Twitter Blue just got even cooler with a new feature that lets US members post tweets up to 4,000 characters long. No need to write a bunch of tweets just to share your thoughts—just write one long one! If this sounds familiar, it’s because such features have been proposed many times over the years.The new character limit is now live for Blue subscribers in the US , and even if you’re not a Twitter Blue member, you can still reply to and quote these long tweets. But don’t worry, if a tweet is longer than 280 characters, you won’t get overwhelmed; you can just hit the “show more” prompt to see the rest.
Twitter Blue costs $8 a month or $84 a year, and while it might not make you switch from other social networks like Facebook or Mastodon that already have long posts, it could be a lifesaver if you want to share the same post on multiple platforms without having to shorten it.
Twitter needs to step up its game to make Twitter Blue more appealing. With only 180,000 subscribers in the US and about 290,000 worldwide as of mid-January, the platform needs to attract more enthusiastic users if it wants to reach Elon Musk’s goal.
The aforementioned goal is to generate half of Twitter’s revenue from subscriptions, but with Twitter Blue bringing in an estimated $27.8 million per year, it falls way short of the target. Musk is reportedly thinking about adding a higher membership level that would let people browse without seeing ads. This would help the network make more money from subscriptions.
The Twitter saga is now longer and more sophisticated than a fantasy novel by George R.R. Martin, and if you want to get the whole picture, just dive in following the links below:
The US and Britain have sanctioned seven members of the notorious Trickbot gang, which, according to authorities, is based in Russia.
The Trickbot ransomware bot was dismantled by cybersecurity companies in 2022, but somehow it managed to re-emerge. Now, the United States and the United Kingdom have come together for historic joint cyber sanctions against seven members of the notorious Russian hacking group known as Trickbot, officials announced on Friday.
These sanctions are the first for the UK, with officials stating that it was just the first wave of new, coordinated action against cyber criminals.
Malicious emails used in one of the Trickbot attacks
“The United States is taking action today in partnership with the United Kingdom because international cooperation is key to addressing Russian cybercrime,” U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement on February 9th, 2023.
It is worth noting that, despite Trickbot’s absence in the past couple of years, the individuals behind it remain active and coordinate other attacks. According to experts, Trickbot’s operations were taken over by another ransomware gang known as Conti. The group was first identified in the latter half of December 2019 using TrickBot to drop its payload.
U.S. and British authorities have accused Trickbot and Conti of being associated with Russian intelligence services. Not only that, but the leak of Conti gang chats also revealed its soft corner for Russia. Additionally, Conti declared its support for Russia soon after the country sent its troops to Ukraine on February 28th,2022.
“During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, Trickbot targeted hospitals and healthcare centres, launching a wave of ransomware attacks against hospitals across the United States,” read the announcement by the U.S. Department of the Treasury.
Along with other major ransomware attacks orchestrated by the Trickbot gang, the press release gives details, including their names, involvement with the Trickbot gang, and online monikers, regarding the seven individuals designated by the U.S.
I’ve reviewed the OPPO Find N last year, and it was… well, an extremely pleasant surprise. It delivered a very nice, compact design that screamed quality. It offered a no-gap design, and an excellent hinge that hid the crease better than any foldable out there. Well, the OPPO Find N2 is now here, and it delivers all that, plus some additional refinements that we’ll talk about in this review.
Before we get down to it, do note that the review unit we have is made for the Chinese market. This phone, at the time of this review, is not coming to global markets. Its Find N2 Flip sibling is, but not the Find N2. The state of apps for tablets and foldables probably has a lot to do with that, but OPPO may yet change its mind. That being said, I was able to install Google Play Services on this phone without a problem, and everything worked well on that end. We’ll talk more about the software later on, though. Let’s get started.
Table of contents
OPPO Find N2 Review: Hardware / Design
The OPPO Find N2 resembles its predecessor a lot, but it simply feels like an even more quality product. It is made out of metal, carbon fiber, and glass. It comes in both glass back and vegan leather back variants. For transparency’s sake, I’ve used the latter. It has flatter sides than its predecessor, and that’s actually a good thing. They do come with chamfered edges, and the phone is immensely comfortable to hold and use. It is, without a doubt, the most comfortable vertically-folding smartphone I’ve ever used.
It is 42 grams lighter than its predecessor
This thing is 42 grams lighter than the Find N. For comparison’s sake, the Find N is heavier than the Galaxy Z Fold 4, while the Find N2 is considerably lighter. The vegan leather model weighs 233 grams, while the glass back model weighs 237 grams. OPPO managed to achieve this, partially thanks to the use of carbon fiber. It is also a bit thinner than its predecessor, which is always a welcomed change when it comes to foldables.
