Category: Technology

Hong Kong/London
CNN
 — 

IBM and SAP are the latest tech companies to slash thousands of jobs, as they reorganize businesses and profits come under pressure from a slowing global economy.

IBM

(IBM) announced the cuts Wednesday, saying they were related to the previously announced spinoff and sale of two business units. Some 3,900 positions, or 1.5% of its global workforce, are expected to go. The move will cost IBM

(IBM) about $300 million this quarter, a spokesperson confirmed.

SAP

(SAP), Europe’s largest software company, will lay off 2.5% of its global workforce of 112,000, or around 2,800 employees, according to an earnings report published Thursday. The restructuring will cost between €250 million ($272 million) and €300 million ($381 million); the company’s shares were down 3.3% in Frankfurt.

In a live streamed presentation to reporters, SAP CEO Christian Klein said that the restructuring was “targeted” and would allow the company to invest in the areas “where it really matters for SAP to be competitive in the future,” particularly its cloud business.

The news comes as other major tech companies downsize their workforces around the world in response to the gloomy global economic outlook and waning demand for some digital services following the pandemic. Last week, Google

(GOOGL) parent Alphabet and Microsoft

(MSFT) each announced layoffs of 12,000 and 10,000 workers, respectively.

That followed similar plans outlined by Amazon

(AMZN) and Salesforce to shed thousands of jobs, with more than 18,000 employees affected at the e-commerce giant alone. The US tech sector, which went on a hiring spree during the pandemic, announced 97,171 job cuts in 2022, a 649% increase on the previous year, according to consulting firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas.

An IBM spokesperson told CNN on Wednesday that the company’s cuts were related entirely to the reorganization of the two business units affected, “not an action based on 2022 performance or 2023 expectations.”

The units affected are Kyndryl, an IT infrastructure services business that was officially separated from IBM in November, and IBM’s healthcare analytics business, which an investment firm is in the process of acquiring.

The New York-based company also reported mixed earnings Wednesday, with revenue coming in slightly higher than expected but operating profit and free cash flow lower than projected.

IBM shares were 2% lower in premarket trading in New York.

Asked about the outlook for demand for software from its business customers this year, IBM CEO Arvind Krishna said that most of the company’s clients appeared confident they would “emerge stronger.”

“We’re seeing them double down,” despite “different headwinds in 2023,” he told analysts on a conference call.

Krishna also noted that while other tech companies may have reported more downbeat forecasts recently, “the reason that we are remaining in this optimistic frame of mind [is], we have no consumer business.”

“So I think, consequently, we might be seeing a little bit different subset of the economy than those who might have a large direct exposure to a consumer business,” he added.

SAP reported a 7% year-on-year decline in operating profit in 2022, as it moved to end operations in Russia and Belarus, and collected less revenue from software licenses. It said that increased investment into research and development, sales and marketing also impacted performance.

Welcome back to Chain Reaction, a podcast diving deep into stories, backgrounds and the latest news with the biggest names in crypto.

For this week’s episode, I sat down with Mo Shaikh, co-founder and CEO of the layer-1 blockchain Aptos. Shaikh is a three-time founder with over a decade of experience in financial services as well as blockchain technology and crypto. He also worked on blockchain strategic partnerships for Novi, Meta’s wallet, and was the strategy director at ConsenSys.

“When we’re thinking about Aptos, we certainly thought that the people need a new form of sharing information digitally and being able to share that information and economic value digitally in more efficient, more fair ways,” Shaikh said during the podcast. “That’s the mission that we’re on.”

Last year was huge for Aptos — the blockchain launched publicly and raised about $400 million in funding amid a bear market, Shaikh shared. The new-ish layer-1 received backing from major investors like Andreessen Horowitz, Circle Ventures and the now-defunct FTX Ventures, to name a few.

Aptos wants to reach billions of people without disruption or downtime, while giving thousands of transactions per second and sub-second latency, Shaikh shared. “All these things put together can rival not only other previous generations of blockchains and scaling solutions that we’re seeing in the market, but they’re now starting to challenge the internet and the way economic value and information moves across the world itself.”

Looking forward to 2023, Aptos plans to make it a “year of intention,” Shaikh said. “I think it’s a year of intention for the entire industry.”

There will be a new evolution to existing web3 products that have been out in the market, while big traditional players — like its Google partnership — that were previously “sitting on the sidelines” are going to dive into the space “in a big way,” he added.

Chain Reaction comes out every other Thursday at 12:00 p.m. PT, so be sure to subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or your favorite pod platform to keep up with the action.

Brendan Wallace’s ambition is beginning to seem almost limitless. The L.A.-based venture firm that Wallace and cofounder Brad Greiwe launched less than seven years ago already has $3.2 billion in assets under management. But that firm, Fifth Wall, which argues there are massive financial returns at the intersection of real estate and tech, isn’t worried about digesting that capital. It’s heavy-hitting investors — CBRE, Starwood, and Arbor Realty Trust among them — don’t seem concerned, either.

Never mind that just last month, Fifth Wall closed the largest-ever venture fund focused on real-estate tech startups with $866 million in capital, or that it closed a $500 million fund earlier in 2022 that aims to decarbonize the property industry. Never mind that on top of these two efforts, Fifth Wall also expanded into Europe last February with a London office and a €140 million fund. (It also a large New York office, an office in Singapore, and a presence in Madrid.) As for the fact that office buildings in particular have been shocked by a combination of layoffs, work-from-home policies and higher interest rates, Wallace says he considers it an opportunity.

