Technology

Researchers have discovered a new type of destructive wiper malware affecting computers in Ukraine, making it at least the third strain of wiper to have hit Ukrainian systems since the Russian invasion began. The malware, dubbed CaddyWiper, was found by researchers at Slovakia-based cybersecurity firm ESET, who shared details in a tweet thread posted Monday. According to the researchers, the malware erases user data and partition information from any drives attached to a compromised machine. Sample code shared on Twitter suggests the malware corrupts files on the machine by overwriting them with null byte characters, making them unrecoverable. “We know that if the wiper works, it will effectively render the system useless,” Jean-Ian Boutin, head of threat research at ESET, told The Verge. ...

Google is facing a lawsuit from a Florida restaurant chain owner that accuses the company of directing users to “unauthorized” Google-branded food ordering webpages, where it uses restaurants names “without their approval,” as first reported by Ars Technica. A copy of the lawsuit alleges Google employs “bait-and-switch” tactics by placing its “Order Online” button at the top of restaurants’ profile panels on the search engine. The large blue button redirects users to a food.google.com page where they can select items from a restaurant’s menu and then place an order through a variety of third-party services, like Postmates, DoorDash, and UberEats — not through the restaurant itself. These services take a commission from participating restaurants, which, for example, ranges anywhere from 15 ...

If you’re playing Destiny 2 on more than one platform, enabling cross-save allows you to maintain your progression regardless of which platform you’re playing on, meaning you can finally move your Guardians, with all of their loot, to a different platform and freely jump between console and PC at your leisure. Here’s how to do it, whether you want to transfer your account data between a PC and console or vice-versa. First, there are a few important disclaimers to keep in mind before you go through with activating cross-save for your account: While the free-to-play release of Destiny 2, called Destiny 2: New Light, means you don’t have to purchase multiple copies of the base game to play on different platforms, you will need to purchase duplicate copies of expansion-based content. The restr...

Reggie Fils-Aimé (who led Nintendo of America before Bowser took over) isn’t impressed with the company formerly known as Facebook, or its idea of the metaverse. He lobbed a few fireballs in Mark Zuckerberg’s direction during an interview with Bloomberg’s Emily Chang at South by Southwest over the weekend, saying that Meta isn’t innovative and that it bought or copied almost all of its interesting ideas. Just so we’re all on the same page when discussing this concept, Fils-Amié defines the metaverse as “a digital space where you interact with your friends in a social and gaming type of environment” during his interview. (You can also read our great explainer on the idea here if you want to go deeper.) In general, Fils-Amié doesn’t seem terribly down on it — he says that Roblox is an exampl...

Instagram is now allowing users to add moderators to their live streams. Moderators will have the ability to report comments, remove viewers from Lives and turn off comments for a specific viewer, according to the social media company. Users will be able to assign moderators to their Lives by tapping the three-dot icon in the comment section while live streaming. There, streamers will be able to select a moderator by searching for a specific account or choosing a list of suggested accounts. Streamers + Mods = Dynamic Duo ❤️ We’re launching Live Moderator on Instagram Live, where creators can assign a mod and give them the power to: ✅ Report comments✅ Remove viewers from Live✅ Turn off comments for a viewer pic.twitter.com/S9j7s4dInB — Instagram (@instagra...

Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands, a new spinoff in the popular Borderlands series, is set to launch on PlayStation, Xbox, and PC on March 25th, and when it’s available, it will support crossplay for all platforms — including PlayStation. Sony has been famously resistant to crossplay, originally blocking support for it in some popular multiplayer games like Fortnite and Rocket League. While the company eventually enabled it for those two games, Borderlands 3’s crossplay update that launched in June 2021 did not include support for PlayStation. However, when Gearbox CEO and president Randy Pitchford revealed Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands’ crossplay support in a tweet on Sunday (via Kotaku), he said that PlayStation crossplay will be enabled and specifically named Sony for “working together on this.” Co-op ...

iOS 15.4, the latest version of Apple’s iPhone operating system, has been released and should soon be available to download ahead of the Friday release of Apple’s new third-generation iPhone SE and green iPhone 13. The update includes big new features like the ability to use Face ID while wearing a mask, alongside smaller additions like a handful of new emoji. The new version of iOS launches alongside iPadOS 15.4 and macOS 12.3, which add support for Apple’s new Universal Control feature. Universal Control allows you to use a Mac’s keyboard and mouse to control an iPad completely wirelessly, including the ability to drag and drop files from the tablet back to a computer. Universal Control requires your Mac to be running macOS Monterey 12.3, which was also released Monday, and iPad to be ru...

Last week, a flurry of news reports worryingly claimed that Russia was threatening to strand an American astronaut on the International Space Station in direct response to sanctions placed on the country as it continues to invade neighboring Ukraine. But Russia’s state space corporation Roscosmos is trying to put those fears to rest, saying that it will bring home the astronaut as planned. The NASA astronaut in question is Mark Vande Hei, who has been living on the International Space Station since April 2021. Vande Hei launched to the ISS on a Russian Soyuz rocket from Kazakhstan, along with two cosmonauts. While living on the ISS, his stay was extended to a full year, and he is slated to return home in another Soyuz capsule on March 30th. When he returns home, he’ll have the record for l...

Lyft plans to add a temporary fuel surcharge to fares amid rising fuel prices around the country, the company confirmed to The Verge on Monday. “We’ve been closely monitoring rising gas prices and their impact on our driver community,” Lyft spokesperson CJ Macklin said in a statement. “Driver earnings overall remain elevated compared to last year, but given the rapid rise in gas prices we’ll be asking riders to pay a temporary fuel surcharge, all of which will go to drivers. We’ll share more details shortly.” Lyft follows Uber in announcing a temporary fuel surcharge as gas prices have spiked in part due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Uber’s surcharge for rides adds “either $0.45 or $0.55 on each Uber trip,” depending on a rider’s location, according to Uber’s blog about the change. Like...

Walmart is serving up another round of console restocks on this Pi Day (that’s today). The superstore giant is known for reliable console drops that don’t require buying a pricey bundle, but it does require paying for a subscription service. Once again, access to these consoles is exclusive to paying Walmart Plus members when it goes live today at 12PM ET / 9AM PT. All three major consoles will be available, including the standard PlayStation 5 equipped with a disc drive for $499, the disc-less PlayStation 5 Digital Edition for $399, and also the Xbox Series X for $499. To get your console of choice today, you’re going to need a paid Walmart Plus account, which costs $12.95 per month or $98 per year. While free trial accounts are not eligible, you only need to pay for one month’s membershi...

Saturday Night Live star Pete Davidson will actually go to space this month instead of just pretending to on live television. Space tourism venture Blue Origin announced the latest crew to head to the edge of space on the company’s New Shepard rocket, and as rumored, Davidson is the latest celebrity guest to join the crew’s ranks. This will be Blue Shepard’s fourth time sending a crew of people to space and back. The latest flight, set for March 23rd, will carry a group of six. On board with Davidson will be angel investor and former CEO of Party America Marty Allen, as well as husband and wife duo Marc and Sharon Hagle. Marc Hagle is the CEO of Tricor International, while Sharon Hagle founded a non-profit called SpaceKids Global, which works with Blue Origin’s Club for the Future. Entrepr...