Archives January 2023

A new phishing campaign has been uncovered impersonating logistics giant DHL to try and steal Microsoft 365 credentials from victims in the education industry, experts has claimed.

Cybersecurity researchers from Armorblox recently discovered a major phishing campaign, with more than 10,000 emails sent to inboxes belonging to a “private education institution”. 

Has it ever happened to you that you’ve tried to find an important file, document, photo or anything else and you find them missing from your PC? Well, we think that all of us have gone through that at least once in our life. Accidentally deleting important files can be a frustrating and stressful experience, but fortunately, there are ways to recover them on Windows 11. The following is a step-by-step guide on how to find and restore accidentally deleted files on Windows 11.
Prerequisites:
You should have a recent backup of your files or file recovery software installed on your computer before proceeding with the recovery process.
The deleted files should not be overwritten by new files, otherwise, the recovery will be unsuccessful.
Step-by-step guide:
Look for the deleted files in the Recycle Bin. If you find the files, you can restore them by right-clicking on them and selecting “Restore.”

Conclusion:
Recovering accidentally deleted files on Windows 11 is possible if the files have not been overwritten by new files. The Recycle Bin is the first place to check for deleted files, and if they are not there, file recovery software can be used to scan the computer for deleted files. It is important to have a recent backup or file recovery software installed before an accidental deletion occurs. And also It is always recommended to periodically back up your important files to avoid data loss.

Apple launched the new 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models with the M2 Pro and M2 Max processors. One of the key features that the new MacBook Pro brings is Wi-Fi 6E, support, which is up to twice as fast as the previous generation. Here we explain what is Wi-Fi 6E and what it brings to laptops, smartphones and other devices
What is Wi-Fi 6E
Wi-Fi 6E is the latest version of the Wi-Fi standard that was developed to improve the performance of wireless networks. It is an extension of the Wi-Fi 6 standard and utilises the newly available 6 GHz frequency band in addition to the 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz bands used by previous Wi-Fi standards.
What is the difference between Wi-Fi 6 and Wi-Fi 6E?
According to Intel, the most impactful difference is that Wi-Fi 6E devices use a dedicated 6E spectrum with up to seven additional 160 MHz channels while Wi-Fi 6 devices share the same congested spectrum—and only two 160 MHz channels—with other legacy Wi-Fi 4, 5, and 6 devices. This gives Wi-Fi 6E devices the advantage and ability to experience gigabit speeds more easily.
What are the benefits of Wi-Fi 6E?
One of the main advantages of Wi-Fi 6E is that it provides more bandwidth and reduces interference. With more available spectrum, Wi-Fi 6E can support more devices and handle more data-intensive applications like streaming high-definition video, gaming, and virtual reality. This is because the 6GHz band provides more channels compared to the 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands, which means more data can be transmitted simultaneously, resulting in faster speeds, lower latency and improved capacity for large numbers of devices.
Wi-Fi 6E also includes other enhancements such as improved security and power management features. For example, Wi-Fi 6E supports the latest encryption standards, such as WPA3, which provides stronger security for wireless networks. It also supports Target Wake Time (TWT), a feature that allows devices to schedule their wake-up times to conserve power and extend battery life.
Another advantage of Wi-Fi 6E is that it is backward compatible with Wi-Fi 6, 5, and 4, which means that devices that support Wi-Fi 6E can connect to networks that use previous Wi-Fi standards. This makes the transition to Wi-Fi 6E easier for users and helps to ensure that devices will continue to work even if they are not updated to the latest standard.
Where will Wi-Fi 6E be more useful?
Generally, Wi-Fi 6E will make speed and connectivity better. Cisco, in a blog post, lists some use cases of Wi-Fi 6E. According to Cisco, Wi-Fi 6E will enable more innovative use cases, such as it can help to solve capacity problems at large and congested venues, like concert halls and stadiums. Further, high-frequency spectrum allows for ultra-low-latency and emerging data-intensive applications and services, such as telehealth. Wi-Fi 6E is able to provide reliable and consistent low-latency connectivity for critical applications, which can’t afford data delays, says Cisco in a blog post.
How is Wi-Fi 6E better than Wi-Fi 6?
Wi-Fi 6E is better than Wi-Fi 6 because it provides more bandwidth, reduces interference, improves security and power management, and is backward compatible with previous Wi-Fi standards. This means faster speeds, lower latency, improved capacity, and better support for data-intensive applications. Moreover, as more devices are released that support Wi-Fi 6E, the overall performance of wireless networks will improve.

