Featuring Quantum Dot Wide Color Gamut, this TV promises purer, richer, and more accurate colours compared to regular LED TVs. Equipped with Fire TV built-in, this set unlocks a world of entertainment through apps like Prime Video, Netflix, Disney+, Hulu, and HBO Max. Additionally, users can enjoy free streaming with Freevee, Pluto TV, Tubi, and more.
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With its highs and lows, 2023 really feels like it passed by in a blur.
As we pause and reflect on the year that passed, it might initially feel like an endless stream of life stresses, managing workloads, multiple COVID variants, and viral videos of people acting up, but if you look closer, there have been a lot of heartwarming moments in 2023.
As one possibly overplayed holiday movie suggests: "Love actually is all around."
From a neighbor helping an autistic boy find friends to an off-duty pilot who stepped up in time of crisis, here are 10 heartwarming moments from the last year when humans acted, well, human.
Neighbor helps boy who knocked on his door looking for friends: 'He is a beautiful soul'
When 11-year-old Texas boy Shayden Walker knocked on his neighbor's door looking to make a new friend, he never imagined it would end up getting him tons of new friends from all over the world.
Shayden, who has been diagnosed with autism and other challenges, went to his neighbor's house looking for kids to play with back in July.
“I need some friends, like really bad," Shayden says in a moment captured on a doorbell camera in Amarillo.
While the neighbor only had a toddler, he posted the video of his interaction with Shayden on TikTok, where it garnered more than 50 million views and had people from across the world sending love and good wishes for Shayden.
Community members also set up a GoFundMe page for Shayden, which raised over $37,000 for the 11-year-old to go toward whatever he wants, including a gaming setup, school clothes and amusement park tickets.
'You matter': Teen reminds neighbor that she is loved in viral doorbell video
Thirteen-year-old Jacksen Proell was hanging out with his friends in Minnesota back in July when they decided to play a game of ding dong ditch, the old-fashioned game of knocking on random doors or ringing doorbells and then running off.
The kids were hoping to confuse whoever answered the door in the central Minnesota city of Brainerd.
But Jacksen didn’t have it in his heart to prank anyone that day, so he left a positive message on two doorbell cameras.
"You matter, alright?” Jacksen said in the video. “There's always going to be somebody that cares about you. You're a good person, no matter what people say.”
The teenager said he just felt whoever was on the other end of that camera needed to hear the message, having battled depression himself.
One of the homeowners loved Jacksen's video so much that she shared it to TikTok, where it went viral and has been viewed 5.3 million times.
'You're killing the game': Amazon delivery driver helps Chicago teen with tie before homecoming
Amazon driver Eligha Bryant dropped more than just packages as he was making a delivery at a Chicago home in October. He also dropped some fashion pointers.
Bryant, 42, was making a stop at the house on Oct. 7 when he saw the family that lives there gathered around their teenage son, Luke Breier. The teen was struggling to secure his tie, so Bryant stepped in to help.
Family members stood around smiling and laughing as he hyped the teenager up and made sure his tie was tidy and in place.
“You’re killing the game, young man,” Bryant had said to the high school senior in a video shared online.
'It's too dangerous!' Massive mako shark stranded on Florida beach saved by swimmers
In a dangerous move that could have gone bad in a matter of seconds, a group of people in Florida saved a massive beached shark when they pulled it back into coastal waters in September.
The group, all knee deep in water, grabbed the shark's tail and attempted to drag it back into the sea as the fish faces land and thrashes about. Eventually, the group managed to get the shark's snout pointed back toward the ocean, after which it managed to swim away.
The act of kindness, captured on video, took place in Pensacola along the Sunshine State's Gulf Coast.
The stylist, who has more than a decade of experience, says he earmarks specific windows so he can dedicate more time to each child. The cuts are free through community donations.
Jackson says he tries to meet a child where they are "and not where I want them to be," deploying several tactics such as dancing, singing and playing games to make them comfortable during the process.
Jackson had given more than 300 haircuts at the time of the article, published in February 2023.