More, Wallace already sees many more opportunities he wants to pursue, including in Asia, as well as around infrastructure, including the buying and building of “utility-scale solar and micro grids and wind farms” that Fifth Wall plans to both invest in and to which it will provide financing.

It’s a lot to take on, particularly for a now 80-person outfit whose biggest exits today include the home-flipping outfit OpenDoor, the property insurance company Hippo Insurance, and SmartRent, which sells smart home technology to apartment building owners and developers. None have been spared by public market shareholders; still, talking to Wallace and the picture he paints of the world, it’s easy to see why investors keep throwing money at his team.

We spoke with him earlier today in a chat that has been edited for length.

TC: How is it that your many real estate investing partners are investing so much capital with you when it’s such a challenging time for real estate, particularly office buildings?

BW: It’s the same thesis we were we were founded on, which is you have the two largest industries in the U.S., which is real estate, which is 13% of US GDP, and tech, and they’re colliding and it represents a huge explosion of economic value [as] we’ve seen in this kind of super cycle of proptech companies that has grown up. Now, this additional layer has been unearthed around climate tech. The biggest opportunity in climate tech is actually the built environment. Real estate accounts for 40% of CO2 emissions, and yet the venture climate tech venture capital ecosystem only has historically put about 6% of climate VC dollars toward tech for the real estate industry.

How do you designate which vehicle — your flagship proptech fund or your climate fund — funds a particular startup?

How we define proptech is tech that is usable by the real estate construction or hospitality industry, so it needs to be tech that’s immediately usable by them — which can be a lot of different things. It can be leasing, asset management software, fintech, mortgages, operating systems, keyless entry — but it doesn’t necessarily have the effect of decarbonizing the real estate industry. It can be a derivative benefit, but it’s not the core focus. The core focus is simply that you have this industry that has been so slow and late to adopt technology that’s now starting to do so, and as it does, it’s creating all this value. We’ve already had six portfolio companies go public and we’re a six-year-old firm.

[As just one example], do you know how many multifamily units today have a smart device inside them? One percent of all multifamily units in the United States have a single smart device — any smart device: a light switch, shade, access control. There is a massive transition going on right now, where every single thing inside a building is going to become smart. And we’re at the dawn of that right now.

I do believe, though, that the opportunity in climate tech is a multiple of that simply because the cost required to decarbonize the real estate industry is so vast. The cost to decarbonize the U.S. commercial real estate industry is estimated to be $18 trillion. That is just the U.S. commercial real estate industry. To put that in perspective, the U.S. GDP is like $22 trillion to $23 trillion, and we have to decarbonize the real estate industry over the next 20 years, so one way to think about that is that we have to roughly spend one year of U.S. GDP over the next 20 just on decarbonizing our physical assets.

Where are the major spending areas on which you’re focused?

I’ll give you one very concrete example, which is literally concrete. If concrete were a country, it would be the third largest CO2 emitter on planet Earth after the U.S. and China. Fully 7.5% of global CO2 emissions come from making concrete. It’s the most used material on planet Earth after water. So you have this raw material that’s an input for all of our infrastructure — all of our cities, all the homes we inhabit, all the buildings where we do business — and that is generating 7.5% of global co2 emissions. And so the race is on right now to identify an opportunity to make carbon neutral or carbon negative cement. We actually invested in a company called Brimstone alongside Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos because they also see this opportunity that this is one of the major spend categories where that $18 trillion that’s required to decarbonize real estate is going to go. Then you can go further down [list], from glass, steel, cross laminated timber — just all of the materials that are used in making buildings.

More immediately, and this is more a question about repurposing space, but what do you think becomes of underused office space in this country over the next 18 to 24 months? It’s particularly extreme in San Francisco, I realize, given its population of tech workers who haven’t returned to the office.

I wouldn’t draw too much of a conclusion from San Francisco alone. I think San Francisco has probably been the hardest hit city. I don’t think San Francisco is the canary in the coal mine for the rest of the U.S. office industry. But with that said, I think we’re now in a moment where the pendulum has swung obviously very far in the direction of hybrid work and companies downsizing their physical footprints, but you’re already starting to see that these things are circular and cyclical and that some employees actually want to go back to the office, while CEOs are saying, ‘It’s hard to mentor and build culture and drive the kind of operational efficiencies we once had in an office in an entirely remote environment.’ So my sense is that we’re probably two to three years out from another pendulum swing back toward companies retrenching themselves in a physical office. I think we’re in an artificially low ebb in sentiment and demand for office.

Reuters
 — 

Microsoft

(MSFT) on Wednesday said it had recovered all of its cloud services after a networking outage took down its cloud platform Azure along with services such as Teams and Outlook used by millions around the globe.

Azure’s status page showed services were impacted in Americas, Europe, Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa. Only services in China and its platform for governments were not hit.

By late morning Azure said most customers should have seen services resume after a full recovery of the Microsoft Wide Area Network (WAN).

An outage of Azure, which has 15 million corporate customers and over 500 million active users, according to Microsoft data, can impact multiple services and create a domino effect as almost all of the world’s largest companies use the platform.

Businesses have become increasingly dependent on online platforms after the pandemic caused a shift to more employees working from home.

Earlier, Microsoft said it had determined a network connectivity issue was occurring with devices across the Microsoft WAN. This impacts connectivity between clients on the internet to Azure, as well as connectivity between services in data centres, it said.

Microsoft later tweeted that it had rolled back a network change that it believed was causing the issue and was using “additional infrastructure to expedite the recovery process”.

Microsoft did not disclose the number of users affected by the disruption, but data from outage tracking website Downdetector showed thousands of incidents across continents.