One term that we often find brands highlighting about their TWS earbuds is “Noise Cancellation”. While it is an important feature as it is responsible to reduce or eliminate unwanted background noise from the audio experience. The thing is that there are different types of noise cancellation and you must have come across them while shopping for a new pair of wireless earphones. They are Active Noise Cancellation (ANC) and Passive Noise Cancellation (PNC) which is often referred to as regular Noise Cancellation (NC) or Environmental Noise Cancellation (ENC). Wondering how the two main noise cancellations differ? Read on to know:
Active Noise Cancellation (ANC)
Active noise cancellation (ANC) is the most advanced type of noise cancellation available in TWS earphones. It uses advanced algorithms and microphones to actively analyse and cancel out ambient noise in real-time. ANC works by creating an “anti-noise” sound wave that is the exact opposite of the background noise, effectively cancelling it out. This results in a much more immersive audio experience, with little to no background noise interfering.
Passive Noise Cancellation:
Passive noise cancellation is the simplest and most common type of noise cancellation in TWS earphones. It uses physical barriers, such as the earbuds themselves, to block out ambient noise. Passive noise cancellation works by creating a tight seal around the ear canal, which helps to prevent outside noise from entering the ear. The earbuds themselves also act as a physical barrier, blocking out a significant amount of noise. Environmental Noise Cancellation or AI Noise Cancellation or just Noise Cancellation, all three of them are mostly terminologies used by manufacturers and are somewhat a little tweaked version of Passive Noise Cancellation.
Hybrid Noise Cancellation:
Hybrid noise cancellation is a combination of both active and passive noise cancellation. TWS earphones with hybrid noise cancellation feature both ANC and passive noise cancellation technology. This allows them to effectively block out both ambient noise and external sounds, resulting in an even more immersive audio experience. Hybrid noise cancellation is considered to be the best of both worlds, as it combines the advanced technology of ANC with the simplicity of passive noise cancellation.

Last year, Twitter started showing the view count for all tweets just like people can see view counts on YouTube videos. However, the change didn’t receive a warm welcome and received harsh criticism from users and an ex-employee alike. The company CEO Elon Musk then asked Twitterati where should the “view counter” be moved.
Twitter view count location change
Twitter announced via a tweet that the view count feature will now be shifted from the extreme left to the right side.
“Many of you didn’t like seeing view counts on the left. We heard you. View counts will now show on the right side of your Tweet, located between the Like and Share icons. Live on the web, iOS and Android coming soon!,” Twitter Support announced in a tweet.

What is Twitter view count?
Twitter view count is a little bar graph that tells the number of times a particular tweet has been seen. Users can also see the count by accessing tweet analytics. Tweets now have five options with icons: Reply, Retweet, Likes, View Count and Share.
After the feature was rolled out in December, Musk said, “Twitter is much more alive than people think.”

View count feature is “depressing”, says ex-employee
Soon after the launch, there was a lot of conversation around the feature and an ex-employee, who claimed that he worked on it, also chimed in saying Twitter removed the feature because it was “depressing.”
Twitter’s former employee Paul Stamatiou quoted Musk’s tweet and replied that he worked on the feature in 2015, the team tested it but found out that the feature was “depressing” and wasn’t worth investing in.
“I worked on this at Twitter in 2015. IIRC we tested it and most people didn’t get any views and we had to have some thresholds before showing it as ‘0 views’ was depressing. We also wanted to be accurate and not count if someone quickly scrolls past your tweet in their TL,” Stamatiou tweeted.

He explained that the platform also explored the idea of showing view count only for ‘notable tweets’ (purportedly tweets by notable personalities) but this actually defeated the feature’s purpose, which was to let people show that they were not “Tweeting into the void”. Those with zero views on their tweets actually proved “they kinda were” [tweeting into the void].
“[It] felt like a useless vanity thing to show that wasn’t worth investing in further,” Stamatiou noted.
Stamatiou essentially pointed out the stigma associated with ‘likes’ and ‘shares’ on social media platforms. Simply put, people are usually under pressure of being liked/ noticed and relate the number of views/ likes with their acceptance on social media platforms.

If people get less likes/ views, they start losing interest in using that service. This is the case with apparently all social media platforms, including Meta-owned Facebook and Instagram. It is to be noted that Instagram offers its users a way to hide likes on posts.
The social media platform said that they are “making like counts private to reduce the pressure of posting to your Feed. We hope this will help people focus more on the photos and videos, rather than on how many likes a post received.”

