Technology

Government-backed hackers based in North Korea are targeting individual security researchers through a number of means including a “novel social engineering method,” Google’s Threat Analysis Group is reporting. The campaign has reportedly been ongoing for several months, and worryingly appears to exploit unpatched Windows 10 and Chrome vulnerabilities. Although Google doesn’t say exactly what the aim of the hacking campaign is, it notes that the targets are working on “vulnerability research and development.” This suggests the attackers may be trying to learn more about non-public vulnerabilities that they can use in future state-sponsored attacks. Hackers set up a network of Twitter accounts and a cybersecurity blog According to Google, the hackers set up a cybersecurity blog and series o...

On January 6th, WhatsApp users around the world began seeing a pop-up message notifying them of upcoming changes to the service’s privacy policy. The changes were designed to enable businesses to send and store messages to WhatsApp’s 2 billion-plus users, but they came with an ultimatum: agree by February 8th, or you can no longer use the app. The resulting furor sparked a backlash that led Facebook-owned WhatsApp to delay the policy from taking effect until May. In the meantime, though, tens of millions of users began seeking alternatives to Facebook’s suite of products. Among the biggest beneficiaries has been Signal, the encrypted messaging app whose development is funded by a nonprofit organization. Last month, according to one research firm, the six-year-old app had about 20 million u...

It looks like Amazon is rolling a new app icon on iOS, and unlike countless other recent app redesigns, it isn’t just a logo dropped inside a white background! Rejoice! The new icon cleverly takes cues from perhaps Amazon’s most recognizable “product” — its shipping boxes and their bright blue tape. Here it is — in the app’s listing on Apple’s UK App Store. (There are a few other reports of others seeing the icon on their devices as well.) Whoever worked on this new app design, which will be instantly recognizable on your home screen, deserves a raise. Correction: We’ve updated the headline to clarify that the new design is an icon, not a logo. You Deserve to Make Money Even When you are looking for Dates Online. So we reimagined what a dating should be. It begins with giving you back powe...

Someone has gotten their hands on a database full of Facebook users’ phone numbers, and is now selling that data using a Telegram bot, according to a report by Motherboard. The security researcher who found this vulnerability, Alon Gal, says that the person who runs the bot claims to have the information of 533 million users, which came from a Facebook vulnerability that was patched in 2019. With many databases, some amount of technical skill is required to find any useful data. And there often has to be an interaction between the person with the database and the person trying to get information out of it, as the database’s “owner” isn’t going to just give someone else all that valuable data. Making a Telegram bot, however, solves both of these issues. Few days ago a user created a Telegra...

Celeste was one of the most acclaimed games of 2018, but what you may not have known is that the tightly designed platformer was an expanded version of a smaller project developed in four days at a game jam. Maddy Thorson and Noel Berry created the original Celeste for the Pico-8 platform, and now that version has a sequel called Celeste 2: Lani’s Trek. The developers, now including composer Lena Raine, say that this game took just three days to make. The release is to celebrate the third anniversary of Celeste’s release. We said we probably wouldn’t make a sequel to Celeste, but we never said anything about Celeste Classic — Maddy Thorson (@MaddyThorson) January 26, 2021 If you’re not familiar with Pico-8, it’s a “virtual console” that gives developers a framework to build games as ...

ESPN Plus says it will issue partial refunds to customers who paid for a UFC pay-per-view event Saturday only to run into technical problems. Conor McGregor vs Dustin Poirier was the headline match of the UFC 257 main card, which was set to get underway at about 10PM ET Saturday. To watch, ESPN Plus subscribers, who pay $59.99 per year for the streaming service, also paid $69.99 for Saturday’s event. But users in the US began reporting a blackout on the ESPN Plus app Saturday evening that lasted through some of the earlier fights on the main card. A spokesperson for Disney, which owns ESPN, said in an email to The Verge on Sunday that the company was “aware that a technical issue prevented a portion of users from accessing the early part of the ESPN+ pay-per-view event, and we apologize fo...

Tesla is suing a former employee for allegedly stealing company information, CNBC reported. The company says software engineer Alex Khatilov stole files from Tesla’s internal network related to its Warp Drive software, used to automated many of the company’s business processes. Tesla alleges in the lawsuit that Khatilov moved files to his personal Dropbox account, and that he was one of only a few Tesla employees who had access to the files. According to the lawsuit, Khatilov told Tesla investigators he “forgot” about moving the files to his personal Dropbox when they confronted him. He told the New York Post in an interview that he had unintentionally moved the files to Dropbox, and, had been unaware that Tesla had filed a lawsuit against him until the newspaper contacted him. Tesla has n...

I finally finished Ted Lasso last night and I get why everyone loved it so much. I was totally prepared to not like the earnest, goofy Ted but Jason Sudeikis won me over. I won’t spoil in case you haven’t seen it, but Ted Lasso has plenty of plot developments you expect will turn out a certain way —because we’ve been conditioned to have plots drawn out as long as possible and with as much unnecessary drama as possible— but then the characters behave like actual people! They’re smart and funny and nuanced and I can’t wait to see them again in Season 2. But look what just dropped this morning: The Godzilla vs. Kong trailer! Let’s gooooo [embedded content] Godzilla vs. Kong The trailer for the long-awaited flick about the showdown between Kong and Godzilla— whose release was pushed back a yea...

Microsoft’s flagship Xbox Series X is one of the most powerful gaming consoles available right now. If you are having difficulty finding it, Target has restocked the Xbox Series X today, so you may want to check it out while supplies last. Given the challenge it has been to secure a unit, inventory will likely not last long. Although no walk-in purchases are available, you will have the option to either have it shipped to your home or request an in-store pickup. Like every major hardware launch, the demand for the Xbox Series X and its competitor, the PlayStation 5, is through the roof, and the usual problems of supply and demand are exacerbated by the fact that both next-gen consoles launched during a pandemic. Many retailers have sold the console exclusively online. The biggest struggle ...

SpaceX launched a batch of 143 spacecraft to space from Florida on Sunday morning under the company’s new cost-cutting SmallSat Rideshare Program, breaking the record for the most satellites lofted into space on a single launch. The Transporter-1 mission kicks off a potentially lucrative business line for SpaceX, which unveiled in 2019 its SmallSat Rideshare Program, essentially a carpool for dozens of satellites of different shapes and sizes. The program offers relatively cheap access to space for small satellite companies starting at $1 million for the first 485 pounds. Much like a rideshare Uber, a company’s small satellite can hitch a ride to space with other spacecraft instead of buying an entire rocket at a much higher price. After scrubbing an initial launch attempt on Saturday due ...

Uber has laid off about 185 Postmates workers, and plans to further integrate Postmates’ infrastructure within its Uber Eats segment, The New York Times reported. Uber acquired Postmates in July for $2.65 billion, following a failed attempt to buy rival food delivery service Grubhub. Meal delivery has been one bright spot for Uber amid the pandemic, as bookings in its Uber Eats division rose 135 percent year-over-year in the third quarter while its ride-hailing segment dropped 50 percent over the same time period. It’s consolidated other parts of the company in a bid to become profitable by the end of 2021, selling its autonomous vehicles segment to Aurora Innovation in December, the same month it sold its Uber Elevate flying taxi division to Joby Aviation. The latest cuts will see Postmat...