ArduinoMania

Don't expect to watch HBO's The Last of Us series any time soon. Channel programming president Casey Bloys told The Hollywood Reporter in an interview that the adaptation of Naughty Dog's apocalyptic games won't air in 2022. Bloys didn't commit to a release date, but he noted filming was still underway in the western Canadian city of Calgary.

The series stars The Mandalorian and Narcos veteran Pedro Pascal as the grizzled survivor Joel, while Game of Thrones' Bella Ramsey plays the teen Ellie. The games' Merle Dandridge plays the resistance leader Marlene, while Gabriel Luna (True Detective) and Anna Torv (Fringe) respectively play Joel's brother Tommy and the smuggler Tess. Nick Offerman also has a guest role. The high-level plot largely mimics that of the first game — Joel is tasked with escorting Ellie to an organization searching for a cure to the brain infection that ravaged humanity, but the journey becomes far more complicated.

The timing will have HBO's The Last of Us debut long after the game's sequel. Expectations are already riding high, though. On top of the cast, the show is written and executive produced by Chernobyl's Craig Mazin and Naughty Dog's Neil Druckmann. In theory, the series will both buck the trend of so-so game adaptations and give Sony's PlayStation Productions studio some extra credibility.

Starting as early as January 2020, Russian state-sponsored hackers have repeatedly targeted American defense contractors, according to the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Agency (CISA). In an alert spotted by The Verge, the agency said on Wednesday that Russian-backed actors have spent the past two years targeting contractors with US security clearance. What's more, those activities allowed them to obtain sensitive information and export-controlled technologies, said CISA.

Those hackers cast a wide net, targeting companies with contracts involving weapons and missile development, as well as vehicle and aircraft design, among other sensitive areas of work for the Department of Defense. CISA makes no mention of those actors obtaining classified documents, but the agency notes they went after both large and small targets. Alongside the FBI and NSA, CISA anticipates Russian-backed hackers will continue to target defense contractors in the near future.

“The acquired information provides significant insight into US weapons platforms development and deployment timelines, vehicle specifications and plans for communications infrastructure and information technology,” said CISA. “By acquiring proprietary internal documents and email communications, adversaries may be able to adjust their own military plans and priorities, hasten technological development efforts, inform foreign policymakers of US intentions and target potential sources for recruitment.”

The advisory comes as tensions between the US and Russia continue to escalate over a potential invasion of Ukraine. In recent weeks, the country has faced multiple cyberattacks, with the most recent coming earlier this week. Ukraine’s defense ministry and two of its state-owned banks suffered denial-of-service attacks. The attacks weren’t directly attributed to Russian-backed actors, but the country blamed its neighbor last month for a campaign that hobbled dozens of government websites.

Netflix was the first company to announce a project around the alleged Bitcoin money launderers, Heather "Razzlekhan" Morgan and Ilya Lichtenstein, but unsurprisingly, it won't be the last. Deadline reports that Forbes Entertainment and EOne will be teaming up to produce two projects around the scandal: a scripted series, as well as a documentary. Naturally, both projects will lean on Forbes' reporting, but what's more interesting is that Morgan was also a Forbes contributor for several years. 

Morgan and Lichtenstein, or the "crypto couple" as many call them now, allegedly tried to launder $3.6 billion in bitcoin that was stolen from the 2016 Bitfinex hack. The cryptocurrency was worth around $63.7 million when it was originally stolen, but now it's valued at over $5 billion. That eye-watering figure mostly comes down to the skyrocketing value of bitcoin over the last several years. Notably, the bitcoin scandal is also the largest financial seizure ever by the Justice Department, beating out the $1 billion recovered from the dark web marketplace Silk Road in 2020.  

Starting today, everyone who is running a bot account on Twitter can add a label to make it clear the tweets are automated. The company started testing the label in September and is now rolling it out globally.

Some bot accounts focus on things like emoji mashups, breaking news and weather updates. Twitter says the label will provide users with more details about a bot account and its purpose. That, Twitter suggests, will help folks decide which accounts to follow and engage with, while perhaps adding a layer of trust and transparency.

