If you already use Google as your primary email, calendar and cloud storage service, it just makes sense to get a Google phone. And if you want the latest and greatest it has to offer, you’ll want to pick a Pixel 7 series. There are two models in the lineup — the Pixel 7 and Pixel 7 Pro — which feature a new second-gen Tensor Chip, Google’s in-house silicon and improved cameras compared to the previous-gen Pixel 6. You’ll find these new Pixel phones in stock and available at most major retailers and carriers, and thanks to wide range of incredible offers, you can even get one of these sleek new Google devices in your hand for less. So whether you’re an Android user looking to upgrade to the latest model, or a lifelong Apple fan looking to make the switch, read on for the very best Pixel 7 deals you can shop right now.
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The smaller Pixel 7 has a more compact 6.3-inch display, down from the 6.4 inches of its predecessor, though still a touch larger than the budget Pixel 6A. The resolution has remained the same, though, meaning slightly more pixels per inch (416 ppi versus 411 ppi). The Pixel 7 Pro retains a 6.7-inch display.
Particular attention has been paid to the cameras in the Pixel 7 series devices, especially when it comes to zooming and low-light performance. The Pixel 7 Pro is getting a new macro photography mode not found on the regular Pixel 7. The Pixel 7 has, however, seen its camera upgraded to an 11-megapixel sensor, up from the 8 megapixels of the Pixel 6, bringing it in line with its larger counterpart.
What colors do the Pixel 7 and Pixel 7 Pro come in?
The Pixel 7 comes in three color variants: snow (white), obsidian (black) and lemongrass (yellow). The larger Pixel 7 Pro is available in snow, obsidian, and hazel (green).
How much do the Pixel 7 and Pixel 7 Pro cost?
The Pixel 7 series retains the same retail price points that the departing Pixel 6 series held with a $599 starting price. Here’s how US pricing breaks down in full:
There are a few benefits that come with buying your Pixel 7 from Google directly. For one, all models and colors are in stock, so you don’t have to worry about getting your ideal configuration, and Google allows you to buy your phone outright, as opposed to an installment plan required by some retailers and carriers.
And right now, Google is even offering a no-strings-attached discount on both models, saving you $100 on the Pixel 7 and $150 on the Pixel 7 Pro. Google also has its own trade-in program, so you can save even more by trading in your old device from Apple, Samsung, Google and even smaller brands like Motorola and OnePlus.
If you’re after an unlocked model, Best Buy is offering the same deal as Google right now — $100 off the Pixel 7 and $150 off the Pixel 7 Pro. Best Buy claims you’ll need to choose same-day activation to get the discount, but you get the same price when you select the activate later option.
Best Buy has also partnered with several mobile carriers, and is offering some carrier-exclusive discounts as well. Verizon customers can save up to $900 with an eligible trade-in, which even includes old and damaged phones. T-Mobile is offering its customers up to $800 off with an eligible trade-in, but you’ll need to sign up on a qualifying Magenta Max plan as well to get the discount. And at the moment, Best Buy isn’t even carrying any models for AT&T customers, so they’ll have to look elsewhere for discounts (see below).
AT&T’s offers vary a bit depending on which Pixel 7 model you’re looking at. If you want the base model Pixel 7, you can save up to $380 with a new line of service on an eligible plan with no trade-in required (though you still can trade in a device for a bigger discount). For the Pixel 7 Pro, AT&T is offering up to $800 in enhanced trade-in credit (meaning you’ll earn more credit for trading in the same devices), with no new line required. And both phones qualify you for 50% off a pair of Google Pixel Buds when you add them to your cart with the purchase.
Like AT&T, Verizon’s offers vary a bit between the two different models. New customers who want the base model Pixel 7 can save $520 with a new line on a qualifying service plan, which drops the price down to just $5 per month. And existing customers can get it for free with a qualifying trade-in.
Though if you’re adding a new line of service, you’re better off with the Pixel 7 Pro, which you can get for free with a new line on a qualifying plan. Existing customers can pick it up for as much as $800 off when trading in an eligible device.
And no matter which phone you’re buying, you can get a free $200 Verizon gift card when you switch your existing number over from another carrier. Verizon is also offering some other bonuses, including a free Pixel Watch and $490 off a Samsung Galaxy Tab S7 FE, but you’ll need a service plan for the new device as well.
T-Mobile is offering up to $600 off the Pixel 7 and Pixel 7 Pro when you trade-in a qualifying device and have or switch to a Magenta Max Plan. If you don’t have a Magenta Max plan, you can still save up to $300 with a qualifying trade-in.
New customers can save $501 when adding a new line of service on an eligible plan. And if you’re on a Magenta Max plan you can get a free pair of Google Pixel Buds A-Series or up to $100 off Google Pixel Buds Pro with the purchase.
Love shopping online but don’t have time to compare prices or search for promo codes? Our CNET Shopping extension does that for you, so you always get the best price.
Congress rejected the US Army’s request for funding to purchase more combat goggles from Microsoft, according to a report Thursday from Bloomberg.
