A sustained increase in the price level of goods and services in an economy over a period of time is known as inflation. When the price level rises, each unit of currency buys fewer goods and services; consequently, inflation reflects a reduction in the purchasing power per unit of money – a loss of real value in the medium of exchange and unit of account within the economy. The opposite of inflation is deflation, a sustained decrease in the price level of goods and services.

Inflation occurs when too much money is chasing too few goods and services. This excess demand for goods and services puts upward pressure on prices. Inflation can also occur when the government print new money.

Inflation is generally considered a bad thing because it erodes the purchasing power of money. As inflation goes up, every dollar you have buys less and less. This is why salary increases are generally tied to inflation rates – so that people can maintain their standard of living as prices go up.

However, there is such a thing as good inflation. Good inflation is when prices rise because the economy is doing well and there is more demand for goods and services. This kind of inflationary pressure is generally considered healthy for an economy.

How is inflation measured?

In the United States, inflation is measured by the Consumer Price Index (CPI), which is released monthly by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The CPI measures the prices of a basket of goods and services that consumers commonly purchase.

The inflation rate is the percentage change in the CPI from one month to the next or year-over-year. For example, if the CPI were 100 in January and 101 in February, inflation would be 1%.

How to stop inflation?

The most common way to stop inflation is by raising interest rates. When interest rates go up, it becomes more expensive for people to borrow money, slowing down spending and reducing the amount of money chasing goods and services. This usually leads to a reduction in inflation.

Fiscal policy can also be used to fight inflation. If the government cuts spending or raises taxes, it will reduce the amount of money in the economy and help to stop inflation.

Monetary policy is usually the most effective way to stop inflation. This is when the central bank (like the Federal Reserve in the US) takes action to slow down the money supply. This makes it more expensive for banks to borrow money, which makes it more costly for people to borrow money. This slows down spending and inflation.

What is the Ukrainian language?

The Ukrainian language is a member of the East Slavic branch of the Slavic languages. It is the official state language of Ukraine and is spoken by approximately 37 million people. Ukrainian is written in the form of the Cyrillic alphabet.

Intro to Ukraine

Ukraine is a country located in Eastern Europe. Russia borders it to the east and north, Belarus to the north, Poland, Slovakia and Hungary to the west, Romania and Moldova to the southwest and the Black Sea and Sea of Azov to the south. The territory of modern Ukraine has been inhabited since 32,000 BC.

During the Middle Ages, the area was a key center of East Slavic culture, with the powerful state of Kievan Rus' forming the basis of Ukrainian identity. Following its fragmentation in the 13th century, the territory was contested, ruled and divided by a variety of powers, including Lithuania, Poland, Austria-Hungary, the Ottoman Empire and Russia. A Cossack republic emerged and prospered during the 17th and 18th centuries but was destroyed by the Russian Empire in the 19th century.

Following World War II, Ukraine was annexed by the Soviet Union as one of its constituent republics, with a distinct Ukrainian culture and language maintained under Russian rule. During the collapse of the Soviet Union, Ukraine declared independence in 1991, although the international community did not fully recognize this act until 1994. Since then, Ukraine has experienced a period of significant internal political and economic upheaval, culminating in the Euromaidan revolution in 2013, which led to the removal of Yanukovych and his government.

These events precipitated the annexation of Crimea by Russia in March 2014 and the War in Donbas in April 2014. On 1 January 2016, Ukraine applied the economic part of the Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area with the European Union.

Ukraine's model of government is a semi-presidential republic, whereby the President of Ukraine is head of state, and the Prime Minister of Ukraine is head of government. The current president is Volodymyr Zelensky, who took office on 20 May 2019.

Zelensky's victory in the presidential election was widely seen as a sign of change and hope for Ukraine, with many voters eager for new leadership after years of corruption and mismanagement under previous presidents. Zelensky had pledged to tackle corruption and reduce Ukraine's dependence on Russia.

What is the Ukrainian legal system?

The Ukrainian legal system is based on the civil law system, strongly influenced by German and Soviet legal traditions. The Constitution of Ukraine is the supreme law of the country. The judiciary is independent and consists of a hierarchy of courts, with the Supreme Court of Ukraine at the top.

How are Ukraine elections run?

The President of Ukraine is elected by popular vote for a five-year term. The president appoints the Prime Minister with the approval of the parliament. The parliament (Verkhovna Rada) is unicameral and consists of 450 deputies elected by proportional representation for a five-year term.

What types of parties are there in Ukraine?

The political landscape in Ukraine is fragmented, with many small parties and no single party holding a majority in parliament. The two largest parties are President Zelensky's Servant of the People party and the Opposition Platform - For Life party. Other notable parties include Batkivshchyna, Fatherland, and the Radical Party.

