Month: August 2021

Enlarge / This browser popup, which you see in Windows 10 the first time you try to open a link after installing a new browser, isn't present in current beta builds of Windows 11. (credit: Andrew Cunningham)

A report from The Verge today has drawn attention to the way current Windows 11 betas are handling third-party Web browsers like Chrome and Firefox. These tweaks continue a trend that has intensified over Windows 10's lifecycle—you can use any browser you want on Windows! But are you sure that you wouldn't like to try Microsoft Edge instead? Are you sure? Are you really, really sure?

There are two functional changes in the current beta of Windows 11 that make switching browsers more annoying. The first is that the OS no longer pops up a window asking you if you'd like to switch browsers the first time you click a link after installing a new browser. The second is that the "default apps" screen has removed the broad app categories currently available in Windows 10—Windows 10 allows you to set the default email app, map app, music player, photo viewer, video player, and web browser from the default apps screen, while Windows 11 makes you choose an app first and assign defaults one file extension at a time.

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  Windows 10's Default Apps settings screen lets you change the default apps for a handful of common tasks, like browsing, checking email, or playing video. [credit: Andrew Cunningham ]

When you do attempt to change the default app that handles .htm or .html files from Edge to something else, Windows 11 takes it as yet another opportunity to make sure that you're absolutely, positively sure that you actually want to switch away from Edge.

Enlarge (credit: Ars Technica)

Today's Dealmaster is headlined by a great deal on Amazon's Kindle Paperwhite that brings the e-reader down to $80. That matches the lowest price we've ever tracked.

While an ebook reader isn't exactly essential for most people, we've long recommended the Paperwhite as a great option for anyone in that market. It's almost three years old at this point—and we wouldn't be surprised if Amazon gave it a refresh in the not-too-distant future—but it still offers a compact and comfortable design, a side-lit, 6-inch, 300-pixels-per-inch display that is crisp and allows you to read in darker settings, and Amazon's typically extensive catalog of ebook and audiobook content. This model also has Bluetooth audio support for listening to audiobooks from Audible, as well as an IPX8 waterproof rating, so it's safe to read in the tub or pool.

You still have to put up with ads on the lock screen and such unless you pay an additional one-time fee, and if you can live with a lower-resolution display, Amazon's base-level Kindle is a solid budget-friendly alternative that's currently on sale for $65. If you'd rather avoid entering Amazon's locked-down platform altogether, Kobo's Clara HD offers similar hardware—minus the waterproofing and Bluetooth support—and is discounted to $100. If you go with one of Amazon's deals, though, note that both Kindle offers include a three-month trial of the Kindle Unlimited service, which provides an on-demand selection of books for one monthly fee.

Enlarge / The Nest Hub. (credit: Google)

Google's up-and-coming Fuchsia OS has reached another milestone. According to a report from 9to5Google's Kyle Bradshaw (the Internet's premiere Fuchsia resource), the new OS is rolling out to all first-gen Google Nest Hubs. The OS launched in May but only to a select few devices in the preview program.

The first-gen Google Nest Hub (which launched as the "Google Home Hub" and was later renamed) has always had a strange OS story. The smart display launched in 2018 with an OS based on the Google Cast platform at a time when Google was pushing partners to ship displays with Android Things, an Internet-of-things OS based on Android. Today, Android Things is dead—at least, as a public platform—and there's not much future in turning the simple Google Cast Platform into a smart display. The Fuchsia team, which has been experimenting on the Home Hub for years, apparently commandeered the project and started rolling out the new OS.

You can check if you have Fuchsia by going to the "About" page in the settings. If there's an "Operating System Version" field at the bottom, you're running Fuchsia. You won't notice any differences, though. The Google smart display UI is written in Flutter, which can run on both Fuchsia and the Google Cast OS, so everything you interact with comes from the same code base. Google just quietly replaced the underlying OS.

Enlarge / Former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa holds his vaccination card after receiving his first shot of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine. (credit: Getty Images | Allen J. Schaben)

A Chicago pharmacist was arrested yesterday on charges that he sold 125 authentic CDC vaccination cards to 11 buyers for about $10 per card, the Department of Justice announced.

"Knowingly selling COVID vaccination cards to unvaccinated individuals puts millions of Americans at risk of serious injury or death," Special Agent Emmerson Buie Jr. said. "To put such a small price on the safety of our nation is not only an insult to those who are doing their part in the fight to stop COVID-19, but a federal crime with serious consequences."

The licensed pharmacist, 34-year-old Tangtang Zhao, was indicted in July. Zhao worked for a pharmacy that went unnamed by the DOJ and that "distributed and administered COVID-19 vaccines at its physical locations nationwide." The company "provided a CDC Vaccination Record Card to each vaccine recipient" as required by the CDC, and "Zhao obtained and subsequently offered authentic CDC vaccination cards for sale online," the DOJ said.