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Starting in August, you won’t have to connect a Facebook account to use Meta’s virtual reality (VR) headsets as the company is rolling out a new account system.

Meta accounts will be the new standard moving forward for new and existing users. This move reverses an old requirement that forced Oculus users to sign up for Facebook in order to use Meta headsets. 

People using a Facebook account will be forced to make the switch. Meta’s original plan of ditching support for Oculus accounts is still slated for January 1, 2023. After that date, you’ll have to create a new Meta account in order to continue playing.

The company clarifies its account system is not directly tied to social media platforms. No one will know what you’re playing unless you share the information. But people do have the option to connect their Meta account to either Facebook or Instagram via the Accounts Center and unlock new features. These include finding Facebook friends to play VR games with and talking to people on the Messenger app.

The company is also working on a feature that’ll allow you to use your Meta account on other Meta devices. We contacted Meta to find out when the extended functionality will launch and what else Meta is working on. We’ll update this story if we hear back.

New profiles and security

In addition to the Meta accounts, the company is implementing Horizon Profiles with new privacy controls.

Horizon Profiles are in-game accounts that will house a player’s avatar, profile picture, and unique username. You can only have one Horizon Profile per account. It will also tweak the menu language a little by turning your friends into Followers, similar to Instagram. Meta claims this word change will “[provide] more ways to be social and connect with others.” This interactivity can be fostered by players sharing recently unlocked achievements and their active status, according to the examples given.

As for privacy controls, a new menu is being added with three viewing settings: Open to Everyone, Friends and Family, and Solo. These settings allow people to control who can view their profile, from everyone on the platform to just yourself. Users can also set their Horizon Profile to private so they can better filter follower requests. However, things like your username and profile picture will still be visible.

Analysis: Meta's goal

Saying that people don’t like Facebook is a pretty big understatement. Goodwill toward the platform has soured in recent years and it doesn’t help that Meta has reportedly admitted that it doesn’t always know what happens to the user data it collects. And then there are the massive data breaches.

Needless to say, removing the Facebook account requirement is a pretty big deal. Non-Facebook accounts for Quest headsets have been in the works for a while. Now the question is what is Meta’s goal with these accounts.

If we had to guess, the new account system appears to be a continuation of Meta trying to further distance itself from Facebook as the company struggles to make the metaverse viable. But if a recent Insider report is anything to go by, company CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s “obsession” is only pushing people away. 

If you’re interested in getting a VR headset, TechRadar has a list of recommendations.

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VW's New Amarok Is Based on the Ford Ranger, Isn't Coming to the US - CNET

VW's new pickup is bigger and smarter than before.

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Microsoft Azure customers will now be able to create Ephemeral OS disks, a type of disc created on local virtual machine (VM) storage that is not saved to remote Azure storage.

This latest feature from the cloud giant could help ensure high levels of confidentiality for data, as information stored on these types of disks will never be sent to an offsite data center.

Ephemeral disks are now currently available in all regions, and you can learn more about how to deploy them by heading here. 

Ephemeral OS disks

Microsoft says Ephemeral OS disks are ideal for stateless applications, where no client data generated in one session is used in the next session.

In addition, Microsoft explained these discs can be ideal for use cases that require lower latency, similar to a temporary disk, or the ability to fast reset or reimage VMs and to scale set instances to the original boot state.

Ephemeral OS disks are supported by Azure Marketplace, custom images, and Azure Compute Gallery (formerly known as Shared Image Gallery), but will not support features such as capturing VM images, disk snapshots, or OS Disk Swap.

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If your looking for additional security, you’ll be pleased to know that the disks support Microsoft Azure’s Trusted Launch feature, but only in certain regions and for certain VM sizes.

Ephemeral OS disks are also free, and customers incur no storage cost for making new disks.

If you’ve still got questions about the latest feature, you head here to check out the FAQ that Microsoft has put together.

This is not the only feature that Microsoft has been rolling out for virtual machine aficionados.

Microsoft recently has updated its free Windows 11 virtual machines (VMs) offering, which is designed for developers, but could also give users the perfect way to try out its latest operating system before jumping in.

• Upgrade your work rig with the best workstations on the market

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When Apple's iOS 16 arrives this fall, so too will Apple's most powerful security setting ever: Lockdown Mode.

