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I can still remember the first time I attended a press launch for a professional Mac – the January 1999 introduction of the Blue and White Power Mac G3, which Apple wanted the world to believe was faster than Intel PCs of similar clock speed. Today, Apple’s new professional Mac Studio absolutely devours any other system when it comes to processor performance and energy efficiency.

What a difference a quarter century makes.

I’ve spent time with the Mac Studio M4 Max in recent weeks. This model was equipped with an M4 Max chip boasting 16 CPU cores, 40 GPU cores, a 1TB SSD drive and 128GB of memory. This particular iteration costs $3,699, but you get a lot for your money. (For reference, that original Power Mac G3 started at $1,599, shipped with Apple’s infamous ‘puck’ mouse, and was nicknamed the Smurf, for its distinctive blue-&-white color.)

That’s where the comparisons end, of course, as there really is no relevant comparison to make between Apple’s old Power Macs and the new breed of Apple Silicon-driven speed demons.

The Mac Studio is everything Apple 20 years ago couldn’t deliver — the most powerful machine in its class, capable of munching its way through the most demanding tasks, and with benchmark data points that absolutely show these Macs to be the best systems for any professional needing to do intensive work.

Speeds and feeds

Here’s what the numbers show:

• Geekbench, Single-core, 4,086
• Geekbench, Multi-core, 26,021
• Geekbench, Metal, 187,728
• Geekbench, Open CL, 118,684

The Mac aced its Cinebench tests, too, convincingly topping the list of reference systems and achieving in excess of 3,000 points on the Unigine Heaven benchmark; it’s a good score, but is dented by the fact the test environment needs to run in Darwin emulation.

Apple

Supporting the release, Apple published a number of data points to show how powerful these systems can be. The main takeaways: even if you’re using a Mac Studio that’s under a year old, the new model is a welcome speed upgrade, and if you use an M1 Mac Studio you can expect twice the performance (faster rendering, compiling, photo editing).

Numbers are really real-world, so to put these into context, they mean this Mac — the latter-day descendant of the “Smurf” — is powerful enough to take anything you throw at it. And with even more powerful models also available, there’s almost no demanding task you can’t expect this Mac to achieve. Apple Silicon is eating the PC industry lunch.

Higher and higher

Finally, if you upgrade from an Intel Mac, well, just as the move to Intel unleashed Apple’s pro Macs from decades in the PowerPC doldrums, the move to Apple Silicon has utterly unshackled the line. It means that if you’ve come across from an Intel Mac, you’ll be stunned by the huge performance upgrade you experience.

For pros, it means you’ll get more done faster than ever on a Mac.

That really wasn’t the case in 1999, when pro machines really were destined for use by Mac fans and people from the creative departments; while good at handling creative tasks, they didn’t truly match Windows in others — except you didn’t have to run Windows, which has always been an advantage to many of us.

Apple Where’s the ceiling?

The problem with reviewing this piece of kit is that nothing I could do would actually make it break a sweat. For example, I did my usual test of opening up a GarageBand project with 300 instrument tracks; the machine figuratively shrugged and delivered. It then shrugged at everything I could think of doing with it — running multiple video windows, working with Pixelmator Pro transitions, dabbling about with Final Cut. During the week or so I tried to make the Mac stumble, I barely noticed it get warm and never heard the cooling system in action.

For me, these Macs over deliver, delivering performance far beyond what I actually need. To be frank, of course, most of my computing needs are answered by the also available M4-powered MacBook Air, with which I also had a pleasant dalliance. But I’m not the target market — the most cutting-edge pros in design, graphics, architecture, AI, medicine, and researchers. For those people, these Macs will deliver.

They also open up other opportunities. 

For example, Apple researcher Awni Hannun managed to run Deep Seek v3 in 4-bit natively on the even more powerful M3 Ultra Mac Studio: “The new DeepSeek-V3-0324 in 4-bit runs at > 20 tokens/second on a 512GB M3 Ultra with mlx-lm!” he wrote.

