Elon Musk has filed an updated notice to kill his $44 billion Twitter acquisition by citing whistleblower Peiter Zatko, Twitter's former head of security. In a filing to the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Musk alleged that Twitter "has not complied with its contractual obligations" due to the "extreme, egregious deficiencies" alleged by Zatko.

Musk filed his initial bid to terminate the acquisition agreement on July 12th because of "false and misleading representations" made by Twitter, alleging that it "dramatically" understated the number of spam and fake accounts. Twitter sued Musk in July to force him to honor his agreement, saying that he "apparently believes that he... is free to change his mind, trash the company, disrupt its operations, destroy stockholder value, and walk way." Musk filed a countersuit later that month. 

With the updated filing, Musk's lawyers said that Zatko has revealed "additional and distinct bases to terminate the merger agreement," and that Twitter was in "material noncompliance" with its FTC obligations. Specifically, they said that Twitter is "uniquely vulnerable to systemic disruption resulting from data center failures or malicious actors," something the company "ignored and sought to obfuscate." 

Yesterday, Musk subpoenaed Zatko for a deposition on September 9th, requesting materials related to how Zatko’s tenure at Twitter ended and what stock, if any, he owns in the company. It also requested documents that may indicate any illegal activity by Twitter. Twitter and its CEO Parago Agrawal have disputed Zatko's assertions, laid out in a lengthy whistleblower complaint against the company. 

A court case between Musk and Twitter is set to go to trial in October. On top of that, US Senate and Congressional committee leaders announced that were investigating Zatko's claims, saying they "raise serious concerns" about the company's security and other issues. 

France’s Budget Minister Gabriel Attal announced plans for a lease program to open up EV use. “We know that for many French, [EVs] remain very expensive,” he said, adding the government was working to figure out how quickly it could implement the measure. 

Reuters

At the moment, under a subsidy scheme similar to the one introduced by the US Inflation Reduction Act, French car buyers can receive as much as €6,000 off electric vehicles less than €47,000. Under this new electric vehicle subsidy program, people could lease an EV for €100 ($100) per month.

– Mat Smith

The biggest stories you might have missed

• Apple TV+ is here to stay on T-Mobile's Magenta Max plan

• Google's Pixel 6a drops to a new low of $370 on Amazon

• Elon Musk subpoenas Twitter whistleblower

• Netflix secures global streaming rights to 'Berserk,' 'Parasyte,' 'Monster' and other classic anime

• A new Mafia game is in development

• FTC sues company for selling identifiable location data, including abortion clinic visits

The best affordable Windows laptops

Chromebooks aren’t always the answer.

You probably don’t think of cheap Windows laptops when you think of daily drivers. But it would be a big mistake to ignore these devices – if not for yourself, for someone close. There’s a reason the big PC companies, like Acer, ASUS and Dell, make Windows devices for under $500. We lay out what to look out for (things like an SSD with at least 128GB of space, a 1080p display and a mostly metal design) and share our top choices.

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What we bought: Cuisinart’s ice cream maker wasn’t my first choice

But it’s getting the job done.

While Senior News Editor Billy Steele wanted a White Mountain ice cream maker, they’re hard to pick up. Eventually, he received Cuisinart’s Pure Indulgence two-quart ice cream maker as a gift. It’s a compact countertop model that takes up about the same space as a food processor. It has a bowl insert you stick in the freezer to chill, and a plastic dasher churns your ice cream. You just really need to ensure the mixing bowl is properly chilled and homemade ice cream is all yours.

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Apple may have registered more 'Reality' trademarks for its upcoming AR headset

It registered 'Reality One,' 'Reality Pro' and 'Reality Processor' in the US and elsewhere.

Reuters

Apple may again be looking to nail down "Reality" trademarks ahead of the launch of its much-anticipated AR/VR headset. While Apple didn't directly request the trademarks, law firms the company has previously used applied for "Reality One," "Reality Pro" and "Reality Processor" in the US, EU, UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Saudi Arabia, Costa Rica and Uruguay. With realityOS as a potential name for the operating system, Reality One and Reality Pro could be naming options for the actual headsets. "Reality Processor” could be an M2-based chip to power those.

