King_of_dark

might just be the perfect Halloween game. It gets you together with friends. Its gameplay is built on tension, thrills, and kills. It even features a hall-of-fame-level cast of original characters and iconic legends from horror’s biggest film and gaming franchises. Halloween is in our DNA, and with a new tome open in the archives, a new survivor joining the roster, and a huge Halloween event locked and loaded, there are more reasons than ever to step into the Fog this October. If you’re playing for the first time you can even try Dead by Daylight for free until October 25 with Free Play Days! The Archives – Tome 9: Crescendo Not only does our latest Tome feature three new terrifying tales from the world of Dead by Daylight, but for the first time ever a pair of those stories intersect, presenting two very different perspectives of a single chilling event.Picking up with the All-Kill Chapter’s fan-favorite K-Pop legends, The Trickster and Yun-Jin Lee, we’re treated to each character’s POV as an unexpected abduction on the eve of a violent storm puts their relationship to the test. Players can also jump into the Cresendo Rift, free to all, and earn unique fan-inspired outfits for The Plague and Élodie Rakoto. If you brought your king-size pillowcase trick or treating this year, the Premium Track lets you claim over 60 cosmetic items worth over 20,000 Auric Cells. As featured Tome 9 characters, we’re also offering 50% off the Auric Cell, and 25% off the Iridescent Shard (in-game currency) prices for The Trickster and Yun-Jin Lee from now until October 27 at 11 a.m. ET.Mikaela Reid not only loves Halloween she loves horror stories too. She reads them, she writes them, and over time has even developed a keen interest in witchcraft. In addition to her unique look and personality, her Perks are also one of a kind. Mikaela stands as the first Survivor with the ability to harness the power of Totems, creating healing and protection boons for herself and her allies, and instantly making her an invaluable part of any team. Not all witches are wicked, and this one is poised to do great things in the Entity’s Realm. The Midnight Grove Halloween Event Dead by Daylight brings the creepy vibes 365 days of the year, but Halloween is our chance to take it to the next level. Starting today and running until November 4th, players can take part in The Midnight Grove in-game event – which includes an all-new time-limited Event Tome, available through the Archives. The event decks our maps out with Halloween decorations, special items, and new this year: interactable jack-o-lanterns aplenty. Smash these sinister pumpkins to complete challenges and roll the dice to receive an instant trick or treat. For the (very short) duration of event, players can also earn special outfits for our new survivor, Mikaela Reid and The Doctor, as well as three new charms — all Midnight Grove exclusives. Completing challenges will also unlock a series of scary stories written by Mikaela herself. That’s all for now, folks! We hope this jam-packed October in Dead by Daylight will deliver more reasons than ever to step into (or back into!) the Fog and make this a Halloween to remember. And don’t forget, Dead by Daylight is currently free until October 25 with Free Play Days. See you in the Fog!

Nickname: Nasty Age: 19 Link with your forum profile: https://csblackdevil.com/forums/profile/76534-nasty語/ How much time do you spend on our channel ts every day?: all day Where do you want to moderate? Check this topic: free time How much time you can be active on the Journalists Channel?: 6 and 8 Link with your last request to join in our Team: https://csblackdevil.com/forums/topic/368043-journalists-request-prodexor/ Last 5 topics that you made on our section:https://csblackdevil.com/forums/topic/408021-animals-por-primera-vez-en-150-años-fotografían-a-un-búho-gigante-en-las-selvas-tropicales-de-ghana/?do=findComment&comment=2075471 https://csblackdevil.com/forums/topic/408020-auto-drawing-fire-we-talk-to-bmws-design-director/?do=findComment&comment=2075470 https://csblackdevil.com/forums/topic/408019-sport-sport-integrity-australia-to-yield-details-of-probe-into-claims-of-inappropriate-behaviour-in-womens-football/?do=findComment&comment=2075469 https://csblackdevil.com/forums/topic/408017-lifestyle-vakratunda-sankashti-chaturthi-2021-check-out-shubh-muhurat-significance-puja-vidhi-and-more-about-this-day/?do=findComment&comment=2075459 https://csblackdevil.com/forums/topic/408016-news-leon-bailey-how-aston-villa-forward-defied-odds-to-make-it-from-jamaica-to-premier-league/?do=findComment&comment=2075458

El búho real de Shelley es el búho más grande de las selvas tropicales africanas; se le considera una especie en peligro de extinción. Un búho gigante fue redescubierto en las selvas tropicales ghanesas luego de que en 150 años no se tuvieran avistamientos de él. Hablamos del búho real de Shelley, el cual puede llegar a medir hasta 60 centímetros de longitud. Este búho fue descrito por primera vez en 1872 por el investigador y curador del de la colección de aves del Museo de Historia Natural de Londres, Richard Bowdler Sharpe, cuando obtuvo un ejemplar gracias a un cazador de Ghana. Las últimas imágenes obtenidas del búho real de Shelley datan de 1975 de un ejemplar del zoológico de Amberes. Sin embargo, se trata de imágenes granuladas de escasa calidad. La otra supuesta fotografía del ave es una imagen manchada e imprecisa tomada en el Congo en la cual no se puede apreciar a ciencia cierta que se trate del animal que nos ocupa. Para ser más precisos, los últimos avistamientos oficiales de este búho gigante datan de la década de 1870. Luego de muchos intentos de investigar al ave y reportes falsos de avistamientos del búho real de Shelley, este hallazgo se convierte en un gran acontecimiento para los círculos científicos. Fue el 16 de octubre de 2021 cuando la casualidad y la buena suerte se cruzaron en el camino del Dr. Joseph Tobias, del Departamento de Ciencias de la Vida (Silwood Park) en el Imperial College de Londres, y su colega doctor Robert Williams. Ambos se encontraban de visita en el bosque de Atewa en Ghana cuando de pronto vieron a un pájaro enorme salir de su refugio a plena luz del día. La reacción no se hizo esperar: «ERA TAN GRANDE, AL PRINCIPIO PENSAMOS QUE ERA UN ÁGUILA», DIJO JOSEPH TOBIAS EN UN COMUNICADO. «AFORTUNADAMENTE, SE POSÓ EN UNA RAMA BAJA Y CUANDO LEVANTAMOS NUESTROS BINOCULARES. La imagen no dejaba lugar a dudas: los distintivos ojos negros, pico amarillo y enorme tamaño, no podía ser otro más que del búho real de Shelley. Ninguna otra especie de búho luce una apariencia similar. Búho real de Shelley a detalle Las medidas de esta especie de búho nos hacen notar por qué es el rey entre los búhos localizados en África. La longitud total de la especie es de 53 a 61 cm. La cuerda del ala mide de 420 a 492 mm, la cola mide 233 a 266 mm, el tarso mide de 76 a 84 mm y el pico mide de 56 a 62 mm. Las hembras pueden alcanzar longitudes más grandes que los machos. Se le considera una especie en peligro de extinción debido de manera principal a la destrucción de su hábitat por la mano del hombre. Al no tenerse tanta información acerca de esta especie de búho por las escasas ocasiones en que se le ha visto, hay muchos detalles no confirmados en torno a él. Su dieta se basa sobre todo en mamíferos y aves de tamaño mediano a grande. Las regiones de África central y occidental es donde el búho real de Shelley vive en su mayor parte. Esto contempla a Sierra Leona y Costa de Marfil, con una población aislada en Ghana. En África Central ocupa una zona entre Camerún y Gabón, además de una parte de República Democrática del Congo.

"It’s very authentic for BMW to do bold statements,” Domagoj Dukec says with the confident grin of someone who knows that he isn’t dealing in hyperbole. In this case, we’re talking about the i Vision Circular, the radical concept car that showcases how BMW will apply ‘circular economy’ principles to future production machines. But the head of BMW Design could also be talking about much of his recent work, from the ever-growing range of SUVs to the ever-growing kidney grilles.While it’s often divisive, Dukec has chosen to go for bold over bland. And that philosophy should stand BMW in good stead as the car industry undergoes a generational transformation through electrification, digitalisation and sustainability. For a car designer, that must be a huge but very exciting challenge.“You can’t choose in which epoch you’re a designer, but it’s very interesting to be one in a time when the car industry is facing such major challenges, where you don’t even know if it will survive,” says Dukec. “You can use your creativity to offer more, to offer new experiences of mobility.” The changes in the car industry go beyond the switch to EVs, which BMW has embraced with the likes of the iX3 and i4. Those cars are essentially electric versions of combustion-engined BMW models; for the third phase of its electrification strategy from 2025, BMW is taking a “radically new” approach, including a commitment to sustainability, new software and a new flexible platform that can underpin a huge range of cars. Company boss Oliver Zipse has named the new phase of models Neue Klasse (new class), reviving the name of the hugely po[CENSORED]r line of 1960s models that transformed the fortunes of the Munich firm. As you might have read in last week’s Autocar, the range will encompass all of BMW’s models, including an equivalent of the 3 Series.Before you get too excited about retro designs, Dukec insists that the only backward-looking thing about the Neue Klasse is the title. “We don’t make a homage to Neue Klasse,” he says.“But we’re a company who defined a new [market] segment and new product that was very relevant in the 1960s, combining elegance and dynamism in a way nobody else had before.” While BMW has yet to preview any of its new Neue Klasse designs, the i Vision Circular that was revealed at the Munich motor show recently does hint at the philosophy that will underpin it. It put a major focus on sustainability, using entirely recycled or recyclable materials and reducing styling elements such as chrome details. Dukec says that those principles will be applied to BMW’s future models. “Neue Klasse will stand for electrification, digitalisation and sustainability,” he explains. “We’re asking: ‘How can we make a car that’s sustainable and intelligent and do more with less?’ This is something that’s very authentic to BMW. “As designers, it’s about rethinking and reducing. It’s how we treat materials – not using chrome, creating materials to use less leather. For us, electrification alone isn’t the sustainable path it is for others. They think they make electric cars and there, work done. But the problem is bigger.” Dukec says that his design team has embraced the challenge of making more sustainable cars with conviction because “they’re completely convinced that this is the right thing” to do. He adds: “Designers are very responsible in their private lives, so they were always fighting, going: ‘I’m working in the car industry producing cars but at home I’m eating no meat.’ So our differentiator is to make a green car that isn’t greenwashing. We really believe luxury for our customers will be that they want consumption that’s really sustainable.”

