Archives January 2023

Hackers have been detected abusing a Google Ads feature to deliver adult websites and infostealing (opens in new tab) websites to unsuspecting victims.

Google Ads, the search engine giant’s advertising platform, has a feature allowing users to invite other people to the account administration interface. 

The best way to school people on desperately dull topics is through humor, at least that’s the assumption made by Apple in its new four-part Data Privacy video series featuring Ted Lasso’s Nick Mohammed.

The video, which was released today as part of a multi-pronged effort to highlight Data Privacy Day (January 28), the week that leads up to it, and all the data privacy tools iPhone users may or may not be using, spotlights four core iPhone data privacy features.

Nvidia totally dominated Google search queries for graphics cards last year, according to a freshly released report that did a deep dive into those searches.

Wccftech (opens in new tab) spotted that Razzem.com (opens in new tab) (specifically Raul Bilc) compiled a list of the most searched-for graphics cards on Google throughout 2022, focusing on 62 desktop GPUs from AMD, Intel, and Nvidia.

Apple has released a fix to a dangerous security flaw that could have allowed threat actors to completely take over older versions of the iPhone and the iPad. 

The flaw was apparently being used in the wild, but Apple is not sharing any details on exact incidents until the majority of the endpoints (opens in new tab) apply the patch.

When Apple announced the new Mac mini (M2), one of the interesting tidbits was that its HDMI port has been upgraded, although only if you get the version with the M2 Pro chip.

Support for 4K at 120Hz natively, or 4K at 240Hz using Display Stream Compression (DSC) tech, are now available in that model, and both are nice – but what really made me sit up and take notice is that 4K HDR is now supported, for the first time.

There once used to be a time when you couldn’t get many phones under Rs 7,000. However, things have changed since then and there are quite a few smartphone options in the budget segment these days. The latest smartphone joining this segment is the Tecno Spark GO 2023.
The 2023 edition of Spark GO is strategically priced at Rs 6,999 and comes in Endless Black, Uyuni Blue, and Nebula Purple colours. Being in this price group, it is a direct competitor to Xiaomi’s Redmi A1 which came out in September 2022. We compare the specs of these two budget smartphones.

Tecno Spark GO (2023) vs Xiaomi Redmi A1 (2022): Specs comparison

While the two smartphones are nearly identical in some departments, there are also certain key points of difference that set them apart. Those who primarily use the camera to take selfies may find Tecno Spark GO more appealing due to its comparatively better front camera. On the other hand, those who usually rely on the rear camera to click pictures may prefer the Xiaomi Redmi A1, thanks to its rear camera which is more powerful on paper. Another major point of difference is that Tecno’s offering is 5G-enabled and its Redmi counterpart only offers up to 4G connectivity.
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Solid State Drives (SSDs) storages are faster and more efficient than traditional Hard Disk Drives (HDDs). Users can check the health of their storage drives with an SSD utility which is a graphical user interface (GUI) based tool that is designed to help users maintain, monitor and tune their SSDs. If you check the health of a new SSD, ideally it should be at 100% which eventually reduces when you start writing data to the drive. SSD health degradation is a natural thing but it might be a problem when the value starts decreasing exponentially even when you are not writing any data to the drive. According to a report by Tom’s Hardware, multiple Samsung SSD users have reported a health issue with their storage drives. As per the report, several Samsung 990 Pro users have complained that the health of their SSDs is deteriorating at a rapid rate.
Samsung 990 Pro health issue: Affected SSDs
The report mentions that the entire Samsung 990 Pro lineup (regardless of the capacity) has been affected by this issue. Some of these SSDs are showing over 10% health loss in a matter of days or weeks, the report adds. Samsung 990 Pro’s health degradation issue was initially reported on Overclock.net forums in December 2022. Since then, more users have complained about the same issue as more reports started emerging.
Samsung 990 Pro health issue: How is it affecting users
A user who owns a 2TB SSD reported a health loss of 7% in one month with just 6,641GB written to the drive. Another Samsung 990 Pro user mentioned a 12% deterioration since the SSD’s installation in December. This user wrote 27.9TB to the drive and discovered that the drive’s health is falling nearly 1% every week.
Another Reddit user noticed a 6% drop in the health of his Samsung 990 Pro 2TB SSD and sent the drive back to the tech giant. Samsung reportedly returned the drive and claimed that it didn’t find any defects. The company even formatted the drive and restored it to its factory settings. Moreover, Samsung also offered the user a replacement and asked him to replicate the issue.

