T-Mobile is grappling with yet another reported data breach. The carrier told Motherboard in a statement that it's investigating an "underground forum" member's claims that they're selling data for over 100 million customers, including social security numbers and device IMEI numbers. While the scale of the breach hasn't yet been verified, Motherboard has confirmed the authenticity of at least some of the data.

The intruder is selling data for about 30 million customers for the equivalent of $270,000 in Bitcoin. The rest of the data is reportedly being sold through private channels.

It's not certain how the perpetrator obtained the info. T-Mobile supposedly booted the attacker out of the servers, but not before they downloaded and purportedly backed up the content.

The network has a less-than-stellar history of breaches in recent years. Hackers compromised sensitive customer info in late 2019, while a late 2020 attack scraped limited data for about 200,000 users. If the forum claims are accurate, though, this is much more serious. T-Mobile had over 104.7 million customers as of the second quarter of 2021 — this breach might affect virtually every user. While it's not certain just how much real damage has been done, you might want to watch out for suspicious activity if you're a magenta subscriber.

Huawei is once again facing claims that it's placing backdoors in networks. The Wall Street Journalreports that American contractor Business Efficiency Solutions (BES) has filed a federal lawsuit accusing Huawei of not only stealing technology, but pressuring the firm into installing a data backdoor for a law enforcement safer-cities project in Lahore, Pakistan. The system supposedly gave Huawei access to a database that helped it collect sensitive citizen and government data "important to Pakistan's national security."

BES alleged that Huawei insisted on creating a duplicate version of the Lahore network in Suzhou, China, that would provide direct access to the Pakistan data. While BES wanted permission from Pakistani officials before going forward, Huawei reportedly claimed it didn't need permission and initially threatened to cut off the deal if BES didn't move forward. The Chinese company later said it obtained permission, but apparently refused to provide evidence of this when asked.

The situation may not be clear-cut. Huawei told the WSJ there was "no evidence" it had installed backdoors in any products. In a statement from earlier in the dispute, the company acknowledged the duplicate system in China but maintained that it was strictly a test version "physically isolated" from the real network, making it impossible to extract data. An overseer for the Lahore effort, Muhammad Kamran Khan, said an investigation was underway but that there wasn't any evidence of data theft "so far."

Whoever is telling the truth, the lawsuit highlights the ongoing concerns that Huawei might be aiding China's surveillance goals. The company has long denied the allegations, and there isn't yet "smoking gun" evidence that it has used backdoors to snoop on other countries. However, that hasn't allayed suspicions that have led the US, UK and others to blacklist its technology. This case might only exacerbate Huawei's situation, even if BES' assertions don't hold up in court.

Now might be a good time to shop if you're looking for a do-it-all media player. Amazon has dropped the price of the Fire TV Cube to $100 (down $20) as part of a larger sale, making it a tempting option if you'd rather not spring for a separate Alexa device. This isn't the lowest price we've ever seen, but it's still a steep discount for the multi-talented box.

Buy Fire TV Cube on Amazon - $100

You'll also find significant deals on Amazon's no-frills streamers. The Fire TV Stick 4K is on sale for $38 (normally $50), while the Fire TV Stick Lite has dipped to $25 (usually $30).

The Fire TV Cube has been around for a while, but still holds up as a well-rounded product. It boasts 4K HDR output, a wide range of streaming apps and brisk performance. Alexa, of course, is the real selling point — you can control media playback or your smart home without needing a separate remote or speaker. That might save you money if you'd rather not buy an Echo just to dim the lights for movie night.

There are some quirks. The Cube may prefer some apps for tasks over others, and voice search isn't always guaranteed to work for your service of choice. If you can live with those limitations, though, Amazon's gadget might fit the bill for a long time to come.

Follow @EngadgetDeals on Twitter for the latest tech deals and buying advice.

The Department of Homeland Security might not rely solely on in-house systems to spot extremist threats on social media. Intelligence officer and initiative leader John Cohen told the Wall Street Journal in an interview that Homeland Security is looking at hiring companies to analyze social networks for signs of impending terrorism and other extremist violence. The department had been studying social media before, but the outside partners would help "dramatically" expand these efforts, Cohen said.

Murmurs of extensive social media scanning first surfaced in May, but there were few details about how it would work. The rumors suggested Homeland Security would focus on alarming trends rather than individual targets, such as brewing extremist movements or threats against specific communities. The aim is to catch the violent rhetoric behind events like the January 6th Capitol riot, which Homeland Security didn't anticipate despite mounting social media activity.

One of the companies involved in discussions is Logically, a firm that uses a mix of AI and human analysis to track online content at a large scale. It was previously involved in a government effort to fight voting misinformation, but here could use publicly accessible social media to spot trouble.

Whether or not Homeland Security can address privacy fears is another matter. Cohen said the department wouldn't use companies to acquire information it was restricted from seeing, and WSJ sources said officials were determined to protect civil liberties. Logically chief Lyric Jain said his company couldn't share personal data for Americans without court orders.

Even so, there are concerns Homeland Security could abuse this private analysis. It could theoretically hold on to content and use the data to pursue unrelated criminal cases or target peaceful political dissent. That could chill free speech by making people afraid to talk about certain subjects in public channels, even if there are no discussions of violent intentions.

NASA has edged one step closer to building Moon and Mars colonies using the celestial bodies' soil. Universe Todaynotes that NASA's latest International Space Station resupply mission included a machine meant to demonstrate 3D printing regolith (that is, loose soil or rock) on the Moon and similar extraterrestrial surfaces.

The Redwire Regolith Print (RRP) project will work in tandem with an existing printer system (ManD) to try 3D printing simulated regolith. If that succeeds, the ISS crew will gauge the strength of the resulting material to see if it can handle the harsh conditions beyond Earth.

