Facebook will pay you for your voice recordings

Facebook on mobile in pocket

If you feel you should be able to benefit financially from sharing information with Facebook, there's some good news: the company is willing to pay you for your voice recordings.

The scheme is part of the social network's Pronunciations program, and it sees Facebook trying to improve its speech recognition capabilities. But if you're hoping to get rich, you might be a little disappointed.

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Malicious apps found on Google Play Store despite new App Defense Alliance

Google Play icon

Researchers at Check Point have recently found eight malicious apps containing malware on the Google Play app store, despite Google forming the App Defense Alliance in November 2019 to improve security of apps in the store.

The apps were camera utilities and kids' games and all carried the Haken malware. Check Point estimates the apps had been installed on over 50,000 Android devices before they were analyzed and removed from the Play store.

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Microsoft Defender ATP preview arrives for Linux distros -- iOS and Android versions to follow

Colorful Microsoft logo

Microsoft has released a public preview of its Microsoft Defender Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) for various Linux distributions.

The company says that the tool will also be coming to iOS and Android later this year, and more details of these mobile editions are due to be revealed at next week's RSA Conference. The spread to additional platform comes after Microsoft rebranded Windows Defender as Microsoft Defender last year.

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YouTube TV gets HBO

YouTube_TV

It's been almost two years since I cut the cord and switched to YouTube TV and I couldn't be happier. The picture quality and DVR remain top notch, while Google has consistently offered more and more channels -- some at no added charge, some at a premium. Since I initially subscribed, I now have additional channels that I watch regularly, such as Food Network, Discovery, and Tastemade. Believe it or not, I even find myself watching PBS on occasion. True, the price has gone up a bit from when I first subscribed, but look -- you get what you pay for, folks. YouTube TV is the best streaming television service and worth every penny. All of your devices, such as smartphones and tablets, become portable TV screens. It rules.

And now, the best is getting even better. You see, YouTube TV has made a deal with WarnerMedia to bring both HBO and Cinemax to the streaming service this spring. That is not all, either. The upcoming HBO Max video on demand service will eventually come to YouTube TV as well. If you didn't know, HBO Max will be the only place to stream wildly popular TV show Friends -- that is a big deal for a lot of people.

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Optimizing cost and availability when running SQL Server on AWS EC2

SQL

If you’re thinking about moving your SQL Server instances to the cloud, there are a lot of good reasons to choose AWS EC2. AWS offers a wide range of purpose-built systems, so you can easily find one that will support your organization’s particular needs. It has a global reach, with 69 availability zones in 22 geographically distinct regions around the world.

Building out a SQL Server infrastructure designed for high availability (HA) or disaster recovery (DR), though, can be costly. Are there ways to take advantage of AWS EC2 to reduce those costs? The short answer is yes. The longer answer is how much money you can save using AWS EC2 depends on the choices you make when configuring for HA and DR.

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Microsoft releases Windows 10 Insider Build 19569, plus new colorful icons

Win10 icons

Today, Microsoft rolls out the latest Windows 10 Preview build to Insiders on the Fast ring.

Build 19569 delivers the usual round of improvements and fixes, but Windows Insiders will from today also begin to start seeing new icons for built-in Windows 10 apps like Mail and Calendar.

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Popular document management apps expose sensitive files

Today's employees have access to a vast range of apps on their personal devices, but this can serve to undermine enterprise security because it's hard for IT teams to understand or control where sensitive corporate IP is going and how it's getting there.

The threat research team at Wandera has discovered a number of document management apps from Cometdocs that fail to use encryption when transferring files between the user and the backend service.

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Hackers leak personal data of 10.6 million MGM Resorts guests

MGM hotel

The personal details of 10.6 million people have been posted in a hacking forum after MGM Resorts hotels suffered a data breach. The data includes dates of birth, email addresses, names, phone numbers and physical addresses, and celebrities such as Justin Bieber and Twitter's Jack Dorsey are among those affected.

