Technology

You'll get this gift card instantly when you're approved for the Prime Visa card.

Demis Hannabis and John Jumper are honored for their work using AI to predict the structure of proteins.

Saving money on a Kasa smart plug is a simple way to control a wide range of devices in your home.

Chandler doesn't have many internet service providers, but that doesn't mean it has slow speeds. Here are CNET's top picks for the best internet providers in the area.

Albuquerque has quite a few internet providers. Here are your best options to get connected from this New Mexico city.

Taco Cat Goat Cheese Pizza was the surprising hit card game of our family vacation (even though I lost every time).

iPhones and Android phones now have a lot in common, particularly since iOS 18 embraced customization in a big way. But one big area where they still differ is in resale values – with Apple's phones continuing to be better long-term investments than their Android equivalents, according to a new report.

A new survey from CIRP (Consumer Intelligence Research Partners) asked new phone buyers what they did with their previous phones. The standout stat was that 41% of iPhone owners turned their old handset into money by either selling it or trading it in, compared to only 17% of Android phone owners doing the same.

This stat is likely influenced, as CIRP notes, by the fact that iPhone owners typically have more invested in their pricier phones, on average – so are therefore more likely to sell them on. But separate data revealed that retired iPhones are also typically older than retired Android phones. And other reports back up the conclusion that iPhones do typically hold their value better than their rivals.

For example, 2024 data from the resale aggregator SellCell recently revealed that the iPhone 15 series had been depreciating at a much slower rate than rival 2023 flagships from the likes of Google, Samsung, and OnePlus. One notable example was that the iPhone 15 had an average price depreciation of 27.4% during its first three months, compared to a 43.5% drop for the Samsung Galaxy S23 series in its first few months.

Of course, not all iPhones are immune to price drops. A separate SellCell report in March revealed that the iPhone SE had a much higher price depreciation than other iPhone models – for example, the iPhone SE 3 series apparently lost around 65% of its value in the first 18 months following its launch. Alarmingly for SE fans, it actually lost 42.6% of its value in the first month after launch.

The flipside of this is that the SE range – and many Android phones – can offer great second-hand value if you're prepared to wait a little while. But if you like to buy your phones new and prefer to get the latest models, it seems that the iPhone continues to be the stronger long-term investment – and will give you more options when it's time to upgrade.

Why do iPhones retain their value?

(Image credit: Future)

There are a few different likely explanations for the resilience of second-hand iPhone prices, compared to Android. One is that aside from the SE series, iPhones are typically higher-end devices compared to the whole Android ecosystem – and that luxury reputation is reflected in their sell-on prices.

A related factor is the sheer number of Android models compared to the iPhone – the wide variety of Android models can dilute their appeal compared to Apple's tightly controlled lineup, which currently comprises only five models. Discounts on iPhones are also comparably rare, even during Black Friday, which can again help to slow price depreciation.

But other resale realities also play a part. Resell websites often buy used phones en masse and the availability of replacement parts like screens or batteries – and the knowledge of how to fix them – is simply wider for iPhones, again raising their appeal and prices in the second-hand market. That's particularly the case for the iPhone Pro series.

Still, resale values aren't everything – and if, like an increasing number of phone buyers, you're holding onto your phone for several years, then they're only a minor factor in which phone you buy. And with refurbished phones being more popular than ever, the sheer availability of phone bargains – whether you're on iOS or Android – has never been better.

You might also like...

• I ditched my Android for an iPhone 15 for a week – and Apple has some work to do
• Android defectors are flocking to Apple, but not thanks to the iPhone 15
• I want Android to get a lot better so I'm telling people to buy an iPhone 15

Should you take your home cam down in a hurricane like Helene or Milton? Should you keep security systems armed? Here's exactly what to do.

The number of active ransomware groups over the last 12 months is on the rise as criminals look for more ways to target businesses, new research has claimed.

The 2024 State of Threat Report from Secureworks has revealed a rise in the number of active ransomware groups over the last 12 months - identifying a 30% rise in the number of active groups.

The figures represents a diversification of the landscape rather than a particularly drastic increase in criminals. Since the notorious Lockbit disruption, in which the most prolific group was briefly shut down, the ransomware ecosystem has evolved, with 31 new groups being established.

