On the run in the year of 1987, Bumblebee finds refuge in a junkyard in a small Californian beach town. Charlie, on the cusp of turning 18 and trying to find her place in the world, discovers Bumblebee, battle-scarred and broken.
Director:
Travis Knight
Stars:
Hailee Steinfeld,
Jorge Lendeborg Jr.,
John Cena
The Avengers and their allies must be willing to sacrifice all in an attempt to defeat the powerful Thanos before his blitz of devastation and ruin puts an end to the universe.
Directors:
Anthony Russo,
Joe Russo
Stars:
Robert Downey Jr.,
Chris Hemsworth,
Mark Ruffalo
A failed reporter is bonded to an alien entity, one of many entities who have invaded Earth. But the entity takes a liking to Earth and decides to protect it.
T’Challa, heir to the hidden but advanced kingdom of Wakanda, must step forward to lead his people into a new future and must confront a challenger from his country’s past.
Director:
Ryan Coogler
Stars:
Chadwick Boseman,
Michael B. Jordan,
Lupita Nyong’o
Thor is imprisoned on the planet Sakaar, and must race against time to return to Asgard and stop Ragnarök, the destruction of his world, at the hands of the powerful and ruthless villain Hela.
Director:
Taika Waititi
Stars:
Chris Hemsworth,
Tom Hiddleston,
Cate Blanchett
Fueled by his restored faith in humanity and inspired by Superman’s selfless act, Bruce Wayne enlists the help of his newfound ally, Diana Prince, to face an even greater enemy.
Foul-mouthed mutant mercenary Wade Wilson (AKA. Deadpool), brings together a team of fellow mutant rogues to protect a young boy with supernatural abilities from the brutal, time-traveling cyborg, Cable.
Director:
David Leitch
Stars:
Ryan Reynolds,
Josh Brolin,
Morena Baccarin
Peter Parker balances his life as an ordinary high school student in Queens with his superhero alter-ego Spider-Man, and finds himself on the trail of a new menace prowling the skies of New York City.
Director:
Jon Watts
Stars:
Tom Holland,
Michael Keaton,
Robert Downey Jr.
A war-hardened Crusader and his Moorish commander mount an audacious revolt against the corrupt English crown in a thrilling action-adventure packed with gritty battlefield exploits, mind-blowing fight choreography, and a timeless romance.
When a pilot crashes and tells of conflict in the outside world, Diana, an Amazonian warrior in training, leaves home to fight a war, discovering her full powers and true destiny.
During an adventure into the criminal underworld, Han Solo meets his future co-pilot Chewbacca and encounters Lando Calrissian years before joining the Rebellion.
Arthur Curry, half human half from Atlantis, goes on a trip of a lifetime. Not only does this adventure compel him to come to terms with his real identity, but it also forces him to discover whether he is entirely worthy of fulfilling his own destiny: becoming a king. Written by Domingo Alvarez
Some Atlantean soldiers are seen riding giant seahorses. In Greek mythology, the sea god Poseidon drives a chariot pulled by seahorses (known in Greek mythology as the hippocampi). See more »
Goofs
Aquaman wakes up on the boat from Sicily with seaweed for bandages, he walks up to Mera and is suddenly wearing a shirt. See more »
Quotes
[Mera destroys the device]
Arthur Curry:
WAIT! Shouldn’t we have written it down?
Gloria finds a power she never knew she had when she is drawn into a dangerous world of cross-border crime. Surviving will require all of her cunning, inventiveness, and strength. Based on the Spanish-language film.
Two ten year-old boys are detained by police under suspicion of abducting and murdering a toddler. A true story based on interview transcripts and records from the James Bulger case which shocked the world in 1993.
The world at an end, a dying mother sends her young son on a journey to the place that grants wishes. The Last Boy is a Sci-Fi, Fantasy drama inspired by the works of the 13th Century Sufi Mystic and Poet Rumi.
