The International Olympics Committee has laid out more details for the upcoming Olympic Esports Series, which will take place in Singapore in June. The lineup features facsimiles of real-world competitive events rather than what many people may think of as traditional esports, such as real-time strategy titles, fighting games and first-person shooters.

The initial batch of nine games connect to disciplines overseen by international sports federations. They include Just Dance and online chess from Chess.com. Some titles that have appeared at previous IOC-sanctioned events are returning, including Gran Turismo and Zwift, which requires participants to physically pedal on a stationary bike. Archery, baseball, sailing, taekwondo and tennis games round out the list. Qualifiers for the various titles, which include mobile games like Tennis Clash, start today.

"The Olympic Movement brings people together in peaceful competition," David Lappartient, chair of the IOC Esports Liaison Group, said. "The Olympic Esports Series 2023 is a continuation of that, with the ambition of creating more spaces to play for both players and fans of elite competition."

The Esports Series follows on from the Olympic Virtual Series, which took place in 2021 in the lead up to the Olympic Games in Tokyo. That esports event featured baseball, cycling (on Zwift), rowing, sailing and motorsport. The IOC says the series drew in more than 250,000 participants from 100 countries.

Although the organization is still just warming up to the idea of bringing esports into the Olympic Games proper, the series is part of the IOC's efforts to engage with younger people and perhaps provide a gateway for them into sport. A strategic plan (PDF) approved by the IOC in 2021 includes a recommendation to "encourage the development of virtual sports and further engage with video gaming communities." Part of this involves an effort to "strengthen the roles and responsibilities of [international federations] in establishing virtual and simulated forms of sports as a discipline within their regulations and strategies."

“The idea first is really to make the bridge between the sports and the gaming space," Vincent Perieira, the IOC's head of virtual sport and gaming, told the Evening Standard. “We’re not making [an] opposition between sports and gaming. The point is really... how we can encourage people to do both to keep a good balance.”

On one hand, it makes some sense to ground the Esports Series in virtual versions of traditional sporting disciplines. The basic rules of virtual cycling, chess and tennis should be generally easy for participants and viewers to understand.

However, the IOC may be missing a trick by opting not to feature the likes of League of Legends, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, StarCraft II, Minecraft, Fortnite or Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. Those games (and many others) have significant built-in audiences that may not especially care about the Olympics otherwise. Perhaps one day we'll see Stardew Valley,Tetris and GeoGuessr as medaled events at the Olympic Games, but not anytime soon.

Netflix has revealed more details about a Stranger Things prequel that you'll need to get off your couch to experience (at least for the foreseeable future). A stage play called Stranger Things: The First Shadowwill premiere at the Phoenix Theatre in London's West End later this year. Netflix announced the production last year.

The play takes place in Hawkins in 1959, over two decades before the beginning of the '80s-set sci-fi/horror series. It will feature younger versions of key characters, including Joyce Byers, Jim Hopper, Bob Newby and Henry Creel (aka Vecna). Netflix says The First Shadow "will take you right back to the beginning of the Stranger Things story — and to the beginning of the end." That suggests the play will tie into the show's fifth and final season, which doesn't have a release window as yet.

The First Shadow comes from the minds of series creators Matt and Ross Duffer, Stranger Things writer Kate Trefry and Jack Thorne, the writer of Enola Holmes 2, which features Millie Bobby Brown. Trefry wrote the play, which is being directed by Tony and Emmy winner Stephen Daldry. Tickets will go on sale this spring and Netflix says those who register at the play's website will jump to the front of the line.

Netflix has already expanded Stranger Things to several other mediums, including games, comics, novels and a drive-thru experience. The First Shadow is the company's first live stage production. It remains to be seen, however, if a filmed version of the play will hit the streaming service at some point so those who can't make it to London (or, perhaps, Broadway) can see it.

Nishad Singh, a co-founder of collapsed cryptocurrency exchange FTX, has pleaded guilty to US federal fraud and conspiracy charges. Singh, who was FTX's director of engineering, is the third member of Sam Bankman-Fried's inner circle to agree to cooperate with prosecutors in the case against him. Former executives Caroline Ellison and Zixiao "Gary" Wang previously pleaded guilty to fraud charges.

