Galaxy Note 20 & Fold 3 bag Samsung’s July 2023 update

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Samsung is pushing the July 2023 security update to the Galaxy Note 20 series and the Galaxy Z Fold 3. The new security patch started rolling out to these phones recently and may take a while before reaching users worldwide. The latest SMR (Security Maintenance Release) has already been rolled out to dozens of other Galaxy models.

As of this writing, Samsung’s July update is available for the 4G versions of the Galaxy Note 20 and Galaxy Note 20 Ultra in Latin America. SamMobile confirms that users in Argentina, Bolivia, and Peru can download this update. The new firmware build number is N98*FXXS7HWG2. A global rollout should follow in the coming days, with the company covering 5G models as well.

The Galaxy Z Fold 3 is also initially getting the July SMR in Latin America. The latest update for the foldable is available more widely in the region. The updated firmware version for this phone is F926BXXS4EWF3 (via). Samsung may expand the rollout to other markets, including the US, over the next few days. None of these phones are getting anything apart from the latest security fixes. The July SMR patches as many as 90 vulnerabilities.

The Galaxy S23 and Galaxy S22 phones are widely getting the July update

Along with updating the Galaxy Note 20 series and the Galaxy Z Fold 3 to the July SMR, Samsung is also expanding the rollout of the latest security patch for the Galaxy S23 and Galaxy S22 phones to more markets. These two were the first to get this month’s update, but the initial rollout was limited to select markets.

While the Galaxy S23 series picked up the July update in the US, the Galaxy S22 series has received it in the US and Europe. Samsung is now expanding the availability of the new SMR for the former to Europe, while the latter phones are getting the update in Latin America. The new build numbers are S91*BXXS3AWF7 and S90*EXXS6CWF6, respectively (via). Users in Asia, Africa, and the remaining markets will get the update soon.

Neither lineup is getting new features or improvements with this update. Samsung is only pushing the aforementioned security enhancements to the phones. If you’re using a Galaxy smartphone, you can check for new updates from the Settings app. Note that it may take a while for the latest updates to reach everyone globally. You may get a notification once the OTA (over-the-air) release hits your phone.


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School’s out, so ChatGPT’s traffic is declining

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It’s no mystery that ChatGPT offers tools for students to quickly generate answers and essays. While that’s the case, we’re just now realizing how many of ChatGPT’s users are students. Now that School’s out, ChatGPT’s traffic is declining.

Since ChatGPT is such a useful tool when it comes to generating content, we know that there are a ton of students who are tempted to use it. It can generate essays with near-human proficiency. This is a major problem for teachers and professors. This is why there are tools out there that are meant to help spot AI-generated essays.

School’s out, so ChatGPT’s traffic is declining

It’s summer break, and tired students are getting some much-needed rest. Well, it seems that ChatGPT is also getting some much-needed rest as well. The popular chatbot rose in usage while school was in session, and we can bet that its usage skyrocketed during finals.

However, according to a report from Similarweb, ChatGPT is experiencing a notable decline in usage over the past month. In fact, this is the first decline that the chatbot has ever experienced.

However, according to the report, between May and June, usage of the chatbot dropped around 9.7%. In the same amount of time, global visits to the website declined 5.7%. Total time spent on the website declined by about 8.5%, also.

With school out, students aren’t using the chatbot as much, but there are also other reasons for this decline. We’re seeing more companies implement ChatGPT into their products. This means that ChatGPT isn’t the only source of generative AI technology.

We also can’t forget that several companies are banning the use of ChatGPT for internal business tasks. This makes sense, as this could put company secrets on the web for all to see.

We’re not sure if this spells the downfall for ChatGPT or if it’s just a temporary drop. If it sees another spike in usage when school starts back up again, then it might show that students are a large user base for it.


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Best Prime Day Tablet Deals 2023

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If you’re looking to pick up a new tablet, then Amazon’s Prime Day is definitely a good time to do just that. There’s a ton of great tablet deals available for Samsung, Lenovo, Apple and even Amazon tablets. Which is what we’ll be rounding up in this post.

Like with many of the other Prime Day roundups we have done, this will be updated periodically throughout Prime Day which ends at 11:59PM PT on July 12. So you can be sure that you’re getting the best tablet deals possible.

