Category: Technology

Earlier this year, Sony announced that God of War would be developed as an Amazon Video series, and since then, the latest installment Ragnarok has become a huge hit on PlayStation. Now, the series is officially a go and we’ve learned more about what will take place, according to The Hollywood Reporter. 

The series will follow the main character Kratos, The God of War, through roughly the events of the 2018 reboot based on Norse mythology. In that, he has quit his violent past and exiled himself to the Norse Midgard realm. 

“When his beloved wife dies,” Amazon’s description reads, “Kratos sets off on a dangerous journey with his estranged son to spread her ashes from the highest peak — his wife’s final wish. [The quest] will test the bonds between father and son, and force Kratos to battle new gods and monsters for the fate of the world.” 

The series will be produced by Sony Pictures Television and Amazon Studios in association with PlayStation Productions. The showrunner will be The Wheel of Time‘s Rafe Judkins, aided by Oscar nominees Mark Fergus and Hawk Ostby (Children of Men, Iron Man) who will take on writing and executive producing duties.

The original God of War series revolves around Greek mythology wrapped up in 2013 with God of War: Ascension (PS3). It rebooted with 2018’s Norse mythology-based God of War for PlayStation 4, which led to God of War Ragnarök, released last month to rave reviews.

Amazon is also producing a Fallout series for Prime that started production early this year and should be arriving soon. Other series based on high-profile games either released or coming soon include The Last of Us (HBO), Halo (Paramount) and Horizon Zero Dawn (Netflix). 

 

Back in August, Xiaomi showed us how to make a thinner horizontal folding phone with its Mix Fold 2, but now it’s Oppo’s turn to demonstrate how to make them lighter. The new Find N2 shares a similar landscape screen design with its predecessor, yet it weighs as little as 233 grams. That’s 42 grams lighter than before, around 30 grams lighter than the likes of Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold 4 and even a few grams lighter than an iPhone 14 Pro Max. Oppo therefore claims it’s new device is the “industry’s lightest horizontally folding phone.” Both the green and white versions of the Find N2 weigh an extra 4 grams due to their glass back, but still come in lighter than the competition.

Oppo uses a smaller second-generation flexion hinge, as well as its carbon fiber underframe (instead of aluminum) for its flexible screen. According to TÜV Rheinland’s certification, the Find N2 can apparently withstand over 400,000 folds under normal conditions (doubling Find N’s record), and over 100,000 folds at 50°C (122°F ) or down to -20°C (-4°F). The same company also gave a green tick to the phone’s 1.2-meter drop test. The battery is about the same size as before, bumping slightly up to 4,520mAh, but now supports faster 67W SuperVOOC charging, which takes 10 minutes to go from zero to 37 percent, or 42 minutes for a full charge.

This Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1-powered foldable phone has a slightly larger 5.54-inch external display, and while its 7.1-inch flexible screen has kept the same 9:8.4 “golden” aspect ratio (1,792 x 1,920), it apparently has a less visible crease along with improved visibility. To make full use of this big landscape screen, the company is also releasing the Oppo Pen, which supports 4,096 levels of pressure and has a battery life of 11 hours. You can also use the pen’s button as a camera remote, which comes in handy when you prop up the camera for “FlexForm Capture.”

Speaking of, the Find N2 has a new set of cameras that have benefitted from some extra help from Hasselblad. You’ll find a 50-megapixel f/1.8 main camera (24mm equivalent) with optical stabilization, a 48-megapixel f/2.2 ultra-wide camera (14mm equivalent) and a 32-megapixel f/2.2 telephoto camera (47mm equivalent) on the back. There’s also a 32-megapixel f/2.4 front-facing camera tucked into the top-left corner of the foldable screen. With Oppo’s very own MariSilicon X imaging neural processor, the Find N2 can also capture 4K ultra night video and 4K ultra HDR video.

Oppo also unveiled the Find N2 Flip which, as you can tell from the name, is a direct competitor of Samsung’s pocket-sized Galaxy Z Flip 4. The 3.26-inch external display here is apparently the “largest cover screen in any flip” device, which is handy for taking selfies, checking calendars and previewing messages. This device also packs the “biggest” battery in this form factor — 4,300mAh as opposed to Samsung’s 3,700mAh, along with 44W fast charging support. Chief Product Officer Pete Lau added that the Find N2 Flip supports dual SIM dual 5G standby, which is apparently also a first for a small foldable phone, thanks to the MediaTek Dimensity 9000+ processor. Like the Find N2, the 50-megapixel f/1.8 main camera, 8-megapixel f/2.2 ultra-wide camera and 32-megapixel f/2.4 front-facing camera all get the Hasselblad treatment.