It includes OPPO’s second-gen ‘Flexion’ hinge
OPPO made its second-gen Flexion hinge for this phone, and it’s as great as ever. Well, even better, actually. The crease is even less visible, claims OPPO, and it really is not nearly as bad as the one on the Galaxy Z Fold 4. OPPO even managed to lower the number of parts inside the hinge from 138 to 100, which is a major success. You can even fold the phone in 45-degree and 125-degree angles, and let it sit there. It’s quite versatile, and quite frankly feels great to use. The folding mechanism feels sturdy, and quite frankly… screams quality while you’re using it.
I’ve used quite a few foldables over the years, and this is my favorite foldable hardware to date. This form factor is what other OEMs should strive towards in my opinion. OPPO did a really great job here. One thing that people will certainly point out is that it doesn’t offer an official IP rating. You definitely should not get this phone wet. The Galaxy Z Fold 4 does offer it, but I never use my phones (in general) in the rain, nor am I in situations where I need it. So, it’s not really a problem, and I much prefer having a smaller form factor, less of a crease, and a gapless design than an IP rating. That may not be the case for you, though, of course.
Official case
OPPO also includes a case in the box, at least it was included in our retail box. That means that it comes with the vegan leather model for sure, we’re not sure about the glass back model. In any case, this case is actually quiet nice. It is made out of plastic, but with a slight rubbery feel. It’s difficult to explain, but it feels really nice, actually. It’s a two-part case. The back part snaps onto the back of the device, while the front part actually comes with sticky pads on the inside. When fully on, the case does feel really nice. As you’ll notice in the images, I didn’t even use the sticky pads for the front side of the case, as I placed the case on just for the sake of trying it out, and for the sake of these images.
OPPO Find N2 Review: Display
The main difference between the OPPO Find N2 and other vertically-folding phones is the display aspect ratio. The Find N2, much like its predecessor, leans towards the horizontal orientation. We’re talking about its main display, of course. It features a 7.1-inch 1792 x 1920 foldable LTPO AMOLED display. That display looks great, actually, visibly better than the one on the Find N, even though that one was really good too. It has punchy colors, deep blacks, and it gets quite loud when you need it to. It can go all the way up to 1,550 nits of brightness at its peak. This display also supports HDR10+ content.
The cover display has a 120Hz refresh rate now as well
The second display measures 5.54 inches. It has a resolution of 2120 x 1080, and it’s also a mostly flat AMOLED panel with a 120Hz refresh rate. Its right side is slightly curved for ease of use, though. This display has a peak brightness of 1,350 nits, and it is protected by the Gorilla Glass Victus. Compared to the Find N, this is a major improvement, as the Find N’s cover panel has a 60Hz panel. That cover display on the Find N2 also looks great, to be quite honest. It’s punchy, and smooth. The blacks are deep, and the viewing angles are excellent.
Both panels offer a 480Hz touch sampling rate
To make things even better, both displays have a 480Hz touch sampling rate. Not many people care about that, but if you do, you’ll be glad to hear it. I’ve noticed how nice it is to interact with it, so I had to look it up. It’s really nice of OPPO to deliver such quality with both displays, and thus present us with a notable improvement compared to the first-gen model.
During my usage, I’ve used mostly the main panel, in all honesty. I opened up the phone whenever I could. That cover display did come in handy, though, of course. When I’m out and about, and can’t really handle the phone with two hands, the cover display served me brilliantly. It was responsive, and more than large enough, and I don’t exactly have small hands. Gripping the phone was not a problem at all, and that vegan leather backplate certainly helped. Also, the crease on the main display is barely visible, it’s a lot less visible than the one on the Galaxy Z Fold 4, Flip 4, HONOR Magic Vs, and so on. You can feel it under your finger when you go in that direction (which didn’t occur to me often), but you’ll feel it less than pretty much all others, which, again, is a good thing.
OPPO Find N2 Review: Performance
The OPPO Find N2 is fueled by the Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 SoC. That processor proved its prowess in a number of phones in 2022. It’s not only immensely powerful, but also great when it comes to power consumption. It performed great inside the OPPO Find N2 as well. OPPO paired with 12GB/16GB of LPDDR5 RAM. In our case, it was the 12GB RAM model. UFS 3.1 flash storage is also included in the package, along with Android 13. OPPO’s ColorOS 13 comes pre-installed.
