Flush door handles have been quite the automotive design trend of late. Stylists like them because they don’t add visual noise to the side of a car. And aerodynamicists like them because they make a vehicle more slippery through the air. When Tesla designed its Model S, it needed a car that was both desirable and as efficient as possible, so flush door handles were a no-brainer. Since then, as electric vehicles have proliferated, so too have flush door handles. But as of next year, China says no.

Just like pop-up headlights, despite the aesthetic and aerodynamic advantages, there are safety downsides. Tesla’s handles are an extreme example: In the event of a crash and a loss of 12 V power, there is no way for first responders to open the door from the outside, which has resulted in at least 15 deaths.

Those deaths prompted the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to open an investigation last year, but China is being a little more proactive. It has been looking at whether retractable car door handles are safe since mid-2024, according to Bloomberg, and has concluded that no, they are not.

Read full article

Comments

Last year, the creator of Notepad++ rolled out an update for the text and source code editor after security experts reported that bad actors were hijacking its update mechanism to redirect traffic to malicious servers. It led to users downloading compromised executables that could infect their devices. Now, Don Ho has revealed that multiple security experts investigated the breach and determined that the threat actor “is likely a Chinese state-sponsored group.” He said it explained why experts observed highly selective targeting during the campaign and why only traffic from certain users were redirected so that they would download malicious files. It’s not clear what kind of users were specifically targeted and what the files did to their devices.

The attackers started redirecting traffic from Notepad++ to their servers sometime in June 2025, and that went on until December 2. Their method involved compromising the system at the hosting provider level, though the exact technical mechanism that allowed them to intercept traffic remains under investigation. In addition to releasing a security patch, Notepad++ also migrated to a new hosting provider with much stronger security practices. Ho now encourages anyone who wants to install the app to download version 8.9.1, which comes with the security update, and running the installer manually.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/apps/notepad-says-it-was-hijacked-by-chinese-state-sponsored-hackers-153000268.html?src=rss

Another Google tool is biting the dust: The company’s dark web monitoring tool, launched in March 2023, will be shut down on Feb. 16. According to Google, feedback on the feature suggested it “didn’t provide helpful next steps”—so while it alerted users when their data was out in the wild, it wasn’t clear what to do about it. Now, Google is shifting its focus from the dark web monitoring tool to features like its online Security Check-Up and passkey protection. In other words, instead of flagging when your account credentials appear in a data breach, Google wants to make sure that your accounts stay safe even if a breach has occurred.

There are reasons why you should be keeping an eye on dark web chatter, however—and there are tools to take over the monitoring job now Google has backed out.

What is the dark web—and why do I need to monitor it?

Keeper provides a free dark web scan.
Credit: Lifehacker

Essentially, the dark web is made up of online spaces that you can’t get to just by pointing your browser at a web address. You need specialist software and a little bit of technical know-how to find your way into the dark web and to navigate around it. It’s largely hidden from the world at large via encryption and rerouting. Why all the secrecy? The dark web is used to evade both law enforcement and ruling powers, so it’s the perfect place to carry out somewhat illicit activities as well as get around the machinations of oppressive surveillance states. It’s a place where hackers and whistleblowers alike can gather.

Speaking of hackers, dumps of information from data breaches will often find their way on to the dark web, to be traded or given away for free. Whether it’s your email address, phone number, social security number, or passwords, if this data has been exposed by a hack, you’re much more likely to find it on the dark web than on Reddit.

Dark web monitoring tools, like the one Google just shut down, are intended to give you a heads up if your details have appeared in a data dump. You can then do something about it, whether it’s getting in touch with your bank to check for any signs of identity theft, or changing the password for your email service.

Having a dedicated tool for the task saves you from having to trawl the dark web yourself—which isn’t particularly easy or pleasant—and while Google might be closing down its monitoring service, you’ve got several alternatives you can turn to instead.

