Category: Technology

An old customer support scam gets a new twist, the FBI warns – though the goal remains the same – to steal people Matches (Opens in a new tab)And sensitive data, payment data and ultimately money.

In a recent public service announcement, the bureau urged customers (mostly elderly people) to remain vigilant upon receipt Email messages Pretending to be a service representative at a company technical or computer repair service.

Scammers usually send out a phishing email, telling victims that their bank account will be charged (or already charged) anywhere between $300 and $500 for various services. If victims want to cancel the payment, or request a refund, they will have to call the phone number provided in the body of the email, and do so urgently.

Fake refund payment gateways

If victims call the number, the “actor” will trick them into downloading and running remote access software, which is more than enough for the attackers to empty the victims’ bank accounts.

The twist on this story, according to the FBI, is that they now also create small scripts built to look like the user interface of a refund payment gateway. The law enforcement agency did not say which companies were impersonated in this attack, but Computer He did some digging and we found text samples with the name Chase Bank, the commercial banking subsidiary of JPMorgan Chase.

Chase Bank does not appear to be the only financial institution impersonated in this attack, the post claims, and other batch files have also been discovered, which can be quickly customized to change the name of the bank.

Most of the time, scripts and scams like this aim to steal people’s sensitive data, such as full names, bank names, zip codes, and refund amounts, giving attackers a lot of information to initiate bank transfers. Moreover, contacting the scammers by phone also gives them the phone number, which can later be used for additional fraud attempts.

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The iPad 10.9 (2022) she is one from The best tablets You can buy, whether you are looking specifically for iPads or open to any option on the market. This may be a base model from Apple, but its specs and features are anything but rudimentary. However, it’s not perfect, which leaves plenty of room for the new iPad 2023 to improve.

This is expected to be the successor to the iPad 10.9 (2022), and based on our experience with the current Apple model, we’ve come up with a list of things we want from this next base tablet.

We’ll also fill this article with news and leaks, as soon as there’s any head start — though, you’ll already find some educated guesses about the release date and a few other details of the new iPad 2023.

cut to chase

• What is this? The next entry-level iPad
• When is he outside? Maybe September or October 2023
• How much will it cost? Probably around $449 / £499 / AU$749

New iPad 2023 release date and price

Although there is no news yet about the release date of the iPad 2023, we can guess well, as in recent years Apple announced new entries in this line either in September or October.

In fact, unlike the latest model, this was done in September. So, September 2023 is our best guess for the launch of the new iPad 2023 – probably next to iPhone 15. However, there is a good chance that we will see it instead in October 2023; One or more of those months seems very likely, regardless.

We don’t know how much the iPad 2023 will cost, but it may have a similar starting price to the iPad 10.9 (2022), which starts at $449 / £499 / AU$749. Then again, this tablet costs more than its predecessor, so it’s possible that Apple will pay the price again.

New iPad 2023 news and leaks

There are no leaks about the iPad 2023 yet, but we can guess a few things. First, as Apple raised the screen size and changed the design of the iPad 10.9 (2022), we expect both of those things to remain the same for the next model; Which means it will likely have a 10.9-inch screen and an iPad Air-like design.

However, it will almost certainly have a new chipset. Or at least a newer device – the current iPad uses Apple’s current A14 Bionic, which also appears in iPhone 12 font and 2020 fourth generation iPad AirSo it’s likely that the next model will get an upgrade, at least, to the A15 Bionic found in iPhone 13.

What we want to see

As good as the iPad 10.9 (2022) is, it may always be better, so we hope that the new iPad 2023 will include some of the following changes and updates.

1. Support for Apple Pencil 2

One of the more unusual aspects of the iPad 10.9 (2022) is that it supports the original Apple Pencil instead of the Apple Pencil 2. This is despite the switch to the USB-C port, which means you can’t even charge the Apple Pencil (which charges via Lightning) without an adapter .

There are reasons for this decision, but it Seems like a mistake Overall, hopefully Apple will fix it for the next model.

2. Low price or at least no high price

Apple raised the price of the iPad 10.9 (2022) significantly compared to its predecessor, so for the next model we would like to see the price drop ideally, given that this is the cheapest line of tablets of the company. At the very least, though, we don’t want him to rise to a higher level.

3. Less reflective screen

While we were largely happy with the iPad 10.9 (2022) screen, one of the issues we found in our review was that the lack of an anti-reflective coating meant there could be a lot of reflections in it, especially when using it outside.

