How to overcome the cyber risks posed by medical devices

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How to overcome the cyber risks posed by medical devices
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When surveyed by Cyber Security Hub, 60 percent of cyber security professionals in the healthcare field reported that they had experienced at least one cyber attack in the past 12 months. Additionally, 50 percent said the rate and volume of cyber attacks experienced had increased. 
 
As those in the healthcare field have access to both personal and private data which is a particular target for malicious actors, it is important that this data is adequately protected. As seen in cases like the Medibank data breach, which saw 9.7 million customer records stolen and private medical data shared online, the ramifications for patient data being exposed can be immense. 
 
When considering the cyber security of medical devices, how the data collected, stored and processed by these devices is protected, is a pressing conversation. In this exclusive interview, Cyber Security Hub’s editor, Olivia Powell, speaks with Charles Marrow, head of the IriusRisk Centre of Excellence in Embedded Device Security and senior lecturer practitioner in cyber security at Anglia Ruskin University, about the possible cyber risks of medical devices.

Cyber Security Hub: Could you provide an overview of the current cyber security challenges facing medical device manufacturers?

Charles Marrow: The top three industry challenges that I am seeing are data security, limited standardization of communications protocols and patient safety. Manufacturers have a responsibility to ensure data is secure, especially patient’s private data. This includes data in transit, stored data or data being processed by an application.

Generally, healthcare devices are installed in various healthcare services and connected via different interface types. These connection types can range from radio frequency connections – otherwise known as Wi-Fi or Bluetooth – to hardwired physical connections like Ethernet. Each type of connection medium has its own configuration according to the designated installation network, thus making it a complex process for the manufacturers to provide the right configuration setup during the design phase.

Patient safety is a hot topic at present and a major challenge for the manufacturers as many healthcare devices are connected to the internet and remotely accessible, widening the attack plane.

This all goes without even mentioning the cyber security specialist staff shortages across the industry.  

CSH: What does the threat landscape look like?

CM: Expect money-oriented attacks from a range of threat actors. Some typical threat vectors could include – but are not limited by any means – to remote code execution, trojans via phishing email, asset access via an untrusted network; the list goes on and there will always be a vulnerable device on the network however insignificant for the functionality of the intended purpose. The cyber artillery available for launching attacks at the healthcare industry is quite significant given the types of devices deployed in the industry.

Of course, we are not just talking about a device, we also must take into consideration the push for new developments in ‘software as a medical device’, and artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) being integrated into the environment. We still have an elementary understanding of how these new technologies will interact with devices in their deployed environment.

CSH: How can these challenges/threats be overcome?

CM: Like most cyber security areas, there is no silver bullet. The most important defense strategy is to integrate security early on in the product lifecycle. Understanding the designated environment, identifying clear scopes/responsibilities and software capabilities of the devices will provide a preliminary security design basis to define applicable threats and their corresponding countermeasures.     
  
This saves costs later on in the product lifecycle in the case where critical updates would have had to have been deployed in the field or remotely, or in the worst case scenario a product has to be recalled. Manufacturers cannot apply all security measures due to cost and budget, not to mention the operability constraints corresponding to accessibility. Designing security embedded from the start however, allows a manufacturer to get the best picture of the security of a device and enables them to make informed choices about what security measures to take.  

CSH: How can manufacturers balance the need for robust security measures with the equally important need for ensuring their medical devices are user-friendly and accessible?

CM: I really like this question, this is something that we are all facing right now in our daily lives with technology, not just with the medical device industry. Whether it is passwords, MFA, PINs or biometrics, so many layers of protections can be cumbersome with regards to accessibility and productivity. There is a fine line between ensuring a device is accessible, user-friendly, operational and secure without reducing accessibility and productivity.

I would strongly recommend moving towards zero trust, password-free authentication and One-Time Authentication Code (OTAC) authentication. For example, OTAC provides secure authentication with a uni-directional dynamic token to overcome bi-directional limitations including high dependency on the push and pull system of network connectivity between clients and servers. This way of accessing a device would reside in the form of a functional means of authentication rather than the user being prompted for a login input.

