The FBI is warning mobile device users of a new technique used by cybercriminals to promote malicious beta versions of apps on popular app storefronts. When these apps are installed on mobile devices they are then used to steal personal information and more. The bad guys submit the apps to app stores as beta apps. In case you’re not familiar with the term, a beta app is one that is being tested by users who submit feedback about the app to its developers before the app is officially released.
The FBI says Beta apps are not subject to the rigorous testing that stable versions of an app must face
The report says that beta apps do not go through the same rigorous code review and instead, they are “superficially scrutinized” to make sure that they are not compromised. This allows the malicious code to remain hidden that is activated after the app is installed on a phone. This code performs hostile activity such as gaining access to financial accounts, stealing personal data, and completely taking over control of your phone.
The FBI warns mobile device owners about installing fake beta apps
The FBI says that these apps might appear legitimate and could have names and use images that are similar to popular apps. Cybercriminals might use phishing schemes (which are fake emails that look legitimate) or romance schemes to get in touch with the victim. The victim is then led by the criminals to install a fraudulent beta app on their phone by promising the victim a big financial reward.
Getting the victim to install the fake beta app is key to this scam. The FBI says it “is aware of fraud schemes wherein unidentified cyber criminals contact victims on dating and networking apps and direct them to download a fraudulent beta version of a mobile app, such as cryptocurrency exchanges, that enable theft. The victims enter legitimate account details into the app, sending money they believe will be invested in cryptocurrency, but instead, the victim funds are sent to the cybercriminals.”
The FBI says to watch out for these signs that you might have installed an app with malware
The FBI notice includes a list of red flags that can warn you that a malware-laden app is installed on your device. These red flags, some of which we’ve discussed in the past, include:
Mobile battery draining faster than usual.
Mobile device slowing down while processing a request.
Unauthorized apps installed without the user’s knowledge.
Persistent pop-up ads.
A high number of downloads with few or no reviews.
Apps that request access to permissions that have nothing to do with the advertised functionality.
Spelling or grammatical errors, vague or generic information, of a lack of details about the app’s functionality within the app description.
Pop-ups that looks like ads, system warnings, or reminders.
The FBI has some recommendations including one that we remind you of often. Before installing an app from a developer you don’t know, read the customer comments and look for complaints about rapid battery draining, or complaints about the phone getting too hot to the touch. Stay away from such apps. Do not reply to emails by sending personal financial information, and do not tap on any links sent to you via email.
Be aware of messages that are making you respond quickly by giving you a sense of urgency. These emails might threaten to turn off your wireless service or shut down your electric account if you don’t make a payment or respond right now. Check over website URLs for something that might not “smell right.” And make sure that your software is kept up-to-date, especially security updates. Restrict app permissions and uninstall apps you don’t use.
If you’ve been a victim of a malware-laden app, you can report the incident to the FBI by clicking this link and filling out the appropriate form.
Microsoft researchers discovered numerous vulnerabilities affecting Codesys PLC that risked power plants’ security with various attacks, such as shutdowns. Codesys released the patches for the flaws following the vulnerability disclosure.
Microsoft Reports Severe Codesys PLC Vulnerabilities
According to a recent report, Microsoft researcher Vladimir Tokarev identified fifteen security vulnerabilities affecting Codesys programmable logic controllers (PLC).
These vulnerabilities have received CVE numbers CVE-2022-47379 through CVE-2022-47393, all achieving a CVSS score of 8.8, leaving CVE-2022-47391 that appeared relatively less severe (CVSS 7.5). Exploiting these flaws could allow denial-of-service (DoS) attacks on vulnerable systems, which could eventually trigger power plant shutdowns. In addition, an attacker may achieve remote code execution, planting backdoors to steal data or meddle with devices’ operations.
However, Microsoft explained that exploiting these vulnerabilities in real-time required the attacker to have authenticated access and sound knowledge about the CODESYS V3 protocols and the structures using it.
The tech giant has listed and described these vulnerabilities in a separate post, besides sharing technical stuff on GitHub. In addition, they have demonstrated vulnerability exploitation in this video.
