Picking up right where you left off in the event of a failure will now be possible for those running Elastic Computing Cloud (EC2) instances on AWS.
Previously, if customers wanted to set an EC2 instance to recover automatically, they could only do so by setting up an alarm in Amazon CloudWatch.
Now though, if an underlying hardware problem comes along, EC2 instances will be automatically recovered on Amazon’s cloud computing service where they’ll receive a new instance ID, private IP addresses, public IPv4 IP address, Elastic IP addresses and all instance metadata. Unfortunately though, data in memory will still be lost in the event of a failure.
Automatic recovery of EC2 instances
While automatic recovery of EC2 instances will likely be a big deal for businesses that run their workloads in the cloud, AWS only released a brief announcement regarding the new feature.
While the announcement also contained a link to the company's documentation on how to recover instances, it didn’t mention anything about recovery points for data on disks or the time required for an auto-recovered instance to resume operations.
EC2 customers will also be able to disable the new auto-recovery feature. For most customers this probably isn’t a good idea but AWS points out in its documentation that those running instances in placement groups might want to disable the feature so that their instances are restored to the same placement group.
Still though, hardware faults in a server could indicate that there is a problem in a server rack or even an entire row which is why having an instance auto recover to another availability zone or region makes sense.
Consider this the other shoe dropping. Almost three months after deciding to make the E3 gaming conference an all-digital event, the Entertainment Software Association (ESA) has pulled the plug on the entire affair.
"We previously announced that E3 would not be held in person in 2022 due to the ongoing health risks surrounding COVID-19," the ESA told TechRadar. "Today, we announce that there will also be no digital E3 showcase in 2022."
The news came first via an industry insider, Will Powers, PR lead, Americas for popular gaming gear company Razer. He tweeted the news of the apparent cancellation on Thursday:
Just got an email... It's official, E3 digital is official cancelled for 2022. Lots of mixed feelings about this...March 31, 2022
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That's the bad news. The good news is, as of today, the ESA is planning to bring back E3 in 2023. The organization told TechRadar, "E3 will return in 2023 with a reinvigorated showcase that celebrates new and exciting video games and industry innovations."
The ESA added that it will "devote all our energy and resources to delivering a revitalized physical and digital E3 experience next summer."
It's been a rough few years for E3. In the face of the pandemic, it canceled the event in 2020, successfully held an all-digital one last year, but was forced to again cancel in-person festivities for 2022 in the face of the Omicron surge.
While we're mostly through that COVID variant wave, ESA has made another tough decision for the once-bustling event (66,000 attendees in 2019), pulling the plug on the digital experience, as well.
The loss of even a virtual event could be a tough pill to swallow for gamers who see it as more than just an industry trade show. As TRG's Vic Hood wrote when E3 canceled this year's in-person event:
"[E3] has grown to become a celebration of gaming: media attend to report on the biggest upcoming games, while fans attend to get their hands on the newest releases and to be among like-minded individuals. I can only describe it as a paradise for gamers."
It's not, according to the ESA the end of E3, and it's been through rough patches before. In 2016, multiple major game studios, including EA and Activision Blizzard, pulled out of the show, holding their own game showcases nearby. Plus, interest has waxed and waned in the periods between new console launches and major title releases.
E3 has, in general, rebounded and was looking strong right up until the pandemic when virtually all in-person tradeshows around the world were either canceled or shifted to virtual events.
As we write this, the ESA has not updated its social media or its news blog, though we assume it will soon. Notably, the E3 Twitter account page still has an E3 2021 logo on it and has posted nothing about any change in status for the event.
The official E3 page does say, "E3 2022 See you next year," with no hint of irony that we're already well into 2022. Subscribers to the E3 newsletter get a welcome message that still includes "E3 2021" in the header art.
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Netflix has confirmed that Top Boy, the British gangster drama it rebooted in 2019, will end after a third and final season.
The drama, which ran for two seasons on British broadcaster Channel 4 before being dropped in 2014, has just debuted its second season on the streamer.
Top Boy stars Ashley Walters and Kane Robinson (better known to some as rapper Kano) and is set in the heart of London on the fictional Summerhouse estate. It follows partners Dushane and Sully, two notorious drug dealers who, despite a wish to lead honest lives, are corrupted by the promise of increased wealth and respect in their borough.
The show's first two seasons aired on Channel 4 in 2011 and 2013 before Netflix came in 2017 with a reboot, a decision that was partly helped by the presence of rapper Drake as one of the show's executive producers.
Netflix launched the show's new season, which they referred to as its first, with the Channel 4 era then referred to as Top Boy: Summerhouse, in 2019, before ordering a follow-up, which arrived on March 18.
Top Boy will return for a third and final season! pic.twitter.com/yp9UC28coQMarch 31, 2022
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Stars Walters and Robinson, who also serve as executive producers, have released a statement as the news of the show's final bow was unveiled.
Speaking about the decision, they said: "For those that have followed the journey from the start, you will know how much this show means to everyone on our team and we wholeheartedly know how much it means to you. These characters have been a part of our lives for over a decade now and without everyone’s support we couldn’t have come this far."
They continued: "Whilst the journeys of Dushane and Sully have remained at the core of the show, the new characters that have entered the world of Top Boy have become a key part of the show’s legacy, representing each new storyline in a raw, authentic way. With all this being said, and staying true to our original goal, every story must have an ending and so season three will be our finale. A chance to come full circle and end the journey in the right way."
Newly discovered code on Twitter’s TweetDeck site points to the company possibly making TweetDeck an exclusive feature to Twitter Blue subscribers.
TweetDeck is a (currently) free platform that lets desktop users scroll through multiple timelines of different accounts, topics, or hashtags at once. Big proponents of the feature are media workers and businesses with multiple PR accounts that search for trending topics and interact with other Twitter users.
The rumor mill was started up when Twitter user @wongmjane, an established tipster, posted that the company is filling in a new TweetDeck signup page, advertising an ad-free experience as a big selling point.