The report says Congress rejected the Army’s request of $400 million to purchase about 6,900 goggles, which are based on Microsoft’s HoloLens Headset. Congress reportedly rejected the funding because field tests showed the headsets caused “mission-affecting physical impairments,” like headaches and nausea.
Lawmakers did approve $40 million in funding to develop a new goggles model, Army spokesman David Patterson said in an email, according to Bloomberg.
In December, the Army awarded a “task order” to Microsoft to develop a new variant of combat goggles, called version 1.2. The money for this order came from funding acquired in 2021.
The Army wrote that the new variant will address “physiological” issues identified during testing. Field testing for version 1.2 of the goggles is supposed to begin in September.
“Microsoft is committed to working with the Army to further develop [Integrated Visual Augmentation System] technology,” a Microsoft spokesperson said in an email to CNET. “The regular cadence of building and testing IVAS… will help us refine and improve the technology to ensure it brings unparalleled protection and capabilities to America’s Soldiers.”
To answer the question that’s likely popped into your head, Pokemon No. 1,000 is Gholdengo. This Steel/Ghost type is the evolved form of Gimmighoul, which transforms if leveled up after you collect 999 Gimmighoul Coins.
The video runs through all nine generations of the core video game series, stretching back to the 1996 originals on Nintendo Game Boy. It highlights how much the visuals have evolved, and highlights some of the languages the series has been translated into.
Now they should do an updated version of the Pokerap.
Global appeal for Korean content has gone up in the past five years. While K-pop acts like BTS and Blackpink helped bring South Korean music to the forefront, K-dramas now have a huge international presence. Series like Squid Game and Heirs boosted the genre’s popularity, and streaming services are releasing TV shows and films to satisfy audience demand for new and vintage titles. K-dramas first started gaining momentum in South Korea in the ’70s, but the genre’s reach is as close as Netflix and other platforms.
Grounded in Korean culture, these stories pack in high-qualitystorytelling across the board — from zombie thrillers to emotional family sagas
. But prepare for a ride. Predictable plots are not a hallmark in this genre, as romance, action, magic and social commentary are often woven into the storylines. And so is music.
Hands down, you can be entertained while watching a Korean series. Here’s a list of the best places to stream K-dramas.
Rafael Henrique/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images
Streaming K-dramas on Rakuten Viki — better known as Viki — is like hitting the mother lode. The streaming service specializes in content from Asia with a dedicated section for Korean offerings. Viki has over 1,000 Korean TV series and more than 200 movie titles that you can watch on demand, including originals. And the platform also airs some shows live. Everything on the service is subtitled, often in multiple languages.
One of the standout features of Viki is its special collections section of curated content. Examples include shows to check out if you like Squid Game, K-drama for beginners, or best Korean dramas of the year.
Rakuten Viki offers a free streaming option with ads and limitations for some content. Paid subscriptions are ad-free: Viki Standard Pass is $6 a month and the Viki Plus Pass is $10 monthly. The Standard Pass includes HD, Viki originals and access to exclusive Standard titles.
The Viki Plus Pass includes everything from the Standard version, plus offline downloads and access to hundreds of hours of additional content. Each paid plan comes with a seven-day free trial. Additionally, there’s an option to rent some movies for $2 to $3 each.
At this time, Viki does not offer multiple streams, so you can only stream one thing at a time per account. However, you can follow shows, actors, or collections and set up a watch list if you register a free account. Viki is available on a web browser or via Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV, Android TV, Chromecast and mobile devices.
Squid Game, All of Us Are Dead, Extraordinary Attorney Woo and Alchemy of Souls made waves at Netflix, with more originals in the pipeline. Currently, Netflix has more than 130 Korean shows and movies on the platform, featuring licensed picks like Stranger and a string of originals, includingMoney Heist: Korea – Joint Economic Area.
Netflix has several ways for you to find K-dramas on the service and simplifies the process of drilling down to niche categories. There’s its “K-Dramas for Beginners” list and an even more specific “K-Dramas about Roommates” section. If you love romance, bromance, fantasies or historical epics, you’re in luck. The service offers a mixture of subtitled and dubbed fare.
Click on the TV Shows menu and choose the “K-dramas” genre to pull up more than a dozen rows of content. New releases, classic series and movies are among the choices. While Netflix’s Korean movie selection isn’t as deep as other streaming services, there are enough on the platform to keep your watch list stacked.
Based in Los Angeles, Kocowa launched in 2017 and all of its content comes directly from South Korea. The service boasts more than 17,000 hours of Korean TV, including Running Man and The Penthouse. In addition to K-drama television series and movies, there are reality shows, docuseries, K-pop events and competitions on the service. Its K-drama titles are organized into niche categories like romance, sports, crime or action. Like Netflix, the service has rows that denote whether titles are trending, new or genre-specific. And viewers appreciate Kocowa’s quick turnaround time when it comes to subtitling new arrivals on the platform.
You can view some content for free on the app or Kocowa’s website without signing up. You can also sign up for Taste24HR, which provides free access to Korean shows and dramas right after they air on South Korea networks MBC, KBS and SBS. The new content streams with and without subtitles and is up for 24 hours. Both options include ads.
