Latest News

  • Sony’s Excellent CH-720N Headphones Are 40% Off Right Now

    Sony’s Excellent CH-720N Headphones Are 40% Off Right Now

    Back in July, Sony’s new CH-720N headphones were on sale for $98 for Amazon’s summer Prime Day event. I thought they were a really good deal at that price, as they list for $150 and tend to sell for around $130. Now they’re down to $90 for the black version (the white version is $98). That’s the lowest price we’ve seen to date for them, making them one of best full-size headphones bargains. And, if you order them now, they’ll arrive before Christmas.

    Read more: Best noise-canceling headphones

    The CH-720Ns have a bit of a plasticky budget vibe and don’t come with a carrying case, but they’re lightweight and comfortable. As I mentioned in my Sony CH-720N review, I was expecting them to sound pretty mediocre, but I was pleasantly surprised.

    They don’t sound as good as Sony’s flagship WH-1000XM5s, but they sound more premium than they look (and feel), and their overall performance is a step up from their predecessor — the CH-710Ns. Are they worth $150? It depends on your priorities of budget versus quality, but they’re a sweet deal at $98.

    More headphone recommendations

  • iOS 17: Your Photos App Can Recognize Your Pets Now

    iOS 17: Your Photos App Can Recognize Your Pets Now

    Apple released iOS 17 in September, and the latest OS brings new features and improvements to your iPhone, like Live Stickers and offline maps. The OS also updates your Photos app, allowing you to tag and add your pets to your “People & Pets” album — previously called the “People” album.

    According to a survey from the Pew Research Center, 97% of pet owners consider their pets part of the family, and Apple agrees. The company wrote online that “cats and dogs … are part of your family too.” (As a lifelong dog owner, I couldn’t agree more.)

    CNET Tech Tips logo

    Here’s how to tag your pets in the new People & Pets album.

    Tagging your pets in the People & Pets album

    1. Open your Photos app.
    2. Tap Albums.
    3. Tap the People & Pets album.
    4. Tap a picture of your pet.
    5. Tap Add name to enter your pet’s name.
    6. Tap Next.

    Various pictures of a brown and white puppy

    Your phone might ask you to Review the photos of your pet to make sure they’re being identified correctly. After you’ve reviewed the photos of your pet, you can add them to your favorites by tapping the heart next to your pet’s picture in the People & Pets album. Your pet should now appear at the top of the album.

    Now, your iPhone with iOS 17 should recognize your pet and add pictures of them to the People & Pets on its own.

    Your iPhone isn’t perfect and might misidentify your pet. If it does, here’s how to untag your pet from a photo.

    1. Open your Photos app.
    2. Tap Albums.
    3. Tap the People & Pets album.
    4. Tap your pet.
    5. Long press on the misidentified photo of your pet.
    6. Tap This is Not [Your Pet’s Name].

    The misidentified photos will be removed from the album, leaving nothing but the cutest, best photos of your pet.

    For more iOS 17 tips, check out what’s new in iOS 17.2, what was included in iOS 17.1 and our iOS 17 cheat sheet.

    17 Hidden iOS 17 Features and Settings on Your iPhone

    See all photos

  • Apple in 2023: An Unexpectedly Less Predictable Year

    Apple in 2023: An Unexpectedly Less Predictable Year

    It has been an absolutely off-the-wall year for Apple news. I was genuinely impressed by how many surprises the company packed into 2023 and I’m not just talking about the usual upgraded iPhones and MacBooks. I’ve been a tech reporter for over 15 years and Apple is a company that often feels predictable to me.

    Apple made decisions that rocked our world this year, entering new areas of business, bringing products back that we once thought were goners and taking risks on entirely new software and hardware.

    Read more: Best iPhone of 2023

    Apple threw a ton of unexpected news nuggets our way. So let’s look back at the biggest Apple news that happened in 2023 and the stories that will shape our world going forward.

    Vision Pro becomes a reality

    Apple Vision Pro

    There’s no bigger story for Apple this year than the Vision Pro headset. It was rumored and reported on for years, but Tim Cook finally debuted it to the world in June at Apple’s developer conference WWDC.

