Technology - Kalakshar US

Twitter whistleblower says company had Chinese agent on payroll

During a hearing with the Senate Judiciary Committee, Twitter’s former security chief turned whistleblower, Peiter Zatko, shed new light on his claims that the company’s lax security practices harmed U.S. national security. Among the new allegations was that the company had a Chinese agent working for the country’s Ministry of State Security (MSS) on its payroll.

During his opening statement, Sen. Chuck Grassley stated that “the FBI notified Twitter of at least one Chinese agent in the company.” In the public version of his whistleblower complaint, Zatko stated he had been warned that the company was employing “one or more” people who were “working on behalf of another particular foreign intelligence agency.” But the version of the complaint made public, parts of which were redacted, didn’t specify what country the FBI was referring to.

In his testimony, Zatko confirmed the company had been warned about the presence of Chinese agents. “This was made aware to me maybe a week before I was summarily dismissed,” Zatko said. “I had been told because the corporate security/physical security team had been contacted and told that there was at least one agent of the MSS, which is one of China’s intelligence services on the payroll inside Twitter.”

Zatko also raised concerns about the presence of foreign agents from other countries, including India, which he said “forced” Twitter to hire government agents.

Notably, Zatko’s disclosures are not the first time Twitter has had to contend with the presence of unregistered foreign agents on its payroll. A former Twitter worker was recently convicted of acting as an agent for Saudi Arabia. Prosecutors alleged the man was paid to turn over sensitive information about dissidents.

Zatko alleged that the danger posed by foreign agents was even greater due to a litany of factors: the vast amount of data the platform collects and its lack of insight into that data, as well as the broad and largely unfettered access Twitter’s engineers have to it. “It’s not far-fetched to say that an employee inside the company could take over the accounts of all of the senators in this room,” Zatko said.

The hearing is likely to amp up the pressure on Twitter, which has so far declined to address Zatko’s claims in detail. Senator Grassley said that the committee had also invited CEO Parag Agrawal to testify at the hearing but that he had “refused to appear.”

“He rejected this committee’s invitation to appear by claiming that it would jeopardize Twitter’s ongoing litigation Mr. Musk,” Grassley said, referring to the company’s legal battle with Elon Musk over his $44 billion acquisition of the company. “Protecting Americans from foreign influence is more important than Twitter’s civil litigation in Delaware. If these allegations are true, I don’t see how Mr. Agrawal can maintain his position at Twitter going forward.”

‘The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom’ lands on Switch May 12th, 2023

The sequel to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is called Tears of the Kingdom and it’s due to hit Switch on May 12th, 2023. Nintendo revealed the release date, name and a short teaser for the game during today’s Direct showcase. The studio says Tears of the Kingdom will travel into the skies beyond Hyrule, to an expanded world among the clouds.

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild debuted in 2017, the same day the Switch came to market. It was a huge critical and commercial success, and the sequel has been hotly anticipated since. The new game was originally announced with a release window in 2022, but in March, Nintendo delayed it into spring 2023.

It wasn’t the only major game to be pushed out of 2022. A handful of titles from big publishers, including Starfield, Redfall, Hogwarts Legacy and Forspoken, were delayed into 2023 this year.

‘GoldenEye 007’ is coming to Nintendo Switch Online’s Expansion Pack with online play

You’ll soon have a way to play one of the most beloved Nintendo 64 games on your Switch without having to jailbreak the console. During today’s Nintendo Direct, it emerged that GoldenEye 007 is coming to the Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack service. What’s more, you’ll be able to hop into the iconic multiplayer mode with your friends through online play. Nintendo didn’t say when the first-person shooter will arrive on Switch, other than to say it’s “coming soon.” In the meantime, you can check out a new documentary about the game.

On top of that, GoldenEye 007 is coming to Xbox Game Pass. Rare says the game has been “faithfully recreated for Xbox consoles.” It will feature split-screen local multiplayer, achievements, 4K resolution and a seemingly smoother framerate. In fairness, it would be tough to have a lower framerate than the N64 version.

Nintendo also revealed a bunch of other N64 titles that it will gradually add to the Expansion Pack service. Pilotwings 64, Mario Party and Mario Party 2 will all be available later this year. In 2023, Mario Party 3, Pokémon Stadium, Pokémon Stadium 2, 1080 Snowboarding and Excitebike 64 will join the lineup.

Ready up for your objective, secret agents. Nintendo 64’s GoldenEye 007 is coming soon to Nintendo Switch for #NintendoSwitchOnline + Expansion Pack members, now with online play! pic.twitter.com/pXNzpDW7Ud

— Nintendo of America (@NintendoAmerica) September 13, 2022

What we bought: How the Blue Yeti Nano finally earned a spot on my desk

Despite primarily working from home for years before the pandemic hit, I hadn’t thought too much about my WFH setup before 2020. I went as far as investing in a solid monitor, mostly because I was sick of squinting at a 13-inch laptop screen for eight hours each day. It actually wasn’t until earlier this year that I decided to upgrade my workspace in a meaningful way.