What does Ukraine export?

Ukraine is a large producer and exporter of agricultural products, mainly grains such as corn and wheat. It is also a significant producer of minerals, including iron ore, coal, manganese, chromium, natural gas, and oil. Manufactured goods exports include metallurgy products, transportation equipment, and machinery.

Who are Ukraine's biggest trading partners?

Russia is (or was) Ukraine's largest trading partner, followed by Germany, China, and Turkey. Trade between Ukraine and Russia has been significantly reduced since 2014 due to the War in Donbas and the annexation of Crimea by Russia. However, trade between Ukraine and other countries has increased during this time.

Brew is a package manager for macOS. It simplifies the installation and updating of macOS applications.

Brew allows you to install your favourite apps with a few clicks. In addition, Brew makes it easy to manage your app dependencies. Brew automatically resolves and installs any dependencies that an application may have when it is installed.

It is thus easy to keep your applications up-to-date and to ensure that you have all necessary dependencies installed. Brew is also an excellent means of discovering new macOS applications. Browse through a list of popular apps and install them with just a few clicks using Brew. This makes it easy to discover new applications that you might not have known about otherwise.

How to install & use the Brew package manager

A website called brew.sh hosts the brew package manager. You can install brew by running the following commands in your terminal:

2) Once brew has been installed, you can use it to install your preferred macOS applications. To install an app with brew, simply type:

3) Brew will automatically resolve and install any dependencies the application may have. Therefore, it is easier to keep your applications up to date and ensure that all of the necessary dependencies are installed.

4) You can also update your macOS applications using brew. To update an application, type:

Where did the idea of carbon offsets come from?

The idea for carbon offsets was first birthed in 1997 from the Kyoto protocol. The goal is to add a monetary value to an externality, thus repricing the offending activity closer to its actual environmental cost.

This would, in theory, lead to a decrease in the incidence of the said activity.

What are carbon offsets?

A carbon offset is a reduction in carbon dioxide emissions or other greenhouse gases made to compensate for or offset an emission made elsewhere.

What are different types of carbon offsets?

Voluntary: A voluntary offset is created when a company or individual voluntarily agrees to take action to reduce their emissions beyond what is required by law to offset their own emissions or the emissions of others.

Compliance: A compliance offset is obtained from reductions in greenhouse gas emissions that help a company meet its obligations under a cap-and-trade program or other emissions trading system.

What is the goal of buying carbon offsets?

The primary goal of buying carbon offsets is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. By offsetting your own emissions or the emissions of others, you can help mitigate climate change and its negative effects.

Do carbon offset credits help the environment?

There is debate over the efficacy of carbon offsets, with some critics arguing that they are ineffective and even counter-productive. Others argue that while they may not be a perfect solution, carbon offsets are a step in the right direction and can play an important role in mitigating climate change.

There are several criticisms of carbon offsets. One is that it allows polluters to " morally wash" their hands of any wrongdoing. They can simply purchase an offset rather than change their behaviour. Second, there is often a huge disconnect between the person/entity buying the offset and the project it supports.

This often leads to a lack of transparency and, oftentimes, fraud. It is very difficult to ensure that the carbon offset you purchase actually results in mitigating greenhouse gases.

Last but not least, offsets can be used to support " business as usual" rather than furthering the development of green technologies.

There is still a lot of progress to be made with carbon offsets, but they could potentially be a powerful tool in the fight against climate change.

What do companies do with the money when you buy a carbon offset?

The money from carbon offset purchases goes into projects that reduce greenhouse gas emissions. These projects can include planting trees, investing in renewable energy, or improving energy efficiency.

Can individuals buy carbon offset credits?

Yes, individuals can buy carbon offsets through a company or directly from a project developer. Many carbon offset providers offer offsets for purchase, and the price of offsets varies depending on the project and the provider.

What is the difference between a carbon offset and a carbon tax?

A carbon offset is a voluntary reduction in emissions to compensate for or offset emissions made elsewhere. A carbon tax is a mandatory tax on the emitting of greenhouse gases imposed by the government.

Almost all tech companies have tools to help you locate your lost items, from the built-in GPS applications on smart devices to headphones and anything else with a Bluetooth tag.

Apple has emerged as a leader in location services, and with their latest iOS version, they have added the ability to locate your iPhone, even when it is turned off. Apple uses the Ultra-Wideband chip to perform this magic trick in its newer devices.

What is the U1 Ultra Wideband chip?

Apple's new U1 chip is designed to improve the accuracy of location tracking on its latest devices. The U1 chip can track devices within a radius of one meter instead of Bluetooth's 10-meter range. So what does this mean for you? With Find My iPhone activated, you will have a better chance of finding your iPhone if it were to be lost in your house.