The company announced in 2020 that all "high-quality" bot accounts would need to make it clear they weren't manually being run by someone. Under that rule, operators of certain bot accounts need to state that they're automated and display the name of the person behind them.

Twitter isn't limiting crypto fans to tipping with Bitcoin. The social network has expanded its tipping options to let creators add their Ethereum address. If you're sitting on a stash of that other major cryptocurrency, it should be easier to show your support.

The expansion also adds support for a trio of payment services, including Barter, Paga and Paytm. You can send tips by visiting the Tips icon in someone's Twitter profile. If you want to receive tips and are at least 18 years old, you can choose to edit your profile and enable tips.

Ethereum support is helpful if you aren't quite as enthusiastic about Bitcoin as former Twitter chief Jack Dorsey. In some ways, though, the payment service support is more useful. Barter, Paga and Paytm are useful in India, Nigeria and other countries where mobile payments thrive. Twitter's move not only lets more people tip, but makes it more practical for digital creators to operate in certain countries — they'll know their audiences can contribute.

In the US, approximately one in every five miles of highway and major road is in poor condition. It’s a problem that’s even worse in colder states where moisture and, most of all, salt accelerate the deterioration of pavement and asphalt. A team of researchers from Washington State University believes nanomaterials like graphene oxide could help harden concrete infrastructure against the elements.

Many state transportation departments use topical sealers to protect bridges and other concrete structures from melting snow, rain and salt. Those products can help, but as is often the case with moisture, it’s a losing battle. What the WSU team found was that they could add nanomaterials – specifically graphene oxide and montmorillonite nanoclay – to a commercial siliconate-based sealer to make the microstructure of concrete denser, thereby making it more difficult for water to make its way into the material. The sealer also helped protect their samples from the physical and chemical abuse inflicted by deicing salts.

Comparing their sealer to a commercial one, they found it was 75 percent better at repelling water and 44 percent better at reducing salt damage. They also made it from water, instead of an organic solvent. That means the final product is safer to use and less harmful to the environment. Normally, water-based sealants don’t perform as well as their organic counterparts, but the nanomaterials the WSU team used helped level the performance gap.

“Concrete, even though it seems like solid rock, is basically a sponge when you look at it under a microscope,” said Professor Xianming Shi, the lead researcher on the project. “It’s a highly porous, non-homogenous composite material.” According to Shi, if you can keep the material dry, most of its durability issues go away.

Compared to most research projects involving the use of nanomaterials, this one looks like it has a chance to make it out of the lab. Sometime in the next two years, Professor Shi’s team plans to work with either the university or the city of Pullman to test the sealant in the real world.

Amazon workers at a warehouse on Staten Island in New York will hold a union vote next month. Derrick Palmer of the Amazon Labor Union (ALU), an independent group that's seeking to represent workers at JFK8, says the election will take place in person between March 25th and March 30th.

The workers refiled a union petition with the National Labor Relations Board in December after failing to obtain enough signatures in their previous attempt. This time around, the workers reached the union vote threshold, which is usually 30 percent of a workforce. More than 5,000 workers are employed at JFK8.

The NLRB has accused Amazon of threatening, surveilling and interrogating workers at JFK8 to dissuade them from unionizing. A union avoidance consultant reportedly called organizers "thugs" and said the union drive would fail.

Earlier this month, workers at another Staten Island warehouse called LDJ5 filed a petition with the NLRB to unionize with the help of the ALU.

Another union vote is taking place at a facility in Bessemer, Alabama. The NLRB ordered a second election at BHM1 after it determined Amazon interfered in the first vote, in which a majority of employees voted against unionization. Votes will be counted starting on March 28th. Last month, a union supporter at the warehouse accused Amazon of retaliating against him.

Engadget has contacted Amazon for comment.

Nick Clegg, the former UK politician turned Facebook executive, has been promoted. Clegg is now the President of Global Affair at Meta, a position that reports directly to Mark Zuckerberg.