CSH: For those in the healthcare industry, ensuring the integrity, availability and confidentiality of patient data is of paramount importance. How can manufacturers ensure that patient data transmitted or stored by medical devices meets these standards?

CM: Firstly, they should focus on identifying the intended use or purpose for the data. Data could be accessed 24/7 or only when a device is online or a critical process is running. I would recommend classification of each set of data, its expected state and secure controls applied as per the requirement.

Data can also reside in an ‘in processing state’, whereby the data is being loaded into a program or application. During this process the data may be transferred/compiled in a readable format without the applied encryption making it vulnerable or susceptible to attack. To combat this, data should be classified, appropriately encrypted and protected using industry recommended methods in all stages of the data lifecycle. 

Next, with respect to industry standards, the latest recommendations should be strictly adhered to, for example, The National Institute of standards and Technology (NIST) regularly reviews and updates the recommended minimum requirements for encrypting data and processing of such data in all states. Other standards to follow would be the IEC 62443 series, which provide a very stringent set of controls for securing devices.

CSH: What are the risks – from both a cyber security and patient perspective – posed by unsecure medical devices? Could you share a recent example to illustrate this risk of poor cyber security in medical devices?

CM: Let’s go through a theoretical scenario where we know the vulnerability of a medical device.

Device: TransLogic Pneumatic Tube System 

Device function: Delivery of materials and medicine through physically networked tubes in the hospital to facility management, hospital planning, inpatient pharmacy, laboratory, nurse ward etc.

Device vulnerability (in this case multiple vulnerabilities): Use of hard-coded password, execution with unnecessary privileges, improper authentication, download of code without integrity check, out-of-bounds write.

Risks (what if): The risks include the delivery of materials to the wrong location and the delivery of incorrect medicines.

Although this is a theoretical case, some actual reported vulnerabilities of the device are of a critical score and exploitation would be relatively easy.

Serious injury or loss of life by device, system or data manipulation are all possibilities. The risks are very serious indeed and have the potential to bring critical infrastructure down. From disruption of services by ransomware freezing multiple hospitals systems and encrypting files, which is what happened in the 2017 UK NHS cyber attack on pacemakers with critical vulnerabilities, which had to have the firmware updated. To put it into context we would not expect a patient to be worrying about a health monitoring device vulnerability, even though it might have a direct impact on their health condition if normal functionality was manipulated in some form to put the patient in danger.  

Data loss and patient safety is in all our minds when assessing a device but often the boundaries between safety and cyber security are not always addressed appropriately. I would strongly recommend that cyber security risks should be reviewed with respect to safety risks during a device risk assessment. 

This should be completed in the pre-design phase and revisited regularly when the devices are updated/modified to reduce the possible associated impacts. To reduce any associated risks, you can follow a risk assessment process as described in ISO 14971:2019.

CSH: Looking to the future, what emerging technologies and/or trends do you think will impact the cyber security landscape for medical devices in the coming years?

CM: AI, ML and software as a medical device. These are in effect not cyber physical devices and would reside on a device, platform, in the cloud or a local server. There is currently little or no regulation of these and therefore may or may not be designed with security taken into consideration. There is also not sufficient attention on the topic of artificial intelligence security practices and controls in the industry in general. There are some movements from policymakers and governing bodies to make secure development processes mandatory and take security into consideration but it is slow moving.


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Spyware is being spread via fake natural disaster alerts

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Spyware is being spread via fake natural disaster alerts
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Malware is being spread to Android devices via fake volcano eruption alerts, cyber security researchers have found. 

Researchers at Italian cyber security company, D3Labs, published a blog about the malicious software on October 16. They discovered that malicious actors were exploiting the IT-Alert service, a new public alert system used by the Italian government to disseminate crucial information to its citizens in emergency situations, for example natural disasters. 