The system I tested can’t quite do that, but it will happily run smaller large language models on device, making it possible to build and run bespoke AI systems on hardware you keep on your desk. That’s great for security-conscious businesses seeking an AI edge who want to ensure all the data belongs to them, and not to their AI provider.

Are there limitations?

There are some drawbacks, I suppose. Some could see the need to get hold of a display, mouse, and keyboard to use with the device as being a snag. Users might also feel frustrated at the lack of easy upgradeability of Apple’s systems – it would be neat to be able to install your own memory, just as you were able to do with the more upgradeable Power Mac of yore.

Some might want more connectivity options, but that didn’t really worry me; the 5 USB-C/Thunderbolt 5 slots, 10Gb Ethernet, dual USB-A, HDMI, and SDXC slot seemed more than enough for most people.

If you really want the best and most powerful gaming computer, you might need to use systems with Nvidia chips, at least for a little while longer until gaming firms catch up with Mac. Again and again, we hit software compatibility problems with some apps as the only remaining barrier to accelerating Mac adoption.

Summing up

I’ve deliberately tried to avoid the formulaic approach to a Mac review here. You don’t have the time to hear me reprise every data point from the tech sheet you can read here, and I don’t see any value in regurgitating those numbers. Life’s too short to re-read it, right?

And when it comes to looks, here’s a picture:

Apple

If you’ve been keeping up with news on these machines, you know they look like a tall Mac mini and come in the form of a nice silver box. You already know what Macs do – they run macOS, can run Windows in emulation, and as Apple builds out the Apple Intelligence system, they’ll do more things more effectively over time. 

What is clear is that Apple’s high-end Macs can and will scale to whatever you need them to do. You should also recognize that the velocity of Apple Silicon development means that within the next 12 to 18 months Apple will be able to upgrade the range all over again, inserting even faster processors that raise the bar of what Macs can achieve even more all over again.

That’s a huge change from how things used to be. Back when I met the Power Mac G3, Apple really was playing catch-up with its professional Macs. These days, Apple’s pro machines aren’t playing the same game. The computers set the bar for what competitors hope to achieve. If you need a lot of computational power at significantly lower energy costs, you can’t go wrong with a Mac Studio.

You can follow me on social media! Join me on BlueSky,  LinkedIn, Mastodon, and MeWe. 

British supermarket chain Co-op Food has confirmed to BleepingComputer via a statement that it has suffered limited operational disruption as it responds to a cyberattack. [...]

​Ascension, one of the largest private healthcare systems in the United States, is notifying patients that their personal and health information was stolen in a December 2024 data theft attack, which affected a former business partner. [...]

How Many Gaps Are Hiding in Your Identity System? It’s not just about logins anymore. Today’s attackers don’t need to “hack” in—they can trick their way in. Deepfakes, impersonation scams, and AI-powered social engineering are helping them bypass traditional defenses and slip through unnoticed. Once inside, they can take over accounts, move laterally, and cause long-term damage—all without [email protected]

A China-aligned advanced persistent threat (APT) group called TheWizards has been linked to a lateral movement tool called Spellbinder that can facilitate adversary-in-the-middle (AitM) attacks. "Spellbinder enables adversary-in-the-middle (AitM) attacks, through IPv6 stateless address autoconfiguration (SLAAC) spoofing, to move laterally in the compromised network, intercepting packets and Ravie Lakshmananhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/[email protected]

Laptops are great, but you don’t have to limit yourself to a tiny laptop screen — especially when you’re using a laptop at a desk. Adding a second screen is easier and cheaper than ever. The same is true if you’re using a desktop PC, too. No matter how you’re working, there’s no reason to limit yourself to just one monitor.

Heck, even the word “monitor” can have multiple meanings. You can project from your a laptop to a TV, wirelessly, in just a few clicks. Or you can get a lightweight portable monitor for more screen real estate anywhere you take your laptop.

An optimal multimonitor setup isn’t only about hardware, though. It’s also about the software tricks you need to make multimonitor setups sing on Windows — from tools to troubleshooting tips. So let’s dive in.

Want more Windows knowledge? Check out my free Windows Intelligence newsletter. I’ll send you free in-depth Windows Field Guides (a $10 value) as a special welcome bonus!