    But, it’s not quite done yet. We got a preview of what it will look like and even the $3,499 starting price. We learned some things you can do wearing it, how you’ll control it and what you’ll look like wearing it. But we did not see Tim Cook or any Apple executive use it. Only a select group of reporters, including CNET’s Scott Stein, have experienced it in brief demos. The headset even has its own software called VisionOS.

    What makes the Vision Pro extra special is that there’s been so much buildup. But it’s not the first time we’ve waited for a new Apple product to launch after its announcement. The first iPhone was announced at MacWorld in January 2007, but didn’t launch for another six months. When the iPad was announced in January 2010, it wasn’t released until April and the Apple Watch was unveiled in September 2014 but went on sale seven months later.

    The past six months have included a lot of Vision Pro teases and developer testing. The tech involved does make it a more ambitious product than the first iPhone, iPad or Watch. While there’s still a lot to learn about how it works in the real world, you can be certain that the Vision Pro is going to shape every Apple conversation in some fashion for the foreseeable future. Now, we just have to patiently wait until it is ready to launch in early 2024.

    More about the Vision Pro:

    Apple Pay Later and later, Goldman Sachs

    The Apple credit card

    Apple also launched two new financial products. The first was a high-yield savings account for Apple credit card customers. Then there was the rollout of Apple Pay Later that gives people the option to pay for purchases with a series of four installments over the course of six weeks.

    But it wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows for Apple financial news. Reports show that Goldman Sachs lost billions of dollars trying to build out their operation for the Apple Card. In November, the Wall Street Journal reported that Apple is pulling the plug on its credit card partnership with Goldman Sachs, giving the investment bank a proposal for how to exit its contract over the next 12 to 15 months.

    Next year, we could find out which company will be taking over Apple’s credit card and savings account business. Chase and American Express are a couple of the names analysts hope are in the running.

    But it’s not great to announce a new product like the Apple Card savings account and read news that your partner wants to leave the deal all in the same year.

    More on the Apple Card and Apple Pay Later:

    Apple Music Classical scores a hit

    Apple Music Classical ad photo

    Apple’s music streaming service took things up an octave and launched Apple Music Classical as an additional perk for current Apple Music subscribers. The project tackles a complicated problem in the streaming world: Find a way to present and organize classical music libraries intelligently, while dealing with over 5 million tracks that span hundreds of years in different styles. A single famous composition can, itself, have hundreds of recordings, and the process can be further complicated by the fact that people need to be able to search for it in different languages.

    At launch, I felt Apple made something enjoyable for classical music lovers and for folks who just want to discover new stuff. I wish it wasn’t a separate app from Apple Music. But it had to be its own app because classical music has different data fields from pop. I doubt this is Apple’s coda for classical music and I’m curious if we’ll hear more about how the app will evolve its offerings next year.

    More on Apple Music Classical:

    Shot on iPhone, USB-C on iPhone

    iPhone 15 Pro Max recording ProRes Log video

    The iPhone had its own slew of changes and additions that shook up the norm. On the iPhone 15, Apple made the switch from lightning to USB-C charging ports. That happened because the European Union adopted a law that made USB-C charging mandatory on all phones and other small devices by 2024. That change alone will shape how we spend money on charging cords and other related accessories that get updated.

    But there could be another large change coming to your iPhone next year. As first reported by 9to5Mac, the iPhone will support RCS messaging in 2024. That means texts between Android and Apple users can show typing indicators, read receipts and even be more secure.

    This also was the first year we saw an entire Apple presentation video that was shot on iPhone. The Scary Fast October event was recorded with iPhone 15 Pro Max cameras. Apple was transparent on how it used a lot of professional gear to make that magic happen, but it showed any doubters that the iPhone 15 Pro really can do it all.

    More on the iPhone 15:

    The HomePod strikes back

    Apple Homepod mini

    This year saw the surprising return of the HomePod speaker. Apple’s original smart home speaker debuted in 2018 for $350. A price cut followed, and in 2021 Apple said it was discontinuing the device, shifting focus to the more colorful and more affordable HomePod Mini.

    But in January, Apple took us all by surprise with the introduction of a second-gen model of the HomePod. It looks nearly identical to the original, but changes on the inside improved the sound. The company has been presenting the speakers as something that makes for a better home theater experience with the Apple TV 4K box.

    This proves that Apple could make anything return. Will the iPod make a comeback? Hey, it could happen, but it may take a different form.