In order to convince unsuspecting victims into downloading the malicious software, the malicious actors created a website posing as IT Alert that read “due to the possible eruptions of a volcano, a national earthquake could occur. Download the app to keep an eye on whether the region could be affected”. This fake website was directed only at Android users, with the website redirecting to the actual IT Alert website if accessed via a desktop browser or an iOS device. 

 
Source: D3Labs

Once a victim clicked on the download button, a file labelled IT-Alert.apk was downloaded to their device. This file contains SpyNote malware. This malware is primarily used to target financial institutions and is usually sold via Telegram by its creator who uses the alias CypherRat.

By prompting the user to allow the app to run in the background, malicious actors are able to gain full control of the victim’s smartphone via its accessability services. This allows the malicious actors to “monitor, manage and modify the resources and features of the device along with remote access capabilities”. This technique also makes it more difficult for victims to “uninstall the application, update already uninstalled applications or install new ones”.  

 
Source: D3Labs

SpyNote can also independently use buttons within apps, access the device’s camera, extract personal information from the device and send this information along with pictures and videos from the infected device to its command-and-control center. This allows the malicious actors to spy on the user.

Malicious actors are also able to obtain codes used for two-factor authentication (2FA) and steal login credentials for both banking applications and social media. This is done by launching a fake application that looks like a legitimate service and prompting victims to input their login credentials.

A spokesperson for Google, operator of the official app store for Android devices, Google Play, told BleepingComputer that “no apps containing [SpyNote] are found on Google Play”.  

The spokesperson also said that: “Google implemented user protections for this spyware ahead of this report’s publication. Users are protected by Google Play Protect, which can warn users or block apps known to exhibit malicious behavior on Android devices with Google Play Services.” 


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Amazon’s Luna controller received a $20 price cut

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Amazon’s Luna controller received a $20 price cut
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Amazon’s Luna cloud gaming service is best experienced with the official Luna controller thanks to some key features, and right now Amazon has a deal on it that brings the price down by $20. It normally would cost you $69.99 to pick one up. But for the time being Amazon is offering the Luna controller for $49.99.

You might ask if the Luna controller is absolutely necessary for playing games with Luna. And the answer to that is no. You don’t have to use the Luna controller, but you should. Because you’ll get some benefits that other controllers won’t give you. For instance, the Luna controller connects directly to Amazon’s servers. The main reason for this is to deliver a low-latency connection. And lower latency means faster response times in games.

There’s also an Alexa button if you need to ask Alexa for something. Perhaps the best feature though is the ability to pause your game and switch screens without an interruption. Say you start playing a game on your TV and then want to switch to your phone if you have to leave. You can just pause the game and pick it up on the phone and start from where you left off. You can then pause it again when you get back home and pick it up on the TV once more. Of course, this isn’t just a controller for Luna. It also works as a Bluetooth controller for other devices. Like for playing Android games, or PC games for example.

When it comes down to it, if you’re playing games on Luna you’ll want this controller. As mentioned it’s not entirely necessary, but it will give you the best experience. You can snag this deal for yourself from the link below.

Amazon Luna controller – Amazon


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Tinder Matchmaker now lets users’ loved ones pick their next date

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Tinder Matchmaker now lets users’ loved ones pick their next date
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The new Tinder Matchmaker feature is here to make picking a date on the platform a collective effort. With this feature, users will be able to invite up to 15 of their loved ones to help them with their date-picking decision. Now, this isn’t about passing your phone to these loved ones and asking them to pick which dates are best for you, as all actions are within the app.

By heading to the app setting or using the profile card, users can start the Matchmaking process. Users will then need to invite their loved ones by creating and sharing an invitation link with them. This invite link can be shared with over 15 loved ones for them to give their opinion on the date via the Tinder app.

For those invited to the Matchmaking process, Tinder gives them 24 hours to give their ideas on the pick. While this is an impressive feature and useful for those in need of a second opinion on the matter, there are some limitations. These limitations affect the loved ones invited to give an opinion on the date the Tinder user intends to go out with.