The Find N2 comes in two price tiers: the 12GB RAM with 256GB storage model is asking for 7,999 yuan (around $1,150), and the more advanced 16GB RAM with 512GB storage version costs 8,999 yuan (around $1,290). As for the Find N2 Flip, it starts at 5,999 yuan ($860) with the 8GB RAM plus 256GB storage version, and it maxes out at 6,999 yuan ($1,000) with the 16GB RAM plus 512GB storage variant.

Both phones are available for pre-order in China today, ahead of the December 23rd launch for the Find N2 and then the December 30th launch for the Find N2 Flip. Oppo reps also told Engadget that the Flip will launch in international markets, but they are still evaluating whether to do the same with the bigger Find N2.

 

A NASA satellite launch is scheduled to take place today, but this isn’t any old project. The Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) satellite will track the vast majority of water on Earth for the first time. It will measure the depth of oceans, rivers and lakes to help scientists track how they change over time. SWOT will help scientists better understand how oceans absorb carbon and atmospheric heat, which can help to moderate climate change and global temperature changes.

Observations from SWOT should help to improve flood forecasts while bolstering models that are used to monitor droughts and predict rising sea levels. On top of that, the data that the satellite records will include details about ocean tides, currents and storm surges, as well as river water level measurements.

The satellite will use a radar-based system to survey water levels. The Ka-band Radar Interferometer (Karin) bounces signals off of two antennas on either side of SWOT. This, NASA said, will allow for a much larger view of Earth’s surface with high resolution and accuracy. SWOT should be able to measure large tracks of water across the planet in a relatively short period of time.

Scientists will be able to observe ocean features at 10 times the resolution of current tech. SWOT will be able to monitor almost every river that’s wider than 330 feet (100 meters) and north of a million lakes that are larger than 15 acres (62,500 square meters). All told, the satellite will survey water on 90 percent of the planet’s surface.

NASA jointly developed SWOT with French space agency Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales. They had help from the Canadian Space Agency and the UK Space Agency.

SWOT is scheduled to launch from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. Liftoff is targeted for 6:46AM ET and NASA’s launch coverage will get underway at 6AM. You can watch the livestream below:

 

The No TikTok on Government Devices Act that was introduced by Senator Josh Hawley (R-Missouri) has just crossed a major milestone. Members of the US Senate have unanimously voted to approve the bill, which will ban the TikTok app on all government-owned phones and other devices. Its approval emphasizes authorities’ concerns that the app’s China-based parent company ByteDance could share information gathered from US users with the Chinese government. Just last month, FBI Director Chris Wray warned lawmakers that the Chinese government could use TikTok to launch “influence operations” or to “technically compromise” millions of devices.

While the bill aims to prohibit the installation of TikTok on government devices, it carves out exceptions for “law enforcement activities, national security interests and activities, and security researchers,” according to Bloomberg. Hawley called the app a “Trojan Horse for the Chinese Communist Party” and said it has no place on government devices until it completely cuts ties with China. Meanwhile, TikTok spokesperson Brooke Oberwetter told Bloomberg that Hawley “has moved forward with… a proposal which does nothing to advance US national security interests.” Oberwetter added: “We hope that rather than continuing down that road, he will urge the administration to move forward on an agreement that would actually address his concerns.”

Just a few days ago, Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) and Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-WI) filed a separate bill that aims to ban TikTok in the US completely. Unlike Hawley’s bill, theirs also targets all social media companies in or influenced by China, Russia, Cuba, Iran, North Korea and Venezuela. Rubio criticized the administration for having “yet to take a single meaningful action to protect American users from the threat of TikTok.”

Individual states, including Maryland and South Dakota, have already prohibited the installation of TikTok on government devices. As for Hawley’s bill, the US House will still have to approve it before it can become a law. 

 

In November, as an example of his commitment to free speech, Elon Musk promised that he wouldn’t ban an account that tracked his private jet despite claiming it was a “direct personal safety risk.” Today, that account was suspended. Then restored. Then suspended again. It’s not yet clear what the future holds for @ElonJet, but its fate is probably tied to a new set of rules from Twitter Safety about how it handles accounts sharing location information for other people.

