Today, Google has announced a slew of new security features for Google One. Some are new altogether, while others are being expanded to all Google One plans.
First up is the VPN by Google One. Which was previously only available on the 2TB plan. Now it is available for every paid plan. So for as little as $1.99 per month, you can get 100GB of storage, as well as VPN by Google One. This VPN is great, as it can mask your IP address, and protect your information while you’re on public, unsecured networks.
Google has also added a dark web report, which will monitor for stolen information. This is a huge deal, as it seems like everyday, we are seeing some more reports about our personal information being stolen. And now, Google can keep track of that for you. This report will scan the dark web for your personal information. This includes your name, address, email, phone number and social security number. And once it is found, you’ll be notified.
Google says that the Dark Web monitoring will start to roll out over the next few weeks to members across all of the Google One plans in the US.
This is in addition to recent features for Google One
Google is really making it worthwhile to sign up for Google One. Not only do you get more storage for your documents, photos and email, but Google has been adding quite a few features as of late.
Just last week, it added Magic Eraser to Google Photos for Google One users. Previously, this was limited to just Pixel users. It also has added the ability to get cash back rewards when you buy from the Google Store, as well as Gold Status for Play Points among other things. It’s a really useful subscription these days.
Wallpapers from the Lenovo ThinkPhone by Motorola phone are now available to download. There are quite a few wallpapers available in this pack, and they’re separated into several categories.
The Lenovo ThinkPhone by Motorola wallpapers are now available, there are quite a few of them
Do note that we’re only getting static wallpapers here, and that they’ve been shared by XDA Developers. There are four ThinkPhone-specific wallpapers here, and they look very nice. There’s some light play involved here, so you’ll see light trails in the dark in several locations.
In addition to that, 21 ‘common’ wallpapers are also available. These are mostly abstract images, in one way or the other. Abstract wallpapers seem to be really popular with smartphone OEMs these days.
The last category has desktop wallpapers, actually. There are 11 wallpapers included in this pack, most of which are abstract. There are also some nice landscape images included here too, though.
You’ll find three galleries below, with different types of wallpapers
We’ve included three galleries below the article, so that you can check out these wallpapers. Do note that the wallpapers in those galleries are compressed. If you’d like to get them in full size, you’ll need to utilize the link below the article.
The Lenovo ThinkPhone by Motorola is actually a rather new device. It launched at the end of January, and it has very powerful specs. It includes the Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 SoC, along with up to 12GB of RAM.
The device also has a 6.6-inch fullHD+ 144Hz P-OLED display, a 5,000mAh battery, and supports 68W charging. Stereo speakers are included, while wireless charging is also supported.
This phone is also rugged, by the way. Not only is it IP68 certified for water and dust resistance, but it also comes with MIL-STD-810H certification, which makes it quite tough. You can read more about it by clicking here.
With a few days gap, the two privacy-focused search services, Brave and DuckDuckGo, have announced improving their search engines with AI tools. These announcements come soon after Microsoft disclosed integrating ChatGPT in Bing search.
Brave And DuckDuckGo Leverage AI In Search Results
Earlier this month, Brave announced integrating artificial intelligence into its search engine. Dubbed “Summarizer,” the AI tool provides succinct answers to the user’s search query before presenting the search results.
With these responses, which the tool summarizes from the information available on the web, users can get precise answers to their queries without needing to go down deep into individual web links. (Though they can always do that if they want.) Besides the summary, users can also the relevant link from which the tool pulls up the result. In this way, it assures users of the result’s authenticity and relevance.
Brave’s Summarizer typically responds to users’ “questions” and doesn’t meddle with general search keywords, ensuring precision. That’s where it differs from Bing’s AI which works across all search queries but may include irrelevant results.
Shortly after this move, the other Google alternative, DuckDuckGo, also announced integrating AI into its search engine. But it seems different from Microsoft’s and Brave’s execution.
Named “DuckAssist,” the AI assistant in DuckDuckGo also delivers answers to users’ search queries. But it only sources information from Wikipedia and Britannica, considering them reliable. That’s where it differs from Bing and Brave which use the information available on the web generally
As announced in its post, DuckAssist comes as an integrated feature with the DuckDuckGo browser extensions and apps. However, it’s currently available in beta, and not all users may access it right now. Also, it works typically for questions to which Wikipedia may likely have the answers.