"I've had parents bursting into tears, had grandparents getting emotional, fathers getting emotional," Jackson told USA TODAY. "It always leaves me in awe."
Amid devastating Maui wildfires, a vacationing Denver pilot steps in to fly hundreds home
When the devastating wildfires hit Maui in August, Vince Eckelkamp was among 330 passengers stranded at Kahului Airport.
Their flight back to the United States kept getting delayed due to logistical issues and staff shortages and was on the verge of being canceled.
That's when Eckelkamp, a pilot and line-training manager at United Airlines, stepped up and volunteered to fly the jet and people back to safety. The Denver resident's act of kindness helped more than 300 people evacuate Maui where the wildfires were getting more dangerous.
"If I hadn't stepped up, or if I wasn't there (the flight would have been canceled," he told USA TODAY. "And I just happened to be in the right place at the right time and was able to do the right thing."
'A full-time job': Oregon mom's record-setting breast milk production helps kids worldwide
Elisabeth Anderson-Sierra, a 35-year-old mother of three from the West Coast, is a Guinness World Record-breaker for gifting more than 350,000 ounces of her own breast milk to premature babies around the world.
Her selfless efforts over the past nine years have helped save thousands of newborns, many of who have been labeled as “failure to thrive,” a term used for newborns and infants who have failed to develop normally who are not gaining weight or height properly.
The Aloha, Oregon, resident set the record for the largest donation of breastmilk by an individual by donating nearly 1,600 liters to a milk bank between February 2015 and June 2018.
Anderson-Sierra, who has hyperlactation syndrome, says her diagnosis is both a blessing and a curse but she likes to focus on the positive.
Over the years, Anderson-Sierra said she has met dozens of her recipients, some whose parents send her photos of their growing child.
"When I see their baby fat or little leg rolls, it's so cute! I think, 'I helped make that! I helped do that!' It's heartwarming," she said. "To have any kind of relationship whether it's just a donor relationship or more of a friendship on a personal level, it's gratifying. Fulfilling to see I'm making a difference in their life."
Hundreds of dogs parade for man's 100th birthday party
When Robert Moore's family started planning his 100th birthday party in June, they wanted to make sure it was special. There was going to be a big family dinner, of course, but since a lot of Moore's friends are no longer alive, his daughter, Alison, thought including man's best friend in the celebration would be a good idea.
A few days before the party, Alison shared her idea with friends and community members in San Jose, California, asking them to come to the party with their dogs if they could.
Alison had little expectation and was prepared for only a handful of people to show up. But hundreds of dogs and their owners lined up on the streets outside their house waiting patiently to be pet by the birthday boy.
What was even more exciting was that the furry creatures arrived in all sorts of costumes, from tuxedos to cowboy hats and bumble bee costumes. There were pups riding in classic cars, as well as dogs with disabilities pulling carts.
The entire block was buzzing with excitement, said Alison, and the birthday boy was over the moon with the celebrations.
"He was shocked but at the same time, he was so excited for it. By the end of the event, he was so overwhelmed (with the response)," she said. "He pet every single dog that came through. It was so lovely."
'We have to help people, we've got to': Brown Bag Lady serves meals and dignity to L.A.'s homeless
A Los Angeles woman, known affectionately as the Brown Bag Lady, is serving the city's unhoused population with enticing meals and a sprinkle of inspiration for dessert.
"Not everybody has that strong family unit or that insurance where you can get into rehab or you have a mom or a dad or an uncle come and say, 'Crash on my couch,'" says Jacqueline Norvell. "It's difficult. It is hard. And it's not getting any better."
Norvell started cooking meals for people on LA's Skid Row about 10 years ago in her two-bedroom apartment after getting some extra money from her Christmas paycheck. She bought several turkeys and prepared all the fixings for about 70 people, driving to one of L.A.'s most high-risk areas to hand out the meals.
She says people were grateful and she realized the significant demand. Norvell's been cooking tasty creations ever since.
"We've got to help each other out," she said. "We have to."
The 14-year-old developed a compound-based bar of soap designed to treat melanoma.
