iRobot’s newest (sort of) robot vacuum, the Roomba j7+ is currently on sale for $649. That brings it down from its regular price of $799. That is the same price it was during Prime Day earlier this week. So if you missed out on Prime Day, you can still take advantage of this deal now.
The Roomba j7 was announced not too long ago. The j7 got really popular because of a guarantee that iRobot made. iRobot guarantees that the j7 series will avoid pet poop, or they will replace it for free. This is part of its P.O.O.P. policy, which stands for Pet Owner Official Promise. But if iRobot is so confident that it’ll avoid pet poop, then it must be pretty good right? It is.
On top of that, the j7 has “PrecisionVision” which is the new system built into the robot vacuum that is able to identify objects on your floors, and avoid them. Not just pet poop either. iRobot was one of the first to really do mapping of your home, and with the j7 it gets a huge upgrade.
It also has 10x the power lifting, compared to the Roomba 600 series. Which means that it is going to get up all of the pet hair, dirt and dust off of your floors, with ease.
What’s unique with the Roomba j7 series is that it uses geolocation from your phone to identify when you’ve left the house. So it can start cleaning. It might sound like your robot vacuum is stalking you, but actually, it is going to give you a clean house to come back to. Especially since it’ll dock and empty itself when its done.
You can pick up the iRobot Roomba j7 from Amazon today by clicking the link below.
The European Union is one of the few regulatory bodies that, in recent years, has been working to address the monopolies held by big tech companies over everyday products. Now, in a recent development, the EU has officially agreed on a new regulation that will mandate the use of replaceable batteries on all smartphones and devices, thus finally allowing users to replace their phone batteries without the need for any specialized tools or expertise.
This decision follows a vote by the EU Parliament back in June, wherein they supported the implementation of such rules. While the scope of the new regulation is limited to the 27 member countries of the EU, companies like Apple and Samsung may find it costly to maintain sealed batteries exclusively for non-EU markets. Additionally, since the law will also extend to other battery devices, such as laptops and tablets, its influence could potentially extend to non-EU countries as well.
Aim of the new regulation
The EU’s objective with the new regulation is to promote a circular economy by enabling the recycling of smartphone batteries. Additionally, since we can recycle approximately 95% of a lithium-ion battery, this regulation will reduce the reliance on mining new rare earth materials, which are already in short supply. Moreover, the law also requires original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) to collect 63% of such batteries that would otherwise end up in landfills by the end of 2027.
Although the agreement between the Council and Parliament is still pending, once finalized, the rules will take effect 20 days after their publication in the EU’s Official Journal.
The 2027 deadline
Considering that this decision will require significant redesigns from manufacturers, the EU has granted OEMs like Apple and Samsung a grace period until 2027 to modify their products. And although the specific impact of this new EU regulation on popular devices such as iPhones, Galaxy S phones, and Pixels is currently unclear, companies like Apple will face a massive impact, as adopting replaceable batteries could open up new opportunities for selling replacement and extended batteries to their customers.
The test evaluates products against the latest techniques used by data stealers and ransomware.
AV-TEST, a leading independent tester of cybersecurity solutions, has just given Malwarebytes two Advanced awards for the ability of our consumer and business products to protect against the latest attack techniques.
Let’s take a deeper dive into the test and the results.
Advanced Threat Protection test breakdown
AV-Test’s bi-monthly Advanced Threat Protection exam scrutinizes Windows 11 security products, testing their ability to counter new attack methods.
In the April 2023 trial, they assessed defenses against the “Inline Execute Assembly” technique used by data stealers and ransomware. The test involved 10 malware samples sent via spearphishing emails. If not caught early, data stealers could siphon off data, and ransomware could start encrypting data, while communicating with a C2 server.
Points were given for detecting key attack phases, with a perfect score being 35 points.
Malwarebytes Endpoint Protection successfully detected and blocked all ten instances of malware (5 data stealers and 5 ransomware samples) sent via spearphishing emails in the initial two steps—when they first landed on the system and when they attempted to become active—thereby passing all tests in these phases.
Advanced test: Consumer results
Malwarebytes Premium fared no differently, having also successfully detected and blocked all ten instances of malware when they first landed on the system and attempted to become active.