A variety of tactics

One of the key findings from the report is that unpatched vulnerabilities remain the top Initial Access Vector (IAV) in ransomware attacks, making up almost 50% of all IAVs. This outlines more than ever the importance of staying on top of cybersecurity and software updates.

In 2024, PLAY has become the most active group, and has doubled its victim count year-on year. Further evidence of the broadening of the attack sources is the fact that Lockbit, previously a dominant player, has seen an 8% reduction in its share of ransomware attacks.

“Cybercriminal ecosystems are akin to living organisms. They adapt and mutate in the face of disruption, reacting with speed to maintain the tempo of their attacks. The names and affiliations may be different, but the impact is the same, with attacks causing maximum business disruption, downtime, and remediation costs,” said Secureworks Vice President Don Smith.

The report also outlines a persistence of state-sponsored threat actors from Russia, China, and Iran amongst others. These are driven by geopolitical conflicts and underscore the growing use of cyberattacks as a political tool.

Unsurprisingly, AI continues to flourish as a tool for malicious actors, contributing to both the problem and the solution as the technology is increasingly used in both cyberattacks and cybersecurity solutions. This is consistent with earlier research which suggests ransomware has as much as doubled thanks to AI.

More from TechRadar Pro

• Take a look at some of the best malware removal software
• Some of the world's biggest countries are teaming up to tackle ransomware scams
• Check out our pick for best antivirus software

The $4.4 billion in crypto is set to be the largest pile of criminal proceeds ever sold off by the US. The former IRS agent who seized the recording-breaking sum, meanwhile, languishes in a Nigerian jail cell.

Prime members can grab the Theragun Elite for just $279 right now -- a $120 discount.

LinkedIn is passing the responsibility onto users for sharing misleading or inaccurate information made by its own AI tools, instead of the tools themselves.

A November 2024 update to its Service Agreement will hold users accountable for sharing any misinformation created by AI tools that violate the privacy agreement.

Since no one can guarantee that the content generative AI produces is truthful or correct, companies are covering themselves by putting the onus on users to moderate the content they share.

Inaccurate, misleading, or not fit for purpose

ThE update follows the footsteps of LinkedIn's parent company Microsoft, who earlier in 2024 updated its terms of service to remind users not to take AI services too seriously, and to address limitations to the AI, advising it is ‘not designed intended, or to be used as substitutes for professional advice’.

LinkedIn will continue to provide features which can generate automated content, but with the caveat that it may not be trustworthy.

“Generative AI Features: By using the Services, you may interact with features we offer that automate content generation for you. The content that is generated might be inaccurate, incomplete, delayed, misleading or not suitable for your purposes," the updated passage will read.

The new policy reminds users to double check any information and make edits where necessary to adhere to community guidelines,

“Please review and edit such content before sharing with others. Like all content you share on our Services, you are responsible for ensuring it complies with our Professional Community Policies, including not sharing misleading information.”

The social network site is probably expecting its genAI models to improve in future, especially since it now uses user data to train its models by default, requiring users to opt out if they don’t want their data used.

There was pretty significant backlash against this move, as GDPR concerns clash with generative AI models across the board, but the recent policy update shows the models still have a fair bit of training needed.

Via The Register

More from TechRadar Pro

• Check out our pick of the best AI writers around today
• AI-written malware is here, and going after victims already
• Take a look at our pick of the best UK job sites

Why wait nine months? Artificial intelligence will give you pictures in seconds.

If you’ve been following the latest AI news then you’ll know that chatbots that you can talk to using your voice are here. OpenAI was one of the first to demo the technology with its ChatGPT Advanced Voice mode (currently only free for 10 minutes a month), but Google got to market first with Gemini Live (now free to all Android users), and recently Microsoft joined in by revamping its Copilot website and app (which is free to everyone) to include voice conversations.

The ability to talk to AI using our voice, and have it talk back like a human, has been the sci-fi dream ever since Captain James T. Kirk addressed the ship’s computer in Star Trek, but it was later sci-fi creations that proved indistinguishable from human beings, like HAL 9000 and the Blade Runner replicants, that ignited our imaginations about the possibilities of an AI that could interact like a human.

