TikTok Will Give Away $500,000 in Live Trivia Challenges - CNET

From Feb. 22-26, the social media app is giving away cash as part of a John Wick 4 promotion.

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Update: It appears Marvel is already planning to announce multiple changes to its TV show release schedule.

Per The Hollywood Reporter's sources, only two Disney Plus series – Loki season 2 and Secret Invasion – are definitely airing in 2023. Animated TV series X-Men 97 is also expected to release this year, though, according to Disney's Q1 2023 earnings presentation.

If those reports are true, Echo, Ironheart, and What If...? season 2 will all be pushed into 2024. Agatha: Coven of Chaos, which is currently filming, will likely be shunted into 2025, too. It's unclear how other shows, such as the much anticipated Daredevil: Born Again, will be impacted.

Disney didn't respond to TechRadar's request for comment on the rumored release schedule changes.

Original story follows.

How will Daredevil's MCU TV show be impacted by these changes? (Image credit: Marvel Studios/Disney Plus)

Marvel President Kevin Feige has admitted that the studio's approach to its TV show release schedule will change.

In a wide-ranging interview with Entertainment Weekly (EW), Feige revealed that Marvel's forthcoming lineup of Disney Plus shows was overstuffed and unwieldy. Subsequently, the studio plans to make sweeping changes around its launch schedule, giving future TV series in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) room to breathe and shine.

Initially, Feige was asked what Marvel had learned about creating and releasing TV shows since WandaVision – the MCU's first TV series – debuted in January 2021. In his response, Feige briefly mentioned a recent Saturday Night Live (SNL) skit, which poked fun at how many shows Marvel was pumping out, before acknowledging that Marvel was re-evaluating its approach to TV.

"I do think one of the powerful aspects of being at Marvel Studios is having these films and shows hit the zeitgeist," Feige said. "It's harder to hit the zeitgeist when there's so much product out there – and so much 'content', as they say, which is a word that I hate. [Laughs] But we want Marvel Studios and the MCU projects to really stand out and stand above. So, people will see that as we get further into Phase 5 and 6. The pace at which we're putting out the Disney Plus shows will change so they can each get a chance to shine."

Asked whether Marvel intended to space out its Disney Plus offerings, or develop fewer TV shows than before, Feige replied: "Both, I think."

Analysis: trimming the MCU fat

Ant-Man 3 has potentially kickstarted a more refined MCU Phase 5 (Image credit: Marvel Studios)

Feige's comments will likely be music to people's ears. 

Ever since WandaVision kicked off Marvel Phase 4, fans and critics have regularly commented on Marvel's increasingly packed lineup of movies and TV shows. Phase 4 comprised 17 projects – seven movies, eight series, and two TV specials – and, given the mixed reception many of those productions met with, MCU fans believe Marvel has begun favoring quantity over quality.

With at least 13 Marvel Phase 5 films and shows set to debut between February 2023 and September 2024, and four movies already announced for Marvel Phase 6, some industry analysts and fans think it won't be long before superhero fatigue sets in (if it hasn't already for some).

However, Feige's comments provide some hope that Marvel is learning from its Phase 4 mistakes. It's already rejigged its release date schedule in light of Blade's development problems. Meanwhile, Echo's standalone series is rumored to be getting delayed into 2024, some MCU animated shows, including Spider-Man: Freshman Year, could end up being scrapped, and even Marvel's Phase 6 slate could be shunted from 2025/26 to 2026/27. 

How many Disney Plus shows are coming this year, Nick? (Image credit: Marvel Studios)

Based on Feige's suggestions, we should expect more movies and shows to be pushed back – and that would be welcomed by many. Three Marvel movies and two (or three) Disney Plus shows is more than enough MCU content to consume over a 12-month period. If Guardians of the Galaxy 3, The Marvels, Loki season 2, and Secret Invasion are the only other projects released this year, we'd be more than happy. The likes of Ironheart, Echo, and What If...? season 2, which are also expected in 2023, can wait – and that will also give their cast and crews more time to make them as good as they can be.

The problem Feige has, though, is Disney's – or rather returning CEO Bog Iger's – desire to expand its money-spinning franchise. In a recent CNBC interview, Iger claimed Disney will "lean even harder" into its most profitable IPs, including the MCU, Avatar, and Star Wars.

Feige and Iger have a strong working relationship – it was Iger who stepped in to stop Feige from reportedly (and shockingly) being fired in 2015. However, with Feige suggesting that Marvel will trim the fat from its movie and TV lineup, and Iger pushing to release more projects instead, the pair will need to find common ground if the MCU is to continue thriving and get back on track after a middling – critically, at least – few years.