The $7 monthly/$70 per year subscription offers ad-free viewing of everything on the streaming service, and there’s a 14-day free trial. You can also pay $0.99 for a single day of access, which is handy if there’s one show you want to watch on a particular day or simply want to try things out.
While Kocowa is also available through Viki, the content on there does not include the service’s whole library. Users in the U.S., Canada, and certain regions in South America can watch Kocowa directly on its website, or on Roku, Chromecast, Android and iOS devices. The app is not available on Amazon’s Fire TV devices.
As soon as you open the AsianCrush app on your TV, you’ll notice live programming is running right alongside the standard thumbnails. The streaming service has content from South Korea, Japan, China and beyond, and you can watch most of it for free on the ad-supported version.
Its lineup of K-dramas and films can be streamed on-demand or, if you keep up with the schedule, as live feeds. Browse AsianCrush’s library according to country, title, genre, on-demand listings, or through one of its special collections such as Korean movies. Popular titles include Boys Over Flowers and Sweet Revenge. And here, subtitles are king.
To watch without ads you’ll need the premium subscription for $5 per month or $50 a year. Ratings are listed next to each title, and AsianCrush’s on-demand menu breaks content down into categories like “Independent,” “Staff Favorites” or “Popular Korean Dramas.”
AsianCrush can be streamed via iOS devices, Google Play, Apple TV, Android TV, Roku, Amazon Fire TV or on your computer. The service is only available in the U.S. and Canada.
Tubi has roughly 200 Korean titles in its library that range from the late ’90s to 2021 — and it’s all free. Rather than scouring the app using creative search terms, movies and TV series can be found under Tubi’s “K-Drama Plus” category, and you can search by title if you know exactly what you want to watch. While the majority of its selections are subtitled, there are a handful of English-dubbed titles.
Though the streaming service is free, you will have to register for an account if you want to create a personal watch list. Tubi is available on all major streaming devices, including game consoles and smart TVs.
If you haven’t ventured into Prime Video’s catalog lately, it’s worth a peek at their Korean entertainment selection. Unfortunately they’re not easy to find. While the service has a designated section for foreign content, it’s not organized by country. Your best bet is to use specific titles or search terms such as “Korean dramas” or “Korean horror movies” to comb through Prime’s titles. Alexa won’t necessarily be much help either.
Amazon’s streaming service offers a sampling of originals, including The Handmaiden. You can also catch popular titles such as Train to Busan, Café Midnight, and Goblin, which are available to watch at no extra cost with a Prime membership. Its K-dramas are spread across genres where you’ll find crime-themed shows like Voice housed alongside romantic fantasies such as Secret Garden. The platform carries both subtitled and dubbed programming.
Note that a stand-alone Prime Video subscription is $9. If you don’t have a membership, no worries: Some K-dramas on the platform are part of IMDb TV, Amazon’s free ad-supported video streaming arm. Other content has a rent or buy option, and that’s indicated in the title banner.
New to the world of Korean entertainment? K-drama — short for Korean drama — is a type of television series produced by and starring South Koreans. Some consider it a genre on its own, but within the Korean drama landscape, there are love stories, adventures, fantasies, historical dramas, comedies, horror tales, medical procedurals and school-centric sagas.
Writers will often work in themes centered on family, gender roles, mental health or other things affecting everyday society. Some streaming services include movies in their K-drama listings, whether they’re in-house original productions or licensed from studios.
Are any K-dramas dubbed in English?
K-dramas are typically streamed with subtitles in various languages, including English and Spanish. On your search to find voice-dubbed content, you may be hard-pressed to come across titles that are dubbed in English. While some streaming services have a small sampling of dubbed versions, Netflix is the best place to find them.
Which K-drama streaming sites are legal?
Pirated content is nothing new. With that in mind, those hunting for Korean series may encounter some illegal sites that offer free streaming. Though free, these often pose security risks. Legit streaming services either make their own content or have licensing agreements in place with creators to ensure copyright laws are respected. How can you spot the difference between legal and illegal providers?
First, verify whether the service has an app. If you can find it on Google Play, Apple’s App Store, FireTV, Roku and the like, chances are it’s legal. If you’re urged to use a VPN for a site, be wary. That’s usually an indicator that it’s not operating above board. And beware of those with dubious user interfaces.
Check the service’s history or “About Us” section to find out how long it’s been in business and where it’s headquartered. If you see disclaimers about sharing links, run. Look for streamers like Netflix or Viki who offer monthly paid subscriptions. Though platforms like Tubi dole out free content, they have ad partnerships with credible businesses. When all else fails, Google legal streaming services.
A tech analyst predicted cheaper AirPods and a new generation of AirPods Max could ship as early as late 2024 or early 2025. Apple is aiming for a price of $99 for its budget earbuds, Ming-Chi Kuo said on Twitter Wednesday.
That price would beat Apple’s suggested price for its most affordable AirPods (2nd generation) by $30. The 2nd generation AirPods have regularly retailed for $99 from other sellers, like Amazon, in recent months. The current generation of AirPod Max headphones have a suggested retail price of $549.
