Google Workspace is a great suite of services for you if you want to get some serious work done. While it’s so easy to keep in contact with your colleagues across your Workspace account, there are times when you want to block them out. Google Calendar will let you mute messages from Google Chat, according to Android Police.
Starting late last year, Google officially killed off Hangouts in lieu of Google Chat. It basically provides the same functionality. You’re allowed to message other people through their Google accounts. It’s basically Google’s answer to platforms like WhatsApp and Telegram. If you have a Google account, then you have access to Google Chats. In fact, most people found that their chats on Hangouts were automatically transferred over.
Google Calendar will let you mute Chat notifications
If Google Workspace is your primary business platform, then you’re most likely using Google Chat for your primary communication. Larger businesses are more likely to have a torrent of messages passing between users. That can be a bit annoying if you’re trying to get work done.
Thankfully, Google has a solution to this. Google Calendar has a feature called Focus Time. This feature is like Do Not Disturb mode. It will mute notifications coming in so that you will avoid distractions. If you’re bent on getting work done without any bothersome messaging coming through, you’ll want to also mute messages from Google Chat.
Thanks to a new update, you’re now allowed to do that. In Google Calendar, when you’re setting up the Focus Time duration, you’ll see a checkbox that will mute Google Chat notifications.
Muting Google Chat notifications is something that you can do from the Google Chat app, but why not set that up all on one screen? Adding Google Chat to your focus time when you’re setting it up just makes the experience quicker and more streamlined.
Since this is a Google Workspace feature, you know that it’s not coming out to everyone. So far, it’s only available for paid Workspace tiers.
OpenAI has been making some large leaps into the public mindset ever since it unveiled ChatGPT. Since it’s a big company doing big things, it was only a matter of time before it got caught up in some big trouble. According to The Washington Post, OpenAI is in the midst of a lawsuit over how it obtained data to train its LLM (Large Language Model).
AI Chatbots (and let’s rope image generators into this also) are like human brains; they have to learn. Companies scrape millions of words and feed them into the LLM so that it could learn the elements of speech, facts, etc. It’s like being an infant and learning how to speak just by growing up around your family.
But, OpenAi is in a lawsuit because of how it obtained its data
It was a matter of time before someone looked at what ChatGPT is and how it learns. A law firm in California claims that OpenAI violated the rights of millions of people around the world by using their written content to train ChatGPT.
This is a controversy we saw not too long ago with image generators using the art from artists to learn. The thing is that ChatGPT used all sorts of content from people including reports, articles, social media posts, etc. When they posted these to the internet, they didn’t consent to having it scraped to train an LLM. This means that OpenAI could have violated their right to privacy.
For all we know, if you use ChatGPT to generate a poem, it could generate it using information scraped from a poem that you wrote. This goes for any story, article, or social media post you made.
Sure, some people might not care but think back to the whole controversy with artists. If you’re an artist who opposes AI art, you wouldn’t want a company using your art to train its image generator. So, if you’re an author, poet, journalist, or another type of writer, you might not want ChatGPT using your content to train its LLM.
Since this is a lawsuit on a large scale, you should expect it to go on for a while. At this point, we don’t know too much about the case like the damages. We’ll have to wait on more information about this subject.
ASUS has carved out a place for itself in the smartphone landscape by providing niche smartphones. These days, they offer two smartphones. A gaming smartphone in the ROG Phone, and a small compact smartphone in the Zenfone. Both are fan favorites among those, albeit small, groups of consumers.
With the Zenfone 10, ASUS kept most of what made the Zenfone 9 such a popular phone among those that want a smaller phone. But made a few changes, like the backside. Which now has a new material that should be less likely to stain. So is it enough to upgrade? Let’s find out in our full review.
Table of Contents
ASUS Zenfone 10 Review: Hardware
No matter the product, ASUS builds a high-quality product. Whether it’s a laptop, desktop, smartphone, monitor, or something else, they are built very well. And that’s the case here with the Zenfone 10. It has a metal enclosure, with a textured back, which is quite the difference from the other smartphones on the market.
The back is textured, and on this white model, it does feel cheaper versus the Zenfone 9. The back did change, and that’s because the Zenfone 9 was staining pretty easily. In fact, just after using it for a month for the review last year, the back got pretty stained. So far, the back of the Zenfone 10 is performing pretty well, but it’s only been a month since I received the phone. Only time will tell if this keeps up or not.
The sides are metal, which makes for a premium feel, which is funny since the back feels somewhat cheap. The left side of the phone has the volume rocker with an inset power button. The power button is inset because it is a fingerprint reader as well. ASUS is one of the only ones using a fingerprint reader in the power button, besides the foldables that are on the market. And honestly, it’s a great decision. The fingerprint reader is basically perfect. I’ve never had it not recognize my finger, as long as I put the right finger on the sensor.
