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10 Mar 2019 - Podcast #633 - (17:35)
It's Like NPR on the Web
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If you're in favor of on-line security and like websites to load quickly, the Brave Browser might be worth checking out. It's available for Windows, MacOS, and Linux computers as well as Android and IOS phones and tablets. It includes HTTPS Everywhere integration, blocks cookie capture, and blocks ads (although there is some dispute about that).
Brave has been around since 2016 and a controversy erupted immediately after it was launched. Lawyers for 17 newspaper publishers that represent 1700 newspapers wrote a letter to Brave Software stating, in part, "Your plan to use our content to sell your advertising is indistinguishable from a plan to steal our content to publish on your own website." The New York Times, Washington Post, and Gannet group were among those complaining.
Brave is based on Chrome and what differentiates it from other browsers, Chrome-based or not, is its opposition to some ads and tracking cookies. To gain speed, Brave can strip out ads that are served by publishers. In some cases, Brave wants to serve ads of its own and that is what annoys the publishers. I'll come back to the advertising question in a bit.
Brave offers an array of privacy and usability features. To speed search functions and page loads, the user can enable prediction services. These are both off by default because they transmit information before the user initiates the connection.
Safe Browsing is turned on by default. This feature can alert the user if a website appears to be malicious. Additionally, if you specify Google as your primary search engine, Safe Browsing connects to a Brave-run server keeps no logs.
You may be surprised to see that an option to send "do not track" requests to websites is off by default. In fact, there's little reason to turn this on because most sites ignore the request.
If you've used Chrome, you'll recognize much of the interface.
Brave is noticeably faster when loading pages. Net Applications says that Brave reduces load time by half compared to Chrome or Firefox. This performance gain is primarily the result of blocking techniques that advertisers use to identify users and then follow them across the web. After removing ads and trackers, Brave needs to download only the page content. In other words, there's no magic involved.
In addition to setting global options for video auto-play, ad and tracker blocking, encrypting unencrypted connections, blocking various types of cookies, allowing or denying the use of scripts, and device recognition by the site or by third-party providers, individual settings can be established for each site you visit.
Although the feature hasn't yet been fully implemented, there are plans to allow synchronization of settings on multiple computers and mobile devices. Sync is still a beta function and works only to synchronize bookmarks across devices. The setup process is a bit unusual.
After navigating to the Settings panel, (1) click Sync in the left panel. This leads to another screen with a link to click. That link leads to (2) the setup page. On the first computer, you'll start a new sync chain and this will display (3) an astonishingly long code. The code consists of 24 words and each 24 word code is unique an individual user's Sync Chain.
The next step involves repeating the process on the second computer or on a mobile device where you'll be asked to type the words. This is actually much easier than it sounds or looks, but if you don't want to type the words and the second device has a camera, you can display a QR code and use that. Assuming the words have been entered correctly, Brave will then synchronize the bookmarks and display (4) a list of linked devices. Currently sync works on Windows, MacOS, Linux, and Android devices. The developer says it will soon be offered for IOS devices. Clearly, this is a work in process.
Earlier I said that publishers were adamantly opposed to Brave's business model.
What annoys publishers is Brave's goal of adding its own advertisements. The overall framework has been described and the company is still working to implement it: Ads will be removed and then replaced with generic ads -- in other words, ads that are not targeted to an individual user. This might actually be worse than what we have now because ads shown are at least based on something the user has shown an interest in. Plans also exist to provide a way for users to make micro-payments to sites they want to support.
Micro-payments have been unsuccessful so far. These are financial transactions involving small sums. The first such systems were tested in the late 1990s, but most failed. The next generation of micro-payment systems has been developed in the last decade. Brave proposes BATs (basic attention tokens) that will be based on a cyber-currency. Tokens will be awarded to publishers based on the amount of time users spend viewing ads and content. Users who agree to receive Brave's ads will be given BATs that can be given to publishers.
