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Apple Will Be The First To Get TSMC’s 3nm Chips

Apple M3 3nm process

Apple will be the first in the market to use TSMC chips manufactured using the 3nm process technology.

The first chips should appear by the beginning of 2023 at the latest. As a priority customer at TSMC, Apple is preferred for new manufacturing processes.

According to Semianalysis, Apple M2 Pro and Max, which are planned to be released around the years 2022 and 2023, are still being manufactured with N5P. Only the successor M3 is to be created in the process called N3 by TSMC. The currently available M2 is also made with N5P, a further development of TSMC’s 5 nm process.

But according to the Taiwanese Commercial Times, Apple’s first 3nm chip will be the M2 Pro chip, followed by next year’s A17 Bionic SoC for the iPhone 15 Pro models.

According to TSMC, the N3 production has started better than the predecessors N7 and N5 — despite or possibly because of the switch to extreme ultraviolet exposure (EUV). With its predecessors, TSMC still relied on DUV with immersion lithography and multiple exposure. Multiple exposure, in particular, is prone to error because it requires great accuracy to produce functional circuits.

Free Or Cheap Software Can Cause More Harm Than Good 

PC inventory software

There was a beautiful time a few years ago when the internet didn’t resemble a massive shopping mall haunting you with ads. Unfortunately, that memory still haunts some people who believe free software is still worth it.

A decade ago, antivirus companies offered free versions of their products that worked well to help you test them out and convince you to get the paid version. Seeing that their marketing strategy didn’t perform nicely, they decided to change their approach. Instead of charging for their services, they implemented some shady tactics.

First, they started changing your default search engine. Instead of being directed to Google, you got a weird-looking page with many ads. Not only that, but they also installed extra software that you didn’t need. Sure, the installation bubble asked if you wanted to download it, but no one reads through the steps, especially when you’re in a hurry and there are ten panels forcing you to click next.

These companies sacrificed the comfort of their users to make more money. They installed junk ware or bloat ware on your device to make a few extra dollars on the side. Luckily, that practice has stopped, but that doesn’t mean that it hasn’t evolved.

Is free software useful? 

The reason why marketing something as free works so well is because everyone wants free stuff. When you download something, and it gets the job done, you’re delighted and think you’ve outplayed the system. You’re horribly wrong if you believe you can do that in 2022.

Nowadays, it’s common knowledge that every device needs to have a VPN installed. Virtual private networks protect your devices from hackers and can bypass geographical restrictions. Even though they don’t cost a lot, many people are stingy and go for the free version. Here’s what happens if you do the same thing.

You install a free VPN on your device, and as soon as you open the application, you realize their marketing has fooled you. Instead of unlimited data, you only get 500 megabytes, which you’ll use up in half an hour by scrolling on Instagram. That’s one scenario.

Another thing that can happen is that the app is filled with ads that completely ruin your entire browsing experience. You scroll for 2-3 minutes and get an ad break. If you want to stop the ads, the only solution is to buy their premium service. That’s the second scenario.

Now, it starts getting trickier. Instead of showing ads or restricting your usage, some VPN companies will keep logs of what you’re looking at and sell it to ISPs or data companies. This goes against what a VPN is supposed to do, protecting your privacy and keeping you private online.

Finally, some applications claim to be VPNs or antivirus programs but are malware in disguise. This is the most dangerous scenario because you could be installing spyware or a virus. The difference between the two is thin. Viruses immediately harm your computer by making it slower or making certain processes impossible.

Spyware, however, does zero harm but keeps track of everything you’re doing. If you’re inserting passwords, emails, bank details, or ID numbers, all of that info can be sold on the dark web. You allow all permissions, your data gets stolen, and your bank account gets drained. Not everything on the App Store and Play Store is safe and secure to use.

What should you do instead? 

There’s a massive difference between getting something entirely for free or using a free trial. A VPN free trial allows you to test whether you like the experience for a week or a month and proceed with payments if you’re satisfied with the service. You’ll have access to all the tools, and then they’ll hook you in with the ease of use and no change in browsing speed while enjoying all the benefits.

