Those Expensive HDMI Cables

Gizmo's Freeware - If you're thinking of buying a new TV, games console etc, you'll also probably be needing a HDMI cable to hook it up to your TV or monitor. But look online, or indeed in any shop, for such a cable and the variety of prices are bewildering. As I write this, Amazon.com will sell me a basic 2 metre cable for $5.99. Or I can choose a "better" cable for anything up to $1494.75. What surprises me most about the $1400 cable is that Amazon "only" has 3 left in stock.

Do people actually buy these things? Are they worth the money? Is the picture quality any better? Has anyone actually done some comparative tests?

Actually, someone has actually done some tests. And no, the expensive cables don't perform noticeably better than the bargain-priced ones.

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VPN Use Is Up, Up, Up

Since the repeal of the Broadband Consumer Privacy Rules, VPN use and traffic is rather predictably spiking, according to many VPN providers. VPNs are not the b-all and end-all of privacy though, and indeed the usual cretins have stepped in to provide shady VPN services that may actually sell on user data.

Also remember:
ISPs still track your location data and DNS records, even if you're using a VPN. Similarly, a VPN doesn't stop a company from using on-device snoopware to track you (remember Carrier IQ?). Neither will it stop ISPs from charging you a premium for privacy (something both AT&T and Comcast have already experimented with). Nor will a VPN stop a company from using your credit score to provide worse customer service (something CableONE has crowed about). DSL Reports

Microsoft's Mild Mea Culpa Over Windows 10 Obscure Upgrade "Choice"

In a cleansing act before the turn of the year, a Microsoft bigwig has admitted that they may have gotten a little carried away in their zeal to upgrade as many users as possible to Windows 10.
Specifically, Chief Marketing Officer Chris Capossela referred to the upgrade notification that appeared to be deliberately deceptive in the way it handled a users response. If a user clicked the red "X" at the top right of the notice, that closed the dialog box but went ahead and installed the upgrade anyway.
To actually not accept the upgrade, you had to click a link in the notification window itself. Not a few users would come back later and find their system upgraded to Windows 10, or in the process of doing so, when they thought they had expressed their wish not to do so. "Within a couple of hours of that hitting the world, with the listening systems we have, we knew that we had gone too far and then, of course, it takes some time to roll out the update that changes that …

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