If all goes well, RRP could lead to colonists printing at least some of their habitats on-demand. That, in turn, could reduce the volume of construction supplies NASA brings to the Moon and Mars. Scientists have envisioned soil-based habitats for years, but this test is relatively realistic — it's an attempt at 3D printing soil in lower gravity. While there will still be much work to do, the long-term goals for Artemis and future Mars missions may be that much more achievable.

You'd think EA would have released a Madden NFL soundtrack years ago given its penchant for licensed music, but no — it's only getting to that now. The publisher has teamed with Interscope Records to release its first album for the football game franchise, Madden NFL 22: The Soundtrack. The title unsurprisingly tries to walk the line between big names and indie cred with artists like Swae Lee, Tierra Whack and multiple up-and-comers.

The full game will include more than 50 extra tracks while you're playing the new Yard mode, including originals from artists like Killer Mike and hit-of-the-moment songs from the likes of Drake and Lil Baby.

You can stream or buy the soundtrack through common services like Apple Music, Spotify and Deezer. This probably won't convince you to buy Madden if you weren't already sold on the formula, but that's not really the point. Much like other game soundtracks, it's another way to capitalize on the game beyond the usual sales.

Apple will have to pay another company a handsome amount to keep using certain wireless tech. Bloomberg and The Register report that a Texas jury has determined that Apple must pay patent firm Optis $300 million for allegedly violating patents covering LTE cellular service in devices like the iPhone and iPad. A jury had awarded Optis just over $506 million in 2020, but the judge in the case ordered a damages-only trial over concerns the earlier jurors hadn't considered whether the demand was fair for standards-based patents.

Optis is also chasing Apple in the UK, where it hopes to set a global royalty rate that could net up to $7 billion. Its patents come from other companies, including LG, Panasonic and Samsung.

Apple still intends to fight back. The tech giant accused Optis of being a patent troll in a statement, noting that the firm exists solely to sue companies using purchased patents. Apple would keep resisting Optis' efforts to obtain "unreasonable payments" for patents, the iPhone maker said.

As The Register notes, the $300 million payout will barely make a mark on Apple's finances. The company made $21.7 billion in net income just in its latest quarter — the Optis payment will represent slightly over one day's profits. The concern, of course, is that Optis will succeed in getting regular payments that could add to Apple's costs and drive hardware prices upward.

The HBO Max smart TV apps have been less than reliable, to put it mildly, but WarnerMedia appears ready to turn things around. An anonymous WarnerMedia executive talking to Vulture claims the HBO Max team will replace all its smart TV apps with brand new versions inside of the "next four or five months." Roku and PlayStation owners would receive the overhauled apps first, followed by Apple TV users near the end of 2021. Mobile and web viewers would have to wait until early 2022.

The existing apps have suffered from a number of serious flaws, ranging from broken playback controls to forgotten settings and sluggishness. Roku users have faced more problems than most, with lockups and crashes sometimes making the HBO Max app unusable.

The problems reportedly stem from WarnerMedia's scramble to launch HBO Max in May. Where many rivals built their streaming apps from scratch, the current HBO Max app is a repurposed version of the software meant for HBO Go and HBO Now. It was built to handle high demand, but it wasn't meant to cope with an increasingly global audience streaming much more than Game of Thrones.

An HBO Max app revamp will supposedly provide both modern underpinnings and, importantly, room to grow. The unnamed executive said the new app won't look much different at first, but should allow for a more "sophisticated" interface update as well as new and upgraded features.

If accurate, this could be important to HBO Max's long-term future. The TV streaming space is increasingly crowded with rivals like Paramount+ and Peacock joining incumbents like Netflix and Amazon Prime Video. You might easily lose interest in HBO Max if buggy apps sour the experience, no matter how alluring the content might be — and that will be particularly important once WarnerMedia stops releasing brand new movies on the service.

You'll have to wait a while longer for the Matter standard to usher in a (hopefully) more harmonious smart home. The Connectivity Standards Alliance has delayed Matter's rollout from late 2021 to the first half of 2022. Members need more time to ensure the development kit and other tools can match the "expectations of the market," according to the CSA.

A rough version of the Matter specification should be ready by the end of 2021, but the kit, first device certifications and a formal certification program will take a while longer. The longer timelines for those elements should not only boost quality, but ensure they're "deployable at scale," the CSA added.

The delay might be important. Matter is designed to not only ensure more consistent and reliable smart home networking, but to speed up development through open source tools. Amazon, Apple, Google and many smart home device makers (such as Nanoleaf and Signify) are already committed to Matter. If the standard is going to see widespread adoption, it needs to work well from the start — the extra time could help achieve that goal.

Reddit is about to make video a cornerstone of its mobile app. The company told TechCrunch that it's rolling out a TikTok-like video feed to iOS app users through a dedicated section. Tap the button and you'll see a swipeable video collection from both the subreddits you've subscribed to as well as related communities. As usual, you can upvote, downvote, comment on or gift awards.

A basic version of this experience was available before, but only if you tapped on a video — and the first videos you'd see would come from the same subreddit. The new tab is meant to "bring community through video," according to a Reddit spokesperson, and that means creating a "unified" experience that matches what you expect from app-based video players.

Reddit didn't say when all iOS users could expect the feed, or when you'd see an Android version. The vido section first reached a handful of iOS devices sometime in July.

This isn't a shocking move. Reddit started toying with livestreams in 2019, and bought TikTok rival Dubsmash in December 2020. While that company's code isn't being used for the feed (that will come with future products), the acquisition signalled Reddit's intent — it wants to keep its social network relevant in an era when video is all-important. You might not see video take center stage, but it's now considerably more than a nice-to-have feature.