Author : zebethcontrol

God of War Ragnarok • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on November 3, 2022Posted in Gaming, God of War, Media & Entertainment, playstation, PS5, SonyNo Comments

The 2018 reboot of long-running PlayStation action series God of War as a more contemplative, open-world adventure raised a few eyebrows at first, but the astonishing quality of the finished game put all doubts to rest. The sequel, God of War Ragnarok, is not the revelation the first was, but even “more of the same” is a welcome treat when “the same” is so very, very good. Spoilers for God of War (2018) and the first couple hours of this game follow. If you haven’t played the first, stop now, take a sick day, and start playing! The first game finished on an emotional high note and an intriguing cliffhanger as Kratos and son Atreus finally scatter the ashes of wife and mother Faye in Jotunheim, and simultaneously learn that Atreus was known to the now-disappeared Giants as Loki. Ragnarok picks up a couple years later, and Atreus has grown into his awkward phase (the game itself pokes fun at him) while Kratos remains the gruff and conflicted god-killer he always was. But a pair of unexpected divine visitors put the pair on the run to learn more about the machinations behind the imminent twilight of the gods. It isn’t long before you’re off to the races, doing all the things you used to do — at some of the same locations, even. While Kratos has lost most of his gear and abilities (to the lament of their makers, the still charming dwarves Brok and Sindri), players will quickly find themselves in familiar combat and environmental puzzle-solving loops. Ragnarok does not attempt in any way to reinvent the basics that made the original so compelling, though it certainly refines and expands them a bit. Though this combined with the reused (if altered) first areas may make the opening hours a bit monotonous to anyone who played through the previous game recently. Image Credits: Sony/Santa Monica Studios I’ve put in about 18 hours so far and, while I’m enjoying Ragnarok a great deal, I haven’t been as frequently surprised by either the scenery, combat, or cutscenes the way I was in the first game. There have been amazing moments and awe-inspiring vistas, to be sure, but I wasn’t gawping at the screen the way I was when I first saw Jormungandr, or Freya’s turtle-house. Of course fewer surprises are to be expected in a direct sequel, but the unfolding scope of God of War from its intimate beginnings, and the diversity of the realms you visited, was a big part of its charm. The good news is things begin to differentiate once you leave the first handful of areas, so if you think of them more as a “getting up to speed” thing than as the first actual setpieces, you’ll have a better time. Ragnarok does have its own identity, but it takes a while to emerge. In terms of story, themes, and acting, it’s still extremely good, though there’s a sense of “what am I doing here exactly” that plagues me when I play, something that never really was the case before. Taking Faye’s ashes to the highest peak in the realms was a conveniently mobile goalpost, but everything was still in service to it — as Kratos was frequently at pains to explain to Atreus, they didn’t even want to get involved in the affairs of the gods. Image Credits: Sony/Santa Monica Studios Now, as we juggle various new schemes and players, that simplicity is diluted. And perhaps more importantly, rote “open world game” features appear quickly and remain prominent throughout. I was enormously pleased with the quality of the side quests, but most of the the random collectibles seem unremarkable, even to the characters. “Oh, another one,” they exclaim with little enthusiasm as Kratos picks up a crest, or book of poetry, or what have you. There is also an annoying tendency, like that identified in Horizon: Forbidden West, of characters to offer needless advice in combat or puzzle situations. Just as you’re contemplating the layout of a room, Mimir will bark out, “Look, brother! Maybe you can use that to block the stream!” And in combat, “It’s vulnerable when it sparkles!” Thanks everyone, not necessary. Relax. That said, I have really enjoyed some exchanges and sections quite as much as in the original, though the main and side stories aren’t nearly as cunningly intertwined. I haven’t finished it yet, though, so we’ll see how it pays off. I want to add however that I’m voluntarily not including details on a lot of characters and story developments that simply are better experienced yourself. The game hasn’t wrong-footed itself yet. The themes of loss, parenthood and protection that ran through the first have given way to those of compromise, communication, and acceptance. As corny as that sounds, it works. One area the game has already beat its predecessor on, however, is enemy variety. I’ve encountered many new critters and beings to fight, and importantly they tend to arrive in mixed packs — flyers from one side while melee guys attack from the other, and a third clings to the wall to rain down fire on you. It’s refreshing after the original’s heavy reliance on a handful of enemies, even if you end up taking most of these new beasties down pretty much the same way. Better than yet another troll. Image Credits: Sony/Santa Monica Studios In terms of gameplay and systems, Ragnarok turns the dials up significantly, and adds numerous layers of customization, some of which are more effective than others. It’s fairly easy to get lost in the menus or be unsure whether what you’re equipping will really affect your play much. But the slow drip of new gear and accessories does allow you a bit of breathing room — this is no Diablo or Nioh. Without spoiling anything, I’ll add that there are more new systems than just customizing your Kratos, and these came as a pleasant surprise. Just when I was hoping for something different,

