uBlock Origin Lite for Safari now available for iPhone, iPad and Mac
It’s finally true! uBlock Origin Lite is now available for Apple Safari. The extension is very popular among Firefox, and Chromium based browsers for its robust ad-blocking capabilities. Now, users can get the same protection level on their iPhone, iPad and Mac.
uBlock Origin Lite is compatible with most modern devices, you’ll need to be on iOS 18.0, iPadOS 18.0, macOS 15.0, or above to use the add-on. It is also available for the Vision Pro headset, it requires Apple visionOS 2.0 or above.
Don’t let the word lite in the name fool you, uBlock Origin Lite for Safari blocks ads on most websites and even on YouTube. Once you have enabled it from Safari’s settings, it just works out of the box. You can access uBO Lite on any web page from the browser’s menu. The add-on’s element zapper can remove any annoyance from a web page quite easily. It’s a must-have extension to protect yourself from ads, malicious scripts.
Windows Hello was bypassed by some researchers
While Microsoft claims Windows Hello is secure, a couple of researches have proven otherwise. Dr Baptiste David and Tillmann Osswald from ERNW Research demoed a flaw in Windows Hello authentication at the Black Hat conference in Las Vegas. The security experts were able to inject biometrical data into a Windows PC to unlock the system. The exploit targeted the CryptProtectData database, which stores the biometric information. This is not the first time Windows Hello has been bypassed.
Users don’t have to panic, as there are two ways to protect against this attack. You can use a Pin instead of biometric authentication, or enable Windows Hello Enhanced Sign-In Security. The latter protects the facial recognition algorithm using Virtualized-Based Security. However, not all computers support ESS.
Microsoft Lens document scanner app is being retired
Microsoft is killing one of its most popular apps. The Microsoft Lens PDF Scanner app will be retired by the end of 2025. The app, formerly Office Lens, is capable of converting photos of documents, receipts, or handwritten text, into PDF, Word, PowerPoint, Excel documents. It allowed users to save the converted document to OneNote and OneDrive.
While the phasing out process begins in September,Microsoft plans to stop new installs of Microsoft Lens in October, and will remove the app from the App Store and the Google Play Store. The app will no longer be able to scan new documents from December 2025. Users were surprised by the announcement considering that the app is very popular. However, the discontinuation of the app seems to be a strategic move to push users towards the Microsoft 365 Copilot app. The app lacks some features that were present in Microsoft Lens.
Heretic + Hexen enhanced edition released for all platforms
iD Software and Nightdive Studios have released Heretic + Hexen, which contains enhanced editions of both games. Heretic, the first-person dark fantasy shooter, was released in 1994, while Hexen was released in 1995. The enhanced versions come with 2 new episodes: Heretic: Faith Renewed and Hexen: Vestiges of Grandeur. Andrew Hulshult has composed an enhanced Tome of Power soundtrack for the games. The games support up to 4K resolution, 120 fps on consoles, controllers, and widescreen monitors.
Heretic and Hexen are no longer exclusive to Windows PCs, Heretic + Hexen are now available for Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Game Pass, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, and Nintendo Switch.
Players who already owned Heretic: Shadow of the Serpent Riders, Hexen: Beyond Heretic and/or Hexen: Deathkings of the Dark Citadel on Steam, Microsoft Store/Xbox Windows, and GOG will receive a free upgrade to Heretic + Hexen.
HBO Max to crackdown on password sharing aggressively
HBO Max will start cracking down on password sharing in a more serious campaign fromSeptember. Earlier this year, the streaming service owned by Warner Bros. Discovery, introduced a plan to add an extra member to a subscription for $7.99 per month. It had asked users who were sharing passwords with subscribers to pay for their usage. HBO Max says it has been testing to determine who were legitimate viewers, and who were not.
It will soon start sending an aggressive message campaign to kick out users who are sharing passwords. HBO Max’s strategy is similar to what Netflix and Disney Plus have been doing over the past couple of years.
Dashlane Password Manager free plan discontinued
Dashlane Password Manager has announced that its free plan is being discontinued. This is not surprising considering that the service had restricted free users to 25 passwords in 2023. That’s nowhere enough in this day and age, if anything it was a sign that the free plan was coming to an end.
Free users have until September 16th to export their credentials. Users will need to either switch to Dashlane Premium for $4.99 per month, or Dashlane Friends & Family for $7.49 per month. There are other freemium alternatives that users can turn to like Bitwarden, Proton Pass, and the completely free, offline app, KeePass.
Call of Duty and Battlefield 6 require TPM 2.0 and Secure Boot
Two popular upcoming games will require TPM 2.0 and Secure Boot on Windows. Call of Duty: Black Ops 7, and Battlefield 6 both require these mandatorily for their anti-cheat systems to work. Electronic Arts will use Javelin anti-cheat in Battlefield 6, while Activision will use Ricochet in Call of Duty. The anti-cheat mechanisms in these games will be used to identify players using their unique hardware ID, and if anyone is found cheating, they will be banned from the games. The only possible way to get past a ban is to buy new hardware. Ironically, there are reports that say that cheaters are already rampant on Battlefield 6 servers during the open beta.
TPM and Secure Boot requirements have an unwanted side effect, they practically lock out access for Linux and Mac gamers. Kernel-level access can be dangerous, as has been evidenced in the past. Remote Code Execution (RCE) attacks and Remote Access Trojans (RAT) were a problem in multiple Call of Duty games. In fact, it was a kernel level issue in CrowdStrike that brought down millions of computers last year.
