Today, Google filed its official notice of appeal against the district court ruling and jury verdict in Epic v. Google.Judge James Donato’s ruling earlier this week would force the company to distribute third-party app stores on Google Play and drop requirements that Google Play apps use its billing system, among other competition-friendly changes.
Google had said it would be appealing the verdict. “As we have already stated, these changes would put consumers’ privacy and security at risk, make it harder for developers to promote their apps, and reduce competition on devices,” Google VP of regulatory affairs Lee-Anne Mulholland said in a blog post on Monday. “Ultimately, while these changes presumably satisfy Epic, they will cause a range of unintended consequences that will harm American consumers, developers and device makers.”
Donato’s ruling this week said that Google’s changes must go into effect starting November 1st, 2024, and they would stay in effect until November 1st, 2027.
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Quordle was one of the original Wordle alternatives and is still going strong now nearly 1,000 games later. It offers a genuine challenge, though, so read on if you need some Quordle hints today – or scroll down further for the answers.
What letters do today’s Quordle answers start with?
• R
• A
• P
• Z
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Right, the answers are below, so DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON’T WANT TO SEE THEM.
Quordle today (game #991) – the answers
(Image credit: Merriam-Webster)
The answers to today’s Quordle, game #991, are…
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I don’t know about you but I love the idea of a PUSHY ZEBRA. You know, moving all the other animals away from the watering hole so it can have it all to itself, that kind of thing. I’m sure there’s a Pixar animation in there somewhere. But I digress. ZEBRA is arguably the hardest word in today’s Quordle, although ANIME does give it some competition. It not only starts with a very uncommon letter in the form of Z, but also has a B in an unusual spot (B tends to start words and not much else). ANIME, meanwhile, is formed of mostly common letters (M is the slight outlier), but caused a lot of trouble when it was a Wordle answer a while ago. Overall: tricky day, folks.
Red Teams try to break into high security facilities
A crack team assembles and breaks into a top secret military base or corporate headquarters – you’ve probably seen it in a film or on TV a dozen times.
But such teams exist in the real world and can be hired to test the tightest security.
Plenty of firms offer to test computer systems by attempting to remotely hack into them. That’s called White Hat Hacking.
But the skills involved in breaching physical security, known as Red Teaming, are rare.
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Companies that offer the Red Team service have to assemble staff with very particular skills.
Often using former military and intelligence personnel, Red Teams are asked one question.
“How can you break into this top-secret project?”
Leonardo, the giant defence company, offers such a service.
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It says hostile states seeking disruption and chaos are a real threat and sells its Red Team capability to government, critical infrastructure, and defence sector clients.
Its Red Team agreed to speak to the BBC under pseudonyms.
Greg, the team leader, served in the engineering and intelligence arms of the British Army, studying the digital capabilities of potential enemies.
“I spent a decade learning how to exploit enemy communications,” he says of his background.
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Now he co-ordinates the five-strong team.
The attack is about gaining access. The objective might be to stop a process from working, such as the core of a nuclear power plant.
The first step for Greg and his team is called passive reconnaissance.
Using an anonymous device, perhaps a smartphone only identifiable by its sim card, the team build a picture of the target.
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“We must avoid raising suspicions, so the target doesn’t know we’re looking at them,” Greg says.
Any technology they employ is not linked to a business by its internet address and is bought with cash.
Getty Images
Red Teams will look for demotivated security gaurds
Charlie spent 12 years in military intelligence, his techniques include studying commercial satellite imagery of a site, and scanning job ads to work out what type of people work there.
“We start from the edges of the target, staying away. Then we start to move into the target area, even looking at how people who work there dress.”
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This is known as hostile reconnaissance. They are getting close to the site, but keeping their exposure low, wearing different clothes every time they show up, and swapping out team members, so security people don’t spot the same person walking past the gates.
Technology is devised by people and the human factor is the weakest point in any security set-up. This is where Emma, who served in the RAF, comes in.
With a background in psychology Emma happily calls herself “a bit of a nosy people watcher”.
“People take shortcuts past security protocols. So, we look for disgruntled people at the site.”
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She listens in to conversations at adjacent cafes and pubs to hear where dissatisfaction with an employer surfaces.
“Every organisation has its quirks. We see what the likelihood of people falling for a suspicious email due to workload and fatigue is.”
An unhappy security guard may get lazy at work. “We’re looking at access, slipping in with a delivery for instance.”
A high turnover rate evidenced by frequently advertised vacancies also flags up dissatisfaction and a lack of engagement with security responsibilities. Tailgating, spotting people who are likely to hold an access door open for a follower, is another technique.
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Using that intelligence, plus a little subterfuge, security passes can be copied, and the Red Team can enter the premises posing as an employee.
