Blog

Jaguar’s F-Pace refresh includes its first plug-in hybrid

[ad_1]

The cabin also offers active road noise cancellation, connected car features and a guardian mode that lets you tell the car when it’s not likely to be used. If you don’t regularly drive late at night, for instance, you can tell the vehicle to alert your phone if someone’s driving around in it at 3am. This feature is, for now, available only in the UK, but it may roll out elsewhere in future.

Of course, with climate change being a thing, we’re not sure any company in good conscience can sell pure fossil-fuel vehicles any more. That’s why three of the four diesel and two of the four petrol-driven models are mild hybrids, with electric assist only available to get you off the line. That goes into a 48V lithium-ion battery that’s charged when slowing or braking and deployed when the car is stopped.

The most interesting model is the 2.0-liter four-cylinder turbo PHEV, which offers up to 33 miles of electric-only range. According to the company, you’ll be able to 32kW fast-charge the 17.1Kwh battery to 80 percent in a half hour, or a full hour when charging at 7kW. The UK’s average daily commute is a little less than half that figure, meaning that your daily driving could be entirely electric-only.

We expect the PHEV model to become a best seller in the UK, thanks to the company car tax rules that push cleaner vehicles. The F-Pace PHEV claims (emphasis on claim) CO2 emissions of 49g/km, making it far cheaper for employees with company cars to own. Mitsubishi’s Outlander PHEV, one of the few SUVs eligible for clean car tax credits, has become a surprise hit in the UK, with 50,000 models sold in six years.

Unfortunately, the new F-Pace is only available in Europe right now, with orders beginning today, and deliveries expected to begin at some point in January 2021.

[ad_2]

Source link

The switch to remote learning has made schools even bigger cyber targets

[ad_1]

The rise of home schooling has seen a spike in hacking attempts against educational institutions, said third-party security researchers Check Point. Its latest paper claims that the USA has seen the biggest increase, with academic sector attacks rising 30 percent from 468 per week to 608 per week. Europe and Asia have both seen a 24 percent and 21 percent increase, respectively, in the number of hacking attacks. 

Check Point says that the tactic of choice is DDoS attacks for both the US and Europe, while Asia has a preference for Remote Code Execution and Information Disclosure. It’s likely that the combination of schools not having a particular focus on security, and a lack of resources, will exacerbate these issues. As usual, the researchers say that institutions should use a combination of proactive measures to reduce the vectors of attack and educate users on best practices. 

[ad_2]

Source link

LG teases an ‘Explorer Project’ phone with a slide-out display

[ad_1]

We’re delighted to see LG reaching its stretchy-pants phase of being a phone maker, in which it tries to woo new customers over with all sorts of unique designs. The LG Wing, with its flip-around display and second screen, is the first in a series of Explorer Project handsets that try something different. And, at the end of LG’s keynote showing off the Wing, it also teased the second Explorer Project device, a smartphone with a slide-out, apparently flexible display that could put its rivals to shame. 

The teaser is entirely depicted in the GIF above, showing off a device where the right-hand side pulls out to greatly increase the size of the display. And we reckon it’ll behave similarly to TCL’s concept device that does similar, pulling out to release more screen real estate nestled inside the phone’s body. Given LG’s experience making rollable OLED displays for its ultra-fancy range of TVs, it’s certainly possible to make this happen.

[ad_2]

Source link

Apple AirPods Pro now offer spatial audio

[ad_1]

The latest firmware update for Apple’s AirPods Pro and second—generation AirPods has arrived, and it brings at least a couple of much-awaited features with it. For the AirPods Pro, build number 3A283 debuts spatial audio, which enables a surround sound effect for a movie theater-like experience. The tech giant didn’t release a feature log for the firmware, but AppleInsider was able to confirm it adds a spatial audio setting within the AirPods Pro bluetooth menu.

When switched on, the earbuds’ accelerometer will track your head movement so the audio stays fixed even when you turn your head. Apple first revealed that it’s releasing spatial audio for the Pro earbuds back in June during its virtual WWDC keynote, where it also announced that it’s rolling out an AirPods feature that gives you the ability to automatically switch between Apple devices. That’s the other capability that comes with firmware 3A283.