You can now get date advice from your loved ones using the new Tinder Matchmaker feature

Picking a date on Tinder is a bit of a gamble, as you might not have a good idea of what the person is like. For this reason, most users of Tinder ask for a second opinion from loved ones like parents, siblings, other family members, or friends. Tinder is now making it much easier for you to seek a second opinion on your dates before even going on them.

This time around, you don’t need to physically ask the second eye for their opinion. By just sharing a Matchmaking link with them via the app, you can get their opinion on the date. Users can pick up 15 people to give their ideas on the date, but all don’t necessarily need to be Tinder users.

Well, there are a few limitations to the usage of this feature, and they are there to keep things in order. The first limitation is the number of people that Tinder users can invite to give their opinions on their date. Next, Tinder gives the Matchmakers only 24 hours to give their idea of the date.

After 24 hours, the Tinder users can then review the Recommendation that their loved ones (Matchmakers) have given. The last limitation is that Matchmakers who are Tinder users can’t text the dates they are reviewing for any reason. They are blocked from doing this by Tinder to keep things between the dates and not expand the conversation to others.

Parents especially will love this feature as it gives them a say in their child’s possible relationship. With this, they can give their opinion on who their child is going out with via the Tinder app. Over the next few months, this feature will roll out to 15 countries, including the US, UK, Australia, Canada, France, and Germany.


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What Is Incident Management Software?

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What Is Incident Management Software?
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Incident management software is crucial for efficiently handling and resolving unexpected incidents and disruptions, ensuring minimal downtime and maximum productivity for organizations.

Incidents are bound to happen in business from time to time. They are events that disrupt operations and reduce the quality of service being rendered. The IT and customer service departments would use incident management to resolve the issue and restore the situation to normal.

In this article, we’ll discuss how incident management software can help a business respond to incidents much faster or step in to prevent such events from happening. 

What is incident management software?

Every company needs to have an incident management procedure that allows them to detect, diagnose, and fix any sudden occurrences quickly. Apart from having skilled and dedicated IT operations staff, you should also invest in incident management software.

It’s an application that helps to track, respond to, and resolve unplanned events and system downtime effortlessly. The software helps to centralize information, automate certain tasks, and make it easier to collaborate on fixing any incident in real-time. 

Some examples of incidents that can occur suddenly and impact customers

A business incident refers to any event that causes loss or disruption to the everyday flow of activities. Whether it was triggered internally or not, you have to address the issue before it gets out of hand. These incidents can range from minor inconveniences to major problems that may require more time and resources. Let’s see examples of incidents. 

When a device or software isn’t working properly, it’s often considered to be a glitch. You may discover that internal systems are slowing productivity down or not responding as usual. Sometimes, customer touchpoints such as a website, e-commerce store, mobile apps, or payment gateways may develop faults and hinder operational flow.

  • A disruption to your service

These are incidents that affect the quality of products or services you’re offering. For example, an e-commerce store that can’t seem to stock in-demand products is likely to lose many customers. It’s also the same when a service provider is unable to provide the service as required. Such issues should be contained so you can stay in business. 

  • An unplanned power outage

If your business relies on power to run efficiently, you need to have a backup power source to keep operations going. For example, there can be a natural disaster that might cause a grid malfunction or power outage in your town. You need to have a contingency plan that allows your business to continue running in the face of such events. 

  • A sudden flood of customer service calls

There are certain moments when numerous customers would send requests and ask for support. It often occurs when customers are having difficulty with your product or service. The solution is to have reliable support software and experienced staff who can resolve the issues quickly.  

When anyone gains unauthorized access to a company’s devices, network, or data, it’s regarded as an incident. The security breach may happen as a cyber threat or hacking and sensitive data is at risk of being copied or stolen. You need to prevent and know how to manage such situations. 

What are the features of incident management software?

An incident management software can help you mitigate the impact of a service disruption when unexpected events occur. It would help to communicate with affected users, perform root cause analysis, share information across teams, and work on restoring normal operations quickly. Here are some useful features of such software:

  • Early detection to help pre-empt an incident

It’s important to detect issues across your entire system before it’s too late and send alerts to team members. This ensures that everyone is aware of the problem and will work on fixing the matter as quickly as possible. Although customers can report issues by themselves, it’s best to monitor your systems and automatically detect any issues.