I chalk this up to being someone who constantly talks themselves out of buying things. I’m a fairly frugal person, but I have no problem buying things that I know will make a big impact on my day-to-day life. So, I invested in a good pair of ANC headphones when I could snag them on sale; a full-sized mechanical keyboard for a more comfortable (and more fun) typing experience and the Blue Yeti Nano microphone for increasingly more frequent video calls.

I’ll admit the Yeti Nano was probably the lowest priority item out of those three things, despite being a long-time favorite in the microphone space. However, it’s proven to be a smart investment, mostly because I have more video meetings now than ever. In pre-pandemic times, I had maybe one video conference per week, and that was during the busiest of times. But now, for many reasons ranging from the wide acceptance of remote work and the progression of my own career, I typically have a number of video calls each day. And I believe in putting my best face (and voice) forward as much as possible: I try to turn my Logitech Streamcam on for most every video call I take and I wanted the quality of my voice to match that of my video feed.

Valentina Palladino / Engadget

The Yeti Nano mic delivers on this in a fantastic fashion. In my initial messing around after I unboxed the thing, I could immediately hear the difference in my audio when I recorded a few test samples in Audacity. My voice sounded clearer and stronger and the audio lacked the subtly fuzzy quality that I typically hear when I use my laptop’s microphone.

The Yeti Nano supports cardioid and omnidirectional polar patterns, but I usually keep mine on the former since I’m the only one using it on the daily. However, I like the fact that I have the option to start a roundtable podcast in the future without needing to spend more money on a better mic. I also like that the Yeti Nano will come in handy during the few times a year I get to be a guest on the Engadget podcast. Previously for those occasions, I would use an external mic that I acquired years ago, but it didn’t come with a sturdy base like the Yeti Nano. It would be a struggle to get that mic in the right position on my desk for optimal podcast performance, and I don’t anticipate the same struggle with the Yeti Nano.

I have known for a while how popular Blue microphones are with budding podcasters, game streamers, remote workers and the like, so the brand was the first I turned to when I went looking for an upgrade. Out of the many devices in the company’s lineup, I ultimately decided to buy the Yeti Nano in part because of its design. It’s just compact enough to sit on my standing desk converter next to my monitor without obscuring the screen too much, and it’s still in a great spot for video calls. Initially I waffled between the Nano and the full-sized Yeti, but I ultimately decided that the few extra bells and whistles that come with the latter – namely stereo and bidirectional modes – weren’t necessary for my regular use. I was also able to pick up the Yeti Nano while it was on sale at Amazon, so instead of spending $100, I only dropped $80 on it. That means I can put a few extra dollars toward the next piece of tech that I decide will make my desk setup even more functional.

‘Fire Emblem Engage’ is coming to Switch on January 20th

Today’s Nintendo Direct kicked off with a bang, with the reveal of a new, mainline Fire Emblem game. You won’t have to wait too long to get your hands on Fire Emblem Engage either. It’s coming to Nintendo Switch on January 20th.

A thousand years after four kingdoms and heroes from further afield worked together to imprison a Fell Dragon, this so-called great evil is poised to re-emerge. Your task is to collect Emblem Rings that are scattered across the world in order to bring peace to the Continent of Elyos.

Along with the announcement, Nintendo offered a first look at gameplay. Fire Emblem Engage appears to have grid-based, real-time strategy elements, along with turn-based battles and open-world exploration. The game will feature a new cast of customizable characters, though you’ll be able to summon heroes such as Marth (who’s making his return to the Fire Emblem series) and Celica in your quest.

You can pre-order Fire Emblem Engage now from the Nintendo eShop. A physical Divine Edition with a steelbook and art case will be available too.

Become the Divine Dragon and save the continent of Elyos!

Summon valiant heroes like Marth & Celica alongside a new cast of characters and engage in turn-based, tactical combat against a great evil in this new Fire Emblem story. #FireEmblem Engage launches on 1/20/23! pic.twitter.com/qQ8MMAH8Od

— Nintendo of America (@NintendoAmerica) September 13, 2022

The Sub Mini is a much smaller and cheaper way to add bass to your Sonos system

Sonos has long offered a wireless subwoofer as part of its home theater, a large and powerful product that also costs a whopping $749. For anyone with a smaller room, or a smaller budget, it was a bit of a stretch. Sonos is giving bass-lovers a new option today: the rumored Sub Mini is real — and at $429, it costs a lot less than its bigger sibling.