For more MCU coverage, read our Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania review. Additionally, find out which Marvel series made it onto our list of the best Disney Plus shows, check out our ranking of the best Marvel movies, or find out how to watch the Marvel movies in order.

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Latest Gadgets News

Twitter on Wednesday became the first social media platform to allow cannabis companies to market their brands and products in the United States. The company had earlier only allowed advertising for hemp-derived CBD topical products, while other social media platforms follow a "no cannabis advertising policy" as pot remains illegal at the federal level.

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Best Meal Delivery Deals for February 2023 - CNET

These are the absolute best meal kit and meal delivery deals for February, including satisfying subscriptions for under $2 a serving.

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As someone raised by engineers – my mom’s an engineer, my dad’s an engineer, and my aunts and uncles from both sides are engineers – I grew up tinkering with things. While kids in my class hung out at the mall, I spent Saturdays helping my uncle fix appliances for practice, experimenting with a 35mm film camera, or busting open a VHS player (remember those?) because my favorite movie got stuck inside.

So, when Corsair offered me one of their new PC build kits to test, I jumped at the chance. There was a tinge of hesitation there, admittedly, as I haven’t really built my own computer since college, which was a long time and many technological advancements ago. 

But, I’ve recently gotten into giving old furniture a lease of life – partly because it feels like meditation and partly because I rediscovered my love of building things with my own hands – so taking Corsair up on its offer seemed like the perfect chance to do more of it. And, also, Corsair assured me that I was the “right consumer target” for it. 

If you’re asking yourself right now, “What the heck is she talking about? Corsair doesn’t have PC build kits!”, I'm pleased to tell you you’re wrong. 

The big-name peripherals and components manufacturer just launched its first PC Build Kits that “are designed to take away or lower all barriers and make the entire process start to finish easy and enjoyable.” In other words, they’re supposed to make PC building more accessible to people who aren’t all that well-versed in the craft. To start, Corsair has rolled out three different build kits of varying performance levels. Prices start at $1,199.99 (not cheap, I know) for the Novice configuration, which is what they had sent me to build.

How’s that experience, you ask? It was a fun, albeit, at times, frustrating, endeavor that ultimately made me want to really get into the hobby. 

A matter of convenience

According to Corsair, it wants to “provide everything a customer would need to build a PC in one convenient package,” so they could enjoy “an easy and seamless experience” by relieving them of “the pressure of researching what hardware is compatible.” Its build kits are, therefore, great for, as Corsair says, “parents purchasing for their kids.” This makes them the perfect quality-time activity you can do with your kids, as well as “returning PC builders looking to build a secondary system and introduce others to PC DIY." 

The Novice kit is particularly perfect for beginner builders – meaning me, the sad supporter of pre-builds. I know, boo! And, as a beginner, I can attest to the fact that Corsair really does make the craft simpler than normal, cutting down the amount of research needed by more than half. 

(Image credit: Future / Michelle Rae Uy)

Building your own PC, after all, is much more than just a matter of figuring out what graphics card and processor you want and how much memory and storage you’ll need. There are compatibilities to consider, the right amount of cooling, the right PSU, and even the right PC case. I bet many PC users can’t even tell you what in the mother-freaking-board a PSU is.

Even someone like me who is knowledgeable about components would still have to do a bit of digital legwork so that my PC-building journey doesn’t turn into Dante’s Inferno. 

With its PC Build Kits, Corsair has essentially picked and laid everything out for me. The kits come with easy-to-follow, and mostly clear, step-by-step instructions and a video tutorial. All I needed to do was... build.

Almost there

Corsair also makes the stuff that's trickier for people easier. Someone from our team, for example, said that installing the CPU is one of the things that scares them, especially as it involves using thermal paste. These kits make that part less daunting by already applying thermal paste to the CPU, so installing it was a breeze. I just needed to make sure I put it the right way in and secure it.

Corsair also lays out more of the ports for you and shows which cables go where. A motherboard can be a thoroughly confusing component for the uninitiated because, I mean, just look at one. But Corsair's PC building 'manual' makes it less daunting and understandable for beginners.

Corsair hasn't got everything fully fleshed out yet. There are missing bits in the instructions – for example, nowhere does it tell you where to port the Wi-Fi card. In fact, the instructions don't mention it at all, and there’s just a bit in the FAQ that tells you to contact support if your Wi-Fi isn’t working.

(Image credit: Future / Michelle Rae Uy)

The video tutorial and the written instructions also don't match perfectly. The instructions don't tell you to remember to pop in the IO shield or plate before you screw the motherboard in place (another big miss if you’re trying to guide a beginner with zero experience), while the video just gives it a quick mention. Granted, Corsair is currently using an older video, so it might roll out a newer one that's specific to these build kits.