Best Prime Day Tablet Deals 2023

Amazon has quite a few great deals on their own tablets for Prime Day. This includes their kids tablets. Where you can get the Fire HD 10 Kids Pro tablet on sale for $119. That’s $80 off of its regular price. You’ll also find the Fire HD 8 Kids Tablet on sale for $104.99. Which is also $75 off.

There’s also some great deals on Samsung Tablets right now, including the Galaxy Tab S8+ which is now on sale for just $899. Making it a pretty sweet deal, and bringing it down to its all-time lowest price. Want something a bit cheaper? Well the Galaxy Tab S7 FE is also on sale for $429. That’s a whopping $100 off of its regular price. We have actually not seen prices like this since Black Friday last November.

You’ll also find the iPad on sale. That includes the iPad (10th generation) which is now just $399. That’s $50 off of its regular price. Obviously that doesn’t sound like a ton off, but Apple’s products rarely get discounted, so this is a pretty good deal. Especially since this is their newest iPad model.

Those are just a few of the many tablet deals that we are seeing right now for Prime Day. Remember, we will be continuing to update this all week long.


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UGREEN readying a compact 300W charger with four USB-C ports

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UGREEN, which makes some of the best charging hubs, has announced its latest solution. The company is readying a compact 300W GaN charger that can concurrently charge up to five devices at high speed. The new hub will debut next month with a price tag of $269.

The upcoming UGREEN charging hub features four USB Type-C ports and one USB Type-A port. The fastest USB-C port delivers up to 140W of power via the PowerDelivery 3.1 spec. That’s enough to fast charge some of the beefiest laptops out there. More impressively, its power output is unaffected even if you use the remaining four ports all at the same time.

According to The Verge, which received information about the new UGREEN product from the company’s spokesperson Roger Wan, the other three USB-C ports have a maximum power output of 100W, 100W, and 45W, respectively. The lone USB-A port charges connected devices at a speed of 22.5W, which remains constant regardless of how many ports are in use simultaneously.

The power delivery of the other three USB-C ports depends on the number of devices connected at a time, though. A chart supplied by the company shows that the second and third USB-C ports can’t deliver 100W of power at the same time. The third port’s output power will drop to 60W. If you plug in the fourth port as well, both will drop to 65W, while the fourth port itself will offer a maximum power of 30W (down from its original capacity of 45W).

Overall, this UGREEN charging hub will deliver a power output of 300W. The breakdown of all five ports when used at the same time is 140W from the first USB-C port, 65W from the second, 45W from the third, 20W from the fourth, and 22.5W from the lone USB-A port. You can see the chart below for a wider breakdown of power output when a few ports are not in use.

The new UGREEN 300W charger comes with a thermal monitoring system

UGREEN says the charger comes with a built-in thermal monitoring system that monitors its temperature to prevent overheating. It takes a temperature reading every half a second. However, as pointed out by The Verge, some of its earlier compact high-power charging hubs equipped with this technology were getting “uncomfortably” hot when used at full capacity, including the Nexode 140W charger.

We hope UGREEN has properly evaluated the thermal performance of the upcoming accessory. If it passes the thermal test, the new charging hub will be a great option for power users. A $269-priced charger is quite expensive, but it will charge all of your gadgets at high speed. Up to five of them simultaneously. No need to carry multiple chargers when going on a work trip or a holiday.

UGREEN new 300W charger power output chart


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A vulnerability in Edge Routers’s and AirCube’s miniupnpd

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AirCube is a wireless access point device used in homes and Edge Routers are special routers manufactured by Ubiquiti that act at the network boundary and allow an internal network to connect to an external network.

MiniUPnPd (Mini Universal Plug aNd Play) is a small daemon that initiates the UPnP and NatPMP (Network Address Translation Port Mapping Protocol) for a device. These two services allow port redirection to any client on the network.

Recent reports from SSD suggest that MiniUPnPd service on the Aircube and Edge routers are vulnerable to an internal heap overflow that can lead potentially to execute arbitrary code.

CVE(s):

CVE-2023-31998: Heap Overflow in the miniupnpd leads to Arbitrary code execution

This vulnerability exists in the /etc/init.d/upnpd which exposes a dynamic TCP port to LAN clients, allowing threat actors to execute a heap overflow attack resulting in an arbitrary code execution.

The CVSS score and vector for this Edge Routers vulnerability are yet to be confirmed.

