Browsing: Tech Reviews

An industry-wide standard Microsoft invented to protect Windows, and later Linux, devices from firmware infections has been trivial to bypass for 13 of its 14 years of existence. The discovery was made by researchers at security firm ESET after identifying 11 firmware images, at least one from 2013, that were known to be defective but remained signed by the software company anyway. The images are known as shims, which were invented to extend Secure Boot to Linux devices and utility software. Using a technique simple enough to be performed by novice hackers, these old, forgotten shims can be used to…

Younger users can have their own profiles with personalized recommendations and playlists. Spotify is making managed accounts free in more markets. Starting today, parents and guardians on any plan in the US, UK, Australia, France, Germany and the Netherlands can open a managed account for a child aged under 13. Spotify says free managed accounts are already available in some markets and are soon coming to others, such as Canada, New Zealand and many countries in Europe and Latin America.  The company debuted managed accounts on the Premium Family plan in October last year. These offer younger users a way to use Spotify…

OpenAI’s entry into the world of consumer devices is expected to begin with the release of a portable smart speaker that lacks a screen, according to a Bloomberg report on Tuesday. The device is being positioned as “a new type of computer for the AI era,” Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman reported, adding that it would “serve as a humanlike AI companion that lives in the home.”The device, which Gurman wrote is still in development, is expected to operate much like today’s smart speakers: answering questions, playing media, controlling smart home devices, responding to messages and using capabilities powered by OpenAI’s ChatGPT.But…

Kokuyo Energy Line replaces discrete sockets with one continuous slot that takes up to five two-prong plugs anywhere along its lengthIt won a 2025 Good Design Award thanks to its accessibility, style, and attention to detailThe Kokuyo Energy Line also offers an inclusive design that allows users with upper limb disabilities to easily use the product with just 1 handKokuyo is a well-known Japanese furniture giant that focuses on both functionality and aesthetics across its furniture and interior design lines.It regularly collects Good Design Awards even as it runs a public “live office” where users can test out hardware in…

The Samsung SSD 990, announced and available on July 14, 2026, is a bit unanticipated. Before this, Samsung had already had a trio in the 990 family: the SSD 900 PRO, SSD 990 Evo, and SSD 990 Evo Plus. That’s not to mention the PCIe Gen 5 SSD 9100 Pro. On this front, the company says the new SSD “joins our existing lineup of Gen4 NVMe drives […]. It’s Samsung’s new all-purpose Gen 4 SSD that balances performance, capacity, and value.” Translation: It’s simply another NVMe Gen 4 option. And the drive indeed proved to be a comparatively subdued experience…

The federal government is warning users of home and small office routers to secure their devices as Russia state hackers continue to mass-compromise them for use in obscuring nefarious actions against sensitive organizations in the public and private sectors. Both the Russian and Chinese governments have been compromising routers for years, sometimes in prolonged tugs-of-war to wrest control of devices the other has already commandeered. The US government has occasionally issued covert commands and taken other steps to disinfect routers. Google and other companies have also worked to disrupt the massive botnets that control compromised routers in lockstep. The actions…

Bring on the magenta and peach. 9to5Google We are expecting to hear news about the new generation of Google’s Pixel smartphone lineup when the company hosts its next showcase event in August. But in the meantime, a possible leak has gotten us colorfully-inclined buyers pretty excited. 9to5Google, by way of sister site 9to5Toys, found three listings on Amazon that might show some new looks coming to the Pixel 11. These potential placeholders depict one smartphone in a bold magenta and another in a rosy peach hue. The publication noted that there are some convincing details in…

T-Mobile customers who’ve been cruising along on old phone plans are about to be migrated to the carrier’s latest plans, whether they want to move or not. And in many cases, that will mean a price hike of up to $6 per line.Some of the affected plans stretch back 10 to 15 years, including Simple Choice, T-Mobile One, One Plus and the Magenta family of plans, as well as grandfathered Sprint plans that carried over when T-Mobile and Sprint merged in 2020. A T-Mobile representative didn’t share which plans are being retired, but The Mobile Report built a spreadsheet of changes based on its…

Americans want the massive wealth of AI firms added to a sovereign wealth fund69% would see AI firms forced to transfer 50% of stock into a sovereign fundThe fund would help redistribute wealth and back new infrastructure and developments for working class AmericansA national survey has found over two-thirds (69%) of US citizens want to see AI firms transfer half of their stock into a sovereign wealth fund.The survey, conducted by Verasight among 1,690 adults, also found that there was overwhelming support (89%) for AI companies to publicly disclose the results of all internal safety testing.The sovereign wealth fund, proposed…

Last week, thousands of SamKnows routers were bricked after a government program ran its course. In 2020, as part of a program conducted by the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission (ACCC), the Australian government’s chief competition regulator, thousands of volunteers received routers to help test and report on the typical speed and performance of broadband plans in Australia. (More specifically, the Measuring Broadband Australia (MBA) program targeted fixed-line broadband services provided over the NBN, Australia’s government-owned wholesale open-access broadband network, as well as services delivered over other access networks.) According to the final report that the ACCC distributed, the routers are…