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Sony launches 'PlayStation Studios Mobile' with Savage Game acquisition

It's jumping into mobile gaming.

Sony has announced a fresh push into mobile gaming with the launch of a new division inside PlayStation Studios, aptly called PlayStation Studios Mobile, and the acquisition of Savage Game Studios. Sony said the new studio will be "providing more ways for more people to engage with our content.” Savage Game Studio doesn't appear to have produced any games yet, but its co-founders had a hand in mobile franchises like Clash of Clans and Angry Birds. It will join PlayStation Studios Mobile, which will operate separately from its console division and create "new experiences" based on PlayStation IP and franchises. You know, like all those movies.

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Facebook now supports NFTs

Together at last.

Meta

Meta has followed through on its promise to bring NFT (non-fungible token) support to Facebook. Users can now post digital collectibles they have in their digital wallets across Facebook and Instagram. After they connect digital wallets to one app, they'll be able to access NFTs from both of them. Meta is moving deeper into NFT territory even though the market for the digital tokens has nosedived in recent months.

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Logitech has refreshed its iconic gaming mouse, the G502, with lighter materials and new features while mostly keeping its design. The new lineup is called the G502 X, and it comes in a wired version, a base wireless form and another wired option with RGB lighting. Logitech used thin-wall exoskeleton and a lighter scroll wheel to reduce the wired mouse's weight to 89 grams. It also used an updated version of its proprietary Lightspeed wireless protocol to ensure that its wireless versions have a 68 percent faster response rate than the previous generation's.

All three versions use Lightforce hybrid optical-mechanical switch technology, which (as Logitech explains) combines the crisp tactile clicks of mechanical switches with the ultra low-latency/speedy performance of optical switches. They also use Logitech's Hero 25K gaming sensor — the company's most advanced mouse sensor — for max speed and accuracy. Plus, they come with a removable DPI shift button that lets you program the mouse to go faster or slower. You can either reverse the button's orientation to bring it closer to your thumb or replace it completely with the included blank cover if you don't think you need it.

The Plus wireless variant of the G502 X has all the features the other models offer, but it also comes equipped with a flowing 8-LED lighting strip that you can customize with effects and personalizations through the G Hub software. While it will likely use more battery than its less showy wireless sibling, it does have a play detection feature that switches the lighting off while your hand is covering it to conserve power.

The new G502 X models in black and white options are now available for pre-order from the Logitech G website and will also be sold via retailers like Amazon starting this month. You can get the wired G502 X mouse (Amazon) for $80, the G502 X Lightspeed wireless mouse for $140 and the G502 X Plus wireless mouse (Amazon) with RGB lighting for $160.

Sony has started to sell a new PlayStation 5 model that may not necessarily improve performance, but will be lighter and possibly easier to produce, Press Start has reported. The CFI-1200A/B digital/disc models have started to appear in Australia with a significant loss in weight. 

According to packaging information, the digital version is 200 grams lighter and the disc version weighs 300 grams less than last year's models, so the latter is roughly the same weight as the digital model was at launch. Whether that loss is coming from changes in the case design or internal components is not yet known, though — we'll have to wait for a teardown to confirm that. However, last year's CFI-1102 mode was lighter mostly due to a smaller heatsink.

The weight reduction could allow Sony to reduce production costs and possibly build consoles more quickly. Last week, Sony announced that it was raising PlayStation 5 pricing around the world but not in the US (€50 more than the original launch prices in Europe), due to "challenging economic conditions." It said last year that it's no longer selling the PS5 at a loss and was actually making money on the disc-based version. 

Earlier this month, Logitech announced that it was working on a handheld gaming device with Tencent that would "support multiple cloud gaming services" including NVIDIA's GeForce Now and Xbox Cloud Gaming. Now, it looks like we're getting our first look at the device thanks to prolific leaker Evan Blass. We also know that it should be called the G Gaming Handheld as Logitech has listed that name on a recently published landing page. 