Clegg was already seeing much of Meta’s policy positions as VP of Global Affairs and Communication, a position that reported to COO Sheryl Sandberg. But the new title underscores how much Zuckerberg has relied on the former Deputy Prime Minister as Facebook deals with numerous scandals, investigations and the prospect of increased government regulation.

He first joined Facebook in 2018, after his political career abruptly imploded. Facebook officials had hoped he could help the company improve its tarnished reputation following Cambridge Analytica, and guide its interactions with lawmakers and government officials.

Since then, Clegg has played a significant role in some of Facebook's most controversial decisions in recent years, including its handling of Donald Trump’s suspension. Clegg was also the chief spokesperson for the company’s much-maligned decision to exempt politicians from fact checking. Elevating Clegg now could also help shield Zuckerberg and Sandberg from future controversies as he becomes the face of Meta’s policies. The former politician will also likely continue to represent the company at hearings and other interactions with government officials.

“Nick will now lead our company on all our policy matters, including how we interact with governments as they consider adopting new policies and regulations, as well as how we make the case publicly for our products and our work,” Zuckerberg wrote on Facebook. “As Nick takes on this new leadership role, it will enable me to focus more of my energy on leading the company as we build new products for the future, and it will support Sheryl as she continues to focus on the success of our business.”

The new role comes amid some bigger changes at the company now known as Meta. Besides an impending pivot from social networking to the metaverse, the company also just rebranded its News Feed to “Feed” and informed employees they will now be known as “Metamates.”

In a comment on Zuckerberg’s Facebook post, Clegg wrote that the company is at “an important inflection point.” “Our existing, and future, products will continue to be a subject of intense societal interest and debate. I am hugely looking forward to playing a role in that debate on our behalf, and ensuring that we have the right policies to both reflect our responsibilities and to support the building of innovative new products for years to come!”

Microsoft is making a handful of changes to AltspaceVR to combat harassment within the virtual reality app. As of today, the company has removed the Campfire, News and Entertainment Commons social spaces. Those were hubs where AltspaceVR users could freely gather and talk to one another. But that same freedom also meant harassment was an ongoing issue.

By default, AltspaceVR’s Safety Bubble feature is now turned on for all users. It creates a barrier to prevent other people from entering your avatar’s personal space. Last but not least, Microsoft says the app will automatically mute new attendees when they first join an event. The company has also promised to increase moderation and improve event content ratings to supplement those changes.

In the coming weeks, Microsoft said it would require people to use a Microsoft Account to access AltspaceVR. As a result of that requirement, parents will have the option to use the company’s Family Safety feature to limit how much time their kids can spend within the app.

“As platforms like AltspaceVR evolve, it is important that we look at existing experiences and evaluate whether they’re adequately serving the needs of customers today and in the future,” said Alex Kipman, the head of Microsoft’s mixed reality division. “This includes helping people better connect with those who have shared common interests while also ensuring the spaces they access are safe from inappropriate behavior and harassment.”

The changes come as other VR platforms grapple with their own harassment issues. At the start of February, Meta rolled out a feature called Personal Boundary to Horizon Worlds. Like AltspaceVR’s Safety Bubble, it’s there to prevent people from entering your personal space. More broadly, the changes appear to indicate Microsoft is committed to working on some version of the metaverse despite recent reports suggesting the company’s mixed reality division had lost a significant number of employees to competitors like Meta.

As much as we like Bose's QuietComfort 45 headphones, they haven't been a tuner's delight — you had to trust the automatic EQ adjustments would deliver a pleasing sound. You'll have more control from now on, though. Bose told Engadget it has updated the QC45 firmware with an Adjustable EQ feature that, as the name implies, lets you tweak the output to your liking. You can customize the bass, mid-range and treble to suit your tastes, or pick from presets if you're in a hurry.

The new firmware (2.0.4) is available by launching the Bose Music app and choosing "Install Update" from the QC45 control screen.

You might not be in a rush to use Adjustable EQ. The QC45s already provided balanced audio in our experience, and it might involve more effort than it's worth if you listen to a wide variety of music genres. With that in mind, the update might be just what you need if you regularly listen to a particular genre (such as bass-heavy electronic music) or otherwise want to consistently override Bose's judgment.