Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Following news that foreign hackers may still be in US telecom networks, the Federal Communications Commission proposed a new rule that would require telecom companies to secure their networks from “unlawful access or interception of communications.” It would also force providers to submit an annual certification to the FCC stating they have implemented a plan to counter cybersecurity threats. On Wednesday, US officials recommended Americans use encrypted apps to make phone calls and texts in response to the ongoing infiltration of telecom networks linked to the Chinese hacking group Salt Typhoon. Deputy national security advisor Anne Neuberger confirmed that at least eight telecom providers have been impacted by the hack, as reported by Bleeping Computer. “We cannot say with certainty that the adversary has been evicted because we still don’t know the scope of what they’re doing,” Neuberger said during a press briefing, Bleeping Computer reports. Neuberger added that the attack has been going on for “likely one to two years” but doesn’t “believe any classified communications has been compromised.” The Wall Street Journal reported in October that Chinese hackers had broken into AT&T, Verizon, and Lumen’s networks and even targeted members of President-Elect Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris’s presidential campaigns. In a letter on Wednesday, Senators Eric Schmitt (R-MO) and Ron Wyden (D-OR) urged Department of Defense Inspector General Robert Storch to investigate the DOD’s “failure to secure its unclassified telephone communications from foreign espionage.” If the FCC’s proposed rule is adopted, it will go into effect immediately. “While the Commission’s counterparts in the intelligence community are determining the scope and impact of the Salt Typhoon attack, we need to put in place a modern framework to help companies secure their networks and better prevent and respond to cyberattacks in the future,” FCC Chair Jessica Rosenworcel said in the press release.

Illustration: The Verge Google is making it easier to switch off personalized search results thanks to an option that sometimes appears at the bottom of the results page, as reported by Search Engine Roundtable. After searching for something, scroll all the way down and look for a link to “Try without personalization.” Click or tap that and Google will load a new page without personalized results. The link might not be present for you in all searches. Some results for me include a message at the end of the results page that already says “Results are not personalized.” This might be user error — maybe I have other settings that prevent it from appearing or am not using the right queries. But I did get the option to turn off personalized results much more often for searches on my iPhone than on my Mac, for some reason. “This change makes it easier for people to get an accurate understanding of whether their results have been personalized, while also providing them with the opportunity to explore non-personalized results,” spokesperson Ned Adriance says in a statement. “We also make it easy for people to adjust their personalization settings at any time.” Adriance adds that “while we previously showed this information in About this result on individual results, this display is more accessible and clear.” You have already been able to get unpersonalized search results for a very long time; as Search Engine Roundtable reported in 2007, you can see unpersonalized results by appending a parameter, “&pws=0,” to the end of a Google search URL. You can also turn off personalized search from your Google account settings. Update, December 5th: Added context from Google.

Two more OS upgrades are on the way for the Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro. | Photo by Becca Farsace / The Verge Owners of Pixel 6-series, 7-series and Pixel Fold phones can look forward to a couple extra years of OS upgrades than initially expected, as discovered by Android expert Mishaal Rahman and confirmed by Google on X. When they were introduced, Google originally promised three years of OS upgrades and five years of security patches for each device, starting from the time they went on sale. But a quiet update to a support page confirms that these phones will get two additional OS upgrades, giving them a full five years of OS and security support that “may also include new and upgraded features with Pixel Drops.” That, my friends, rules. Google’s three-and-five policy wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t the best either — after the Pixel 6 arrived in 2021, Samsung did one better by offering four years of OS updates for the Galaxy S22. Google got its act together with the Pixel 8, announcing a class-leading seven years of OS and security update support. Which is great! But you wouldn’t blame a Pixel 6 or 7 owner for feeling like they were unfairly left behind. Google seems to be making up some of the shortfall by offering these additional OS upgrades, and it’s a welcome change. And ICYMI, #PixelFold along with #Pixel6 and #Pixel7 generation users will now get two additional years of OS updates! This extended support will total five years starting from when the device first became available on the Google Store in the US: https://t.co/Y50A92TiqC— Made by Google (@madebygoogle) December 5, 2024 Of course, an ‘OS update’ isn’t quite what it used to be — for better and worse. Google is emphasizing pushing out more updates across older versions of Android through its Play framework. That’s a great thing, but it does mean that the yearly OS upgrade isn’t quite as important as it once was. The company can also gate certain features to pricier or more recent models, as it has with Night Sight Video and Zoom Enhance. Google’s mention of new features via Pixel Drops for the next couple of years is promising, though. Going by Google’s original schedule, the Pixel 6 should have gotten its last OS platform upgrade with this year’s Android 15. Inquiring minds wondered if something was up when the Pixel 6 series was deemed eligible for the Android 16 beta, and now we know: Pixel 6 phones are on track to get Android 16 and 17 when they become available. Not too shabby.