[ad_2]

Source link

Former Facebook employee exposes its inability to stop misinformation

[ad_1]

In the months leading to India’s local Delhi elections in February 2020, Zhang worked to take down a “politically-sophisticated network of more than a thousand actors working to influence the election.” And over the past months, Facebook removed 672,000 “low-quality fake accounts” that sought to manipulate COVID-19-related information on the Spanish Health Ministry’s page and on US pages. Zhang has also revealed in her memo that the company removed 10.5 million fake reactions and fans from high-profile politician pages in Brazil and the US during the elections in 2018.

But perhaps the most haunting part of the memo was her admission that she felt like she “blood on [her] hands” for not prioritizing certain inauthentic activities on the website. Back in 2019, for instance, she found inauthentic activity supporting the opposition presidential candidate in Bolivia but chose not to act on it immediately. Months later, President Evo Morales resigned and mass protests led to dozens of deaths. She wrote:

“I have personally made decisions that affected national presidents without oversight, and taken action to enforce against so many prominent politicians globally that I’ve lost count…

I have made countless decisions in this vein — from Iraq to Indonesia, from Italy to El Salvador. Individually, the impact was likely small in each case, but the world is a vast place. Although I made the best decision I could based on the knowledge available at the time, ultimately I was the one who made the decision not to push more or prioritize further in each case, and I know that I have blood on my hands by now.”

Zhang clarified that she doesn’t think Facebook is run by malicious people with an agenda. It’s just that the higher-ups tend to make decisions motivated by PR and to focus on issues in the US and the West. A mid-level employee like her ended up having to make huge decisions for political issues happening outside those regions, and it took a toll on her health.

When she asked the company for support in stopping malicious activities related to politics and elections, she was reportedly told that “human resources are limited” and was threatened to be let go if she continued focusing on civil work. In addition, she usually had to post on Facebook’s employee message board to get her concerns addressed, because going through the proper channels didn’t work. BuzzFeed News says Zhang was ultimately fired this month and refused a $64,000 severance package to be able to write and send the memo to her former colleagues.

In response to Zhang’s memo, spokesperson Liz Bourgeois told BuzzFeed News in a statement:

“We’ve built specialized teams, working with leading experts, to stop bad actors from abusing our systems, resulting in the removal of more than 100 networks for coordinated inauthentic behavior. It’s highly involved work that these teams do as their full-time remit. Working against coordinated inauthentic behavior is our priority, but we’re also addressing the problems of spam and fake engagement. We investigate each issue carefully, including those that Ms. Zhang raises, before we take action or go out and make claims publicly as a company.”

[ad_2]

Source link

Bloomberg: PS5 Digital Edition pricing could dip below $400

[ad_1]

We’re only a day or so away from Sony’s next PlayStation 5 event where we hope to get a confirmed price / launch date for the new console, but the rumors are still coming in. After reporting in July that Sony would respond to the coronavirus pandemic…

[ad_2]

Source link

The SEC is reportedly looking into Nikola’s electric truck promises

[ad_1]

As far as charges that the video showing it rolling was faked, Nikola offers this as the best rebuttal it can muster: “Nikola never stated its truck was driving under its own propulsion in the video, although the truck was designed to do just that (as described in previous point). The truck was showcased and filmed by a third party for a commercial. Nikola described this third-party video on the Company’s social media as “In Motion.” It was never described as “under its own propulsion” or “powertrain driven.”

In Nikola’s statement, the company said it plans to cooperate with the SEC on its inquiry, and claimed it has already contacted and briefed the agency. So who’s lying? Nikola claims investors knew what its prototypes were and were not capable of, and is focusing on newer machines that it says can actually move under their own power. However, check out the original Nikola One video that’s still available on YouTube (titled “Nikola One Electric Semi Truck in Motion”) and make your own decision about whether or not that implied the truck was capable of moving on its own.



[ad_2]

Source link

Sony’s budget full-frame A7C camera has an all-new compact body

[ad_1]

You can shoot full-frame 4K video at up to 30 fps, or 1080p at up to 120 fps with all video limited to 4:2:0 8-bit and 100Mbps bit rates. You also get both S-Log2 and S-Log3 recording to maximize dynamic range. That’s not bad, but for $200 more, Panasonic’s full-frame S5 shoots 4K at 60 fps and has 10-bit internal recording for 4K (with S-Log) at up to 30 fps.