Substack targets Twitter with launch of discussions feature, Substack Chat • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on November 3, 2022Posted in Apps, chat, newsletters, Social, Substack, TwitterNo Comments

Another company hoping to capitalize on Twitter’s upheaval in the wake of Elon Musk’s takeover is the newsletter platform Substack. The company has openly targeted Twitter’s user base over the past few days and has now thrown its hat into the ring as a more direct competitor with the launch of Substack Chat. The new feature allows Substack writers to communicate directly with their most avid and loyal readers right in the Substack mobile app. With Chat, Substack is not only taking on Twitter, where many back-and-forth threaded discussions between writers and readers already take place, but also other online communities where writers have been building out networks of their own, like Discord, Slack and Telegram. The company says the new Chat feature will eliminate the need for its writers to “frankenstein together different software tools and cross-reference subscriber lists,” it explains in its announcement. Image Credits: Substack Chat is not a Twitter clone by any means — though there is overlap with how writers have used Twitter in the past. For starters, the Chat feature will be opt-in, meaning not every newsletter may have chats enabled at this time. Publications will have to first enable the feature on their Settings page or by simply starting a new thread in the Substack app for iOS. Already, Substack says writers including sports journalist Joe Posnanski, pop culture writer Hunter Harris, and comics writers 3 Worlds / 3 Moons have launched chats on the service. In some cases, these chats have been used to discuss live events — like Game 3 of the World Series — or they’ve been used in place of email or other ways writers may have chosen to interact with their readers in the past. Readers can react to posts using emojis and add their own comments in the chat threads. The feature could benefit those who spend a lot of time reading on Substack or those who want to more closely network with fellow creators or readers. However, it isn’t really a direct replacement for tweeting more publicly as it lacks Twitter’s reach. Plus, the user interface is designed more like a traditional chat app — not a timeline you scroll. Still, the launch could relocate some of the discussions that would have normally taken place on Twitter to a more private networking space. Combined with the ongoing exodus to alternative social networks like Mastodon, and later perhaps, Bluesky, Twitter may lose access to some of the conversations that it would have otherwise hosted. Chat’s launch isn’t the only way Substack has attempted to capitalize on the Twitter chaos in recent days. It also took a more direct shot at Twitter, when it warned in a post on Oct. 31 that “Twitter is changing, and it’s tough to predict what might be next.” The post had encouraged creators of all sorts to port their Twitter follower base to Substack, given the current uncertainty around Twitter’s future. The launch of Chat arrives at a time when there’s been a broader shift to more personal and private social networks, which we’ve seen with the rise of friends-only apps like BeReal as well as the launch of private discussion groups on WhatsApp, called Communities. Substack Chat also reflects Substack’s larger goal of becoming a more private social network itself. The company alludes to its plan, writing in its post that “these are just the early days for Chat and all of Substack’s social features,” and adding there’s “more to come” in the future. Given the company’s propensity to host controversial writers and the otherwise deplatformed, however, this direction could see it wading even deeper into the culture wars surrounding what constitutes free speech — an area Musk’s Twitter is also having to grapple with. The more Substack associates its brand with the more extreme personal brands of divisive media personalities, the less it will be able to attract the larger (and typically more moderate) readers that constitute the majority of any network’s user base. That could limit Substack’s ability to go mainstream, no matter how clever its social features may be. Substack Chat is only available in the Substack iOS app at launch but will come to Android soon, the company says.