The Downdetector site tracks outages by collating status reports from various sources including users.

Microsoft’s cloud business had helped shore up its fiscal second-quarter earnings on Tuesday. It forecast third-quarter revenue in its so-called intelligent cloud business would be $21.7 billion to $22 billion despite worries that the lucrative cloud segment for big tech companies could be hit hard as customers look to cut spending.

Azure’s share of the cloud computing market rose to 30% in 2022, trailing Amazon’s AWS, according to estimates from BofA Global Research.

Microsoft joined other big tech companies in turning to layoffs to ride out the weaker economy, announcing last week it was cutting over 10,000 jobs.

Its shares were down 2.4% in pre-market trading.

Outages of Big Tech platforms are not uncommon as several companies ranging from Google to Meta have seen service disruptions. Azure, the second largest cloud services provider after Amazon, faced outages last year.

During the outage, users faced problems in exchanging messages, joining calls or using any features of Teams application. Many users took to Twitter to share updates about the service disruption, with #MicrosoftTeams trending as a hashtag on the social media site.

Microsoft Teams, used by more than 280 million people globally, forms an integral part of daily operations for businesses and schools, which use the service to make calls, schedule meetings and organise their workflow.

There were few signs of significant disruption at major UK-based financial services firms, where multiple messaging applications offered by providers like Movius and Symphony are used alongside Microsoft Teams to connect bankers with clients, and office-based staff with colleagues working remotely.

Two London-based sources, working at two major global banks, said they hadn’t even noticed a problem.

Deutsche Boerse Group, which operates the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, said there had been no impact on trading. Frankfurt-based Commerzbank AG

(CRZBF) (CBKG) said in a statement that Microsoft was investigating several issues impacting the bank.

Among the other services affected were Microsoft Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, OneDrive for Business, according to the company’s status page.

The enormous Space Launch System passed its first test with flying colors, NASA’s preliminary analysis concludes, and the rocket and Orion capsule are good to go for their next mission: Artemis II, which will carry a crew to lunar orbit.

After numerous delays and enormous cost overruns, some worried that the SLS (nicknamed the “Mega Moon Rocket”) would never actually take off. But the launch in November went off (mostly) without a hitch, as did the 25-day mission undertaken by an uncrewed Orion capsule.

While its success was apparent, it wasn’t a case of all or nothing. Reams of data needed to be analyzed by NASA’s teams to make sure that Artemis I didn’t succeed in spite of serious problems. Fortunately that does not seem to be the case: Although the teams are still working through the terabytes of raw data, the agency has pronounced the mission good enough to endorse its sequel.

“Building off the assessment conducted shortly after launch, the preliminary post-flight data indicates that all SLS systems performed exceptionally and that the designs are ready to support a crewed flight on Artemis II,” wrote NASA in a news post.

Emphasizing the point, SLS Program manager John Honeycutt is quoted as follows:

The correlation between actual flight performance and predicted performance for Artemis I was excellent. There is engineering and an art to successfully building and launching a rocket, and the analysis on the SLS rocket’s inaugural flight puts NASA and its partners in a good position to power missions for Artemis II and beyond.

Key pressures, temperatures, and other values were all within 2 percent of predictions. No doubt the team is working on narrowing that delta even now.

Artemis II’s crewed mission obviously depended entirely on the success of Artemis I, and this is the clearest indication since launch that the SLS and Orion are quantifiably good enough. It’s a big step to say, “Yes, we’re moving forward with putting astronauts on this thing,” but of course there’s a lot more work to come before it takes place. Artemis I’s timeline didn’t exactly go as planned but having verified that the rocket works as expected may help hurry along the next part of NASA’s big plan to return to the moon.

It’s now official: Dungeons & Dragons is licensed under the Creative Commons. This makes the popular tabletop roleplaying game “freely available for any use,” Dungeons & Dragons executive producer Kyle Brink wrote in a blog post today.

Just weeks ago, this outcome would have seemed impossible. About a month ago, Wizards of the Coast (WoTC) — the publisher of Dungeons & Dragons and a subsidiary of Hasbro — sent a document with a new open gaming license (OGL) to top Dungeons & Dragons content creators, asking them to sign what they called “OGL 1.1.” The existing OGL, which had been in effect since 2000, made it possible for third-party creators to use the expansive game system to sell their own spell books, modules, virtual tabletops (VTTs), and other content that has helped the game grow into the mega-success it is today. But certain terms in the updated document would have made it impossible for these independent businesses to continue operating. Some creators leaked the document in protest, exposing its predatory terms that would suffocate the prolific fan community. Over 77,000 creators and fans signed an open letter against these changes, and some went as far as canceling their subscriptions to D&D Beyond, an online platform for the game. Finally, WoTC admitted that they “rolled a 1,” or in other words, messed up very badly.

Last week, fans were pleasantly surprised last week when Brink announced that the company was planning to release game materials under a Creative Commons license, a complete reversal from the original, restrictive plan. Today, after getting feedback from over 15,000 fans, Dungeons & Dragons officially released the game system under this lenient license, in all 403 pages of its glory.

The company even addressed concerns about how last week’s initial Creative Commons proposal would impact VTTs, or software that makes it possible for people to play TTRPGs remotely. Now, WoTC has even walked back those stipulations, while also keeping the original OGL in effect.

“This Creative Commons license makes the content freely available for any use,” Brink wrote in today’s blog post. “We don’t control that license and cannot alter or revoke it. It’s open and irrevocable in a way that doesn’t require you to take our word for it. And its openness means there’s no need for a VTT policy. Placing the [Systems Reference Document] under a Creative Commons license is a one-way door. There’s no going back.”

