While there are still many unknowns about Steam Deck’s library of games, you can add four titles to the list that will work on day one. On Friday, Valve saidArma 3, DayZ, Unturned and Planetside 2 now all feature working BattlEye anti-cheat support when playing them through Proton. They join Ark: Survival Evolved and Mount and Blade II: Bannerlord for a total of six Windows titles that Linux users can play through the compatibility layer without the anti-cheat software causing issues. 

No matter how you frame it, only four new titles joining the compatibility list is a modest addition, particularly when you consider Valve said in November BattlEye integration on Proton had progressed to the point where all a developer had to do was contact the company to enable the feature within their game. The current list also doesn’t cover some of the most popular online multiplayer games on Steam, including the likes of Rainbow Six Siege and PUBG. We still don’t have a full picture of all the games that will work with Steam Deck’s Linux-based operating system, but that’s something Valve promised to clear up through a new verification program before the handheld launches in early 2022.

On the same day Reuters published a report on how NSO spyware may have been used to target State Department officials, the Biden administration announced the US would work with other countries to limit the export of surveillance software and other technologies to authoritarian governments. In a media event involving The Wall Street Journal, White House officials said the administration wants to coordinate with allies on a code of conduct related to export-licensing policies. Those involved in the effort would share information on tools used against political dissidents, journalists and foreign government officials.

The Biden Administration will announce the effort at the upcoming Summit for Democracy. The event, set to run for two days between December 9th and 10th, will see national governments and the private sector meet to discuss some of the challenges facing democracies in 2021 and beyond. Notably, China and Russia weren’t invited to attend the meeting.

Officials told The Journal the effort is in part a response to a global increase in the use of digital surveillance tools. “Technology is being misused by governments to surveil and, in some cases— as in the case of the [People’s Republic of China] — to control their population,” an administration official told the outlet. The effort could include some of the existing members of the Wassenaar Arrangement, a pact that sets voluntary export controls on military and dual-use technologies.

The initiative would build on work the US government is already doing to limit the export and resale of cyber intrusion software to China and Russia. At the end of October, the Commerce Department announced a new set of rules that will require companies that want to sell their hacking tools to countries “of national security concern” to obtain a license from the department before they can do so.

IKEA has sold a variety of wireless chargers since 2015, but never one that you could use without plugging into a wall outlet. It looks like that’s about to change with images of a new portable Nordmärke Qi charger making their way online courtesy of a few hawk-eyed Reddit users. We also have some details on the device thanks to German media outlet mobiFlip, which obtained them from a reader who bought one at a store in Cologne.

IKEA Nordmarke Qi charger

The individual paid €20 (approximately $22.64) to buy the portable charger. While it’s not available online yet, you can see from the photos it features a 6,500mAh battery. It can charge your Qi-compatible devices at a glacial 5W. What you won’t find inside the box is a power adapter or USB cable. It’s up to you to supply those, so it’s not quite as affordable as its price would suggest. However, one nifty feature is that the internal batteries are user-replaceable. 

We’ve reached out to IKEA to find out if the company plans to carry the Nordmärke portable Qi charger in the US. In the meantime, if you’re desperate to find a way to charge your devices on the go, your best bet is to buy a portable power bank. You can find ones that cost less than $20. What’s more, they will feature a bigger battery than the Nordmärke and they will charge your devices faster.

On Friday, Reuters shed new light on the Biden administration’s recent decision to sanction Pegasus spyware developer NSO Group. Citing four people “familiar with the matter,” the outlet reports an unknown assailant used the firm’s software to infect iPhones belonging to at least nine US State Department officials.

The attacks reportedly targeted federal employees who were either stationed in Uganda or whose work involved the East African country. Reuters wasn’t able to identify who was behind the hacks. The State Department also declined to comment on the report. NSO says it will investigate the matter.

“If our investigation shall show these actions indeed happened with NSO's tools, such customer will be terminated permanently and legal actions will take place," a spokesperson for the company told Reuters. NSO said it would also “cooperate with any relevant government authority and present the full information we will have.”