TikTok privacy update in Europe confirms China staff access to data as GDPR probe continues • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on November 3, 2022Posted in China, data transfers, GDPR, Government & Policy, Privacy, Social, TikTokNo Comments

An incoming privacy policy change announced by TikTok yesterday for users in Europe — which, for the first time, names China as one of several third countries where user data can be remotely accessed by “certain” company employees to perform what it claims are “important” functions — has landed months ahead of expected movement on a year+ long investigation into the platform’s data exports to China under the bloc’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). The GDPR probe into the legality of the video sharing platform’s data transfers to China is being led by Ireland’s Data Protection Commission (DPC), TikTok’s lead privacy regulator in the region, which opened the inquiry just over a year ago. The DPC told ZebethMedia today that it expects its TikTok data transfers inquiry to progress to the next stage in the coming months — with a draft decision slated to be sent to other EU DPAs for review in the first quarter of next year. This ‘Article 60’ review process could lead either to an affirming of Ireland’s draft decision — which would then, in relatively short order, allow for a final decision to be issued (potentially before the middle of next year, judging by past inquiry timelines). However if other EU regulators raise objections to Ireland’s draft decision the inquiry would have to move to an ‘Article 65’ dispute resolution process — which could add many more months to the process before a final decision could be issued as the bloc’s regulators seek consensus. It’s not clear whether TikTok’s announcement of the privacy policy tweak relates to this overarching GDPR investigation. The incoming changes — which are due to apply from December 2 — do also include an update on how the platform collects users location information so they are not wholly focused on data transfers. But the disclosure of China staffers accessing European user data could also be a not-very-subtle attempt to pre-empt regulatory enforcement over its data transfers — and try to soften a future blow by being able to point to steps already taken to improve its transparency with European users. (Not that that is the only potential issue of regulatory concern vis-a-vis data exports, though.) A spokesman for TikTok declined to comment on whether its updated privacy policy is in any way linked to the GDPR inquiry — saying it could not do so as the inquiry remains ongoing. However in a blog post announcing the update, the company claimed the changes “include greater transparency into how we share user information outside of Europe”. That’s notable because transparency is a key principle of the GDPR — while infringements of the transparency principle can lead to stiff penalties (such as the $267M fine for Meta-owned WhatsApp last year, after an Ireland-led inquiry found a string of transparency breaches). Claiming you’re being transparent and actually being transparent are not necessarily the same thing, of course. So it’s worth noting that TikTok’s updated privacy policy appears to atomize key bits of information — such as the full list of third countries countries where employees may remotely access European users’ data and for what specific reasons — across a number of collapsable menus and hyperlinks spread throughout the policy, thereby requiring a user to click around, follow multiple links and basically hunt for relevant intel amid a larger morass of data in order to piece together a comprehensive view of what’s happening with their data (rather than clearly articulating and collating everything into a single, easy to digest view…). So, if it’s transparency TikTok is really shooting for here it still looks like it has work to do. Also still a work in progress for TikTok: A data localization project to store European users’ data in the region — which, earlier this year, it announced had been delayed again (until 2023). Thing is, if TikTok intends to continue to allow employees located in third countries with no EU adequacy agreement affirming they have essentially equivalent data protection standards as the bloc to have remote access to European users’ information then questions over the legality of its international data transfers are likely to persist. As well as China, TikTok’s privacy policy names Brazil, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, and the US (which has only a preliminary agreement with the EU for a fresh data transfer agreement atm) as countries where employees have remote access to European user data without the cover of an adequacy agreement — saying it’s relying on standard contractual clauses (SCCs) for these transfers. But, as the EDPB guidance on data transfers points out, each transfer to a third country must be individually assessed and some may not be possible legally, even with supplementary measures applied. So every single one of these transfers will need to stand up to regulatory scrutiny. Given so many third country transfers, TikTok’s European data localization project can only — at least for now — be considered a PR exercise. And/or an attempt to curry favor with local regulators in the hopes they take a kinder view of ongoing data exports. Unless or until it ceases data exports to third countries and finds a way to fully firewall its parent entity in China from being able to access any European users’ data in the clear. TikTok’s spokesman declined to comment on any future plans it may have to further adapt its data transfers in light of these challenges but he pointed back to its blog post — which describes its approach to data governance in Europe as being “centred on limiting the number of employees with access to European user data, minimising data flows outside of the region, and storing European user data locally”. TikTok’s wider problem is that it’s facing dialled up regulatory scrutiny across the Western world more generally as a result of security concerns attached to the Chinese state’s ability to gain access to data commercial platforms/services hold on their users — with national security laws in its home country overriding the usual standard contractual protections. Its platform

Less than 24 hours until early bird prices vanish for TC Sessions: Space • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on November 3, 2022Posted in Space, tc sessions space, TC Sessions: Space 2022No Comments