The Sub Mini is a cylindrical speaker with a “center tunnel” cutout to move air around. It’s a foot tall and about 9 inches in diameter; at 14 pounds, it’s not exactly light, but that’s more than 20 pounds lighter than the Sonos Sub. It’s compatible with any amplified Sonos speaker aside from portable products like the Move and Roam, which means you can pair it with audio speakers like the Sonos One or Five as well as home theater soundbar like the Beam and Ray. (Sonos recommends pairing its high-end Arc soundbar with the full-sized Sub, but there’s no technical reason you can’t use it alongside the Sub Mini.)

Along with that center tunnel, the Sub Mini includes two 6-inch, force-cancelling woofers and two class-D digital amplifiers, along with a 5GHz wireless connection and a 10/100 ethernet port if you prefer to hardwire your speakers. As with all Sonos products, you set up the Sub Mini through the Sonos mobile app — from there, you’ll tell it which room the sub is in and pair it to a soundbar or speaker set.

As with other Sonos speakers, you can tune the Sub Mini once it’s set up to properly balance your system’s sound using Trueplay. You’ll need a compatible iOS device to use Trueplay, as it uses the device’s microphone to listen to the room and optimize audio quality based on the acoustics of your room. My experience with Trueplay has always been positive, so this is a step worth taking if you have an iPhone or iPad.

The Sonos Sub comes in black or white and is up for preorder today and will be widely available on October 6th. As with any speaker, we’ll need to hear this one before we can recommend it, but it’s good that Sonos finally has a more affordable option for improving bass from its products. It should also be appreciated by anyone with a smaller room or setup — I’ve long wanted a little more bass from my pair of Sonos One speakers, for example, but the bigger Sub would be massive overkill. The Sub Mini, on the other hand, could be just right.

Amazon’s Kindle refresh closes the gap between its entry-level and premium e-readers

It’s been a while since Amazon upgraded the entry-level version of the Kindle, but it seems like good things have come to those who wait. The 2022 edition has so many upgrades that it’ll make anyone who bought a Kindle in the last year (like me) bilious with envy. First up, there’s a new 300 ppi display, up from the 167 ppi found on its predecessors, giving it the same resolution as the last few Paperwhites, boasting “laser-quality” text and graphics.

Amazon’s generosity is matched elsewhere on the spec list, with the on-board storage doubled to 16GB. You’ll also get a longer, six-week battery life, a lighter frame, adjustable front-light and the long overdue addition of a USB-C port for charging. If that wasn’t enough, buyers will also get a four month trial to Kindle Unlimited, although that offer is only available for a limited time.

Amazon

As the Kindle gets an update, so does the junior edition of the e-reader, with the Kindle Kids getting the same specs as its parent. Each unit comes with a year’s subscription to Amazon Kids+, with a library of thousands of age-appropriate books and the usual parental control features.

Amazon is also boasting about the sustainability credentials of the new Kindles, saying that both are built from 90 percent recycled magnesium. Plus, all of the packaging is now 100 percent recyclable, made with material from responsibly-managed forests.

Amazon’s new Kindle will start at $99.99 in Black or Denim, while the Kindle Kids will set you back $119.99.

Zero’s DSR/X is an adventure e-motorcycle with 180 miles of range

Zero Motorcycles has unveiled its latest lineup of MY23 electric motorcycles, with the highlight being the new DSR/X adventure bike. Designed for both off-road or highway use, it delivers 100 horsepower and an impressive 166 foot-pounds of torque, providing enough power to climb steep hills or hit a top speed of 112 MPH.

With a 17.3kWh battery (upgradeable to 20.9 kWh), the DSR/X is good for 180 miles of city range or 85 miles on the highway. The standard Level 2 charger can take it to a 95 percent charge in two hours, or you can upgrade it to a 6KW rapid charge to hit the same level in an hour.

That’s solid for an e-motorcycle, but range is pretty crucial for adventure bikes and gas-powered models can still go much further. To that end, Zero has partnered with adventure mapping country Backcountry Discovery Routes (BDR) to provide a library of “attainable, achievable and available routes to follow on electric motorcycles from coast to coast,” the company said.

Zero Motorcycles

The other key feature of the DSR/X is the bike’s new Cypher III+ operating system that integrates Bosch’s full Motorcycle Stability Control suite, including off-road capabilities. The system is designed to deliver traction and stability, with features like linked braking to improve modulation and “Vehicle Hold Control which provides confidence and steadiness even on the steepest slopes,” Zero wrote.

Zero Motorcycle’s DSR/X is available in either sage green or white pearl, and is now arriving at dealerships at a base price of $24,495. The company unveiled three other MY23 SR (street-riding) models, the high-powered SR/S ($23,995) and SR/F ($23,795), both equipped with 17.3kWh batteries and fast 6.6 kW charge speeds. The SR model ($19,995) offers a 14.4kWh battery and stock 3kW charger..