We don’t expect Apple to switch to a mini-LED or OLED display, or pack more pixels for the new iPad 2023, but we’d at least like to be able to use it comfortably outdoors, so hopefully this model fits that coating.

4. More camera modes

Cameras are rarely a priority for tablets, and this is the case with the iPad 10.9 (2022). We’re pretty much okay with that, but the absence of both portrait mode and cinematic mode is noticeable and disappointing, so we’d love to see them included in the new iPad 2023.

5. Improve battery life

The iPad 10.9 (2022) has a very reasonable battery life, with our reviewer managing about 8-10 hours of continuous use. This is in the same ballpark as most other iPads, but when you think about it MacBook Air (M2, 2022) It lasted over 16 hours in our tests, and we think Apple can do better, given that the tablet isn’t a million miles from the laptop.

Even an extra two hours will make all the difference, so hopefully that’s the focus for Apple with the next model, as it can help secure the iPad 2023’s place among the The best iPads.

You might expect the comic book series featuring art created entirely by artificial intelligence technology to be filled with surreal images that make you tilt your head trying to understand what kind of madness changes the feeling you look at.

Not so with the photos in The Bestiary Chronicles, Free 3-part comedy series From Campfire Entertainment, an award-winning New York-based production company focused on creative storytelling.

The visuals in the trilogy – believed to be the first animated series made of art with the help of artificial intelligence – are stunning. It’s also stunningly accurate, as if it came straight from the hand of an experienced digital artist with a very specific story and style in mind.

“Deep Earth, the last remnants of humanity gather to learn about the monsters that destroyed their planet,” reads the lesson description, the third visually rich and futuristic comic in the trilogy. All three are now available for download at Campfire websiteIt also comes in paperback and hardcover printed selections.

Although the visual art created by AI can lean toward the extreme absurd, the real-life humans in The Bestiary Chronicles don’t have prominent facial features or extremities at odd angles. The monsters – with their glowing eyes and amazingly bad teeth – seem to love the children of Godzilla and Vagabond and can be mistaken for anything other than monsters full of rage.

This algorithm-assisted art looks tailored to the dark dystopian tale, which is based on metaphors from the 1960’s science fiction horror movie. damn village And from THX 11381971, George Lucas’ first feature film.

“We are seeing the emergence of an entirely new visualization tool that will fundamentally change the storytelling process in both the comics and entertainment industry in general,” said Steve Coulson, writer of the trilogy and creative director of Campfire. Fan experiences for shows including Ted Lasso, Westworld, and Watchmen. Its founders thought of The Blair Witch Project.

For The Bestiary Chronicles, Coulson turned to Midjourney, a service that quickly converts short phrases of text or “claims” into images by scanning a giant database trained in human visual art. artificial intelligence tools like her, D-E And the stable spread be Capture the Internet’s imagination Because it allows anyone to show images from text in intriguing and sometimes disturbing ways.

The Bestiary Chronicles is a 114-page science fiction epic about monsters born of human technological arrogance. But it also showcases the remarkable progress of products like Midjourney, which are producing increasingly more sophisticated and refined images.

“By the New Year, perhaps not even a trained eye will be able to perceive the AI ​​generation than any other,” Coulson said. “It’s exciting and scary at the same time. But you can’t put a genie back in the bottle, so we’re embracing the future as fast as we can.”

He adds that AI image generation is progressing so rapidly, that the lesson, released on November 1, is a clear visual step up from the first comic in the trilogy, Summer Island, a popular horror story in the spirit of midsummer released in August. During those three months, Midjourney went through two updates.

AI, Partner in Art

Thomas B. said: Campbell, director and CEO of the Museums of Fine Arts in San Francisco, “Technology is changing our world, with artificial intelligence representing a new frontier of possibilities but also a worrisome development.” Uncanny Valley: Being Human in the Age of Artificial Intelligence It opened in 2020 to explore the expanding space where humans and artificial intelligence meet.

Creating visual art with artificial intelligence, compose songs And the Even writing poetry Movie scripts are causing some of this anxiety Ethical and copyright concerns Among artists and even lawyers. AI art is not created in a vacuum. It works by absorbing and reconstructing existing art created by humans. As machine-made art improves, will these humans – actual graphic designers, painters, composers, and photographers – find themselves out of work?

When an AI-generated image won an art award in September, some The artists weren’t happy about it. One Twitter user wrote: “We’re watching the death of art unfold before our eyes.”