  • Incident alerting that immediately notifies you of a problem.

When several customers are complaining about the same issue, it means there’s an incident that needs to be sorted out. You can easily track incidents with a ticketing system that creates, tags, and routes support requests to agents. This would give agents a unified view of the tickets and let them know when a particular issue is affecting customers. 

  • Analyzing and categorizing data according to the severity of the crisis

The best part about incident management software is that it automatically gathers data on the situation. You can easily analyze customer complaints and know how severe the problem is. It can also help to trace, prevent, and have a contingency plan to keep such crises in check. You can also access the data to create an effective incident report. 

When the software detects an incident, it can escalate to a specialized team or higher-level support. This ensures that the right people are aware so they can resolve the incident and deal with any root causes that may have triggered it. You can define escalation policies so service agents can know when to route problems to the IT helpdesk team. 

How can IT and customer support teams use incident management software to help restore normal operations quickly?

To provide excellent customer service in your business, you should be able to manage incidents effectively. It’s a lengthy process that involves activities such as reporting, logging, troubleshooting, resolution, and assessments. Let’s see how incident management software can help teams to manage and resolve business incidents quickly. 

  • Develop a crisis management plan

You can create a solid incident management plan around such software. From early detection to communication to escalation, you can streamline the flow of activities to be done when a crisis happens when you least expect it. 

  • Diagnose and investigate incidents early

Incident management tools are meant to help you discover and understand everything about incidents. It can perform routine monitoring across your systems and track common complaints from your customers within a specific period. 

  • Communicate and share information about the incident with agents and escalate to management.

Customer service and IT helpdesk teams can collaborate on a central system. They can easily communicate about the issue, share any findings or thoughts, and escalate to those who are better equipped to handle such incidents. 

  • Performing triage according to the severity of the crisis.

A crisis management team needs to evaluate the incident to determine how severe it is, its potential causes, and the next steps to take. With proper examination, you’d be able to prioritize the incident and handle it with utmost urgency.

  • Communicate and update customers as the incident progresses. 

It’s necessary to inform customers of the incident and what is being done to restore normalcy. This helps them know that your company is working on the incident. You can also communicate resolution times or any temporary solutions.

An incident management tool helps IT and support teams resolve incidents faster and more efficiently. It automates the process of logging, prioritizing, and escalating issues. It also allows communication with teams and customers. 

  • Post-incident analysis to help you prevent a similar incident from occurring in the future.

After an incident has been resolved, the company needs to analyze the entire situation and determine the root causes. The software helps to record resolution details, level of customer satisfaction, and prevention methods. 

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NVIDIA’s RTX 4080 Super GPU might have more VRAM

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NVIDIA’s RTX 4080 Super GPU might have more VRAM
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Last week it was rumored that NVIDIA was working on ‘Super’ versions of three of its existing 40-series GPU including the RTX 4080, and now it looks like there may be an idea of how much VRAM will be available in that card.

If rumored details are accurate, then it looks like NVIDIA will be bumping the VRAM up to 20GB from 16GB on the currently available standard RTX 4080 card. A significant increase but one that also might not be entirely necessary. Given that even the most demanding games these days wouldn’t use nearly all 20GB of that memory.

The update in VRAM also potentially signifies that NVIDIA is going to swap to a different memory bus for the Super variant of the RTX 4080. Changes that could be part of this VRAM upgrade include the swap to an AD102 GPU from an AD103 GPU. As well as the increase from the 256-bit memory bus to a 320-bit memory bus. Details on these changes come from Benchlife (via VideoCardz).

NVIDIA may update the VRAM for more than just the RTX 4080 Super

The RTX 4080 Super may not be the only card getting an increase in memory. In fact the same leak details the likelihood of the RTX 4070 Super getting a bump in VRAM as well. All while going through similar swaps of components.