Katsuhiko TOKUNAGA
Leonardo is best known for its work on big defence projects like the Eurofighter
Once inside the site Dan knows how to open doors, filing cabinets and desk drawers. He’s armed with lock pick keys known as jigglers, with multiple contours that can spring a lock open.
He’s searching for passwords written down, or will use a plug-in smart USB adaptor to simulate a computer keyboard, breaking into a network.
The final step in the so-called kill chain, is in the hands of Stanley.
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A cyber security expert, Stanley knows how to penetrate the most secure computer systems, working on the reconnaissance report from his colleagues.
“In the movies it takes a hacker seconds to break into a system, but the reality is different.”
He prefers his own “escalatory approach”, working through a system via an administrator’s access and searching for a “confluence”, a collection of information shared in one place, such as a workplace intranet.
He can roam through files and data using the administrator’s access. One way a kill chain concludes is when Stanley sends an email impersonating the chief executive of the business via the internal, hence trusted, network.
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Even though they operate with the approval of the target customer they are breaking into a site as complete strangers. How does this feel?
“If you’ve gained access to a server room that is quite nerve-wracking,” says Dan, “but it gets easier the more times you do it.”
There is someone at the target site who knows what’s going on. “We stay in touch with them, so they can issue an instruction ‘don’t shoot these people,’” Charlie adds.
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While Spotify and Apple Music may be the giants of the music streaming services, Deezer is perhaps a lesser-known streaming music platform that is nonetheless an excellent alternative. With access to more than 120 million songs, Deezer stands out by prioritizing premium sound quality through its HiFi plan that offers FLAC tracks that stream at CD quality, which is better than even Spotify offers (at the moment).
Additionally, Deezer’s personalized Flow recommendations teach your music taste to curate the perfect playlist for you. No more endless scrolling to find that ideal vibe. Give those earbuds the sound quality they deserve. Read more about Deezer below.
Deezer is a digital music-streaming platform that the company claims is home to more than 120 million songs. Similar to Spotify and Apple Music, Deezer lets you search for music by song, artist, album, and genre, and it even includes an algorithmic monitor called Flow that will start to recommend content to you based on your listening habits (once you’ve favorited 16 tracks or more). The Deezer mobile app is available for iOS and Android, and the desktop app can be downloaded for Windows and macOS. You can also go directly to to stream tunes.
Similar to competitor platforms, several Deezer features are locked behind a subscription paywall, including a fun tool called SongCatcher that listens for song lyrics and melodies to tell you the name of the track you’re listening to (similar to Shazam). One of the best parts of the Deezer experience is its HiFi library, which boasts FLAC tracks that stream at 16-bit/44kHz. That’s right on par with CD quality.
If you’re interested in taking Deezer for a spin, the only things you’ll need to get started are an internet connection and a smartphone and/or a home computer. You’ll first need to create a Deezer account. We recommend signing up for the free trial of Premium if you’d like to experience all the features and benefits that Deezer offers, although you’ll have the option to sign up for the ad-supported free plan, too.
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For those of you listening on a PC, you can access the player directly through Deezer’s site, but there’s also a desktop app you can download for Windows and macOS, along with mobile apps for iOS and Android.
Once you’re signed in on Deezer’s site, the top three artists you choose will be displayed at the top of the page. As you scroll down, you’ll see multiple subcategories (with options including Made For You, New Releases for You, etc.) that are curated based on the artists you like and your listening habits. The left side of the main dashboard has multiple tabs to filter content by, including Music, Podcasts, Concerts, Browse, and Favorites. Each screen is well organized and simple to navigate, with things like genre and artist tiles laid out in a very clear fashion.
The iOS app is just as easy and intuitive to use. When you first launch it, you’ll be on the Home Screen, which places your three favorite artists at the top of the page, with a Discover tab located below this area. Here is where Deezer curates additional artists, albums, and tracks based on the favorites you chose and your listening habits. Tap the Explore icon at the bottom of the page to see even more music and podcast curations, as well as Deezer’s many radio stations and platform exclusives (housed under Deezer Originals).
Tap the Favorites icon to take a look at the playlists, artists, and albums you’ve favorited, as well as the music and podcasts you’ve downloaded for offline listening. And last but not least is the Search icon, which lets you search for a specific song, artist, etc. by typing in the search bar at the top of the page, sorting by genre, or using a feature called SongCatcher. This neat little Shazam relative listens for lyrics and melodies to help you determine the name of the song you’re attempting to find.
Deezer offers a range of plans to fit your listening needs, from a free ad-supported option to premium family plans.
Deezer Free:
Free access to Deezer’s extensive music library.
