Tag Archives: author_name|Peter Cao

Twitter’s rebrand to X is causing scam alerts on Microsoft Edge

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'Twitters swift rebrand to X is generating yet another issue. As reported by Bleeping Computer, the social media platform is causing Microsoft's Edge browser to throw up a warning, indicating some sort of security problem.

It seems to be related to how Edge and other Chromium-based web browsers deal with favicons (or 'Progressive Web App Icon Change', if you want to get super technical about it). With the Twitter rebrand being so sudden, Edge likely thinks X is a scam. The security alert prompts users to review the icon update and reads, "If this web app is trying to trick you into thinking it's a different app, uninstall it."

But as Bleeping Computer points out, PWA is working as intended. It is supposed to alert you when a website suddenly changes its favicon as that could indicate a potential redirect to a scam website. Presumably, this is temporary and will be fixed quickly. We've reached out to Microsoft for comment and will update this story once we've heard back. 

An alert from Microsoft Edge suggesting that the Twitter rebrand to X may be a scam.
Florian / X

This is similar to an incident earlier this week, where X was blocked in Indonesia as it has laws forbidding gambling or porn. The X.com domain's previous owners broke the country's content laws.

Still, this is yet another indicator of how sudden the Twitter-to-X transition was. Other companies such as Meta and Microsoft already own trademarks on variations of X, which could land Musk's company some lawsuits. X even ran into trouble when attempting to change its signage at its San Francisco headquarters, as it didn't have the required permits. The company had to abandon its would-be facelift and leave the old bird logo and the letters "er" intact for a day or so.

The sudden name change is part of a larger plan to turn Twitter into a "super app" that's similar to China's popular WeChat. The platform could theoretically be used for payments, messaging and calls in the future.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/twitters-rebrand-to-x-is-causing-scam-alerts-on-microsoft-edge-203531493.html?src=rss

X placed ads from Discovery, Showtime and USA Today on a neo-Nazi account

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X (formerly Twitter) continues to struggle to keep advertisers on board, and the brands that have stuck around are seeing ads show up in unexpected places. As reported by Media Matters, brands such as Honeywell, Discovery, Showtime and USA Today are having their ads placed alongside tweets from The National Socialist Network account, a neo-Nazi group that actively advocates for violence and terrorism. A job recruitment ad for the U.S. Border Patrol also appeared on the page.

It’s clear that not only is X still allowing hate groups to exist on the platform, it's allowing them to monetize their tweets. The National Socialist Group’s leader Thomas Sewell was found guilty of "recklessly causing injury and array" following a 2021 attack. Other members of the group have pleaded guilty to "possessing documents and records of information for terrorist acts." Yet, the group’s Twitter account is still active.

Media Matters also reports that the account joined shortly after owner Elon Musk purchased Twitter. It has been "verified since July 2023," and according to Musk, all verified accounts are eligible to receive a share of ad revenue on the platform.

Earlier this week, Twitter started slashing new ad booking prices by 50 percent through the end of the month. The company says that the discount is necessary to allow advertisers to "gain reach during crucial moments" such as sporting events. Twitter was also asking brands to spend at least $1,000 per month on ads or verification in order to retain their verified badge on the platform.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/x-placed-ads-from-discovery-showtime-and-usa-today-on-a-neo-nazi-account-202133800.html?src=rss

Reddit is testing verification labels for brands

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Reddit has started testing its version of verification badges on its platform with a new "Official" label. According to a post by a Reddit admin, the new label is in early testing and is only available to a small group of organizations ("in the double digits") that already have existing relationships with Reddit. The company says that the label will appear next to their usernames, similar to how flairs are currently implemented.

Reddit clarifies that this should not be taken as an endorsement or promotion on its part and that it’s simply there to identify authentic brand accounts. "The label is a visual indicator of an authenticated profile, and it does not unlock any special privileges or protections. This new 'Official' label should not be mistaken for our existing 'Promoted' label, which continues to be our (only) indicator of a paid ad," Reddit says.