It wasn’t too long ago that you had to be a creative professional to justify a pricey laptop with an OLED display. Plenty of mainstream and affordable laptops now come equipped with an OLED display, so more people can enjoy stellar contrast and accurate, vibrant colors.
How does an OLED panel achieve this goodness? A quick primer: The pixels in an OLED display can be completely turned off, which means the panel can produce absolute blacks and contrast ratios superior to an LCD screen (where the liquid crystal can only block some of the light). Even an LCD with local dimming can’t match an OLED’s ability to turn individual pixels on and off. OLED displays also offer a wide color range because primary colors can hit higher saturations that let the display produce more colors. Higher saturation levels lead to more vibrant colors, and with more colors on its palette, an OLED panel can create colors that are more accurate.
Another advantage? OLED displays feature thinner layers than LCD displays and don’t require a backlight, which allows for thinner and lighter laptop designs.
You might reasonably think that an OLED is more energy-efficient than an LCD because it doesn’t need to power a backlight and can turn individual pixels completely off. We have found, however, that OLED displays tend to have a negative impact on battery life. They do offer decent battery life; you just can’t expect to get a longer runtime from an OLED laptop in addition to the higher image quality.
With a basic understanding of the advantages of an OLED laptop, let’s take a look at the best deals I see right now. I’ve included mainstream laptops that have approachable prices along with high-powered laptops that are currently selling at a discount — and a Chromebook. Yes, you can get an inexpensive Chromebook with an OLED display. The prices and discounts are valid at the time of this writing, and I’ll update this story as sales expire and new deals emerge.
This mainstream model from Asus is one of the most affordable OLED laptops selling right now. It boasts a 15.6-inch OLED display with a full HD (1,920×1,080-pixel) resolution. Based on an 11th-gen Core i5 CPU and featuring 12GB of RAM and a 512GB solid-state drive, it has more memory and double the storage capacity that you’ll find in many laptops that cost less than $1,000. It also has both Type-A and Type-C USB ports, saving you from having to carry around an adapter. It’s a good deal at its $800 list price and an even better buy at its current sale price.
This Asus VivoBook is slightly smaller than the above unit but has a higher-resolution display and a newer, more powerful processor. The 14.5-inch OLED display has 2,880×1,800-pixel resolution. The laptop is powered by a Core i7-12700H CPU, 12GB of RAM and a 512GB SSD. The display is a 16:10 panel for more vertical space and has a 120Hz refresh rate — double that of the standard 60Hz for smoother visuals. It’s also rated for a substantial 550 nits of brightness.
Acer’s Swift 3 features a 14-inch OLED display with a crisp 2,880×1,800-pixel resolution powered by a Core i7-12700H, 16GB of RAM and integrated Intel Iris Xe graphics. In addition to the incredible contrast and color of the OLED panel, the display also features a 16:10 aspect ratio that provides more room vertically than a traditional widescreen 16:9 laptop display for more room to work and less scrolling through long web pages and documents. The laptop also supplies a roomy 1TB SSD and an all-aluminum chassis that weighs only a hair more than three pounds.
The 13.5-inch Spectre x360 is one of CNET’s favorite two-in-one convertibles for its premium styling, light weight and long battery life. This model features a 12th-gen Core i7 CPU, 16GB of RAM and a spacious 1TB SSD. In addition to Intel Evo goodness, the 13.5-inch display is the standout here. It’s an OLED touch panel with what HP calls a 3K2K resolution — that is, 3,000×2,000 pixels. The display also has a boxy 3:2 aspect ratio, providing more vertical space than wider screens for less scrolling through web pages and documents.
Dell’s 15-inch XPS OLED laptop isn’t necessarily geared toward gamers, but this configuration certainly can handle AAA titles with its 12th-gen Core i7-12700H CPU and GeForce RTX 3050 Ti graphics, if you keep the quality settings and resolution in check. You also get 16GB of RAM and a roomy 1TB SSD. The OLED touchscreen has a fine 3,456×2,160-pixel resolution in a 16:10 aspect ratio for more vertical space and less scrolling. It’s $500 off right now at Best Buy.
Did you know you could have an OLED display on a Chromebook? Lenovo’s two-in-one Chromebook Duet 5 is proof that such a thing is possible. It features a detachable, 13.5-inch OLED display with a full-HD resolution powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon processor, and boasts 4GB of RAM and 64GB of built-in storage. It’s a good value even at its full price, and right now you can pick it up for even less.
LastPass, one of the world’s most popular password managers, is yet again the subject of intense scrutiny after its latest security breach. Just before Christmas, LastPass CEO Karim Toubba revealed in a blog post that a security incident the company first disclosed in August had eventually led to an unauthorized party stealing customer account information and vault data. This is the latest in a lengthy string of security incidents involving LastPass that date back to 2011. It’s also the most alarming.
An unauthorized party now has access to unencrypted subscriber account information like LastPass usernames, company names, billing addresses, email addresses, phone numbers and IP addresses, according to Toubba. That same unauthorized party also has a copy of customer vault data, which includes unencrypted data like website URLs and encrypted data like the usernames and passwords for all the sites customers have saved in their vaults. If you’re a LastPass subscriber, the severity of this breach should have you looking for a different password manager.
