In the wake of the controversy surrounding PayPal's Honey browser extension, Google Chrome has updated its policies to ban the practices that the extension was observed to be engaging in. Chrome's updated extension policies for affiliate ads includes wording that seems to be a direct response to many of the tactics Honey was accused of participating in, such as injecting affiliate codes without providing discounts. Given that Chrome powers most browsers available now, expect this to have major ramifications on shopping extensions going forward.If you're out of the loop about the Honey controversy, a multi-year investigation by YouTuber MegaLag recently uncovered evidence of unexpected behavior. Honey was accused of allowing retailers to control which discount codes you could access, and as a result, not letting you discover the best available deals, despite advertising to the contrary. The extension was also observed to be inserting its own affiliate codes in every shopping website you visit, and was seen replacing other affiliate codes with its own, which means that it effectively was pocketing others' commissions. Additionally, Honey actually confirmed to MegaLag that it deliberately engages in some of these practices.According to Chrome's updated affiliate ads policy, extensions now cannot add affiliate links, codes, or cookies without providing a tangible benefit to users. Extensions will also have to prominently describe their affiliate policy before installation, in the user interface, and on the Chrome Web Store page. Google described some common violations of this policy to make it clearer for developers too, where the company said extensions can't insert affiliate links without providing any discounts or cashback offers. It also banned extensions from inserting affiliate links in the background without "related user action".According to Google, this means that extensions cannot insert shopping-related cookies while you're browsing without letting you know. They also can no longer insert or replace affiliate codes or promo codes without the user's knowledge. Honey, and other extensions that let you find the best deals, will have to change the way they operate in order to comply with these policies.In case your favorite shopping-related browser extension is affected by Google's new policies, you can still use other tools for price comparison. Lifehacker's in-house deals expert Daniel Oropeza has a full list of his favorite price-tracking tools for you to check out. It includes a few browser extensions and even a price-tracking tool by Honey itself (don't worry, this one is not a browser extension), which are all very useful for deal hunters. My personal favorite is Slickdeals, a site I've relied on for over a decade to find great deals. More than its price tracking, I value Slickdeals' community a lot. The best deals are heavily upvoted and the comments below each deal help me quickly determine whether a deal is actually a steal.

It happened again: Across sprawling tabs, dozens of windows, and countless unread messages, you've somehow lost your cursor. Maybe it's hiding in the corner of your screen, but, hmmnothing seems to be popping out of any of them. What's more, if you have your Mac connected to multiple monitors on your desk, your cursor could be anywhere. Tell work to push your deadlines; you're gonna need a minute.But before you damage your reputation, there's a better way. Well, a couple of ways, actuallybut one of them is far more fun. To save yourself from this grief in the future, try "Googly Eyes," a free app that adds, yes, a pair of googly eyes to your Mac's menu bar. Googly Eyes is the creation of Sindre Sorhus, a developer we've frequently covered on Lifehacker. Sorhus has made sticky notes for the menu bar, tools to adjust the spacing of the menu bar, an easy way to switch your default browser on the fly, an app for expanding the number of extensions Shortcuts supports, and a tool for making Finder more like Windows' File Explorer. Googly Eyes is a little different, because the premise is beyond simple: Once you install and launch the app, you'll find a pair of cartoonish googly eyes resting on your Mac's menu bar. These eyes are trained on the location of your cursor: Move your mouse or glide your finder on your trackpad, and the eyes will follow it. My cursor disappeared while typing the above paragraph. Rather than scrambling around looking for it, I can glance up at the googly eyes, see they're focused on the right side of my Mac, then move my mouse to the left, where my cursor will predictably reappear. Click your mouse or trackpad, and the eyes blink. It's fun and useful. That's all there really is to it. If you're bored on your Mac, you can bring your cursor up to the googly eyes to mess with them a bit. Moving directly between the eyes will cause them to go cross-eyed, while dragging more towards one eye will cause that eye to move away from the other a bit. Credit: Lifehacker Now, there is a solution built into macOS for whenever you can't find your cursor: shake it. Shaking your cursor really fast not only increases the chances you'll see it buzzing around your screen, your Mac will also temporarily make it huge. It's a great feature, but it isn't perfect: Sometimes, shaking your cursor doesn't pull it up, especially if you're working across monitors, or the task requires more vigorous shaking than you might expect. In these cases, you might want a pair of helpful eyes to keep watch for you, and clue you into your cursor's position.Googly Eyes is a simple setup, but Sorhus does have some troubleshooting advice should you need it: If you don't see Googly Eyes in your menu bar after opening the app, quit some other menu bar apps, as macOS sometimes hides these apps when there are too many open at once (especially on smaller displays). If your Mac cannot access the App Store, you can download the app directly from Sorhus, but note this method won't offer automatic updates, and Sorhus will only update the app on his website on an annual basis.

