The invasion of Ukraine has seen hacktivists from around the world come to the aid of the country in its war against Russia, with groups like Anonymous carrying out DDoS attacks against Kremlin-affiliated websites. But as far as we know, Russian government officials haven’t had to contend with a flood of spam calls. That changed on Wednesday with the launch of a website called WasteRussianTime.today.

Created by a hacktivist collective known as Obfuscated Dreams of Scheherazade (a reference to Arabic folklore), the website connects two random Russian officials in a three-way call so you can listen to the confusion (and annoyance) that ensues. The group claims its database contains more than 5,000 Russian government phone numbers, including ones linked to the country’s FSB intelligence agency. The group describes its actions as a “civil intervention,” noting “if you are hanging on the phone, you canʼt drop bombs, you canʼt coordinate soldiers, you canʼt make invasion plans.”

Outside of listening, you can’t participate in the call. That’s a deliberate decision the group told Wired it made to protect the identity of anyone who ends up using the website. If you can’t speak to the people on the other end, you won’t have the opportunity to give up identifying information.

How Russia might respond to the robocalls is unclear. When Engadget tried to place a call, an error message came up. “Sorry, we’re currently experiencing some issues with our phones,” it said. “Give us a few moments.” Gizmodo had better luck than us. For them, the system successfully connected a dozen Russian officials with one another, though those calls ended in static.

At the onset of the war, it was expected the Kremlin would go on a digital offensive, using its hacking expertise to weaken western infrastructure. But outside of a few incidents, it’s mostly been Russia on the defensive. In recent weeks, hackers have targeted everything from smart TVs to the country’s largest video platform in protest of the war in Ukraine.

The wait is over. Next month, Sony will release three new PlayStation 5 console covers. As you may recall, the company announced at the end of last year it would begin producing PS5 plates in five additional colors. At the time, Sony said the Midnight Black and Cosmic Red plates would go on sale at the start of 2022, with the three remaining colors – Nova Pink, Starlight Blue and Galactic Purple – to follow during the first half of the year.

Sony left the release to the last moment, but starting today customers in US, UK, France, Germany, Belgium, Netherlands and Luxembourg can pre-order the new plates through the PlayStation Direct website – with general availability to follow on June 17th. The console covers are easy to install. All you have to do is pop off the white ones that came with your PS5 and install the new ones. You can also mix and match two different sets of plates to make your console stand out even more – though that will cost you extra to do so.

After missing its originally planned April 3rd release date, Eve's Outdoor Cam is available to buy starting today. Announced at CES 2022, the company claims its latest product is the only HomeKit-exclusive floodlight camera on the market. The device works with Apple’s Secure Video framework to safely store any footage it captures on iCloud. End-to-end encryption ensures only the owner of the camera can see live video and recordings. However, that does mean you need an iPhone, iPad or Mac to use the Outdoor Cam in your home.

Outside of HomeKit exclusivity and a minimalist design, Eve’s latest camera includes all the usual features you might expect in a modern security camera. Its 157-degree field of view lens and sensor can record 1080p footage at 24 frames per second. Additionally, the Outdoor Cam includes support for two-way voice communication, and it can detect motion from up to 30 feet away with the help of infrared night vision.

You can purchase the Outdoor Cam from Eve's website for $249.95.

Ford’s self-driving Argo AI unit has hit a major milestone. On Tuesday, it began driverless operations in Austin and Miami. The company’s cars aren’t carrying paying customers just yet, but they’re now allowed to ferry Argo AI employees without a safety driver at the wheel. Argo called the announcement an “important step” in its plan to commercialize autonomous driving technology by providing a suite of APIs designed to allow ridesharing, delivery and logistics companies to incorporate its vehicles into their own services.

Argo is one of a handful of companies competing in the already crowded space, and a clear winner has yet to emerge. At the start of the year, GM’s Cruise began offering public driverless taxi rides in San Francisco, but when they’re not being pulled over by confused cops, the company’s cars are limited to off-peak hours. Waymo, meanwhile, recently began testing fully driverless cars in San Francisco, but its Arizona service is only partly open to those outside of its Trusted Tester program. 

If you’re a vegan or eco-conscious consumer, there are plenty of options when you want a burger or chicken nuggets. But there aren’t many plant-based eggs. Sure, you can find powdered substitutes, but a “whole” egg with a runny yolk is a different matter. A startup wants to change that.

Yo! Egg claims to have developed the first plant-based poached and sunny-side-up eggs. Following a limited rollout in its native Isreal, the company is bringing its products to the US, starting with a debut at the National Restaurant Association Show later this month. Yo! told TechCrunch it expects to have its eggs in restaurants across the Los Angeles area by the end of the year.