Director:
Perry Bhandal
Stars:
Luke Goss,
Anna Wilson-Jones,
Peter Guinness
A group of six teenagers find themselves haunted and terrorized by a Kuntilanak when they try to find their missing friend inside Lawang Sewu, a supposedly haunted building in Semarang.
In this humanistic comedy, set against the backdrop of economic crises and bad news, an extravagant international cast of characters meet, fight, and fall in love, while hiding from the end… See full summary »
Director:
Vladan Nikolic
Stars:
William Leroy,
Katerina Misichroni,
Robert Rees
“Back Roads” centers on a young man stuck in the Pennsylvania backwoods caring for his three younger sisters after the shooting death of his abusive father and the arrest of his mother. … See full summary »
Director:
Alex Pettyfer
Stars:
Jennifer Morrison,
Juliette Lewis,
Alex Pettyfer
A mentally ill woman with a severe personalty disorder develops a strange relationship with her dolls. She becomes victim to insomnia and even self-mutilation leaving her son to unfold the strange truth about Anne’s illness.
Director:
Joseph Mazzaferro
Stars:
Melissa Daddio,
Michael Kenneth Fahr,
John Kyle
Three students went missing in October 2018. Sarah McCormick, Kyle Miller, Joseph Moore. Authorities have now come forward with the information that video surveillance was found inside of … See full summary »
Directors:
Joseph Mazzaferro,
Jospeh D. Thomas
Stars:
Lisa Arcaro,
Mara Darrow,
Michael Kenneth Fahr
A group of teenagers performs a ritual to “summon” and board a train that is said to be a ghost train, to find their member’s missing sister. On the train, they experience various terrible events.
Philip is a disabled white billionaire, who feels that life is not worth living. To help him in his day to day routine, he hires Del, an African American parolee, trying to reconnect with his estranged wife. What begins as a professional relationship develops into a friendship as Del shows his grouchy charge that life is worth living. Written by Tom Daly
This is a remake of the French film The Intouchables (2011). In Germany and The Netherlands, it was the most successful French film in history. See more »
Nessun Dorma
Written by Giacomo Puccini, Giuseppe Adami, Renato Simoni
Performed by Mantovani
Published by Universal Music – MGB SONGS on behalf of Casa Ricordi S.R.L. / Universal Music – Careers
Courtesy of Cleopatra Records
By arrangement with The Orchard See more »
Three girls are kidnapped by a man with a diagnosed 23 distinct personalities. They must try to escape before the apparent emergence of a frightful new 24th.
Director:
M. Night Shyamalan
Stars:
James McAvoy,
Anya Taylor-Joy,
Haley Lu Richardson
After pursuing Kevin Wendell Crumb and the multiple identities that reside within. David Dunn finds himself locked in a mental hospital alongside his archenemy, Elijah Price and must contend with a psychiatrist who is out to prove the trio do not actually possess superhuman abilities Written by vsuperkuns
Director M. Night Shyamalan said, “As the characters believe in the comic book world, the primary colors in the film become more dominant. As they stop believing, they fade to a monochromatic world. The pink room where they do therapy is pink, red fading to white, because this is where they stop believing.” See more »
Goofs
Joseph mentions the “mutilations at the zoo,” that is, the events seen in Split, as taking place “three weeks ago.” Also, several times it is mentioned that the crash of Eastrail 177 was nineteen years ago. But at the end of Split a diner patron mentions Mr. Glass having been put away FIFTEEN years before (which was closer to accurate at the time of release). Since the train wreck and Elijah’s capture were only a few days apart, both timeframes cannot be true. See more »
Quotes
[from trailer]
Elijah Price:
This is not a cartoon. This is the real world.
Arlo’s first doorbell helps plug a gap in its product line, finally providing Arlo users with a connected product for the front door. The Arlo Audio Doorbell, however, is considerably less sophisticated than rival products. It doesn’t have a camera, so it occupies a middle ground between a conventional doorbell and a video doorbell.