Vulnerability Details

Miniupnpd allows the configuration of NAT entries with a function called Internet Gateway Daemon. In Linux, the NAT entries are handled with the help of iptables or nftables. However, iptables used the function get_port_mappings_in_range function to get the external NAT entries and ports. 

Image: miniupnpd functionality diagram

The default allocation of array memory is set to 128 ports as the number of external port entries is not known in advance. If the entries exceed the number of port entries, the reallocation of memory is not updated accordingly, leading to a heap overflow.

SSD has published detailed information about this Edge Routers vulnerability.

Affected Products and Fixed Versions

A security advisory has also been published for this vulnerability.

Affected ProductsFixed in Versions
UPnP-enabled EdgeRouters running 2.0.9-hotfix.6 and earlier.Update affected EdgeRouters to 2.0.9-hotfix.7 or later.
UPnP-enabled Aircubes running 2.8.8 and earlier.Update affected Aircubes to 2.8.9 or later.

Users of these products are advised to upgrade to the latest versions to fix this vulnerability and prevent threat actors.

“AI-based email security measures Protect your business From Email Threats!” – Request a Free Demo.


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Japan is now the biggest Google Pixel market

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Google Pixel sales in Japan are going incredibly well, and the East Asian country is now the biggest market for Google’s smartphone in 2023.

If you are looking to buy a high-end Android smartphone, the Google Pixel is a solid choice thanks to its powerful hardware, outstanding camera quality, and software support from the company. Despite complaints about design defects like volume buttons falling apart, the latest statistics show that Pixel phone sales worldwide are skyrocketing.

According to 9to5google (via Counterpoint Research), Google Pixel global shipment soared 67% year-over-year as of Q1 2023. The Pixel 6a, Pixel 7, and Pixel 7 Pro are the company’s best-selling smartphones. While the International Data Corporation (IDC) didn’t paint a rosy picture of global smartphone shipment in 2023, the Google Pixel is voraciously increasing its market share.

Japan has become the biggest hub for Google Pixel phones

The latest report also sheds light on the biggest markets for Pixel phones. Interestingly, Japan is now the biggest selling hub for Pixel devices, accounting for 34% of Google Pixel shipments in Q1 2023. Last year, Japan only made 10% of Pixel shipments. This shows Pixel phones could find their place in the Japanese market and surpass rivals from Samsung and Apple. Google now holds 9% of Japan’s market, placing itself second after Apple.

The Pixel 7a is also the most successful device in the Japanese market, with a 74% shipment jump. Likewise, Pixel 6a could keep its reign as the best-selling Android phone in the country for seven consecutive months.

In Q1 2023, the United States also made 31% of Pixel shipments, which is a significant decrease from 51% the previous year. Of course, Pixel sales in the US are still consistent, but Japan is driving the brand growth. The Pixel phones sales in other markets also soared from 14% to 18%.

The Pixel shipments in Western Europe dropped from 24% to 17%. Apple, Samsung, and Xiaomi mainly dominate the European market. So Google has a tough time increasing its market share in this region. According to the latest reports, Google’s share of the Europe smartphone market is just 0.85%.


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Threads surpasses 100 million users in just a week

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It’s no secret that Elon Musk’s dramatic changes for Twitter have led to the resurgence of many new apps, including Meta’s attempt called Threads, which has now surpassed 100 million users just a few days after launch.

According to a report from Quiver Quantitative’s Threads Tracker, the app achieved this remarkable milestone in only five days, largely due to its integration with Instagram, which made it incredibly convenient for the platform’s billions of users to sign up, except those residing in the European Union, where the app is not yet available.

Moreover, CEO Mark Zuckerberg has been actively updating users about the app’s growth metrics. He revealed that the app attracted more than 10 million users within just 7 hours of its launch, a number that skyrocketed to 30 million by Thursday morning.

Staggering engagement metrics

Not only has Threads experienced exceptional user growth, but it has also witnessed remarkable engagement metrics. A recent report highlights that, as of Thursday morning, users had already shared over 95 million posts and given 190 million likes on the platform.

Very early days

Despite this early success, it is important to note that Threads is still in its early stages and lacks a few essential features that many users consider crucial. These include limited accessibility options, the inability to add alt text to images for individuals who rely on screen readers, and half-baked search functionality.