On the top of the phone, you’ll find the headphone jack. That’s something you don’t see to often on smartphones these days. It’s basically just ASUS and Sony, the two companies making niche smartphones. Also on the top is an antenna band and a microphone hole. The right side has a few more antenna bands, and the bottom is where you’ll find a speaker, USB-C port and the SIM card slot. There’s no micro SD card slot available on this phone, which is a bummer, but expected.
The front of the phone is almost all screen, with some pretty small bezels, and a slightly thicker chin. It also has a front-facing camera in the left corner. But more on the display in the Display section.
The hardware feels very premium on this ASUS smartphone, and I’d expect nothing less from ASUS. Even going back to the time when they made the Transformer tablets, ASUS has always made high-quality products, in terms of their hardware and build. And it’s something I hope they never lose. It’s really only ASUS and Motorola that has this kind of design and build identity.
ASUS Zenfone 10 Review: Performance
Inside the Zenfone 10, ASUS has the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 processor powering the show, with 16GB of RAM and 512GB of storage on our unit. It does start with 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage. So we have the higher-end model here. And when it comes to performance, not a single complaint.
As mentioned in the disclaimer above, we’ve been using this phone for a solid month, and the phone has never really gotten hot nor slowed down. The only time it got hot was in extended game playing sessions, and when I was using it outside in 90-degree heat for quite some time. Those instances, it’s expected that the phone will get hot. But it wasn’t so hot that the phone was unable to hold, nor did it slow down at all. So that’s good to see.
With the 16GB of RAM inside this one, apps did stay in memory for quite some time. With a lot of other Android smartphones, they tend to be pretty aggressive with closing apps in the background, to help preserve battery life. ASUS doesn’t do that, thankfully. I’ve had apps left in memory for hours, and even days. When I go back to them, they open up like normal, without redrawing them. So that’s definitely good news.
Performance on the ASUS Zenfone 10 is basically what you’d expect from the hardware it has. That’s not a surprise, even though this is a small and compact phone, ASUS does a good job with heat dissipation with the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2. And it has even improved over the Zenfone 9 last year, which did a really good job with it.
US Cellular connectivity
The Zenfone 10 won’t be sold on carriers in the US. It’s going to be unlocked once again. So this means you really need to pay attention to the bands it supports. I used this on T-Mobile and it was pretty good. It worked on 5G in most areas that the Galaxy S23 Ultra did.
However, it will not work on Verizon at all. On AT&T, it should work, but not fully. Some bands are supported, but not all. That means that if you’re in an area where AT&T has 4G LTE or 5G on a band that this phone doesn’t support, no service for you. Which is pretty important, so definitely check the bands for the model you’re buying before you buy it. Especially if you’re buying from Amazon, as some European and Asian variants are likely there, and those definitely won’t support US bands.
ASUS Zenfone 10 Review: Display
Usually on smartphones that are in this price range, the display is something that might take a hit. But, ASUS used one of the best panels on the market. It’s the latest Samsung AMOLED panel here, which is a 2400×1080 resolution display at 5.9-inches. It also has a pretty good refresh rate at 144Hz. And covers 112% of the DCI-P3 spectrum. Meaning that the color reproduction on this panel is really good.
The reason why Zenfone fans love the Zenfone 8, 9 and will love the 10, is because of the size. It’s one of my favorite features of this phone as well. It’s really nice to be able to use a smaller phone, without sacrificing really anything. It’s got top-notch performance that can rival the Galaxy S23 Ultra, it has the display to rival the Galaxy S23 series, and more, which we’ll touch on later in this review. This is one of the few phones that I can use comfortably with one hand, for literally everything. That includes browsing, typing, and more.
This display panel gets pretty bright, and is plenty usable in direct sunlight, even moreso than some other smartphones that have recently come out. It also just looks stunning. I’ve found myself often times just looking at the phone on my homescreen, because it just looks so good.
ASUS Zenfone 10 Review: Battery life
Since Qualcomm moved to TSMC for manufacturing its Snapdragon 8 chipsets, with the Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 last year, battery life has been pretty incredible. That’s the case for Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 and 8 Gen 2-powered smartphones. And that trend continues here with the ASUS Zenfone 10.
This is no doubt a two-day phone. And if you’re really not a power user, it could last you even longer. Standby is pretty incredible too. I set this phone aside for a few days to use the Razr+ and then switched between them for a few weeks while working on both reviews. And after four days, the Zenfone 10 lost just 30%. Now that might sound like a lot, but that means in standby, it could last about 10 days. And overnight, it’ll lost about 1-2%. Which is almost unheard of.
