But ever since I added an Alexa-controlled microwave, I no longer ever, ever touch a button on the face of the microwave. Why is “Alexa, cook for 90 seconds” for my morning oatmeal so much more compelling than pushing the number buttons? But it is. So when I had the opportunity to replace my remote-controlled bedroom fan (controlled with a little hand remote) with an Alexa-controlled bedroom fan, the Govee Smart Tower Fan, I jumped at it....

The real-life incident, as detailed by cybersecurity researchers at Barracuda Networks, took place in August 2021, when hackers from BlackMatter ransomware group used a phishing email to compromise the account of a single victim at an undisclosed company. From that initial entry point, the attackers were able to expand their access to the network by moving laterally around the infrastructure, ultimately leading to the point where they were able to install hacking tools and steal sensitive data....

Also: How to save on utility bills with four smart home devices According to the EPA, the average American family uses more than 300 gallons of water per day, with at least 30% of this amount being used outdoors, mainly for landscaping irrigation. This amounts to about 33,000 gallons of water a year used in outdoor irrigation, just from the average residential household. Consequently, there’s a significant potential not only for water waste, but also for high utility bills for the homeowners....

Online meetings are safe and convenient, but they also pressure us to look good and keep our space clean all the time. When your home happens to look disheveled (hey, it happens), you scramble to find a clean spot to point the camera. With an app like XSplit VCam Premium, you no longer have to worry about your surroundings. It lets you remove, replace, and blur your background during video calls....

Review: The Galaxy Z Fold 4 is a high-priced ticket to productivity heaven I’ve been using the Z Fold 4 for the last couple of weeks, after using a Galaxy Z Fold 3 for the past year. There are some pretty big upgrades in the latest Fold, and some aspects of the Z Fold 4 that feel stagnant and are worth pointing out. Below, I’ll walk through three of my favorite features of the Z Fold 4, and a couple of things that I wish Samsung would push the envelope forward with....

Most everyone has cloud storage these days, and there are plenty of options to choose from no matter your needs. The average internet user puts a lot of thought into where they’re storing their downloads, but not enough thought into how they’re downloading it in the first place. File sharing services like BitTorrent are a great way to get all kinds of media content, but the speed and security can be a crapshoot....

That would mean its fixed wireless customer base would be higher than the 150,000 it is targeting for its on-net FttB and HFC network, which currently has 135,000 customers. The existence of this network was enough to spook the federal government into legislating a AU$7.10 monthly charge on all fixed lines that are not connected to the NBN and capable of quicker than 25Mbps speeds. By this time next year, TPG could very well have a larger customer base that is immune from the so-called broadband tax....

Recently, the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) announced it was running a new UX research degree program, launched this fall, developed in collaboration with Google. This is the first degree program in UX research, the school says. “Instructed by leading faculty and mentored by Google design leaders, students will be prepared to lead design sprints and find tomorrow’s solutions for today’s challenges. In the UXR program, students learn to use analytics, consumer data, and behavioral insights to generate opportunities to improve services and products end to end....

Verizon announced the collaboration with Google on Tuesday and said the RCS standard provides “a more interactive and modern messaging experience right from Messages by Google.” According to a statement from Verizon, Messages by Google will be preloaded onto every Verizon Android device by next year. Google and Verizon said the switch will offer consumers “higher-quality photos and videos, chatting over Wi-Fi or data, knowing when your message is read, enjoying more dynamic and engaging group chats, and securely chatting with other Messages users in available one-on-one conversations with end-to-end encryption....

The Sony TV brings 75-inches of great LED picture into your home theater and uses 4K HDR picture to give you life-like images while you’re watching your favorite films. This high-quality picture can also be attributed to the XR Contrast Booster 10 that enhances detailed blacks and peak brightness. Get over a billion colors, too, with the XR Triluminos Pro – a signature Sony tech feature that makes their TV models consistently part of our picks for best OLED TVs....

