Peek Performance
Earlier in March, Apple hosted an hour long presentation, the Peek Performance event, with several announcements. The Verge has rounded up some of the biggest take-home’s from the day.
The M1 Ultra was introduced and will be available in the Mac Studio and most likely in the new Mac Pro that was teased. The Ultra is essentially two M1 Max chips put together supporting up to 128GB of RAM at eight times the speed of the standard M1 chip. Mac Studio is like a Mac Mini aimed at creative professionals with tons of I/O, cooling, and processing power. The Max version starts at $1,999 whereas the Ultra version starts at $3,999. The Studio Display will have a 27-inch, 5K screen, reaching up to 600 nits of brightness and can support P3 wide color as well as work with macOS’s TrueTone feature. Above the screen, a 12-megapixel ultrawide camera is included for video conferencing. The monitor, available to order now, can stand on its own but there is also a stand upgrade option for height adjustments available for additional purchase.
Other announcements from the event include Apple’s new iPhone SE, which includes features of Apple’s newest A15 CPU in a cheaper and smaller package, and price starting at $429. The phone will provide a similar experience to the pricier iPhone 13 device, including Touch ID, when it launches this month. If you were interested in the iPhone 13 devices though, they will soon be available in a new “alpine green” colorway. A new version of the iPad Air is coming, with an eight-core M1 chip, 5G on cellular-equipped models, and a 12MP front-facing camera.
Lastly, iOS 15.4 will be released this month, Apple’s streaming service will feature two Major League Baseball games on Friday nights during the regular season, and with all the newness, the 27-inch, Intel-based iMac is seemingly being discontinued. To learn details about all of the exciting announcements from the presentation, visit here.
Amazon and Whole Foods
You can start your grocery shopping by signing in with your palm or scanning the QR code in your Amazon app and end it by simply walking out of the store, no cashier necessary.
Most grocery shopping experiences to date will not match the technologically sophisticated experience of shopping at the Whole Foods store in Washington’s Glover Park, where a full Amazon-ification of the chain is physically complete. The technology, known as Just Walk Out, consists of hundreds of cameras with a god’s-eye view of customers and comparable to what’s in driverless cars. Sensors are placed under all items, and behind the scenes, deep-learning software analyzes shopping activity to detect patterns and increase the accuracy of its charges. The technology will identify when products are lifted, automatically itemize the goods, and charge you after you’ve left the store. Anybody with an Amazon account, not just Prime members, can shop this way; skipping a cash register and receiving a bill in their Amazon account later on.
While Amazon has said it doesn’t plan to use video or other Whole Foods customer information for advertising or for its recommendation engine, shoppers who don’t want to participate in the experimental technology can still choose to enter the store without signing in, and exit the store after paying at self-checkout kiosks with a credit card or cash. Visit here to learn more about the store’s reopening and the new technology now being used.
Phishing Attacks Impersonating LinkedIn
As many people are currently looking for new careers or places of employment, during what has become commonly known as “the great resignation” period of time, phishing scammers are shifting their tactics to take advantage of this group of people.
If you are looking for a new job, you are likely going to be utilizing LinkedIn; and where the people go, the scammers will follow. According to new data from security vendor Egress, there has been a significant rise in the number of attacks impersonating LinkedIn since the beginning of February this year.
The attacks are coming from an unassociated email address, but leverage LinkedIn branding, logos, colors, and verbiage that is familiar like:
- You appeared in 4 searches this week
- You appeared in 9 searches this week
- You have 1 new message
- Your profile matches this job
The links within the email connect victims to lookalike websites with the intent of stealing user credentials to use to impersonate the victim in future attacks. It is as important as ever to remain aware of potential scams, and KnowBe4 offers various types of training for employees to learn how to protect themselves and the company against falling prey to attacks like this one. Visit here to learn more.
