Month: October 2020

The Witcher 4 is now in the works over at CD Projekt RED. Here’s everything we know so far.

The Witcher 4 is officially in the works, though we don’t know all that much about it as of yet. For now, it’s being referred to as ‘Polaris’ while its in development, and there’s a high chance that it will have an entirely different name at launch.

CD Projekt Red announced The Witcher 4 in a blog post early last year, alongside several other projects related to The Witcher and Cyberpunk. The first The Witcher game is being remade, and there’s even some multiplayer projects in the works. In terms of the main series however, Polaris will kick off a brand new trilogy of RPGs, all for next-gen consoles. 

A teaser image was revealed for the game around the time of its announcement, sparking speculation that it could be about an entirely new Witcher school. While we wait for more info, this page will be regularly updated with all of the latest news and rumors. Here’s everything we know about the game so far.

The Witcher 4: cut to the chase

What is it? The next mainline The Witcher game 

When can I play it? TBC

What can I play it on? TBC

The Witcher 4: release date and platforms

(Image credit: CD Projekt RED)

Let’s begin by tempering our excitement. CD Projekt RED has announced that The Witcher 4 is in active development, but it also made clear in a blog post that “no further details about a release date” are available.

No platforms for The Witcher 4 have been confirmed either, but that’s not surprising. We expect CD Projekt Red will make use of current-gen hardware, so releases on PS5, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S and PC seem almost certain.

The Witcher 4: story and setting

(Image credit: CD Projekt Red)

Spoilers for The Witcher game series

As stated above, there are few details available about The Witcher 4. The official blog post only confirms it’s in development and that it’s being built in Unreal Engine 5. But, over the years, CD Projekt Red has said plenty about what a future Witcher game would involve. For a start, it’s not really The Witcher 4.

“The first three ‘Witchers’ were by definition a trilogy, so we simply could not name the next game ‘The Witcher 4’,” Kiciński said in an interview. “This does not mean, of course, that we will leave the world of The Witcher.”

At the end of The Witcher 3: Blood and Wine, monster hunter Geralt was alive and well. Well, he was alive, at least. But his story arc had ended, the Wild Hunt was over. That doesn’t mean he won’t return in this new Witcher game, though he likely won’t be the main character.

The developer said as much back in 2013: “We are not killing the world and walking away from it, but we will definitely want to make this game the finale in a big way,” executive producer John Mamais told Polygon. “We might even include Geralt in later games potentially. We just need to talk about it and figure out what we’re going to do next.”

Perhaps we’ll see the reins pass to Ciri – if it’s decided that canonically she survived The Witcher 3. To avoid continuity issues, perhaps the team will set its story head of the events of Geralt’s adventures. After all, Netflix is developing a series set long before the events of the books, Blood Origin is a prequel set 1,000 years before the events of The Witcher.

The confirmation that the medallion shown in the game’s announcement picture is a lynx certainly suggests that the game will take things in a new direction. Potentially, that introduces an entirely new Witcher school. 

The author of the Witcher books, Andrzej Sapkowski, signed a new deal with the company to “further solidify their relationship”. So. the studio is free to pull from any one of his short stories or novels. (If you’re wanting to get caught up, here’s how to read The Witcher books in order.)

The Witcher 4 news

(Image credit: CD Projekt Red)

The Witcher 4 has its Game Director
Sebastian Kalemba , the former Lead Animator on The Witcher 3, has been announced as the Game Director for The Witcher 4. They announced this on Twitter, stating that they aim to ‘raise the bar.’

Polaris, and a brand new trilogy
In early October, 2022, CD Projekt RED announced a bunch of new titles via Twitter, including a new The Witcher trilogy. Polaris (what we’ve been calling The Witcher 4) will kick off the new saga, which will then play out over 6 years from the first release. This is obviously a huge undertaking, so we’ll have to wait and see whether it pays off.

Reconfirming the start of a new saga
CD Projekt RED has re-confirmed that The Witcher 4 will launch a saga. While it didn’t confirm how many games this’ll involve, CEO Adam Kiciński made these comments during a recent earnings call.

