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Samsung just announced pending US availability for a new smartphone and fitness tracker. The Galaxy A16 5G and Galaxy Fit3 are both modest devices that are just about perfect for the budget-conscious. These gadgets will be available for purchase in the US on January 9, after becoming available in other parts of the world a couple of months back.
The Galaxy A16 5G is a step up from its predecessor in nearly every way. This is a very good thing, as the Galaxy A15 5G easily found a spot in our list of the best budget Android phones. The A16 features a thinner design and slimmer bezels, all while including a slightly larger screen.

This 6.7” FHD Super AMOLED display boasts 800 nits of peak brightness and a 90Hz refresh rate. It comes equipped with an Exynos 1330 processor, a 5000mAh battery with 25W fast-charging and up to 8GB of RAM. Customers can also choose up to 256GB of internal storage, though it supports microSD cards.
As with many modern smartphones, the cameras are the real stars of the show here. There’s a 50MP rear camera, a 5MP ultra-wide, a 2MP macro lens and a 13MP front camera. That’s a pretty good setup for the price, which starts at just $200. The A16 5G will be available in black and light gray.

Samsung

The Galaxy Fit3 is a fairly bare-bones health tracker that’s described as “the perfect entryway for anyone seeking to begin their health journey.” It offers some decent capabilities, like fall detection and sleep tracking. It even monitors blood oxygen levels, which is something not many trackers do at this price point.
The battery life is great, at 13 days, and the IP68 rating means that it should be able to handle being submerged in water, so long as it’s not taken too deep. The tracker pairs with the Samsung Health app, which allows access to 100 different workout types. The Fit3 costs $60 and comes in a few colors, including gray, silver and gold. These colors apply to both the band and the tracker itself.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/smartphones/samsungs-galaxy-a16-5g-phone-and-fit3-tracker-are-coming-the-us-193710051.html?src=rss

Samsung just announced pending US availability for a new smartphone and fitness tracker. The Galaxy A16 5G and Galaxy Fit3 are both modest devices that are just about perfect for the budget-conscious. These gadgets will be available for purchase in the US on January 9, after becoming available in other parts of the world a couple of months back.

The Galaxy A16 5G is a step up from its predecessor in nearly every way. This is a very good thing, as the Galaxy A15 5G easily found a spot in our list of the best budget Android phones. The A16 features a thinner design and slimmer bezels, all while including a slightly larger screen.

This 6.7” FHD Super AMOLED display boasts 800 nits of peak brightness and a 90Hz refresh rate. It comes equipped with an Exynos 1330 processor, a 5000mAh battery with 25W fast-charging and up to 8GB of RAM. Customers can also choose up to 256GB of internal storage, though it supports microSD cards.

As with many modern smartphones, the cameras are the real stars of the show here. There’s a 50MP rear camera, a 5MP ultra-wide, a 2MP macro lens and a 13MP front camera. That’s a pretty good setup for the price, which starts at just $200. The A16 5G will be available in black and light gray.

The Galaxy Fit3 is a fairly bare-bones health tracker that’s described as “the perfect entryway for anyone seeking to begin their health journey.” It offers some decent capabilities, like fall detection and sleep tracking. It even monitors blood oxygen levels, which is something not many trackers do at this price point.

The battery life is great, at 13 days, and the IP68 rating means that it should be able to handle being submerged in water, so long as it’s not taken too deep. The tracker pairs with the Samsung Health app, which allows access to 100 different workout types. The Fit3 costs $60 and comes in a few colors, including gray, silver and gold. These colors apply to both the band and the tracker itself.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/smartphones/samsungs-galaxy-a16-5g-phone-and-fit3-tracker-are-coming-the-us-193710051.html?src=rss

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The best thing about the start of a new year isn’t the goal-setting or the aspirational self-improvement — it’s watching Awesome Games Done Quick. AGDQ is one of the premiere events for speedrunning, with an entire week of high-skill gameplay and loads of heart as gamers raise money for charity. The organization’s winter beneficiary is the Prevent Cancer Foundation, which runs programs intended to stop cancer before it starts, emphasizing early detection and prevention.
The fun begins on January 6 and there is a lot to see. GDQ events highlight a great mix of modern and retro games across just about every genre. Expect plenty of platformers like Astro Bot, one of our favorite new game releases of 2024, which will be run on January 6 at 6:30 PM ET.
Games Done Quick / Richard Ngo
Wednesday is packed with good stuff, such as New Super Mario Bros. Wii with the unusual category of “Any% While Playing Piano,” which you can catch at 4:43 PM ET. The beloved and hilarious awful block is also on January 8, kicking off with the truly terrible game Superman 64 at 11:24 PM ET. And the entire finale day is looking excellent, with another intriguing musical category of “Saxophone-Controlled Boss Showcase” happening for Elden Ring. Groovy!
Be sure to keep an eye on the schedule during the week. It displays your local time zone and will be updated with any shifts that happen from delays or extra zippy world records. All the action happens on the Games Done Quick Twitch channel, which is also embedded below. The pre-show begins on January 6 at 11:30 AM ET and the stream will be live 24/7 until the final run calls time.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/how-to-watch-awesome-games-done-quick-2025-191752532.html?src=rss