“Space…the final frontier.” Those familiar words have likely fueled the imaginations of the very people currently forging the future of humanity in space. Don’t miss your opportunity to meet, learn from and connect with them at TC Sessions: Space 2022, which blasts off on December 6 in Los Angeles. Note: Building space startups is serious business, but that doesn’t mean we can’t have a little pun fun along the way. Here’s another opportunity you don’t want to miss, and the countdown clock is ticking on this one. Our special early bird price — $149 — remains in play for less than T-minus 24 hours. Buy your pass before the early bird leaves orbit on Friday, November 4 at precisely 11:59 pm (PTD), and you’ll save more than $300. In a classic “but wait, there’s more” moment, you can take advantage of early bird pricing on an Early Stage Exhibitor Package, too. It’s the perfect way to place your space-related startup in front of the industry’s leading movers, shakers and decision makers — and save $200. Quantities are limited, and the same November 4 deadline applies. Space may be the final frontier, but advances in manned space travel and colonization, communications, earth observation data, manufacturing — and even war — are expanding its boundaries further by the day. TC Sessions: Space will help you keep your fingers on the pulse of those advances and help you drive your business forward. What can you expect? In a word, plenty. Plenty of top experts — spanning public, private and defense sectors — speaking from the main stage. Interviews with founders and CEOs like Rocket Labs’ Peter Beck, The Aerospace Corporation’s Steve Isakowitz and Slingshot Aerospace’s Melanie Stricklan. Conversations with investors like Playground Global’s Jory Bell and Root Ventures’ Emily Henriksson. And, of course, plenty of startup exhibits. You won’t find a better atmosphere for networking with hundreds of engineers, founders, students, investors, executives, military and government officials in the house. Use our event app to find people you want to connect with, schedule 1:1 meetings and explore potential opportunities for collaboration, partnerships, investment and more. TC Sessions: Space takes place on December 6 in Los Angeles, but your chance to buy your early bird pass and save disappears into the Neutral Zone on Friday November 4 at 11:59 pm (PDT). We can’t wait to see you in L.A! Is your company interested in sponsoring or exhibiting at TC Sessions: Space? Contact our sponsorship sales team by filling out this form.

FlowForge nabs $7.2M to help companies integrate IoT using Node-RED • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on November 3, 2022Posted in Enterprise, FlowForge, Hardware, Node-RED, open sourceNo Comments

A new company from one of the original creators of the open source Node-RED project is setting out to make it easier for companies to bridge the gap between incompatible IoT ecosystems at scale. Node-RED, for the uninitiated, is a low-code, visual programming tool developed inside IBM for connecting APIs, hardware, and related assets that constitute the broader Internet of Things (IoT) — it’s all about enabling IoT developers to build applications at speed, while addressing the sheer number of IoT devices, manufacturers, and protocols they have to contend with. IBM transitioned stewardship of the project to the JS Foundation (a Linux Foundation project) back in 2016, and today it is used by organizations including Siemens, Hitachi, and Bosch. While Node-RED has been gaining traction within industry, it has also faced challenges typical of many open source projects, vis-à-vis the time and resources required to deploy and manage Node-RED beyond small-scale or prototype projects — which is where FlowForge enters the fray with a commercial platform-as-a-service (PaaS) that helps IoT companies run Node-RED at scale in production environments. Via the FlowForge UI, users can spin up Node-RED instances in seconds and manage them all from a single pane, as well as monitor the health of their project. Moreover, companies can elect to use FlowForge’s hosting, centralized audit logging, security, role-based access control, and more — basically, letting FlowForge take care of all the heavylifting. FlowForge in action Cashflow Founded out of the U.K. in 2021 by IBM’s former Node-RED lead and project maintainer Nick O’Leary, alongside early GitLab employee Zeger-Jan van de Weg, FlowForge has largely flown under the radar up until now. O’Leary told ZebethMedia that the company has previously received some $2 million in funding from GitLab cofounder and CEO Sid Sijbrandij through Open Core Ventures to get the business off the ground. And to help take things to the next level, FlowForge today announced a fresh $7.2 million in financing from Cota Capital, Westwave Capital, Uncorrelated Ventures, and Open Core Ventures. While there are a handful of similar commercial players out there already, such as Krysp.io, Sensetecnic’s FRED, and Prescient Devices, FlowForge is carving a path to market through adopting an open source ethos. And having Node-RED’s creator at the helm doesn’t hurt its outlook either. “Building FlowForge as an open source platform means we complement the open source nature of Node-RED,” O’Leary explained. “Many people have come to Node-RED as an open source alternative to the proprietary solutions that are out there today. For customers of FlowForge, it gives them much more direct access to what we’re building. They can provide feedback on items they care about from the very beginning of the development process.” With FlowForge version 1.0 fresh off the production line just last week, the company is now gearing up to develop bigger features, including collaboration tooling that will allow developers to work with each other in real time, a little like Google Docs. “So far we have been primarily focused on getting the core platform in place,” O’Leary said. “With our 1.0 release, we are now at a point to start working on the features that will really set us apart. Collaboration has always been a less-than-smooth user experience in Node-RED. That’s something we want to address and are looking at more real-time collaboration options.” With another $7.2 million in the bank, FlowForge is well-financed to ramp things up, targeting companies across all industries and sizes. “We see Node-RED being adopted by a wide range of companies, across many different industries and scales,” O’Leary continued. “We believe FlowForge will help solve problems faced by anyone wanting to take Node-RED into production in a well-managed environment.”

