Life is full of nuance. Which is why I made a terrible life choice when I became a content creator on the internet who discusses complex,...| The New Oil
In keeping with my pledge to post major updates on the blog, I should let you all know that recently, The New Oil fully deleted our Odyse...| The New Oil
Amazon’s now-legendary “Prime Day” is July 8-11. Much like Black Friday or Cyber Monday, this means sales on lots of items on Amazon’s vast marketplace, and as such many people flock to the giant’s website to get sweet deals on everything from computers to small kitchen appliances and more. While many of us are feeling the financial crunch more than ever, I urge you, dear reader, to resist the allure. I don’t typically have strong opinions about where people chose to shop or how t...| The New Oil
Society loves our dystopian fiction. Black Mirror, The Handmaid's Tale, Severance, and those are just a few of the most acclaimed ones set in the near future. But these days, watching these shows feels more and more like watching a documentary on current events. I'm not just talking politically but in terms of technology and the role it plays in society as well (in keeping with the theme of The New Oil). As a science fiction junkie, it's chilling to take in media like early Black Mirror or Da...| The New Oil
As I've written about before, privacy is a complex and ever-evolving topic. It's easy to get caught up in the idea that there's always more we can do to protect ourselves online. But what happens when one day you crest the last hill and realize there's nowhere to go? When you feel like you've maxed out your privacy? Have you done everything you can think of to secure your digital life? This week, I want to talk about the idea of doing "enough" in privacy, and when to know if you've crossed th...| The New Oil
Sometimes I sit on updates to the website for a long time. I wish I could say this is because of some master plan to hit a certain schedule or make a big deal of big updates. The truth is simply that I'm busy and often tell myself "let me wait til I do this one small change tomorrow," then suddenly tomorrow is three weeks later and the updates have accumulated. On the plus side, that makes it easy to share big updates with readers all at once, like this. !--more-- The latest TNO commit includ...| The New Oil
Last week, I wrote about how our phone numbers have evolved into a unique, static ID that companies abuse to track us. As anecdotal evidence, I mentioned that "I personally had my last phone number for well over a decade before I finally got rid of cell service altogether in favor of the 'living on Wi-Fi 24/7' model." This prompted an email from a reader asking me to elaborate. Why not? !--more-- I'm Not a Trailblazer For those who are new to this concept, the idea is exactly how it sounds: I...| The New Oil
Amazon’s now-legendary “Prime Day” is July 8-11. Much like Black Friday or Cyber Monday, this means sales on lots of items on Amazon’s va...| The New Oil
Like it or not, email is a critical part of our digital lives. It’s how we sign up for accounts, get notifications, and communicate with a wide range of entities online. Critics of email rightfully point out that email suffers from a significant number of flaws that make it less than ideal, but that doesn’t change the current reality. In light of the facts, I believe that an encrypted email provider is a must-have for everyone in today’s age of rampant data breaches, insider threats, wa...| The New Oil
Imagine this: you walk into a casual dining restaurant for dinner with some friends. The host informs you that there's a short wait for a table - about fifteen or twenty minutes - but they can let you know what the table's ready. They ask for your social security number and without so much as a thought you hand it over. The host scribbles it down on a notepad and says they'll call out your last four when your table is ready. That sounds insane, right? And yet, that's kind of what a lot of us ...| The New Oil
Like most readers who've spent some time online, I've seen my fair share of scams. However, a few weeks ago, a friend sent me a screenshot of a phishing email that his friend received, and this one was surreal to read. It started off by addressing the friend by name, then followed up with "I know that calling [their phone number] or visiting [their home address] would be a convenient way to have a chat with you in case you don't take action." Despite not being my phone number or address, I co...| The New Oil
This week, the UK put the entire world at risk. I understand that may sound like alarmist hyperbole, but follow me. To understand, we have to go back to 2016, a year that I like to describe as “the year the world got collectively blackout drunk and decided to call our ex.” A lot of wild stuff happened that year – especially in the UK – so one thing that might’ve slipped under the radar was the passing of a little law called the Investigatory Powers Act. This law would later go on to...| The New Oil