The best thing about the start of a new year isn’t the goal-setting or the aspirational self-improvement — it’s watching Awesome Games Done Quick. AGDQ is one of the premiere events for speedrunning, with an entire week of high-skill gameplay and loads of heart as gamers raise money for charity. The organization’s winter beneficiary is the Prevent Cancer Foundation, which runs programs intended to stop cancer before it starts, emphasizing early detection and prevention.

The fun begins on January 6 and there is a lot to see. GDQ events highlight a great mix of modern and retro games across just about every genre. Expect plenty of platformers like Astro Bot, one of our favorite new game releases of 2024, which will be run on January 6 at 6:30 PM ET.

Wednesday is packed with good stuff, such as New Super Mario Bros. Wii with the unusual category of “Any% While Playing Piano,” which you can catch at 4:43 PM ET. The beloved and hilarious awful block is also on January 8, kicking off with the truly terrible game Superman 64 at 11:24 PM ET. And the entire finale day is looking excellent, with another intriguing musical category of “Saxophone-Controlled Boss Showcase” happening for Elden Ring. Groovy!

Be sure to keep an eye on the schedule during the week. It displays your local time zone and will be updated with any shifts that happen from delays or extra zippy world records. All the action happens on the Games Done Quick Twitch channel, which is also embedded below. The pre-show begins on January 6 at 11:30 AM ET and the stream will be live 24/7 until the final run calls time.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/how-to-watch-awesome-games-done-quick-2025-191752532.html?src=rss

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The 8Bitdo Ultimate Wired Controller for Xbox is on sale via Amazon for just $29. This is a record low price and represents a discount of 36 percent. That’s a pretty good deal, especially when considering that first-party Xbox controllers are around $60.
This isn’t a cheap knockoff. 8Bitdo makes fantastic controllers that regularly find a place in our best of lists. It’s licensed by Xbox and compatible with the Xbox Series X, Series S, Xbox One and Windows 10 and above. In other words, this can double as a PC and Xbox controller.

There are two extra buttons on the back that aren’t included with the official controller, which could be useful for mapping (particularly with PC games.) To that end, the controller offers custom button mapping and stick/trigger sensitivity for control over vibration.
The Hall effect joysticks and impulse triggers should increase both durability and sensitivity, while minimizing drift. There’s also a 3.5mm audio jack on the back to directly connect to headphones. Other features include a classic d-pad and an enhanced grip.
So what’s the catch? It’s right there in the name. This is a wired controller, which is both a blessing and a curse. Wired controllers offer reduced latency, making them the preferred choice for pro-level gamers, but keep folks tethered to a cable. It ships with a fairly long cable, at nearly ten feet, but the wireless range of a standard Bluetooth controller comes in at around 20 feet.
Follow @EngadgetDeals on Twitter and subscribe to the Engadget Deals newsletter for the latest tech deals and buying advice.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/8bitdos-ultimate-wired-controller-for-xbox-drops-to-a-record-low-of-29-173842848.html?src=rss

The 8Bitdo Ultimate Wired Controller for Xbox is on sale via Amazon for just $29. This is a record low price and represents a discount of 36 percent. That’s a pretty good deal, especially when considering that first-party Xbox controllers are around $60.

This isn’t a cheap knockoff. 8Bitdo makes fantastic controllers that regularly find a place in our best of lists. It’s licensed by Xbox and compatible with the Xbox Series X, Series S, Xbox One and Windows 10 and above. In other words, this can double as a PC and Xbox controller.

There are two extra buttons on the back that aren’t included with the official controller, which could be useful for mapping (particularly with PC games.) To that end, the controller offers custom button mapping and stick/trigger sensitivity for control over vibration.