Sankashti Chaturthi is one of the significant festivals dedicated to the supreme god, Lord Ganesha. As per the Hindu calendar, each month has two Chaturthi Tithi, namely Sankashti Chaturthi and Vinayaka Chaturthi. Sankashti Chaturthi falls after Purnima during Krishna Paksha, while Vinayaka Chaturthi falls after Amavasya during Shukla Paksha. However, when a Sankashti Chaturthi falls in the Ashwin month, it is called Vakratunda Sankashti Chaturthi Vrat. This month it will be observed on October 24, 2021. On this day, devotees observe a day-long fast and worship Lord Ganesha to seek his blessing for prosperous and obstacle-free life. Lord Ganesha is the supreme lord of intelligence and removes obstacles from his devotees' life. Vakratunda Sankashti Chaturthi 2021: Date and Shubh Muhurat Date: October 24, 2021, Sunday Chaturthi Tithi Begins - 03:01 AM on Oct 24, 2021 Chaturthi Tithi Ends - 05:43 AM on Oct 25, 2021 Moonrise on Sankashti Day - 08:07 PM Vakratunda Sankashti Chaturthi 2021: Significance Each month, Lord Ganesha, also known as Vighnaharta, is worshipped with the name and Peeta. On this day, devotees perform puja in the evening, after the moon is visible. It is believed, those who observe fast on this day are blessed with happy, prosperous and obstacle-free life. Also, on this day, Hindu married women observe Karwa Chauth for the safety and longevity of their husbands.Wake up early in the morning, take a bath and wear clean clothes. - Take a vow to observe fast religiously - In the evening, perform the puja by offering durva grass, flowers, incense stick, etc - Offer bhoj such as laddoo, puri, halwa, etc. - Read Vakratunda Sankashti Chaturthi vrat Katha and conclude the puja by performing aarti. - After the aarti, worship Lord Moon and offer araghya and break the fast. Posted By: Niharika Sanjeeiv

The 24-year-old, a £30m summer signing from Bayer Leverkusen, was brought on with just over an hour played. Within 21 minutes, he had delivered a swerving corner that led directly to a Lucas Digne own goal, sealed the victory with a powerful strike and, in doing so, sustained a hamstring injury that would see him substituted and ruled out for the next three games. He could return against Arsenal on Friday. If the Jamaican winger seemed to thump the ball past Asmir Begovic that day with singular purpose, it is probably because scoring a first Premier League goal is a moment he had been expecting for some time. "As soon as Leon walked into the first-team changing room, you could just feel that this guy had a lot of ambition," remembers Sandy Walsh, the Dutch full-back who played alongside a teenage Bailey with Belgian side Genk. "All of us want to make it, to make a step to a big club. But with him you could just feel it. So much ambition could be seen in his body language." That self-belief has carried him a long way. Bailey first came to Europe aged 12, accompanied by his adoptive father, Craig Butler, and brothers Kyle and Kevaughn. Butler ran the Phoenix All-Star academy in Kingston, Jamaica, which was part football school, part foster home, and Bailey was one of more than 20 boys he has adopted. Convinced of Bailey's talent, Butler sold his home and car to fund a cross-continental journey, but they barely had enough money to sustain themselves as they hopped from hostel to hostel, without appropriate clothes for the cold European weather. Bailey didn't see his mother for four years. They stopped in Austria, where Butler begged Red Bull Salzburg to offer his boys a trial. The club acquiesced but declined to sign the siblings. They instead joined second-tier USK Anif after being spotted playing in a local park by the club's sporting director. By the time Bailey was 15, Genk wanted to sign him and agreed to take on his brothers, too. However, Fifa rules preclude clubs from signing under-18 players from different continents. And when Butler travelled to Mexico for a business trip - and to obtain documents that would satisfy the Fifa laws and allow Bailey's signing for Genk to be ratified - he was kidnapped and robbed, leaving him with injuries serious enough to put him in hospital. Bailey's older brother Travis had to take care of the boys in Belgium. Upon Butler's return, he was denied residency and fell out with Genk after the club refused to a link-up deal with his academy back home. Bailey and co had to leave, returning to Jamaica. Undeterred, Bailey was back in Europe in February 2015, with Ajax trying to recruit him. But his age - still only 17 - meant he could not be signed professionally. He instead joined Trencin in Slovakia, with an eventual move to Ajax promised. But that switch collapsed and by August, after he turned 18, he instead - at last - signed for Genk. "He would tell stories about before, saying he had it hard in Jamaica," Walsh remembers. "He wanted to become a sprinter like Usain Bolt, an athlete. He was choosing between that and football, knowing that the football level in Jamaica wasn't big. "He wanted to go for being a professional footballer, knowing how hard it is from a country like Jamaica to get into Europe and get a fair chance. When you hear about what he had to go through, you have a lot of respect for him. He was reaching his dream of becoming a professional footballer in Europe." Bailey settled quickly in Belgium, soon breaking into the first team and demonstrating a useful knack for scoring in the most important games, including a rasping 20-yarder in a 5-2 victory over Anderlecht. Having impressed with his skill, speed and powerful shot, he was named Belgium's Young Footballer of the Year at the end of his first season with Genk. "Leon was always on a high level, even in training," says Walsh. "He knew his qualities and we knew his qualities. I loved playing with him in front of me. In all of the European games, he was amazing. In all the top games in Belgium, he was amazing. "When you're in the Europa League with a good team like Genk, if you can perform in the group stage and in the next round, there are going to be teams interested. But he didn't become an egoist on the pitch. He was still a team player. He was pushing me to become better, he was pushing the guys around him with assists and trying to have everybody happy in the changing room." After a stellar start to his second season in Belgium, Bailey moved to Leverkusen for 20m euros in January 2017, reportedly declining offers from Chelsea, Manchester City and Manchester United. He still had his eye on the Premier League though. "He was doubting whether to go to Germany or England," Walsh recalls. "If you perform in the Bundesliga, the way to the Premier League is much easier. Knowing the past, with Romelu Lukaku and [fellow former Genk standout] Kevin de Bruyne going to Chelsea, he saw that the step from the Belgian league to the Premier League is a big step. De Bruyne went to Germany and then became the main player at Manchester City." Bailey's form undulated across three-and-a-half seasons with Leverkusen. He raced to 11 goals and five assists in his first 22 appearances of the 2017-18 campaign but added just one more goal to his tally that season. The highs included an impressive series of stunning strikes - not least both goals in a 2-1 win at Bayern Munich in November 2019 - but the lows led to him falling from favour, starting just 12 Bundesliga games in 2019-20. But Bailey rediscovered his best form last season, scoring a career-high 15 goals and providing 11 assists, adding a level of consistency and maturity to his unquestionable talent. "He's a very good player, very skilful, a fast player with a very good shot," says Leverkusen's director of sport, Simon Rolfe. "He came here as a really young guy and developed a lot. At the end, he was a really top player. "He is very self-confident. He is a good team-mate. He is helpful to the other guys in the locker room. He was always a full part of the team. "There was a lot of interest in him in the last years because of his performances. This summer, he wanted to join the Premier League and that's why we agreed with Aston Villa for the transfer." He might only be 24 and with his best years ahead of him, but Bailey's lightning-rod Villa Park bow was more than a decade in the making, the realisation of a long-held Premier League dream.

icrosoft has released the first preview of the Windows Subsystem for Android (WSA) that finally brings support for Android apps to Windows 11. Although the company has decided to collaborate with Amazon to download the apps using the Amazon Appstore, it's possible to sideload Android apps. The new platform is currently available for computers using "United States" as the region, are enrolled in the Beta Channel of the Windows Insider Program, and meet the memory, processor, virtualization, and build of Windows 11 requirements. You will also need a United States-based Amazon account to use the Amazon Appstore. Since the Amazon Appstore only offers a limited number of apps, and not everyone has an Amazon account or an account based in the U.S., you can use the Android Debugging Bridge (ADB) tools to install apps from any source, using the ".apk" file.