Codesys Patched The Flaws
Microsoft discovered the Codesys vulnerabilities while analyzing Schneider Electric Modicon TM251 and WAGO PFC200 PLCs. Following this discovery, Microsoft reported the vulnerabilities to Codesys in September 2022. In response, Codesys patched the vulnerabilities with the latest firmware releases.
Codesys boasts a wide range of users in its customer base looking for industrial automation, including energy automation, factory automation, process automation, and more. Hence, any vulnerabilities affecting Codesys PLC SDK mean a huge security risk to a large number of industries globally.
Now that the flaws have received the patches, users must ensure updating their systems with the latest updates to remain safe. Besides, Microsoft also advises users to disconnect critical devices, such as PLCs, from the internet, limit authorized access, and deploy segmentation with unique credentials for specified and authorized user access.
This week on Lock and Code, we speak with Heather Kelly about why how parents are using AirTags to give their kids “freedom.”
“Freedom” is a big word, and for many parents today, it’s a word that includes location tracking.
Across America, parents are snapping up Apple AirTags, the inexpensive location tracking devices that can help owners find lost luggage, misplaced keys, and—increasingly so—roving toddlers setting out on mini-adventures.
The parental fear right now, according to The Washington Post technology reporter Heather Kelly, is that “anybody who can walk, therefore can walk away.”
Parents wanting to know what their children are up to is nothing new. Before the advent of the Internet—and before the creation of search history—parents read through diaries. Before GPS location tracking, parents called the houses that their children were allegedly staying at. And before nearly every child had a smart phone that they could receive calls on, parents relied on a much simpler set of tools for coordination: Going to the mall, giving them a watch, and saying “Be at the food court at noon.”
But, as so much parental monitoring has moved to the digital sphere, there’s a new problem: Children become physically mobile far faster than they become responsible enough to own a mobile. Enter the AirTag: a small, convenient device for parents to affix to toddlers’ wrists, place into their backpacks, even sew into their clothes, as Kelly reported in her piece for The Washington Post.
In speaking with parents, families, and childcare experts, Kelly also uncovered an interesting dynamic. Parents, she reported, have started relying on Apple AirTags as a means to provide freedom, not restrictions, to their children.
Today, on the Lock and Code podcast with host David Ruiz, we speak with Kelly about why parents are using AirTags, how childcare experts are reacting to the recent trend, and whether the devices can actually provide a balm to increasingly stressed parents who may need a moment to sit back and relax. Or, as Kelly said:
“In the end, parents need to chill—and if this lets them chill, and if it doesn’t impact the kids too much, and it lets them go do silly things like jumping in some puddles with their friends or light, really inconsequential shoplifting, good for them.”
Sometimes, people want to get in early on great games. They can see them grow and change over time. This is why there are a ton of early-access games on the Play Store. These are games that are still in testing, and the developers are looking for players’ feedback. Here’s a list of some of the best early-access games you should be playing.
Since these are early-access games, just know that they might not be 100% compatible with your device. Also, you might not have a complete experience. These games are mostly for people who want to test their games out on a larger audience before making them officially available.
Also, it’s recommended that you take the time and offer some in-depth feedback about your experience. This will help the developers further improve the game before launch.
Little Corner Tea House
Download Cost: Free
In-App Cost: No
Size: 807
If you’ve dreamed of owning your own tea house, then this is the game for you. As the name implies, this is a game where you own and operate your own little corner tea house. You play as Hana, the owner, and she’s made a nice spot to sit, enjoy tea, and talk to friends.
This game is meant to give you the full experience of owning a tea shop. You’ll be serving up tea for people to order. While you’re serving them, you’re able to hear their interesting stories as they conversate.
However, Little Corner Tea House isn’t only about serving the tea; you’re also making it. The game will take you through the whole process of growing your own plants from seeding to harvesting. You’ll make your tea there in the shop. It’s a very relaxing and pleasant game to play.
Who’s looking to be the make-or-break factor in a relationship? Well, Lucid Lenses allows you to take on that role. You’ll see a beautiful story of romance unfold in front of your eyes, and you’ll see the two grow. However, each relationship has some difficult choices, and that’s where you come in.
