Enlarge Rockwell Automation Hardware that is widely used to control equipment in factories and other industrial settings can be remotely commandeered by exploiting a newly disclosed vulnerability that has a severity score of 10 out of 10. The vulnerability is found in programmable logic controllers from Rockwell Automation that are marketed under the Logix brand. […]
Gears & Gadgets
Google’s Smart TV software will have a “dumb TV” mode
Google TV setup will show you this menu in the future. Here, the Google TV option enables apps, the Google Assistant, and recommendations. 9to5Google Basic TV mode will turn off all but the essentials. 9to5Google This is what the Google TV interface normally looks like. Google And here’s basic mode. Other than the banner at […]
Code-execution flaw in VMware has a severity rating of 9.8 out of 10
Enlarge Getty Images Hackers are mass-scanning the Internet in search of VMware servers with a newly disclosed code-execution vulnerability that has a severity rating of 9.8 out of a possible 10. CVE-2021-21974, as the security flaw is tracked, is a remote code-execution vulnerability in VMware vCenter server, an application for Windows or Linux that administrators […]
Google’s Wear OS neglect has left voice activation broken for months
Enlarge / A Wear OS watch. Ron Amadeo Poor, dying Wear OS. Apparently, the Google Assistant on Wear OS has been broken for months, and until now, no one at Google has noticed. About four months ago, diehard Wear OS users started a thread on the public Android issue tracker saying that the “OK Google” hotword […]
Firefox 86 brings multiple Picture-in-Picture, “Total Cookie Protection”
I installed Firefox 86 on my Ubuntu workstation using Snap to be certain I wouldn’t accidentally mess with my working system configuration. Jim Salter Although Firefox 86 is the default download from Mozilla, the Snap store hasn’t quite caught up yet. I needed to snap refresh firefox –channel=latest/candidate in order to get build 86. Jim […]
Ukraine says Russia hacked its document portal and planted malicious files
Enlarge Oleksii Leonov Ukraine has accused the Russian government of hacking into one of its government Web portals and planting malicious documents that would install malware on end users’ computers. “The purpose of the attack was the mass contamination of information resources of public authorities, as this system is used for the circulation of documents […]
Lenovo updates ThinkPad lineup with 16:10 screens and more
The front of the ThinkPad X13. Lenovo One side of the ThinkPad X13. Lenovo The other side of the ThinkPad X13. Lenovo The front of the ThinkPad X13 Yoga. Lenovo The ThinkPad X13 Yoga in a convertible configuration. Lenovo One side of the ThinkPad X13 Yoga. Lenovo Today, Lenovo announced a broad overhaul of its […]
Pixel 5a leak shows a headphone jack, flat screen, and a familiar design
The Pixel… 5a? It looks exactly like all the other recent Pixels. Steve Hemmerstoffer I spy a headphone jack and a rear fingerprint reader. Steve Hemmerstoffer The Pixel’s flashy power button is its one unique design touch. Steve Hemmerstoffer Steve Hemmerstoffer, aka OnLeaks, is back with our first look at a render of Google’s next midrange […]
Huawei’s new $2,800 foldable phone copies Samsung’s Galaxy Fold line
The Huawei Mate X2. It looks just like a Galaxy Z Fold 2. Huawei Huawei did a great job on the bezels and aspect ratio. That’s a normal 21:9 display on the front, and the interior screen is nearly two 21:9 displays put together, which will be great for split screen. Huawei A live picture […]
Apple beats Samsung in phone sales for first time since 2016
The iPhone 12 Pro Max (left) and iPhone 12 mini (right). Samuel Axon Never let it be said there isn’t a range of size options at this point. Samuel Axon ` Samuel Axon Apple beat out Samsung to become the world’s leading seller of smartphones in the fourth quarter of 2020, according to a new […]
New malware found on 30,000 Macs has security pros stumped
Enlarge Jayson Photography / Getty Images A previously undetected piece of malware found on almost 30,000 Macs worldwide is generating intrigue in security circles, which are still trying to understand precisely what it does and what purpose its self-destruct capability serves. Once an hour, infected Macs check a control server to see if there are […]
What’s new in the first Android 12 Developer Preview
Enlarge / This green circle (we added the background) is the Android 12 logo, we guess. The first Android 12 developer preview hit the streets Thursday, and we’ve played with it for a day. There’s not a lot to see in this release—at least not at first. Most of the interesting bits are hidden, and […]
Apple faces development hurdles with MagSafe battery pack accessory
This is the current MagSafe charger, which is sold separately from the iPhone 12. Samuel Axon The MagSafe charger attached to an iPhone 12. Samuel Axon Bloomberg has published yet another report sharing details of a planned Apple product launch. This time, the publication’s sources say Apple is working on a magnetically attached battery pack for […]
Microsoft says SolarWinds hackers stole source code for 3 products
Enlarge Drew Angerer | Getty Images The hackers behind one of the worst breaches in US history read and downloaded some Microsoft source code, but there’s no evidence they were able to access production servers or customer data, Microsoft said on Thursday. The software maker also said it found no evidence the hackers used the […]
Apple is already working on developing 6G wireless technology
Enlarge / The iPhone 12 and 12 Pro, side by side. Samuel Axon Apple has posted multiple job listings indicating that it is hiring engineers to work on 6G technology internally so it does not have to rely on partners like Qualcomm as the next generation of wireless technology hits several years down the line. […]