Dec 15
The Brooklyn Nets star turned Skip Bayless’ gush into mush.
Dec 15
The all-electric pickup wars are getting even more interesting, with GMC pulling back the cover – a little, at least – on the upcoming Sierra EV. Third of the automakers line-up to embrace General Motors’ Ultium electric platform, the GMC electric Sierra is also likely to be the most attainable of the trio shown so far. First to dealership forecourts … Continue reading
Dec 15
They may not be a household name yet, but workers at Vodeo Games are trying to set a positive example for their industry. The studio, which was founded this year by Threes designer Asher Vollmer, has successfully unionized with CODE-CWA — the Communication Workers of America’s Campaign to Organize Digital Employees.
Operating out of various locations in the US and Canada, the all-remote team of 13 is an unusual case for a few reasons. Foremost, about half of the bargaining unit are independent contractors – typically the exact sort of workers left out of, or deemed ineligible for, a union.
And while much of the push to unionize digital workspaces in recent years has focused on curbing abuses by management and pay imbalances, Vodeo’s does not appear to stem from a need to course-correct away from imminent disaster. Rather, their desire to unionize seems rooted in wanting to maintain an equitable workplace. “They’re not organizing because there’s some big scary boss, like Bobby Kotick or someone,” campaign lead for CODE-CWA Emma Kinema told Polygon. “They’re organizing because they care so much about the work they do, and they want more of a say over how it’s done — the conditions in which they work to actually make those games that they care about.”
As Kinema alludes to, the games industry has been going through a period of great internal upheaval. Whistleblowers within Rocksteady, Riot, Wildlife and Quantic Dream, have detailed harassment and discrimination. There has also been increased pushback against industry practices such as “crunch,” in which studios demand herculean overtime hours from staff in order to hit targeted release dates. Some Activision-Blizzard workers walked off the job, demanding among other things, the resignation of their CEO, Bobby Kotick. They’ve set up a strike fund and are in the midst of their own union drive.
“All workers deserve a union and a say in how their workplace is run, no matter where they work, what their employment status is, or what kind of conditions they work under,” Myriame Lachapelle, a producer at Vodeo Games, wrote in a statement to press. “We have been inspired by the growing worker organizing within the gaming industry and hope we can set a new precedent for industry-wide standards that will better our shared working conditions and inspire others to do the same.”
Vodeo released its first game, the Peggle-like RPG Beast Breaker, in September to largely positive reviews. It’s available for PC, Mac and Switch.
Dec 15
Meta is expanding its bug bounty program to reward researchers who report data scraping. The change will allow researchers to report both bugs that could enable scraping activity, as well as previously scraped data that has already been published online.
In a blog post, Meta says it believes it is the first to launch a bug bounty program to specifically target scraping activity. “We’re looking to find vulnerabilities that enable attackers to bypass scraping limitations to access data at greater scale than what we initially intended,” Security Engineering Manager Dan Gurfinkle told reports during a briefing.
Data scraping is different than other “malicious” activity Meta tracks as it uses automated tools to mass-collect personal information from users’ profiles, such as email addresses, phone numbers, profile photos and other details. Even though users often willingly share this information on their public Facebook profiles, scrapers can expose these details more widely, such as publishing the information in searchable databases.
It can also be difficult for Meta to combat this activity. For example, in April the personal information of more than 500 million Facebook users was published on a forum. In that case, the actual data scraping had occurred years prior, and the company had already addressed the underlying flaw. But there was little it could do once the data started circulating online. In some cases, the company has alsosued individuals for data scraping.
Under the new bug bounty program, researchers will be rewarded for finding “unprotected or openly public databases containing at least 100,000 unique Facebook user records with PII [personally identifiable information] or sensitive data (e.g. email, phone number, physical address, religious or political affiliation).” Instead of its usual payouts though, Meta says it will donate to a charity chosen by the researcher in order not to incentivize the publishing of scraped data.
For reports of bugs that can lead to data scraping, researchers can choose between a donation or a direct payout. Meta says each bug or dataset is eligible for at least a $500 award.
Dec 15
The new dark comedy Don’t Look Up shakes up the idea of what makes a good climate movie. Rather than focusing purely on weird science or Al Gore, it tells a great story by highlighting the criminal inaction on climate change. (Well, technically it’s about a comet headed for Earth, but it’s a clear stand-in for our…
Dec 15
Just like USB, SD, and other ports, not every HDMI input is the same, and using the right one could have a marked effect on things like picture quality, frame rates, and latency.
Dec 15
Scary movies have a place on nearly every streaming network, but if international horror movies are what you seek, Shudder is your best bet. While the site has plenty of American and English-language horror, and it also has a healthy array of foreign-made classics (two words: Mario Bava), you can’t beat Shudder’s…
Dec 15
Months after a bungled announcement of a controversial new feature designed to scan iPhones for potential child sexual abuse material (CSAM), Apple has covertly wiped any mention of the plan from the Child Safety page on its website.
Dec 15
Derek Chauvin Pleads Guilty To Civil Rights Charges In George Floyd’s Death
Posted in: Today's Chili Dec 15
From Jazmine Sullivan’s soulful “Heaux Tales” to Olivia Rodrigo’s “SOUR,” pop-rap icon Lil’ Nas X, Afrobeats star Tems, and more, here are the artists that were on repeat in 2021.
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