Meta has notched an early victory in its attempt to halt a surprise tell-all memoir from a former policy executive turned whistleblower. An arbitrator has sided with the social media company, saying that the books author should stop selling and publicizing the book, which went on sale earlier this week.The drama stems from Careless People, a new book by Sarah Wynn-Williams, a former policy official at Facebook who Meta says was fired in 2017. Described by its publisher as an explosive insider account, Wynn-Williams reveals some new details about Mark Zuckerbergs push to bring Facebook to China a decade ago. She also alleges that Meta's current policy chief, Joel Kaplan, acted inappropriately, and reveals embarrassing details about Zuckerbergs awkward encounters with world leadersThe book was only announced last week, and Meta has waged a forceful PR campaign against it, calling it a new book of old news. Numerous former employees have publicly disputed Wynn-Williams account of events that transpired while she worked at Facebook.Meta also filed an emergency motion with an arbitrator in an attempt to block the book, arguing that Wynn-Williams had violated a non-disparagement agreement with the company. In a decision, the arbitrator said that she should immediately stop making disparaging comments about Meta and stop further publishing or distributing the book. Its unclear what exactly this means for the book, which is already on sale. The publisher, Flatiron Books, which was also named in Metas complaint, didnt immediately respond to a request for comment.This ruling affirms that Sarah Wynn Williams false and defamatory book should never have been published, Meta spokesperson Andy Stone said in a statement. This urgent legal action was made necessary by Williams, who more than eight years after being terminated by the company, deliberately concealed the existence of her book project and avoided the industrys standard fact-checking process in order to rush it to shelves after waiting for eight years.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/social-media/meta-is-trying-to-stop-a-former-employee-from-promoting-her-book-about-facebook-004938899.html?src=rss

iRobot, the creator of the Roomba and the company that popularized robot vacuums in the first place, told investors on Wednesday that it has "substantial doubt about [its] ability to continue."Beyond declining sales the company reported that revenue decreased 47 percent in the US over the prior year in its fourth quarter earnings iRobot is also struggling to pay off its debts. The company took on a $200 million bridge loan to stay afloat while it waited for its $1.7 billion acquisition deal with Amazon to be approved, which it's still paying off.The European Commission ultimately investigated the acquisition in 2023, and rather than address its concerns, Amazon terminated the deal and paid out its $94 million termination fee. That wasn't enough to eliminate iRobot's problems, though. The company now plans to review its options and see if it can find another way to stick it out, including "refinancing the company's debt and exploring a potential sale or strategic transaction."The timing is particularly unfortunate given the line of new robot vacuums iRobot recently announced. The company has a new robot for most price points, but the Roomba 105 Vac Robot series, which are supposed to feature 70 times more suction than past models, and the Roomba Plus 505 Combo Robot + AutoWash Dock, which is able to clean corners better and has a dock that washes and heat-dries the robot's mop, stand out as notable improvements. The company is also adopting lidar sensors across the board, something that was missing from previous robots and should allow for better, more accurate mapping.It's possible new products help iRobot get to a better place financially the company still makes robots we recommend, after all but that doesn't change the fact that its facing stiff competition from companies like Roborock and Dreame, who are both getting much more adventurous with what their robot vacuums can actually do.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/home/smart-home/irobot-has-new-roombas-but-it-doesnt-sound-confident-itll-be-around-to-sell-them-191747458.html?src=rss

Six distinct backdoor samples are being used in this campaign.

