I recently had a pleasant chat with an acquaintance of mine about our jobs and related news. He's a chemist and talked about plastics that remain malleable at specific temperatures and are based on renewable raw materials (it sounded more fascinating in person). My topic was somewhat predictable: Windows 11! He had only seen a few screenshots and asked me whether the OS was worth picking up. I was getting ready to refer him to a previous blog post but decided against it since a year of using the new OS had changed my perspective a little. Time for an update!
A somewhat aged Windows PC recently fell out of favor with me. Following an update, it refused to join its designated network after each cold start, forcing me to do an additional reboot every time. That was aggravating–and prompted me to do something I hadn't done in a long time: tinker! It's what made me the PC professional I am today! Here's to blood, sweat, and tears–and modest success along the way.
During my semester break in 1997, I wasn't as hard-working as I should have been. Instead of delving into "Wagner as a poet", I rather fought against the demon Diablo in the eponymous video game. Hour after hour I brought down grim foes, picked up better equipment, and kept leveling up my character. With a pixel sword in my hand, I merrily butchered my way through gloomy catacombs, and continued to stayed loyal to the franchise when parts 2 and 3 came out. This loyalty now came to an abrupt end with the release of Diablo Immortal, a game that easily takes a chunk out of your wallet the size of a compact car. Enough is enough!
Recently, the news broke that Microsoft was adding VPN to their Edge browser. Naturally, it didn't take long for doubters to weigh in. Why would Microsoft do such a thing? Would the folks in Redmond be able to rise above themselves and put out something cool for the benefit of their users? Offer them a potential way to save money even at the risk of muddling their beloved ad-optimized user profiles? It sounded to good to be true, so I did some research. Turns out, the benevolence is limited.
Incognito mode is a little like the smoke-filled backroom of Google Chrome: You know something is happening there but nobody's talking about it. Officially, Google calls it "private browsing", others prefer "skin show", since the mode is frequently used in conjunction with nudity. And then there are those who just won't do avoid the ubiquitous "Hello XY, here is your personal offer" welcome screens. The truth is, very few know what incognito mode does under the hood, yet millions rely on it every day! There's currently a pending lawsuit against Google that could result in a billion dollar fine. Why? Because incognito mode does far less than users think!