Heman hopes to refine his innovation and create a nonprofit to distribute the soap to communities in need over the next five years, according to 3M and Discovery Education, the groups that give out the award.
"I have always been interested in biology and technology, and this challenge gave me the perfect platform to showcase my ideas," Heman said in his submission for the award. "I believe that young minds can make a positive impact on the world."
In this You Asked: Why buy a more expensive Blu-ray player? Blu-ray players vs. game consoles. Are 70-inch TVs any good? Is all eARC HDMI 2.1, and is all HDMI 2.1 eARC? And will we ever get QD-OLED with MLA?
Are all Blu-ray players the same?
Digital Trends
Mike B. writes: I’ve seen some discussions on Twitter/Reddit about varying picture quality among 4K UHD players. Ignoring build quality, HDR formats, extra features, etc., shouldn’t all players be able to read the data from the disc and send the “pure” signal to the AVR/TV without any issue? If the player isn’t doing any sort of processing, why would there be any difference in picture quality?
First of all — and please don’t misunderstand me when I say this because I’m not trying to minimize the validity of your question — but this question mattered a lot more a few years ago than it does now.
The reason? We just don’t have a wide range of brands or models to choose from anymore. Anyone still making a Blu-ray player is making a pretty decent player. We have Sony, Panasonic, and LG as the big brands, and then we have specialty players like Reavon and Magnetar. (RIP, OPPO.)
However, we do still see some range within the few options on the market. What might make one better than another in terms of picture quality? Frankly, not a lot. However, the difference in picture quality that can exist resides in the decoding process. A Blu-ray disc is full of encoded video that needs to be decoded before it can be sent along an HDMI cable to your TV. Decoding has less impact on video signal quality than processing — I’m getting to that — but it can have an impact. A very tiny, miniscule, difficult-to-perceive impact.
Processing is a different story. The most noticeable difference in processing will be in de-interlacing Blu-ray discs and upscaling anything 1080i and lower. But that is only if you allow the player to do any processing at all. If your TV is nice enough, its processing will be better than your disc player. If you have a lower-end TV, the player’s processing may be better. But it’s doubtful you’d see a difference on a lower-end TV.
No, most of the price difference between players will be justified elsewhere, outside of video signal quality. The build quality, including the drive mechanism, the transport tray, and the chassis. Or it may be in the audio section. A premium player may have better digital-to-analog audio converters, which can pay off if you use the player for CD, DVD Audio, or SACD playback. You may also notice a difference in start-up and disc loading times. Generally, more expensive players are more likely to last longer, operate more quietly, and operate more quickly. They may also just be less buggy because they use a more powerful chipset.
Blu-ray players vs. game consoles
Digital Trends
Following up on that question is another one about Blu-ray, coming from Josh Collins, who writes: You mentioned previously how getting a dedicated 4k Blu-ray player is much better than the PS5 and the Series X. I see this sentiment expressed all over the Internet. But besides the lack of Dolby Vision support for the game consoles, what makes them different/better? And would the Sony x700m be that much better than a PS5, or do I need to spend way more for a good player?
Not to be argumentative, but did I really say much better? I feel like I didn’t. But if I did, I may have overstated the difference. I do remember saying the PS5 is much better than the Xbox, though. And I stand by that. The PS5 handles 24 frames per second content far better than the Series X, which shows more judder.
If you want to put a Blu-ray or 4K Blu-ray disc in either of these machines and watch that movie, you’ll be able to do that. You’ll even get basic HDR and, to some extent, Dolby Atmos. Put the disc in, watch the movie — job done.
However, dedicated 4K Blu-ray players will offer better decoding — which we just talked about — and, if you want them to, better processing than either of the consoles. Will you notice the difference? I’m not sure, especially between the PS5 and a dedicated player.
Where the differences start becoming more noticeable is that neither console will play back discs in Dolby Vision. And, last I heard, neither played back HDR 10+, not that there are all that many discs with HDR 10+ on them.
Also, while getting Dolby Atmos out of a PS5 is pretty straightforward, getting it out of an Xbox is more of a hassle. You have to download an app for it, and I know on the Xbox One it wasn’t real Dolby Atmos.
