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GET A FREE $50 BEST BUY GIFT CARD: Grab the new Fitbit Ace LTE smartwatch for kids at Best Buy for $229.95 and get a free $50 Best Buy gift card.
Opens in a new window Credit: Fitbit Fitbit Ace LTE smartwatch for kids $229.95 at Best BuyIt's back-to-school time, which means the kids are loading up their backpacks and picking out their first-day-of-school outfits. While you might be sending them off with a fresh box of crayons and some new kicks, you might also be considering some upgraded tech. Thanks to today's deal at Best Buy, you can score a new smartwatch designed for kids while getting a free Best Buy gift card.
As of Aug. 1, the Fitbit Ace LTE smartwatch for kids is $229.95 at Best Buy and your purchase comes with a free $50 Best Buy gift card. That's essentially like taking $50 off the price of this smartwatch — and putting those funds toward anything else you want at Best Buy.
Google recently launched the new Fitbit Ace LTE smartwatch, which is designed with kids in mind. The watch comes with features to keep kids happily entertained and motivated to move, as well as location and connection features that'll give parents peace of mind about their kids' location.
SEE ALSO: Best Buy just dropped the price of the Amazon Kindle Scribe to lower than we've ever seen at AmazonFor starters, the Fitbit Ace LTE comes with the Fitbit Arcade, which is packed with movement-based games for kids to enjoy throughout the day. Instead of closing rings, the watch uses "the Noodle," a fun animal design that lets kids keep better track of their steps, jumps, and bounces.
But when it comes time to focus in the classroom or in the evening while completing homework, parents can set downtime on the Fitbit Ace LTE, which restricts access to some features while still allowing kids to get in touch should they need to.
Through the Fitbit Ace app, kids can make calls and texts to 20 contacts, which parents can approve. The app also allows parents to see where their kids are currently located, so you'll know they made it from school to soccer practice or decided to study in the library this afternoon.
It's worth noting that the Fitbit Ace LTE smartwatch requires a monthly Fitbit Ace Pass, which costs $9.99 per month. You can purchase this plan during setup of the watch. The pass gives unlimited LTE connectivity, GPS tracking, calling, and messaging.
Make sure the kids are ready to head back to the classroom with the motivational Fitbit Ace LTE smartwatch. Not only will they enjoy the games, it gives parents reassurance of always being in touch. Thanks to today's deal at Best Buy, the Fitbit Ace LTE comes with a free $50 Best Buy gift card.
Dating apps require users to disclose vulnerable information — and not just someone's romantic dreams. Most times, these apps require personal data like your name, age, and location. In the case of the latter, a new paper details that, for a time, several major apps left user locations able to be exposed by potential adversaries.
Dating app location vulnerabilitiesIn a new paper out of Belgian university KU Leuven, "Swipe Left for Identity Theft," researchers break down potential privacy risks for 15 location-based dating apps (LBDs) with at least 10 million downloads. These days, dating apps are typically location-based in order to help users find matches physically close to them. By needing location, however, it opens users up to potential risks.
SEE ALSO: Daters are changing their app locations to the Olympic VillageAll apps except one used distance between users to measure location. (That exception, TanTan — an Asian dating app — used exact coordinates one-time at the point of matching, and only if they matched.) "However, lacking sufficient protections, the availability of distances can still lead to the inference of a user's location," the paper states. "This is done through trilateration."
Trilateration is the process of determining location by measuring distances between three triangles (or circles, or spheres). There are different types of trilateration apps use to determine location. The authors — Karel Dhondt, Victor Le Pochat, Yana Dimova, Wouter Joosen, and Stijn Volckaert — found that they were able to pinpoint almost an exact location in six out of 15 apps, as TechCrunch reported.
Which dating apps had location vulnerabilities?The most common vulnerability was through "oracle trilateration," which the paper explains, "Adversaries use an oracle that indicates through a binary signal whether a victim is located within proximity, i.e., when they are within a defined 'proximity distance' from the attacker."
Hinge, Bumble, Badoo (which is owned by Bumble), and Hily were susceptible to such trilateration.