The best dark web monitoring tools you can try

Proton’s dark web scanner is part of the Proton Unlimited subscription.
Credit: Lifehacker

Proton is a favorite among privacy enthusiasts, and the privacy-focused company also has a Dark Web Monitoring tool of its own. You do need a paid plan to access it though, from $12.99 a month or $119.88 a year, which includes multiple perks across all Proton’s products. You can find it from the Security and privacy side panel in the Proton Mail app.

Proton uses a variety of intelligence datasets in its dark web sweep, and looks out for details including email addresses, usernames, dates of birth, physical addresses, and government IDs. The leaks will be categorized in terms of how urgently action needs to be taken, and Proton doesn’t give your data to third parties.

Trend Micro has a Data Leak Checker that covers the dark web, which you can use without paying anything or even signing up for an account—though you can only check for mentions of your email address or phone number in leaks. For more comprehensive scans and alerts, you can sign up for a premium account, from $9.99 a month or $49.99 a year—and there’s lots more included besides dark web monitoring.

Keeper Security takes the same approach with BreachWatch: You can run a quick scan for breaches including your email address without paying or signing up, but if you want anything more advanced (including proactive notifications) then you need to sign up for $24.99 a year. The feature can be added to any of Keeper’s other paid-for plans too.

If you currently pay for a security product, such as a password manager or a VPN, you may well find that dark web monitoring is included—so check through your existing subscriptions. For example, the Surfshark Alert dark web monitoring tool comes as part of the Surfshark One VPN bundle, with pricing from $17.95 a month or $40.68 a year.

Spain will join the growing list of countries banning access to social media for children, Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez announced Tuesday. The law will apply to users under 16 years of age amidst a broader push to hold social media companies accountable for hate speech, social division and illegal content.

Speaking at the World Governments Summit in Dubai, Prime Minister Sanchez excoriated social media, calling it a “failed state” where “laws are ignored and crime is endured.” He spoke to the importance of digital governance for these platforms, highlighting recent incidents like X’s AI chatbot Grok generating sexualized images of children, Meta “spying” on Android users and the myriad election interference campaigns that have taken place on Facebook.

In light of what Sanchez called the “integral” role social media plays in the lives of young users, he said the best way to help them is to “take back control.” Next week, his government will enact a slew of new regulations, with a ban on users under 16 years of age among them. Social media companies will be required to implement what he calls “effective age verification systems” and “not just checkboxes.” A specific timeline on enforcement of the coming ban has not been announced.

Spain will also make “algorithmic manipulation and amplification of illegal content” into a new criminal offense and Sanchez says tech CEOs will face criminal liability for hateful or illegal content on their platforms. The Prime Minister further announced that Spain has formed a coalition with five other unnamed European nations to enact stricter governance over social media platforms.

Sanchez said children have been “exposed to a space they were never meant to navigate alone,” and that it’s the government’s job to intervene. He added social media has fallen from its promise to be a “tool for global understanding and cooperation.”

Australia enacted an under-16s ban on social media last year, which has prompted many nations to follow suit. It is under active consideration in the UK, while Denmark and Malaysia have announced plans to enact similar bans.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/social-media/spain-set-to-ban-social-media-for-children-under-16-151546884.html?src=rss

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication.

The 65-inch TCL QM7K is currently selling for $797.99, down from $999.99, and price-trackers show this is the lowest it has dropped so far. The QM7K isn’t a stripped-down budget model—it’s a mini-LED TV with full-array local dimming, wide HDR format support, and brightness levels that push past 2,000 nits. In practice, that means HDR highlights pop, contrast stays controlled, and the screen remains usable even in rooms with a lot of daylight. It doesn’t reach the extreme peak brightness of TCL’s higher-end QM8, but for most living rooms, the difference is negligible. And if you’re also shopping for a solid gaming and streaming setup without dropping over a grand, the QM7K fits the bill.

