Go Incognito V2, Privacy Coaching Returns, & More Updates
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Go Incognito V2, Privacy Coaching Returns, & More Updates
Many Exciting Announcements for Techlore
Throughout the year, we undergo numerous changes; so I’ve compiled a quick compilation of what we’re doing at Techlore to continue spreading privacy & security to the masses.
To Jump Around:
Go Incognito V2 🕵️
Go Incognito is our course walking people through the world of security, privacy & anonymity - it’s been an overwhelming success! The free variant has received well over half a million views on YouTube alone, and the premium version recently broke 1,000 students! 🎉
We’ve continuing Go Incognito, producing a second version that will be:
Updated for 2023 and beyond 📆
Have higher production value 📽️
Fix dozens of mistakes from V1 📝
Implement other updates based on feedback we received from V1 students 🕵️
Cover more concepts! 🔐
Some more information:
All V1 premium students will be grandfathered into V2 - this is a lifetime purchase
V2 will cost a bit more, so purchasing V1 now is a way to lock in V2 for cheaper
We will still offer Monero & Student discounts
There will still be the same, generous free version (updated as well)
No time estimates yet, all I can share is that general planning has begun
One-on-One Privacy Coaching Returns 🧑🏫
Privacy coaching/consulting is something I really enjoy, especially having had the pleasure to coach business executives, creators, public personas, and just regular people who value their privacy. We previously had to pause the program due to time constraints, but we’ve brought the program back!
It’ll be live on our site shortly. In the meantime, you can apply for my coaching through the link above.
Reminder: Coaching is a committed service, so make sure you’re only applying if you’re ready to dive into it. Not all applicants are accepted, as I evaluate on a case-by-case basis if your situation is one I’m able to assist with.
Website, VPN Toolkit Updates 🧑💻
Our website just went through a massive overhaul, so definitely check it out if you haven’t already! Some notable changes include:
A revamped homepage to better showcase our projects 🌐
Major updates to the VPN Toolkit, pushing the envelope in our goal of bringing transparency to the VPN industry 🛜
Many updates to our resources, including a new Firewall section, a new DNS section, and many more listed services 🔒
Other changes to make our projects a more coherent ecosystem 🤌
Techlore Talks 🎙️
Recently,
and I have been chatting about privacy & security via a free-form format on Techlore Talks. It’s a great way to chat about things in a relaxed environment, and the feedback has been very positive! Techlore Talks will now include all Techlore free-form discussions, including interviews.Presentation-wise, episodes with Jonah will still be formal ‘Episode X’ milestones, but anything between formal episodes will be informal. This way, all our free form discussions live in a single place in both video & audio format. You can see what this format looks like here:
Plexus App 📱
Did you know we have an F-Droid App? We do! Our project, Plexus, crowdsources app compatibly on de-Googled devices, so users can check which apps work before moving to a custom ROM. Development has been slow on Plexus, but I’m happy to announce we’re close to releasing:
An API for Plexus, which other projects can have access to, so the data will be usable for other projects 🌐
An updated app which handles submissions automatically for users directly in the app, no more manually entering things online 📲
Many more updates to make the app more intuitive 🔥
It’s just about done, and we’ll sending PSAs once it’s live. I think the community is going to love these changes, as it allows anyone to submit their apps in an ultra convenient fashion.
Curious how Plexus currently works? This review showcases the app a bit.
Community Updates 🌎
Our communities have undergone a few changes:
Twitter has been deprecated. Paywalling the API killed our Mastodon cross-poster, and we can’t justify the subscription cost given the volatility of the platform. Our profile is still live, but we are no longer publishing to it. On a positive note, this’ll free us up a bit. (aka, more content!)
On a similar note, we’ve disabled comments on Odysee. Moderation tools on Odysee are less powerful than YouTube’s, and the level of toxicity & time required to manage the platform is not something we can justify. Again, more time! (aka, more content!) -
A few people have asked why we moderate comments in the first place. Put simply, we believe privacy & security is for everyone. When our videos are published along with hate speech, racial slurs, and other off-putting nonsense - it associates privacy with extremism, which is not what we want to be associated with. Privacy is for everyone, not just assholes.
We are leaning more into our forum, showcasing it more prominently across our videos, website, and other communities. It offers the best balance of healthiness, privacy, safety, reliability, efficiency, & cost.
Sponsorships, Liberapay, & YouTube Memberships 💰
Finances! We have to stay alive somehow, and there are some developments here:
First, we’re pausing our video sponsorship program. You may have noticed our recent content doesn’t have sponsors. This is predominantly due to the extra time it takes us to manage sponsors, produce segments, and communicate back/forth with sponsors during our production process. At least temporarily, we felt it was smart to pause the program to catch up on content we’ve been perpetually behind on.
We’ve released a Liberapay as an additional method of supporting our work! Many of you asked for it, so there ya go. ❤️
We’ve re-introduced YouTube memberships as an extra support method for people in the YouTube ecosystem. There is a single tier, with the core perk being we’ll prioritize your comments on our content. ❤️
We now better showcase our top patrons on the homepage of our website! ❤️
We recently opened up Substack paid subscriptions for this blog, so you can gain the ability to leave comments on our blog and join the Substack supporter chat. ❤️
Those are the core changes from the last several months, all while we simultaneously work on our projects. I once again want to remind our audience that we cannot be doing any of this without your support! If you appreciate what we’re doing, check out the free & paid methods of supporting us so we can continue spreading privacy & security to the masses 🌎
Thank you all for being a part of our community, and stay safe out there 🔐
-Henry