The warnings had been issued for years. The techniques were simple enough — penetrate the platform through the onboard navigation system and then go horizontally across the onboard networks to gain control of key systems such as steering and the throttle. The hackers did exactly this — surprisingly without foreknowledge of the specific systems they were to hack prior to beginning the penetration. They were in and through the navigation interface in a remarkably short time and had control of both the steering systems and the throttle in quick succession. From this effort came a coveted “Black Badge” from the Maritime Hacking village of the annual cyber security conference DefCon, held in August 2021 in Las Vegas. The conference’s Hack the Sea Village “SeaTF” hacking challenge allowed teams of three to five individuals to gain hands-on experience hacking real maritime hardware in a controlled environment using Fathom5’s “Grace” maritime cyber security testbed. The simulated maritime bridge setup is meant to be an accurate facsimile of equipment typically in use onboard ocean-going vessels, allowing hacking teams to attack the afloat environment. Using realistic components and protocols, hackers were able to penetrate different maritime subsystems including navigation, firefighting, and steering systems. While this year’s challenge required hackers to tap into propulsion, steering, and navigation systems through a wired connection to their laptops, next year the hope is to provide a wireless environment.Importantly, the 2021 competition once more demonstrated that hacking skills from land-based systems and environments are easily transposable to a maritime environment. The winning team had neither experience in the simulated environment or in maritime hacking in general. A skilled hacking team typically takes at most 14 hours to penetrate the system safeguards and remotely take control of both steering and throttle controls. While the simulation used at DefCon did require “plugging into” the equipment, remote-access hacking is possible as demonstrated in February 2017, when hackers took control of a German-owned container vessel traveling from Cyprus to Djibouti. The hackers compromised both steering and maneuver controls. It was only when an information technology team came aboard to remediate that the ship’s crew regained control of the steering. Segregation of a ship’s internet protocol and serial networks can prevent this. Maritime Chokepoints Make Attractive Targets The vast bulk of the world’s critical economic and military traffic passes through a handful of narrow strategic waterways known as “maritime chokepoints.” While these waterways have always been prey to pirates, weather, and maritime accidents, these perils are now joined by maritime cyber attacks — whether conducted for ransom, malicious disruption, piracy, or as part of larger geopolitical conflicts. When a commercial vessel or warship is strategically delayed via sea-hacking, critical shipments are delayed by days or weeks. The massive size of modern container ships such as the Ever Given makes hacking their steering systems or forward speed a means of weaponizing the vessel. It is worth a bad actor’s effort to experiment with grounding a major new container ship remotely from land-based cells. The Suez Canal could be one of the more lucrative cyber disruption targets due to the amount and expected speed of traffic flow through its two-lane and one-lane sections. 30 percent of the world’s shipping container volume carrying 12 percent of global trade passes through the canal. Ships, including the very largest container vessels, can cut an average 12 days off a three-week trip from India to Italy by transiting the canal. The 205-meter-wide canal is known to be challenging even at modest speeds for ships the size of the Ever Given. Its 120-mile-long narrow transit offers the opportunity for cyber-induced disruption, particularly if one wanted to stall oil and gas deliveries to the Mediterranean and Europe. If the canal is blocked companies must take the alternative route — around the Cape of Good Hope, adding 10 to 12 days transit time, fuel costs, and security costs. Comparatively, according to a 2006 RAND study, the closing of the Malacca Strait would increase transit time by only an additional three days. With the grounding of the enormous container ship — the Ever Given — on March 23, 2021, the world was reintroduced to the issue of “maritime choke points”. The giant ship blocked the Suez Canal for six days. The Ever Given was not a cyber target this time but its grounding demonstrated the potential impact on global trade when a ship blocks a chokepoint. For example, the BBC reported that fears that the blockage would tie up shipments of crude oil resulted in crude prices rising by 4 percent on international markets. The Ever Given was launched in 2018, and is one of the largest ships in the world. It was built and is owned by a Japanese firm, leased and operated by a Taiwanese company, and sailing under a Panamanian flag. Similar-sized ships carry an increasing percentage of global trade, and the relatively recent 2015 addition of a second channel to the Suez Canal was undertaken in part to accommodate them. The canal is wide enough to accommodate such large vessels but physical clearance on either side of both channels is currently still limited. Mistakes in speed or understanding of wind effects on huge vessels can (and did in this case) come from human error. But they can also be stimulated by difficult-to-detect cyber intrusions into the navigation and steering systems of these ships, especially in newer vessels. The internet protocol networks used for steering and navigation are often not segregated effectively for cyber security. They are connected to the serial bus networks that make up the supervisory control and data acquisition systems critical to ship operations. The blockage caused by the grounding of the Ever Given demonstrates to cyber-competent terrorists or adversaries the potential for disruption if they are able to mani[CENSORED]te or disrupt transit mechanisms from the ships themselves, their containers’ content, and pilotage management systems. Even basic electricity supplies for locks such as those in the Panama Canal offer disruption options to a world of bad actors who have already demonstrated a willingness to attack critical infrastructure. The 900-kilometer-long Malacca Strait carries 40 percent of the world’s maritime trade, including a quarter of the globe’s seaborne oil supplies and 80 percent of the Middle East’s oil and gas supplies to China. Traffic congestion is its major challenge, particularly where the strait narrows to just 2.7 kilometers wide near Singapore. In addition to posing a lucrative target, these chokepoints also afford the opportunity, both from shore and through remote means, for potential bad actors to track particular ships, owners’ fleets, crew, content, origin, destination nationalities, or missions in order to select targets. These risks are aggravated as ships and systems rely increasingly on automation. Fully autonomous ships are a stated goal of the industry and the U.S. Navy. Such systems should include proper cyber security. Ships and Cyber Security Still Strangers In 2018, security researchers at Pen Test Partners found vulnerabilities in electronic chart display and information systems commonly used on cargo and container ships. These chart systems are often linked to GPS-guided autopilots, which when exploited give hackers the ability to access the operational technology of the ship: If networks are not segregated, hackers can remotely mani[CENSORED]te the ship’s steering, ballast pumps, and navigation. The electronic charting system is often slaved directly to the autopilot on many ships, causing the ship to automatically follow the charted course. Hackers can redirect the ship’s course by planting false information messages via satellite communications in order to mislead navigational decisions. Many satellite communications terminals on ships are available on the public internet with default credentials and can be hacked remotely. Numerous other paths can also prove useful vectors in the cyber attack of a vessel. For example, the 2018 research also showed that the electronic charting systems on some ships were still using relic operating systems with many known major vulnerabilities, such as Windows NT, often because these are expensive to upgrade. Even when malicious control is discovered, as the cliché goes, it can be very difficult to regain control in a timely manner. Commercial ship networks tend to have flat network architectures that are originally unsegmented networks without firewalls or other cyber security measures as part of their architecture. Once inside such networks, it is not difficult to travel around across the systems of the entire ship. Internal systems often use manufacturer default passwords, not just on firewalls but also on the critical programmable logic controllers running systems, as well as satellite communication equipment. Researchers have identified other vulnerabilities in computer-security forums, such as using the ship’s satellite terminal as a point of penetration. The terminal opens the system itself to attackers replacing the poorly secured firmware or simply reverting to an even less secure previous version, and then altering the applications running the terminal. Similar research results have produced similar concerns. Access in — whether through the electronic charting system, the satellite communications terminal, or any other outward-facing communications — means the ability to control critical ship systems covertly and use the massive bulk for any reason the attacker desires. At the outset some experts suggested that the Ever Given grounding was a cyber incident. When the voyage data recorder was examined, this speculation was shown to be wrong in this case. However, as long-time cyber control systems expert Joe Weiss noted, the potential for cyber disruption still exists. Despite the ship’s relative youth, the latest marine electronics likely installed for control and navigations do not resolve the vulnerabilities discussed earlier. The recent DefCon exercise is not a one-off example of success in simulated seahacking. Concurrent with the actual grounding of the Ever Given, a team of doctoral students competed in a NavalX “Hack the Machine” exercise — using the same “Grace” maritime system as DefCon — in order to determine if “hackers” could successfully attack maritime systems remotely through a cloud network. The team succeeded, “hacking and crashing the [fictional ship’s] cyber security monitoring system.” These oversights are major safety and security issues currently left unaddressed. One reason is a gap in crew skills and the costs of maintaining cyber secure systems while underway. Leaving poor default administrative passwords on essential systems means that attackers can take control of those systems. Shipping as a Cyber Campaign Weapon Attackers will not ignore the opportunities presented by poor maritime cyber security. A cyber campaign can provide a good enough return on investment in either economic or political benefits to make it attractive, and possibly even lucrative. American adversaries such as China, Russia, and Iran learn from these exploits and integrate them in larger cyber-enabled campaigns. Russia, for example, has spoofed a ship’s GPS at least 7,910 times between 2016 and 2019, affecting about 1300 commercial ships. In 2017, North Korean navigation jamming was said to be behind the forced return of hundreds of South Korean fishing vessels, and its cyber attacks led to the devastating NotPetya attacks that crippled the large Maersk shipping line the same year. In July 2021, Sky News reported the acquisition of documents said to originate from an Iranian offensive cyber unit called Shahid Kaveh, which is part of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps cyber command. They present research on how to sink a cargo ship using cyber techniques and include details on the satellite communications systems used in the global shipping industry. The routine hacking of ships from space is coming. Currently the Global Navigation Satellite System constellation includes the American-run GPS, the Russian GLONASS, the European Union’s GALILEO, Japan’s QZSS, China’s BeiDou, and the Indian system known as NAVIC. Each nation’s ships tend to use their own national system. No nation’s commercial ships are as secure as necessary today, and they lag in securing the shipboard systems in the near and medium term. There is some talk of using older but functional radio wave technology as a more secure alternative to satellite-based systems, but the discussions are only just beginning. It is questionable how rapidly or widely alternatives such as eLORAN will spread. It will take investment and a sense of urgency on cyber security from major shipbuilding firms and shipping lines to accomplish this. As one researcher states, “[Electronic charting] systems pretty much never have anti-virus.” The anti-virus industry that protects land-based personal computers in the United States and Europe started over 30 years ago, but a multitude of huge ships launched during that time with complex computer architectures contain only basic cyber protection. U.S. and allied warships — as well as most of the world’s exporting economies — plan on free transit through the Suez Canal and other chokepoints. Iranian intelligence services have collected maps, means, and incentive to use maritime cyber weaknesses for Iranian campaigns. In the mid-1990s, Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaeda group experimented with a variety of attempted attacks using public transit, notably in Paris. Six years later al-Qaeda used commercial airliners against the Twin Towers in New York City on Sept. 11. The maritime cyber environment is abysmally insecure. The technical means to exploit these ships is well distributed across land-based hackers with no prior maritime systems experience. It doesn’t take much to mess with a passing ship. The opportunities are well-known, from the chokepoints and the ship dependence on external networks, clouds, and satellite navigation communications. The motivation is as varied as the adversary, ranging from the ransomware criminal, to the “just because they can” opportunist, to the state adversary and its proxies. The gauntlet is on the deck for the westernized democracies to pick up or ignore. Positive discussions of increasing national support for U.S. shipping — dangerously dependent on Chinese or other foreign shippers — don’t address the lagging cyber security and global disruption potential from hacking huge container ships. 90 percent of the world’s trade travels by sea and 40 million U.S. jobs depend on trade. In classic military strategic thought, the triad of means, opportunity, and motivation lacks only the final “when.” National security strategic actions should include a dramatic change in commercial shipping’s incentives that ensure — not merely indemnify — cyber defense of the vessels. The threat to maritime traffic can’t be ignored. The threat is real, bigger than merely assuring ports and hulls for the U.S. Navy. Serious national security responses should include both a carrot and stick. We suggest requiring proof of cyber security for container and other commercial ships that enter U.S. waters, and vastly increased federal financial support for cyber security for the ports, shipping, and shipbuilders that serve the needs of the U.S. maritime industry. In effect, the U.S. maritime industry should extend the 2020 National Maritime Cybersecurity Plan and the proposed bills in the current negotiations behind the SHIPYARD Act beyond ports alone to include container ships as an urgent first step. New policies need to require proof of and enable funding for cyber security upgrades in all container ships delivering cargo to U.S. ports. This is a strategic and national response that ought to be in concert with and cooperatively implemented with the other established seafaring nations. United with democratic allies, the U.S. government can strongly influence what is considered normal but is grossly inadequate in the construction, operations, and insurance of the worldwide maritime fleet. The United States and its allies are major stakeholders in the global maritime socio-technical-economic system. It is the same system that America’s major adversary, China, intends to dominate with ships, ports, export volumes, political and personal coercion, military saber-rattling, and technological command. Cyber vulnerabilities feed their lead in all these areas throughout the globe. Either the United States directly addresses the problem with commercial and government stakeholders, or it will spend much more in blood and treasure when adversaries attack at the time and place of their choosing. As the DefCon exercise demonstrated, even hacker curiosity could make a ship into a weaponLt. Col. (ret.) Michael L. Thomas, Ph.D., is currently assigned to Maxwell Air Force Base as a professor of cyberwarfare studies at the U.S. Air Force Cyber College. He is a graduate of both the Air Command and Staff College and the Air War College. Chris C. Demchak, Ph.D., is Grace Hopper Chair of Cyber Security and Senior Cyber Scholar, Cyber Innovation Policy Institute, U.S. Naval War College. Her manuscripts in progress are “Cyber Westphalia: States, Great Systems Conflict, and Collective Resilience” and “Cyber Commands: Organizing for Cybered Great Systems Conflict.” Opinions, conclusions, and recommendations expressed or implied within are solely those of the authors and do not represent the views of the Air University, the U.S. Air Force, the U.S. Navy, the Department of Defense, or any other U.S. government agency.

This year I reconnected with a childhood friend and dragged him back into PC gaming. I chaperoned him through a few recent games, some casual multiplayer things (Back 4 Blood, Chivalry 2) and stuff that rekindled what we loved in the '90s (MechWarrior 5, Streets of Rage 4). I imagine a lot of you have had this experience, too, as our hobby has only become more mainstream with each passing year. Seeing PC gaming through a newcomer's eyes got me thinking: What's the best way to onramp someone to PC gaming today? Is it better to hand them homework and history, games that are at the heart of what makes PC gaming unique (whatever that means), or lighter stuff they'll enjoy instantaneously? It's a surprisingly hard question. You're a board-certified representative of your hobby. They're an impressionable baby-gamer. Their joy is a malleable lump in your hands. You don't want to throw someone straight into Kerbal Space Program as their first PC game. Counterpoint: Actually, do hurl your naive friend into the deep end, let them struggle, then experience the earned joy of successfully launching a shuttle to the Mün. Let's see if we can come up with a list of introductory games we all agree on. I'm sure that will go smoothly.