Now let’s talk about actually using the phone. It’s still a beast. On multiple days, I got double-digit hours of screen on time. That’s not something I see very often. And i’ve reviewed a lot of the flagship phones to launch over the past decade. In fact, one day, I got 11 hours and 44 minutes on a full charge. I likely could have gotten past the 12-hour mark, but I put it on the charger instead.
So if you’re worried about battery life on this small phone, don’t. It’s incredibly good.
Now the charging, does leave a bit to be desired. It does have 30W wired charging, which for a 4300mAh capacity battery, that’s going to be pretty fine. It’s not the fastest, but it’s decently fast, and will protect that battery longer. Wireless charging is where the problems come in. Its only 15W, and on a lot of wireless chargers I’ve tried, it’s even slower. Meaning that it’s going to take a couple of hours to charge. If you’re charging it wirelessly overnight, it’s fine. It’ll be fully charged when you wake up. But for topping off, you’ll want to plug it in.
ASUS Zenfone 10 Review: Software
Those that love the ASUS Zenfone 10 for its size, are also typically those that love stock Android. And well, ASUS is sticking with stock Android here. There are a few changes to the software. For instance, you can choose between ASUS and Google’s own implementation of Quick Settings. ASUS opts for the old-school circular toggles as opposed to Google’s long oval ones. Which allows you to have more toggles in less space. And I actually prefer ASUS’ method here.
Otherwise, most of this is stock Android. And in some ways, it’s better. For instance, the battery life screen. It’s not the Pixel version, it’s the AOSP version. So it updates in real-time and has a graph that actually shows you how the phone’s been used, instead of useless mountains.
ASUS is like the Hyundai of smartphones, in terms of software. They allow you to change everything, a lot like Hyundai does with its vehicles. For instance, in the Display settings, you can change the animation speed. This is typically hidden in the developer settings. But ASUS said that a lot of people were changing the animation speed on the Zenfone 9, so they broke it out of the developer settings, to make it easier to find.
There’s also other options within the Display settings, like the status bar icon manager. So you can add or remove icons from the status bar, and make it look as clean as possible. This is also available on OnePlus’ OxygenOS, but many others don’t have this option. You also get options for the always-on display, and so much more. Just about every aspect of the display can be changed here.
ASUS added software features to make this phone easier to use
ASUS, despite making a smaller phone, still have a number of features that make the phone easier to use. For instance, there’s the Edge Tool. Which you can swipe from the right side of the screen to open up. This will give you a few app shortcuts, plus quick settings, available at your fingertips. It supports a max of eight apps, but not every app is available to use with this feature. You can choose what apps you want though. You also have the ability to edit the system shortcuts that are shown in the Edge Tool, which is also a limit of eight.
Another cool feature is the Smart Key. By default, a double-press will open the voice input, but you’ll likely want to change that to Google Assistant, or maybe the camera. You can choose from specific apps for this shortcut too. ASUS also lets you swipe on the power button to open the notification shade. Like the way rear-mounted fingerprint sensors used to work. It’s a cool feature, but I found I was often opening the notification shade unintentionally, so I turned it off.
Like any other phone released in 2023, the Zenfone 10 also has a slew of gestures. Some of which I remember from the Zenfone 2 way back in the day. So there’s the usual stuff like flip down to mute, double tap to turn off the screen, and to turn it on. You can also draw a “W” on the screen to open the weather app, or an “S” to open the camera onto the front-facing camera, among others. To be honest, I didn’t keep a lot of these on. Other than the flip down to mute, and double tap to turn the screen off.
ASUS does also make it easy to manage your phone, with the built-in Mobile Manager feature. From here, you can quickly see your data usage, clean up the background apps, and storage, as well as scan for privacy and security threats. This is much better than relying on an app from the Play Store, that likely is going to bring some malware onto your device.
These are just some of the very, very many features that ASUS has added to make the Zenfone 10 even easier to use. The software as a whole, however, has been a breeze to use. ASUS is also guaranteeing three years of OS updates and four years of security updates on the Zenfone 10, which is a big upgrade over the Zenfone 9.
ASUS Zenfone 10 Review: Camera
Now, let’s talk about one of the best features of any phone, and that’s the camera. ASUS has a dual-camera setup here. Utilizing a 50-megapixel Sony IMX766 sensor as the main camera, and then a 13-megapixel ultrawide, with a 120-degree field of view. The front-facing camera is a 32-megapixel RGBW camera, that is pixel binned.