TCL 65-Inch QM7K (65QM7K)

$797.97
at Amazon

$999.99
Save $202.02

$797.97
at Amazon

$999.99
Save $202.02

TCL has packed this one with gamer-friendly specs: a native 144Hz refresh rate, AMD FreeSync Premium Pro, and input lag under 5ms for 1080p at high frame rates. Even at 4K60, input lag stays under 14 milliseconds, keeping it comfortably below the one-frame delay PCMag uses as a benchmark for solid gaming performance in a TV. Connectivity is solid, too, with four HDMI ports in total, including two that support 144Hz signals and one with eARC for audio passthrough, plus USB, Ethernet, and optical audio. Google TV handles the smarts, with support for Apple AirPlay, Chromecast, hands-free Google Assistant, and all the big-name streaming apps. The included remote is backlit, easy to use, and comes with shortcut buttons for popular apps. And the interface is easy to navigate.

That said, there are some trade-offs. Color tuning leans warm out of the box and may need adjustment, and the panel doesn’t support ATSC 3.0, so you’re missing out on the newer over-the-air broadcast standard. Also, like most LED TVs, you’ll lose some color saturation and contrast when watching from sharp side angles. But those compromises are minor for most people using it as a living room centerpiece or gaming display. PCMag gave the QM7K “excellent” rating, and our own writer, Daniel Oropeza named the 65-inch model one of the best budget QLED TVs to buy.

Amazon is running a sale on two of its newest devices. First, there’s the Echo Show 8, which is down to $150 from $180 — a 17 percent discount. Next up is the Echo Show 11, which is more or less the same device, just bigger. This model has dropped 18 percent to $180 from $220. Both deals bring the Echo Shows down to new all-time low prices. 

The Echo Show 8 and 11 came out in mid-November with the main difference being screen size. The Echo Show 8 has an 8.7-inch HD screen that Amazon claims is 15 percent larger than its predecessor. Meanwhile, the Echo Show 11 is, you guessed it, an 11-inch Full-HD display that has 60 percent more viewing area than the Echo Show 8. 

Both of the devices come with an AZ23 Pro chip and Omnisense technology, which Amazon describes as “our custom sensor platform designed for ambient AI.” They also have Prime Video and Netflix apps, while other streamers can be reached through the browser. Each comes with spatial audio, dual full-range drivers and a 2.8-inch woofer. Plus, they have a 13MP camera with auto-framing. 

Follow @EngadgetDeals on X for the latest tech deals and buying advice.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/amazons-echo-show-8-and-11-are-down-to-new-all-time-lows-150021328.html?src=rss

Adobe has emailed users of Adobe Animate to let them know the popular animation and game development program will be discontinued on March 1, an abrupt decision that has angered animators and game developers who say the tool remains an industry standard in television and game production.

Animate, the successor to the once-popular Flash, is widely used for graphic creation, animation and building games in HTML5. The company has not offered a reason for the shutdown. On BlueSky, artist and animator Julia Glassman wrote that many television productions, games, and animated media still rely on Animate and Flash pipelines and cannot simply pivot to entirely new software.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication.

For a lot of people, the appeal of a streaming stick is simple: You have an older TV that still works, but the software is dated or missing entirely. The Roku Streaming Stick HD (2025) fits that exact situation, and right now it’s selling for $15.99 on Amazon. Marked down from $29.99, it’s just a buck over its all-time low (according to price-trackers), and that makes it a tempting plug-and-play upgrade if you’re tired of fiddling with HDMI cables or watching Netflix on a laptop screen. PCMag gave this streaming hub an “excellent” rating, largely because it sticks to the basics and executes them well.

Roku Streaming Stick (2025)

$15.99
at Amazon

$29.99
Save $14.00

$15.99
at Amazon

$29.99
Save $14.00

It runs Roku OS, a refreshingly simple interface compared to the ad-packed chaos of some other platforms. It’s compatible with most major streaming services and even supports Apple AirPlay, meaning you can cast content straight from your iPhone or Mac without any workarounds. That said, there’s no HDR or 4K support here, but that won’t matter much on most 1080p TVs anyway. Power draw is only about 2.2 watts, which means it can likely run off your TV’s USB port with no separate power adapter. That makes cable clutter easier to manage, especially behind smaller sets.