They have been almost a decade in the making, but have finally arrived: new U.S. export controls on “cybersecurity items,” including products and technology involving “intrusion software” and IP network communications surveillance. Published today but effective January 19, 2022, the interim final rule from the U.S. Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security (“BIS”) amends the Export Administration Regulations (“EAR”) to add these new cybersecurity export controls. The interim final rule is highly technical and complex, but ultimately contains a mix of good news and bad for the cybersecurity community. BIS states in its press announcement that the rule is only intended to restrict “malicious cyber activities,” but it nonetheless imposes compliance obligations and costs even when activities ultimately are not restricted. At least in this sense, the rule will impact the entire cybersecurity sector. Similar export controls have been in place for years in the EU and other jurisdictions, as this has been driven by an agreement reached several years ago by a multilateral export controls body, the Wassenaar Arrangement. The U.S. for its part has delayed implementation of this rule due to the controversy that has surrounded it. Many stakeholders, including some U.S. and non-U.S. government officials, have viewed this effort to impose export controls on “intrusion software” items as fundamentally misguided or at least improperly scoped, as the same cyber tools can be used either for positive (security) purposes or for nefarious (hacking or surveillance) purposes. Therefore, the critics say, it is like putting a round peg in a square hole to try to use export controls in this context. Moreover, some have questioned the potential of these rules to deter nefarious activities. Having taken account of these criticisms, BIS has tailored the interim final rule relatively narrowly. Still, it imposes new regulatory burdens on the vast majority of impacted parties that are engaged in critical security work, and ultimately in effect only restricts a small sliver of cyber activity that may be more controversial or malicious. BIS has invited industry and other stakeholders to (re)engage, and will be accepting comments over the course of the next 45 days on the expected impacts of the rule, including how it may deter, restrict or overburden legitimate cybersecurity research, defensive activity, and incident response. Comments must be submitted by December 6, 2021. BIS is expected to review constructive comments with an open mind, and changes to the rule are still possible. Below is a more detailed discussion of the new rule, starting with the background, which may be of particular interest for those considering (re)engaging on these issues with the government, and then going into the nuts and bolts of the new controls that are being imposed along with the key exceptions. Background and Context for (Re)engagement While advocacy groups have been raising concerns for well over a decade about nefarious uses of cyber technologies that have been implicated in violations of human rights, the key event in the history of the development of these cybersecurity export controls was the December 2013 plenary meeting of the Wassenaar Arrangement, where the U.S. government and other participants agreed to implement within their national laws new export controls on products and technologies involving “intrusion software” and IP network communications surveillance. This agreement at the 2013 Wassenaar Arrangement plenary was preceded by years of discussion, primarily within the EU, about how an expansion of export controls in this area could help address the increasing problem of malicious uses of cyber tools. The EU had begun a consultation process on this in 2011, and, at the time, had ambitions to enact a sweeping recast of its own EU export control regime to include a new “human security” element, which would have included even broader controls on cybersecurity items. See our previous advisories (here and here) on those historical developments in the EU. Ultimately, after intense backlash from industry and even many government stakeholders and others (including civil society security advocates), and following an arduous and protracted legislative process, the EU just last month enacted a much watered-down version of that initial regulatory concept. See our blog post for more on those EU developments. But the EU had already amended its dual-use control list soon after the December 2013 Wassenaar Arrangement plenary to add the basic list-based controls on “intrusion software” items and IP network communications surveillance items. The U.S. government did not follow the EU in promptly implementing these new Wassenaar Arrangement controls on cybersecurity items. The Wassenaar Arrangement does not operate pursuant to a binding international treaty, but rather relies on essentially political commitments by participating states to implement the agreed restrictions. The U.S. government is typically a leader of the Wassenaar Arrangement’s initiatives, normally implementing the controls adopted at each year’s plenary within just a few months. So this delay involving cybersecurity controls was exceptional in this respect. The U.S. government, through BIS, eventually published a proposed implementation of these controls in 2015. See our previous advisory for more on that BIS proposed rule, along with the accompanying FAQs from BIS, many of which are also informative in helping to interpret and understand the current interim final rule. This 2015 proposal by BIS was met with a great deal of concern from the cybersecurity community, particularly as it related to “intrusion software” items. (The proposed controls on IP network surveillance products were less controversial and are also being implemented now in the interim final rule.) The U.S. Congress also became involved, requiring senior administration officials to testify following the publication of BIS’s 2015 proposed rule and pressuring the administration to try to renegotiate the Wassenaar Arrangement agreement from 2013. Following an interagency debate, the Secretary of Commerce took the unusual step of writing a public letter to major industry associations in March of 2016, informing them that “the United States has proposed in this year’s Wassenaar Arrangement to eliminate the controls” on certain intrusion software items, while continuing discussions “aimed at resolving the serious scope and implementation issues raised by the cybersecurity community concerning remaining controls” other such items. The Secretary closed by stating that “President Obama has identified cybersecurity as one of the greatest national security challenges we face as a Nation. Cognizant of this, we commit to ensuring that the benefits of controlling the export of the purpose-built tools at issue outweigh the harm to effective U.S. cybersecurity operations and research.” After a failed attempt in 2016, the U.S. and other countries succeeded in implementing some fairly significant changes to these controls in the 2017 Wassenaar Arrangement plenary. These changes are detailed in the preamble to the current interim final rule and are reflected in the rule. While these 2017 changes were helpful, many observers continued to have concerns regarding the potential impact of the controls on cybersecurity, and the U.S. government delayed implementing these regulations for the next several years while the debate continued. However, in recent years the protection of human rights has become an increasingly prominent element of U.S. export control policy. See our blog post from last year for a more detailed discussion of these important policy shifts around human rights in the export controls arena. BIS’s press announcement for the interim final rule itself “encourages” regulated parties to consult the State Department’s human rights-focused due diligence guidance from last year for exports of surveillance products as a compliance aid in this context. The Biden administration has been particularly vocal about its goal of elevating human rights as a driver of U.S. foreign policy, including pushing in recent months for a revision of the U.S. Conventional Arms Transfer (“CAT”) policy with this in mind. BIS is also under a statutory mandate to impose new and expanded export controls on “emerging and foundational technologies,” as discussed in more detail in our previous blog post, and has been on the receiving end of considerable pressure from members of Congress to move more quickly and aggressively in those efforts. We have also seen a shift in recent enforcement actions toward more of a focus on human rights issues, including an unprecedented criminal case last month under the U.S. International Traffic in Arms Regulations (“ITAR”) against former U.S. intelligence community personnel for helping the government of the UAE to develop its own hacking capabilities, including through the use of “intrusion software” tools. In this context, the interim final rule from BIS is now emerging after a years-long debate both within the U.S. government and among other stakeholders about how export controls should be applied to restrict unwanted or malicious uses of cyber tools, including trying to avoid the grave human rights impacts that these technologies can have. Industry and others now have the opportunity to (re) engage in the comment process to raise questions or concerns regarding the imposition of any regulatory restrictions that they believe would unduly impact legitimate security work or negatively impact U.S. cybersecurity policy objectives. The Interim Final Rule In drafting the interim final rule, BIS has made efforts to achieve a policy balance between regulating malign uses of cyber tools and trying to avoid undue licensing burdens on the cybersecurity community. The new rule builds on the changes implemented at the Wassenaar Arrangement in 2017, and narrows the scope of the restrictions even further through a broad license exception. The rule will nonetheless impose additional compliance obligations on legitimate security work, as is inevitable when export controls intrude into a new area, particularly one as dynamic and fundamentally international as cybersecurity. In particular, the rule will require a detailed analysis to be undertaken for compliance assessments. In the multiple layers of control and de-control that BIS has built into this rule, the agency has created a sharp scalpel that is designed to focus in on the most controversial uses of “intrusion software” items, while trying to avoid restrictions on beneficial activity. The preamble to the interim final rule states that, “because of the limited scope of this rule, BIS believes the impact would be minimal.” Stakeholders may have real questions regarding the scope and costs of the rule. The government has estimated the cost to be $2,250.00 per year, which may strike affected companies as an underestimation Below we set out the two-step process for understanding the interim final rule, starting with what is subject to control in the first instance, and then assessing whether export activity for covered items is nonetheless authorized under new License Exception Authorized Cybersecurity Exports (“ACE”) or another carve-out from the EAR. In rare cases when a covered item cannot take advantage of one of these carve-outs, the licensing requirements are broad. The “intrusion software” items are to be controlled under the EAR for National Security (“NS Column 1”) reasons, which applies an authorization requirement for all countries in the world (and their nationals) except Canada. The IP network communications surveillance items are subject to less comprehensive but still broad NS Column 2 controls, which apply to all but the least sensitive countries (and their nationals). Step 1: What is a covered “cybersecurity item”? Covered “cybersecurity items” are described in the following new or expanded Export Control Classification Numbers (“ECCNs”) in the EAR’s Commerce Control List (“CCL”). (See also the 2015 FAQs from BIS, which provide some detailed and practical guidance on the intended scope of these controls.) ECCN 4A005: “Systems,” “equipment,” and “components” therefor, “specially designed” or modified for the generation, command and control, or delivery of “intrusion software” Note that “intrusion software” itself is not controlled. The definition of “intrusion software” (which already exists in Part 772 of the EAR) is “software” specially designed or modified to avoid detection by “monitoring tools,” or to defeat “protective countermeasures,” of a computer or network-capable device (including mobile devices and smart meters), and performing any of the following: (1) The extraction of data or information, from a computer or network-capable device, or the modification of system or user data; or (2) The modification of the standard execution path of a program or process in order to allow the execution of externally provided instructions. Excluded from this definition are: Hypervisors, debuggers and Software Reverse Engineering (SRE) tools; Digital Rights Management (DRM) “software”; and “software” designed to be installed by manufacturers, administrators or users, for the purposes of asset tracking or recovery. The term “monitoring tools” means “software” or hardware devices, that monitor system behaviors or processes running on a device. This includes antivirus (AV) products, end point security products, Personal Security Products (PSP), Intrusion Detection Systems (IDS), Intrusion Prevention Systems (IPS) and firewalls. The term “protective countermeasures” means techniques designed to ensure the safe execution of code, such as Data Execution Prevention (DEP), Address Space Layout Randomization (ASLR) and sandboxing. The EAR also includes a complex definition of the term “specially designed,” which is often not intuitive. ECCN 4D004: “Software” “specially designed” or modified for the generation, command and control, or delivery of “intrusion software.” ECCN 4D004 does not apply to “software” specially designed and limited to provide “software” updates or upgrades if: a. The update or upgrade operates only with the authorization of the owner or administrator of the system receiving it; and b. After the update or upgrade, the “software” updated or upgraded is neither “software” specified by 4D004 nor “intrusion software.” ECCN 4D001.a: “Software” “specially designed” or modified for the “development” or “production” of equipment controlled by (among other pre-existing ECCNs) 4A005 or “software” controlled by (among other pre-existing ECCNs) 4D004 ECCN 4E001 a: “Technology” for the “development”, “production”, or “use” of equipment controlled by (among other pre-existing ECCNs) 4A005 or “software” controlled by (among other pre-existing ECCNs) 4D004; and 😄 “Technology” for the “development” of “intrusion software.” Note 1 is an important exclusion stating that ECCNs 4E001.a and 4E001.c do not apply when otherwise controlled “technology” under these ECCNs is exchanged for the purpose of “vulnerability disclosure” or “cyber incident response”. “Vulnerability disclosure” means “the process of identifying, reporting, or communicating a vulnerability to, or analyzing a vulnerability with, individuals or organizations responsible for conducting or coordinating remediation for the purpose of resolving the vulnerability.” “Cyber incident response” means “the process of exchanging necessary information on a cybersecurity incident with individuals or organizations responsible for conducting or coordinating remediation to address the cybersecurity incident.” Note that there is not a similar carve-out for the related hardware and software controls. Note 2 emphasizes the regulatory burden of these controls even when not applicable, stating that “Note 1 does not diminish national authorities’ rights to ascertain compliance with 4E001.a and 4E001.c.” BIS explains in the preamble to the interim final rule that this Note 2 is intended “to clarify that BIS can request information on items decontrolled by Note 1 to ensure compliance with the controls. BIS does not intend this note to require any additional compliance measures beyond what is otherwise required by the EAR.” In particular, this is a reminder about the EAR’s broad recordkeeping requirements (along with subpoena authorities, etc.). Regulated parties should be aware that the EAR imposes compliance obligations even when no licensing requirements apply. ECCN 5A001.j:. IP network communications surveillance systems or equipment, and “specially designed” components therefor, having all of the following [along with related software, technology, and test, inspection and production equipment]: j.1. Performing all of the following on a carrier class IP network (e.g., national grade IP backbone): j.1.a. Analysis at the application layer (e.g., Layer 7 of Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) model (ISO/IEC 7498-1)); j.1.b. Extraction of selected metadata and application content (e.g., voice, video, messages, attachments); and j.1.c. Indexing of extracted data; and j.2. Being “specially designed” to carry out all of the following: j.2.a. Execution of searches on the basis of “hard selectors”; and j.2.b. Mapping of the relational network of an individual or of a group of people. Note: ECCN 5A001.j does not apply to “systems” or “equipment”, “specially designed” for any of the following: Marketing purpose; Network Quality of Service (QoS); or Quality of Experience (QoE). BIS explains the interactions between these cybersecurity controls and other potentially related controls under the EAR as follows: Notes 3 to Categories 4 and 5 Part 1 of the CCL state that the EAR’s encryption controls generally trump these cybersecurity controls. However, these notes also caution that both the encryption controls and the cybersecurity controls may apply to source code (and, according to the preamble, also technology) that includes elements of each. Notes 4 to Categories 4 and 5 Part 1 state that the EAR’s Surreptitious Listening (“SL”) controls also trump these cybersecurity controls, as the SL controls are subject to broader (worldwide) restrictions. Step 2: Does License Exception ACE apply? Even when an item is in the first instance subject to the cybersecurity controls discussed above, License Exception ACE may still apply, in which case no specific license from BIS would be required. License Exception ACE generally authorizes exports, reexports, and transfers (in-country), including “deemed” exports and reexports to foreign nationals, of covered “cybersecurity items,” except as follows: Sanctioned countries: License Exception ACE does not apply to activity involving Cuba, Iran, North Korea or Syria (or their nationals). Restricted “government end users”: License Exception ACE does not apply to a “government end user” of any country listed in EAR Country Groups D:1, D:2, D:3, D:4 or D:5, except for such “government end users” whose country is also listed in EAR Country Group A:6 (e.g., Cyprus, Israel and Taiwan) and when the export is either of the following: Of “digital artifacts” that are related to a cybersecurity incident involving information systems owned or operated by a “favorable treatment cybersecurity end user,” or to police or judicial bodies of such governments “for purposes of criminal or civil investigations or prosecutions of such cybersecurity incidents.” (We note that it is not entirely clear whether authorized exports to police or judicial bodies are limited to “digital artifacts,” and it would be helpful if BIS could clarify this point.) “Digital artifacts” are items (e.g., “software” or “technology”) found or discovered on an information system that show past or present activity pertaining to the use or compromise of, or other effects on, that information system. A “favorable treatment cybersecurity end user” is any of the following: (i) A “U.S. subsidiary”; (ii) Providers of banking and other financial services; (iii) Insurance companies; or (iv) Civil health and medical institutions providing medical treatment or otherwise conducting the practice of medicine, including medical research. To “national computer security incident response teams” (an undefined and not entirely clear term) “for purposes of responding to cybersecurity incidents, for purposes of ‘vulnerability disclosure’, or for purposes of criminal or civil investigations or prosecutions of such cybersecurity incidents.” A “government end user” includes international governmental organizations, government operated research institutions, and parties acting on behalf of such organizations. The regulations also state that “[t]his term includes retail or wholesale firms engaged in the manufacture, distribution, or provision of items or services, controlled on the Wassenaar Arrangement Munitions List.” Clarification regarding how BIS will interpret the scope of a “government end user” would be helpful to industry, as the current definition allows for gray areas in interpretation. The interim final rule states explicitly that this “government end user” restriction applies to deemed exports, although it presumably applies to actual export activity as well, a point which BIS should clarify. Other restricted end users: License Exception ACE does not apply to actual exports (i.e., deemed exports are still allowed) for purposes other than “vulnerability disclosure” or “cyber incident response” (which are still allowed) to non-government end users located in any country listed in EAR Country Groups D:1 or D:5, except for “favorable treatment cybersecurity end users” in such countries (to which such exports are allowed). Restricted end uses: Finally, License Exception ACE does not apply if the exporter has reason to know at the time that the “cybersecurity item” will be “used to affect the confidentiality, integrity or availability of information or information systems, without authorization by the owner, operator or administrator of the information system (including the information and processes within such systems).” Even when License Exception ACE does not apply, other exclusions or license exceptions under the EAR could potentially apply, such as for “published” software and technology. One important limitation that BIS has implemented in the interim final rule is generally excluding the availability of License Exception Strategic Trade Authorization (“STA”) for these cybersecurity items. Conclusion The publication by BIS of the interim final rule shows the U.S. government’s willingness to move forward with these export controls on cybersecurity items following the active debate around these policies over the past several years. The narrower scope of the rule compared to its predecessors demonstrates the challenge the government faces in striking the appropriate policy balance. Industry and other affected stakeholders may wish to take advantage of the 45 day comment period and communicate to BIS any concerns about the interim final rule to help the government understand its impacts and ambiguities, and how it can be improved to achieve the desired policy objectives. While it seems likely that export controls in some form will be enacted in this space, by publishing this as an interim final rule, BIS has signaled that there is still time for these regulations to be made more clear and potentially even more narrowly tailored to hone in only on the targeted malicious or otherwise controversial uses of these tools without imposing undue burdens on the cybersecurity community.