Take-Two is going after online marketplace PlayerAuctionsfor allegedly selling hacked GTA Online accounts and currency.

Emirati state-owned investment firm MGX announced a $2 billion investment into Binance, marking the cryptocurrency exchange's first institutional investment.

Two powerful forces are dramatically reshaping the current world of workartificial intelligence and an aging workforce. While we can see that the way we work is changing, we need to move quickly to effectively cope with both.Currently, AI, machine learning, digitization, automation, and other technology shifts are continuing to drive big changes in how we work and evolving the skills we need. In fact, new Workday research into the AI skills revolution shows that 81% of workers globally recognize that AI is changing the skills needed for their jobs.At the same time, throughout most countries, midcareer and older workers (people aged 45-64) make up a growing portion of the workforce, thanks to steady advances in health and longevity, and comprise 40% of the workforce in Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development countries.For these older workers, especially those who are currently unemployed, advances in new technologies could be a concern. In fact, Generation, a global employment nonprofit organization, conducted research in 2023 in eight countries that showed nearly half of long-term unemployed people are aged 45 and up, and 60% of midcareer workers view their age as their greatest barrier to new employmentand their perception is correct.With this worker demographic shift, a looming social and economic challenge is facing most countries around the globe. To ignite progress and elevate potential for midcareer and older workers, three imperatives stand out:1. Bust the myths: Age and performanceMany employers underestimate and are less likely to hire midcareer candidates than their younger counterparts. Not surprisingly for those who have encountered age bias, research shows that preference for younger candidates intensifies when considering roles that regularly use AI tools. Hiring managers are three times more likely to consider job applicants who are 35 or younger, compared to those 60 and older.However, the 2023 Generation research also shows that 89% of employers who have hired people aged 45+ reported that these individuals perform as well as or better than their younger peers, and 83% of employers said they learned as quickly or even better than their younger counterparts.Its imperative that employers stop clinging to persistent and harmful age biases.2. Green shoots of opportunity: Where the jobs areThere are jobs out there already with the magic mix of an immediate hiring need and a large supply of enthusiastic midcareer candidates.Green jobs are an exciting and unexpected opportunity. In Workdays collaboration with Generation in Spain, more than half of the program participants in our Solar PV Installer Program were over age 40, and most were non-degree holders (only 6% had a post-secondary degree). Within 6 months, 90% of them had been successfully placed in jobs. Green jobs are a clear win-win for candidates and employers.3. Beyond degrees: Skills-based hiring and mobilityMoving to skills-based hiring and assessment, rather than relying solely on 4-year college degrees or very specific previous work experience, will open opportunities for older workers and qualified candidates of all ages.By focusing on assessing skills and giving all hiring teams exposure to interviewing older candidates, we can decrease the likelihood that talented individuals will be overlooked. Moreover, once workers are on the job, employers canand shouldmeasure job performance and use that data to bust myths around midcareer candidate potential.To get candidates into new positions, training and mentorship also play important roles. In Generations 2023 research, 48% of successful midcareer and older job switchers had recent and relevant training prior to being employed, versus only 34% of unemployed individuals.On top of training, mentorship can help smooth career transitions. Workday and Generation developed customized mentor support focusing on the midcareer experienceincluding cultivating a growth mindset and moving seamlessly to a new industry. It was well-received, helping midcareer candidates improve their resumes and better prepare for interviews, with 96% saying they had a positive mentorship experience.The path forward: A two-way streetChange takes collaboration, and both workers and employers should prioritize upskilling.Embracing equity, being inclusive of age differences, and hiring for skills is also good for business. There is research which shows that hiring for skills is five times more predictive of positive job performance than hiring for education alone, and 2.5 times more predictive of success than hiring for past work experience. Additional research shows that those who are hired on based on skills have, on average, a 9% longer tenure at their organizations than traditional hires, saving companies money on turnover and backfilling.Supporting workers in their career journeys helps ensure that individuals, businesses, and societies all thrive.Carrie Varoquiers is the chief philanthropy officer at Workday. Mona Mourshed is the founding global CEO of Generation: You Employed.The Fast Company Impact Council is a private membership community of influential leaders, experts, executives, and entrepreneurs who share their insights with our audience. Members pay annual membership dues for access to peer learning and thought leadership opportunities, events and more.