But in the future, DuckDuckGo plans to roll out to all, with more advanced features for better and faster search results.
Amazon has the WEMAX Nova 4K ultra-short throw laser projector on sale for just $1,999. That is down from its regular price of $2,999. That’s not quite an all-time low, but it does match the Black Friday price. And it’s just in time to watch March Madness in style.
The WEMAX Nova is a really popular ultra-short throw projector. This is a laser projector, so it’s going to offer a pretty bright picture, as well as true-to-life colors. WEMAX claims that it can get up to 2100 lumens of brightness. That should be bright enough to use in a room with some lights on, or some natural light from windows.
This projector can project a pretty large picture onto the wall, we’re talking about a max size of 150 inches. Most other UST projectors max out at 100 or 120 inches. So this is going to make for a great way to watch the game.
So what about that picture? Well it’s a 4K HDR projector, so you’re going to get a very bright and sharp image out of this one. Unfortunately, this does not have Dolby Vision, just Dolby Audio. So it’s not the best picture you can get on a UST projector, but it is pretty close.
As far as audio quality goes, you’ll get some good audio here. There’s two 10W full-range speeds and two 5W tweeters inside. Which has support for DTS-HD and Dolby Audio.
When it comes to connectivity, this projector has a lot. There’s three HDMI 2.0 ports which support CEC and ARC. There’s also an Optical port, Ethernet and Composite video available. So you can really use this to power your entire entertainment system.
You can pick up the WEMAX Nova 4K ultra short throw projector from Amazon by clicking here. You’ll want to hurry because this won’t be around for very long.
The Galaxy S23 Ultra is Samsung‘s best smartphone offering right now. It’s no wonder everyone wants to see how it stacks up against Apple’s best, the iPhone 14 Pro Max. We have already compared the two phones in detail. But while we talked about their specs, features, cameras, battery life, and performance, a YouTube channel recently pitted the latest iPhone against the latest Galaxy in a drop test to see which is stronger.
We have already seen that the Galaxy S23 Ultra’s curved design makes it more susceptible to damage when dropped onto rough surfaces. So the iPhone 14 Pro Max already has one up on it thanks to a flat design. The latter’s stainless steel frame is also often regarded to be stronger than Samsung’s Armor Aluminum frame.
The new Galaxy, meanwhile, has an advantage over the iPhone when it comes to the front and back glass. It uses Corning’s Gorilla Glass Victus 2, which the firm claims to be the strongest glass panel yet. All this said, let’s dive into the drop test and find out which phone comes out less scathed.
Round one of the test saw both phones dropped flat on their backs. And guess what, the Galaxy S23 Ultra’s Gorilla Glass Victus 2 held up pretty strong. While the iPhone’s back was shattered, the Samsung phone only suffered a few cracks around the corners. The rear panel was still in one piece. The iPhone 14 Pro Max even had its camera lens cracked.
The second round went in its favor, though. The phones were dropped such that their corners hit the concrete first. The iPhone’s stainless steel frame absorbed the shock pretty well. Its rounded corner seemingly came to its rescue. The Galaxy handset wasn’t helped by its boxy design with sharp corners.
Galaxy S23 Ultra is stronger than iPhone 14 Pro Max
The YouTuber goes on to drop the phones with their screens facing down. Both handsets suffered similar damages but the cracks were bigger on the Galaxy S23 Ultra than on the iPhone 14 Pro Max.
They continued to work fine though, with no damage to the former’s ultrasonic fingerprint scanner and the latter’s Face ID. The final round involved a drop on the screen again, but from a greater height and onto the metal instead of concrete.
A slo-mo replay of the drop shows chunks of glasses flying away from the handsets, more from the iPhone. While the damage on the screen didn’t worsen, the iPhone 14 Pro Max’s back was knackered.
We can see its internal layer. The broken glass also started causing light flares on the cameras. The Galaxy S23 Ultra showed no functional issues after the four rounds of drop tests. Overall, the Samsung phone beat the latest iPhone 38-36. You can watch the full test below.
Amazon has the new Roborock Q7+ robot vacuum on sale for just $549. That’s going to save you $250 off of its regular price. Which does bring it back down to an all-time low price. So if you’ve had your eye on this robot vacuum for a while, now is the time to pick one up.