    More on the HomePod:

    A FineWoven mess

    A photo of the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max with FineWoven cases

    In 2023 Apple pushed to do more for the environment. It pledged to make all its products carbon neutral by 2030 with the Apple Watch being the company’s first carbon neutral product. The fineprint here is that you have to buy Apple’s sport loop fabric band made with recycled materials for your Apple Watch.

    Apple also said it’s making the iPhone with more recycled materials and that it had stopped selling leather accessories in stores. It released a replacement product called FineWoven. The pitch was that a FineWoven case would be a more environmentally friendly alternative to a leather iPhone case as it’s made of 68% postconsumer recycled content.

    But when Apple makes a product to replace leather and it costs $60, high hopes follow. Once we got the case in our hands, things quickly went south. The FineWoven case doesn’t feel as nice as a leather one and it gets marked up easily, leading to a big ol’ FineWoven flop for Apple.

    I hope this doesn’t deter Apple from tinkering in this space. It’s important for Apple to make more of its products and accessories environmentally friendly. The FineWoven debacle was more a lesson in marketing and pricing if anything else.

    More on Apple’s environmentally friendly approaches:

    Apple’s major push into sports gets Messi

    MLS Season Pass on Apple TV game

    Last year, Apple made a huge investment to make Apple TV Plus the home of major league soccer. It’s the only place you can stream all MLS games for the next 10 years. The deal reportedly cost Apple $2.5 billion. But there was a surprise twist.

    This year global soccer superstar Lionel Messi joined MLS and moved to Florida to play on the Inter Miami team. This guy led Argentina to a World Cup title last year. Apparently, Apple played a role in bringing him over. It’s reported that Apple enticed Messi to move to Miami by paying him a cut of revenue from new subscribers to Apple TV’s MLS Season Pass.

    But there was a bit of a hitch: Messi got a hamstring injury in September and couldn’t play for four games, almost half of the season. As a result, Inter Miami didn’t make the playoffs. Still, it’s the kind of Apple news that makes the whole industry think different, both in the world of sports and in streaming.

    More on Apple TV Plus and MLS:

    CNET’s Patrick Holland contributed to this story.

    I Took 600+ Photos With the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max. Look at My Favorites

    See all photos

  • Score Lifetime Access to Headway Premium for Just $50

    Score Lifetime Access to Headway Premium for Just $50

    Knowledge is power, as the saying goes, but carving out time to give your brain the workout it deserves can be a challenge. The Headway app decided to help make it easier to get short snippets of information, broken up into bite-sized pieces. It can even point you towards the must-reads that are right up your alley, based on choices already in your library. And right now StackSocial has a holiday deal that scores you a lifetime subscription to Headway for just $50.

    Headway serves up 15-minute summaries of a huge number of books, with recommendations based on your needs and goals. It’s designed to help people with packed schedules pick up the most noteworthy lessons from top-selling titles. A lifetime subscription to the app will typically cost you a total of $300, but you can get it now for just $50 at StackSocial for a single user.

    A wide variety of the best nonfiction books have been boiled down into summaries with key insights and tips. You can dive into multiple topics, like productivity, self-growth and happiness, and you can customize the app based on your recommendations. If you want to share the app with a partner or friends, there’s a plan for two users that’s available for $100, or you can get a family plan with four users for $150, which saves you over $1,000 compared to the usual price. StackSocial doesn’t have a date specified for when this deal will end, so we recommend getting signed up sooner rather than later if you don’t want to miss out on these savings.

    If you do go for a Headway subscription, pair it with one of these headphone and earbuds deals so that you can use the app even when out and about. You might even want to kick your productivity up a notch with these helpful to-do list apps, so you can get the most out of your learning and self-improvement journey.

    Read more: Best Language Learning Apps for 2023

  • Buy 1, Give 1 With MasterClass’ 2-for-1 Membership Deal

    Buy 1, Give 1 With MasterClass’ 2-for-1 Membership Deal

    As the year comes to a close, many of us are taking stock of how we spent 2023. Did you accomplish all your goals? Did you stick to those resolutions? Maybe you did, maybe you didn’t but the important thing is that we’ve made it. And there’s also still time to squeeze in a goal or two. If you’ve been wanting to improve your skillset, MasterClass is offering two memberships for the price of one. That means, if you sign up and pay for one membership now, you’ll be able to gift another to a friend or family member for free. The two-for-one offer will cost $120 but will truly be worth it when you see just how much you can learn with MasterClass.

