Apple is developing several new iPad and Mac models with plans to release them in early 2023, according to inside sources cited in a recent Bloomberg article. The upcoming product launches aim to boost declining sales amid a slowdown in consumer tech spending.

The new releases include updated versions of the iPad Air, iPad Pro, and MacBook Air. The iPad Air will now come in two sizes – 10.9 inches as currently offered, and a new 12.9-inch model matching the largest iPad Pro. The move gives consumers a bigger screen at a lower price point than the pricier Pro.

The new iPad Pros are slated to receive Apple’s high-end M3 chip introduced last fall, along with the company’s first OLED tablet displays. The organic light-emitting diode screens offer brighter colors and contrast compared to standard LCDs. New Apple Pencil and Magic Keyboard accessories are also in development.

On the Mac side, the new 13-inch and 15-inch MacBook Air models will feature the new M3 chip as their main upgrade. The processor promises faster performance and efficiency gains.

A response to slowing sales

iPad sales dropped 10% last quarter to $6.44 billion, while Mac revenue declined 34% to $7.61 billion. The products now jointly account for only 15% of Apple’s total sales – down significantly in recent years. Services have rapidly grown to represent a much larger business for Apple.

The company likely hopes its 2024 tablet and laptop upgrades will spur demand after what will be the first calendar year without any new iPad releases. The refreshed models align with Apple’s typical spring launch cycle.

Beyond early 2024, Apple is readying additional products like its Vision augmented reality headset, updated Apple Watches with blood pressure tracking, new iPhone models, and more. But in the nearer term, revived iPad and MacBook sales could boost Apple’s bottom line after recent consumer tech headwinds.

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With the rise of automation and self-checkout options, kiosks are becoming a hot topic of discussion among many business owners. But what exactly is a kiosk, and is it a profitable piece of equipment for businesses? Today, we’re going to unpack everything you need to know about the different types of kiosks and whether they’re profitable hardware.

What is a Kiosk?

A kiosk is a small, computerized booth or screen with a digital display, usually a tablet or other touchscreen computer enclosed in a protective tablet wall mount. Kiosks are often found in high-traffic areas, and are intended to provide additional information or offer services to customers passing by. A kiosk may be manned by an attendant who can assist in a transaction, or it may stand on its own and be available to serve customers when human employees are busy. There are a few different types of kiosks that each offer unique services and advantages.

Different Types of Kiosks

Here are a few of the most common types of kiosks you may encounter on a daily basis:

Information Kiosks

An information kiosk is the most general type of device, and its sole purpose is to offer information to shoppers. Information kiosks can be a great way to provide customers with resources and answer their questions without bothering the staff. They can be interactive or non-interactive but typically feature a menu system to help customers find what they need.

Self-Service Kiosks

A self-service kiosk is a device that acts as a POS system where customers can check themselves out without waiting for a human cashier. It’s typically a tablet or touchscreen computer that allows customers to scan and pay for items. It may be monitored by a human employee in case there is a system error or customers have questions. Self-service kiosks are a great way to avoid backed-up lines when it’s busy and help reduce the cost of hiring cashiers.

Wayfinding Kiosks

A wayfinding kiosk is a device that exists to help visitors find their way around an area. You’ll often see them at the mall or in large buildings where visitors need assistance to find a particular store or department. Wayfinding kiosks can be a great way to show potential customers exactly where they need to go to find you, so they don’t get frustrated and simply visit another establishment. This can be especially crucial for businesses that aren’t easy to locate or are within a large complex with many other stores.

Advertising Kiosks

An advertising kiosk is a large, backlit digital display that shows advertisements for a business or event. It’s typically placed in a high-traffic area full of potential customers and intended to market products or services. It functions much like a billboard, although it offers additional flexibility and convenience because the display can be easily changed, or the kiosk itself can be moved to a different area.

Internet Kiosks

Internet kiosks are a particular type of kiosk that provides users access to the internet and other applications. They can offer visitors full access to the world wide web or restrict it to a particular page or application based on the goals of the provider. You can offer free internet access to encourage customers to try a specific software or application, or you can charge a small fee for use and attract those who just need to do a quick search while they’re out running errands. Internet kiosks are a great way to bring in new customers and offer exclusive access to a digital product or service.