You’ll make different choices throughout the game that will have an impact on the couple and whether or not they stay together. Both of these individuals also have their own growing careers, and you’ll decide if they stay together for the sake of the relationship or break up for the sake of their careers. No pressure!
In this game, there are several minigames that you’ll play along the way that will challenge your brains. These are a great way to break up any monotony and keep the story progressing.
This is the game for you if you’re looking for a boatload of hack n’ slash action. Evil Slasher will be familiar if you’re a fan of the Survivor games that are extremely popular nowadays. You’ll start each stage with some passive attacks activated, and you’ll need to survive through waves of enemies that are coming at you.
As you play, you’ll add different attacks and abilities to your character. These will help you to rip through more and more enemies. Gather weapons and upgrades, beat the levels, and defeat the bosses at the end of the stages to further upgrade your character.
Time for a game that’s simple and challenging. Pole Tad is a simple puzzle game that has a relaxing aesthetic. It seems like the kind of game that you’d play to shut off your brain, but it’s the opposite.
In Pole Tad, you’ll guide your little tadpole through different challenging levels. When you start the stage, you’ll see a bunch of bubbles, and your tadpole will be in one of them. What you want to do is guide your tadpole from bubble to bubble until you make it to the end. However, there are obstacles blocking the tadpole from getting to the bubbles.
There are spinning rings, other creatures, and other things getting in your way. As you guide your tadpole to the end, you’ll need to fling it toward the bubbles at the right time to avoid obstacles. It’s a simple yet challenging game.
This game mixes the action and the puzzle genres to create an all-around fun experience. In it, you play as a warrior who wakes up in the underworld. While he’s there, you’ll need to fight hordes of zombified warriors. The gameplay will mainly revolve around fighting them off.
The gameplay is similar to other action match-three games. Instead of moving tiles to match tiles, you’ll be dragging your finger and drawing a path between tiles of different colors. When you do that, your character will perform an attack to reflect that. There are six colors, each one is particularly strong against one and weak against another. It’s the same thing for the enemies and weapons.
What’s unique about this game is that you’re able to swipe across different colors. You can start drawing on one color and cross over to another color and start drawing through that one. You’ll attack one enemy with the first color and you’ll attack the next enemies with the other. As you progress, you’ll upgrade your weapons to do more damage.
If you enjoyed playing Where’s Waldo, then you’ll love this game. It’s as simple as they come, and it’s a nice game to pass the time. In this game, you’ll see picture-esque shots of bustling towns. In the town, there will be five little cats hidden among the chaos. When you finally find them, tap on them to collect them. There are a lot of levels to play, so you’ll know that there’s enough content to keep you busy.
This game is for those who want to test out their brains and their patience. Matexo is a puzzle game that incorporates a lot of math into the equation. Each round starts off with an assortment of lines. On one end of each line, you’ll see a circle, and at the other end, you’ll see a square. Both shapes will have a number. Finally, on the bottom of the screen, you’ll see an assortment of blocks with numbers on them. Also, each of these blocks will have a mathematical operation on them (Plus, Minus, Divide, and Multiply).
What you need to do is place the right blocks on the lines to make the number in the circle equal to the number in the square. So, if the circle has 5 and the square has 8, then you’ll want to look for a block that has +3. It seems simple enough, but the game will get trickier as you progress. When you start off, you’ll have only a few lines, and you’ll only need to place one block to solve them. However, later on, you’ll see more lines, and those lines will require more blocks.
Tiny Pixel Knight is a fun idle RPG game with some nice retro graphics and fast-paced gameplay. Since this is an idle game, it’s more passive than other RPGs. Your character will start off in one environment automatically fighting off enemies. As you defeat enemies, you’ll earn coins and EXP. You’ll use these to level up your character.
As you play, you’ll make your way to more locations with harder enemies. The trick is to keep your character leveled up to keep up with the stronger enemies. There’s a massive skill tree that you’ll unlock to help improve your character. Doing this will make way for more abilities and attacks. This is a fun and casual game you can play to pass the time.
This is a straightforward idle hack-and-slash game that has you taking on the role of powerful cat girl warriors. You’ll start off the game in an area where you’re instantly fighting off enemies. Your character will automatically attack the enemies. Once you defeat all of the enemies, you’ll move onto another environment with stronger enemies.
