Tag Archives: author_name|Mariella Moon

Netflix teases the next seasons of Avatar, Squid Game and Arcane at Geeked Week

Posted on by

At its in-person fan event for Geeked Week this year, Netflix has shown teasers and sneak peeks of its upcoming shows, including the second season of Avatar: The Last Airbender. In addition to revealing that the new season is already in production, Netflix has also announced that Miya Cech (Are You Afraid of the Dark?) is playing earthbending master Toph. 

A teaser for Squid Game season 2 shows Lee Jung-jae wearing his player 456 uniform again to compete in another round of deadly games with other contestants hoping to win millions of dollars. The next season of Squid Game will start streaming on December 26. 

The streaming giant has also revealed that One Piece live action's Mr. 0 and Miss All-Sunday will be portrayed by Joe Mangianello and Lera Abova, respectively. And for Wednesday fans, Netflix has released a teaser for the second season of Wednesday that will arrive sometime in 2025. 

For animation fans, Netflix has released a teaser for Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Deathwatch, with Liev Schreiber voicing protagonist Sam Fisher. It has also given viewers a short look at a new Devil May Cry animated series by Korean company Studio Mir, which is coming in April 2025. 

Netflix has teased a new Tomb Raider animated series that's coming in October and a Rebel Moon game that's arriving in 2025, as well. Finally, the company has given Arcane fans a clear schedule for the final chapter of the critically acclaimed show: Act 1 will be available to stream on November 9, followed by Act 2 on November 16. A third and final Act will close out the show with a proper ending on November 23.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/streaming/netflix-teases-the-next-seasons-of-avatar-squid-game-and-arcane-at-geeked-week-035246559.html?src=rss

The EU gives Apple six months to make cross-device interoperability easier

Posted on by

The European Commission is done waiting for Apple to comply with the rules of the Digital Markets Act (DMA). It has started proceedings designed to ensure that the company complies with its interoperability obligations as one of DMA's designated gatekeepers, which are made up of the industry's largest and most important players. The commission explained that under the DMA, it has the right to "adopt a decision specifying the measures a gatekeeper has to implement to ensure effective compliance," and it's giving Apple six months to comply with the measures it comes up with if it doesn't want to face huge fines. 

One of the areas the commission will focus on is iOS connectivity for connected devices, such as smartwatches, headphones and virtual reality headsets. The manufacturers of these products "depend on effective interoperability with smartphones and their operating systems," the commission said. It plans to specify how Apple should provide effective interoperability that would allow non-Apple devices to easily pair and connect with iPhones, as well as to get notifications. The commission will also look at the process Apple set up to address developers' requests for third party interoperability with iOS and iPadOS. 

"Today is the first time we use specification proceedings under the DMA to guide Apple towards effective compliance with its interoperability obligations through constructive dialogue," EU competition chief Margrethe Vestager said in a statement. "We are focused on ensuring fair and open digital markets. Effective interoperability, for example with smartphones and their operating systems, plays an important role in this. This process will provide clarity for developers, third parties and Apple. We will continue our dialogue with Apple and consult third parties to ensure that the proposed measures work in practice and meet the needs of businesses."

Back in June, the commission issued its preliminary findings for an investigation it opened on Apple. It found that Apple breached DMA rules because it wouldn't allow App Store developers to freely tell users about alternate payment options outside of its ecosystem. The company told Engadget that time that it "has made a number of changes to comply with the DMA in response to feedback from developers and the European Commission" over the preceding months. 

Apple has made several changes to its system to avoid getting fined in the EU, including opening up iOS and iPadOS to third-party app stores and allowing developers access to its NFC technology. It has also withheld new features from European users due to DMA rules, however, including Apple Intelligence, iPhone Mirroring on the Mac and SharePlay Screen Sharing. 

