Web3 and crypto skepticism is growing and people are finally starting to listen
Crypto skeptics have been trying to warn the public that cryptocurrency is a Ponzi scheme and Web3 is fake decentralization that can't fix a web that isn't broken. Critics have mainly been ignored as aggressive opportunism and skyrocketing token prices have silenced dissent. However, as crypto becomes more mainstream and people experience its downsides, critics' warnings are starting to be heard.
Episode 12: Interview with crypto and Web3 skeptic Stephen Diehl
Stephen Diehl is a London-based software engineer working in the financial sector that has written and been outspoken about why Web3 is economically and technologically a terrible idea. In a 40-minute interview with Jon Henshaw, the two discuss the religious fervor surrounding Web3, why crypto is repeating history and will end badly, and how Web3 is already primarily centralized. They also discussed the Metaverse's potential impact on future generations and the promise no-code technology might have on society.
Princeton privacy study halts GDPR/CCPA research over ethics concerns and industry blowback
Computer science researchers at Princeton University and Radboud University conducted an academic study that sent automated email messages to websites with GDPR and CCPA privacy policy requests from fake personas. Email operators, web admins, and privacy professionals interpreted the messages as security risks and legal threats, prompting the researchers to suspend the study and delete all communication.
Feedly adds RSS Builder to follow sites without RSS feeds
Feedly, the popular newsreader, aggregates content from Twitter, Reddit, and RSS feeds. Feedly can now follow sites that don’t have RSS feeds with its new RSS Builder tool.
Chrome adds feature that disables viewing HTML source code
To stop students from cheating on online quizzes and visiting blocked sites, Chromium developers updated ChromeOS and the Chrome browser to allow school IT administrators to disable viewing the HTML source code.
Twitter Blue launches with Ad-free Articles and premium features
Twitter completes the transition of Scroll to Ad-free Articles with the launch of Twitter Blue in the US, New Zealand, Canada, and Australia.
FTC warns they will seek significant civil penalties for fake reviews
The Federal Trade Commission has put companies, advertisers, retailers, consumer product companies, and advertising agencies on notice about deceptive practices online.
1Password adds a secure sharing option for logins and sensitive data
Login details, credit cards, and notes with sensitive information can now be securely shared with the latest version of 1Password. The new feature creates an expiring link and doesn’t require the recipient to be a 1Password customer to view the details.
Twitter Blue’s ‘Ad-Free Articles’ to replace Scroll’s ad-free reading experience
Scroll notified its subscribers that it would shut down as an independent service within thirty days. They said Scroll is being added to the new Twitter Blue subscription service and renamed Ad-Free Articles.
Fastmail launches Masked Email privacy service that’s tightly integrated with 1Password
The Masked Email privacy service from Fastmail provides a better alternative to Apple’s Hide My Email service, comes with the option to use a custom domain, and is fully integrated into 1Password.
Twitter launches Professional Profiles ‘About Module’ for businesses
Twitter has finished testing Professional Profiles and has begun inviting select businesses to participate in an early preview of the new profile enhancement.
Cloudflare adds automated Signed Exchanges for Google Search
Signed Exchanges enable non-AMP sites to cache pages with Google Search for near-instant delivery. The open standard is complex and has had a slow adoption rate, but Cloudflare has fully automated the process, making it trivial for sites to use
The dark patterns of Network Solutions
Registering a domain name at Network Solutions can be tricky and pricey, and transferring a domain away from them is an unwarranted waiting game.
WP Engine adds Web Rules as an .htaccess alternative
WP Engine restored some of the lost functionality when they deprecated .htaccess files. The new Web Rules feature provides the ability to create rules for allowing and denying IPs.
Apple’s search engine is Spotlight and it’s looking more like Google
Spotlight search in the iOS and iPadOS 15 betas have gained rich results, and web images search results. Apple's Spotlight is poised to take market share away from Google Search because searches bypass Google's search engine entirely.
Updated: WordPress to improve plugin name checks to remove ‘WP’ trademark confusion
The WordPress Plugin Review Team is rejecting plugins that use WP in the name and slug. The messaging and code made it appear like a trademark issue, but it wasn't. A ticket has been created by a WordPress contributor to remove the confusion.
Why WebKit supports AVIF but Safari does not
WebKit added support for the AVIF image format in April 2021, but it’s still unavailable in Safari. Its absence is because Apple chose an unconventional method for decoding images in its browser.
Google recommends author page URL be added to ‘Article’ Schema structured data
Google updated its Schema-based structured data recommendations to include linking to an author’s bio page to help it disambiguate the correct author for an article.
Verisign raises dot com domain name prices again
The price for a .com domain is going up again thanks to ICANN’s 2020 decision to allow Verisign to increase wholesale prices indefinitely. Verisign is expected to make hundreds of millions of dollars more after agreeing to pay ICANN, the non-profit in charge of coordinating domains worldwide, twenty million dollars.
WordPress 5.8 adds native WebP image format support
The latest version of WordPress now fully supports WebP images without the need for plugins or additional code.