In todays fast-paced world, its easy to feel that external circumstances dictate our existence. We attribute success and failure to factors beyond our controlthe economy, the government, societal expectations, or unforeseen events.But heres the thing: Blaming externalities diminishes our sense of agency and hinders our growth and fulfillment. The opposite is also true. Choosing personal sovereigntyclaiming our power as the ultimate architects of our life experienceleads to a more empowered and authentic existence.The illusion of controlFrom a young age, we are conditioned to seek validation and direction from external sources. Societys norms, cultural expectations, and even well-meaning parents and leaders teach us to relinquish personal agency. Over time, this reinforces the myth that our locus of control is external. We learn to attribute our outcomes to others, creating a cycle of dependency and disempowerment.Psychologically, we create a self-serving bias. We attribute our successes to personal efforts while blaming our failures on others or external circumstances. The bias serves as a defense mechanism to protect self-esteem, but it also impedes our self-awareness and growth.The consequences of externalizationWhen we habitually blame external circumstances for our unhappiness or failures, we surrender our power to create change. This leads to feelings of helplessness, anxiety, and resentment. It also stifles personal development, as we fail to recognize our role in shaping our experiences.For example, continually attributing a stagnant career to a difficult market or unsupportive colleagues prevents us from examining our own actions, decisions, and attitudes that contribute to the situation. By not acknowledging our part, we miss our opportunities for learning and growth. And we miss the chance to initiate change.What is personal sovereignty?Personal sovereignty is the recognition that we hold the ultimate authority over our lives. It involves taking full responsibility for our actions and outcomes. Yes, external factors influence us, but we hold the power to choose our responses. As psychologists often note, Pain is inevitable. Suffering is optional.Embracing personal sovereignty requires a shift from external validation to internal guidance. It means trusting our inner voices and aligning our actions with our core values and beliefs. This alignment promotes authenticity and empowers us to navigate lifes challenges with resilience and purpose. Lets explore how to do this.The 6 steps to personal sovereigntySelf-reflection: Regularly engage in introspection to understand your motivations, desires, and fears. Journaling or meditation can aid in this process, helping you to connect with your inner self.Accept responsibility: Acknowledge your role in your lifes circumstances. Recognize that while you cant control external events, you do control your reactions and decisions.Challenge limiting beliefs: Identify and confront beliefs that constrain your potential. Replace them with empowering narratives that reflect your true capabilities.Set boundaries: Establish clear boundaries to protect your energy and focus. This includes saying no to commitments that dont align with your values or drain your resources.Cultivate self-trust: Build confidence in your decision-making abilities. Start with small choices and gradually take on more significant decisions as your self-trust strengthens.Seek growth opportunities: View challenges as opportunities for learning. Embrace discomfort as a natural part of the growth process.We, alone, hold the power to choose.At the heart of personal sovereignty is the power of choice. Every moment presents an opportunity to choose our thoughts, attitudes, and actions. By consciously making choices that align with our best and most authentic selves, we reclaim our power and transform our life experiences.For example, my own background as a Soviet refugee could easily have made me angry or bitter, with ample reasons to justify a lackluster existence in the U.S. Instead, I chose to earn an advanced education that I continue today. I created a career path spanning decades that allows me to offer a better life for many communities in the U.S. and throughout the world.Kellan Fluckiger, my coauthor, can tell similar tales about choosing growth after decades of struggle with depression and self-sabotage. Well into his adult life he created a path of recovery and growth even after a near-death illness, to inspire millions, first through an award-winning choir and currently as a business coach who has written 12 No. 1 best-selling books, with more to come. These outcomes would not occur without the choice to take full responsibility for our own outcomes, regardless of the unexpected hurdles beyond our control.Its also important for all of us to recognize that embracing personal sovereignty is a continuous journey, not a destination. It requires ongoing commitment, self-compassion, and courage. As we navigate this path, we not only enrich our own lives but also inspire others to reclaim their power and live authentically.Final thoughtsIn a world rife with uncertainties and external pressures, embracing personal sovereignty offers a pathway to empowerment and fulfillment. By recognizing our role as the architects of our life experiences, we move from a state of passive existence to active engagement. This shift enables us to live more authentically, make meaningful contributions, and experience deeper satisfaction.As we embark on this journey, let us remember that true power lies not in controlling external circumstances but in mastering ourselves. By reclaiming our personal sovereignty, we unlock the potential to create a life that truly reflects who we are and what we value.Gene Eidelman is the cofounder of Azure Printed Homes. Kellan Fluckiger is the founder of Kellan Fluckiger International, and the creator of Your Ultimate Life.The Fast Company Impact Council is a private membership community of influential leaders, experts, executives, and entrepreneurs who share their insights with our audience. Members pay annual membership dues for access to peer learning and thought leadership opportunities, events and more.

