The general political headwinds of Europe aren’t the only thing disconcertingly swinging right-of-center. Halo Infinite recently received a new visor that’s juuust slightly askew. Fans are split here. Many think it’s a crime against the cosmetics gods, while others regard such complaints as yet another item in a long…
Source: Kotaku – Halo Infinite Players Can’t Unsee That The New Cyberpunk Visor Is A Few Pixels Off-Center
For all the rise of streaming has done to kill movie theaters and disrupt the entertainment world, I have to admit that I continue to be impressed by the weird stuff Netflix and its ilk spend their billions on. As audiences segment themselves ever further, content grows ever more niche, to the point that one of the…
Source: LifeHacker – What’s New on Netflix in February 2022
One of the European Union’s top regulators has a new proposal for reducing cryptocurrency’s carbon footprint: ban proof of work mining. The proposed prohibition, suggested by European Securities and Markets Authority Vice Chair Erik Thedéen during a Financial Times interview, would apply to EU nations and would come…
Source: Gizmodo – EU Regulator Wants to Ban Proof of Work Crypto Mining to Avoid Climate Disaster
Enlarge / Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick. (credit: Flickr / Bobby Kotick)
Two months ago, The Wall Street Journal published a bombshell report accusing Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick of widespread mismanagement surrounding the sexual assault and discrimination allegations and lawsuits embroiling the company. Now, new reports suggest that the aftershocks of that November reporting were key to bringing Microsoft and Activision together for an industry-changing $68.7 billion acquisition deal, first announced Monday.
That timeline is according to behind-the-scenes reports from The Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg, both of which suggest the deal came together quickly in the two months following the Journal’s November report on Kotick.
According to “a person familiar with the matter” cited by Bloomberg, Microsoft initially reached out in part to offer support and address “concerns about the treatment of women at Activision” after that report. But Microsoft also wanted “to ensure that if Kotick and the board were willing to sell the company, Microsoft would be well positioned to make an offer,” as Bloomberg put it.
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Source: Ars Technica – Reports: “Graceful exit” for Kotick helped convince CEO to sell Activision
Have you been trying in vain to score a PlayStation 5 or Xbox Series X console? What about a Nintendo Switch OLED, or a rare set of kicks from Nike? There is just not enough to supply of these and other items to meet demand, in part because scalpers are so quick on the draw. But don’t blame it on bots, says a 24-year-old who has made a business
Source: Hot Hardware – Professional PS5 Scalper Dishes The Dirt On Bots And Tries To Take The Moral High Ground
BioWare is mainly known for large, sprawling RPGs with unique characters and worldbuilding. However, it’s also recently garnered a reputation for troubled labor conditions. Anthem, Dragon Age: Inquisition, and Mass Effect Andromeda were made under immense amounts of crunch hours. All of that hard work was supposed to…
Source: Kotaku – ‘BioWare Magic Is Bullsh*t,’ Says Former Dragon Age Producer
The Weather Channel will come to YouTube TV sometime in 2022. Google and Allen Media Group, the network’s owner, announced the move as part of a broader multi-year partnership that sees the media company becoming a Google Cloud client. AMG says The Weather Channel is one of several networks it plans to bring to the service in 2022 and beyond. The company also plans to work with Google on streaming apps for Android phones and tablets, as well as Google TV and Android TV devices. The exact timing of when all of that may happen Google and AMG didn’t say. Still, the deal is a significant one for the search giant. It will help it address one of the more notable gaps in its live TV offering.
Source: Engadget – The Weather Channel is coming to YouTube TV later this year
Despite some recent negative press about AirTags revolutionizing the stalking industry, Apple has developed a good reputation compared to other big tech companies when it comes to privacy and security. Knowing this, you might be surprised to learn that Apple’s own web browser, Safari, isn’t safe to use right now on any…
Source: LifeHacker – Stop Using Safari Immediately (at Least for Now)
If you created an online account to manage your tax records with the U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS), those login credentials will cease to work later this year. From a report: The agency says that by the summer of 2022, the only way to log in to irs.gov will be through ID.me, an online identity verification service that requires applicants to submit copies of bills and identity documents, as well as a live video feed of their faces via a mobile device. McLean, Va.-based ID.me was originally launched in 2010 with the goal of helping e-commerce sites validate the identities of customers who might be eligible for discounts at various retail establishments, such as veterans, teachers, students, nurses and first responders.
These days, ID.me is perhaps better known as the online identity verification service that many states now use to help staunch the loss of billions of dollars in unemployment insurance and pandemic assistance stolen each year by identity thieves. The privately-held company says it has approximately 64 million users, and gains roughly 145,000 new users each day. Some 27 states already use ID.me to screen for identity thieves applying for benefits in someone else’s name, and now the IRS is about to join them. The service requires applicants to supply a great deal more information than typically requested for online verification schemes, such as scans of their driver’s license or other government-issued ID, copies of utility or insurance bills, and details about their mobile phone service.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot – IRS Will Soon Require Selfies for Online Access
Horizon Forbidden West is just under a month away from hitting PlayStation 4 and PS5, and Sony is ramping up its marketing push with a trailer that sheds some light on the sequel’s story. The video is, unsurprisingly, packed with gorgeous visuals while offering some details on what seems to be a solid expansion of Horizon Zero Dawn‘s rich story.
