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The threat actors who infiltrated News Corp., the company that owns The Wall Street Journal and other news outlets, apparently had access to its network for two full years. In February last year, News Corp. admitted that it had discovered a security breach a month earlier and that hackers broke into a third-party cloud service that contained employees’ information. Now, according to Ars Technica, the company has sent a breach notification letter (PDF) to at least one affected personnel. In it, the company has admitted that “an unauthorized party” gained access to business documents and emails in some employees’ accounts between February 2020 and January 2022.

When News Corp. announced the breach, the security firm (Mandiant) that investigated the intrusion said it believes the threat actor was connected to the Chinese government. Further, it said the company was most likely attacked to gather intelligence for the country. In an email to Ars, a representative said News Corp. continues to believe “that this was an intelligence collection,” but didn’t respond to a question asking if investigators still think the hackers were linked to China. 

The company has revealed in the letter, though, that the bad actors may have gotten a hold of employees’ names, birth dates, Social Security number, driver’s license and passport numbers, as well as their financial, medical and heath insurance information. “Not all of this information was impacted for each affected individual,” it added. News Corp. said that it hasn’t heard any incidents of identity theft or fraud resulting from the security breach so far, but it’s offering affected employees two years of identity protection and credit monitoring. 

“Our investigation indicates that this activity does not appear to be focused on exploiting personal information,” News Corp. wrote in its letter. However, it didn’t reveal that details of the documents and emails the threat actors were able to access, and it didn’t say if they were specifically looking for information connected to the company’s reporting. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/news-corp-hackers-access-two-years-095301729.html?src=rss 

Meta has shared its latest augmented and virtual reality hardware roadmap with employees, and according to The Verge, it’s planning to launch its first full-fledged AR glasses in 2027. While the company intends to release other AR glasses before then, the device it’s launching in four years’ time is the same one Mark Zuckerberg believes could become Meta’s “iPhone moment.” That is, he thinks it could shake up the industry and could become as popular as the iPhone. 

The glasses will reportedly have the capability to project avatars as high-quality holograms superimposed on top of the real world — they’re also expected to be quite expensive. Employees will get the chance to take first crack at testing the device in 2024 before it makes its way to the public as Meta’s “Innovation” line of advanced smart glasses for the earliest adopters. 

The company also discussed the other AR and VR devices it’s launching before its full-fledged AR glasses are ready, The Verge says. This fall, it’s apparently releasing a follow-up to Ray-Ban Stories, which it developed in partnership with Luxottica. The Quest 3 headset, which is expected to be twice as thin and as powerful as the Quest 2, will also be available later this year. In 2024, Meta also plans to launch a VR headset codenamed “Ventura,” which it intends to sell “at the most attractive price point in the VR consumer market.” 

A year after that, in 2025, Meta plans to launch the third-generation Ray-Ban Stories. It will feature a display called the “viewfinder” designed to view incoming texts, scan QR codes and translate messages to other languages in real time. Users will reportedly be able to control the glasses with hand movements and will eventually be able to type messages using a virtual keyboard. In addition, Meta is developing a smartwatch to go with these particular glasses.

Meta isn’t the only big technology company with plans to launch AR and VR glasses and headsets over the next few years. Apple is believed to be debuting its long-awaited mixed reality headset at WWDC in June. It’s expected to have advanced features, such as dual 4K displays and controller-free input, and to cost as much as $3,000. However, reports suggest that Apple is working on a cheaper version that more people will be able to afford.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/meta-first-true-ar-glasses-2027-060946419.html?src=rss 

Twitter is once again tightening its rules around what users are permitted to say on the platform. The company introduced an updated “violent speech” policy, which contains some notable additions compared with previous versions of the rules.

Interestingly, the new policy prohibits users from expressing “wishes of harm” and similar sentiments. “This includes (but is not limited to) hoping for others to die, suffer illnesses, tragic incidents, or experience other physically harmful consequences,” the rules state. That’s a reversal from Twitter’s previous policy, which explicitly said that “statements that express a wish or hope that someone experiences physical harm” were not against the company’s rules.

“Statements that express a wish or hope that someone experiences physical harm, making vague or indirect threats, or threatening actions that are unlikely to cause serious or lasting injury are not actionable under this policy,” Twitter’s previous policy stated, according to the Wayback Machine.

That change isn’t the only addition to the policy. Twitter’s rules now also explicitly protects “infrastructure that is essential to daily, civic, or business activities” from threats of damage. From the rules:

You may not threaten to inflict physical harm on others, which includes (but is not limited to) threatening to kill, torture, sexually assault, or otherwise hurt someone. This also includes threatening to damage civilian homes and shelters, or infrastructure that is essential to daily, civic, or business activities.

