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The best voice assistants: Summed up How We Chose the Best Voice Assistants Compatibility The value of a voice assistant hinges on the number of things it can control. On your phone, it should be able to access apps and accomplish simple tasks. At home, it should be able to complete household commands, like switching the light bulbs on and the thermostat off. Voice assistants that boast broad compatibility give you seamless control over disparate technology, and, by extension, over the comfort and security of your home....

As a fifth-generation Pendleton farmer, Hill spends his days visiting flat, windswept fields of dryland winter wheat. During harvest season, which runs for about 20 days in August, Hill gets to work at around 6 am. He spends the day cutting and transporting his crop and doesn’t stop until 8:30 pm, when the late-summer sun finally begins to set. “It’s enough to keep us busy,” Hill says of the farming life....

The Microsoft-owned code repository service announced Copilot for Business in November, adding a new teams-based option to the existing Copilot for individuals. The service costs $10 per user per month. Copilot for Business subscription costs $19 per user per month, based on the number of assigned Copilot seats. Also: Memory safe programming languages are on the rise. Here’s how developers should respond OpenAI’s Codex, which powers Copilot code suggestions, translates natural language into code....

The Razer Nari Essential wireless gaming headset is lightweight, comfortable headwear that has earned positive customer reviews worldwide. The headset offers THX Spatial Audio surround sound, basic noise cancellation, an adjustable headband, gel cushion earcups, and a microphone. Read on: The 5 best PC gaming headsets: Premium audio, no drops Razer has included audio controls and a mic button on the headset for convenience. You can extend the microphone while it’s in use – for example, during a gaming session with friends – and then collapse it to keep it out of the way when you’re only listening to music....

In an effort to see the differences in extension download trends, Firefox researchers compared average monthly installs from March 2020 to May 2020 and the average monthly installs for the three months prior, between December 2019 and February 2020. They only looked at extensions in Firefox that had at least 10,000 users. There was a 21% overall increase in extension installs during the earliest months of the pandemic. Millions of people were forced to use Zoom for school and work, leading to a 1,522% increase in installs of the Zoom Scheduler extension, which integrates Google Calendar with the Zoom app....

The research, based on customer data by HP Wolf Security, found in the period between July and September this year, 42% of attempts at delivering malware attacks used archive file formats, including ZIP and RAR. That means cyber attacks attempting to exploit ZIP and RAR formats are more common than those which attempt to deliver malware using Microsoft Office documents like Microsoft Word and Microsoft Excel files, which have long been the preferred method of luring victims into downloading malware....

Detailed by cybersecurity researchers at ThreatFabric who’ve dubbed it ‘Xenomorph’ because of links to another trojan called Alien, this malware first appeared this month. The malware is designed to steal usernames and passwords to access bank accounts and other sensitive personal information. Like many other forms of Android malware, the malware has apparently managed to bypass protections and gets onto smartphones via apps in the Google Play Store. SEE: Cybersecurity: Let’s get tactical (ZDNet special report) One of the apps identified was a cleaner app that promised to help speed up a device by removing unused clutter: the app has been downloaded over 50,000 times....

For example, your keys are at the bottom of a bag. Or you’ve dropped your keys into undergrowth. You’d think the sound, along with the brilliant white of the AirTag would mean that this wasn’t a problem, but in my experience, this is not the case. Even a shiny, noisy white disk can become quite invisible, doubly so when you need to find it in a hurry. I wish the AirTag had a LED built into it to make it stand out in low-light conditions (maybe we’ll see this when Apple comes out with the AirTags Pro)....

Malicious PDFs are an unusual tool to use today because attackers prefer Office formats like Word and Excel that are more familiar to PC users, according to threat analysts at HP’s Wolf Security, who recently discovered the PDF malware campaign. The malicious PDF was used to infect PCs with Snake, a keylogger and credential stealer that was first spotted in late November 2020, according to HP. SEE: Just in time?...

I use a number of different USB meters, but lately, I’ve been turning to ChargerLab’s Power-Z KM002C USB-C meter more and more. Physically, I like the KM002C USB-C meter. It’s a small, tidy setup. The 1.3-inch color screen is clear and easy to read. The four buttons make controlling it a lot easier than some of the other meters I’ve seen that have rotating dials and tiny click switches on them....