Novices should start with “Beginner Object-Oriented Programming in C# and .NET Core” which will teach you the fundamentals of object-oriented programming and allow you to advance as a developer. Then you can dive deeper into C# with the “Learn C# By Building Applications” course. It will help you to understand the concepts underlying C#6 & C#7 and how to use them to create real-life .NET Console apps. “Microsoft SQL Server & T-SQL Course for Beginners” will explain the benefits of SQL and the way data is stored by SQL Server....

But what if I told you there was an alternative? There is, and it’s been around since 1997. That alternative is Linux. Now, before you throw your arms up in the air in frustration, hear me out. Sure, there are tons of Linux distributions available to install for free. Those distributions range from the very basic to the incredibly complex and everything in between. Also: How to choose the right Linux desktop distribution Along with those varied versions of the operating system, there are numerous desktops you can opt to try....

SpyCloud, a security firm, highlights in a new report how people are struggling with passwords for multiple online accounts. Based on 1.7 billion username and password combinations it gathered from the 755 leaked sources in 2021, it estimates that 64% of people used the same password exposed in one breach for other accounts. Reused passwords are a potential security problem because if a password has been compromised once then hackers can use it to access other accounts if it’s been used as the sign-in for another site....

Every year, despite how well I know him, he surprises me. Last year, for example, I found out that Jeff was a great singer. He sang as one of the leads for Pega’s band, the Layer Cakes, who won the CRM Playaz Bring Your Own Band (BYOB) 2020 competition, which was global and fierce. Here are Jeff’s vocals (watch “Shut Up and Dance with Me”). He also builds cars. That’s a story for another day....

Another method is called the AppImage, which is a unique format for distributing Linux applications in such a way that they don’t require installation and can be run without admin privileges. In other words, you download the AppImage for an application and run it. That’s it. Also: Twitter turns its back on open-source development Well, sort of. There’s another step to take before you can run the application, which is part of what I want to talk about....

Financial advisors evaluate a client’s assets, cash flow, and liabilities along with their tax status and insurance coverage to develop financial goals. They also analyze financial data and maintain compliance with laws. The US Bureau of Labor Statistics projects a 5% employment growth for financial advisors between 2020 and 2030. Day-in-the-life of a financial advisor Financial advisors should have expertise in basic math, personal finance, and research. Advisors may specialize in financial planning, insurance, and retirement along with stocks, real estate, and taxes....

While researchers don’t understand everything about the quantum world, what they do know is that quantum particles hold immense potential, in particular to hold and process large amounts of information. Successfully bringing those particles under control in a quantum computer could trigger an explosion of compute power that would phenomenally advance innovation in many fields that require complex calculations, like drug discovery, climate modelling, financial optimization or logistics. As Bob Sutor, chief quantum exponent at IBM, puts it: “Quantum computing is our way of emulating nature to solve extraordinarily difficult problems and make them tractable,” he tells ZDNet....

The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) projects 22% employment growth for market research analysts between 2020 and 2030. A major increase in organizational data usage and applications drives those new jobs. Here, we explore data analyst jobs and what it takes to land them. What do data analysts do? Data analysts fill many roles. Their main duties typically include: Collecting, mining, and analyzing sales and market information Assessing marketing effectivenessEvaluating consumer purchasing habits and patternsDesigning data collection and evaluation toolsCreating projections and reports based on their findings...

Check out the benefits of having a business savings account and checking account, seven reasons why you will need an account, mistakes to avoid, what you will need, and how to choose the right account. Benefits to having a business account You may be wondering why a business checking account or savings account is different from your personal bank account and why you should go through the trouble of setting one up....

While the idea of using passwords such as QWERTY, 123456, and PASSWORD might seem like a joke these days, they are still commonly found in data dumps of stolen credentials published online. Major online service providers now often enforce strong passwords with lower-case and capital letters, numbers, and special characters and may also encourage and enforce multi-factor authentication (MFA). However, businesses may not impose the same standards. In addition, ghost and forgotten accounts, hardcoded credentials, and the re-use of username and password combinations are still common problems today....