Category: Tech

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Tech

Apple ID Holders Across China Exposed to a “Phishing” Hack – Two-Factor Authentication Recommended By Apple

A new case of “phishing” in China reminds us how important it is to opt for two-factor authentication to protect our Apple user ID, especially if we have linked a credit or debit card to it. A week ago, two Chinese online payment giants, namely, Alipay and WeChat, reported that their customers whose Apple IDs were linked to the before-mentioned company’s accounts had been hacked. The e-stores noticed misuse of the Apple users’ electronic wallets.

According to The Wall Street Journal, the Apple company has now sent a message apologizing sincerely for the situation. However, they also confirmed that the problem has occurred outside the Cupertino-based company, and has been limited to a massive case of “phishing,” an email scam in which the cyberattackers send a message that looks like coming from Apple but, in reality, is not Apple.

Apple recommend two-factor authentication after the recent “phishing” attacks of Apple ID across China

According to this “phishing” email, the Apple ID user is urged to connect to a page that looks like Apple’s official site, but, once again, is not Apple’s. When Apple users connect to that fake website and enter their Apple ID account and password, they are giving their credentials to hackers who use them as they want.

“We apologize sincerely for the inconvenience caused to customers affected by these phishing scams,” Apple stated.

Apparently, the hacked Apple customers had not configured two-factor authentication, which would have prevented hackers from accessing their Apple ID. However, as reported, the issue only affected Apple users across China.

Apple has not confirmed how many of its clients have been affected, nor what money amounts have been stolen. Also, the Cupertino-based company did not offer details on how cyberattackers obtained the list of the Apple IDs across China to send “phishing” emails to them. However, Apple recommended users worldwide to adopt two-factor authentication.

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Tech

Microsoft Surface Pro 6 Is The Best Substitute For Laptops

Microsoft now means more than just Windows OS. Unlike ten years ago, today, the giant tech company also represent top-of-the-line hardware, of which Microsoft Surface Pro is the leading device. Surface Pro has not had much serious competition in recent years, so if you want a tablet that would also be a replacement for your laptop, there aren’t many other good options. Besides iPad Pro, none of the competitors represent a severe threat to the Microsoft Surface Pro dominance. Now, Microsoft announced the Surface Pro 6 which now comes with a quad-core processor.

The Microsoft Surface Pro 6 is an elegant and refined gadget, boasting a similar design to that of the previous models, but improved. The chassis is robust and distinctive and has everything that we could expect from a premium version of this device. Microsoft has even developed an aesthetic that is unique in comparison with both Apple and the rest of tablets.

But the truth is that the giant tech company did not bring much new design improvement compared to the previous Surface gadgets. It’s neither thicker, nor thinner than older Surface Pros.

Microsoft Surface Pro 6 is the fiercest competitor for modern laptops

Microsoft Surface Pro 6 is designed to be a real laptop replacement and, according to its under the hood specs, it is indeed competing with the most recently released laptops. The basic version of the new Microsoft Surface Pro 6 boasts an Intel CPU of the 8th generation, which is a significant upgrade to the Surface Pro 2017, particularly in the multitasking capabilities.

As good as the Core i5-8250U processor is, the downside of the new Microsoft Surface Pro 6 is that the manufacturer did not opt for the latest Intel CPU. The Kaby Lake-R processor, the new tablet-PC packs, is almost 1-year-old and lacks some of the features boasted by the new Intel CPU.

Regarding internal storage, the new Microsoft Surface Pro 6 comes with SSD PCIe NVMe Hynix with a write speed of over 1,000 megabytes per second, which is twice the speed of the SATA SSDs used in the Asus NovaGo or HP Envy x2, for example. However, it was a bit slower than the Samsung SSD that was used in last year’s model.

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News Tech

Top Best Digital Scanners of 2018

Top Best Digital Scanners of 2018

1. Whistler WS1065 Desktop Digital Scanner for a Traditional Model

Many people consider buying a police scanner so that they can keep in touch with their neighborhood in case an emergency happens. If you choose this one, then you will be delighted to see that even though it sits like an old-fashioned radio, it offers the best that the technology can provide.

You can enjoy a clear signal and program your preferred stations. This specific model will last you a long time, so you will not need to replace it for a good amount of years.

2. Uniden BCD436HP for Modern Digital Scanners

If you feel the necessity to have a more modern handheld scanner than you might find exactly what you need in this one. You can see various channel options on the clear screen this model provides you with.

What is even better is that you can take it anywhere with you so even though you are on the move you will be kept updated with what is happening.

3. Whistler TRX-1 Offers a Handheld Model

Many people choose a handheld police scanner even though there are other possibilities as well. If you must have a handheld scanner that you can choose this one as it offers many other bonuses as well.

Finding the best scanners has never been s easy. You only need to enter your zip code. The external antenna gives you the possibility to hear everything you want even though you are further away from you are.

4. Whistler WS1040 Offers Weather Options

What is great about this scanner is that you can stay updated on the weather. You might live in an area where tornados and storms often happen so this scanner will help you with that and many more.