Previously, Wong posted that code gates on the TweetDeck app may ask for a Twitter Blue subscription in the future, and redirects a user to the signup page if they aren’t subscribed.
Twitter has been teasing “a new & improved” TweetDeck for a while now, implying that upon launch, the app will be reworked and redesigned.
We reached out to Twitter for any comment, and a spokesperson told us that they had nothing to share at this moment.
Analysis: All signs point to exclusivity
Keep in mind that this is just a report, but the rumors are pretty strong. If they hold true and TweetDeck does become a paid feature, it’d be another expense for businesses that take advantage of it to keep up with the numerous interactions that company accounts often receive.
TweetDeck would also be another feature in Twitter Blue’s slim portfolio and could prove interesting when paired with the rumored “ad-free experience” touted on the incomplete new site.
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Apple is reportedly working on a multi-year plan to develop its own payment processing technology and infrastructure in an effort to further build out its portfolio of financial products.
As reported by Bloomberg, the move would allow the iPhone maker to reduce its reliance on outside partners but it could also enable the company to expand its payment features beyond the US.
According to people familiar with the matter that spoke with the news outlet, the multi-year plan would bring a number of financial tasks in-house including payment processing, risk assessment for lending, fraud analysis, credit checks and other customer-service functions like handling disputes.
Since Apple is reportedly investigating the idea of launching its own hardware subscription service, being able to run credit checks and risk assessments before providing customers with devices makes a great deal of sense.
Future financial products
Although Apple already offers a credit card as well as peer-to-peer payments for businesses, its efforts to develop its own payment processing technology and infrastructure will be focused on future financial products.
Back in July of last year, news broke that the company is also working on a “buy now, pay later” feature for Apple Pay Transactions that would allow customers to pay for items across four interest-free payments every two weeks or across several months with interest. While the plan with four payments is known internally as “Apple Pay in 4”, the longer term payment plans have been dubbed “Apple Pay Monthly Installments”.
While Apple will continue its partnership with Goldman Sachs according to Bloomberg, the company has been discussing using in-house technology for its “Apple Pay in 4” plan.
At the same time though, the company’s in-house financial services could allow it to expand future services to additional countries. Currently Apple Pay is available in over 70 countries but other services such as peer-to-peer payments, Apple Card and Apple Cash are still US-only.
The news that Apple wants to bring more of its financial services in-house also aligns with a recent job posting looking for a hardware validation engineer to help upgrade its datacenters. Storing financial data and handling transactions could put a heavy load on its systems which is why the company wants to upgrade its datacenters with “next-generation” storage and server equipment from Intel and AMD.
When Samsung announced back at CES 2022 that its new 2022 QLED TVs would include an NFT marketplace, more than a few eyebrows were raised. For some, it represented a major shift in how NFTs are purchased and consumed… for others, well, it marked another venture down a lucrative rabbit hole that could set a bad precedent for the industry.
Whatever your current outlook on Samsung’s NFT project is, the company has announced that it’s doubling down on the venture with a new partnership with Nifty Gateway.
Nifty Gateway, in case you’re not in the know about NFTs, is a digital art online auction platform - basically, the place where people go to buy and sell NFTs. Once you obtain one from Nifty Gateway, you can then display it right on your TV.
For NFT lovers, having the ability to buy, trade, sell and display their wares right on their Samsung TV is going to be a groundbreaking opportunity - but as with NFTs themselves, there could be some risk in Samsung’s new investment.
Are non-fungible tokens the future?
Like it or not, NFTs are everywhere. They’ve overtaken cryptocurrency as the new tech buzzword and have even been made into a song by Saturday Night Live.
But, as far as NFT’s longevity is concerned, the jury is still out.
By installing an NFT platform directly into its TVs it’s lending credibility to and will likely enable a more mainstream adoption of the technology.
Part of the reason that NFTs haven't made their way onto the computers of more people is their volatility. They seem to pop up overnight, reach critical mass, and then plummet in price, not unlike some online scams.
There's a number of examples of this, but Jake and Logan Paul's harrowing experience wherein the pair lost significant cash on NFTs in 2021 or rug-pull schemes where NFT makers promise an experiential component and then run off with the profits before delivering both come to mind.
What Samsung is doing here, however, is certainly strengthening the case for an NFT future - by installing an NFT platform directly into its TVs, it’s lending credibility to and will likely enable more mainstream adoption of the technology.
In that way, Samsung’s partnership with Nifty Gateways is actually pretty exciting. But does it set a bad precedent? Is there any downside to Samsung’s newfound enthusiasm for NFTs? Not yet, really. But there might be some time down the road.
The hidden problem of hooking your TV into the blockchain
When it comes to home entertainment devices, TVs are pretty much top-dog. They’ve been refined over the years to be sharper, faster, brighter and more colorful. Recently, TV makers have made them better at handling 4K/120Hz inputs and new HDR formats, too.
A lot of research and development has been done to get them to this point.
Since the advent of smart platforms, software development has always been part of a TV’s development road map - but bringing NFT platforms on board might mean sacrificing some of the time spent implementing and improving other technologies.
There’s clearly money in NFTs - a lot of money, it seems - but we’re worried that the allure of profit could eat into the development of better features, starting a domino effect with other manufacturers looking to find new ways to maximize profit from TVs after the point of sale.
I don't know about you, but I don't think I want to store my financial information on this.(Image credit: Samsung)
Historically, smart platforms aren't that secure
In the past, scrambling to make additional profit from TVs led TV makers to do some pretty shady things - Vizio previously monitoring the viewing data of 11 million TVs without consent comes to mind.
There’s an inherent risk in adding a financial service to a smart TV platform - not to mention security and privacy concerns.
In the time since, we’ve seen data breaches, voice data collection and straight-up hacks of some smart TV platforms like Android TV. And while no one wants their personal data stolen - having a stranger login to your Netflix account is bad enough - having your financial investments taken from you is a whole different story.
