Category: Chrome

an upgrade to macos 12.0.1 monterey, and running a simple privacy test on four browsers afterwards

whbeebe

Yesterday I finally upgraded my MacBook Pro (mid-2019, i9, 64GiB memory, 4TB SSD) to macOS 12.0.1 Monterey. It’s not like I appeared to have a choice. In attempting to upgrade to macOS 11.6.1 I triggered the further update process. I certainly didn’t want to, not after reading that Monterey 12.0 bricked a number of MacBook Pros, some Intel and some Apple Silicon. I’d wanted to wait until Monterey 12.1, but such was not to be. So far the only problem is that my fix for allowing VirtualBox virtual machines to run has been reset, so I’m going to have to go through that process as documented for Big Sur ( /2021/10/30/running-oracle-virtualbox-on-macos-11-6-big-sur/ ) once again.

I then checked the four browsers I have on this machine by running EFF’s Cover Your Tracks privacy test ( https://coveryourtracks.eff.org/ ) just to see what happened. The browsers I tested (listing extensions where used) are:

  • Chrome Version 95.0.4638.69 (Official Build) (x86_64)
    • Using Adblock Plus and Privacy Badger
  • Vivaldi 4.3.2439.65 (Stable channel) (x86_64)
    • Using Javascript Restrictor
  • Firefox 94.0.1 (64-bit)
    • Using Privacy Badger
  • Safari Version 15.1 (17612.2.9.1.20)

They’ll be presented in that order below.

Everybody loves to hate on Google, especially Google Chrome. I’ve read more than one article on the web where the author hysterically exhorts their readers to delete Chrome before it sucks the end user’s very soul into the black depths of Alphabet’s digital hell. I suppose if you’re that paranoid then by all means drop Chrome. Except EFF’s test gave Chrome a very good score with regards to tracking, perhaps the highest a browser can get. I’ll keep Chrome around until there’s a real need to move on. And an interesting note: when I run the same test on my Chromebook running the latest Chrome OS, the score is the same as here.

Vivaldi was the second browser I tested. The first time I ran the test I was shocked when it came back as NOT blocking tracking ads and invisible trackers. Paradoxically fingerprinting was randomized. The shock came because months back I’d run the same test and blocking was in place. This meant that something had changed in Vivaldi, perhaps due to something I’d inadvertantly done. So I went exploring and found the following:

You’re looking at Vivaldi’s Preferences, Privacy section. The Blocking Level is towards the middle of the page. When I first opened it the level was set to No Blocking. I set it to Block Trackers and Ads and re-ran the test. The test came back with satisfactory blocking (yes in both columns as seen above). I don’t know how that changed, because I’ve never touched that except for the first time I set it to what you see now. The only way I know it could have changed is through an update. Lesson learned is to go back and check this again on every update in the future, which is somewhat sad as I’ve never had a browser flip a setting on an update.

The third browser I tested was Firefox. Note that the fingerprinting is unique, unlike Chrome and Vivaldi, who have random fingerprinting. Also note that the tabs across the top are the button-like tabs, which I don’t particularly care for. I’ve reached a point where I tend not to use Firefox, even on Linux.

Finally we come to Safari. It has the worst score of the four browsers I tested, even though Apple makes loud pledges about privacy and security. Safari on macOS (and probably everywhere else it runs) gives one pause to wonder if Apple is all talk in this area. I think they are.

I also would like to point out that the tabs are back to normal. I ran with Safari’s button tabs right before this update, when the change was foisted on my Mac in a Safari update. It was absolutely hideous. I’ve done everything I can to avoid using Safari, even setting Vivaldi as my default web browser. Between these results, the button-vs-tabs fiasco, and other issues, I now have no trust in Safari, nor the Apple developers who work on Safari, to produce a quality product.

So there you have it. A very brief look at four of the latest browsers on the current macOS. And before you ask, I will never install Microsoft’s Edge on my Mac.

a few more thoughts on writing with a chromebook

whbeebe

I’ve been writing blog posts since 2005, when I created my first official blog using BlogSpot. This was right before it was acquired by Google. I wrote on it until I started this blog around December 2013, and I’ve been writing here ever since.

And for the record, I had a personal website on GeoCities that I started in the late 1990s, using Macromedia’s HomeSite ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macromedia_HomeSite ) to directly edit HTML and nascent CSS. I know that things have evolved quite a bit since then, but I have to credit HomeSite with helping me build a foundation and understanding of HTML and related technologies. Unfortunately for me, Yahoo bought GeoCities and then slowly destroyed it. I had long since left for BlogSpot before it died.

So much for history.

Look around my site and in the past you’ll find me writing effusively about blog writing using an iPad Pro and Ulysses. That lasted a few posts, perhaps a dozen at the most, before I basically gave it up and went back to using the ‘classic’ web-based WordPress editor on that same iPad. Later I dropped away from using an iPad Pro for writing because I discovered the combination of cover and keyboard with an iPad weren’t that good to use long term.

As I came to (re)learn, any keyboard other than a standard PC keyboard is inefficient to use and, for me, will eventually drive me away from using it. I thus have my folding Microsoft portable Bluetooth keyboard, which sits in my bag and only comes out to check and charge it on occasion. I even wrote about using that with my iPhone.

But I like to write. Sure, I can use my notebook to do that, but the problem with a notebook is that it’s got too much on it already, like open source code editors, shells, and special applications. In other words lots of distractions.

A Chromebook doesn’t. It is Chrome running on top of a stripped down Linux distribution created by Google. Sure, if I want to, I can actually start up a small VM on the Chromebook itself and drop into a shell running Debian 10:

But for the most part I enjoy working on an integrated system with a real keyboard while living in the Chrome browser. That’s pretty much what I do already with Chrome on all my other systems, except perhaps when I fire up Vivaldi, which is pretty much the only other browser I personally want to use, and that’s due to some of its unique features, which I’ve also already written about.

This Chromebook I’m using is the next version of the Chromebook I purchased for my part-time project, a Lenovo Flex 5 13ILT6. This Chromebook runs on an Intel quad-core eleventh-generation i3 running at around 3GHz. It also comes with 8GiB of memory and a 128GiB SSD. The whole package makes for a very smooth experience all around, far smoother and faster than any tablet, including an Apple iPad. It’s very thin and lightweight and can run for days without having to even see a charger.

One last reason for this particular Chromebook: Google will update it up to June of 2029, or for the next eight years. And if, by some chance, I don’t want Chrome OS on here anymore, then I’ll install either Debian or Ubuntu, and get on with it. Since it already comes with Linux/Debian preinstalled, I don’t see moving to a “purer” Linux a problem.

Overall I’m finding my way back to writing, due in no small part to having a computer that I would argue is purpose-built for writers and writing. Ulysses tried to achieve that stripped down creative writing environment, but on an iPad, and I don’t think they’ve quite succeeded, at least for me. I’ve made my piece with the newish WordPress web editor, which clears the way for me to use with any Chromebook, especially this one.

The price for this Chromebook was US$450 at my local Orlando Florida Costco, which was $50 more than the prior generation. I know that’s expensive, but it’s a damn sight less expensive than an Apple iPad Pro 12″, which requires the purchase of a keyboard to use it for efficient typing and writing. I’m more than happy with this setup. Now, if I can just get more disciplined (again) about writing. Unfortunately you can’t buy extra discipline at your local Costco.