In order to keep from being defeated, you’ll need to upgrade your character, and that’s what most of the gameplay revolves around. Along with upgrading your character’s attributes like attack, defense, etc, you’ll also upgrade your equipment. As you play, you’ll be keeping your character up in several ways. It’s more of a challenge of keeping your character in top shape.
In the long-running race between MediaTek and Qualcomm, the former was always associated with lower performance. That’s not unfounded, as MediaTek’s chips lingered on the lower end of the performance spectrum for years, but it recently kicked things into high gear with its Dimensity chips. According to a new report from WCCFtech, the Dimensity 9300 will be the first mobile chip with LPDDR5T RAM.
MediaTek has made some great strides with its Dimensity line of processors. Right now, the most powerful MT chip on the market is the dimensity 9200. It’s going toe-to-toe with the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 SoC, and it’s powering devices like the Oppo Find X6, Vivo X90 5G, and the Xiaomi 13T. So, you know that this chip has some serious power. Now, we’re all waiting on the next iteration.
The Dimensity 9300 will support LPDDR5T RAM
When it comes to RAM, a lot of people don’t really pay attention to the numbers (well, besides the number of gigabytes). However, we also need to think about other aspects of the RAM as well. Over the years, as the amount of RAM per device increased, the quality of the RAM itself improved.
Now, MediaTek is bringing the new standard of RAM to its upcoming chip, and this is something that it will have over the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3. The Dimensity 9300 will sport LPDDR5T RAM in its chips. It’s a newer standard than LPDDR5X, and it has a faster throughput speed. Throughput basically refers to how quickly the chip transfers data.
LPDDR5X RAM tops out at about 8.5Gbps, and LPDDR5T tops out at about 9.6Gbps. That’s about a 12% increase which is pretty big in the tech industry. It might not make a huge difference when it comes to day-to-day usage, but it still looks nice on paper.
MediaTek is slowly shedding its old image of being the budget chip maker. Devices like the Lenovo Tab Extreme and the OnePlus Pad use the Dimensity 9000, and those have great performance. Also, phones like the Tecno Camon 20 Premier use the Dimensity 8050, and that phone performs like a dream. Bringing this new standard of RAM is a sign that the company is taking the mobile chip industry seriously.
Many of you have food delivery apps installed on your phones like Uber Eats (iOS, Android), Door Dash (iOS, Android), and Grubhub (iOS, Android), to name a few. Through these apps, users can pick a restaurant, order a meal, and have it delivered. And there are some apps, such as Instacart (iOS, Android) and Shipt (iOS, Android), that you can use if you don’t feel like heading out to the supermarket but need groceries to stock your fridge and pantry with.
The DoorDash app will nudge a customer to add or raise the tip left to a driver
One food delivery app in the news is DoorDash. Now you need to understand that most “gig delivery workers” are paid less than the minimum wage and count on tips to earn enough money to pay the bills. Apps like DoorDash will suggest a tip for the driver based on the distance they are driving from the restaurant to your location and the “effort required” to make the delivery. Customers can change the amount they tip based on a set percentage or a custom amount.
The DoorDash app will remind customers to leave a tip or increase the size of a tip left for a driver
According to Insider, back in June, DoorDash added a feature to its app that allows a customer to increase a driver’s tip up to 30 days after a food order is completed. In addition, customers who have not left a tip for their delivery driver will be reminded to do so. Other food delivery firms have followed DoorDash and have added a similar feature to their apps including Uber Eats, Instacart, and Starbucks. DoorDash drivers have a base pay as low as $2 per delivery making the tips they receive extremely important.
Since the customer usually leaves the tip before receiving his/her delivery, this would be a good way for the customer to reward a driver who went above and beyond the call of duty. When announcing the feature in June, DoorDash executive Austin Haugen said, “These new nudges and reminders will encourage customers to tip and show their appreciation after their Dasher delivers an order.”