As it turns out, fan communities can accomplish a lot when they rally together. Just ask Ticketmaster.

Have you ever taken a photo with a bunch of people where one or two of you are blinking?  Here’s the perfect solution I always use on my iPhone (and on Google photos for those with Androids) to make sure there are always options and you take the perfect photos.

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How can I select the perfect frame on my Apple device? 

The first thing to get the perfect shot is to know about this iPhone camera trick called Live Photo.  You may have seen it before by long-pressing a thumbnail in your photos.  

What is “Live Photo”? 

Live Photo takes 1.5 seconds of video before and after you take a picture. This gives you a chance to capture the moment when it actually happens. Consider it a tool to go back in time around your photo taking. 

Later, you can go back and select the best-looking frame from inside of a live photo.  This must be what they call picture perfect in Hollywood.  

HOW TO TURN LIVE PHOTOS ON AND OFF ON IPHONE

How to take a photo using Live Photo 

• Click the camera icon
• Select the “photo” option in the lower nav
• Once you’re on “photo,” select the circular icon in the upper right-hand corner:

 This will activate the “live photo” option.

• Tap the white circle under the word photo to take the photo
• The live photo option will now take a short video and allow you to select the best frame you want to use

How to select the perfect frame 

• After taking the live photo, go to the “Photos” app and select the “Albums” icon in the lower navigation
• Once there, scroll down until you see the section entitled “Media Types.” Navigate down to “Live Photos” and you will see all the live photos you’ve taken.
• First, select the photo you want. Go ahead and see what happens when you tap and long hold on the still live photo.  You’ll see that you will be able to see the entire quick video.
• Now to set the frame you want, click the blue “Edit” text in the upper right-hand corner.
• The photo will now be in “edit” mode, and on the bottom of the photo, select the Live Photo icon you see in the bottom row:

Example of how to select the perfect frame.
(Fox News)

HOW TO STOP YOUR CELL PHONE FROM DYING SO FAST

• Once you do that, you’ll see the photo’s timeline open up
• Go ahead and tap the white rectangular box on that timeline and move it along the timeline until you get to the frame that looks best
• When you’re happy with the frame you like, click, “Make Key Photo” and that will now lock the frame
• Now, if you want to share the photo, it will share the photo with this newly selected frame

A word of warning 

By setting the perfect frame by the steps above, you are, in essence, creating a cover photo for this quick video file.  That said, one word of warning … because Live Photo records 1.5 seconds before and after your shot, be careful of the file you send.  Even though you’ve just established the cover shot of this “live photo,” remember the file is really a short quick video, and anyone who receives this file and presses down on the photo can see the entirety of the quick shot. 

How to create a still image from a Live Photo 

To create a still image from the updated live shot you just updated, follow these steps: 

• Click on the photo you want to share
• Then click Share button (click icon in lower left-hand corner with the arrow pointing upward)
• A pop-up screen will appear.
• In the top row under “1 Photo Selected,” click the box that says “Options”
• Under “Send as,” select “Individual Photo” and click the “Done” button in the upper right-hand corner
• You’ll return to the pop-up screen. On the bottom of the screen, click the method you would like to share the photo (airdrop, message, mail, etc.)
• You will now be able to send this file as just a still image.

How can I select the perfect frame on my Android device? 

Unfortunately, there isn’t functionality built into the Android system like live photos on iPhones.  Yet there’s a workaround using Google Photos.

HOW TO REMOVE YOUR LOCATION FROM PHOTOS

How to extract a picture from a video in Google Photos 

As Google Photos comes built into all Android devices, go ahead and open your app.  If you’re going to take a photo with many people in it, go ahead and try to take a video instead of a photo.  Once that video is recorded, you can select a single perfect frame.  Here’s how: 

• Click the video
• Tap the video so you see the controls on the bottom appear
• Select the center icon at the bottom that looks like 3 horizontal bars
• You’ll see a horizontal bar.  Click the white vertical line (aka the frame selector) and move it across the bar until you select the frame where everyone is not blinking
• Tap the “export frame” button at the bottom right, and that frame will now be exported into your camera folder

Display image of extracting a picture from a video in Google Photos
(Fox News)

How did you use this trick to salvage some of your photos where someone blinked in the picture? We’d love to hear from you. 

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For more Apple tips, head over to CyberGuy.com and search “Apple” by clicking the magnifying glass at the top of my website.  And be sure to subscribe to my free CyberGuy Report Newsletter by clicking the “Free newsletter” link at the top of my website. 

Copyright 2023 CyberGuy.com. All rights reserved. CyberGuy.com articles and content may contain affiliate links that earn a commission when purchases are made. 

It happens to me more often than I want to admit.  My phone and I are on the go, and I watch the battery drain faster than expected, and my day runs longer than I had planned. 

You, too, right?  You’re out and about the entire day, and your phone just prompted you to go into “low battery mode.” For these times, I always carry a portable battery with me wherever I go.  It is one of my favorite accessories for my mobile phone and gets more use than a plug-in charger. 

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There are a number of great backup battery chargers to throw in your go bag. Here are the best picks that I know work. 

This MagSafe magnetic extra battery for all iPhone 12 models and later can be used with or without a case and wirelessly charges an iPhone on the go. Plug it in when home, or lay it on a wireless Qi charger, and it recharges both the battery pack and your iPhone 12 or later. 

WHICH APPS ARE DRAINING YOUR PHONE’S BATTERY?

It keeps kids from losing chargers and cables since none are needed while away from home. Now we just need to make sure they don’t lose the new battery pack. 

