Author: abubakar
10 Benefits of Coworking Spaces for Startups 2023
Are you a startup founder looking for a collaborative and inspiring workspace to grow your business? Look no further than coworking spaces. These shared office environments provide the perfect blend of community and flexibility for startups to thrive. With amenities like high-speed internet, printing services, and networking events, coworking spaces are the go-to destination for
The post 10 Benefits of Coworking Spaces for Startups 2023 appeared first on ReadWrite.
Are you a startup founder looking for a collaborative and inspiring workspace to grow your business? Look no further than coworking spaces.
These shared office environments provide the perfect blend of community and flexibility for startups to thrive. With amenities like high-speed internet, printing services, and networking events, coworking spaces are the go-to destination for entrepreneurs to collaborate and innovate. Plus, with affordable monthly memberships, you can save on costly office rentals and focus on what matters most: growing your startup.
Coworking spaces can play a crucial role in the development and success of startups by providing a supportive and collaborative environment, access to professional facilities and resources, and the flexibility to accommodate changing needs.
Coworking spaces: what are they? Who Can Gain from Them, and How?
A setup in which employees of various organizations share an office space is known as a coworking space. A managed office enables cost savings and eases through the use of shared facilities, such as tools, utilities, receptionist and cleaning services, and occasionally refreshments and package acceptance services.
Office for rent is ideal for startups, small enterprises, freelancers, and remote workers who want to get their work done and connect with companies that will be helpful to them.
Management and workers can develop enduring ties with businesses that may result in future collaborative ventures or beneficial business advice. They can work in a professional, accommodating environment at the coworking location that fits their schedule. A coworking space is beneficial to everyone.
Benefits of Coworking Spaces for Startups
Discover the top advantages for a startup firm if you are thinking about renting a coworking space by reading on.
Inspiration and Creativity
One of the key benefits of coworking spaces for startups is the potential for inspiration and creativity.
In a coworking space, startups have the opportunity to interact and work alongside other entrepreneurs and creative professionals. This can provide a sense of community and support, as well as opportunities for idea-sharing and collaboration. Being surrounded by other driven and innovative individuals can help to spark new ideas and inspire creative thinking.
Additionally, the flexible and open nature of coworking spaces can also foster a sense of creativity and innovation. These spaces are designed to be conducive to collaboration and creativity, with comfortable and inspiring workspaces, as well as access to a range of amenities and resources. This can help to create a stimulating and inspiring environment that can help to boost creativity and productivity.
Scaling directly
It might be challenging to find something affordable and short-term for small business owners looking for office space. Many businesses cannot make the commitment required by the bulk of commercial leases, which are at least one year long.
Without signing long-term contracts, coworking spaces enable businesses to scale it up (or decrease) as needed.
Even while the majority of flexible office space isn’t inexpensive per square foot, they and other coworking spaces are enticing alternatives to conventional office spaces because they can engage with you on a month-to-month basis.
Better work-life balance
Coworking spaces can provide a better work-life balance for individuals and businesses. Because coworking spaces often have flexible hours and a variety of amenities, such as on-site childcare or fitness centers, they can help people better manage their time and prioritize their well-being.
In addition, the social aspect of coworking spaces can provide a sense of community and support, which can help reduce stress and improve overall mental health. Overall, coworking spaces offer an alternative to traditional office environments, allowing for a more personalized and balanced approach to work.
Affordability
It may be rather expensive to rent or acquire your own office space, especially for start-ups that are just starting in business. You should cut costs and choose a coworking space rather than spending a fortune on an office space that you might even quit in a few years.
You’ll receive an immediate financial boost as a result, which will make achieving financial stability much simpler.
As a result, you’ll be able to expand quickly and effectively, boost your money, and place yourself on the path to success. Money won’t be an issue if you later decide that you require a private office.
Coworking Spaces are Inspiring
Coworking isn’t for people who have a pessimistic view of the world and doubt the motives of strangers and even the smallest indication of change or advancement.
In other words, flexible workspace needs aren’t for pajama-clad lounge room fighters who don’t use Zoom’s location-independent benefits and choose to turn off from the video on calls. It is instead intended for those who think broadly and is aware that there is more than what they are now receiving.
Today’s workplace uses contractors, side hustlers, and freelancers more frequently to carry out tasks that were traditionally handled internally by huge firm employees. On either hand, contract work can make you feel alienated. Being around people who are going through a similar situation to you can be beneficial.
Low prices
When a business is just getting off the ground, renting a large office costing you a lot of money each month is not practical and sometimes not feasible.
This is the purpose of coworking spaces: to provide business owners and their teams with a fun working environment and a fully functional workplace without having to deal with the headaches of setting up a whole office. The frugal innovation of these shared areas makes it easier to run a business without spending a lot of money.
Workplace rent, fire insurance, office equipment purchases, sufficient furniture purchases, and other costs are included, but we also offer flexible membership alternatives. The majority of coworking spaces provide daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly passes, allowing users to pay for the number of months they will need the space and additional equipment.
Better Employee Experience
Coworking spaces can offer a better employee experience because they provide a flexible and collaborative work environment. In a traditional office setting, employees may be limited by the size of their workspace and may not have the opportunity to collaborate with others.
In a coworking space, employees have access to a variety of different spaces and can choose the one that best suits their needs at any given moment. This can help to foster a sense of community and collaboration among coworkers. Additionally, coworking spaces often provide amenities such as coffee and snacks, comfortable furniture, and meeting rooms, which can make the work environment more enjoyable and productive.
More opportunities for business
For entrepreneurs who are still finding out how to build their firm, the challenges of starting and expanding a small company can be overwhelming. By providing fantastic networking opportunities, coworking spaces help to alleviate some of the enormous strain that proprietors of small businesses have.
Meeting and establishing connections with subject matter experts can help you grow your business, whether in person or via social media. Additionally, working in a coworking setting exposes you to possibilities and opportunities. Who can predict where a casual conversation will go?
Your business might only require a little exposure to expand. Sometimes all a tiny firm needs to get off the ground is familiarity with other profitable entrepreneurs.
Improve Professional Image
Coworking spaces are shared office spaces that are typically used by independent professionals, freelancers, and small business owners. By working in a coworking space, these individuals can benefit from a professional and collaborative environment that can improve their professional image.
By working in a coworking space, individuals can present a more professional image to their clients and partners. This is because they have a dedicated workspace that is separate from their home and can be used for business meetings and other professional activities.
Overall, coworking spaces can provide individuals with a professional and collaborative environment that can help improve their professional image and support their business.
Unleashing the Power of On-site, On-demand Talent
Coworking spaces are excellent for networking as well as hiring because they house individuals from a variety of specialties nearby.
You might need to outsource duties that your current workforce is unable to complete in the early phases of your company’s expansion. When you work, you have vital access to talent that isn’t currently available to your organization, some of which might be looking to collaborate with a company like yours.
Networking is important since you never realize who you may meet.
Open 24×7
Although not all office spaces are open 24/7, you can typically locate one in some of the top locations for remote work. In this manner, it will be simple for you to accommodate weekend work requirements such as late hours, early arrivals, or phone calls.
You might not be the only one who has to work under pressure or who brings in work on Sunday to get ready for the week. It is simple to establish a feeling of togetherness when working in a coworking environment — many are open to sharing experiences.
The reason for this is that just the act of working in the same space as someone else, even a total stranger, can help you feel like you’re part of a larger group of people and linked to others. Your mental health will be enhanced via coworking.
Increased inventiveness
According to Fortune 500 CEOs, innovation is the most sought-after leadership quality and the key to success. Even achieving economic growth is seen to depend on it.
Additionally, creative, collaborative teams are more inclined to give good reviews of their interactions, suggesting that your team will be content as a whole if you work together.
By encouraging collaboration among coworkers and exposing staff to a variety of perspectives, coworking environments can inspire sudden spurts of creativity. Your perspective may be refreshed as a result of your move, and you may come up with creative solutions to business problems.
Coworking spaces, though, aren’t for everyone.
Despite all the advantages, not all kinds of remote workers find coworking spaces to be suitable. Working alongside a diverse group of other professionals can be too distracting for certain people, or the locations or pay scales don’t work for them.
Some people might require more privacy owing to the secret nature of their business, or they could need to work at home to take care of their parents, kids, or pets.