On mobile: Enjoy shuffle-based playback with six skips per hour and occasional ads. Discover new music based on your tastes.
On desktop: Listen to full albums uninterrupted, with unlimited skips and occasional ads.
Deezer Premium ($12/month):
Elevate your listening experience with:
Ad-free music
Unlimited skips
Offline downloads for on-the-go listening
High Fidelity (HiFi) sound for audiophiles
Multi-device access so you can enjoy your music anywhere
Deezer Duo ($16/month):
Share the music with a friend or loved one
Two Deezer Premium accounts for a shared musical journey
Collaborative Duo Mix playlist to discover each other’s favorites
Deezer Family ($20/month):
The perfect plan for music-loving families.
Six individual Deezer Premium accounts
Family Mix playlist to discover new tunes together
Parental controls to ensure a safe listening experience for younger members
Deezer Student ($6/month):
All the benefits of Deezer Premium at a student-friendly price.
50% discount for eligible students
All Deezer plans come with a one-month free trial for new customers. Additionally, you can save up to 25% by subscribing to an annual plan.
Michael Bizzaco / Digital Trends
Deezer’s music library is divvied up into two major file formats: MP3s and FLAC files for hi-res listening. If you’re using Deezer’s free plan, MP3s are capped at 128Kbps. Under every paid Deezer subscription, MP3 files are capped at 320Kbps, with the option to downgrade to 128Kbps if you’d like (this is considered the “Standard” audio quality, with “Better” being the 320Kbps option).
For all the discerning audiophiles of the world, Deezer’s HiFi playback is available on multiple devices, and it uses 16-bit FLAC encoding at 1,411Kbps. As previously mentioned, this is CD quality we’re talking about, which is going to sound pretty good through a pair of decent speakers or headphones.
As far as the competition goes, platforms like Tidal and Qobuz definitely take things up a notch, with both offering 24-bit FLAC encoded content at up to 192kHz (billed as HiFi Plus and Studio Hi-Res, respectively). That being said, a more casual listener who still wants top-notch sound from a digital library should be more than happy with Deezer’s maximum output.
While it may be difficult to tell the difference between free and paid MP3 formats, listeners will definitely get a big boost in soundstage and overall quality when listening to Deezer’s FLAC-encoded music. For a while, Deezer listeners were also able to experience Sony’s 360 Reality Audio through a separate app, but this service is no longer supported.
In addition to iOS, Android, Windows, and macOS, Deezer is compatible with several different smart brands. If you’re running your home with Alexa and Google Assistant, you’ll be able to use Deezer to play music through your Echo and Nest speakers and smart displays. Deezer is also built right into the Sonos ecosystem, and is simple to access using the Sonos S2 app. One of the best parts of having Deezer integrated into your smart home is the ability to use voice commands to play songs, which is something you’ll be able to do with Alexa, Google Assistant, and Sonos.
There are also a number of car infotainment systems that have Deezer on board. If your vehicle supports Apple CarPlay, Android Auto, BMW, or RockScout, you’ll be able to enjoy your favorite Deezer songs while cruising down the highway.
If you’re more about the at-home listening experience, you’ll also be able to download the Deezer app for Android TV and Roku. A note for Xbox users: Deezer discontinued its support for the Deezer Xbox app last year. Those with it installed can still use it, but it’s not getting any updates, new features, or support from here on out. Derek Malcolm / Digital Trends
In many ways, Deezer is one of the best middle-of-the-road music-streaming platforms. There’s plenty to love regarding user interface, algorithmic power, and musical variety. And with the service available in 186 countries, Deezer’s archives will only grow. So what happens when you pit Deezer against competitive platforms like Spotify, Apple Music, and Qobuz?
Spotify tends to grab the attention of all the music streamers and for a good reason. The company’s paid subscriptions are a little bit cheaper than Deezer’s (Spotify’s individual Premium tier is $11 per month, with its Duo plan at $15 and Family plan at $17), its community features are a little more engaging, and its music library is a little more extensive. And while you won’t find HiFi tracks on Spotify right now, this elevated audio branch should be added to the platform shortly.
Apple Music is another big attention-grabber, with prices right in line with Spotify’s subscriptions at $6 per month for students, $11 for Individuals, and $17 for its Family plan.
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Tidal is another big platform that touts high-resolution music formats, an immense library, and video content (which Deezer and a few other platforms are missing). Tidal’s plans start at $11 per month.
While Qobuz’s library may not be as immense as its competitors, you don’t need a subscription to purchase HiFi music from the service. We also mentioned that Qobuz offers some tracks in full 24-bit FLAC at up to 192kHz, the best sound quality you’ll get from a digital platform.
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