The Arlo Audio Doorbell features a motion sensor, a speaker, and a microphone, so users are alerted to someone at their door and can speak to them remotely via the Arlo app. But if you want to see your visitors, you’ll also need an Arlo camera.
The basic premise makes sense. If you own an Arlo system, you probably already have a camera facing your front door or porch, so why duplicate that coverage with a video doorbell?
And less sophisticated gear means a lower price: The Arlo Audio Doorbell costs $60, versus $170 for the Ring Video Doorbell 2 and $229 for the Nest Hello.
But there’s a disadvantage, too: By relying on a discrete security camera, rather than one inside the doorbell, your view will be down at an angle (because you’re unlikely to mount an Arlo camera at eye-level, where it could be easily pilfered). So it could be more difficult to make out someone’s face with the Arlo camera.
Also, the Arlo Pro 2’s field of view isn’t quite as wide as some video doorbells. Here’s an image from the Arlo Pro 2 (top) and the Nest Hello. The Nest doorbell sees more of what’s in front of the door than the Arlo camera does.
Martyn Williams/IDG
An image from an Arlo Pro 2 camera.
Martyn Williams/IDG
An image from the Nest Hello video doorbell.
If you install an Arlo camera above your front door, this is what your view might look like:
Martyn Williams/IDG
A view from an Arlo Pro 2 camera mounted above a door.
Installing the Arlo Audio Doorbell
The Arlo Audio Doorbell is pretty easy to install. It will run on either two AA batteries or low-voltage AC doorbell wiring. Arlo supplies a couple of batteries in the box along with mounting screws and a small installation booklet.
Assuming you have a wooden frame around your door, you can have the doorbell screwed on in about a minute. There’s a small lock screw at the bottom of the doorbell to secure it to the mount that will prevent anyone from pulling it off.
The doorbell connects to the world via the Arlo Base Station. If you have an existing Arlo system, then you already have one of these. If not, then be aware that you’ll need to buy one. You cannot use this doorbell as a standalone device, but Arlo offers the doorbell in a bundle with a base station and Arlo Pro 2 camera.
Setting up the doorbell is a quick task. As soon as it’s powered up, it enters connection mode and from then it takes just a couple of taps in the Arlo app to add it to the system.
If you already have Arlo cameras, the app will then ask for a companion camera. This is the camera that will record video when someone presses the doorbell.
Arlo also sells a companion door chime. It connects into the same Arlo network and rings when the doorbell is pushed.
If you have an existing wired chime, the Arlo Audio Doorbell will trigger that, but if you don’t have one or if you want a chime in a different part of the house, the Arlo Chime is worth considering. It’s about the same size as the doorbell, has a gray fabric face, plugs into a wall outlet, and it costs $50.
Martyn Williams/IDG
The Arlo Door Chime.
Using the Arlo Audio Doorbell
The doorbell includes a motion sensor that can alert when someone comes close to your door but doesn’t press the bell. It also triggers a white ring that glows around the doorbell button as someone approaches. This should get the person’s attention and help guide them to the doorbell, but it will also put a visitor on notice that their presence has been detected.
Once I hooked it up with the Arlo Chime, pressing the doorbell button triggered the chime in less than one second. A couple of seconds later, my phone started ringing with the sound of an incoming call. Upon answering, I saw video from the companion camera and audio from the microphone in the doorbell.
Your audio is muted when you first answer, so whoever is at the front door can’t hear you.
Martyn Williams/IDG
Answering a call from the Arlo Audio Doorbell.
Pressing the mute button opens audio from the phone and a two-way conversation is possible, assuming the other party can hear you.
In all of the testing I did of the doorbell, my biggest complaint wasn’t the lack of a camera but the low volume level of the doorbell. It might be fine on a quiet street, but on a busy street the person at your door is sure to have a tough time hearing you. I checked the volume setting and it was already set to 100 percent.
Arlo said it is looking at ways to increase the volume and clarity of the audio.