So, as you can tell, it’s not going to be the best camera on the planet. But it should be pretty decent. And it is. Most of the pictures I’ve taken with the Zenfone 10 have been good. But none have been impressive, to me. The Zenfone 10 misses out on the “Wow” factor with the camera, and its features. It’s a pretty boring camera setup. No real special features at all. That’s going to be fine for most people, but I do wish that ASUS had done more to differentiate the camera on the Zenfone 10.
Let’s start with the main sensor. It’s pretty good. Color reproduction is very good, sometimes a tad bit on the saturated side, but usually it’s accurate to what your eyes see. Every once in a while it won’t be as sharp as it should be. But that is pretty rare. It’s a good camera for those that don’t want to mess with any settings. Those that just want to open the camera app and take a photo.
Portrait mode is surprisingly impressive
Portrait mode is probably the most impressive part of this phone’s camera. I was pretty impressed with some of the portrait mode shots that you can get on the Zenfone 10. Now, ASUS does allow you to adjust the aperture. You can bring it all the way up to f/0.95. That’s going to give you a very shallow depth of field, and provide quite a bit of bokeh.
For the most part, portrait mode was really good at separating the foreground from the background. But every once in a while, it would struggle. In the gallery below, there’s a picture of a “Little Free Library” which has a black top. The camera did a good job of separating it and the tree from the background. But randomly in the middle of the top of the library, it blurred it. So it wasn’t perfect, but pretty close. There’s also a corner that’s not blurred for some reason.
A few photos of different flowers also caused problems for the Zenfone 10. Where it blurred part of the same flower, and didn’t blur other parts. It’s quite easy to see that this is all being done with AI, which is fine, we knew that. But would definitely like to see a more natural bokeh effect here.
I’d say this is probably the best portrait mode I’ve seen, behind the Pixel. Most portrait modes only work on humans, but this works on everything. Like a macro mode, which is good, since there isn’t one.
What’s missing
So what’s missing from this camera? Two things, for me. I do wish ASUS added a telephoto sensor here. While they do allow you to punch in at 2x, a nice 3x or 5x telephoto sensor would be great. Seeing as I rarely use a ultrawide, that would have been a lot more useful.
But since they did add an ultrawide here, why not add a macro mode? Literally every other phone uses either the ultrawide or telephoto sensor for macro. But ASUS did not. Obviously, these are pretty minor things, but still a big deal. And a good way to differentiate your phone from the many other Android phones on the market.
The camera system on the ASUS Zenfone 10 is good, but it could have been great. And yes, I’m guessing the size is a reason for it having ultrawide over a telephoto sensor. I’d settle for just adding a macro mode to that ultrawide sensor.
Should you buy the ASUS Zenfone 10?
I started out this review talking about how ASUS makes niche smartphones, and you really can’t get much more niche than a compact phone. The Zenfone 10 is great, however, it’s size is going to make sure it is not a best-seller. Most want a larger screen, not a smaller one. But for those of us that want a smaller phone, this is going to be perfect, since it does not sacrifice anything.
You should buy the ASUS Zenfone 10 if:
You desire a small and compact phone.
You want the best battery life on a smartphone (so far).
You don’t care to much about the camera, and just want a good software experience.
Charming Kitten APT Group Uses Innovative Spear-phishing Methods. Volexity researchers recently noticed that threat actors are actively intensifying their efforts to compromise the credentials or systems of their targets by employing Spear-phishing Methods.
While spear-phishing techniques involve sending personalized messages and engaging in dialogue for days before delivering malicious links or attachments.
Volexity often observes Charming Kitten, an Iranian-based threat actor, using these techniques, and their main focus is gathering intelligence through compromised credentials and spear-phishing emails.
The Charming Kitten APT group extracts additional access and attempts to shift to corporate VPNs or remote access services.
In this spear-phishing campaign, Charming Kitten was found to be distributing an updated version of the backdoor, dubbed POWERSTAR (aka CharmPower), by the security analysts at Volexity.
POWERSTARBackdoor
Volexity analyzed the latest version of the POWERSTAR backdoor, unveiling Charming Kitten APT Group’s enhanced spear-phishing techniques and malware evolution.
However, despite all the challenges, Volexity successfully analyzed the new variant with all essential components.
Security researchers discovered a complex POWERSTAR variant, possibly aided by a custom server-side component for automated actions.
Notably, this version employs interesting features like IPFS and publicly accessible cloud hosting for decryption and configuration details.
Here below is the POWERSTAR timeline:-
POWERSTAR timeline (Source – Volexity)
Charming Kitten focused on a recent attack target, using an email address mimicking an Israeli media reporter to send a message.
