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Federal agents have tracked and seized over half of the $4.4 million ransom paid by Colonial Pipeline to the cybercriminal gang DarkSide following May’s cyberattack, the U.S. Justice Department announced Monday. At a press conference, Deputy Attorney General Lisa O. Monaco said that the operation was coordinated with the help of the Justice Department’s newly…
The ongoing crackdown on cryptocurrency throughout China took one step further over the weekend, with popular social media site Sina Weibo terminating a number of major crypto accounts. Sina Weibo, which is often compared to Twitter, is by far China’s largest social network and is heavily monitored by state authorities that censor information that the…
Google was fined a hefty 220 million euros (or roughly $268 million) on Monday after France’s competition authority found the company abusing its outsized role in the world of digital advertising. These fines come following a massive investigation from France’s Competition Authority (the Autorité de la concurrence) after multiple media companies from the EU and…
It wouldn’t be an Apple event without a nod to the company’s pro-privacy stance. As part of its annual Worldwide Developer’s Conference (WWDC) keynote this year, the company announced somemajor privacy upgrades that will come with iOS 15 and iCloud—here are some of the biggest. A More Private Inbox First up is Mail Privacy Protection,…
Apple’s new macOS got a new California-inspired name at WWDC on Monday. That was to be expected. But it still had some surprises in store for us with a lot of quality of life improvements and at least one big new feature. Shiny New Name Say hello to Monterey, everyone. Or, at least wait a…
As part of its Worldwide Developers Conference keynote, Apple announced it’s finally opening up its Siri digital assistant to work with third-party smart home devices. The news came as part of a batch of new features for the smart home, including a new ability to watch TV with friends and a way to use an…
The FBI announced Saturday it had withdrawn a subpoena seeking to identify readers of a USA Today story concerning a Florida shooting that left two of its agents dead. The decision to do so, however, is purportedly unrelated to allegations raised in court last week by USA Today’s publisher, which accused the FBI of violating…
The best part of Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference is getting a sneak peek into all the new features Apple’s got planned for its product lineup. In the case of the Apple Watch, today’s keynote gave us a look at all the updates coming later this fall—and maybe a few hints at what Apple’s got in…
Apple’s decision to spin off a separate version of iOS for the iPad (and to stick its M1 processor inside the devices) makes even more sense with the arrival of iPadOS 15. Apple’s iPad software upgrade continues to push the tablets from being just media consumption devices to serviceable laptop replacements with improved multi-tasking, more…
Say goodbye to the endless stream of notifications taking over your phone.
For the second year in a row, Apple’s annual Worldwide Developers Conference keynote will be all virtual. And while we miss the rush of a swarm of developers and journalists swarming Cupertino, that won’t stop us from liveblogging the hell out of this keynote from the comfort of our couches. This year, we’re expecting things…
The new Locked Folder in Google Photos, which the company debuted at its developer conference last month, is officially rolling out today. It’s part of the latest feature drop for Pixel users, which includes a new way to take a video of the night sky, plus better copy and paste in Gboard and a Digital…
HBO Max just debuted a more affordable pricing tier with ads, and now Paramount+ is following suit with a new Essential plan that starts at just $5 per month. The launch of the Paramount+ low-cost tier comes alongside a new slate of content for summer, with the first batch of 1,000 new films slated to…
For the past month, Blue Origin has been auctioning off a ride to space. Previously billed as just an open “seat” on a “crewed trip.” Now, Jeff Bezos has slipped a little detail in the mix: he and his brother Mark will be coming. You would have thought they would have mentioned that earlier? Would…
There are only two things we absolutely know for sure about WWDC21. The first is that the all-virtual developer’s conference will kick off June 7, at 10 a.m. PDT/1 p.m. EDT. The second is we’ll hear what the company’s got in store for the latest versions of iOS, macOS, and its other software platforms. So…
You could argue that every second spent discussing humans colonizing the solar system is a second not spent salvaging what we have here on Earth and is thereby a concession to nihilism, laziness, and the worst, most craven elements of our public life. But what about living the sea? Same deal, I suppose, but still, it’s…
If you’ve invested in a decent gaming PC, you’ll probably want to capture and share some of the highs and lows of your gaming exploits. If you haven’t gotten started yet, we’re here to introduce a few of the best software options available to you right now. And software is really all you need. Unless…
It appears that not just anyone will be able to make bank for the time they spend on Twitter. If you’re looking to get people to pay you for your “exclusive” Twitter content and become your Super Followers, you might have to meet a certain set of criteria and fill out an application. App researcher…
One day after it banned Twitter, Nigeria announced that authorities would arrest and prosecute users who attempted to use the social network, whose app and website were still available to some in the country on Saturday despite the ban. A spokesman for Abubakar Malami, Nigeria’s attorney general and minister of justice, revealed the government’s new…
El Salvador may soon become the first sovereign nation in the world to adopt bitcoin as a legal tender, Salvadorian President Nayib Bukele announced Saturday. “Next week I will send to Congress a bill that will make bitcoin a legal tender in El Salvador,” he said in a video broadcast at the Bitcoin 2021 conference…