This is a project worth watching and possibly worth testing. The Brave browser was developed by Brendan Eich, who co-founded the Mozilla Project but was forced out after supporting California's Proposition 8, a ballot measure that aimed to ban same-sex marriage. The proposition passed, but was nullified by a Supreme Court ruling.
Brave is a browser that's worth trying.The browser offers lots of useful features, but also comes with questions -- particularly those that deal with the plan to replace embedded ads with ads that Brave serves. If the company develops a good way to compensate website owners while simultaneously maintaining the ultra-fast load time for pages, it could be a winner. More than 2 years into its development, Brave is still very much a work in progress, so for now I'm not adding a cat rating.
Additional details are available on the Brave website.
Except for the flat-Earth crowd, those who have more than a primary grade education know that the planet we live on is a sphere. Somewhere around the house we have a globe. Maybe you do, too. But flat maps are easier to use in books and on computer screens. The problem with maps that lie flat, though, is that they flatly lie about the sizes of land masses.
The distortion is greater at further distances from the equator. Technology can now eliminate the inaccuracies.
It's difficult to represent a three-dimensional sphere on a two-dimensional piece of paper or screen. Flemish geographer and cartographer Gerardus Mercator developed a way to represent a sphere on two-dimensional paper in 1569. The Mercator projection has been the primary method used for map making since then. It was essential for nautical navigation because it preserved the shape of objects distant from the poles. However, the Mercator projection distorts the size of objects that are nearer to the poles. Greenland and Antarctica are represented much larger than they actually are.
Google Earth and Google Maps on computers (B) now address that problem by adjusting size and scale of the displayed land masses to more closely represent what would appear on a sphere even though the computer screen is a two-dimensional surface. Google Maps on mobile devices still use Mercator projections (A).
This may not seem to be an important distinction for Greenland. Only about 50,000 people live there, fewer than even medium-size cities in the United States. It is important, though, because it may help some of us to understand the true size of the United States when compared to the rest of the planet's land mass. Northern Africa alone has more land mass than the United States. Nigeria is the size of several US states and some of the large African countries dwarf even Texas and Alaska.
Mercator projection maps were essential for European seafarers, but today it may cause problems and enhance prejudices. The United States is not the center of the Universe or even the center of the planet. Looking at the world through rose-colored glasses does not make the world rose colored. Maybe it's important to see things as they really are and not as the way we thought they were in 5th grade.
Passwords are undeniably weak points. We use weak passwords even though we know we shouldn't. We re-use passwords even though we know we shouldn't. We might even share passwords even though we know we shouldn't. Passwords need to go away, but they have managed to survive all attempts to eliminate them.
Microsoft wants to eradicate passwords and replace them with other security measures and there's been some progress. Some current computer models have fingerprint readers. These are more secure than bad passwords, but fingerprints can be spoofed. Microsoft's facial recognition is considerably more robust than the initial iterations. Facial recognition and fingerprint scanners can be fooled, but they require physical access to the computer -- unlike passwords that can be exploited from afar. Both fingerprint scanners and facial recognition are parts of "Windows Hello".
Starting in 2018, Windows 10 enterprise users could set up the Microsoft Authenticator App on systems with what's called "S Mode" enabled and then create a Windows Hello login. Once that's been done, the user can log in without having to enter a password. The long-term goal is to eliminate passwords for all users and Microsoft has been working with the Fast Identity Online (FIDO) Working Group to develop better security methods.
Over time, we'll see passwords being replaced with alternatives that aim to eliminate the shortcomings associated with passwords. Another objective is reducing what's called the "password surface area"; in other words, replacing passwords in functions where they're common now -- creating new accounts, setting up a new device, and logging on to websites and apps.
These efforts are certain to create a lot of change for IT managers and system administrators, so concurrent efforts will aim to develop ways to make the setup and background administration less painful.
So these changes will be seen first in enterprise environments, but eventually we should see passwords begin to disappear from our everyday computing life, too.