The new security mode, which will also appear in macOS Ventura and iPadOS 16, is not for everyone. In fact, you might argue it's for a select few: those who believe they could be targeted by state-sponsored cybersecurity attacks. In other words, this is software for the President of the United States. It might also be for the head of your local power authority, water treatment plant, or a journalist covering the war in Ukraine. And thanks to Apple, anyone with an iPhone, it seems.

Lockdown Mode is Apple's new hardcore approach to security that, when enabled on an iPhone, will introduce five key protections, any one of which might make your iPhone less useful and fun, but also, apparently, a whole lot more secure.

These protections include:

• Most message attachment types other than images are blocked and link previews are disabled.
• In Safari, some web technologies, including just-in-time (JIT) JavaScript compilation, are disabled. Though you can exclude a trusted site from Lockdown mode.
• It disables or blocks some Apple services like requests for incoming FaceTime calls from unknown callers (ones  where you haven't previously initiated a Facetime call)
• Wired connections with a computer or accessory are blocked when iPhone is locked.
• You can't install configuration profiles and won't be able to enroll the device in mobile device management (MDM) when Lockdown Mode is enabled.

Together, all of these could significantly reduce attack avenues on your iPhone, and on your iPad and Mac, if you enable it on those systems, too.

In a release on Lockdown Mode, Apple says adding all three platforms to the security matrix "further hardens device defenses and strictly limits certain functionalities, sharply reducing the attack surface that potentially could be exploited by highly targeted mercenary spyware."

While this level of restricted access would feel like overkill for the average consumer or business person, many folks will find this Lockdown Mode useful, including those whose phones are connected to a variety of apps, services, and contacts relating to government, law enforcement, infrastructure, human rights groups, and news reporting.

Apple has a target

Last year, Apple informed thousands of iPhone users, including government officials, that they'd been targeted by "state-sponsored attackers." In November 2021, Apple sued NSO, the company it believes was responsible for creating the surveillance software, a charge NSO has denied.

Apple is nonetheless tying this security initiative to that battle, noting that, in addition to Lockdown Mode -- which is clearly designed to harden the iPhone against possible NSO-like attacks -- it's making a $10 million grant (and adding any money it gets out of the NSO lawsuit) to The Dignity and Justice Fund.

In a press release announcing Lockdown Mode, Lori McGlinchey, the Ford Foundation’s director of its Technology and Society program, noted that global spyware targets "human rights defenders, journalists, and dissidents," and that her organization "is proud to support this extraordinary initiative to bolster civil society research and advocacy to resist mercenary spyware."

Apple iOS 16 Lockdown Mode (Image credit: Apple)

Lockdown Mode arrives as something of a surprise since it wasn't announced or even teased at WWDC 2022. Plus, it's the rare bit of Apple platform programming that intentionally lacks broad appeal.

Ivan Krstić, Apple’s head of Security Engineering and Architecture, noted in the release, “While the vast majority of users will never be the victims of highly targeted cyberattacks, we will work tirelessly to protect the small number of users who are."

For those working on the front line of human rights, Lockdown Mode might be a low-cost and efficient way of protecting their phones. It might also be a little too restrictive; there's a chance that it might be more effective in an official capacity.

Back in the day,  government officials, including the US President, were handed specialized and highly-secure phones, though some reportedly kept using their personal iPhones. iOS 16 Lockdown Mode might be a way of giving officials their iPhone cake, while eating securely, too.

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Apple announced its plan to release a new feature called Lockdown Mode this fall that aims to add a new layer of protection for human rights advocates, political dissidents and other targets of sophisticated hacking attacks. Lockdown Mode will come to Apple's iPhones, iPads and Macs this fall and turning it on will block most attachments sent to the iPhone's Messages ...

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Contact With NASA Moon Probe Reestablished After a Day in the Dark - CNET

The microwave-size Capstone spacecraft is meant to pave the way for future Artemis missions to the lunar surface.

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Sony is one of the few companies to sell OLED TVs along with LG, Panasonic, Vizio, and now Samsung. But just how good are Sony’s OLEDs? Good enough to regularly show up on our lists of the best OLED TVs and the best 4K TVs, alongside the top offerings from those other brands.