According to a series of tweets outlining the new policy, sharing the live location of another person is now prohibited unless it is related to a “public engagement or event,” like a concert or a political event. “When someone shares an individual’s live location on Twitter, there is an increased risk of physical harm,” the announcement reads. “Moving forward, we’ll remove Tweets that share this information, and accounts dedicated to sharing someone else’s live location will be suspended.” The thread goes on to clarify that these rules only apply to the location of “someone else.” You can still Tweet your own whereabouts.

Historical location information is allowed, however, so long as “a reasonable time has elapsed, so that the individual is no longer at risk for physical harm.” That part of the policy could leave room for an account like @Elonjet — and while the account was briefly restored this afternoon, at the time of this writing it is once again suspended, as are the personal accounts of Jack Sweeney, the college student who runs @Elonjet. Musk has also said that “legal action” would be taken against Sweeney and “organizations who supported harm to my family” following a recent incident with a stalker and the billionaire’s son. 

UPDATE 12/14 5:08PM: Added a statement from Elon Musk that legal action would be taken against Sweeney.

 

On Monday evening, Bahamian authorities arrested FTX founder and former CEO Sam Bankman-Fried at the request of the US government. The following morning, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Department of Justice (DOJ) and Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) filed formal civil and criminal charges against Bankman-Fried in “parallel actions.” It was a lot to take in all at once, so below Engadget has broken up current charges against SBF by agency, with some additional context provided.

Those indictments likely represent only the start of Bankman-Fried’s troubles. In addition to the charges it announced on Tuesday, the SEC said it was investigating Bankman-Fried for other securities violations. The agency also announced that it’s actively examining the actions of other FTX executives and employees. As more charges are unsealed, Engadget will continue to update this article.

Securities and Exchange Commission

The Securities and Exchange Commission accused SBF of defrauding FTX investors and customers of more than $1.9 billion. Starting as early as May 2019 until as recently as this past November, “Bankman-Fried was orchestrating a massive, years-long fraud, diverting billions of dollars of the trading platform’s customers funds for his own personal benefit and to help grow his crypto empire,” the SEC said.

All the while, Bankman-Fried portrayed himself as a responsible business leader building a safe trading platform with “sophisticated, automated measures to protect customer assets.” In reality, the SEC says, “Bankman-Fried orchestrated a fraud to conceal the diversion of customer funds to his privately-held crypto hedge fund, Alameda Research.”

Bankman-Fried told investors and customers FTX’s sister company was just another platform on the exchange with no special privileges to speak of. “These statements were false and misleading,” according to the SEC. Alameda had access to a “virtually unlimited ‘line of credit” unknowingly funded by FTX customers. In May 2022, when Alameda’s lenders demanded the firm repay loans worth billions of dollars, Bankman-Fried allegedly directed FTX to divert even more money to the hedge fund.

The SEC seeks to bar Bankman-Friend from trading securities in the future. The agency also wants to seize his ill-gotten gains and bar him from acting as an officer or director at another company.

Current FTX CEO John Ray III testified before the House Financial Services Committee on Tuesday — SBF had said he would attend the hearing before his arrest. Ray spoke to some of the allegations detailed by the SEC. “This is really old-fashioned embezzlement,” he told the panel. “We’ve lost $8 billion. I don’t trust a single piece of paper in this organization.”

Department of Justice

In addition to civil charges, Bankman-Fried faces a criminal indictment from the Justice Department. On Tuesday, prosecutors from the Southern District of New York filed eight charges against the former executive, including multiple counts of wire fraud. The Justice Department alleges SBF conspired with other individuals to defraud investors by sharing misleading information about FTX and Alameda’s financial condition. Prosecutors further accused him of attempting to commit commodities and securities fraud. On top of that, Bankman-Fried allegedly broke federal election laws by donating more than is legally allowed and in the names of other people.

SBF spoke about his political donations in a recent interview with journalist Tiffany Fong. “I donated to both parties. I donated about the same amount to both parties,” he said. “All my Republican donations were dark. The reason was not for regulatory reasons, it’s because reporters freak the fuck out if you donate to Republicans.”

It’s worth emphasizing how serious the criminal charges against Bankman-Fried are. For context, a federal judge recently sentenced Theranos founder and former CEO Elizabeth Holmes to 11 years in prison for defrauding the company’s investors and patients. Meanwhile, Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani, the startup’s former chief operating officer, was sentenced to nearly 13 years in prison for his role in the scheme. Sam Bankman-Fried stands accused of defrauding investors of almost $2 billion, or about twice what investors lost to Theranos.