If you’re going to be one of those people, read on. You don’t want to mess up this transfer, because not only could you lose data, but the next person could end up being unable to use the iPhone you sold or gave them. Follow these steps for a successful result for both of you. 1. Update Before you even think about wiping your old iPhone, there are some things that you should do....

For the three-month period, the telco reported 468,000 fewer connections on 100Mbps speed plans, but it saw an extra 335,000 line move onto 250Mbps, and 113,000 extra 50Mbps plans. The end result meant instead of being TPG’s most popular tier in December, the 215,000 users on the 100Mbps now trail behind the 663,000 50Mbps connections, 426,000 on 12Mbps, 336,000 on 250Mbps, and 311,000 on 25Mbps plans. At the same time, the number of TPG users on the 500-100Mbps Home Ultrafast shot up in the quarter from 352 to almost 63,000 users....

Many people don’t realize that travel doesn’t have to be expensive or complicated anymore. There’s no reason to fear language barriers, navigating unfamiliar places, or dealing with plane fare comparisons. Now, you can get valuable travel hacking tips, cheap flights, and learn new languages with the World Traveler Bundle, which is currently on sale for only $159.20 with coupon code ROSETTA20. For the first time, you can get lifetime access to Rosetta Stone’s 24 languages....

If this is the case, ZDNET has found an excellent deal on a premium smart TV worthy of consideration. Available at Best Buy, we’ve found a 75-inch LG 83 Series QNED smart TV on sale. Normally set with a retail price of around $2,499, the US retail giant has slashed the price of this TV set to $1,499, saving you $1,000 for a limited time. The LG 75-inch 83 Series QNED smart TV stands out from the rest due to its QNED technology....

The ICO justifies the fine because it asserts that TikTok allowed 1.4 million U.K. children under 13 to create an account on the app in 2020. TikTok’s minimum age to create an account is 13. Also: TikTok bans explained: Everything you need to know TikTok collects and stores user data when people create an account or scroll the For You page without an account. The app gathers IP addresses, location, device metadata, and tracks users’ cookies....

The attack, which Ukrainian officials initially called “massive,” took down several government websites in Ukraine, including those for the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry and the Ministry of Education and Science. In a statement, the Security Service of Ukraine, State Special Service and Cyber Police said 10 of the government websites “were subjected to unauthorized interference.” Ukrainian news outlet Ukrinform said the websites for the country’s energy, treasury, environment, veterans, and state emergency service departments were defaced....

Beyond a PC, laptop, smartphone, and potentially a camera, however, a huge variety of accessories is on the market that can make your setup more productive and efficient. The Adonit Nest 7-in-1 Hub, which offers a range of connectivity ports through one USB point, is one such gadget – and is currently on sale. Normally retailing for $80, Adonit is offering 19% off during the holiday sales, bringing the cost down to $65....

This includes more direct messaging around a return to the office and a general reining-in of the flexible-working opportunities that employees have become accustomed to over the past two years. When times seem uncertain, many are defaulting to old ways of doing things that seem safe and familiar, which, more often than not, means ‘command and control’. From a management perspective, this might seem logical: hard times call for hard work, and the only way to ensure employees are giving it their all is to have them under the watchful eye of leaders....

Case in point, Opera’s Workspaces feature has been an absolute game-changer for managing a constantly growing collection of tabs that would have been otherwise daunting. Seriously, Opera’s Workspaces feature is that good. However, some features have been added to the Opera browser that not only don’t match up to all that is Workspaces, but also make me question why they are there in the first place. The same thing holds true with other browsers that take a kitchen sink approach....

In the business world, many positions have little need for public speaking. These roles are available to accountants, marketers, and human resource professionals, among others. Many of the positions involve numbers, data analysis, and writing. All jobs require some amount of communication. Public speaking may be an occasional part of your job, but it’s not the backbone of these positions. Keep in mind that developing public speaking skills can help you on the job market and as you advance your career....