The foundation for superior Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR)
Leveraging the robust detection and prevention capabilities validated by AV-Test, Malwarebytes EDR constantly monitors endpoint systems and automatically kills processes associated with advanced threat activity. Learn more about our endpoint security solutions.
It’s been a long time coming for most people; YouTube Music is starting to fill Google Play Music’s shoes. The latter brought podcasts, and we’ve been waiting for YouTube Music to do the same. After launching in the US a little while back, podcasts for YouTube Music are rolling out internationally, according to 9To5Google.
Google Play Music shut down about two and a half years ago, and YouTube Music took on the mantle after that point. This transition was met with a bunch of criticism, but it still remains one of the top music streaming services. Now, we’re still waiting on several features to make it to YouTube Music like the ability to select and move multiple tracks in a playlist- maybe one day.
Podcasts for YouTube Music are launching internationally
YouTube Music could be your next one-stop shop for listening to your favorite podcasts. If you’re in the US, then you should already be able to listen to them in the app or on your computer.
You’ll see a chip for Podcasts at the top of the screen along with the rest of your moods like Energize, Workout, Relax, etc. When you tap on that button, it will take you to a page with a list of the podcasts that you already watch/listen to. This list will include shows you listened to on YouTube as well.
Along with your shows, and this should come as no surprise, you’ll see recommendations. First, you’ll see recommendations for individual episodes from shows. Under that, you’ll see a long list of categories of podcasts to help you discover your next favorite show.
These categories are Comedy, Society & Culture, Arts & Fiction, Science & Technology, True Crime, Gaming, Health & Wellness, History, Music, Religion & Spirituality, TV & Film, Sports, Political Commentary, and Business. So, there are a ton of categories for you to choose from.
If you live outside of the US, then you should expect to see podcasts come to your area in the coming weeks. Just keep an eye out for it.
Considering that it is summer and kids are on holiday, the new Google Play features aim to help parents. While the children enjoy their holidays, it is also important that parents keep an eye on their reading. To help in this regard, Google has prepared some products to help parents keep track of their children’s reading habits.
With these features, Google says that parents can help their children “keep their skills sharp all summer.” So once it’s time to head back to school, these kids will be more than ready for learning activities. To an extent, this shows parents the valid role that technology has to play in their child’s education.
If you are a parent or guardian, you might already be wondering what these new features are and how you can access them. Google outlines five of them that you can put to use and help your kids read even during the summer holiday. In this article, you’d identify these features and how to put them to good use.
Five new Google Play features to monitor your children’s reading this summer
One of the new features will help parents build the necessary skills for reading and understanding. For this parents will use the reading practice that can be found on Google Play Books section. This feature will teach children how to pronounce words properly and also guide them as they read.
Parents and guardians can also get an idea of their child or ward’s reading habits. With the reading insight feature, parents can monitor a child’s reading progress. Speaking of progress, this can relate to how often these children read, what they read, and their reading speed (how fast they finish a book).
Google is also offering to make things a bit more affordable for parents. The Google Play Pass subscription is an offer to parents to aid them save some cash on apps and games for their children. Additionally, with Google Play, Points can also make purchasing educational apps and games more affordable for parents.
Part of learning involves getting familiar with the language and culture of others. To help children learn in this regard, Google is offering many books in various languages on the Play Store. The translation feature is also a solid tool to help children get an idea of the meaning of foreign words.
To make books accessible to all children in a household, Google offers the Play Family Library feature. With this, parents can share their Play Store purchases with up to five people. This makes games, books, and a lot more available to all children in the household.
These features are all accessible via the Google Play Store and are designed to improve learning. Even during the summer holiday, children can keep learning and parents can make use of that. Most regions around the world have access to these features, and they can put them to use while teaching their children.
We take a look at reports that claim ransomware is making big money in 2023.
Ransomware generates big money for the groups behind it, with new research confirming (some) of the scale of the problem. Chainalysis, a blockchain research firm, looked at data from monitored cryptocurrency wallets, concluding that around $449 million has been taken from victims in the last six months.
As The Record correctly notes, the actual figure will likely be significantly higher because only monitored wallets are included in the study. In terms of what’s going on out there, payments under $1,000 and above $100,000 are both on the up. It’s claimed that ransomware groups could pull in around $900 million in 2023, with the return of “big game hunting” being one of the key factors for the bump.