Now we appear to be living in the future, because you can, right now, have a conversation with AI using the smartphone or computer you’re reading this on. But while we’ve made huge progress towards a human-like companion, there’s still a long way to go, as I discovered recently by putting the latest voice-controlled AIs – ChatGPT Advanced Voice mode, Gemini Live, and Copilot – through their paces for a couple of weeks. Here are my top three takeaways:

(Image credit: OpenAI) 1. Interruptions are a great idea, but don’t work properly

The biggest problem I find with talking AIs is being able to interrupt them successfully, or their ability to interrupt you when you don’t want them to. It's great that ChatGPT, Gemini Live, and Copilot all let you interrupt, mainly because they tend to give long and ponderous answers to everything you ask them, and without that ability, you wouldn’t bother using them. That process, however, is often flawed; either they miss your interruption or they then respond to your interruption with more talking. Usually, it’s some version of, “Ok, what would you like to know about instead?”, when all you want them to do is stop talking so you can begin to talk. The result is usually a messy series of jumps and starts that kills the natural flow of the conversation and stops it from feeling human.

Quite often this week I found myself yelling, “Just stop talking!”, at my phone, just so I could get a word in, which isn’t a good look. Especially since I sit in an office surrounded by people for most of the day.

Another problem I frequently encountered with all of the chatbots is thinking I had finished talking when in fact I was just pausing to consider my thoughts and was still halfway through a sentence. The whole AI experience needs to be as smooth as butter for you to have confidence in it, or the spell breaks.

2. There's not enough local information

Ask any of the current crop of chatbots where the best place to get a pizza is locally and apart from Gemini Live, you get told that they can’t search the web. Gemini Live is massively ahead here – it will make a recommendation for somewhere good to get pizza. The recommendations aren’t bad, and although it can't make a reservation for you it will get you the phone number of the restaurant.

Voice-activated chatbots obviously need to be able to browse the web, just like text-based chatbots currently can, but right now ChatGPT Advanced Voice mode and Copilot can’t, and that’s a huge drawback when it comes to delivering relevant information.

(Image credit: OpenAI) 3. They're not personal enough

For voice AI to be useful it needs to know a lot of information about you. It also needs to be able to access your important apps like your inbox and your calendar. At the moment it can’t do that. If you ask it, “Hey, am I free at 4 pm this Friday?”, or, “When is the next family birthday coming up?”, you get told that it can’t do that right now, and without that kind of ability, the usefulness of voice AI just falls off a cliff.

(Image credit: Future / Apple ) So, what is a talking AI good for?

Right now the best use of Voice AI is for asking questions, giving you some motivation to do something, or coming up with ideas that you wouldn’t think of on your own. Pick a subject and get AI to engage with you in a conversation and you’ll find that it knows a surprising amount about a lot of things. It’s fascinating! For example, one of the things I actually know a lot about is Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, and I found I could engage each of the chatbots in a pretty good conversation about it, even down to a surprising level of detail regarding techniques and positions. Based on my experience I’d say that Copilot gave me the best answers and that Gemini seemed more likely to hallucinate things that weren’t true.

In terms of the interface, I think ChatGPT is leading the way. I really like the way its swirling orb seems to react with a pulse that’s in time with whatever you say, which gives you confidence it’s actually listening. Gemini Live in contrast has a mainly dark screen with a glowing area at the bottom, which doesn’t give you a focus point to look at, leading to a slightly more soulless experience.

The AI you can talk to right now is great for delving into research topics, but it also feels a bit half-finished, and it's going to need a lot more integration with our smartphones before it can perform at the level we’d naturally like it to. Of course, it will get better over time. Right now the elephant in the room is Apple Intelligence and its associated Siri, who are both late to the party. We’re still waiting for an Apple Intelligence release date, and even then we won’t get the full all-singing, all-dancing Siri until next year.

Right now the promise of an AI we can talk to just like a friend or a real virtual assistant seems tantalizingly close, but also still a long way off.

You might also like...

• Gemini Live is here, free, and feeling chatty
• ChatGPT's new 'Canvas' is the AI collaborator you didn't know you needed
• I've been using a work laptop with a dedicated Microsoft Copilot key for months now — and it's made me realize one thing

While Nvidia hasn’t confirmed the release of its rumored new flagship GPU, the company’s recently shared news that CEO Jensen Huang is to deliver the keynote at CES 2025 – that’s 6:30 PM January 6 2025 – could hint at the highly-anticipated debut of the RTX 5090.