You get the standard Roku Voice Remote with shortcut buttons, volume control, and a built-in mic for voice search. That voice search is fine for pulling up shows, but it won’t let you dim your lights or ask the weather—it’s not Alexa or Google Assistant. This deal makes sense for a second TV, a bedroom setup, or for someone who just wants to stream The Bear without upgrading their entire setup.

OpenAI is prioritizing the advancement of ChatGPT over more long-term research, prompting the departure of senior staff as the $500 billion company adapts to stiff competition from rivals such as Google and Anthropic.

The San Francisco-based start-up has reallocated resources for experimental work in favor of advances to the large language models that power its flagship chatbot, according to 10 current and former employees.

Among those to leave OpenAI in recent months over the strategic shift are vice-president of research Jerry Tworek, model policy researcher Andrea Vallone, and economist Tom Cunningham.

Read full article

Comments

When the Nintendo Switch 2 came out, I was a bit skeptical that such a thin and light device could handle AAA, blockbuster games. But when I actually got it in my hands and reviewed it, I was impressed to see that it was capable of running demanding games like Cyberpunk 2077 just as well as my Steam Deck could. Since then, it’s continued to prove itself by capably running other beefy games like Star Wars Outlaws and, more recently, Final Fantasy VIII Remake. The catch? All these games were all a few years old, and with the exception of Star Wars Outlaws, they all had versions for last-generation systems.

As we started moving into 2026, I was still left wondering how well the Switch 2 will be able to keep up with brand new AAA titles as they come out. Based on some hands-on time I’ve had with two upcoming technical showpieces, the answer is “very well.”

Playing Pragmata on the Nintendo Switch 2

Last week, I attended a preview event hosted by Nintendo where I got to play the Switch 2 editions for Super Mario Bros. Wonder and Animal Crossing: New Horizons, as well as the brand new game, Mario Tennis Fever. All of these looked great, but they didn’t really push any kind of graphical boundaries. My real interest was in the two third-party titles at the event, both of which were being shown off by Capcom.

The first was Pragmata, an upcoming sci-fi shooter that, most importantly for our purposes, uses the notoriously performance-hungry RE Engine. When it works, this engine is great for fidelity in particular lighting, but optimizing for the thing has been a nightmare on even powerful systems, as evidenced by frame rate-wrecking bugs continually popping up in games like Monster Hunter Wilds. While that’s an open-world game, meaning it has to render a lot at once, Pragamata itself is no slouch, and I figured it would make a perfect test case for whether the Switch 2 can handle not just older AAA releases, but new ones, too.

The verdict? If you had told me this thing were running on a PS5, I’d believe you. I played the game in both handheld and docked mode, and on the TV, it was easy to forget everything but the gameplay and just sink right into the experience. Textures were smooth, the resolution seemed to be at least a solid 1080p, if not higher, and I would say the frame rate was actually above 30 fps. I don’t have any specific numbers—I wasn’t able to test these settings at the event, and Capcom couldn’t tell me any details—but my thought is that even if the graphics had compromises to run on the Switch 2, they weren’t noticeable and didn’t hamper my experience. Hardware snobs who absolutely need a 4K resolution and at least 60 fps might want to stick to PC, but results like this aren’t too far behind what the other home consoles can do with the newest games and are a noticeable improvement on how the original Switch handled AAA games.

There, blockbuster games were often either pixelated and slow, or ran on the cloud and required an internet connection. Compromises like these were understandable there, but it sometimes meant you were focusing so much on the game’s technical issues that it was difficult to get immersed in the gameplay, assuming developers even bothered to port a game to Switch in the first place.

None of these were problems when I was playing Pragmata on the Nintendo Switch 2. Controls were snappy, environments were easy to parse, and most impressively, the hair was on point! OK, that might sound a bit odd, but hear me out: It’s actually super impressive.