Commodity Futures Trading Commission

Rounding out the current charges against Bankman-Fried, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission accused the former executive of using Alameda Research to “surreptitiously” siphon customer funds. “At Bankman-Fried’s direction, FTX executives created features in the underlying code for FTX that allowed Alameda to maintain an essentially unlimited line of credit on FTX,” the regulator alleges. It adds that Alameda had other “unfair” advantages, including an exemption from the platform’s auto-liquidation risk management process.

As early as May 2019, SBF and “at least one” other Alameda executive directed the firm to use FTX customer funds to trade on competing platforms and buy “high-risk” digital assets. Additionally, the CFTC alleges that Bankman-Fried and his cohorts “took hundreds of millions of dollars in poorly-documented ‘loans’ from Alameda,” which they then used to purchase real estate and make political donations.

For his actions, the CFTC is seeking to ban Bankman-Fried from trading derivatives and impose civil penalties against him. It also wants to bar him from acting as a director or officer in the future.

 

New York City Uber drivers won’t get a raise before the holidays after all. On Tuesday evening, a Manhattan Supreme Court justice granted Uber’s request for a temporary restraining order on drivers’ rate hikes scheduled to go into effect on December 19th. New York City’s Taxi and Limousine Commission (TLC) voted on the pay raise in November.

As part of the TLC’s new rules, Uber drivers’ per-minute rates would go up by 7.18 percent, and per-mile rates would increase by 16.11 percent. So, for example, a 7.5-mile trip taking 30 minutes would earn a driver at least $27.15 — $2.50 higher than the current rate. An inflation-based pay raise is also scheduled for March 2023.

Uber’s lawsuit suggests it would pass the extra costs onto riders while framing the worker raise as bad for business. It also claims the TLC’s hikes use flimsy calculations to lock in temporarily inflated gas prices. “Such a significant fare hike, right before the holidays, would irreparably damage Uber’s reputation, impair goodwill and risk permanent loss of business and customers,” the lawsuit said. In its response, TLC acknowledged that Uber charges 37 percent more today than in 2019, but it said the company is keeping money earned from fare hikes to itself rather than passing it on to drivers.

“This is a nasty stunt for Uber to pull on its drivers — especially right before the holidays. Even this would make Scrooge blush,” said Brendan Sexton, President of the Independent Drivers Guild, a Machinists Union affiliate representing the drivers. “While Uber has been recording record profits on its rideshare business, the drivers who make the service work have been stuck shouldering soaring expenses on their own. We fought hard to win this desperately needed increase to the minimum pay — and we will not let a billion dollar corporation snatch that victory from the 80,000 rideshare drivers who keep our city moving.”

The parties are due back in court on January 31st.

 

Epic Games is shutting down “out-of-date online services” and servers for several of its older games, including multiple Rock Band and Unreal titles, starting today. The company notes that most affected games will still be available offline, but others will no longer work. It says the move is part of a shift that will only see it support online functions through Epic Online Services, which offers a unified friends system, voice chat, parental controls and parental verification.

Epic is removing the mobile title DropMix and the Mac and Linux versions of Hatoful Boyfriend and Hatoful Boyfriend: Holiday Star from storefronts today. You’ll still be able to play these games if you already own them.

Servers for several games will be shut down on January 24th, but Epic has already started delisting them from digital storefronts and turning off in-game purchases. After that date, you’ll still be able to play the following offline in single or local multiplayer modes:

1000 Tiny Claws

Dance Central 1-3

Green Day: Rock Band

Monsters (Probably) Stole My Princess

Rock Band 1-3

The Beatles: Rock Band

Supersonic Acrobatic Rocket-Powered Battle-Cars

Unreal Gold

Unreal II: The Awakening

Unreal Tournament 2003

Unreal Tournament 2004

Unreal Tournament 3

Unreal Tournament: Game of the Year Edition

Dance Central VR and Rock Band 4 online multiplayer features will remain available. Epic also plans to restore online features to Unreal Tournament 3 down the line. It will integrate Epic Online Services into the game.

