Eliana Willis

Adrian Kingsley-Hughes/ZDNETI’ve been flying drones, both recreationally and commercially, for over a decade — and hold a handful of drone licenses and certifications. Over those hundreds of hours of flying, I’ve yet to lose a drone. Yet, almost daily, I come across stories on social media of people losing their drones. Some drones crash on their first flight, some after months or years of problem-free service. Also: I tested DJI’s new foldable drone, and would recommend it to both beginners and professionalsI attribute my success, luck, and good fortune in part to experience, but mostly to the fact that I carry out regular safety checks on my drone. A drone is an aircraft, and just as you wouldn’t put a plane in the sky that hadn’t had safety checks carried out on it, I wouldn’t put a drone in the sky without doing the same. So, what tests should you do, and when?I have three sets of checks that I do: pre-flight checks, post-flight checks, and checks carried out every two weeks to a month (depending on how often I’m flying… the more I fly, the more often I check). Why pre-flight and post-flight checks? One set is to catch damage that might have occurred while storing or transporting the drone (and anything I might have missed after the last post-flight check). The post-flight checks are there to catch anything that might have happened during the flight. Also: The DJI Mini 2 SE drone is a great starter droneThe biweekly/monthly checks are there to again take a fresh look at the drone, as well as a deeper look at things like the batteries. And it’s not just looking at the drone. Pre-flight checks take into consideration other things that can affect your drone. Pre-flight checks Drone checksCarefully check the drone for any visible damage to the frame, propellers, or landing gear. You’re looking for anything from cracks and chips to bending and seams popping open.Ensure propellers are securely attached and free of cracks or chips. Propellers are cheap, your drone isn’t. Replace them if they show any signs of damage. I always recommend using genuine propellers rather than third-party accessories.Ensure that all the propeller motors rotate freely.Check that the battery is fully charged and securely fitted. The last thing you want to happen is for the battery to fall out mid-flight (yes, that does happen).Also: I tested DJI’s palm-sized drone, and it captured things I had never seen before More

ZDNETCybercriminals and hackers employ a variety of methods to access and steal sensitive information from individuals and organizations. One increasingly popular approach is vishing, or voice phishing. Here, the attacker tricks someone into sharing account credentials or other information through a simple phone call. According to the latest data from security firm CrowdStrike, these types of attacks have been skyrocketing. Also: Hackers stole this engineer’s 1Password database. Could it happen to you?In its 11th annual 2025 CrowdStrike Global Threat Report, the security provider revealed that vishing attacks jumped 442% in the second half of 2024 compared with the first half. Throughout the year, CrowdStrike Intelligence tracked at least six similar but distinct campaigns in which attackers pretending to be IT staffers called employees at different organizations. Help desk social engineering In these particular campaigns, the scammers tried to convince their intended victims to set up remote support sessions, typically using the Microsoft Quick Assist tool built into Windows. In many of these, the attackers used Microsoft Teams to make the phone calls. At least four of the campaigns seen by CrowdStrike used spam bombing to send thousands of junk emails to the targeted users as a pretext for the alleged support call. Also: How to protect yourself from phishing attacks in Chrome and FirefoxThe type of vishing used in these attacks is often known as help desk social engineering. Here, the cybercriminal posing as a help desk or IT professional stresses the urgency of the call as a response to some made-up threat. In some cases, the attacker requests the person’s password or other credentials. In other cases, such as the ones documented in the report, the scammer tries to gain remote access to the victim’s computer. Callback phishing Another tactic seen by CrowdStrike is callback phishing. Here, the criminal sends an email to an individual over some type of urgent but phony matter. This could be a claim for an overdue invoice, a notice that they’ve subscribed to some service, or an alert that their account has been compromised. The email contains a phone number for the recipient to call. But naturally, that number leads them directly to the scammer, who tries to con them into sharing their credit card details, account credentials, or other information. Because these attacks are usually aimed at organizations, ransomware is another key component. By gaining access to network resources, user or customer accounts, and other sensitive data, the attackers can hold the stolen information for ransom. Also: The top 10 brands exploited in phishing attacks – and how to protect yourselfIn its report, CrowdStrike identified a few different cybercrime groups that use vishing and callback phishing in their attacks. One group known as Chatty Spider focuses mostly on the legal and insurance industries and has demanded ransoms as high as $8 million. Another group called Plump Spider targeted Brazil-based businesses throughout 2024 and uses vishing calls to direct employees to remote support sites and tools. “Similar to other social engineering techniques, vishing is effective because it targets human weakness or error rather than a flaw in software or an operating system (OS),” CrowdStrike said in its report. “Malicious activity may not be detected until later in an intrusion, such as during malicious binary execution or hands-on-keyboard activity, which can delay an effective response. This gives the threat actor an advantage and puts the onus on users to recognize potentially malicious behavior.” Other security firms have seen a dramatic rise in vishing attacks. Last October, Zimperium’s zLabs research team uncovered a malware known as FakeCall, notable for its advanced use of vishing. Here, the scammers use phone calls to try to trick potential victims into sharing sensitive information such as credit card numbers and banking credentials. FakeCall itself works by hijacking the call functions on Android phones to install the malware. More