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News Tech

iOS 12 Augmented Reality and New Performance Reports

The latest software update for iPhones and iPads was released this year, on 17th of September, following the iPhone XS launch event. We’ll take a look at the most recent operating system from Apple, iOS 12, in order to see how different its features, interface, ease of use and performance are from the previous OS.

Augmented reality in iOS 12

If you are interested in AR, then iOS 12 should definitely suit you better than the previous operating system. A new file format, named USDZ, allows designers and developers to generate their own AR experiences, which can be easily shared. More than that, the News app is now featuring AR content. Also, thanks to the newly updated ARKit 2, you can take measurements of a real-world object by simply using your iPhone’s camera and a new app called Measure. Shared experiences are also made possible through ARKit, which means that while playing an AR game, several players from different iPads can observe the gameplay from their own perspective.

Differences when it comes to performance

Compared to iOS 11, Apple’s newest software is meant to run faster and better. The performance of the processor is supposed to be increased only when the device needs it, while being decreased in the remaining time, so that the life of the battery will be preserved. According to the tech giant, this is especially true for older phones.

What about the Photos app?

From what we’ve seen, the Photos app in iOS 12 has more categories than in iOS 11, so it should have a bigger success than before. Here are the things that iPhones running the new operating system offer: playgrounds, cars, babies, forests, aquariums, lakes, sport and stadiums. So you can clearly see that Photos is getting a little bit smarter in iOS 12. Something else that is different in iOS 12 is that your iPhone can now, in fact, suggest you whom you should share your pictures with.

FaceTime – the exciting feature that gives us group video calls

The long-awaited feature that allows people to engage in group video calls is finally here. Any user can now video chat with as many as 31 other people at the exact same moment, which is pretty cool. This is a great new option and there were many people requesting it before, so the fact that Apple has finally brought this to its users along with the release of iOS 12 is great. There is, however, one thing that doesn’t necessarily look good when using this feature – the way the tiles move around on the screen, while changing their sizes at the same time as users speak. Hopefully this will be improved in the future.

What’s new about Siri

Even though Siri in iOS 11 is not that bad, the improved Siri in iOS 12 has a new feature that is pretty interesting. On some occasions, the shortcuts that are normally created by voice will be generated by third-party apps and you even have the option to create your own shortcuts.

Animoji in iOS 12 – new changes

There is a clear difference between Animoji in Apple’s previous operating system and the current one. iOS 12 allows users to create their own animated emoji, which is called Memoji, whereas in iOS 11 we only had a pre-established set of Animoji. So this is great news for fans of this fun feature.

Combating device addiction

When it comes to digital wellbeing, the features that are meant to fight against device addiction, iOS 12 has a new addition, a new submode called Do Not Disturb During Bedtime, which also allows users to set an ending for the DND option by adding a time and a location. Moreover, notifications are also grouped in iOS 12 by app, thread and topic, so this will definitely be helpful for a lot of people. There is also an exciting new feature, Screen Time, which lets people monitor their device usage by app category, time of day or night and others.

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Markets Tech

Google Will Charge Android Smartphone Manufacturers For Pre-Installing Google Play Store

The European Commission fined Google last July and forced it to pay a total of 4,34 billion Euros for its dominant position in the market for its Android mobile operating system, as they forced smartphones manufacturers to include apps such as Chrome or Google Search. Also, according to the European Commission, the giant Internet company even paid some large mobile phones manufacturers to add these apps as default to their handsets. Now, Google is reportedly charging mobile manufacturers for Google Play Store.

Google is going to start charging a fee to smartphone manufacturers for using Google Play Store

Additionally, the European Commission gave Google 90 days to stop forcing manufacturers to include Google Chrome and Google Search on their mobile phones as mandatory for implementing the Google Play Store. The company also prevented the creation of Android forks, which the company argued would not be as stable as the original versions.

Now, as the period granted by EU ended, Google announced changes to comply with the European Commission’s requirements. The most significant difference is that the giant Internet company will now charge a fee to Android smartphones manufacturers for adding the Google Play Store as a default app.

Google’s decision would come in force on October 29th, across the European Economic Area, which affects the 28 EU members, plus Iceland, Liechtenstein, and Norway. Thus, the prices of smartphones might surge across the EU.

The European Commission paved the way to third-party pre-installed Internet browsers, search engines, and other apps

Thus, manufacturers such as Samsung or Huawei will have to pay for pre-installing the Google Play Store on devices sold across the European Union. In return, these smartphone manufacturers will not have to add Google Search or Google Chrome, although they will be able to do it for free if they want.

However, the European Commission paved the way to third-party pre-installed apps, allowing companies to deal with other Android developers for adding other Internet browsers and search engines than Google’s ones. For example, they could install browsers such as Microsoft Edge, Opera or Firefox, and they could even create their own Android forks with a more significant presence of apps developed by Microsoft, for example.

The smartphones manufacturers can now opt for other search engines, as well, such as Bing or DuckDuckGo. Until now, that was impossible because of the strong restrictions Google implemented for its Android OS.

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