The waters of Lago d’Averno, a volcanic crater lake in Southern Italy, have transformed since early March to become a murky blood-red due to an overgrowth of algae. The European Space Agency’s Sentinel-2 satellite and local photographers have captured the lake’s eerie new vibe.
The Volvo-owned EV brand will begin rolling out updates to its OS in April.
Marvel’s latest Disney+ series could start filming soon. Raffi and Seven uncover a Borg mystery in a new clip from Star Trek: Picard. Angela Basset has joined Netflix’s latest fantasy adventure Damsel. Plus, Moon Knight’s mysterious scarab gets its own poster, and what’s coming on Kung Fu. Spoilers now!
The “Winning Time” star told Jimmy Kimmel about the time the late Hall of Famer won over a studio chief on the court.
Spotify’s TikTok-style music discovery feed is official. The streaming service has formally launched a beta test that helps you find new tunes through a vertical, customized feed of Canvas visual loops. The test is limited to Android and iOS users in Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand and the UK, but promises a relatively easy way to find new artists and songs.
The new discovery tool is available from the home screen and, like TikTok, lets you scroll when you’re done with a given track. If you like what you hear, you can follow the artist, add the song to a playlist or share it with your social networks. Spotify will offer up to 15 new recommendations per day — you won’t have to listen to old material, but you also won’t be scrolling for long.
The company didn’t say if or when the beta might expand to the US. Having said this, it wouldn’t be shocking to see an expansion. The TikTok-like vertical feed could help Spotify court younger listeners by giving them both a familiar experience and a reason to keep coming back.
Dmitry Muratov had been forced to stop publishing the independent Novaya Gazeta following a second warning by Russia’s media regulator.
Microsoft said it has disrupted cyberattacks from a Russia-linked group called Strontium (aka APT28 and Fancy Bear) targeting Ukraine and the West. The software giant obtained a court order allowing it to take control of seven internet domains being used by Strontium to coordinate attacks. It announces the news shortly after the FBI said it disrupted botnets also run by the GRU.
“On Wednesday, April 6th, we obtained a court order authorizing us to take control of seven internet domains Strontium was using to conduct these attacks,” said Microsoft security VP Tom Burt. “We have since re-directed these domains to a sinkhole controlled by Microsoft, enabling us to mitigate Strontium’s current use of these domains and enable victim notifications.”
Organizations targeted included Ukrainian institutions and media organizations, along with foreign policy government bodies in the US and EU. “We believe Strontium was attempting to establish long-term access to the systems of its targets, provide tactical support for the physical invasion and exfiltrate sensitive information,” Microsoft said.
Its actions are part of a larger effort by businesses and government to thwart a wave of attacks directed at Ukraine. Microsoft has been taking legal and technical action to seize infrastructure used by APT28 as part of an “ongoing long-term investment started in 2016,” said Burt. “We have established a legal process that enables us to obtain rapid court decisions for this work.”
The FBI announced yesterday that it had silently removed Russian malware that allowed the country’s GRU military intelligence arm to create botnets using infected computer networks. Strontium has reportedly operated since the mid-2000s and has been linked to attacks against US government agencies, EU elections, NGOs, non-profits and other agencies.
The men associated with the Japan-based “Yakuza” crime syndicate were detained in Manhattan following an undercover sting by the DEA.
If your co-workers or friends don’t show up within the first five minutes of your scheduled video call, you’ll soon be able to blame Google for why you left early. The tech giant will start rolling out an update for Google Meet so that it will prompt you to exit meetings when you’re the only person in it. Say, you log into a team meeting, but nobody shows up within five minutes: A notification will show up asking if you’re still there and if you’d like to keep waiting or to leave the call. If you don’t respond within two minutes, you’ll automatically get kicked out.
Other services like Discord already implement similar measures to prevent wasting bandwidth. Zoom also has a time limit for idle meetings, but it lasts for up to 40 minutes. Google didn’t say whether it introducing the new feature as a way to stop wasting resources, but the company is hoping that it can help prevent you from unintentionally broadcasting your video and audio feed. Regardless, you can easily switch it off if you don’t want to be prompted to leave your meetings. The feature will be on by default, but you can go to General under Settings to toggle it off.
Google will gradually roll out the “leave empty calls” feature starting on April 11th, and it will take 15 days to reach all desktop and iOS users. It will also be available for Android users “soon.”
As the interest in Wordle ebbs and flows, The New York Times is trying to keep you hooked on its recent acquisition. So how about some post-match analysis? WordleBot is an optional feature that breaks down a completed game and reveals what players could have done to play more efficiently — perfect for those of us who struggle to grab the winning word on the fifth try, take hours to finish playing or are just stumped completely. Or cheat. Not namingnames.
The bot will offer up an efficiency score, making the word game suddenly feel like something closer to a chore or work. But for those addicted to sports stats and figures, it might add a compelling twist to Wordle. Me? I’ve moved on to Heardle.
— Mat Smith
Spotify’s Car Thing can now take calls and control other apps
What we bought: Logitech’s G Pro X Superlight isn’t just for gaming
TAG Heuer’s latest golf smartwatch offers more help with your shots
Volvo says all its new vehicles now support over-the-air updates
SpaceX’s Texas expansion plans derailed by environmental paperwork
If you’re looking for a unique portable gaming PC, ASUS ROG obliges, yet again. Putting gaming PC components in a detachable 2-in-1 design makes for an innovative system that’s both adaptable and rather travel-friendly. According to Sam Rutherford, when paired with ASUS’ optional XG Mobile Dock, it can give you desktop-level performance with way less bulk. However, the Z13’s short battery life and high price make it hard to love. Yes, that high price makes the Z13 an incredibly hard sell for most. It’s all very intriguing.
The Wall Street Journal reported that Google has pulled dozens of apps used by millions after finding they covertly gathered data. Researchers found weather apps, highway radar apps, QR scanners, prayer apps and others containing code that could harvest a user’s precise location, email, phone numbers and more. They were traced to Measurement Systems, a company reportedly linked to a Virginia defense contractor that does cyber-intelligence and more for US national-security agencies. It denied the allegations.
Attorney General Merrick B. Garland has revealed that the United States secretly removed malware from computer networks around the world over the past few weeks to pre-empt Russian cyberattacks. The White House recently warned companies that Russia could attack critical infrastructure in the country, such as financial institutions and the power grid. Apparently, the malware the US removed would have enabled Russian military intelligence to create botnets out of the infected computer networks, which they could use in DDoS attacks, spamming networks and more.
Smart’s compact electric SUV has kept the distinctive design of its concept origins. The Smart #1 will still have frameless windows and a “floating halo” glass roof. Alas, the scissor doors didn’t make the… cut.
While the estimated 273 miles of maximum range isn’t all that impressive, it comes from a 66kWh battery that charges quickly, taking it from a 10 percent charge to 80 percent in under 30 minutes with a 150kW DC charger. Even with a more typical 22kW AC supply, it takes less than three hours. For now, pricing and release dates are still TBC.
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