Apart from this, a Twitter user named Neil Schofield has reported the worst case and even shared a screenshot to demonstrate his SSD issue. As per the tweet, Schofield’s Samsung 990 Pro SSD showed a 64% health status only after writing a mere 2TB.
Samsung promises 1,200 TBW (TeraBytes Written) for the Samsung 990 Pro SSD. This means, 1% equals 12TB of written data and a 93% health status means the user has already written about 84TB of data.

Samsung 990 Pro: What’s causing the issue
The report didn’t mention if it’s a hardware issue with the Samsung 990 Pro that is causing the rapid health degradation or whether the health values shown for these SSDs are an error on the software side. Samsung is expected to conduct a thorough investigation to resolve this issue.
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The old ways are well and truly done with – and home working is now the norm for many of us.

After the pandemic forced us to embrace turning our homes into workplaces, the focus now turns to making the places into a productive and efficient location to work.

Apple has released the macOS Ventura 13.2 update along with the iOS 16.3 and WatchOS 9.3 update. Released in October last year, this is the second major update of the OS.
The latest macOS update is free to download and all eligible Macs can download the update by going to System Settings> Software Update section. The latest update brings a new feature called Security Keys for the Apple ID. The feature enables physical two-factor authentication which offers enhanced protection against phishing and unauthorised account access.
Along with this, the macOS Venture 13.2 update also fixes a bug with the Freeform app.
Here’s the complete release note of the macOS Ventura 13.2 update:
This update introduces Security Keys for Apple ID and includes other enhancements and bug fixes for your Mac.
– Security Keys for Apple ID allow users to strengthen the security of their account by requiring a physical security key to sign in
– Fixes an issue in Freeform where some drawing strokes created with Apple Pencil or your finger may not appear on shared boards
– Fixes an issue where VoiceOver may stop offering audio feedback while you are typing
Some features may not be available for all regions, or on all Apple devices.
Apple launched new MacBook Pro models in India
Recently, Apple launched new Apple MacBook Pro models in India. Apple launched the new 14- and 16-inch MacBook Pro featuring M2 Pro and M2 Max silicon processors. The 14-inch MacBook Pro starts at Rs 1,99,900, while the price of the 16-inch variant with M2 Pro processor starts at Rs 2,49,900. The new MacBook Pro supports Wi-Fi 6E, which is up to twice as fast as the previous generation, as well as advanced HDMI, which supports 8K displays for the first time.

Apple rolled out iOS 16.3 update for all eligible iPhone users. One of the main features of iOS 16.3 is support for security keys for users’ Apple ID. Security keys add another layer of security to user data and privacy. Wondering what are security keys? Here we tell all you need to know about them:
What are security keys?
Security keys are physical devices that are used as a form of two-factor authentication (2FA) to provide an extra layer of security when accessing online accounts or services. They work by requiring the user to physically insert the key into their device, or by using near-field communication (NFC) technology to connect wirelessly to a device, in order to confirm their identity.
How are security keys helpful?
Security keys are particularly useful in protecting against phishing attacks, which are common tactics used by attackers to steal login credentials. Phishing attacks often involve tricking users into entering their login information on a fake website, which is then used to gain unauthorised access to the user’s accounts. Security keys help to protect against this by requiring the user to physically confirm their identity before logging in, which makes it much more difficult for attackers to steal login credentials.
Security keys also provide an additional layer of security compared to other forms of 2FA, such as one-time passwords (OTPs) sent via text message or email. This is because security keys are not susceptible to the same types of attacks that can compromise OTPs, such as SIM swapping or phishing attacks that target the user’s email or text messages.
Furthermore, security keys use a public key infrastructure (PKI) system, which is a method of securely transmitting data over the internet using a pair of public and private keys. The public key is used to encrypt data, while the private key is used to decrypt it. This means that even if an attacker intercepts the data being transmitted, they will not be able to decrypt it without the private key.
Should you get one?
As we mentioned, they add a layer of security. If you are worried about your account/data being hacked, a security key is a useful addition. Brands like Yubico, Feitian, and others have many options ranging between Rs 3,000 to Rs 7,500.