To get this discount, you’ll need to clip the $250 off coupon on the page. That will drop the price from the listed price of $799 to $549 at checkout.
The Q7+ from Roborock is a higher-end of their mid-range robot vacuum. This one does come with the auto-empty dock, that’s what makes it a “plus” model over the regular models. It can clean your home for about 180 minutes before it runs out of juice and needs to go back and recharge.
This model does have the new redesigned combined dustbin and water tank, which are 470ml and 350ml respectively. That allows them to be larger, and take up even less space inside the vacuum, which is really neat.
Roborock’s Q7+ also has the upgraded brush system. It’s now all-rubber, so it won’t get tangled up with hair and other debris as easily. This new brush system also allows the robot vacuum to get closer to the floor, and pick up even more dirt and debris. Which is always a good thing. The Q7+ does work with the Roborock app, as well as with Amazon Alex and Google Assistant. Allowing you to use your voice to control the robot vacuum, which is always pretty neat.
It also has some pretty impressive suction power, so you’re going to be able to get it to pick up everything on the floors in your home. Which is definitely a great thing to have. Even things you won’t see, it’ll still pick up. So it’s a great robot vacuum to grab.
You can pick up the Roborock Q7+ from Amazon today by clicking here. Remember that this price is not going to last long, so you’ll want to be quick here.
Recently, security analysts at SentinelOne got to know about an infamous IceFire ransomware that has been found attacking both Windows and Linux enterprise networks.
An IceFire ransomware attack encrypts the files of the victim and demands payment in exchange for the key to decrypt them. This malware has been responsible for a great deal of damage, both to the personal computers of individuals and the computers of large organizations, since it was first discovered in 2020.
In recent weeks, hackers have been deploying the “IceFire” ransomware against Linux enterprise networks, a large shift from its previous usage against Windows-based networks. It is mainly launching these attacks against Linux networks connected to the Internet.
IceFire RansomwareLinux & Windows
According to the analysis, a 2.18 MB binary was compiled with gcc for AMD64 architecture, which is the IceFire Linux version:-
SHA-1: b676c38d5c309b64ab98c2cd82044891134a9973
A sample of IceFire was tested on Ubuntu and Debian, two Intel-based distributions; both test systems successfully ran IceFire. A download of two payloads was performed using wget by the system, and they were saved to the:-
Aspera Faspex file-sharing software contains a deserialization vulnerability tracked as CVE-2022-47986 that IceFire operators exploit to gain access to targets’ vulnerable systems and install ransomware payloads on them.
Around 150 Aspera Faspex servers are currently online, according to the Shodan database, most of which are located in the United States and China.
Linux has been found to be more challenging to deploy ransomware against than Windows, especially when it comes to large-scale deployments.
As a solution to this problem, actors tend to exploit application vulnerabilities, as demonstrated by the IceFire operator, who deployed payloads by exploiting a vulnerability in the IBM Aspera system.”
Hackers Are Targeting Linux
It is common practice to use systems that are based on Linux in enterprise settings in order to perform crucial tasks such as hosting databases, Web servers, and other applications that are mission-critical for the enterprise.
Therefore, these systems are often seen as more valuable targets by ransomware actors than Windows-based computers, due to the likelihood of a higher payout from a successful attack, in comparison to a typical Windows user.
Files and folders Excluded
As part of the sample, there is a list of file extensions referenced by data segments. Due to the fact that they refer to executables, applications, or system functionality, these extensions are excluded from encryption.
It is evident from this evolution for IceFire that ransomware targeting Linux will continue to grow in popularity through the year 2023, no matter how long it lasts.
The deployment of ransomware against Linux is much more difficult than Windows, especially if you want to do it on a large scale.
The cybersecurity team at SentinelOne has done its best to provide all the essential details of the ransomware attack.
Amazon has Samsung’s Q80B QLED TVs on sale right now, for up to 40% off of their regular price. Seeing as these are the 2022 models, this is really their first discount this year. Making it a really great time to pick them up. Here’s how the prices stack up:
50-inch: $797 (reg. $997)
55-inch: $947 (reg. $1,197)
65-inch: $997 (reg. $1,397)
75-inch: $1,597 (reg. $1,997)
85-inch: $1,997 (reg. $2,997)
The Q80B series from Samsung, like we’ve already said, was announced earlier this year. It’s a 4K QLED TV, with Xbox Game Pass and Alexa built-in. So it’s a great option for the gamers out there. There is HDMI 2.1 on-board here, which means that there is support for 4K @ 120Hz for gaming. That’s definitely really great to see on a TV in 2022.