The performance was excellent
I don’t really have any complaints when it comes to sheer smoothness, and performance in that sense. Everything was very snappy, ranging from opening and closing apps, and consuming multimedia, to image editing and playing games. Playing games on the main display was actually a great experience, and that chip managed to keep everything running smoothly. So, the bottom line is, I didn’t really have any issues with lag, slowdowns, or anything of the sort. We’ll talk about the software later on, that’s not something I’ll touch upon here. Oh, and by the way, the fingerprint scanner works great. It’s fast and accurate. You can set it to activate upon a physical press, or when you simply lay your finger on the power key.
OPPO Find N2 Review: Battery
The OPPO Find N2 includes a 4,520mAh battery pack. It is 20mAh larger than the one in the OPPO Find N. This time around, however, the cover display has a 120Hz refresh rate, and it’s slightly larger. The thing is, the Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 is excellent when it comes to power consumption, and ColorOS also takes care of the battery side of things. I was a bit concerned at first, but it turns out the battery life is actually quite good. Well, at least when it comes to my usage.
Considering that the Find N2 has two displays, your results may vary significantly. We all use different apps, have different signal strengths, and so on, so… keep that in mind. Also, I didn’t really game much on the phone, other than for testing purposes. Having said that, I did do everything else, from messaging, emails, browsing, taking plenty of pictures, some videos, image editing, video editing, and so on. Everything but gaming on a regular basis, basically.
I managed to get really, really good battery life
I managed to get around 6.5-7 hours of screen on time from the device (even above that at times). That being said, I used both the main and cover displays, quite a bit, but the main display was in use longer in a day, I’d say. Getting over 7 hours of screen-on-time is possible, it all depends on your usage, and your battery settings. All in all, I was pleasantly surprised with the battery life here.
67W charging was also quite useful. It was immensely fast, as I was able to fully recharge the phone in about 40 minutes. The device does support reverse wired charging too, but it does not support wireless charging at all, unlike its predecessor. I understand why OPPO did it, however, to keep the phone as light and thin as possible, and avoid unnecessary heating.
OPPO Find N2 Review: Camera
The OPPO Find N2 features a 50-megapixel main camera, a 48-megapixel ultrawide unit, and a 32-megapixel telephoto camera. The camera performance was really good, when the main camera is concerned. I managed to get really nice images that look quite realistic. They did not look overprocessed, or underexposed. The sharpening never felt too aggressive, and the camera even did a good job with exposure and HDR images. It’s a shame it’s winter here, so I didn’t really get a chance to shoot some sunsets with the device.
The main camera does an excellent job
What I did notice, when the main camera is concerned, is that it tends to saturate the reds a bit too much, but only if there’s too much of red color in a frame. That’s what most cameras do, though, and it’s not as bad as it sounds. It also doesn’t really go out of its way to brighten up scenes to make them unrealistic. It does brighten them up just enough to make them look nice, but doesn’t make nighttime shoots look like daytime shots, in auto mode. And yes, you can use auto mode for nighttime shots without a problem, as long as it’s not pitch dark. There is a night mode included, though, and it can brighten up scenes quite a bit, and do a great job. What I did notice is that the phone tends to crush blacks, in darker scenes, which can be a problem. All in all, I’m really happy with the main camera, to be quite honest. It does a great job.
The ultrawide camera saturates colors a bit more
The ultrawide camera does bring a bit of saturation with it. The moment you switch to the ultrawide camera you will notice things are a bit more saturated. The color science is not the same, even though OPPO does its best to keep it as close as possible. The ultrawide camera does a good job, though. It offers a 115-degree FoV, and in most cases, you can use it with confidence. When shooting in the dark, however, we’d suggest sticking to the main camera, however, as the difference is considerable.
The telephoto camera does make things slightly less saturated than the main camera, it’s the opposite of the ultrawide camera. The results are good, but nothing to write home about. You do get 2x optical zoom here, we’d prefer if 3x or 3.5x was on offer, but hey… OPPO had to keep the weight and thickness in check here. So, we won’t complain too much about it. This is also a camera that you can use with confidence, unless you’re in really dark conditions, in which case the main camera is a far better option.
There is a macro mode here
The phone does have a macro mode too, and it does a decent job as long as there’s light in the shot. Don’t try to use it at night, though. It’s not the best macro mode I’ve seen, but it’s not bad. The phone can record 4K video at 60 FPS, and it does a really good job with it. The footage is stable, and there’s no warping or anything of the sort. It does a good job in low light too. All in all, I’m really happy with these cameras. I always assume the worst when it comes to foldables, but OPPO did a good job here.
