With the success of Meta's camera glasses, there is now a risk of being recorded without consent or knowledge and ending up exposed in a crude video on TikTok or Instagram.
The manufacturers claim that a subtle light on the frame indicates when they are filming. It is not always easy to see the light, and anyway it is trivial to disable it.
Once again, Google threatens the 3 billion (!) Gmail users with Gemini (AI) features. This time, the change is dramatic: the inbox will be “smart”, which would be tempting if AI models were capable of summarizing correctly (they are not) and were not prone to mistakes (“hallucination” is an euphemism for mistakes). For now, the new Gmail is being released to Americans who pay for Google's expensive AI plans. The prophylactic measure is to disable all AI features in Gmail: in the settings, General tab, uncheck the option Enable smart features in Gmail, Chat, and Meet. You're welcome!
Editor’s note: Job openings are a recurring topic in the Manual supporters’ WhatsApp group. In a recent conversation there were so many useful LinkedIn tips that we ended up with a kind of playbook for doing well on the platform. Thanks to everyone who contributed, especially Marcia who steered the discussion, Caique who saved the thread, and Paulo, who condensed many messages into this concise text.
Nobody likes LinkedIn, but a lot of people need to be there to apply for roles at companies that, if you’re lucky, will send an automatic message telling you they decided to move forward with another candidate. Even so, it’s worth trying to understand how this corporate theme park works and how it can (yes, it’s possible) help you land a less miserable job.
A few months ago, youtubers reported unsolicited interventions by Google to “improve” their videos with generative AI. It appeared to be a test; now it’s official.
Channel owners can disable this feature in Studio: go to Settings, Channel, Advanced settings and uncheck the two options under Video quality enhancements. For viewers, Google’s suggested workaround is to change the resolution in the player’s settings.
Things at Apple work great until the day they don’t. A silly example that really bugs me is “stuck” iCloud tabs on Safari — a glitch in Apple’s tab syncing feature that lets me access tabs from one device on others.
Remember when WhatsApp was just a lightweight messaging app? I miss those days. Today there are so many features, so many announcements of new stuff that sometimes useful ones slip by unnoticed.
By chance, the other day I came across “Advanced chat privacy,” available in group and individual conversations. It was released in April.
When activated, three things happen:
@meta in a conversation.Unfortunately (but not surprisingly), there isn’t a global button to activate advanced privacy in all conversations; only within each conversation’s options.
Given the impossibility of using a better app, like Signal, it’s a good option to activate when sensitive topics are being discussed.
Dark Visitors, a service for monitoring and blocking bots from artificial intelligence companies, has revamped its plans and now offers a very generous free tier, with a cap of 1 million “events.”
You can use the free mode indefinitely or register your credit card to access paid features without charge, as long as your site does not exceed the 1 million events limit. After that, the cost is USD 0.00005 per event.
Last year I had canceled my use of Dark Visitors here when the trial period expired. Now, I’ve reactivated it. It’s almost therapeutic to see the traffic from non-humans around here.