ZDNETPower stations can range in price from a few hundred dollars for a small, portable unit More

ZDNETI used to be a Firefox fan. That was a long time ago. Also: The best secure browsers for privacyOver the years, tens of millions of other Firefox users and I have given up on the browser. Recently, Mozilla, the company behind Firefox, changed Firefox’s data practices and privacy policies so that you granted Mozilla far more control over your data. Firefox users are unhappy about these changes.Why are people unhappy with Firefox?It all began on Feb. 27, 2025. Then, Mozilla introduced official Firefox Terms of Use and updated its Privacy Notice. This marked the first time Mozilla had a legally binding privacy policy for Firefox users. Before, its policies relied on open-source licenses and informal privacy commitments. Also: Firefox expands access to popular AI chatbots right from the sidebarFor decades, one of Firefox’s biggest selling points was that it gave you more privacy than Chrome or Edge. Under this new policy, though, Mozilla claimed: “When you upload or input information through Firefox, you hereby grant us a nonexclusive, royalty-free, worldwide license to use that information to help you navigate, experience, and interact with online content as you indicate with your use of Firefox.” That’s gone over like a lead brick. People believe that Mozilla has granted itself a royalty-free right to anything you type in Firefox. Your data could then be used for advertisers or to train an AI Large Language Model (LLM). In support of the idea that Mozilla would let advertisers use your data, users have noticed that Firefox has deleted from its Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) file the query: “Does Firefox sell your personal data?” and the answer, “Nope. Never have, never will. And we protect you from many of the advertisers who do. Firefox products are designed to protect your privacy. That’s a promise.” That’s all gone. Now, Firefox merely promises, “to protect your personal information.” That’s not what Mozilla had promised. According to an update by Ajit Varma, Firefox’s VP of Product Management, “Mozilla doesn’t sell data about you (in the way that most people think about “selling data”), and we don’t buy data about you. We changed our language because some jurisdictions define “sell” more broadly than most people would usually understand that word.” Also: Firefox is finally adding vertical tabs – why it’s a game-changing updateAs for AI, in 2023, Mozilla began its own AI startup, Mozilla.ai. As one Firefox user put it, the new language “sounds like boilerplate AI harvesting language.” They’re not wrong. In response, Varma added, “We need a license to allow us to make some of the basic functionality of Firefox possible. Without it, we couldn’t use information typed into Firefox, for example. It does NOT give us ownership of your data or a right to use it for anything other than what is described in the Privacy Notice.” That still hasn’t made everyone comfortable. Others have noticed that Mozilla’s new executives, including Varma, come not from promotion within or the open-source community, but from money-making businesses. Varma’s last job, for example, was at Meta, where he was responsible for monetizing WhatsApp. More

ZDNETAfter all the chaos we have seen in the Kindle world over the last week, I’ve noticed that there tend to be two types of reactions from users.The first reaction is that some people want to move off the Kindle platform as quickly as possible. Their whole interest is setting up a new reading environment where ebook ownership means having all their books’ files on backup media somewhere. The second reaction, fueled by either old Kindle devices or unregistered Kindle devices, is the desire to get a new Kindle. As part of the bulk download process many of us went through before Amazon cut off that ability, my wife realized that although she has three devices, the newest Kindle she owns is a Paperwhite she bought back in 2012. Also: Want free ebooks? These 10 sites offer thousands of optionsHer favorite device, the large-format Kindle DX, can no longer load Kindle books because it lacks connectivity to Amazon. We tried registering an old Kindle Keyboard from 2010. Even though it has Wi-Fi connectivity, the security protocols in that machine are so out of date that it wouldn’t authenticate with Amazon. This article is for those with active Kindle libraries or those who want to get started in the Kindle ecosystem. As it turns out, if you want to buy a new Kindle, there are a number of ways you can save big on the purchase. First, I’ll show you the ways you can save. Then, I’ll build a couple of configurations, and we’ll do some math on the savings. 1. Save 20% with trade-in (plus bonus bucks) Amazon has an offer where you can trade in an old device and get a 20% discount — plus a few bucks for your old device. More

Kerry Wan/ZDNETWe’re on day two of Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2025, and the news cycle is still churning. Within the first day at the Barcelona trade show, we saw ultra-slim phones, unique laptop form factors, and surprise appearances from Samsung and Nothing.Also: This tri-foldable phone at MWC 2025 is the most bizarre thing I’ve seen yetBut, as is often the case with multi-day events, we’ll likely see and hear more about what’s new in the mobile space. To keep you updated,  here’s our roundup of the best products the ZDNET team has seen at MWC. Stay tuned as we refresh this list, bulleted in no particular order, throughout the week.1. Samsung made a Nintendo Switch that folds More

<!–> ZDNET’s key takeaways HP’s OmniStudio X 31.5 is on sale now at Best Buy for $1,799. It’s a big-screen all-in-one with a solid suite of hardware that’s both powerful and flexible. However, some users will want to upgrade the peripherals and speakers. –> When I reviewed the Apple iMac M4 last year, I praised […] More