The company’s pitch is similar to that of other plant-based substitutes for animal products. Since its eggs are made from soy, sunflower oil, water and flour, they’re more sustainable to make. With 1 gram of protein, they’re not a one-for-one replacement for chicken eggs in terms of nutritional value, but they also don't have any cholesterol. We'll also note Yo!’s fried and poached eggs are separate products.

The company told TechCrunch it recently secured $5 million in seed funding and that it plans to use that money to scale production and start working on hard-boiled and scrambled egg products. “Our vision is to create the world’s largest egg company, not egg alternative company, and not the largest plant-based egg company, but the largest egg company without using chickens,” Yo! Egg CEO Eran Groner told the outlet.

ASUS has refreshed its gaming laptop lineup to add the latest components from AMD, Intel and NVIDIA. Of the two computers it announced today, the more intriguing one is the ROG Flow X16. It builds on the company’s previous gaming 2-in-1s by adding an enviable display to the mix.

The X16 will come with a mini-LED panel. According to the company, the QHD screen features a 165Hz refresh rate and a 3-millisecond pixel response time, in addition to 100 percent DCI-P3 coverage and 1,100 nits of peak brightness. With 512 local dimming zones, the X16’s display secured VESA’s DisplayHDR 1000 certification. When it comes to gaming monitors, you’ve typically have had to choose between speed and HDR performance. With the Flow X16, ASUS is promising a no-compromise display, and that’s exciting if you play a mix of competitive titles and immersive single-player games.

ASUS

Internally, you’ll have the option to configure the X16 with the latest Ryzen 6000 series CPUs from AMD, including the eight-core 6900HS. Also on offer are NVIDIA’s recently announced RTX Ti GPUs for laptops. ASUS hasn’t forgotten about DDR5 either. It’s possible to configure the X16 with up to 64GB of fast 4,800MHz DDR5 RAM, and as much as 2TB of PCIe storage.

To cool all those components, ASUS has equipped the Flow X16 with its “Pulsar” heatsink and an additional fan. The company says those components will help keep the computer cooler for longer. Powering everything is a 90Wh battery with fast charging support built-in, and the entire laptop weighs just under four-and-a-half pounds.

On the I/O front, you can look forward to HDMI 2.1 connectivity, allowing you to plug the Flow X16 into the latest 120Hz TVs to play games at 120 frames per second just like you would with a PlayStation 5 or Xbox Series X. The X16 also comes with a single USB 4.0 port that can act as a DisplayPort 1.4 connection. For good measure, the laptop will also ship with stylus support and a Windows Hello-compatible Full HD web camera. Pricing on the Flow X16 will start at $1,950, increasing to $2,700 for the top-spec model.

On Tuesday, ASUS also announced an updated version of its ROG Strix Scar 17 laptop. The company claims the new "Special Edition" model features among the “most powerful” components you’ll find on a portable PC. You can configure the computer to feature Intel’s 16-core i9-12900HX CPU in combination with a GeForce RTX 3080Ti. What’s more, the SE includes a Turbo Mode, allowing both components to draw more power than they normally would, in turn boosting their performance. For cooling, the CPU and GPU feature a thermal metal interface, which ASUS claims keeps the components up to 15 degrees Celsius cooler than traditional thermal paste. Additionally, the company says the SE won’t produce more than 40 decibels of noise when in its Performance mode.

ASUS

Unfortunately, the laptop won’t come with a mini-LED display like the Flow X16, but it will feature an IPS panel with a QHD resolution, 240Hz refresh rate and a 3-millisecond pixel response time. Just like the X16, it also comes with up to 64GB of 4800MHz DDR5 RAM, HDMI 2.1 connectivity and a 90Wh battery. Unique to the SE is an invisible ink finish ASUS says it spent six months developing. The finish produces a blue and green glow when under UV light. 

Pricing for the Strix Scar 17 SE starts at an eye-watering $3500. ASUS expects both models to go on sale before the end of the first half of the year. 

Peloton has struggled financially in recent months, but it shared a bit of good news on Monday. It announced a settlement agreement with iFit, one of the companies it sued last fall for attempting to “free ride” off of its technology. At the time, Peloton accused its rival of violating up to four of its patents related to on-demand classes.

As part of the settlement, iFit will remove some leaderboard features from its devices. Peloton, meanwhile, has agreed to license a handful of patents from iFit that involve the company’s remote control technologies. The two firms did not disclose the financial terms of the agreement. “The parties are pleased to put the litigations behind them,” Peloton said.

While we will probably never know the factors that led to iFit’s decision to settle, the company probably had the fate of Flywheel in mind. Just before the start of the pandemic, Flywheel announced it would shut down its online classes after losing a patent lawsuit to Peloton. In the aftermath of that announcement, Peloton began a promotion for Flywheel customers where they could trade in their bikes for a refurbished Peloton bike at no cost. At the same time, there are examples of companies successfully challenging Peloton. At the start of the year, Echelon convinced the US Patent and Trademark Office that Peloton shouldn’t have been granted two patents related to its streaming technologies.