When it comes to the picture quality here, it is a QLED TV, so you’re going to get more true-to-life colors, as well as deeper blacks. Thanks to it having many zones of backlighting. Instead of just a couple, like an LED would have. HDR is on-board here, with HLG and HDR10 available.
Samsung did not skimp on audio either here, with Dolby Atmos and OTS available on the Q80B. Giving you a really good sound experience. What this means is that you don’t need to buy a soundbar for this TV, but if you already have one, go ahead and use it. As it is going to sound amazing.
Inside, it runs on Tizen, which does have support for most of your favorite apps here. That includes Netflix, Hulu, YouTube, Amazon Prime Video and much more. Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant and even Bixby are also included on this TV.
You can pick up the Samsung Q80B QLED 4K TV from Amazon today by clicking here. This sale isn’t going to last very long, so you’ll want to be quick here.
Sometimes, you just want to get in the ring and let off some steam (well, in a video game). Thankfully, there are tons of games on the Google Play Store that have you fighting other people in 1v1 matches, both online and offline. These games allow you to pound on your enemies without getting hurt yourself.
There are different 1v1 fighting games with different styles of gameplay out there. They range from simply tapping and swiping to activating special moves when your meter fills up. Regardless of the play style, here are 10 of the best 1v1 fighting games you can get on Android.
Top 10 Best 1v1 Fighting Android Games – March, 2023
Here’s a quick overview of the games including the download costs and range of in-app purchases.
Game
Download Cost
In-app cost (per item)
Shadow Fight 4: Arena
Free
$0.99 – $119.99
SMASH LEGENDS
Free
$0.99 – $104.99
Smash Champs
Free
$0.99 – $104.99
Ultimate Fighting
Free
None
Transformers: Forged To Fight
Free
$.99 – $99.99
Brawl Fighter
Free
$0.99 – $29.99
Merge Doll Fighting
Free
None
Skullgirls
Free
$0.99 – $99.99
World Robot Boxing 2
Free
$1.99 – $99.99
Cats vs Aliens PVP
Free
$0.99 – $119.99
Top 10 Best 1v1 Fighting Android Games – March, 2023
Below is the list of games but with more details added in. As always, it’s best to download from the Play Store or other authorized app stores.
Shadow Fight 4: Arena
Download Cost: Free
In-App Cost: Free
Size: 127MB
Google Play Rating: 4.7 stars out of 5
Shadow Fight 4 is the latest in the popular 1v1 fighting games from Nekki. The early Shadow Fight has been popular because of its silhouette graphics and realistic movement, but the fourth installment has more traditional 3D graphics.
The gameplay is pretty straightforward. You have the digital joystick on the left of the screen with the attack buttons on the right side. You have your choice between your upper attack, kick, projectile attack, and special attack. Your projectile and special attacks have a cooldown while your other attacks are standard.
The movements in the game are pretty good, and the graphics are definitely upper-tier. Also, the gameplay is smooth. If you’re a fan of the franchise, then you’ll want to give it a try.
SMASH LEGENDS is definitely a different type of fighting game. Instead of being a 2D or 2.5D game, it’s fully 3D. You’ll be put into a fully 3D environment with an isometric perspective. You’ll use the entire playfield as you battle your opponent.
You’ll have your action and attack buttons on the bottom of the screen, and you’ll use those to battle. The first person to knock their opponent out of the ring three times will win the round. You’ll knock the opponent out when you diminish their health bar down to zero.
The knockouts are similar to what you’d see in Super Smash Bros. You can tell that there’s some influence there, but SMASH LEGENDS still manages to maintain an identity all its own.
Smash Champs is one of the more unique games on this list. It has you doing battle with a cast of powerful animal characters. They each have their own personalities and special attacks.
The gameplay for this game is different from most other fighting games. Instead of pressing buttons on the screen, you’ll swipe on your screen to do your attacks. You’ll swipe toward the opponent to attack and swipe away to step back. As you play the round, you’ll eventually gain your special attack. You’ll use it to deal additional damage.