Your multiple monitor hardware

Step one in setting up a second Windows monitor is determining what outputs your PC has. If you have a laptop, take a look at its ports. On a modern laptop, you might see HDMI out, and you might also simply be able to connect an external monitor over USB-C. (Other laptops may have DisplayPort or mini DisplayPort; it depends on the specific system.)

If you have a desktop PC, you almost certainly have a way to connect a second monitor. Again, take a look at the outputs on the back of your PC.

You can buy portable monitors built specifically for laptops, too. These are secondary monitors you can fit in a bag, and they connect via a USB-C cable. (The USB-C cable provides power to the monitor, too.) You can often find these monitors for $100 or less — they’re a lot better and more convenient than you might think.

Alternatively, you might already have the monitor you need already sitting around your home or office. Even somewhat hardware can get the job done as a secondary monitor — especially while you’re still deciding whether you like the idea. And you can get a lower-end (or even used) external monitor for very little money if you don’t want a huge high-resolution display.

If you plan on using your laptop with a big monitor at a desk, you should consider investing in a dock, too. You can then connect your monitor and other peripherals — keyboard, mouse, speakers, and whatever else — directly to the dock, then connect your laptop to all those items with a single swift connection.

Bear in mind that your choice of cable very much matters. Cheaper or older HDMI or DisplayPort cables might not have the bandwidth to deliver fast refresh rates at high screen resolutions on a modern display. When in doubt, spend a few bucks to get a modern cable that’s certified for the latest hardware standards. Don’t just dig something out of a drawer and pair it with a high-end display. (Of course, if you’re just testing this out with something older or less demanding, whatever you have lying around will almost certainly work fine.)

The TV possibility

As I mentioned, even a TV can serve as an effective second monitor for your laptop. You might be able to connect it directly with an HDMI cable — then you’d just need a wireless mouse and keyboard to control it.

Additionally, there are ways to use wireless projection with modern TVs — meaning you can treat your TV like an external monitor wirelessly, with just a few clicks or taps. To start casting and see whether your TV appears as an option on Windows, press Windows+K. Bear in mind that this is better for presenting something or sharing your display, as it’s nowhere near as fast and crisp as a proper wired connection. But it’s yet another way you can do more with your PC.

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Chris Hoffman, Foundry

The Windows second monitor software setup

Multimonitor setup on Windows is usually pretty easy — just plug in and go. Then open the Settings app in Windows and head to System > Display.

From there, you can tell Windows how your various monitors are physically positioned simply by dragging and dropping them into the correct arrangement in the on-screen interface. You can also change the scaling of text on your screen, choose the orientation of your displays, and choose how you want Windows to handle the displays (mirrored, as two separate displays, or with one — like your laptop — not being used at all and instead staying dark).

One thing to watch: Be sure the correct monitor is set as your primary one. Click whichever one you want on the Display screen and check “Make this my main display.”

The Display settings page makes it extremely easy to set up multiple displays — no third-party software necessary.

Chris Hoffman, Foundry

You might also need to change the screen resolution settings here, although Windows should normally pick that properly for you. (Refresh rate is something Windows often doesn’t detect automatically, though, so it’s worth going to Settings > Display > Advanced display and choosing the highest refresh rate your display supports.)

The projection and taskbar factors

Once your laptop is docked and connected to an external monitor, you can treat it in several different ways. You could keep using it as a secondary (or primary) monitor. Or, you could even power off the screen and shut your laptop, turning it into a desktop PC that powers your monitor and keyboard.

For many purposes, you don’t need both a laptop and a desktop PC at all. You just need a laptop and the right peripherals, and you can then treat the system like a desktop whenever you like. You’ll have the exact same software setup and files both in your on-the-go laptop mode and when you’re using your PC at your desk — no syncing or extra effort required.

You can also press Windows+P at any time to access the Project options popup, where you can choose exactly how Windows treats your various displays.

The Project dialog helps you quickly control how Windows handles an external display.

