Year: 2017

Celebrate Cyber Monday early with a special deal on this top-rated VPN

Celebrate Cyber Monday early with a special deal on this top-rated VPN

Published by Sam Flores

With all the online Black Friday and Cyber Monday shopping you plan on doing, it’s a good idea to take a proactive preventative measure to ensure the data you’re transmitting while surfing for steals stays safe. Treat yourself, and do something good for your personal information with this VPN Unlimited Infinity: Lifetime Plan. What is a virtual private network, or VPN, you ask? Essentially, a top VPN encrypts all the traffic that comes in and out of your computer and routes it through a private server. This makes it hard for any interlocutor to see what you’re doing online; additionally, by obscuring your data trail, you may be able to get around potential traffic squelching entailed by the possible end of net neutrality, which seems imminent. [Note: now’s a good time to say that net neutrality doesn’t need to end, per se: you can still fight back by reaching out to your representatives.] In any case, VPN Unlimited, a top-ranked VPN services provider, have really outdone themselves with the release of VPN Infinity. This premium plan provides protection …

4 reasons why you should not be browsing the internet without the Disconnect app

4 reasons why you should not be browsing the internet without the Disconnect app

Published by Sam Flores

In a time when cyber-attackers are becoming more sophisticated every day and net neutrality regulations are constantly under fire, it’s a good idea to invest in some web-surfing safeguards. And when it comes to Internet security, Disconnect is second to none. Read on to discover why The New York Times, LifeHacker, PCMag, TechCrunch, and Ars Technica have all featured this all-in-one app. 1. It improves browser speed Under normal circumstances, your everyday web browsing is subject to infiltration by various trackers and malware, which can drastically slow down your devices. Disconnect blocks tracking requests from connecting to your devices, which increases website loading speed and decreases battery drain. 2. It secures your dataWhile some web tracking exists merely to serve you more specifically targeted ads, there are more nefarious forms of tracking that aim to harvest your private data without your consent. Disconnect hides this data from companies, government agencies, and cybercriminals, allowing you to browse in peace. 3. It cloaks your identityWherever you roam on the web, you leave behind a trail that your …

April 3, 2023 Trump indictment news

April 3, 2023 Trump indictment news

Published by Sam Flores

Lawyers for former President Donald Trump told a New York judge on Monday that they oppose the request by media outlets to broadcast Trump’s arraignment on Tuesday. “We submit that the media request should be denied because it will create a circus-like atmosphere at the arraignment, raise unique security concerns, and is inconsistent with President Trump’s presumption of innocence,” the Trump team said in a letter to New York Supreme Court Judge Juan Merchant. Trump’s attorneys said in their letter to Acting New York Supreme Court Judge Juan Merchan that he is required under court rules to take into account potential security concerns. “As Your Honor is well-aware, this case presents extraordinary security concerns (including Secret Service-related concerns) and we submit that any video or photography of the proceedings will only heighten these serious concerns,” they wrote. Among the Trump lawyers signing the new letter was Todd Blanche, who, CNN reported, recently joined the former president’s legal team. Meanwhile, the Manhattan District Attorney’s office also responded Monday to the news outlets’ request, and said that it …

April 3, 2023 – Russia-Ukraine news

April 3, 2023 – Russia-Ukraine news

Published by Sam Flores

The Ukrainian military has reported little change to the front lines but heavy fire from Russian forces at various parts of the front line in the Donetsk region. The General Staff said that more than 45 enemy attacks had been repelled over the past day, with the focus on Lyman, Bakhmut, Avdiivka and Mariinka. It said there were 17 air strikes and more than 20 strikes by multiple launch rocket systems. “In the Bakhmut direction, the enemy is trying to take full control over the city of Bakhmut and continues to storm it,” the General Staff said. West of the city, Ukrainian defense forces repelled about 20 enemy attacks, according to the General Staff. Oleksandr Syrskyi, commander of Ukrainian Land Forces, posted on Telegram that in Bakhmut he had met with “soldiers and commanders who destroyed the myth of invincibility of the Wagner fighters and Russian paratroopers.” “The enemy is weakening and trying to cover up its failures with new fakes about the capture of Bakhmut,” Syrskyi said. Syrskyi referenced the possibility of a future …

Pinduoduo: One of China’s most popular apps has the ability to spy on its users, say experts