These may not seem like particularly eyebrow-raising changes, but they are notable given Elon Musk’s previous statements about how speech should be handled on Twitter. Prior to taking over the company, the Tesla CEO stated that his preference would be to allow all speech that is legal. “I think we would want to err on the side of, if in doubt, let the speech exist,” he said at the time.

It’s also not the first time Twitter’s rules have become more restrictive since Musk’s takeover. The company’s rules around doxxing changed following his dustup with the (now suspended) @elonjet account, which shared the whereabouts of Musk’s private jet.

Twitter didn’t explain its rationale for the changes, but noted in a series of tweets that it may suspend accounts breaking the rules or force them to delete the tweets in question. The company no longer has a communications team to respond to requests for comment.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/twitter-updates-violent-speech-policy-to-ban-wishes-of-harm-214320985.html?src=rss 

The Super Mario Bros. Movie is bumping up its release date. The animated adventure will now open on April 5th in over 60 markets (it was previously slated for April 7th). Giving the movie a five-day opening over Easter weekend is an old Hollywood trick that could help pad its initial earnings and lead to marketing-friendly headlines touting its early success.

The film stars the voices of Chris Pratt as Mario, Anya Taylor-Joy as Princess Peach, Chris Day as Luigi, Seth Rogen as Donkey Kong and Jack Black as Bowser. It was initially scheduled to release in December, but Illumination and Nintendo announced early last year they were pushing it back to this April. Throughout April and May, the movie will release in ten additional Southeast Asian, Middle Eastern and Eastern European markets; Japan’s release is timed to coincide with the Golden Week Holidays on April 28th.

The movie will mark Mario’s first big-screen starring role since 1993’s ill-fated Super Mario Bros., starring Bob Hoskins as Mario and John Leguizamo as Luigi, which bombed at the box office but became something of a “so bad it’s good” cult classic in later years. Before that, children of the late 80s and early 90s enjoyed The Super Mario Bros. Super Show!, a live-action / animated series starring Captain Lou Albano and Danny Wells.

The upcoming Mario film could be a barometer for audiences’ appetites for video game movies. Hollywood adaptations of gaming IPs have a long track record of (rightfully) bombing with box offices and critics. Still, HBO’s excellent The Last of Us series has been a notable exception that Nintendo and Illumination would love to continue on the big screen.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-super-mario-bros-movie-will-arrive-in-theaters-two-days-early-194505444.html?src=rss 

Google announced that it’s rolling out Pixel Watch fall detection starting today. Like the Apple Watch feature of the same name launched in 2018, Google’s version also uses motion sensors and algorithms to determine if you’ve fallen and need help. However, Google says it won’t accidentally call emergency services for winter sports accidents, as the Apple Watch’s crash detection has done.

If the Pixel Watch detects a possible fall and a lack of movement for about 30 seconds, it will vibrate, emit an alarm and display an onscreen message checking on you. If it wasn’t a bad fall, tap the “I’m OK” button to dismiss the alert; tap “I fell & need help” if you want it to call 911. Otherwise, the sound will continue for about a minute and grow louder in its final seconds. If you still haven’t responded to the alert by then, it will contact emergency services automatically, playing them an automated message requesting help at your location. (You’ll also have the option of speaking to the 911 operator from the watch.)

You can activate the feature on the “Updates” page in the Watch Companion app on your paired phone or in the Pixel Watch’s Personal Safety app.

Google says its fall detection should avoid false positives. “Worried that doing burpees or hitting the ski slopes will trigger an accidental emergency call?” Google wrote in its announcement post. “Your Pixel Watch knows the difference between taking a hard fall and performing a vigorous physical activity or even quickly recovering from a small stumble — thanks to our machine learning algorithms and rigorous testing. The motion sensors and algorithms can monitor for a sudden impact and your body’s responses and instinctive reactions to falling. We trained this process using a broad variety of human and simulated fall data and other motion patterns to accurately detect real falls and minimize potential false alarms.”

Google adds that you can supply data to help it improve the feature by toggling the “Help improve fall detection” option. This will send the company motion-sensor data of any events detected as falls.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/googles-pixel-watch-gets-fall-detection-starting-today-204521485.html?src=rss 

When President Joe Biden signed the CHIPS and Science Act into law in 2022, it put $52 billion in tax credits and funding on the table to help bolster the semiconductor industry in the US, with $39 billion specifically earmarked for semiconductor manufacturing incentives. Now, we’re starting to see how that initiative is going to play out: The Biden Administration has officially launched the first CHIPS for America funding opportunity, laying out the application process for “projects to construct, expand or modernize commercial facilities for the production of leading-edge, current-generation and mature-node semiconductors.”

