Dr. Bill | The Computer Curmudgeon

Concerned about security on-line? Actually, fanatical about security on-line? Then, Tor may be for you!

The Tor Project has released Tor Browser 8.0 with huge changes

NeoWin – By: Paul Hill – “The Tor Project has just recently released the eighth version of its Tor Browser. The release is noteworthy because it is the first version to be based on Firefox 60 ESR so it includes all the changes brought with the Quantum update including the updated Photon UI and more. Additionally, the developers redesigned the landing page and on-boarding process, they improved bridge fetching, and added better language support.

The new home screen has received a fresh coat of purple paint and puts DuckDuckGo search front and centre with the phrase ‘Explore. Privately. You’re ready for the world’s most private browsing experience.’ above it. In the top left is a getting started dialogue box which briefly touches on privacy, the Tor network, circuits, security, and tips. As part of the getting started process there are hotlinks to check your Tor settings to make sure everything is as you’d like it.

On the UI front too, pressing the secure HTTPS padlock icon when you visit a site on Tor will pull up your Tor Circuit information. This feature was previously viewable by clicking the onion button but has now moved into the site information dialogue box. By looking at the circuit, it should be clear to users exactly which IP addresses and countries they’re hopping through.

For those in countries where Tor is blocked, the typical way to get onto the network is via a bridge. In this release, the bridge process has been significantly improved, the project said:

‘For users where Tor is blocked, we have previously offered a handful of bridges in the browser to bypass censorship. But to receive additional bridges, you had to send an email or visit a website, which posed a set of problems. To simplify how you request bridges, we now have a new bridge configuration flow when you when you launch Tor. Now all you have to do is solve a captcha in Tor Launcher, and you’ll get a bridge IP. We hope this simplification will allow more people to bypass censorship and browse the internet freely and privately.’

Lastly, with Tor Browser 8.0, support for nine previously unsupported languages have been added, they are Catalan, Irish, Indonesian, Icelandic, Norwegian, Danish, Hebrew, Swedish, and Traditional Chinese.

You can read the full blog post and release notes and download Tor Browser now.”

My favorite browser is now ten years old! Wow! How time flies!

Chrome turns 10

OSNews – Thom Holwerda – “Google first released its Chrome browser 10 years ago today. Marketed as a ‘fresh take on the browser’, Chrome debuted with a web comic from Google to mark the company’s first web browser. It was originally launched as a Windows-only beta app before making its way to Linux and macOS more than a year later in 2009. Chrome debuted at a time when developers and internet users were growing frustrated with Internet Explorer, and Firefox had been steadily building momentum.

When it was first released as beta, Chrome was a revelation. It was faster than Firefox, and sported a cleaner, simpler UI. I used Chrome from the very first few beta releases, but in recent years the browser has started sucking up more and more resources, and it feels – emphasis on feels – slower than ever before. On Windows, I switched to Edge, which feels a lot faster for me than any other Windows browser, and on my iOS devices I obviously use Safari.

With the new UI redesign coming to Chrome coming Tuesday – I see very little reason to go back.”

More power to them!

Firefox: changing our approach to anti-tracking

“OSnews – Anyone who isn’t an expert on the internet would be hard-pressed to explain how tracking on the internet actually works. Some of the negative effects of unchecked tracking are easy to notice, namely eerily-specific targeted advertising and a loss of performance on the web. However, many of the harms of unchecked data collection are completely opaque to users and experts alike, only to be revealed piecemeal by major data breaches. In the near future, Firefox will – by default – protect users by blocking tracking while also offering a clear set of controls to give our users more choice over what information they share with sites.

Firefox continues to do great work in this department.”

If you aren’t using LibreOffice for free, this is at least nice.

Microsoft Removes Device Install Limits For Office 365 Subscribers

SlashDot – By: BeauHD – “Starting October 2nd, Office 365 Home users will no longer be restricted to 10 devices across five users and Personal subscribers will no longer have a limit of one computer and one tablet. The catch is that you can only stay signed in on five devices at once. Engadget reports:

Meanwhile, Home users can let another person use the productivity suite through their account, with Microsoft bumping up the number of licenses per subscriber from five to six. Each user has access to Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook and OneNote, along with 1TB of individual storage. Microsoft is also integrating Home subscriptions with its family service, so you can automatically share your Office 365 plan with people you’ve set up as family members. Elsewhere, you’ll manage your subscription from within your Microsoft account settings from now on.”

A Raspberry Pi based Linux Phone? For $50.00? Cool!

Raspberry Pi-based ZeroPhone promises ‘an open-source, Linux-powered’ handset

ZDNet – By: Nick Heath – “If you’re looking for a smartphone that doesn’t harvest data 24/7, then the ZeroPhone may be the device for you.