    With MasterClass, you’ll have access to learn from the best and gain new skills to implement in the new year and beyond. You can learn to write better stories with Judy Blume, make amazing YouTube videos with Marques Brownlee (aka MKBHD), or pick up some business tips from Richard Branson and Coach K. There are hundreds of lessons for the world’s best in areas like arts, entertainment, writing, business, food, lifestyle, music, science and tech and more.

    If this isn’t your cup of chai, then we have a host of other options for you to consider. If you’ve been wanting to become a certified IT professional, then this CompTIA Course Super Bundle is a good place to start. Or if you want to learn but your schedule doesn’t allow for full courses, there’s Headway, which brings you 15-minute summaries of popular books on almost every subject. Now, you truly have no reason to not learn something new in 2024.

  • Fix TV Sound: How to Improve Dialogue for Good

    Fix TV Sound: How to Improve Dialogue for Good

    If your TV viewing is ruined by muffled or incomprehensible dialogue, there could be a number of causes. But no need to worry, there are some easy fixes too.

    CNET Tech Tips logo

    The most likely culprit for poor sound is the TV’s tiny speakers. The latest TVs may be able to produce amazing images, but with such thin frames they can also suffer from poor sound quality. If you’re using a separate speaker or soundbar, perhaps errant settings are to blame. One quick fix is enabling subtitles on your TV, but if you want to have the set on in the background then it’s sound quality we need to rectify. Let’s begin.

    1. Check your TV’s sound settings

    Television speakers sound terrible out of the box, but most TVs have settings you can use to improve their audio a little. For example, a while back some friends called me to fix their own TV sound — they said the dialogue was boomy and hard to understand. When I got there, I found the soundtrack was distorting at anything but the quietest levels. A look inside the settings uncovered why: Someone had created a weird custom mode that had the bass jacked all the way up.

    TV calibration

    Bass in particular is the enemy of understandable speech: It tends to hide the frequencies that help us decipher what people are saying. Rather than play with individual bass and treble controls, the easiest thing to do is to try the preset sound modes first.

    1. Use your remote to access the TV’s Settings menu, then look for a section called Audio, Sound or something similar.

    2. At the top of the menu should be a selection of presets such as Movie, User or Standard.

    3. While watching a speech-heavy show or movie, cycle through the modes to see which ones sound best.

    If you’re finding the dialogue is mumbly, for example, try a Dialog, News or Speech Boost mode (or if you have an Amazon Fire TV, try this setting). If that’s not available, Movie or Standard is the next best option.

    Also, disabling audio enhancements like Bass Boost or Surround, which often harm dialogue, or Night Mode can help (or not). Every TV and every room sounds different, so it’s worthwhile to experiment.

    If your TV has an individual bass control you can also try reducing the individual level like I did in the example above. Also, a little boost to treble may also help improve intelligibility. Once you’ve got the audio as good as you can, simply exit the menu. Press “save” if the TV asks you to, but otherwise you’re all set!

    2. Have a soundbar or speaker system? Try these tweaks

    External speakers will sound better than what’s built into your TV, but they may need a little tweaking to help with dialogue too. Your speakers might be too close to the wall, for instance, or stuffed inside a cabinet. There could be other causes — for example, if you find that people’s lips are moving but speech isn’t correlating, you may need help with a lip-sync issue.

    Here are some common fixes for bad sound, and they don’t cost a cent. First, simply pick the kind of system that you have:

    Soundbar

    As with TVs in step 1, try setting the soundbar to a speech-enhancing mode, Movie or Standard.

    If your system has a subwoofer, it could be too loud compared to the rest of the system. While explosions are fun, they shouldn’t be at the expense of a good story. If you have a separate bass or sub control, try turning it down. You can also try placing the sub in an optimal position with this guide.

    003-klipsch-reference-theater-pack

    AV or stereo system with speakers

    If you have tower or bookshelf speakers, try moving them away from the walls and corners, and then point or “toe” them in towards the middle where you sit. Removing speaker grilles will also boost speech by a small amount. These little changes alone won’t be enough to transform Sly Stallone into Laurence Olivier, but could be enough to discern what an actor is mumbling about.