Are Kiosks Profitable for a Business? 

The simple answer is yes; kiosks can be very profitable to many different businesses. However, it depends on your objectives and how you use it. For instance, self-service kiosks can be a great way to reduce the costs of hiring unnecessary employees, although they may not work for all businesses as certain industries benefit from human interaction.

Advertising kiosks are another device that can increase brand awareness and generate more sales. Here, you must have a solid marketing plan and research where your ideal customers are likely to hang out.

Kiosks are a relatively low-cost piece of hardware that serve a variety of different purposes and can certainly help you cut costs and boost revenue. They are also a great way to provide resources and information to customers that may not directly translate into sales, but can help create new interactions and build brand awareness that will ultimately help your bottom line.

However, like any piece of technology, you need to have a solid strategy and a clear set of goals to make money with a kiosk. If you simply plant the device in the middle of your storefront and expect it to magically sell your products faster, you’ll likely be disappointed. If you have a clear purpose and use your kiosk effectively, you’re sure to see a significant return on investment!

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A bug in GPS and the GPSD daemon will change the time back to March 2002, at least for the systems that rely on the two. You may be wondering why this will happen, and here’s why.

A bug in the time rollback (or GPS Week Rollover) checking code scheduled for November 2038 is instead going to trigger this Saturday and will make 1,024 to be subtracted from October 24 2021. Lot’s of computers dates will hit a quick March 2002, as if time travel.

Stratum 1 servers will also go back in time, as they run off of GPSD to sync with clocks. So are Stratum 2 – secondary – servers usually are in sync with Stratum 1 servers.

Anyway, a fix to all this has been made. However, it won’t be backported to previous releases, and not all distros pick up GPSD updates or upstream patches. Even if your OS is at the latest, there’s a chance that it might not have the update. To fix this problem anyway, just attempt to update your computer.

You may be wondering what the cause is for the commotion of the GPS Week Rollover, and the answer is that it is a legacy GPS problem. It uses a 10-bit code that can go all the way up to 1,023. Every 19.7 years, the number rolls to 0. This for some reason isn’t rolling to 0, it will go back up to 1,024, meaning computers that do not have this update, shall say goodbye.

Source

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In version 5.22.0 beta (latest 5.22.3) of the messaging app Signal, they have now brought out Announcement Groups. These are basically Closed groups where only Admins can talk.

All you have to do is create a new group, and then switch off permissions for regular users to send messages and calls, then you have an Announcement Group or Broadcast Group.

Large groups do have some Admins to make sure there is no spam and generally making sure that people are being friendly to each other. Another group with just the Admins to talk about the main group would be great for them. As many people have moved away from Whatsapp, Signal has had to introduce more features for their users and the many groups available.

This feature is very similar to Whatsapp’s version, in the end, could Signal have copied them?

This feature is in testing, and it is not on Google Play Store as a beta as of yet. To get the beta, you would have to get the APK file. You can download and install the APK file now from APKMirror.

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Twitter has recently updated their service, to the U.S, South Korea, and Australia, so that mobile users can now report tweets by tapping the 3 dotted menu and selecting report tweet. You can put in the option “It’s Misleading” Twitter will then ask for further information about what is wrong with the certain tweet.

Twitter has said that they won’t respond to most of the reports, so don’t expect Twitter to say anything about your report.

You will be able to report the tweet, and then choose to either unfollow, block or mute the owner of the tweet you’re reporting.

This new feature is being tested, and though Twitter has said that they will either have a late response time, or no response whatsoever, still reporting the tweet can help Twitter, so they say “Your input will help us identify trends so that we can improve the speed and scale of our broader misinformation work.”

This feature, as said by Twitter, is a little experiment. Yet they still encourage you to use it.

Is this going to cause the platform to further censor their users to their own special and hidden community rules? Freedom of speech has almost left the building.

Source

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Rumors speculate that Samsung may be coming out with a new Samsung Galaxy Tab Z Fold next year, a tablet that could fold 3 times, coming from a report by Gizmochina.