Speaking of the video, not only is there just the one for all three build kits, but the tutorial is better suited for experienced or knowledgeable PC builders rather than regular folks with little to no experience. You're given just a quick overview of the steps, and it feels like it would be very hard to follow if you’re the latter.

So, yes, my Corsair PC Build Kit still forced me to do some fast Googling, either to figure out things that were left out of the instructions or confirm that I wasn’t doing some of the steps wrong. On the bright side, with this being the first post-production iteration of the instructions, I’m sure Corsair will implement some changes and make them more user-friendly and easier to follow. Hopefully, by the time you get your kit, you won’t have to deal with those.

So, what now

Despite the fact that things got a little gnarly a couple of times during my building process, there’s zero question that these new PC Build Kits from Corsair make PC building a lot more accessible and easier to do. 

(Image credit: Future / Michelle Rae Uy)

Building a PC, it turns out, is easier than people think, and much more fun than it seems. While I would have preferred not to have those small hair-pulling moments, I truly did enjoy doing it and am also half amazed that it hasn’t burst into flames (yet?). It was a proud moment for me, as stale as that sounds to expert builders, so much so that I’m now obsessing about opening that baby back up and fitting it with RGB-lit components, of which Corsair has many. 

This is going to be one expensive hobby, but I got plans!

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Mpox Cases Have Dropped Dramatically Since Last Summer. Here's What to Know - CNET

Formerly known as monkeypox, the virus has dwindled in the US and is no longer considered a public emergency. Here's what to know about it.

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If You Use LastPass, Change All Your Passwords Before It's Too Late - CNET

You'll also want to start looking for a different password manager.

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The Reasons Why We Dream and the Meanings Behind Them, According to an Expert - CNET

Ever dream about being late for an important event? You're not alone.

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State-sponsored North Korean hackers are once again targeting victims with a new form of malware that could possibly hijack mobile and PC devices.

According to a new report from cybersecurity researchers AhnLab, a group known as APT37 (AKA RedEyes, Erebus, a known North Korean group believed to be strongly affiliated with the government), was seen distributing malware dubbed “M2RAT” to spy on, and extract sensitive data from, target endpoints.

The campaign, which kicked off in January 2023, started with a phishing email that distributes a malicious attachment. The attachment exploits an old EPS vulnerability, tracked as CVE-2017-8291, found in Hangul, a word processor program usually used in South Korea.

Using steganography

This interaction triggers the download of a malicious executive, stored in a JPEG image. 

Using steganography (a method of hiding malware in pictures and other non-malicious file types), the attackers are able to exfiltrate the M2RAT and inject it into the explorer.exe file.

Read more

> Google says North Korea targeted an Internet Explorer zero-day vulnerability

> This new Windows malware scans your phone to steal data

> Remove threats with the best ransomware removal

The M2RAT itself, researchers say, is relatively basic. It logs key entries, steals files, can run various commands, and take screenshots automatically. However, it has a unique feature that caught their attention - the ability to scan for portable devices, such as smartphones, connected to the compromised Windows endpoint. If it detects such a device, it will scan it, and download any files and voice recordings to the Windows machine. After that, it will compress it into a password-protected .RAR archive and send to the attackers. 

Finally, it will delete the local copy to remove any evidence of any wrongdoing. 

The malware was also observed using a shared memory section for command & control (C2) communication, as well as data theft. That way, it doesn’t have to store the stolen files in the compromised system and leave any traces. 

APT37 is quite an active threat actor. It was last seen in December last year, when researchers saw it abuse a flaw in Internet Explorer to target individuals in South Korea.

• These are the best firewalls right now

Via: BleepingComputer

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WhatsApp is making some minor changes to its Android app, although they’re clearly handy additions (even if one of them is still in beta testing right now).

The tweaks inbound with the latest release version of the Android client include the ability to add captions when sharing a document via WhatsApp, as WABetaInfo reports.

Along with that comes a big increase in the number of photos and videos you can send at once in a conversation. Previously, the limit for this was 30 pieces of media, but that has been upped to 100 (which should be plenty enough for anyone – we’d hope).

Another change to the release version of the Android app means users can now have longer group names (up to 100 characters in total), and a group description that informs people about the purpose of the group.

As for the change that’s still in beta, this pertains to an already existing feature, namely Disappearing Messages (which, as the name suggests, vanish after a set period of time if you select this option).

Also spotted by WABetaInfo, the fresh Android beta has a Kept Messages facility. It allows you to save certain Disappearing Messages (as opposed to the whole chat) and keep them for later reference.

