NZCity NewsLinks -

All Links

5 Apr 2025

Search

Hurunui council proposes 3.31% rates rise
North Canterbury ratepayers can expect some of the lowest rate rises in the country.

This 32-inch Samsung 4K monitor is only $220 right now
If you’re still on a 1080p monitor, it’s high time you upgraded to something bigger, better, and badder. I’m talking about a proper 4K monitor from a reputable brand—and it doesn’t even have to be expensive, not when you can score a deal like this one. Right now, Samsung’s 32-inch 4K monitor is only $220 on Amazon. That’s a solid 35% discount off its typical $340 price, representing a savings of $120 on a large, gorgeous, yet affordable display. At 32 inches, the ViewFinity UJ59 provides ample screen real estate but isn’t so large that you’ll have to crane your neck or strain your eyes to look your way around it. It’s all the space you need for working on documents, playing games, watching movies, or browsing the web. That’s doubly true with its 3840×2160 resolution, giving you a crisp 4K visual experience that elevates everything you do on your computer. And this monitor has built-in upscaling tech that automatically converts whatever you’re watching up to near-4K quality. Just note that this monitor’s refresh rate caps out at 60Hz, so you’ll have to make do with at most 60 FPS when gaming. The ViewFinity UJ59 does come with a Game Mode, though, which selectively boosts and optimizes screen contrast, allowing you to see more detail in dark areas. That means easier spotting of your enemies in multiplayer games and finding of items on the ground in RPGs. AMD FreeSync helps sync up your monitor with your PC hardware, and there are several ports to connect with, including two HDMI and a DisplayPort. This is a fantastic monitor for the price. If you’ve been waiting to upgrade your workstation to 4K, jump on this deal before it expires and get this 32-inch Samsung display for just $220! Save 35% on Samsung's 32-inch 4K monitorBuy now at Amazon

AMD blames failing Ryzen 9000 chips on memory issues
If you’ve been keeping an eye on the latest gaming PC hardware news, you’ve probably heard that AMD’s latest X3D chips kick all kinds of ass but are also failing at a fast rate, especially in certain motherboards. AMD’s first official statement blames it on memory compatibility issues. That may or may not be true, but it’ll be cold comfort to some. I’m hesitant to sound the alarm on issues with new hardware. In any large hardware launch, some small percentage of the devices that reach buyers’ hands will always be defective… and when it comes to things like CPUs designed specifically for gaming PCs, we’re going to hear loud and possibly overstated voices on social media like Reddit. But observers have reportedly collected over 100 examples of failing 9800X3D chips and other members of the AM5 family, apparently mostly in ASRock motherboards. It looks like there’s something going on here. In a statement provided to PCGamer, one AMD representative laid the blame on memory timings. “Following a joint investigation, AMD and ASRock identified a memory compatibility issue present in earlier BIOS versions, which has been rectified in the latest BIOS,” it says, echoing earlier statements from ASRock. The language is predictably corporate, imploring all users who encounter problems to contact customer support, where presumably they’ll be given the usual troubleshooting gauntlet before being presented with RMA options. As PCGamer notes, many users who experienced failures have observed electrical or burn damage that would go way beyond memory timing issues, and these are often in CPUs that passed the POST protection system and operated for days or weeks without problems. I’m no electrical engineer, but like many of the commenters on the situation, I’m skeptical. You’d expect a memory timing issue to create a system that would fail POST (Power On Self-Test) and simply refuse to boot, not cause electrical or burn damage. The good news is that anyone who currently has their hands on a 9800X3D, 9900X3D, or 9950X3D processor is well within the warranty period and can plead their case for a replacement with relative confidence. That might not be the case for a slightly older AM5 motherboard purchased for the Ryzen 7000 series, though.

Watch out! Don’t fall victim to these fake CAPTCHA scams on the web
You’re likely well-acquainted with classic CAPTCHA tests on websites. You know, the thing where you have to click to confirm you aren’t a robot? Type in the strange-looking letters and numbers? Select all the traffic lights, the buses, the motorcycles, that sort of thing? These tests are mostly nuisances and data collection traps, but hackers are now leaning into CAPTCHAs as a way to trick users into installing malware. At least, that’s what security experts are increasingly warning about. Last month, MalwareBytes Labs spotted one such fake CAPTCHA that had you paste some “verification” text into the Windows Run prompt. Recently, there have also been reports of a malware called “Quakbot” that uses an even more dangerous variant of the CAPTCHA scam. How do CAPTCHA scams work? Hack attacks via CAPTCHAs are dangerous because users click on them out of habit when they appear on websites. Hackers are now exploiting this instant-reaction behavior with fake pop-up messages that look strikingly similar to real CAPTCHA tests. Here, too, users are asked to click on a box to solve a test. However, when you click on that box, you end up redirected to other pages. Further actions ensure that dangerous commands are copied to your clipboard, making it possible for attackers to run those dangerous commands on your computer without authorization. In some cases, these CAPTCHAs even prompt you to press certain key combinations that directly invoke Windows PowerShell or execute certain commands on your device. That’s why you should be extra suspicious of any CAPTCHA request that asks you to do anything unusual. These types of attacks are called ClickFix CAPTCHA attacks because they use social engineering to trick you into clicking fake CAPTCHAs and other elements, which then trigger malicious responses. These attacks are surprisingly effective To keep you off your toes, every subsequent click in a ClickFix CAPTCHA attack is disguised with additional “verification requests” that hide the malicious nature of what you’re doing. In the worst case, it ends with you unknowingly executing a malware script that takes over your PC. CAPTCHA attacks reportedly have a higher success rate than other scam attempts because of their novel psychological tricks that prey on reflexive behavior when our guards are down. The only real protection is to remain vigilant, especially when visiting unfamiliar websites. And, of course, having reliable antivirus software that protects against threats.