Modern smartphone operating systems have myriad systems in place to improve security, but none of that helps when attackers target the modem. Google’s Project Zero team has shown it’s possible to get remote code execution on Pixel phone modems over the Internet, which prompted Google to reevaluate how it secures this vital, low-level system. The solution wasn’t to rewrite modem software but rather to shoehorn a safer Rust-based component into…

PC hardware company NZXT and its billing partner, Fragile, have agreed to a $3,450,000 settlement in response to a class-action complaint regarding NZXT’s Flex PC rental program. NZXT announced Flex in August 2024, saying that it would charge customers $59 to $169 a month to rent an NZXT gaming desktop (as of this writing, Flex prices are $79 to $279 per month. At the time, NZXT said that the PCs…

Microsoft says it hears the complaints people have about the current state of Windows, and it wants to fix them. One of those fixes is another overhaul for its Windows Insider Program, the public beta system that Microsoft has used since Windows 10 to test and preview upcoming versions of the operating system and new app updates. The company hinted at this in its “commitment to Windows quality” post last…

Over the years, YouTube has evolved from a source of Rickrolls and cat videos to a platform for some of the Internet’s most popular streaming content. Today, it costs more than ever to see that content, as YouTube has announced another price increase for its Premium service. Viewers who can’t stomach the cost of Premium will be greeted by increasingly lengthy ad breaks, but YouTube says some of that is…

Amid customer dissatisfaction around Broadcom’s VMware takeover, rivals have been trying to lure customers from the leading virtualization firm. One of VMware’s biggest competitors, Nutanix, claims to have swiped tens of thousands of VMware customers. Speaking at a press briefing at Nutanix’s .NEXT conference in Chicago this week, Nutanix CEO Rajiv Ramaswami said that “about 30,000 customers” have migrated from VMware to the rival platform, pointing to customer disapproval over…

Hackers working on behalf of the Iranian government are disrupting operations at multiple US critical infrastructure sites, likely in response to the country’s ongoing war with the US, a half-dozen government agencies are warning. In an advisory published Tuesday, the FBI, Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, National Security Agency, Environmental Protection Agency, Department of Energy, and US Cyber Command “urgently” warned that the APT, or advanced persistent threat group, is…

We live in a digitally connected world that has brought undeniable personal benefits. I can barely recall the pre-Google Maps era, but it was far less convenient to navigate unfamiliar places without a Siri-enabled smart phone (and/or Apple Car Play). We use fitness tracking apps, our home appliances are increasingly digitally connected, and many homes have security systems like Nest cameras or home assistants like Alexa or Amazon Echo. But…

Motorola announced a new mid-range phone yesterday, the 2026 Moto G Stylus. It’s not exactly a game changer unless you demand a stylus with your smartphone. Despite little in the way of upgrades, the new G Stylus will debut at $500, which is $100 more than last year’s version. It’s now clear that higher pricing will be a trend in Moto’s lineup. Without so much as a peep, Motorola has…

The Russian military is once again hacking home and small office routers in widespread operations that send unwitting users to sites that harvest passwords and credential tokens for use in espionage campaigns, researchers said Tuesday. An estimated 18,000 to 40,000 consumer routers, mostly those made by MikroTik and TP-Link, located in 120 countries, were wrangled into infrastructure belonging to APT28, an advanced threat group that’s part of Russia’s military intelligence…

Valve is bringing Steam Link, its local network game-streaming app, to Apple’s Vision Pro mixed reality headset, allowing Vision Pro users to play traditional games from their Steam library wirelessly from a nearby Mac or PC. We say “traditional games” because it’s important to clarify that this does not stream VR games—only the sorts of games you would play on a traditional 2D display like a computer monitor or a…