However, before deploying malware, the attacker casually inquired if the target would review a document on US foreign policy, a common request resembling those from journalists seeking opinions on relevant topics.
Charming Kitten sustained interaction through a harmless email exchange with a question list, followed by the target’s answers to deepen the target’s trust.
After several days of legitimate communication, they sent a malicious LNK file embedded into a password-protected RAR file that is disguised as a “draft report” along with the password.
Phishing Operations
Here below, we have mentioned all the phishing operations that the phishing operator follows:-
Posing as a genuine person with a verifiable public profile, initiate contact and establish a basic rapport with the target.
The sender’s email imitates the impersonated person’s personal account, utilizing a reputable webmail service. The initial email contains no malicious content, avoiding security software detection and raising no recipient concerns.
Upon receiving the target’s response, send a follow-up email with a series of questions, strengthening the attacker-victim rapport and trust.
A malicious password-protected attachment is sent via a follow-up email if the target responds or remains unresponsive for some time, separating the password to restrict automated scanning and extraction.
POWERSTAR Backdoor Features
Here below, we have mentioned all the features of POWERSTAR:-
Remote execution of PowerShell and CSharp commands and code blocks
Persistence via Startup tasks, Registry Run keys, and Batch/PowerShell scripts
Dynamically updating configuration settings, including AES key and C2
Multiple C2 channels, including cloud file hosts, attacker-controlled servers, and IPFS-hosted files
Collection of system reconnaissance information, including antivirus software and user files
Monitoring of previously established persistence mechanisms
The POWERSTAR backdoor payload collects system info and sends it to the compromised system’s C2 address via a POST request.
In the analyzed sample, the C2 address was a subdomain on Clever Cloud, fuschia-rhinestone.cleverapps[.]io. It includes a victim identifier token for Charming Kitten’s tracking.
System information and victim identifier (Source – Volexity)
Volexity noticed the C2 updating the AES key dynamically, and POWERSTAR sets a random IV and sends it to C2 via the “Content-DPR” header.
While the earlier versions used a custom cipher instead of AES, which improves the operations of the malware. POWERSTAR has the capability to carry out commands using two programming languages, and here below we have mentioned them:-
ModuleswithPOWERSTAR Backdoor
Volexity successfully obtained access to nine modules of POWERSTAR, which are listed below:-
Screenshot: Takes a screenshot and uploads to C2
Processes: Enumerates running processes via “tasklist”, saves to %appdata%\Microsoft\Notepad\Processes.txt, and uploads to C2.
Shell: Not used in any observed sample; identifies running antivirus software, writes to Shell.txt.
Applications: Unchanged from Check Point report; retrieves installed programs by traversing registry key paths.
Persistence: Establishes persistence for the IPFS variant of POWERSTAR via a Registry Run key
Persistence Monitor: Checks whether various Registry keys and files dropped by POWERSTAR components are still intact; relays this information to the C2.
System Information: Unchanged from Check Point report; executes the system info command and relays information to C2
File Crawler: Retrieves drives via Get-PSDrive PowerShell cmdlet, and proceeds to recursively traverse all directories to search for files matching specific extensions while ignoring certain directories; metadata on identified files is relayed to the C2
Cleanup: This module now contains seven hardcoded methods.
Since 2021, when Volexity initially detected POWERSTAR, Charming Kitten enhanced the malware to increase detection complexity.
The considerable alteration involves downloading the decryption function from remote files, making it harder to detect the malware except in memory.
Moreover, this technique gives the attacker a kill switch, which allows them to prevent further analysis of the crucial functionalities of the malware and its operations.
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Amazon is discounting the Echo Buds by $55. Which is a pretty good discount, and does bring them down to an all-time low price here. Which we last saw during Prime Day in July. So if you’ve been looking to get yourself a pair, today is the day.
Amazon has both versions of the Echo Buds (2nd Gen) with the wired charging case and with the wireless charging case on sale. Both are $55 off. So the wireless model is $85 and the wired case is $65. Otherwise, they are exactly the same.
The Echo Buds come with Alexa on-board, of course. Which allows you to ask Alexa to read your text messages, you can also tell Alexa to change the thermostat and much more. There’s active noise cancellation available here. Giving you some pretty incredible audio, and the ability to immerse yourself in your music.
Battery life here is pretty good too. We’re looking at five hours of continuous playback, and up to 15 hours with the charging case – which is included. There is also quick charging here, where you can get two hours of playback with just a 15-minute charge. Finally, the wireless charging model is using Qi, so any Qi Wireless charger will work with these. Of course, wireless charging will take longer.
Amazon does offer the Echo Buds in both black and white colors too.