Camera samples:
OPPO Find N2 Review: Software
Do note that the OPPO Find N2 comes with Android 13 and ColorOS 13 on top of it, but this software is made for China. At the time of this review, OPPO did not have plans to deliver this phone to global markets, mainly due to the state of apps for tablets and foldables. However, that may change down the line. Having said that, I was able to install Google services without a problem on the device, and on that end, everything worked well. I did stumble upon a number of annoyances on the way, mainly due to the fact this software is made for China.
China build of ColorOS has its quirks
First and foremost, a lot of apps that you don’t need or want comes pre-installed. The good news is, you can remove the vast majority of them. That’s the first thing I did, basically. Don’t worry, if you mess something up, there is a built-in way to restore the apps you removed. There is also ColorOS’ battery management. You can add only 5 apps to ‘Auto launch’ list, other than the ones ColorOS automatically added. That can be an issue for some apps. Though, granted, the China version of ColorOS 13 is much better at it than I remember on the Find N. I was unable to get notifications for a lot of apps there in time, basically anything that wasn’t added to the auto launch list. Things are a bit different here, as I do notice notifications coming through more regularly even for apps that are not on that list. Still, I wish things were as simple as they are on the global version of ColorOS. Background apps are handled a bit differently.
I did encounter some odd bugs, but nothing too annoying, to be quite honest. For example, when using adaptive display brightness, the brightness tends to go way up while you’re using the device, and then gradually decrease back to normal for no apparent reason. Some of those bugs were fixed with the latest update that arrived to the phone, but not the one I just mentioned. The good news is, OPPO will likely keep on pushing updates to the device regularly, so I do hope those small annoyances get fixed.
You can’t change the default launcher
Considering this is a Chinese version of ColorOS, I also couldn’t change the default launcher. You cannot use a third-party launcher app here. Well, you can, but you can’t set it as default, so whenever you swipe up to go home, you’ll be thrown to ColorOS’ launcher. I have to admit that is very annoying, as ColorOS lacks some basic features, such as controlling the app grid on the home screen, support for advanced app shortcuts, and proper icon pack support. I would much prefer to use Nova Launcher, Microsoft Launcher, Niagara Launcher, or some of the other options for that purpose. That would be possible on the global version, but not here.
There are quite a few such annoyances due to the fact this is not a global build of ColorOS. ColorOS 13 is actually excellent on the Find X5 Pro, the global version, so I do notice the difference. Other than the annoyances I’ve mentioned, and some additional ones that I won’t get into, using the phone does feel really nice, even with this China build. Once I set everything up, it was business as usual, to be quite honest. OPPO also packed in some really useful features in ColorOS.
The FlexForm mode is quite useful
First and foremost, there’s the FlexForm mode, which activates when you open the phone at an angle of 45 or 125 degrees. That’s a special mode, similar to what Samsung offers on the Galaxy Z Fold 4. You can basically make a small laptop this way. It’s also useful for the camera app, as you can prop the phone to take a group selfie or something like that.
OPPO also included some useful gestures here
You can also swipe from the top of the display down with two fingers to launch a split screen mode. ColorOS allows you to split two apps horizontally, or vertically, whichever you prefer/need. You can even arrange app combos to launch via an icon on the home screen. For example, you can open YouTube and WhatsApp side by side, tap the middle of the screen, and save that combo. It’ll now always be available for you to launch into.
Swiping across the screen with three fingers will take a screenshot. If you have two apps open side by side, swiping across one app will capture only a screenshot of that app, swiping across both of them will capture the entire screen. The gestures feel intuitive to use, to be quite honest. There are a number of such software features that you can use, and quite frankly, pretty much all of them are well-optimized.
OPPO Find N2 Review: Should you buy it?
Needless to say, foldable phones are now for everyone. They’re still quite pricey, for one thing, and the form factor also doesn’t suit everyone. If you tend to get your phones wet, this device is not for you, definitely. Also, there are some quirks with ColorOS that you may want to avoid, mainly because this build is not for global markets. On the other hand, this is the best foldable hardware out there, in my opinion. It’s incredibly well built, with a gapless design, minimal crease, and a very reliable folding mechanism. It’s also great for one-hand use, when folded, and it has a reliable camera and battery life, not to mention great displays and fast charging. Figure out what you want, and then weigh your options. It’s difficult to fault OPPO for IP rating and wireless charging considering they were aiming to hit this form factor. Both of those would make the phone bulkier.