Battle Breakers, a hero collector RPG that a small team of Epic developers built inhouse and released in 2019, will shut down on December 30th. Epic will refund all in-game purchases made through its direct payment system in the 180 days before today. As of January 24th, the alpha of the Unreal Tournament reboot, Rock Band Blitz, the Rock Band companion app and SingSpace will no longer be available.

It’s unclear how many people are still playing the Unreal Tournament and Rock Band titles but at their peaks, they were among the biggest franchises around. It’s a shame to see Epic sunsetting these games and all the others on the list. Still, if you happen to have a Rock Band guitar or drum set gathering dust, this may at least be a decent reminder to bust those out and play along to “I Want to Hold Your Hand” or “Basket Case.”

Meanwhile, Rock Band developer Harmonix, which Epic bought last year, recently announced that its most recent game, Fuser, will go offline. The studio will also stop selling the game and in-game purchases on December 19th.

 

Two years after Super Nintendo World’s opening in Osaka, Japan, its first American counterpart will arrive at Universal Studios Hollywood. Like the Japanese version, Hollywood’s Super Nintendo World is less of a self-contained theme park and more of a new area at Universal Studios. Roughly coinciding with the release of The Super Mario Bros. Movie, the California “theme land” will open on February 17th, 2023.

Mario Kart: Bowser’s Challenge is the centerpiece attraction, an augmented reality-powered go-kart simulator inspired by Nintendo’s racing franchise. Attendees wear AR visors displaying an alternate digital world with fantastical racetracks, Koopa shells and familiar competitors, who you blast using your steering wheel trigger. Unfortunately, although Nintendo and Universal believe the attraction includes enough variety to invite repeat visits, it’s Super Nintendo World’s only proper ride at launch. (The Japan park only has one other ride, a slower-paced Yoshi adventure, which hasn’t been announced for the US.)

Beyond AR Mario Kart, the park invites you stimulate your senses and spend money. You can buy a Power-Up Band, which helps families keep score and unlock “extra-special interactions” with question-mark blocks and costumed characters. Additionally, if the ride’s AR visor wasn’t enough, you can pick up a pair of interactive binoculars to “discover a new dimension of Super Nintendo World.” You can buy lunch at Toadstool Cafe, where Chef Toad serves delicacies like Toadstool Cheesy Garlic Knots, Piranha Plant Caprese and the Mario Bacon Cheeseburger. And, of course, there’s the 1-Up Factory, a retail shop selling character hats and plush dolls.

Super Nintendo World is a collaboration between Nintendo and Universal Creative. Mario creator and Nintendo visionary Shigeru Miyamoto was instrumental in designing and constructing the original Japan park, which its Hollywood sibling largely mirrors. A second US park is in the works for Universal Studios Florida, which will open sometime down the road.

 

US Senators Elizabeth Warren and Roger Marshall have introduced a bipartisan bill designed to crack down on illegal uses of cryptocurrency. If passed, The Digital Asset Anti-Money Laundering Act would extend aspects of the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA), a Nixon-era law Congress passed to combat money laundering, to cover crypto entities such as wallet providers and miners. Specifically, the new legislation would apply so-called “Know-Your-Customer” rules to those entities by directing the Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) to treat them as money service businesses. Another BSA expansion would require US citizens to file a report with the Internal Revenue Service whenever they engage in transactions that involve more than $10,000 in digital assets.

Additionally, the legislation would direct FinCEN to implement a rule the agency proposed at the end of 2020 that would require financial institutions to report transactions involving “unhosted” digital wallets. Per CoinDesk, those are wallets where the user has complete control over the contents — rather than an exchange or other third party. The legislation would also prohibit financial institutions from using or transacting with digital asset mixers, which are frequently used to obscure the origin of funds.

“Rogue nations, oligarchs, drug lords, and human traffickers are using digital assets to launder billions in stolen funds, evade sanctions, and finance terrorism,” said Senator Warren. “The crypto industry should follow common-sense rules like banks, brokers, and Western Union, and this legislation would ensure the same standards apply across similar financial transactions. The bipartisan bill will help close crypto money laundering loopholes and strengthen enforcement to better safeguard US national security.”

The push from Senators Warren and Marshall to crack down on crypto money laundering comes a day after the Department of Justice, Securities and Exchange Commission and Commodity Futures Trading Commission announced civil and criminal charges against FTX founder and former CEO Sam Bankman-Fried. Due to time constraints, the likelihood of the bill passing in the current lame-duck session is low. Warren and Marshall will almost certainly need to reintroduce it next year.