These are the steps you need to enable .NET Framework 2.0 and 3.5 in Windows 11: Open Control Panel from the Start Menu. Make sure your View by is set to Categories. Then click Programs > Program and Features. Click Turn Windows features on or off. Tick .NET Framework 3.5 (includes .NET 2.0 and 3.0) and click Ok. You may be asked to download files from Windows Update. So, click Let Windows Update download the files for you. After this, you have to follow the on-screen instructions to complete the process.Alternatively, you can open Run by Win + R, type “optionalfeatures“, and click Ok. This way, you can skip the first 4 steps. This is how you enable the desired framework on your Windows 11 computer.NET is a platform consisting of different tools, programming languages, and other things required to build or create a program. Microsoft .NET Framework is what most of the desktop apps, websites, etc need to run on your computer. .NET Framework is made up of a couple of components, namely, Common Language Runtime (CLR) and Class Library. Common Language Runtime (CLR) handles the applications that are running on your system. It provides services such as exception handling, garbage collection, etc. Whereas, Class Library gives Application Programming Interface or API, such as strings, numbers, and more. It will read and/or write files, create a database, etc. Here coding is done in C#, F#, or Visual Basic programming language. After coding, it is mortified into Common Intermediate Language (CIL), which then will be saved with .dll or .exe extensions. That’s it! Read next: How to check .NET Framework version installed.

i everyone, this is Keisuke Kikuchi, the producer of Fatal Frame: Maiden of Black Water. Alongside the series director, Mr. Shibata, I have been involved in every title in the Fatal Frame series, and thanks to all of our fans and their support, we are now celebrating the 20th anniversary of the franchise. While the series condenses the essence of Japanese horror in each title, we decided on a different type of fear as the overarching theme for each game. For the upcoming Fatal Frame: Maiden of Black Water, we use the motif of Japanese “haunted places,” and the ability of the player to take their camera and walk around these stages. The main theme for this particular entry in the series is “fear related to water.” To accomplish this, we made sure many of the locations were very damp to give them the feel that a ghost could appear at any time, a theme that is very common in Japanese horror.One of the main features I would like to discuss with all of our fans today is the new photo mode, a first for the series. You can now make your own “ghost photography” and post them on social media so that others can see how interesting and scary the series really is. While other games have implemented a photo mode, the Fatal Frame series puts an emphasis on cameras and pictures as the most important items in the game (even using the camera, called the camera obscura, as a weapon to defeat the ghosts!), so the things you can do in this mode are a bit different when compared to other series. And since the main concept behind this new mode is to allow players to make their own original “ghost photography,” we made sure to include filters and other features to provide a number of different options to customize their work. Players can utilize photo mode with the press of a button at almost any part of the game, with the exception of a few particular events.After entering photo mode, you can place any ghosts or characters you have met or encountered up until that point into the picture, and change their position and the way they are facing. After that, you can adjust the poses of the characters and decide on the composition of your picture. You can then use different lenses in order to add in ghost-like effects and turn up the contrast and other options, in order to alter the qualities of your ghost photography. Furthermore, by obtaining the “psychic lens,” you can look forward to ghosts appearing in your photo when you least expect it. At a certain time and by going to a certain place, special ghosts may also appear in your photosOnce your photo appears how you like it, you can choose a frame for your picture, decorate it, adjust the depth of field, focal length and the aperture in order to increase the quality of your picture and then simply utilize the photo features in the platform you are utilizing in order to save the photo.After testing out photo mode, I recommend two methods on how to create your own ghost photography: One is to create a convincing picture that feels like it could actually be real, and the other is to create a really funny photo to make you and your friends laugh. There is a lot of value in creating a situation that you yourself find to be incredibly frightening, and then taking it to its utmost limit. Creating a picture of the characters being surrounded by ghosts as if they are being blessed by them, or changing out the character that is being spoken to with a ghost during a really serious scene can make for unexpected situations that can make you crack up laughing.This is what I really love about photo mode. The storylines throughout the Fatal Frame series always progress with such a very serious tone, but photo mode allows you to create really fun scenes, which has made this one of my favorite parts of the game. So while I’m looking forward to all of your videos playing through the game, I feel like the true charm of this series is to experience the fear for yourself by taking in the world and creating your own ghost photography. I really can’t wait to see what people create and seeing all of the photos everyone puts together after Maiden of Black Water releases October 28. The fear is real, but don’t forget to take a moment or two to soak in the scene and take a few pictures. You never know where the next ghost will turn up!

Sinclair computers are now distant artifacts of technology history. But for a period in the early 1980s, these inexpensive personal computers were the market leader in Britain. Their success made Clive Sinclair, a British inventor and entrepreneur, a business celebrity in a nation straining to come out of a long stretch of economic stagnation. He was lionized in the media and invited to lunch by Queen Elizabeth II and Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, who pointed to Mr. Sinclair as a model of the entrepreneurial gumption Britain needed. He was knighted in 1983. The Sinclair computers didn’t catch on in the American market, where buyers were willing to pay for more powerful machines from Apple, IBM and others. But they were an affordable introduction to computing for many young people in Britain and beyond. After Mr. Sinclair died on Sept. 16, many took to social media and recalled their Sinclairs. Satya Nadella, chief executive of Microsoft, was a teenager in India when he got one. Mr. Nadella recalled on Twitter “the sense of wonder and empowerment I felt.”“It was your device that sparked my passion for engineering,” he wrote. Elon Musk, who grew up in South Africa, tweeted, “RIP, Sir Sinclair. I loved that computer.” Mr. Sinclair died at his home in London at 81. His daughter, Belinda Sinclair, told the BBC that the cause was cancer. Clive Marles Sinclair was born in West London on July 30, 1940, to George Sinclair and Thora Edith Marles. Both his father and grandfather were engineers. Clive demonstrated a penchant and aptitude for electronics early on, designing radio components as a teenager. He enjoyed free-range discussions with members of British Mensa, an association of people with tested high intelligence quotients. He joined the group when he was 19 and for several years was its chairman. Mr. Sinclair bypassed a university education to pursue his inventions, and he was prolific. He is credited with designing the world’s first pocket calculator, as well as a digital watch and a pocket television. At times, his creations didn’t get much beyond the prototype stage, falling short of commercial success.Mr. Sinclair’s work on the pocket calculator in particular showed him what was becoming increasingly possible in electronics, aided by advances in semiconductor chips. His elegantly designed personal computer kept parts and cost to a minimum. The first model, the ZX80, was introduced in 1980 and priced at less than 100 pounds. His biggest hit was the third version, the Spectrum, introduced in 1982. More than 5 million were sold worldwide over the next few years. The price for the basic Spectrum was 125 pounds, or about $225 at the time. That was a fraction of the price tag, for example, of a basic Apple II, Apple’s first big seller, which cost $1,300 (almost $3,800 in today’s money). “Clive Sinclair’s most important contribution was in making computers affordable,” said Martin Campbell-Kelly, a technology historian at the University of Warwick in England. “The British market was much more price sensitive than the American market, mainly due to a lower standard of living at the time.” Sinclair Research tried to move beyond the home computer market in 1984 with a more expensive offering, the Sinclair QL, intended to appeal to small businesses and professionals. But by then American computer makers like IBM and Compaq were leaders in selling personal computers to businesses, and the Sinclair QL found few buyers.

