Dealing with data brokers, Wi-Fi advice, and more tech Q&A

Your tech questions answered (fall 2024 edition)

Plus: More Mac news, picture-in-picture tweaks, and a better calendar app

Jared Newman   |   November 5, 2024
Photo by Bermix Studio on Unsplash

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It’s been a little over six months since the last Q&A column here at Advisorator, and about a year since the inaugural edition. That seems like a pretty good cadence to me.

I’ve compiled (and paraphrased) some of the more interesting questions I’ve received in recent months, along with my best attempts to answer them. This time around, we’ve got questions about safeguarding your browsing data, upgrading your Wi-Fi router, handling QR codes, and more. Let’s get to it:

Dealing with data brokers

Kae D. asks:

What exactly are “cookies?” And how is deleting them in Chrome different from clearing my browsing history and “cached images and files?”

Cookies are bits of information stored by your browser for websites to reference when you visit them. Some cookies serve benign purposes, such as remembering that you’ve signed into a website so you don’t have to log in again every time. Others are less so, like uniquely identifying you and your past browsing behavior for ad-targeting purposes. An ad blocker, tracker blockers, or browser with built-in tracking protections can protect against the latter scenario, but deleting them after the fact won’t accomplish much. (It will, however, require you to log into all your sites again.)

Browsing history is simply a record of the pages you’ve visited. This information is primarily stored on your computer, though many browsers allow you to sign in and sync your history across devices. Searching your history can be useful, but so can clearing it—for instance if you don’t want someone else with physical access to your computer to see which pages you’ve visited.

Cached data just helps web pages load faster by saving some page elements to your computer instead of re-downloading them every time. Clearing this data usually doesn’t serve much practical purpose, but it can be helpful if a page isn’t loading properly.

Here’s Virginia C. with a related question:

If I have Incogni, do I still need an ad blocker?

Incogni is a paid subscription service that automatically sends removal requests to data brokers and people search sites, with the goal of making your phone number, address, or other personal information more difficult to find. (There is some question as to how well these services actually work compared to getting data removed on your own, but that’s another story.)

Ad blockers such as uBlock Origin and AdGuard serve a different purpose. Once installed, these tools disrupt the connection between your web browser and known advertising networks, which in turn prevents ads from appearing on the pages you visit. In doing so, it also stops those ad networks from capturing information about your browsing activity.

There may be a bit of overlap, in that your browsing activity could be sold to a data broker that’s building a profile of you, in which case a service like Incogni could ask for that data to be deleted. But an ad blocker would try and stop that data from being collected in the first place.

Wi-Fi questions

Chris H. seeks some Wi-Fi router advice:

What would you recommend: A higher-end newer router, or a less expensive “good enough” one?

At least when it comes to Wi-Fi versions, I lean toward “good enough.”

The latest version of the Wi-Fi standard, called Wi-Fi 7 (or 802.11be), is overkill in a lot of cases, and most current phones, computers, and streaming devices don’t have Wi-Fi 7 radios, so they can’t take advantage of theoretically-faster speeds. Wi-Fi 7 routers still command a price premium, so you can save money by jumping back a generation to Wi-Fi 6E or even Wi-Fi 6. (Dwight Silverman wrote a guest column on this topic back in March.)

You can then put that savings toward router features that have a bigger impact, such as a tri-band connection to reduce congestion or a mesh system to expand your network’s range. (For more, see my guide to solving your Wi-Fi problems.)

And Gary G. has a natural follow-up:

If I buy a new router, how can I connect all my devices without re-entering the Wi-Fi details on each one?

Just set up your new router to use the same Wi-Fi network name and password as the old one. Most of your devices should connect to the new network automatically.

That said, I’ve done this before and had some devices fail to make the new connection. When that happens, you’ll need to manually remove your old network details from that device, then re-connect again, which is slightly more annoying than just connecting to a new network instead.

Apps and phone stuff

Allan H. has a calendar question:

Can you suggest a good, lightweight day planner app I can use instead of Outlook Calendar to keep track of appointments and obligations? The simpler, the better.

I’ve mentioned it before, but I’ve always appreciated the simplicity of Tweek, which presents your agenda in a clean weekly view. Just click on a day and start typing to add a new item.

Tweek is decidedly not a full-blown calendar service. It will not remind you of upcoming events—at least not without a $4 per month subscription—and you can’t use it to accept calendar invites via email. But those limitations are also what make it so simple in the first place.

Pat N. is curious about QR codes:

I’ve read that you should never scan a QR code unless you know that it’s safe. But how do I know that it’s safe? Should I trust QR codes that people have created for their business cards, like you suggested?

As with a lot of security advice, guidance around QR codes can go a bit overboard.

Yes, there are examples of malicious QR codes in the wild. Last year, for instance, a scourge of fake parking tickets in San Francisco led victims to a bogus website for collecting payments. In another example, students at Washington University received emails with a QR code that linked to a malicious website, prompting them to hand over their school credentials.

But in both cases, the QR code was just the start of the attack, a way to coax people toward the next step of sending money or sharing their login details. You should be most wary of QR codes that prompt you to take some additional action after scanning them, especially when they’re sent to you unsolicited or there’s no one around to confirm their legitimacy.

By comparison, my digital business card idea is merely about sharing information, such as a personal web page or contact card. If you trust the person or entity who’s doing that, the risk of harm is practically nil.