---

Analysis: Some convenient and handy additions

These are all convenient touches for WhatsApp on Android, meaning that, for instance, you don’t have to screenshot disappearing messages (a somewhat controversial feature, as we’ve discussed in the past) to keep hold of them – rather, they can just be saved out. Remember, this one is still in beta, and by the sound of things, it’s rolling out in stages in preview as not every tester is seeing Kept Messages. (There’s no guarantee any beta feature will make the cut for the final release, though).

It's also a useful piece of functionality to be able to attach captions to documents, allowing you to provide a bit of info on the file being shared. Regarding the new features that have arrived with the release version of WhatsApp on Android, currently, they are still rolling out across the userbase, so you may not have them right now – but they’ll be turning up soon enough.

Via Android Police [1, 2]

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Look What ChatGPT Did to My Online Dating Profile - CNET

Sloth poop? How romantic.

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Nvidia’s DLSS 3.1.0 SDK finally received an update, the first since March 2022, and with it comes some interesting and very useful features for gamers to play around with.

According to GitHub and reported by Kitguru, the latest update for Nvidia’s upscaling technology brought along with it some performance, bug, stability improvements, optimization fixes, as well as the ability to customize DLSS scaling ratios and set automatic updates without dev intervention.

Devs would be able to activate that option for updates by enabling a function called  “NVSDK_NGX_UpdateFeature.” This feature not only works for DLSS 3 but for DLSS 2-compatible games as well. While this wouldn’t be useful for games that support the DLSS Swapper, for games that this app doesn’t work on (like Origin/EA Play), this new feature would be quite convenient. 

How powerful is DLSS 3?

After nearly a full year without any updates, Nvidia finally pushed down one of its most ambitious ones yet, adding in two new major features to DLSS 3. The updated technology was first revealed in 2022 as part of Nvidia's Lovelace GPU line.

DLSS stands for Deep Learning Super Sampling. It's a technology that uses machine learning to upscale games, leading to huge performance improvements with minimal impact to graphical quality. If you need an example of the power of DLSS 3, it allowed for Cyberpunk 2077 to be played at nearly 60FPS at max performance on an 8K display, RTX 4090, ray tracing enabled, and the DLSS 3 exclusive feature Frame Insertion activated.

It’s clear that DLSS is a game changer in terms of massively upping performance on a gaming PC, and seeing that Nvidia is putting out quality updates and adding useful features to this tech is great to see.

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You Don't Need to Delete Anything to Free Up Space on Your iPhone - CNET

Running low on storage? Instead of getting rid of photos, videos and apps, take advantage of these two iOS features.

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A recent malware campaign that leveraged PyPI to steal people’s cryptocurrency is not only still active, but has significantly expanded in the last three months. 

According to a new report from cybersecurity researchers Phylum, the threat actors would create malicious Python packages and upload them to PyPI, the programming language’s largest code repository.

Developers would then download these packages to speed up the development process, effectively compromising themselves and everyone who uses their products.

PyPl typosquatting

The threat actors would engage in typosquatting - a technique where the malicious package has a name almost identical to a legitimate package, with the difference being in just one letter or symbol. That way, the developers that mistype the name as they look for specific packages could end up unknowingly infecting their products. Furthermore, should they search for packages and come up with multiple ones with similar names, they might not have the time or the patience to analyze them thoroughly. 

When this campaign was first spotted in 2022, the researchers found exactly 27 packages - but this number has now swollen to 451. The threat actors would impersonate some of the more popular packages, each of which would have between 13 and 38 typosquatted versions.

Read more

> More PyPI packages stealing data have been discovered

> Malicious PyPi packages turn Discord into password-stealing malware

> Check out the best ransomware protection

Those that download the malicious package could end up having their cryptocurrency stolen. The malware would install an add-on to some of the most popular browsers (Chrome, Edge, Brave, Opera), which would monitor the clipboard for cryptocurrency addresses. If it spots one, it would replace it with another address that’s hardcoded to the add-on during pasting.

The idea is that people don’t memorize crypto wallets, but rather copy/paste them when sending funds. Wallet addresses are a long string of random characters, making it virtually impossible to remember one. It also means that when copying and pasting one, the address can be swapped out relatively easily, without the victim noticing anything (unless they inspect both addresses to make sure they’re identical, which is a recommended best practice). 

Users that are not careful can easily end up losing all of their cryptos in a transaction that cannot be reversed (unless it was sent out to a third party such as an exchange, which is highly unlikely). 

• These are the best endpoint protection tools right now

Via: BleepingComputer

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Scientists Find Fossil of Largest Penguin to Ever Roam Earth - CNET

They say it would've weighed 350 pounds. That's more than an ostrich.

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