Speaking of audio, neither of them is a good CD player, let alone an SACD player. So, if you want your disc player to do more than 4K Blu-rays, I’d say get a dedicated player. End of story.
70-inch TVs
Zeke Jones / Digital Trends
Jeffrey Hein writes: I’ve always heard you should go for the biggest TV that makes sense in your space. I’ve recently moved, and the new room configuration would work perfectly with a 70-inch TV. Are there any top brands or models available in this size that you recommend, or is it almost always the better option to stick with 65 inches?
This question is deceivingly tricky. Initially, I think most folks would tell you that if money is not an object, buy the larger version of a TV within a model series. For instance, if you want to get a TCL QM8, get a 75-inch QM8 instead of a 65-inch QM8.
Most of the time, the larger version of a given model will be as good as the smaller version. Most of the time. Sometimes, due to panel supply considerations, a manufacturer may have to use a different kind of LCD panel at a larger size. For instance, a certain TV model in the 55- and 65-inch sizes may use a VA-type panel, but the 75-inch version uses an IPS or ADS-type panel. This is the case with the Hisense U8K, I believe. The 65-, 75,- and even 85-inch versions use VA-type panels, but the 75-inch uses a high-end IPS ADS-type panel.
I’ve not tested the 75-inch version of the Hisense U8K, for example, but those TVs I have tested with ADS-type panels were extremely close in performance to their VA-type counterparts. It used to be that older IPS panels had worse contrast than VA panels, but the new ADS panels are much better, and with mini-LED backlighting on the rise, they look just as contrasty as VA panels.
Why, exactly, do manufacturers switch panel types depending on the size? The reason actually ties in with another part of your question that I think is really important to address.
You asked about 70-inch TVs, and I don’t know if you were using 70 as in “in the 70-inch-ish neighborhood” or if you actually meant you were looking at 70-inch TVs versus 65-inch TVs. Either way, I think this is important for everyone to know.
Seventy-inch TVs – as opposed to 75-inch TVs — tend to be found on lower-end TV models, whereas more premium TV models tend to have 75-inch panel sizes.
The reason — and this is a very simplified explanation — is that TV manufacturers source their panels from a bunch of panel suppliers. The 70-inch panels tend to be lower cost and slightly lower quality, and the 75-inch panels tend to be higher cost and higher quality.
This is why, with some lower-end to mid-tier TVs, we’ll hear people talking about whether the TV they got has a panel from Panel Company A versus Panel Company B. There can be some variances there.
Do you see where I’m going with this? If you’re looking at actual 70-inch TVs, you will probably be looking at lower-end to mid-end TVs. Whereas if you’re looking at a 75-inch TV, you’re most likely looking at a higher-performance TV.
Let’s use Hisense as an example again. You can get a 65-inch U7K or a 75-inch U7K, but you can’t get a 70-inch U7K. It doesn’t exist. If you wanted a 70-inch Hisense TV, you would have to step down in the range, out of the U or ULED series, and into the A6 or R6. So, in that case, you would be taking a fairly significant picture quality hit going down to the series with a 70-inch model versus getting the 65-inch version of a much better TV.
I hope that makes sense. That’s a lot of numbers. Just don’t get a 70-inch TV because it is bigger than a 65-inch because, more than likely you’ll be sacrificing not a small amount of picture quality to do it. Go up to 75 inches, or stick to 65.
eARC HDMI 2.1
Digital Trends
Christopher Watt writes: I have a TCL 65S450G and a Sony STR-DH790 connected to the eARC port. Not high-end, but I thought they had the features I was looking for (4K HDR, and Atmos). The internet (and my PS5 connected to the TV) is giving me some conflicting information on the eARC HDMI port on the TV, though. Are all eARC ports 2.1? Are all 2.1 ports eARC? This TV has eARC, but the documentation doesn’t state HDMI 2.1.
What connection layout would I reap the most PS5 AV fidelity benefits from with this setup?
I’m going to answer the more specific questions directly in a moment. First, let’s answer a couple of the broader questions.