“We said that there will be a new saga. Of course, now we are pre-producing the first game of this saga. But we have in mind more than one. The first saga was three games, so now we’re thinking about more than one game. But we are in pre-production on the first game from the second Witcher saga.”

Upcoming games in 2023

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Account takeover is a threat to businesses and consumers alike.

Account takeover is a serious threat to everyone. Cybersecurity experts have warned about this issue for years, and we must take it seriously. Our credentials being leaked can result in identity theft and cause significant harm to us. While there are resources available for users to check if their details have been compromised, it’s essential to understand that by the time your username and password have been leaked, cybercriminals will likely have had access to them for at least six months.

Preventing breaches requires a lot of effort, but assuming that a breach is always possible is essential. How can companies detect breaches, identify data, and protect it before it gets leaked? A massive amount of data is mined through dark web monitoring, and many automated free and commercial tools can be used as a valuable line of defense. The most common types are scanners that search through lists of stolen data “dumped” online. This stolen data can be anything useful to a person or entity, meaning there could be a lot of data to search for.

Most obviously, for consumers, this relates to user credentials from compromised accounts, but it could also include social security or National Insurance numbers, passport details, or financial data. The most well-known consumer tool for people to see their exposure is Have I Been Pwned?, which allows individual users to scan for their details. More recently, we have seen exciting developments in tools focusing on consumer data and company company specifications ranging from standalone documents to intellectual property. This has value to any organization or enterprise concerned about exposure to cyberattacks.

The challenge for all dark web monitoring tools is dealing with scale, relevancy, and speed of information. When it comes to scale, it’s hard to estimate how large the dark web is as a subset of the wider deep web, especially considering it is several hundred times larger than the standard internet we access daily. This means scanning tools must be able to identify and focus on dark web locations. This is where relevancy and the speed of identifying data apply because much of it is only dumped into dark web forums after criminals have had their use out of it. Multiple dumps of the same data are also often made across different forums and sources; in our experience, this is the case for 70% of the data we find.

Companies use more advanced processes and skilled cyber personnel to address the need for speed, as more sophisticated techniques are required to find actionable breach data. One method is to become an active part of the dark web community. This doesn’t mean becoming a criminal or hacker. Still, to identify and stop them, we need to view things from the attacker’s perspective, identifying hacker groups and understanding how the process works. For example, a hacker may have the complex skills needed to expose company systems and access credentials but may be faced with an encrypted password database. Unless they can decrypt that data, what they have is useless. So, what do they do with that data? Sell it? Mine it? They don’t necessarily have all these skills, so they will turn to the dark web to find people offering decrypting and monetization services.

Researchers – real humans – are part of this community through a network of pseudo-identities (sockpuppets), and analysts monitor hacker activity in specific locations known to specialize in stolen data. For security companies, this means going deep into the community to find people, places, and methods for identifying miscreants. We can engage with them before data is available in an unencrypted form on the dark web. This reduces the detection part of the process to a few weeks instead of six months, increasing the likelihood that data can be identified before it is usable. Companies affected by a hacker takeover can proactively manage end-user accounts and limit the risk of fraud or identity theft.

Account takeover continues to be a genuine threat, but basic cybersecurity hygiene can help mitigate this in the first instance. The common denominator with any online account is that they all need a password to be accessed. While most people know they should be using strong, unique passwords and phrases for every account, it can be challenging to remember which credentials they need to be using. It’s why we, and all our industry colleagues, recommend using a password manager. Why make life more complicated when you don’t have to?

More from TechRadar Pro

Here’s our list of the best password managers right nowCheck out our list of the best shredders aroundWe’ve built a list of the best VPN services right nowHere’s our list of the best password generators around

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Everything you need to know about the Apple TV Plus streaming service, including prices and what to watch.

Since its 2019 launch, Apple TV Plus has taken a rather different approach to its streaming rivals. While the likes of Netflix, Prime Video and Max boast considerably bigger content libraries, Apple has opted for a more selective approach, investing heavily in prestige content.