Chris Hoffman, Foundry

Windows also gives you options for how your taskbar appears across multiple displays. Head to Settings > Personalization > Taskbar > Taskbar behaviors and you’ll find settings like “Show my taskbar on all displays” and one that lets you control whether your windowed apps appear on all taskbars, or just the taskbar on the display they’re floating on.

When you’re done using the external monitor, you can simply unplug it; Windows should handle everything properly — no reboots or other setup necessary. Windows 11 is better at this than Windows 10, and it’ll even try to automatically reposition your windows in a way that makes sense as you move between single and multimonitor modes. If you do encounter an issue, press Ctrl+Windows+Shift+B to find a hidden shortcut for fixing it.

Advanced Windows multimonitor tricks

Basic multimonitor usage is surprisingly trivial — you can drag and drop windows across the edge between your monitors and reposition them, just as if you were using one massive monitor.

If you’re willing to dig deeper, though, there’s much more you can do. The basic (but surprisingly powerful) Snap features built into Windows — especially on Windows 11 — are very useful in a multiple-monitor scenario. Use the Windows key along with an arrow key or press Windows+Z (on Windows 11) to find them.

If you have a bigger monitor and want to do even more, Microsoft’s FancyZones PowerToy is a must-install. You’ll get extra-customizable, flexible window layouts. (Another thing that will help on big monitors: My Grab to Scroll script, which eliminates the need to carefully position your mouse over those tiny window scroll bars.)

PowerToys Workspaces is also incredibly useful on multiple monitors. Rather than spending time opening windows one by one and carefully repositioning them, you can launch the apps you use once, use PowerToys Workspaces to save that exact layout, and then get a convenient desktop shortcut you can double-click in the future — to launch all your go-to work apps and reposition them exactly as you like.

If you have a large, wide monitor, you might prefer having your taskbar vertically on the left or right edge of your screen rather than on the bottom. That’s easy on Windows 10, but annoyingly, Microsoft removed the option from Windows 11. In that environment, you’ll need to rely on apps like Start11 ($10) or ExplorerPatcher (free) to get a vertical taskbar.

Your perfect multimonitor setup

When it comes to these monitor setups, I’d start slow — perhaps with an external monitor you already have lying around or an inexpensive display you can use to test the waters. Then you’ll get a sense for how much you like the setup and whether a bigger or higher-resolution display might be right for you.

There’s so much you can think through once you’re ready. You don’t have to use a monitor sitting on a desk, for instance; you could instead use external monitor arms that clamp to your desk to let you easily reposition the monitors for improved ergonomics and more desk space.

Some monitors can also spin around from a horizontal orientation to a vertical one. A second monitor in portrait mode next to your widescreen display could be just what you need — a great screen for reading or keeping track of emails or work chats.

Or maybe you’ll discover you prefer the single-screen experience but just want more screen real estate — that’s what ultrawide monitors are for.

Whichever way you go, one thing’s for sure: Having lots of screen real estate is one of the joys of using a Windows PC rather than a small smartphone or a tablet. And even the most humble of laptops can power a multiple-screen setup that’s both awesome to use and surprisingly easy to set up.

Want more Windows advice written for humans — by a human? Sign up for my free Windows Intelligence newsletter. I’ll send you three new things to try each Friday and free Windows Field Guides as a welcome gift.

Microsoft has confirmed that Windows 11 24H2 feature updates via Windows Server Update Services (WSUS) are being blocked after installing the April 2025 security updates. [...]

Everyone has cybersecurity stories involving family members. Here’s a relatively common one. The conversation usually goes something like this:  “The strangest thing happened to my streaming account. I got locked out of my account, so I had to change my password. When I logged back in, all my shows were gone. Everything was in Spanish and there were all these Spanish shows I’ve never seen [email protected]

Cybersecurity researchers have shed light on a Russian-speaking cyber espionage group called Nebulous Mantis that has deployed a remote access trojan called RomCom RAT since mid-2022. RomCom "employs advanced evasion techniques, including living-off-the-land (LOTL) tactics and encrypted command and control (C2) communications, while continuously evolving its infrastructure – leveraging Ravie Lakshmananhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/[email protected]