The “first” in first funding opportunity is the key word here: At the start, CHIPS for America is specifically looking to fund projects that align with the program’s “vision for success” that seeks to have a number of leading-edge logic fabrication facilities and DRAM chip manufacturers by the end of the decade, as well as hitting specific production capacity goals for “current-generation and mature-node” semiconductors. The program plans to offer more funding opportunities for R&D and manufacturing equipment facilities at a later date. Applications for those programs won’t launch until late Spring and Fall of 2023, but the CHIPS Program Office is open to receiving statements of interest from hopeful applicants.

The program also includes strict guardrails for how funding is used. Applicants who are awarded CHIPS funding will be prohibited from using the payments for stock buybacks or to pay out dividends, and payments will be tied to meeting specific milestones. It’ll be awhile before the first recipients of CHIPS funding are announced, but hopeful projects can begin submitting applications on March 31, 2023. Want all the details? Check out the full CHIPS for America announcement right here.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/white-houses-39-billion-in-chip-manufacturing-incentives-are-now-up-for-grabs-210717317.html?src=rss 

Tesla’s Investor Day isn’t here quite yet, but we may already know one of the company’s biggest announcements. According to Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, Elon Musk has promised to build the automaker’s next gigafactory in northern Mexico — specifically in Monterrey, the capitol of the northern state of Nuevo Leon. It’s a deal that’s been in the works for some time: Late last year, Musk visited Nuevo Leon to meet with the Governor of the region.

Even so, there were some questions about if Tesla could get approval to build in the area — after Monterrey suffered severe water shortages in 2022, President López Obrador said the government would not grant permits for water-hungry factories. After a series of phone calls with Elon Musk, Tesla was granted an exception. “There is one commitment that all the water used in the manufacture of electric automobiles will be recycled water,” López Obrador said of the call, adding that the factory would also represent “a considerable investment and many, many jobs.”

As for what Tesla plans to build in Monterrey, Mexico? We’ll have to wait a day to find out. The Mexican President wasn’t clear on exactly what the new factory would be producing, though it’s worth noting that Tesla has already announced a massive expansion of its facility in Reno, Nevada, where it’s investing $3.6 billion to build a battery factory and mass produce the Telsa Semi truck. López Obrador noted that we can expect to hear more details on Wednesday, March 1st — and hey, that’s Tesla Investor day.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/tesla-selects-monterrey-mexico-as-the-site-of-its-next-gigafactory-192534657.html?src=rss 

Nishad Singh, a co-founder of collapsed cryptocurrency exchange FTX, has pleaded guilty to US federal fraud and conspiracy charges. Singh, who was FTX’s director of engineering, is the third member of Sam Bankman-Fried’s inner circle to agree to cooperate with prosecutors in the case against him. Former executives Caroline Ellison and Zixiao “Gary” Wang previously pleaded guilty to fraud charges.

Singh pleaded guilty to six criminal counts, including wire fraud and conspiracy to defraud the US by violating campaign finance laws. He agreed to forfeit the proceeds of his actions, as Reuters reports. Bankruptcy filings showed that Singh received a $543 million loan from Alameda.

Singh admitted to making illegal donations to political candidates and PACs under his name using funds from Alameda Research (FTX’s sibling hedge fund and crypto trading firm). He claimed the donations were intended to bolster the political influence of FTX and Bankman-Fried (aka SBF), according to The Wall Street Journal. Singh added that he agreed with the stances of those he donated to but didn’t pick the candidates. Per OpenSecrets, he contributed $8 million to Democratic PACs and campaigns during the 2022 election cycle.

Moreover, Singh said he found out in mid-2022 that Alameda was borrowing billions of dollars in customer funds from FTX. It emerged by September that Alameda wasn’t able to repay those funds. Singh additionally claimed that he falsified FTX’s revenues at SBF’s behest to make the company more palatable to investors.

SBF now faces 12 criminal charges after an indictment detailing four additional ones was unsealed last week. Among other things, he has been accused of stealing billions of dollars in FTX customer funds and misleading investors and lenders. Notably, in light of Singh’s plea, the charges include alleged violations of federal campaign finance laws by donating to a super PAC under the names of two executives. SBF, who was arrested and extradited from the Bahamas in December, has pleaded not guilty to the charges. His trial is set for October.