You should buy the OPPO Find N2 if:
You want a foldable that feels like a quality product
You want a compact foldable smartphone for easy one-hand use (when folded)
You want to get a gapless design foldable & minimal crease
You appreciate fast charging & included charger
You don’t mind spending over $1,000 on a phone
You don’t mind sideloading Google services before you start using the device
You appreciate a reliable main camera
You need a truly reliable fingerprint scanner
You shouldn’t buy the OPPO Find N2 if:
You need water and dust resistance
You need wireless charging
You don’t like thicker phones
You don’t want to deal with ColorOS (China build) quirks
Popular background check and verification services Instant Checkmate and TruthFinder have suffered a data breach, which has been confirmed by their parent company, PeopleConnect.
TruthFinder and Instant Checkmate are two prominent, subscription-based background check services owned by PeopleConnect. The service recently became a victim of a data breach, and as seen by Hackread.com, hackers have leaked the data of millions of its users.
Instant Checkmate and TruthFinder data leak – Screenshot: Hackread.com
What is TruthFinder?
TruthFinder is an online service that enables users to search for information about people, businesses, and even phone numbers. It provides access to public records and other data sources to provide accurate and up-to-date results. TruthFinder can be used for a variety of purposes, including background checks, address searches, reverse phone number lookups, court records searches, and more.
What is Instant Checkmate?
Instant Checkmate is an online tool that provides users with access to public records. This website collects detailed information from many sources, such as criminal records, address histories, marriage and divorces, bankruptcies, and more.
Data Breach Details
On January 21, 2023, unidentified hackers leaked a 2019 backup database belonging to TruthFinder and Instant Checkmate on Breach Forums, a hacker and cybercrime forum that surfaced as an alternative to the popular and now-seized Raidforums.
These leaked records were stored before the backup was created on April 16th, 2019, and were shared as two 2.9 GB CSV files. Upon extraction, the entire dataset turned out to be a whopping 7 GB, including the following information:
Full Names
Phone Numbers
Email Addresses
Passwords Hashes
Password Reset Tokens and more.
The following screenshot shows leaked files and the information that has been leaked in the Instant Checkmate and TruthFinder data breach.
Screenshot: Hackread.com
PeopleConnect Confirms Breach:
PeopleConnect has confirmed the incident and assured that an investigation has been launched.The company has published notices on both impacted websites (1) (2), confirming the data breach. The statement read:
“We learned recently that a list, including name, email, telephone number in some instances, as well as securely encrypted passwords and expired and inactive password reset tokens, of TruthFinder subscribers, was being discussed and made available in an online forum.”
“We have confirmed that the list was created several years ago and appears to include all customer accounts created between 2011 and 2019. The published list originated inside our company.”
What Could Have Happened?
The investigation is still underway, and PeopleConnect has collaborated with a third-party cybersecurity firm to find more details regarding the incident. However, the company has ascertained that the incident was an accidental leak or that hackers stole a particular list; however, there is no evidence of a network breach.
We take a look at a business email compromise attack which nearly resulted in a very costly loss for one US based business.
We continue to see the damaging repercussions of business email compromise (BEC) impacting organisations across the US and elsewhere. The Houston Chronicle reports that law enforcement seized $800,000 from a bank account used for pillaging funds from a construction management company.
The attack
BEC attacks revolve around an approach by a criminal who has compromised or spoofed an executive-level email account. In this case it was compromise.
As per the civil complaint, phishing attacks and / or malware were allegedly used to break into the business. The scammers then worked their way to the accounts department:
On or before July 13, 2022, Unidentified Conspirators gained access to Victim Company’s computer networks, including their email servers and accounts, through phishing attacks or the use of malware. The perpetrators identified employees of Victim Company responsible for financial obligations and their contacts with other entities. Using this information, Unidentified Conspirators used a spoofed email address, posed as an employee of Vendor, and ordered Victim Company to wire payment to the Prosperity Bank Account controlled by Unidentified Conspirators instead of Vendor’s account on file. Believing it was Vendor’s legitimate bank account, Victim Company wired $876,121.00 to the Prosperity Bank Account.
Once the attackers were inside the network with access to email, the BEC scheme was ready to begin.
