TCL/ZDNETLooking to upgrade your home theater with a truly cinema-sized TV for catching summer sports and movie streaming premieres? Right now at Best Buy, you can get the 98-inch TCL Q65 More
Elyse Betters Picaro / ZDNETDo you ever use “123456,” “admin,” or “password” as the password for a personal or work account? If so, you’re unfortunately not alone and are placing yourself and your employer at risk. Also: 10 passkey survival tips: Prepare for your passwordless future nowPublished last Friday by security news and research outlet Cybernews, a new study of more than 19 billion leaked passwords shows that people still rely on patterns that leave them vulnerable to attack and compromise. For the study, Cybernews looked at credentials leaked from 200 different incidents over the past 12 months. Using various cyber intelligence tools, the outlet was able to determine such factors as password length, character composition, and the use of special characters and numbers.The most common (and lazy) passwords still in useBased on the analysis, lazy passwords such as “1234,” “123456,” “password,” and “admin” are still quite common. Cybernews found “1234” in almost 4% of passwords, more than 727 million. With two extra digits, “123456” appeared in 338 million passwords. Both “password” and “123456” have been among the most popular passwords since at least 2011. Also: Why multi-factor authentication is absolutely essential in 2025 More
Lance Whitney / Elyse Betters Picaro / ZDNETThink that Apple’s Siri snooped on your private conversations in the past? If so, you may be able to snag a slice of the $95 million that Apple is paying out to settle a class action lawsuit.A settlement page published Friday in the case of Lopez v. Apple Inc. explains the steps and deadlines for people who want to make a claim. The settlement is geared toward current or former users of a Siri device in the US whose conversations with the voice assistant were captured by Apple or shared with third parties due to an “unintended Siri activation.” How to qualifyTo qualify, you must have been using the device between Sept. 17, 2014, and Dec. 31, 2024. How to enter a claimIf you’re in the qualifying group, you should receive an email or postcard with a Claim Identification Code and a Confirmation Code alerting you to the settlement. In that case, head to the claim submission page, enter both codes, and then log in to proceed.Also: 7 ways to lock down your phone’s security – before it’s too lateIf you don’t receive either the email or postcard, you can still try to put together a claim. To do that, enter a new claim at the submission page. You’ll be asked to provide your contact information along with a serial number and model name for the Siri device or proof of purchase. You can add as many as five different devices, including an iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, AirPods, HomePod, or any other gadget that uses Siri. Either way, you’ll be asked whether you want to receive your payout by direct deposit to your bank account or by electronic check. Don’t wait too long to file a claim; the deadline is July 2, 2025. You can also opt to do nothing, in which case you simply won’t collect anything.Following the filing deadline, the court still has to approve the settlement before payouts can begin. A final approval hearing is scheduled for Aug. 1 with US District Judge Jeffrey White in the federal court in Oakland, California. More
Jack Wallen / Elyse Betters Picaro / ZDNETIf you’re looking for a Linux distribution to wean you from Windows, there are a lot of options. Even distributions that don’t look and feel like Windows 10 or 11 can be tweaked to resemble Microsoft’s OS.And then there are some Linux distributions that resemble Windows out of the box. Among those distributions is a rather new player on the field, AnduinOS. Version 1.3 was just released, and after giving it a test, I’m impressed. The latest version of AnduinOS is based on Ubuntu 25.04, so it has the same underpinnings as Canonical’s celebrated distribution. That means it enjoys solid hardware support, a user-friendly package manager, a sound and stable base, and support until 2026. Also: Why this Linux distro is my new favorite Windows replacementAnduinOS achieves its Windows 11-like look with GNOME 48, and it does an outstanding job of that (while still maintaining the same level of simplicity that you’ll find on most GNOME-based Linux distributions). At the same time, it opts to add a few touches you don’t typically find on the GNOME desktop (such as the weather app as a clickable button in the bottom left corner of the desktop), which is a nice touch. More
emretopdemir/Getty Images Sooner or later, it’s coming: You’ll be logging into one of your favorite websites or applications, and you’ll find no option to supply a user ID and password. There won’t even be a password field. (The jury is still out on the user ID field.) You’ll simply choose from a personalized dropdown list […] More
Eshma/Getty Images In June 2017, as NotPetya malware ripped through Ukraine’s business and government technology infrastructure, I reported from the capital, Kyiv, for ZDNET’s then-sibling publication TechRepublic, moderating panel discussions about geopolitical cyber defense at the Global Cybersecurity Summit. The city was a charming, modern startup hub with innovative thinkers and smart technology. It was also […] More
BlackJack3D/Getty Images Chief human resources officers (CHROs) plan to expand their digital labor in the next two years, investing in AI agents to increase productivity, according to the latest Salesforce global research. The research surveyed 200 global human resource executives to gather their perspectives on integrating AI into the workplace. The findings indicate a strong […] More
<!–> ZDNET’s key takeaways The Moto G Stylus is currently on sale for $400 It is the best of Motorola’s 2025 series sporting a Super HD display and the most powerful chipset of the bunch You’ll hardly ever use its namesake feature, the stylus. more buying choices They say good things come in threes, and […] More
