Tech Future X

Exploiting a public health crisis for personal gain is the dastardly crime of our times. The research arm of security firm Check Point has found that cybercriminals around the globe have launched phishing and other malware deployment schemes that ride on people's thirst for information about the coronavirus. In its most recent report, it found that coronavirus-related websites created in January and February of this year are "are 50% more likely to be malicious" than other websites created in the same time period. That means that if you search for information about the coronavirus, you could stumble onto a website that has the sole aim of stealing your information. Criminals have also sent out email phishing campaigns purporting to contain coronavirus information. One campaign in Italy masqueraded as an official email from the World Health Organization. In truth, it contained a malicious attachment — and got sent to 10 percent of organizations within Italy. ...

Behold, the Apple Wa...I mean, the Oppo Watch!Behold, the Apple Wa...I mean, the Oppo Watch! One look at it, and you'll immediately know where Oppo got the inspiration for their new device, the Oppo Watch. It's the first smartwatch ever for the Chinese company, launched along their new smart, the Find X2 Pro. And, yes, the Oppo Watch looks astonishingly similar to the Apple Watch, with the only big difference being the lack of digital crown. Oppo's watch has a set of two buttons on the right side instead. I mean, just look at the damn thing. Where have we seen this before? Unsurprisingly, the Oppo Watch's specs aren't that far from those of the latest Apple Watch, either. It comes in two sizes — 41mm (1.6 inches) and 46mm (1.9 inches) — featuring either a steel or  aluminum case, a curved AMOLED display, a built-in heart rate monitor (with ECG functionality), eSIM connectivity, 1GB of RAM, 8GB of storage memory, and water resistance with a 5ATM rating. ...

Numerous tech companies have asked their Seattle-based employees to work from home to help prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus. Both Amazon and Facebook have shut down offices in the area after confirming that their Seattle-based employees have indeed contracted COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus. As the outbreak continues to spread in the US, including in California and New York, the situation has worsened in Washington where the virus was first discovered Stateside. The state now has at least 70 confirmed cases and 10 deaths. Here are the work-from-home policies for some Seattle tech company offices that The Verge is aware of: Amazon has told employees based in Seattle and nearby Bellevue that it recommends employees work from home until the end of March, according to CNBC. The recommendation comes after Amazon confirmed on March 2nd that one of its Seattle-based employees was quarantined with the novel coronavirus. That employee left work on Febru...

Windows 10 KB4535996 is again to blame As Windows Latest reports, some users are experiencing a problem where Windows 10 displays a Blue Screen of Death (BSOD) error at the login page. It has also caused numerous PCs to crash. This is in addition to the problems we describe below in the original news story. Microsoft has yet to publicly comment on these problems. Windows 10 is encountering more serious problems thanks to a recent update, with users reporting some worrying new issues. Back in February 2020, Microsoft released Windows 10 KB4535996, which was an optional update aimed at fixing several issues a previous update had broken, including problems with the Windows 10 search tool. However, the update ended up introducing even more problems for some users, and while we reported on some of those issues a few days ago, it appears that additional problems have emerged. Problems reported One of the most widely-reported problems is that the Sign Tool app is crashing after ...

Apple's new, 14.1-inch MacBook Pro will have a mini-LED display, analyst claims.Apple's new, 14.1-inch MacBook Pro will have a mini-LED display, analyst claims. Looks like all MacBook Pro variants are getting bigger. Last year, Apple replaced its top-of-the-line, 15-inch MacBook Pro with a 16-inch model that has only a slightly bigger footprint and considerably thinner screen bezels. According to reliable Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo (via MacRumors), Apple's 13.3-inch MacBook Pro might get the same treatment, as the company is reportedly working on a 14.1-inch variant. Kuo shared few details about the new laptop besides its size, but it's plausible that it will have thinner bezels and perhaps a slightly bigger footprint than the 13.3-inch model. One feature that he did share was the new laptop's mini-LED screen, which is a type of display that has the many advantages of OLED without its burn-in issues. But that's not nearly all. Kuo said Apple is work...

Your phone is F-I-L-T-H-Y. It carries 10 times the number of germs a toilet seat does, so don't expect your phone case to be any cleaner. With flu season in full swing and the new coronavirus spreading, it's better to take precautions than to fall prey to sickness. So please, clean your damn phone case already. If you're looking for a basic wipe-down, Apple has a cleaning guide for its cases. But if you need something more robust, we've got you. Here's how you can disinfect that nasty, yellowing case that stares you down every time you look at your phone. Plastic is relatively durable compared to other smartphone case materials, so it will survive tougher and more effective cleaning solutions, like bleach. If you're uncomfortable working with that, though, feel free to use dish soap instead. (For a bleach-free method, follow the instructions for rubber and silicone cases.) What you need: Chlorine bleach Water Sponge, cloth, and/or toothbrush ...

It's the most powerful smartphone Samsung has ever launched; it has the most memory ever seen on a smartphone, and its cameras have the most megapixels, combined. And now that the folks at iFixit have torn it down to tiny parts, you can take a close look at the wizardry Samsung pulled off to create this wonderful, $1,399 phone. You can, for example, try to count the pixels in the 9.5x7.3mm, 108-megapixel sensor (below). The 48-megapixel, 4x optical zoom telephoto camera is an equally impressive little thing, with a prism that bounces light into the sensor at a 90-degree angle. The 12GB RAM chip (sadly, iFixit didn't get the 16GB version) isn't much to look at, but hey, it's still (probably) more RAM than you'll find in your phone. Put all that together, though, and you get a phone that's hard to disassemble and even harder to repair, netting it a repairability score of 3 out of 10 in iFixit's view. SEE ALSO: Should you buy Samsung's new Ga...