Are all eARC ports HDMI 2.1? No, they are not. Most of them happen to be, but eARC does not need HDMI 2.1 bandwidth to do its job. eARC can pass audio audio formats over the 18 gigabits per second bandwidth supported by HDMI 2.0 b just fine.
Are all 2.1 ports eARC? No, they are not. I’ve never seen a TV with more than one eARC port. But, more importantly, the question of whether your eARC port happens to be one of your HDMI 2.1 ports comes up often because many TVs only have two HDMI 2.1 ports. And when one of your HDMI 2.1 ports is also your eARC port, that can limit the number of HDMI 2.1 devices you can connect directly to your TV. TCL is one of the only brands I can think of that offers two independent HDMI 2.1 ports and keeps the eARC function separate.
You only need to worry whether your eARC port is HDMI 2.1-capable for two reasons. One is if you have more than one HDMI 2.1 device that you want to connect directly to your TV. The other is if your AV receiver is HDMI 2.1 and you are connecting a PS5, Xbox Series X, or a high-end PC to that receiver, then you’d need full HDMI 2.1 bandwidth from your eARC port. If that’s not you, then don’t worry about it.
For this specific situation, neither your Sony receiver nor your TCL TV supports HDMI 2.1 — which isn’t the end of the world, you can still get 4K 60 fps and all the HDR formats through your receiver, you just can’t do 4K at 120 fps. However, since your receiver doesn’t support eARC, if you want the best audio quality, you should run your PS5 to your TV through the receiver to get the best Dolby Atmos sound. However, if keeping lag to the absolute minimum is more important, then connect the PS5 to your TV. You’ll still get Atmos, just not uncompressed Atmos. You’ll also get DTS, but not uncompressed DTS.
MLA QD-OLED
Digital Trends
Akash writes: We have seen how incredible MLA and QD-OLED panels are. Do you have any insight on when we could possibly see a TV that uses both of these technologies to get a TV with QD-OLED colors with MLA brightness?
Well, I’m afraid the answer is that we will never see that happen, but perhaps not for the reasons some might think. At first blush, it might seem like we’d never see MLA make it to QD-OLED because LG Display owns MLA and Samsung Display owns QD-OLED, and those two rivals aren’t going to share tech. However, we’ll never see MLA paired with QD-OLED because QD-OLED, from a technical perspective, would not benefit at all from MLA — or Micro Lens Array — technology.
MLA technology was developed by LG Display to overcome inefficiencies that are inherent to LG’s WRGB OLED panels. In a conventional WRGB OLED panel, there are layers that cause light to scatter — light that is essentially lost. MLA prevents that light from getting scattered by routing it straight out through the panel so that it reaches our eyes.
QD-OLED panels don’t suffer from light scatter because they don’t have some of the layers that W-RGB OLED panels do -– for example, a QD-OLED panel has no color filter. So, MLA would be a useless layer in a QD-OLED TV.
For what it’s worth, the brightness differences between MLA OLED and QD-OLED are pretty slim. I get the best-of-both-worlds idea — it’s just that those two worlds can never meet.
Editorially, I’ll add that I think OLED -– whether MLA or QD-OLED, has gotten about as bright as it will ever get. That is unless a TV manufacturer decides it isn’t going to worry about burn-in risk anymore and rolls back the brightness limitations they have imposed on OLED TVs. Something tells me that’s not going to happen. For a brighter OLED-like picture, I think we need to see micro-LED displays implemented in normal-sized consumer TVs or emissive quantum dot display technology deployed. And I think we might be close to both, actually.
SecurityWeek is publishing a weekly cybersecurity roundup that provides a concise compilation of noteworthy stories that might have slipped under the radar.
We provide a valuable summary of stories that may not warrant an entire article, but are nonetheless important for a comprehensive understanding of the cybersecurity landscape.
Each week, we will curate and present a collection of noteworthy developments, ranging from the latest vulnerability discoveries and emerging attack techniques to significant policy changes and industry reports.
Here are this week’s stories:
Nearly $60 million stolen in crypto wallet drainer campaign
Nearly $60 million were stolen from more than 63,000 victims as part of a cryptocurrency wallet drainer campaign. According to Scam Sniffer, the attackers leveraged 10,000 phishing sites, many advertised via ads on Google and X.