Amazon reports that it is seeing an 86% rise in people equipping themselves with cases for consumer electronics as more and more Americans are returning to a more active life away from home. At the time of publishing, this product had over 9,600 global ratings with 69% giving the product five stars.

Get Apple iPhone Battery Pack

Anker Portable Charger can be used for iPhone, Android and Samsung.
(Anker)

At this price and at this moment, it’s no wonder this portable extra battery to charge your phone has become a bestseller on the top ten list online. 

Say hello to the Anker Portable Charger.  This PowerCore Slim 10,000mAh Battery Pack will do high-speed PowerIQ charging for iPhone, Android, Samsung Galaxy and tablets. 

When I see 77,000+ positive reviews, I take notice and look to see why this is getting so much engagement online. What I found is a very well-made, .57-inch slim extra battery to take on the go that gives my iPhone two-and-a-quarter charges, 1.6 charges on the Galaxy S20, and 1.2 charges on average for the iPad Mini. 

HOW TO STOP YOUR CELL PHONE FROM DYING SO FAST

I love this extra portable battery that has earned the PSE safety certification seal in Japan. I have started buying the $35 USB-C version that delivers 20W power in black, blue, and green colors. At the time of publishing, this product had over 77,000 global ratings with 76% giving the product five stars.   

Get the Anker Portable Charger for iPhone, Android & Samsung 

Anker 521 Magnetic Wireless Portable Charger.
(Anker)

A nearly half the price of Apple’s MagSafe Battery Pack, this Anker Magnetic Wireless Charger gives you 5,000mHh power with a USB-C cable. 

What I love is the snap-and-go technology that offers the most convenient wireless charging.   On the performance side of things, its 5W charging rate works great with all versions of iPhone 12 and later that have MagSafe charging. 

With an 18-month warranty, it’s hard to resist this great accessory for anyone who has any version of the iPhone 12 or later model phones. 

ARE YOUR OWN DEVICES INADVERTENTLY SPYING ON YOU?

At the time of publishing, this product had over 9,600 global ratings with 69% giving the product five stars. 

Get Apple iPhone Magnetic Wireless Charger from Anker 

INIU Power Bank Portable Charger.
(INIU)

This could be one of the highest-rated options for both Android and iPhone with its USB-C porta, slim and ultra-lightweight design. If your iPhone charging cable is the smaller USB-C version instead of the older fat USB-A, then this is a great option to plug in for a charge on the go. Android connects easily too. INIU offers an impressive 3-year warranty. I really like the triple 3 amp highspeed charging capability and the fact that INIU is sold in a two-pack so that I can keep one in the car and the other in my backpack or pocket.

At the time of publishing, this product had over 11,000 global ratings with 82% giving the product five stars.

Get INIU Portable USB-C Charger 2-pack 

Universal 3-in-1 charger cable by Spigen.
(Spigen)

My iPad takes the smaller USB-C plug, the iPhone takes a lightning plug, and everything else takes the micro USB plug. That means I need to cart around three different cables, right? Not anymore with the Spigen DuraSync 3-in-1 universal cable. Someone got smart and made one end compatible with everything mobile. I love that it’s MFI certified to work with Apple devices, and the cable length is spot on at 4.9 feet, designed with a durable braided cable meant to last. At the time of publishing, this product had over 2,700 global ratings, with 65% giving the product five stars. 

Get the Universal 3-in-1 charger cable 

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Losing your laptop can be scary and incredibly stressful, especially considering the amount of money you spend purchasing it and the important information you keep stored on it. That’s why we’re showing you how to locate your laptop should it ever get lost or stolen. 

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How to find your lost Windows laptop

Similar to Apple devices, Windows provides steps you can take in case your PC laptop is stolen or missing. Before it gets to that point, you can follow these steps: 

How to turn on Find My Device in Windows 10 

• Select the Start button at the bottom left of your PC screen
• Go to Settings
• Select Update & Security
• Select Find my device and change it to ON
• Select Location Setting and change it to ON.

BEST EXPERT-REVIEWED LAPTOPS FOR 2023

How to turn on Find My Device in Windows 11 

• Select the Start button at the bottom left of your PC screen
• Go to Settings
• Select Privacy & security
• Select Find my device and select ON
• Go to Location Services and select ON.

Here’s how to find a lost Windows laptop.
(CyberGuy.com)

How to use Find My Device on Windows 

• Go to the Microsoft devices page and sign in
• Select the Find My Device tab
• Choose the device you wish to find
• Select Find to see your device on a map
• Once you see your device on the map, select Lock
• Click Next.

WHY WINDOWS IS #1 TARGET FOR MALWARE: 2 EASY WAYS TO STAY SAFE

Reset your password to prevent others from signing onto your PC.

If you determine your laptop has been stolen, you should immediately contact local law enforcement and file a police report. Also, provide them with the information you discovered using Find My Device. Don’t try to physically track it down on your own. Provide them with the serial number and any other identifying information. Also, contact your insurance company to report the theft and see if they cover the loss of your device. 

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https://cms.foxnews.com/wp/wp-admin/post.php?post=5016833&action=edit# – If you have a Google account, it often saves you an extra step when signing up or logging into many websites or apps.  That’s because the websites or apps are able to access certain information from your Google profile, such as your name and email address. 

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This eliminates the need for you to manually enter that information when creating a new account or logging into an existing one. It’s also the very reason you may find yourself getting a warning from Google telling you to change your password.  Here’s why.

How will Google alert you that you need to change your password? 