It looks just like many other gaming handhelds, with left and right joysticks, a direction pad, ABXY buttons, a home button and shoulder pads, along with a custom "G" button. Another image also shows what looks like the home screen, with icons for Google's Play Store, Xbox, GeForce Now, Steam, Chrome and YouTube. We also see icons for user profile, messages, settings and power.  

You could compare the G Gaming Handheld to a Steam Deck or even Nintendo's Switch Lite in terms of the basic design. The cloud gaming aspect means it's likely to have similar capabilities to a smartphone, albeit with a more convenient form factor and gaming-centric UI. As such, it'll compete not just with other handhelds but numerous controllers designed for smartphones like Razer's Kishi V2, the 8bitDo Pro 2 and SteelSeries Stratus+ — so it's level of success will depend strongly on the price. 

There's no word yet on when it'll arrive, but as mentioned, Logitech now has a landing page in place, so you can submit your email address to get more details. 

AMD has officially announced the Ryzen 7000 processor models, which the company had accidentally revealed back in July. It will release four models on September 27th, to be specific, the most affordable of which is the 6-core Ryzen 5 7600X that will set you back $299, followed by the 8-core Ryzen 7700X that costs $100 more at $399. The 12-core Ryzen 9 7900X CPU will be sold for $549, while the 16-core Ryzen 9 7950X will cost $699. As Ars Technica notes, the 7600X and the 7900X models have the same launch prices as their direct predecessors from the Ryzen 5000 lineup, whereas the 7950X is $100 cheaper. The 7700X costs $100 more than the 5700X, but that model launched over a year after the first Ryzen 5000 processors came out.

The Ryzen 7000 models are based on AMD's Zen 4 architecture, which promises to deliver max boost speed above 5GHz, AI acceleration and a doubled L2 cache. They use AM5 platform, the chipmaker's new socket generation, and will require DDR5 RAM. They're also the first desktop CPUs based on the 5nm manufacturing process, according to Gizmodo, and that means they have more transistors than the 5000 chips. That usually translates to less heat and more power for users. 

AMD claims that the Ryzen 7000 processors are around 29 percent faster than the Ryzen 5000 models for single-threaded tasks, including games. Chief Technology Officer Mark Papermaster told CNET, though, that when the company measured for tasks that span the processor's 16 processing cores, the speed boost was as much as 49 percent.

If you're looking for Zen 4 CPUs cheaper than these four, you'll have to wait until next year when the more affordable options and models for laptops are slated to arrive. The company intends to continue selling processors based on older Zen architectures that work with the AM4 platform, though,so you still have options if you're looking to build a PC on a budget.

Cybercriminals are increasingly exploiting security flaws in smart contracts to steal cryptocurrency, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation. In an advisory it published on Monday (via Bleeping Computer), the agency warned investors of a significant uptick in attacks targeting decentralized finance platforms.

Between January and March of this year, hackers stole $1.3 billion worth of cryptocurrencies, with almost 97 percent of that money coming from DeFi platforms, the FBI said citing data from Chainalysis. That’s an increase from both 2021 and 2020 when DeFi-related thefts represented 72 percent and 30 percent the source of all stolen crypto. The agency has seen criminals employ a variety of methods to fleece DeFi platforms. In one case, hackers employed a so-called flash loan attack to steal approximately $3 million worth of cryptocurrencies. In a separate attack targetting a signature verification vulnerability in a platform’s token bridge, cybercriminals made off with $320 million.

Chainanalysis

Many of the most prolific hacks in recent months fall into those categories of attacks. For instance, the largest crypto heist ever saw the Lazarus Group, a North Korean state-sponsored hacking collective, target Axie Infinity. The group reportedly exploited a backdoor in a Remote Procedure Call node from Axie creator Sky Mavis to forge fake withdrawals using compromised private keys. More recently, a hacking “free-fo-all” saw Nomad bridge users lose $200 million worth of crypto due to a misconfiguration.