As you play the game, you’ll see collectibles like coins fall on the ground. You’ll want to swipe those in order to collect them. You’ll use those to purchase upgrades for your character.
Ultimate Fighting is a true-to-form fighting game with high-octane action. What’s neat about it is that it closely resembles the classic arcade fighting games that we all grew up with. You can feel the classic arcade influence throughout the game from the UI to the health bars.
The control scheme is pretty straightforward. There’s a digital joystick on the left side of the screen that you use to control your character. On the right side of the screen, you have your action buttons and your attacks buttons. You have your standard attack along with a selection of different powered attacks to deal more damage.
TRANSFORMERS: Forged To Fight brings the franchise to smartphones. In this game, you engage in 1v1 battles with other characters across different series’. Like most 1v1 fighting mobile games, you tap and swipe on the screen to do your attacks, and you need to get your opponent down to zero health.
What’s neat about this game is that you can play as characters from different Transformers franchises. You can play as Autobots and Devepticons, and you can even play as the characters from Beast Wars. There’s a lot of variety that will satisfy any fan of the franchise.
Brawl Fighter definitely takes inspiration from Brawlhalla. This is a pretty straightforward game that has 2D characters in 1v1 combat. Like a lot of games on the mobile market, it’s pretty derivative when it comes to its characters. There are characters inspired by Goku, Hell Boy, Lara Croft, and other popular characters in popular media.
The gameplay is pretty standard for a mobile fighter. You have your on-screen joystick, your attack button, and your special attacks that have a cooldown. Overall, it’s a pretty fast-paced fighting game.
Merge Doll Fighting lets you use your imagination and craft your own fighters. You can assemble your fighter using different body parts to make your character. The game uses characters from different properties such as FNAF, Huggy Wuggy, and others. You can build your character from these parts.
The gameplay is pretty simple. You basically need to run into your opponent. The physics will lunge your arms and legs into them, and that causes them damage. You just need to be careful because the opponent can do the same thing. As you play, you’ll earn more parts to fight with.
If you’re familiar with the smash hit console/PC fighting game, then you’ll be glad to know that this game is on mobile platforms. Just like the original game, you’ll be in heated 1v1 battle using a cast of creative and well-animated characters.
In the game, you’ll use a combination of taps and swipes in order to perform different attacks. This includes using the special moves that you have in the original game.
Just like in the original game, you still have the top-notch animations from the characters to the environments. This means that you’ll have an experience almost identical to playing the original game.
This game is perfect for people who love robots. You’ll slug it out in the ring as large robots with wild and creative designs. There are a ton of robots that you can collect and battle with.
The gameplay is pretty simple and easy to pick up. You have your joystick on the left side of the screen. You move it left and right to move and you’ll move down to block. On the right of the screen, you have your attack buttons labeled A and B. A is your light attack and B is your heavy attack. There’s also an SP button that will do a special attack.
This is one of the most unique fighting games on this list, and the title is evidence of that. In this game, you’ll choose from a roster of different creative animal warriors to do battle. Even though this game is called Cats vs Aliens, you can use more than just those characters.
You can choose different animals like dogs, wolves, birds, and more to fight it out. What’s neat is that you have a selection of different special moves that you can use to inflict more damage on your opponent.
For many people, Verizon is seen as the best wireless carrier in the US, based on their speeds and coverage across the country. Verizon also has a number of different plans available that you can choose from, ranging from around $40 per month, all the way up to $100 per month. That is a pretty big gap, so we are here to help you decide on the best plan for yourself.
In this article, we are going to detail the best postpaid plan, the best prepaid plan and the best MVNO carrier’s plan. As well as the best plan for those that do a lot of traveling and need a big data cap, or those that want their streaming services included in their monthly bill. So without further ado, let’s get started.
Postpaid vs Prepaid vs MVNO
Before we get started, it’s important to talk about the differences between Postpaid, Prepaid and MVNO. Postpaid are customers that pay for their service after they have received it. That means your final bill will be larger than your first bill. Prepaid essentially means that you pay for your service before you receive it. And MVNO stands for Mobile Virtual Network Operator, they essentially buy access to Verizon’s network at wholesale rates. Which is why it can be a lot cheaper than getting a postpaid plan.