The company also says that it may come out in the first quarter of 2022, and a picture originating from China shows what the device may look like. There’s no way of proving that it’s real, however, the image looked fairly similar to TCL’s zigzag folding concept, as shown in the picture below.
The latest report states that Samsung may tease the device while launching the galaxy Z Fold 3 and the Z Flip 3, and rumours say that the company is currently deciding whether or not they should do this idea.

Putting aside the special folding display, the triple folding device is confident to release a new S-Pen designed for the device and a new and improved ultra-thin glass, which will appear in the Galaxy Fold 3 when released.

Some exciting news is that Samsung will also leak teasers in the middle of production, similar to the Galaxy S21 series, with its Twitter channel and teasers being released on it.

The Tab Z Fold’s Folding Capabilities

The device is said to be able to fold inwards and outwards. Patent experts at LetsGoDigital have created renders based on the diagrams in Samsung’s 52-page document. Judging by these pictures, the company seems to be planning to make a device that has 3 screens and 2 hinges. When fully opened, the device has a giant display with a dual cut out for the front camera, and the screen is nearly as big as a tablet, and it is said to even a feature such as the S-Pen.

When both sides of the device are folded inwards, the two other displays form together to make on small screen. The S-Pen is like the Galaxy Tab S7+, as it can be attached magnetically to the side of the phone, including wireless charging or you could put it in the recess slot that forms due to the two smaller displays, and also allows faster charging.
When opened to its capacity, the device has a dual camera setup, including a LED flash

It could be a year to a couple of years until Samsung releases this device, but judging by what happened to previous fold models, they’ll know how to get rid of mistakes.

Source

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Twitter is now rolling out their launch of “Fleets” to various markets. What are “Fleets”? The easiest way to explain this one is to think of it like Instagram stories, but this time it’s for Twitter.

We’ve become accustomed to Facebook stories, Instagram stories, and I presume Twitter felt left out? Well, actually it turns out that people were hesitating in sending out their tweets! Sometimes we want to craft the PERFECT tweet, to enlighten and not be judged. We have all been there.

Twitter has been busy testing this particular feature in Brazil, Italy, India, and South Korea and found it made people more comfortable sharing their thoughts and ideas. Something “off the cuff” has less chance of coming back to haunt you is appealing to us.

Now, you can share your idea(s) and know it will disappear after 24 hours. Much like a normal tweet, you can share text, video, or images or you can use both. Future wise Twitter says it will spoil us with live broadcasting and stickers – there are no timescales to these features at the moment.

You can also send users a direct message in response to a fleet. Another feature which has been successfully used on Facebook stories is that you can see who has seen your story and reacted to it.

The Twitter app has been updated globally to support fleets, but this still might not mean your region is able to use it. Here in the UK, I’m still waiting, but hopefully not too long now until I can be less anxious about the contents of my Tweets, sorry, fleets.

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Samsung’s Galaxy Unpacked event has been seen coming for a long time now. However, at the time there was no official date and we didn’t know how the event was going to take place thanks to Covid-19. Now, Samsung has officially announced that they will hold a virtual Unpacked 2020 event on August 5th – the same date many were speculating.

As well as the date, we know where the event is taking place and that the company has said that they’re going to be unveiling the latest Galaxy devices at the same event.

As the Unpacked 2020 event is virtual, anyone can join. The event will be live-streamed on Samsung Global Newsroom, Samsung.com and on YouTube. This will be at 10 AM ET – 3 PM in the UK.

The company has also released a teaser video for the event, showing off an S-Pen (or what it seems to be) in the colour Mystic Bronze.

What’s expected to been seen at Samsung Unpacked 2020?

From smartphones to wearables, there are quite a few devices that we can expect. For smartphones, we can expect the Galaxy Z Fold 2, Galaxy Note 20, Galaxy Note 20 Ultra and the Galaxy Z Flip 5G. In the tablet section, the Galaxy Tab S7 and Galaxy Tab S7+ are assumed to be there. In the wearables sector, we have the extensively leaked Galaxy Watch 3 and Galaxy Buds Live.