Also, even if you lose your iPhone in congested areas, such as a stadium or concert, Find My iPhone will still allow you to locate it (using the extensive FindMy network created by millions of Apple iPhones worldwide).

Apple iPhone 11 and newer smartphones include the chip.

What is Apple's FindMy feature?

'Find My iPhone' is a feature built into Apple's iOS operating system that allows users to locate their devices. It has been available since 2010 and will enable users to locate their lost or stolen devices. In addition, you can use Find My iPhone to remotely erase all the data on your device if you cannot locate it.

To use Find My iPhone, you will need an iCloud account and Find My iPhone enabled on your device. FindMy can also be used on another iOS device or a computer.

How does FindMy work?

If your device is lost or stolen and Find My iPhone is turned on, you can log in to iCloud.com or use the FindMy app on another iOS device or computer to locate it.

It utilizes the Ultra-Wideband chip, Wi-Fi, and GPS to localize your device. The detection network uses millions of iPhones around the world.

Actvate FindMy

Go to your settings then on “Find My.”

• Click on the Find My iPhone option

• Turn Find My iPhone to ON

• Turn Find My Network ON (if you want to help locate devices for other people securely

• Turn Send Last Location ON

MacPaw is a Ukrainian software developer known primarily for its CleanMyMacX and SetApp applications. In addition, the team has developed a new app called SpyBuster. SpyBuster is a Mac-only application that allows users to determine if any applications on their computers are of Russian (or Belarussian) origin or if their data is stored on Russian servers.

Knowing about data stored in Russia is important since Russian authorities can compel local companies to hand over all data (voice calls, data, metadata, etc.) created or stored on Russian servers for the last six months. Metadata must be stored for three years.

SpyBuster can also act as an active firewall blocking all communications with Russian and Belarussian servers.

The scans are performed locally, and the data does not appear to be shared with MacPaw.

SpyBuster is a free software application.

A podcast is a great way to consume a large amount of new information in a short period of time. Every week, I listen to dozens of podcasts that cover topics such as tech, security, news, economics, psychology, and more. In the past year, I have been bombarded with host read advertisements sponsored by NordVPN and ExpressVPN. Many of these hosts are reading copy that is unreliable at best or purposefully misleading at worst.

This article aims to clarify misinformation regarding privacy improvements directly related to VPNs.

TL;DR: A VPN alone does not provide adequate privacy

The following article is intended for a general audience. Professionals in Information Security can devise solutions that incorporate VPNs to provide the level of privacy and security required by their customers (based on the customer's specific risk profile).

More Details

If you are not paying for a product or service, then you are that product. You should never utilize a free VPN service. Operating a VPN service is expensive, so they must recoup their costs somewhere (and they will probably make a large profit selling your information to data brokers).

The downside of a VPN is there are dozens of ways it can fail you, but you should understand that you are shifting all of your traffic through the VPN (which means if they are breached or decide to sell your data, they may have access to everything). Perhaps you do not want your large ISP to be able to see your Internet traffic, but would an unnamed VPN provider be any better?

The truth is that while many companies claim to operate on a zero-log basis, there is no way for a user to determine this for certain. Several providers have failed to meet their zero-log promises, resulting in a user being profiled or arrested.

Tracking you

Dozens of hosts are simply reading ad copy provided by the advertiser, and I have heard similar ads on dozens of other podcasts.

The first question is a valid one: would you prefer your ISP to view all of your traffic or the VPN provider. Despite the fact that most people dislike their services with the passion of a thousand suns, at least you have an understanding of what they are doing. I would trust only a few VPN services more than my Internet service provider.

The majority of websites now utilize HTTPS/TLS, which creates an encrypted tunnel between a user and a website. As an example, if you are using HTTPS/TLS to access Facebook (which is now the default), your ISP will know you visited Facebook and how long you spent there, but they cannot see what you did nor can they inject traffic info that flow or modify it in any way.

The other fallacy is that information brokers or large social media sites require your IP address in order to track you. VPNs do conceal your origin IP address, but very few trackers still rely on it to identify you. In addition, they take into account other factors, such as the operating system, plug-ins, display size, and resolution. Any website that has a Facebook-like button shares traffic information with Facebook. Any site using Google Analytics shares information with Google.

Use the EFF's Cover your Tracks website to find out how identifiable you are.

Alternatives

Option 1 - Apple PrivateRelay

Rather than using a general-purpose VPN, most users would be better served by configuring their browser security and using Apple's PrivateRelay (it's not perfect, but it's more secure than VPNs for the average user).

Option 2 - TOR

Tor remains the best alternative for someone that wants maximum privacy. TOR is free, open-source and trustless. It will be slower and you won’t be able to stream music or videos but it a good tool for someone looking to augment their privacy on the internet.

