A cryptocurrency inspired by Squid Game successfully enticed enough investors to see its value soar to over $2,800... before its creators cashed out and vanished. The cryptocurrency called $SQUID, which wasn't officially sanctioned by Netflix, launched in late October and rose up to 310,000 percent in value within just a few days. It was sold supposedly as a way to play an upcoming online game based on the South Korean series, in which people buried in debt are forced to play a deadly game. 

At 5:40AM on Monday morning, however, the coin's value plummeted to $0, its website disappeared (you can view an archive here) and its Twitter account got blocked. As Gizmodo explained, its creators staged what's called in the crypto world as a "rug pull," wherein the coin's creators cash out for real money and disappear. The scammers may have made off with as much as $3.38 million. 

There were multiple signs that the cryptocurrency was a scam from the start — people merely missed or ignored them, perhaps due to the promise of a game based on the popular Netflix show. Its website was riddled with spelling and grammatical errors, and as Gizmodo pointed out, people were able to buy coins but weren't allowed to sell them. 

This isn't the first time a coin based on a pop culture phenomenon was launched, and it won't be the last. While some may be legit, those interested to invest in them will have to keep an eye out for signs of fraud. Just earlier this year, a cryptocurrency based on The Mandalorian turned out to be a scam, as well.

If you want to score Google's Nest devices at a discount before Black Friday arrives, check out Best Buy's sale — some of them are even available for the lowest price we've seen them sell for across retailers. The Google Nest Audio, for instance, is now listed for $60, which is $40 less than its standard price and is the lowest we've seen for the speaker. In case you missed the chance to purchase the device at that price from B&H Photo in October, here's another chance to do so. The second-gen Google Nest Hub is also on sale for $50, which is only $10 more than what the first-gen Nest Hub goes for these days.

We gave the Nest Audio a score of 87 in our review and called it a steal at $100. The smart speaker offers much better audio quality than Google's older speaker models, which can be improved further if you pair two of them in stereo. We also praised it for its attractive minimalist design: The device is fully covered in audio-transparent cloth that comes in five colors. Meanwhile, we gave the second-gen Nest Hub a score of 89, praising it for having a louder and clearer display than its predecessor. Assistant also responds faster on the smart display than on its first-gen counterpart, thanks to its onboard chip. 

Want a bigger screen? The Nest Hub Max, with its 10-inch display and camera, is on sale for $180, down $50 from its normal price of $230. We gave it a score of 86 in our review and praised it for its great screen, gesture control capability for media playback and ability to double as a Nest Cam. The Google Nest WiFi 2-pack, which comes with a mesh WiFi router and an access point, is also currently on sale for $179. That's $89 less than the two-pack's usual price. The router and the single access point can cover up to 3,800 square feet, and the point comes with a built-in smart speaker with access to Google Assistant.

If you want a Google's smaller smart speakers instead of the bigger Nest Audio to place around your home, the Nest Mini is also on sale for $25, down 50 percent from its original price of $50. It may not sound as good as the Nest Audio, but it has better audio quality than its predecessor. Meanwhile, the Nest Doorbell Battery is down $50 from its original price of $180. As its name implies, it's a battery-powered video doorbell that's easy to install and can send you alerts about important activity outside your door. Finally, the Nest Smart Programmable Wifi Thermostat is on sale for $100, down $30 from its original price. It was designed to be easy to install and has a touch bar on the side you can use to adjust the temperature. You can also control it from anywhere via the Google Home app or via Google Assistant.

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Apple may have given us a glimpse of what the new 14- and 16-inch MacBook Pros' insides look like, but it had a surprise waiting for the folks at iFixit nonetheless. The iFixit team said removing batteries from recent MacBook Pros required "infinite patience, a bottle of isopropyl alcohol, and an optional bottle of human-friendly alcohol." They expected the same from this generation of laptops but were pleasantly surprised by the presence of pull tabs instead when they tore down the new MacBook Pros.

The outer battery cells have noticeable pull tabs that you can, well, pull to detach them from their adhesive underneath. Even the central battery cells have pull tabs — they're just harder to find inside the laptop chassis beneath the trackpad. iFixit was able able to confirm that the laptops will recognize and work with battery replacements just fine.