    The other thing to try is a calibration — whether via your receiver’s menu or app, or manual. I prefer to do a manual calibration by ear as automated routines almost always need manual tinkering anyway. See CNET’s guide to improving sound quality with your phone.

    3. Buy a new soundbar

    If the previous options aren’t cutting it for you, it may be time to invest in a soundbar designed to improve dialogue. Thankfully excellent soundbars aren’t very expensive, and almost anything will sound better than a TV speaker. The Roku Streambar, for example, is affordable and offers HDMI connections and an onboard 4K streamer. Vizio also makes an excellent range of soundbars.

    Read more: Best Soundbars to Enhance TV Dialogue

    There are some soundbars specifically designed to make speech more intelligible. For instance, when Zvox branched out into hearing aid design the company brought the tech to its range of AccuVoice soundbars. The company has models starting at $100, and it includes the flagship Zvox AV357.

    Going the next step and buying a surround system may be more expensive but it also has added benefits — especially if the system has a dedicated center channel speaker. In surround mixes, dialogue often comes primarily from the center channel, and being able to increase its volume independently can really help.

    More sound system recommendations

  • Here’s How You Can Save Your Netflix Profile Even Once You’ve Been Kicked Off Someone Else’s Account

    Here’s How You Can Save Your Netflix Profile Even Once You’ve Been Kicked Off Someone Else’s Account

    Netflix password sharing officially became a thing of the past earlier this year. After hemming, hawing and testing out its new policy in foreign countries, Netflix finally cracked down on password sharing in the US, early in the summer of this year.

    Although the streaming giant put an end to unofficial password sharing, you can still share a password with someone outside your household, but for a price. Sharing a password with a user outside the household will cost the owner of the account $8 per extra person, on top of what they’re already paying for their Netflix plan. If you’re on the standard Netflix plan, you can add one person outside your household. Premium users can add up to two.

    If you were one of many who lost access to a shared Netflix account this summer, it could be putting a cramp in your holiday-season streaming. The good news is, even if you got booted off a shared account, you can still transfer your profile over to a new account or another existing account to preserve your recommendations, save lists and other settings.

    We’ll show you how to find and enable Netflix’s Transfer Profile feature on your profile, and how to transfer your existing profile to a different account.

    While you’re here, check out the best live TV streaming services of 2023 and the best TVs of this year.

    First, enable the Profile Transfer feature on Netflix

    Before you can transfer your Netflix profile to a different account, you must enable the feature. You can do this on both the web and your mobile device (phone or tablet).

    If you’re on a computer, go to the web browser of your choice, access the Netflix website and go into the profile that you want to transfer. Next, hover your cursor over your profile icon in the top right and click Transfer Profile in the dropdown menu. On the next page, click the Allow button.

    The Profile Transfer feature being enabled on Netflix

    If you’re using a phone or tablet, open the official Netflix application, go into your profile and then tap your profile icon in the top-right corner to access your account settings. Next, tap Account, scroll down to the bottom of the page, and tap Turn on profile transfers. This will redirect you to the official profile transfer page, where you can then hit the Allow button.

    You should then get a notification saying that profile transfers will soon be coming to your account. For my account, it said I would get the feature in two days. It also said I could enable the profile transfer feature instantly if I clicked the confirmation link sent to me via email, which I did.

    Now transfer your profile to another Netflix account

    Once the Transfer Profile is enabled, you can transfer your profile to your own new Netflix account or a different existing account. To transfer a profile, log in to your original Netflix account (web or mobile) and go into the Transfer Profile page found in your settings. You should then see the start of the Transfer Profile process, which will give you a brief summary of what the feature does:

    • Transfers over your recommendations, viewing history, saved games, settings, My List and more to a separate account.
    • Creates a backup of your profile on the original account.
    three panels of the process for transferring your Netflix profile to a different account

    Begin the process by hitting the Start Profile Transfer button; you’ll then be asked whether you want to move your profile to a new account or an existing account. Make your selection then hit Next again.

    If you’re creating a new account, you’ll then enter the credentials for your new account. Verify your email and then follow the prompts you see on the screen to finish setting up your new account. Once this is finished, your profile will be transferred and you’ll have instant access to your new Netflix account.