There’s no visual style more iconic that expresses a love for gaming more than retro pixel art. Join us in this love letter to gaming culture from some of the most passionate new voices in the industry, while enjoying discounts of up to 75% during the ID@Xbox Retro Sale. Here’s just a few of the great titles featured: Cuphead (25%) A classic run-and-gun action game heavily focused on boss battles. Inspired by cartoons of the 1930s, the visuals and audio are painstakingly created with the same techniques of the era; traditional hand drawn cel animation, watercolor backgrounds, and original jazz recordings. Play as Cuphead or Mugman (in single player or local co-op) as you traverse strange worlds, acquire new weapons, learn powerful super moves, and discover hidden secrets while you try to pay your debt back to the devil! Baldur’s Gate and Baldur’s Gate II: Enhanced Editions (60%) Forced to leave your home under mysterious circumstances, you find yourself drawn into a conflict that has the Sword Coast on the brink of war. Soon you discover there are other forces at work, far more sinister than you could ever imagine. Can you resist the evil in your blood and forsake the dark destiny that awaits you? Or will you embrace your monstrous nature and ascend to godhood? Customize your hero, recruit a party of brave allies, and explore the Sword Coast in your search for adventure, profit, and your destiny. The Escapists 2 (75%) Risk it all to breakout from the toughest prisons in the world. Explore the biggest prisons yet, with multiple floors, roofs, vents, and underground tunnels. You’ll have to live by the prison rules, attending roll call, doing prison jobs, and following strict routines, all the while secretly engineering your bid for freedom. Your prison escape antics will take you from the frosty Fort Tundra to a train hurtling through the desert, and even to the final frontier! Pixark (75%) A vast, wild world filled with vicious dinosaurs, magical creatures, and endless adventure! To survive in this mysterious land, you must tame creatures both ferocious and cuddly, craft high tech and magical tools, and build your own base out of cubes. With a robust character creator, an infinite number of voxel-based maps and procedurally generated quests, your PixArk adventure will be completely unique. Team up with friends to form a tribe or play on your own. Spend your time building a towering fortress or go on a quest in a sprawling cavern. Fly on the back of a dragon and smite your enemies with a magic wand or ride a mighty T-Rex and blast your foes with a rocket launcher. In the world of PixArk, how you play is up to you – if you survive! The Survivalists (60%) The island is alive! Your newfound home will change with day/night cycles as you explore and uncover its secrets. Hunt (or be hunted by) animals for food and an array of mythical enemies, who aren’t necessarily pleased to see you. Get quests from a Mysterious Stranger or find them washed up on the shore. Prepare to trek into a procedurally generated wilderness, with a variety of biomes, for an adventure that’s unique to every player. Finding the perils of island life too much or just looking to share your building expertise with friends? The Survivalists has you covered! Complete joint adventures, gain loot, trade, and ultimately survive together and as you and up to three fellow castaways explore an island paradise. Kingdom Two Crowns (30%) A side-scrolling micro strategy game with a minimalist feel wrapped in a beautiful, modern pixel art aesthetic. Play the role of a monarch atop their steed and recruit loyal subjects, build your kingdom, and protect it from the greedy creatures looking to steal your coins and crown. In the brand-new campaign mode, monarchs must now work to build a kingdom that stands over time until finding a way to defeat the Greed for good. Explore the environments to discover new mounts and secrets hidden in the deep. All these titles and more are on sale now until October 18 during the ID@Xbox Retro Sale! Hurry up for this great opportunity to build up your retro gallery. See the full list of games at xbox.com.

öki is a multi-award winning adventure game inspired by Scandinavian folklore, and arrives on PlayStation 5 on October 28. Set in the stunning, snow-capped wilderness, you play Tove. She’s a young girl plunged into a living fairytale, where you must solve puzzles, collect curiosities, and uncover a tale of tragic loss. Your quest is to rescue your brother Lars from Röki; a gigantic pitch-black creature with a mysterious smile. Like the movie Jaws, our game is eponymously named after its monster, although there may be more to Röki than meets the eyeAs Tove, you explore the enchanting 3D world, find long-forgotten objects, talk with misunderstood monsters, and solve ancient puzzles to unlock paths deeper into the wilderness. You can also dive into the pages of Tove’s handwritten journal that she scribbles in as you explore, charting her adventure. This includes notes of folklore, loot, and wilderness “badge” achievements, as well as some of her inner thoughts and reflections.The game’s combination of fairytale adventure, emotional storytelling, and signature graphical art style has won it many accolades, accumulating in nominations for Best Debut Game at The Game Awards and Best British Game and Best Debut Game at the BAFTA Game Award, which was amazing for us as a tiny indie team.Röki is our take on modernizing the classic adventure games we loved growing up – games like Monkey Island, Day of the Tentacle, and Grim Fandango. We wanted to capture the storytelling and spirit of adventure from those games, but more importantly, update the play style for audiences today. You take direct control of Tove with the pad and can explore the world in 3D, rather than directing her with a cursor. Not only does this make the game feel more immediate and responsive but it also allows the player to form a better bond with Tove, as they’re playing as her, rather than directing her from afar.As much as we love the classic adventure game, we wanted to make a frustration-free adventure that both seasoned and boxfresh adventurers alike could enjoy. Much of this came down to accessible puzzle design that makes real-world sense and then lots of user testing to see how players responded to the gameplay. It was essential for the game to pose a challenge but have optional in-game assistance at hand if players got stuck. To that end, you can flash interactable objects in the scene and also dip into Tove’s journal for extra clues as to what to do next. Essentially, a story isn’t a story without an ending and we wanted our tale to be one that players could enjoy right through to its final climactic pages.The world of Röki has a wide cast of creatures inspired by Scandinavian folklore, but it’s not about shooting or hacking the monsters you meet into tiny bits. Instead, it’s about finding out what’s wrong with them, befriending them, and seeing if you can solve the issues they have. Sometimes even monsters need a helping hand.Now, this sounds lovely but Röki is also pretty creepy. The eighties kid’s films we grew up with (films like The Dark Crystal, Return to Oz, and The Neverending Story) weren’t afraid to scare their diminutive viewers half to death and we decided to follow their lead on not pulling any punches with Röki in the fright department. This also resonates well with the game’s fairytale roots, which in their original forms were pretty grisly.We’re firm believers in the power of video games to tell amazing stories. For our debut indie game we wanted to flex our storytelling muscles and deliver a heartfelt and unforgettable narrative that resonates with players around the world. This isn’t just the story of folklore, jotun and the mystery of the wilderness, it’s also the very human story of a family becoming whole again after life-shattering events. Throughout the game, Tove will confront distorted memories from her past. The player must navigate these living dreams, confront Tove’s fears, and ultimately solve their riddles to reunite her family. Without saying too much, the theme of family runs throughout the game, even among some of its monstrous inhabitants.Thanks for reading. We’re very happy to announce that Röki will be arriving on PS5 on October 28. We’re excited to welcome new adventurers to wrap up warm, pull on their snow boots, and accompany Tove in a journey through a fantastical wilderness in this award-winning adventure.

The release of iOS 15 broke a feature that allowed Siri to manage the AirPods Pro's currently active Noise Control mode. There are three Noise Control modes: Active Noise Cancellation uses "anti-noise" to dull the impact of environmental sounds, Transparency allows those sounds to be heard over whatever is currently playing, and the Off setting effectively turns the AirPods Pro into more traditional earbuds that don't attempt to compensate for surrounding noises. AirPods Pro owners can switch between those modes via the Settings app, Control Center, and by long-pressing on the earbuds. Before the release of iOS 15, they could also use Siri by saying "Hey Siri, turn off Active Noise Cancellation" or something similar, but now the voice assistant responds to those requests with "Sorry, I can't help you with that." We've confirmed this problem using a public release of iOS 15 on an iPhone SE with paired AirPods Pro. The other methods of changing the currently active Noise Control mode still work, but no matter how we phrased the request, Siri told us that it couldn't help us switch between the modes. (At least it was apologetic each time; we'd start to get snippy after a while.) There is some good news: MacRumors reports that this problem doesn't affect the iOS 15.1 beta. That probably won't help most AirPods Pro owners who've already updated their devices to iOS 15, but assuming Apple is quick to release the operating system's first point upgrade, people should be able to manage Noise Control with Siri again sooner than later.

Facebook has apologized for the mass outage that left billions of users unable to access Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger for several hours. “To all the people and businesses around the world who depend on us, we are sorry for the inconvenience caused by today’s outage across our platforms,” said Santosh Janardhan, Facebook’s vice president of infrastructure, in a blogpost late Monday. WATCH NOW VIDEO06:11 Facebook Under Fire: What steps need to be taken, and what level of regulation is the company willing to accept? The outage, which prevented users from refreshing their feeds or sending messages, was caused by “configuration changes on the backbone routers,” Janardhan said, without specifying exactly what the changes were. The changes caused “issues” that interrupted the flow of traffic between routers in Facebook’s data centers around the world, he added. “This disruption to network traffic had a cascading effect on the way our data centers communicate, bringing our services to a halt,” Janardhan said. Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp stopped working shortly before noon ET, when the websites and apps for Facebook’s services were responding with server errors. Just after 7 p.m. ET, around six hours after the platforms went offline, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg wrote on his Facebook page: “Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger are coming back online now.” He added, “Sorry for the disruption today – I know how much you rely on our services to stay connected with the people you care about.” The outage marked the longest stretch of downtime for Facebook since 2008, when a bug knocked the site offline for about a day, affecting about 80 million users. The platform currently has around 3 billion users. WATCH NOW VIDEO02:57 Facebook sells off amid whistleblower allegations and a widespread user outage In 2019, a similar outage lasted about an hour. Facebook blamed a server configuration change for that incident. The outage came one day after the whistleblower who leaked private internal research to both The Wall Street Journal and Congress revealed herself ahead of an interview with the CBS program “60 Minutes.” The documents, first reported in a series of Journal stories, revealed that the company’s executives understood the negative impacts of Instagram among younger users and that Facebook’s algorithm enabled the spread of misinformation, among other things. Facebook shares closed down almost 5% on Monday but they were up modestly nearly 1% in early trading on Tuesday.

