How to Stop Your USB Cable from Spying on You

Let’s be honest, not all of us are using the original USB cables that came with our phones and tablets when we bought them. Maybe it is lost, or maybe one cord just isn’t enough. Cords are cheap online, so why not grab a few extras? As it turns out, not all cables are created equal. Some could be used to steal your information.

How Can a USB Cable Be Dangerous?

Cables seem like pretty basic items, and it seems odd that an item without an electronic “brain” could pose a danger. Remember, though, that USB cables can be used to transfer data as well as charge hardware. If you want to put a picture from your phone onto your computer, you could plug it in and copy it over.

This same functionality could be used by bad actors to trigger a data transfer any time you use that wire in a device – even at a public charging station. You would assume that because it is branded as a charging station, that is all it does. But there is no good way to check if your wire is trying to do more. Some devices will not initiate data transfer without a confirmation prompt on the device, but that is not always the case. The only way to be sure your data remains safe would be to use an adapter that disables the data wires in the USB, allowing it to charge only.

USB Data Blocking Adapter

One inexpensive product that can protect you from unauthorized data transfers is a USB data-blocking adapter. It is a small dongle you place between your wire and the charger (or other devices) with the data wires removed so that it can only charge your device.

PortaPow (available at Amazon) is a trusted name in data-blocking technology, but neither I nor the library receives any compensation for mentioning them. No matter which brand you use, make sure there are no data wires at the end that plugs into the charging device.

Summary

If you are using after-market cables or public charging stations, it’s a sensible safety precaution to use a USB data blocker. At under $10 per adapter, this is one of the least expensive ways to secure your data. Do you use a USB data blocker? If so, let us know in the comments.

Learn About an Easy Way to Share Items

Have you ever been in the room with someone and wanted to share something: a photo, a web link, something from an app, but didn’t want to text or email it? For Apple users, there is an easier way!

All Apple devices come with a built in feature called AirDrop. AirDrop can be found on Macs, iPhones, and iPads. AirDrop allows you to wirelessly share documents, photos, map locations, webpages, and more.

Setting Up on an iPhone and iPad

To get started, make sure that AirDrop is enabled on your device. On an iPhone or iPad, go to Settings–General–AirDrop. From there you have the option to turn receiving off, to allow only contacts to AirDrop something to you, or everyone in range for 10 minutes. Note: if you are using iOS 15 or earlier, your options will be receiving off, contacts only, or everyone. AirDrop is available on iOS 7 and later and Mac OS X 10.7 Lion and later.

Screenshot of choosing who can share things with you via AirDrop

Setting Up on a Mac

Mac users, click on the control center icon in the taskbar.

Screenshot of setting up AirDrop on a Mac

From there, click the AirDrop icon to turn AirDrop on or off or control who can send you items. To turn AirDrop off completely, click the selector in the heading. If it is turned off, you will not see the Contacts Only or Everyone options.

Screenshot of AirDrop in its on setting on a Mac

Once you have turned on AirDrop, you can send and receive items from other Apple users in the area who have enabled AirDrop.

Sending an Item with AirDrop

To send something using AirDrop, tap on the share icon. This is found anywhere something can be shared. In the Safari app, it is in the toolbar. You can share from most apps, including TikTok, Zillow, Instagram, and other places where you see the share icon. Alternatively, some apps have their own Share option. You can tap AirDrop after tapping on the share option in any app that has a share feature.

Screenshot of showing share icon circled in red

Once you tap on the share icon, you will see your sharing options. This is also an easy way to share an item via text, email, or the other options listed. Tap on the AirDrop icon. If you don’t see the AirDrop icon you may have to tap on more or the three-dot icon, depending on the app.

Screenshot showing the AirDrop icon highlighted in share options.

Choosing Who to Send an Item To

After you tap on the AirDrop icon, there will be a list of people you can send items to. If there is no one available, you’ll get a message saying no people were found. Sometimes it takes several seconds for contacts or people to appear. When there is someone nearby and they are not appearing as an option, confirm they have AirDrop enabled, and if you are not a contact, that they have “everyone” selected as an option.

Screenshot showing people you can AirDrop an item to.

Tap on their name. If the person has a picture set in their contact info, or if you have a picture set for them on your device, you will see their picture. Otherwise, it will be the grey generic person icon. You can also share with more than one person at the same time by tapping their name on the same screen. Just a reminder, AirDrop is only available for Apple users.

On the other person’s end, they will get an option to either accept or decline the AirDrop.

Screenshot showing the option to accept or decline an AirDrop request.

