RACS

Apple free battery replacement for certain MacBook Pro models due to overheating fault

See this article regarding a free battery replacement for certain faulty Apple laptop models.
Please share this to anyone you know that may be affected.

Angeles City, Philippines friends and colleagues:
The best repair in Angeles City is switch in Marquee mall - "Switch" have premium repair status in Apple USA support database.

https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2019/06/important-notice-for-batteries-in-certain-macbook-pro-units/

Cupertino, California — Apple today announced a voluntary recall of a limited number of older generation 15-inch MacBook Pro units which contain a battery that may overheat and pose a safety risk. The units were sold primarily between September 2015 and February 2017 and can be identified by their product serial number.

Important notice for batteries in certain MacBook Pro units Apple today announced a voluntary recall of a limited number of older generation 15-inch MacBook Pro units which contain a battery that may overheat.

What does Google know about you?

Happy Sunday everyone....

I have broached on this one previously, but the page below states it pretty comprehensively as to what Google are tracking about us.
Thanks Darren for the URL - makes for some light Sunday reading.
https://www.quora.com/What-does-Google-know-about-me/answer/Gabriel-Weinberg

If for some reason you do have a reason to do some near-anonymous research, I would recommend using an Apple iOS device (iPhone, iPad etc).
Use the Apple Safari browser app after enabling "Private" mode (enable private mode from the top menu)
When searching, DO NOT use the default search - which is Google Search - See further down this email as to why!!!
Instead use this search engine for a little more privacy/anonymity:
https://duckduckgo.com/
DuckDuckGo's take on privacy...
It is far more reassuring than Google's:
https://duckduckgo.com/privacy

The above will still not hide your presence from a man-in-the middle person or organisation watching your activities.
DNS cache tables on DNS servers give away every single URL you ever type into a browser
Careful when looking for a new job inside your workplace - chances are the IT team log all the site names you visit in their DNS logs - clearing your browser history won't fix this :)
Using DNS servers 1.1.1.1, 1.0.0.1, and 9.9.9.9 at least gives u a little privacy regarding sites you visit.
The unfortunate part of this however is that the DNS requests are NOT encrypted typically - so are viewable by a man in the middle.
Configuring encrypted DNS does exist, but not widely yet. We are all waiting for software and hardware vendors to adopt this standard.

Depending on how many firewalls/NAT levels you are behind, using mobile devices on Cellular Data can often make your Internet usage harder to track.
That said, this just means if authorities really wanted to know what you are doing, they need need to contact more providers to get logs of information about your activity to piece your tracks together

Don't believe for an instant that using Google Chrome incognito mode will keep you anonymous
I also would wager similar for the Microsoft and Firefox browsers.
For those unaware, Google basically funds Firefox development:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/timworstall/2013/01/22/so-why-is-google-funding-its-own-competition-in-the-firefox-os/

I would also note that Google pay Apple a LOT of money to ensure the Google Search Engine is the Apple default for all Apple devices and apps
http://fortune.com/2018/09/29/google-apple-safari-search-engine/

Android users basically cannot ultimately be anonymous - that's just how it is.
Apple users who do things smart at least have a chance
I still view Apple as the least evil of the big vendors we all rely on in our ever-increasing Internet lives.

Regarding VPN's - if you think they are keeping you safe:
All VPN providers keep connection logs...
Most say they don't log you, but it's in the fine print of ALL of them.
They must by law in all countries AFAIK log at a minimum:
Your VPN Username
The Public IP address your VPN connects from
Connection Start Date/Time
Connection End Date/Time
There is almost no winning..

As always, I welcome thoughts or updates on the above

DuckDuckGo Privacy We don't collect or share personal information. That's our privacy policy in a nutshell.

Another good old security reminder for those that don't know about this site. The LinkedIn breach is another example of why you should be registered with a site like this. Visit it and enter your email address to see if you have been affected by past breaches. My VEDA membership has breaches registered against my email address but no details. This site gives you the details... https://haveibeenpwned.com/

Have I been pwned? Check if your email has been compromised in a data breach Have I been pwned? allows you to search across multiple data breaches to see if your email addresses has been compromised.