Author: Samuel Alejandro

Many consumers trade in their old smartphones for new models, often unaware that these deals typically offer significantly less than the device’s actual market value. This article explores why trade-ins are convenient but costly, providing real-world examples and suggesting better alternatives like selling, gifting, or repurposing your old device to maximize its worth.

A Pakistan-aligned hacking group, APT36 (Transparent Tribe), has launched a sophisticated cyber-espionage campaign against Indian government, academic, and strategic institutions. The operation uses spear-phishing emails to deliver advanced malware capable of remote control, data exfiltration, and persistent surveillance, indicating long-term intelligence-gathering objectives.

New advancements in fire retardant technologies are emerging to create safer buildings and protect against wildfires. Companies like Halt are using substances such as Burnblock to treat wood, making it highly resistant to flames, while First Graphene is incorporating graphene into plastics to slow fire spread. Researchers are also developing sprayable gels for pre-emptive wildfire protection, marking a significant shift towards more effective and less toxic fire safety solutions.

Firefox has introduced CRLite, a new mechanism for checking revoked TLS certificates that prioritizes speed, privacy, and comprehensiveness. Unlike previous methods that involved real-time queries, CRLite downloads a compact, frequently updated list of all revoked certificates locally. This approach enhances privacy by not revealing browsing activity and significantly improves performance, while also being more bandwidth-efficient than traditional Certificate Revocation Lists and covering all revocations for improved security.

AI

The overwhelming hype surrounding artificial intelligence in recent years has led to inflated expectations. A new initiative, ‘Hype Correction,’ aims to re-evaluate what AI is truly for, moving past the initial excitement to a more realistic understanding of its current capabilities and future potential.