Source

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The Galaxy Tab S6 has finally got the Android 10 update in the UK. The version number for this update is T865XXU2BTC7 and is 2165.34MB – a huge download, so please use WiFi. With Android 10, the Galaxy Tab S6 will also be receiving One UI 2.0. Two major updates rolled into one package.

What’s New?

To start off, we have a dark mode. This adjusts the colour of the UI when you activate the mode. For example, wallpapers, widgets and alarms will be darkened when this mode is on. Next, we have cleaner app icons and system colours. As well as this, there will be improved layouts in order to get rid of wasted screen space.

Navigation Gestures

There have been new navigation gestures added as part of Android 10 to help you get around the interface better. Speaking of the interface, there are more ‘refined interactions’ with the interface. You can navigate more comfortably on the large screen without moving your finger as much. Additionally, the buttons have been highlighted so that you can focus on them better.

When it comes to accessibility, the high contrast keyboards and large text have been improved. As well as this, you can listen to live speech and have it displayed as text.

The text over wallpapers has been improved – you can see it more clearly as One UI automatically adjusts the on and colours based on the lights and dark areas of the image below. The SmartThing panel has been replaced with the Media and Devices. ‘Media’ is to control music and videos that are playing on your phone (and other devices). ‘Devices’ is there so you can check and control your SmartThings devices straight from the quick panel.

Your digital wellbeing has been improved. You can set goals in order to keep your device usage in check. As well as this, you can activate a Focus mode in order to keep on track and avoid distractions.

Camera App

The camera now has an added ability to edit the modes that appear at the bottom of the screen. There is now a ‘More’ tab so that you can still access the camera mode you’ve chosen to hide. Additionally, you can focus more on the picture you’re taking as the settings have been moved with the improved layout.

When it comes to the internet, you’re able to customise the quick menu in order to get instant access to features you use the most often. To get even more features, you’re also able to install add-ons from the Galaxy Store.

Sometimes, you may delete a contact and immediately regret it. Now, there is a trash feature that has been added. When you delete a contact, it’ll stay in the trash for 15 days before being deleted forever on the Galaxy S6 Tab.

Calendar and Reminders

Now on the Calendar, you’re able to add stickers to a date without having to add an event. As well as this, you can now use your ringtones for event alerts. On the Reminder app, there are more options when it comes to repeating a reminder. When setting reminders, you’re able to make them location-based for a specific amount of time.

My Files App

Like deleting your contacts, if you delete a file and regret it, there is a trash feature so that you can restore them. When you’re searching for a specific file, there are more filters you can add in order to find it as quickly as possible. You can now copy/move multiple files or folders to different destinations at the same time – that’ll save you some time. The Calculator has been improved with speed and time units being added to the unit converter.

Samsung Keyboard

The Samsung keyboard now has a multilingual translation feature has been added as well as a text undo/redo feature. When you’re searching for music from Spotify, you can do it directly from the keyboard. There is a new icon to open Samsung Pass – you can access your password with a press of a button.

Quick Share and Music Share has been improved. With Quick Share, files can be easily shared with nearby Samsung devices. Music Share now lets you share your music with friends/family by using a Bluetooth audio device.

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Everyone wants to safe online, but, what if the thing you think is keeping you safe actually puts you at risk? Recently, Google has removed a popular VPN from their Play Store – named SuperVPN. This was after it was discovered that the service could allow hackers to redirect users to malicious websites.

SuperVPN has more than 100 million installs and was shown off as one of the top 5 VPN search results in the Google Play Store. The VPN contains vulnerabilities that allow a man-in-the-middle (MITM) attacks. This type of attack can expose messages that are sent between the user and the provider and redirect users away from genuine VPN servers.

After testing, it showed that the app also allows data to be delivered over HTTP – it’s insecure. Whilst information is being passed between the user and the backend is encrypted, the description keys are stored within the app itself. This makes them an easy target for hackers – which makes users an easy target. Over time, the app has drawn attention multiple times due to their suspicious methods. As well as this, the origin of the app remains unclear.

