Personal Tech: How to Stop Your Smart TV From Tracking What You Watch

Tech advice to improve your life. View in [Browser]( | Add nytdirect@nytimes.com to your address book. [The New York Times]( [The New York Times]( Friday, July 20, 2018 [NYTimes.com/PersonalTech »]( Each week, the Personal Tech newsletter rounds up the best stories about technology and how we use it in our everyday lives. That includes tips about troubleshooting devices, advice on being a smarter shopper and news stories about the tech companies that make your gadgets and apps. Charlie Riedel/Associated Press [How to Stop Your Smart TV From Tracking What You Watch]( By WHITSON GORDON Millions of smart TVs in American homes are tracking everything you watch for the sake of advertisers. If that doesn’t sit right with you, here’s how to turn it off. ADVERTISEMENT [A Non-Gamer’s Guide to Fortnite, the Game That Conquered All the Screens]( By SANDRA E. GARCIA It distracted classrooms all spring and reached 40 million users last month, before most parents and teachers had any idea what it was. We’ll help you catch up. State of the Art [Tech Companies Like Facebook and Twitter Are Drawing Lines. It’ll Be Messy.]( By FARHAD MANJOO Big tech companies are asking themselves where their responsibilities start and stop. Sorting that out will be complicated and may end up increasing their power. internetting with amanda hess [Like, Comment, Subscribe, Weep]( By AMANDA HESS In our 10-episode video series, Amanda Hess decodes the culture of the internet, the super-fun hellscape in which we live out our days. [St. Louis Uber and Lyft Driver Secretly Live-Streamed Passengers, Report Says]( By MIHIR ZAVERI Jason Gargac, 32, told The St. Louis Post-Dispatch that he made $3,500 from the live streams, which many criticized as an invasion of privacy. [Comic Book Publishers, Faced With Flagging Sales, Look to Streaming]( By GREGORY SCHMIDT Publishers like DC and Dark Horse Comics are creating their own digital platforms to connect more directly with readers and encourage fan engagement. [Wild About Tech, China Even Loves Robot Waiters That Can’t Serve]( By PAUL MOZUR Some in China are building a future that isn’t quite ready. Still, the exuberance may be a good thing, as useful products find their place and bad ones disappear. [Worried About the I.R.S. Scam? Here’s How to Handle Phone Fraud]( By CHRISTINE HAUSER A huge I.R.S. impersonation operation has highlighted the threat of phone and internet fraud. Experts have advice on how to protect yourself. ADVERTISEMENT INTERESTED IN ALL THINGS TECH? The Bits newsletter will keep you updated on the latest from Silicon Valley and the technology industry, plus exclusive analysis from our reporters and editors. You can sign up [here](. Tech Tips From J.D. Biersdorfer [Ways to Lighten Your Data Load]( By J. D. BIERSDORFER A browser that’s set to compress or block images, ads and other bandwidth-hogging parts of a web page can save you megabytes. [Picking an iPad as a Portable Photo Studio]( By J. D. BIERSDORFER Apple has a range of models in its tablet line, but you may not need the most expensive one to suit your image-editing needs. [When Troubleshooters Run Into Trouble]( By J. D. BIERSDORFER Microsoft has a collection of little programs that try to fix problems on your Windows PC, but depending on your system, the success rate can be hit or miss. [An Old Scam With a New Twist]( By J. D. BIERSDORFER If you have gotten a message from someone who claims to have dirt on you — and shows off, as proof, a password you’ve previously used — here’s what happened. [How to Yank Passwords Out of Firefox Quantum]( By J. D. BIERSDORFER Mozilla’s overhaul of its flagship browser is incompatible with certain add-ons, but you can still rescue your saved passwords with a little extra effort. HOW ARE WE DOING? We’d love your feedback on this newsletter. Please email thoughts and suggestions to [personaltech_newsletter@nytimes.com](mailto:personaltech_newsletter@nytimes.com?subject=Personal Tech Newsletter%20Feedback). YOUR WEEKLY EDITION An experimental newsletter of the stories you might have missed, curated by Times editors and personalized for you with machine learning. In your inbox every Friday. You can sign up [here](. Times Events Escape to Iceland—at least Virtually Washington D.C. Thursday, August 9 at 7:30 p.m. What does New York Times visual journalism look like in the digital era? Explore our world of photography, virtual reality and immersive storytelling through the lens of our Travel section’s series “52 Places.” Enjoy a cocktail as you take in photos from the series at Dupont Underground’s subterranean art gallery. Visit VR stations featuring work from our journalists’ trip to Iceland, and join us for a discussion about contemporary visual journalism with photographer Josh Haner, a leader in drone-assisted photography; photo editor Phaedra Brown, who has helped create the modern Travel section of The Times; and Veda Shastri, an immersive journalist and producer of The Daily 360. The conversation will be moderated by Dan Saltzstein, overseeing editor of “52 Places.” $15-$25. Buy tickets [here](. FOLLOW NYTimes [Facebook] [FACEBOOK]( [Twitter] [@NYTimes]( [Pinterest] [Pinterest]( ABOUT THIS EMAIL You received this message because you signed up for NYTimes.com's Personal Tech newsletter. 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