Programming triggers with the Arlo Audio Doorbell
The Arlo app allows owners to program different triggers. If an Arlo camera on the front of the house senses motion, for example, lights on the front and side of the house can turn on. The doorbell ties into this and it’s possible to, for example, have all your Arlo outdoor lights come on if the doorbell sense motion.
During testing I discovered that the Android app contains a bug that only allows a single trigger to be set with the doorbell. Arlo said it’s working on fixing it. The iOS app doesn’t have the bug.
Martyn Williams/IDG
Progamming triggers on the Arlo Audio Doorbell app.
Conclusion
The Arlo Audio Doorbell scores points for being simple and cheap but that’s at the expense of a video camera. If you have an existing Arlo security system, it’s a natural choice.
It’s also one of the few choices if you live in a place where there are legal restrictions placed on capturing video of strangers.
If you don’t have an Arlo system, the low cost of the doorbell is offset by the need to buy a kit with an Arlo base station. Once you get to that expense, you might want to consider a video doorbell that can connect directly to your network without the need for a base station. TechHive has a ranking of our favorite connected doorbells.
As we’re talking money, however, you should consider the monthly running cost. Many video doorbells require a cloud storage subscription of around $30 to $50 per year. Without storage in the cloud, you can only see a live view from those doorbells, and those suscriptions can easily double how much you’re spending over five years. Arlo offers a generous seven days of free cloud video storage with its cameras, so if you buy the doorbell and add a camera, you won’t be faced with a monthly bill unless you want even more cloud storage.
My only real complaint is the volume of the speaker built into the doorbell so consider how quiet or noisy an environment it will be used in.
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Through ground breaking computer restoration technology, filmmaker Peter Jackson’s team creates a moving real-to-life depiction of the WWI, as never seen before in restored, vivid colorizing & retiming of the film frames, in order to honor those who fought and more accurately depict this historical moment in world history. Written by Curtis Medina
Peter Jackson was determined to present in the documentary only vintage film and artwork from the period and to not cheat by staging re-enactments. Given that, he was uncertain how to depict the intense hand to hand fighting in the trenches, of which there exists no footage. Jackson fortunately had a collection of a serial magazine The War Illustrated, with dramatic pencil sketches of combat, and those illustrations were used in the film. Because these sketches were drawn during the war, Jackson was pleased to maintain period authenticity. The one challenge was that the pictures were propagandist in nature, depicting the British soldiers as valorous and the Germans cowardly in combat at odds with what is said by the testimonies in the documentary. The drawings had to be cropped to avoid the more outlandish jingoism. See more »
Goofs
Several shots of tanks appear in the film, both Mark V (Mark Five) and Mark V* (Mark Five Star). They have been coloured green. In reality, tanks of these types were painted “a neutral brown colour”. See the article by the British Tank Museum which states that. “Surrendering to the inevitable, towards the end of 1916 it was ordered that the tanks should be painted in a ‘neutral brown colour’ all over.” The staff at the Museum told me they were surprised that the filmmakers didn’t consult them. See more »
Crazy Credits
“Filmed on location on the Western Front, 1914 to 1918” See more »
Speakers powered by smart assistants are becoming dime-a-dozen commodities. In most cases, a smart speaker is good for voice commands, but I haven’t found their musical reproduction particularly satisfying. Riva Audio’s Riva Concert changed that for me.
The Riva Concert is part of Riva Audio’s new Voice line of smart speakers that also includes the larger Riva Stadium. But the Riva Concert isn’t just another Alexa-powered gadget. This sweet-sounding portable speaker is built to satisfy music lovers, with refined high-tech features you don’t often see in smart speakers.
Physical features
Unpacking the Riva, I noted its heavy, solid build. There’s nothing cheap or flimsy about the Concert. Under the hood, you’ll find a 50-watt Class D amplifier powering the three active drivers and three passive radiators.
The Riva Concert is beautifully designed. From a distance, I could see where one might mistake the Concert for a Sonos Play:1. The Concert’s silver metal grille wraps around the entire unit, sandwiched between white (the color of my review sample) or black top and bottom caps. The speaker is sleek, smart, and built to blend into any decor.
