Send Messages, Not Metadata

Your correspondence can be read in almost all messengers. The exception is Telegram, but it is not completely anonymous - it requires you to enter your phone number to register. If it comes up, you will be easily identified.

Session is an end-to-end encrypted messenger that minimises sensitive metadata, designed and built for people who want absolute privacy and freedom from any form of surveillance. It does not ask for an email or 📱 number when you register, but assigns you an ID - a set of hundreds of characters. It looks like a long nickname that you can share with your interlocutor to start a chat.

The app looks like a normal messenger - you can send documents, voice messages, there are groups, but it's completely anonymous. The company has no servers, the routing goes through users - it means that leaks of personal data are simply impossible.

Available on iPhone, Android and PC.

Use it!

#security

How to Beat Social Media Algorithms

Social media platforms charge you nothing to use them, except info about you. Their algorithms decide what content to show you.❗️Don’t make their data harvesting easier —skirt the algorithms whenever you can.

✅ Don’t confirm the algorithm’s assumptions. Avoid interacting with suggested content if possible. If you find something interesting in suggestions, search for it manually and watch it from there.

✅ Eliminate suggested feeds when possible. Change your feeds to sort chronologically ➡️ don’t train the platform’s algorithm. Not for all social medias! Facebook and Twitter let you sort by recent posts. Instagram might not have a chronological feed at the moment, but it’s coming. TikTok - watch content from the “Following” (would show you videos only from accounts you follow).

✅ Use platforms without your account when possible (YouTube, Reddit).

✅ Use a burner account, with none of your real info.

#security

How to remove watermarks from an image

We all love to share pictures from the Internet, especially if we find something we've been looking for a long time. But unfortunately, many of them are drowned in annoying watermarks, spoiling the whole atmosphere, and sometimes overlapping half of the image.

To avoid wasting time looking for a replacement or working in a photo editor, you can ask for help from Watermark Remover, whose artificial intelligence will get rid of unnecessary elements of any image in a matter of seconds.

It will cope not only with semi-transparent watermarks, but also with invisible marks which only special software can spot.

#service #lifehack

How to search on Google from another region

I Search From helps you simulate using a Google search from another location or device, or search with custom search settings.

The site allows you to build your search query so that Google searches by the territorial data you specify.

You can choose from search region and device type to city.

#lifehack #security

🏙 Stake Properties

Digitally invest in prime rental properties in Dubai from only AED 500 (USD 136), no matter where you are in the world!
Stake is available to savvy investors all over the world.

💰 Join now and you will get AED 200 as bonus!🤑

🤔 How it works:

1. Browse: Sign up in less than 3 minutes and browse collection of properties.
2. Purchase: Buy a piece of the ones you love, starting from only AED 500.
3. Own: Sit back and track your income and investments online.
4. Exit: Hold, exit or resell your stake in a way that suits your financial goals.

Stake is regulated by the DFSA.

How to Copy More Than One Thing to Your Clipboard at a Time

If you ever need to copy multiple things from one place to another or have a habit of misplacing the link you copied but forgot to paste, you need a clipboard manager.

Windows 10 and 11 come with their own basic clipboard history too. Enable the feature from Settings > System > Clipboard > Clipboard History. Then, use the Windows + V keyboard shortcut to bring up a floating panel where you’ll see a list of text that you have recently copied to the clipboard. You can click on an entry to paste it into the text, and the Pin button to pin that entry to the top.

The Windows clipboard history tool is nice to have. But it’s no clipboard manager 👇.

Ditto is a lightweight, free, and open-source clipboard manager.

1Clipboard is another great option for a free, universal app built on open source tech. It works on both Windows and Mac.

#lifehack #pc

How to Turn Off/On All Sensors on Android Phone With a Tap

While Android offers quick toggles to disable location tracking and cellular connectivity, there’s no direct option to switch off the rest of your phone’s sensors. For example, gyroscope can use to intercept sensitive information like passwords, account names from your 📱. Luckily, Android has a hidden setting that lets you shut off all your phone’s sensors in a single tap.