For certain firms, having their own space that is branded to match the business may be necessary to convey a more professional image.
Change Your Definition of “Work”
If you modify the manner of your work, your life will improve. Explore the benefits coworking spaces can provide for you and your business. Don’t discount the power of cross-pollination and collaboration that even a coworking hub enables or the advantages of having a regular place to work.
When you compare office rates to a conventional lease, you’ll also save money, and you and your staff can profit from the new friendships and boosted morale that coworking spaces provide.
A coworking arrangement is also adaptable and customized to your needs. Why else would a startup or SME company owner want at this early stage in the expansion and development of their company?
Consider the advantages of coworking spaces, such as networking opportunities and cost-efficiency, when determining whether they meet your company’s needs. A conventional office cannot offer these advantages. It’s time to decide what will serve you best.
We’re here to aid in your development.
You will undoubtedly require extra workers as your organization expands to assist manage it. Please feel free to utilize our on-site staff, who provide administrative and receptionist services at reasonable monthly prices.
We also provide virtual office services, which can provide your company with a professional location and a dedicated phone number. Because maintaining a respectable presence without renting out a whole space is crucial to your company’s success, our virtual services give you the ability to do so.
These services, along with our affordable, productive environment, make it simple to have a fully operational alternative at a fraction of the price of a setup.
Featured Image Credit: Provided by the Author; Pexels; Thank you!
The post 10 Benefits of Coworking Spaces for Startups 2023 appeared first on ReadWrite.
Love HBO’s ‘The Last of Us’? The video game that inspired it is on sale this week.
UPDATE: Feb. 21, 2023, 11:05 a.m. EST This story has been updated with the latest availability info. Here are some quick links:
The Last of Us (2013) — $33.04 for a used copy on Amazon
The Last of Us Remastered (2014) — $9.99 $19.99 for a new copy at Best Buy (save $10), $8.99 for a pre-owned copy at GameStop, free download for PlayStation Plus Premium subscribers
The Last of Us Part II Standard Edition (2020) — $9.99 $39.99 at Best Buy and GameStop (save $30)
The Last of Us Part II Digital Deluxe Edition (2020) — $34.99 $49.99 in the PlayStation Store (save $15)
The Last of Us Part I Standard Edition (2022) — $49.99 $69.99 at Amazon, Best Buy, GameStop, and Walmart (save $20), free two-hour trial for PlayStation Plus Premium subscribers
The Last of Us Part I Digital Deluxe Edition (2022) — $79.99 in the PlayStation Store
Translating a beloved video game franchise to TV or film is a famously dicey move. But so far, HBO appears to have done the almost impossible with its adaptation of Naughty Dog’s 2013 masterpiece The Last of Us, churning out an outstanding show with a stellar cast while staying true to the soul and mechanics of its source material. (Read Mashable entertainment reporter Belen Edwards’ review for the full scoop.) In fact, the show has been such a hit that HBO’s decided to renew it for a second season.
SEE ALSO:
‘The Last of Us’ episode 7 trailer delves into Ellie’s past
If you’re itching to boot up a PlayStation ahead of the first season finale on March 12, you’re in luck: Most versions of the acclaimed third-person survival horror game and its sequel are on sale this week. Here’s a quick rundown of all your buying options (in order of release date) and their online availability at the time of publication.
The Last of Us (2013)
Meet Joel and Ellie.
Credit: Naughty Dog / Sony Computer Entertainment
A PS3 release, the original TLOU earned a slew of awards and quickly solidified itself as one of the greatest PlayStation exclusives to date. (Read our review from the Mashable archives.) It’s best as a collector’s item nowadays, since there are better-looking remasters and remakes available, but you can still play it if you’ve held onto an old console.
A few used copies were available on Amazon for around $33 when we last checked; you can also try your luck on eBay.
Opens in a new tab
Credit: Naughty Dog / Sony Computer Entertainment
“The Last of Us” (used)
(opens in a new tab)
$33.04 on Amazon
Buy Now
(opens in a new tab)
The Last of Us Remastered (2014)
*clicker squawks*
Credit: Naughty Dog / Sony Computer Entertainment
Naughty Dog gave the game a minor facelift for the PS4 a year after launch in the form of TLOU Remastered. This one includes the single-player campaign in full 1080p with improved visuals, higher-res character models, and several gameplay updates, plus an expansion pack called The Last of Us: Left Behind that adds several chapters about Ellie’s backstory. There are also two bonus maps for the game’s Factions multiplayer mode — Reddit says it’s still alive and kicking, for what it’s worth.
PlayStation Plus Premium subscribers can download TLOU Remastered for free. Otherwise, you can snag a new copy of the game on sale at Best Buy for $9.99 (normally $19.99) or a pre-owned copy via GameStop for $8.99. The PlayStation Store had it in stock at full price the last time we looked, while Amazon and Target’s inventories have both been wiped since the show premiered on Jan 15.
Opens in a new tab
Credit: Naughty Dog / Sony Computer Entertainment
“The Last of Us Remastered” (new)
(opens in a new tab)
$9.99 in the PlayStation Store (save $10)
Buy Now
(opens in a new tab)
Opens in a new tab
Credit: Naughty Dog / Sony Computer Entertainment
“The Last of Us Remastered” (pre-owned)
(opens in a new tab)
$8.99 at GameStop
Buy Now
(opens in a new tab)
The Last of Us Part II (2020)
Stealth skills are essential for survival in “TLOU2.”
Credit: Naughty Dog / Sony Interactive Entertainment
Set five years after Joel and Ellie’s original post-apocalyptic journey out west, TLOU’s grueling but gorgeous sequel lived up to players’ astronomically high expectations, nabbing over 300 Game of the Year awards to become the most-awarded game in history. (It was only just dethroned by Elden Ring.) Note that the first season of the HBO series only covers the events of the first game; the just-announced second season will presumably dip into this one.
There are two editions available for the PS4, with a free performance patch for PS5:
Standard Edition
The base game of TLOU2 retails for $39.99, but you can get it on sale at Best Buy or GameStop for only $9.99 (an impressive 75% off). It’s currently listed for $24.50 at Walmart, stuck at full price in the PlayStation Store, and sold out at Amazon and Target.
Opens in a new tab
Credit: Naughty Dog / Sony Interactive Entertainment
“The Last of Us Part II” Standard Edition
(opens in a new tab)
$9.99 at Best Buy and GameStop (save $30)
Buy Now
(opens in a new tab)
Digital Deluxe Edition
Upgrade to the Deluxe Edition through the PlayStation Store for a digital soundtrack, a mini digital art book, a dynamic theme for your console, and a set of six exclusive PSN avatars. It’s on sale there for $34.99 until Thursday, March 2, which works out to a 30% savings.
Opens in a new tab
Credit: Naughty Dog / Sony Interactive Entertainment
“The Last of Us Part II” Digital Deluxe Edition
(opens in a new tab)
$34.99 in the PlayStation Store (save $15)
Buy Now
(opens in a new tab)
The Last of Us Part I (2022)
Re-meet Joel and Ellie.
Credit: Naughty Dog / Sony Interactive Entertainment
Naughty Dog re-revisited the first TLOU game last year for a PS5 remake that features a complete visual overhaul and modernized gameplay with new controls, new enemy AI, enhanced combat, haptic feedback, 3D audio, and more accessibility options. (Psst: It’s coming to PC next month.) Like TLOU Remastered, it also includes the Left Behind single-player DLC.
Choose from two editions:
Standard Edition
You can score a free two-hour trial of the base game with a PS Plus Premium subscription, or buy it on sale through Amazon, Best Buy, GameStop, or Walmart for $49.99. (That’s $20 off its MSRP.) It’s in stock at full price in the PlayStation Store and sold out at Target.
Opens in a new tab
Credit: Naughty Dog / Sony Interactive Entertainment
“The Last of Us Part I” Standard Edition
(opens in a new tab)
$49.99 at Amazon, Best Buy, GameStop, and Walmart (save $20)
Buy Now
(opens in a new tab)
Digital Deluxe Edition
This version sets the player up for success with early unlocks of skill upgrades, weapon upgrades, weapon skins, a gameplay filter, and a speedrun mode. It’s up for grabs in the PlayStation Store for $79.99.