The company told Bloomberg that it has conjured ways that would allow developers to request additional iOS and iPadOS interoperability while protecting its users' security. It added that undermining its systems' protections would put its European users at risk. As the news organization notes, the commission could launch an investigation into Apple if the company doesn't comply with the measures it comes up with over the next six months. If found guilty, the company could face a fine worth 10 percent of its global annual revenue. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/the-eu-gives-apple-six-months-to-make-cross-device-interoperability-easier-140030456.html?src=rss

Iranian hackers tried to send Trump leaks to Biden campaign

Posted on by

In late June and early July, Iranian hackers sent unsolicited emails to people associated with President Biden's camp. Those emails contained excerpts from materials not available to the public that had been stolen from former President Trump's campaign, according to a joint statement issued by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, the FBI and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency. The feds clarified that there's no evidence that those recipients replied to the sender. In addition, the bad actors sent stolen materials to news publications, including The Washington Post and Politico. 

The Post reported in August that the FBI was investigating Iranian hackers' attempt to infiltrate both Trump's and Biden's (now Kamala Harris') campaigns using spear-phishing techniques. Feds didn't find any evidence that anybody from the Democratic Party fell for their scheme. But the bad actors were reportedly able to take control of an email account owned by Roger Stone, a long-time Trump adviser, which they then used to send more emails with spear-phishing links to his contact list. 

"As the lead for threat response, the FBI has been tracking this activity, has been in contact with the victims, and will continue to investigate and gather information in order to pursue and disrupt the threat actors responsible," the authorities said in their announcement. 

The stolen materials were sent from an AOL account through emails signed with the name "Robert," according to The Post. When asked by the publication, they denied that they were connected to Iranian cyber attackers. While the feds didn't say what materials were sent out, The Post says they include the Trump campaign's research on Republican vice-presidential nominee JD Vance, as well as internal poll results. 

Trump's camp is now calling for the Harris camp to disclose what materials it received, while asking news publications not to publish the stolen information. Harris spokesperson Morgan Finkelstein said the Democratic campaign is cooperating with authorities, since some of their people were also targeted on their personal emails, but they're "not aware of any material being sent" to them directly.

Microsoft previously found evidence that a group linked to the Iranian government created a website that throws attacks and insults at former President Trump. But Iran isn't the only country that's attempting to interfere with this year's presidential election in the US. Microsoft recently reported that Kremlin-affiliated Russian troll farms are running disinformation campaigns focused on discrediting Harris and her running mate Tim Walz. These Russian troll farms have been releasing inauthentic videos showing the Democratic nominees in a bad light, including one that used a fake actor to accuse Harris of being involved in a 2011 hit-and-run incident that paralyzed a 13-year-old girl. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/general/iranian-hackers-tried-to-send-trump-leaks-to-biden-campaign-120017606.html?src=rss

Nintendo and The Pokémon Company are suing Palworld creator Pocketpair

Posted on by

Nintendo and The Pokémon Company have filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Pocketpair in Tokyo. Pocketpair is the Japanese video game developer behind Palworld, a game people have been describing as a Pokémon parody, featuring cute gun-toting monsters. The game, released in Early Access form on January 18, was an instant hit, selling 15 million copies on Steam and crossing 25 million players within just a month. 

The Pokémon Company said a few days after Palworld came out that it was going to investigate a game "released in January 2024" and will "take appropriate measures to address any acts that infringe on intellectual property rights related to Pokémon." Looks like the investigation is over, and it has decided to take legal action. 

"This lawsuit seeks an injunction against infringement and compensation for damages on the grounds that Palworld, a game developed and released by the Defendant, infringes multiple patent rights," Nintendo said in its announcement of the lawsuit. 

Pocketpair previously said that its game is more like Ark Survival Evolved and Valheim than Pokémon. Company CEO Takuro Mizobe claimed that Palworld "cleared legal reviews" and that no lawsuits were filed against Pocketpair regarding its development. While Palworld's monsters would look familiar to Pokémon fans, it takes on a darker tone. You can choose to play as a friend to the monsters known as "Pals" and fight off the poachers trying to kill them. But you can also kill and eat Pals, make them fight to the death and even sell them into slavery.