NSO says its spyware can’t work on devices with US numbers that start with the country +1. But in the case of the State Department employees deployed to Uganda, they were reportedly using iPhones with local telephone numbers. They were also hacked before Apple released iOS 14.8, which addressed the CoreGraphics vulnerability NSO had exploited to allow its spyware to infect an iPhone without the victim even needing to tap on anything. On November 23rd, Apple sued NSO to “hold it accountable” for its actions.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, a senior Biden administration official told Reuters the threat to US officials is one of the reasons the White House is cracking down on NSO and working with allies to combat ransomware and other cybersecurity threats. On November 3rd, the Commerce Department added the company to its Entity List, preventing American companies from doing business with the firm. At the time, the company told Engadget it “dismayed” by the decision, and claimed its tools have helped the US by “preventing terrorism and crime.”

Following in the footsteps of Tim Berners-Lee and others, Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy Wales is auctioning off a piece of internet history. Starting today, you can bid in a Christie’s auction to obtain an NFT of his first Wikipedia edit. Wales is also auctioning off the Apple iMac he used to work on the website. Bidding on the non-fungible token will start at $100, though we expect it will take several million to secure it before the auction ends on December 15th. Proceeds from the sale will go to charity and WT Social, Wales’ Facebook and Twitter alternative.

In an interview with The Verge, the internet entrepreneur said he wanted to package his first Wikipedia edit as an NFT in part because of the way the technology publicly records and verifies ownership. “I think what is specifically interesting is that for the first time, we have a publicly distributed, immutable kind of database, and that’s new and different,” he told the outlet.

It’s also a way to give people a window into the early days of Wikipedia. Once the auction is complete, the NFT will grant its new owner control of a single webpage. Just like Wikipedia as it exists today, anyone can edit that webpage to change what it says. However, after five minutes, it will revert to its original state, with a single entry stating, “Hello, World!”

“What you see displayed is what Wikipedia looked like at the moment that I set up the software,” Wales said. “The artistic concept is to take people back to that moment when I set up the website and had to think, ‘Gosh, this is so vulnerable. Like anybody can edit. It might just destroy the whole thing, and I’ll be taken over by trolls in five minutes.’”

The NFT will give its eventual owner the ability to change the editing window. They’ll also have the option to turn off editing and, if they’re really dull, the power to shut down the webpage. “With everything on Wikipedia, it’s freely licensed,” Wales said of the project. “So if you want to do anything, you pretty much can.”

On Thursday, Hulu pulled Astroworld: Concert From Hell, an ABC special many mistook as a documentary on the recent Travis Scott festival that killed 10 people on November 5th, just one day after its debut on the platform. Shortly after its release, Astroworld started to trend on Twitter, with many assuming the special was commissioned by the streaming service.

“Hulu making a documentary about Astroworld is in poor taste all around,” says one of the more popular tweets on the subject. “Great documentaries are done when all the facts are laid out. Not enough time has passed to fully discuss this.”

Hulu pulled Concert From Hell following the social media backlash. The special was produced by KTRK-TV, ABC’s local Houston affiliate. You can still watch it on ABC13’s website. It includes early interviews and clips filmed following the immediate aftermath of the festival. Disney owns both ABC and Hulu, which is why many news specials end up on the streaming platform.

“[Astroworld: Concert From Hell] was an investigative local news special from ABC13/KTRK-TV in Houston that originally aired on November 20th,” a spokesperson for Hulu told Engadget. “This was not a Hulu documentary and has since been removed to avoid confusion.”

Amid more than 250 lawsuits, Scott recently offered to pay the funeral costs of the 10 victims who died at the concert. According to Rolling Stone, half of the bereaved families rejected the offer, including the kin of nine-year-old Ezra Blount, the youngest of the 10 individuals who died when the crowd of 50,000 at the festival surged forward to get closer to Scott.

Now that everyone you know on social media has shared their Spotify Wrapped year-in-review, SoundCloud would like you to know it too has a chronicle of what you listened to over the last 11 months. Starting today, you can access “Your 2021 Playback.” It’s a personalized playlist that features your most-played tracks from 2021. Since this is SoundCloud we’re talking about, it will have a different feel to your Wrapped 2021 playlist. If you turn to the platform to listen to the latest tracks from artists like BabySantana and Polo G, there’s a good chance they’ll show up here.