Phyllis R. is missing Siri’s voice:

Whenever I used to ask Siri to call a number, she’d answer “Calling (whomever)” before making the call. Recently, she’s stopped doing that. I guess she just decided she was tired of talking to me?

It’s nothing personal! Siri has a default setting now that skips the spoken response in certain scenarios. If you want a verbal confirmation every time, head to Settings > Siri > Siri Responses, then choose “Prefer Spoken Responses.”

If that doesn’t work, try asking Siri something that would normally get a long response (like “what’s the weather this weekend”) and turn your phone’s volume up at the exact moment you’d expect to be hearing something.

Searching the archives

Gloria B. asks:

How can I search for subjects you’ve already written about?

Both the Advisorator and Cord Cutter Weekly archive pages have a search box, though in some cases you may get better results with a site-specific search in Google (or your search engine of choice).

For instance, type site:cordcutterweekly.com disney price hikes into Google, and you’ll see results that only come from the Cord Cutter Weekly website. You can also do the same with site:advisorator.com. And if you wanted to search my cord cutting columns over at TechHive, you could use site:techhive.com “Jared Newman” followed by whatever subject you’re seeking. I often use these methods myself when I’m trying to reference something I’d written earlier.

Thanks to everyone who’s been sending tech questions my way! Got your own to contribute? Just reply to this email.

News in brief

More Mac news: Apple made a few more Mac-related announcements after the iMac news I covered in last week’s newsletter:

  • The MacBook Pro line now uses M4 processors for better performance and battery life, with sharper 12-megapixel webcams and optional anti-reflective “nano-texture” glass.
  • The new Mac Mini (pictured above) is less than half the size of earlier models and includes M4 processors as well, with USB-C ports on both front and back.
  • All Mac models sold by Apple now start with 16 GB of RAM—the minimum I recommend for most PCs—at no additional charge. That includes the M3 MacBook Air line, which Apple otherwise did not update this week. (Walmart still sells the 2020 MacBook Air with 8 GB, though.) Consider it a welcome side effect of Apple Intelligence, whose on-device AI features demand more memory.

This should wrap up Apple’s product news for 2024. 9to5Mac has a look at what to expect in the spring.

Omnivore gets eaten: It always stings when something I’ve previously recommended shuts down, but that’s the fate for Omnivore, a free app for reading newsletters and articles you’ve saved for later. Omnivore’s developers have been acqui-hired by AI audio startup ElevenLabs, and the app will stop working on November 15.

Purely by coincidence, I’ve already moved my newsletter reading over to Feedbin, which I wrote about last month. If you just want a free way to save articles for later, Instapaper and Pocket are the big mainstays, and the bookmarking app Raindrop.io could work for this purpose as well.

Other notable reads:

Tip of the week

Picture-in-picture tweaks: As a result of baseball and now football season, I find myself watching more videos on my phone in picture-in-picture mode while doing other things, like reading or checking email. And it occurs to me that there’s one easy way to improve the picture-in-picture experience that may not be obvious to everyone.

Here it is: Double-tap the picture-in-picture window to make it larger or smaller. At full size, it will cover the width of your screen, and you can fling the window up or down to see what’s behind it. This works on iPhones and Android phones alike.

In most cases, picture-in-picture will activate automatically when you exit an app while video is playing. If you’re not a fan of this feature, you can disable it:

  • On iOS: Head to Settings > General > Picture-in-Picture, then turn off “Start PIP Automatically.” You can still hit the picture-in-picture icon to use it as needed.
  • On Android: Head to Settings > Apps > Special App Access > Picture-in-Picture, then disable whichever apps you don’t want to use in picture-in-picture mode.

Try these apps

A better calendar app: Fantastical is a calendar app that’s beloved by Apple enthusiasts, and now it’s available for Windows as well. A few things I like about it:

  • Hit the + button, and you can quick create events with natural phrases, like “coffee with Aaron at Deeper Roots 3pm on Friday.” Fantastical will automatically fill in the appropriate calendar fields.
  • You can glance at your agenda or create new events just by clicking app’s icon in the MacOS dock or Windows taskbar. (In Windows, you may need to click the ^ icon on the right side, then drag Fantastical’s icon down to the taskbar to pin it there.)
  • The desktop app itself includes your daily agenda alongside another view of your choosing, such as weekly or monthly.

Fantastical syncs with a wide range calendar services including Google Calendar, iCloud, and Outlook. It’s free to use with an optional subscription ($57 per year) for additional features. There’s an iOS version as well, but Android support is unlikely.

Nintendo tunes: Nintendo Music is a new app for iOS and Android for streaming soundtracks from the company’s games. While you can find many of the same songs on YouTube, there’s something to be said for a dedicated app. (For instance, there’s an optional setting to hide songs that might give away important plot points.) The app requires a Nintendo Switch Online subscription, which may be worth paying for anyway if you’re a Switch owner.

Spend wisely

We’re running a bit long today so let’s keep the deal section on the brief side:

Thanks for reading!

Thanks again to Kae, Virginia, Chris, Gary, Allan, Pat, Phyllis, and Gloria for sending thoughtful questions my way. Add yours by replying to this email.

And if you enjoyed the full newsletter—including the news, tips, deals, and app recommendations in the back half—think about becoming a paid subscriber.

Until next week,
Jared