If they accept, you will see a waiting status, then a circle with the progress, and then a sent status. If they decline, you will see “declined” in red under their name. When you are AirDropping something to yourself between two different devices (for instance if you share a photo from your iPhone to your Mac), you won’t have to click accept. It will automatically be shared. A website will open in Safari, a picture will open in the Photos app, and shared items from other apps will open in their respective apps. If an item is being shared from your iPhone or iPad to your Mac, by default, it will go into your Downloads folders.

Have you tried AirDrop? Let us know in the comments!

Access 20+ Free Tools to Enhance Your Online Presence

If you create online content, whether for fun or profit, you know there are lots of tools out there to help you design and secure your creation. Some are free or low-cost, while others can be staggeringly expensive. While in search of free tools to help me with simple graphic design, I stumbled upon a treasure trove of them in a variety of categories.

Experte.com

When I needed one, I found a background remover for images on Experte.com’s design tools page. I found it so helpful, I blogged about it. That page also revealed some other tools I thought may be of use, such as an image cleaner that could help remove unwanted elements from an image. Of course, all of these tools are available in software like Photoshop and GIMP, but sometimes you just want a simple tool to do a simple job.

After finding the design gems, I poked around Experte.com to see what else was on their site. I was really impressed with the number of website tools on offer, and I have made use of several of them. Google, W3C, and other providers offer free tools for testing your site’s speed, validating your code, checking mobile compatibility, etc., but Experte.com has put several of these website tools on one page for easy access. Using these in conjunction with other, similar tools may help you get a more complete picture of how your website is functioning.

Experte.com also offers tools for IT security and business. To access any of the tools on this site, hover over a menu item (e.g., Design) and select the sub-item at the bottom of the list labeled “tools.” There is a page of tools for each top-level menu item (except About).

Summary

Lots of free tools exist from a variety of sources on the internet to assist online content creators in putting their best foot forward. Experte.com helpfully gathered many key tools in one place for their users. Have you tried any of the tools at Experte.com? Let us know what you thought in the comments.

How to Recognize the Work of an Artificial Intelligence

In the last year, we have written several articles about the use of artificial intelligence in a variety of settings. AI technology can automate some processes that can free humans up for other tasks, which sounds ideal. However, because AI runs on algorithms fed by existing information, it can amplify the biases that are present in the data. For more information about AI bias, check out this article. Another concern is that of teachers and college admissions departments who fear AI writing assistants could be creating the essays assigned in their classes. Thankfully, AI scientists are working on ways to identify whether a writing sample was created by a human or a machine.

AI, Know Thyself

It probably isn’t a surprise to learn that the best way to detect whether a writing sample was created by an AI is to ask an AI. There are two new tools, GPTZero and Originality.ai, designed specifically to detect whether a human wrote a text sample. As an added bonus, Originality.ai also checks for plagiarism, making it a very popular tool for teachers.

But if AI technology has built-in flaws, how accurate will it be when used to detect itself? While no tool is perfect, especially when built on imperfect information, both of these tools are promising in their results.

Comparing Detection Accuracy

On one of my favorite tech sites, Your Nerdy Best Friend, Beth Z. created an experiment to see how accurate the AI detections were, and how consistent the tools were with each other in their findings. I found the results very interesting. If you’re interested in seeing how they did, head to the experiment’s post on her blog.

Summary

It seems artificial intelligence tools taking hold in every industry, with new applications for AI being created each day. While this whirlwind change can be dizzying, it’s nice to know there are developers out there concerned with the ramifications of this technology who are willing to develop counter-tools to keep AI use in check. Are you using any AI tools? Let us know what you are using and what you think of it in the comments.

How To Save a Slide As an Image

Have you ever had access to a slide deck that had a great slide you wish you could save as an image and use in another context? This happens to me all the time, and I used to use the snipping tool to create a targeted screenshot of the area. As it turns out, there is a much simpler way to accomplish this.

Saving a Slide in PowerPoint

Start by opening the presentation and clicking on the slide you want to save. Next, click “file” in the upper-left corner, then “save as.” In the “save as type” field, use the dropdown menu to select JPEG. Then click save.

Screenshot showing the Save As screen with the dropdown "save as type" menu displayed. Red arrows point to relevant menu entries
Image courtesy of Tech-Talk

You will be prompted to choose whether to convert all of the slides (as individual jpeg images) or just the current slide.

What About Google Slides?

If you use Google apps, they have a method for saving slides as images, too! To learn how, check out Tech-Talk’s article on saving slides as images.