In terms of toys, what could possibly be better than LEGOS? How about LEGOS, combined with Alexa? That's the latest idea from Amazon, who has paired the unlikely duo in a newly announced service called "LEGO Duplo Stories." The new service ("skill," in the parlance of Alexa) will be available on any device that offers Alexa support including Echo Dot and Amazon Echo. It provides a selection of stories with audio prompts that guide children in the construction of something with their LEGO … Read more
T-Mobile And Sprint To Merge Companies
The on-again, off-again talks about a merger between T-Mobile and Sprint is definitely back on, with T-Mobile planning to buy Sprint for a staggering $26 billion. The deal has been in the works since before Trump was elected President. It died quietly when it became clear that the Obama administration would not allow the deal to go forward, due to concerns that it would leave the US with only three telecom providers, which could harm consumers. The Trump administration has made it clear … Read more
Some VW and Audi Cars May Be Hacked Through WiFi
Thanks to researchers Daan Keuper and Thijs Alkemade (who work at the Dutch cyber-security firm Computest), newly produced Golf GTE and Audi A3 vehicles are a little bit safer, and a lot less vulnerable to remote hacks. The duo found that by taking advantage of these vehicles' WiFi connection, they could access the cars' IVI, (in-vehicle infotainment system) and from there, gain access to other systems as well. The researchers had this to say about their work: "Under certain conditions, … Read more
Apple Will Officially No Longer Sell Routers
After more than two decades in the business, Apple is officially going to stop selling routers. The writing has been on the wall for a while now, since the company's "AirPort" family of products hasn't received a significant update in more than five years. When Apple first introduced its AirPort product line, wireless computing was still something of a rarity, and Apple's offerings were ahead of their time. In the years between then and now though, the market has changed significantly. … Read more
Panera Bread Customer Accounts Exposed To Threats
Panera Bread company is the latest to find itself in hot water. Recently, security researcher Dylan Houlihan discovered that the company had failed to encrypt (or otherwise protect) a file containing usernames, email addresses, physical addresses, phone numbers and loyalty account numbers for a staggering thirty-seven million of its customers. The file was found stored as plain text, and accessible to anyone who bothered to go looking for it. The good news is that no one appears to have … Read more
Microsoft Helping With Ransomware In Office 365
Microsoft recently made small but significant changes to its Office 365 subscription service and to OneDrive, which are often used in tandem. The goal is to make it easier for users whose files have been encrypted by ransomware (or otherwise corrupted) to recover them. The most significant of the changes is a new button that Office 365 users will see a new "File Restore" function in both applications. If you've saved your Office 365 files to OneDrive, you'll be able to restore files in a … Read more
Most “Wannacry” Hacks Were On Windows 7 Machines
Last year's Wannacry attack was bad, but in many ways, it was a self-inflicted wound. According Webroot's recently published "Annual Threat Report," almost all of the machines that succumbed to the Wannacry attack were running Windows 7. That attack is estimated to have caused in excess of $4 billion in total losses. The central problem is that businesses have been much slower than individuals to make the shift from Windows 7 to the much more secure Windows 10. For example, in January … Read more
Hackers Zone In On Microsoft Products To Attack
Congratulations to Adobe Flash Player for not being the software most targeted by hackers. Security vendor "Recorded Future" has just published their annual list of the software hackers most commonly focus on when targeting computers and handheld devices for attack. For the last several years, Adobe's Flash Player has topped the list, but this year they have been dethroned. Microsoft now has the embarrassing honor. There are multiple Microsoft programs on this year's list, with some of them … Read more
Apple Releases Major iPhone and iOS Device Update 11.3
There's a lot to talk about in Apple's latest update to iOS. Version 11.3 boasts some significant changes and is well worth getting. We'll go over the highlights below. Battery management is the biggest and most significant change. Last year, the company found itself in hot water when they began quietly throttling older phones and slowing down their performance because older phones have batteries that begin to degrade. In the absence of throttling, it's entirely possible that a user's … Read more
Amazon Removing Music Storage Service At End Of April
If you use Amazon's Cloud MP3 Locker to store your music online, now is the time to start looking for a new home for it. Last year, the company announced that they were ending the service, but didn't provide a firm date. April 30, 2018 will be the last day you'll be able to access your music if you don't take action. Back in December, the company stopped allowing users to upload new tracks to their music storage system, which users were formerly allowed to store up to 250 songs for … Read more