The Concert sports five large and clearly marked buttons arranged in a circular motif on the unit’s top. Riva says the touch-sensitive control buttons are splash-resistant, which will handy if you use the device in the kitchen.
The four buttons encircling the perimeter are for volume up/down, and next/previous song. The “previous song” button doubles for forced wireless pairing, and the “next song” button switches the Riva’s inputs. Inputs are located on the back directly above the power cord.
Theo Nicolakis / IDG
Riva Concert’s physical control buttons.
The inner ring around the Alexa privacy (mute) button is an LED that glows different colors to indicate which mode the speaker is in. White means the Concert is connected to a Wi-Fi network, or that a USB device is connected for playback. Green indicates Spotify Connect is engaged. Blue means you’re streaming from a Bluetooth device. Red means you’ve selected the AUX input. And yellow indicates Direct Connect Wi-Fi.
There’s a 3.5mm analog aux input for feeding an audio signal from a smartphone, tablet, or digital audio player. The Riva Concert’s USB charging port functions for both audio in and power out to charge your smart device. The Concert is smartly designed for your bedside table or on-the-go use. I loved being able to use the Riva as my primary charging station to eliminate clutter.
Look closely, and you’ll see a switch on the back with house and airplane icons. This switch puts the Concert into “home” mode, where it will connect to your home Wi-Fi network, or in “away” mode, where the Riva creates its own peer-to-peer Wi-Fi network.
You’ll also notice there’s a threaded opening on the rear that’s compatible with common speaker mounts that use 6mm screws.
Theo Nicolakis / IDG
The Riva Concert is compatible with 6mm speaker mounts.
Alexa onboard, plus Spotify Voice Control
You can summon Amazon’s Alexa digital assistant with voice commands that are picked up by the Riva Concert’s three high-performance, echo-cancelling microphones.
The Concert worked like any other Alexa-powered speaker I’ve tested. I could ask Alexa questions, check the weather or news, play songs, and take advantage of whatever skills I’ve loaded in my Alexa profile. Of course, the Concert worked just fine with other Amazon speakers in my home with popular features like “Drop In” for in-house intercom and whole-home broadcast. The company says it has designed the Concert with an open architecture and enough onboard memory to handle future Alexa enhancements.
Alexa’s volume is independent of the main system volume—something I loved in real-world testing. Even if I had the Riva Concert blasting in my house, if I engaged Alexa, she would respond in a normal speaking volume as opposed to responding at the same high volume. Compared to the Amazon Dot speakers I have, however, I noticed that the Riva Concert had a slightly longer delay in responding.
The Concert is also compatible with Spotify Voice, so you can use voice commands to control Spotify. Those who have privacy concerns about Alexa always listening in can press the large circular button on the Riva Concert’s top to mute the microphones (the Riva in front glows red to let you know the mics’ status).
A stereophonic sound field
The Concert features Riva’s Trillium audio technology, which the company says enables the speaker to deliver immersive stereophonic sound from a single box speaker. As I noted in my earlier review of the Riva S Bluetooth speaker, Trillium creates a 300-degree sound field by distributing a stereo signal across the Riva’s drivers mounted on the unit’s three sides.
Riva claims that the Trillium design creates the psychoacoustic perception of a wider stereo sound stage and coherent timbral accuracy, even as you move off-axis. I tested the Riva in both my basement theater and my living room, and sure enough, the Riva created a soundstage that was far wider and richer than you’d expect—although you shouldn’t expect the Riva to take the place of a conventional two-channel speaker system.
Theo Nicolakis
This Riva Concert cut-away view shows its active drivers and passive radiators.
The Riva Voice App
The Concert is designed to be used with the Riva Voice app for iOS or Android. Setting up the Concert via the app was easy. Riva has done an exceptional job with the step-by-step process.
Theo Nicolakis / IDG
The Riva Voice app makes it easy to set up the Concert.