Google will get in touch with you about changing your password through various means of communication, such as email or text message. The search giant may also prompt you to change your password the next time you sign into your account or through a notification within the Google account settings. 

BEST EXPERT-REVIEWED PASSWORD MANAGERS OF 2023

How do you know if the Google email or text message is even real? 

To determine whether an email from Google asking you to change your password is real or fake, you can look for several things: 

Check the sender’s email address to ensure it is from a legitimate Google domain, such as accounts.google.com or noreply@google.com. 

Look for spelling or grammatical errors, as these are often present in fake emails. 

Look for suspicious links or attachments, which may be used to steal your personal information. 

Do not give personal information over email, and only log into your Google account by typing the url google.com to check your account. 

Check Google’s official website for any security alerts or announcements regarding suspicious emails. 

You can also hover over the link to see the actual URL it will take you to. If the link seems suspicious, don’t click on it. 

It’s important to note that Google will never ask you to provide your password via text message or email, so if the message requests your password, it is likely to be a phishing scam. 

Should I be worried if Google asks me to change my password? 

If you get an alert or notice from Google requesting you change your password, it means that there was “suspicious activity” with your Google account. That doesn’t always mean the worst has happened, however, as suspicious activity could mean logging in from a location not previously associated with the account, including you logging into Google while on vacation. 

GOOGLE CHROME’S ‘INCOGNITO’ MODE MIGHT NOT KEEP YOU SO HIDDEN

More often than not, it can mean that someone was trying to log into your account. It doesn’t necessarily mean they were successful, as someone could have tried multiple failed password attempts. However, Google is trying to keep you a few steps ahead of the game, knowing that many Google account holders will likely use their Google login information to access multiple accounts. 

If you get a request from Google to change your password, it is highly advisable to do so unless you can 100% verify the time and place that the suspicious activity was detected, and that it was indeed you logging in.   

What if I’m constantly told to change my password? 

Sometimes only a few weeks, or even days, after changing your password, you might be advised by Google to change it again. That could be a sign that your account has been compromised or that hackers are making attempts to access your accounts on Google Chrome. Should that be the case, Google recommends clearing your cache and cookies. Here’s how to do it: 

On a computer: 

• Open Google Chrome.
• Click the three dots in the upper right-hand corner.

Instructions to clear cache and cookies on a computer: Click three dots.
(Fox News)

Instructions to clear cache and cookies: More tools.
(Fox News)

• Click Clear Browsing Data.

Instructions to clear cache and cookies: Clear Browsing Data.
(Fox News)

• Once you click Clear browsing data, you will see the words “Time range” with a pulldown menu — choose the amount of time you want to delete.

Instructions to clear cache and cookies: Time range.
(Fox News)

• Make sure Browsing History, Cookies and other site data, and Cached images and files are checked off.

Instructions to clear cache and cookies: Browsing history, Cookies + site data, Cached images + files.
(Fox News)

Instructions to clear cache and cookies: Clear Data.
(Fox News)

On an iPhone: 

• Open the Google Chrome app.
• Tap the three dots in the lower right-hand corner.
• Tap Clear Browsing Data.
• Tap Time Range.

Instructions to clear cache and cookies on an iPhone: Google Chrome, three dots, clear browsing data, time range.
(Fox News)

• Select the amount of time you want to delete.
• Tap Back.
• Make sure Browsing History, Cookies, Site Data and Cached Images and Files are checked off.
• Tap Clear Browsing Data.

Instructions to clear cache and cookies: Time range, back, browsing, cookies, site, cached images, files, clear data. 
(Fox News)

On an Android: 

• Open Google Chrome. 
• Tap the three dots in the upper right-hand corner.
• Tap Settings.

Instructions to clear cache and cookies on an Android: Google Chrome, three dots, settings.
(Fox News)

• Tap Privacy and Security.
• Tap Clear Browsing Data.
• Make sure Browsing history, Cookies and site data and Cached images and files are checked off.
• Tap Clear data.

Instructions to clear cache and cookies: Privacy + Security, Clear Browsing Data, History, Cookies, Cached images, site data, Clear data. 
(Fox News)

*Settings may vary, depending on your Android phone’s manufacturer. 

How to check whether your password was part of a data breach 

Google Chrome also offers an easy way to determine whether any of your passwords has been compromised or part of a data breach. Here’s how to check: 

On a computer: 

• Launch Chrome.
• Click the three dots in the upper right-hand corner.

How to tell whether your password was part of a data breach on a computer: Chrome, three dots.
(Fox News)

How to tell if your password was part of a data breach: Settings. 
(Fox News)

How to tell whether your password was part of a data breach: Autofill. 
(Fox News)

How to tell whether your password was part of a data breach: Password manager.
(Fox News)

How to tell whether your password was part of a data breach: Check Passwords. 
(Fox News)

• Here, you will see a list of all of your compromised passwords.
• Click Change Password on the passwords you need to change.

How to tell whether your password was part of a data breach: Change Passwords. 
(Fox News)

• You will then be taken to all of the applicable websites to change your passwords.

On an iPhone: 

• Open the Google Chrome app.
• Tap the three dots in the lower right-hand corner.
• Tap Password Manager.

How to tell whether your password was part of a data breach on an iPhone: Chrome, three dots, Password Manager. 
(Fox News)

• Tap Check Passwords.
• Here, you will see a list of all of your compromised passwords.
• Tap on the website of the password you want to change.
• Tap Change Password on Website.
• You will then be taken to all of the applicable websites to change your passwords.

How to tell whether your password was part of a data breach: Check Passwords, Websites, Change Password. 
(Fox News)

On an Android: 

• Open Google Chrome.
• Tap the three dots in the upper right-hand corner.
• Tap Settings.