That’s not the only way you can revisit your listening history. Hidden Gems, another new personalized playlist, highlights tracks you may have glossed over or missed since January. Additionally, SoundCloud Go and Go+ subscribers can see a list of the artists they supported through the company’s recently launched listener-based royalties system. Lastly, there’s The SoundCloud Play, which chronicles the year that was on SoundCloud from a platform level. There, you can see things like the artist whose song attracted the most comments, among other things.

Google is adding new tools to Search to make it easier to navigate the US healthcare system. To start, you’ll find a new filter on mobile that allows you to find providers that accept Medicare. Additionally, Google has added a directory option that allows clinics to list the languages the staff at their office speak. With today’s launch, there’s support for 12 languages, including Spanish and ASL. Lastly, the company now allows healthcare providers to update their Google Business Profile. They can do so by claiming their listing, which should help them ensure important information about their hours and services are accurate.

All of those may seem like small additions, but they’re ones that should help make healthcare more accessible for more people. If you’re someone who depends on your Medicare, there’s nothing more frustrating than showing up at a doctor’s office or clinic only to find out they don’t accept your plan. Similarly, a language barrier can often make a significant difference in healthcare outcomes.  

After months of teasing, the legendary Rhodes piano is back, with Rhodes Music Group opening pre-orders for the new MK8 model on Wednesday. It costs an eye-watering $9,450. And that's only the price of the base model. Want the rad transparent hood? That's an extra $575. How about a walnut bottom shell? Add another $1,095.

With all the possible extras, you can expect to pay $12,640 for a single MK8. That's a lot when you consider you can find a vintage Rhodes for as little as $2,500, and they're still highly desirable.

If the price of the MK8 doesn't scare you away, we suggest you order one as soon as you can. With each one assembled by hand at the company's factory in Leeds, England, Rhodes only expects to manufacture about 500 MK8 units in 2022. You can claim a place in line by paying for one in full or putting down a 20 percent deposit. Shipments of the preamp-only model will begin in the first quarter of 2022, with the effects panel one to follow before the second half of the year.

It's hard to overstate how important the Rhodes piano has been to the history of contemporary popular music. It was crucial to the evolution of jazz and rock and roll in the '60s, with Kieth Jarrett and Ray Manzarek just some of the musicians who used the instrument to create incredible melodies. More recently, it has made its presence felt in tracks from Nils Frahm and Thom Yorke. And now it has the chance to inspire a new generation of musicians. 

Payments firm Square plans to change its name to Block as cryptocurrencies and other blockchain technologies become a bigger part of its business. On Wednesday, the company announced it will move forward with the rebranding on December 10th.

“The name has many associated meanings for the company — building blocks, neighborhood blocks and their local businesses, communities coming together at block parties full of music, a blockchain, a section of code, and obstacles to overcome,” the company said in a blog post.

When Jack Dorsey co-founded Square in 2009 shortly after his first stint as CEO of Twitter, the company’s only product was its namesake card reader, which allowed merchants to process credit card payments with their phones. Since then, its business has expanded to include stock and crypto trading, money lending and more. This year, Square even bought a majority stake in Tidal. And it’s that expansion from that the rebranding is designed to encapsulate.

“We built the Square brand for our Seller business, which is where it belongs,” Dorsey said. “Block is a new name, but our purpose of economic empowerment remains the same. No matter how we grow or change, we will continue to build tools to help increase access to the economy.”

The move comes in the same week that Dorsey stepped down as the CEO of Twitter. Since 2015, he had led both Twitter and Square, a position that eventually led to pressure from activist investment firm Elliott Management. In a lot of ways, the rebranding is also reflective of Dorsey’s well-known enthusiasm for cryptocurrency. After all, this is the man who wanted the world to know he has a Bitcoin clock in his kitchen. He recently announced Square would build a Bitcoin hardware wallet, and “consider” a mining system.