Rumors have been swirling about the RTX 5090’s specs, but Nvidia has remained excruciatingly tight-lipped. Huang’s CES keynote, his first for the major tech event held annually every January in Las Vegas, might be the moment we find out more. CES has long been the prime stage for major Nvidia announcements.

Nvidia cards are not always debuted in Las Vegas, of course. The GeForce RTX 40 series, for instance, debuted in September 2022. But the RTX 40 Super series and mobile versions did debut at (or around) CES, in 2023 and CES 2024 respectively. This pattern, plus Nvidia’s announcement of Huang’s keynote, could indicate that the rumors of a CES 2025 reveal for its new flagship series are in fact true.

Tune in to the #CES2025 opening keynote by our CEO Jensen Huang live in Las Vegas on Monday, January 6, at 6:30 p.m. PT. https://t.co/kMkKNXvRge pic.twitter.com/Adv1WfVPvjOctober 7, 2024

All aboard the hype train...

The RTX 5090 is rumored to feature the Blackwell GB202-300-A1 GPU with 21,760 CUDA cores – that’s over 30% more than the ultra-powerful RTX 4090’s 16,384 cores. Memory-wise, it could include 32GB of GDDR7 RAM on a 512-bit bus. Combined with a possible 28Gbps memory chip, this could result in a staggering 1.78TB/s of memory bandwidth, a 68% increase over the 1TB/s you get with the RTX 4090.

Another point of speculation is power consumption. Leaker kopite7kimi suggests the RTX 5090 could require up to a 600 Watt PSU (Power Supply Unit), significantly higher than the 4090’s 450W demands. That’s not wholly bad, since the 5090 is shaping up to be Nvidia’s most powerful GPU yet, but it does also mean gamers may have to shell out even more on a new PSU for their PC, and maybe even a new cooling system as well. And since the GPU itself is rumored to cost up to $2,000, you could be looking at an extremely expensive upgrade.

You might also like

• The best 4K graphics card of 2024
• I tried to break Nvidia ACE for laughs, but instead I got to see the strange new future of story-driven PC gaming
• I watched Nvidia's Computex 2024 keynote and it made my blood run cold

We've rounded up the best deals NOT on Amazon: outdoor gear, mobile photography, organic mattresses, and more.

Prime Video's latest crime comedy series The Sticky is based on real-life maple syrup heist that happened in Canada in 2011, which is as wild as it sounds. And if you're a Breaking Bad fan, you're going to spot some similarities between this and the hit HBO series when it hits our screens on December 6.

If you need further convincing, this series has some seriously impressive names attached. It's produced by Blumhouse, known for making some of the best horror movies, and stars huge names such as Margo Martindale and Jamie Lee Curtis. I don't know about you, but I'm ready to sit down and get this watched right now. Maybe it'll even join our big best Prime Video shows list.

Take a look at these first-look images from Blumhouse to give you a taste of what's to come.

A plan so wickedly good, it’s sweet.Here’s your first look at The Sticky, a new Blumhouse Television dark-comedy series executive produced by Jamie Lee Curtis and inspired by the true story of the Great Canadian Maple Syrup Heist. Coming soon to @PrimeVideo pic.twitter.com/yG0A7CblcVOctober 9, 2024

What should we know about The Sticky?

As mentioned, The Sticky is loosely based on a real-life heist involving the theft of nearly 3,000 tonnes of maple syrup from a storage facility in Quebec. During this illegal operation, thieves used trucks to transport barrels to a remote sugar shack, where they siphoned off the maple syrup, refilled the barrels with water, and returned them to the facility. They then sold the syrup to legitimate syrup distributors to make a profit.

The Sticky will dramatize these events with a comedic twist and Prime Video has teased that the series follows Ruth Landry (Margo Martindale), a tough maple syrup farmer who turns to crime when the authorities threaten to take away everything she loves. She teams up with a hot-tempered Bostonian mobster (Chris Diamantopoulos), and a mild-mannered French-Canadian security guard (Guillaume Cyr), so we've already got ourselves a wild group of misfits. Meanwhile, Jamie Lee Curtis appears as an unnamed guest character.

This heist has previously been covered in the Netflix documentary series Dirty Money, but the six-episode series will depict the events like you've never seen before.

