How to Carry Your Vaccination Card on Your Phone

After an initial rollout that left people anxiously refreshing Twitter feeds and state health websites for appointment slots, COVID-19 vaccinations are going into arms across the country, and there is ample opportunity in the US to get vaccinated.

It's a privilege that's not available in many other places, and if you've taken advantage of it, you're probably wondering what to do with that white proof-of-vaccine card you were handed alongside your "I got the jab!" sticker.

There are no clear answers on whether or not you should laminate your COVID-19 Vaccination Record Card. With mask rules changing, you never know when you may have to produce it, but the card is larger than a credit card or driver's license, making it easy to damage in a wallet. Apps are usually the answer to dilemmas like this, but there aren't that many universal ones, so we have a few options.  Click here for the rest of the article from PCMag.

How to Prepare Your Digital Life for Your Death

Death is as somber as it is inevitable. But as we live more of our lives online, it's more important than ever to make sure loved ones can access digital accounts when we're gone. Don't be the guy who locked cryptocurrency exchange customers out of $250 million after his death because only he knew the password.

There are a number of ways loved ones can request access to your accounts once you're gone, but they don't need that stress. Several online services allow you to designate legacy contacts or grant access after a period of inactivity. Here's how to make sure those you leave behind can manage your affairs after you head to the great beyond.  Click here for the full article.

R.I.P. Internet Explorer: Use One of These Top Web Browsers Instead

The browser wars continue to rage, but one competitor is gone forever: Internet Explorer. Microsoft announced that the once-indisputable leader in browser market share, and the one that paved the way for interactive web applications, would go out of support on June 15, 2022. With new competitors in the fray and longtime entries spinning up new technologies, conveniences, protections, and features, your choice of browser software is just as important as it ever was.

For the last several years, the browser landscape has been dominated by Google. The same company that serves more web content than any other (according to comScore), also claims nearly 70 percent of the browser market with Chrome (based on NetMarketShare and StatCounter numbers). That’s for desktop use, but if you add in mobile, Chrome is still king, with a share of over 60 percent. So dominant is Chrome that most other browsers now use its underlying Chromium rendering code, with Firefox the only remaining top-to-bottom independent competitor.  Click here for more

Top 200 most common passwords of the year 2020...and worse

Here are the worst 200 passwords of 2020. The list details how many times a password has been exposed, used, and how much time it would take to crack it. We also compare the most common passwords of 2019 and 2020, highlighting how their positions have changed. The green arrows indicate a rise in the position while the red ones - a fall off. Check if your password is on the list and strengthen it if it is.  Click here for the article

Transfer Your Google Play Music Library Before Google Deletes It

Google is erasing all traces of Play Music. Though the platform stopped streaming in December, some user content remains available for export, but not for long.

As reported by 9to5Google, the company will delete all information associated with Play Music later this month. That includes content uploaded to the cloud locker, purchases, saved playlists, stations, albums, songs; as well as likes and dislikes.

News of a Play Music shutdown came almost exactly one year ago, as Google allegedly began transitioning users away from the nine-year-old service and towards YouTube Music. The move became official in May last year, with plans to shutter Play Music entirely by the end of 2020. The music store went dark in October, and all usage was discontinued two months later.

Users were initially given until Dec. 31 to transfer data to YouTube Music or download an offline copy. That deadline slipped into 2021, and there's now just 19 days left. "On Feb. 24, 2021, we will delete all of your Google Play Music data," according to a customer email. "This includes your music library with any uploads, purchases, and anything you've added from Google Play Music. After this date, there will be no way to recover it."

Those who've already transferred to YouTube Music may receive a different message, suggesting that "if you've made any changes, you still have the option to transfer again so your music library is up to date." Visit play.google.com/music to review your export options before it's too late.

Google Chrome Users Should Update to Chrome 88 Right Now

Google released the latest version of the its Chrome web browser yesterday (88.0.4324.150), and Chrome 88 is a very important update all users should grab immediately.

As ZDNet reports, Chrome 88 fixes a zero-day vulnerability known as CVE-2021-21148. It was reported by security researcher Mattias Buelens on Jan. 24, but Google discovered it was being exploited by hackers before the vulnerability could be patched out of the browser.

The exploit allowed Chrome users to be targeted by malicious code thanks to a memory corruption problem in Google's V8 JavaScript engine, which forms part of the Chrome browser. Although Google hasn't confirmed it, the exploit is thought to be what allowed security researchers to be targeted by North Korean hackers on social media last month.

Microsoft Threat Intelligence Center attributed the targeted campaign to ZINC, "a DPRK-affiliated and state-sponsored group."

If you haven't updated to Chrome 88, then your browser remains susceptible to the exploit. If you want evidence of how serious of a vulnerability it is, Google is restricting access to the bug details "until a majority of users are updated with a fix."