What is big game hunting? Well, this is the practice of targeting large, financially well-off corporations in order to secure the biggest possible payouts. Even with the increase in attacks on smaller companies, taking on the big entities is where the most enticing payouts are waiting to be had.
As an example of payout sizes, BlackBasta’s 2023 average payment size is $762,634 and its median is $147,106. Cl0p checks in with a $1,730,486 average and a $1,946,335 median. At the other end of the scale the smaller, less sophisticated deployments such as Phobos creep into view with a $1,719 average and a $300 median.
No matter the size of the payment, they are ultimately securing said payments and continuing to make bank. It’s also suspected that as more firms refuse to pay their extortionists, so too are the ransomware authors responding by increasing their ransom demands. The research also notes that additional tactics are being used in cases of non payment to up the ante further. Threats to leak data, sell it online, break other parts of the business, attack related firms, or even harass employees are all tactics ransomware authors can make use of.
It’s not all doom and gloom where cryptocurrency payments are concerned. With the notable exception of ransomware, cryptocurrency crime across 2023 is in “sharp decline”. Cryptocurrency businesses are getting a handle on scams, users new and old are learning about how to protect their investments, and law enforcement pressure on cryptocurrency fraud is likely having an impact.
Back in the realm of ransomware, things aren’t perhaps quite as good with some of the big hitters from our June ransomware review serving up exploits, dubious “charity donation” requests, and an increase in attacks on education.
Elsewhere, we have students being used to apply pressure to impacted organisations and relentless attacks on schools. It would be unwise to think the scale of ransomware’s day to day impact is in any danger of dropping off anytime soon.
Detect intrusions. Make it harder for intruders to operate inside your organization by segmenting networks and assigning access rights prudently. Use EDR or MDR to detect unusual activity before an attack occurs.
Stop malicious encryption. Deploy Endpoint Detection and Response software like Malwarebytes EDR that uses multiple different detection techniques to identify ransomware, and ransomware rollback to restore damaged system files.
Create offsite, offline backups. Keep backups offsite and offline, beyond the reach of attackers. Test them regularly to make sure you can restore essential business functions swiftly.
Don’t get attacked twice. Once you’ve isolated the outbreak and stopped the first attack, you must remove every trace of the attackers, their malware, their tools, and their methods of entry, to avoid being attacked again.
Malwarebytes EDR and MDR removes all remnants of ransomware and prevents you from getting reinfected. Want to learn more about how we can help protect your business? Get a free trial below.
And the deals keep rolling in, after Prime Day. Amazon is still discounting the Motorola Edge+ 2023, bringing it down to just $699. That’s a pretty good deal for a really high-end smartphone from Motorola. It’s also unlocked, so it will work on any of the US carriers.
The Motorola Edge+ 2023 is a powerful and versatile smartphone that offers a lot of value for the price. It features a cutting-edge Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 processor, a stunning 6.7-inch pOLED display with a 165Hz refresh rate, and a triple-lens rear camera system with a 50MP main sensor. It also has a long-lasting 5100mAh battery and supports fast charging up to 68W.
Here are some of the reasons why you should buy the Motorola Edge+ 2023:
Powerful performance: The Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 processor is one of the fastest mobile processors available, so you can be sure that the Edge+ 2023 will handle even the most demanding tasks with ease.
Stunning display: The 6.7-inch pOLED display is one of the best on the market. It has a high resolution, a wide color gamut, and a 165Hz refresh rate that makes everything look smooth and fluid.
Excellent cameras: The triple-lens rear camera system takes great photos and videos in a variety of conditions. The 50MP main sensor is especially impressive, and it can even capture stunning low-light photos.
Long-lasting battery: The 5100mAh battery will easily last you a full day on a single charge. And if you need to top it up quickly, you can use the fast charging support up to 68W.
Stock Android: The Edge+ 2023 runs on stock Android, which means you get a clean and bloat-free experience.
If you’re looking for a powerful and versatile smartphone that offers great value for the price, then the Motorola Edge+ 2023 is a great option. It’s a great choice for gamers, photographers, and anyone who wants a phone that can handle anything they throw at it.
Remember the amazing Magic Compose feature that rolled out on Google Messages for RCS chats? Well, users of the app that text via SMS and MSM channels may finally benefit from this feature. This is great since not all conversations or chats on the Google Message platform are carried out via the RCS channel.