Some DoorDash drivers are concerned that customers won’t be happy with DoorDash because of the nudging for tips. One such driver, Heather Taylor, who delivers for DoorDash in Corpus Christi, Texas, said, “I think it would be annoying to 80% of customers.” Nonetheless, she says this nudging could hike her income. The tip nudging reminder comes as some drivers have become aggressive when it comes to tips with some trying to shame the customer into raising the tip in the middle of a delivery. DoorDash prohibits drivers from tip shaming customers although it does happen.
“We are literally working for tips,” says a DoorDash driver
Another DoorDash driver, Sergio Avedian, who is a spokesman for The Rideshare Guy blog, delivers about 20 hours a week in Los Angeles and says his base pay ranges on DoorDash and Uber Eats from $1.50 to $3 per order. “When base pay is so low, we have to look for high-tip, low-mileage orders,” he said. “We are literally working for tips.”
“Customers get a maximum of one nudge per order that does not include a tip,” DoorDash said in a statement. “This is not unique to DoorDash and is common practice across gig platforms.” Even during 2020, a great year for gig workers because of the pandemic, a survey from the Economic Policy Institute discovered that 14% made less than the federal minimum wage while 29% made less than the minimum wage in their state.
When Instacart announced its tip nudging feature for its app, the company said, “We’ve rolled out tipping prompts to encourage customers to consider increasing their tip anytime they rate a shopper five stars. The prompts also encourage customers to recognize their shopper’s hard work by leaving a tip if they initially choose not to leave one.” Uber Eats told Insider it has “invested heavily into improving the tipping experience for drivers and couriers.”
Massive Discord.io Data Breach Unveiled: Hacker “Akhirah” exposes a vast data breach on Discord.io, an unofficial service that provides redirect and invite links to Discord servers.
Over 760,000 Users Impacted: The breach, occurring on August 14, 2023, has jeopardized the personal information of more than 760,000 users.
Discord.io Halts Operations: In response to the breach, Discord.io has taken the unprecedented step of shutting down its operations indefinitely.
Hacker Talks to Hackread.com: Akhirah wants Discord.io to remove malicious content from the site in order to put an end to the database sale.
Exposed Data Includes Sensitive Details: Stolen information from the breach includes usernames, Discord IDs, email addresses, and salted and hashed passwords.
Urgent Call to Action: Discord.io urges users to update their passwords to mitigate the impact of the breach, while financial information remains reportedly untouched. Hackread.com is actively seeking more details from the hacker to provide comprehensive insights into the incident.
A hacker using the pseudonym “Akhirah” has unleashed a massive data breach against Discord.io, a non-official service known for providing redirect and invite links to Discord servers. The data breach, which occurred on Monday, August 14, 2023, has put the personal information of approximately 760,000 users at grave risk.
Currently, the database is being sold on the new version of Breach Forums that surfaced recently under the leadership of the infamous ShinyHunter hackers.
Discord.io database on Breach Forums (Screenshot: Hackread.com)
Initial glimpses into the database are troubling, as usernames, Discord IDs, email addresses, and salted and hashed passwords have all fallen prey to this data breach. Although the hashed nature of passwords may offer a thin silver lining, the potential for decryption looms large, underscoring the urgent need for users to fortify their defences which is why Discord.io has urged users to reset and update their passwords.
Additionally, Discord.io maintains that no financial data has been infiltrated or exposed in this breach. However, while the extent of this breach is still unfolding, Discord.io has taken a drastic step in response. The service, which was already skating on thin ice, has decided to cease all operations indefinitely in the “foreseeable future.”
Visitors to Discord.io are now greeted with a message detailing the severity of the breach. The company, in an act of transparency, has laid out the compromised data fields. This initiative aims to provide clarity to affected users about what information is now exposed and what remains untouched in the cataclysmic wake of this incident.
“We have cancelled existing premium subscriptions and we’ll be reaching out as soon as possible on an individual basis. As of this message, we have not yet been contacted by the people responsible for this breach nor have we reached out to them. As far as we currently know, the database itself has not yet been shared publicly.”
Discord.io
Here is a screenshot from Discord.io admitting the data breach and providing in-depth details about what data was stolen and which information remained untouched.