There’s an inherent risk in adding a financial service to a smart TV platform - not to mention security and privacy concerns.
For many, we imagine, those may outweigh the benefits.
WhatsApp’s voice messaging feature will soon get some nifty updates to help compose, send, and listen to those convenient audio messages.
The Meta-owned app is the main mode of communication for over two billion people every month. It’s free, highly accessible, and end-to-end encrypted, making it an important app for users around the globe to connect with family and friends. These updates could enhance the already pretty good voice messaging feature of the app by helping avoid miscommunications in audio messages and helping listeners speed through long-winded conversations.
Included features are:
Out-of-chat playback will let you continue listening to a message after leaving the chat in which you received it.
Play and pause buttons will allow you to pause your recording and resume where you left off.
Waveform visualization will show you how loud a message is, in case you need to prepare by adjusting your volume.
Draft previews will let you listen to a message before sending it.
Remember playback will pick up where you left off if you leave a chat before listening to a message all the way through.
Fast playback will let you speed up any message in case you’re in a time crunch or listening to a long-winded message.
WhatsApp didn’t provide a release date in the announcement or information about which platforms it will arrive on and in what order, but you can expect the features to roll out over the next few weeks.
(Image credit: WhatsApp)
Analysis: WhatsApp stays on top for a reason
The updates that Meta steadily brings to WhatsApp aren’t anything groundbreaking, and that’s by design. There’s a reason that the app continues to be the most popular global messaging app out there.
Small features brought about in incremental updates maintain the app’s ease of use by not getting in the way of how the app’s two billion monthly active users already interact with it.
With these updates, it looks like the majority of the interface remains the same, and the new draft previews will help users avoid sending messages that weren’t ready yet. It’s the little things that count the most.
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As long as gaming laptops have existed, there have only been two companies that have produced GPUs for them. Nvidia and AMD have had an iron grip on the market for years, and now Intel Arc mobile graphics processors are finally here. I don't know if an Arc 7 GPU is going to be faster than an RTX 3080 Ti – it probably won't – but since it's Intel at the helm, I at least know it's going to result in a good experience.
To be clear, while Intel has said that laptops using its Arc 3 graphics are available now, I have not even seen one in person, so all I have to go off of is the information that Intel has provided. I'm not exactly in the business of trusting internal benchmarks, and neither should you.
But let's be honest, while AMD and Nvidia both make mobile graphics solutions, the best gaming laptops on the market are using a combination of Intel processors and Nvidia graphics. AMD Navi started to chip away at Team Green's dominance, but Intel can hit a lot harder, and it's about more than raw frame rates.
(Image credit: Nvidia)
A stable platform
Intel has had a rocky few years, as it tried to catch up with AMD's Zen architecture. But even when Intel was furthest behind in terms of raw performance, it still excelled where it really matters – especially for laptops – reliability. When you're looking at charts and numbers it's pretty easy to forget about what the experience of actually using something is like, and Intel processors have never really had the same kind of adjustment period as AMD processors do.
It seems like every time a new AMD chipset comes out on desktop, there are a number of critical bugs that Team Red has to jump on after release. For instance, shortly after the release of its 5000-series processors there were widespread reports of USB problems, where devices would just stop responding, according to Tom's Hardware.
Intel generally doesn't have the same kind of problems with its new platforms. And while Intel is admittedly going to be new at the whole discrete graphics thing, the company has proven that it puts a lot of value on the experience of the user. So even if performance isn't quite there with this first generation of Arc graphics, it at least will likely result in a user-friendly product. Maybe that's why Intel prioritized laptop GPUs instead of trying to take on the RTX 3080 immediately.
(Image credit: Intel)
An actual competitor for DLSS
It's impossible to overestimate the impact DLSS has had on PC gaming since it debuted with the RTX 2080 in 2018. While it wasn't as exciting as first, it's become a critical technology for AAA game developers that want people to actually be able to play their games on affordable hardware.
And while AMD has come up with a competing technology in FSR, or FidelityFX Super Sampling, it just doesn't have the same visual quality as DLSS. However, it does have the advantage of being usable on any GPU.
What keeps DLSS out of reach of FSR is that it uses the Tensor Cores in Nvidia's RTX graphics cards to apply a deep learning algorithm specific to each game, that lets you render the game at a lower resolution with the regular CUDA cores, then use the Tensor cores to scale it up to your display's native resolution. Because this is a hardware accelerated approach that is so fine tuned, it's hard to even tell a difference between native resolution and DLSS on a Quality preset.
But XeSS could be a legitimate alternative to DLSS with a similar visual quality – because it's taking a similar approach. Let's, uh, break that down really quick.
But XeSS could be a legitimate alternative to DLSS with a similar visual quality – because it's taking a similar approach.
For example, the Intel A370M, one of the first GPUs the company is launching, comes equipped with 8 Xe cores. Intel has thankfully released the layout for each of these cores. Each Xe core will come with 16 Xe Vector Engines (XVE) and 16 Xe Matrix Engines (XMX). The XVE threads will basically serve the same function as CUDA cores in Nvidia GPUs. Then, the XMX cores are specially designed for AI workloads, and are able to perform this specialized workload a lot faster than the standard Vector units.
I won't go too much into why because I'm not an engineer, but this is a very similar structure to Nvidia Ampere, and should be just as efficient at upscaling workloads – at least on paper.
XeSS won't actually be available until later this year, but I can't wait to get my hands on it to see how it performs, and more importantly, how games look when the technology is turned on.
Because let's face it, performance gains between Nvidia's DLSS and AMD's FSR are pretty similar – to the point where we get the same framerate in Cyberpunk 2077 when switching between them on the new RTX 3090 Ti – but the image quality is so much better with Nvidia's tech.
The technology is definitely there for Intel, too, and it looks like XeSS is going to be just as important for PC gamers as the other upscaling technologies. But, it's also important to keep in mind that it took a while for Nvidia to get DLSS looking as good as it does now. I remember when the tech first became available in Battlefield 1 and Metro Exodus, and it has come a long way. It'd be fantastic if Intel is going to be able to avoid those growing pains, but there will probably be some issues along the way.