What should LastPass subscribers do?
The company didn’t specify how many users were affected by the breach, and LastPass didn’t respond to CNET’s request for additional comment on the breach. But if you’re a LastPass subscriber, you need to operate under the assumption that your user and vault data are in the hands of an unauthorized party with ill intentions. Though the most sensitive data is encrypted, the problem is that the threat actor can run “brute force” attacks on those stolen local files. LastPass estimates it would take “millions of years” to guess your master password — if you’ve followed its best practices.
If you haven’t — or if you just want total peace of mind — you’ll need to spend some serious time and effort changing your individual passwords. And while you’re doing that, you’ll probably want to transition away from LastPass, too.
With that in mind, here’s what you need to do right now if you’re a LastPass subscriber:
1. Find a new password manager. Given LastPass’ history with security incidents and considering the severity of this latest breach, now’s a better time than ever to seek an alternative.
2. Change your most important site-level passwords immediately. This includes passwords for anything like online banking, financial records, internal company logins and medical information. Make sure these new passwords are strong and unique.
3. Change every single one of your other online passwords. It’s a good idea to change your passwords in order of importance here too. Start with changing the passwords to accounts like email and social media profiles, then you can start moving backward to other accounts that may not be as critical.
4. Enable two-factor authentication wherever possible. Once you’ve changed your passwords, make sure to enable 2FA on any online account that offers it. This will give you an added layer of protection by alerting you and requiring you to authorize each login attempt. That means even if someone ends up obtaining your new password, they shouldn’t be able to gain access to a given site without your secondary authenticating device (typically your phone).
5. Change your master password. Though this doesn’t change the threat level to the stolen vaults, it’s still prudent to help mitigate the threats of any potential future attack — that is, if you decide you want to stay with LastPass.
LastPass alternatives to consider
Bitwarden: CNET’s top password manager is a highly secure and open-source LastPass alternative. Bitwarden’s free tier allows you to use the password manager across an unlimited number of devices across device types. Read our Bitwarden review.
1Password: Another excellent password manager that works seamlessly across platforms. 1Password doesn’t offer a free tier, but you can try it for free for 14 days.
iCloud Keychain: Apple’s built-in password manager for iOS, iPadOS and MacOS devices is an excellent LastPass alternative available to Apple users at no additional cost. iCloud Keychain is secure and easy to set up and use across all of your Apple devices. It even offers a Windows client, too, with support for Chrome and Edge browsers.
How did it come to this?
In August 2022, LastPass published a blog post written by Toubba saying that the company “determined that an unauthorized party gained access to portions of the LastPass development environment through a single compromised developer account and took portions of source code and some proprietary LastPass technical information.”
At the time, Toubba said that the threat was contained after LastPass “engaged a leading cybersecurity and forensics firm” and implemented “enhanced security measures.” But that blog post would be updated several times over the following months as the scope of the breach gradually widened.
On Sept. 15, Toubba updated the blog post to notify customers that the company’s investigation into the incident had concluded.
“Our investigation revealed that the threat actor’s activity was limited to a four-day period in August 2022. During this timeframe, the LastPass security team detected the threat actor’s activity and then contained the incident,” Toubba said. “There is no evidence of any threat actor activity beyond the established timeline. We can also confirm that there is no evidence that this incident involved any access to customer data or encrypted password vaults.”
Toubba assured customers at the time that their passwords and personal data were safe in LastPass’s care.
However, it turned out that the unauthorized party was indeed ultimately able to access customer data. On Nov. 30, Toubba updated the blog post once again to alert customers that the company “determined that an unauthorized party, using information obtained in the August 2022 incident, was able to gain access to certain elements of our customers’ information.”
Then, on Dec. 22, Toubba issued a lengthy update to the blog post outlining the unnerving details regarding precisely what customer data the hackers were able to access in the breach. It was then that the full severity of the situation finally came to light and the public found out that LastPass customers’ personal data was in the hands of a threat actor and all of their passwords were at serious risk of being exposed.
Still, Toubba assured customers who follow LastPass’s best practices for passwords and have the latest default settings enabled that no further action on their part is recommended at this time since their “sensitive vault data, such as usernames and passwords, secure notes, attachments, and form-fill fields, remain safely encrypted based on LastPass’ Zero Knowledge architecture.”
However, Toubba warned that those who don’t have LastPass’s default settings enabled and don’t follow the password manager’s best practices are at greater risk of having their master passwords cracked. Toubba suggested that those users should consider changing the passwords of the websites they have stored.
What does all of this mean for LastPass subscribers?
The initial breach ended up allowing the unauthorized party to access sensitive user account data as well as vault data, which means that LastPass subscribers should be extremely concerned for the integrity of the data they have stored in their vaults and should be questioning LastPass’s capacity to keep their data safe.
If you’re a LastPass subscriber, an unauthorized party may have access to personal information like your LastPass username, email address, phone number, name and billing address. IP addresses used when accessing LastPass were also exposed in the breach, which means that the unauthorized party could also see the locations from which you used your account. And because LastPass doesn’t encrypt users’ stored website URLs, the unauthorized party can see all of the websites for which you have login information saved with the password manager (even if the passwords themselves are encrypted).