How to tell whether your password was part of a data breach on an Android: Chrome, three dots, Settings.
(Fox News)

• Tap Password Manager.
• Tap Check Passwords.
• Here you will see whether you have any compromised passwords or whether your passwords are weak.

How to tell whether your password was part of a data breach: Password Manager, Check Passwords. 
(Fox News)

How to avoid your password becoming compromised 

While it’s difficult to completely evade hackers looking to access your personal information, there are some ways to make it difficult for them. 

1. Never use the same password 

Tempting though it may be to use the same password for multiple websites, doing so makes it increasingly easy for hackers to access your private information, so always make sure you never use the same password for multiple sites or apps. 

2. Avoid writing your passwords down 

Writing down a password, either by hand or digitally, is an easy way to access and remember them. However, doing so makes it easy for someone to find and use it. Then, too, should you lose the note you wrote your password down on, you’ll have to change your password again anyway. 

3. Install a trusted password manager 

A password manager helps you manage your passwords for all of your existing online accounts by helping you create unique and complex password synced across multiple devices without your having to remember them constantly. Most password managers also offer encrypted login and end-to-end storage, making your password inaccessible, even by the password management company. 

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NASA announced that its engineers have developed and tested the agency’s first full-scale rotating detonation rocket engine (RDRE).

The agency said that the design could significantly change how future propulsion systems are built. The supersonic rocket engine uses detonation, with the design producing more power while using less fuel than today’s propulsion systems.

It has the potential to power both human landers and interplanetary vehicles to deep space destinations, like the moon or Mars. 

NASA AND DARPA TO DEVELOP NUCLEAR THERMAL ROCKET ENGINE THAT MAY PUT HUMANS ON MARS: REPORT

The engine was fired over a dozen times during testing conducted at the Alabama-based Marshall Space Flight Center’s East Test Area. 

NASA said that the engine achieved its primary objective by demonstrating that its hardware could function for long periods of time while also withstanding the extreme heat and pressure environments generated by detonations. At full throttle, the RDRE produced more than 4,000 pounds of thrust for nearly a minute at an average chamber pressure of 622 pounds per square inch. That’s the highest pressure rating for this design on record.

NASA’S ARTEMIS I LAUNCH TO BRING US STEP CLOSER TO ‘SUSTAINABLE HUMAN FOOTPRINT ON THE MOON’

Notably, there was also the successful performance of both deep throttling and internal ignition. 

The Rotating detonation rocket engine
(NASA)

“This successful demonstration brings the technology closer to being used with future flight vehicles, enabling NASA and commercial space to move more payload and mass to deep space destinations, an essential component to making space exploration more sustainable,” NASA said. 

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Due to this recent success, additional work is being conducted by engineers to develop a fully reusable 10,000-pound class RDRE to identify performance benefits over traditional liquid rocket engines.

The age-old adage of “doing more with less” is particularly critical advice for both startups and enterprises right now.

Venture funding has hit its lowest point in two years, which means startups must now focus on making hard decisions about how to utilize their limited budgets. Enterprises are likewise tightening their belts as customers feel the impact of inflation and prepare for an uncertain economy. What’s more, we are facing a global talent shortage that further puts pressure on an already constrained software developer pool.

No-code development tools could not have come at a better time. By democratizing the ability to develop software through visual, drag-and-drop tools, no-code enables a range of non-developers to start building software.

For a startup, this might mean the founder now can build their first minimum viable product (MVP) release themselves while bootstrapping the team. For enterprises, teams can build their own apps without having to depend upon the IT department.

How does one go about evolving a prototype into an MVP using no-code? Here are four practical steps you can take:

Embrace an everyday delivery approach

Traditional Agile methodologies for custom development have popularized breaking down larger releases into smaller releases that add features.

Depending on the flavor of Agile employed, how long each release will take to be ready will vary. The Scrum version of Agile typically defines shorter “sprints” of two to three weeks. However, not all builds developed in these sprints may be ready for release to end users, who will have to wait until the next full release is complete.

No-code is different: It enables delivery of features with small, quick, continual updates — what we will refer to as “everyday delivery.” This builds on concepts from Agile but does not force you into a strictly defined release duration. Instead, with no-code you can rapidly and continuously add features to the prototype and evolve it toward your MVP and release features when they are ready via smaller, incremental updates (perhaps daily).

One way to do this is through the Kanban Method, which is optimally suited for no-code development. Kanban embraces a continuous “push” delivery model, where teams release features as soon as they are ready, compared to Scrum, which organizes work in sprints and defined release trains.

When used together, Kanban and no-code let you update the prototype and release updates faster and more often, gather feedback from your stakeholders and end users, and respond quicker. Kanban can also be easier for non-developers to adopt — they can use it on top of existing workflows, systems and processes without disrupting what is already in place. Finally, Kanban also minimizes the need for development experience and specialist roles (e.g., Scrum master or product owner), which makes it easier and faster to adopt for non-developers.

Proper scoping and decomposition

The next step is to properly scope and decompose work items in your MVP release.

Most of what you type, say, search and buy is being tracked in one way or another. Big Tech gives us great free products to use, and the price is our privacy. 

Even your TV habits are packaged up and sold to advertisers. Here’s how to stop your TV from spying on you. 

Some snooping is even more invasive. Worried someone is spying on your phone? Check this list of red flags. 

You can fight back You can buy a mic blocker for around $10. It slides into your headphone port to stop recording. For an even cheaper DIY option, buy the most inexpensive pair of headphones you can find and snip them off. 