But because it is an Intel technology it will more than likely actually work, and you probably won't have to mess with it too much to get it going.
Although a bit later than initially expected, the US Department of Defense (DOD) has announced that it plans to award up to $9bn in cloud infrastructure contracts in December of this year.
Following the controversy surrounding its now canceled Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure or JEDI contract, the Pentagon announced its new Joint Warfighter Cloud Capability (JWCC) initiative back in November of this year. Unlike with the previous JEDI contract, the US military will now rely on multiple cloud providers as opposed to just a single one.
Although Amazon, Microsoft, Oracle and other cloud providers competed to win the $10bn JEDI contract, in the end the Pentagon awarded it to Microsoft before deciding to cancel it altogether.
In a recent call with reporters, Pentagon CIO John Sherman explained that the US military's timeline was a bit too bold which is why it will now be wrapping up bidding for the JWCC initiative in December. When JWCC was first announced in July of last year, the Pentagon initially intended to award contracts in April 2022.
Unclassified, secret and top secret networks
Sherman provided further details on how the JWCC initiative will provide enterprise cloud capabilities for the DOD in a recent press briefing, saying:
“In terms of what it comprises, the JWCC, it is going to be a multi-cloud effort that will provide enterprise cloud capabilities for the Department of Defense at all three security classifications: unclassified, secret, and top secret. All the way from the continental United States here, out to the tactical edge.”
Once the contracts have been awarded, the Pentagon expects to immediately have access to its unclassified network. From here, secret networks will come online 60 days after contracts have been awarded while both top-secret and tactical edge networks will come online no later than 180 days following the awarding of contracts to cloud service providers.
Just like with the JEDI contract though, Amazon, Google, Microsoft and Oracle are all competing for government contracts once again and the Pentagon reached out to all four companies in November of last year according to Sherman. These new contracts will have a three-year base period and two-year option periods.
We'll likely hear more towards the end of the year when the DOD actually begins awarding contracts for its new JWCC initiative.
Microsoft has set the date for its Build 2022 developer conference, May 24-26, and decided, for the third year in a row, to make it all-virtual.
While Microsoft's desktop operating system, Windows, is often the star of the show, Microsoft Build is the Redmond, Washington-based company's chance to unveil updates across a wide array of software products, services, and development tools.
There's also usually a theme. At Microsoft Build 2021, it was about Tech Transformation and the responsibility technology has in shaping the future. Aside from "Designed for development" and "What's next in tech," the Microsoft Build site offers no hints about what to expect.
It does outline, though, one change: market-specific experiences for France, Germany, Latin America, and the UK. The FAQ goes into a tiny bit more detail, explaining:
"New for this year, experience market-specific content and connection opportunities for France, Germany, Japan, Latin America, and the UK in Regional Spotlights. Microsoft Build Regional Spotlights will include but will not be limited to: Keynote analysis, trending news, and topics for specific regions to help break down what’s new and what it means to you."
What about Windows 12?
For consumers, this might be their first chance to learn about the next version of some of their favorite Microsoft products, including Windows, Office, and the Edge Browser. Developers will get updates on C++, C#, Azure, and Visual Studio. Microsoft sometimes blends in forward-looking panels on bleeding edge technologies like the HoloLens (version 3?) and digital twins.
As for what we might expect from Windows, there is some speculation that we could get our first glimpse of Windows 12. We know, Windows 11 isn't even a year old, but Microsoft's platform update cadence may be quickening. Plus, whatever Microsoft shows us now will likely be no more than a glimpse, with the full Windows 12 launch easily more than a year away.
Even if we don't see that, the multi-day event will be packed with Windows 11 innovations and future feature promises.
Registration, which is free, opens up in late April, and TechRadar will feature wall-to-wall coverage in May.
Through its Graviton server chips, AWS is leading the way when it comes to cloud computing providers adoption of Arm-based processors according to a new report from the market research firm TrendForce.
As corporate demand for digital transformation including AI and high-performance computing has accelerated in recent years, this has led to increased adoption of cloud computing services. In order to improve service flexibility, cloud service providers have begun introducing Arm-based servers and TrendForce believes Arm architecture in data center servers will reach 22 percent by 2025.
As companies have begun to diversify their cloud workloads over the past few years, the market has started paying more attention to the benefits Arm architecture processing can provide to data centers.
In its report, TrendForce explained that Arm-based processors have three major advantages. They can support diverse and rapidly changing workloads at scale while being cost-effective, they provide higher customization for a variety of niche markets with a more flexible ecosystem and their physical footprint is relatively small which makes them ideal for today's micro data centers.
Following AWS' lead
Due to today's geopolitical situation and the increased need for data sovereignty in various countries, the top cloud service providers and telecoms are actively developing micro data centers which will lead to further adoption of Arm-based processors.
At the same time, AWS' Graviton chips have the largest market share and began to chip away at x86's dominance in the server market last year. TrendForce also noted that AWS' deployment of Arm-based processors reached 15 percent of its overall server deployment in 2021 though this figure is expected to exceed 20 percent this year.
As such, other major cloud service providers will need to initiate their own Arm-based server projects at various foundries in order to keep up with AWS. If testing goes as planed, these projects will likely begin being deployed en masse in 2025.
Additionally, Arm's own Platform Roadmap for Neoverse will be one of the key drivers of penetration. While the chip designer's product line is set to target ultra-large-scale data centers and edge computing infrastructure, it will still take some time for Arm-based servers to find their way into enterprise data centers. This is why TrendForce believes that Arm-based servers likely won't be able to compete with traditional x86-based servers before 2025.
If you've been looking for an opportunity to upgrade your original Nintendo Switch, or even buy the hybrid console for the first time, here's your chance to do so while saving some money in the process.
Right now, Amazon AU has brought the price of the Nintendo Switch OLED down to an all-time low on its site, with the console's AU$539.95 RRP slashed to just AU$449 – that's a saving of AU$90.95!