    If you’re transferring to an existing account, you’ll need the account login and password of that other account in order to connect your profile.

    The owner of the original account will be notified once the process is complete, as will the owner of any existing account you transfer your profile to.

    If you get logged out of Netflix while attempting to transfer your profile, you can continue the process by logging back in and using the Finish Transfer setting.

    Check out the best TV shows to watch on Netflix, as well as the secret hack you need to get better Netflix recommendations.

  • Don’t Let Online Scammers Ruin Your Holiday Shopping

    Don’t Let Online Scammers Ruin Your Holiday Shopping

    The holiday shopping season is well underway, and like a lot of people, you’re probably on the hunt for great online deals on those must-buy holiday gifts.

    The rush to cross everyone off your list may have you ready to pounce on any offer. But security experts say you need to think before you pull out your credit card because scammers and other online Grinches want to take advantage of your haste.

    This holiday season is already smashing shopping records. According to Adobe Analytics, American consumers spent $109.3 billion online between Nov. 1 and Cyber Monday, a 7.3% increase over the same period a year ago.

    That’s not entirely surprising, given the continued increase in online shopping. According to a survey by cybersecurity company McAfee, 76% of Americans planned to shop online this holiday season, and 30% said they planned to do more online shopping than in previous years.

    Meanwhile, now that Black Friday and Cyber Monday are over, shoppers are well aware that with every day that passes, there is less time to get everyone crossed off their holiday lists. Couple that with tough economic conditions, including high inflation, and shoppers are ready to snap up anything that looks like a good deal.

    Michael Jabbara, vice president and global head of fraud services for Visa, says cybercriminals want to capitalize on that behavior as they look to steal credit card numbers, log-in credentials and other personally identifiable information.

    “You have this perfect confluence of events that make the holiday season a perfect time for fraudsters to strike,” he said.

    That can have dire consequences. Thirty-six percent of Americans polled in the McAfee survey reported being the victim of an online scam during a previous holiday season, and three-quarters of those victims lost money as a result.

    That may seem daunting. But just as Rudolph’s bright red nose lights the way for Santa Claus, a few basic precautions will help keep you safe from scams. Here are a few expert recommendations on how to shop safely for the holidays.

    Check your list (and credit card and bank statements) more than twice

    Keep an eye on your bank and credit card accounts. It’s good not only for security but also for keeping track of your spending.

    You can make this task easier by limiting your holiday shopping to a single credit card and email address. Doing so will also reduce the risk of falling for a phishing scam if one comes to your other email accounts.

    Don’t use your debit card for purchases. Your bank will help you recover money if your account is compromised, but it’s a lot easier to quickly get charges reversed when a credit card number is stolen.

    Don’t pay for your purchase with cryptocurrency. By design, crypto is intended to be anonymous and extremely hard to track. If someone steals it, it’s probably gone.

    Requests for payment with retail gift cards should also be looked at with suspicion. They also can’t be tracked and can be easily converted into cash or merchandise by cybercriminals.

    Don’t be a feast for the phishers

    Just like in past years, spam and scam emails are on the rise. Experts at the cybersecurity company Bitdefender said they’ve seen steady increases since the start of November, and they said they expected rates to continue to increase through Black Friday.

    While the majority of the Black Friday-themed junk emails picked up by the company’s filters between Oct. 26 and Nov. 13 were classified as spam from legitimate companies, 46% were scam-related, Bitdefender researchers said.

    The fear is that shoppers could click on a link in a malicious email that would take them to a fake website that would then collect their personal or financial information, putting them at risk of financial fraud or identity theft.

    Big jumps in phishing emails during the holiday shopping season aren’t a new thing. What concerns experts most is that they’ve become more sophisticated and customized in recent years. As consumers have shifted toward online shopping, they have become aware of its risks, which has forced scammers to up their game, Jabbara said.

    Low-cost automated technology can make phishing emails more natural sounding and more contextually relevant. On top of that, experts worry that the rise of increasingly powerful and available generative artificial intelligence tools will supercharge the scale and the perceived legitimacy of those emails.