Here’s how to limit what you’re handing over to Big Tech. 

Amazon 

Whenever I write that your Echo device is always listening, Amazon assures me it’s only listening for the “wake word.” I don’t see the difference here. Either way, if you have an Echo, there’s not much point in keeping it around if you turn off the microphone. 

The real issue is Amazon employees listening to your recordings. Here’s how to stop that: 

• Open the Alexa app on your phone, then tap the More menu button.
• Select Settings > Alexa Privacy.
• Choose Manage Your Alexa Data.
• Turn off the toggles next to “Help improve Alexa” and “Use messages to improve transcriptions.”

You can turn the Echo’s mic off for extra privacy in certain situations. Press the microphone’s off/on button at the top of the device. Whenever this button is red, the mic is off. To reactivate it, press the button again, and it will turn blue. 

Ugh, come on, Alexa. Read our list of the most annoying Echo issues solved. 

Your cell phone 

Do you rely on Siri to get things done for you? You might not realize how much is being sent back to Apple’s servers. 

Since you can’t really pick and choose what is shipped off and stored, your best bet is shutting down Siri if you’re not comfortable with Apple having your recordings. 

• Open the Settings app on your iPhone.
• Scroll down and tap Siri & Search.
• Toggle the green switch next to “Listen for ‘Hey Siri’” to the off position.
• You can also turn off “Allow Siri When Locked” to prevent Siri from activating when a button is pressed in your pocket.

WHY A GREEN AND ORANGE DOT ON YOUR PHONE CAN INDICATE SOMEONE LISTENING AND WATCHING

Use an Android? Here’s how to turn off the “OK Google” wake phrase: 

• Open the Google app on your phone.
• Tap your profile picture in the upper-right corner.
• Choose Settings > Google Assistant > General.
• Slide the toggle next to Google Assistant to the left to turn it off.

Your apps might be listening, too. Go here for steps to see which apps and snooping and how to stop them. 

Women looking at her iPhone
(Cyber Guy)

Your computer 

Are you worried about someone spying on you through your webcam? That’s easy: : Grab one of these cheap covers or put a Post-It over the lens if you don’t use it much. 

Unfortunately, you do have to root around your computer a bit to turn off mics. 

For PCs running Windows 10: 

• Right-click on the Start button and open Device Manager.
• In the Device Manager window, expand the audio inputs and outputs section, and you will see your microphone listed as one of the interfaces.
• Right-click on Microphone and select Disable.

IPHONE HACK LETS YOU SEND SECRET TEXTS TO FRIENDS

On a Mac: 

• Click the Apple menu > System Preferences…
• Select Sound > then the Input tab.
• Drag the Input volume slider to the left so it can’t pick up any sound.

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PODCAST PICK: Tesla lies, Walmart drone secrets, no more Netflix password sharing 

Man on a Computer
(Cyberguy.com)

Plus, Amazon’s big layoffs spell trouble ahead, four ways to tell if an image is real or Photoshopped, prosecutors reveal murder suspect Brian Walshe’s Google searches, the right height for your doorbell cam and how to block annoying scam calls so you don’t lose money. 

Check out my podcast “Kim Komando Today” on Apple, Google Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast player. 

Listen to the podcast here or wherever you get your podcasts. Just search for my last name, “Komando.” 

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Get more tech know-how on The Kim Komando Show, broadcast on 425+ radio stations and available as a podcast. Sign up for Kim’s 5-minute free morning roundup for the latest security breaches and tech news. Need help? Drop your question for Kim here.  

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Online media company BuzzFeed plans to use artificial intelligence powered by OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, to help it generate content.

In a memo distributed to BuzzFeed staff on Thursday and obtained by CBS MoneyWatch, CEO Jonah Peretti said AI will play an increasingly large role in the company’s operations. Specifically, it plans to use the technology to move beyond curation to help create personality quizzes that ask users questions and generate text write-ups based on their responses.

Peretti also said AI will assist workers to enhance their content. “To be clear, we see the breakthroughs in AI opening up a new era of creativity that will allow humans to harness creativity in new ways with endless opportunities and applications for good,” he said.

He noted that AI-created content will move from an “R&D stage to part of our core business” this year. It will be used to build quizzes, help staffers brainstorm and personalize content for BuzzFeed’s audience. 

BuzzFeed also hopes the technology will energize its business. The media company has struggled to boost growth, with its stock down nearly 40% over the last year, even with Thursday’s large gain. In its latest quarter, BuzzFeed reported a net loss of $27 million on revenue of $104 million, although sales rose 15 from the year-ago period.

BuzzFeed shares surged more than 150% to $2.39 in afternoon trading. 

OpenAI has recently taken the tech world by storm and has already been tested by companies in a number of industries that are experimenting with its capabilities and diverse applications. Its “generative” AI has drawn attention from leaders of industry and investors alike, and has been used to write high school essays, create legal documents, help author legislation and even write a speech delivered this week by Rep. Jake Auchincloss, D.-Mass., in the House of Representatives.

Experts expect it to take over rote administrative tasks and replace some workers, while also enhancing the quality of many jobs.

It will free up skilled professionals to focus on more thoughtful tasks that require the judgement of a human, experts believe.

“When I ask ChatGPT what it thinks is going on with this company, it does what junior executives would do, which is they tell me what they see in a table. They say this parameter went down and this one went up in a very clear, coherent manner. But it doesn’t move beyond that into the ‘so what?’” Columbia Business School professor Oded Netzer said. “These are the types of tasks that require judgment and that humans are still very valuable in.”