Information like this gives a potential attacker plenty of ammunition for launching a phishing attack and socially engineering their way to your account passwords. And if you have any password reset links stored that may still be active, an attacker can easily go ahead and create a new password for themselves.
LastPass says that encrypted vault data like usernames and passwords, secure notes and form-filled data that was stolen remains secured. However, if an attacker were to crack your master password at the time of the breach, they would be able to access all of that information, including all the usernames and passwords to your online accounts. If your master password wasn’t strong enough at the time of the breach, your passwords are especially at risk of being exposed.
Changing your master password now will, unfortunately, not help solve the issue because the attackers already have a copy of your vault that was encrypted using the master password you had in place at the time of the breach. This means the attackers essentially have an unlimited amount of time to crack that master password. That’s why the safest course of action is a site-by-site password reset for all of your LastPass-stored accounts. Once changed at the site level, that would mean the attackers would be getting your old, outdated passwords if they managed to crack the stolen encrypted vaults.
If you want the best tablet experience but don’t want to lug around a device of 10 inches or more all day, then Apple’s iPad Mini is the device for you. And right now, you can save $99 across ever configuration thanks to a huge sale at Best Buy. With prices starting at $400, this is within $1 of the lowest we’ve seen this iPad go since its release and one of the best iPad deals around right now. Amazon is matching select discounts, too.
The iPad Mini offers the smooth and familiar experience of iPadOS with just an 8-inch footprint. As well as being the best iPad for portability, it beats most similarly-sized Android tablet when it comes to performance and has a battery life of up to 10 hours.
It has a stunning 8.3-inch Liquid Retina display as well as a 12-megapixel camera, which can quickly scan documents, capture 4K video and will even keep you centered during video calls. It’s great for browsing, streaming, and reading, and its portable design makes it the perfect travel tablet.
Don’t discount its productivity chops, though. The sixth-gen iPad Mini is equipped with Apple’s advanced A15 Bionic chip, the same used on the iPhone 13, as well as 4GB of RAM. Its USB-C port makes it a versatile tablet when it comes to work tasks and support for Apple Pencil 2 opens up a world of creative possibilities. It has Wi-Fi 6 support for speedy web performance and offers all-day battery life (plus impressive standby time, so it won’t be dead every time you go to use it). It also boasts 5G support if you opt for one of the Wi-Fi and cellular models, which are on sale today too.
Which tablets have the best price?
Use our CNET Shopping extension to compare top products or find coupon codes before buying your next tablet.
The last couple of years have been hard on the games industry. Development teams disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic had to delay big games, Starfield and the Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom chief among them. But the losses of 2021 and 2022 are the gains of 2023, because we a lot to look forward to this year. This list of release dates for notable 2023 titles is already packed, but for now we’ve only added games set for launch in the first half of the year. More will be added as the year progresses and we get more concrete dates.
2022 was a pretty solid year for games. We got an open-world Pokemon, the long-awaited sequel to God of War and, of course, the tour de force that was Elden Ring. Only time will determine if the games of 2023 reach those same heights, but the numbers are certainly in our favor. Let’s just hope Zelda doesn’t get delayed again.
Here are all the big PlayStation, Xbox and Nintendo Switch games to keep track of in 2023.
The first big video game of 2023 is a big one, and I do mean big. Fire Emblem games are massive: Engage is a follow up to 2019’s Three Houses, a chunky RPG that players could sink over 100 hours into without seeing everything. Three Houses was loaded with critical acclaim and Engage will hopefully recapture both the scale and the magic of its predecessor. Engage features characters from the series’ long history — which at least means newbies can get properly acquainted with Super Smash Bros. characters like Marth, Corrin and Blyeth.
Forspoken (PS5, PC)
Release date: Jan. 24.
Forspoken is a new AAA game from Square Enix.
Square Enix
Excitement for Forspoken should straight away come with the asterisk that feedback to the game’s demo was mixed with both compliments and criticisms. But it’s worth paying attention to, even rooting for, because of the simple fact that it’s a new IP from Square Enix. In an industry filled with sequels and spinoffs, that has to count for something.
Forspoken is a fish-out-of-water tale that follows New Yorker Frey Holland, who somehow manages to get plunged into the fantastical land of Athia. Classic stuff. It’s developed by many of the same people who created Final Fantasy 15, something that’s immediately obvious when you see its real-time action in motion. Good luck, Frey, I hope you pull through. Forspoken will launch on PC and PS5, where it’s a console exclusive for at least two years.
Third time’s the charm is the magic rule, so hopefully Hogwart’s Legacy doesn’t break it. Set in the Harry Potter universe, this RPG was first announced in 2020 with a release date set for 2021. It was then delayed to 2022. But that didn’t pan out, and last year Hogwart’s Legacy was delayed once more. Its latest release date is Feb. 10. Set about 100 years before The Boy Who Lived and He Who Shall Not Be Named, Hogwart’s Legacy is a tantalizing concept: A big open-world game set at the most famous school of witchcraft and wizardry.