Shortly after Nintendo announced its lawsuit, Pocketpair responded. "At this moment, we are unaware of the specific patents we are accused of infringing upon, and we have not been notified of such details," the company wrote. "It is truly unfortunate that we will be forced to allocate significant time to matters unrelated to game development due to this lawsuit. However, we will do our utmost for our fans, and to ensure that indie game developers are not hindered or discouraged from pursuing their creative ideas."

Update, September 19 2024, 9:40AM ET: This story has been updated with Pocketpair's response to Nintendo's lawsuit.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/nintendo/nintendo-and-the-pokemon-company-are-suing-palworld-creator-pocketpair-031320550.html?src=rss

Google wins appeal against $1.7 billion EU fine for ‘abusive’ advertising practices

Posted on by

The amount of fines Google has to pay in Europe may have become just a bit smaller. It has successfully convinced the European Union's General Court to annul the €1.5 billion ($1.7 billion) penalty levied against it back in 2019 for what the European Commission described as "abusive practices in online advertising." According to the Financial Times, the General Court agreed with the commission's assessment that Google did block rival advertisers from its platform. However, it argued that the commission failed to take into account "all the relevant circumstances" when it assessed how long the company had implemented anti-competitive practices. 

The commission, under competition chief Margrethe Vestager, found back in 2019 that Google had prohibited publishers from placing search adverts from competitors on its search results pages from 2006 until 2009. It changed its rules slightly in 2009, but it wasn't until 2016 that it removed the clause pertaining to the restriction in its contracts. The fine for this particular case was larger than expected, because the commission said it took into account "the duration and gravity of the infringement."

"This case is about a very narrow subset of text-only search ads placed on a limited number of publishers' websites," Google said in a statement to the Financial Times. "We made changes to our contracts in 2016 to remove the relevant provisions, even before the commission’s decision. We are pleased that the court has recognized errors in the original decision and annulled the fine. We will review the full decision closely." Meanwhile, the commission told the publication that it "will carefully study the judgment and reflect on possible next steps." It could still appeal the court's decision.

This is just one of the multiple antitrust fines the European Commission has slapped against Google over the past years. Earlier this month, EU's highest court upheld a different $2.7 billion penalty against the company. The commission imposed that fine on Google back in 2017, because it found that the company, as Vestager explained, "abused its market dominance as a search engine by promoting its own comparison shopping service in its search results, and demoting those of competitors." 

Vestager is stepping down from her role as the European Union's commissioner for competition within the next few weeks. She has been tough on big tech companies throughout her run, and the market abuse cases she has filed over the years led to the creation of the Digital Markets Act (DMA), a regulation meant to prevent the largest players in the industry from abusing their market power.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/google-wins-appeal-against-17-billion-eu-fine-for-abusive-advertising-practices-123006698.html?src=rss

Microsoft says Russian troll farms are targeting the Harris-Walz campaign

Posted on by

Kremlin-affiliated Russian troll farms are running disinformation campaigns that aim to interfere with this year's US presidential elections, and according to Microsoft, they're focusing their efforts on discrediting Kamala Harris and Tim Walz. The company has published a new report detailing the movements of two troll farms being monitored by the Microsoft Threat Analysis Center. 

These Kremlin-backed actors apparently struggled to find the right approach shortly after President Biden stepped down as a candidate, but in late August and early September, one of them started circulating inauthentic videos that managed to generate millions of views. One video depicted a supposed attack by Harris supporters on Trump rally attendees. Another video used an actor to accuse Harris of being involved in a 2011 hit-and-run incident that paralyzed a 13-year-old girl. The second video, which went viral, was released by a days-old website pretending to be a San Francisco based media outlet. 

Meanwhile, the second troll farm stopped producing content about the 2024 Paris Olympics games and started creating videos showing Harris in a bad light. One fake video showed a New York City billboard claiming that Harris wants to change children's gender. It was initially published on Telegram, before being shared on X and getting more than 100,000 views within just a few hours.

