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Net Work Alan Winstanley This month’s Internet and tech column explains how the role of cookies is changing and the headaches they are giving the publishing sector. There’s an update on the rollout of Windows Copilot, a roundup of the latest moonshot news, and Alan gets a surprise spin in a Honda e:Ny1 BEV. S ome 40 or 50 years ago, the pages of Practical Electronics and Everyday Electronics were crammed with adverts for mail-order suppliers, and a few towns and cities often had a component or surplus shop tucked away that offered an invaluable postal service for hobbyists. In those heady days trade was brisk, and occasionally so many suppliers were jostling to advertise in our pages that some of them had to be turned away. Fortunately, component shops still exist and ESR Electronic Components (www. esr.co.uk), JPG Electronics near Sheffield (www.jpgelectronics.com) and Londonbased Cricklewood Electronics (www. cricklewoodelectronics.com), to name three, continue to offer a bricks-and-mortar store along with online ordering, backed up by traditional levels of personal customer service. Having a choice is a good thing, and hard-working independent stores like these deserve continued support. Not every business felt the need to embrace the Internet, though, and I recall visiting the renowned J Birkett electronic component shop at the bottom of Steep Hill in Lincoln, a shop that was once a regular advertiser (for magazine collectors, see the March 1981 issue of Everyday Electronics). I occasionally called in at Birkett’s and I usually ended up buying lots more than I’d intended to. The late John Birkett was well-known in radio ham circles: it seems he eschewed the idea of a website altogether and was content with word of mouth, which is often the best salesman. One radio enthusiast pays tribute at: https://bit.ly/pe-mar24-jb and you can stroll by the store on Google Street View at: https://bit.ly/pe-mar24-jb2 Another website I use for buying spares has only half-heartedly adopted the web; the proprietor simply scribbles online orders out onto a delivery note, unconcerned about introducing mistakes along the way. Well, it works for him, I suppose! Crumbling cookies One of the essential moving parts of the world-wide web is the cookie – benignlooking text files that many websites place onto a visitor’s computer system in an effort to identify it. They can contain 10 obscure data that tracks your online history, or they may help to authenticate your identity before proceeding with, say, an online banking session. Sometimes cookies are needed to enable a website to operate correctly and, helpfully, cookies can enable E-commerce sites to restore the contents of your shopping cart in case you accidentally close a website during some busy browsing. If a site isn’t behaving as expected, another tip is to check whether pop-ups have been disabled. Thanks to cookies, a device can remain ‘logged in’ to websites after you finish – that’s a good reason to ensure you log out properly, especially if using a computer terminal in a public library, for example. Cookies are also behind the web’s creepy ability to track your movements and target you with advertisements. It comes as no surprise, these days, when you visit a website looking for car insurance or clothing, only to face a torrent of annoying adverts for the same kind of thing when you browse, say, a newspaper website afterwards. The web industry says that drumming up trade based on targeted advertising this way helps to keep the rest of the web ‘free’. The use of cookies has given rise to a multitude of data protection regulations in recent years, resulting in website visitors needing to consciously ‘opt in’ to accept them. Some websites show a laundry-list of cookie options that you must either accept or reject before proceeding any further, but I suspect that those tiresome pop-ups are just dismissed without a second thought, thereby snaring the visitor into accepting more online marketing and spam email. Privacy, sandboxed The good news is that some of these marketing techniques are falling out of fashion. So-called ‘third-party cookies’ – ones connected to a website other than the one you visit (which is the ‘first-party’) – litter the web and ‘cross-site trackers’ enable third parties to follow you around the web and subsequently target you with relevant advertising. That’s why your device screen may fill up with online adverts influenced by your web surfing history. Other cunning techniques used by some web marketers include checking Some websites may not function properly, if at all, unless visitors opt in to accept cookies. This example is from the Tefal UK Shop website. a combination of your device’s software and hardware to produce a unique hash or ‘digital fingerprint’ which, unlike ordinary cookies, can occur without a user’s consent. Fortunately, these unethical techniques seem to be quite rare. You can test and compare your system’s fingerprint from nearly 60 attributes using the website: https://amiunique.org/fingerprint Currently under development, the Privacy Sandbox is a Google initiative designed for Google’s Chrome web browser and Android that aims to make thirdparty cookies redundant in favour of more advanced techniques that will ‘reveal [a website user’s] patterns of behaviour’, as they unashamedly admit. This drive for ‘better privacy’ has been in the works for several years, and it hopes to ‘create technologies that both protect people’s privacy online and give companies and developers tools to build thriving digital businesses’, they say. ‘The Privacy Sandbox [initiative] reduces cross-site and cross-app tracking while helping to Practical Electronics | March | 2024 keep online content and services free for all’, according to the campaign website: https://privacysandbox.com ‘People should be able to enjoy their browsing and app experience without worrying about what personal information is collected, and by whom,’ they solemnly declare, as if anyone would disagree. ‘... The Privacy Sandbox technologies aim to make current tracking mechanisms obsolete, and block covert tracking techniques, like fingerprinting.’ Google is far from alone in doing this, though: Apple’s iPhone App Tracking Transparency defeats web tracking and it cost Facebook an estimated $12bn in lost ad revenue, according to Forbes back in 2022. Apple’s Safari browser also has tracking prevention. Microsoft Edge lets users choose the level of privacy protection in Settings / Cookies and Site Permissions (where I noticed my Edge browser allows third-party cookies by default). Mozilla Firefox users can click the shield icon in the address bar to access its Protection Dashboard settings, and the Opera web browser offers similar options. Remember that legitimate third-party cookies may still be needed to make a complex shopping cart or website work properly, if at all, so be prepared to allow exceptions anyway. Google’s proposals include a temporary opt-in to allow essential third-party cookies to run if needed. According to a Google developer blog, Google has already started down the road of disabling third-party cookies, with 1% of Chrome users worldwide being chosen at random to test their new Tracking Protection, and Google says that all third-party cookies will be disabled [in Chrome] by the end of this year. Online marketers are gearing up for a dystopian world in which third-party advertising cookies have been axed and web visitor click-throughs have dried up. Looking ahead, the trend will be towards exploiting ‘first-party’ website visitor data instead. The major difference is that a first-party cookie can still be delivered onto your device, but it will only be downloaded from the website that you’re actually visiting, meaning no cookies from third parties will be lurking around. Any interaction takes place strictly between you and the first-party website. The hope is that this will preserve user privacy, but it also makes website visitor data (analytics) more meaningful for the website owner. Bad news days Over in the news media sector, the move to deprecate third-party cookies, and therefore kill off the news publishers’ online advertising, has added to the woes of a global publishing industry that is already in turmoil. News publishers are being squeezed by the knock-on effects of inflation, and advertising revenue is already in free-fall with demand for goods and services falling because of consumer uncertainty. Their online news feeds are often free only because they are funded by advertising, so some news outlets (eg the Daily Mail) are said to be considering implementing a paywall to raise some revenue. It’s likely that many media sectors will be introducing subscriptions or membership plans to make up for falling sales. Another consequence is the damage caused to local news journalism. One British and Irish media publisher, Reach, the group behind the Daily Express, Mirror newspaper and more, is also well known for its regional ‘Live’ news sites. It was recently forced to closed 13 of them altogether, including Hampshire Live and Norfolk Live, as it strives to reduce overheads by 6%. Another front is also opening in the war between news publishers and the Internet media giants, as chatbots might conceivably be used as ‘journalists’, their ‘generative’ AI answering queries or writing pieces on news events based on content scraped from news media sites. After being ‘trained’ for several years purely on archived media during their development phase, AI bots may now be unleashed onto live news sites, which could see Bing (GPT) or Google (Bard), for example, crawling and citing news content related to current events – copyrighted content that is written by real journalists and belongs to the news publisher. News media sites are set to retaliate by blocking AI bots from crawling their content, while trying to ensure that they are not blocked from search engine results at the same time. With online marketing techniques evolving rapidly in the name of safeguarding user privacy, the entire news media landscape is set to change as journalism and Internet giants lock horns with each other. Copilot, take control I mentioned in the August 2023 issue that Microsoft was busily replacing Cortana, its largely unloved voice assistant, with Copilot, an altogether more user-friendly AI-powered chatbot that is set to change the way users and Microsoft Windows interact with each other. Copilot has now been implemented in the Microsoft Edge web browser – in Edge, a keystroke combination of CTRL + SHIFT + . (full stop/period) opens up or toggles Copilot with Bing, where you can type in human-recognisable search expressions and Bing will respond with an uncanny chat style. You can also use the tab key to follow Bing’s search term autocomplete suggestions. A microphone icon has also appeared, allowing users to talk directly, which saves the need to type in search terms. On a desktop PC, a webcam’s microphone can handle this, and Bing’s voice recognition