It's worth noting that this is a test on Reddit’s part and it's unclear if or when the company plans on expanding the program to cover more than just businesses. Reddit seems to be taking the classic Twitter approach, manually verifying brands at this time. This is in contrast to other platforms such as Instagram, which allow users to pay for their respective verification badges. Though, it's possible that Reddit shifts to the latter method down the line when it needs to start verifying both users and brands.

Reddit has had a rough last several months as the company has changed its API rules. Third-party developers used Reddit's APIs to build thousands of apps that hook into the social media platform. With the shutdown, many subreddits closed or restricted access in order to protest the change. And of the subreddits that were forced to open back up, some started marking all new posts as NSFW, which prevented Reddit from monetizing them.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/reddit-is-testing-verification-labels-for-brands-174640320.html?src=rss

The $10,495 Fuell Fllow electric motorcycle is available for pre-order today

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Erik Buell, best known for founding Buell Motorcycles, announced Fuell, his new electric motorcycle venture, back in 2019. In that same announcement, he said that Fuell would begin work on its first electric motorcycle: the Fuell Fllow. Following though a few years later, Fuell is giving us more details on the Fllow and opening pre-orders today.

The Fllow is a mid-sized motorcycle that claims to have the capacity of a larger bike, with 10 gallons of total storage in addition to space for a passenger. It features 150 miles of city range on a full charge and uses the CCS connector for charging. You can expect to fully charge in about 30 minutes with a Level 2 charger and between one and a half to two and a half hours for a standard home charger. In a pinch, you’re looking at around eight hours when plugged into a standard 110/220V home outlet. While the bike’s standard CCS connector is widely available in North America, we’ve seen a recent uptick in major car brands adopting Tesla’s NACS connector – fortunately, adapters are common. The bike has a top speed of 85 miles per hour with a speedy 0-60MPH time of 3.5 seconds.

Buell says that one of the main focuses with the Fuell brand is integrated and interchangeable battery packs. This technology would enable the ability to swap some components as the technology improves in the future. The company calls it the “battery pack module” and enables components such as the charger, rear wheel motor and fast charging socket to be swapped out and upgraded over time.

While Buell has a history with Harley-Davidson, Fuell is its own independent company, separate from the Buell Motorcycles brand. Founded in 1983, the brand ran for a decade before Harley-Davidson acquired 49 percent of the company in 1993, followed by full ownership in 2003. In 2009, Harley-Davidson announced the discontinuation of the Buell product line. While the brand has been resurrected since then Buell himself is solely focused on Fuell going forward.

Harley-Davidson hasn’t been sitting quietly on the sidelines, either. The company’s LiveWire division announced its S2 Del Mar electric bike in early 2023. The bike features a 110 mile range and a 0-60MPH time of 3.1 seconds. While the S2 Del Mar has a faster 0-60 time, the Fuell has longer range and faster charging. The Fllow is also prioritizing cargo capacity and modularity in its design.

The Fuell Fllow is available now for order at $10,495, with an MSRP of $12,995.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-9995-fuell-fllow-electric-motorcycle-is-available-for-pre-order-today-220016821.html?src=rss

X tells advertisers to spend $1,000 per month or risk losing verification status

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Amid its rebranding to X, Twitter is reportedly hardballing advertisers in an effort to increase its bottom line. Reports earlier this month suggested that Twitter’s revenue had dropped by a staggering 50 percent. The company's latest strategy to increase revenue, according to The Wall Street Journal, is asking brands to spend at least $1,000 per month on ads in order to maintain their verified status on the platform.

Responding to a tweet about The Wall Street Journal’s report, Musk says that the "moderately high" cost is a preventative measure to help reduce the number of scammers creating "millions of accounts" on the platform. Musk added that brands could instead choose to pay $1,000 per month for the company’s verified organization badge.

It’s clear that Twitter is looking for ways to reduce its losses, and the company’s main source of revenue is advertising. The Wall Street Journal also reports that Twitter is slashing prices on some of its advertising slots. For example, Twitter is giving all new bookings a 50 percent discount through July 31st. The company claims that the point of these discounts is to allow advertisers to "gain reach during crucial moments" such as sporting events.