A Hinge spokesman told Mashable:
At Hinge, the safety and privacy of our users is always a top priority. Our app is built with a privacy-by-design approach and strictly protects sensitive user data. We are proud of our state-of-the-art bug bounty program and our ongoing dialogue with researchers, which are designed to attract comments so we can make adjustments before any harm happens to our users. We reviewed the feedback from this research team when we received it in early 2023 and immediately took action where appropriate.
A Bumble spokesperson told both TechCrunch and Mashable, "We were made aware of these findings in early 2023, and swiftly resolved the issues outlined. As a global business with members in countries all over the world, we are committed to protecting our users’ privacy and have adopted a global approach to privacy compliance."
This statement applies for Badoo as well, Bumble told Mashable.
Dmytro Kononov, CTO and co-founder of Hily, shared this statement with TechCrunch:
The findings indicated a potential possibility for trilateration. However, in practice, exploiting this for attacks was impossible. This is due to our internal mechanisms designed to protect against spammers and the logic of our search algorithm...Despite this, we engaged in extensive consultations with the authors of the report and collaboratively developed new geocoding algorithms to completely eliminate this type of attack. These new algorithms have been successfully implemented for over a year now.
Grindr was vulnerable to "exact distance trilateration." This can be done when services reveal exact distances to other users. The authors were able to figure out user locations as close as 111 meters (around 364 feet). Exact distance trilateration was possible even when the distance was hidden, such as in Egypt where Grindr hides all user locations for safety reasons.
SEE ALSO: Men found a surprising new way to lie on dating apps"The proximity Grindr offers to this community is paramount in providing the ability to interact with those closest to them, Grindr's chief privacy officer Kelly Peterson Miranda told TechCrunch. "As is the case with many location-based social networks and dating apps, Grindr requires certain location information in order to connect its users with those nearby...Grindr users are in control of what location information they provide."
Finally, the app happn was vulnerable to "rounded distance trilateration," which can be done if an app utilizes a rounded location as a precaution. CEO and president of happn, Karima Ben Abdelmalek, told TechCrunch:
After review by our Chief Security Officer of the research findings, we had the opportunity to discuss the trilateration method with the researchers. However, happn has an additional layer of protection beyond just rounding distances...This additional protection was not taken into account in their analysis and we mutually agreed that this extra measure on happn makes the trilateration technique ineffective.
It appears that for apps with these vulnerabilities, the apps took measures to stop bad actors from determining user location using trilateration, with the exception of Grindr.
Which dating apps weren't vulnerable?According to the paper, Tinder and LOVOO used "grid snapping" to prevent trilateration. Grid snapping is a technique of dividing one's location into a grid of squares. Coordinates (aka where users are) are moved to the center of these squares (Tinder) or the right side (LOVOO) and one's distance is measured from there. Therefore, their actual distance is inaccurate and can't be trilaterated.
Plenty of Fish and Meetic don't access GPS locations. While MeetMe, Tagged, and OkCupid do access this information, they convert it to the nearest town. The authors couldn't reverse engineer the information they needed for TanTan and Jaumo, so they couldn't test this method to find user locations.
The paper shows the importance of caution when using dating apps. As the paper concludes, "We hope that the awareness that we bring of these issues will lead LBD app providers to reconsider their data gathering practices, protect their APIs [application programming interfaces] from data leaks, prevent location inference, and give users control of their data and therefore ultimately their privacy."
SAVE 52%: As of August 1, get the JBL Tune earbuds for just $47.95 at Amazon, down from their normal price of $99.95. That's a discount of $52.
Opens in a new window Credit: Amazon JBL Tune earbuds $47.95 at AmazonLooking for a pair of earbuds, but don't want to spend too much? There are plenty of affordable options out there. But right now you can save big on a pair that's well worth scooping up for over half off for a limited time.
As of August 1, you can get the JBL Tune earbuds for just $47.95 at Amazon. That's 52% off their normal price of $99.95 and a discount of $52. They aren't quite at their lowest price of all time, but they're only a few dollars away.