Some companies offer ad-blocking features. They scan files for malware and check whether websites have an SSL certificate before you visit them. Whenever you download or install free software, it’s a gamble that you will get exactly what you’re paying for it. Since you’re not paying, the only thing you can get is a virus, a new search engine, and stress before paying for the real deal.

Dutch Programmer Introduced A Tool That Makes Noise Every Time User Data Is Transmitted To Google

Google collecting user data

Google is spying on you all the time. A programmer has managed to expose the IT giant that is abusing its position by collecting users’ personal data.

Dutch programmer Bert Hubert has introduced a tool that allows you to monitor the data that Google collects about users — it emits an audible alert every time Google and its services send information about user actions to the server.

The developer demonstrated the tool in action in a short video in which he opened a page with vacancies on the website of the Dutch government.

https://twitter.com/bert_hu_bert/status/1561466204602220544

It turned out that Google spies on its users literally non-stop. The sound signal responded to each button press and to each mouse click on a link or an active element of the site, even at the stage of entering a request into the address bar.

Users have speculated that this excessive activity is due to the use of the Chrome browser, but the creator denied this assumption and stated that the situation is not much different in other browsers.

Bert Hubert himself posted the source code for the tool on GitHub, so that anyone can use it.

How to Navigate IT Staffing Shortages with Tools

techprep by facebook

In today’s employment market, it’s tough to find the people you need when you need them. People are disinterested in working, they’re jaded by economic conditions, and they’ve gotten used to staying at home with minimal (if any) responsibilities. In the IT field, this problem is even more pronounced thanks to shortages of skilled laborers.

How do you navigate these staffing shortages? What tools, technologies, and techniques can help close the gap left by a seemingly insufficient human team?

Network Observability

Network observability gives you insight into your network, helping you determine its internal state, locate bottlenecks, understand demand, and assess how your resources are being used. In combination with monitoring, you’ll be able to continuously watch network activity and evaluate asset conditions. With a combination of network observability and monitoring tools, you’ll have a much keener sense of how your network is running – and you’ll be able to do it even with a small team.

Automation

One of the best technological tools in your arsenal is going to be automation. There’s a wide range of tools on the market designed to automate activities that were once tackled by human beings. Instead of having someone sit down and execute a given function, you can have an algorithm that automatically conducts their work. 

The greatest advantage here is that you’ll reduce the number of man hours you need to spend on various activities. Not only will this counteract the detriments of having fewer staff members, but it should also save you money in the long term. But there’s another advantage that’s almost as powerful; you’ll improve consistency. Even the best IT staff members are occasionally forgetful or inconsistent, but a correctly coded program will never fail you.

Workflows and Efficiency

Tools can also help you optimize workflows and boost efficiency within your organization. With the right platform, you’ll be able to fully document the processes and procedures you want your team to follow across your entire IT department. With more consistent, better documented, accessible workflows, the employees you do have will be more likely to follow them consistently. 

Additionally, you’ll have a template you can gradually modify to improve efficiency within your organization, ultimately improving performance without having to make any sacrifices.

KPI Reporting

In the IT field, it’s easy to lose track of what really matters. What are the most important, bottom-line metrics for your organization? And how should you measure success? When you have better definitions for what you’re trying to achieve and how you’re trying to achieve it, your entire department is going to be more streamlined. That’s why it’s important to incorporate tools that allow you to measure and evaluate your key performance indicators (KPIs).

Enterprise Chatbots and Internal Knowledge Bases

What happens when one member of your organization is experiencing a problem with network connectivity or device functionality? Typically, this person would immediately contact the IT helpdesk, reaching out to another human for support. But what if you don’t have the staff to address all these incoming questions?

Amidst an IT staffing shortage, your best bet may be providing everyone in your organization with more tools and resources they can use to solve their own problems. Internal knowledge bases are a good place to start, providing as much information as possible to the people who need it. You could also make this information more accessible with the help of enterprise chatbots, which function as independent, automated versions of IT support staff.

