Open Sesame
If right now, you started counting to sixteen billion, it'd take you over 500 years.
You should probably change your passwords.Ok, maybe not all of them. But in a brand-new data leak, over sixteen billion passwords and login credentials have been leaked online, making it by far one of the largest data leaks in history.
Affected users include those who use products from Meta (makers of Facebook, WhatsApp and Threads), Google, Apple, Microsoft, and pretty much every other major company that has a login system.
According to this Tom's Guide article, researchers have discovered over 30 datasets each containing up to 3.5 billion records.
Interestingly, a Cybernews report seems to indicate that one dataset (clocking in at around 455 million records) has alleged ties to the Russian Federation.
Now, before you get paranoid about Russian hackers stealing your all-important MySpace credentials, bear in mind that most of these hacks are targeting large companies and critical government infrastructure, not to post a cat meme from your Reddit account, and these aren't direct hacks of any company in particular, just many accumulated leaks and smaller hacks clumped together.
However, phishing and social engineering attacks on everyday people are still very much a thing. To help prevent these kinds of attacks (since data leaks are generally out of your control), you should always use unique, complex, and memorable passwords for all your accounts, and use two-factor authentication (aka 2FA) whenever possible.
Most major web browsers (like Safari, Chrome, and Firefox) have built-in password managers and password suggestions that can help you create “strong” passwords that are randomly generated and virtually impossible to guess. Some browsers, like Safari, even help you generate more memorable strong passwords, or generate passwords with less special characters that you need to remember.
To check if your passwords have been compromised, you can use Have I Been Pwned, a free service that lets you check if your passwords have been leaked. Keep in mind that this service does not contain a comprehensive and complete database of all leaked passwords.
Other services, like Apple Passwords (and most browser password managers), can also alert you if any of your passwords were detected in a data leak.
This data leak doesn't seem to have happened all at once, but rather cumulatively over the last few weeks. Leaks like this can actually be beneficial, since, as major news outlets report on the situation, average users are more likely to think twice about their cybersecurity practices and take steps to protect themselves.
So, simple PSA: use 2FA, create unique passwords, and keep them somewhere safe.
HoW sHiNy!!
Last time we saw a gold phone in the tech landscape, it turned out to be a scam and a shameless reskin.
The Trump Organization has announced both a new phone and a new cell service, advertised for “hard-working Americans”. But it might not be made in the USA.To allegedly celebrate the tenth anniversary of President Donald Trump's campaign for president, the Trump Organization has announced a new phone, the “T1”, and a new cell service, Trump Mobile.
Trump Mobile is what's known as an MVNO (Mobile Virtual Network Operator), which essentially means that the Trump Organization is leasing network access from a major carrier (or carriers) and reselling that access to customers. Some popular MVNOs include Mint Mobile, Visible (by Verizon), Google Fi, Cricket Wireless, and many more.
It's priced at $47.45 per month (a reference to Trump being the 45th and 47th president of the USA), although it looks like the Trump Mobile MVNO is itself an MVNO of Liberty Mobile Wireless LLC (that's a mouthful), which is an MVNO suspected of using T-Mobile's networks. According to this CNET article, Liberty Mobile Wireless LLC offers a roughly equivalent plan for about 20% less, leaving experts wondering if it's just a cash grab in disguise, especially considering the multiple typos on the Trump Mobile website.
So, since it's an MVNO, Trump Mobile isn't actually building any physical infrastructure (like cell towers) to power the network. In this age in telecom, it seems like there are tons of MVNOs to choose from, coming from the most random of places, like SmartLess Mobile, a mobile service created by the hosts of the SmartLess podcast. Now it seems like every celebrity has an MVNO.
President Trump has been known to create quite a few consumer products, such as:
- Various Trump NFTs
- A very sacrilegious Trump Bible (aka “God Bless the USA Bible”)
- Autographed Trump Guitars
- Trump-branded apparel and accessories
- Drinkware and home goods
- Assorted sports equipment
- An ice cream scoop for some reason?!
- Truth Social, a conservative social network majority-owned by President Trump
- ...and quite a few more
The phone also features a 3.5mm headphone jack, a USB-C port, and a fingerprint sensor and an “AI Face Unlock” feature.
This Verge article points out that this specific combination of specs is quite odd, with the curious combination of a near-extinct headphone jack, modern USB-C port, and the very recent Android 15.
On top of all that, the phone actually supports 5G, which is really weird for the combination of archaic-but-also-very-modern specs. And it has a pretty meh (and photoshopped) design that looks lowkey cringe.
Somehow, for a phone allegedly “Proudly Made in America”, a manufacturing technique that has been rumored to drive iPhone prices up to $3000 if Apple were to make iPhones in the U.S., the T1 is priced at a mere $499, with a “down payment” of $100.
Numerous reports indicate that the T1 could actually be a rebranded Chinese phone.
As noted by The Verge, a few contenders are:
- DOOGEE Note 58
- Ulefone Note 18 Ultra
- Revvl 7
- Blu G84
All in all, the T1 is a very weird phone, both with its odd combination of old and new specs (oh, and the complete omission of naming a processor for the T1), and its murky origins.
To check out the Trump Mobile and T1 for yourself, you can visit trumpmobile.com.
Pastel Black
A short update on what's up with the Framework Laptop 12.
Framework is a company that specializes in incredibly repairable laptops and desktops, and has been at the forefront of the PC repairability movement for years. You can customize everything from the ports your Framework Laptop has to the entire front plate on your Framework Desktop, all without needing to buy a new device.This enhanced level of repairability comes at a cost, with Framework devices costing quite a bit more than regular consumer laptops and desktops, but that repairability factor almost pays for itself, allowing you to fix everything from a broken display to a dead battery, and even upgrade your PC's motherboard and RAM.
If I were to get a PC, it'd definitely be one from Framework. And yes, I am the Mac guy. I'll admit that repairability has not been known to come naturally to most major tech companies (including Apple), but big tech companies are slowly starting to get the message and are starting to make their devices more repairable.
In fact, As part of the iPhone 16 base model lineup (iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus), Apple introduced a dissolvable glue for the battery removal that makes it easier to replace the battery in your iPhone.
Anyway, Framework has just opened up pre-orders for its newest laptop, the Framework Laptop 12, featuring a 12.2-inch touchscreen display, an Intel i3 or i5 processor, stylus support, five pastel colors, upgradeable memory and storage, a rigid plastic case, Wi-Fi 6E, and so much more.
While the design is largely different, the Framework Laptop 12 screen size closely resembles the original MacBook's 12-inch display and similarly thin design.
The pre-built Windows-licensed base model starts at $799 (it's also only available in monochrome), and the DIY model (which is obviously going to be more fun to build), costs about $690 for the base model and no OS pre-installed. If you order one today, it'll ship Q3 2025, but you can jump to the start of the line by donating $250 or more to the Hack Club nonprofit, which helps young coders and makers.
That is lowkey a really good expedited shipping model.
For now though, I'm content with my MacBook, but if I suddenly find $700 lying on my doorstep, I'd definitely give this PC a shot.
And run Linux anyway 💀
That's it for this week's edition of ohno!
I really hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I did writing it!If you've got any questions, comments, ideas, or noticed something I messed up 😬, feel free to get in touch at hi@owen.uno.
See you next Friday!
Fun Fact: Each article generally takes me about 5-6 hours for research, writing, and publishing.