Category Archives: Blog

Documents at the heart of an important debate in the upcoming UK general election may have leaked from Russia, according to Reddit.

The online message board said on Friday that the leaked details of a possible trade agreement between the UK and U.S. governments may have come from a Russian campaign dubbed “Secondary Infektion.” Reddit noted that the leaks, which originated in October, bore several similarities to what Secondary Infektion had done on Facebook previously.

Reuters originally reported the link between Secondary Infektion and the Reddit leaks. It’s not confirmed that there is a connection between the leaks and the Russian government, nor have either the UK or U.S. governments disputed or confirmed the legitimacy of the documents.  Read more…

More about Uk, Reddit, Uk Politics, Uk Elections, and Russian Hack

Fortnite is going to make the long wait for the next Star Wars just a little bit easier.

Fans have noticed that posters appearing inside the game’s Battle Royale map are now hyping a Dec. 14 event that will treat players to an “exclusive scene premiere” from Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. It will even feature an appearance (presumably an introduction) from director J.J. Abrams.

According to the posters, the event is set to kick off on Dec. 14 at 1:30 p.m. ET, with the “show” starting at 2:00 p.m. ET. It’ll be happening at Risky Reels, a decrepit drive-in movie theater situated just to the west of Frenzy Farm. You can spot the poster in various locations around the map. Read more…

More about Star Wars, Fortnite, Star Wars The Rise Of Skywalker, Entertainment, and Star Wars

Try explaining any of this to your grandkids in 50 years.

In recent days, the internet started working off all that Thanksgiving food by hollering about a deeply unsettling TV ad for Peloton’s luxury exercise bikes. A new ad featuring the same actress emerged on Friday and went viral, thanks to Ryan Reynolds of all people.

In the ad for Aviation Gin, actress Monica Ruiz gives a dead-eyed stare at a bar for several seconds before declaring that the gin she’s drinking is “very smooth.” Her two friends try to console her by telling her she’s “safe now,” before they all toast to “new beginnings” and down some martinis.  Read more…

More about Advertising, Ryan Reynolds, Gin, Peloton, and Peloton Wife

Elon Musk, “pedo guy.”

While the CEO of Tesla, SpaceX, and the Boring Company has decidedly not been accused of anything that would merit the rather distasteful moniker, Musk did just win a defamation trial about his calling someone else a “pedo guy” on Twitter. And, in celebration of that fact, the internet is returning the favor. 

Immediately following the ruling, “fans” of Mr. Musk shared in his joyous victory by calling the CEO a “pedo guy” on Twitter. 

More about Elon Musk, Tech, and Elon Musk

The president made a bizarre claim that people flush their toilets “10 times, 15 times” per visit, and now the internet is concerned about his digestive system. 

During an event with small business owners on Friday, Trump complained that in homes with low water pressure, showers, sinks, and toilets don’t work. Among discussions of other regulations he wants to roll back, he said he ordered a federal review of water efficiency in bathroom appliances. He particularly had issues with environmentally friendly low-flow toilets. 

“You turn on the faucet, you don’t get any water. They take a shower and water comes dripping out,” he said in a video clip from the event. “People are flushing toilets 10 times, 15 times, as opposed to only once. They end up using more water.” Read more…

More about Twitter Reactions, Trump, Epa, Culture, and Web Culture

I knew my mission was dangerous, but I didn’t think it would go sideways so quickly. 

The plan, outlined by a hologram of the Resistance’s resident Force-wielder Rey, was to fly off the planet of Batuu and rendezvous at our secret new base. Nobody knew that the First Order was expecting our egress from Black Spire Outpost or that the Star Destroyer was lurking in orbit, ready to trap our shuttle in a tractor beam. Those intelligence failures could turn out to be fatal mistakes.

“You are now prisoners of the First Order,” a uniformed officer barks at my rebel companions, “proceed to your cell for interrogation.” I look around, thinking about making a run for it, but an entire legion of Stormtroopers is standing at the ready, waiting to put a blaster bolt through anyone unwise enough to defy their detention. I know there’s a way out of this, but I certainly can’t see it yet. As the First Order marches me through the Star Destroyer and seals me in the dark interrogation chamber, a thought hits me: I’m not even on the ride yet.  Read more…

More about Star Wars, Disney World, Star Wars Galaxy S Edge, Star Wars Rise Of The Resistance, and Entertainment

More about Tesla, Pedo Guy Trial, Tech, and Elon Musk

Microsoft has discovered 44 million user accounts are using usernames and passwords that have been leaked through security breaches.

As ZDNet reports, the vulnerable account logins were discovered when Microsoft’s threat research team carried out a scan of all Microsoft accounts between January and March this year. The accounts were compared to a database of over three billion sets of leaked credentials and resulted in 44 million matches.

These accounts were spread between regular user accounts used by consumers (Microsoft Services Accounts) and enterprise accounts in the form of Microsoft Azure AD logins. In response, Microsoft explained, “For the leaked credentials for which we found a match, we force a password reset. No additional action is required on the consumer side … On the enterprise side, Microsoft will elevate the user risk and alert the administrator so that a credential reset can be enforced.” Read more…

More about Microsoft, Passwords, Data Breach, Tech, and Cybersecurity

On the whole, games almost always tell stories of people with power.

That doesn’t mean that protagonists don’t start off weak (like Link in Legend of Zelda or really any RPG), or aren’t presented as powerless. But as a general rule, video game narratives are power fantasies, requiring main characters to grow increasingly badass through inhuman strength, abilities, or literal superpowers.

One of the many boundary-pushing accomplishments that sets apart Life is Strange 2 (which just released its final episode this week) is its commitment to telling the story of a person who grows only more disenfranchised.  Read more…

More about Entertainment, Video Games, Immigration, Oppression, and Life Is Strange 2

It looks like Magic Leap’s sales numbers are just as disappointing as their early demos. 

The much-hyped augmented reality startup, which has raised billions of dollars in funding, has only sold a fraction of the headsets it had hoped for during its first six months. The company sold 6,000 headsets, far short of its target of 100,000, according to a new report in The Information.

While it’s not clear from the report if sales have improved since then — the headset began shipping last fall — the early numbers suggest that the $2295 Magic Leap One has fallen far short of the company’s initial expectations. Actual shipments were so low that the company reportedly began giving away free headsets to employees due to the surplus supply. Read more…

More about Tech, Augmented Reality, Magic Leap, Tech, and Big Tech Companies