Other Solutions to IT Staffing Issues

Technological tools are your best option for resolving IT staffing issues, but there are some other strategies that can help you as well:

  • Total outsourcing: One of your options is completely outsourcing your IT needs. Rather than trying to build a team from the ground up, you can work with an external organization that already has a team of talented individuals and enough experience to help you tackle almost any challenge.
  • Recruiting and onboarding: Alternatively, you can step up your recruiting and onboarding. Finding good candidates is hard and incentivizing them to work for your organization may be even harder. Still, with better offers and better initial onboarding, you’ll see better results.
  • Employee retention: Finally, focus on improving employee retention. During a staffing shortage, every member of your team instantly becomes more valuable; don’t lose any team members if you can help it.

IT staffing shortages certainly aren’t good for your organization, and all other variables being equal, it would be better if the market was overflowing with talented job candidates. But your staffing shortages don’t have to compromise the integrity or productivity of your organization. 

With these tech tools and more, you should be able to close the gap between your existing IT staff and the work that you need to do.

5 Best essential Android apps for WhatsApp users in 2022

essential Android apps for WhatsApp users

We all have WhatsApp installed in our Android smartphone and we are using it for many years but what if I say with some cool third-party essential Android apps, you can enhance and make your WhatsApp better than ever. Check out these essential Android apps for WhatsApp users which will help you to use WhatsApp like a pro.

Facebook-owned WhatsApp is inarguably one of the popular messaging apps with a huge number of users. According to some reports WhatsApp had been used by over 109 Countries — 55% of the whole population is using the app — with 70 million users in India alone.

The company is bringing constant updates with new features to satisfy users needs, but still, we users hope if WhatsApp had features like — a status downloader, some settings to extract text from our voice messages or a message scheduler — the features WhatsApp is never going to include in any of their future updates.

But don’t worry, to fill these voids and make your WhatsApp experience more easy and interesting, there are some essential Android apps for WhatsApp users available in Google Play.

Essential Android apps for WhatsApp users:

1. Status Saver for WhatsApp

We all know WhatsApp doesn’t allow users to download their friend’s WhatsApp status like Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat and it’s only available for 24 hours. Sometimes video and image status uploaded by your friend is very important for you or are worth keeping. 

To solve this problem, use a third-party Android app — Status Saver for WhatsApp to download WhatsApp status easier and faster. The app will let you download any WhatsApp statuses with a single tap, you can also set an auto-download option. Also, if you forgot to save the statuses you want, the Status Saver for WhatsApp will automatically save your last 3 days statuses in the app.

2. Transcriber for WhatsApp

Transcriber for WhatsApp is one of the best essential Android apps for WhatsApp users that convert voice messages you received into the text.

Sometimes we were in situations where we can’t play voice messages that we received in our WhatsApp Messenger. In such situations, Transcriber for WhatsApp is a beneficial app needed for every WhatsApp users to know in time what your friends communicate in voice chats by simply converting them to text.

3. SKEDit Scheduling App

SKEDit is a free and easy-to-use scheduling app for WhatsApp users that will let you schedule WhatsApp messages. SKEDit Scheduling App acts like your personal virtual assistant and puts your communication on autopilot.

So next time you are never going to forget to wish the birthday or anniversary of your dear ones. Apart from WhatsApp message scheduling the app will also let you schedule SMS, send emails later, schedule posts, and set call reminders.

4. WtsAppy

WtsAppy is the essential Android app needed for WhatsApp users likes to save time and dive into WhatsApp chat without saving a number to the contacts.

Simply got to call logs and choose an unsaved number and go to option “Share >> WtsAppy” to start chatting with any number directly from call logs. The app will also let you start the conversation on WhatsApp directly by copy/paste the number into WtsAppy App. There is also a unique feature — you can create a WhatsApp link from WtsAppy and share it with anyone you want to reach you on WhatsApp. WhatsApp link is necessary, especially if you are running a business.

5. Sticker maker

Sticker maker is another essential Android app needed for WhatsApp users who like to create and send personalized stickers on WhatsApp. 

