It’s PCGuide weekly roundup time! This week has been crazy with the release of AMD’s 4000G Ryzen CPUs, the fallout of the mass hacking of Twitter, Apple committing to be carbon neutral by 2030, Facebook rolling out new security features for Messenger, amongst much more. We’re going to give you a small insight into these pieces but if you fancy reading the full stories, head over to the individual articles.
Firstly, let’s look at that AMD Ryzen 4000 series CPU release. The new AMD Ryzen™ 4000 G-Series Desktop Processors deliver some serious power while still having that Ryzen value. Built for modern business PCs, AMD Ryzen 4000 Series Desktop Processors with PRO technologies offer enterprise-class solutions, advanced technology, and multi-layered security features. They’re also built on the industry-leading 7nm process and “Zen 2” core architecture, offering unmatched user experiences and power efficiency in the state-of-the-art AMD socket AM4 platform. These new integrated graphics processors will probably be the go-to for many who are looking for a no-nonsense gaming PC build, not having to mess about with an external GPU and because they’re made by AMD, your wallet will be thanking you. If you fancy picking one of these up, check out our where to buy page where we’ll have the links as and when they become available.
Jumping into the first of the number of Twitter stories from this week, it seems that the general public weren’t the only ones who had their accounts hacked. Twitter revealed that a Netherlands elected official had their direct messages accessed, making the consequences of the hack even more serious. In a tweet from the Twitter Support account, they stated this: “We believe that for up to 36 of the 130 targeted accounts, the attackers accessed the DM inbox, including 1 elected official in the Netherlands,”. We hope that this was the one and only case in which a high-profile official had their DMs compromised, otherwise Twitter could be in some deep, deep waters.
On a more positive note for Twitter, they’ve started to crack down on QAnon related content by banning thousands of related accounts. If you’re not sure what QAnon is well, it’s not the most pleasant. QAnon first appeared around three years ago as a singular conspiracy theory but is now home to typically pro-Trump, far-right, republican conspiracy theorists whose main belief is that governments and celebrities are colluding to take part in child sex trafficking. Moreover, they’ve now become big believers of Coronavirus being the cause of 5G thus pushing incorrect knowledge to the masses and potentially causing problems for the public. It’s great to see that Twitter is trying to put a stop to wild theories by slamming down the ban hammer and the social network will ultimately be a cleaner place because of it.
Moving to Apple, they’ve made bold claims that they’ll be carbon neutral by 2030, just 10 years away. In the 10-year roadmap published by Apple, they’ve laid plans to increase the use of recycled raw materials in its own products; introduce new solar-panel projects in Scandinavia, to power its own data centers; develop a carbon-free aluminum-smelting process as part of a collaboration with two suppliers; invest in environmental projects, including work to restore mangrove trees and shrubs on Colombia’s coastline and woodland-grassland savannas in Kenya; and to work on eco-friendly energy projects to benefit local communities, including the installation of rooftop solar panels at a facility for disadvantaged children in the Philippines and the electrification of an off-grid fishing community in Thailand. Both Amazon and Microsoft have made similar pledges but by 2040 and 2050 respectively, so it’s fantastic that Apple is aiming to get their emissions equaled out in such a short amount of time.
While Facebook has taken a number of hits due to their lack of privacy and data leaks, it seems they’ve taken those hits on the chin and are actually making some improvements. They’ve developed App Lock, the newest security feature to be added to Messenger which allows account holders to lock the app upon closing it, requiring a security measure like touch ID or face ID to open it back up. While this doesn’t help with getting hacked online, it’ll certainly prevent your friends and family from getting access to your account without your knowledge. Moreover, if your phone gets stolen, it adds that extra layer of security, protecting your personal info.
These were the bigger news stories of the week but we also published much more. Here are some examples:
- Oculus Quest S leaked
- Kid blasts through $20k in online donations
- Windows 10X potentially delayed until 2021
Now the news is out the way, let’s look at the features and guides we’ve featured on the site this week. We looked at what you should do if you’re being cyber-stalked, providing you with some red flags to look out for, tips for improving your security, and showcasing some stories from those who have experienced it. We hope this will help you out if you suspect cyberstalking is taking place and hopefully aid you in putting a stop to it. In terms of guides, we again looked at working from home. We’ve provided you with the essentials for graphic design as well as you photographers out there, hopefully making your homeworking life that little bit easier.
And that’s it, the PCGuide weekly roundup has come to an end. Check back on the site next week where we’ll be focusing on monitors, helping you out with a bunch of the most common problems as well as detailing the best monitor for console gaming. See you then!