    Meanwhile, although security technology has also improved, it can’t do much to stop people from clicking on things they’re convinced are legitimate.

    gettyimages-1047653558

    As in past years, many of the scam email campaigns spotted by Bitdefender so far this year impersonated big players in retail, including Amazon, Walmart, Target, Kohl’s and Lowe’s. Researchers from Bitdefender and fellow cybersecurity company Check Point also pointed to an uptick in scam emails promising shoppers amazing deals on luxury bags and accessories from brands like Louis Vuitton, Ray-Ban and Rolex.

    Others have taken the form of shipping notifications complete with barcodes that look like they’re from FedEx or UPS, something that online shoppers are used to receiving this time of year The Federal Trade Commission recently issued a warning about these kinds of scams. It says consumers could put themselves at risk for identity theft or other cybercrimes if they click on a link in one of those emails, then enter their personal information into the scam website that the link takes them to.

    If ytou have any doubt about an emails authenticity, go directly to the shipper’s website and copy and paste the tracking number into it. Don’t click on links or open attachments, no matter how tempting or urgent they might seem.

    Just a heads-up: Phishing isn’t limited to email these days. It also increasingly comes in the forms of text messages, social media posts, phone calls and even QR codes. If they’re unsolicited, ignore those, too.

    Is that Santa? Or just the Grinch in disguise?

    Sure, you can Google around if the major retailers don’t have what you want in stock, but make sure you’re dealing with a legitimate business. Be especially skeptical of ads that pop up in your social media feeds touting amazing, limited-time offers.

    Like the saying goes: If something seems too good to be true, it probably is.

    “It’s a bit cliche, but I think many of these crimes would be prevented if people just kept that in their heads,” said Iskander Sanchez-Rola, director of privacy innovation for Gen, the company behind the Norton consumer security software.

    An offer of a $200 iPhone, for example, may seem enticing, but shoppers need to stop and consider the legitimacy of that kind of deal before they hand over their personal information or credit card number, he said.

    Be picky when it comes to gift cards

    Some people are really hard to shop for, especially if you’re running short on time, which might tempt you to pick up a gift card at your local drug store. But experts say cybercriminals are also looking to cash in on those cards before their recipients ever get a chance to use them.

    Dan Woods, global head of intelligence for F5, which specializes in botnet protection, says thieves will take pictures of the numbers and barcodes on the backs of gift cards, then head to that retailer’s “check balance” website, where they will use botnets to repeatedly bombard the site with PIN code guesses until they’re able to log in to the card’s account and steal its cash balance.

    Retailers and other online businesses are under constant assault from botnets, Woods says, to the point where bots make up the vast majority of their website traffic. An F5 customer logged more than 6 billion botnet attacks in just a few weeks, he says, while another was forced to shut down its “check balance” website and replace it with a human-powered call center because bots kept crashing it.

    There’s usually no way to tell whether a gift card’s number has been stolen unless the criminal is brazen enough to have scratched off the PIN code’s covering, but Woods recommends picking gift cards towards the back of the rack, or better yet, buying packaged cards where the number is covered.

    Elf on the Shelf isn’t the only one watching, but does that really matter?

    The internet has changed a lot in recent years. Any site worth its salt is now encrypted, which means if someone did intercept your web traffic, for instance by logging onto the same Wi-Fi as you at the neighborhood coffee shop, it would be scrambled and useless.

    For that reason, many security experts say a virtual private network, or VPN, which masks people’s locations in addition to encrypting their data, is overkill for most folks.

    But both Jabbara and Sanchez-Rola say that while the chance of the average person being attacked online by a cybercriminal is remote, there’s always the chance that they could accidentally connect to a malicious Wi-Fi network, especially in busy places like a mall or airport. That could put their data at risk of being captured, but a VPN would prevent that.

    Regardless, basic cybersecurity precautions, which you should be taking year round, are a must if you want to ward off a visit from a cyber Krampus.

    Make sure your devices and online accounts — bank and credit cards, email, social media, shopping website log-ins, and so on — are locked down before you start shopping. Update your operating systems, antivirus software and all of your apps.

    All of your online accounts need strong, unique passwords. If you need help, use a password manager. Two-factor authentication, which requires a second identifier like a biometric or push notification sent to your phone, should always be enabled when available.

    If you’re still worried about the security of the free internet at your local store, use the cellular connection on your smartphone instead. It’s a lot more secure than just about any Wi-Fi connection out there.