Pinduoduo: One of China’s most popular apps has the ability to spy on its users, say experts

Published by Sam Flores

CNN  —  It is one of China’s most popular shopping apps, selling clothing, groceries and just about everything else under the sun to more than 750 million users a month. But according to cybersecurity researchers, it can also bypass users’ cell phone security to monitor activities on other apps, check notifications, read private messages and change settings. And once installed, it’s tough to remove. While many apps collect vast troves of user data, sometimes without explicit consent, experts say e-commerce giant Pinduoduo has taken violations of privacy and data security to the next level. In a detailed investigation, CNN spoke to half a dozen cybersecurity teams from Asia, Europe and the United States — as well as multiple former and current Pinduoduo employees — after receiving a tipoff. Multiple experts identified the presence of malware on the Pinduoduo app that exploited vulnerabilities in Android operating systems. Company insiders said the exploits were utilized to spy on users and competitors, allegedly to boost sales. “We haven’t seen a mainstream app like this trying to escalate their …

Chris Cornell’s talents transcend the grunge genre he helped create

Chris Cornell’s talents transcend the grunge genre he helped create

Published by Sam Flores

Earlier this year, Chris Cornell released a new solo single, “The Promise,” which doubles as the theme song to the new Christian Bale movie of the same name. Although orchestras curl up around the song’s main acoustic guitar melody, Cornell’s singing takes center stage. His voice, weathered like aged leather but not raspy or faltering, defies categorization: Cornell exhibits the confidence of a pop balladeer, the vulnerability of a folk singer and the weariness of a rock ‘n’ roll icon who’s seen it all. “The Promise” marked the latest sonic iteration for Cornell, who committed suicide after Soundgarden’s Wednesday night show in Detroit. But this soundtrack song was hardly a surprising departure. Cornell lived what felt like a million musical lifetimes in his 30-plus-year career because he possessed the kind of versatile voice that gave him musical options outside hard rock. “My history of singing has always probably been closer to a David Bowie approach than, for example, an AC/DC approach,” Cornell told Spin in 2014. “I never thought of myself as being the singer that wanted …

Louis Theroux on his hilarious Scientology meta-movie

Louis Theroux on his hilarious Scientology meta-movie

Published by Sam Flores

Louis Theroux, the British TV host and documentary filmmaker, made a movie about the Church of Scientology without quite knowing what he was in for. His perspective as faux-naive or actually naive outsider — “I prefer actually naive,” Theroux said when I put it that way — yields a number of unexpected benefits. His Scientology movie, which is puckishly if appropriately titled “My Scientology Movie,” makes a strange, compelling and often hilarious companion piece to more straightforward investigative works like Alex Gibney and Lawrence Wright’s “Going Clear,” the Emmy-winning HBO documentary from 2015. Theroux stopped by Salon’s New York studio recently for a highly entertaining conversation about the making of “My Scientology Movie,” which to a significant degree is a movie about the making of itself. When I gently suggested that some people might call the film “meta,” Theroux embraced the term: “Yes, it is meta. That’s not a bad thing, is it?” The only possible answer to that is “It depends,” but in this case Theroux’s movie-about-a-movie captures the atmosphere of unreality that permeates …

We’re gonna make it after all: Let’s throw our hats in the air for Mary Tyler Moore

We’re gonna make it after all: Let’s throw our hats in the air for Mary Tyler Moore

Published by Sam Flores

There’s an exchange in an early cut of the series premiere of “Private Practice,” the “Grey’s Anatomy” spinoff featuring Addison Montgomery (Kate Walsh). In a long passionate speech, the good and single doctor explains to her boss why she’s quitting her enviable, high-powered job at his Seattle hospital and relocating to Malibu. “I want to throw my hat all the way up in the air!” she sings out triumphantly, effectively shutting down his protests. Anyone who has watched “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” could understand what Addison meant: She is choosing to be free and clear, to have every choice in front of her, to actualize without apology. That exchange didn’t make the final edit of “Private Practice” that aired, and that’s actually a good thing. Only one woman could pull off that move, and that’s Mary Tyler Moore. Millions of us imagined ourselves trying to throw that metaphorical hat and still envision doing so 40 years after “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” aired its final episode. Moore, a seven-time Emmy winner, passed away on Wednesday at the age of …