The Hall effect joysticks and impulse triggers should increase both durability and sensitivity, while minimizing drift. There’s also a 3.5mm audio jack on the back to directly connect to headphones. Other features include a classic d-pad and an enhanced grip.

So what’s the catch? It’s right there in the name. This is a wired controller, which is both a blessing and a curse. Wired controllers offer reduced latency, making them the preferred choice for pro-level gamers, but keep folks tethered to a cable. It ships with a fairly long cable, at nearly ten feet, but the wireless range of a standard Bluetooth controller comes in at around 20 feet.

Follow @EngadgetDeals on Twitter and subscribe to the Engadget Deals newsletter for the latest tech deals and buying advice.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/8bitdos-ultimate-wired-controller-for-xbox-drops-to-a-record-low-of-29-173842848.html?src=rss

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You can now play Jeopardy! on your Fire TV Stick. Volley, the developer of the Alexa version of the game show, launched a new edition for Amazon’s streaming device on Thursday. Unlike the voice assistant edition, this one lets you see the clues onscreen, which I have to imagine makes it much more enjoyable. Of course, you also get a familiar view of the 60-year-old show’s iconic game board.
The game is only available through the developer’s new Volley Games app for Fire OS, which requires a $13 monthly subscription. Jeopardy! is exclusively voice-powered, apart from holding the voice button on the Alexa Voice Remote when you want to answer (in the form of a question, of course).

Volley

Although the photo above hints that the game might support local multiplayer, the developer says the feature won’t be available at launch but “will be coming soon.” (However, it’s hard to imagine how that will work without buying extra remotes so everyone can buzz in.) For now, the only way to play with friends is to work as a team or take turns with the remote.
Jeopardy! only works on the Fire TV Stick, Fire TV Stick 4K and Fire TV Stick 4K Max. So, you’re out of luck if you have a Fire TV Cube or television with Fire TV baked in. However, Volley says it has plans to expand compatibility.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/this-is-jeopardy-on-your-fire-tv-stick-170008005.html?src=rss

You can now play Jeopardy! on your Fire TV Stick. Volley, the developer of the Alexa version of the game show, launched a new edition for Amazon’s streaming device on Thursday. Unlike the voice assistant edition, this one lets you see the clues onscreen, which I have to imagine makes it much more enjoyable. Of course, you also get a familiar view of the 60-year-old show’s iconic game board.

The game is only available through the developer’s new Volley Games app for Fire OS, which requires a $13 monthly subscription. Jeopardy! is exclusively voice-powered, apart from holding the voice button on the Alexa Voice Remote when you want to answer (in the form of a question, of course).

Although the photo above hints that the game might support local multiplayer, the developer says the feature won’t be available at launch but “will be coming soon.” (However, it’s hard to imagine how that will work without buying extra remotes so everyone can buzz in.) For now, the only way to play with friends is to work as a team or take turns with the remote.

Jeopardy! only works on the Fire TV Stick, Fire TV Stick 4K and Fire TV Stick 4K Max. So, you’re out of luck if you have a Fire TV Cube or television with Fire TV baked in. However, Volley says it has plans to expand compatibility.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/this-is-jeopardy-on-your-fire-tv-stick-170008005.html?src=rss

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Tesla has reported its first-ever decline in annual deliveries. The total number of deliveries for 2024 hovers at around 1.78 million, but the company delivered 1.81 million vehicles in 2023. Company shares fell by as much as seven percent at the news, but has since rallied a couple of points. This follows similar news from Q1 of 2024, but that was just for a single quarter. 
Q4 showed a slight uptick in deliveries, with 495,000 this year and 484,000 in 2023. However, analysts had predicted a more robust final quarter, according to reporting by CNBC. These analysts expected Q4 deliveries to be somewhere in the range of 506,000. Tesla doesn’t publish actual sales numbers in the US, so these delivery metrics are the closest we get.
Numbers are also down in Europe, with a 14 percent decline in 2024 when compared to last year. This is according to registration data from the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association.
We don’t have a concrete reason as to why Tesla deliveries have started to falter, but there are a myriad of options. The company still hasn’t made a budget-friendly EV, instead focusing its energies on the oft-maligned Cybertruck and dreams of robotic taxis. Patrick George, editor in chief of InsideEVs, told CNBC that Cybertrucks have begun “piling up on used car lots.”

