California is suing Amazon, the state’s attorney general announced Wednesday in a press release. The focus of the lawsuit, filed in the state’s Superior Court in San Francisco County, is on how Amazon allegedly crushes competition and inflates prices through restrictive agreements with its third-party sellers.
Northeastern University has found itself the victim of an unusual technology-related bomb attack. CNNreports that someone sent a bomb-like package to the Boston university’s virtual reality lab in Holmes Hall on September 13th, causing hand injuries to the man that opened the container. There were no indications of a greater threat, and the school resumed classes after determining the campus was secure.
The currently unidentified attacker appears to have a grudge against VR, and Meta in particular. CNN sources claimed the “rambling” note in the package slammed Meta chief Mark Zuckerberg as well as the links between academia and VR developers. There were no explosives in the container, one of the sources said. Instead, it depressurized with violent force. It also wasn’t mailed to the university.
After the incident on the Boston campus, multiple law enforcement agencies have determined that the campus is safe and secure. Classes, research, and all other campus activities have resumed today. The safety and well-being of our community is our most important priority.
— Northeastern U. (@Northeastern) September 14, 2022
While there has been limited damage, law enforcement is taking the case seriously. The FBI, which has been coordinating with local police, has offered the full help of the Joint Terrorism Task Force and other units for the investigation.
Meta has faced some criticism over its decision to rebrand and focus on the metaverse. It started shifting its attention to VR just as whistleblower Frances Haugen shared documents that she said highlighted Facebook’s failures in handling misinformation and other social media problems. VR may serve as a distraction from Meta’s shortcomings, in other words. Privacy and safety have also been concerns in VR. While it’s not clear the attacker had any of these issues in mind, there’s little doubt Meta’s approach to VR already had its detractors.
Jeff Loveness—the screenwriter who penned Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, which features Kang as its villain—is keeping on the beat of the Jonathan Majors character. He’s just been tapped to write Avengers: The Kang Dynasty, due as part of Marvel’s Phase Six slate of films.
Discord, the social messaging service that helped to displace old-school internet forums, now wants to bring them back. Today, the company announced Forum Channels, which are exactly what you’d imagine: A dedicated space to have conversations without the worry of a fast-paced chat feed. You’ll find them right below your usual Discord channels. When creating a forum, you’ll be able to restrict posting permissions and set guidelines for the conversation. Crucially, they’ll also be compatible with Discord’s AutoMod, which can help to clean up discussions. (Moderation was always the downfall of a poorly-run forum.)
While it’s nice to have the concept returning, it’s funny to see Discord explaining the concept of forums to younger users. Yes kids, back in our day, we had to furiously refresh web pages to discover the latest reply to our Halo lore theories. Discord has often been framed as a return to the messaging blitz of IRC, paired together with real-time voice chat. So it only makes sense that it’ll be responsible for helping us relive the glory days of forums.
Iranian hackers with ties to the nation’s military are responsible for carrying out “hundreds” of ransomware attacks on victims in the U.S. and other countries over multiple years, U.S. federal authorities said Wednesday. The attacks are said to have targeted nearly every kind of organization you could think of—from…
A virus that can rarely cause a polio-like paralysis in children has resurfaced in the U.S. after mostly disappearing during the covid-19 pandemic. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that it has spotted a surge of cases linked to enterovirus D-68. Based on recent past outbreaks, officials expect…
Spears drew backlash for an Instagram post claiming the only way to “look thin” is to “hang out with fat people.”
Period tracking app Flo is hoping its newly released “Anonymous Mode” will give users the confidence to continue using their product even as state law enforcement authorities around the country appear increasingly interested in soliciting data from apps to prosecute alleged abortion seekers. Privacy experts speaking…
Major household brands are ensuring that we flush an important climate resource down the toilet. The Natural Resource Defense Council recently released its Issue with Tissue report and scorecard, rating how sustainable (or unsustainable) toilet paper, facial tissue, and paper towel producers are. Procter & Gamble, the…
It’s been so long since Avenue 5‘s first season aired (and a lot has happened in the world since March 2020), but we do remember a) we enjoyed the near-future comedy’s batty characters, most of whom are trapped aboard a disastrous luxury space cruise; and b) the plot ended on a hell of a cliffhanger.
This is site is run by Sascha Endlicher, M.A., during ungodly late night hours. Wanna know more about him? Connect via Social Media by jumping to about.me/sascha.endlicher.