Singh pleaded guilty to six criminal counts, including wire fraud and conspiracy to defraud the US by violating campaign finance laws. He agreed to forfeit the proceeds of his actions, as Reuters reports. Bankruptcy filings showed that Singh received a $543 million loan from Alameda.

Singh admitted to making illegal donations to political candidates and PACs under his name using funds from Alameda Research (FTX's sibling hedge fund and crypto trading firm). He claimed the donations were intended to bolster the political influence of FTX and Bankman-Fried (aka SBF), according to The Wall Street Journal. Singh added that he agreed with the stances of those he donated to but didn't pick the candidates. Per OpenSecrets, he contributed $8 million to Democratic PACs and campaigns during the 2022 election cycle.

Moreover, Singh said he found out in mid-2022 that Alameda was borrowing billions of dollars in customer funds from FTX. It emerged by September that Alameda wasn't able to repay those funds. Singh additionally claimed that he falsified FTX’s revenues at SBF's behest to make the company more palatable to investors.

SBF now faces 12 criminal charges after an indictment detailing four additional ones was unsealed last week. Among other things, he has been accused of stealing billions of dollars in FTX customer funds and misleading investors and lenders. Notably, in light of Singh's plea, the charges include alleged violations of federal campaign finance laws by donating to a super PAC under the names of two executives. SBF, who was arrested and extradited from the Bahamas in December, has pleaded not guilty to the charges. His trial is set for October.

On the same day Singh made his guilty plea, the Securities and Exchange Commission and Commodity Futures Trading Commission filed civil complaints against him. The agencies said Singh is cooperating with the SEC's ongoing investigation and that he agreed to settle with the CFTC.

Google says client-side encryption (CSE) is now generally available for Gmail after it enabled the feature on Drive, Docs, Slides, Sheets and Meet last year and in Calendar earlier this month. The company opened a CSE beta for Gmail and Calendar late last year, but now all organizations on a Google Workspace Enterprise Plus, Education Plus or Education Standard plan can enable the privacy protection feature. The option isn't available on personal Workspace plans or Google accounts just yet.

Although Workspace "encrypts data at rest and in transit by using secure-by-design cryptographic libraries," CSE gives organizations total control over their encryption keys. "Starting today, users can send and receive emails or create meeting events with internal colleagues and external parties, knowing that their sensitive data (including inline images and attachments) has been encrypted before it reaches Google servers," Google wrote in a blog post.

Google

Workspace admins will need to enable CSE, which is off by default. Once it's enabled for your organization, you can add CSE to any message in Gmail by clicking the lock icon on the right side of the "To" field and turning on the "Additional encryption" option. The compose panel will turn blue and may read "New encrypted message." Meanwhile, in Calendar, you can click the shield icon next to an event title to add "additional encryption" to the description, attachments and Google Meet call.

Encrypting the likes of Drive files and Calendar events is certainly welcome, but CSE protections may be most effective in Gmail. Organizations are perhaps more likely to send emails externally than share files or calendar invites with third-parties, after all. In any case, Google says that all essential Workspace apps are now covered by CSE.

Luminous Productions, the studio behind Forspoken, will soon close shop. Its team will be folded back into parent company Square Enix and tasked with working on other projects. The publisher set up the studio, which included the developers behind Final Fantasy XV, in 2018 to work on new franchises, but Forspoken was its only game as a standalone studio.

In a statement, Luminous said that its team will move back directly under Square Enix's umbrella starting on May 1st. In the meantime, the developers will continue to work on an update to address Forspoken's performance issues, as well as an expansion that's slated to arrive this summer.

"When we established Luminous Productions in 2018, our vision was to make AAA games that fused technology and artistry to deliver completely new play experiences," Luminous wrote on Twitter. "Having the chance to do just that has been a dream come true."

In a statement of its own, Square Enix said it's absorbing the Luminous team as "part of the company’s efforts to further bolster the competitive prowess of the group’s development studios, a goal set forth under its current medium-term business strategy." It added that Luminous is "equipped not only with AAA title development capabilities but also technical expertise in areas such as game engine development. Combining the two entities will further enhance the Group’s ability to develop HD games."