When Did SuperVPN First Get Flagged as A Security Threat?

Back in 2016, SuperVPN was first identified as a security threat. This happened when Australian researchers had ranked it third in an analysis of the most malware-rigged VPN apps. They suggested that the app has been posing risks to users ever since it landed in the Play Store. By that time the app had been downloaded 10,000 times.

Since January, the app’s user base has doubled to 100 million. The flood of installs could also be due to the Google Play Store search rankings being manipulated. The publisher has recently flooded their page many fake reviews from hidden users. As well as this, they generated illicit backlinks for them to secure a good position in Google rankings.

The millions of users that have downloaded the app have been suggested to delete the app ASAP.

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When you end up giving in and sharing your Netflix password with your loved ones, you want to make sure your user account is untouchable. Not giving in the first is an untouchable method, but, let’s move on …….What if they watch the rest of the series you were watching? Thankfully, Nextflix has made it possible to make a private profile and lets users create their individual Netflix PIN.

This update is part of a larger update that is intended to improve on parental controls – it allows content to be filtered depending on age. The age limitations are kids 7 and below and kids 13 and below. As well as this, the Netflix PINs will help the kids get off the TV for longer.

Setting up the Netflix PIN can be done from both desktop and mobile devices.

First, you have to sign in to your Netflix account and select your profile. Click “Account” from the drop-down menu that appears in the upper-right corner. Then, you want to scroll down to the Profile and Parental Controls section of your profile. Click “Change” in the Profile Lock section. Next, enter your Nexflix account password. After you’ve done that, check the box that says “Lock this profile by creating a 4-digit PIN”. Finally, enter your desired PIN and click Save.

As well as this, if you want to be really guarded, there’s an option to require the main account profile’s Netflix PIN to create other profiles. In the iOS app, these changes cannot be made yet.

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Many countries need to resort to video-calling in order to teach, work and perform certain tasks with people they cannot reach due to the COVID-19 pandemic. A video-conferencing app, in particular, Zoom, has become very popular to allow people to communicate with one another.

However, the app’s privacy issues have been under scrutiny in recent times. In effect, schools in New York have been told to use Microsoft Teams rather than the app to have online lessons. According to reports, the app has been banned due to their security issues.

What does the New York Department of Education Say?

In a memo that was issued by the NYC Department of Education (DOE), there was information that makes it seem that they no longer favour of Zoom’s usage. The guidance states that the school in New York have to move over to Teams as soon as possible.

As well as this, the DOE officials stated that Google’s platforms for video and audio conferencing with students are also safe enough to use. This is despite the fact they initially advised against it through a tweet. Many educators were unhappy with the sudden approval of Google after just stressing them with moving to Microsoft Teams.

As of now, there are no specific deadlines for schools to move over to Microsoft Teams. The DOE says that they’re working on a stress-free transition gradually. Some school representatives, on the other hand, are uncomfortable. They have stated that the change will be hard to implement for teachers and students. As well as this, it may even limit some students’ access to their remote education.

A spokesperson for NYC DOE, Danielle Filson, responded by stating that the department is training schools for the use of Microsoft Teams. They added that they will help students and teachers transition to the new platform.

The DOE has also said that they will continue monitoring the Zoom app. If the app is found to be secure enough again, then schools can transition back to the platform.

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Our smartphones all get dirty throughout the day. Whether its from touching it with our hands or other people doing the dirty work for us, they always get dirty – possibly picking up some viruses on the way. In particular we need to get rid of the Coronavirus if we manage to get it on our phones. So below we have a fresh guide to properly clean your smartphone.

First of all, you want to make sure you don’t use harsh chemicals on your smartphones glass. Why? Your phone glass has an oleophobic layer which helps you prevent fingerprint smudges. Harsh disinfectant chemicals such as alcohol, bleach and vinegar eat away at the coating. If this layer has already wasted away (the layer does erode after time) you could use some disinfectant wipes on your screen. You want to be careful that no liquid from the wipe gets into any ports or pinhole mics. This is to prevent the interior of your phone suffering from water damage.