✅ Go to Settings > About phone > and tap build number 7 times to enable Developer Options.
✅In Settings, go to System > Advanced > and tap on Developer Options.
✅ Scroll down and tap on Quick settings developer tiles.
✅ Now, tap on Sensors off toggle to add the tile on the Quick Settings panel.
✅Now, to on and off sensors, pull down the Quick Settings panel, and tap on the Sensors off tile.

#security #android

Upscayl

Free and Open Source AI Image Upscaler
Upscayl lets you enlarge and enhance low-resolution images using advanced AI algorithms. Enlarge images without losing quality. It's almost like magic! 🎩🪄

Upscayl is a cross-platform application built with the Linux-first philosophy. This means that Linux users receive pre-release builds earlier, but Upscayl itself is available on all major desktop operating systems.

https://upscayl.org/

#lifehack #AI

Open Video Downloader (youtube-dl-gui)

A cross-platform GUI for youtube-dl made in Electron and node.js

Features:

✔️Download from all kind of platforms: YouTube, vimeo, twitter & many more;
✔️Download multiple videos/playlists/channels in one go;
✔️Select the resolution and format you want to download in;
✔️Download private videos (currently only tested on YouTube);
✔️Multithreaded, up to 32 videos can be downloaded synchronously;
✔️Shows how much size the download will use up on your system;
✔️The app automatically keeps ytdl up-to-date

https://jely2002.github.io/youtube-dl-gui/

#app #youtube #video #github

YT Channel Downloader

YT Channel Downloader is an intuitive desktop application built to simplify the process of downloading YouTube media content.

Features:

✔️Fetch Video Listings: Just input a YouTube video, playlist or channel URL and get a list of the videos;
✔️Selective Download: Choose exactly which videos you want to download, or select all at once;
✔️Quality Control: Specify video/audio quality or opt to download only the audio;
✔️Download Marking: Keeps track of downloaded files for easier management;

https://github.com/hyperfield/yt-channel-downloader

#app #youtube #video #github

Extract favorite scenes from YouTube videos

YTCutter is a single tool with multiple purposes. Perhaps you don't want to download a full YouTube video; you might only need a small clip. With it, you can select the portion that you need and just download that.

Copy and paste a YouTube URL and it will immediately start playing. Use the Start field for when you want the clip to begin and the End field for your big finish.

The trimmed clip can be downloaded as a video file (MP4), a GIF file, or as an audio file (MP3).

#service #youtube

Wristkey

Wristkey is an open-source 2FA client for Wear OS (but it works on any Android-based smartwatch!).

Features:

✅ Can be used without pairing your watch to a phone.
✅ Imports (and exports) from Aegis Authenticator, andOTP and Bitwarden using ADB, WiFi or file imports.
✅ Screen locking via PIN, pattern and password.
✅ Local storage encrypted using 256-bit AES-GCM.
✅ WiFi transfers encrypted using XSalsa20-Poly1305 and X25519.
✅ Time and counter mode OTPs, up to SHA512 and 4-8 digits.
✅ Supports round and square devices.

https://github.com/0x4f53/Wristkey

#app #android

Musicat

A sleek desktop music player and tagger for offline music 🪕 With experimental features like map view, GPT analysis, artist toolkit. 

Features:
🎵 supports MP3, FLAC, WAV, AAC, OGG
🔗 linked library, using original files on disk
👀 auto-watch and re-scan folders
🏷 with metadata tagging support (read and write ID3v2, Vorbis)
🖼 download album art, origin country from Wikipedia
🎤 fetch lyrics for current song
🗺 World Map view - see your library on a map
💿 a neat mini-player
🎸 U2's latest album automatically added to your library
📊 Stats, album timeline
🤖 Dive deeper with ChatGPT or local Ollama model for additional insights.

https://github.com/basharovV/musicat

#app #github #music #mac

Increase your anonymity for free

Ghostery is a completely free plugin for Windows 7-10 operating system. For each of the supported browsers (Chrome, Firefox, Opera, Edge, Safari, Cliqz) a different plugin is installed.

