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Maria Diaz/ZDNET As a smart home reviewer, I have a healthy variety of smart plugs and outlets in my home. There’s also your garden variety of smart lights and smart light strips, as you can expect. But the Kasa Smart Plug Ultra Mini is the one smart plug I can’t rave about enough. It’s one of the most reliable ones I’ve ever tested, both in connectivity and voice control integrations. Plus, each one is 20%…

PerlaStudio/Getty Images Between unencrypted messaging hacks, data breaches, and AI scam calls, smartphone-centered security threats appear to be everywhere. iVerify found that one type of spyware is trying to make a comeback. Also: Why you should power off your phone once a week – according to the NSA Last week, the mobile security firm resurfaced findings from its spyware detection feature: Out of 2,500 device scans that customers submitted for inspection, seven devices had been infected by the infamous…

AMD’s Secure Encrypted Virtualization (SEV), meant to protect processor memory from prying eyes in virtual machine (VM) environments, can be tricked into giving access to its encrypted memory contents using a test rig costing less than $10, researchers have revealed. Dubbed “BadRAM” by researchers from the University of Lübeck in Germany, KU Leven in Belgium, and the University of Birmingham in the UK, the proposed attack is conceptually simple as well as cheap: trick the…

In a world where technology increasingly shapes how cities manage safety and security, Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Internal Affairs is leading the way with its groundbreaking “Carpet CCTV” project. This ambitious initiative has revolutionized public safety by combining a massive surveillance network with advanced analytics and artificial intelligence, creating a system that shifts the focus from reactive responses to proactive prevention. Over the past four years, the scope of Kazakhstan’s surveillance infrastructure has expanded dramatically. The…

Stack Social If you live near a BJ’s Wholesale Club and have been thinking about buying a membership, now is a great time: New members can buy an annual membership for just $20 (reg. $55) through this Stack Social deal — saving you 63%.  BJ’s is similar to Costco and Sam’s Club (both of which also are offering membership deals right now through the links provided), in that you can save up to 25% off…

ZDNET’s key takeaways The Konsu Apple Watch band is made in NYC, and retails for $140. The leather band is flexible and comfortable, and the bold color and design options create a unique quiet-luxury accessory. The band might be considered too pricey for some Apple Watch wearers What’s the deal?  Konsu is discounting their watch bands by 15% before the holiday season. Right now, you can grab one for $119 (save $21 at Konsu).  While…

Google Google’s latest innovation, Trillium, marks a significant advancement in artificial intelligence (AI) and cloud computing. As the company’s sixth-generation Tensor Processing Unit (TPU), Trillium promises to redefine the economics and performance of large-scale AI infrastructure. Alongside Gemini 2.0, an advanced AI model designed for the “agentic era,” and Deep Research, a tool to streamline the management of complex machine learning queries, Trillium stands out as Google’s most mature and ambitious effort to reshape its…

Rena Lolivier/Getty Images Last month, Google announced its favorite Android apps of 2024. Now, the company has revealed its favorite Chrome extensions of the year for the desktop. The list is heavy on work-related tools, but several shopping and entertainment add-ons are included, plus a game if you need a distraction during the holidays. Also: Google’s Gemini 2.0 AI promises to be faster and smarter via agentic advances Here’s a look at Google’s top Chrome…