How to clean your smartphone by hand

1. Firstly, you want to take your phone out of its case. If the case is safe to wash (made of silicone/TPU and hard plastic) don’t be afraid to run it under some warm water. Let the case air dry.
   If your case is made of specific materials (such as leather) you may want to look out for specific cleaners for that material.
2. Next, you could either use felt-tipped swabs from a phone cleaning kit or Q-Tips (after you’ve whittled them enough). You’ll use the swab to swab around the earpiece, speaker grills and other ports that you have on your phone.
   When swabbing the charging port, you want to make sure you leave no fibres from your swab in there or end up dislodging any pieces inside of the port. Or you could hope that your warranty or insurance covers it. If the swab doesn’t fit, you could use a small brush that usually comes with phone cleaning kits.
3. After that you want to grab a screen wipe and wipe down then screen and body of the phone.
   Screen wipes are specifically made for phone and won’t contain any of the harsh chemicals that antibacterial wipes would contain.
4. If there are any streaks from the wipe, you could use a microfiber cloth to wipe the screen clean.
5. One everything is dry (phone and case) go ahead and slam the phone into your case.

Disinfecting your smartphone (goodbye Covid-19)

There are multiple ways for you to disinfect your smartphone. If you’re living on the edge, you could use disinfectant wipes. But as you know, that is not good for the oleophobic layer on your screen.

The easiest way to disinfect your smartphone is to use UV lights. You can get what is basically a tanning bed but for phones. These cost about £30 on Amazon. So if you’re willing to pay, it could be a good solution for you. You want to make sure you get the right size for your phone. If you have one of the newer phones (Galaxy S10) you may want to grab a bigger size just to make sure your phone fits. Also, remember to disinfect your case, that is also a target for viruses.

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Many people around the world want to keep an eye on the COVID-19 pandemic. How many deaths? How many cases? Recoveries? Deaths? Which cities? Well now they can do that with ease as the Center for Systems Science and Engineering has built a coronavirus tracker dashboard for you to use. This tracks cases from around the world using data from WHO (World Health Organisation).

If you don’t want to have this on your laptop all the time, you don’t have to worry. There is a mobile version for your smartphone.

This coronavirus tracker dashboard shows the amount of confirmed cases, recoveries and deaths. Something you may want to note is that the amount of confirmed cases includes the presumptive positive cases as well.

How it’s displayed

The tool displays a map to show you where the cases have been confirmed. This is shown through dots being placed on the certain area where there are cases. The size of these dots depends on the amount of cases that area has. For example, an area with more than 50,000 – 100,000 cases will have the largest dot but an area with more than 17,000 – 50,000 will have a smaller dot.

Any customisation?

Additionally, you can change the basemap. Currently, there are 16 to choose from which seems like a pretty good range. These basemaps include GB Cartographic, GB Topographic, GB Light Grey, GB Background, GB Dark Grey, Imagery, Imagery Hybrid, Streets, Topographic, Navigation, Streets (Night), Terrain with Labels, Light Gray Canvas, Dark Gray Canvas, Oceans, and OpenStreetMap.

Also on the coronavirus tracker dashboard is a graph of cases. There are three in total for you to look at: Actual, Logarithmic and Daily Cases. The ‘Actual’ and the ‘Logarithmic’ graphs shows the amount of cases in Mainland China, cases in other locations and the total amount of people recovered over February and this month. The ‘Daily Cases’ graph shows the newly confirmed and newly recovered cases – pretty self-explanatory.

Click this link to get to the coronavirus tracker.

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The COVID-19 pandemic has been all over the news with several countries going into severe lockdown. During all of the panic and confusion, people have tried to benefit. Prices are going up and up and (mainly) antibacterial cleaning products have become scarce. Additionally, an Android app on your smartphone could be benefitting. How? Read on…

This app is a COVID-19 tracker – it shows you where the Coronavirus is know to be spread in your general area. This Android app seemed pretty useful but it has turned out to be a facade. The app then started locking users out of their phones. Additionally, they are demanding a RANSOM in order for their phones to be unlocked again. This lock ransomware takes advantage of a security flaw. It exploits this to then create its own lock password that the user isn’t able to guess on their own.