It's worth noting that AU$449 price point applies only to the white version of the Nintendo Switch OLED. That said, the neon version of the console has received a smaller discount, and is currently available for AU$489.
This isn't the cheapest price we've seen on the Nintendo Switch OLED – it was down to AU$424.15 on eBay during Afterpay Day, but this price isn't too much more if you missed out on that deal.
Nintendo's updated Switch OLED console is rarely discounted, which makes this great deal from Amazon AU one to sit up and take notice of. Right now, you can nab yourself the white version of the Nintendo Switch OLED for just AU$449.
If, however, you have your heart set on the neon version, you can opt to pay a little more and purchase that at the still-discounted price of AU$489.
Looking to buy some games and accessories for your new Nintendo Switch OLED? We've taken the liberty of rounding up the best prices on Nintendo Switch consoles, games and accessories on one easy-to-navigate page.
Businesses have enough on their plates. Digital security threats shouldn’t have to be a constant worry, and keeping systems protected against ever-shifting threats need not be a monumental effort for IT departments. The latest AMD PRO security integrated into AMD Ryzen™ PRO mobile processors simplifies and strengthens security with top-to-bottom protection that covers the hardware, OS, and OEM system levels.
AMD Ryzen™ PRO mobile processors are built with the Microsoft Pluton security processor integrated right onto the chip, making them the first x86 processors on the market to offer this technology. With the Pluton Security Processor, the system receives chip-to-cloud security for users’ data, applications, and identities.
The Microsoft Pluton security processor also makes it easier to keep systems safe over time. Straightforward Windows updates provide Pluton-enabled systems with the latest hardware and firmware protection. Working together with the other security technologies of AMD Ryzen™ PRO 6000 Series Mobile Processors, the two provide a unified front for robust security against attacks.
(Image credit: AMD)
These new AMD chips support Microsoft Secured-core PC as well, helping ensure that systems are protected from firmware and OS attacks right from boot up by preventing unauthorized access to data and devices. Back that up with AMD Secure Processor on the chips and AMD Platform Secure Boot, which can create a hardware root-of-trust between the BIOS and OS bootloader, and you’ve got a strong layer of protection across the hardware in your system.
AMD Shadow Stack and Microsoft Stack Protection can work together to keep control-flow attacks shut down. Shadow Stack keeps a copy of the program stack stored on the system hardware to check against normal program stack.
Together, these technologies will leave little room for attackers to get into your systems and pull out sensitive data or gain control.
But, AMD is prepared for even more sophisticated attacks. AMD Ryzen™ PRO mobile processors can even actively encrypt system memory with AMD Memory Guard. So, even if someone could get access to your computer and attempt to read the data on the laptop’s memory modules, all they’d get back is encrypted data. This data is encrypted in real-time, too, so you can rest assured that at any moment the data on the memory would be unreadable to anyone without the key.
With the new AMD Ryzen™ Pro 6000 Series Mobile Processors, your business can enjoy all the enhanced performance capabilities of the latest AMD architecture technology. Plus, with the efficiency of the 6nm process node alongside the superb security technologies AMD has built into the hardware, each system can support further protection from OEMs.
At a time when consumers are finding it difficult to get their hands on a new Raspberry Pi, MangoPi is teasing a new single-board computer that is slightly smaller than an SD card.
In a recent post on Twitter, MangoPi showed off several pictures of its new unnamed module that features a Linux-capable SoC and no ports whatsoever. In addition to being much smaller than the Raspberry Pi 4B, the new device is actually even smaller than the Raspberry PiZero 2 W.
According to a new report from Tom's Hardware though, MangoPi's new single-board computer could be called the 'Linux Box” as there is both a blank product page with the name on the company's site as well as a discussion about it on its forum.
Based on the photos shared by MangoPi, the so-called Lunch Box will feature four Arm Cortex-A53 cores just like the Raspberry Pi 3 and the Zero 2 W. The device will also run Allwinner's embedded Tina Linux distro which is based on OpenWRT.
Carrier board required
MangoPi's post highlights the fact that the Lunch Box is capable of outputting 1080p video at 60Hz over HDMI but as the board itself doesn't have any ports, this will likely be done via a carrier board.
The Linux Box is powered by the Allwinner H616 just like the Orange Pi Zero 2 and the processor has a Vulkan 1.1-capable GPU that can decode H.264, H.265, VP9 and more. In terms of memory, the device supports a maximum of 4GB of DDR3 or DDR4 RAM.
The chip powering the Lunch Box also supports full disk encryption with AES, XTS and other comparable algorithms. On the security front, tamper-proofing using MD5 and other methods will be supported while there is even a 160-bit hardware pseudo-random number generator and an integrated EFUSE chip for both ID and security.
The Lunch Box's carrier board could potentially include gigabit Ethernet, USB 2/OTG, a second 100MBs Ethernet interface, UART, a PWM controller and SDIO ports. However, as the board itself is tiny, all of these ports along with power delivery will need to be provided by a carrier board.
While MangoPi's new single-board computer isn't on sale just yet, the company is currently in the process of testing it and we'll likely hear more once it's available for purchase.
My OnePlus 9 Pro battery is so swollen it split open the case.
I discovered this potentially dangerous situation by accident when I noticed the one-year-old Android phone sitting imperfectly in its carbon-fiber case. Absentmindedly, I reached over and pushed one corner of the phone down, trying to reseat it. It popped back out. After a few attempts, I removed the case and discovered the truth: The battery had expanded and split the chrome case along one long-glued seam, creating, in one area, a quarter-inch chasm.
"Not again," I thought.
A few years ago, a Google Pixel 3 XL that I mostly keep on a Pixel charging stand by my bed appeared to jump off the charger of its own accord. It turned out that the battery has expanded so much that the case no longer sat flush with the charging base.