Opens in a new tab
Credit: Naughty Dog / Sony Interactive Entertainment
“The Last of Us Part I” Digital Deluxe Edition
(opens in a new tab)
$79.99 in the PlayStation Store
Buy Now
(opens in a new tab)
UPDATE: Feb. 21, 2023, 11:05 a.m. EST This story has been updated with the latest availability info. Here are some quick links:
The Last of Us (2013) — $33.04 for a used copy on Amazon
The Last of Us Remastered (2014) — $9.99 $19.99 for a new copy at Best Buy (save $10), $8.99 for a pre-owned copy at GameStop, free download for PlayStation Plus Premium subscribers
The Last of Us Part II Standard Edition (2020) — $9.99 $39.99 at Best Buy and GameStop (save $30)
The Last of Us Part II Digital Deluxe Edition (2020) — $34.99 $49.99 in the PlayStation Store (save $15)
The Last of Us Part I Standard Edition (2022) — $49.99 $69.99 at Amazon, Best Buy, GameStop, and Walmart (save $20), free two-hour trial for PlayStation Plus Premium subscribers
The Last of Us Part I Digital Deluxe Edition (2022) — $79.99 in the PlayStation Store
Translating a beloved video game franchise to TV or film is a famously dicey move. But so far, HBO appears to have done the almost impossible with its adaptation of Naughty Dog’s 2013 masterpiece The Last of Us, churning out an outstanding show with a stellar cast while staying true to the soul and mechanics of its source material. (Read Mashable entertainment reporter Belen Edwards’ review for the full scoop.) In fact, the show has been such a hit that HBO’s decided to renew it for a second season.
If you’re itching to boot up a PlayStation ahead of the first season finale on March 12, you’re in luck: Most versions of the acclaimed third-person survival horror game and its sequel are on sale this week. Here’s a quick rundown of all your buying options (in order of release date) and their online availability at the time of publication.
The Last of Us (2013)
Credit: Naughty Dog / Sony Computer Entertainment
A PS3 release, the original TLOU earned a slew of awards and quickly solidified itself as one of the greatest PlayStation exclusives to date. (Read our review from the Mashable archives.) It’s best as a collector’s item nowadays, since there are better-looking remasters and remakes available, but you can still play it if you’ve held onto an old console.
A few used copies were available on Amazon for around $33 when we last checked; you can also try your luck on eBay.
Opens in a new tab
The Last of Us Remastered (2014)
Credit: Naughty Dog / Sony Computer Entertainment
Naughty Dog gave the game a minor facelift for the PS4 a year after launch in the form of TLOU Remastered. This one includes the single-player campaign in full 1080p with improved visuals, higher-res character models, and several gameplay updates, plus an expansion pack called The Last of Us: Left Behind that adds several chapters about Ellie’s backstory. There are also two bonus maps for the game’s Factions multiplayer mode — Reddit says it’s still alive and kicking, for what it’s worth.
PlayStation Plus Premium subscribers can download TLOU Remastered for free. Otherwise, you can snag a new copy of the game on sale at Best Buy for $9.99 (normally $19.99) or a pre-owned copy via GameStop for $8.99. The PlayStation Store had it in stock at full price the last time we looked, while Amazon and Target‘s inventories have both been wiped since the show premiered on Jan 15.
Opens in a new tab
“The Last of Us Remastered” (new)
(opens in a new tab)
Opens in a new tab
The Last of Us Part II (2020)
Credit: Naughty Dog / Sony Interactive Entertainment
Set five years after Joel and Ellie’s original post-apocalyptic journey out west, TLOU‘s grueling but gorgeous sequel lived up to players’ astronomically high expectations, nabbing over 300 Game of the Year awards to become the most-awarded game in history. (It was only just dethroned by Elden Ring.) Note that the first season of the HBO series only covers the events of the first game; the just-announced second season will presumably dip into this one.
There are two editions available for the PS4, with a free performance patch for PS5:
Standard Edition
The base game of TLOU2 retails for $39.99, but you can get it on sale at Best Buy or GameStop for only $9.99 (an impressive 75% off). It’s currently listed for $24.50 at Walmart, stuck at full price in the PlayStation Store, and sold out at Amazon and Target.
Opens in a new tab
“The Last of Us Part II” Standard Edition
(opens in a new tab)
Digital Deluxe Edition
Upgrade to the Deluxe Edition through the PlayStation Store for a digital soundtrack, a mini digital art book, a dynamic theme for your console, and a set of six exclusive PSN avatars. It’s on sale there for $34.99 until Thursday, March 2, which works out to a 30% savings.
Opens in a new tab
“The Last of Us Part II” Digital Deluxe Edition
(opens in a new tab)
The Last of Us Part I (2022)
Credit: Naughty Dog / Sony Interactive Entertainment
Naughty Dog re-revisited the first TLOU game last year for a PS5 remake that features a complete visual overhaul and modernized gameplay with new controls, new enemy AI, enhanced combat, haptic feedback, 3D audio, and more accessibility options. (Psst: It’s coming to PC next month.) Like TLOU Remastered, it also includes the Left Behind single-player DLC.
Choose from two editions:
Standard Edition
You can score a free two-hour trial of the base game with a PS Plus Premium subscription, or buy it on sale through Amazon, Best Buy, GameStop, or Walmart for $49.99. (That’s $20 off its MSRP.) It’s in stock at full price in the PlayStation Store and sold out at Target.
Opens in a new tab
“The Last of Us Part I” Standard Edition
(opens in a new tab)
Digital Deluxe Edition
This version sets the player up for success with early unlocks of skill upgrades, weapon upgrades, weapon skins, a gameplay filter, and a speedrun mode. It’s up for grabs in the PlayStation Store for $79.99.
Opens in a new tab
“The Last of Us Part I” Digital Deluxe Edition
(opens in a new tab)
Studies show women are less likely to apply for jobs at male-dominated startups
Mark Zuckerberg, Larry Page, Sergey Brin, Jeff Bezos: what these names have in common is they are all founders of some of tech’s most powerful companies. The other key thing they have in common is they’re all men. While there are many women founders—Melanie Perkins of Canva and Sandy Lerner of Cisco are just two, along with Mira Murati, the CTO of OpenAI, creator of the much-lauded ChatGPT—there is a significant gender disparity in the technology industry. There are many systemic reasons for this. Globally, women make up over 50% of the population, but own only 1% of the total…This story continues at The Next Web
Mark Zuckerberg, Larry Page, Sergey Brin, Jeff Bezos: what these names have in common is they are all founders of some of tech’s most powerful companies. The other key thing they have in common is they’re all men. While there are many women founders—Melanie Perkins of Canva and Sandy Lerner of Cisco are just two, along with Mira Murati, the CTO of OpenAI, creator of the much-lauded ChatGPT—there is a significant gender disparity in the technology industry. There are many systemic reasons for this. Globally, women make up over 50% of the population, but own only 1% of the total…
This story continues at The Next Web
Manchester United Bidding War Already Has a Winner: The Sellers
A Qatari royal and a British billionaire have designs on the Premier League giant. But the Glazer family still gets to set the price.
A Qatari royal and a British billionaire have designs on the Premier League giant. But the Glazer family still gets to set the price.
The ChatGPT Reincarnation of the Marquis de Sade Is Coming
“Loab” was just the beginning. Artificial intelligence will soon dredge up all kinds of secret fascinations and fears.
“Loab” was just the beginning. Artificial intelligence will soon dredge up all kinds of secret fascinations and fears.
Microsoft signs 10-year deal to bring Xbox games to Nintendo
Microsoft has signed a 10-year deal to bring Xbox games to Nintendo players, which means you’ll soon be able to play Call of Duty on Switch.
The finalised deal was announced on Tuesday by Microsoft president Brad Smith, who posted on Twitter.
“We’ve now signed a binding 10-year contract to bring Xbox games to Nintendo’s gamers,” Smith’s statement read. “This is just part of our commitment to bring Xbox games and Activision titles like Call of Duty to more players on more platforms.”
Tweet may have been deleted
(opens in a new tab)
Smith said gamers will be able to “experience Call of Duty just as Xbox and PlayStation gamers enjoy Call of Duty.”
SEE ALSO:
Microsoft’s Bing AI chatbot has said a lot of weird things. Here’s a list.