While the $1,000 monthly rate is unlikely to be an issue for larger brands, the new change could hurt smaller businesses that don’t want to or don’t have the extra budget to commit. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/x-tells-advertisers-to-spend-1000-per-month-or-risk-losing-verification-status-201528621.html?src=rss

Mastodon’s decentralized social network has a major CSAM problem

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Mastodon has gained popularity over the past year as Twitter users looked for alternatives following Elon Musk’s takeover. Part of its appeal is its decentralized nature that insulates it against the whims of billionaires who speak before they think. Unsurprisingly, though, what makes it so appealing has also proven to be a headache, making content moderation all but impossible.

A study from Stanford found 112 matches of known child sexual abuse material (CSAM) over a two-day period, with almost 2,000 posts using common hashtags related to abusive material. Researcher David Thiel says, “We got more photoDNA hits in a two-day period than we’ve probably had in the entire history of our organization of doing any kind of social media analysis, and it’s not even close.” We’ve reached out to Mastodon for comment and will update this story once we’ve heard back.

Of course, the big problem with unfederated social media platforms such as Mastodon is that no one company or entity controls everything on the platform. Every instance has its own administrators, and they are the ones who are ultimately responsible. However, those admins cannot control and moderate what goes on in other instances or servers.

This isn’t uniquely a Mastodon problem, either. Meta’s popular Threads is also built around the decentralized model. While it’s not supported just yet, Threads plans on being interoperable with ActivityPub. This means Threads users will be able to follow, reply and repost content from Mastodon, and vice versa.

This creates a unique problem for Meta, which can’t control the entire moderation flow like it could with Facebook or Instagram. Even then, the company struggles to keep up with moderation. Presumably, larger instances on Mastodon and other platforms such as Threads could outright block access to problematic instances. Of course, that wouldn’t “solve” the problem. The content would still exist. It would just be siloed and left to the moderators of that specific instance to remove it.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mastodons-decentralized-social-network-has-a-major-csam-problem-202519000.html?src=rss

‘Borderlands’ movie is set to be released next August

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The Borderlands movie is finally getting a release date. According to a tweet from the game’s official Twitter account it will premiere in theaters on August 9th, 2024.

The film, directed by Eli Roth (best known for Hostel) is based on the popular video game of the same name. Borderlands follows Lilith (Cate Blanchett), a treasure hunter who returns to her home planet of Pandora (unrelated to the Avatar movie). She teams up with Roland (Kevin Hart), Tiny Tina (Arian Greenblatt), Krieg (Florian Munteanu), Tannis (Jamie Lee Curtis) and Claptrap (Jack Black) to find the missing daughter of Atlas.

A first look was released last year, though there’s no official trailer yet. It’s peculiar that they’ve decided to announce the release date for the movie more than a year out. What makes it even more odd is that the movie had reportedly wrapped up filming over two years ago in June 2021.

Delays for video game-based movies seem to be increasingly common. The Uncharted movie was delayed several months from its original release date. And when it did release, the film saw mixed reviews, including from Engadget's Devindra Hardawar, who said the Uncharted movie "boldly goes nowhere."The Super Mario Bros. Movie also saw delays in the film’s release. However, that movie set box office records for a video game movie. Barring any further delays, fans should expect to see Borderlands in theaters next year.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/borderlands-movie-is-set-to-be-released-next-august-210515223.html?src=rss

Blizzard is bringing ‘Overwatch 2’ to Steam on August 10th

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Blizzard is bringing some of its PC games to Steam for the first time. The company announced today that the transition will start with Overwatch 2 on August 10th, but did not go into detail as to what other titles may be coming to the platform.

