Tag Archives: Technology

Posted on Author Atlantic Computer Services Categories Blog

Google Unveils New Products at Pixel Event 2022

During a press event in New York City, Google unveiled the new Pixel 7 and Pixel 7 Pro devices, the brand-new Pixel Watch, and a teaser for a forthcoming 2023 Pixel Tablet. Although the devices are similar to those from last year, there seemed to be some welcomed improvements, like additional camera functions, a better screen and battery, and an upgraded Google Tensor processor.

Pixel 7 and Pixel 7 Pro

With its 6.3-inch display, face recognition as an alternative unlocking method, and Google’s G2 Tensor processor, the Pixel 7 boasts enhanced AI-driven capabilities. These capabilities include the ability to see a menu while making a call, have emoji ideas suggested to you based on your voice, and have audio messages transcribed in Google’s Messages app.

The Pixel 7 new camera features include Cinematic Blur, Guided Frame via voice assistant for individuals who have limited vision, and a pretty neat feature called Photo Unblur, which effectively unblurs old photographs.

The Pixel 7 is available in three colors: obsidian, snow, and lemongrass. The device is available for preorder and has a starting price of $599.

The Pixel 7 Pro offers many of the same features included in the base model, with a few improvements over the display, weight, and battery life. Still, the camera is what significantly distinguishes the 7 Pro from the base model. The 30x telephoto lens on the Pixel 7 Pro works with cutting-edge software to provide clear images at all zoom levels. Additionally, the 7 Pro includes a Macro Focus feature that enables you to snap close-up pictures with HDR+ quality for detailed photos.

At its base price of $899, the Pixel 7 Pro is available in obsidian, snow, and hazel colors. Like the base Pixel 7, the Pixel 7 Pro is available for preorder.

Google Watch

The Google Pixel Watch comes with new health-tracking functions, such as a heart rate sensor, ECG monitoring, and sleep tracking, which keep with the current trend toward smartwatches and other wearable electronic devices.

The Pixel Watch starts at $349 for the WiFi-only device and $399 for the WiFi plus LTE model. Preorders for the watch are currently available.

Google Tablet

We didn’t receive much information on the Pixel Tablet because it won’t be available until 2023, but Google revealed some information.

The Pixel Tablet will function with a speaker dock that doubles as a charging station and will use the same G2 Tensor technology that drives the Pixel 7. Based on the fact that the Pixel Tablet is being marketed as a smart home manager and creative tool, we can probably expect some cool features to be announced before its release next year.

The Pixel 7, Pixel 7 Pro, and Pixel Watch’s improved AI-driven functionalities will certainly change the way we use our smart devices. Although the Google Pixel Tablet will not be available until 2023, there is no doubt that these new Google gadgets will cause a stir in the technological world.

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Posted on Author Atlantic Computer Services Categories Blog

Tesla Introduces Optimus Robot Prototype

Tesla introduces the humanoid Optimus robot prototype and claims to be aiming for a price of under $20,000.

After the event started, Tesla’s eagerly anticipated humanoid robot was unveiled. The prototype walked unfettered across the stage. Tesla’s CEO, Elon Musk, stated that the team is working to make the robot accessible as soon as possible for less than a car at under $20,000.

According to Musk, Optimus is being developed to be a strong robot that can be produced in large quantities. During the event, a video showed the robot moving packages throughout a workplace and watering a plant, among other simple chores.

Tesla also displayed a fully built prototype showing the design of a potential final product. This prototype had a slick, cutting-edge design similar to what was showcased at the event last year.

The Optimus’ hands are designed to have a complete range of motion in their fingers. However, the humanoid movements are not restricted to the hands; the entire robot’s operation is fashioned after a human body. According to a Tesla engineer, the robot will have a human form, a broad range of motion, and strength. The Optimus will be programmed to have human brain-like capabilities, including vision processing, decision-making on the fly, and communicating; this is made possible by Tesla employing autopilot software and a battery pack from its vehicles in the robot.

CEO Elon Musk was passionate about the positive impact Optimus could bring to society and the economy. He stated, “It’ll be a fundamental transformation for civilization as we know it.”

When questioned about an exact timeframe, Musk responded that Optimus deliveries will be “probably within three years and not more than five years.”

The public has been hesitant toward technology since the humanoid robot announcement. After all, the scenario does resemble the ending of a sci-fi horror film in which machines might take over. However, Musk said that despite his attempts to get it out as fast as possible, safety is still a top priority in response to these worries.

It’s anyone’s guess whether a Tesla Bot will ever become a reality since Tesla has a history of fanciful ideas that never materialized. But the company is not where it is today because it decided to produce everything it invented.