I eventually sent the phone back to Google and got a replacement; at least that phone was more than a few years old. But I reviewed the OnePlus 9 Pro just over a year ago. At the time, I called it "a gorgeous device," and "one of the best devices I've used in the Android space." Even with the split back, it still looks pretty good.
Does it still work? Sure. I powered it up and it launched, like Head Wound Harry, as if there wasn't any critical damage.
Still, I won't use it now or ever again.
As soon as I posted a short video of the split phone on Twitter, I got a fast flood of responses and at least one warning: "I'd, uh, turn it off."
This is concerning. OnePlus 9Pro 5G battery is now bursting the phone’s seams. Not the first time I’ve seen an Android phone do this pic.twitter.com/5HfdokTXG5March 28, 2022
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I also found a community of people who have suffered similar battery calamities on a variety of Android phones and iPhones. I've owned and tested every iPhone since the iPhone 4 and never had a battery balloon or case split.
Still the tales of puffy batteries traveled through numerous Samsung handsets, iPhones, MacBooks, and Pixels.
It's a big enough problem that there are FAQs and services devoted to it. I found a place called Bebat that tries to explain why cellphone Lithium-Ion batteries balloon and what to do about it. Yes, it's also selling a repair service.
No one, including Bebat, is certain why all these batteries occasionally puff up. It could be:
Overheating
Overuse
Too much charging
A defective part
It's almost like no one quite understands how these batteries work. Though we know they do - most of the time.
An expanding phone battery and concerns over what could happen next if I keep using or charging it (explosion and fire come to mind) take me back seven or so years to Samsung's Galaxy Note 7.
The Galaxy Note 7 was an Android industry darling right up until units began to explode and catch fire. The culprit was the lithium-Ion battery.
Before you can understand what goes wrong with such a power source, it helps to understand how most Lithium-Ion batteries work. It's something we all got a crash course in back in 2016.
(Image credit: Future / Lance Ulanoff)
Like most batteries, there's a positive and negative side, usually made of two different conductive materials (say, aluminum and graphite). Since a battery creates power through chemistry and flow of charged ions, there's also a liquid (called an electrolyte), and a thin plastic layer made to separate the positive and negative sides. The cells charge when we plug the phone in.
Unlike the batteries in, say, your remote control, phone batteries can't be round and thick, nor can everything sit neatly in just two layers. Usually, smartphone batteries fold the layers over and over, sandwiching them to make them thin and as flat (and store as much energy) as possible.
As you can imagine, if all this isn't done perfectly, something can go wrong. In Samsung's case, it was a huge battery being squished into too small a space, deforming some layers, as well as a production issue in which a bad weld perforated these layers in some devices.
(Image credit: Future / Lance Ulanoff)
Samsung learned its lesson and instituted some rigorous battery oversight and testing for all future devices. There has not been a notable incidence since.
Which is good. But why are our phone batteries still expanding?
Since this issues cuts across devices, it's clearly some intrinsic lithium-ion issue.
Even experts like Bebat don't offer any clear-cut idea of why or what companies could do to prevent this. They do know what you can't do though:
There is no point waiting for the battery to “shrink”. The ever growing pressure can cause damage to the entire device. Leave the battery in the device only if it is stuck. Never try to “solve” the swelling yourself by pricking a hole in it or with any other creative stunt. That is very dangerous: not only is the gas flammable, but also toxic.
In every support forum, the advice is the same. Stop using the device immediately and get it to a service center. One MacBook user claimed to me on Twitter that an Apple Store genius told him to give the laptop to them and "we can put it in back in the special safe in case it explodes."
I don't think I'm in any imminent danger here, but I have turned off the OnePlus 9 Pro and reached out to the company's representatives for comment. My more immediate concern is that, while hardly common, I'm not sure expanding, gas-filled batteries are uncommon.
Making these incidents public is the first step, I hope, in pushing phone manufacturers to be more transparent, to work on safer, less expansion-prone batteries, and to look for a less volatile power storage system than lithium-ion. It's a tall order, I know.
Now, where do I store this scary OnePlus 9 Pro?
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We recently heard a leak about the new iPad for 2022 - that's the entry-level slate that Apple refreshes every year. This leak suggested that the device could get a big design update, possibly including the removal of the home button and a sizeable reduction in the bezel size, to bring it more in line with Apple's more modern tablets.
If this information is true, Apple is bringing its last family of tablets in line with its new design, which it's slowly been rolling out to its different iPads for the last few years.
This design matches the specs of these tablets, and suits them well for businesspeople or creatives looking for a sleek device. But Apple seems to be forgetting something - it has a much wider audience than that.
A history of iPads
I first bought the iPad 9.7 in 2017 - I was a student at the time, and needed a device that I could take to campus and work on, that also wasn't as chunky or fragile as a low-end laptop.
For just £300 (around $395 / AU$525 - I got it for a discount, I don't remember why, but also bought a case that offset the saving), I had an incredibly portable device that served me well for years after.
We gave the 2017 iPad full marks in our review(Image credit: Future)
I used the tablet for university essays, creative writing (I minored in creative writing - yeah, I really wasted my youth), screenplays, watching movies at home, listening to music out loud and Duolingo too, which really took over one peculiar year of my life.
When my smartphone broke, I didn't buy a new one - I just used my old flip phone for calls and texts, and relied on the iPad for all social media.
I could use my iPad in the university library, in the media room for the student newspaper I was an editor at, in various cafes and pubs around campus, at home on my desk or bed, at my partner's house, even in the bath. It was a perfect utility device.
The main reason I loved it was its portability - I studied in a fairly small city that you could traverse without public transport, so I spent an hour or more every day on bikes and walking, and wasn't burdened by a massive laptop.
The iPad sat within my budget and fit my needs, and I couldn't find a laptop that did the same. And I'm not alone.
The iPad's audience
The entry-level iPad has remained a tablet designed for people exactly like I was - not particularly fussed about tech, who just want a useful, portable and inexpensive tablet to use.