In addition, most of the laptops' ports, except for the SD card reader and the HDMI port, are modular. That means they can be easily and cheaply replaced if they suddenly break or malfunction. Conversely, the laptops' keyboard will still be hard to replace, but hey, at least the days of Apple's butterfly keyboard are now over. You can watch iFixit's teardown process in the video below, and it also has more photos of the laptops insides on its website if you want to have a better look at their components. iFixit also took apart Apple's $19 polishing cloth, in case you're wondering what makes it more expensive that its typical counterparts.

Facebook made it pretty clear that it's focusing on the metaverse when it rebranded itself as Meta, and its latest acquisition is part of that effort. Jason Rubin, the company's VP of Metaverse Content has revealed that Meta is acquiring Within, the creator of immersive virtual reality workout app Supernatural for Oculus Quest headsets. A rep for Within previously described Supernatural to Engadget as "part Beat Saber, part Dance Dance Revolution, part Guitar Hero with your whole body.

In a separate announcement (via TechCrunch), Within CEO Chris Milk and Head of fitness Leanne Pedante said that its coaches, choreographers and managers will continue being part of the team. They'll work on VR fitness experiences for Supernatural independently under Meta's Reality Labs. While Within will have to answer to its new parent company going forward, Milk's and Pedante's statement says the the acquisition will give them access to more resources, including more music, more features and more social experiences.

In Supernatural, you'll have to hit colored orbs flying at you from its various VR environments using your controllers. The balls will shatter if you hit them with enough force, but they'll only float away if you don't — you'll get scored at the end based on how you do. Supernatural has a 30-day free trial period, after which it'll cost you $19 a month for continued access. 

Vaccine misinformation has been pervasive issue on Facebook for years, and it wasn't until earlier this year that the website finally introduced policies that would address the problem. Now, the social network has expanded those policies and its COVID-19 vaccination efforts to include kids shortly after the FDA authorized the emergency use of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine for children ages five to eleven.

In the coming weeks, it will send in-feed English and Spanish reminders to users in the US that the COVID-19 vaccine is now available for kids. Those reminders will also include a link that'll help users find the nearest vaccination site. Perhaps, more importantly, it will expand its anti-vaccine misinformation policies to remove claims that COVID-19 vaccines for kids do not exist and that the vaccine for children is untested. It will also remove any claim that COVID-19 vaccines can kill or seriously harm kids, that they're not effective for children at all and that anything other than a COVID-19 vaccine can inoculate children against the virus. 

Facebook says its fight against vaccine misinformation is part of an ongoing effort in partnership with the CDC, WHO and other health authorities. It promises to keep on updating its policies and ban any new claim about the COVID-19 vaccine for children that will emerge in the future. The website, which now operates under its parent company Meta, says it has removed more than 20 million pieces of content from Facebook and Instagram since the beginning of the pandemic. As of August 2021, it has also banned 3,000 accounts, groups and pages for repeatedly breaking its health misinformation policies. 

Facebook

Assassin's Creed Infinity won't be a free-to-play online game, Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot has confirmed during the developer's latest earnings call. Bloomberg first reported about the project's existence back in July, and the company has shared details about it bit by bit since then. The publication said that AC Infinity, which is the project's name that could change upon release, will be a live online service similar to Grand Theft Auto Online that requires you to own the base game. According to Gamespot, Guillemot also said:

"This game is going to have a lot of narrative elements in it. It's going to be very innovative game, but it will have what players already have in all the other Assassin's Creed games, all the elements that they love... right from the start. So it's going to be a huge game. But with lots of elements that already exist in the games that we published in the past."

Unlike other Assassin's Creed games with a single narrative story, Infinity will reportedly have multiple settings that will feel and look different from each other but will still be connected in some way. That means Infinity could have several games in one package, though how that will resonate with long-time fans remains to be seen. The original Bloomberg report also called it a massive online platform with room to expand in the months and years after its launch, so we may see new content hit the service as campaigns or seasons. 

Ubisoft pooled its resources and unified the Montreal and Quebec teams, which previously worked on separate Assassin's Creed titles, to develop Infinity. Guillemot said it's still in its very early stages, however, and previous reports said its soonest possible release won't be until 2024.