Puzzle Bobble 3D: Vacation Odyssey is the latest adventure in the Puzzle Bobble saga – and while you may recognize some familiar faces and color-matching, bubble bursting gameplay, this all-new adventure is unlike any other game in the series. Tomorrow, get ready to experience the first-ever 3D Puzzle Bobble game, which delivers a new challenge as you aim to solve three-dimensional bubble clusters with depth and reactive physics. With 100 levels worth of escalating difficulty, Puzzle Bobble 3D can present quite a challenge. But you’re in luck! All of us here at Survios want to make sure you get the most out of your vacation, and we’re here to share our top 10 tips and tricks that’ll have you bursting bubbles with the best of them. Play Video10 Tips to master Puzzle Bobble 3D: Vacation Odyssey, out tomorrow 1. Watch Your Win Condition In Story Mode, pay attention to what the win condition is for each level. Sometimes you don’t have to pop all the bubbles to complete the puzzle. For example, if your goal is to Free the Chack’n, you only have to pop the bubbles with Chack’n inside them to win. Free the Chack’n! 2. Consider Clearing One Color at a Time If you have a chance to eliminate all the bubbles of one color from the board, do it! When there’s fewer remaining colors to match, there’s a greater chance that the next bubble Bob gives you will be the one you need to clear a big cluster. 3. Avoid Sticking Extra Bubbles to the Core Every bubble puzzle is made up of dozens of bubbles that branch off of a central core. On many occasions, your goal is to burst all the bubbles surrounding the core so that it activates. But if you shoot bubbles directly at the exposed core before all the other bubbles around it have been burst, they’ll just attach to it, and you’ll have to waste shots bursting them in addition to the other bubbles. 4. Cancel Your Shot at Anytime If you’re playing with a DualShock or DualSense wireless controller and you don’t like the shot you’ve got lined up, you can always press L2 to cancel your shot. You can also cancel your shot when playing in VR with Playstation Move controllers. After you’ve pulled back the plunger on your bubble cannon, simply return your hand to the neutral position and release the trigger button to cancel your shot. Cancelling your shot gives you the opportunity to try again for the perfect match or equip a powerup. R/G, B/Y and UNI Color Blindness Accessibility Options 5. Explore the Color Blindness Accessibility Modes If you’re one of the millions of gamers who are colorblind, you can still enjoy Puzzle Bobble 3D. Just check out the colorblind options in the settings menu to find a color scheme that works for you. We have color modes to accommodate Red/Green and Blue/Yellow color sight deficiencies as well as a Universal mode for those with Monochromacy. 6. Boomerang Your Bubble Shots If you miss a shot, your bubble will always be drawn toward the core. If you’re trying to reach a bubble cluster in a tricky position, take advantage of this by shooting over or around the puzzle and letting it home in on the far side of the core. Hmm, I wonder what this powerup does? 7. The Bomb is a BLAST! Of all the power-ups in the game, the bomb is one of the most useful thanks to its ability to burst multiple bubbles of different colors at once. If you’ve got a bomb on deck, try to save it until the puzzle’s core is partially exposed, then launch the bomb directly at it. If it makes contact with the core, it can burst a huge number of bubbles and make the rest of the level a lot easier. In fact, all of the powerups have their own set of strengths against certain types of puzzle clusters and situations. We recommend trying them all out. 8. Unlocking the Hardest Trophy on your Way to Platinum Matching up bubbles to pop is super satisfying, but longtime Puzzle Bobble fans will know that disconnecting large groups of bubbles from the gameboard is one of the keys to success. The same is true in Puzzle Bobble 3D. In fact, there’s even a trophy for making a match that disconnects a whopping 100 bubbles in a single shot. Whoa! If you’re skilled enough to unlock this trophy, you’ll be well on your way to beating all 100 levels in our Story Mode and earning yourself a fresh Platinum Trophy. 9. Burden Your Opponent with Bubbles in Duel Mode Did you know that Puzzle Bobble 3D features a competitive online Duel Mode? That’s right. In this mode, an endless swarm of bubbles will appear steadily rising towards a vortex hovering ominously overhead. The goal is to outlast your opponent by popping all the bubbles before they get sucked up by the vortex. Of course, clearing out bubbles faster than your opponent is the key to winning. But, in traditional Puzzle Bobble fashion, you can make your opponent’s job a lot harder. In Duel Mode, every time you make a match of 20 bubbles or more, you’ll send jammer bubbles directly to your opponent’s gameboard. So be on the lookout for those big groups of bubbles to pop. 10. Mastering Every Level with 3 Stars Only the most ardent bubble popping fans will attempt to complete each Story Mode level with a full 3 star rating. Here are a handful of tips for those willing to brave that challenge. Most levels in Story Mode come with a hard bubble limit. When you complete these levels, you’re actually awarded bonus points for each leftover bubble. The lesson here is simple: beat levels in as few shots as possible to score the most points. A similar principle applies to levels with a time limit: beat the level as quickly as possible to rack up the bonus points. Puzzle Bobble 3D: Vacation Odyssey is easy to learn but tough to master, so our most valuable tip is to keep practicing until you’re a bubble-blasting pro! With more than 100 colorful puzzles in exotic vacation destinations, honing your skills has never been more relaxing – or more fun. Puzzle Bobble 3D: Vacation Odyssey bursts onto PS4, PS5, and PS VR tomorrow.

Welcome back to This Week in Apps, the weekly TechCrunch series that recaps the latest in mobile OS news, mobile applications and the overall app economy. The app industry continues to grow, with a record 218 billion downloads and $143 billion in global consumer spend in 2020. Consumers last year also spent 3.5 trillion minutes using apps on Android devices alone. And in the U.S., app usage surged ahead of the time spent watching live TV. Currently, the average American watches 3.7 hours of live TV per day, but now spends four hours per day on their mobile devices. Apps aren’t just a way to pass idle hours — they’re also a big business. In 2019, mobile-first companies had a combined $544 billion valuation, 6.5x higher than those without a mobile focus. In 2020, investors poured $73 billion in capital into mobile companies — a figure that’s up 27% year-over-year. This Week in Apps offers a way to keep up with this fast-moving industry in one place with the latest from the world of apps, including news, updates, startup fundings, mergers and acquisitions, and suggestions about new apps and games to try, too. Do you want This Week in Apps in your inbox every Saturday? Sign up here: techcrunch.com/newsletters Top Stories Winners from the Facebook outage When Facebook went down for nearly six hours on Monday, other apps saw an immediate benefit. Telegram, for example, gained a massive influx of 70 million more users, it said. Other firms did a fuller analysis of how the outage played out in the world of mobile apps. According to Sensor Tower, Snapchat saw the biggest increase on the social media front, with average time spent by existing users climbing by 23% week-over-week. Twitter, which had jokingly tweeted “hello literally everyone,” grew that figure by 11% and TikTok saw a 2% jump. When comparing October 4 to the week-ago day, Snapchat saw a 14% increase in sessions, the report said. Twitter saw 5% session growth week-over-week, but TikTok saw a 1% dip. But as the outage impacted more than just social networking — Facebook’s communication services, including Messenger and WhatsApp went down, too — rival chat apps also saw some gains. This included a 15% time-spent bump in Signal and an 18% increase in Telegram. In terms of sessions, Signal and Telegram grew by 13% and 9%, respectively, when compared with September 27. In addition, both saw an increase in installs, with Signal seeing nearly 12x the installs from the day before, reaching 881,000 downloads on the day of the outage. Telegram saw 6.3 million installs and Viber gained 137,000. Image Credits: Sensor Tower At Facebook, the declines in time spent were significant. Instagram’s average time spent on Android dropped by 28% week-over-week. Facebook on Android was down 24%; WhatsApp was down 25%; and Messenger was down 20%. Apple brings back the App Store’s “Report a Problem” feature Apple made a change to its App Store by returning the “Report a Problem” link to App Store product pages across iOS 15, iPadOS 15 and macOS Monterey devices. The link offers an easy way for users to report issues they’re having with an app, including whether it contains offensive or illegal content, or whether it was attempting to scam consumers out of their money. Apple had removed the consumer-friendly “Report a Problem” button from the App Store years ago, possibly to its detriment. New reports have suggested that many of the top apps are scams costing consumers millions and Apple has even been questioned by Congress over the situation. The “new” feature is currently available in the U.S., Canada, Australia and New Zealand, and will make its way to other markets over time. However, the feature isn’t technically “new” in the sense that it had never before existed on the App Store — a button like this used to have a prominent position in the App Store’s early days. When clicked, consumers will be able to select from options like “Report a scam or fraud” and “Report offensive, abusive, or illegal content” at reportaproblem.apple.com. They will also be able to report issues with free apps that don’t include in-app purchases. The addition arrives after a number of reports about high-profile App Store scams have made headlines. Scams were even brought up in an antitrust hearing Apple attended earlier this year, when senators questioned why it wasn’t doing enough to protect consumers. The return of the button seems to be the closest to an acknowledgment we will get from Apple that fighting fraud effectively may require public input. Apple’s apps get rated and reviewed Image Credits: Appfigures With iOS 15, Apple began to allow consumers to rate and review its own first-party apps on the App Store for the first time. That meant users could now leave reviews for built-in apps like Mail, Music, Stocks, Calculator and others that typically ship with the iPhone. Initially, some of the apps were not faring well as users finally had a chance to offer their feedback. For example, News started off with 2.5 stars as users complained about nags to upgrade to News+, advertising and other elements. This week, Appfigures analyzed how the apps were doing as of October 5, 2021, to reflect the nearly 33,000 ratings they received over the first couple of weeks. It found that the most disliked apps included Mail, Podcasts, News and Translate. The latter, a newer app in the Apple lineup, fared the worst. Translate was the lowest-rated app, with a 2.42 average star rating globally off of 1,629 total ratings, Appfigures found. News, Mail and Podcasts were rated 2.55 stars, 2.98 stars and 2.44 stars, respectively. Image Credits: Appfigures Meanwhile, apps with ratings over 4 stars included Find My, Voice Memos, Compass, Measure, FaceTime, Notes, Fitness and Apple Wallet. A majority of Apple’s apps, however, were in the 3-star range. None received 5 stars or less than 2.42. In terms of the number of ratings, Music and Maps led with 23% of the 32,953 ratings that came in over the past couple of weeks. Worldwide, music had 4,431 ratings, and Maps had 3,207 ratings. They were also the only apps with 3,000+ total ratings as of the time of publication. Image Credits: Appfigures Weekly News iOS Updates iOS 15 users noticed they have started to see promotions for Apple’s services in the Settings screen. While Apple has used this spot in the past, Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney this week called out Apple for the practice, saying Apple is using the Settings screen as an ad unit its competitors don’t have access to. Apple was seen marketing Apple Music here, for example — but a rival like Spotify would not be able to use this same prime real estate in the same way. Image Credits: TechCrunch Apple launched new metrics in App Analytics. The new analytics include redownloads, total downloads, proceeds, preorders and updates. Each metric can be displayed by territory, source