Option 3 - Break censorship

You may wish to consider using the censorship-busting VPN service called Psiphon if you are in an environment that uses technical controls to support its censorship efforts.

Conclusion

As soon as your packets hit the VPN provider's boundary gateway, the provider strips all encryption and then retransmits your data based on the technology available on the site (where you are browsing). HTTPS/TLS will be secure, HTTP/FTP will be insecure.

A VPN was originally designed to protect a company's data while its employees were working remotely. Consumer VPNs were a secondary market, and by default, VPNs are not designed to be log-free. Providers of VPN services must devise solutions in order to make their service more private by using technologies such as RAM-only servers, configuring the VPN to delete log files, etc. It is crucial that they have a sound architecture and that they deploy this architecture correctly without errors to protect your privacy.

Although VPNs remain useful in some situations, they are not the magic bullet that will allow the average (non-technical) user to become private. It is simply a tool that allows a tech professional to design an appropriate security program based on the risk profile of the user.

For the average user, the only good use of a VPN is to stream multimedia content that is geo-restricted (such as Netflix, Hulu, Peacock, etc.).

A recession is a significant decline in economic activity spread across the economy, lasting more than a few months. It is visible in real GDP, real income, employment, industrial production, and wholesale-retail sales. The United States defines a recession as "a significant decline in economic activity spread across the economy, lasting more than a few months."

The most popular definition of a recession is two consecutive quarters of declining GDP.

A recession begins just after the economy peaks and ends as it reaches its trough. Between the peak and the trough, there is a decline in real GDP.

Recessions are generally accompanied by a drop in the stock market and increased unemployment. There are several causes of recessions, but most can be summed up by saying that a lack of demand causes them. When there is less demand for goods and services, businesses cut back on production and lay off workers.

There have been 33 recessions in the United States since 1854. The most recent started in December 2007 and ended in June 2009. This was the longest recession since World War II.

The Great Depression of the 1930s was the worst economic downturn in US history. Real GDP fell by 26%, and unemployment rose to 25%.

Who determines if the US economy is in a recession?

The National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) is a private, nonprofit research organization that is considered the official arbiter of US recessions. However, the NBER does not announce when a recession starts or ends in real-time; instead, they declare retrospectively.

How long do recessions last?

Recessions can last anywhere from eight months to two years. However, the average recession since World War II has lasted about 11 months.

How does an economy come out of recession?

The economy typically comes out of recession when GDP grows again, and unemployment starts to fall. This can happen when businesses begin to invest and hire again, and consumers start spending more money.

The Federal Reserve can also help by lowering interest rates and increasing the money supply. This makes it easier for businesses to get loans and invest and for consumers to borrow money and spend.

In this article, we will share a few useful websites that can save you time or money.

WIFIMap

If you are traveling or running low on LTE data, there are always a dozen good reasons to connect to a local free Wi-Fi network (just make sure you use a VPN). WiFiMap is an app and website that allows you to locate free Wi-Fi networks.

The service (and apps) are free and supported by advertisements. The pro subscription costs $25US and provides offline access to the offline database as well as an ad-free experience.

The online version displays the WiFi networks, but not the password (the password is only displayed in the app). The passwords for most of these free hotspots should be posted upon arrival (think Starbucks, Supermarket, etc). This application offers the most comprehensive and user-friendly experience available, so you should download it.

HouseCreep

Suppose that you are looking for a new home, looking to book an airBNB, or visiting a friend in a different city. You are a curious individual by nature, and you are interested to find out what kind of secrets those buildings hide, particularly what kind of crimes have taken place there.

Housecreep offers a crowd-sourced list of noteworthy events that have occurred in that area.

Is There Any Deal

You can find great gaming deals on this site. In the example above, I was looking for a discount on a game called Rimworld.

The service is available for the USA, Canada, Brazil, China, Europe, Russia and the UK.

Down For Everyone or Just Me

There are times when a website you are trying to access does not function properly. The question that you should be asking is, "Does it work for others, or is it only not working for me?". The site answers this question. It could be an issue with you, your ISP, or your region if the site isn't down for everyone.

The site is simple to use with a clean interface.

Down Detector

The website above provides a simple working or not working answer. DownDetector provides a more comprehensive response, including historical issues, types of issues, and the regions in which the problems are occurring.

The DownDetector covers providers of Internet Services, Wireless Carriers, major internet services, and much more (e.g. Duke Energy, Spectrum, COX, Reddit, Apple, AWS, etc)

There is a Canadian and an American version of the site.

Pixlr Online Photo Editor

Pixlr://pixlr.com could be a useful tool if you need a basic photo editor from time to time. It is an online photo editor (Pixlr X for easy editing and Pixlr E for more precise editing). For most users, the free, ad-supported version will provide all the tools they require.