Sony has launched the FE 20-70mm F4 G lens (SEL2070G) in India. This compact, lightweight, full-frame lens features a versatile 20-70 mm zoom range and a constant F4 aperture. It boasts high-quality G LensTM image, fast and accurate autofocus and a smart design for ease of use. This lens is suitable for various types of photography and videography, including vlogging, filmmaking, and capturing portraits and landscapes.
Sony FE 20-70mm F4 G lens: Price and availability
The FE 20-70mm F4 G lens will be available for purchase starting February 2nd, 2023, for a price of Rs 124,990 through Sony Center, Alpha Flagship stores, Sony authorized dealers, e-commerce websites like Amazon and Flipkart and major electronic stores across India.
Sony FE 20-70mm F4 G lens: Specifications, features and more
The FE 20-70mm F4 G lens from Sony offers an ultra-wide zoom range of 20 mm to 70 mm and a constant F4 aperture. It utilizes the latest lens design and XD Linear Motors technology to deliver high-quality images in any situation. The 20 mm end of the zoom range also enables videographers to maintain a wide angle of view when shooting in a 16:9 or 2.35:1 aspect ratio. It is ideal for photographers and videographers looking to minimize their equipment while still achieving great results.
The FE 20-70mm F4 G lens offers exceptional image quality and beautiful bokeh that lives up to the G Lens standard.
The lens features two AA elements, one aspherical element, three ED glass elements and one ED aspherical element for advanced correction of chromatic and spherical aberrations resulting in high optical performance throughout the zoom range.
The coatings are optimized for increased resistance to flare and ghosting, ensuring extraordinary contrast and clarity. The full-frame image sensors and 9-blade circular aperture, and optimally tuned spherical aberration lead to beautiful bokeh, making this lens an excellent choice for capturing impressive and memorable imagery.
The FE 20-70mm F4 G lens allows for easy manoeuvring around subjects with its short minimum focusing distance, with a minimum focusing distance of 0.3 meters at the wide end and 0.25 meters at the telephoto end when using autofocus. Additionally, the lens offers a maximum magnification of 0.39x for capturing dynamic and detailed close-ups.
The FE 20-70mm F4 G lens is equipped with two of Sony’s latest XD Linear Motors that provides fast, quiet, and low-vibration focus drive. The motors have improved thrust efficiency over previous models, resulting in a 60% increase in AF speed and a two times improvement in tracking performance for capturing fast-moving subjects with consistency and precision.
The lens can shoot continuous stills of fast-moving subjects at up to 30 frames per second with the Alpha 1 body and can smoothly record when shooting high-frame-rate video.
The FE 20-70mm F4 G lens is a compact and lightweight lens that utilizes the latest lens technology to reduce focus breathing and focus and axial shift when zooming, ensuring high-quality images are captured. Additionally, it’s designed for quiet operation when shooting movies, with advanced XD linear motors and a new aperture unit that reduces noise and vibration. It works well with Alpha series cameras’ Active Mode image stabilization, providing excellent image stabilization performance while maintaining a wide angle of view.
The lens also features two high-thrust XD Linear Motors and a high-level control system for easy and accurate focus and smooth tracking of fast-moving subjects, Linear Response MF for direct and linear manual focusing and an independent aperture ring for intuitive aperture control.
The FE 20-70mm F4 G lens has independent focus, zoom, and aperture rings for full control when shooting stills and maximum versatility when recording video. It also has customizable focus hold buttons and a focus mode switch for easy access and convenient control. It is compatible with circular polarising filters and includes an Iris Lock switch to prevent unwanted changes while shooting. The lens is also dust and moisture-resistant, and the front lens element features a fluorine coating to repel fingerprints, dust, water, oil, and other contaminants.

Samsung has confirmed its first big event of the year – Galaxy Unpacked – for February 1. Leaks and rumours have suggested several new device launches at the event including the Galaxy S23, Galaxy S23+ and Galaxy S23 Ultra. The rumour mill has been abuzz with leaks, image renders and more. Now, SamMobile has revealed the complete specifications of the Galaxy S23 Ultra ahead of the official unveiling.
Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra: Leaked specifications
According to the report, the Galaxy S23 Ultra will feature the new 200MP primary shooter with low light improvements and 10X optical zoom with OIS. Apart from that, the handset is expected to be powered by Qualcomm’s latest Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chipset and it will be backed by a 5000mAh battery.
The Galaxy S23 Ultra is speculated to offer up to 12GB LPDDR5 RAM and 1TB storage. Display-wise, the handset is likely to retain the same 6.8-inch display from Galaxy S22 Ultra with minor improvements. Additionally, it is expected to feature Gorilla Glass Victus 2 on the top, HDR10+ and an under-display fingerprint scanner.
Other features that are also likely to be there are Dolby Atmos with the stereo speaker, IP68 water and dust rating, wireless charging, reverse charging, etc.
Devices expected to launch at Galaxy Unpacked 2023
As per reports, Samsung will announce the new Galaxy S23 series phones. Alongside that, the company is also expected to announce a new laptop under the Galaxy Book series. Most likely it will be the Galaxy Book Ultra. In addition, we may also get to see the new Galaxy Buds and Galaxy Tab S9 lineup at the event.