Sales of Tesla’s radical got off to a great start, but they seem to have slowed down.https://t.co/4BWTa21Mrd— InsideEVs (@InsideEVs) December 20, 2024

The company is also no longer the only EV game in town. It faces steep competition from rival upstarts like Rivian, but also legacy manufacturers. Entities like BMW, GM, Hyundai and Volkswagen have all begun cranking out electric vehicles in large numbers. Finally, there’s the Elon Musk of it all. 
Tesla’s stock still finished strong for the year, with a 60 percent increase from 2023. Shares actually hit a new high in December, dwarfing the previous all-time high from 2021.
In other news, I do not understand stocks. Ford, which sold 1.72 million vehicles in the US by Q3, is worth under $10 per share. Tesla is currently trading at $380 per share, all while selling significantly fewer vehicles than Ford and, well, just about every other major automobile manufacturer. Maybe rival stocks would shoot up if the big US auto companies started putting more effort into humanoid robots that don’t actually do anything. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/transportation/evs/tesla-reports-its-first-ever-annual-drop-in-deliveries-163154201.html?src=rss

Tesla has reported its first-ever decline in annual deliveries. The total number of deliveries for 2024 hovers at around 1.78 million, but the company delivered 1.81 million vehicles in 2023. Company shares fell by as much as seven percent at the news, but has since rallied a couple of points. This follows similar news from Q1 of 2024, but that was just for a single quarter. 

Q4 showed a slight uptick in deliveries, with 495,000 this year and 484,000 in 2023. However, analysts had predicted a more robust final quarter, according to reporting by CNBC. These analysts expected Q4 deliveries to be somewhere in the range of 506,000. Tesla doesn’t publish actual sales numbers in the US, so these delivery metrics are the closest we get.

Numbers are also down in Europe, with a 14 percent decline in 2024 when compared to last year. This is according to registration data from the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association.

We don’t have a concrete reason as to why Tesla deliveries have started to falter, but there are a myriad of options. The company still hasn’t made a budget-friendly EV, instead focusing its energies on the oft-maligned Cybertruck and dreams of robotic taxis. Patrick George, editor in chief of InsideEVs, told CNBC that Cybertrucks have begun “piling up on used car lots.”

The company is also no longer the only EV game in town. It faces steep competition from rival upstarts like Rivian, but also legacy manufacturers. Entities like BMW, GM, Hyundai and Volkswagen have all begun cranking out electric vehicles in large numbers. Finally, there’s the Elon Musk of it all. 

Tesla’s stock still finished strong for the year, with a 60 percent increase from 2023. Shares actually hit a new high in December, dwarfing the previous all-time high from 2021.

In other news, I do not understand stocks. Ford, which sold 1.72 million vehicles in the US by Q3, is worth under $10 per share. Tesla is currently trading at $380 per share, all while selling significantly fewer vehicles than Ford and, well, just about every other major automobile manufacturer. Maybe rival stocks would shoot up if the big US auto companies started putting more effort into humanoid robots that don’t actually do anything. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/transportation/evs/tesla-reports-its-first-ever-annual-drop-in-deliveries-163154201.html?src=rss

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Ahead of the official start of CES, Samsung has announced a trio of new Odyssey gaming monitors. Of the bunch, the G81SF is the most interesting. Samsung says it’s the first 4K, 27-inch OLED gaming monitor. The panel features a 240Hz refresh rate and 0.03ms gray-to-gray pixel response time. 
At 4K and 27 inches, pixel density clocks in at 165 pixels per inch, meaning the G81SF should produce an incredibly sharp image. As Samsung is the main supplier of QD-OLEDs, the G81SF’s panel will almost certainly make its way to other gaming monitors released this year. With CES 2025 about to kick off, some of those could be announced as early as sometime in the next few days.
If you don’t want to sacrifice motion clarity for sharpness, Samsung has you covered there too. The second new Odyssey gaming monitor the company announced, the G60SF, features a 500Hz refresh rate. Resolution is limited to 2,560 x 1,440 on this model, but both the G6 and the G8 detailed above will offer VESA True Black 400-certified HDR performance, so the G60SF will still be great for single player games and exceptional for competitive titles like Overwatch 2 and Valorant, thanks to that 500Hz refresh rate.
Samsung
Rounding out the new Odyssey monitors Samsung announced today is something of a curio and a CES throwback. The 27-inch G90XF has a lenticular lens attached to the front of its panel and stereo camera, meaning you can use it to watch 3D content without wearing 3D glasses. The G90XF includes AI software Samsung says can convert 2D video to 3D, but if we had to guess, the resulting footage won’t look great.
If you primarily use your computer for productivity, Samsung hasn’t forgotten you and the company’s new offerings here aren’t any less interesting. First, there’s the Smart Monitor M9 (M90SF). It features a 32-inch 4K OLED panel that offers True Black 400 HDR performance. It also comes with Samsung’s space-saving Easy Setup Stand, but what separates the M90SF from all the other monitors Samsung announced today are the couple of AI features that come included with it. The first, dubbed AI Picture Optimizer, analyzes the input signal from your PC to automatically adjust the M9’s display settings to produce the best image possible for the content you’re consuming, be that a game, movie or productivity app. The other feature can upscale lower-resolution content to 4K.
Lastly, there’s the ViewFinity S8. It’s not an OLED, but at 37 inches, it’s the largest 16:9 4K monitor Samsung has ever offered. It offers 99 percent sRGB color gamut coverage, a built-in KVM switch and 90W USB-C power delivery. It’s not the most exciting monitor in Samsung’s new lineup, but it should appeal to design professionals who want the biggest possible screen but would rather not deal with the line distortion produced by an ultrawide.
Samsung did not share pricing and availability information for any of the monitors it announced today. Expect those details to come sometime after CES.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/computing/the-first-27-inch-4k-gaming-oled-monitor-is-here-courtesy-of-samsung-155118244.html?src=rss