In addition to their latest tracks and playlists, musicians can use Spotify’s artist profile pages to promote merchandise and concert dates. Soon, they may be able to use those pages to promote NFTs as well. As first reported by Music Ally, Spotify has begun testing NFT galleries. The feature is available to a select group of US users on Android and includes Web3 enthusiasts like Steve Aoki.

If you have access to the test, you can view the galleries by visiting one of the included artist pages and scrolling past the song list. Tapping on an NFT allows you to see a larger version of it, in addition to a short description. Per The Verge, a “See More” option redirects you to the NFT’s OpenSea listing page where you can purchase the token. According to Music Ally, Spotify isn’t collecting a commission on sales it helps facilitate during the test.

“Spotify is running a test in which it will help a small group of artists promote their existing third-party NFT offerings via their artist profiles,” Spotify told the outlet. “We routinely conduct a number of tests in an effort to improve artist and fan experiences. Some of those tests end up paving the way for a broader experience and others serve only as an important learning.”

We’ve reached out to Spotify for more information.

The test comes as other major platforms like Instagram incorporate their own NFT features even as the market cools down. Citing data from NonFungible, The Wall Street Journal recently found that daily NFT sales are down 92 percent from their peak in September. The number of active wallets is also down by about 88 percent. 

Earlier this week, David Harville, one of seven former eBay employees involved in a 2020 campaign to harass the creators of a newsletter critical of the e-commerce company, pleaded guilty to five federal felony charges, ending one of the most bizarre episodes in recent tech history.

In June 2020, the US Department of Justice charged six former eBay employees, including Harville, with conspiracy to commit cyberstalking and conspiracy to tamper with witnesses. Of the group, Harville was the final employee to admit involvement in the harassment campaign that targeted Ina and David Steiner, The Associated Press reported on Thursday.

In 2019, the Massachusetts couple published an article in their EcommerceBytes newsletter about litigation involving eBay. Responding to what they considered negative coverage of the company, the group carried out a harassment campaign that involved, among other actions, sending the couple a preserved fetal pig, live spiders and a funeral wreath. They also created fake social media accounts to send threatening messages to the Steiners and share their home address online.

According to the Department of Justice’s original 2020 filing, part of Harville’s involvement in the campaign included a plot to install a GPS tracking device on the Steiner’s car. Harville, alongside James Baugh, one of the other former employees charged in the scheme, carried with them fake documents allegedly designed to show the two were investigating the Steiners for threatening eBay executives.

Last July, a federal judge sentenced Philip Cooke, the first of the seven former employees convicted in the scheme, to 18 months in prison. At the time, US District Judge Allison Burroughs called the entire case “just nuts.” That same summer, the Steiners sued several eBay employees, including former CEO Devin Wenig, for carrying out a conspiracy to “intimidate, threaten to kill, torture, terrorize, stalk and silence them.” Wenig has denied having any knowledge of the campaign.

Following Saturday’s horrific mass shooting in Buffalo, online platforms like Facebook, TikTok and Twitter are seemingly struggling to prevent various versions of the gunman’s livestream from proliferating on their platforms. The shooter, an 18-year-old white male, attempted to broadcast the entire attack on Twitch using a GoPro Hero 7 Black. The company told Engadget it took his channel down within two minutes of the violence starting.

“Twitch has a zero-tolerance policy against violence of any kind and works swiftly to respond to all incidents,” a Twitch spokesperson said. “The user has been indefinitely suspended from our service, and we are taking all appropriate action, including monitoring for any accounts rebroadcasting this content.”

Despite Twitch’s response, that hasn’t stopped the video from proliferating online. According to New York Times reporter Ryan Mac, one link to a version of the livestream someone used a screen recorder to preserve saw 43,000 interactions. Another Twitter user said they found a Facebook post linking to the video that had been viewed more than 1.8 million times, with an accompanying screenshot suggesting the post did not trigger Facebook’s automated safeguards. A Meta spokesperson told Mac the video violates Facebook’s Community Standards.

Responding to Mac’s Twitter thread, Washington Post reporter Taylor Lorenz said she found TikTok videos that share accounts and terms Twitter users can search for to view the full video. “Clear the vid is all over Twitter,” she said. We’ve reached out to the company for comment.

Preventing terrorists and violent extremists from disseminating their content online is one of the things Facebook, Twitter and a handful of other tech companies said they would do following the 2019 shooting in Christchurch, New Zealand. In the first 24 hours after that attack, Meta said it removed 1.5 million videos, but clips of the shooting continued to circulate on the platform for more than a month after the event. The company blamed its automated moderation tools for the failure, noting they had a hard time detecting the footage because of the way in which it was filmed. "This was a first-person shooter video, one where we have someone using a GoPro helmet with a camera focused from their perspective of shooting," Neil Potts, Facebook’s public policy director, told British lawmakers at the time.