“People are suffering. Soon, they’ll starve,” protagonist Aloy (Ashly Burch) says at the beginning of the trailer. “The machines, meant to help us, are out of control. I have to find a way to fix it all. The answer is somewhere out in the Forbidden West.” We soon learn that, in that part of the world, war is the order of the day, so Aloy clearly has another difficult journey ahead.
Along with some familiar faces like Varl and Erend, there are some new characters in the trailer — both friendly and hostile ones. Angela Bassett plays one of the antagonists, Regalla. She’s a rebel leader who “seeks to slaughter all those who’ve wronged her” and has the ability to control the machines, granted to her by a returning character. The three-minute clip closes with a glimpse of a mysterious character named Tilda. Guerrilla Games told Game Informer that The Matrix star Carrie-Anne Moss plays her.
Of course, some of the machines Aloy will battle appear in the clip too. Among them is a terrifying, giant cobra-rattlesnake hybrid called the Slitherfang, which can spit streams of acid in her direction.
Overall, the trailer offers another tantalizing look at a hotly anticipated game. Given that an unfinished build reportedly leaked earlier this month, it’s best for fans to tread carefully to avoid spoilers before Horizon Forbidden West arrives on February 18th.
Source: Engadget – ‘Horizon Forbidden West’ story trailer teases new characters and machines
Enlarge (credit: Ars Technica)
Welcome back to another Dealmaster. Our latest roundup of the best deals from around the web includes a sale on Amazon’s Fire tablet lineup. While the Fire HD 10 is still a bit higher priced than we’ve seen in past deals, the 8-inch Fire HD 8 is down to $45, which matches the lowest price we’ve tracked.
As we’ve said before, a Fire tablet is mainly ideal for those who just want a tablet for basic reading, video viewing, and web browsing for as low a price as possible. They are decidedly slower and less premium than recent iPads, they’re saddled with lockscreen ads by default, and they don’t play nice with nearly as many apps, since they have no official access to the Google Play Store or Google apps.
But the Fire HD 8 runs Amazon’s Fire OS well enough, the 1200×800 display isn’t a total mess, the device is comfortable to hold, and it can last a few days on a charge. We wouldn’t be surprised if Amazon updated this model later this year, but for now, it’s still competent and, most importantly, very affordable. It’s also worth noting that the Fire HD 8 Plus, which adds a gigabyte of RAM (from 2GB to 3GB) and wireless charging with a compatible dock, is also back down to its all-time low price of $55. Given that Fire OS isn’t heavily dependent on multitasking, we think the base Fire HD 8 is a better buy for most people, but if you like the idea of using the wireless charging dock (and turning the tablet into an Alexa smart display in the process), it’s an option.
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Source: Ars Technica – Today’s best deals: Amazon Fire tablets, Jabra wireless earbuds, and more
Enlarge / Apple has stopped providing security updates to iOS 14. (credit: Andrew Cunningham)
When iOS 15 was first unveiled, Apple announced that the upgrade wouldn’t be mandatory for people who wanted to stick with iOS 14. The new operating system would still be offered to every device that could run it, but iOS 14 would keep getting security updates so that people wouldn’t be left vulnerable just because they were happy with the performance and stability of the OS they were already running.
But last week, 9to5Mac and others noticed that the iOS 14.8.1 update had stopped being offered to phones running iOS 14. The only upgrade option was for the latest version of iOS 15, currently 15.2.1. We’ve confirmed with Apple that this isn’t an error; iOS 14 is no longer being updated, and anyone who wants the latest security updates will also need to accept the other changes in iOS 15.
Apple told Ars that it always intended the iOS 14 security update option to be temporary. Essentially, people could have a short grace period while Apple worked out the worst of the new operating system’s early bugs, but you would always eventually have to upgrade to stay patched.
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Source: Ars Technica – Apple says it never intended iOS 14 security updates to last forever
After being pushed back from its original 2021 release date, Drinkbox Studios’ playful shape-shifting RPG is available at last on Xbox and PC.
From the makers of Guacamelee and Severed, Nobody Saves the World is crammed with Drinkbox’s signature self-aware humor and vivid art style while paying homage to classic RPGs from the 90s. Inspired by Final Fantasy Tactic’s Job system, the game’s titular hero Nobody can shapeshift into 18 different off-kilter forms including an egg, slug, and even a bodybuilder to complete quests and clear out dungeons.