We’ve previously offered suggestions on ways to improve the picture quality of Sony TVs. That list covered the basic adjustments that you’d find on any Sony set, with advice on choosing the right picture preset (Cinema, in most cases), avoiding the light sensor and Eco modes, bypassing noise reduction, and choosing the correct motion processing option. Most important, it warned of the perils of selecting the Vivid picture preset – a general rule that should apply to any TV.

Having just reviewed Sony’s new A80K OLED TV and spent additional quality viewing time with it, I wanted to circle back and offer specific suggestions for adjusting Sony’s OLED TVs to optimize their picture quality. This list will take a deeper-dive into some of the unique picture adjustment options found on the company’s OLEDs. Following it, you’ll get a sense of which menu options – some of which are named in a confusing manner – are important, and which ones you can leave on auto-pilot.

If you do own a Sony OLED TV, it’s a fair bet you dropped a good chunk of change on it. Here’s how to dig into your set’s picture menu and adjust it for best performance.

1. Select the right video signal settings

Okay, first off, what are video signal adjustments, and why do they get their own sub-menu on Sony’s OLED TVs? These settings apply to incoming signals, and they make general changes based on whether the signal is in 4K format with high dynamic range or in regular old high-definition. 

If you’re using a 4K/HDR source like an external streamer or Ultra HD Blu-ray player, or just streaming in 4K/HDR using the set’s built-in apps, you can simply leave most of these settings (HDR mode, HDMI video range, and Color Space) in the Auto mode. That way, the TV will automatically adapt for incoming 4K/HDR and regular HD sources and display them correctly. The Advanced Color Adjustments in this menu are meant mainly for use by professional TV calibrators, and are something most viewers won’t need to play with (and probably shouldn’t).

 2. Make the right brightness adjustments 

Sony bunches numerous important settings in its picture Brightness sub-menu. There is, of course, a Brightness setting that will adjust the set’s overall screen brightness, but that’s just the start. 

One key setting in this menu is HDR Tone Mapping. If you’re watching 4K/HDR programs, you’ll definitely want this turned on since it will optimize the contrast range of movies and TV shows with varying overall brightness levels. The Sony A80K model we tested has lower light output than some other OLED TVs, so this setting proved to be particularly important for conveying punchy highlights in 4K/HDR programs. Two related settings, Gradation Preferred and Brightness Preferred, are available for HDR Tone Mapping, but we didn’t note much of a difference between them.

With some care, Sony's OLED TVs can make shows and movies streamed from HBO Max and other services look fantastic, (Image credit: Future)

 3. Use the black level setting to adjust black 

While this might seem like a completely obvious point, most viewers use their TV’s Brightness setting to adjust the level where absolute black sits in images. But Sony OLED TVs have a separate setting called Black Level (also in the Brightness sub-menu) that should instead be used to make that adjustment. Once we made this discovery and applied it, shadows on Sony’s OLED looked considerably deeper, and that gave the overall picture a higher level of contrast.

4. Don’t overlook peak luminance 

The Peak Luminance setting, here again nestled in the Brightness sub-menu, proved very important for making 4K/HDR pictures look their best on Sony’s OLED TV, especially with dark movies. The results you’ll get will vary depending on the specific show or movie you are watching but, similar to the Black Level adjustment, it can affect the overall contrast of pictures. We’d suggest starting at the Medium setting and adjusting to taste. And if you’re the type who prefers to not regularly tweak your TV’s picture settings, you can simply leave it set at Medium.

 5. Use reality creation – sparingly

Sony TVs have seemingly forever included a picture adjustment called Reality Creation (in the Clarity sub-menu). And while 4K images look plenty real already without any additional processing needed, you can use these adjustments to give pictures a slightly more detailed appearance. (As long as you don’t go overboard, in which case they’ll end up looking too-crisp and unnatural.) 

Another important adjustment in the Clarity sub-menu is Smooth Gradation. This can help to eliminate the “banding” artifacts that are sometimes be seen in regular HD images, and which usually show up as rough-looking patches of color in background elements of pictures such as a clear blue sky.

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Researchers have discovered a new malware sample capable of hiding from more than 50 antivirus products available on the market right now.