Games based on blockbuster franchises can be hit or miss. Hopefully all the delays are a sign that this promising idea has been given the love and nurturing it needs to succeed.
Note: The PS4 and Xbox One versions of Hogwarts Legacy will be released on April 4, with a Switch port coming on July 25.
Sony hopes Horizon Call of the Mountain will be a killer app for PlayStation VR 2
Guerilla Games
One of Sony’s goals for 2023 is to make VR happen. To help do that, it’s enlisted Guerilla Games to make Horizon Call of the Mountain, a virtual reality spinoff to Horizon Zero Dawn and Horizon Forbidden West. You won’t be playing as Aloy, but will rather take up the hunter bow of Ryas, a member of the Shadow Carja tribe that featured prominently in Zero Dawn. Being a VR game, Call of the Mountain looks to feature less open-world roaming, but more exhilerating climbing, exploration and bow-based combat. It launches alongside the PlayStation VR2 headset on Feb. 22.
Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty (PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, PC)
Release date: March 3.
Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty is a new IP with a pedigree: It’s developed by Team Ninja, the gang behind the acclaimed Ninja Gaiden and the even more acclaimed Nioh franchise. Wo Long is set during the Three Kingdoms era of Chinese history — roughly 220 AD — but features plenty of fantastical (and grotesque) beasts to slay. Like Nioh, this looks to be inspired by Dark Souls, meaning you should be prepared to die. A lot.
Resident Evil 4 Remake (PS4, PS5, Xbox Series X|S, PC)
Resident Evil 4 was originally launched in 2005 on the GameCube.
Capcom
After the roaring success of the Resident Evil 2 Remake, Capcom is at it again. Originally released in 2005 as a GameCube exclusive (imagine that) Resident Evil 4 is the most acclaimed title in the illustrious franchise. Because of its fanfare, Capcom has ported and remastered Resident Evil 4 over and over again. Hopefully you don’t have RE4 fatigue, because it’s now getting proper remake treatment.
If you’ve never played Resident Evil 4, and if Capcom can do for it what it did for Resident Evil 2, this is sure to be a must-play.
Crime Boss: Rockay City (PC, PS5, Xbox Series X|S)
Release date: March 28.
We know Rockstar is developing Grand Theft Auto 6, but it’s still yonks away. Crime Boss: Rockay City, by 505 Games, is clearly inspired by GTA, and may help fill the GTA-shaped hole in your heart while you wait for the next big open-world crime bonanza.
Crime Boss: Rockay City is a first-person game about 90’s Florida turf wars, and it’s designed to be played alone or with friends. The most attention-grabbing feature of the game is its celeb-heavy cast. Kill Bill’s Michael Madson stars as the protagonist, Travis Barker, and the supporting cast features Kim Basinger, Danny Trejo, Chuck Norris and Vanilla Ice.
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom (Switch)
Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is a sequel to one of the greatest games of all time.
Nintendo
Not much needs to be said here. The Legend of Zelda is one of gaming’s most renowned franchises, and 2017’s Breath of the Wild is incontestably one of the greatest games ever. Nintendo has a habit of delaying Zelda games — Tears of the Kingdom has already been delayed once — so hopefully the May 12 date sticks.
Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League (PS5, Xbox Series X|S, PC)
Though Gotham Knights was a sequel of sorts to Batman’s Arkham series, Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League is its true spiritual successor. It’s developed by Rocksteady, the same studio that developed the Arkham trilogy. The game lets you play as four members of the Suicide Squad — Harley Quinn, Deadshot, Captain Boomerang and King Shark — and includes Kevin Conroy’s last recorded performance as Batman.
Street Fighter 6 (PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, PC)
Street Fighter 6 is the franchise’s fifirst new mainline game since 2016.
Capcom
Street Fighter 6 is the first major new game in the franchise since 2016. As you can imagine, it’s expected to have dramatically improved visuals. There will also be five new characters, with more to potentially be announced. Other new additions include a single-player adventure mode and in-game commentary, a welcome feature for esports fans. But as nice as those extras are, the Street Fighter series is all about its rock-solid fighting system, which is simple enough for beginners to have fun but deep enough that dedicated fighters will spend years to mastering it. As long as that still works, this should be a banger.
Diablo 4 (PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, PC)
Last year we got an updated version of Overwatch, now it’s Diablo’s turn to get supercharged. Diablo 4, the latest major installation in Activision Blizzard’s long-running action RPG franchise, couldn’t come sooner. Fans have been awaiting Diablo 4’s arrival since its announcement in 2019, a whole pandemic ago.
Final Fantasy 16 is a timed PS5 exclusive until the end of the year.
Square Enix
I’m going to be honest with you, I’ve watched various Final Fantasy 16 trailers several times and I still have no clue what this game is about. There’s a fight going on between six different countries, and somehow giant summons like Ifrit are involved. I’m not super sure, but the fact that Final Fantasy is coming to a new console generation is reason enough for this game to turn into a massive cultural event. (It’ll be a PS5 exclusive until the end of the year.) It may also be the first of two big Final Fantasy releases this year, with Final Fantasy 7 Remake’s sequel potentially — but probably not — hitting during the holiday season.
