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Last month, ransomware hackers also shut down city government servers in Greenville, NC. In March, Norwegian metal and power specialist Norsk Hydro was attacked, causing the company to shut down much of its industrial operations. A new report finds that ransomware attacks are dropping, but at the same time they are becoming more sophisticated and costly. Last year, Atlanta refused to pay about $50,000 in Bitcoin to its attackers. Instead, the city wound up spending $17 million to fix its system....

Virgin Galactic’s motherships are responsible for carrying spaceships to their release altitude of about 50,000 feet. The two new motherships are expected to support 400 flights per year. The first new mothership is expected to enter service in 2025. By that time, Virgin Galactic’s commercial spaceflight business – carrying well-heeled customers on a 90-minute journey to micro-gravity and back – should be well under way. The company says its commercial missions are expected to start in the first quarter of 2023....

Sometimes, choosing the most interesting questions to highlight is the best part of my job. This week, I received questions about virtual assistant spies, saving important texts, burner phones, and more. Do you have a question you’d like to ask me? Tap or click here to email me directly. Virtual assistant freakout A: Yes, smart speakers are handy. Yes, they are fun. Yes, they can be fabulous for people with physical challenges....

Called Rewound – Music Player, the app is available free on the iTunes App Store, and is a light enough download at 6.9 MB for the iPhone 11 Pro. And the reason for its being light is simple – it is actually a skin. Launch the app and you get a view of your Apple Music app within it, but there are no images, just different headings on the upper part – Now Playing, Albums, Artists, Songs, Shuffle, Playlists, and Settings....

Apple Watch offers many features that might not be available on the other brand smartwatches. On Apple Watch, you can read and send messages, listen to songs, and answer phone calls even if your iPhone is not with you. However, there’s no way to watch the youtube videos on the Watch, so for that, you will need your Phone only. But did you know there’s a way to watch youtube videos on Apple Watch?...

Nokia may have started the whole phone customization thing by letting you buy different shells, but Motorola took things to completely different level with the Moto X. The handset maker lets you pick the color of the front of your phone, the back of your phone, the volume buttons, the power button, and even the accent around the camera. This is possible thanks to Motorola’s factory in Texas, which ironically used to belong to Nokia....

Apple changed all that. They announce one device at their own private event so they get to steal all the spotlight. Now nearly everyone does the same thing, but there are a few notable exceptions, Sony being a major one. Sony decided to announce not one, but two flagship devices at CES of all places. The Xperia Z and ZL have the exact same specifications, except one model, the Z, is waterproof and made out of glass, whereas the ZL has neither of those features....

But is the offer legit? You need to tread carefully now as a bunch of gas scams has gone viral. Read on to see how you can save money on fuel while not giving away personal information. Here’s the backstory A listener of “The Kim Komando Show” noticed that many gas stations offer discount incentives if you fill up with them rather than the competition. It usually involves downloading an app, signing up for the station’s email newsletter or getting their fuel card....

As we watch technology continue to evolve, we can forget that it’s moving at such a rapid pace that it can leave some people behind. Seeing new technology introduced to folks who may not otherwise know what it is can be daunting, but more often than not it can be quite revealing, too. Revealing and daunting is certainly a couple of ways you can explain it, but entertaining is also a word that some people might use....

Visa is retaining its partnership with the financial agent that manages the US debit card program to work toward the goal of delivering 99% of federal payments digitally by 2030. Visa will also continue to work with governments in the crypto space to develop potential central bank digital currencies (CBDCs). The company also announced that it closed on its acquisition of Tink, a European open banking platform. Additionally, Kelly announced that Payfare, a leading fintech in the gig economy space, and Payoneer, a digital commerce partner, will use Visa Direct on their platforms....

Earlier this week, WhatsApp officially announced that it is bringing video calling support for its messaging platform. The company is rolling out the updates to its official client for Android and iOS in stages to properly balance the load on its services. However, as it is usually the case, a spam message is now being spread on WhatsApp that provides users with the step to immediately enable video calling feature on their device....