A voting hardware company that came to prominence right after last year’s presidential election is seeking to block Santa Clara County from releasing the firm’s financial documents, arguing they contain trade secrets that make them exempt from public records laws. On Thursday, Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge Helen Williams said she would like to first take a look at the documents in question before making a ruling. Denver-based Dominion Voting Systems, which provides machines that counts votes and also allows individuals to cast their vote, became a household name in fall 2020 after an onslaught of conspiracy-driven accusations were directed at the company from former President Donald Trump and his supporters, who claimed the company had rigged the 2020 presidential election against him. In 2019, Santa Clara County awarded an eight-year contract to Dominion to utilize their technology for the county’s Registrar of Voters. As part of the contract process, Dominion provided 47 pages of audited financial statements from 2015 to 2017 to the county that were marked with the words “confidential” and “proprietary” on each page. In August, Santa Clara County received six public records requests that sought Dominion’s financial statements. As part of an agreement between the county and Dominion, the county notified the company about the records request and that they intended to fulfill it. After Dominion raised concerns about the release of the documents, the county directed them to make their case in court rather than the county making the determination. In their suit seeking to block the records from release, attorneys for Dominion argue that the company’s interest in preventing their release “outweighs” the public’s interest in receiving them. They also state that “across the nation,” individuals who are “fueled” by “false claims” that the company rigged the 2020 election have filed public records requests seeking information that intends to harm Dominion. In addition, attorneys for Dominion contend that it is in Santa Clara County’s own interest to not release the financial documents. If the documents were to be released, they argue, future vendors may be “reluctant” to work with the county. According to the suit, one of the requests was made by a “sovereign citizen” of so-called “New California,” a movement started in 2018 that looks to secede from the state. Dominion declined a request for comment, and the company’s lawyer and law firm did not respond to a request for comment. County Counsel James Williams said that in these cases, the county takes a “relatively neutral” position. “They need to go seek a court order. They are the ones who have the factual knowledge if they have a trade secret,” said Williams about companies seeking to block certain records from release. “We want to make sure the vendor isn’t going way overboard. We would object to that. Between them and the court, we aren’t in the position to know (what is a trade secret) given their particular industry issue.” Williams also said that an individual who wished to intervene in the case, Sunnyvale councilmember candidate Charlton M. Thornton, did not make an appearance. David Snyder, the executive director of the First Amendment Coalition, a San Rafael-based organization that advocates for government transparency, said that cases like the one involving Dominion and the county have become more common in the last half decade. In 2012, a state court of appeals ruled that a third party may challenge a request, known as a reverse-California Public Record Act lawsuit. That type of lawsuit was tested in 2017 when former Milpitas city manager Tom Williams, who had been accused of alleged misconduct, tried to prevent the release of records related to his tenure. A judge later ordered the release of the records after Snyder’s organization challenged Williams’ efforts to block the documents. “What a reverse action does (is) it flips the burdens,” said Snyder, who has led the Coalition since 2017. “The person who doesn’t want the records disclosed gets the first argument. And the most aggressive argument. The public’s interest in disclosure can be left out in the cold.”As for Dominion’s argument that their financial documents are trade secrets, Snyder said that just because a company puts the words “confidential” or “proprietary” on documents doesn’t legally dictate what a government entity can do with them. But the answer isn’t exactly clear, he said. “Trade secret is fairly narrowly defined in the law,” Snyder said, bringing up the formula for Coca Cola as an example. “If that were released, Coca Cola would be at a competitive disadvantage. Are audited financials secrets? I really don’t know. But I don’t think that’s an obvious yes.

PUBG has been in talks with the Indian authorities regarding the game's re-entry into Indian market. Meanwhile, an Inside Sport report had previously said that PUBG’s re-entry into India ‘In the current circumstances it will not be easy’. The website further quoted insiders stating that the game’s launch could be pushed to January or February next year’, which again ‘will depend on the stance of the government’. PUBG Mobile Lite 0.20.0 global version now available for Android download: Here's how to do it Share: Written By: Zee Media Bureau Edited By: Reema Sharma @reema7sharma Updated: Feb 03, 2021, 132 PM IST Highlights Govt has not yet granted permission to relaunch of PUBG in India. PUBG was a hugely po[CENSORED]r game in India. Centre decided to ban it in September. New Delhi: Even as millions of fans in India are waiting for the re-entry of PUBG Mobile game in the country, here's some latest information from the gaming company. The 0.20.0 global version update of the po[CENSORED]r PUBG Mobile Lite is now available for Android download. The APK file is of 575 MB size, gamers need to have enough space in the phone to download it. The 0.20.0 update for PUBG Mobile Lite comes with several exciting updates and features like a Universal Mark Feature and Winter Castle. Here’s a how to download PUBG Mobile Lite 0.20.0 global version update on Android Visit official website of PUBG Mobile Lite Click on the ‘Download APK’ option. The download for the APK file will start. Now players can enable the ‘Install from unknown source’ option Now players will have to locate and install the APK file What is dissappointing for Indian PUBG GAMERS? Do also note that PUBG Mobile and PUBG Mobile Lite are banned in India, so it is strictly advised that Indian gamers should not download the game. PUBG has been in talks with the Indian authorities regarding the game's re-entry into Indian market. Meanwhile, an Inside Sport report had previously said that PUBG’s re-entry into India ‘In the current circumstances it will not be easy’. The website further quoted insiders stating that the game’s launch could be pushed to January or February next year’, which again ‘will depend on the stance of the government’. The government had banned the multiplayer action game PUBG on September 2 and it has been pulled out from both Google Play Store and Apple App Store in India following the directive from the Indian government. Zee News App: Read latest news of India and world, bollywood news, business updates, cricket scores, etc. Download the Zee news app now to keep up with daily breaking news and live news event coverage.

Google launched a new feature on Wednesday that shows users the environmental impact of flights. Starting today, users will see carbon emissions estimates for nearly all flights in the search results. The estimate is visible next to the price and duration of the flight. Google notes that the new feature will allow users to factor carbon emissions into their decision alongside cost or timing when it comes to booking travel. The estimates are flight-specific and seat-specific. For instance, the emissions estimates will vary when looking at economy or first-class seats, as seats that take up more space account for a larger share of total emissions. Additionally, newer airplanes are generally less polluting than older ones. Flights with lower emissions will be labelled with a green badge. Those who want to prioritize carbon impact when searching for a flight can sort through results so that the flights with the lowest emissions are at the top of the list. Flights are labelled as higher, typical, lower or unknown emissions. Google calculates the estimates by combining data from the European Environmental Agency with flight-specific information provided by airlines regarding details such as aircraft type and the total number of seats. The search giant notes that actual carbon emission may vary and depend on factors such as aircraft model and configuration, speed and attitude of the aircraft along with the distance between the origin and destination. The company plans to continue revising carbon emissions over time to improve accuracy. “This update to Google Flights is just one of the many ways we’re helping people make sustainable choices in their everyday lives,” Google’s vice-president of travel products, Richard Holden, said in a blog post. This latest update to Google Flights comes as the company just launched eco-friendly routing in the U.S. for iOS and Android users. Eco-friendly routing gives drivers the choice between the fastest and most fuel-efficient route. Google believes the new feature could allow Maps users to avoid over 1 million tons of carbon emissions per year. Eco-friendly routing is expected to launch in Europe next year.

The manufacturing world is facing one of its greatest challenges in years—a global shortage of semiconductors—and there doesn't appear to be an end in sight any time soon. According to Acer, one of the world's largest laptop manufacturers, companies will still be affected by this shortage until at least the first half of 2022. Semiconductors are an essential component of electronic devices, found in everything from cars and factory machinery to dishwashers and mobile phones. They harness the conducting properties of semiconductor materials (such as silicon), through the use of electric or magnetic fields, light, heat or mechanical deformation, to control the electric current flowing into a device. Like many current global challenges, this shortage initially began as a result of the COVID pandemic. Staff at semiconductor foundries in China and around the world were unable to go to work, plants were closed and production halted, which led to a lack of supply. The movement of that supply was also slowed down by tighter restrictions at ports and international borders. At the same time, employees started working from home, children and students started studying from home, and many of us were confined to our homes for long periods. New equipment was needed to support these changes, establish makeshift offices and classrooms in our homes, and upgrade our existing home entertainment options. This prompted a sudden increase in demand for many of the devices that rely on semiconductors. However, the industries that make these devices also had to stop production for a time, and during that period they stopped ordering semiconductors. This meant there was a sudden increase in demand for goods, but the companies that manufacture these products weren't making as many as they normally do, or ordering enough components to enable them to meet a rise in demand later. This is a classic example of the "bullwhip effect", in which inventory levels suddenly fluctuate in response to unexpected changes in customer demand further along the supply chain. This didn't just happen in the electronics sector; it has affected every industry that uses semiconductors in their products, from health care and cosmetics to construction and defense. According to analysis by investment bank Goldman Sachs, this shortage has already impacted at least 169 different industries to some extent. No time to panic Unfortunately, panic-buying isn't restricted just to the toilet paper aisle in Coles and Woolworths. Once rumors of a shortage began to emerge, companies that use semiconductors started panic-buying and stockpiling them. This behavior adds to the overall impact of the shortage, reduces what little supply is available, and drives up costs. The automotive industry has been hit particularly hard, illustrating perfectly the scale and complexity of modern supply chains. A car is made of about 30,000 components, sourced from thousands of suppliers around the world. If even one of these components isn't available at the time of assembly, the system grinds to a halt and new cars can't be finished or shipped. General Motors had to stop production at some of its manufacturing facilities as a result of the chip shortage earlier this year, costing the company at least US$2 billion. What happens next? The impact of the microchip shortage is already being felt by consumers all over the world, including Australia. Customers hoping to buy a new car or replacement parts can expect to wait up to six months. Computer manufacturers Dell, HP and Lenovo have warned their prices are likely to rise, and retailers such as JB Hi-Fi have told shoppers to expect shortages of televisions and other electronic goods "for the foreseeable future." Even before this crisis, the demand for semiconductors was growing steadily, as products become more sophisticated and technologies such as 5G and the "internet of things" become ever more integrated into our world. The only realistic solution is to increase the supply of semiconductors, and chip maker Intel has already announced plans to scale up its manufacturing of semiconductors, with new factories opening in the United States and Europe. However, this will take time, so consumers will likely still be feeling the impact of this shortage well beyond Christmas 2021.

Amazon Games and Smilegate RPG today announced the award-winning MMOARPG Lost Ark will be available in North America and Europe on PC in 2022. Players can sign up now at playlostark.com to learn more about the game and the upcoming beta, coming later this summer. Lost Ark is a AAA free-to-play, massively multiplayer online action role-playing game that is only currently available in Korea, Japan, and Russia, where it boasts millions of active players. Smilegate RPG is among the world’s most successful developers, and whose parent company developed the first person shooter CROSSFIRE, one of the most po[CENSORED]r and long running games in the world, boasting more than 8 million concurrent players globally nearly fifteen years after its launch. In Lost Ark players explore the vast and diverse world of Arkesia on their quest to find the fabled Lost Ark and save the realm from a demonic threat. The game features 15 distinct hero classes that offer deep combat with unique combinations of adaptable skill sets utilizing the Tripod Skill system. Players forge their own legend, whether alone or with allies, as they battle through dangerous dungeons, sail by ship and even create their own island home. “With Lost Ark, Smilegate RPG has created an incredibly deep online experience that players will return to for years to come; it is our privilege to bring this action RPG to new audiences in North America and Europe for the first time,” said Christoph Hartmann, VP, Amazon Games. “Amazon Games is committed to releasing the highest quality games for our players, whether we’re developing projects with our internal teams or publishing games from the best developers in the world, like Smilegate RPG. Lost Ark is the first of many exciting titles that Amazon Games will be publishing.” Amazon Games collaborated with Smilegate RPG to provide players in North America and Europe with the best experience possible by localizing and translating the colossal world of Lost Ark into written and spoken dialogue in English, French, German, and Spanish. Amazon is also adapting the free-to-play business model, ensuring all items for sale in-game can also be acquired through playing, to better meet the expectations of Western players. “We’ve been working closely with Amazon Games on Lost Ark, and continuing to grow our player base in the West,” said Chi Won Gil, CEO, Smilegate RPG. “Amazon Games is perfectly positioned to introduce Lost Ark to a new pool of players and grow that relationship with them through Amazon channels like Twitch and Prime Gaming.” Amazon Games is also currently developing New World, the upcoming MMO set on a supernatural continent in the Age of Exploration, releasing on September 28, 2021. Also in development are original game projects from the Amazon Games team in San Diego, led by industry veteran John Smedley, and the newly formed Amazon Games development studio in Montreal, founded by the core team behind the po[CENSORED]r tactical shooter Rainbow Six Siege.