The National League of Cities has been exploring the future of autonomous vehicles and how they will change the urban landscape. AVs are already on our streets with pilot projects in many cities. Late last year, self-driving shuttles began moving people around through the Scioto Mile section of Columbus.
The vehicles being used in Columbus have 6 seats but will generally carry 4 people. Currently, an operator rides along in case there is a problem that needs intervention by a human. For the first year, the vehicles will run every day and will be free.
A report by the National League of Cities says that more than a third of large cities are planning for AVs in their long-range transportation plans.
Changes will affect more than just traffic and transportation, according to the organization's report, and will change housing, land use, parcel delivery, freight, and more. AVs have the potential to help cities address challenges that range from citizen isolation to closing transit gaps, but the technology also presents risks.
"As cities increasingly become the center for jobs, we need to consider cost-effective, inclusive ways to ensure that everyone has equal access to mobility," said Clarence E. Anthony, National League of Cities CEO and executive director. "Autonomous vehicles might offer part of that solution: they have the potential to unclog public transit and expand transportation access to more neighborhoods."
More than 100 cities around the world have been mapped on the Global Atlas of Autonomous Vehicles in Cities. These are cities where pilot projects are active or planned. Some 40 cities in the US are on that list.
The organization says there is a need for legislation to govern the roll out and operation of these new technologies, as well as further research on artificial intelligence, safety precautions and limitations. The report is available on the National League of Cities website.
An announcement by Kroger does not affect any Kroger brand stores, but does affect its Smith's Food & Drug Stores that operate primarily in the West. Starting April 3, Smith's stores will no longer accept Visa credit cards. Another division, Foods (California only) stopped accepting Visa credit cards last August.
Kroger alleges that Visa's fees are excessive. The stores will continue to accept MasterCard, Discover, and American Express; cash and checks; electronic benefit transfer cards from SNAP and WIC programs; MasterCard and Visa debit cards; and health savings account cards.
According to Kroger, the "excessive interchange and network fees that Visa and its issuing banks charge retailers" are the highest of any credit cards accepted in Smith's. Kroger hasn't announced plans to roll out the no-Visa policy at Kroger stores across the country. An announcement says "While no other Kroger banners are presently affected by this announcement, Kroger continues to explore options to reduce the cost of accepting credit cards in order to keep prices low for customers."
Smith's has more than 20,000 employees and operates about 140 stores in Utah, Nevada, New Mexico, Wyoming, Idaho, Montana, and Arizona.
The 2019 Government Websites report by Claes Fornell International shows that customer satisfaction with federal government websites remains at 73%. The good news is that satisfaction hasn't declined. The bad news is that it hasn't increased. Even so, 80% of federal site users say they will return -- possibly because they must.
US government federal websites receive roughly 10 billion visits annually. The Digital Analytics Program, hosted by the GSA's Technology Transformation Service, tracks unified activity across 400 domains and 5700 federal agency websites. Agencies can use these analytics to understand how visitors are engaging their websites, but a deeper understanding of the role and efficacy of these sites can be realized by capturing website customer experience feedback that complements the DAP website activity metrics.
The 2019 Government Websites study is designed to determine how well agency websites deliver a satisfying customer experience for visitors. This study is based on feedback from 732 respondents who have recently visited a federal government website.
According to the study, agencies should focus on the three high-impact elements of the website customer experience in 2019:
Offering live chat on the agency website is a clear boost to customer satisfaction with the website experience. While only 14% of federal website visitors use the chat feature on the site to get assistance, visitors who use chat have an exceptional website experience compared to those who do not. The 2019 Government Websites report shows that for those who use chat, the satisfaction score is 86. Moreover, 93% accomplish their task, and 89% have an improved view of the agency. For those who do not use chat, the satisfaction score is 71. 88% accomplish their task, and only 35% have an improved view of the agency.
For more information about the research, visit the CFI Group website.