This malicious app isn’t found on the Play Store but is hosted at the coronavirusapp[.] site domain. This is reinforcement that downloading apps that are unsigned isn’t advisable (to say the least).

The website that hosts the coronavirus tracking app recently found out that this ransomware preforms a screen-lock attack by forcing a change in the password. For anyone with Android Nougat and newer versions, the attack is only successful if you haven’t set a password the first place. Older versions of Android are susceptible to the ransomware.

What happens if someone’s smartphone gets infected with the ransomware?

After the user has downloaded the fake Coronavirus tracker and gets infected, the users are demanded to give $100 in Bitcoin. The ransom should be paid within 48 hours. As well as this, if the amount isn’t paid, the users have been threatened to have their personal data claimed. The attacker(s) have additionally claimed to have the users GPS location at all times. They claim they could remotely wipe the Android phone.

The official message being sent by the coronavirus tracking app is “Note: Your GPS is watched and your location is known. If you try anything stupid your phone will be automatically erased,”

A Reddit user known as luca020400 has said that the password is “4865083501“. Let’s hope it works for any of you out there who have been affected.

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Anyone who uses the Chrome Browser should read this! You need to update your web browsing software immediately to the latest version of Chrome for your security. The new version of Chrome you should be getting is version 78.0.3904.87.

Why the rush? This is because the update has been released to patch up two severe vulnerabilities in the software that attackers are actively exploiting. The end-result of having someone exploit these vulnerabilities is a hijacked device. Obviously, no-one want this result.

The Chrome security team have said that both of the issues being patched are use-after-free vulnerabilities. Hackers can exploit this type of vulnerability to corrupt and/or modify data.

One of the issues affected Chrome’s audio component – CVE-2019-13720 – and the other affected was in the PDFium library – CVE-2019-13721.

Unfortunately, at the moment, there has been no news as to who is exploiting these Chrome security issues. But as an open exploit every man and his dog might be at it.

Google has released a security update like this just over a month ago. That update was also urgent. As well as this, it patched four use-after-free vulnerabilities. Earlier than that was March this year. The attackers were directing their exploitation towards Chrome’s FileReader component.

How to Update:

You want to go to “Help” and then press “About Google Chrome.” By doing this, you manually trigger the update process, so after that you need to restart the browser. Just to be sure it is best to re-check the version number to make sure it has in fact been updated correctly.

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VLC is a media player that probably most people know but forget to update. Just like me. A new update to the VLC application takes it to version 3.0.8 which fixes many issues that the app has. One especially dangerous bug could be exploited by hackers – something no-one wants that.

What is VLC?

VLC is a very popular media playing application that’s free on many platforms. These platforms include Android, macOS, Windows, Chrome OS, iOS and more. The app is currently being preserved by VideoLAN – a non-profit organisation.

This update for the VLC app has fixed 15 areas that VLC was exposed in. A Semmle researcher, Antonio Morales Maldonado, had said that he found eleven faults with the app. Not good.

The Semmle research team then explained “The most critical issues fixed are use-after-free and OOB write vulnerabilities. They could each potentially be used by an attacker to execute code on the victim machine through a specially crafted file. Effectively allowing an attacker to take control of the computer,”.

They had also said that there were minor bugs that had been found and reported so that the VLC team could potentially fix it. As well as that, VideoLAN had said that a third-party could trigger a crash of the VLC app or arbitrary code execution with the privileges of the target user. The issues themselves are most likely to just crash the app, they couldn’t exclude the fact that they could be used to leak user information.

People using the app have been advised to not open third-party files or people that they don’t trust. You should also refrain from untrusted sites accessing VLC. Make sure you disable any VLC browser plugins that you may be using.

For the security of your device and your personal data, I would listen to this advice and finally update the apps that you have been “meaning” to update.

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Samsung has recently released a teaser about the Galaxy Watch Active 2 and the Tab S6 Tablet on YouTube. Samsung has been teasing us with these devices for the last few weeks. From the teaser, the Galaxy Watch Active 2 is going to be launched on the 5th August and the Tab S6 is being launched on the 31st July (tomorrow). At the Samsung Unpacked event, the Galaxy Watch Active 2 will not be launched alongside the Note 10.