Coulson, an avid comics reader since the age of five, is among those pondering the complex questions raised by AI art, but he doesn’t think tools like Midjourney will replace the comic artists he’s long loved. “These geniuses have an interest in dramatic composition and dynamic narrative that I highly doubt that machine learning will be able to match,” he wrote in closing to Summer Island. “But as a visualization tool for non-artists like me, it’s a hell of a fun-filled way.”

However, he sees Midjourney as his real assistant in The Bestiary Chronicles, even giving him author credit. Where a cartoonist can visualize a story and then create art to illustrate it, AI-powered images have the potential to more actively direct the story, or even change its direction, thus completely redefining the creative workflow. Coulson likens this man-machine duo to the improvement of jazz.

“I would never ask a human artist to ‘paint 100 simple pages and maybe pick the best one’, but Medjourney would happily spit it out 24/7,” Coulson says. “Then after we review the photos, we begin to piece together the story, almost like a collector’s work, filling in the gaps along the way.”

AI art is the star here, but humans have had the decisive hand with the images making the ultimate version of each story. They’ve experimented with the text prompts and carefully chosen their final images from Midjourney’s multiple renderings, tweaking Photoshop here and there, but mostly leaving out the machine-made work.

For example, the Campfire team liked the rich effect of the vector style “printing olive green, brown, and teal tritons on watercolor paper,” so they often used this to give images a graphic effect. As for the lesson, the phrase “future underground bunker in style JC LindekerHe got the perfect post-apocalyptic getaway.

We also used the phrase ‘Hitchcock Blonde’ to describe our heroine, often looking like she Grace Kelly‘ said Coulson. That’s pretty well known Grace Kelly, without misplaced ears or a dog’s nose.

“Advances in AI image generation over the past few months have been massive and amazing, and this technology will get better — faster than we can imagine,” Coulson said.

Google is expanding its User Choice Billing (UCB) beta program with Spotify among early participants. It now officially allows customers of the music platform to set up service payments outside of the Google Play Store.

Back in MarchGoogle teamed up with Spotify to launch the program by giving people the ability to use different payment options. UCB was first available to users in Japan, Australia, and several European countries. Now it comes to the United States, Brazil and South Africa after Google has acquired Positive response and [feedback]From the first round (Opens in a new tab). In the coming weeks, Spotify will roll out a third-party payment option for Android users only, so they can choose how they want to pay for the Premium subscription.

open and fair platform

After it is rolled out, people who want to subscribe to Spotify Premium . will see Another option is to use the private platform service instead (Opens in a new tab). The main difference so far is that you can’t track your Spotify billing subscription, while you can with Google. Otherwise, it’s business as usual: you enter your credit card information for payment and you’re done.

Google currently allows other non-game apps on the Play Store to Register for the UCB Pilot Program (Opens in a new tab). Developers must follow Specific user experience guidelines (Opens in a new tab) created by Google detailing how to implement the feature. Looking at the instructions, developers should include an information selection and billing page whenever a user attempts to purchase a service. The displayed price must be up front and in the middle.

The full list of UCB participants is unknown, but we know that the dating app Bumble will soon join the program “in select countries.” [within] the coming months.”

Spotify says it supports UCB because it sees the software as “Google [allowing] More choices and competition” on the Play Store. The company wants more app platform fairness in order to thrive and “give users of [the free service] The ability to subscribe and make purchases directly [on the] Application.”

We asked Google what it hopes to achieve with UCB specifically for users, as well as why gaming apps are currently excluded from the program. This story will be updated if we hear back.

The future of app stores

As for Apple and the popular App Store, we highly doubt users will see anything like UCB remotely. Apple has made it very clear that it does not like third-party payment options in the App Store. Recently forced Telegram to eliminate iOS users Creating Paid Posts Because the Tech Giant Didn’t Get a Cut. then there Apple court battle 2021 With Epic Games after Apple removed Fortnite from the App Store due to similar actions.

Change, however, may be inevitable. The open market law It is an antitrust bill aimed at preventing both Google and Apple “from engaging in harmful behavior toward their competitors”. Google seems more willing to play better, but it remains to be seen if and when Apple will decide to do the same.

Russian users will soon not be able to contact vpn The service provided by Kaspersky.

The Moscow-based company has announced that it will cease operations and sales Secure VPN Connectionassuring users that the process will be gradually streamlined to have the lowest possible impact.

company free vpn Release is scheduled to be suspended from November 15 onwards, and paid customers will be able to subscribe until December 2022 and enjoy the service until the end of 2023.

Russian VPNs are under increasing pressure

The company announced the closing details in Blog Posts (Opens in a new tab)Explaining that “the situation is quite similar to Kaspersky Secure Connection, which is part of many integrated solutions for home users.”