The 2022 Tech Salary Report by jobs marketplace Dice found that the average salary for technologists rose by nearly 7% between 2020 and 2021, reaching $104,566. Dice said this marked the highest salary recorded in the 17 years it has been conducting the survey. IT chiefs took home the highest salaries in 2021, with an average $151,983 per year. This reflects a 6% change on 2020, according to Dice. SEE: Tech salaries just hit record highs....

Verizon today announced that it has started taking pre-orders for Samsung’s latest flagship handset — the Galaxy S5. The big red is the last major carrier in the United States to start taking pre-orders for the handset. Sprint, T-Mobile and AT&T started taking pre-orders for the handset since last week. Like all other carriers though, Verizon will be shipping the pre-ordered S5 units on or after April 11th. Verizon is offering the handset at the same price as other carriers — $199 on a two-year contract or for $25....

The Xbox All Access program was created several years ago, during the previous Xbox One generation, to provide gamers with an installment-based way to purchase an Xbox console and subscribe to Microsoft’s Xbox companion services via a single monthly payment. The program was later updated for the Xbox Series X/S generation to provide a way to buy the latest generation of Xbox consoles, and to access Xbox Game Pass Ultimate for $25 per month for the Series S or $35 per month for the Series X....

Why ban a popular social media app? Well, according to information from the Secretary of State, TikTok potentially represents a national security threat. Tap or click here to find out more about the executive order banning TikTok. But aside from geopolitical controversy, TikTok is under fire for another serious issue: viral memes spreading among young people that can cause serious bodily harm. These “beauty hacks” are not for the faint of heart, and many involve exposing your face and internal organs to dangerous chemicals....

Vivo X30 and X30 Pro: Display The Vivo X30 and X30 Pro, both come with a 6.44-inch Super AMOLED display with a 20:9 aspect ratio, 2400 × 1080 pixels screen resolution, 1200 nits brightness, and support for DCI-P3 color gamut. In addition, the display also has a hole-punch cutout at the top, which houses the 32MP front-facing camera. The phone comes in three color options: Black, Blue, and Pink....

Do Not Disturb There’s also a new Do Not Disturb toggle on the Android app that pauses calls and text messages when enabled. However, as explained, To set a timer on Do Not Disturb, you will still need to visit the Voice. You can also disable app notifications for text messages to avoid duplicate alerts exclusively in the Android app. And web users are now making calls right in the browser....

WARNING! Do Not Download WhatsApp Gold WhatsApp Gold, one of the most popular and well-known WhatsApp scams, has recently reappeared. However, don’t worry about this scam, as here we will tell you what it is and how to avoid becoming a victim. The well-known WhatsApp Gold scam started to become popular in May 2016, and since then it has been appearing repeatedly over the years. Now the message that promises the arrival of this fake version of the instant messaging application has begun to circulate again, so be careful and do not forget to delete it if you receive it....

This week, the SIGGRAPH conference, the annual gathering of 3D technologists and artists, is welcoming a new phenomenon some say is as big a deal as those breakthroughs in 1993. “This year, I believe, is a special SIGGRAPH, it will probably go down in history as one of the most important SIGGRAPHs, and an inflection point,” said Rev Lebaredian, Nvidia’s vice president of Omniverse and simulation technology, in a press briefing in advance of the conference....

As the story goes, scientists for pharmaceutical giant Pfizer came across an interesting side effect during clinical tests. “The little blue pill” was later approved and marketed to treat erectile dysfunction (ED), and has since been prescribed for more than 20 years to tens of millions of men. Here’s a not-so-fun fact. Viagra is also one of the most counterfeited drugs in the world. And if you try to order Viagra online – especially if it’s incredibly cheap – you could be getting fakes filled with potentially toxic chemicals....