Web Design & Development News: Collective #736

By zebethcontrolPosted on November 3, 2022Posted in UncategorizedTagged front end newsNo Comments

Would you like to send us some news? The Collective features the latest news and resources from the web design & web development community. If you have spotted or created something that you’d like see published in the next issue, just submit the resource or article here.

Tips for e-commerce startups that want to win market share this holiday season • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on November 3, 2022Posted in black friday, Column, Commerce, EC Column, EC Ecommerce and D2C, EC How To, holiday shopping, StartupsNo Comments

Guru Hariharan Contributor Guru Hariharan is CEO and founder of CommerceIQ, an e-commerce management company. For consumers, the holiday season means indulging in gifts, family traditions and festive celebrations. But for retail businesses, it’s the most critical time of the year. We’re seeing a gathering storm of economic conditions — inflation, inventory and supply chain issues, and an elongated holiday season — that has companies scrambling to determine the right e-commerce strategy for the holiday season. Retail e-commerce channels such as Amazon, Walmart and Instacart, where a majority of all e-commerce happens, will be the real holiday battlefront. The key to succeed this year will be flexibility, responsiveness and endurance: Companies will have to be ready to respond to the market and the consumer throughout the season. Following two years when e-commerce enjoyed pandemic tailwinds, consumers are now living with inflation and an unofficial recession, and we can expect more selective and price-conscious shopping behavior. While prices across major retail e-commerce marketplaces like Amazon, Walmart and Target have mostly kept pace with inflation, consumers are feeling the squeeze on their everyday essential purchases. According to CommerceIQ data based on thousands of products across 450+ online retailers, grocery and home and kitchen prices have risen about 20% on average over last year, far outpacing inflation. The average shopper has to focus more of their budget on essentials, leaving them less to spend on gifts and other discretionary purchases. Place as many inventory orders as possible early so that you have inventory before the holiday season begins. However, unemployment has remained low so far, and consumer spending has been resilient, which we can see in the continued strength of online shopping. For instance, in Q2 2022, e-commerce growth has already rebounded to 9% at Target, 12% at Walmart and 10% at Amazon in North America. On top of this shift in value, the holiday shopping season is kicking off earlier this year, spurred by the second Amazon Prime Day in October. Other retailers will follow suit in an attempt to capture the spending of price-conscious consumers as they plan ahead for the holidays. What does this mean for brands? The focus must be on endurance and companies will need to be ready to shift their strategy for discounting, inventory planning and ad and marketing spend as the environment changes, all while fending off potential consumer fatigue. Increase discounts while balancing profitability Discounting has taken a back seat over the past couple of years, largely thanks to consumers’ lockdown savings and stimulus checks, but that is set to change this year. Promotions and discounts have been on the rise throughout 2022, and Amazon Prime Day was a great indicator of what could come in the holiday season. According to CommerceIQ data, during Prime Day 2022, discount levels for items on sale rose 10% to 12% compared to Prime Day 2021. The trend will likely continue at other major retailers as we head into the holidays. While companies and retailers will look to increase promotions and discounts throughout the season, the majority of promotions will still occur during specific sales like Black Friday and Cyber Monday rather than broadly across the season as consumers hold out for the best deals. There is an opportunity to further eventize promotional events like Cyber Week to capture greater volume, but getting discount levels wrong could lead to big hits to profitability. Companies that go into the season with excess inventory could face a perfect storm that eats into the bottom line. Prices continue to rise leading into 2022 holidays, but discounts have yet to pick up. Image Credits: CommerceIQ Here are some principles companies should keep in mind when planning e-commerce promotional strategies for the holiday season:

