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Fri
15
Mar
John Lister's picture

Google To Weed Out Low Quality Sites

Google says its next search algorithm update will dramatically reduce the number of low quality results people see. It's particularly targeting sites that prioritize getting high search rankings over providing useful content for readers. The company ... says tests of the new algorithm showed that, when combined with a similar update in 2022, it reduced "low-quality, unoriginal content in search results by 40%." Of course, that measurement involves a subjective measure of what content qualifies as low-quality. (Source: gizmodo.com )) Quality Over Quantity According to Google, the algorithm update ... (view more)

Mon
15
Jan
John Lister's picture

23andMe Blames Victims for Information Hack

DNA and ancestry site 23andMe has told victims of a major hack that it's their fault for not using unique passwords. The claim came in a letter aimed deterring victims from proceeding with a class action case. The site admitted last month that ... almost 7 million customers have been affected by a data breach. Hackers directly accessed personal data including DNA information of about 14,000 people. However, they were able to get some personal data of another 6.9 million people that enabled a feature to share information with potential relatives. Unsurprisingly, this led to legal action from ... (view more)

Thu
20
Oct
John Lister's picture

Browser Promises to Tackle Cookie Consent Notices

"Privacy-focused" web browser Brave will block cookie consent banners that annoy some users. Its makers say the move will still protect users from unwanted tracking. Cookie consent banners appear on many sites affected by a series of privacy laws, ... most notable Europe's General Data Protection Regulation. The laws require explicit, active consent from users to handle personal data, including through creating cookies that can track online activity. To comply with such laws, sites will often put up a banner or pop-up window whenever somebody first visits a site, asking them to give or ... (view more)

Thu
07
Apr
John Lister's picture

Cops Seize Illegal Online Marketplace

Police in Germany have shut down a major underground website used mainly for illegal drug deals and money laundering. But the people behind Hydra remain at large. The shutdown was an international effort which included the assistance of the US ... Treasury. Despite its physical location in Germany, most of the users and operators of Hydra appear to have been from Russia and other former Soviet Union nations. Hydra has been described as a darknet marketplace. Darknet usually means the site is only accessible through special software that makes it much harder to track who has visited it. Darknet ... (view more)

Thu
10
Jun
John Lister's picture

Major Websites Knocked Offline

Several high-profile websites went offline for around an hour this week thanks to problems with a content delivery network (CDN). The disruption to sites like the New York Times, Amazon and Reddit was a reminder of weak points in the way the ... Internet works today. The problem also affected CNN, the United Kingdom's government sites, online video site Hulu and gaming streaming site Twitch. Not only were the sites unavailable but visitors saw a range of error messages that often weren't much help explaining the problem. (Source: theguardian.com ) The outage is widely believed to be related to ... (view more)

Tue
01
Jun
John Lister's picture

Microsoft Pushes Edge With Cash Back Scheme

Microsoft is offering cash back to customers who shop online using the Edge browser. The program promotes both the browser and the Bing search website. It's no secret that Edge and Bing are far less popular than their Google equivalents. Indeed, ... Microsoft even adopted an "if you can't beat them" attitude by launching a new version of Edge that uses the same open-source Chromium code that powers Google Chrome. Now Microsoft is beefing up its Bing Rebates program to make it easier to use in Microsoft Edge. The program already lets customers get cashback of up to 10 percent when they purchase ... (view more)

Wed
19
Aug
John Lister's picture

Chrome to Test Ways in Using Less CPU, Battery

Google is experimenting with a way to make Chrome use less power when a laptop battery is starting to run out. But it will rely on website owners to make it happen. The test is of a "Battery-Savings Meta Tag" which can be added to a website's code ... and will include battery saving recommendations specific to that site. These would then kick in whenever the computer is at a particular battery level. The idea is to avoid having Chrome itself simply take blanket measures that might not be appropriate for all websites. Video Frame Rate Lowered One of the examples Google gives is for a tag to say ... (view more)

Fri
05
Jun
John Lister's picture

'Sign in With Apple' Bug Allowed Unrestricted Access

Apple has paid $100,000 reward to a security researcher who discovered a simple but potentially damaging bug. Until it was fixed, the bug could have let hackers take over a user's account. The problem was with "Sign in with Apple" - a system that ... lets users sign up to websites via their Apple account rather than having to create specific login details for each site, or go through an email confirmation process it. As with similar systems from Facebook and Google, it only works on websites that support the "Sign in with Apple" feature. When the user visits the third-party site, it ... (view more)

Thu
16
Jan
John Lister's picture

Chrome to Block Third-Party Cookies

Google says it will block third-party cookies, which can track Internet users in ways they don't expect. But it could be up to two years before the block is fully in place. A cookie is a small text file placed on a user's computer by a website. The ... idea is the site can check for the cookie later on and customize the users' web experience. Examples of 'legitimate' cookie use would be an online store that holds items in a virtual 'shopping basket', and a movie theater chain's site 'remembering' a user's location to automatically show them local listings. The more controversial variant is third- ... (view more)

Fri
13
Dec
Dennis Faas's picture

Explained: How to Use Roboform (Step by Step)

Infopackets Reader Renate L. writes: " Dear Dennis, Thank you so much for helping me with my computer with your remote support service. You are life saver! Question: you recently installed Roboform to help me remember my passwords, but I'm afraid ... I've made a mess of things. For example, I somehow managed to save 3 different Roboform logins (passcards) for my online banking site - and none of them work! I'd like to fix this so I have 1 working login, otherwise I'm going to be really confused moving forward. Is it possible for you to put together a brief how-to guide on how to use Roboform? I'd ... (view more)

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