As IGN points out, Call of Duty has not been released on a Nintendo console since Call of Duty: Ghosts was released on Wii U in 2013.
The deal between Microsoft and Nintendo was announced by Xbox head Phil Spencer in December 2022; it’s now officially been signed on the dotted line. Details on release dates for Xbox titles on Switch are yet to be announced.
Tweet may have been deleted
(opens in a new tab)
Microsoft’s $68.7 billion acquisition of Call of Duty publisher Activision Blizzard, announced in January 2022, has made some waves shall we say with regulators.
The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced plans to block the merger in December on grounds of antitrust, arguing the deal “would enable Microsoft to suppress competitors to its Xbox gaming consoles and its rapidly growing subscription content and cloud-gaming business.” Meanwhile, the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said the deal could harm UK gamers, concluding that “Microsoft’s proposed acquisition of Activision could result in higher prices, fewer choices, or less innovation for UK gamers.”
This has included a closely watched debate over Call of Duty itself, and whether Microsoft would keep the games available to play on PlayStation. When the merger was announced, Spencer confirmed “our intent to honor all existing agreements upon acquisition of Activision Blizzard and our desire to keep Call of Duty on PlayStation.”
Microsoft has signed a 10-year deal to bring Xbox games to Nintendo players, which means you’ll soon be able to play Call of Duty on Switch.
The finalised deal was announced on Tuesday by Microsoft president Brad Smith, who posted on Twitter.
“We’ve now signed a binding 10-year contract to bring Xbox games to Nintendo’s gamers,” Smith’s statement read. “This is just part of our commitment to bring Xbox games and Activision titles like Call of Duty to more players on more platforms.”
Tweet may have been deleted
(opens in a new tab)
Smith said gamers will be able to “experience Call of Duty just as Xbox and PlayStation gamers enjoy Call of Duty.”
As IGN points out, Call of Duty has not been released on a Nintendo console since Call of Duty: Ghosts was released on Wii U in 2013.
The deal between Microsoft and Nintendo was announced by Xbox head Phil Spencer in December 2022; it’s now officially been signed on the dotted line. Details on release dates for Xbox titles on Switch are yet to be announced.
Tweet may have been deleted
(opens in a new tab)
Microsoft’s $68.7 billion acquisition of Call of Duty publisher Activision Blizzard, announced in January 2022, has made some waves shall we say with regulators.
The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced plans to block the merger in December on grounds of antitrust, arguing the deal “would enable Microsoft to suppress competitors to its Xbox gaming consoles and its rapidly growing subscription content and cloud-gaming business.” Meanwhile, the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said the deal could harm UK gamers, concluding that “Microsoft’s proposed acquisition of Activision could result in higher prices, fewer choices, or less innovation for UK gamers.”
This has included a closely watched debate over Call of Duty itself, and whether Microsoft would keep the games available to play on PlayStation. When the merger was announced, Spencer confirmed “our intent to honor all existing agreements upon acquisition of Activision Blizzard and our desire to keep Call of Duty on PlayStation.”
‘Like a Dragon: Ishin’ doesn’t require knowing ‘Yakuza’ games to be fun
There are few things in the world I enjoy more than recommending the Like a Dragon (previously known as Yakuza until a rebrand in late 2022) games to people. Thankfully, the newest (sort of) game in the franchise is worthy of recommendation.
Like a Dragon: Ishin takes the familiar miniature open-world beat-em-up gameplay of the rest of the series and transplants it into 1860s Japan. It’s a remake of a game that originally launched in 2014, but never came to the west until now. Ishin is a grand old time, especially for longtime Yakuza-heads, but it might be a decent jumping-in point for first-timers, as well.
SEE ALSO:
‘Forspoken’ is a fun game if you do these 3 things
Here’s why Like a Dragon: Ishin either should or shouldn’t be your first trip down Yakuza lane.
Why it should: The setting is great
In case you’re not too familiar with Yakuza/Like a Dragon, almost every other game in the series follows a fella named Kazuma Kiryu as he navigates his way through Japan’s modern-day criminal underworld. He beats up bad guys, uncovers grand conspiracies often involving both domestic and foreign governments, and generally just wants to be a dad.
That’s not the case here, or at least not entirely. Kiryu’s face and voice have been applied to real-life Japanese historical figure Sakamoto Ryoma, Ishin’s protagonist. This heavily fictionalized historical tale sees Ryoma infiltrate the Shinsengumi, a sort of secret police force of the era. He does so in order to find out who killed his adoptive father, but the story quickly spins into a grand tale of revolution in a time of great cultural and political upheaval in Japan.
The plot itself is fairly exciting and fun to follow, even though, as Polygon pointed out, it adopts some nationalistic tendencies over time. But divorced from what happens in cutscenes, the setting is probably the best part of Ishin. You’ll spend hours and hours running around the city that would become Kyoto, eating at humble little restaurants, ordering sake from tiny bars, betting on chicken races, and even participating in an 1860s iteration of karaoke.
Sure, it’s a cartoonish and probably not especially realistic depiction of that time and place, but it’s got heart. Ishin made me laugh regularly with its zany side characters and optional quests. If you’re into samurai stuff at all, Ishin should be on your radar. However, if you’ve never played another Yakuza, prepare to miss out on some of the juice.
Why it shouldn’t: You’ll miss a lot of references
Hey, I know those guys!
Credit: Sega
The most novel aspect of Ishin isn’t just that it’s a Yakuza game in a different setting. Instead, it’s the pure abundance of Cool Guys from the rest of the series that developer RGG Studio managed to transport from one time period to another.
Much in the same way that Ryoma is basically Kiryu in costume, almost every character in Ishin is a real historical figure very loosely brought to life using the character model and voice actor of someone from the modern-day Yakuza games setting. If you’re like me and you’ve played all the other ones, this is a delight. Every time a new character showed up whose face I recognized from a previous Yakuza game, I grinned from ear to ear.
Every Yakuza fan will tell you that the expansive cast of glistening, musclebound hunks is a big part of why the series is great. Seeing all of them get recast as interpretations of real people is extremely funny and charming. Unfortunately, if you’re not at least a little familiar with the other games, all of this will be lost on you.
Why it should: It’s more fun to play than most
Wild Dancer is a blast.
Credit: Sega
Similar to the rest of the series (sans 2020’s turn-based Yakuza: Like a Dragon), Ishin has arcadey beat-em-up combat that’s pretty easy to grasp. You’ve got light attacks, heavy attacks, grab moves, and special finishing moves that use up a Heat gauge that fills up as you fight. It hasn’t changed much over the last 15 years, but it not only works in Ishin, it excels.
That’s because you aren’t restricted to just your fists this time around. While other games in the series only sparingly allow the use of weapons, Ishin embraces the art of the sword and the pistol. There are a variety of fighting styles you switch between on the fly. One has Ryoma wielding just a sword, another one has him with just a gun, and the best one has him wielding both at the same time.
This style, called Wild Dancer, provided me with the single most fun I’ve ever had in combat in a non-turn-based Yakuza game. Mowing through enemy samurai with spinning blade moves, gunshots, and devastating finishers that utilize both weapons at once is a thrill. Each style can also be upgraded simply by leveling up and using them a lot, too.
On top of that, there’s a Trooper Card mechanic where you recruit dudes and ladies to join your squad. They don’t actually fight alongside you, but you can utilize their abilities in fights. These can range from simple health regeneration to summoning a pissed off bear to maul your opponent. It rocks.
Why it shouldn’t: The rest are just that damn good
‘Yakuza 0’ is so cool, y’all.
Credit: Sega
Ishin may have the most fun combat in the series and one of the coolest settings, but that doesn’t make it the best Yakuza/Like a Dragon game. Part of that is due to its own pitfalls and part of that is that the series has set incredibly high standards.
Truth be told, Ishin bites off more than it can chew. There’s a whole agrarian metagame where you slowly support and upgrade a farm by growing increasingly valuable vegetables that completely failed to grab me. A big part of upgrading Trooper Cards involves taking them on monotonous, boring treks through repetitive caves that aren’t really worth the effort. And, finally, the story has two or three too many cases of mistaken or stolen identities. The reveals get a little old.
I’d still recommend that newcomers start with Yakuza 0, a game that is both on Game Pass and frequently on sale for like $5. Not only is it a fantastic game, it also sets you up for the rest of the mainline series, something Ishin does not do.
