Browsing: Tech Reviews

Ubiquiti today announced the UniFi Dream Machine Beast (model UDM-Beast) as the latest in its “Dream Machine” series of UniFi Cloud Gateways. And boys, the thing drops with a bang! This brief first take will fill you in on the details, but let me cut right to the chase: from what I’ve seen, the UDM Beast has everything to more than justify its hefty $1499 price tag, which is a little shy of three times the UDM Pro Max’s cost. So, if you’re a fan of the UniFi ecosystem with a tight budget, get a handkerchief ready for the drool…

Publicly released exploit code for an effectively unpatched vulnerability that gives root access to virtually all releases of Linux is setting off alarm bells as defenders scramble to ward off severe compromises inside data centers and on personal devices. The vulnerability and exploit code that exploits it were released Wednesday evening by researchers from security firm Theori, five weeks after privately disclosing it to the Linux kernel security team. The team patched the vulnerability in versions 7.0, 6.19.12, 6.18.12, 6.12.85, 6.6.137, 6.1.170, 5.15.204, and 5.10.254) but few of the Linux distributions had incorporated those fixes at the time the exploit…

Amazon Rejoice: The Amazon app now lets you ask real shopping questions to its fake podcasters — it’s an addition to the “Hear the highlights” AI feature the company introduced last year. Before, the short audio summaries were generated from an unalterable script. Now, the dialogue can adapt to your spoken or typed questions. Amazon says Hear the Highlights is now available for “millions of products” in the company’s mobile app. You’ll see a button beneath the product image for supported listings. Choosing this will launch a short (usually a…

It took some convincing, but at the start of this year, I ended a years-long relationship with Microsoft 365. I’d like to say I ditched the office suite for some nuanced reason, like I don’t want Microsoft’s AI assistant Copilot because I find it distracting and unhelpful, but really, I just wanted to save some money. And LibreOffice is a free alternative that has everything I need.LibreOffice has roots that trace back to 1985, with the release of the word processing program Star-Writer I. In 2010, the independent, nonprofit German foundation The Document Foundation officially launched the free, open-source software suite…

I’ve been using the Philips 5000 Series Dual Basket Air Fryer XXL with Steam for over a year now and it hasn’t failed me once in that time. Despite its mouthful of a name, I love its versatility, and that’s all thanks to its headline act of having an additional steam function.The steam serves two purposes: cooking and cleaning. For the former, you can use a steam-only option for, say, dumplings and vegetables, or you can air fry+steam, which allows you to cook cakes and meats without drying them out too much. Honestly, I’ve not needed to use the latter…

The newly released EnGenius ECW515 Cloud Managed Wi-Fi 7 2×2 Wall Plate Access Point is a compact surface-mount AP. As such, it can be handy in many situations thanks to the extra built-in LAN ports. Here’s the bottom line: If you’re looking for a surface-mount, cloud-managed, dual-band Wi-Fi 7 access point with an integrated 4-port Gigabit switch and PoE Power Forwarding capability, the EnGenius ECW515 is worth considering at its suggested retail price of $199. It’ll work well regardless of which router you’re currently using, though the EnGenius ESG510 of the same ecosystem is the best choice. Check it out…

“Current evidence indicates that this data originated from Checkmarx’s GitHub repositories, and that access to those repositories was facilitated through the initial supply chain attack of March 23, 2023,” Checkmarx said Monday. The company didn’t say what kinds of data were leaked. Checkmarx isn’t the only security company to suffer the aftereffects of the Trivy breach. Socket said that another security firm, Bitwarden, was also hit in the same supply-chain attack. Socket tied the Bitwarden breach to the Trivy campaign because the payload used the same C2 endpoint and core infrastructure as the Checkmarx malware. Bitwarden said that a malicious…

Texas Instruments graphing calculators have helped many a student with algebra, pre-calculus and upside-down anatomical slang. Now, the company is back with an upgrade for the modern world, the TI-84 Evo. The new device lets you get your math on with a faster processor, a new icon-based home screen and a redesigned keypad.TI is marketing it as something akin to the Light Phone of calculators. Unlike calculator apps on phones or computers, the “distraction-free” TI-84 Evo is a single-purpose device “designed to do one thing exceptionally well — math.” Without notifications, social media apps or even Wi-Fi, there’s less to…

Google has reportedly signed an agreement allowing the US Department of Defense to use its AI models for classified work, despite an open letter from hundreds of employees urging the company to stay away from military uses that they say could become dangerous or impossible to oversee.The deal, reported earlier Tuesday by The Information, allows the Pentagon to use Google’s AI tools for “any lawful government purpose,” including sensitive military applications. Google joins OpenAI and xAI, which have also struck similar classified AI agreements with the Pentagon. The reported agreement includes language stating that Google’s AI system is not intended for…

Dyson has just launched its first self-emptying vacuum cleanerThe Dyson V10 Konical has HEPA filtration and a floor head designed for hairIt empties into the Auto-empty Dok, which can store up to 60 days of dirtDyson has launched an updated V10 vacuum cleaner, with a self-emptying dock that store up to 60 days of dirt. The Dyson V10 Konical and Auto-empty Dok work together to make cleaning your floors a much less messy process, with no need to open the vacuum’s dust cup yourself and risk accidentally releasing a cloud of dirt in the process.The updated V10 Konical should be…