Students don't need the iPad Pro(Image credit: Future)
I know plenty of people who don't care about tech but use their iPads all the time - seniors who find phones too small, musicians who need a big screen to see sheet music, reading fans who don't want a Kindle, the list goes on and on.
These people don't need the fastest, flashiest processor, or a super top-end screen, and also don't want to spend loads of money on a fancy tablet when they're only going to use 10% of the features.
And that's the thing Apple doesn't seem to realize.
The slow slipping of the iPad
iPads were great products for normal people, like I was as a student, but Apple's new tablets aren't catering to that kind of audience.
Admittedly the iPad Pro line was never designed for the everyday user - Pro is short for 'professional' after all - but the entry-level and Air lines used to be.
The iPad Air was once a great option for people who wanted something like the entry-level tablet, but with a larger display - well, that was the state of things by the iPad Air 3.
The fourth-gen option changed up the design quite a bit, eschewing the classic iPad design for iPad-Pro-inspired sleekness, and the fifth-gen option brought 5G connectivity and a super-powerful chipset.
The new device isn't one that any average buyer should consider. Not only is it more powerful than anyone needs (including professionals), but it's a lot pricier than the iPad Air 3, so people with limited budgets have been forgotten.
(Image credit: Future)
I'm worried that the standard iPad range is going to go the same way. Previously, these tablets have used the same processors as the iPhones, which makes them powerful enough as it is, without getting the unnecessarily powerful - and expensive - Apple M1.
This might seem outlandish - but the iPad Air getting the M1 also sounded unlikely, until it happened - and thanks to the high price tag, it's arguably a less tempting tablet compared to its predecessor as a result.
Students don't need the M1. Seniors don't need the M1. Musicians and readers and teachers and children don't need the M1. What all those people do need is affordable tech.
There might be some people who really want an M1 chipset in a tablet - but the only apps that will benefit from that are a select few work or creativity apps, so these people will be professionals. If only there was an iPad for them - an Pro iPad, say...
I wouldn't buy any of these
If I was a student now, in 2022, I wouldn't buy the iPad Pro or Air or even Mini - the iPad 10.2 from 2021 would be my only option. And if the new iPad for 2022 does bring some of the unnecessary improvements I'm expecting, and costs more as a result, it'll be ruled out too.
There have been several years of on-and-off recession where I live, and in many places around the world. There's currently a cost of living crisis going on, so buying tech isn't really a priority to many people.
That is to say, Apple should be making its tech more affordable, not bumping up the specs for no good reason. Sure, its new devices might be more tempting to current or aspiring creatives or professionals, but for the legion of Apple buyers who need a familiar and reliable device, there's nothing out there worth buying anymore.
For those unfamiliar, the DMA aims to reign in big tech platforms in Europe so that smaller companies can better compete with Meta, Google, Microsoft and others.
As part of the new bill, large tech companies with a market capitalization of over €75bn and a user base of more than 45m in the EU would be required to create products that are interoperable with smaller platforms. While this will likely be fine for online collaboration tools and office software, there are a number of security risks for messaging services like WhatsApp that included end-to-end encryption as part of their offerings.
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The EU hopes that the DMA will help smaller competitors by breaking open some of the services provided by large tech giants that are considered gatekeepers due to the size of their customer base as well as their revenue. As a result, iPhone users could potentially be able to install third-party apps outside of the App Store, outside sellers may soon rank higher on Amazon's ecommerce platform and messaging apps would be required to allow users to send messages across multiple protocols, according to a new report from The Verge.
End-to-end encryption concerns
The DMA poses a serious problem for secure messaging services that included end-to-end encryption as part of their offerings.
Cryptographers agree that it will be difficult or even impossible to maintain encryption between apps which could put users at risk of having their messages and data exposed. While Signal is small enough that it likely won't be affected by the EU's new legislation, WhatsApp, which uses the Signal protocol, will likely need to change how its platform works.
As cryptographic standards need to be precisely implemented, security experts that spoke with The Verge warned that there is no easy way for secure messaging apps to provide both security and interoperability to their users. Essentially, different forms of encryption with different design features can't easily be fused together to comply with the DMA.
Internet security researcher and Columbia University computer science professor, Steven Bellovin provided further insight on the matter in a statement to The Verge, saying:
“Trying to reconcile two different cryptographic architectures simply can’t be done; one side or the other will have to make major changes. A design that works only when both parties are online will look very different than one that works with stored messages .... How do you make those two systems interoperate?”
As it stands now, every messaging service is responsible for its own security but by making them interoperable, users of one service could be exposed to vulnerabilities that may exist in another messaging platform.
Thankfully, there's still time for either the EU to reverse course or for secure messaging app providers to devise a way to make their services interoperable with smaller competitors as Digital Markets Act won't be implemented before next year.
OnePlus 10 Pro is set to debut in global markets on March 31 and pricing for the smartphone has been spotted on a retailer website in Germany ahead of the launch. The smartphone is tipped to arrive with a Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 under the hood, sporting a 120Hz AMOLED display and support for 80W fast charging. The company is yet to reveal pricing of the smartphone in globa...
The identity management software firm Okta has admitted that it made a mistake in the way in which it handled an attack on one of its suppliers by the data extortion hacking group Lapsus$.
In a recently published FAQ, the company provided a full timeline of the incident beginning on January 20 when it first learned that “a new factor was added to a Sitel employee’s Okta account from a new location”. For those unfamiliar, Okta uses Sitel to provide some customer support services to its users.
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While the attempt to add a new factor was unsuccessful, Okta still went ahead and reset the account in question and notified Sitel regarding the matter by sharing “indicators of compromise” with the company. From here, Sitel informed Okta that it had “retained outside support from a leading forensic firm”.
According to Okta, the company's mistake involved believing that Sitel had shared all of the information it had on the incident and letting Sitel's forensic firm carry out its own investigation. Instead, Okta should have pressed Sitel for more information as the company is its service provider for which it is ultimately responsible.
Investigation results
The forensics firm hired by Sitel delivered its report to the customer support company on March 10 but it wasn't until a week later on March 17 that Okta received a summary report about the incident from Sitel.
