100,000+ a year, working in one of the world’s most advanced computer environments?

  Take the test. InfoWorld Tech Watch.

  Other Facebook, puzzle

• Surprise! Google+ cookies behave themselves, unlike Facebook’s

  Posted on September 27, 2011 at 22:46 CDT by woody • Comment in the Forums

  I was quite amazed, actually. You can see for yourself. My article shows you how to look.

  InfoWorld Tech Watch.

  Other Facebook, Google, lingering cookies
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