The app is your one-stop dashboard for the speaker’s rich feature set: You can browse compatible Riva Voice-series speakers on your network, set separate volume settings for Alexa, check the charge of the optional battery pack, select music source inputs, check the unit’s network settings and firmware, and adjust audio output and bass/treble EQ settings.
You can also configure the Riva’s “away” mode here. Should you take the Riva on the go and discover there’s no Wi-Fi network available, you can configure its built-in peer-to-peer Wi-Fi network and stream music to the Riva with all the reliability and bandwidth of Wi-Fi.
You can easily play music from your smart device, DLNA compatible music server, USB connection, Spotify, Bluetooth, or 3.5mm AUX input. The Riva supports Apple’s AirPlay technology as well.
If you have high-resolution music files, you’ll be happy to note that the Riva will support high-res audio files up to 24-bit/192kHz when using the Riva Voice app.
Theo Nicolakis / IDG
You can browse your entire music collection via the Riva Voice app. If you want to play music from your smartphone or tablet library, however, it must be downloaded to the device to play via the Riva Voice app.
On my iPhone XS, the Riva Voice app showed all the music from my Music app. Experienced users, however, will know that even though music shows up in the Riva app, you won’t be able to play those songs until you physically download them to your device. The Riva app likewise won’t play downloaded files that are locked—such as those you might have with an Apple Music subscription. In cases like that, you’ll need to use AirPlay instead.
The app lets you take advantage of a feature called Riva Voice. When the music is playing or in loud noise environments, it’s sometimes tough to get a smart speaker to respond. Simply press the Alexa logo on the app, and it will automatically engage Alexa, pausing any music that might be blasting out from the speaker. Riva says this feature is also useful in loud party settings.
If you purchase multiple Riva Voice-series speakers, you’ll be able to stream music to speakers throughout your home with a multi-room feature that Riva will be releasing as a free over-the-air update.
Take the Concert on the go
Riva has put an end to the need for separate smart and portable speakers: The Riva Concert can do both.
The optional battery pack that Riva provided for this review turns the Concert into a portable powerhouse. When used with the aforementioned “away” feature, the Riva Concert takes on a whole new value proposition. The battery is rated to deliver around 15 hours of juice if you play the Riva Concert at 75-percent volume.
Theo Nicolakis / IDG
The Riva battery pack is a snap to connect.
The square battery pack attaches to the bottom of the Riva Concert quickly and easily. Simply remove the rubber gasket to expose the charging port, snap in the battery pack, and you’re done in mere seconds. So that you don’t lose the rubber gasket, the battery pack has a place for you to store it. Smart.
To unlock the battery, press the button on the back of the unit and bingo, it slides right off.
I have a few observations about the battery pack’s design: first, it’s smaller than the base of the speaker, which initially made it look a bit odd. You might not agree, but I prefer to have a battery pack that matches the speaker’s footprint. Second, I could dislodge the battery pack if I pushed it from the front—even when it was locked in.
Theo Nicolakis / IDG
Lifting the rubber gasket exposes the Riva’s battery connector on the unit’s bottom.
I dislodged the battery pack consistently with a good push every time. There might be a rare case where the battery pack could come loose when you’re transporting it if the base is subjected to a front-to-back push. I don’t think such a force will break the plastic hooks. I think it will just dislodge it. I’d like to see Riva redesign the locking mechanism.
Sweet, distortion-free sound at any volume
I played music via the Riva App, using Alexa to bring up songs via Tidal, and AirPlay connections from my iPhone XS via Tidal.
Simply put, the Riva is nothing short of a great-sounding smart speaker. The Concert has a clean mid-range, a nice top end, and decent bass for a speaker its size. There’s a noticeable boost in the mid- and upper bass that gives you a bit more of that “chest-punch” that I think most consumers will find euphonic in a speaker of this size.
Theo Nicolakis / IDG
Via the Riva Voice app you can choose the Concert’s various source inputs and browse music on your smart device or DLNA server.