Naturalistic long hair has been a nightmare for video games to render until very recently, which is why if you’ve ever played a video game with a customizable character, the hair options often cap out at medium length, or are very stylized. Pragmata, meanwhile, makes a point of having a companion character at your side at all times who has messy, frizzy, unkempt hair almost down to her waist. And each individual strand of that hair has physics on it, so it moves realistically rather than as one big blob.

That takes a lot of processing power to simulate, and is clearly meant to be a bit of a technical brag for Capcom. But while the devs’ work optimizing the game to handle this hair is definitely to be commended, it’s also reassuring that the Nintendo Switch 2 didn’t buckle at all while doing this. In fact, it seemed like it still had horsepower to spare, based on how consistent the gameplay was. I encountered no frame rate dips, which was a lifesaver in pitched battles.

Credit: Michelle Ehrhardt

The only noticeable quality loss was when I played in handheld mode, which seemed to reduce the resolution to about 720p. Here, the game looked a bit pixelated, but given that the PS5 and Xbox don’t even have an option to go portable, it’s a compromise I’m willing to accept. In a fair, TV-to-TV comparison, I’m happy to report that Pragmata on the Switch 2 is a more than acceptable way to experience the game, even right down to that folicular fidelity.

Playing Resident Evil Requiem on the Nintendo Switch 2

Pragmata is a pretty game, no doubt, but the real technical showpiece at the preview event was Resident Evil Requiem. Also using the RE Engine, if Pragmata is a strong indicator for how the Switch 2 simulates physics, then Resident Evil does the same for lighting.

Credit: Michelle Ehrhardt

Again, performance is smooth, but I’d say the resolution here is more definitively closer to 1080p while the frame rate seems a little lower than Pragmata‘s. Still, character models are detailed, and animations play out without any weird jitters. Resident Evil has made a name for itself on both of these fronts with its recent titles, so it’s great to see these qualities preserved.

Based on my experience with Pragmata, though, I expected this. What I didn’t expect was just how realistic the lighting would be. Like the hair in Pragmata, realistic lighting is a bit of a performance challenge for games, especially now that many games are using ray tracing for their lighting, which means that lighting is calculated in real time using realistic pathing for each ray of light, rather than being “baked” into scenes ahead of time. This makes it easier for lighting to change on the fly and fall where a player might naturally expect it to, something that’s important for Resident Evil, since the title uses it for gameplay. But it also puts a lot of strain on the system.

I was a bit worried going into this demo, because while I knew the Switch 2 was supposed to be able to handle ray tracing, I wasn’t ready to believe it until I saw it, especially when it was being used for more than set dressing. In the demo I played, there’s a monster that can’t follow you into the light, and poor lighting might make it unclear where safe zones were. But like with Pragmata, my technical skepticism quickly drained away, and I instead just sat and quietly played, immersed in the game like I would be on any other console.

Here’s the biggest bit of technical praise I can offer the Switch 2: Even in just a half hour of playing, Resident Evil Requiem on the Switch 2 still managed to scare the crap out of me. I left the event unsure of walking out into the dark night outside. If that doesn’t tell you how bought in I was in just playing the game, instead of nitpicking pixelated character models or a wonky frame rate, I don’t know what will.

What this means for Nintendo Switch 2 owners

I may not have been allowed to capture detailed performance data at this event, but I left pretty optimistic about the Switch 2’s ability to handle AAA games. For years now, gamers have come to accept that multiplatform AAA titles will come out on Xbox and PlayStation, but will usually either skip Nintendo or come out for it years down the line. That’s because the Wii was much less powerful than the Xbox 360 and PS3, the Wii U was less powerful than the Xbox One and PS4, and the Switch was less powerful than the PS5 and Xbox Series consoles. After the GameCube, Nintendo has always been at least a generation behind when it comes to performance.

