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Tired of starting your day with the same old phone alarm? Here are the best physical alarm clocks of 2024, tested by our experts.

Quantum Fiber boasts fast speeds for a fair price, but it's the price guarantee that impresses me most. Here's everything to know before signing up.

Experts agree that students should start learning personal finance earlier.

According to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, $100 million will be used to make payments to impacted borrowers in a settlement with the former servicer of student loans.

(Image credit: Getty Images)

The new model is designed to solve complex problems across a small handful of fields, but OpenAI says the model performs similarly to PhD students in those tasks.

Cocoa beans, which are used to make chocolate, are mostly grown in a few places making them susceptible to the effects of extreme weather events, driven by climate change. We hear about a team in Germany that is developing a chocolate made without cocoa.

Apple's new iPhone 16 line gets a whole host of camera updates. Here's what you should know.

Commentary: The new camera control button is travel selfie gold, and I'll never say no to longer battery life.

Team Europe head to Virginia aiming for an unprecedented fourth consecutive victory.

If you have a lot of reading to do for school or work but would rather listen to a podcast, Google's new AI-powered Audio Overview tool has you covered. As first demonstrated at Google I/O this year, Audio Overviews lets you convert documents, slides, and other text into an audio show where AI hosts discuss the topic. Google is pitching the feature as a way for people who learn better by listening than reading to digest complex information. The feature personalizes learning for you if you would rather hear a topic discussed than read reports. 

Audio Overviews are part of the NotebookLM note-taking app introduced earlier this year. The feature relies on Google's Gemini AI models to summarize and organize documents, enhancing them with audio AI. The most interesting bit is that it's not just an AI voice reading the same text summary; you'll hear synthetic personalities talking about the documents to each other. The virtual hosts explain the subject and the connections between different topics in the documents. They try to make studying and research easier or at least something you can enjoy while driving. The back-and-forth discussion even includes jokes and banter like you've commissioned a hyper-specific podcast episode just for you. You can hear an example below based on this Google blog post on NotebookLM. 

(Image credit: Google) Your AI Podcast Pals

NotebookLM includes a generate button within the app to make an Audio Overview from a notebook. Once the overview is made, you can download the file and listen to it whenever you want. The audio is built using just your uploaded files; however, there is no additional research, so it's hardly a comprehensive study guide. Plus, as with all AI-generated content, you have to watch out for hallucinations and wrong information.

At I/O, Google promised that there would be more advanced versions of Audio Overviews to come. That includes the possibility of real-time interaction, not just a passive listening experience. It would turn the audio from a podcast to more of a call-in radio show with an audience of one and hosts who only want to talk about a very specific set of information. And while Google is centering Audio Overviews on academic or other research and studying, it's very easy to imagine the same tech being used for hyper-focused (and conversational) news reports or perhaps even a way of getting all the updates on your friends and family from their social media posts. 

You might also like

• Is your search getting better? Google has quietly cut down on AI Overview responses to search queries
• Google's NotebookLM is now an even smarter assistant and better fact-checker
• Google is making Gemini AI part of everything you do with your smartphone – here's how

Switching to solar energy in Washington State may come with several benefits, including tax breaks. Plus, it's more eco-friendly. Here's everything you need to know.

Still haven't found a replacement for Mint? I highly recommend this budgeting app.

Here's how you can still benefit from clean solar energy without the cost and hassle of installing panels on your roof.

Adobe’s Acrobat Reader, the go-to PDF reader for many of us, is vulnerable to a flow that allows threat actors to remotely run malicious code on the target device.

The vulnerability is described as a “user after free” flaw, and is tracked as CVE-2024-41896. A “use after free” flaw happens when a program tries to access data in a memory location that was previously freed. If a malicious actor manages to deploy malicious code in that freed piece of memory real estate, it could be executed on the device and, consequently, compromised.

It was discovered by cybersecurity researcher Haifei Li, who created a sandbox platform called EXPMON, designed to detect advanced zero-day exploits. After multiple files were submitted to the platform, the flaw was discovered, and with it the fact that it is being actively exploited in the wild. The silver lining here is that the weaponized .PDF files were not deploying any malware, but were simply crashing targeted endpoints, which could also mean that the PoC is still in its infancy or experimental stage.

A fix is out there

However, now that the news is out, it is also safe to assume that different threat actors will start looking for unpatched Adobe Acrobat Reader variants to use. Therefore, it is pivotal that IT admins apply the fix as soon as possible.

While we don’t know who is using it, or against whom, we do know that it all begins with a weaponized .PDF document, so it’s safe to assume that the attack starts with a phishing email. PDF files are often used as invoices, purchase orders, and similar.

Adobe released a patch last month, which did not properly address the problem - but the bug was ultimately fixed earlier this week, and was given a new tracking number - CVE-2024-41869.

Via BleepingComputer

More from TechRadar Pro

• Adobe Acrobat Reader has a serious security flaw, so update now
• Here's a list of the best firewalls around today
• These are the best endpoint security tools right now

Deck out your house for Halloween with glowing skeletons and creepy digital decorations that will bring fright and delight to trick-or-treaters.

The easiest option is to roll it over into a new CD. But that may not be the best choice for your money.

The Islamic Action Front, the political wing of the Muslim Brotherhood, is now the single biggest opposition bloc in Jordan's 138-member parliament, winning one-fifth of the seats this week.

(Image credit: Khalil Mazraawi)

Not sure which memory all-foam mattress might be best for you? Here's what you need to know about this version of the DreamCloud Premier, based on our team's expertise.

If a router reset isn't fixing the issue, updating its firmware can repair some common bugs.

Experience a dazzling underwater world through these breathtaking images from the 2024 Ocean Photographer of the Year competition.