That said, Ishin is mostly a great time and it’s just nice to see this game finally come to the west. Whether you start with this one or another game in the series doesn’t really matter. Just get started. You won’t regret it.
There are few things in the world I enjoy more than recommending the Like a Dragon (previously known as Yakuza until a rebrand in late 2022) games to people. Thankfully, the newest (sort of) game in the franchise is worthy of recommendation.
Like a Dragon: Ishin takes the familiar miniature open-world beat-em-up gameplay of the rest of the series and transplants it into 1860s Japan. It’s a remake of a game that originally launched in 2014, but never came to the west until now. Ishin is a grand old time, especially for longtime Yakuza-heads, but it might be a decent jumping-in point for first-timers, as well.
Here’s why Like a Dragon: Ishin either should or shouldn’t be your first trip down Yakuza lane.
Why it should: The setting is great
In case you’re not too familiar with Yakuza/Like a Dragon, almost every other game in the series follows a fella named Kazuma Kiryu as he navigates his way through Japan’s modern-day criminal underworld. He beats up bad guys, uncovers grand conspiracies often involving both domestic and foreign governments, and generally just wants to be a dad.
That’s not the case here, or at least not entirely. Kiryu’s face and voice have been applied to real-life Japanese historical figure Sakamoto Ryoma, Ishin’s protagonist. This heavily fictionalized historical tale sees Ryoma infiltrate the Shinsengumi, a sort of secret police force of the era. He does so in order to find out who killed his adoptive father, but the story quickly spins into a grand tale of revolution in a time of great cultural and political upheaval in Japan.
The plot itself is fairly exciting and fun to follow, even though, as Polygon pointed out, it adopts some nationalistic tendencies over time. But divorced from what happens in cutscenes, the setting is probably the best part of Ishin. You’ll spend hours and hours running around the city that would become Kyoto, eating at humble little restaurants, ordering sake from tiny bars, betting on chicken races, and even participating in an 1860s iteration of karaoke.
Sure, it’s a cartoonish and probably not especially realistic depiction of that time and place, but it’s got heart. Ishin made me laugh regularly with its zany side characters and optional quests. If you’re into samurai stuff at all, Ishin should be on your radar. However, if you’ve never played another Yakuza, prepare to miss out on some of the juice.
Why it shouldn’t: You’ll miss a lot of references
Credit: Sega
The most novel aspect of Ishin isn’t just that it’s a Yakuza game in a different setting. Instead, it’s the pure abundance of Cool Guys from the rest of the series that developer RGG Studio managed to transport from one time period to another.
Much in the same way that Ryoma is basically Kiryu in costume, almost every character in Ishin is a real historical figure very loosely brought to life using the character model and voice actor of someone from the modern-day Yakuza games setting. If you’re like me and you’ve played all the other ones, this is a delight. Every time a new character showed up whose face I recognized from a previous Yakuza game, I grinned from ear to ear.
Every Yakuza fan will tell you that the expansive cast of glistening, musclebound hunks is a big part of why the series is great. Seeing all of them get recast as interpretations of real people is extremely funny and charming. Unfortunately, if you’re not at least a little familiar with the other games, all of this will be lost on you.
Why it should: It’s more fun to play than most
Credit: Sega
Similar to the rest of the series (sans 2020’s turn-based Yakuza: Like a Dragon), Ishin has arcadey beat-em-up combat that’s pretty easy to grasp. You’ve got light attacks, heavy attacks, grab moves, and special finishing moves that use up a Heat gauge that fills up as you fight. It hasn’t changed much over the last 15 years, but it not only works in Ishin, it excels.
That’s because you aren’t restricted to just your fists this time around. While other games in the series only sparingly allow the use of weapons, Ishin embraces the art of the sword and the pistol. There are a variety of fighting styles you switch between on the fly. One has Ryoma wielding just a sword, another one has him with just a gun, and the best one has him wielding both at the same time.
This style, called Wild Dancer, provided me with the single most fun I’ve ever had in combat in a non-turn-based Yakuza game. Mowing through enemy samurai with spinning blade moves, gunshots, and devastating finishers that utilize both weapons at once is a thrill. Each style can also be upgraded simply by leveling up and using them a lot, too.
On top of that, there’s a Trooper Card mechanic where you recruit dudes and ladies to join your squad. They don’t actually fight alongside you, but you can utilize their abilities in fights. These can range from simple health regeneration to summoning a pissed off bear to maul your opponent. It rocks.
Why it shouldn’t: The rest are just that damn good
Credit: Sega
Ishin may have the most fun combat in the series and one of the coolest settings, but that doesn’t make it the best Yakuza/Like a Dragon game. Part of that is due to its own pitfalls and part of that is that the series has set incredibly high standards.
Truth be told, Ishin bites off more than it can chew. There’s a whole agrarian metagame where you slowly support and upgrade a farm by growing increasingly valuable vegetables that completely failed to grab me. A big part of upgrading Trooper Cards involves taking them on monotonous, boring treks through repetitive caves that aren’t really worth the effort. And, finally, the story has two or three too many cases of mistaken or stolen identities. The reveals get a little old.
I’d still recommend that newcomers start with Yakuza 0, a game that is both on Game Pass and frequently on sale for like $5. Not only is it a fantastic game, it also sets you up for the rest of the mainline series, something Ishin does not do.
That said, Ishin is mostly a great time and it’s just nice to see this game finally come to the west. Whether you start with this one or another game in the series doesn’t really matter. Just get started. You won’t regret it.
Stop using your phone number to log in
iStock/Getty Images
Phone numbers were never meant to protect or identify us, but we use them to do that all the time. We shouldn’t. When Ugo moved to a new country last October, he got a new phone number. Ugo, who lives in Europe, where WhatsApp is very popular, didn’t immediately register his new phone number on the app, but was able to continue to use it as normal. It was only when he told WhatsApp that he had a new phone number that the trouble began.
His profile photo changed to a picture of a young woman, and his phone was flooded with new messages from Italian-speaking strangers, including from group chats he was suddenly added to — one of which seemed to be for a family that was not his own.
Ugo, who did not want his last name revealed for privacy reasons, had unintentionally taken over the WhatsApp account of the woman who had the new phone number before he did. She was an active WhatsApp user, but she’d also, apparently, neglected to tell the app what her new phone number was. So when Ugo told his account that he had a new phone number, he assumed control of the WhatsApp account that was still tied to it, and it was merged with his.
“I don’t even know if she was able to regain access to her account at all because for days — weeks, in fact — I was still receiving her messages, even though I kept telling all these people I wasn’t the person they thought I was,” Ugo told Recode. “She was lucky I had good intentions. Her account could’ve merged with someone much less forgiving.”
Ugo isn’t the only WhatsApp user this has happened to. Phone number recycling is a problem WhatsApp is aware of and has largely left to its users to prevent or solve. But it’s also not unique to WhatsApp.
Countless apps and services rely on your phone number to identify you, and that number is not necessarily permanent. Phone numbers are also vulnerable to hackers. They were never meant to be permanent identifiers, so incidents like what happened to Ugo are widespread, ongoing problems that the industry has known about for years. There are at least two research papers about phone number recycling that lay out the potential risks, from targeted attacks by hackers or people who easily buy up recently discarded phone numbers to being cut off from your accounts entirely and a stranger getting access to your life.
Yet the burden is often on users to protect themselves from a security issue that was created for them by some of their favorite apps. Even things that those services might recommend as an added security measure — like text, SMS, or multi-factor authentication — can actually introduce more vulnerabilities.
The number problem
If we didn’t reuse phone numbers, we’d soon run out of them. An estimated 35 million phone numbers are recycled every year in the United States, according to a 2017 FCC analysis of data from the North American Numbering Plan Administrator (NANPA). And there are currently 2.74 billion assignable phone numbers in the US and its territories, NANPA told Recode, though that doesn’t mean all of those numbers have actually been assigned (about half of them haven’t, according to FCC data). So when you give up your phone number, it’s only a matter of time before it gets reassigned to someone else.
In the United States, carriers have to wait at least 45 days before they can assign it to a new user. But that minimum waiting period was only put into effect in 2020. Before that, it was up to the carriers to decide how long to wait before recycling a phone number. Some only waited a few days, according to an FCC report. In France, where Ugo got his new phone number, the minimum waiting time was recently reduced from three months to 45 days.