Netflix’s ad-supported plan is finally here • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on November 3, 2022Posted in ad-supported streaming, Media & Entertainment, Netflix, streaming serviceNo Comments

Today’s a big day for Netflix as it’s now launching its new ad-supported plan, “Basic with Ads,” to subscribers in the U.S., the U.K., France, Germany, Italy, Australia, Japan, Korea and Brazil. The launch comes two days after Netflix rolled out the cheaper tier to its debut markets, Canada and Mexico. The streamer will now directly compete with other major streaming services that offer ad-supported options, including Hulu, HBO Max, Paramount+ and Peacock, among others. What is the price tag of Netflix’s Basic with Ads plan? Image Credits: Netflix Subscribers in the U.S. can pay $6.99 per month for Netflix’s ad-supported plan. Basic with Ads is $13 less than Netflix’s Premium plan, nearly $9 less than the Standard plan, and $3 less than the Basic plan. The company said it wouldn’t raise the prices of its other tiers like Disney+ will do when it launches its ad plan next month. Netflix rolled out Basic with Ads a month before Disney+ launches its ad-supported plan, which will cost $1 more than Netflix’s plan. How many ads will be in the new plan? There will be an average of 4 to 5 minutes of ads per hour that play before and during movies and TV shows. Ads will be 15 to 30 seconds long. Fortunately, new Netflix movies only get pre-roll ads, so they won’t be interrupted as often as older movies, which have midroll ads as well as pre-roll. What are some downsides to the new plan? Like its ad-free Basic plan, Basic with Ads has a lower video quality of 720p HD and viewers can only stream from one device. Subscribers of the ad-supported tier won’t be able to download content to their devices for offline viewing. Also, the company mentioned that subscribers wouldn’t have access to about 5% to 10% of Netflix’s content catalog due to licensing restrictions. It remains to be seen how successful the new plan will be for Netflix. It’ll be interesting to learn how many new consumers will subscribe to the cheaper tier and how many subscribers will switch plans to decrease their monthly bill– even if that means sitting through ads. JP Morgan analyst Doug Anmuth anticipates that Netflix will gain 7.5 million subscribers to its ad-supported tier in 2023 in the U.S. and Canada, driving approximately $600 million in advertising sales. After two consecutively bad quarters, Netflix has been desperately searching for more revenue and subscribers. In the first and second quarters of this year, Netflix’s global subscriber base declined by 1.2 million. However, the company did experience a win in Q3, adding 2.41 million paid subscribers. But launching an ad tier alone won’t be the ultimate solution to Netflix’s problems. This is why the company plans to monetize password sharing on the platform in early 2023 with an “extra members” feature that charges a fee to members who want to create subaccounts. The streaming service also launched a profile transfer feature to help account members move over to separate accounts without losing custom settings.

StretchSense built an actually comfortable hand-motion capture glove • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on November 3, 2022Posted in Gaming, metaverse, New Zealand, Robotics & AI, Social, Virtual realityNo Comments