One of the big selling points of the Echo Buds is just how thin and light they are. Which is also amazing considering the pretty good battery life that they boast. Making them light means you can wear them in your ears all day long, without worrying about ear fatigue – which is a real thing.
You can pick up the Echo Buds from Amazon in this Prime Day sale by clicking here. This sale is going to be valid throughout Prime Day, or while supplies last.
ASUS has taken the wraps off of its latest smartphone – the Zenfone 10. It’s going to look and feel a lot like the Zenfone 9, which was a brilliant phone in 2022. ASUS did make a few changes here, but for the most part it’s the same phone at the same price. Which is really good to see, as the Zenfone 9 was a very popular smartphone among those that wanted a small but powerful device.
ASUS Zenfone 10 Specs
Here are the specs of the new Zenfone 10, and how they compare to the Zenfone 9.
ASUS Zenfone 10
ASUS Zenfone 9
Display
5.9-inch FHD+ AMOLED 144Hz
5.9-inch FHD+ AMOLED 120Hz
Processor
Snapdragon 8 Gen 2
Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1
RAM
8GB
6GB
Storage
256GB
128GB
Battery Capacity
4300mAh
4300mAh
Charging Speeds
30W wired 15W wireless
30W wired 5W wireless
Software
Android 13
Android 13
Rear Cameras
50MP wide 13MP ultrawide
50MP wide 12MP ultrawide
Front Camera
32MP
12MP
Dimensions
146.5 x 68.1 x 9.4mm
146.5 x 68.1 x 9.1mm
Weight
172g
169g
Price
$799
$799
Colors
Aurora Green Midnight Black Comet White Eclipse Red Starry Blue
Starry Blue Moonlight White Sunset Red Midnight Black
Available
Q3 2023
July 2022
As you can see, a few things were upgraded here like the RAM, storage, display and the front-facing camera. But all-in-all, not a lot of changes here. And considering how highly praised the Zenfone 9 was, it makes sense. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
ASUS is offering the Zenfone 10 with up to 16GB of LPDDR5X RAM and up to 512GB of storage, which is UFS 4.0 storage too.
Zenfone’s new cameras
There’s a few new cameras on the new Zenfone 10 this year. That ultrawide was upgraded to a 13-megapixel sensor, and the front-facing camera got a huge jump to 32MP. ASUS has also included a 6-axis Gimbal Stabilizer 2.0 with Adaptive EIS to the package. Making recording with this phone a breeze. Even the most shaky video will be nice and smooth.
On the front camera, ASUS has changed the technology a bit. Making it a RGBW camera, as opposed to a RGGB camera on the Zenfone 9. The RGBW camera adds a white sub-pixel, which will help to make the pictures brighter, especially in dark places.
Still compact and powerful
One of the big selling points for the Zenfone, since the 8 series, is that it is a pretty small and compact phone, but doesn’t sacrifice on performance. That’s the case again this year. Sporting the latest Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 processor from Qualcomm, with up to 16GB of RAM and 512GB of storage.
Now some might expect that with a 4300mAh capacity battery, that battery life might take a hit. Because it’s small, and there’s less space to dissipate the heat from that processor. If it’s anything like the Zenfone 9, battery life won’t be an issue. As it was truly incredible on that phone.
When can I get it?
ASUS says that the Zenfone 10 will be available towards the end of Q3 2023. Since the third quarter starts in just two days, that’s not as bad as it sounds. But basically, that means that it could launch anytime between July 1 and September 30. Which is still quite a large window.
The Zenfone 10 will start at $799, similar to the Zenfone 9. However, it does come with more RAM and storage this time around, so definitely an upgrade for the starting pricing.
Recently, it was announced that the RedMagic 8S Pro will become the world’s first smartphone with 24GB of RAM, and its design has just been confirmed. The company itself did this via Weibo (a Chinese social media network).
The design of the world’s first 24GB RAM smartphone is now official
RedMagic shared nine images of the device, in two color options. You can clearly see black and silver color variants of the device in the gallery below the article. Surprising no one, the device will even look the same as its predecessor, the RedMagic 8 Pro.
That’s not necessarily a bad thing, not at all. The RedMagic 8 Pro was one of the most intriguing smartphones on the market as far as the design is concerned. You’ll be getting an under-display camera here, so you’ll have a clear canvas on the front. The bezels are very thin, and the black model even has a see-through back.
You’ll also notice that the sides are flat here, and that there is an audio jack on the top. There is also a toggle for Game Mode on the side, along with two touch-sensitive shoulder buttons. This is a gaming smartphone after all.