At the moment, text messages (SMS and MSM) don’t support this feature. Only those chats that are carried out through the RCS channel can make use of this AI-generative feature. But all of that is coming to an end as recent reports point out that Google is testing this feature for regular texts.
This will enable an all-around taste of this AI feature, which is currently lacking among users. With this, they can reimagine how they text others who aren’t using RCS messaging, such as Apple users. Not even the SMS and MSM barriers can stop Google Message users from experiencing the power of AI.
Google Message users chatting over text might soon be able to put Magic Compose to good use
If you are wondering what the Magic Compose feature is, you can check this article. With the help of this feature, users of the Google Message app could get responses to give those they are chatting with. It also brings various categories that can alter how your reply would sound.
There is even a category that lets users reply to messages using sing lyrics. This shows just how cool the Magic Compose feature is to use. But ever since this feature became available, it has only been available to a particular group of users.
For SMS texts, users were not able to try out this AI-generated replying feature. This broke the entire texting experience as users could interact with the feature on RCS chats and not on SMS texts. Now, the company is fixing this issue by making Magic Compose available for both RCS and SMS texts.
Before you get too excited, it is important to note that making the Magic Compose for SMS texts is in its beta tasting. It is not yet clear whether Google intends to launch its feature for usage to the public. The performance of this feature after the beta testing will determine whether it will be added for users texting over the RCS channel.
Beta testers note that the AI-generated feature for SMS texts tends to lack in some areas. Google will keep on working to fix areas where this feature falls short. After all, testing is concluded, then Magic Compose for texts will roll out to users globally.
Tax preparation firms shared personal and financial information with social media giant Meta
A group of seven US senators has sent a letter to the heads of the IRS, the Department of Justice, the Federal Trade Commission and the IRS watchdog, revealing that they have found evidence that reveals “a shocking breach of taxpayer privacy by tax prep companies and by Big Tech firms.”
According to the letter, information about tens of millions of US taxpayers was sent by three tax preparation firms to social media giant Meta. The letter asked the agencies to immediately open an investigation.
The tax firms used Pixel code on their websites to track and improve their media campaigns. Pixel is an integral part of Meta’s tracking infrastructure which collects data about people online. Data which is eventually used for targeted advertising, tailored content recommendations, and to train its algorithms.
The Pixel code is freely available and designed to help both the website owner and Meta. The code gathered information like names and email addresses, but also more detailed information, including data on users’ income, filing status, refund amounts, and dependents’ college scholarship amounts.
Despite what you might expect, it doesn’t matter whether the person using the tax filing service has an account on Facebook or other platforms operated by Meta.
One of the tax preparation firms stated that they used the Meta Pixel to deliver a more personalized experience for their customers.
“We did NOT know and were never notified that personal tax information was being collected by Facebook from the Pixel.”
Meta, on the other hand stated that it feels it has been clear in its policies that advertisers should not send sensitive information about people through its business tools.
“Doing so is against our policies and we educate advertisers on properly setting up Business tools to prevent this from occurring. Our system is designed to filter out potentially sensitive data it is able to detect.”
With both sides agreeing that this should not have happened, we wholeheartedly agree, but it does not explain why it happened anyway.
The problem was flagged earlier by the Markup. We reported about their Pixel Hunt project in January of 2022. The Markup also found Google’s analytics tool on one of the tax preparator’s websites, but that didn’t send out any names, although it did send some of the financial information to Google.
The three tax preparation firms mentioned in the letter are H&R Block, TaxAct, and TaxSlayer. The information gathered on the websites of these firms has been sent to Meta over the course of at least two years.
If you don’t want your information to be gathered and shared by trackers, you can use solutions like Malwarebytes Browser Guard, a browser extension that, among others, blocks third-party ad trackers.
Malwarebytes EDR and MDR removes all remnants of ransomware and prevents you from getting reinfected. Want to learn more about how we can help protect your business? Get a free trial below.
The Google Pixel Fold has pretty decent battery life. It’s not the best on any smartphone nor any foldable on the market. But it should get you through the day. However, that will all depend on how you use your Pixel Fold. While I was hitting about 8 hours of screen on time pretty often on the Pixel Fold during the review process, others were only getting about five to six. So it all depends on your usage.