Microsoft warned that people should expect more Russian-made disinformation materials, including more staged and AI-edited videos, to circulate online as we get closer to the election. Earlier this month, the US government indicted two employees of Russian state media outlet RT, accusing them of planning to pay a Tennessee company $10 million to spread 2,000 propaganda videos on social media. The Treasury Department also sanctioned ANO Dialog, a Russian nonprofit that was allegedly involved with a campaign known as "Doppelganger," to create fake websites that would appear to American readers as legitimate major news sites. Microsoft said in its new report that it suspended more than 20 accounts connected to ANO Dialog. 

Meta also recently banned RT and other Russian state media outlets "for foreign interference activity." According to its notes, which the company shared with Engadget, it had seen Russian state-controlled media try to interfere with foreign governments and to evade detection in the past. It said that it expects them to keep trying to "engage in deceptive influence attempts across the internet."

It's not just Russia that's trying to influence the outcome of this year's US presidential elections, though. Microsoft, Google and even the feds published reports back in August that Iranian hackers had been trying to spear-phish several advisers of the Biden-Harris and Trump campaigns. Microsoft also found campaigns made to sway votes in the US by groups connected with the Iranian government. One such group created a website that attacks and insults former President Donald Trump.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/general/microsoft-says-russian-troll-farms-are-targeting-the-harris-walz-campaign-031321352.html?src=rss

Nintendo will sell cheaper Switch Mario Kart bundles in October

Posted on by

Nintendo has announced a couple of new Switch bundles in time for this year's upcoming holiday shopping season. Starting in October, it will sell Switch consoles bundled with a download code for the digital version of Mario Kart 8 Deluxe and a 12-month Switch Online Individual membership, which will give you access to classic NES, Super NES and Game Boy titles. The basic Switch system bundle with red and blue Joy-Cons will set you back $300. Nintendo already has an existing Switch-Mario Kart 8 Deluxe Bundle, but it's selling for $360 and only comes with three months of Switch Online subscription instead of 12. 

The company will also sell an OLED model bundle with the same inclusions as the basic one for $350, $10 less than what the current package with the non-OLED system costs. Nintendo's OLED model has a bigger screen than the standard model with better battery life. There's no time limit to get the bundles, but both options will only be available from the My Nintendo Store and in select retail stores until supplies last.

Nintendo could announce the next-gen Switch as soon as later this month. Based on previous reports, the new Switch will likely be fully backwards compatible for both digital and physical games. It is, of course, expected to have a more powerful processor than the first Switch, which was released way back in 2017, and could have 8GB of RAM and 64GB of internal storage. The console is also expected to support NVIDIA's DLSS upscaling technology that would give the console the power to render games internally at a low resolution while producing a high-resolution output. It could either have an 8-inch display LCD display or a 7-inch display with a 120Hz refresh rate, as well. The next-gen Switch will most likely be released sometime in 2025, though, and will not be available to purchase as a gift for others or yourself these holidays. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/nintendo/nintendo-will-sell-cheaper-switch-mario-kart-bundles-in-october-123024329.html?src=rss

Intel is separating its ailing foundry business from the main company

Posted on by

Intel is turning its foundry business, which manufactures chips for other companies, into an independent subsidiary. The company has revealed its plan in a note to employees from its CEO Pat Gelsinger, published over a month after Intel disclosed that it's cutting 15 percent of its workforce. Intel is laying off more than 15,000 people as part of its $10 billion cost-reduction plan to regain financial stability following a second-quarter net loss of $1.6 billion. Gelsinger explained in his new memo that turning the foundry into a subsidiary "will unlock important benefits," particularly the ability to evaluate and take external funding directly. 

Gelsinger said that there will be no changes to the foundry's leadership, but the subsidiary will establish its own operating board with independent directors to govern it. According to CNBC, Intel is even considering making the foundry a separate publicly traded company. Intel is in the midst of modernizing its existing fabs and building new ones for its foundry business, which is costing the company billions of dollars, in an effort to catch up to its chipmaking rivals like TSMC and Samsung. The company has reportedly spent around $25 billion a year on its foundry business over the past two years, but that has yet to translate into profit. 