Tip: If you use a good adblocker plugin for your browser, it may prevent the ads from showing on the free version.

NameCHK

Imagine you have a great idea for a new product or service. You are aware of how important branding is, so you want to select a name that has not already been taken (domain, social media, etc.). NameCHK is a free service that allows you to check 30 domains and 90 social networking websites quickly and for free,

Please be patient as the search will take a few minutes.

Above you can see my search for Kiledjian

Fast Internet speed test

Hundreds of internet speed testing websites exist, but Fast.com is easy to use, reliable, and managed by Netflix. Visit the site and you will receive one of the most accurate speed tests on the internet within minutes.

That big number is your download speed. Click on the "show more info" button to see your upload speed as well.

Fast.com works on any device with a modern web browser (no installation is required).

ScreenShot Guru

Screenshot Guru allows you to capture high-resolution images from any website. You can use it to archive tweets, news articles, save an item's price for a pricematch, etc.

The advantage of this service is that it does not require the installation of special software or plug-ins. It is completely web-based, which means you can access it from any device with a modern browser (laptop, iPad, iPhone, etc.).

1. Please click on the I am not a robot button and complete the captcha.

2. Enter the URL and hit enter

3. The site is picky, so ensure that you enter the entire URL, including "https://".

ManualsLib

ManualsLib is an online repository of product manuals. As I write this, they currently have 5291595 pdf files in their archive, and it grows every day.

In addition to the product manuals, they often have PDF versions of the other materials included with the original product at time of purchase.

As you can see, an example of their material for the Mophie Juicepack is above.

This is a free site for people looking for manuals for products they own.

The British Commonwealth is a voluntary association of 54 member states. Most are former territories of the British Empire, but several members have never been under British rule, such as Mozambique and Rwanda. The Commonwealth's membership spans the globe, representing 2.4 billion people, making it the world's most prominent political association after the United Nations.

The Commonwealth is not a political union like the European Union, and its members are sovereign nations that retain complete control over their internal affairs. However, the member states cooperate on a range of issues, such as trade, education, and defence. The Commonwealth also has its own institutions, including the Secretariat (its headquarters), the Commonwealth Games, and the Commonwealth Bank.

The modern Commonwealth traces its origins back to the British Empire. After World War II, many of Britain's colonies became independent nations, but they chose to remain part of the Commonwealth out of a shared sense of heritage and identity. Today, the Commonwealth is an important force for good globally, promoting democracy, development, and human rights.

Who leads the Commonwealth?

The Commonwealth is a voluntary association of independent states, so no one person or country leads the organization. Instead, it operates on the principle of consensus, which means that decisions are only made if all member states agree to them.

However, the Commonwealth does have a few formal institutions, such as the Secretariat (the organization's headquarters) and the Commonwealth Games. The head of the Secretariat is the Commonwealth Secretary-General, who is appointed by the member states. The current Secretary-General is Patricia Scotland, who was elected on April 1, 2016.

The Commonwealth also has a symbolic head in the form of the Head of the Commonwealth. This position is currently held by Queen Elizabeth II, who has been the Head of the Commonwealth since her coronation in 1952.

Weather apps are the most downloaded category of apps in any app store. People seem to be obsessed with them.

Apple delivered a ton of "hidden" improvements in iOS15 that you probably won't be able to find on your own. One such improvement is the ability to receive real-time precipitation alerts through Apple's iOS weather app.

In order to enable this new functionality:

• Open the weather app.

• Tap the icon with three dots on the lower right corner of the screen

• Click on the 3 dots in the upper right corner of the screen

• Select Notification

Turn on the toggle next to the locations you want alerts for.

Checkup on your IOS APPs

In iOS15, IOS applications' security posture became more visible. Apple introduced a powerful tool that you may not be familiar with.

• Go to Settings > Privacy

• Click on Record App Activity at the bottom of the page

• The toggle should be enabled.

It will record a 7-day summary of how often your apps have requested sensitive access (such as microphone, camera, domains they access, etc.).

Once you have enabled it, come back a week later and be amazed. If you are a more technical user, you can export the report as a JSON file.

There are many different types of options that investors can trade, and each has its own unique set of pros and cons. However, options can generally be divided into two broad categories: calls and puts.

Calls give the holder the right to buy an underlying asset at a specific price, while puts give the holder the right to sell an underlying asset at a specific price.

There are many different factors to consider when deciding whether to buy or sell options. Some key considerations include the current market conditions, the underlying asset's volatility, and the option's expiration date.

Options can be a helpful tool for investors in a variety of different market conditions. For example, in a bull market, options can be used to hedge against potential downside risk. Conversely, in a bear market, options can be used to speculate on potential upside.