But what about getting better battery life and improving it? There are some ways that you can improve the battery life on your Google Pixel Fold, and that’s what we’re going to go over today.
Adaptive Battery
The first thing you should do is turn on Adaptive Battery. This should be turned on by default. If not, just head to Settings > Battery > Adaptive Preferences. This will adapt your battery life, based on how you use your Pixel Fold. So for instance, if you use your phone generally the same every day, the Pixel Fold will know how it can better stretch that 4800mAh battery that’s inside.
It does generally take a week or so for the Pixel Fold (or any Pixel really) to get a hang of how you use your phone. So you may not see much of a difference here right away.
Turn off Smooth Display
The Google Pixel Fold has a 120Hz refresh rate on both displays. And while it can automatically go up and down to conserve battery life, you can also turn this off entirely and get better battery life. If you do turn this off, it will stick to 60Hz all the time. Depending on how much time you spend on your phone, you might see a big increase or just a minor one. That’s because the Pixel Fold does already move between 60Hz and 120Hz for different things.
In my experience with the Pixel Fold, I was able to get about another hour of screen on time by turning off Smooth Display, but that might not be the case for everyone.
To turn off Smooth Display, head to Settings > Display > Smooth Display.
Turn on Dark Theme
This is a tip that we include in every post like this, but it’s a good one still. Turning on Dark Mode will help conserve battery life too. This is because the Pixel Fold is using an OLED display for both displays. So what that means is that each individual pixel is lit up. So using dark mode means the display will use less battery, and it’s also easier on the eyes.
Out of the box, the Pixel Fold should have dark mode scheduled. Basically, it will turn on dark mode from sunset to sunrise. So when you’re in, what is usually, darker environments, you’ll have a darker UI. I prefer this option myself, as I do like to be able to see my phone outside, and with dark mode on, it’s almost impossible. You could also add a toggle to your Quick Settings to quickly turn it on and off throughout the day.
You can change the settings for Dark Mode by going to Settings > Display > Dark Mode.
Adjust your Screen Timeout
Something that is often overlooked when it comes to battery life is, your screen timeout. This is the amount of time from the last time you interacted with your phone til it turns off. Now, most of us likely turn it off when we’re done with it, but not everyone does that.
To do this, head to Settings > Display > Screen timeout. From here, you will see a number of options available from 15 seconds, 30 seconds, 1 minute, 2 minutes, 5 minutes, 10 minutes and 30 minutes. Now, I typically keep this on either 3 minutes or 5 minutes depending on the phone (the options are different on different phones). Otherwise the phone will turn off while I’m in the middle of reading something.
Speaking of which, there is also a feature called “Screen Attention”. If you turn this on, it will use the front-facing camera to make sure you are looking at the display and will prevent it from turning it off. Now this does use some more battery, but depending on your use, it’ll likely be a very small hit on the battery.
Battery Saver and Extreme Battery Saver
Like most modern Pixel devices, Google has added two battery saver modes. There’s Battery Saver and Extreme Battery Saver. Now Battery Saver is the one you’d likely use the most.
To access both battery saver modes, head to Settings > Battery > Battery Saver.
What is Battery Saver?
Battery Saver is a lighter version of both savers. It will turn on the dark theme, limit or turns off background activity, some visual effects, certain features and limits some network connections (basically favoring WiFi or mobile data a bit more).
With Battery Saver, you can set this on a schedule. You can set this based on your routine or based on percentage. If you choose to do it based on your routine, it will turn on automatically if your battery is likely to run out before your next typical charge. That’s where the Adaptive Battery preferences really come in handy. Now if you choose based on percentage, it will turn on when you hit a specific percentage of battery left. You can set it in increments of 5% from 10% to 75%. We’d recommend using it if you are around 20%. Otherwise, it limits your phone to much.
What is Extreme Battery Saver?
Extreme Battery Saver is exactly what it sounds like, a more extreme version of the Battery Saver. According to Google:
“Extreme Battery Saver pauses most apps and notifications. Select your essential apps so you don’t miss any important notifications or messages.”
On this screen, Google let’s you choose essential apps that you want to get notifications from. Recommended ones would be messaging apps, maps and maybe Uber or Lyft if you are waiting on a ride to get home.
Extreme Battery Saver is so extreme that it can save your battery and make it last for up to 72 hours, according to Googel.