That investment is clear in the level of talent Apple TV Plus has attracted to its movies and TV shows, whether it’s Harrison Ford starring in Shrinking, Tom Hanks headlining Finch or Martin Scorsese directing Killers of the Flower Moon (the latter will debut on the platform in the near future). The streamer has few equals when it comes to telling spectacular sci-fi tales – from the underground intrigue of Silo to the epic space opera of Foundation – and it’s also the main destination for fans of Major League Soccer.

This guide lays out all you need to know about Apple TV Plus, including details of pricing, the movies and TV shows available to watch, and compatibility across multiple devices. For even more, check out our Apple TV Plus review. 

Apple TV Plus: how to sign up

Apple TV Plus is your gateway to some of the best TV and movies around. (Image credit: Shutterstock)

Signing up for Apple TV Plus is easy. Just head over to the Apple TV Plus website and you’ll see options to subscribe – including a seven-day free trial for new users.

You can also check out Apple One, which gives you the option to bundle Apple TV Plus with other services including Apple Music, Apple News Plus and Apple Arcade for a single monthly fee.

Apple TV Plus cost: the price of the service

Apple TV Plus enticed Harrison Ford to the small screen in Shrinking. (Image credit: Apple TV Plus)

Apple TV Plus costs $9.99 / £8.99 / AU$12.99 per month, or $99.99 / £89.99 / AU $129.99 annually. If you buy a new iPhone, iPad, Mac, or Apple TV you can get three months of Apple TV Plus for free, though terms and conditions apply.

Soccer fans can also watch Lionel Messi’s Inter Miami and every other Major League Soccer team in action with an additional MLS Season Pass. It’ll cost you $14.99 / £14.99 / AU $22.99 per month to subscribe. 

Following Apple’s price increases in October 2023, “with ads” tiers offered by Netflix, Hulu, Prime Video and Disney Plus are all cheaper than the standard (ad-free) Apple TV Plus subscription. (However, those other services come with the caveat that you’ll have to sit through the occasional commercial break, and probably won’t be able to enjoy your favorite shows and movies in 4K, as you can on Apple TV Plus.) 

Max‘s Ad-Lite tier costs the same as an Apple TV Plus subscription, though – like Netflix, Hulu, Prime Video and Disney Plus – it boasts a larger content library.  

So, having stood out as one of the lower cost streaming options on the market just a few months ago, an Apple TV Plus subscription isn’t quite as appealing as it once was – though it does still boast a library stacked with quality movies and TV.

Apple TV Plus free trial: how to get one

The spectacular Foundation is one of many quality sci-fi shows on Apple TV Plus. (Image credit: Apple TV Plus)

Apple TV Plus has a seven-day free trial, and after that period, you’ll be automatically set to recurring billing for a monthly fee. It’s easy to grab a trial – just download Apple TV, which contains all the Apple TV Plus content, and you’ll be greeted with an ad for the service, as well as an invitation for a free trial. 

The free trial gives you access to everything on the service during that seven days, so make the most of it – especially as you only get one free trial for Apple TV Plus. 

Apple TV Plus devices

Soccer comedy Ted Lasso has been one of Apple TV Plus’s breakout hits. (Image credit: Apple TV Plus)

Apple TV Plus is accessible on almost all devices in 2023, including: iPhone, iPad, Apple TV 4K, Apple TV HD, Samsung Smart TVs, Amazon Fire TV, LG Smart TVs, Sony Smart TVs, Vizio, Roku devices, desktop browsers, Android TV, Google TV, PS5 and Xbox Series X. 

This article contains a complete list of supported devices.

Is Apple TV Plus on Android?

While Apple has made the Apple TV Plus app available on the Google Play Store for Android TV devices, there is currently no Apple TV Plus app for Android devices. That said, Android users can watch the streamer in a supported web browser – find out how in our how to get the Apple TV Plus app on iOS and Android guide.

What are Apple TV channels?

In addition to Apple TV Plus, Apple introduced Apple TV Channels, which combines cable subscription services and streaming services like Amazon Prime Video into the Apple TV app – though, annoyingly, Apple TV Channels doesn’t incorporate Netflix. Availability varies depending on your region. You can read more about Apple TV Plus channels here. 