New Zealand-based StretchSense, a maker of hand motion capture technology, believes virtual and augmented reality are going to replace the smartphone as the dominant way we interact with digital worlds and each other. And when that happens, we’ll need natural ways be immersed in those spaces, which means being able to touch and control virtual stuff with your hands. The startup has built a glove that captures the intricate motions of human hands, along with the software that then translates those movements into an animation. Currently, StretchSense’s tech is used by more than 200 gaming and visual effects studios worldwide to create realistic hand gestures for everything from sign language videos to cinematic fight scenes to virtual health and safety training. In fact, it was recently used to make Snoop Dogg’s ‘Crip Ya Enthusiasm‘ music video. Benjamin O’Brien, co-founder and CEO of StretchSense, told ZebethMedia he thinks StretchSense can “be the future of human machine interface for virtual worlds by building garments, not devices.” StretchSenses’s glove is made using the startup’s proprietary stretchable sensor technology that precisely measures the human form. Before it’s been sewn into the glove, the stretchy material looks and feels like elastic rubber with some light black lines running through. Those black lines are referred to as a stretchable capacitor — a capacitor is the same type of sensor used on the screens of smartphones to measure the amount of energy the screen is storing based on where you put your finger down, which is how it works out what you’re touching. In StretchSense’s case, when the material stretches with hand movements, the amount of energy it can store increases. “If you can measure the amount of energy that this can store, you can then work out its geometry very, very, very accurately,” said O’Brien. I tried the glove on myself during a demo in Auckland and can admit that it was indeed a comfortable fit, which O’Brien says isn’t always a given in the hand motion capture world. “The really core advantage is that we actually make garments, not devices. And by that we mean we make garments that are comfortable to wear, that don’t interfere with movement, that don’t break easily, and don’t have hard, lumpy bits of plastic,” said O’Brien. “And so the way we were able to beat out the competition in the motion capture space, if you look at any competitive product, it’s got all these lumpy bits of plastic all over and interferes moving the hand, it breaks easily. And it’s based on technology that just doesn’t naturally conform to the body.” StretchSense closed a $7.6 million Series A investment Thursday, led by Scotland-based Par Equity with participation by existing StretchSense investors GD1, the NZ-based venture capital firm, and Scottish Enterprise, Scotland’s national economic development agency. The startup intends to use the funds to grow out its center of excellence in Edinburgh which is focused on AI and spatial computing and will work on machine learning problems to constantly improve the product — things like making a finer and more accurate capture of details, lowering the threshold of the uncanny valley in animations, and transitioning from a 2D screen to a 3D virtual world. The startup is also working on developing a haptic glove which it will launch into VR training next that will stimulate both touch and motion in virtual worlds. “We want to be the future of how people control and influence and touch virtual worlds, but you have to ground that in realistic business models,” said O’Brien. “And so realistic business model number one was content creation for gaming and movie studios. Number two for us would be VR training. And that’s all about solving the retraining crisis where you have people with shorter and shorter careers, but the complexity of those jobs is increasing. So you’ve got this issue where you actually need to be able to train people really quickly and often in time-critical, safety critical situations where there’s money or lives at stake.” Once StretchSense has built a viable business in the VR training sense, the startup hopes to use a next iteration of that tech to move into the VR gaming and experience space. “We want to create tools that the creators of the metaverse will use to build amazing virtual spaces and experiences,” said O’Brien.

Crime group hijacks hundreds of US news websites to push malware • ZebethMedia

By zebethcontrolPosted on November 3, 2022Posted in Evil Corp, hackers, malware, Proofpoint, ransomware, SecurityNo Comments

A cybercriminal group has compromised a media content provider to deploy malware on the websites of hundreds of news outlets in the U.S., according to cybersecurity company Proofpoint. The threat actors, tracked by Proofpoint as “TA569,” compromised the media organization to spread SocGholish, a custom malware active since at least 2018. The media company in question is not named, but was notified and is said to be investigating. Sherrod DeGrippo, vice president of threat research and detection at Proofpoint, tells ZebethMedia that the organization provides “both video content and advertising to major news outlets.” DeGrippo added that 250 U.S. national newspaper sites and regional websites are affected, including media organizations serving Boston, Chicago, Cincinnati, Miami, New York, Palm Beach, and Washington, D.C. It’s unclear how the unnamed media company was compromised, but DeGrippo added that TA569 “has a demonstrated history of compromising content management systems and hosting accounts.” The SocGholish malware is injected into a benign JavaScript file that is loaded by the news outlets’ websites, which prompts the website visitor to download a fake software update. In this campaign, the prompt takes the form of a browser update for Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer, Edge, or Opera. “If the victim downloads and executes this ‘fakeupdate’ they will be infected by the SocGholish payload,” said DeGrippo. “This attack chain requires interaction from the end user at two points: accepting the download and executing the payload.” SocGholish serves as an “initial access threat,” which if successfully planted have historically served as a precursor to ransomware, according to Proofpoint. The threat actors’ end goal, the company says, is financial gain. Proofpoint tells ZebethMedia that it “assesses with high confidence” that TA569 is associated with WastedLocker, a variant of ransomware developed by the U.S.-sanctioned Evil Corp group. The company added that it does not believe TA569 is Evil Corp, but rather acts as a broker of already-compromised devices for the hacking group. It was revealed earlier this year that Evil Corp uses a ransomware-as-a-service model in an effort to skirt U.S. sanctions. The gang was sanctioned December 2019 due to its extensive development of Dridex malware, which the gang used to steal more than $100 million from hundreds of banks and financial institutions.