Now, it can finally stand toe-to-toe with its competitors again, just like when you had Nintendo’s purple lunchbox in your living room. It may not be at the zenith of performance, but it’s more than acceptable. I don’t know how long this status quo will last—the next console generation is rumored to be facing delays right now. But for now, Nintendo owners can finally play the newest blockbuster games day-and-date with their Sony and Microsoft-owning friends, without needing to own a second system. That’s great for developers and gamers, and should put anyone who just dropped $450 on Nintendo’s latest at ease. You can finally pay attention to new AAA games as they come out again, and plus, you still have that handheld mode party trick.

An anonymous reader shares a report: By now, the Forbes 30 Under 30 list has become more than a little notorious for the amount of entrants who go on to be charged with fraud.[…] Gokce Guven, a 26-year-old Turkish national and the founder and CEO of fintech startup Kalder, was charged last week with alleged securities fraud, wire fraud, visa fraud, and aggravated identity theft. The New York-based fintech startup — which uses the “Turn Your Rewards into [a] Revenue Engine” tagline — says it can help companies create and monetize individual rewards programs. The company was founded in 2022, and offers participating firms the opportunity to earn ongoing revenue streams via partner affiliate sales, Axios previously reported.

Guven was featured in last year’s Forbes 30 Under 30 list. The magazine notes in the writeup that Guven’s clients included major chocolatier Godiva and the International Air Transport Association, the trade organization that represents a majority of the world’s airlines. Kalder also claims to have enjoyed the backing of a number of prominent VC firms. The U.S. Department of Justice alleges that, during Kalder’s seed round in April of 2024, Guven managed to raise $7 million from more than a dozen investors after presenting a pitch deck that was rife with false information.

According to the government, Kalder’s pitch deck claimed that there were 26 brands “using Kalder” and another 53 brands in “live freemium.” However, officials say that, in reality, Kalder had, in many cases, only been offering heavily discounted pilot programs to many of those companies. Other brands “had no agreement with Kalder whatsoever — not even for free services,” officials said in a press release announcing the indictment. The pitch deck also “falsely reported that Kalder’s recurring revenue had steadily grown month over month since February 2023 and that by March 2024, Kalder had reached $1.2 million in annual recurring revenue.” The government also accuses Guven of having kept two separate sets of financial books.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

NASA started making the final preparations for the Artemis 2 mission in early January, with the hopes of opening its launch window as soon as February 6. After issues showed up during the mission’s wet dress rehearsal in the early hours of February 3, however, the agency had to push back its earliest launch opportunity to March.

“With more than three years between SLS launches, we fully anticipated encountering challenges. That is precisely why we conduct a wet dress rehearsal. These tests are designed to surface issues before flight and set up launch day with the highest probability of success,” NASA administrator Jared Isaacman said on X.

During a wet dress rehearsal, the spacecraft to be used for a mission is loaded with propellants to simulate the actual preparations and countdown to liftoff. NASA explained that Artemis 2’s Space Launch System, which was already on the launch pad, suffered from a liquid hydrogen leak that its engineers spent hours troubleshooting. They were ultimately able to fill all the rocket’s tanks and started the countdown to launch. But with approximately five minutes left in the countdown, the ground launch sequencer automatically stopped due to a spike in the spacecraft’s liquid hydrogen leak rate.

The agency admits that it has other issues to fix, based on what happened during the rehearsal. It has to make sure that the cold weather doesn’t affect the mission’s equipment during the actual launch in the same way it did in testing . The Orion crew module’s hatch pressurization process took longer than expected, and that should must not happen on launch day. NASA also has to troubleshoot the audio communication channels for its ground teams after they dropped several times during the rehearsal. Artemis’ ground crew will review data from the wet dress rehearsal and address the aforementioned problems. NASA then has to conduct another test to confirm that they were taken care of before announcing the mission’s launch window.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/science/space/nasa-moves-artemis-2-launch-to-march-after-hydrogen-leak-during-testing-140000351.html?src=rss