Cybersecurity researchers have revealed that RansomHub's online infrastructure has "inexplicably" gone offline as of April 1, 2025, prompting concerns among affiliates of the ransomware-as-a-service (RaaS) operation. Singaporean cybersecurity company Group-IB said that this may have caused affiliates to migrate to Qilin, given that "disclosures on its DLS [data leak site] have doubled since Ravie Lakshmananhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/[email protected]

Microsoft is worth roughly $1 trillion today, but that sky-high valuation didn’t come without a few train wrecks during its first 50 years. I’m not talking about smaller screwups like the brain-dead Clippy, Microsoft’s intrusive Office helper from 1995. Instead, I’m looking at the ones with major consequences that in some cases set Microsoft back years, made it lose out on important markets, and cost the company billions of dollars.

Here are the company’s four worst screw-ups. (And here’s a look at its biggest successes.)

Microsoft’s antitrust trial and the lost decade

During Microsoft’s first 23 years, the company was on a rocket-like trajectory, with only relatively minor bumps. It ruled the tech world, swatting away competitors with ease, building monopolies in operating systems, productivity software, and beyond. 

Its iron-fisted rule seemed unlikely ever to end.

Then in 1998, the US Justice Department and 20 state attorneys general filed an antitrust suit charging the company with illegally using its OS monopoly to crush competitors. Notably, the DOJ claimed Microsoft wouldn’t allow Netscape or other browsers to easily be installed on Windows (allowing them to compete with the company’s own Internet Explorer browser).

Microsoft’s bullying tactics were laid bare during the trial, with the government citing evidence such as a Microsoft executive telling an Intel honcho the company would “cut off Netscape’s air supply” by including Internet Explorer for free in Windows, so no one would pay for a rival browser.

Microsoft lost the suit, appealed, and eventually settled with the feds. It avoided a corporate break-up, but was forced to allow alternatives to Internet Explorer to ship with Windows or be easy to install. The penalty at the time seemed like a slap on the wrist. But Microsoft put so much energy into the fight, it had little time and resources to focus on the changing tech world — and lost out on a generation of tech advances.

Steve Ballmer’s Monkey Boy dance and disastrous 14-year reign 

Steve Ballmer took over from Bill Gates as Microsoft CEO in 2000 and began a 14-year reign in which he acted like a cross between a clown and the Godfather, with disastrous results.

His solution to almost every problem the company faced was to try to use Windows as a bludgeon to pound and beat competitors. The tactic failed time and time again, and Ballmer learned nothing along the way. In just one example of how arrogance blinded him to the new reality of tech, he insisted a Windows-based mobile operating system would rule the world, telling USA Today in 2007 after the iPhone’s launch: “There’s no chance that the iPhone is going to get any significant market share. No chance.” (More on that below.)

His sometimes clownish public behavior made him a laughingstock, such as his infamous “Monkey Boy Dance,” where he danced, howled, screamed and acted like a madman at a conference to show his enthusiasm for Microsoft. Another YouTube favorite is the famous “Developers” video, which captured him soaked with sweat, screaming “Developers, developers, developers, developers…” — until his voice gave out.

Thanks to his antics, Microsoft under his leadership went from the world’s tech leader to not much more than an afterthought. The company lost out on internet search and web browsing to Google, social networking to Meta (then known as Facebook) and others, and mobile computing to Apple.

A cloudy Vista

Microsoft became the early king of tech based largely on its worldwide monopoly on operating systems, first with the character-based MS-DOS, and later with Windows. So, when one of its operating systems bombed, it had an outsized influence on the tech world and the company itself.

Though it has released plenty of stinkers along the way, Windows Vista stands out for its utter awfulness — so bad that even top executives at the company couldn’t get it to perform the simplest tasks, such as printing.

People hated its resource-hungry interface, it wouldn’t run on older PCs, and it was doomed by countless hardware incompatibilities. To try and juice sales, Microsoft came up with a bone-headed plan to release “Vista-capable PCs” that would run only a stripped-down version of the operating system.