Last week, UK’s Royal Mail claimed that it was hit by an unspecified “cyber incident”. The British mail service was unable to dispatch items to overseas destinations due to this incident. Now, Royal Mail CEO Simon Thompson has confirmed that the “ongoing disruption” at the UK postal service has been caused by a cyberattack. According to a report by TechCrunch, while responding to the questions put forward by lawmakers, Thompson told a UK parliamentary committee that Royal Mail was hit by a cyberattack. Moreover, Thompson added that the mail service believes that no customer data was compromised in the attack. However, the organisation is ready if the situation changes. As a precautionary measure, Royal Mail CEO also mentioned having notified the UK data protection regulator, the Information Commissioner’s Office.
Royal Mail cyber attack: More details
Royal Mail CEO Thompson’s court session was conducted to provide evidence to lawmakers regarding the ongoing dispute with the service’s union workers. At this session, Thompson confirmed the cyberattack on Royal Mail but declined to comment on the specifics of the attack. He claimed that discussing details of the incident would be “detrimental” to the ongoing investigation. However, he mentioned that the postal service “continues to experience disruption to its international export services” after the cyberattack.
How Royal Mail is fighting the cyberattack
The UK postal service hasn’t confirmed when this disruption is likely to end. These disruptions were compounded by the existing “backlogs and delays that have arisen from strike action,” the company claimed. However, Thompson clarified that a “workaround” is expected to be available soon.

He said that Royal Mail is no longer able to export parcels and letters through its postal services. Thompson said that the company has been working on workarounds to get the service “up and running again.” Several questions still remain unanswered about the Royal Mail cyberattack like the nature of the attack and who was responsible for it.
Multiple media reports claim that Royal Mail was hit by a ransomware attack that jeopardised the machines that printed customs labels for parcels sent to overseas destinations.
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Social media platform Twitter has seen a lot of changes since it was taken over by Tesla CEO Elon Musk in October 2022. Earlier, Twitter didn’t allow its users to purchase its verification feature and the blue tick indicated “active, notable, and authentic accounts of public interest” verified by Twitter. Now, the social media platform allows account holders to buy Twitter Blue service at $8/month on the web and $11/month for those who sign up on iPhones. According to a report by the BBC, the Taliban have started using Twitter’s paid-for verification feature. This means that some Taliban members now have blue ticks on their accounts.
Taliban using Twitter Blue service
As per the report, at least two Taliban officials and four users who support the Afghani militant group are currently using Twitter checkmarks. The head of the Taliban’s department for “access to information”, Hedayatullah Hedayat, now has the blue tick on his Twitter account. Hedayat’s Twitter account has 187,000 followers and it is used regularly to post information about the Taliban administration. Local media claimed that the social media platform removed his paid-for blue tick last month, but it has now returned.
Moreover, the head of the media watchdog at the Afghan Ministry of Information and Culture, Abdul Haq Hammad, also has a blue tick on his account. Hammad’s account also has 170,000 followers. Apart from this, prominent Taliban supporters like Muhammad Jalal (who previously identified as a Taliban official) have also acquired the blue tick. Jalal even praised the new owner of Twitter and declared that Elon Musk was “making Twitter great again”.

None of the accounts of Taliban officials carried the blue tick mark before the company introduced the Twitter Blue services. The militant group took over verified accounts run by the previous administration after returning to power in Kabul in August 2021.
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Apple has announced its latest MacBook Pro 14 and MacBook Pro 16 with M2 Pro and M2 Max chipsets. In addition, the new MacBooks also support up to 96GB RAM and a whooping 8TB of storage. Also, users get the option to configure the MacBook Pro as per their choice.
For instance, the MacBook Pro 14 can be configured with four processors — two from each M2 Pro and M2 Max. In addition to this, buyers have the option to crank it up to 96GB of RAM and up to 8TB of storage. Also, for the first time, Apple is offering the option to choose charging adapter wattage.
All of this is enough to confuse the buyers and mix and match the right configuration. To solve that, we have done all the permutations and combinations for the new MacBook Pro 14 and listed down every variation of the MacBook Pro 14 that you can buy and how much it is going to cost you. Refer to the tables below:
Apple MacBook Pro 14: Available configurations
Apple MacBook Pro 14 is available starting at Rs 1,99,900 for the base variant. But, Apple allows users to mix and match different configurations and build the MacBook Pro 14 as per their needs. Here’s every configuration that’s available for you to choose from.
Before that, you should know that not all the specifications can go with all the processors. For instance, the Apple M2 Pro with 10 core CPU, 16 core GPU and 16 core Neural Engine processor is only available with up to 32GB RAM. Similarly, if you are looking for the top of the line 96GB RAM, then it is available only with the Apple M2 Max with 12 core CPU, 38 core GPU and 16 core Neural Engine chipset. The same applies to other specifications as well. Take a look at the table.