This is where the attackers pose as suppliers or senior members of staff and attempt to convince people with access to funds to carry out urgent money transfers. These transfers are traditionally done via wiring the money overseas, although digital transactions of various kinds have increased in popularity in the last couple of years.
As per the Houston Chronicle, workers tied to financial dealings were identified, and then sent bogus emails.
In this case, the attackers posed as another engineering / construction firm and asked to have the funds wired to another bank in the US. The bank notified the victims that they were likely impacted by a fraudulent transfer and the US Secret Service executed a seizure warrant to recover the funds.
At time of writing, neither attackers or victims have been identified.
Reducing the risk of BEC
There are multiple ways to try and steer clear of BEC attacks. Multiple tips are listed on the Justice.Gov release, many of which we’ve been advising for some time now. Here they are, along with some of our own:
Enable two-factor authentication (2FA) on email accounts. 2FA that uses hardware keys or FIDO2 devices is resistant to phishing, and all forms of 2FA are resistant to password guessing, brute force attacks, and password leaks.
Use designated individuals and two-factor authentication for wire transfers.
Reducing the footprint of folks in finance. Removing vulnerable people from publicly visible business sites such as LinkedIn or the company website can help shield them from attackers.
Use Malwarebytes EDR to block the tools scammers use to infiltrate organisations, like phishing sites, malware, and exploits.
Verify the authenticity of information included in correspondence and statements.
Pay using checks when the information cannot be independently verified.
Monitor email account access, and check for unauthorized email rules and forwarding settings.
Restrict wire transfers to known and previously verified accounts.
Have a clear and detailed Incident Response Plan.
Stay safe out there!
We don’t just report on threats—we remove them
Cybersecurity risks should never spread beyond a headline. Keep threats off your devices by downloading Malwarebytes today.
Amazon’s Fire TV products are pretty great at making any TV into a smart TV. Giving you access to your favorite apps. That includes apps like HBO MAX, Amazon Prime Video, Netflix, Hulu, Disney+, YouTube, and so much more. Of course, Amazon Alexa is also included on Fire TV, so that you can use your voice to control your smart home products, as well as find something to watch on TV.
But, Amazon’s Fire TV products are almost always on sale, so there’s no reason to buy them at full price. Even though they are already pretty cheap. So we have rounded up the very best deals on Amazon Fire TV products. So you can get them for cheap and not pay the full price.
Best Amazon Fire TV Deals
In this roundup, you will find deals for Amazon Fire TV Sticks, Cubes and even TV sets from popular TV makers like Toshiba, Insignia, TCL and even Amazon itself. So if you are looking for a new TV, you can get one with Fire TV included. Or if you just want to add Fire TV to your existing TV, you can pick up a streaming stick for a pretty low price.
Currently, Amazon has the Fire TV Stick Lite, Fire TV Stick, Fire TV Stick 4K, Fire TV Stick 4K Max and there is also the Fire TV Cube. The oldest here is the Fire TV Cube, and we’re expecting it to get replaced pretty soon with something new. Amazon also has a number of TV makers making TVs that are powered by its Fire TV software. That includes brands like Toshiba, TCL, Insignia and even Amazon itself.
So without further ado, here are the best deals on Fire TV devices, from streaming sticks to actual TV sets. This post will be updated pretty regularly with the latest deals.
Samsung plans to use 100% recycled plastic parts in all of its smartphones by 2050. The company aims to achieve a net-zero plastic footprint in new flagship models by as early as 2025, using recycled plastic materials in all devices. It will also entirely stop using plastic in smartphone packaging over the next couple of years.
Samsung has been the world’s largest smartphone company for the past several years, and it has always led by example. The Korean firm’s products have become more environment-friendly with each passing year. It has also achieved 100% renewable energy in several factories in the US, Europe, and China. All these sustainability efforts have earned the company several awards and recognitions over the years.
With the launch of the Galaxy S22 series last year, Samsung started using discarded fishing nets in some components. Overall, the 2022 flagships used six internal and external components made from eco-conscious materials. The company has now upped that to 12 on the Galaxy S23 Ultra, and 11 on the Galaxy S23 and Galaxy S23+.
According to the Korean publication Yonhap News Agency, the new Galaxy flagships use recycled plastic from discarded PET (Polyethylene terephthalate) bottles in the back glass and front case, and recycled aluminum in the power key, volume key, and SIM tray. The Galaxy S23 Ultra contains about 22% recycled content on the front and back glass.
