Internet

Although initially thought of as just hard drives in the cloud, cloud storage quickly became a way for people to share files. Unlike physical storage, however, there's a greater need for security with files stored and shared from the cloud. It is for that reason that Google is introducing an update to Google Drive that fundamentally changes the way file-sharing links work. Unfortunately, that change may also cause many public links to be broken unless their owners do something to update those.

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Today we're taking a look at each of the dog and cat food recalls announced by the FDA in the USA in the year 2021. We've previously reported on most of these recalls in the past, soon after they were initially tipped by the FDA through the first months of this year. Today we're making absolutely sure you are up-to-date on all the recalls as such, just in case any were missed during this tumultuous time.

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In early March, Brave announced that it had acquired open search engine Tailcat and that it would be used as the foundation for launching Brave Search, a privacy-centric alternative to Google Search and Bing. Fast-forward a few months and Brave Search is now available as a public beta that anyone can fire up and use.

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If you're using a smartphone or a tablet, there's a sort of WiFi network out there that could mess up your day. This situation may be rectified by the time you read this article - if you're reading this article a few months into the future - but for now, it's time to beware. The network name is the bit you're looking for - it's simple, and avoiding said network should be simple, too.

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The smart homes and cities of the future are often painted as places full of transparent touch screens, voice-controlled assistants, and robots that can often predict what we need before we even ask. Unfortunately, what these advertisements and marketing materials don't always show is who is really in control of these future worlds.

Sure, most of these videos or images show regular people like you and me as the main actors, but it is really the companies that run the services and networks behind the scenes that are really in control, and it's going to take a long while before we can and should completely trust these systems with our safety and our lives.

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A little more than a year ago, a website was launched that is designed to self-destruct if it doesn't get at least one message in a 24-hour period. Anyone can leave a message on the website, which has spent its entire life operating during a very unique moment in time: the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. As the world slowly returns to normal, the website has become something like a time capsule of what the public was thinking during their months in isolation.

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Despite its inherent character limits, it's almost too easy to get roped into Twitter threads you never had any intention to be part of. Whether as a reply to someone or just as a random action, getting "@mentioned" can lead down a slippery slope that can even end up in harassment. Twitter currently doesn't have any functionality to fix this situation, even as it prohibits any form of harassment. Fortunately, a privacy designer at the social network is coming up with concepts that will hopefully get implemented to let users unmention themselves out of conversations.

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SpaceX's satellite Internet service Starlink may soon power Wi-Fi services on some flights, offering travelers a new option for connecting to their favorite services while traveling. According to SpaceX's VP Jonathan Hofeller, Starlink has already performed some demonstrations of an 'aviation product,' which the company says it aims to finalize for use on aircraft soon.

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As the maker of the world's most-used web browser, Google has both a moral and maybe even legal obligation to protect the privacy and security of its users. Not all of its efforts have been welcomed without scrutiny, however, as shown by the Privacy Sandbox and FLoC, short for Federated Learning of Cohorts. Even before that, however, Google has been trying to fight off phishing scams by modifying what uses see on Chrome's address bar. It turns out that strategy wasn't as effective as it presumed and Google is now backtracking on the position it defended strongly last year.

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Twitter profiles will soon showcase a dedicated section for Revue-powered newsletters, making it easy for creators to market their newsletters to followers while similarly making it easy for followers to subscribe to newsletters. The upcoming feature was revealed today by Revue, which was acquired by Twitter back in January.

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This week Walmart released their "onn." collection of Android TV devices, for real this time. These devices have appeared in leaks more than once before - now they're out there in the real world, for sale. There's a 4K Streaming Device and an FHD Streaming Stick in the mix, both at Walmart stores across the United States.

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Before 2020 ended, TikTok's fate in the US hung in the balance of a few court orders and the results of the elections. It was able to get a slight reprieve when the Biden administration took over, raising hopes it would finally be let off the hook. Part of that did come true when President Biden signed a new Executive Order that drops the bans on TikTok, WeChat, and AliPay. That said, they're still not out of hot water as they will still be investigated on their alleged ties to the Chinese government.

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