Ahead of the official start of CES, Samsung has announced a trio of new Odyssey gaming monitors. Of the bunch, the G81SF is the most interesting. Samsung says it’s the first 4K, 27-inch OLED gaming monitor. The panel features a 240Hz refresh rate and 0.03ms gray-to-gray pixel response time. 

At 4K and 27 inches, pixel density clocks in at 165 pixels per inch, meaning the G81SF should produce an incredibly sharp image. As Samsung is the main supplier of QD-OLEDs, the G81SF’s panel will almost certainly make its way to other gaming monitors released this year. With CES 2025 about to kick off, some of those could be announced as early as sometime in the next few days.

If you don’t want to sacrifice motion clarity for sharpness, Samsung has you covered there too. The second new Odyssey gaming monitor the company announced, the G60SF, features a 500Hz refresh rate. Resolution is limited to 2,560 x 1,440 on this model, but both the G6 and the G8 detailed above will offer VESA True Black 400-certified HDR performance, so the G60SF will still be great for single player games and exceptional for competitive titles like Overwatch 2 and Valorant, thanks to that 500Hz refresh rate.

Rounding out the new Odyssey monitors Samsung announced today is something of a curio and a CES throwback. The 27-inch G90XF has a lenticular lens attached to the front of its panel and stereo camera, meaning you can use it to watch 3D content without wearing 3D glasses. The G90XF includes AI software Samsung says can convert 2D video to 3D, but if we had to guess, the resulting footage won’t look great.

If you primarily use your computer for productivity, Samsung hasn’t forgotten you and the company’s new offerings here aren’t any less interesting. First, there’s the Smart Monitor M9 (M90SF). It features a 32-inch 4K OLED panel that offers True Black 400 HDR performance. It also comes with Samsung’s space-saving Easy Setup Stand, but what separates the M90SF from all the other monitors Samsung announced today are the couple of AI features that come included with it. The first, dubbed AI Picture Optimizer, analyzes the input signal from your PC to automatically adjust the M9’s display settings to produce the best image possible for the content you’re consuming, be that a game, movie or productivity app. The other feature can upscale lower-resolution content to 4K.

Lastly, there’s the ViewFinity S8. It’s not an OLED, but at 37 inches, it’s the largest 16:9 4K monitor Samsung has ever offered. It offers 99 percent sRGB color gamut coverage, a built-in KVM switch and 90W USB-C power delivery. It’s not the most exciting monitor in Samsung’s new lineup, but it should appeal to design professionals who want the biggest possible screen but would rather not deal with the line distortion produced by an ultrawide.

Samsung did not share pricing and availability information for any of the monitors it announced today. Expect those details to come sometime after CES.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/computing/the-first-27-inch-4k-gaming-oled-monitor-is-here-courtesy-of-samsung-155118244.html?src=rss