is pretty impressive. Bing can also read out the chat ‘conversation’. According to the Tech Radar website, Copilot 2.0 is slated for appearance in a Windows 11 update later this year, leaked documents suggest. Significantly, the Copilot chatbot may simplify user Help routines and Windows computer 1590Z UL diecast IP68, NEMA 6P Learn more: www.hammondmfg.com/1590z uksales<at>hammondfg.com • 01256 812812 Practical Electronics | March | 2024 11 Windows Copilot in Bing now has a microphone control that allows users to voice their search queries. management, so PC users could, for example, ask Copilot to open sound settings, instead of having to mouseclick around to find Settings/Sound in a myriad of keyboard shortcuts, menus and pop-ups. You could also ask Copilot to make a System Restore Point, and so on. It’s worth remembering that Windows already has a useful, and somewhat underrated, Search feature: you can open the Search magnifying glass icon on the taskbar (or go + S, Bing reminds me) and simply type a search term such as ‘Sound settings’ or ‘Create system restore’, and a link to the applet will be displayed. You can also search documents or the web, or open an app this way instead of hunting for an icon or shortcut. To try it: go + S then start to type Notepad for example. I must add, readers, that Copilot in Bing explained perfectly how I can insert that Windows key symbol into my copy! Using Windows Search is an easy way to find and open apps or settings. Type the Winkey + S to launch it. Copilot 2.0 promises to take computer management to a new level and will vastly simplify life for Windows 11 users, and I must admit I’m warming to the idea. It’s also understood that forthcoming Windows keyboards will incorporate a Copilot key in place of the Menu key (to the right of the space bar), a key that in all honesty I have never used in 30 years of computer ownership. (The Alt Gr key only gets a look-in when I need to type the euro symbol (€), using the 4 key on a UK keyboard.) Advanced PC users can remap a spare keyboard button by using Keyboard Manager in the excellent Microsoft Windows PowerToys from the Microsoft Store. PowerToys has myriad handy tools and settings (including a useful cursor finder tool and more) to customise your Windows desktop. The legacy Microsoft Keyboard Layout Creator (MSKLC) tool is another way of re-purposing under-used keys or re-assigning keyboard layouts or languages (Windows 2000 to Windows 10). A free download of MSKLC is still available from: https://bit.ly/pe-mar24-msklc Looking ahead, speculation by How-To Geek suggests that Windows 12 may be released at the end of this year. Little else is known, but an early screenshot is shown at: https://bit.ly/pe-mar24-htg Mission Impossible The largely redundant Menu key on a Windows keyboard is set to be replaced in the future with one that opens Windows Copilot. 12 I was hoping to bring news of the first successful launch of a moonshot from Cape Canaveral since NASA’s Apollo 17 departed back in 1972. Astrobotic is a private US aerospace company that has developed two lunar landers so far, starting with the ‘Peregrine’ which it describes as a ‘small-class lander that precisely and safely delivers payloads to lunar orbit and the lunar surface. Payloads can be mounted above or below the decks, inside or outside of enclosures, and can remain attached or deployed according to their needs.’ Unfortunately, this was not to be the case. On their first lunar mission, a Peregrine lander carried by a United Launch Alliance (ULA) Vulcan Centaur rocket (itself a joint venture between Lockheed Martin and Boeing, embarking on its own inaugural flight), suffered a shut-off valve failure after a successful launch and payload separation. The damage to the lander caused a critical loss of propellant, as precious fuel was expended in stabilising the craft to prevent it tumbling out of control. At the time of writing, because solar power could not be brought online, the rest of the aborted mission is likely to be dedicated to gathering as much data as possible before power is lost altogether. There were high hopes of success, and the payload included a lunar rover, Earthly mementoes and artefacts from various institutions – a full list of the manifest is at: https://bit.ly/pe-mar24-astro1 The mission failure is obviously a sad and disappointing setback, but the next mission will use a larger ‘Griffin’ lander with five times the capacity, intended to carry a NASA lunar rover to the Moon’s South Pole. Space fans might enjoy the background YouTube video at https:// youtu.be/wXzxKScQLjw and there’s a complete User Guide to the Astrobotic lunar lander in case you ever want to Practical Electronics | March | 2024 send something to the Moon yourself – see: https://bit.ly/pe-mar24-astro2 Also expected to launch on board another Vulcan Centaur rocket will be Sierra Nevada’s Dream Chaser re-usable space plane (see last month), another privately funded craft, which is slated for a first flight in April, landing back on Earth using a normal runway. Shooting for the moon NASA’s own moonshot plans revolve around Artemis (the Greek mythological twin sister of Apollo), a program that aims to land the first woman astronaut on the moon. An Orion uncrewed capsule, carried into orbit by the new Space Launch System (SLS) heavy lifter, had its first successful test flight around the moon and splashdown at the end of 2022 (a 25minute onboard video of Orion’s re-entry is at: https://bit.ly/pe-mar24-nasa The next mission, Artemis