When it comes to coverage, all three will offer the same coverage, if they are on the same network. The difference here is going to be in busy areas. On a network tower, Postpaid customers get priority, followed by prepaid customers. MVNO customers are at the very bottom, however a Verizon-owned MVNO may be a bit higher than other MVNO’s, as it’s still a Verizon company. Visible is one that is owned by Verizon.
Smartphone selection is another difference here. While postpaid customers get access to almost all smartphones that are available, prepaid and MVNO’s have far fewer options for customers. They also usually do not offer any financing, so you’d need to go through a third-party, like Samsung (and buy unlocked).
Now that you know the difference between postpaid, prepaid and MVNO, let’s get started.
Best Overall Verizon Plan: Welcome Unlimited
Recently, Verizon debuted a new Unlimited plan, called Welcome Unlimited. This plan is just $65 per month for a single line, or as low as $30 per month, per line for a family of four. This is basically Verizon’s “essentials” 5G plan. It includes unlimited talk, text and data, and that’s it.
This is a good option for those that are looking to save money and don’t need any sort of mobile hotspot or any other perks. This doesn’t include discounts on Verizon 5G Home Internet, or tablets, or anything else really. It’s really a super simple, and essentials only plan.
The only catch with this plan is that it cannot be used in the “Mix or Match” plans. So this has to be applied to all of the lines on your plan, and not one or two, while others use 5G Play More or 5G Get More.
Best Verizon Plan for Travelers: 5G Get More
For those that do a lot of traveling, or are on the road a lot, the 5G Get More plan from Verizon is your best option. This plan is $90/month with autopay for individuals – $100 without autopay. Or it can be as low as $55/month with four lines or more and autopay – $65 without.
This plan basically combines the 5G Play More and 5G Do More plans together into one plan. It offers Unlimited premium network access, which is ideal for someone that is always on the road, as you’ll never be slowed down. There’s also 50GB of premium mobile hotspot data and then unlimited lower-speed data afterwards.
There’s a lot of perks with this plan. Like the 5G Play More plan, this includes the Disney+ bundle with this plan. And it’s available for as long as you stay on this, or any other eligible plan. This includes Disney+, Hulu and ESPN+. Additionally, you also get Apple Arcade or Google Play Pass included as long as you stay on this, or any other eligible plan. You also get Apple Music included as long as you stay on this or any other eligible plan.
That’s not all, you can also get up to 50% off of a watch, tablet, hotspot or Hum data plan, 1 TravelPass day per month, and 600GB of storage on Verizon Cloud. TravelPass allows you to have unlimited talk, text and data in more than 185 countries, and these days can be banked for a vacation too.
Of course, like with the 5G Play More plan, this one also offers 50% off of 5G Home Internet.
Best Verizon Prepaid plan: Unlimited
For Verizon’s prepaid plans, there are less options than with Postpaid. But we feel that “Unlimited” is the best plan. This plan is going to cost you $65/month. However, the longer you stay with Verizon prepaid, the more you’ll get off of your bill. After two months, you’ll save $5 per month, at month four, that jumps to $10 off. And at 10 months, you can save $15 per month, bringing it down to $50 per month.
Like most prepaid plans, there’s not many gimmicks or features included here. You’re basically getting talk, text and data and that’s it. So let’s run it down. You’ll get unlimited talk and text, plus unlimited data which includes 5G (not 5G Ultra Wideband, that’s available on Unlimited Plus). Mobile hotspot is not included, but you can add that for $5 more per month. And finally, you get unlimited talk, text and data to and from Mexico and Canada.
Visible is actually a full service carrier, but runs on Verizon’s network. So it’s sort of a hybrid of a regular carrier and a MVNO. They offer a really great deal. Visible’s plans are pretty simple, there’s really only one plan which includes unlimited talk, text and data for $40/month. You do get unlimited 5G here, though Visible does not yet have Verizon’s 5G Ultra Wideband available.
If $40 sounds like too much, Visible does have ways to bring that down to $25/month. Like Party Pay, where you can join a party of at least four and pay only $25/month for service. Or you can bring a friend over to Visible and get a month of service for $5. With Party Pay, you can join complete strangers, and you’ll both save money.
Visible also offers a free trial of its service for 15 days. Which lets you test out the service first before switching.