The malware was discovered by cybersecurity researchers from Unit 42, the threat intelligence team at Palo Alto Networks. The team first spotted the strain in May, when it discovered that it was built using the Brute Ratel (BRC4) tool. 

BRC4’s developers claim to have even reverse-engineered popular antivirus products, to make sure their tool avoids detection.

The quality of the design and the speed at which it was distributed between the victims' endpoints has convinced the researchers that a state-sponsored actor is behind the campaign.

Russian methods

While the tool itself is dangerous, the researchers were more interested in its distribution path, which indicates a state-sponsored actor is in play.

The malware is being distributed in the form of a fake CV document. The CV is an ISO file that, once mounted onto a virtual drive, displays something resembling a Microsoft Word document.

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While the researchers still can’t pinpoint exactly who the threat actor behind BRC4 is, they suspect Russian-based APT29 (AKA Cozy Bear), which has used weaponized ISOs in the past.

Another hint suggesting that a state-sponsored actor is in play is the speed at which BRC4 was leveraged. The ISO was created the same day the latest version of BRC4 was published.

"The analysis of the two samples described in this blog, as well as the advanced tradecraft used to package these payloads, make it clear that malicious cyber actors have begun to adopt this capability," Unit 42 wrote in a blog post.

"We believe it is imperative that all security vendors create protections to detect BRC4 and that all organizations take proactive measures to defend against this tool." 

• Keep your devices safe with the best ransomware protection services right now

Via: The Register

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Top AirPods Pro Alternative Earbuds Drop to Only $26 Ahead of Prime Day - CNET

In advance of Prime Day, the Edifier TWS 330NB active noise-canceling earbuds are back down to their lowest-ever price on Amazon with this CNET-exclusive code.

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Microsoft is testing an update for PowerPoint that will allow people to incorporate a new level of customization into their presentations.

The headline feature, dubbed Cameo, sits within PowerPoint’s Recording Studio and will allow you to use a webcam feed to make the video recording of your presentation “even more personal and create an immersive storytelling experience”, according to Microsoft.

Perfectionists will be fully catered to by the latest update, as it will apparently allow you to “customize your camera feed’s appearance before you record” as well as “apply your favorite camera styles, shapes, and sizes to cameo, and choose the place on the slide for your camera feed that best suits your presentation”.

The new feature is currently available for Office Insiders running Beta Channel Version 2207 (Build 15425.20000) or later.

What else is new?

Aside from the video-related updates, Microsoft is also testing new capabilities within PowerPoint to make changes within line spacing and to modify slide backgrounds with images.

All of these new features are currently available for Office Insiders running Beta Channel Version 2207 (Build 15425.20000) or later.

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Not a Microsoft Insider? Not to worry, all the above updates will be rolled out to the general public in future, though Microsoft hasn't said exactly when.

Neither are these the only new features the tech giant has been integrating into the classic piece of office software, amid competition from rival products such as Prezi and Google Slides.

For example, PowerPoint users recently gained the ability to add their own custom fonts to presentations, and new integrations with Microsoft Teams have made virtual presentations much less of a chore.

• Interested in giving the new feature a try? Check out our guide to the best business webcams.

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Elon Musk's Tesla will need to rethink its production plans to protect its profits, opines Wall Street analysts. Tesla reported a fall in quarterly deliveries for the first time in two years. Beijing's zero-COVID policy along with supply chain issues hit production at Tesla's largest factory in Shanghai.

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Prime Video: The 46 Best Movies to Watch - CNET

Check out 2021 crime drama House of Gucci, or watch one of these other noteworthy movies on Prime Video.

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Xiaomi Book Pro 2022 has been launched. It includes two sizes. Both the models use 3D LUT colour correction created by Xiaomi. 

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Best MacBook for 2022 - CNET

With new M1 Pro and M1 Max chips, the MacBook line offers higher-end options, but you might want to stick with the basic MacBook Air.

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Twitter is said to have complied with the final notice issued by the Ministry of Electronics and IT on June 27. The Ministry of Electronics and IT had set a deadline of July 4. According to another source, the social media firm was asked to take action on some tweets and Twitter accounts but the microblogging had not reported compliance on the same earlier.

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