Sony's budget full-frame A7C camera has an all-new compact body

Sony

The autofocus is a strong point, as you’d expect from Sony. It uses Sony’s ultra-fast hybrid phase-detection AF, with 693 phase-detection points in full-frame mode. You also get Sony’s latest AI smarts ad features, including human and animal eye-tracking, object tracking, predictive control and adjustable AF transition speeds in movie mode. If it works like Sony’s other recent cameras, it should offer fast and near-flawless autofocus both in movie and photo modes.

For photos, the A7C isn’t quite as fast as the A6600 (11 fps), but it matches the A7 III with burst speeds of up to 10 fps with continuous autofocus (14-bit RAW and JPEG). The EVF, however, is not as nice as you’ll find on the A7 III, with a 2.36 million dot OLED viewfinder compared to 3.6 million dots. Considering the camera is designed more for video, however, that shouldn’t be an issue for most users.

With the same NP-FZ100 battery as the A6600, you get up to 680 shots with the viewfinder or 740 shots using the LCD monitor — close to the A6600 and excellent for a full-frame camera. There’s just a single card slot, but thankfully it supports fast UHS-II cards. That means you can capture up to 45 uncompressed RAW frames, 115 compressed RAW or 215 JPEGs in a burst. The A7C also has a USB-C Type 3.2 port that can charge the battery, along with an HDMI micro and both headphone and microphone ports.

All told, the A7C is an interesting, unexpected member of the A7 family. It looks like the A6600, but has the sensor and many features from the A7 III, while adding in the A7S III’s fully-articulating display for vloggers. At $1,800, it is $200 cheaper than the A7 III was at launch, but it’s still not exactly what I’d call “entry-level” like the $1,400 Nikon Z5.

The A7C will cost $1,800 for the body only, or $2,100 with Sony’s new, very compact FE 28-60mm f/4-5.6 lens. It should go up for pre-order shortly, and we’ll learn the US release date soon.

[ad_2]

Source link

Joe Biden’s campaign app had a bug that made it too easy to access voter info

[ad_1]

While someone could get some of that same information through other means, the Vote Joe app trivialized obtaining it (among other issues, the software also doesn’t require users to verify their email). Moreover, the App Analyst found Vote Joe pulls in more data than it displays through its user interface, including what seems like a guess on TargetSmart’s part whether a person voted for the Democratic or Republican presidential candidate in a particular election.  

The Biden campaign says it fixed the bug on Friday when it rolled out an update for the app. “We were made aware about how our third-party app developer was providing additional fields of information from commercially available data that was not needed,” a spokesperson for the campaign told TechCrunch. “We worked with our vendor quickly to fix the issue and remove the information. We are committed to protecting the privacy of our staff, volunteers and supporters and will always work with our vendors to do so.” Notably, the campaign’s website reveals it’s hiring a cybersecurity analyst, in addition to a cybersecurity manager.

As TechCrunch notes, this isn’t the first time data from TargetSmart may have leaked online. In 2017, a cache of nearly every registered voter in Alaska, totaling approximately 600,000 individuals, was exposed through a server misconfiguration by a third-party firm that had access to the data. That information is something that state-sponsored hackers could use to sway an election. It’s also not a hypothetical threat either. Microsoft recently warned that Russia, China and Iran are actively trying to interfere in the 2020 elections. The company said the “majority” of attacks on both the Joe Biden and Donald Trump campaigns had failed, but that hasn’t stopped those groups from continuing their efforts.

[ad_2]

Source link

Razer data leak may have exposed info of over 100,000 customers

[ad_1]

“We would like to thank you, sincerely apologize for the lapse and have taken all necessary steps to fix the issue as well as conduct a thorough review of our IT security and systems,” the company said. “We remain committed to ensure the digital safety and security of all our customers.”

If a malicious group or individual accessed the information, they could use the included emails to carry out phishing attempts. Unfortunately, as an individual, it’s hard for you to know when a company you bought something from in the past may leak your information, but you can do a couple of things to protect yourself. If you have specific questions about this leak, you can contact Razer by emailing DPO@razer.com.

[ad_2]

Source link