  • iOS 17.3 Beta 1: What Could Be Coming to Your iPhone Soon

    iOS 17.3 Beta 1: What Could Be Coming to Your iPhone Soon

    Apple released iOS 17.3 beta 1 to public beta testers on Thursday, two days after the iPhone-maker released the developer beta and three days after the release of iOS 17.2. The update brings a few new features and bug fixes to the iPhones of beta testers and developers.

    We recommend downloading a beta only on something other than your primary device. Since this isn’t the final version of iOS 17.3, these features might be buggy and battery life may be short, and it’s best to keep those troubles on a secondary device.

    If you’re a developer or public beta tester, here are some of the new features you can find in iOS 17.3 beta 1. Note that the beta is not the final version of iOS 17.3, so these might not be the only new features to land on your iPhone when iOS 17.3 is released. There’s no word on the public release for iOS 17.3 just yet.

    Stolen Device Protection

    Apple introduced Stolen Device Protection in iOS 17.3 beta 1, and it aims to help protect you and the data on your iPhone. Here’s what Apple writes about the new feature:

    Testing is now available for Stolen Device Protection. This new feature adds an additional layer of security in the unlikely case that someone has stolen your phone and also obtained your passcode.

    • Accessing your saved passwords requires Face ID to be sure it’s you.

    • Changing sensitive settings like your Apple ID password is protected by a security delay.

    • No delay is required when iPhone is at familiar locations such as work and home.

    According to CNET’s David Lumb, Stolen Device Protection requires you to enter your biometric authentication, like Face ID and Touch ID, multiple times in order to access some of your sensitive settings and information. This is an optional security feature, but Apple recommends everyone turn it on.

    Once you’ve updated your iPhone it should prompt you to enable Stolen Device Protection. But if you didn’t see a prompt or you skipped it for later, you can turn the feature on by going to Settings > Face ID and Passcode and tapping Turn On Protection under Stolen Device Protection.

    Read more: Apple’s New iOS 17 Security Feature Blocks Opportunistic iPhone Thieves

    The return of Apple Music collaborative playlists

    a picture of an iPhone showing Game Night collaborative playlist with four participants

    Apple announced collaborative playlists in Apple Music at WWDC 2023 in June, and the feature was included in some beta versions of iOS 17.2. However, Apple removed this feature from the final version of iOS 17.2. With iOS 17.3 beta 1, Apple brings collaborative playlists back, allowing multiple people to edit and control shared playlists in Apple Music.

    Those are some of the new features developers and beta testers will see in the first iOS 17.3 beta. That doesn’t mean these are the only features coming to the next iOS update, or that these changes will stick when iOS 17.3 is released to the public.

    For more on iOS 17, check out what was included in iOS 17.2 and iOS 17.1. You can also check out our iOS 17 cheat sheet.

  • The Sleek and Stylish Nothing Phone 2 Is Up to $150 Off at Amazon

    The Sleek and Stylish Nothing Phone 2 Is Up to $150 Off at Amazon

    Big brands like Apple and Samsung aren’t the only ones with some great phones on the market right now. The sleek and stylish Nothing Phone 2 has also earned a spot on our list of the overall best phones for 2023, thanks to its flashy design and relatively affordable price tag — and right now you can snag one for even less. Amazon has knocked $100 off the 256GB model, which brings the starting price down to $599. Or you can upgrade to the 512GB model for $649, which is a new all-time low price and saves you $150. Though there’s no set expiration for these discounts, we’d recommend getting your order in sooner rather than later if you don’t want to miss out on these savings.

    When CNET’s Andrew Lanxon reviewed the Nothing Phone 2, he said it’s a phone that definitely stands out but that it would be even better if it was cheaper — making it an excellent bargain when you can find it on sale. These prices are available for both the white and gray variants, and you’ll get the same great phone underneath no matter which color you choose. That phone comes with 256GB of storage and 12GB of RAM, both paired with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen 1 chipset. In terms of display, the 6.7-inch OLED panel is nice and big, and the variable 120Hz refresh rate means all of your apps will be buttery-smooth in use.

    Other notable features include a pair of 50-megapixel cameras in back and a 32-megapixel selfie camera, while 15-watt wireless charging is aided by fast wired charging that fully powers the phone in just 55 minutes. And if you’re looking for a different model, you can check out our full roundup of all the best phone deals for even bargains on Apple, Samsung and Google devices.