We could see NVIDIA move to using the AD103 GPU instead of the AD104 that’s being used on the regular RTX 4070 card. While also increasing the VRAM capacity from 12GB to 16GB. And going from 192-bit memory bus to the 256-bit memory bus. These are of course rumors and nothing has been confirmed by NVIDIA at this point yet. It’s also noted that the RTX 4070 Super might be slightly less powerful than the RTX 4070 Ti. Although it’s still unclear if that will actually be the case.


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T-Mobile & Dish agree to settle the Licence Purchase Agreement

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T-Mobile & Dish agree to settle the Licence Purchase Agreement
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The tussle between T-Mobile and Dish might be coming to an end as both parties seem to be working together. After months of back and forth between both parties on this issue, there is finally some light at the end of the tunnel. Both parties have been fighting over the extension of the purchase of the 800MHz spectrum licences by Dish.

A few weeks ago both parties were in court fighting out this issue with Dish not agreeing to pay the initial price T-Mobile was asking for. The reason for this drawback on Dish’s side was a result of some financial drawback that the purchaser in the agreement went into. Initially, both parties agreed that this purchase would go down in the summer of 2023 and Dish will pay $3.59 billion to purchase the 800MHz spectrum licences.

Since this previous arrangement didn’t go according to plan, both parties have been trying to work out a solution in court. Now, Dish has agreed to make a $100 million upfront payment and finish off the payment later on. While this new agreement favours Dish, there are a few clauses to it that must be adhered to judiciously.

Finally, T-Mobile and Dish agreed on a plan to purchase the 800MHz spectrum licences with a few clauses

Now for a bit of backstory on this issue, it all started with T-Mobile’s purchase of Sprint two years ago. With this purchase, T-Mobile got access to Sprint’s holdings of 2.5GHz mid-band spectrum. This gave T-Mobile the upper hand in the 5G race, hence leaving Dish hanging as it needed access to the 800MHz spectrum licences to operate.

For this reason, the service provider planned to purchase the 800MHz spectrum licences from Sprint’s owner. However, this purchase met a deadline as Dish ran into financial turbulence, hence delaying their purchase. For this reason, both parties had to end up in court trying to settle the entire issue.

During this period, T-Mobile was making plans to skip Dish and sell the 800MHz spectrum licences to another buyer. Well, it turns out that Dish is still very interested in purchasing the 800MHz spectrum licences, as both companies seem to now be on the same page. Dish is now agreeing to T-Mobile’s offer to pay a $100 million upfront fee and then complete payments afterwards.

The clause in this offer is that Dish will have to make this purchase under a set period. T-Mobile says that the other party in this new agreement will need to make payments for the 800MHz spectrum licences within three business days after its court sign-off. This new agreement has got approval from the Department of Justice (DOJ).

Once the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia signs off on this new agreement, Dish will have only three days to make upfront payments. Failure to do this will make T-Mobile a source for other buyers who are willing to pay the $3.59 billion purchase price. Dish’s merger with EchoStar might give them the financial boost to finish this purchase.


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Google Keep on Android expands text formatting support to older notes

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Google Keep on Android expands text formatting support to older notes
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Google Keep is a popular note-taking app for Android, but it had long lacked some key features, such as rich text formatting. However, Google changed this a few weeks ago when it officially rolled out formatting options for the application, but with the caveat that it only worked on newly created notes.
The narrative has changed once again, because as spotted by 9to5Google, Google has now added this same functionality to older, existing notes. Previously, text formatting options were only available for new notes created in the Android app after the update that rolled out back in August.

However, in another update that appears to be server-side, the formatting options are beginning to appear in old notes as well. These options show up when you tap the A icon on the left in the toolbar just above your keyboard.

Unfortunately, this is not yet the case for the web version of Google Keep. As noted by Android Police, text formatting options are still limited to the Android app, which means you can’t bold, italicize, or underline text you type in anywhere else.
However, a workaround to this limitation is to add the formatting in another word processing application, like Google Docs, then copy and paste the text into Keep which will then preserve the formatting. Having to do this workaround, though, seems like too much of an inconvenience when this is such basic functionality. We hope Google addresses this promptly.