Unfortunately, those PCs couldn’t even do that. Mike Nash, who became a corporate vice president for Windows product management, wrote in an email about the PCs, “I PERSONALLY got burnt…I now have a $2,100 e-mail machine.” Another Microsoft employee wrote in an email, “Even a piece of junk will qualify” to be called Windows Vista Capable.

Steven Sinofsky, who was the top executive in charge of Windows, couldn’t even get his printer to work with it. He admitted he wasn’t even sure what “Vista-capable” meant.

Windows, don’t phone home

When it comes to the biggest bomb in Microsoft’s past, none comes close to the disaster of Windows Phone, which started out its sad life in 2001 as a mobile operating system called Pocket PC 2002. Although Microsoft launched the mobile operating system six years before the iPhone’s debut, it was doomed from birth because Ballmer decided any mobile operating system had to be closely tied to Windows — not designed from the ground up for mobile.

I won’t go into all the gory details of what a poorly designed, unusable operating system it was. Instead, I’ll let a few numbers tell the tale. When Microsoft launched a revamped, full-blown version in 2012, it had already spent billions in development costs, then spent $400 million publicizing the launch. 

But money can’t buy you love. Few people bought the phones, and the company ended up spending $1,666 in marketing and advertising for each one sold, far above the $100 retail price, which Microsoft was forced to slash to $50, to no avail.

Microsoft bought Nokia for $7.2 billion in a desperate attempt to salvage the operating system. It didn’t work. When the company finally put Windows Phone out of its misery, it had a pathetic 1.3% market share in the US, and less in most other places, including 1% in Great Britain and Mexico, 1.2% in Germany, and 0% in China.

If you like business horror stories, you can get more gruesome details here.

Hey — have ya heard? Google’s got a simple-sounding but supremely useful new trick in the works for its homemade Pixel phones.

Under-development code spotted in the latest Android beta reveals plans for adding a new double-tap gesture into future Pixel devices. It may or may not make the cut for the upcoming Android 16 release, but it’s absolutely in progress — and odds are, it’ll show up in some new Android version or quarterly update before long.

The way it’d work is refreshingly straightforward: Just tap twice in a row anywhere on your screen, anytime, and poof: The screen shuts off. It’s a fast ‘n’ easy shortcut for an action you probably take dozens of times a day, and while the difference may seem small on the surface, it really does add up and feel a lot easier than reaching for the physical power button every time you need to perform that feat.

It also goes hand in hand with another common Android gesture: the ability to double-tap anywhere on a screen to turn it on when the phone is resting. This one’s already built into Pixels, Samsung Galaxy gadgets, and other Android devices, and it’s an incredibly handy way to get into your device in a jiffy. (Try it out to see if it works on whatever phone you’re using right now — and if it doesn’t, try searching your system settings for double tap to find the associated setting and make sure it’s enabled!)

But strangely, the double-tap move to turn off a screen has traditionally been less readily available and emphasized across Android — particularly within the Pixel universe, where Google’s core Android operating system is present in its unadulterated form.

It’s good to see that Google’s ready to address that — but hey, this is Android. And you’re a smart and enlightened Android Intelligence reader. Here, anything’s possible, and you definitely don’t have to wait for Google to officially give you a feature to enjoy it.

So stretch those lithe little digits and get your favorite tapping appendage ready: It’s time for an instant upgrade to your Android experience.

[Want even more advanced Android knowledge? Check out my free Android Shortcut Supercourse to learn tons of time-saving tricks.]

Android tap-to-turn-off: The Samsung path

We’ll start with the simplest double-tapping implementation of all — and that’s for anyone using a Samsung Galaxy gizmo.

Few flying squirrels realize that (and FYI, when I say “flying squirrel,” I mean you), but Samsung’s actually already added a double-tap-to-turn-screen-off gesture into its Android implementation. And all you’ve gotta do is take two seconds to see that it’s activated.

On any reasonably recent Galaxy device, head into your system settings and search for double tap. Look for the item labeled “Double tap to turn off screen” and confirm that the toggle next to it is in the on and active position.

Samsung’s Android devices already have a double-tap screen-off option within their settings.

