Information Technology

Meta / Elyse Betters Picaro / ZDNETIf you’re concerned about keeping your kids safe on social media but still want to keep them connected, Meta is introducing a new type of Facebook and Messenger account just for teens under 16.Available soonThese special teen accounts, which are not available yet but will be “soon,” will have built-in protections that restrict who can contact them and what kind of content they can see, plus safeguards to make sure time is well spent. Teens are automatically enrolled at sign-up, and they need a parent’s consent to change any settings. Also: How to delete Facebook, Messenger, or Instagram – if you want Meta out of your lifeAt present, Meta requires people to be 13 years old to sign up for a Facebook or Instagram account. Meta’s announcement did not dive into specifics, but a company representative speaking to TechCrunch revealed some details. More

Kerry Wan/ZDNETI love March Madness, at least until Louisville gets knocked out in the first round. Then, I just sit back, free of stress, and enjoy watching other teams play their hearts out like everything is on the line — because it is. While NCAA basketball continues to be broadcast in standard HD, the games can look clear, bright, and beautiful on most modern TVs. Part of that appeal, though, is owed to your TV’s motion-smoothing capabilities. Also: Your TV’s USB port is seriously underrated: 5 benefits you’re not taking advantage ofFor many people, motion smoothing is only appropriate for gaming and watching live sports; enthusiasts typically prefer turning off the feature to watch anything else because it can detract from the filmmaker’s original intent, making on-screen images seem artificial or hyper-realistic. This is what’s called the “soap opera effect.” It’s a perfectly descriptive metaphor that probably requires no explanation. You can see it all too well: the cinematic film should not look like a daytime soap; you shouldn’t feel like you’re on the set with the actors. But it is appealing to feel like you’re in the stadium watching your team with thousands of fans. The soap opera effect makes sense for live sporting event broadcasts. More

LagartoFilm/Getty Images It’s a jungle out there. And by “out there,” I mean in the online world, where scams, data breaches, and outright thievery are depressing facts of life. For those with a reasonable technical background, spotting the markers of an online attack is usually easy. But if you’re like me, you probably have a […] More

Roland W. Kunz/Getty Images LONDON — When I met up with my open-source buddy Dustin Kirkland, VP of engineering at Chainguard, at KubeCon Europe, he said he had me to thank for his company’s new Linux distribution, Chainguard OS.  Why? In my May 2024 story about kernel security, I’d said all distros had been doing […] More

Yuichiro Chino/Getty Images On Nov. 7, 2024, Google released a System update for Android 9 and later, which included a new service, Android System SafetyCore. Most of these patches were the usual security fixes, but SafetyCore was new and different. Google said in a developer note that the release was an “Android system component that provides […] More

Yuliya Taba/Getty Images Cisco has released a “2025 Data Privacy Benchmark Study” that looks at the privacy challenges companies face with the rise of artificial intelligence. It offers practical insights for businesses that want to integrate AI while keeping privacy front and center. Also: The best free AI courses and certificates in 2025 The study gathered […] More

LagartoFilm/Getty Images If you use a VPN, are you using it all the time and for everything on your desktop or laptop?  You probably assume that more is always better, right? It is like Windows users thinking if they install two antivirus tools, they will be safer — not knowing that running two such tools […] More

Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images If you’re a T-Mobile user (or were in 2021), a check might arrive in your mailbox soon. In 2021, the mobile carrier suffered a massive data breach that affected around 76 million customers (this isn’t related to the 2023 breach that affected 37 million people). T-Mobile denied any wrongdoing but agreed to settle […] More