The Morning After: Meta’s next-gen VR headset leaks

Meta’s Quest Pro headset is due to arrive next month, but there are always leaks to spoil the party. In a video from Ramiro Cardenas, you can see a black headset with three cameras on the front that resembles the minimal glimpses we’ve seen of the Project Cambria headset. Cardenas said multiple devices (labeled “engineering samples”) were left in a hotel room. Whoops.

Ramiro Cardenas

We also got a closer look at a pair of new controllers, with a new design that replaces the previous looped ones. The packaging says “Meta Quest Pro” – so that’s probably the name. The hype may have died down, but the tech has continued to advance. Expect better movement tracking, higher-quality displays and more.

Virtual reality should get another boost over the next 12 months. Alongside Meta’s new headset, Sony’s PS VR 2 headset is due to appear next year. Actually, expect to hear more on PlayStation VR titles later today.

– Mat Smith

The biggest stories you might have missed

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Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold 4 is already $200 off at Amazon

The Flip 4 is also $100 off.

Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold 4 is the pinnacle of its foldable smartphone lineup, but it’s also the company’s most expensive phone at $1,800. If you’ve been eyeing one but find the price hard to stomach, there’s good news. You can already grab one for $1,600 ($200 off) at Amazon, just a few short weeks after it went on sale. (And my favorite foldable phone, the Z Flip 4 is also on sale for $900 – that’s a $100 discount.)

Continue reading.

iOS 16 is now available

The software introduces a redesigned lock screen.

Apple

Apple has released iOS 16 to all of us, and the theme is personalization. Apple redesigned the iPhone’s lock screen. You can now tweak the typeface and accent color of the on-screen clock and date to more closely match your wallpaper. You can even create multiple lock screens and tie them to specific focus modes. Oh, and you can make stickers from photos. The software is available on iPhone 8 and later devices.

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Canon R10 camera review

4K and fast shooting speeds for less than $1,000.

Canon’s EOS R10 offers some nice features for a sub-$1,000 camera: reliable autofocus 4K 60p, super slow-mo, a flip-out display, a built-in flash and very fast shooting. However, the sensor can produce some rolling shutter, and for a few reasons, it’s not the best camera in low light. Check out our full verdict.

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Roku reveals a new subwoofer and a revamped Roku Express

The company also previewed more discovery features.

Roku’s new subwoofer, the Wireless Bass, costs $130. That’s $50 less than the Roku Wireless Bass Pro, and there are some compromises. It has one 5.25-inch subwoofer, compared with the Pro’s 10-inch subwoofer, and is front-firing instead of downward-firing. The Wireless Bass has less oomph as well, with 120W of peak power against the Wireless Bass Pro’s 250W. Roku also revealed a new version of its entry-level streaming media player, Roku Express. The latest model comes with dual-band WiFi, which will likely improve streaming performance. The $30 device streams video in 1080p quality, so you’ll need to consider other models if you want to watch TV and movies in 4K.

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Google may be giving up on Pixelbook laptops

A new Pixelbook was reportedly “far along in development.”

According to an internal memo reported by The Verge, Google is killing its Pixelbook laptop development. It has apparently “shut down” the team working on the next generation of the device. The move means Google is officially done making laptops after nearly a decade of experimenting with notebooks. Will this mean more resources devoted to the company’s big-screened version of Android?

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HBO and Apple TV+ win big at the Emmys

Last year Netflix grabbed the most Primetime Emmys with 10, but this year it was only third best behind Apple TV+ and HBO Max. The latter dominated last night’s proceedings with 12 awards, including five for The White Lotus, four for Succession (including Outstanding Drama Series) and one each for Euphoria, Hacks and Last Week Tonight.

Apple TV+, meanwhile took all four of its awards with Ted Lasso, including Outstanding Comedy Series, Lead Actor, Comedy (Jason Sudeikis), Support Actor, Comedy (Brett Goldstein) and Directing, Comedy (MJ Delany). Last year Lasso took seven primetime prizes.

Netflix’s most productive show was Korea’s Squid Game, which took two Primetime Emmys while showing off the streamer’s power as a global platform. It also took one award for Ozark, with Julia Garner taking the supporting actress prize. Meanwhile, Hulu took two awards with wins by Michael Keaton for Dopesick and Amanda Seyfried for The Dropout, while Prime Video nabbed a single award for Lizzo’s Watch Out for the Big Grrrls.

Nearly as notable were shows that were shut out. Those include AMC’s Better Call Saul and HBO hit Barry, which have both won Emmys in the past, Apple TV+’s Severance and Netflix’s Stranger Things, which had 17 nominations but only won three non-Primetime Emmys. As with last year, streaming platforms dominated the Emmys over linear TV, with the major networks taking just three Primetime Emmys combined.