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Posted on Author Atlantic Computer Services Categories Blog

Oracle Cloud Infrastructure New Vulnerability Patch

In June, Wiz engineers discovered and reported #AttachMe, a critical cloud isolation flaw in Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI).

Due to its potential to affect all OCI customers, the #AttachMe cloud vulnerability is one of the most severe vulnerabilities discovered to date. The majority of the time, cloud isolation flaws only impact a single cloud service. However, in this case, the impact is related to an integral part of the cloud service.

Engineers discovered that no special permissions were necessary to attach a disk to a virtual machine under a different user account. This suggests that a potential attacker could have gained access to and modified the data of any OCI client and, in certain circumstances, take control of the environment.

Before the patch, any OCI customer could have been a target of a malicious actor familiar with the #AttachMe vulnerability. If the attacker had the Oracle Cloud Identifier, any unattached or attached storage volume that allowed multiple attachments could have been viewed or altered (OCID). This would have allowed sensitive data to be stolen and future attacks initiated through executable file manipulation.

After being informed by Wiz of the vulnerability, Oracle quickly and efficiently distributed a patch for #AttachMe to all OCI customers in less than one day.

The separation of tenants is a critical aspect of cloud computing. Customers expect their data to be inaccessible to other customers. Still, vulnerabilities in cloud isolation break down the walls between tenants. This demonstrates the critical need for proactive research into cloud vulnerabilities, ethical disclosure, and public tracking of cloud vulnerabilities for cloud security.

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Posted on Author Atlantic Computer Services Categories Blog

Microsoft Teams Vulnerability Discovered

Microsoft Teams is a part of the 365 product family and is used by more than 270 million people for exchanging text messages, videoconferencing, and file storage.

In August of 2022, the team at Vectra Protect discovered a post-exploitation vulnerability in the plaintext storage disk used by Microsoft Teams while conducting research for a client. This vulnerability gives malicious actors, with either the local or remote systems access, the ability to obtain valid user credentials. Vectra discovered that the unencrypted credential management weakness affected all commercial and GCC Desktop Teams clients for Windows, Mac, and Linux.

In a blog post dated September 13, 2022, Vectra informed the public about the vulnerability and provided an example of how the hackers may exploit it.

Vectra explained that malicious actors could impersonate the user through Teams-related applications such as Skype and Outlook while bypassing multifactor authentication (MFA). With access to team-related applications, the hackers could target other employees or impersonate senior executives inside the corporation.

Connor Peoples, a security architect at Vectra, wrote, “Attackers can tamper with legitimate communications within an organization by selectively destroying, exfiltrating, or engaging in targeted phishing attacks.”

The desktop application is especially susceptible to attack since it does not have “additional security safeguards to protect cookie data.”

While Microsoft acknowledges the concern raised by Vectra, the corporation states, “The technique described does not meet our bar for immediate servicing as it requires an attacker to first gain access to a target network.”

Given the uncertain availability of a solution in the immediate future, Vectra advises users to utilize the browser-based version of Microsoft Teams. The additional safeguards in a browser helps user avoid security vulnerabilities that could be readily exploited.

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Posted on Author Atlantic Computer Services Categories Blog

Zoom Outage Reported

Recently Zoom, a popular, cloud-based communications platform used for online meetings and video conferencing, experienced an outage that impacted tens of thousands of users worldwide. The issue began shortly after 8:00 am PDT on Thursday, September 15, 2022, when users reported that they could not log in or join meetings. At 8:17 PDT, the company posted the following message on their incident status page:

“We are investigating reports of zoom.us being unavailable.

Our teams are currently investigating the service-impacting event. Our engineers are investigating.”

By 8:30 PDT, the company’s engineers had identified the issue, and the company updated the incident status page with the following:

“We have identified the issue starting and joining meetings. We will continue to investigate and provide updates as we have them.”

By 8:37 PDT, the interruption appeared resolved as the company moved to monitor the situation. Zoom posted the following update:

“We have resolved the issue causing users to be unable to start and join Zoom Meetings. We will continue to monitor and provide updates as we have them.”

Then, at 8:49 PDT, Zoom’s engineers were confident that the issue would not recur and formally closed the incident.

Zoom did not release any technical details as to what caused the outage. In any case, if you are a Zoom user and could not log in for a time yesterday morning, this was the reason.

This severe but quickly resolved issue serves as a reminder that any company is susceptible to outages. Therefore, it is crucial to have different technology avenues to switch to your backup option when a similar outage occurs without losing time in your day.

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