The FBI recommends investors take a handful of precautions before risking their money with a DeFi platform. You should research the platform you want to invest in, as well as the details of the smart contract they employ. Additionally, only put money down on a firm or company that has paid for independent code audits. You also want to avoid investment pools with extremely limited timeframes to join.

"Cyber criminals seek to take advantage of investors' increased interest in cryptocurrencies, as well as the complexity of cross-chain functionality and open source nature of DeFi platforms," the FBI said. "Investors should make their own investment decisions based on their financial objectives and financial resources and, if in any doubt, should seek advice from a licensed financial adviser."

Meta has followed through on its threat promise to bring NFT (non-fungible token) support to Facebook. Users can now post digital collectibles that they have in their digital wallets across Facebook and Instagram. After they connect digital wallets to one app, they'll be able to access NFTs from both of them.

The company is making the move a few weeks after it expanded access to Instagram's NFT functions in dozens more countries. It started testing NFTs on Facebook earlier this summer. Meta is moving deeper into NFT territory even though the market for the digital tokens has nosedived in recent months. There are indications that Meta is working on a marketplace where people can buy and sell NFTs, but whether people will actually use it remains to be seen.

Meanwhile, here's Snoop Dogg and Eminem's MTV Video Music Awards performance, which featured animated versions of their NFTs. In terms of bleak visions of the near future, The Last of Us has nothing on this.

A new Mafia game is on the way. Series publisher 2K Games and Hanger 13, the studio that worked on Mafia III and Mafia: Definitive Edition, announced the news in a blog post celebrating the franchise’s 20th anniversary. 

“I'm happy to confirm we've started work on an all-new Mafia project,” said Roman Hladík, Hanger 13 general manager. “While it's a few years away and we can't share anything more right now, we're really excited to keep working on this beloved franchise and to entertain our players with new stories.”

The studio did not share any other details on the project. Its most recent release was 2020’s Mafia: Definitive Edition, a remake of the franchise’s original 2002 entry. According to a Kotaku report published earlier this year, Hanger 13 has gone through multiple rounds of layoffs since the studio completed work on Mafia III in 2016. The most recent occurred in May after 2K reportedly canceled a game that Hanger 13 had been working on for a while and that the publisher had funded to the tune of $50 million. That same month, Kotaku published a separate report revealing that the studio was also working on a Mafia prequel set in Italy and built on top of Unreal Engine 5. It’s unclear if that project is the game 2K and Hanger 13 announced today.

If you want to revisit the series or play it for the first time, 2K also announced today it would give the original game away on Steam between September 1st and 5th. You can also buy Definitive Editionon sale until September 8th.

The Federal Trade Commission has sued a data broker called Kochava, alleging the company sold geolocation information that could be used to reveal visits to sensitive locations. The agency says the data could show movements to and from reproductive health clinics, places of worship and addiction recovery centers, as well as homeless and domestic violence shelters.

"By selling data tracking people, Kochava is enabling others to identify individuals and exposing them to threats of stigma, stalking, discrimination, job loss and even physical violence," the agency said. It wants Kochava to stop selling such data and to delete sensitive geolocation information it has collected. Samuel Levine, director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection, said the move is an attempt to protect people's privacy.

The FTC says the data includes timestamped latitude and longitude locations that are matched with unique mobile device identification numbers. It alleged that Kochava's custom data feeds allow its customers "to identify and track specific mobile device users." The agency claims that someone who buys the data could compare the location of a phone (especially if it's in the same place overnight) against property records to identify someone and follow their movements. In fact, using a data sample, the FTC says it was able to track a device from a reproductive health clinic to a single-family residence, as well as other locations.

In June, the Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade, which had conferred a nationwide right to safe abortion access since the early '70s. After that decision, Google started deleting abortion clinic visits from users' location history. The FTC is going a step further by trying to halt the sale of device-level geolocation data that could be used to identify someone who visits or even works at a reproductive health clinic.