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PCMag – “Your internet-connected TV has Automatic Content Recognition (ACR) features that track what you watch. Here’s how to disable it, along with smart privacy advice from security experts. Smart televisions offer internet access, streaming apps, and sometimes even built-in cameras and microphones. They’re also collecting loads of personal data in order to sell it …
Rebecca Williams: “In August 2025, I hosted a Burner Phone 101 Workshop at the Brooklyn Public Library. [The link to the full text PDF of the program is here.] Below is a summary of the workshop with key points in bold and additional resources that participants helped crowdsource. Before the workshop began, we set the …
Visual Capitalist: “U.S. tariffs have climbed to an average rate of 18.6%—the highest since 1933. But what does this mean for everyday consumers? This visualization, developed in collaboration with the Hinrich Foundation, highlights major goods expected to face sustained price increases due to rising tariffs. Based on data from the Yale Budget Lab, it explores …
MakeUseOf – “I use Firefox primarily because I have always believed it’s the gold standard for privacy. This is more than an assumption—it’s how the browser markets itself. However, after many years of using the browser, I quit. It took some deep digging, but honestly, beyond the surface, the cracks begin to show…So yes, I …
The newly launched Eclipse Atlas website contains “over 2,000 historic and modern eclipse maps dating from 1654 to the present” as well as maps & guides for future eclipses. “Eclipse Atlas is a passion project of Michael Zeiler to celebrate the beauty of historic eclipse maps and to serve as a gallery of his eclipse …
Using an AI model, an engineering team from Texas A&M has mapped the most vulnerable areas of the US power grid. Power outage hot spots are more severe than previously known, according to researchers at Texas A&M who used AI to build a map of at-risk areas around the U.S. The hot spots, including some …
Wired – no paywall – “For years, smartphones and computers have threatened to erase writing by hand. Would that be so bad? Parents, educators, and fellow penmanship advocates have been lamenting the end of handwriting for years. Email began edging out cards and letters decades ago. Then smartphones hit the market, and our reliance on paper …
Coalition for Independent Technology Research: “A report on the struggle to keep public-interest technology research alive and the growing Coalition working to protect it. What’s At Stake – Understanding how technology shapes society shouldn’t be dictated by corporate agendas or political interests. It should be driven by and for the public, because without independent research, …
The Atlantic – Our picture book was pulled from library shelves in Florida [no paywall]: The argument being used to defend the ban threatens the right to read. By Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell. “In 2023, our book was one of thousands pulled from library shelves around the country, and as we write, an evolving …