A few days later though, Lapsus$ published screenshots on its Telegram channel claiming that they depicted Okta’s company environment, including internal tickets and in-house Slack chats. It was on this same day that Okta finally received the full report commissioned by Sitel which concluded that there was a “five-day period between January 16-21, where an attacker had access to Sitel”.
Okta provided further details on the incident itself and how it would respond now with all of the information in hand in its FAQ, saying:
“In January, we did not know the extent of the Sitel issue – only that we detected and prevented an account takeover attempt and that Sitel had retained a third party forensic firm to investigate. At that time, we didn’t recognize that there was a risk to Okta and our customers. We should have more actively and forcefully compelled information from Sitel. In light of the evidence that we have gathered in the last week, it is clear that we would have made a different decision if we had been in possession of all of the facts that we have today.”
While Okta says that it is confident that its own service has not been breached, the Lapsus$ group is likely gearing up to hit another big name target soon despite the fact that seven of its potential operatives were recently arrested in London.
A report broke last week about a new iPhone subscription service - according to Bloomberg, Apple is working on a way to get iPhones in your hands, without you having to pay a hefty one-off fee (or giving loads of money to cell companies).
This would apparently start with iPhones, but roll out to other Apple devices later down the road, and would let many more people get their hands on an iDevice, since it's easier to break down the cost into monthly payments, rather than see it as one huge lump sum.
However since TechRadar's team covered the news when it broke last week, I've been unable to stop scratching my head (no, it's not headlice) - I just don't understand what's happening here.
It's already a service
The main question I kept asking myself is: "isn't that already a thing?".
It is. Apple's iPhone Upgrade Program lets you pay monthly to get your hands on a new iPhone - it starts at $30 or equivalent for the iPhone 13 mini, and goes up to $45 for the 13 Pro Max, and when the iPhone 14 comes out you'll be able to upgrade to that.
At that price, you're basically getting an iPhone for around 2/3 the cost of buying it outright for a year - but for many people, that's a convenient way to do it.
Sure, that price doesn't include your SIM card or connectivity, but depending on your network, that doesn't cost too much more.
The iPhone 13 Pro Max(Image credit: TechRadar)
And that's not the only option you have, if you want to 'subscribe' to an iPhone - ever heard of a thing called 'carrier plans'?
Yep, one of the oldest concepts in smartphone history let you pay a fee every month in exchange for a smartphone - sure, they're not exactly comparable in terms of price, but in terms of concept, they absolutely are.
Is this a case of Apple re-inventing something that already exists?
So rumors of Apple's 'new' subscription service have me a little confused - how is this any different to the myriad similar services out there?
The whole package
Apple is already way too fond of its subscription services, having approximately 10 million of them. There's Apple Fitness, TV Plus, iCloud+. Arcade, Music - the list goes on (okay, not to 10million, but there are too many to easily remember).
Apple One is the overarching subscription service for if you want them all, which subscribes you to loads of other subscription services (PSA: if you're getting sick of the phrase 'subscription service' now, we don't recommend reading the rest of this article on subscription services).
(Image credit: Apple)
The company could add iPhones as another notch to its belt by weaving them into the existing packages - perhaps a new tier of Apple One could get you a new iPhone as well as Arcade and Music, or a new iPad alongside TV Plus, or an Apple Watch paired with Fitness.
It could also be a hardware-only scheme, netting you an iPhone, Apple Watch and iPad all in one bundle, for the ultimate Apple fan.
Whichever way you spin it though, this option wouldn't exactly be cheap - we're talking several hundreds of dollars leaving your account each month to just get the latest hardware, if that's what comes to pass.
And that's a problem, given how many subscription services are vying for your attention.
Ownership vs loanership
TechRadar's Editor in Chief, Gareth Beavis, pointed out to me that this iPhone subscription service could just be a phone hire purchase scheme, where you contribute over time until you've paid off the cost of your iPhone.
This is a common thing for personal vehicles - well, I've been told, but I'm under 30 so won't ever get to experience it. But I don't think that's what Apple would go for.
(Image credit: Future)
The current iPhone Upgrade Program doesn't offer you the phone to keep once you've paid off its fee - you keep changing devices, and keep paying Apple, essentially on a leasing scheme.
A hire purchase model doesn't fit into the subscription scheme that we're used to - other than vehicles, how often do you get to rent something for money, then keep it afterwards?
Do I get to keep my Xbox Games Pass games when I've subscribed long enough? Or my favorite Netflix films when I've watched them enough times? That's actually even the case for vehicles now - some electric vehicles can be bought on permanent lease, where you're constantly paying for the privilege of driving them.
You don't really buy things anymore - you subscribe to them and lose them when you want to stop paying. You spend for access, not ownership. That's where capitalism has pushed us, and I don't see Apple bucking this trend.
Subscription burnout
There are far too many subscription platforms around these days - a problem which a new iPhone subscription plan would contribute to. Sure, this isn't a new thing by any means - there's evidence that news subscription services were used as early as the 16th Century in Germany - but it's hard to deny that there's been a recent rise in the 'pay little and often' means of buying things.
(Image credit: Apple)
But when does it end? At what point do we say "I've got too many services, I don't need another one"?
It can't be far off - I recently reached my limit, canceling my Playstation Plus (mainly because it's gotten a bit rubbish, as my colleague eloquently explains here), and I think it's just the first in a big personal purge.
Of course, since you're not putting as much thought into what you spend on, this is great for the companies, and that could help Apple get more of its expensive smartphones into buyers' hands.
It would also help with buyers' remorse, as you could realize you've got Apple crazy and then just give it all back and watch your bank balance return to health. Yes, you've already spent and own nothing, and you can't now sell anything to recoup it, but it means that you can try things out much easier.
But with many other iPhone and smartphone subscription services already existing, and the busy landscape of subscription services greatly reaching tipping point, I'm struggling to understand - or get excited for - another Apple one.