The main purpose of the plugin is not to protect against viruses, but to increase privacy of the Internet. It recognizes and blocks various code (bugs), which monitors user actions and collects information about him.

Despite this, this plugin will be useful for those who are worried about their anonymity and do not want to share their data with third parties, which in particular improves security. It is better to use this plugin in addition to those that protect the user from other threats.

#service

Find and track the IP address of any person

Grabify IP Logger can give you advanced and detailed statistical data and metadata for all clicks on your links. Your IP Logger link can access information about user’s IP address, location tracker (country, city) and so on.

The service works with just 3 simple steps:

✔️ Shorten long link.

✔️ Share the short link with another user.

✔️ Grab IP address after the user clicks on your short link.

Be attantive: you can also be a target of such actions ❗️Be careful opening links!

#service #security

Checking APK files for viruses

There is a small chance to stumble on dangerous applications even in PlayMarket , and if you download from other sources, this risk increases tenfold.

Therefore, you should take care of your security in advance. MetaDefender Cloud will help.

It is a free scanner that runs the file through the databases of 40 anti-viruses simultaneously. All you have to do is attach a file, its hash, its IP address, or a link to a suspicious site - and click "Process".

In just a few seconds the service will scan the entire file and show the results of each antivirus scan and also the metadata and rights of the application ✅.

#security

Swap geolocation in your browser

It's very useful feature that will allow you to keep at least a little more personal privacy.

Location Guard will keep your location private in your browser. You give it access to your location, and it controls what resources end up getting. And what they get is not what you actually have.

This kind of dispersion of your location is available at several different levels on an incremental basis. The extension is available for Chrome, Edge and Firefox.

#security

How to store text messages safely?

We store most of our valuable information in text form, and if fraudsters gain access, the situation will be very unpleasant.

Paranoia Text Encryption protects your notes, cryptocurrency keys, emails, social media posts and any other text from spies, hackers and prying eyes.

The app provides real security because data is encrypted using strong encryption algorithms: Blowfish 448bit, AES 256bit, RC6 256bit, Serpent 256bit, Twofish 256bit, GOST 256bit +.

Simply copy and paste to and from your favorite apps or save to a file for later use. Available on Android, iOS, Windows, Linux.

#security #lifehack #android #windows #linux

GOOGLE ALTERNATIVES WORTH TRYING

The recent focus on online privacy has seen more people seeking Google services alternatives offering the same level of functionality with the added bonus of better privacy. Here you are 👇.

✅ NewPipe is almost the same as YouTube, but without ads and with the ability to download videos for free. Only available on Android.

✅ Organic Maps is a private alternative to Google Maps. It works even without internet. There are no ads, no registration, no notifications, and your personal information is almost never collected.

✅ F-Droid is the best alternative for Google Play. It is an independent open source app store where you will find any app for free.

✅ WebMail is a simple email client with a plain design instead of Gmail. You can't register a new email in it, but you can continue to use your old email.

✅ StartPage is a Google search that doesn't collect any data about you. You can use it to find even blocked sites and visit them without proxies or VPNs.

#security

Stop sites from tracking the links you visit

There is a tracking mechanism that is triggered when a person clicks on various links and hyperlinks. Since you are now aware of it, you may want to protect yourself.

Ping Blocker is a browser extension that prevents sites from tracking the links you visit through hyperlink auditing.

The extension is also available for Edge and Firefox.

#security #github #addon #chrome #firefox #edge

How to copy text from a photo or a document

Sometimes you need some text from an image, don't you? Brandfolder is a text extractor that allow you to extract text from any image.

You may upload an image or document (.pdf) and the tool will pull text from the image. Once extracted, you can copy to your clipboard with one click.

#service