With Sticker maker, you can create your own sticker packs from WhatsApp where you can use change any memes, or your own photos, any photo from your phone to WhatsApp stickers.

That’s it for now, soon we will add more needed essential Android apps for WhatsApp users. If you know any other such apps to make your WhatsApp usage experience even better do feel free to recommend them in the comment section.

Google Blocks The Largest Recorded DDoS Attack To Date

Google cloud news and stories

According to Google, it has fended off the largest HTTPS-based DDoS (Distributed Denial of Service) attack to date, with peak values ​​of 46 million requests per second.

The incident occurred on June 1 and lasted 69 minutes, and was targeted at a Google Cloud Armor customer.

The attack is said to have been 76% more extensive than the previously largest DDoS attack, which was also blocked by Cloudflare in June.

To give a sense of the scale of the attack, that is like receiving all the daily requests to Wikipedia (one of the top 10 trafficked websites in the world) in just 10 seconds,” explains Google developers Emil Kiner and Satya Konduru in a blog post.

According to the report, the attack targeted a customer’s HTTP/S load balancer and started with around 10,000 requests per second, increased to 100,000 within eight minutes and grew to the said 46 million requests per second two minutes later.

At this point, Google had already detected the attack and alerted the customer with an attack signature and a suggested blocking rule. The customer activated this immediately, and the attack was significantly weakened.

Presumably the attacker likely determined they were not having the desired impact while incurring significant expenses to execute the attack.” write Kiner and Konduru.

The company noted that more than 5,000 source IP addresses from 132 countries were recorded during the attack and linked the DDoS to the Meris botnet, which had previously been used in other large-scale incidents.

According to Google, the attack traffic came from just 5,256 IP addresses scattered across 132 countries and exploited HTTPS, which means that the devices that sent the requests have very impressive computing resources. Another distinguishing feature of this attack was linking the DDoS to the Meris botnet, which had previously been used in other large-scale incidents, and attackers used Tor exit nodes. Although 22% (1169) of the sources sent requests through the Tor network, they accounted for only about 3% of the total attack traffic.

4 Reasons to Use Dedicated IP in 2023

Choosing an Internet Service

Today, as remote access systems gain popularity, companies’ concerns began to arise about their security infrastructures. The main reason for this concern is whether employees have secure access to valuable information, resources and data. According to research, globally, 41% of remote workers in 2021 reported accessing consumer data. Operational data, financial records, and data relating to human resources were also frequently accessed while working remotely.

The fact that distributed workers are not covered by the corporate firewall has raised IT security concerns. Finding solutions to maximize your existing security infrastructure and set up secure access permissions for your employees and teams minimizes these concerns. When you cooperate with these solutions, your security structure is improved, and its problems are fixed. As an example of this, utilizing dedicated and shared IP address is effective in workforce protection.

Thanks to these two, the company network can be accessed from any desired location, and any vital asset of your company is kept away from all bad activities. Although both IP addresses are more useful than each other, they also have different features. Let’s examine one of these two, Dedicated IPs, and find out why you should use it.

What Is Dedicated IP?

A private IP (Internet Protocol) address can be defined as a unique digital identifier that can be assigned to users. Dedicated IPs are very convenient for authenticating and allowed users to access a corporate network. Users are assigned their company’s unique IP address before further authentication methods such as 2FA and SSO.

A dedicated IP address is an address that can only be used by you and your company through a Virtual Private Network (VPN). If a user is assigned this IP address, he or she has access to secure network access and secure access to company data from anywhere in the world.

For authenticating authorized users to access a corporate network, Dedicated IPs are particularly practical. Before using additional authentication techniques like 2FA and SSO, users are given their company’s specific IP address.

A dedicated IP server makes it simple to set up private gateways so that all traffic to and from your network is sent via the same IP address, regardless of the ISP or mobile service you use. Dedicated IP is also known as static or personal IP, and thanks to it, all your data traffic is sent through a dedicated server without losing control of your digital privacy.

Why Should I Use Dedicated IP?