Advanced cooling will be included, and the same goes for a ton of gaming features
As expected, the phone will also support advanced cooling, and a fan dedicated to that purpose too. A ton of gaming features will be available, and there are three cameras included on the back of the phone.
This phone will be fueled by the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2, but an overclocked version of it, with a more powerful Cortex-X3 CPU core. It will essentially have the same processor as the Galaxy S23 series.
We’ll also get up to 24GB of LPDDR5X RAM here, and several storage options. UFS 4.0 storage will be used. We’re still not sure if the 24GB RAM model will be available globally, but it’s not likely.
This smartphone will become official on July 5, so we’re about a week away from its launch event.
We’ve been seeing rumors and leaks regarding the iPhone 15 series for quite some time now. Plenty of info surfaced. The iPhone 15 series will also feature some design changes, and in order to help us visualize that, Phone Arena shared a bunch of concept images.
Now, do note that all the images you’ll see below are based on rumors and leaks, so chances are they’re showing a realistic look at the upcoming phones. Also, before we begin, do note that the iPhone 15 series is coming in September.
Thinner bezels for the Pros
As many of you already know, the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max will feature thinner bezels. You can see a representation of that in the image above. These two phones will have the thinnest bezels on any iPhone to date. In fact, they could have the thinnest bezels in general on any smartphone.
The bezels on both ‘Pro’ iPhones are said to be 1.5mm thick, and yes, we’re looking at uniform bezels here. In other words, the bezels on all sides will be the same thickness. What you cannot see in images, but is worth saying, is that both ‘Pro’ iPhones are also expected to feature titanium frames.
Type-C all around
All iPhone 15 models, both vanilla and ‘Pro’ ones, will ship with a Type-C port. That change was prompted by the EU, as Apple’s hand was basically forced to ditch the Lightning port. This is great for users, though, in the long run, as you won’t need to carry a separate Lightning port cable. Pretty much everyone is using Type-C these days, even Apple, but the company wasn’t doing so on its smartphones. Well, that’s changing with the iPhone 15 series. These are also the first phones from the company that will utilize Type-C.
Dynamic Island trickles down to vanilla models
The iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max debuted something called ‘Dynamic Island’. That is a pill-shaped cutout at the top of the display, which hosts the phone’s cameras, and some sensors for Face ID. The thing is, Apple combined that with software, threw in some animations, and actually made that cutout useful. Well, the vanilla models will able to taste it too with the iPhone 15, you will no longer need to get the ‘Pro’ models in order to have this feature.
A Mute Switch becomes a thing of the past
This is another change meant only for the ‘Pro’ models. With the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max, Apple is planning to ditch the Mute Switch. It will be replaced with something called an ‘Action Button’. That button is expected to function in a similar way to the one on the Apple Watch Ultra. It would basically serve as a replacement for the Mute Switch. This thing will be more functional, but perhaps not as satisfying to use as the Mute Switch was.
In the image provided above, you’ll also see that the volume buttons are now combined into one. You will no longer get separate up and down volume buttons, well, at least if rumors and leaks are to be believed.
The iPhone 15 Pro Max will have a Max camera bump too
The iPhone 15 Pro Max will be about the same size as the iPhone 15 Plus, but it will include a larger camera bump. Apple is looking to add a periscope camera to the phone, which will be the first-ever for an iPhone. That will result in some changes one the inside, and a larger camera bump as a result. That periscope camera will replace the 3x telephoto camera that the iPhone 14 Pro Max is sporting.
New season, new coat of paint
Every year, Apple brings new colors to the table for its brand new iPhones, and this time will be no different. The iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus are rumored to be available in Midnight, Starlight, Product RED, a shade of pink, and a shade of blue colors. We, of course, don’t know what they’ll look like exactly, but some guesses are included below.
The iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max, on the other hand, are tipped to arrive in Space Black, Silver, Gold, and Dark Red colors. Guesses for all those colors are shown in the gallery below.
Are you in need of more online shopping options? Well, even if you are not, TikTok might be launching its own online store in the US this July. According to Semafor (via The Verge), TikTok has been working on this move for a while, aiming to make its online store a reality in the US market.
Currently, TikTok already allows brands to sell products within the app through its TikTok Shop feature. The new plan is for TikTok to also sell products like toys and kitchen items. The company will handle the logistics and customer service and actually become a retailer.
Users would be able to browse through products, sold by TikTok from the new online store or through products sold by other companies from the TikTok shop, both integrated into the app. If this project goes through, TikTok will face stiff competition from Amazon, which currently dominates the online shopping market.
However, the rollout of the planned online store might be slow due to concerns about potential national security risks raised by lawmakers, which even led to threats of a ban.