Keyboards are no longer just input devices, though some people still see them in this utilitarian light. For many computer users, its just as much an extension of themselves as their smartphones, so they choose not only the best-performing keyboards but also the best-looking designs that match their aesthetic tastes. Many such users swear by mechanical keyboards for their tactile feel and distinctive typing sounds, but why stop there when you can go all out on the metal vibe?Even mechanical keyboards still use plastic keycaps, but Awekeys is offering an exciting new way to upgrade your keyboards appeal and experience. More than just metal keys, it presents unique finishes that give your keyboard a unique vintage vibe that makes this common tool look more like a trustworthy and battle-worn weapon from a historic past. Infuse the wild soul of a Viking warrior into your mechanical keyboard and cut down all your typing tasks with prowess and skill.Designer: AwekeysClick Here to Buy Now: $109 $179 (39% off). Hurry, only a few left!From programmers to writers to office workers, avid typists favor mechanical keyboards because of the satisfying experience brought about by using individual switches made of metal and plastic. Most of these, however, stop there and pair up these excellent switches with plastic caps. Its like stopping short of delivering not only the best typing experience but also a design that will make your friends feel more than just a little jealous.The Awekeys Viking Antiques Metal Set brings a collection of keycaps that go all in on metal. These keys deliver a deeper and more solid sound with every press while offering a material that is also more resilient to the heavy wear and tear of typing. Plus, they look and feel even more premium with a unique texture that even painted keycaps cant pull off.In typical Awekeys fashion, the set goes above and beyond the call of duty to deliver a unique aesthetic that adds a special character to your keyboard, one that even hails back to the Vikings of legend. Plated with copper, silver, and gold, the keycaps have an aged look to them, as if theyve seen many battles with words and numbers. Each keycap is also crafted with high precision that brings myths and legends to life. Rune sublegends conceal the divine secrets of language. Watch the roaring dragon-headed ship charge through text from the Caps Lock key. Heed the warnings of Odins twin ravens guarding the Delete key before you erase your words.Every key and every symbol has a story to tell and creates a unique atmosphere whenever you use the keyboard. Instead of an ordinary typist, you become a legendary storykeeper who gets transported to mythic lands with every press of a key. And to top it all off, theres a Gemstone Accent pack with Ruby, Sapphire, Emerald, and Black Onyx colors that transforms your keyboard into a regal weapon worthy of the halls of Valhalla.Awekeys metal keycaps dont just make you feel good about typing. They also make you feel good about the environment because of their sustainable design. Using eco-friendly, recycled, and 100% recyclable Cupronickel, the keycaps set reduces waste, brings down CO2 emissions, and offers a premium, long-lasting typing experience. Why hold back on your precious mechanical keyboard when you can deck it with the premium keycaps it so rightfully deserves? Grab the Awekeys Viking Antiques Metal Keycaps Set and feel like a keyboard warrior ready to face any code or document that comes your way.Click Here to Buy Now: $109 $179 (39% off). Hurry, only a few left!The post Viking-inspired Awekeys Vintage Metal Keycaps Bring Out Your Inner Keyboard Warrior first appeared on Yanko Design.