Month: October 2020

Enlarge (credit: Global Privacy Control)

Anyone who remembers Do Not Track—the initiative that was supposed to allow browser users to reclaim their privacy on the Web—knows it was a failure. Not only did websites ignore it, using it arguably made people less private because it made them stick out. Now, privacy advocates are back with a new specification, and this time they’ve brought the lawyers.

Under the hood, the specification, known as Global Privacy Control, works pretty much the same way Do Not Track did. A small HTTP header informs sites that a visitor doesn’t want their data sold. The big difference this time is the enactment of the Consumer Privacy Act in California and, possibly, the General Data Protection Regulation in Europe, both of which give consumers broad rights over how their private information can be used.

At the moment, California residents who don’t want websites to sell their data must register their choice with each site, often each time they visit it. That’s annoying and time-consuming. But the California law specifically contemplates “user-enabled global privacy controls, such as a browser plug-in or privacy setting,” that signal the choice. That’s what the Global Privacy Control—or GPG—does.

Enlarge / The promotional key art graphic Apple sent out with its announcement about its October 13, 2020, product launch event. (credit: Apple)

Here we are again, less than one month after Apple's September 15 event. Next Tuesday, October 13, Apple representatives will take to the streaming stage to announce new products in an event the company has monikered "Hi, Speed." But what can we expect from the event?

Normally, Apple launches iPhones at a September event, but it didn't this year, possibly because of COVID-related delays in its testing of the new devices. Rather, the September event was primarily about the Apple Watch (there was also a new, redesigned iPad Air, along with some services announcements and a slightly modified non-Air, non-Pro, non-mini iPad).

All that is to say that iPhones are very likely to be the stars of Apple's October show. Let's get into what to expect from them—and what else we might see at the event.

Enlarge / The new Google Wi-Fi pucks look much like the originals—the substitution of a DC barrel jack for the original USB-C charging port seems to be the biggest difference. (credit: Google)

This week, Google launched another, cheaper version of its Wi-Fi-mesh product line. A little more than a year after the introduction of Nest Wi-Fi, this new product line resurrects the original Google Wi-Fi branding and is sold in one-, two-, or three-piece sets.

For the most part, the new Google Wi-Fi seems pretty similar to the original—each device is a small, squat white cylinder sporting twin gigabit Ethernet ports, dual-band 802.11ac, AC1200 (Wi-Fi 5, 2x2) radios, along with Bluetooth Low-Energy support. The 2020 version of Google Wi-Fi has a simple DC barrel jack in place of the USB-C charging port on the original version.

The more expensive Nest Wi-Fi offers an integrated smart speaker in each node and a fatter Wi-Fi backhaul pipe—although both Nest Wi-Fi and Google Wi-Fi are dual-band 802.11ac (Wi-Fi 5), the 5GHz radio in the more expensive Nest Wi-Fi is 4x4, offering double the backhaul (connection to the next node closer to the Internet) throughput.