This is hardly the first time that Square Enix has taken swift action against its studios after projects failed to meet expectations. Last year, it sold off three Western studios — Crystal Dynamics, Eidos-Montréal and Square Enix Montréal — as well as franchises like Tomb Raider and Deus Ex to Embracer Group for a relatively small price of $300 million. The move came after the likes of Marvel's Avengers and Guardians of the Galaxy (which didn't sell well enough despite strong reviews) didn't sell as well as Square Enix hoped.

Forspoken is one of the highest-profile games of the year to date. However, Square Enix released it in January to a so-so reception from critics. It's not yet clear how well the game has performed commercially. 

Steam data indicated that Hi-Fi Rush, a game from Ghostwire: Tokyo studio Tango Gameworks that was announced and released on the same day, outperformed Forspoken in their first week of release on the platform. That's despite Hi-Fi Rush being available on Game Pass and costing $30 versus the $70 Square Enix charged for Forspoken. In fairness, the data only takes into account sales on Steam from the same week, not preorders or purchases from Steam key sellers.

In any case, that's not a great look for Luminous or Forspoken. Square Enix gobbling up the team spells disappointing news for any fans of Forspoken who were hoping for a sequel. Meanwhile, Luminous used a proprietary engine to create Final Fantasy XV and Forspoken. It's not clear what the future holds for the Luminous Engine after the merger either. Whatever happens, here's hoping the folks from Luminous aren't stuck working on Square Enix's NFT nonsense.

One year ago today, the largest aircraft ever built was destroyed during the early days of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Now, the Antonov An-225 Mriya is once again taking to the skies — albeit in Microsoft Flight Simulator. What's more, if you buy the add-on, you could help restore the only real-life Mriya that was ever completed.

The Ukraine-built Mriya was an ultra-heavy lift jet transport aircraft with six engines. It was the heaviest aircraft ever built and it had the largest wingspan of any plane at 290 feet. The Mriya, which had its first flight in 1988, was used to transport things like Soviet space shuttles, tanks, diesel locomotives and dozens of cars at a time.

Stringer . / reuters

A second Mriya was in the works, but it was never finished. There are plans to reconstruct the plane by using parts of the destroyed Mriya and pieces from the unfinished airframe. The project is expected to cost over $500 million.

The Microsoft Flight Simulator version of the Antonov An-225 Mriya is available in six liveries, including an Xbox Aviators Club one. It's in the in-game marketplace on PC today and will be available for the Xbox Series X/S and cloud versions later this month. The Mriya costs $20, with all proceeds going to the Antonov Corporation's Mryia reconstruction efforts. Meanwhile, iniBuilds, the team behind the virtual Mriya, has released a manual and other details about the plane on its forums.

Spotify is waving goodbye to its heart icon. The company is combining the icon, which enables you to quickly save music to your library, with the "add to playlist" prompt under a single plus button.

The plus button works a little differently on Spotify than it does on Apple Music, where tapping it a second time on an album or playlist downloads it to your device. When you tap Spotify's plus button once, you'll add a song, playlist, podcast or audiobook to your library. The plus button will then turn into a green check. If you tap the checkmark on the Now Playing view, you'll be able to add the song or podcast episode to a playlist rather than just saving it to your Liked Songs or Your Episodes.

Spotify

Spotify says the plus button will streamline how folks save songs and podcasts. It wrote in a blog post that user research showed the button "helped save time and gave users the ability to add to multiple playlists at once." It could come in useful, for instance, if you're listening to a radio station or Discover Weekly and encounter a song you like that would work well on one or more of your playlists. 

The plus button is starting to roll out on Spotify's iOS and Android apps today. It'll be available to all Spotify users in the coming weeks.

Canada is reportedly the latest jurisdiction to ban TikTok from government-issued devices. The US federal government, multiple states and the European Union have previously prohibited their workers from using the app on official devices.

According to a note sent to Global Affairs Canada employees that was obtained by the National Post, TikTok "will be automatically removed and blocked from use on all government-issued mobile devices." The report suggests that the government will announce the policy, which is expected to be effective March 1st, on Tuesday. Engadget has contacted TikTok and the Canadian government for comment.

"A review of the mobile application’s behavior in relation to the Policy on Service and Digital found that TikTok’s data collection methods may leave users vulnerable to cyber attacks," the note purportedly reads. It may be the case that, similar to their counterparts in the US and EU, officials are concerned about the Chinese government gaining access to the data TikTok holds on Canadian citizens and residents. TikTok parent ByteDance is located in China, which has laws that force companies to share data with authorities when requested.