On the same day Singh made his guilty plea, the Securities and Exchange Commission and Commodity Futures Trading Commission filed civil complaints against him. The agencies said Singh is cooperating with the SEC’s ongoing investigation and that he agreed to settle with the CFTC.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ftx-co-founder-nishad-singh-pleads-guilty-to-fraud-and-conspiracy-charges-192939749.html?src=rss 

Apple released the latest refreshes to its MacBook Pro laptops just last month, but a new deal has brought the 14-inch model down to $1,799 at Amazon and B&H. That’s $150 off this configuration’s typical going rate on Amazon, $200 off Apple’s MSRP and the largest discount we’ve seen to date. B&H’s listing says the deal is only scheduled to last through Tuesday. Note that only the Space Gray model is discounted.

This deal applies to the entry-level 14-inch model, which includes a new M2 Pro chip with a 10-core CPU and 16-core GPU, 16GB of RAM and 512GB of SSD storage. The 14.2-inch Mini-LED display has a resolution of 3,024 x 1,964 and supports refresh rates up to 120Hz for smoother scrolling. There’s a 1080p webcam inside an iPhone-style display notch, plus three Thunderbolt 4 USB-C ports, an HDMI 2.1 port, a full-sized SD card slot, a MagSafe connector for charging and a headphone jack.

We gave the latest 14-inch MacBook Pro a review score of 92 back in January. Although that review was based on a higher-power configuration than this discounted model, the general benefits are the same here. The new MacBook Pro is essentially just a speed bump, but it remains a fast and sturdily-built notebook for power users. Its display is still superb, its keyboard and trackpad are still comfortable, its speakers are still top-notch and its battery life can still genuinely last beyond a full work day. On the flip side, the whole thing is still expensive (even with this discount) and hardly upgradeable, but that’s a familiar story for Macs. This entry-level model also comes with a 67W charger, while the more expensive configurations include a faster 96W adapter in the box.

The one major upgrade here is the new chip. To be clear, this variant of the M2 Pro isn’t worth the upgrade for most owners of the prior MacBook Pro, and its graphics performance is still clearly behind the M2 Max chip available in the pricier Pro models. Because of the way its NAND chips are configured, this entry-level model’s storage performance is technically slower than the last entry-level 14-inch Pro as well. 

That said, this is still a powerful notebook. Any storage drop-off isn’t likely to be noticeable the vast majority of the time, and the CPU and GPU performance here is still a nice jump for most looking to upgrade from an older Intel-based Pro. While the M2 MacBook Air is the better buy for most people in need of a general-purpose laptop, the 14-inch MacBook Pro is a great choice for those willing to pay for more performance, and this deal makes it at least a little more affordable. 

Follow @EngadgetDeals on Twitter and subscribe to the Engadget Deals newsletter for the latest tech deals and buying advice.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/apple-2023-macbook-pro-with-m2-pro-is-200-off-right-now-164333083.html?src=rss 

Now that IO Interactive (IOI) has wrapped up Hitman: World of Assassination, it’s moving on to the next logical step: a James Bond game. But the studio is also moving in a more surprising direction, as it announced today that it’s making an online fantasy RPG. “This idea — that a diverse group of individuals with different skills and strengths can work together and become more than the sum of their parts — is what inspires us,” the studio wrote in a blog post.

Of course, IOI didn’t go into much detail about the project, which it describes as “just the start of our journey into this new world we are making.” However, it did say memories of tabletop fantasy RPGs influenced the decision. “From the Fighting Fantasy books compelling you to choose your path, alone, against wizards, lizards, and thief kings. To the togetherness, camaraderie, agony, and delight found around the tabletop. For some it meant taking the role of a game master: Part storyteller, part AI opponent, part guide, part villain. For everyone around that table it meant creativity, imagination, building a world together, and a shared goal in creating a great game experience.”

The indie studio says the game will be a new IP designed to “entertain players and expand for many years to come.” It says all of its studios, including locations in Copenhagen, Malmö and Barcelona, will work together on the project.

IOI will develop the RPG alongside its upcoming James Bond game, codenamed “Project 007,” which it’s working on with license holders MGM and Eon Productions. It seems a natural fit for the studio, as it could take the beloved core Hitman gameplay, create a new story with new maps, add a James Bond coat of paint and have a game many people would love to play. (It could change its formula more than that, but it won’t need a radical departure.) IOI has said its title would be its own Bond story that won’t use the likenesses of any established Bond actors; the studio even said it could become another spy trilogy. The title doesn’t yet have a release date.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/hitman-studio-io-interactive-is-making-a-fantasy-rpg-game-165722089.html?src=rss