Furthermore, the absence of a chronological feed on Threads poses a limitation for users who want to stay updated with posts from friends and family. However, the company has reassured users that they are actively working on introducing chronological feeds in the near future.

Nonetheless, Threads’ appeal as a social conversation-based social media platform, along with the company’s decision not to promote political or hard-line news content, suggests that the platform could carve out a unique niche for itself, setting it apart from Twitter.

“Politics and hard news are inevitably going to show up on Threads — they have on Instagram as well to some extent — but we’re not going to do anything to encourage those verticals. There are already numerous vibrant communities, such as sports, music, fashion, beauty, and entertainment, that can thrive without delving into politics or hard news,” wrote Adam Mosseri, head of Instagram.


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RomCom Threat Actor Uses Microsoft Word File to Deliver Malware

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RomCom is a RAT – that enables remote access/control over devices to exfiltrate sensitive information for financial gain, now being used in geo politically-motivated attacks against Ukraine’s military institutions.

 According to the Blackberry threat intelligence team, the threat actor targets NATO Submit guests through RTF  Exploitation.

Threat actors took advantage of this event and sent malicious documents impersonating Ukraine congress to the supporters of Ukraine.

Exploitation

Lithuania is hosting a NATO Summit in Vilnius on July 11-12. The presence of the President of Ukraine Zelenskyy was confirmed and will be having a discussion of membership with Ukraine in the future.

The threat actors cloned the website of the Ukraine Congress by adding the “.info” suffix to look legitimate.

Fig: Cloned fake website

Using the typosquatting Technique, they have created a fake domain ukrainianworldcongress[.]info which looks like the original domain ukrainianworldcongress[.]org.

Then, the Spear phishing technique is used to spread the malicious document “Overview_of_UWCs_UkraineInNATO_campaign.docx” containing an embedded RTF file named afchunk.rtf to the victims

Fig: Word document sent through phishing

Once the document gets executed by the user, it will connect to proxies services and run SMP and HTTPS ports.

The OLE object in the RTF file renders Iframe tags to download additional files to execute the attack.

The next stage of the attack is carried out by exploiting the vulnerability CVE-2022-30190 in the victim’s machine.

It is a zero-day vulnerability affecting Microsoft’s Support Diagnostic Tool (MSDT)  with freely available proof of concept (POC) exploit code appearing in the wild.

Through malicious document files, this vulnerability could be exploited by remote code exploitation attempts which leverage the additional payloads.

After the sequence of scripts starts the final payload—RomCom downloader—the file connects to the remote server to register the new victim, according to the report.

When the payload is successfully downloaded, the RomCom downloader starts the Windows service.

The RomCom downloader also collects information about the system on which it is running. Such as:

  • The size of the device’s RAM
  • Username
  • Information about the machine’s network adapter.

Indicator of compromise

SHA256- A61b2eafcf39715031357df6b01e85e0d1ea2e8ee1dfec241b114e18f7a1163f
SHA256-3a3138c5add59d2172ad33bc6761f2f82ba344f3d03a2269c623f22c1a35df97
SHA256-e7cfeb023c3160a7366f209a16a6f6ea5a0bc9a3ddc16c6cba758114dfe6b539
SHA256-07377209fe68a98e9bca310d9749daa4eb79558e9fc419cf0b02a9e37679038d

“AI-based email security measures Protect your business From Email Threats!” – Request a Free Demo.


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New leaks reveal Galaxy Tab S9 pricing and detailed specs

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Samsung‘s second Galaxy unpacked event of the year is just over two weeks away now. The company will launch a host of new products at the big event in South Korea on July 26. Ahead of that, detailed specs and European pricing of the Galaxy Tab S9 series have leaked online, revealing what the company’s new flagship tablets will offer.

Galaxy Tab S9 specs detailed in new leak

Earlier leaks have already revealed most of the key Galaxy Tab S9 specs. Tipster Ishan Agarwal recently provided a round-up of it all. Like last year, we are getting three new flagship tablets from Samsung. The base mode will feature an 11-inch Dynamic AMOLED 2X display with a WQXGA resolution. It’s an upgrade from the TFT LCD screen the company offered on the base Galaxy Tab S8.