ByteDance has refuted suggestions that the Chinese government can access such data. It has claimed that Canadian user data is stored in the US and Singapore. However, it said that former employees in China and the US accessed data on American journalists, seemingly in an attempt to detect the sources of leaks from the company.

Canada’s Communications Security Establishment warned earlier this month that “adversary states can influence their domestic vendors to compromise products to advance their national interest, counter to Canadian clients’ interests and the interests of Canada,” but the report didn't explicitly mention TikTok or China. The Canadian government, meanwhile, is facing scrutiny over possible Chinese interference in the 2019 and 2021 federal elections, as the National Post notes.

Almost four years after it was announced, Pokémon Sleep is finally on the way. During today's Pokémon Presents event, it emerged that the game will arrive sometime this summer. It was originally supposed to debut in 2020.

Pokémon Sleep is a mobile game from Pokémon: Magikarp Jump developer Select Button that can track your sleep. It features Snorlax (of course) and Professor Neroli, a Pokémon sleep researcher. The idea is that you leave your phone next to you when you go to bed.

The app will analyze your sleep and categorize it into one of three types: dozing, snoozing and slumbering. Pokémon that tend to sleep in a similar fashion will gather around Snorlax. The more you play, the more likely you are to unlock rare sleep styles for various Pokémon. Droopy-eared Pikachu in particular looks extremely cute.

The Pokémon Company also provided an update on Pokémon Go Plus +, a physical device that connects to both Pokémon Sleep and Pokémon Go. For the former, you press the button when you go to bed and again when you wake up to track your sleep data, presumably instead of needing to have your phone next to you. There's a built-in alarm, as well as a Pikachu voice that can sing lullabies.

While you're out and about, you can use the disc-shaped Pokémon Go Plus + to automatically spin PokéStops and throw Poké Balls in Pokémon Go without even having to press the button on the device. Eventually, there will be a way to use your sleep data in Pokémon Go too.

Pokémon Go Plus + follows the original Pokémon Go Plus, which emerged in 2016, and the Poké Ball Plus. It will be available on July 14th and it costs $55, almost the same as a new mainline Pokémon game on Switch. When you link it to Pokémon Go, you'll be able to find an adorable version of Snorlax wearing a nightcap when you're out hunting Pokémon.

Mercedes-Benz offered a closer look at the interior of its new E-Class sedans and fancy dashboard earlier this month. The car looks nice so far! It boasts an electrified powertrain and tons of tech, including support for Level 3 autonomous driving and a lot of apps you'll need to pay extra to use. The car seems like a comfortable way to get around, too. Perhaps so comfortable that you might just want to turn your car into a mobile office. 

If that's the case, then you're in luck. Mercedes-Benz has struck a partnership with Cisco to kit out the new E-Class with Webex Meetings and Calling and Webex AI audio capabilities — everything a busy worker needs to never get a moment's peace. They announced the collaboration at last week's E-Class event and revealed more details at Mobile World Congress. "This partnership will help people get work done safely, securely and comfortably in their vehicles," the companies said in a press release. That definitely seems better than getting stuff done at the office, home or a coffee shop.

In case you absolutely need to hop into a meeting while you're at the wheel, which is hopefully a very rare occasion, the companies claim to offer "best-in-class noise cancellation" thanks to Webex’s audio intelligence tech. Meetings and calls are audio-only unless you're parked, in which case you'll have access to video meetings, AI-powered transcription, content sharing functions and emoji reactions. There'll be a Webex app in the Mercedes Benz Car App Store, while the built-in WiFi and cellular data connection mean you don't need your phone at all to hop into a meeting. At least for someone, I'm sure that's the embodiment of living the dream.

In fairness, there are some use cases where Webex in a car may make sense. Mercedes and Cisco suggested that an architect might need to check in with their colleagues immediately after leaving a work site, while someone might have to jump into a meeting right after dropping off the kids at school. Conference calls certainly happen in cars.

This isn't exactly the first time that a meeting app has invaded cars. Webex already supports CarPlay, as does Microsoft Teams. Webex is available in some Ford models too. If you truly do want to experience Webex meetings at the wheel of a 2023 E-Class, you may be pleased to learn that you'll get the chance when the sedans hit dealerships in the spring.