While the data has only just been leaked, it stems from a security breach that took place last year. Data dating back to 2017 was found accessible on an unsecured cloud server.

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Organizations are detecting and containing attacks faster since GDPR

web threats

For organizations in the EMEA region, the 'dwell time' between the start of a cyber intrusion and it being identified, has fallen from 177 days to 54 days since the introduction of GDPR.

A new report from FireEye Mandiant also shows a decrease in dwell time globally, down 28 percent since the previous report. Median dwell time for organizations that self-detected their incident is 30 days, a 40 percent decrease year on year.

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Twitter makes it easier to post tweet threads -- here's what you need to know

Twitter on smartphone surrounded by letters

One of the issues some people have with Twitter is the character limit imposed on individual tweets. While the restriction is very much the point of the site, there are times when 280 characters is just not enough... hence threading.

There's nothing to stop you from manually creating a tweet thread, but it's not something that everyone is familiar with. So to help out, Twitter has added a new button to make things easier. It's not the tweet editing option people are still begging for, but a way to link tweets together.

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AOC AGON AG353UCG is a 35-inch curved gaming monitor with 200Hz refresh and NVIDIA G-Sync Ultimate

ag353ucg_pr_700

AOC monitors are some of my favorite, because they provide great quality at an affordable price. If you are a gamer or just need a display for productivity, and you are on a budget, you need to give the company's products a look. Hell, even if you aren't limited by money, you should check these monitors out.

Today, AOC unveils its latest gaming monitor, and holy crap, it looks like a beauty. Called "AGON AG353UCG," this 35-inch gaming display is chock full of features. For instance, it supports VESA DisplayHDR 1000 and NVIDIA G-Sync Ultimate, plus has a refresh rate of 200Hz! The monitor has a very respectable resolution of 3440 x 1440 UWQHD and 2 ms GtG response time. And yes, it has a built-in USB hub and integrated RGB lighting on the back. There is a even a handy hook on the side to hold your gaming headset.

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5G has the biggest potential to create safe cities

5G network

The latest communications industry insight report from IWCE (International Wireless Communications Expo) shows that industry insiders believe 5G has more potential than other technologies to create safe cities.

Key elements of a 'safe city' are a shared infrastructure with common sensors, multi-agency collaboration, situational awareness using real-time data, video and data analytics, and automated processes.

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The risks of outdated systems in IoT and industrial environments [Q&A]

Industrial IoT

With Windows 7 now at its end-of-life, the need to update outdated systems is of the utmost importance. This is especially true for Internet of Things (IoT) and Industrial Control System (ICS) environments, as vulnerabilities in these older systems can lead to attacks that result in costly downtime, catastrophic safety and environmental incidents, and theft of sensitive intellectual property.

We spoke to Phil Neray, vice president of industrial cybersecurity at CyberX, to find out more about why updating these systems is so imperative and to hear some recommendations about how organizations can go about doing so.

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Microsoft rolls out important changes to Windows Update for Windows 10

Optional updates

Microsoft has started the roll out of changes to Windows Update that give Windows 10 users more control over the process of updating. There has been a spate of problematic updates from Microsoft recently, and the change that is rolling out now introduces a new "Optional updates" section to Windows Update.

An important aspect of the new Windows Update user experience is that driver updating has been dramatically improved. Microsoft says that the changes will help users to get hold of the "highest quality, and most reliable drivers faster and with less friction".

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Brexit pushes Google to move UK user data away from Europe to the US

EU and US flags

Google has confirmed that it plans to move data pertaining to its UK users out of Europe, and will instead store user accounts in the US.

The move comes as a result of the UK's departure from the European Union, and it is a side effect of Brexit that few would have predicted. Reuters reports that Google will be placing UK user accounts under US jurisdiction, adding that it "will leave the sensitive personal information of tens of millions with less protection and within easier reach of British law enforcement".

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