Eric (a.k.a. TweakHound)

Win10 Optional Updates
“This non-security update includes quality improvements.” Couple dozens fixes.
20H2 & 2004 – February 24, 2021—KB4601382 (OS Builds 19041.844 and 19042.844) Preview

New Intel Drivers (v22.30.0)
Windows 10 Wi-Fi Drivers for Intel Wireless Adapters
Intel Wireless Bluetooth for Windows 10

Off Topic

I ordered 2 key fob batteries for my wife’s SUV from Amazon. Good news, it was early!
And just look at the packing efficiency!

Google Chrome Updated
“The Stable channel has been updated to 88.0.4324.190 for Windows, and 88.0.4324.192 for Mac”
Download | Release Info

Tiger Woods In Car Accident
https://www.google.com/search?&q=tiger+woods
As of this writing there isn’t much in the way of details and those we’ve been given (like the jaws of life statement) are being proven wrong. Always loved watching Tiger. In a sport that was full of pretentious pri, uh, people, he made the sport worth watching for me. I hope he gets through this.
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Firefox 86 Is Out
Several improvements including:
“Today, Firefox introduces Total Cookie Protection to Strict Mode. In Total Cookie Protection, every website gets its own “cookie jar,” preventing cookies from being used to track you from site to site…Notable performance and stability improvements are achieved by moving canvas drawing and WebGL drawing to the GPU process.”
Security fixes too.
Download | All New Downloads | Release Notes | Security Vulnerabilities fixed in Firefox 86
Related: Mozilla laid off 250 people, and the company overhaul is just beginning

Tails 4.16
“This release fixes known security vulnerabilities. You should upgrade as soon as possible.”
Download | Release Info

WACUP Build #7170
Download & Info | Changelog

GPU-Z v2.37.0
“GPU-Z is a lightweight utility designed to give you all information about your video card and GPU.”
Download & Info

AMD Radeon Software Adrenalin 2020 Edition 21.2.3 Optional
Support for DIRT 5 Energy Content Pack, HDMI fixes
Download | Release Notes

Stuff I bookmarked recently. Some off topic, some not:

Privacy faces risks in tech-infused post-Covid workplace
“But what I would worry about is employers using the pandemic to pluck and store information in a systematic way beyond what is necessary to protect health.”

A Case Against the Peeping Tom Theory of Privacy
“It is our purpose to consider whether the existing law affords a principle which can properly be invoked to protect the privacy of the individual” Louis D. Brandeis
The topic of privacy has always been important to me. I remember spending hours in the library combing through books and doing a paper for college entitled “The Right To Be Let Alone” based in large measure on Louis Brandeis’s arguments. I think I still have that paper in a box somewhere.
“The Right to Privacy”, Warren and Brandeis, Harvard Law Review. Vol. IV December 15, 1890 No. 5
“Recent inventions and business methods call attention to the next step which must be taken for the protection of the person, and for securing to the individual what Judge Cooley calls the right “to be let alone” Instantaneous photographs and newspaper enterprise have invaded the sacred precincts of private and domestic life; and numerous mechanical devices threaten to make good the prediction that “what is whispered in the closet shall be proclaimed from the house-tops.” For years there has been a feeling that the law must afford some remedy for the unauthorized circulation of portraits of private persons; and the evil of invasion of privacy by the newspapers, long keenly felt, has been but recently discussed by an able writer. The alleged facts of a somewhat notorious case brought before an inferior tribunal in New York a few months ago, directly involved the consideration of the right of circulating portraits; and the question whether our law will recognize and protect the right to privacy in this and in other respects must soon come before our courts for consideration.”
This absolutely brilliant piece of work was written in 1890. EIGHTEEN NINETY folks. Remember that when some talking head says all these issues are new and the law can’t keep up.

To be let alone: Brandeis foresaw privacy problems
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Right_to_Privacy_(article)

Win10 Updated
KB4023057: Update for Windows 10 Update Service components
“This update includes files and resources that address issues that affect the update processes in Windows 10 that may prevent important Windows updates from being installed.”
Flash got force removed a few days back.

Stuff I bookmarked recently. Some off topic, some not:

New version of Microsoft Office won’t require you to pay for a subscription
This article refers to a Microsoft blog post that they didn’t bother linking to. I don’t know if this was incompetence or obfuscation but I had to go hunting for it:
Upcoming commercial preview of Microsoft Office LTSC, By Jared Spataro, Corporate Vice President for Microsoft 365
“We also plan to release Office 2021 for personal and small business use later this year. Office 2021 will also be supported for five years with the traditional “one-time purchase” model. We do not plan to change the price for these products at the time of the release. We will announce more details about new features included in Office 2021 closer to general availability.”

New browser-tracking hack works even when you flush caches or go incognito
“The technique leverages the use of favicons..The attack works against Chrome, Safari, Edge, and until recently Brave, which developed an effective countermeasure after receiving a private report from the researchers. Firefox would also be susceptible to the technique, but a bug prevents the attack from working at the moment.”
I can’t find anything saying this exploit is being used ATM.

CEO Breaks Down How Remote Work Is Going To Change This Decade
“HQ’s are finished: companies will cut their commercial office space by 50-70%…Fully distributed: ~30% of the companies we talk to are getting rid of the office entirely and going remote-first…Companies doing this have seen their workers decentralize rapidly, leaving expensive cities to be closer to family”

About the password managers. Leaning toward Bitwarden. The feature I was interested in in 1Password isn’t there:
“The WLAN server can’t sync two or more computers.
The WLAN server isn’t available in 1Password 6 or later on Windows.”

Stuff I bookmarked recently. Some off topic, some not:

Why did I leave Google or, why did I stay so long?
“It’s been two weeks since I left Google and I keep getting asked “why did I leave now”? I think the better question is “why did I stay for so long”? When Waze was acquired by Google, most of the people who know me did not believe I would last 7 weeks, let alone 7 years…”
Very interesting article.

‘A Disaster Within A Disaster’: Carbon Monoxide Poisoning Cases Are Surging In Texas
“Texas is seeing a surge in carbon monoxide poisonings this week, as plunging temperatures and persistent power outages send residents searching for warmth increasingly from dangerous sources…State and local officials attribute most of the cases to the use of improper home heating sources, from devices like barbecue pits, charcoal grills and campfire stoves to practices like running portable generators and car engines indoors.”

Bill Gates: Rich nations should shift entirely to synthetic beef
“I do think all rich countries should move to 100% synthetic beef.”
Kiss my…

Radio Garden
Tune in to live radio around the world. This has been around for quite a while and I just found out about it! There are Android and iOS apps too.

About 3/4 of an inch of ice today.
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