You might also like

• Just got Prime Video? Here are 3 shows with 100% on Rotten Tomatoes to watch first
• 5 Prime Video thriller movies with over 80% on Rotten Tomatoes
• Prime Video is going to be filled with even more ads, because people didn't complain enough about the last

Microsoft is warning of a new phishing campaign that abuses different privacy settings in cloud-based file hosting services to bypass security solutions and steal login credentials, deploy malware, and more.

In a blog post, the company outlined how crooks have been seen abusing SharePoint, OneDrive, and Dropbox services in their attacks.

First, the attackers would compromise a person’s cloud hosting account - they can either purchase an account on the black market, or obtain the login credentials elsewhere. Then, they would use these credentials to upload a document to one of these services. The document is usually a fake Microsoft 365 login page, which serves not only to steal people’s credentials, but also to grab MFA codes and one-time passwords, too. Alternatively, the file can contain a link to a malicious site, where victims would share their login credentials, download malware to their devices, or similar.

Abusing privacy settings

Here is where it gets interesting - cloud-based file hosting services have security solutions that scan for malicious links and files. However, depending on the document’s privacy settings, security solutions may not be allowed to scan it.

“To bypass analysis by email detonation systems, the files shared in these phishing attacks are set to ‘view-only’ mode, disabling the ability to download and consequently, the detection of embedded URLs within the file,” Microsoft explained.

Alternatively, the hackers would restrict access to the document only to designated recipients, to the same result.

To make matters worse - the threat actors are not distributing these files in the traditional phishing way. Instead, when they grant access to the document only to specific accounts, the cloud service sends an email notification to those accounts. Consequently, the victims get an email from a reputable source, further boosting the perceived legitimacy of the email.

The best way to defend against such attacks is to use common sense and be extra careful when receiving email messages, regardless of who they’re coming from.

Via The Hacker News

More from TechRadar Pro

• Microsoft 365 accounts targeted by dangerous new phishing scam
• Here's a list of the best firewalls today
• These are the best endpoint protection tools right now

Whether for emergencies or to recharge while camping, now's a good time to buy a power bank or power station.

Google’s Recorder app on the Google Pixel 9 and Pixel 9 Pro is one of its best AI-enhanced apps – we say as much in our Google Pixel 9 Pro review – thanks to its up to 40-minute-long real-time transcriptions. And soon a version of it will be coming to the best Chromebooks via the next ChromeOS 130 update.

That’s according to 9to5Google, which has revealed that the tool won’t just be coming to top-of-the-line Chromebook Plus devices – although these will get a few unique AI features, reportedly including a helpful offline speech-to-text tool that can function in real time on top of the usual voice-recording capabilities.

With a Chromebook Plus machine you’ll also get access to an on-device AI that can generate transcript summaries so It’s easier for you to flick through your notes later. To use these transcription tools on a Chromebook Plus you’ll apparently need to download an approximately 2GB AI model, while users of non-Plus Chromebooks will need to download a 100MB model to access the more limited recorder tools.

ChromeOS 130 doesn’t yet have a firm release date, but it's “Expected October 2024” per Google’s official ChromeOS releases page. So we hopefully won’t be waiting long for this new feature and update 130’s other upgrades.

Will ChromeOS get the Pixel 9's best feature? (Image credit: Peter Hoffmann) More ChromeOS Recorder details

Best of all, because it looks like the transcriptions and recordings happen on-device, it should be more private and secure than sending your voice notes to a server to have an AI type them up, though if you do want to export your recordings and transcriptions manually you can.

The only downside of the ChromeOS Recorder app will be that at launch it’ll only understand US English – so it won’t be able to help you if you speak a different language, and there’s no word yet on when support for more languages will be added.

It’s also unclear if one of ChromeOS 130’s other features for Chromebook Plus devices – ‘Studio-style mic’, which uses AI to make you sound clearer by reducing noise from your microphone – will be used by the recorder tool. It’s possible, but currently it’s only linked to new video-call tools, so it could be that it won’t help clean up your voice recordings for now – we’ll have to wait and see when ChromeOS 130 rolls out later this month.

You might also like

• This Samsung Galaxy S25 leak seemingly shows all three models
• Nvidia RTX 5080 might get speedier video RAM than we expected
• Best PC games: must-play titles you don't want to miss