Xamalicious backdoor infected many Android devices
A stealthy backdoor named Xamalicious has infected at least 320,000 Android devices through Google Play. McAfee has identified roughly two dozen applications delivering the malware and the security firm has published a detailed technical analysis of the threat.
Microsoft says threat actors abusing App Installer for malware delivery
Microsoft warns of multiple financially motivated threat actors abusing the ms-appinstaller URI scheme (App Installer) for malware distribution. Cybercrime groups such as Storm-0569, Storm-1113, Sangria Tempest, and Storm-1674 are using malvertising and Microsoft Teams phishing schemes to deploy trojans, backdoors, information stealers, and ransomware. In response, Microsoft has disabled the ms-appinstaller URI scheme handler by default in App Installer build 1.21.3421.0.
Mint Mobile data breach
Prepaid mobile carrier Mint Mobile is informing customers about a data breach that involved unauthorized access to their information, including names, phone numbers, email addresses, SIM and IMEI numbers, and service plan data.
Ubisoft investigating hacking claims
Video game giant Ubisoft has launched an investigation after an unknown threat actor claimed to have had access to its systems for roughly 48 hours. The attacker claimed it attempted to exfiltrate 900 Gb of data, but its access was cut off by the company.
Chrome Safety Check improvements
Google announced that Safety Check for Chrome on desktop will now run automatically in the background, proactively alerting users if saved passwords have been compromised or if potentially harmful extensions are detected. Safety Check will also revoke the permissions of sites that have not been visited in a long time.
NASA releases guidance for space mission security
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has released its first Space Security Best Practices Guide, meant to improve space mission security for both public and private sectors. The agency welcomes feedback from the community to include in future iterations of the guidance.
GAO report on medical device cybersecurity
A report from the US Government Accountability Office highlights that while vulnerabilities in medical devices are not commonly exploited, they can still pose a risk to hospitals and their patients. The agency recommends that the 5-year-old formal agreement between the FDA and the cybersecurity agency CISA, which collaborate on security guidance for device manufacturers and public alerts, should be updated to improve coordination and clarify roles.
Security firm executive arrested in Kazakhstan at request of US will be extradited to Russia
Nikita Kislitsin, a senior executive at FACCT, the Russian spinoff of Group-IB, will be extradited by Kazakhstan to Russia, despite being arrested there at the request of the United States, where he is wanted for allegedly buying personal information obtained through the 2012 LinkedIn hack.
TikTok blames bug for iPhone users being asked to provide passcodes
TikTok claims that a bug was to blame for iPhone users being prompted to provide their passcodes and that the issue has been resolved. The issue was related to an update rolled out in the US and impacted only a small number of users.
SecurityWeek is publishing a weekly cybersecurity roundup that provides a concise compilation of noteworthy stories that might have slipped under the radar.
We provide a valuable summary of stories that may not warrant an entire article, but are nonetheless important for a comprehensive understanding of the cybersecurity landscape.
Each week, we will curate and present a collection of noteworthy developments, ranging from the latest vulnerability discoveries and emerging attack techniques to significant policy changes and industry reports.
Here are this week’s stories:
Nearly $60 million stolen in crypto wallet drainer campaign
Nearly $60 million were stolen from more than 63,000 victims as part of a cryptocurrency wallet drainer campaign. According to Scam Sniffer, the attackers leveraged 10,000 phishing sites, many advertised via ads on Google and X.
Xamalicious backdoor infected many Android devices
A stealthy backdoor named Xamalicious has infected at least 320,000 Android devices through Google Play. McAfee has identified roughly two dozen applications delivering the malware and the security firm has published a detailed technical analysis of the threat.
Microsoft says threat actors abusing App Installer for malware delivery
Microsoft warns of multiple financially motivated threat actors abusing the ms-appinstaller URI scheme (App Installer) for malware distribution. Cybercrime groups such as Storm-0569, Storm-1113, Sangria Tempest, and Storm-1674 are using malvertising and Microsoft Teams phishing schemes to deploy trojans, backdoors, information stealers, and ransomware. In response, Microsoft has disabled the ms-appinstaller URI scheme handler by default in App Installer build 1.21.3421.0.