This makes it pretty easy for misdirected calls to happen. A few decades ago, getting phone calls on your landline that were meant for whoever had the number before you might be annoying, but you weren’t being blasted with large blocks of texts, images, and videos that were meant for someone else, nor was your phone number the key to unlocking various goods and services.
Countless apps and services rely on your phone number to identify you, and that number is not necessarily permanent
In the age of the smartphone, however, phone number recycling is a major privacy and security problem. Many of us keep huge parts of our lives in our phones and the apps on them. Some of those apps, like WhatsApp, require our phone numbers to register for accounts. Or we use our phone number as a security measure. But phone numbers were never intended to perform these functions. And, as Ugo’s story shows, there are unintended consequences when they do.
But even before the iPhone changed the mobile game, there were concerns over using phone numbers as identifiers.
“Back in 2001 when I worked at Vodafone, we saw this problem coming,” said Marc Rogers, who is now chief security officer at the cybersecurity firm Q-Net Security.
SFGate published a story in 2006 about a man who got a recycled number and was barraged with texts from various women, which both displeased his fianceé and were charged to him because, again, this was in 2006, when pay-per-text was much more common. More recently, we’ve seen plenty of stories about phone numbers changing hands, causing accounts to be taken over by strangers on platforms like Facebook and Airbnb. It’s even happened on WhatsApp before.
The problem isn’t just accidental takeovers. Mobile phones have what’s known as a SIM, or subscriber identity module. That’s usually stored on a tiny removable card, although newer iPhones have embedded them into the devices themselves. If a bad actor gets control of your SIM — this is known as SIM jacking or SIM swapping — or they’re able to reroute text messages that are meant for you, they can access the accounts your phone number unlocks.
“The entire SIM swap ecosystem has sprung up around the vulnerability of SMS,” Rogers said.
In a study about security risks due to recycled phone numbers, Princeton computer science professor Arvind Narayanan and researcher Kevin Lee found that most of the available phone numbers at T-Mobile and Verizon were still attached to accounts on various websites, indicating that the people who had those numbers previously hadn’t yet told those services their numbers had changed. Of the 200 recycled numbers Lee and Narayanan bought for the study, they were able to obtain sensitive data (defined as anything with personally identifiable information or multi-factor authentication passcodes) that was meant for the number’s previous owner on nearly 10 percent of them. And that was after just one week.
It’s not just phone numbers that we’ve turned into problematic identifiers. There are also Social Security numbers, which started out as a way to track workers’ earnings even if they changed jobs, addresses, and names, but have evolved into national identifiers, used by the IRS, financial institutions, and even health providers. Anyone whose identity has been stolen can tell you that this Social Security number system isn’t perfect. Email addresses serve a similar unintended purpose, which causes privacy problems if you happen to have an email address that is constantly mistaken for someone else’s.
The industry could do more, but it probably won’t
WhatsApp says it takes several steps to prevent scenarios like Ugo’s, such as removing account data from accounts that have been inactive for at least 45 days and are then activated on a different mobile device.
“If for some reason you no longer want to use WhatsApp tied to a particular phone number, then the best thing to do is transfer it to a new phone number or delete the account within the app,” WhatsApp told Recode. “In all cases, we strongly encourage people to use two-step verification for added security.”
Those solutions leave most of the work to users, some of whom aren’t aware of their responsibilities. Enabling two-step or multi-factor authentication by default, which companies like Google and Amazon have done on some of their services, would stop these hijackings. WhatsApp could also ask users to verify their phone numbers occasionally, which would prod people like the previous owner of Ugo’s new number to transfer her account before it was hijacked.
Businesses will always have their best interests at heart, and those aren’t always yours
There are other things the industry — apps, carriers, phone operating system developers — can do. But they usually don’t unless they’re legally required to or something truly egregious happens. In the meantime, many of them like to demand phone numbers from users even in cases where it’s not necessary that they have them. And they’re not always very responsible with those numbers, either.
“We knew it was a problem 20 years ago, but almost nothing has happened to reduce the risk for consumers. It’s probably about time for policymakers to step in and start putting pressure on the telecommunications companies to look at ways this can be resolved technically,” Rogers said.
In the end, businesses will always have their best interests at heart, and those aren’t always yours. You have to protect yourself.
What you can do
You may be thinking that this doesn’t apply to you if you aren’t planning on changing your number. But that change may not be planned. A hit song might come out with your phone number as its chorus. Or the president could give it out during a campaign rally. Or you might reveal it on Twitter to make a point about AI chatbots that you didn’t think through. There are more serious reasons why you might have to change your phone number. Or you might die, in which case you won’t care about privacy and security issues anymore, but the people you leave behind might. Even if you keep your phone number forever, you’re not immune to some of these privacy issues.
“Even if you’re not planning on changing your number anytime soon, you may interact with friends or family members who have, and unknowingly end up sending sensitive information to new owners of those recycled numbers,” Lee, the Princeton researcher, said.
The best way to solve the problem is never to let it become one. That is, don’t attach your phone number to your accounts wherever possible. In some cases, like signing up for a WhatsApp account, you don’t have a choice. But you can at least minimize your exposure.
“People change their numbers for all sorts of reasons, and it’s practically impossible to update one’s number in every system and contact list out there,” Narayanan said.
You’ll also want to enable two-factor authentication everywhere you can, but don’t use your phone number as that second factor. Not only is it useless if you no longer have access to that phone number, but it’s also just not a good way to protect your account in general, considering how vulnerable phone numbers can be. Use an authenticator app or hardware key instead. Those can’t be SIM jacked, and they’re independent of your phone number.
There are some apps and services that you have to attach your phone number to or that only offer text authentication. You can try to avoid using them, but that’s not always possible. You can keep your old number from going back into circulation by using a phone number parking service, as Lee and Narayanan suggest in their study. Some are just a few dollars a month. It doesn’t even have to be forever; you may just want to do this for a year or two to give yourself more time to identify and switch your accounts over to the new number, and for your contacts to realize your number has changed.
Considering all the things that could go wrong when your phone number is given to someone else, however, the marginal cost might be worth it. Otherwise, you’re entrusting what could be very sensitive information to carriers, apps, websites, and whoever gets your phone number next. At that point, you can only hope that they take good care of it.
iStock/Getty Images
Phone numbers were never meant to protect or identify us, but we use them to do that all the time. We shouldn’t.
When Ugo moved to a new country last October, he got a new phone number. Ugo, who lives in Europe, where WhatsApp is very popular, didn’t immediately register his new phone number on the app, but was able to continue to use it as normal. It was only when he told WhatsApp that he had a new phone number that the trouble began.
His profile photo changed to a picture of a young woman, and his phone was flooded with new messages from Italian-speaking strangers, including from group chats he was suddenly added to — one of which seemed to be for a family that was not his own.
Ugo, who did not want his last name revealed for privacy reasons, had unintentionally taken over the WhatsApp account of the woman who had the new phone number before he did. She was an active WhatsApp user, but she’d also, apparently, neglected to tell the app what her new phone number was. So when Ugo told his account that he had a new phone number, he assumed control of the WhatsApp account that was still tied to it, and it was merged with his.
“I don’t even know if she was able to regain access to her account at all because for days — weeks, in fact — I was still receiving her messages, even though I kept telling all these people I wasn’t the person they thought I was,” Ugo told Recode. “She was lucky I had good intentions. Her account could’ve merged with someone much less forgiving.”
Ugo isn’t the only WhatsApp user this has happened to. Phone number recycling is a problem WhatsApp is aware of and has largely left to its users to prevent or solve. But it’s also not unique to WhatsApp.
Countless apps and services rely on your phone number to identify you, and that number is not necessarily permanent. Phone numbers are also vulnerable to hackers. They were never meant to be permanent identifiers, so incidents like what happened to Ugo are widespread, ongoing problems that the industry has known about for years. There are at least two research papers about phone number recycling that lay out the potential risks, from targeted attacks by hackers or people who easily buy up recently discarded phone numbers to being cut off from your accounts entirely and a stranger getting access to your life.