JR Raphael, Foundry

And that’s it: From your home or lock screen, you can now just double-tap in any open space to turn the screen off. Paired with the double-tap to turn on option, you’ll never have to shift your fragrant fingies away from the screen whilst working again.

No Samsung? No problem. Keep reading.

Android tap-to-turn-off: The launcher liftoff

No matter what style of Android device you’re using, a custom home screen launcher is one easy way to give yourself immediate access to all sorts of advanced Android gestures.

A launcher, if you aren’t familiar, is a special app that takes over your entire home screen and app drawer interface and replaces the standard out-of-the-box setup with something much more customizable and often also rich with features.

My two favorites of the moment, Niagara and Nova, both have options within their settings to create your own double-tap command — which can absolutely include the ability to have the screen shut off as a result of that action.

Android launchers, like Nova, offer all sorts of custom gesture settings.

JR Raphael, Foundry

If you aren’t interested in using a custom launcher and just want a super-simple way to implement this one feature, though, our final path is the one for you.

Android tap-to-turn-off: The universal add-on

No matter what type of Android phone you’re using or what specific setup you prefer within it, a simple app called Double Tap Screen Off / Lock will give you an easy-as-can-be way to bring a double-tap screen-off superpower into your life this instant.

Just install the app from the Play Store and make your way through its initial setup screens. You’ll have to grant the app permission to operate as an accessibility service, which may sound daunting but is genuinely needed for this kind of function to be possible. (The app is from a known and trusted veteran Android developer, and its privacy policy is clear about the fact that it doesn’t collect any form of personal data or share any manner of info with anyone.)

Then, you’ll just tap the “Turn screen off” option on the app’s main screen and activate the toggle to enable it.

The aptly named Double Tap app brings a double-tap screen-off action onto any Android device.

JR Raphael, Foundry

Double Tap Screen Off / Lock is sometimes referred to as “Pixel Toolbox,” by the by, but it should work on any Android device — Pixel or otherwise. It’s free to download with an optional $6 pro upgrade that eliminates ads inside its configuration interface and unlocks a handful of extra features, none of which are necessary for this basic purpose. (If you see a prompt to make that upgrade when you first open up the app, you can skip past it by tapping the “x” in the upper-right corner.)

And there ya have it: three possible paths to the same time-saving, ergonomics-enhancing result. Pick the one that makes the most sense for you and enjoy your newfound tap-a-tap-tappin’ power.

Get even more advanced shortcut knowledge with my free Android Shortcut Supercourse. You’ll learn tons of time-saving tricks for whatever Android phone you’re using!

Meta on Tuesday announced LlamaFirewall, an open-source framework designed to secure artificial intelligence (AI) systems against emerging cyber risks such as prompt injection, jailbreaks, and insecure code, among others. The framework, the company said, incorporates three guardrails, including PromptGuard 2, Agent Alignment Checks, and CodeShield. PromptGuard 2 is designed to detect direct Ravie Lakshmananhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/[email protected]

A high court in the Indian state of Karnataka has ordered the blocking of end-to-end encrypted email provider Proton Mail across the country. The High Court of Karnataka, on April 29, said the ruling was in response to a legal complaint filed by M Moser Design Associated India Pvt Ltd in January 2025. The complaint alleged its staff had received e-mails containing obscene, abusiveRavie Lakshmananhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/[email protected]

A new cryptocurrency exchange named Grinex is believed to be a rebrand of Garantex, a Russian cryptocurrency exchange whose domains were seized by the U.S. authorities and an admin arrested. [...]

Microsoft has announced it will require paid subscriptions for Windows Server 2025 hotpatching, a service that enables admins to install security updates without restarting. [...]

Threat actors are intensifying internet-wide scanning for Git configuration files that can reveal sensitive secrets and authentication tokens used to compromise cloud services and source code repositories. [...]

Today, the French foreign ministry blamed the APT28 hacking group linked to Russia's military intelligence service (GRU) for targeting or breaching a dozen French entities over the last four years. [...]

​A set of security vulnerabilities in Apple's AirPlay Protocol and AirPlay Software Development Kit (SDK) exposed unpatched third-party and Apple devices to various attacks, including remote code execution. [...]