Regardless of this limitation that keeps this feature working within the Android app only, the update is still a welcome addition for users who rely on Google Keep to organize their notes and ideas. Text formatting can help to make notes more visually appealing and easier to read, not to mention emphasize important information or create different sections within a note.


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This change will make Google Messages less convenient

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This change will make Google Messages less convenient
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Companies are always making changes to their apps to improve the experience. However, they sometimes bring changes just to mess with us, it seems. This could be the case with Google Messages, as it will get rid of the top contacts when you’re making a new conversation.

When you’re starting up a new chat, you would be greeted by a list of the contacts that you interact with the most. These are the contacts that you’re most likely going to start a conversation with. It wasn’t a major feature, but it was one of those little convenient features that just made life a little easier.

Google is getting rid of the top contact feature in Google Messages

While this feature was nice, all good things must come to an end. According to a report, Google has gotten rid of this feature as part of a broader change to the app. Over the past couple of weeks, Google has been bringing visual changes to Google Messages. Recently, it changed the home screen to show the Google logo and a search button rather than a search bar.

Now, when you start a new conversation, you’ll only see a list of your contacts in alphabetical order. You’ll no longer see your top contacts above the list. We’re not sure why Google decided to do this, as this was a purely convenient feature.

If you want to see a list of contacts above the alphabetical list, you can pin contacts, however, that list doesn’t change based on your usage, and it’s limited to five contacts.

Google brought other changes

Along with this change, Google brought a few more to the app. For starters, the Create Group option is now housed in a pill-shaped button. Also, you won’t find the labels on the right of the screen.

This is a small change to the software, and it’s not a game-breaker. However, it would have been nice if Google hadn’t changed it.


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Advanced cooling technology is coming to OPPO and OnePlus devices

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Advanced cooling technology is coming to OPPO and OnePlus devices
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In a recent X post referencing Digital Chat station, netizens learn that OPPO and OnePlus are working to adopt advanced cooling technology. This will be put to use on future devices that the two smartphone brands will launch. Already, both brands have some cooling technology on their device, but they are now working to improve upon what is already available.

The post makes it clear that both OPPO and OnePlus are in R&D for this coming technology for their devices. Details on the technology itself are not available, as there is no leak on how it’ll work or the devices that’ll use it. However, it is safe to say that the coming OPPO Find entry and the coming OnePlus flagship device will put this technology to use.

It’ll help keep these devices’ temperature down while in use, hence improving performance. Charging devices that will use this coming advanced cooling technology will also be smoother. Let’s now look at what OPPO and OnePlus already offer in terms of cooling to get a glimpse of what is to come.

What improvements might come with the advanced cooling on future OPPO and OnePlus devices

On the Find X5, OPPO launched its PC-grade cooling system that kept the device from overheating. Along with this cooling system was a vapor chamber and it is 75% larger than its predecessors. This means that the cooling system and vapor chamber on the OPPO Find X5 Pro are miles better than its predecessors.

To function, this system waits for the device to emit heat that moves the liquid within this system around the device. The movement of this liquid around the device helps keep the temperature down. Thanks to the larger size of the vapor chamber that holds this liquid, it can reach the battery and the SoC.

Joining this liquid in the vapor chamber is a copper sheet that sits between layers of graphite. This layer of materials helps keep the temperature of the device down while in use. Additionally, the Glacier Mat on this device also plays a role in keeping the device as cool as possible.

This cooling system was in use on the Find X5 and X6 series, but it’s time for a change to something more advanced. At MWC earlier this year, OnePlus showed off a cooling system on a concept device. The cooling panel on this concept device can glow while in use.

There is no proof to make claims that this cooling system is what OPPO and OnePlus are working on together. At the moment, netizens are in the dark as to what is coming to future OPPO and OnePlus devices. However, fans can be sure that this advanced cooling technology will improve upon what OPPO and OnePlus have to offer at this point.


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