The market for options has grown significantly in recent years as more and more investors realize the potential benefits of these unique financial instruments. Thanks to this growth, there are now a wide variety of options available to trade.

If you're considering trading options, it's essential to understand the different types of options and how they work. This will help you make the best possible decisions for your investment portfolio.

Options are a type of derivative security, meaning their value is derived from an underlying asset. The most common underlying assets for options are stocks, indexes, and commodities.

Trading options can be riskier than trading the underlying asset itself. This is because options are subject to time decay, meaning that their value declines as they approach expiration.

However, options can also offer investors the potential to make large profits if they correctly predict market movements.

Options can be used as a hedging strategy to protect against downside risk in a portfolio. For example, if you own a stock that you think will go down in value, you could buy a put option on that stock to hedge your position.

If the stock does indeed go down in value, the put option will increase in value, offsetting some of the losses in your stock position.

Similarly, if you are worried about a stock going up in value, you could buy a call option to hedge your position. If the stock goes up, the call option will increase in value and offset some of the gains in the underlying stock.

Here's a personal suggestion that will help secure your online accounts and notify you if a service has been breached.

You should first use a good password manager. I personally use 1Password. Try BitWarden if you want a free open-source alternative. Start using a unique and complex password for every site you log into online.

The majority of users will use a long and unique password for each site then log in with their "main" email address. This is good, but it is better to use unique masked email addresses for each site.

How do you create unique email addresses for each login?

1. If you live in the Apple Ecosystem, you can use their free Hide My Email functionality. In spite of the convenience, ease of use, and reliability of this method, you end up locked into Apple's ecosystem even more. Depending on your situation, this could be an ideal solution or a problem.

2. AnonAddy is another option for anonymous email forwarding. A free and open-source project, AnonAddy can be self-hosted or you can purchase their hosted service (tiers include free, $1 a month for their light service, and $3 a month for their pro service). If you trust AnonAddy, it is a reliable and cheap service. Third-party services (not Apple or Google) also free you from ecosystem lock-in. I tested their service for six months and found it to be very reliable.

3. The final option is to use a service other than Google that provides masked email addresses. One of my email services is Fastmail, and I often use their masked email service directly or through 1Password.

 I have a number of web domains I can use to generate the masked emails, but one of the keys here is to blend in (so I use @fastmail.com or one of the generic domains offered by other services). The reason I do this is to prevent attackers that obtain a website's user list from tying it back to me (easily).

Summary

Each site I access has its own masked email address and a machine-generated password that is long and complicated. I also use 2-factor authentication if it is available.

 As soon as I start receiving strange emails on one of my masked addresses, I know the site has either sold my information or a hacker has breached their site (and they may not even be aware of it yet). The last year I have detected and notified 2 businesses of breaches.

Apple’s Safari browser on IOS is a a solid browser but there are others that provide more privacy and tracker blocking. One of those browsers is Firefox focus.

What does Firefox Focus in Safari do?

Privacy

It blocks known trackers such as

• ads, analytics and social trackers

• Other content trackers – this category includes embedded videos, photo slideshows, and news article embeds that could track you.

Speed

Because part of the website is being blocked, pages will load faster and you will consume less bandwidth (especially important when on LTE).

Unobtrusive

Once you enable it, you will forget about it, use Safari as you would normally do and will gain all of the benefit without having to do anything else.

How to enable in Safari

Step 1

1. Tap on Settings

2. Scroll to Safari

3. Tap Content Blockers

4. Tap the switch to enable Firefox Focus

Step 2

1. Open Firefox Focus

2. Click on the cogwheel to open the settings menu

3. Tap the switch next to Safari to enable it

Hackers are crafty and will use any means at their disposal to trick you or steal from you. One such technique is called DNS hijacking. 

DNS is the internet's phonebook. Your browser automatically converts a URL into a numerical address that can then be routed through the internet. 

They can redirect you anywhere they want by changing the server that resolves your DNS queries (aka your phonebook). They can inject advertisements into your browsing or trick you into installing their TLS certificate so that they can intercept traffic you think is secure (think banking, healthcare, e-commerce, etc.).

Rather than provide a technical roadmap on how they could accomplish this, this article aims to provide an easy way for you to check right now.

Checking your DNS

The Internet provides a lot of websites for checking DNS settings and finding out which DNS server is in use. If you do not recognize it, then you probably need to dig in a little more and figure out why.

In most cases, if you haven't changed the default settings, your DNS service will be provided by your ISP. 

Who is my DNS, is a simple service you can use.

F-secure is another simple option you can check out.

You will then get a summarized result./ If you want more details, click on “View results in detail.”

You then get a results page.

I have cropped the right side to protect my information.

