Inspired by the HeyDingus blog and Today in Tabs I bring you the second week where I am apparently going to make a blog post about assorted links I have encountered, and other interesting tidbits. Without further ado, here is Several Things This Week #2.
Please Tell Me This isn’t Legal…
In the latest of Cory Doctorow’s blog posts, which always leave me saying “there’s no way that’s legal”, he uncovers a fascinating scam in the healthcare industry: Upcodes. At a 50 thousand foot view, it makes sense. If you get paid more for more severe cases, then for purely self-interested reasons, of course you would try to milk as much money out of a single case as possible. If that means calling a regular check-up an emergency, so be it. Every single time I read these posts, my gut reaction is to compartmentalize it, or deny any possibility that it’s actually real. I think we can all agree that this kind of thing should be illegal, and in most cases, it is, but there is no one who is willing to actually take the fight to these companies that are behaving extremely unethically.
Bread Disguised as Furniture
And no, not that one Temu lamp that was actually just a croissant. This is a DIY proofing box, using readily available materials, that doubles as a great side table. This build is extremely clever and from the excellent video walkthrough, it is something that would be fairly simple to make at home with just a few shop tools and some parts from your local hardware store.
Enter Password to Exit Full Screen
I really wonder how much tinkering it took before someone came up with this. In what world does one think to force a web page into full-screen mode, and then “require” the user to enter their password to get their device back?.
I say “require” because you could always just close the browser, or restart your computer to free it.
This hack uses kiosk mode to annoy users, while also blocking the usual escape commands, and then asks you to use your credentials to get control of your screen back. If you choose to save your credentials, then the website steals them out of your browser keychain. Quaint. I wonder if a tool like Stop the Madness would stop the website from blocking keyboard controls, though it is only available for iOS and iPadOS.
The Most Private VPN?
I just got setup with Mullvad recently, and so far it has been absolutely great. I love that there are no usernames or passwords to track for using the VPN, just your account number. It is also incredible that they support payment by cash drop so you can be as private and anonymous as you want. I went back and forth between paying for the Tailscale Mullvad Add-On and just buying a subscription directly, and I settled on the latter. Having it as a separate service makes it easier for me to integrate it with devices that are not running Tailscale, and lets them still be secure. So far, the performance on Mullvad has been excellent for my uses, and I am confident that they are sticking to their commitment to privacy. Best of all, it is only $5 per month for 5 devices, with the option to add more devices if need-be. Private, secure, and cheap is exactly what I want in a VPN.