Yet the burden is often on users to protect themselves from a security issue that was created for them by some of their favorite apps. Even things that those services might recommend as an added security measure — like text, SMS, or multi-factor authentication — can actually introduce more vulnerabilities.
The number problem
If we didn’t reuse phone numbers, we’d soon run out of them. An estimated 35 million phone numbers are recycled every year in the United States, according to a 2017 FCC analysis of data from the North American Numbering Plan Administrator (NANPA). And there are currently 2.74 billion assignable phone numbers in the US and its territories, NANPA told Recode, though that doesn’t mean all of those numbers have actually been assigned (about half of them haven’t, according to FCC data). So when you give up your phone number, it’s only a matter of time before it gets reassigned to someone else.
In the United States, carriers have to wait at least 45 days before they can assign it to a new user. But that minimum waiting period was only put into effect in 2020. Before that, it was up to the carriers to decide how long to wait before recycling a phone number. Some only waited a few days, according to an FCC report. In France, where Ugo got his new phone number, the minimum waiting time was recently reduced from three months to 45 days.
This makes it pretty easy for misdirected calls to happen. A few decades ago, getting phone calls on your landline that were meant for whoever had the number before you might be annoying, but you weren’t being blasted with large blocks of texts, images, and videos that were meant for someone else, nor was your phone number the key to unlocking various goods and services.
In the age of the smartphone, however, phone number recycling is a major privacy and security problem. Many of us keep huge parts of our lives in our phones and the apps on them. Some of those apps, like WhatsApp, require our phone numbers to register for accounts. Or we use our phone number as a security measure. But phone numbers were never intended to perform these functions. And, as Ugo’s story shows, there are unintended consequences when they do.
But even before the iPhone changed the mobile game, there were concerns over using phone numbers as identifiers.
“Back in 2001 when I worked at Vodafone, we saw this problem coming,” said Marc Rogers, who is now chief security officer at the cybersecurity firm Q-Net Security.
SFGate published a story in 2006 about a man who got a recycled number and was barraged with texts from various women, which both displeased his fianceé and were charged to him because, again, this was in 2006, when pay-per-text was much more common. More recently, we’ve seen plenty of stories about phone numbers changing hands, causing accounts to be taken over by strangers on platforms like Facebook and Airbnb. It’s even happened on WhatsApp before.
The problem isn’t just accidental takeovers. Mobile phones have what’s known as a SIM, or subscriber identity module. That’s usually stored on a tiny removable card, although newer iPhones have embedded them into the devices themselves. If a bad actor gets control of your SIM — this is known as SIM jacking or SIM swapping — or they’re able to reroute text messages that are meant for you, they can access the accounts your phone number unlocks.
“The entire SIM swap ecosystem has sprung up around the vulnerability of SMS,” Rogers said.
In a study about security risks due to recycled phone numbers, Princeton computer science professor Arvind Narayanan and researcher Kevin Lee found that most of the available phone numbers at T-Mobile and Verizon were still attached to accounts on various websites, indicating that the people who had those numbers previously hadn’t yet told those services their numbers had changed. Of the 200 recycled numbers Lee and Narayanan bought for the study, they were able to obtain sensitive data (defined as anything with personally identifiable information or multi-factor authentication passcodes) that was meant for the number’s previous owner on nearly 10 percent of them. And that was after just one week.
It’s not just phone numbers that we’ve turned into problematic identifiers. There are also Social Security numbers, which started out as a way to track workers’ earnings even if they changed jobs, addresses, and names, but have evolved into national identifiers, used by the IRS, financial institutions, and even health providers. Anyone whose identity has been stolen can tell you that this Social Security number system isn’t perfect. Email addresses serve a similar unintended purpose, which causes privacy problems if you happen to have an email address that is constantly mistaken for someone else’s.
The industry could do more, but it probably won’t
WhatsApp says it takes several steps to prevent scenarios like Ugo’s, such as removing account data from accounts that have been inactive for at least 45 days and are then activated on a different mobile device.
“If for some reason you no longer want to use WhatsApp tied to a particular phone number, then the best thing to do is transfer it to a new phone number or delete the account within the app,” WhatsApp told Recode. “In all cases, we strongly encourage people to use two-step verification for added security.”
Those solutions leave most of the work to users, some of whom aren’t aware of their responsibilities. Enabling two-step or multi-factor authentication by default, which companies like Google and Amazon have done on some of their services, would stop these hijackings. WhatsApp could also ask users to verify their phone numbers occasionally, which would prod people like the previous owner of Ugo’s new number to transfer her account before it was hijacked.
There are other things the industry — apps, carriers, phone operating system developers — can do. But they usually don’t unless they’re legally required to or something truly egregious happens. In the meantime, many of them like to demand phone numbers from users even in cases where it’s not necessary that they have them. And they’re not always very responsible with those numbers, either.
“We knew it was a problem 20 years ago, but almost nothing has happened to reduce the risk for consumers. It’s probably about time for policymakers to step in and start putting pressure on the telecommunications companies to look at ways this can be resolved technically,” Rogers said.
In the end, businesses will always have their best interests at heart, and those aren’t always yours. You have to protect yourself.
What you can do
You may be thinking that this doesn’t apply to you if you aren’t planning on changing your number. But that change may not be planned. A hit song might come out with your phone number as its chorus. Or the president could give it out during a campaign rally. Or you might reveal it on Twitter to make a point about AI chatbots that you didn’t think through. There are more serious reasons why you might have to change your phone number. Or you might die, in which case you won’t care about privacy and security issues anymore, but the people you leave behind might. Even if you keep your phone number forever, you’re not immune to some of these privacy issues.
“Even if you’re not planning on changing your number anytime soon, you may interact with friends or family members who have, and unknowingly end up sending sensitive information to new owners of those recycled numbers,” Lee, the Princeton researcher, said.
The best way to solve the problem is never to let it become one. That is, don’t attach your phone number to your accounts wherever possible. In some cases, like signing up for a WhatsApp account, you don’t have a choice. But you can at least minimize your exposure.
“People change their numbers for all sorts of reasons, and it’s practically impossible to update one’s number in every system and contact list out there,” Narayanan said.
You’ll also want to enable two-factor authentication everywhere you can, but don’t use your phone number as that second factor. Not only is it useless if you no longer have access to that phone number, but it’s also just not a good way to protect your account in general, considering how vulnerable phone numbers can be. Use an authenticator app or hardware key instead. Those can’t be SIM jacked, and they’re independent of your phone number.
There are some apps and services that you have to attach your phone number to or that only offer text authentication. You can try to avoid using them, but that’s not always possible. You can keep your old number from going back into circulation by using a phone number parking service, as Lee and Narayanan suggest in their study. Some are just a few dollars a month. It doesn’t even have to be forever; you may just want to do this for a year or two to give yourself more time to identify and switch your accounts over to the new number, and for your contacts to realize your number has changed.
Considering all the things that could go wrong when your phone number is given to someone else, however, the marginal cost might be worth it. Otherwise, you’re entrusting what could be very sensitive information to carriers, apps, websites, and whoever gets your phone number next. At that point, you can only hope that they take good care of it.
‘Class of 07’ trailer teases what happens when watery apocalypse interrupts a school reunion
High school reunions are bad enough when you’re trapped with the originators of all your teenage insecurities in a school gym or assembly hall for a few hours with an open bar. How much worse could it get if you’re stuck there indefinitely?
New Australian series Class of ’07 seeks to answer this question, as the 10-year reunion of an all-girls Catholic high school is stranded in their huge hilltop campus by an apocalyptic tidal wave. The trailer shows their responses ranging from long-overdue friendship autopsies to tit-punching to short-lived pirate radio shows — sort of like Lord of the Flies if the boys were 20-something women and had an enormous gym to work out their aggression in. (And if you enjoyed all the Australian insults in Netflix’s Heartbreak High reboot, there’s naur doubt you’ll love this.)
Emily Browning (Lemony Snicket’s A Series Of Unfortunate Events, Sucker Punch) and Caitlin Stasey (Smile, Reign, Please Like Me) lead an ensemble cast without a dude in sight.
Class of ’07 will premiere on Prime Video on March 17.
High school reunions are bad enough when you’re trapped with the originators of all your teenage insecurities in a school gym or assembly hall for a few hours with an open bar. How much worse could it get if you’re stuck there indefinitely?