Homepage of Discord.io right now (Screenshot: Hackread.com)
Interview with the hacker Akhirah
Akhirah responded to Hackread.com, and we managed to ask him a couple of questions about the breach. Akhirah claims he is least interested in selling data; however, he wants Discord.io to remove malicious content from their site and get in touch with him to resolve the issue – no retribution or bounty required.
Hackread.com: Discord.io has shut down its operations. Would you share your thoughts on that? and share some details of how did you manage to breach them, and if you have access to their payment section as well?
Akhirah: First I have to say I hate Discord and its audience, I think most of them are paedophiles, I put the data on the market to sell but I’m not sure about it, and I haven’t sold it to anyone yet, but there are so many demands, I want to talk to the management of discord.io and agree on some issues. Plus, I don’t have access to payment-related data, just stuff I’ve shared an example of
Hackread.com: By talking to them do you mean resolving the issue and discarding the data or asking them for some sort of retribution?
Akhirah: I want to talk to him about sissy, femboy etc content and blacklisting of paedophile talks from now on.
Hackread.com: So if they remove the malicious content and people you would agree to safely discard the data and that would be the end of it?
Akhirah: Yes, that can be said. Too many children want to buy this data, it’s true that I sell data, but I’m not sure I want to sell this data. I just want to talk and agree with the admin about the sensitive issues I mentioned.
Hackread.com: Have you contacted Discord.io?
Akhirah: No, they are the victims right now and they didn’t try to talk to me, I invite them to talk, I would appreciate it if you could share this on your site.
Discord.io becomes the latest platform to shut down due to data breaches. Just a week ago, LetMeSpy Android Spyware Service also announced its permanent closure following a hacker’s successful breach and access to user data.
Background Task Weaknesses: macOS Ventura’s Background Task Management has vulnerabilities that allow hackers to evade detection and install malware.
Researcher’s Revelation: Patrick Wardle, a respected Mac security researcher, unveiled these vulnerabilities at the Defcon hacker conference.
Monitoring Tool’s Purpose: Background Task Management is intended to detect and alert users to software persistence, ensuring data retention after restarts.
Sophisticated Exploitation: Despite alerts and notifications, Wardle’s research shows that advanced malware can bypass the monitoring system, even without root access.
Apple’s Response Awaited: Apple has yet to respond to these findings, raising concerns about the efficacy of macOS Ventura’s security enhancements.
Renowned Mac security researcher Patrick Wardle recently unveiled potential weaknesses within Apple’s macOS Ventura, shedding light on vulnerabilities in the Background Task Management mechanism. This revelation calls into question the efficacy of Apple’s latest monitoring tool designed to detect and mitigate malware.
Image: Patrick Wardle
During his presentation at the Defcon hacker conference held in Las Vegas, Wardle shared insights into how malicious actors can exploit macOS Ventura’s Background Task Management to bypass monitoring and potentially compromise user devices.
The Background Task Management tool, introduced with macOS Ventura, aims to detect instances of software “persistence,” which is when malicious software establishes itself on a device and remains active even after restarts. Such persistence is crucial for legitimate applications, ensuring users’ apps, data, and preferences are retained across device reboots.
However, Wardle’s findings suggest that the implementation of this monitoring tool is not foolproof. Apple added Background Task Management to send notifications to users and third-party security tools if a “persistence event” occurs, alerting users to unexpected or potentially malicious persistence. Despite this enhancement, Wardle’s research demonstrates that sophisticated malware can easily evade the monitoring mechanism.
Wardle’s research focused on pinpointing vulnerabilities within the Background Task Management’s structure. He highlighted that some bypass techniques require root access, effectively granting attackers full control over a compromised device, allowing them to manipulate persistence notifications and install malware without user awareness.
More concerning are two other bypass methods that don’t necessitate root access, exploiting flaws in how the alerting system communicates with the operating system’s core (the kernel) and leveraging the capability to put processes to sleep.
The security researcher’s findings reflect broader concerns about the efficacy of macOS Ventura’s security enhancements. Wardle emphasized that the rushed implementation of monitoring tools can give users a false sense of security, potentially overlooking critical security risks.
Apple has not yet responded to requests for comment regarding Wardle’s findings. Despite the vulnerabilities exposed, Wardle remains hopeful that these revelations will encourage Apple to refine its security measures further, ensuring a safer environment for Mac users.