This means that for any user who has already paid for their security package, the app will be available until the subscription expires, and vice versa – so those who use its free option only have a few days to consider alternatives.

Kaspersky further noted that this decision will only apply to people in Russia.

“The Russian version of the application will remain available on Kaspersky Lab websites and mobile app stores. For users outside Russia, the set of available features and VPN servers will not change.”

Pro radar technology I reached out to Kaspersky and inquired about the reason for the move, but a company spokesperson said there was nothing else they could say about the decision at this time.

What is certain is that the Kremlin was actively fighting Russia VPNs For some time now.

Last year, the country’s telecommunications watchdog Roskomnadzor has blocked some of the best VPNs providers around. These include some of the biggest names in the market like ExpressVPNAnd the NordVPN And the IPVanish.

And while using such security services rose among the Russians after the war In Ukraine, the authorities have reaffirmed their intention to block VPN programs that violate Russian law by granting access to illegal content.

At the same time, providers who do not comply with the requirements to connect to the federal state information system – which enables state oversight and control of users’ activities – will also be prompted to leave the country.

the latest is Roskomnadzor order (Opens in a new tab) For state-owned companies to share details about their use of VPN services.

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OpenLiteSpeed ​​Web Server, the world-famous open source web serverIt carried a few very dangerous vulnerabilities, experts warned.

Researchers from Unit 42, the cybersecurity research arm of Palo Alto Networks, note that threat actors who have been able to exploit these flaws will be granted full privileged remote code execution capabilities.

The team found that the OpenLiteSpeed ​​web server carries three high-severity vulnerabilities, namely CVE-2022-0073 (severity 8.8, high-severity remote code execution), and CVE-2022-0074 (high-severity privilege escalation flaw 8.8) .), and CVE-2022-0072 (to 5.8, a medium-severity directory traversal defect). The vulnerabilities also affected the enterprise edition, LiteSpeed ​​Web Server.

patch ready

Unit 42 notified LiteSpeed ​​Technologies of its findings which subsequently corrected the defects, released new versions of the server, and urged users to update their software immediately.

We urge organizations using OpenLiteSpeed ​​versions 1.5.11 – 1.7.16, as well as LiteSPeed versions 5.4.6 – 6.0.11 to bring endpoints (Opens in a new tab) Up to 1.7.16.1 and 6.0.12 ASAP.

According to Unit 42, LiteSpeed ​​web server is the sixth most popular web server worldwide, serving approximately 2% of all web server applications, with approximately 1.9 million unique servers worldwide.

The researchers explained in Blog Posts (Opens in a new tab).

“This research resulted in the finding of three vulnerabilities that affect both enterprise and open source solutions. They can be linked and exploited by an adversary with Admin Control Panel credentials, in order to gain code execution privilege on vulnerable components.”

Web servers have come a long way in terms of security and protection, concluded Unit 42, adding that despite the optimistic outlook, vulnerabilities are still being found due to the rapid pace of technological development.

refresh

for you Microsoft Excel Spreadsheets could soon become more dynamic than ever due to a potentially huge hack by the company.

The new Excel update will allow spreadsheet program Inserts images directly into a cell, making them part of the worksheet for the first time, rather than just floating over the sheet.

Microsoft says this new functionality should make your Excel sheets more customizable and customizable, giving your work a whole new dimension.

Microsoft Excel Images

in entering the Official Microsoft 365 Roadmap (Opens in a new tab)The company notes that in addition to entering images directly into cells, the new “IMAGE” function will also give users a host of additional customization options.

Users will be able to move, resize, sort and filter cells and even work with images within an Excel table.

It’s unclear exactly how all of this will work in practice, as the feature is still listed as “in development” at the moment. However, the expected general availability date is December 2022, which means we should hear more about how it works soon.

At its launch, Microsoft says the feature will be available to all users across desktop, web, Mac, and Android.

The news is the latest update to Microsoft Excel that aims to make the program more attractive and user-friendly as it seems to help encourage more Online Collaboration Across the difference in an era Hybrid work.

Recently, the company said that it will introduce “@ signs” in Excel To make collaboration on your spreadsheets smoother than ever.

@mentions allow users to tag their colleagues or co-workers, both inside and outside the organization. These tags can be requests to edit, add more information, or just clarify a point, but they can also be used to create, assign, and track tasks within your workbook.

The company also recently included the ability to Add hyperlinks to comments added to spreadsheetsinstead of having to copy and paste from plain text like before.