New Australian series Class of ’07 seeks to answer this question, as the 10-year reunion of an all-girls Catholic high school is stranded in their huge hilltop campus by an apocalyptic tidal wave. The trailer shows their responses ranging from long-overdue friendship autopsies to tit-punching to short-lived pirate radio shows — sort of like Lord of the Flies if the boys were 20-something women and had an enormous gym to work out their aggression in. (And if you enjoyed all the Australian insults in Netflix’s Heartbreak High reboot, there’s naur doubt you’ll love this.)
Emily Browning (Lemony Snicket’s A Series Of Unfortunate Events, Sucker Punch) and Caitlin Stasey (Smile, Reign, Please Like Me) lead an ensemble cast without a dude in sight.
Class of ’07 will premiere on Prime Video on March 17.
‘Quordle’ today: Here are the answers and hints for February 21
If Quordle is a little too challenging today, you’ve come to the right place for hints. There aren’t just hints here, but the whole Quordle solution. Scroll to the bottom of this page, and there it is. But are you sure you need all four answers? Maybe you just need a strategy guide. Either way, scroll down, and you’ll get what you need.
What is Quordle?
Quordle is a five-letter word guessing game similar to Wordle, except each guess applies letters to four words at the same time. You get nine guesses instead of six to correctly guess all four words. It looks like playing four Wordle games at the same time, and that is essentially what it is. But it’s not nearly as intimidating as it sounds.
Is Quordle harder than Wordle?
Yes, though not diabolically so.
Where did Quordle come from?
Amid the Wordle boom of late 2021 and early 2022, when everyone was learning to love free, in-browser, once-a-day word guessing games, creator Freddie Meyer says he took inspiration from one of the first big Wordle variations, Dordle — the one where you essentially play two Wordles at once. He took things up a notch, and released Quordle on January 30. Meyer’s creation was covered in The Guardian six days later, and now, according to Meyer, it attracts millions of daily users. Today, Meyer earns modest revenue from Patreon, where dedicated Quordle fans can donate to keep their favorite puzzle game running.
How is Quordle pronounced?
“Kwordle.” It should rhyme with “Wordle,” and definitely should not be pronounced exactly like “curdle.”
Is Quordle strategy different from Wordle?
Yes and no.
Your starting strategy should be the same as with Wordle. In fact, if you have a favorite Wordle opening word, there’s no reason to change that here. We suggest something rich in vowels, featuring common letters like C, R, and N. But you do you.
After your first guess, however, you’ll notice things getting out of control if you play Quordle exactly like Wordle.
What should I do in Quordle that I don’t do in Wordle?
Solving a Wordle puzzle can famously come down to a series of single letter-change variations. If you’ve narrowed it down to “-IGHT,” you could guess “MIGHT” “NIGHT” “LIGHT” and “SIGHT” and one of those will probably be the solution — though this is also a famous way to end up losing in Wordle, particularly if you play on “hard mode.” In Quordle, however, this sort of single-letter winnowing is a deadly trap, and it hints at the important strategic difference between Wordle and Quordle: In Quordle, you can’t afford to waste guesses unless you’re eliminating as many letters as possible at all times.
Guessing a completely random word that you already know isn’t the solution, just to eliminate three or four possible letters you haven’t tried yet, is thought of as a desperate, latch-ditch move in Wordle. In Quordle, however, it’s a normal part of the player’s strategic toolset.
Is there a way to get the answer faster?
In my experience Quordle can be a slow game, sometimes dragging out longer than it would take to play Wordle four times. But a sort of blunt-force guessing approach can speed things up. The following strategy also works with Wordle if you only want the solution, and don’t care about having the fewest possible guesses:
Try starting with a series of words that puts all the vowels (including Y) on the board, along with some other common letters. We’ve had good luck with the three words: “NOTES,” “ACRID,” and “LUMPY.” YouTuber DougMansLand suggests four words: “CANOE,” “SKIRT,” “PLUMB,” and “FUDGY.”
Most of the alphabet is now eliminated, and you’ll only have the ability to make one or two wrong guesses if you use this strategy. But in most cases you’ll have all the information you need to guess the remaining words without any wrong guesses.
If strategy isn’t helping, and you’re still stumped, here are some hints:
Are there any double or triple letters in today’s Quordle words?
Two words have twice-occurring letters.
Are any rare letters being used in today’s Quordle like Q or Z?
No.
What do today’s Quordle words start with?
E, F, T, and T.
What are the answers for today’s Quordle?
Are you sure you want to know?
There’s still time to turn back.
OK, you asked for it. The answers are:
EXIST
FLAIR
TAROT
TRUST
If Quordle is a little too challenging today, you’ve come to the right place for hints. There aren’t just hints here, but the whole Quordle solution. Scroll to the bottom of this page, and there it is. But are you sure you need all four answers? Maybe you just need a strategy guide. Either way, scroll down, and you’ll get what you need.
What is Quordle?
Quordle is a five-letter word guessing game similar to Wordle, except each guess applies letters to four words at the same time. You get nine guesses instead of six to correctly guess all four words. It looks like playing four Wordle games at the same time, and that is essentially what it is. But it’s not nearly as intimidating as it sounds.
Is Quordle harder than Wordle?
Yes, though not diabolically so.
Where did Quordle come from?
Amid the Wordle boom of late 2021 and early 2022, when everyone was learning to love free, in-browser, once-a-day word guessing games, creator Freddie Meyer says he took inspiration from one of the first big Wordle variations, Dordle — the one where you essentially play two Wordles at once. He took things up a notch, and released Quordle on January 30. Meyer’s creation was covered in The Guardian six days later, and now, according to Meyer, it attracts millions of daily users. Today, Meyer earns modest revenue from Patreon, where dedicated Quordle fans can donate to keep their favorite puzzle game running.
How is Quordle pronounced?
“Kwordle.” It should rhyme with “Wordle,” and definitely should not be pronounced exactly like “curdle.”
Is Quordle strategy different from Wordle?
Yes and no.
Your starting strategy should be the same as with Wordle. In fact, if you have a favorite Wordle opening word, there’s no reason to change that here. We suggest something rich in vowels, featuring common letters like C, R, and N. But you do you.
After your first guess, however, you’ll notice things getting out of control if you play Quordle exactly like Wordle.
What should I do in Quordle that I don’t do in Wordle?
Solving a Wordle puzzle can famously come down to a series of single letter-change variations. If you’ve narrowed it down to “-IGHT,” you could guess “MIGHT” “NIGHT” “LIGHT” and “SIGHT” and one of those will probably be the solution — though this is also a famous way to end up losing in Wordle, particularly if you play on “hard mode.” In Quordle, however, this sort of single-letter winnowing is a deadly trap, and it hints at the important strategic difference between Wordle and Quordle: In Quordle, you can’t afford to waste guesses unless you’re eliminating as many letters as possible at all times.
Guessing a completely random word that you already know isn’t the solution, just to eliminate three or four possible letters you haven’t tried yet, is thought of as a desperate, latch-ditch move in Wordle. In Quordle, however, it’s a normal part of the player’s strategic toolset.
Is there a way to get the answer faster?
In my experience Quordle can be a slow game, sometimes dragging out longer than it would take to play Wordle four times. But a sort of blunt-force guessing approach can speed things up. The following strategy also works with Wordle if you only want the solution, and don’t care about having the fewest possible guesses:
Try starting with a series of words that puts all the vowels (including Y) on the board, along with some other common letters. We’ve had good luck with the three words: “NOTES,” “ACRID,” and “LUMPY.” YouTuber DougMansLand suggests four words: “CANOE,” “SKIRT,” “PLUMB,” and “FUDGY.”
Most of the alphabet is now eliminated, and you’ll only have the ability to make one or two wrong guesses if you use this strategy. But in most cases you’ll have all the information you need to guess the remaining words without any wrong guesses.
If strategy isn’t helping, and you’re still stumped, here are some hints:
Are there any double or triple letters in today’s Quordle words?
Two words have twice-occurring letters.
Are any rare letters being used in today’s Quordle like Q or Z?
No.
What do today’s Quordle words start with?
E, F, T, and T.
What are the answers for today’s Quordle?
Are you sure you want to know?
There’s still time to turn back.
OK, you asked for it. The answers are:
EXIST
FLAIR
TAROT
TRUST