Samsung is aiming to achieve a net-zero plastic footprint in its smartphones
If you look at the size of these mobile products, the amount of recycled material that Samsung is using may seem paltry. However, the Korean behemoth makes close to 300 million smartphones every year. So it totals up to a considerable amount. Once the company archives its 100% recycled plastic target, the impact will be pretty huge.
“You might question what impact our campaign can have on the Earth’s environment, but it is quite a considerable amount given Samsung’s vast product portfolio,” the company’s head of the Mechanical R&D Team Park Sung-sun said during a press briefing in South Korea’s capital Seoul earlier today. “We think it can have small but meaningful reverberations to each customer,” he added.
In addition to increasing the use of recycled plastic, Samsung is also reportedly working with various companies to increase the recycling of rare materials such as gold and cobalt. “As we believe the (sustainability) efforts are part of corporate social responsibility, we try to minimize any impact on prices and not to pass price burden onto consumers,” Park said.
Spotify’s algorithms have brought to my attention many amazing bands over the years, but there are cases when you wouldn’t want impurities introduced into your carefully nurtured taste profile. There are guys in the company who apparently think the same way, because there’s a new feature that will help you keep your pristine profile unsullied.
Exclude From Your Taste Profile is a new feature that’s currently rolling out, and it will allow you to negate the impact of certain playlists on your future recommendations. Assume you’re at a party and want to play something out of your usual repertoire for fun. You can select a playlist and choose to exclude it from your taste profile (it’s pretty self-explanatory, really).There are numerous applications for this; for example, you can still use child-oriented playlists to put your child to bed or make them smile with the 101st rendition of Baby Shark without being bombarded with Sesame Street music recommendations afterwards.
Spotify announced the new feature via a blog post on the official For The Record page (what a great name). There’s also a little How-to, if you need specific instructions on how to use this new feature.
T-Mobile, the Deutsche Telekom-owned mobile communications brand, has suffered a data breach that exposed the records of 37 million customers.
The breach was first discovered by T-Mobile on January 5 after the company noticed “unusual activity” on its American networks and was then reported to the general public on January 19. The company said that it believed the hacker had gained access to customer information “using a single Application Programming Interface (or API)”.
T-Mobile said the breach was shut down within 24 hours of detection. It believes the hacker has been using the API to access customer data since November 2022, however, meaning a malicious actor was able to access the data of 37 million customers.
According to T-Mobile, the data accessed reportedly includes “name, billing address, email, phone number, date of birth, account number and information such as the number of lines on the account and service plan features”. No sensitive information such as social security number, payment details or passwords were accessed in the breach. T-Mobile said the reason for this was the cyber security systems and policies it has in place “prevent[s] the most sensitive types of customer information from being accessed”.
Two class action lawsuits related to the breach have been filed with the US District Court for the Northern District of Florida and the US District Court for the Central District of California. Both lawsuits allege that T-Mobile failed to exercise reasonable care in protect customers’ private information.
This is the second large-scale data breach the company has suffered within two years, despite agreeing to invest US$150mn in its cyber security systems following the previous data breach in 2021.
August 2021: T-Mobile data breach
In August 2021, T-Mobile alerted its customers that it had been the victim of a cyber attack that had led to a data breach. Following an investigation into the attack, it was revealed that more than 76.6 million current and former customers’ information had been accessed during the breach.
The information accessed included customers names, addresses, dates of birth, phone numbers, International Mobile Equipment Identity numbers and International Mobile Subscriber Identity numbers. Some customers also had sensitive information including their social security numbers and drivers license/ID information and T-Mobile account PINs compromised. T-Mobile alerted all those affected and reset the PIN information for the accounts that had this compromised in the attack.
To help combat ramifications from the attack, T-Mobile created a dedicated webpage for information about the breach, as well as offering two years of free identity protection services, free scam-blocking protection and supplied additional best practice guides on what to do in the wake of the breach, including help on resetting passwords and PINs.
The telecommunications company faced a class action lawsuit following the breach for allegedly failing to meet the obligations set out in its privacy policy and protecting its customers’ data. The company agreed to settle, paying $350mn to fund claims submitted by members of the class action lawsuit and agreeing to invest $150mn in its cyber security systems.
Chinese audio company Edifier develops all sorts of speakers, headphones, and earbuds for music lovers, but it’s not looking to alienate the gamers out there. The company has a selection of gaming-centric speakers that aim to augment your gaming setup. Android Headlines was given the opportunity to review the company’s G2000 Gaming Speakers. Let’s see if these speakers belong in your gaming setup.