One of the most important advantages of using a Dedicated IP is that it is personal. However, it also offers many key advantages. Using a Dedicated IP is one of the most important parts of robust security and secure network access solution, and it is also very important to achieve an optimum level of network security. You can take advantage of these advantages by using it as an individual or corporate business. Let’s explain why you should use a Dedicated IP for 4 main reasons.

You don’t need additional authentication

Some sites in the internet world detect the IP addresses of their users when they try to log in to their systems, and if they detect that the same IP address is used by more than one person, they request an extra verification. It takes the same action not only in this case but also when it detects that the IP addresses you used to create an account and login do not match.

Smart sites rely on private IP addresses rather than shared IP addresses. If you are using the Shared IP address, it requests authentication again. In some cases, sites may doubt whether you are a robot and in such cases ask you to verify that you are not a robot. You will not have such problems with Dedicated IP.

It is quite a low possibility for you to be blacklisted

Your IP address is not conveniently blacklisted, which is one of the main benefits of having a dedicated IP. When you use a Dedicated IP, there are differences in how websites will treat you as a visitor when you are the only person using that IP address and there are many users on Shared IP addresses. In short, the dedicated IP does not create such doubts and is trusted because it is used by only you.

It becomes easy to protect your remote access

Dedicated Servers with fixed IPs allow secure and efficient access to company resources. If you use a fixed IP, it will be easier for you to reach cloud-based networks by installing a new generation site-to-site VPN with a flexible cyber security solution. The easy-to-use VPN apps of these solutions allow your team to work securely from anywhere and on any device.

Some networks only allow access from specific IP addresses for security reasons. In this instance, certain data is only accessible by those with access to the office’s internet connection. Additionally, neither your own internet connection nor a VPN’s Shared IP address will allow you to access these files or data on this machine. But if you have a Dedicated IP, you may easily access these networks and data whether from in the office or elsewhere.

You can minimize internal and external data breaches using dedicated IP

Employees are kept safe and anonymous when accessing the corporate network using a Private IP with a Business VPN. Outside of your network perimeter, your traffic is encrypted and shielded from potentially dangerous users.

By setting up dedicated gateways to particular teams and corporate branches, you can effectively manage access rights and secure critical business data by using particular company servers and customizing team gateway access.

Conclusion

The increasing number of working from home required companies to protect their data and resources with greater emphasis. Especially the activities taking place in company networks can cause many dangerous situations. In such cases, it may not be enough to use a VPN to protect your network and data while working with remote access. This is because using a VPN also means you are using that IP address with others.

As you can see, as a solution for this situation, a Dedicated IP address can be quite beneficial for every user. It operates differently from your real local IP. Therefore, thanks to the Dedicated IP, you can continue to be protected online. All your data traffic is sent over this IP, allowing you to continue to maintain control of your privacy. In addition, the fact that no one else can use your Dedicated IP is one of the advantages we mentioned above.

Google Created AI Robots That Can Recognize Voice Commands And Execute Them Correctly

Google AI Robots

Google, together with Everyday Robots, which is also owned by Alphabet, has developed experimental robots based on AI language models. To understand how the robots learn, the team tested them as “waiters” in Google offices.

These Google robots combine the eyes and hands of conventional robots with the knowledge and conversational skills of virtual chatbots.

Combined with the PaLM (Pathways Language Model) AI language model, Everyday Robots’ SayCan robot became the PaLM-SayCan, a bot capable of assessing its own capabilities, environment, and human-voiced task and then breaking that task into smaller subtasks to achieve the desired goals.

According to the company, already now, in 84% of cases, robots correctly respond to human commands, and in another 74%, they correctly execute them.

Now robots can recognize such simple requests as bring a drink or food, or clean up a spilled liquid. Only about a few dozen simple steps. Such assistant androids are already being tested in Google canteens, where they bring snacks and drinks to employees and wipe tables with a sponge.

However, this is already a breakthrough in the field of artificial intelligence. After all, this paves the way for the creation of multi-purpose robots that can recognize a task and independently determine for themselves the order of its execution.

Of course, Google robots are not ready for sale. The company said it would take some time to get a clear picture of the direct commercial impact.