II, will be a fully crewed lunar fly-by, but development delays have seen this postponed to no earlier than September 2025. A 2-crew moon landing (Artemis III) would then see the first humans land on the lunar south pole. Future concepts include building Artist’s impression of the Peregrine smallclass lander on the moon. Crumpled insulation pictured by an onboard camera on the Peregrine lander suggests a propulsion system failure. (Image: Astrobotic) The X-37B is a secretive unmanned reusable space plane undergoing extensive trials for the US military. (Image: Boeing) Terrington Components • Project boxes designed and manufactured in the UK. • Many of our enclosures used on former Maplin projects. • Unique designs and sizes, including square, long and deep variaaons of our screwed lid enclosures. • Sub-miniature sizes down to 23mm x 16mm, ideal for IoT devices. MADE IN BRITAIN www.terrington-components.co.uk | sales<at>terrington-components.co.uk | Tel: 01553 636999 Practical Electronics | March | 2024 13 a small lunar ‘base camp’ that would allow astronauts to live there for several months at a time. China and Russia hope to do the same between them. More enigmatic is the secret American X-37B, a mini spaceshuttle type of craft developed by Boeing for the USAF that is intended to fly in low earth orbit. The unmanned re-usable glide vehicle, about a quarter the size of the original Space Shuttle, would enable space-borne experiments and apparatus to be launched and returned to Earth. Seven, mostly classified missions have flown so far, the latest launching in December 2023. Previous missions saw a record-breaking X-37B remain in orbit for more than 900 days. China is also experimenting with reusable space planes: its Shén Lóng (Divine Dragon) space plane has been launched three times, with the second flight possibly releasing a satellite into space. Amateur astronomers noted six mysterious objects being released by the third flight, some of them emitting intermittent signals. Details of the mystery flights remain secret. Your mileage may vary A quick snap inside the Honda e:Ny1 battery electric vehicle, with large centre touchscreen controlling many functions. JTAG Connector Plugs Directly into PCB!! No Header! No Brainer! Our patented range of Plug-of-Nails™ spring-pin cables plug directly into a tiny footprint of pads and locating holes in your PCB, eliminating the need for a mating header. Save Cost & Space on Every PCB!! Solutions for: PIC . dsPIC . ARM . MSP430 . Atmel . Generic JTAG . Altera Xilinx . BDM . C2000 . SPY-BI-WIRE . SPI / IIC . Altium Mini-HDMI . & More www.PlugOfNails.com Tag-Connector footprints as small as 0.02 sq. inch (0.13 sq cm) 14 My trusty petrol-powered car was collected for an annual service a few weeks ago, and the local garage usually drops off a courtesy car for my convenience. This year, it was not a small and dinky Honda Jazz (Fit) as before, but a brand new £45,000 ($55,000) Honda e:Ny1, a Chinese-built battery electric vehicle which had just 70 miles on the clock. It would be rude not to try it out, I mused, but after taking one look at the LCD dashboard I decided to give it a miss. Still, the garage insisted on taking me for a spin (part of a soft-shoe sales pitch, possibly), and as we hummed along some country lanes I was given a taste of its slingshot acceleration! It was freezing weather outside, and with the heated seats and cab heater going full blast, in under two hours the battery had fallen to 70%, my driver told me. (I calculated that two hours of driving my own car with a full tank would leave me with roughly the same amount of fuel, but at least I could easily fill it up again.) The e:Ny1 dash is dominated by an excellent 15.1-inch central touchscreen, with all-round cameras and satnav that I found to be extremely impressive, although when it comes to turning down those heated seats, it’s a case of tapping several times a small icon in one corner of the touchscreen (no on/off here – there are three power levels). To my mind, it was a serious distraction while driving, as there is no haptic feedback and it’s too easy to ‘mis-key’ the icons anyway, especially if driving on our bumpy country roads. I believe the Ford Motor Co. once said, ‘Don’t build a car with gritty switches’ because they give a bad impression of build quality. Honda’s quality is undoubtedly superb, but, not withstanding the eye-watering cost, give me proper pushbuttons any day, even gritty ones! Two more Chinese brands of electric vehicle are set to enter the UK market by the end of this year. The Seres 3 will go headto-head with MG, while the Skywell ET-5 is a mid-size SUV. The Skywell website made me dizzy; you can look at it here: https://skywell-europe.com At first glance the car looks remarkably like the Honda. Last this month, I spoke too soon when I said that my 12-year old Synology NAS was still supported by the manufacturer (February 2024, Net Work). A few days later they notified me that security updates for its legacy operating system (DiskStation Storage Manager V6) were finally being discontinued, and my model can’t be upgraded. At least I have a breathing space as the deadline isn’t until 1 October this year. That’s all for this month’s Net Work. The above links are readymade for you in our advert-free website at electronpublishing. com – just follow the ‘Blogs’ link at the top, and details of this month’s Microchip competition will also The author can be reached at: alan<at>epemag.net be found online. Practical Electronics | March | 2024