Last week, a rumor surfaced that Samsung will equip the Galaxy S24 Ultra with a new 50MP telephoto camera with 3x optical zoom. It would be a notable resolution upgrade from the 10MP sensor found on the current model. Tipster Ice Universe, who originally passed that rumor, has now shared more details about the new camera.
According to the source, the Galaxy S24 Ultra’s 50MP zoom camera will have a sensor size of 1/2.52 inches. That’s a bigger sensor than the Galaxy S23 Ultra’s 10MP camera. However, with five times more pixels, the pixel size has dropped from 1.12µm to 0.7μm. Samsung will probably rely on pixel binning to capture bright zoom photos during low-light conditions.
Meanwhile, a higher resolution means you’ll get better photos at non-native zoom levels as well, as long as the lighting is adequate. The source says the Galaxy S24 Ultra will offer “a good 5x zoom image quality” thanks to the new camera. The improvements are so big that Samsung plans to emphasize the sensor’s 5x zoom capabilities despite only offering 3x digital zoom.
If you remember, there have been rumors about the Galaxy S24 Ultra getting a dedicated 5x zoom camera in place of the 3x solution. Those rumors were dismissed by a reputed source a couple of months back. It turns out the rumors originated from Samsung’s new 50MP 3x zoom camera with improved 5x zoom capabilities. Unfortunately, it’s unclear if the new Ultra will also get an upgraded 10x zoom camera. The current model uses the same 10MP sensor.
The Galaxy S24 Ultra will also feature an upgraded OLED display
Along with cameras, Samsung will reportedly also upgrade the Galaxy S24 Ultra’s OLED display. While details are scarce, the same source “can confirm” that the upcoming Galaxy flagship will not keep the same screen as the current Ultra. Perhaps Ice Universe is referring to the recent report that the Korean firm will use M13 OLED panels on its 2024 flagships.
Originating from South Korea, the report last week stated that Samsung is almost certain to apply an M13 OLED display on the Galaxy S24 Ultra. It was said to be evaluating its application on the Galaxy S24 and Galaxy S24+. The new display tech allows for better picture quality while simultaneously reducing the panel thickness and power consumption. Hopefully, Samsung will use the same display on the two smaller Galaxy S24 models as well. The new Galaxy flagship will debut in early 2024.
In recent years, OLED monitors have become an increasingly popular option for gamers who want high refresh rates without compromising picture quality. However, as OLED monitors become more mainstream, the issue of burn-in has once again affected many users. Now, according to a recent report from The Verge, LG has officially confirmed a two-year warranty for burn-in on its monitors in the United States.
This clarification came after The Verge reviewed LG’s flagship 27-inch OLED gaming monitors and highlighted that the warranty did not extend to “burned-in images resulting from improper usage.” After a series of inquiries, Christopher De Maria, LG’s head of consumer PR in the US, provided a definitive response, stating, “LG now offers a two-year burn-in warranty for its OLED gaming displays.” Additionally, the company also highlighted that the updated warranty applies to both current owners of the LG 27GR95QE-B monitor and future buyers.
Some major caveats
While this new burn-in warranty offers a much-needed assurance for OLED monitor buyers, the coverage is contingent upon the monitor experiencing “normal and proper use,” explicitly excluding damage caused by “misuse [or] abuse.” This means that the warranty will cover burn-in as long as an individual uses the monitor for its intended purpose, specifically as a personal PC monitor in a residential setting, excluding commercial applications like retail signage displays. LG does not cover commercial applications due to the prolonged display of static images, which can lead to burn-in.
“Normal use means the product is used for what it was created to do. In this case, that is gaming (professional and casual) as well as desktop computing such as Windows,” said De Maria, LG’s head of consumer PR for North America.
Still better than other manufacturers
Although LG’s warranty coverage comes with conditions, it surpasses that of Acer and Asus, which do not explicitly include burn-in in their formal warranty coverage and address such cases on an individual basis. However, as the industry trends towards more widespread use of OLED monitors, manufacturers will need to enhance their warranty policies to encompass burn-in damage.