Recently, TikTok confirmed that it is testing a shopping feature called “Trendy Beat” in the UK. This feature allows products to be sold and shipped by a company owned by TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance. Although TikTok denied testing the feature in the US, TechCrunch reported that a trademark application for Trendy Beat was filed in the US, suggesting that the company intends to expand to the US version of the app.
While TikTok faces tough competition from Amazon, Shein, and Temu in the US, it’s worth considering that with its large audience and potential customer base, TikTok might have a strong advantage. Moreover, TikTok users themselves can become excellent advertisers for its products. Users frequently test and share TikTok products, creating perfect advertising content for the shop.
Considering the trajectory of Amazon, which began as a retailer before evolving into a trusted marketplace for companies, it’s likely that TikTok’s online store is just the beginning. This indicates that TikTok might be moving in a similar direction, with plans to expand its range of offerings and services in the future.
We take a look at a debate over who is responsible for ensuring surveillance systems are as secure as they can be.
Chinese-made surveillance cameras find themselves in a spot of controversy, after a BBC investigation uncovered flaws in devices during several brand tests.
Surveillance and webcam vulnerabilities are common, and we’ve covered them many times on our blog. What’s interesting with this story is that its being presented as some sort of potential threat to national security and infrastructure. From just one of the comments provided to the BBC:
“We’ve all seen the Italian Job in our youth, where you bring the whole of Turin to a halt through the traffic light system. Well, that might have been fiction then, it wouldn’t be now.”
All very dramatic, but we’ve yet to see The Italian Job play out in real life. Even so, many devices manufactured by one firm, Hikvision, are used by many local councils across the UK. They’re also used to monitor Government buildings. If a device is vulnerable, it’s definitely worth trying to figure out the scale of the problem. With this in mind, what kind of numbers are we talking about?
According to the BBC, a large-scale freedom of information campaign set in motion by Big Brother Watch tried to find out. No fewer than 4,510 Freedom of Information requests were filed with various public bodies between August 2021 and January 2022. 1,289 responses came back, with 806 of those confirming the use of Hikvision or, another brand mentioned by the BBC, Dahua cameras. Of the 806, 227 local councils and 15 police forces use Hikvision, with 35 local councils making use of Dahua.
That’s certainly a lot of cameras. What risk was discovered?
The BBC asked experts to try and compromise a Hikvision camera under test conditions, though specifics are hard to come by. Is “a test network with no firewall and little protection” an accurate reflection of a local council or Government network? Is it fair to assume the manufacturer would be at fault for organisations not applying updates and patches dating back 6 years?
I ask this, because the results with the tested (six year old) camera found a vulnerability from 2017. The testers claim the flaw as “a back door that Hikvision built into its own products”, with somewhere in the region of 100,000 cameras online “still vulnerable” to this issue. Which means that a lot of organisations actually are failing to update their devices.
Having compromised the camera and gaining access to visuals, testers now established if they could access the Dahua cameras by forcing their way into the software controlling them. Once again, they were able to do it and this time gained access to the camera’s microphone.
In both cases, vendors claimed to have patched both of these vulnerabilities soon after the issues came to light. In fact, Hikvision released an open letter to those responsible for the investigation. It reads:
To claim that this stunt has uncovered a security breach or an intentional backdoor in June 2023 is farcical. It sensationalises a problem that was already fixed to universally recognised CVE standards. Furthermore, this test has not been conducted on a typical network, but rather an unsecured one. This test simply cannot be characterised as representative of ‘the cameras lining our streets today’, which would be much better defended than the camera in this so-called ‘test’ the BBC have run.
It goes on:
Hikvision’s conduct with regards to this vulnerability has followed all internationally accepted standards of best practice. When made aware of the vulnerability in March 2017, Hikvision patched it in less than one week. The vulnerability – and Hikvision’s patch – were subject to further scrutiny in the US with the then-Chairman of the US House of Representatives Small Business Committee noting in a public hearing that Hikvision’s work with the US Department of Homeland Security on this vulnerability meant that any continuing issues resulting from unpatched equipment would lie with ‘small businesses that do not engage with the government or the DHS regularly’.
Going further, the Deputy Assistant Secretary for the US Department of Homeland Security Office of Cybersecurity and Communications said they ‘worked with the company’ to resolve the problem and that ‘standard practice was followed’.
All in all, this one is a bit of a mess and likely won’t be untangled soon. Whether your own devices are brand new or a few years old, they’ll typically prompt you to perform an update. Whether you think years old devices should be taken offline for safety reasons, or that organisations are solely responsible for their security, one thing is for certain: You can feel much more reassured that your own devices are safe by hitting that update button as soon as you possibly can.
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