The Galaxy Tab S9+ and Galaxy Tab S9 Ultra will also get Dynamic AMOLED 2X displays but with a WQXGA+ resolution. The screens measure 12.4 inches and 14.6 inches, respectively. All three models will support S Pen input and feature an under-display optical fingerprint scanner. They are all IP68-rated for dust and water resistance and come with a stereo speaker setup with four speakers.

The upcoming Samsung tablets will pack 8,400mAh, 10,090mAh, and 11,200mAh batteries, respectively, in the base, Plus, and Ultra models. All three will support 45W wired charging. The devices also feature the same Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 “for Galaxy” processor that powers the Galaxy S23 series. Samsung will offer up to 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage for the base model.

The Plus model will come in up to 12+512GB configuration, while the Ultra model will be available with up to 16GB of RAM and 1TB of storage. Coming to cameras, the base Galaxy Tab S9 will give you a 12MP selfie shooter and a 13MP rear camera. The Plus model will add a secondary 8MP lens at the back. The Ultra model, meanwhile, adds a second selfie camera as well—another 12MP sensor.

Other highlights of the Galaxy Tab S9 series should include Samsung DeX support, Wi-Fi 6E, Bluetooth 5.3, NFC, GPS, a magnetic strip for attaching the S Pen, and a USB 3.2 Type-C port. All three tablets should run Android 13-based One UI 5.1.1 out of the box and should get updates until Android 17.

The leaked European pricing is a little high

A separate leak from SamInsider gives us the alleged European pricing for the Galaxy Tab S9 series. Samsung is reportedly planning to price the Wi-Fi version of the base Galaxy Tab S9 (8GB+128GB) at €929.95. The 12GB+256GB variant could cost €1,049. For the 12GB+256GB Galaxy Tab S9+ (Wi-Fi), you might have to shell out €1,149. Finally, the 12GB+256GB Galaxy Tab S9 Ultra (Wi-Fi)  could be priced at €1,369.

These prices are notably higher than what the Galaxy Tab S8 series cost at launch last year. The Wi-Fi variants started at just €749. So we advise you to take this information with a grain of salt. The publication claims to have obtained the details from a retailer database, but we should wait for more evidence. With the official launch just around the corner, the wait won’t be much longer now.


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The Twitter and Threads battle continues as politicians rush to the latter

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Meta launched their new platform, Threads, and this action has sparked a power tussle with Twitter. Regular users of Twitter are already rushing to Meta’s new platform to share ideas and interact. However, in recent times, sources have found out that politicians are also joining the migration.

This is yet another blow to Twitter’s face, as they previously had a firm grip on politics. Musk’s idea of free speech on Twitter was an aim towards letting people share their ideas on the platform. Issues relating to politics worldwide are of major concern to lots of people, and Twitter is a great platform to share these ideas.

Over the past few years, Twitter has reigned supreme when it comes to political matters or social media posts. Having the major players influencing the news in politics move over to another social media platform means trouble for Twitter’s business. With the rapid growth of users on Threads, politicians might just see the platform as a new place to share their political goals and aspirations.

Politicians might be officiating the next round of the Twitter and Threads battle

Meta is a huge brand that owns a ton of social media companies like Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram, and Threads being the new addition. This is to show that they aren’t newcomers in the social media business, so launching a Twitter competitor spells trouble for the competition. To make the toughen fight, Meta did well to link users’ Instagram accounts to the Threads platform.

By doing this, they simplified the signup process to join the Threads app for millions around the world. As long as you have an Instagram account, you can simply open a Threads account without any stress. Instagram already has over 1.4 billion users globally, all of which are prospective Threads users as well.

In the US, Instagram has over 168.6 million users in this region alone. That’s a mammoth crowd, and politicians are seeing an opportunity here. The growth of Threads is massive, gaining over 90 million users already. Already some politicians are also switching over to catch this crowd young.

With the coming elections, politicians in the US might see Threads as a campaigning platform. This might be a solid reason for their speedy migration over to the new Meta-owned Twitter competitor. Also, the recent changes to Twitter are a major factor that prompted users to search for alternative platforms.

However, in the US, the Democratic leadership is currently looking into the safety of its members operating a Threads accounts from official devices. Instagram has come out to say that its new platform, Threads, is not meant for news or politics. In the coming, users of this platform would see how it handles the influx of politicians and how this will affect the Twitter and Threads battle.


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