Playing Imagine Dragons’ Origins, the Riva engaged me with every track. I liked the Riva’s ability to convey musical energy and dynamics on songs like “Natural,” “Boomerang,” and “Zero.” The speaker’s bass limitations were apparent on “Machine” which has a some deep, impactful bass that you can only truly appreciate with tower speakers or a powered subwoofer.
If you’re accustomed to listening to speakers of this size, I think you might immediately be drawn to the Riva Concert’s penchant for musical clarity throughout the mid-range. On songs like the Revivalists’ “Wish I Knew You” or “King of What,” I didn’t hear that overt veil over the mid-range, muddying up the music. Perhaps best of all, even if I cranked up the volume, the Riva remained distortion free.
Riva
The Riva Concert comes in either white or black finishes.
Conclusion
I loved my time with the Riva Concert. It’s exceptionally well-built, sports a sleek design, offers a host of music input options, and is outstandingly portable. The Riva Voice app further enhances the unit’s value proposition.
I had only two minor reservations with the Riva Concert: A somewhat delayed Alexa response (compared to my Echo Dot), and tendency for the optional battery pack to get knocked loose. Otherwise, I had a very positive experience using the Riva Concert. If you’re in the market for a smart speaker that will elevate your music listening and give you some refined, high-tech flexibility, then look no further than the Riva Concert.
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On the run in the year of 1987, Bumblebee finds refuge in a junkyard in a small Californian beach town. Charlie, on the cusp of turning 18 and trying to find her place in the world, discovers Bumblebee, battle-scarred and broken.
Director:
Travis Knight
Stars:
Hailee Steinfeld,
Jorge Lendeborg Jr.,
John Cena
Six strangers are given mysterious black boxes with tickets to an immersive escape room for a chance to win tons of money. Being locked in several rooms with extreme conditions, they discover the secrets behind the escape room and must fight to survive and to find a way out.
As data breaches become normalized, it’s more and more likely that your personal information may be exposed. But how will you know? On Tuesday, Google published a Chrome plugin that will report if the login info you use in say, Yahoo, has been stolen.
Google’s Password Checkup plugin won’t do anything until it detects that you’ve logged into a site whose data has been previously compromised. If a login and password have been found in the recent “Collections” leak of more than 2 billion usernames and passwords, a message will pop up warning that your information has been compromised. All told, Google has archived over 4 billion credentials that it feels have been compromised.
Put another way, you can always manually check to see if your username and password has been leaked to the Web, using the Hasso Plattner Institute’s Identity Leak Checker, HaveIBeenPwned, or some other trusted database. Google is promising is to perform this process automatically via Chrome, each time you visit a site.
If Chrome detects a credential has been stolen and published to the web, the Password Checkup popup will then ask you to change your password. (It’s not necessary, but it’s strongly advised.) Chrome already offers an automatic password generator, and will store that new password in a password credential file automatically, if you choose, and use it to log into a site automatically in future visits.
Cross Account Protection works with partner sites
Google also marked Safer Internet Day today by rolling out a related technology, known as Cross Account Protection, to provide another line of defense to those third-party apps that use your Google account to log in. This isn’t something that you can do anything about; Google said it’s working with the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) and OpenID Foundation, as well as major technology companies like Adobe, to secure accounts using Cross Account Protection behind the scenes.
Google
If Google knows of a hack where your Google account was compromised, it will quietly send information to those sites, letting them know that your account should be deemed suspicious for the time being. It’s apparently up to those sites to determine whether they wish to continue allowing access for your compromised account while the situation’s sorted out. Google said that it will share a minimum of information with those sites to protect your privacy.
What this means to you: At one point, Microsoft, Google, Mozilla and others wanted you to become accustomed to using their own particular browser. Now, the incentive is for you to feel like you need to use a browser like Chrome. With additional features like a password locker, password generator, and now breach detector, Google’s quietly building in value to convince you to stick with its browser rather than try alternatives.
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