Mint Mobile data breach
Prepaid mobile carrier Mint Mobile is informing customers about a data breach that involved unauthorized access to their information, including names, phone numbers, email addresses, SIM and IMEI numbers, and service plan data.
Ubisoft investigating hacking claims
Video game giant Ubisoft has launched an investigation after an unknown threat actor claimed to have had access to its systems for roughly 48 hours. The attacker claimed it attempted to exfiltrate 900 Gb of data, but its access was cut off by the company.
Chrome Safety Check improvements
Google announced that Safety Check for Chrome on desktop will now run automatically in the background, proactively alerting users if saved passwords have been compromised or if potentially harmful extensions are detected. Safety Check will also revoke the permissions of sites that have not been visited in a long time.
NASA releases guidance for space mission security
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has released its first Space Security Best Practices Guide, meant to improve space mission security for both public and private sectors. The agency welcomes feedback from the community to include in future iterations of the guidance.
GAO report on medical device cybersecurity
A report from the US Government Accountability Office highlights that while vulnerabilities in medical devices are not commonly exploited, they can still pose a risk to hospitals and their patients. The agency recommends that the 5-year-old formal agreement between the FDA and the cybersecurity agency CISA, which collaborate on security guidance for device manufacturers and public alerts, should be updated to improve coordination and clarify roles.
Security firm executive arrested in Kazakhstan at request of US will be extradited to Russia
Nikita Kislitsin, a senior executive at FACCT, the Russian spinoff of Group-IB, will be extradited by Kazakhstan to Russia, despite being arrested there at the request of the United States, where he is wanted for allegedly buying personal information obtained through the 2012 LinkedIn hack.
TikTok blames bug for iPhone users being asked to provide passcodes
TikTok claims that a bug was to blame for iPhone users being prompted to provide their passcodes and that the issue has been resolved. The issue was related to an update rolled out in the US and impacted only a small number of users.
Small form factor PC manufacturer Minisforum teased new details on an upcoming successor to the EM680, the aptly names EM780m which will be powered by AMD’s latest Ryzen 7 7840U Phoenix mobile CPU. Minisforum did not specify a release date, but it did confirm the new mini-pc will be arriving sometime in the very near future, with some reports claiming the machine will go on sale tomorrow.
The Ryzen 7 7840U is AMD’s latest mobile processor packing eight Zen 4 CPU cores, a Radeon 780M iGPU featuring the RDNA 3 GPU architecture, 16MB of L3 cache, and a maximum boost clock of 5.1GHz. The new chip will give the EM780 a generational leap in performance over its outgoing predecessor, which comes with the older Ryzen 7 6800U.
The newer processor is the only upgrade coming with the EM780; all other specifications appear to be the same as the EM680. As a result, the new model should look virtually identical to its predecessor, featuring the same chassis, storage, and I/O. That said, the EM680 already features a well designed chassis configuration, which should be perfectly adequate for the newer EM780.
The EM680’s I/O includes three USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A ports, two USB 4 Type-C ports (with DisplayPort alt functionality), a TF expansion slot, HDMI 2.1, an audio jack, and a lock port. Wireless connectivity includes Wi-Fi 6E support and Bluetooth 5.3. The EM680 also comes with a M.2 2230 PCIe Gen 4 NVMe SSD slot capable of housing drives up to 2TB, and either 16GB or 32GB of 6400MHz embedded LPDDR5 memory.
The chassis measures just 3.15 inches in length and width and 1.57 inches in height. The top features an active cooling fan that receives air from a ventilation panel in the top and exhausts air out the sides and bottom of the chassis.
The bumps from Zen 3 to Zen 4 and from RDNA2 to RDNA3 graphics should provide a big boost to performance in this mini-PC, enabling the system to run more intensive games and applications. We will know more in the future once Minisforum announces a proper launch for the EM780.