A project to build the $50 phone has been launched on Crowd Supply, promising to deliver ‘an open-source, Linux-powered’ handset with ‘no carrier locks, bloated apps, or data mining’ and that ‘doesn’t depend on big companies’.

Android smartphones have hit the headlines recently, first for Google tracking users who had switched location tracking off, and second for sending data to Google’s servers 50 times more often than an iPhone.

The ZeroPhone will be based around the tiny Raspberry Pi Zero, an Arduino microcontroller, and the ESP8266 Wi-Fi module.

The ZeroPhone comes with several extras not found on your typical handset, including a mini-HDMI port and a single full-size USB 2.0 port, alongside the more typical support for Wi-Fi and a 3.5mm headphone jack.

One downside is the phone will initially launch only with 2G GSM connectivity, with 3G expected to be added later. The screen is also far smaller than is typically the case, with a 1.3-inch, 128 x 64 OLED display.

‘ZeroPhone is user-friendly and will have the typical features of a phone, but will give you advanced features when you need them,’ according to the ZeroPhone’s creator Arsenijs.

‘You can modify and repair it easily, and it’s power-user and programmer-friendly. It’s also built from widely available components, so you can build a ZeroPhone independently if you need to.’

To get the most of the phone, users will need to be technically proficient. While the splash page for the project says the likes of IR receivers and the Pi’s 5 and eight-megapixel cameras can be wired up the phone’s electronic interfaces, this will require users to hook up the electronics themselves.

However, if you’re confident using the Linux terminal, you’ll be able to SSH into the device for remote access and run a wide range of Linux software on the phone.

It can even be hooked up to a keyboard and mouse and used as a desktop, although the Pi Zero’s ageing single-core processor isn’t capable of running a heavy graphical desktop comfortably.

The ZeroPhone project is listed as ‘coming soon’ and those interested can sign up for updates on Crowd Supply.”

I can see the resemblance, it could work.

Star Trek: Discovery’s Spock will be played by Gregory Peck’s grandson

The Verge – By: Devon Maloney – “Earlier this summer, at 2018’s San Diego Comic-Con, Star Trek: Discovery showrunner Alex Kurtzman confirmed that Spock, the beloved half-Vulcan second-in-command of the original Star Trek’s U.S.S. Enterprise, would be appearing in the newest Trek series. After much searching, CBS has announced that the show has cast the role. Ethan Peck, whose previous credits include playing Patrick Verona (the Heath Ledger character) in the TV adaptation of 10 Things I Hate About You — and who also happens to be the grandson of legendary actor Gregory Peck — will fill the TV shoes of the late Leonard Nimoy. (Peck is not related to Zachary Quinto, who currently plays the character in the film franchise, but there certainly is a non-familial resemblance.)

Noting in the official CBS press release that Spock ‘remains the only member of the original bridge crew to span every era of Star Trek’ — Spock technically did not appear on the early aughts’ Star Trek: Enterprise, but the man can be forgiven for overlooking the least-beloved Trek series — Kurtzman explains that the showrunners were looking for an actor who could ‘effortlessly embody Spock’s greatest qualities, beyond obvious logic: empathy, intuition, compassion, confusion, and yearning.’ Kurtzman says Peck seems “aware of his daunting responsibility to Leonard, Zack, and the fans, and ready to confront the challenge in the service of protecting and expanding on Spock’s legacy.”

The wording of Kurtzman’s statement is notable, because its reassuring language speaks to the anxieties fans have expressed about Trek in recent years, about the quality of the new TV series, the continuity weirdness between Discovery and the J.J. Abrams reboot films, and the entire idea of Spock — in addition to Christopher Pike, the captain from the original 1965 Trek pilot, and Number One, Pike’s female first officer — being pulled into Discovery in a misguided attempt to give the show additional legitimacy or appeal.

Other fan concerns have involved the crew shake-ups that have plagued Discovery since its inception, from co-creator Bryan Fuller notoriously exiting the show to the recent firing of his replacements, Gretchen Berg and Aaron Harberts, over budget issues and alleged harassment. This statement, combined with the announcement out of the annual Star Trek Las Vegas convention earlier this month, that a new series in the works will bring Patrick Stewart back to the franchise as Jean-Luc Picard, seems to indicate that Trek will be leaning hard on nostalgia going forward. At least this time, we’ll be returning to the past to find comfort in a better future.

As it stands, Peck has clearly made a measured effort to start off on the right foot, too. In his announcement tweet about his casting, he posted a photo with Nimoy’s family, and for good measure, signed off the way the late Nimoy (RIP) used to: with a #LLAP — Live Long and Prosper.”