Consumers can easily become complacent when they see so much media coverage of large enterprise hacks. After all, what could a hacker gain by compromising your pc? Well it happens and it's not just your PC you should be worried about.

Hackers are capable of compromising anything that is connected to a network (think cameras, baby monitors, printers, etc). One thing you need not worry about is your reliable Amazon Kindle. It's just an e-reader, after all.

Kindle devices may have a flaw that could allow remote attackers to gain control of them, according to Checkpoint Research. It works by using a specially designed malicious ebook, which, when opened, will compromise the device.

An attacker can extract information from a compromised device including your Amazon credentials, billing information and more. Checkpoint believes that this technique could be used to target specific groups (such as the population of a country, speakers of a particular language, etc).

Amazon promptly patched the kindle after Checkpoint responsibly disclosed the vulnerability. It has been said before and I will say it again: update your devices regularly.

Ensure that your Kindle is up-to-date. Navigate to Menu > Settings > Menu > Device Info

Compare your version with the latest version of the firmware listed here.

You can force an update when your kindle is connected to WIFI by navigating to Menu > Settings > Menu > Update Your Kindle and click ok.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is slowly making its way into all aspects of our lives, whether it is profiling us on social media or making us buy that product at the perfect time on Amazon.

Companies can use AI for good or evil.

Google is known for search, but you may not realize that they apply AI to almost all of their products in order to help their users. Sometimes this added convenience may be at the expense of privacy. An example of this is Gmail's Smart Compose feature.

SmartCompose can be thought of as a more powerful form of autocomplete. This is a feature most of you want to leave enabled, but it is essential to know what it is.

What is it?

Based on the previous words, SmartCompose predicts subsequent words. Additionally, SmartCompose tries to understand the email's context.

This was a complex AI model trained on billions of emails, so it can even match your "normal" writing style. The accuracy of this feature gradually improves as more users pick correct predictions, which trains the model.

Google's models must be as accurate as possible while maintaining a fast inference speed (100 milliseconds or less). So the programmers walk a very fine line between usability versus accuracy and I believe they found the correct balance.

Privacy

Google analytics engine scans your emails to improve SmartCompose (and SmartCompose-like features). Personalized advertising profiles are no longer created by scanning your emails. If you want to turn off this feature, follow these steps:

• Navigate to Gmail.com

• Click on the gear icon on the upper right-hand side

• Choose See All Settings

• Choose the General tab

• Scroll to SmartCompose and choose "Writing suggestions off"

• Scroll to SmartCompose Personalization and choose "Personalization off"

• Scroll to Smart features and Personalization and uncheck the box

• Scroll to Smart features and personalization in other Google products and uncheck the box

• Scroll to Smart Reply and choose "Smart Reply off"

You have now dumbed down the Google services, wether that is good or bad is up to you.

Many security experts say don't use Google products, but if you do, this will be more secure and private.

Our smartphones are so much more than just internet access devices. They have become extensions of our brains. They remember our friends' contact information; they help us shop; they know where we have been and where we are going.

But what happens when someone gains access to this treasure trove of ultra-private information? I have written about how you can make your iPhone more secure here. This article will provide a handful of easy-to-implement tips.

In dots we trust

You may have noticed tiny coloured dots (green and orange) showing up on the top of your screen (upper right-hand side). 

A small orange dot means your microphone is active, while a tiny green dot indicates your camera has active. The purpose of these dots is to notify you can something may be watching or listening to you. If you are on a call, this is perfectly normal, but a little investigation may be warranted if you aren't actively using any apps. 

Remember that you can change what apps have access to your camera and microphone by going to Settings > Privacy > Microphone or Camera. You can then turn off access on an app by app basis.

Peekaboo i see you

There are situations where your iPhone application must have your precise location, like when navigating with your GPS app of choice. 

There are other times when the application doesn't need a precise location, like looking for restaurants in a given area. 

If you go to Settings > Privacy > Location Services and then click on an app, on the bottom you will see a switch for Precise Location. Turning this off will only deliver an approximate location. This is useful for apps that you have to use but are worried they are collecting your location information and probably sharing it.

A weather app is a good example of something that doesn’t need your street level accurate location and where an approximate location would be just as good while improving your privacy a little.

Accessing your photos

There has been an incredible amount of discussion in online forums about Facebook using the metadata of your photos to build a more complete profile of you and they probably aren’t the only one. Your photos show where you have been and who you have been with. So make sure only app that truly require photo access are given it and then only to selected photos.

To change which apps can access your photos, go to Settings > Privacy > Camera

For apps you have granted photo access to, it is important to choose which photos the app can access:

• None

• All Photos

• Selected Photos

To change this setting, go to Settings > Privacy > Photos, choose an app and then choose what level of photo access you want to grant. As an example Instagram for me has “selected photos” only and if I want to upload a photo, I change the settings to give it access only to that photo.