Hollow Knight: Silksong (Switch, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, PC)
Hollow Knight, launched in 2017, was praised for being one of the best Metroidvania games without the words “Metroid” or “Vania” in its title. In 2023, indie developer Team Cherry wants to do it all again. You’ll play as a different character — a boss you fought in the original game — but the core gameplay here is the same. Explore, fight a bunch of dudes, get lost, explore some more, repeat a few times and ultimately succeed. I, for one, am ready.
Redfall looks like a mix of Deathloop and The Last of Us. It takes place in Redfall, a fictional Massachusetts town that was flowing along swimmingly until a swarm of vampires took it over and cut it off from the outside world. Like in The Last of Us, you’ll explore a town brimming with remnants of the before times, but the game looks to have a less serious, more quirky attitude about it, similar to Deathloop. That makes sense, as Redfall is developed by Arkane Austin, a sister studio to Deathloop creators Arkane Lyon.
Forza Horizon brought the driving franchise’s open-world exploration to the Xbox Series X|S, but in 2023 we go back to Forza’s driving-sim roots. This game will be more similar to Gran Turismo 7, which hit the PS5 last year, trading open roads for closed tracks. A little more finesse, a little more professional. No matter their flavor, Forza games can be relied on to provide some delicious drives — and 2023’s Forza Motorsport should be the prettiest one yet.
If it weren’t for Tears of the Kingdom, Starfield would be 2023’s most anticipated game.
Bethesda
Like The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, Starfield was one of 2022’s great delays. Originally slated for a Nov. 11 release, it was pushed back to the “first half of 2023.” It’s for the best: Starfield is a game from the same Bethesda studio that made Skyrim and Fallout 4.
If done right, Starfield could be a game that people will be playing for years to come. There are apparently 1,000 planets to explore, so an extra few layers of polish will go a long way. If Tears of the Kingdom is most predicted to be 2023’s best game, Starfield may be its most ambitious.
Assassin’s Creed Mirage (PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, PC, Luna)
Ubisoft is making a more focused Assassin’s Creed Mirage.
Ubisoft
Ubisoft is taking an unusual approach with Assassin’s Creed Mirage. After years of “bigger is better,” Ubisoft is now scaling down and trying the “less is more” approach. In announcing Assassin’s Creed Mirage, the company boasted it to be a “shorter, more narrative-driven game than recent entries in the series.” Sounds good to me. Mirage is set in 9th century Baghdad, a couple decades before Valhalla, and stars Basim, who played a supporting role in that game.
Lies of P (PS4, PS5, PC, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S)
Release date: 2023.
Lies of P sounds gnarly as hell: It’s the story of Pinocchio reimagined as a 2023 Dark Souls. Your goal is to find Mr. Geppetto, and a synopsis for the game talks about needing to lie your way through a rough city to do that. That’s all well and good, but from Lies of P’s trailer it looks like combat will be the real star of the show here.
Spider-Man 2 features both Peter Parker and Miles Morales.
Sony
I didn’t like 2018’s Spider-Man as much as I’d hoped to: It was good, but no Batman: Arkham City. Almost everyone else loved it, though: Spider-Man has an 8.7 rating on Metacritic, and beat out Arkham City to become the best-selling superhero game ever. Spider-Man 2 will launch in late 2023 exclusively for the PS5, and will feature both Peter Parker and Miles Morales, who starred in his own 2020 spin-off. The Spider-Men will need to combine their powers in this game, because there’s a wild Venom on the loose.
Mint Mobile, the prepaid carrier owned in part by actor Ryan Reynolds, could soon be sold. According to Bloomberg, the company is “in talks” to be purchased by T-Mobile.
The budget provider has made a name for itself in recent years with ads featuring Reynolds pitching Mint as a more affordable option to larger telecom companies like AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile. A division of Ultra Mobile, Mint Mobile has long been rumored to be up for sale.
T-Mobile didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. Mint Mobile declined to comment on speculation.
While Mint Mobile pitches itself as a rival to larger wireless companies, it doesn’t run its own 4G LTE or 5G service and instead is an MVNO that operates on T-Mobile’s network. That Mint is already using T-Mobile could help make any transitions of customers a bit easier.
It wasn’t immediately clear whether Ultra Mobile would be sold alongside Mint, or if T-Mobile was just interested in the latter. It’s also unclear whether the Mint Mobile brand would continue or if it would be folded into other T-Mobile-owned brands such as Metro by T-Mobile.
Reynolds became part-owner of Mint Mobile in 2019 and has promoted the company through TV ads he’s starred in and social media posts from his personal 21 million follower Twitter and 47 million follower Instagram accounts, as Bloomberg pointed out. He currently owns about one-fourth of Mint Mobile.
The last notable prepaid brand sale was Tracfone, which Verizon acquired for $6 billion in 2021. The carrier then launched its own prepaid brand, called Total by Verizon, in September 2022 to take on similar prepaid brands Metro by T-Mobile and AT&T’s Cricket Wireless.