Edifier G2000 Gaming Speakers: Design and build quality
You’re not going to be carrying these speakers around like you would a phone. Regardless, design and build quality are an important part of the experience. The Edifier G2000 have a pretty subdued design, and they look nice. They’re compact, and that makes them perfect for people who don’t have too much space in their setup. You can easily plop them on a desk or table.
There are thin light strips on the side of the speakers with a larger light on the back. These are the RGB lights that add the classic gamer flair.
As for the build quality, in classic Edifier fashion, these speakers are made with high-quality materials. They’re made from a sturdy plastic that can take impacts very well. You know that you’re picking up a quality piece of hardware when lifting them.
Edifier G2000 Gaming Speakers: Sound quality
Looks are one thing, but what about the sound? I’ve been very impressed with the sound quality of other Edifier speakers. A great example is the Edifier MP230 Bluetooth speaker. If you’re interested in a high-quality speaker that looks like the old-fashioned radios from the 50s and 60s, you can check out the review right here.
As for the Edifier G2000, the sound quality is amazing. Since these speakers are primarily for gaming, they can deliver a lot of punch to make your games pop. While this is the case, the sound is incredibly balanced. While you get some powerful lower end, you can still enjoy strong mids and higher tones.
Aside from listening to game audio, you could easily listen to music with the Edifier G2000. The strong bass caters to more modern styles of music, but they don’t leave older styles of music in the dust. I was able to listen to several genres of music including songs from The Bee Gees and The Beatles all the way up to Tiffany and Jonny Hates Jazz, and it still sounded as good as the modern stuff.
What’s perhaps more impressive is the fact that I was able to comfortably listen to classical music without skipping a beat. Most speakers make classical music sound awful because of their emphasis on the low end. However, with the incredible balance, classical music sounds brilliant.
In terms of volume, they get more than loud enough for personal use. If you want to use them to fill a room with audio, you’ll be able to do so easily. All in all, these speakers continue Edifier’s trend of delivering top-of-the-line audio.
Edifier G2000 Gaming Speakers: Input methods
These wouldn’t be proper gaming speakers if there weren’t a collection of input options to use. These speakers come with a 3.5mm aux cord to connect directly to your device. Along with that, you can also connect your device via USB and Bluetooth.
You can change the input method by pressing the top button on the main speaker. This will cycle through the input methods, and you’ll hear a voice prompt letting you know what you’ve switched to. Also, there’s a small LED indicator that shows you a different color based on the input method. It’s green for Aux input, blue for Bluetooth, and red for USB.
Edifier G2000 Gaming Speakers: Controls
Being able to control the speakers easily is important, and this is one of the few departments where I have a complaint. There are only three controls for these speakers, and that makes it tedious to change settings. There are two buttons and a volume rocker. With these, you cycle through the input methods, pair for Bluetooth, change the lights, change sound modes, power on/off the speakers, and adjust the volume. This means that the buttons need to serve several functions.
The top button powers on/off the speakers, changes the input modes, and pair for Bluetooth. Cycling through the input methods isn’t all that bad, but dedicated buttons would have made things better. The same thing goes for switching the input methods. While it’s nice having the voice prompts, having to cycle through the inputs and wait for the voice prompt for each mode can be a bit annoying. It interrupts the content you’re listening to.
I think that these speakers could use more buttons. There could be dedicated buttons to switch the modes. Either that or they could have used different button gestures for the modes. For example, a single press could activate aux mode, a double press could activate Bluetooth, and a triple press could activate USB. For Bluetooth pairing, it could be a double tap-and-hold gesture.
The only other gripe that I have comes when adjusting the volume. When you move the volume up or down, you don’t hear anything. It’d be nice to have an audible tone to let you know how high or low the volume is before you start playing content.
Edifier G2000 Gaming Speakers: RGB lights
You can’t truly call these gaming speakers without the inclusion of RGB lights. The Edifier G2000 come with an array of lights to help add to your gaming setup. As stated before, there are light strips on the side of the speakers with a larger block on the back.
I was impressed with how many light configurations you can cycle through; there are 11 in total. It has a solid cyan, blue, red, green, and greenish-blue mode. Also, there’s a pulsating cyan, blue, green, red, and purple mode. Lastly, there’s a mode that will cycle through the colors- one of the will flash on and off while the other will smoothly transition between the colors. You can turn the lights off altogether if you want.
If you want to cycle through the colors, you’ll need to hold the bottom button. This will make it a hassle to find the mode that you want because you’ll need to cycle through them one by one.