Back in September, Twitter announced that it was planning to add recording and playback features for Spaces so that listeners can access shows after they air. Now, the website has rolled out the ability to a limited number of Spaces hosts on iOS and to all listeners on iOS and Android. Twitter says it's a way for hosts to extend the value of their work and to reach audiences who couldn't always keep an eye out for live conversations. 

Hosts who already have access to Spaces Recording will have to toggle on "Record Space" before launching a new conversation to switch on the feature. A recording icon will be visible to everyone, including listeners, during the show. Hosts will have access to the recording for 30 days after initial broadcast, and they'll be able to share and tweet it for their followers to see. Listeners will be able to play back recordings right on their timeline — they'll also be able to share them, which could translate to more listeners and fans for hosts. 

While the recording will be available for a month, hosts can delete it anytime. Twitter says it will still keep a file for up to 120 days, though, so it can check for hateful content that goes against its ToS, in case users report a recording.

Twitter

Meta — that is, the company formerly known as Facebook — may be developing a smartwatch that can take photos and videos. Bloomberg has published an image showing a smartwatch with rounded corners similar to the Apple Watch, except it also has a notch with a front-facing camera. App developer Steve Moser found the image inside the company's app used to control its Ray-Ban Stories AR sunglasses, hinting that it could also be used to control the watch in the future.

Meta

In addition to having rounded corners and a camera, the smartwatch appears to have a stainless steel casing and detachable straps. Moser also says that the code inside the app indicates that the watch could be called Milan and that it could allow for the photos and videos you captured with it to be downloaded on a phone. 

According to Bloomberg, Meta is hoping to launch a smartwatch as early as 2022, but nothing has been finalized yet. Further, Facebook's parent company is reportedly already working on three generations of product that will be released at different times. It's not clear if the device shown in the image is one of those, or if it will even be released at all. The Verge also reported earlier this year, though, that Facebook is working on a smartwatch with a front-facing and a 1080p rear camera with autofocus. It could have a heart rate monitor and LTE connectivity, as well, though those features could be distributed across the three different models. 

Virtual reality can be a powerful teaching tool, but it's only as good as the content available for the medium. Facebook is looking to grow the availability of content for VR learning as part of its efforts to shift its focus on the metaverse, and it has created a US$150 million fund to achieve that goal. The social network has announced that it's spending that much to reach its VR learning goals over the next three years at its Connect 2021 event. 

Since Facebook is hoping to build a robust ecosystem for learning in the metaverse, it plans to do more than just create immersive educational experiences. Part of the money will go towards training augmented reality and virtual reality creators, so they can make their own experiences. Facebook is working with Unity to teach people the skills necessary to create educational VR content — mainly, it's using Unity's "Create with VR for Educators" tool with Quest 2 devices to teach nonprofits and educational institutions. In addition, it's working with several educational institutions, including historically Black colleges and universities, as well as non-profits to create immersive experiences for them.

Finally, Facebook says it's taking steps towards increasing people's access to educational VR materials. After all, all that work will go to waste if nobody ends up using them to learn new things.

Mark Rabkin, VP of Oculus, said in a statement:

"VR isn’t all fun and games. If you’ve ever traveled the world with Wander, explored Japan with Tokyo Origami, or admired the heavens in Titans of Space PLUS, then you know that VR can be a powerful tool for education as well...A lot of work exists between where we’re at now and where we see the metaverse in the future. We’re excited, and we hope you’ll come with us on the journey."

Twitter has rolled out Labs for its Blue subscription service, which will give its paid users early access to select experimental features. At the moment, one of the first two Labs experiments available to subscribers will give them the capability to upload videos up to 10 minutes long, which is much, much longer than its standard limit of 2 minutes and 20 seconds. That is, so long as they upload their video from a PC. The other experimental feature will allow them to pin their favorite conversations at the top of their inbox by swiping on those particular DM convos. 

Labs will accept experimental features from various internal Twitter teams, allowing them to get early data from users. Just like any other test feature, the Labs experiments could be vastly different by the time they're ready for general release, if Twitter does decide to roll them out. 

A Blue subscription will set users back $3 a month and will give them access to exclusive features, including folders for organizing bookmarks and a "reader mode." It also gives users a way to "undo" their tweets. At the moment, it's only available in Canada and Australia, and it's still unclear when it will roll out in the US and other countries.