SEE ALSO: The 6 best earbuds to buy in 2024, just in time for Prime Day dealsThese wireless earbuds deliver great sound with active noise cancellation. Listen to your favorite tunes and then turn on ANC to block out unwanted sound. They also include an ambient mode to make sure you can still filter in the sounds you need to hear to stay aware of your surroundings. With 10mm drivers, they're nice and bassy, but they also serve up crystal clear treble, too.
Use these earbuds to listen to songs and podcasts or jump on a call thanks to their four built-in microphones. You'll be able to carry on your conversations without having to repeat yourself over and over. They're also water-resistant and sweatproof in case you want to take them to the gym for a workout. Plus, they offer up to 40 hours of battery life with fast charging that gets you 2 hours of playtime with just 10 minutes of charging.
These earbuds are on sale for a limited time only at Amazon, so be sure to grab them before all the inventory is claimed.
SAVE 50%: The Vitamix Ascent A2500 blender is on sale for just $299.99 at Best Buy, down from the standard price of $599.95. That's a savings of $299.96.
Opens in a new window Credit: Vitamix Vitamix Ascent A2500 $299.99 at Best BuyA truly functional kitchen has some essential appliances and cooking implements that make creating meals easy. Sure, you'll probably want a range (or some type of cooking surface), a refrigerator, a set of knives, and most people want a microwave. But there's a certain food prep appliance that some see as an essential luxury, particularly models from a high-end brand, and one that's synonymous with steep prices. If you're looking for a blender that's one of the best on the market, Best Buy has something epic in store today.
As of Aug. 1, the Vitamix Ascent A2500 blender is just $299.99 at Best Buy, marked down from the usual price of $599.95. That's a massive 50% discount or a savings of $299.96.
Sometimes, buying the value-centered version of a product doesn't cut it, like the different between name-brand cola and the store brand. In a pinch, the store brand does just fine, but the flavor is distinctly different.
In the world of blenders, sometimes the high-end (and expensive) models are actually worth it when it comes to performance and lifespan. The Vitamix Ascent A2500 is a great example — sometimes high-quality comes with a high price tag. But thanks to today's deal at Best Buy, you can pay just 50% of the normal retail price.
The Vitamix Ascent A2500 comes with three pre-set programs — smoothies, hot soup, and frozen dessert. Yes, you read that right — hot soup, produced from the friction of the powerful Vitamix blades in just a handful of minutes.
Aside from those three pre-set functions, there's a dial with settings between 1 and 10 for variable speed control. The blender also incorporates a pulse feature which is great to make sure all ice cubes or frozen strawberries are fully integrated into the smoothie.
The 64-ounce included container comes with a lid and a lid plug. Plus, its low-profile design is more likely to fit on the counter under cupboards. You'll also get a low-profile tamper to use with the blender.
If you've always wanted a Vitamix blender in your kitchen but haven't loved the typical high price tag, today you can score the Vitamix Ascent A2500 for half price. But you'll want to hurry because this deal expires tonight at 11:59 PT.
When it comes to getting things done, technology can be the worst double-edged sword. Use it correctly and become an efficiency ninja, use it haphazardly and you’ve found yet another way to be distracted and waste time.
Paula Rizzo, productivity expert and author of Listful Living, says the approach to get-it-done tech for students is to keep it simple, focusing on technology that does one thing, and one thing perfectly. “For instance, I like to use LastPass to store all my passwords. It’s the only thing it does. I know exactly what I’ll find when I go there. I don’t get distracted; it does its job and I get what I need quickly. If you have a [tool] that does many things then you can become overwhelmed.”
This is, of course, why your cell phone is both the best thing and the worst thing in the productivity department: incredible at firing off emails and finding lost keys, merciless when you open up TikTok.
When used thoughtfully, technology has been shown to improve student outcomes across the board, so it’s really a matter of finding the right tool for the task at hand. Whether it's studying for a Calculus exam or the LSATs, here are seven tech tools to boost productivity and keep distractions at bay this school year.