Local network access

With IOS 14, you have probably seen a message pop up asking you for permission to search your local network. If you are using an entertainment app that needs to cast content on a TV or a smart home control app, asking for this permission makes sense. You have likely seen this request from apps that that had no logical reason to request this permission and hopefully you denied them this request. This is one way apps will try to identify you by collecting information about your local networks.

You can find the configuration for this setting in Settings > Privacy > Local Network . Here you can see which apps you have granted access to this right and you can change the setting at any time.

As an example, Uber Eats asks for this permission yet there is no reason to grant it access to inventory my local network. Whereas my VizioTV app has a need for this permission so it can find my device.

We are going through a browser renaissance. The once stale segment has heated up with offerings from the most prominent players like Google offering Chrom and Microsoft offering Edge, all the way to small niche players like Opera, Brave and the DuckDuckGo Browser.

Browsers are typically chosen for their appearance and plug-in availability, but I believe privacy should be a more prevalent concern.

I am reminded of a 2004 BBC article that proclaimed, "More than 70% of people would reveal their computer password in exchange for a bar of chocolate, a survey has found." hopefully, we have evolved past this now.

1- Google Chrome

Google’s Chrome browser is by far the most popular browser in the world. It has a robust ecosystem of extensions. It should come as no secret to any Chrome user that Google is tracking user behaviours such as location, web activity and other habits. These are then used to present you with relevant advertising across Google and non-Google properties (those amazon boots that keep following you).

We also know that incognito mode isn’t much better.

Recently Google announced, then pushed back, the death of the cookie. This was not an altruistic move to benefit users because they will use a new on device cohort creation model called FLoC. If you use Chrome and are curious about FLoC, check out the well written site by the EFF called AmIFLoCed?

You can ops our of third party cookies right now by clicking on Settings, Privacy and Security, select Cookies and other site data. Finally check the box that says Block third-party cookies.

Obviously anything set by a first party won’t be blocked (Google setting it on a Google property or Facebook setting it on Facebook, WhatsApp or instagram, etc). To block first party trackers, you should be using tools like uBlock Origin, although Google has slightly defanged those tools in newer versions of their browser.

2- Microsoft Edge

Microsoft’s newest version of Edge is powered by the free and open source Chromium project. Microsoft then adds layers of proprietary tools on top of it and some are to enhance user privacy. It is safe to assume that all the build in Google trackers have been removed (think telemetry). If you want a Chrome experience without the Google bits, Edge is a good alternative.

In Microsoft Edge, Tracking prevention is on by default.

Microsoft Edge has 3 pre-configured levels of privacy protection: basic, balanced and strict.

Go to Settings, then go to Privacy and services to choose your level of Privacy.

I have to remind you that researchers discovered Edge was sending user IPs and location to Microsoft servers. "According to the analysis, from Douglas Leith with the School of Computer Science and Statistics at Trinity College in Ireland, Edge sends privacy-invasive telemetry to Microsoft’s back-end servers — including “persistent” device identifiers and URLs typed into browsing pages."

3 - Mozilla Firefox

Mozilla is one of the browsers that still uses its own web rendering engine. Mozilla is a not-for-profit organization that has done a relatively good job keeping users safe on the internet. 

By default, Firefox blocks trackers, cross-site tracking and social media trackers (you may not realize that any webpage that has a Facebook button allows Facebook to track you on that site). 

Like Microsoft Edge, Firefox allows you to choose a basket of privacy settings labelled Strict or Standard.

You can check out the Firefox privacy settings by going to the menu, choosing Preferences, then Privacy & Security. 

4 - Apple Safari

Apple has invested heavily in improving the privacy of its users and changes made to Safari over the last 3 years have markedly helped. By default, Safari blocks cross-site tracking. Apple uses Google as it’s default search engine in exchange for a significant rent check.

The DOJ cites “public estimates” saying that Google pays Apple between $8 billion and $12 billion per year to be the default search engine on Apple products. On one hand Google uses your searches to further build an digital profile about you, on the other hand their search engine ensures you aren’t taken to known bad sides, tries to protect you from phishing and other bad websites.

Unlike other browsers, Apple’s Safari provides minimal configurability of its browser. Out of the box the product does a decent job protecting users but there are still a handful of settings you may want to check out.

5 - DuckDuckGo browser

I am not writing about Brave because I still consider it a niche browser used by a small subset of my readers. DuckDuckGo browser falls into the same category but because of their privacy first stance, I wanted to include it in this list. On mobile platforms they offer their own browser. On traditional desktop operating systems, they offer extension that are interesting.

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