Galaxy Tab S6

The Galaxy Tab S6 has no official price or release dates so far. But, we have quite a lot of rumours and leaks to work with. The tablet will have the Snapdragon 855 chipset, a 7,040mAh battery and the AMOLED screen will be 2560 x 1600. Apparently, there will be two lenses on the back, a 13MP f/2.0 and a 5MP f/2.2. On the front, there is an 8MP f/2.0 that’s complete with facial recognition. The tablet having two rear cameras sounds a little wasteful. Two cameras aren’t necessary on tablets as they aren’t used that much for photography. Not by most normal people at least.

The device will be lighter than the Tab S4, which weighed about 480g. The tab S6 weighs 420g – an approximate 60g difference. The dimensions of the device will be 244.5 x 159.5 x 5.7mm.

Galaxy Watch Active 2

The Galaxy Watch Active 2 has some very nice features coming to it. These include the electrocardiogram, which may not be available at the time of its release as it needs approval from the US FDA. The other two, as you may know, are falling detection and afib notifications. The falling detection detects when you are falling and will contact an emergency contact if you cannot get up again. Afib notifications is to notify you when your heartbeat is irregular. You can use recordings to show to a professional and to potentially get help or advice.

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After the major flop which was the release of the Galaxy Fold to bloggers, Samsung had to delay their release date. The issues with the smartphone? The fact that the top protective layer was peel-able and the hinge let debris in under the screen. The folding crease had also completely broken. Now, Samsung have seemed to make a comeback as the launch date of the Galaxy Fold is to launch in September.

How have Samsung improved the Galaxy Fold?

So, now Samsung are once again going to release the Galaxy Fold. What have they changed? To start off, the top protective layer of the screen has been extended beyond the bezel. Meaning people can’t peel it off anymore because it now looks more apparent that it is part of the display structure. The smartphone now has more “reinforcements” to stop debris getting under the screen through the hinge. One of the reinforcements is that the top and bottom of the hinge area now have protection caps. There are also new metal layers underneath the display to protect it more. The space between the hinge and the body has now been reduced – hopefully less debris will get under the screen.

As well as all of these physical improvements, Samsung have been working to improve the Galaxy Fold’s user experience. They have optimised more apps and services for the foldable UX. Samsung, are now conducting the final tests for the smartphone before it is released in September. Samsung has also stated that the smartphone will be available in “select markets”. They have said that availability details for the Galaxy Fold will be shared as we get closer to the launch date. Samsung may be leaving out certain small markets as they’re just being cautious. That would be understandable after what happened to the original Galaxy Fold. The smartphone is also going to sell for the same price they announced before: $1,980 (£1584.75)

Hopefully, there will be no other setbacks for Samsung so then we can get the smartphone in our hands sooner than later.

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Dezeen, the world’s most influential architecture and design magazine, are collaborating with Samsung on a new competition – with prize money of $40,000. The Samsung Mobile Design Competition is open to professional and student designers for them to show how Galaxy smartphones, tablets and wearables could evolve.

They are specifically looking for the best graphics and accessory designs to enhance future Galaxy mobile devices and wearables The Global Samsung Mobile Design Competition 2019 has been split into two main categories. One category is for accessories that will allow you to experience Galaxy smartphones, tablets and wearables in a completely different way. The second category is for screen wallpapers with special Interest on interactivity and contextual awareness.

The top five finalists in each category will be chosen to fly to London, where they will be able to present their designs to a jury that Includes Samsung executives and Dezeen editor-in-chief Marcus Fairs. The top 3 winners from each category will be Invited to the Samsung Developer Conference in San Hose, USA to receive their prizes.

In order to be considered for this contest, you need to be a professional designer or design student, aged over 18, and able to present their work to a panel of English-speaking judges.

Full details on the competition, including submission instructions and prize information, can be found at Dezeen’s website. Apply by 4th August for a chance to be part of this exciting competition.

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