In April, the company revealed in a presentation to investors that the business posted $7 billion in operating losses for 2023, even larger than the $5.2 billion in losses that it incurred the previous year. It had a revenue of $18.9 billion, down 31 percent from its 2022 revenue of $27.49 billion. Gelsinger warned investors at the time that Intel expects its foundry business' operating loss for 2024 to be even bigger and that it doesn't expect to break even until 2027. The foundry's finances aren't the division's only problem: Its next-gen manufacturing process referred to as "18A" reportedly failed crucial tests to prove that it's ready to be used for mass production. 

In addition to announcing that the foundry business will become a subsidiary, Gelsinger also disclosed in the memo that Intel will be selling part of its stake in Altera, another chipmaker that it purchased for $16.7 billion in 2015. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/general/intel-is-separating-its-ailing-foundry-business-from-the-main-company-110043046.html?src=rss

Meta bans Russian state media outlets on Facebook and Instagram

Posted on by

Meta has banned RT and other Russian state media outlets on its platforms, which include Facebook and Instagram. "After careful consideration, we expanded our ongoing enforcement against Russian state media outlets," the company told Engadget in a statement. "Rossiya Segodnya, RT and other related entities are now banned from our apps globally for foreign interference activity." Meta shared briefing materials with Reuters, in which the company said it found evidence in the past that Russian outlets took steps to prevent their foreign interference activities online from being detected. It said it expects the outlets to continue with their deceptive practices. The ban will be enforced over the coming days. 

The company's announcement comes days after the Biden administration publicly accused RT of spreading propaganda and disinformation online. Authorities said that RT is spreading propaganda and information to justify and back its invasion of Ukraine using media outlets catering to locals, such as ones targeting Africa and France. 

Meta restricted Russian state media's access to Facebook in Ukraine back in 2022 at the request of its government, in order to limit the spread of those outlets' content. In response, Russia blocked Facebook in the country a few days later and opening a criminal case against the company. A judge later found Facebook and Instagram guilty of "extremist" activity, effectively banning Meta from opening offices and doing business in Russia. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/social-media/meta-bans-russian-state-media-outlets-on-facebook-and-instagram-012424410.html?src=rss

23andMe will pay $30 million to settle 2023 data breach lawsuit

Posted on by

23andMe is close to settling a proposed class action lawsuit filed against the company over a data breach that compromised 6.9 million users' information. According to the preliminary settlement filing, the DNA testing company has agreed to pay $30 million to affected customers, as well as to conduct annual computer scans and cybersecurity audits for three years. A website will be built to notify people eligible to a portion of the settlement fund and to facilitate payments. Affected users will also be sent a link where they can delete all their information from the service, and they'll be able to enroll to a three-year Privacy & Medical Shield + Genetic Monitoring program for free. A judge still has to approve those terms. 

In October 2023, the company admitted that the DNA Relatives profile information of roughly 5.5 million customers and the Family Tree profile information of 1.4 million DNA Relative participants had been leaked. It later revealed in a legal filing that the bad actors started breaking into customer accounts in late April 2023 and that they had access to its systems until September that year. It said that the hackers used a technique called credential stuffing, which uses previously compromised login credentials to access customer accounts. 

The breach led to several class action lawsuits filed against the company, including one that accused 23andMe of failing to notify the plaintiffs that they were specifically targeted for having Chinese and Ashkenazi Jewish heritage. In the settlement agreement [PDF] for the consolidated lawsuit, 23andMe noted that it "denies the claims and allegations set forth in the Complaint" and that it "denies that it failed to properly protect the Personal Information of its consumers and users." 

According to Reuters, 23andMe describes its financial condition as "extremely uncertain." In its financial report for the 2024 fiscal year, it revealed that it earned a total revenue of $220 million, down 27 percent from a $299 million revenue the year before. A huge chunk of the settlement money will come from cyber insurance, though, which the company expects to cover $25 million out of the $30 million total. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/cybersecurity/23andme-will-pay-30-million-to-settle-2023-data-breach-lawsuit-150058702.html?src=rss