Image: Riot Games The League of Legends universe is expanding once again — this time with a physical card game. Riot Games announced today that it’s developing a physical trading card game set in the League universe. The game is currently known as “Project K,” and Riot says it’s working with an unnamed partner in China to release the game there in early 2025. As for a global release, Riot says, “We are taking our time to find the right publishing partners.” There aren’t a lot of details about Project K. According to Riot, the game “has unique gameplay and is best when played with friends and in person,” and development is being led by director Dave Guskin and producer Chengran Chai. You can get a sense for the game in the images below: Of course, this is far from the first spinoff from League. So far, that has included mobile games like Teamfight Tactics and Wild Rift, the Netflix series Arcane, and the competitive fighting game 2XKO, which is expected to launch next year. Not all of these bets have paid off. In January, Riot announced that it was cutting more than 500 jobs, which included shutting down Riot Forge Games, a publishing label for indie games set inside of League. Also impacted was Legends of Runeterra, a mobile card game that launched in 2020, which Riot said “hasn’t performed as well as we need it to.” The Project K news comes as card games are having another moment, led largely by the new smartphone version of the Pokémon Trading Card Game.

Anker is recalling thousands of Soundcore and PowerConf Bluetooth speakers this week due to reports of incidents related to the batteries of the devices. According to the recall notice from the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), there have been 33 reports to date, with some involving smoking and small fires as well as one minor burn injury. The notice says the affected models—A3102016, A3302011, and A3302031—were exclusively sold online on Amazon.com from March 2023 through October 2023 for between $28 and $130. About 69,000 were sold in the US, while 9,764 were sold in Canada. If you believe you might own an affected speaker, here's where to find the serial number: Where to find the serial number on an Anker Soundcore speaker. Image source: Anker Go to this page on Anker's website and scroll to the bottom to check your serial number. If your speaker has faulty battery cells, power it off immediately and wait for Anker's customer service team to provide guidelines on how to return or dispose of your speaker. It's worth noting that if you own the red or blue Soundcore speaker or the newer Soundcore 2 or Soundcore 3 models, your device isn't part of this recall. "Recalled lithium-ion batteries should be disposed of in accordance with any local and state ordinances, following the procedures established by your municipal recycling center for damaged/defective/recalled lithium batteries, because these potentially hazardous batteries must be handled differently than other batteries," the CPSC notes. "Do not throw this recalled battery in the trash. Do not deposit this recalled battery in used battery recycling boxes found at various retail and home improvement stores." Don't Miss: Anker recall: Stop using these three power banks right now The post Anker recalls thousands of speakers due to batteries overheating appeared first on BGR. Today's Top Deals Best Black Friday deals 2024: Ultimate roundup ECOVACS has the biggest robot vacuum sale of Black Friday and Cyber Monday Cyber Week deals: $180 iPhone SE 3, $199 Bose QC headphones, $29 Roku Stick 4K, $279 Google Nest WiFi Pro, more 70mai has the best 4G dash cam deals of Black Friday 2024

Health officials at the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) are warning about the synthetic opioid carfentanil, which is 100 times more potent than fentanyl and has killed people in 37 states over the past several years.

Billionaire Frank McCourt, founder of Project Liberty and a longtime critic of how technology companies use data, has built a coalition of investors that has made informal commitments of more than $20 billion of capital to buy TikTok, Axios reported Thursday.

The American Museum of Natural History in New York revealed the identity of its latest resident Thursday: "Apex," one of the most complete specimens discovered of the plant-eating dinosaur Stegosaurus, known for the upright plates on its back and a spiky tail.

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A Russian woman with permanent U.S. residency who was returned to the United States after authorities said she snuck on board a flight from New York to Paris made her first appearance in court Thursday, claiming she has been abused.Svetlana Dali, wearing jeans, seemed...