Information Technology

Adrian Kingsley-Hughes/ZDNETWhat’s the deal?The Bluetti AC180 More

Adrian Kingsley-Hughes/ZDNETWhat’s the deal?The Bluetti AC240 portable power station More

This year’s Amazon Prime Day kicks off tomorrow July 16, but a quick scope through the A-to-Z catalog reveals several quality deals on the latest smartphones across major manufacturers. That includes the latest Samsung Galaxy S24 series More

While we usually see some of the best gaming deals around the holiday season, Amazon’s annual Prime Day sale is another great opportunity to save big on everything from games and accessories to consoles and PCs. Although you might have to wait until the sale officially kicks off tomorrow to find what you really want, Amazon is offering early deals already, and other retailers like Best Buy More

Max Buondonno/ZDNETApple announced significant updates for the iPhone with iOS 18 during last month’s WWDC event. In addition to a customizable home screen, Control Center, and lock screen, iOS 18 will give users a Photos app overhaul, new Messages enhancements, a new Passwords app, and many artificial intelligence (AI) updates under Apple Intelligence to enhance app functionality.Also: Every iPhone model that will get Apple’s iOS 18 (and which ones won’t)While the iOS 18 general release is still a couple of months away, users can now download a public beta version. Apple released the iOS 18 developer beta a month ago. Before you download a beta version of an operating system, you should have some housekeeping items in mind:Back up your device and personal information.Don’t download beta software, which will likely have bugs and glitches, on your everyday iPhone.You should go into the experience to test new features and share feedback to improve iOS, which is why beta versions are released.  More

MARCO BERTORELLO/AFP via Getty Images Are you overwhelmed by the enormous selection of Amazon Prime Day<!–> deals every year? How can you more easily find the discounts you actually care about? ZDNET is updating our best Amazon Prime Day deals list now and will continue to bring you great deals as they become available. But if […] More

Jack Wallen/ZDNETLast week I woke up to find a litany of emails from LinkedIn alerting me to shenanigans. There were password reset emails, pin codes, and even a message that 2FA had been turned on.What? I already had 2FA turned on and never turned it off. Also: Did you get a fake invoice from McAfee? How the scam works and 2 things you should never doI wondered if the AT&T breach could have been the cause of this situation because the timing was too suspect to ignore, but whatever caused it, I could no longer access my account.I don’t actively use LinkedIn because I’m not actively seeking work and I don’t speak fluent business. However, when new clients are looking to add me to their roster of writers, that’s where they find me. So… it’s still an important account for me. But that’s not the reason why I was so adamant about getting my account restored. Even though I don’t post on LinkedIn, a lot of my clients do post my work and tag me. Imagine if a hacker were to get access to my account and then trash my reputation by posting a barrage of terrible, horrible, no good, very bad things. We live in an era where that’s very much a concern (or should be) and anyone who gets an account hacked (even a Facebook or X account) should act to recover it immediately… otherwise the risk of falling victim to such reputation-ruining havoc could be disastrous.Also: The best VPN services of 2024: Expert tested and reviewedLet me make a quick public service announcement before I continue.This is the very reason why it’s imperative that you start using a password manager to not only keep your passwords secure within encrypted vaults but to also start using passwords that are very strong and unique. It’s time to do away with password123 and start using things like Ur*t23xVj&_2112. On top of that, any time you can enable multi-factor authentication (or passkeys), do it. Even though nothing is perfect, the more security you can add to your accounts the better. My suggestion would be to always use passkeys (when more sites start making them available) because that’s your strongest option.And now, back to our regularly scheduled programming.LinkedIn.When I realized the password reset wasn’t going to work (because the culprit had re-enabled 2FA after they’d changed my password), I had no choice but to go through the process of reclaiming my account.Also: The best LastPass alternatives of 2024When I started this process, I received an email from a third party called Persona. Given my usual suspicion of third-party services, I was hesitant to click on any link until I was absolutely certain it was legit. I went so far as to reach out to a contact I had with LinkedIn to ensure Persona was its account recovery service.Lo and behold, it was.Using the service required my phone because I had to take a photo of my driver’s license (which was why I was so hesitant to use the service in the first place). After clicking the link on my phone, it opened my camera app and guided me through snapping a photo of the front and back of my license. Unlike some reports of Persona, I did not have to take a selfie to prove the person in the driver’s license photo was the person attempting to recover the account (some services do require this). More

This year’s Amazon Prime Day will bring Prime members (and those who sign up for a free trial More