President of Blizzard Mike Ybarra said in a press release that Battle.net will remain a priority for them but that “we’ve heard players want the choice of Steam for a selection of our games.” The company wants to remind users that while Overwatch 2 will be available on Steam, it still requires that you have a Battle.net account in order to play the game and access features such as cross-platform play. Players will also have access to their Steam friends list and will be able to invite friends on Steam. Blizzard did not announce Steam Deck support, though that won’t stop players from trying to get the game running on it.

Along with Steam support, Overwatch 2 is getting a big update on the same day. Players can expect PvE missions, a new PvP mode and a new hero. Blizzard calls it Overwatch 2: Invasion and says that it will be “a great opportunity for new players.”

Blizzard hasn’t announced what or when other titles will be coming to Steam, noting that it will be sharing that information “when the time is right.” Those eager to download the game on Steam can add it to their wishlist now and you’ll be notified when the game comes out on August 10th.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/blizzard-is-bringing-overwatch-2-to-steam-on-august-10th-192520735.html?src=rss

Twitter is working on new publishing tools for long-form articles

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Remember Twitter Notes? It was supposed to be the feature that let Twitter users write whatever they want, blowing past the typical Twitter character limit. At the time, that limit was only 280 characters. After several updates this year, Twitter Blue subscribers can tweet up to 25,000 characters. Now, CEO Elon Musk has seemingly confirmed that the company is still working on the Notes feature, but is rebranding it to Twitter Articles.

In a reply to a tweet noting the name change, Musk confirms that Articles will be the place to post “long, complex articles with mixed media.” He goes on to say that “You could publish a book if you want.”

Officially announced last year, Notes was pitched as “a way to write longer on Twitter,” and was initially limited to select users in Canada, Ghana, the United Kingdom and the United States. Notably, this was announced before the Elon Musk takeover later that year, but after he announced his intention to buy the company. This is the first time Twitter has acknowledged the feature since then.

As for what this feature will look like, think blog posts but on Twitter. Articles, which will be separate from the main timeline, is an area where users can post long-form content without the typical limitations of a tweet. That means you’ll be able to embed photos, videos and other tweets within an Article. Users can share Articles in tweets, and published Articles will show up in your Twitter profile.

It’s unclear at this time when or if Articles will be available to the public. The feature is still in the experimental stage it has been in since last year, and is only available to a select number of users.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/twitter-is-working-on-new-publishing-tools-for-long-form-articles-185302573.html?src=rss

Cloud gaming platform Antstream Arcade brings over 1,000 retro games to Xbox

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Antstream Arcade is offering over 1,300 retro game titles on Xbox One and Series X/S, with notable titles such as Space Invaders, Metal Slug and Bubble Bobble. The company says these titles will be playable instantly without additional downloads or installation via its cloud gaming platform, with more titles being added every week. This is notable as Antstream will be the first third-party game streaming service on Xbox.

The service will support cloud-based game saves, an online scoreboard and the ability to pick up your game from multiple devices. Antstream Arcade is already available on Mac, PC, Linux, Android TV, Firestick and Samsung TVs, but this marks the first time it is coming to a game console.

Antstream says that it is using its “unique technology” to mod original games, allowing the company to create new mini-game challenges for both new and returning players. For example, you could play a modified Pac-Man map where the main objective is to avoid collecting the dots. Players will be able to enter tournaments, challenge other players to duels or compete for the highest score.

Antstream Arcade daily challenge board.
Antstream

Microsoft already has its own Xbox Cloud Gaming streaming service, and that’s available as a native app on Android, Windows, Samsung smart TVs and select VR headsets. It’s also available on iOS and Mac but you’ll need to use a web browser to access it. Though, Xbox Cloud Gaming is more focused on playing modern titles away from your console, while Antstream Arcade is solely focused on tugging those nostalgic heart strings.

Antstream Arcade on Xbox will be available for pre-order starting today on the Xbox store. Pricing will start at $29.99 annually with a one-time lifetime purchase option for $79.99. The company says all future games and new features will be included, regardless of which purchase option you decide to go with.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/cloud-gaming-platform-antstream-arcade-brings-over-1000-retro-games-to-xbox-070057648.html?src=rss