The best Apple TV Plus shows

Mission: Impossible star Rebecca Ferguson headlines brilliant dystopian sci-fi Silo. (Image credit: Apple TV Plus)

Despite being only four years old, Apple TV Plus has managed to churn out an impressive roster of high-quality original TV content. Our guide to the best Apple TV Plus shows contains a comprehensive breakdown of what’s out there, but below, you’ll find a whistle-stop tour of the series worth tuning into right now:

The AfterpartyBad SistersBlack BirdThe ChangelingThe Essex SerpentFive Days at MemorialFor All MankindFoundationHello Tomorrow!HijackInvasionLessons in ChemistryThe Morning ShowMythic QuestPachinkoPhysical PlatonicSchmigadoon!  SeeServantSeveranceShining GirlsShrinkingThe Shrink Next DoorSiloSlow HorsesSurfaceSuspicionTed LassoTrying

The best Apple TV Plus movies

CODA won Apple TV Plus its first Oscar for Best Picture. (Image credit: Apple)

Apple TV Plus may not be able to boast the vast quantity of films available on many of the best streaming services out there, but it certainly doesn’t skimp on quality. In fact, when Apple’s CODA won the Academy Award for Best Picture in 2022, it became the first movie made by a streamer to walk away with the big prize on Oscar night. 

Apple have since bankrolled Killers of the Flower Moon and Napoleon – the latest movies from Martin Scorsese and Ridley Scott, respectively – proving their commitment to investing in prestige projects.

We’ve got a quick rundown of the films currently available on the platform below, and for a more in-depth look, check out our guide to the best Apple TV movies.

The BankerThe Beanie BubbleCausewayCha Cha Real SmoothCODAEmancipationFinchGhostedThe Greatest Beer Run EverGreyhoundHalaLuckOn the RocksSharperThe Sky is EverywhereSpiritedStill: A Michael J. Fox MovieSwan SongTetrisThe Tragedy Of MacbethWolfwalkers

Apple TV Plus: what’s coming soon?

Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon will soon be available on Apple TV Plus. (Image credit: Apple TV Plus/Paramount Pictures)

Apple TV Plus has some major new TV series on the horizon, starting with Kiefer Sutherland-narrated documentary John Lennon: Murder Without a Trial, released on December 6. 

Early in 2024, Band of Brothers and The Pacific producers Steven Spielberg, Tom Hanks and Gary Goetzman will reunite for new World War II drama Masters of the Air. The show – which stars Elvis‘s Austin Butler, The Banshees of Inisherin‘s Barry Keoghan and new Doctor Who star Ncuti Gatwa – debuts on January 26. Soon after, Secret Invasion‘s Ben Mendelsohn will team up up with Juliette Binoche and John Malkovich for Christian Dior biopic The New Look, set to debut on February 14.

In terms of movies, Mark Wahlberg will headline The Family Plan, released on Apple TV Plus on December 15. And after debuting in theaters, Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon and Ridley Scott’s Napoleon will be making the move to Apple TV Plus in the near future (dates TBC). 

Argylle, the latest film from Kick-Ass / Kingsman director Matthew Vaughan, will turn up on the platform some time after its theatrical release in February 2024.  

So, Apple TV Plus is like Netflix?

The super-smart Severance is surely the envy of every other streaming service out there. (Image credit: Apple Tv Plus)

Apple TV Plus doesn’t currently offer large quantities of licensed content in the way Netflix, Hulu, Max or Prime Video do with the likes of Seinfeld, Frasier, I May Destroy You and Fleabag. 

As TechRadar reported in November 2022, the platform has experimented with adding third-party movies to its offering, and you can also watch a few vintage TV shows, such as ’80s puppet show Fraggle Rock and classic Charlie Brown cartoons. But generally speaking, if you want to watch anything beyond Apple TV Plus’s library of originals, you’ll have to purchase them through iTunes or via other services in Apple TV Channels.

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