The game’s overworld and top-down aesthetic will be immediately familiar to fans of other classics like Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past. Drinkbox also tacks new-school twists on the genre with clever level design and quirky combat that includes moves like the magician’s confetti bomb. But the fun really amps up once you get the ability to mix-and-match attacks between forms, which unlocks more than a hundred combos to help dispatch foes.
If the game’s gorgeous 2D sprites weren’t enough to catch your attention, Nobody Saves the World also features a soundtrack from composer Jim Guthrie, whose music has been featured in titles such as Superbother: Sword & Sworcery, Indie Game: The Movie, and others.
Nobody Saves the World is available now on Xbox One, Xbox Series S/X and PC (Steam) for $25, or via subscription as part of Xbox Games Pass on Xbox consoles, Windows PCs, and Xbox Cloud streaming.
Source: Engadget – Cheeky hack-and-slash RPG ‘Nobody Saves the World’ is available now
Wine 7.0 open-source and cross-platform compatibility layer for running Windows apps on POSIX-compliant operating systems, such as Linux, BSD, or macOS, has been released today as a major update.
Source: LXer – Wine 7.0 Released with Support for New GPUs, Multiple Displays, and WoW64
Bounty hunters of The Book of Boba Fett, unite—you have nothing to lose but your forward momentum!
Source: Gizmodo – The Book of Boba Fett Isn’t Sure If It Wants a Criminal Empire or a Union
After finishing a hard workout, one of your first priorities is probably to refuel your body. If you are pressed for the time, the impulse may be to reach for a bar or shake, but as convenient as they can be, they are often highly processed—and they can get pretty boring after awhile.
Source: LifeHacker – The Fastest, Easiest Post-Workout Snacks That Aren’t a Shake or Bar
An anonymous reader shares a report: […] Together, these furry duplicates are normalizing the world of animal cloning — and they could be ushering in an era of petfluencer immortality. “Someone could clone their pet and replace the original. The world doesn’t have to know. They may never know,” says Melain Rodriguez, client service manager at ViaGen, which is behind the cloning of all the animals mentioned in this article. “Especially if it’s one that looks exactly the same and they can just continue with that pet.” (Rodriguez notes that the cloned pets aren’t “reincarnations” and will have different personalities than their predecessors.)
The process, however, is complicated and expensive. The price tag for cloning a pet ranges anywhere from $35,000 to $50,000, depending on the animal. “It’s very similar to IVF,” explains Rodriguez. “The eggs and the embryos are created in a dish, and then they’re transferred into the surrogate.” She adds that customers often stomach the cost due to the emotions involved: “If you’ve ever had a wonderful pet that you love so much, it’s so hard to lose them. A lot of our clients are in that situation.”
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot – Instagrammers Are Genetically Replicating Their Pets
A worrying superbug fungus has been spotted in Louisiana for the first time. On Tuesday, hospital officials reported that at least two patients at the University Medical Center in New Orleans had contracted Candida auris, a deadly yeast often resistant to antifungals that can spread quickly in hospitals. The cases…
Source: Gizmodo – Deadly Superbug Fungus Spotted in Louisiana for the First Time
Apple is nearly ready to release its tale of WeWork’s tragic fall. The company has announced that its Apple TV+ limited series WeCrashed will premiere March 18th. The eight-episode drama stars Jared Leto as former WeWork CEO Adam Neumann, who wielded hype to earn a $47 billion valuation only to lose most of it (and his job) when the IPO process revealed ugly financials and leadership. Anne Hathaway plays Adam’s wife Rebekah, who served as an executive (including the head of WeGrow) and whose relationship with Adam was “at the center of it all,” according to Apple.
The trailer sets expectations quickly. The Neumanns portrayed by Leto and Hathaway are full of overly grand visions, portraying WeWork as nothing less than the future, a “movement” aiming to “elevate the world’s consciousness.” The clip also highlights the cult-like devotion to the company and its notoriously summer camp-like retreats. It’s not certain how well the performances will hold up across a whole series, but Apple at least seems to understand how WeWork’s reality was never going to match the buzz.
This isn’t the first streaming take on WeWork’s rise and sudden decline. Hulu’s 2021 documentary was an imperfect but prominent take on the Neumann couple. Apple’s effort clearly has star power, however, and the behind-the-camera talent has experience with well-received titles like Little America and This is Us. If nothing else, it’s clear Apple hasn’t given up its TV+ strategy of counting on big names to draw in viewers, even if the projects are slightly unusual.
Xbox Game Pass is the gift that simply keeps on giving. The popular gaming service is set to release some new titles this month, and a few are even available today.
Microsoft made huge waves in the gaming world yesterday, when it announced that it would be purchasing Activision Blizzard. The acquisition will cost Microsoft an estimated
Source: Hot Hardware – Xbox Game Pass Is Getting Hitman Trilogy, Rainbow Six Extraction And Other Great Titles