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The US Treasury Department told lawmakers in a letter back in December that its documents and workstations were accessed by an external party in a security breach. It described the attack as “a major cybersecurity incident” and attributed it to a “China state-sponsored Advanced Persistent Threat actor.” Now, The Washington Post has reported that the bad actors infiltrated a “highly sensitive office” within the Treasury in charge of deliberating and administering US government sanctions. 
As The Post explains, the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) is in possession of some important information that could be very useful to another country’s government. While the hackers were only able to steal unclassified data, they could still have gotten their hands on the identities of potential sanction targets. They could also have stolen pieces of evidence that the agency had collected as part of its investigation on entities that the government is thinking of sanctioning. Overall, the attackers could have gotten enough information to give them the knowledge of how the US develops sanctions against foreign entities. 
In addition to OFAC, the Office of the Treasury Secretary and the Office of Financial Research were also affected by the breach. The attackers infiltrated the Treasury’s systems by gaining access to a key used by BeyondTrust, a cloud-based service that provides the department with technical support. 
The US government has attributed numerous cyberattacks on its agencies and American companies to China state-sponsored actors over the years. Just last year, the FBI blamed “PRC-affiliated actors” for a massive hack on US telecom companies. The actors, a group known as Salt Typhoon, reportedly targeted the mobile devices of diplomats, government officials and other people linked to both presidential campaigns. According to The Post, Chinese officials called claims that their country was involved in the attack on the Treasury Department “groundless” and insisted that their government “has always opposed all forms of hacker attacks.”This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/cybersecurity/china-linked-attack-on-us-treasury-department-reportedly-targeted-its-sanctions-office-150033082.html?src=rss

The US Treasury Department told lawmakers in a letter back in December that its documents and workstations were accessed by an external party in a security breach. It described the attack as “a major cybersecurity incident” and attributed it to a “China state-sponsored Advanced Persistent Threat actor.” Now, The Washington Post has reported that the bad actors infiltrated a “highly sensitive office” within the Treasury in charge of deliberating and administering US government sanctions. 

As The Post explains, the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) is in possession of some important information that could be very useful to another country’s government. While the hackers were only able to steal unclassified data, they could still have gotten their hands on the identities of potential sanction targets. They could also have stolen pieces of evidence that the agency had collected as part of its investigation on entities that the government is thinking of sanctioning. Overall, the attackers could have gotten enough information to give them the knowledge of how the US develops sanctions against foreign entities. 

In addition to OFAC, the Office of the Treasury Secretary and the Office of Financial Research were also affected by the breach. The attackers infiltrated the Treasury’s systems by gaining access to a key used by BeyondTrust, a cloud-based service that provides the department with technical support. 

The US government has attributed numerous cyberattacks on its agencies and American companies to China state-sponsored actors over the years. Just last year, the FBI blamed “PRC-affiliated actors” for a massive hack on US telecom companies. The actors, a group known as Salt Typhoon, reportedly targeted the mobile devices of diplomats, government officials and other people linked to both presidential campaigns. According to The Post, Chinese officials called claims that their country was involved in the attack on the Treasury Department “groundless” and insisted that their government “has always opposed all forms of hacker attacks.”

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/cybersecurity/china-linked-attack-on-us-treasury-department-reportedly-targeted-its-sanctions-office-150033082.html?src=rss

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Telegram has introduced a new third-party account verification system as part of its latest app update, the company announced in a blog post. The idea is to let public figures or companies that are already verified by Telegram in turn verify others, for instance employees in the organization. “This decentralized platform for additional verification will help prevent scams and reduce misinformation — with a unique proactive solution that sets a new safety standard for social platforms,” Telegram wrote. 
Individuals or groups that want to be able to verify others must already have an official bot verified by Telegram. Once that happens, they can apply to become a third-party verifier on Telegram. They’re also required to have a unique icon (simple and. minimalistic in a solid color) that will appear next of the names of accounts they verify. 
Any accounts verified in this way will have that logo next to their name, and opening their profile will show a detailed explanation of that status and what it means. The company emphasized that this type of verification is “completely separate” from its internal verification, and provided more details in a guide. 
Telegram also introduced new search filters that let you refine a list of results only from private chats, group chats or channels. It also added custom emojis for folder names, reactions for service messages and the ability to upgrade gifts to NFTs. 
The company also announced that it reached profitability for the first time thanks to monetization features like Premium subscriptions, ads, Telegram Stars and more. Not all has been rosy for the company of late, though: In August last year, the founder of the chat app, Pavel Durov, was arrested over charges that the company hadn’t done enough to stop illegal activity on the app. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/social-media/telegram-introduces-third-party-verification-and-new-search-filters-140013424.html?src=rss

Telegram has introduced a new third-party account verification system as part of its latest app update, the company announced in a blog post. The idea is to let public figures or companies that are already verified by Telegram in turn verify others, for instance employees in the organization. “This decentralized platform for additional verification will help prevent scams and reduce misinformation — with a unique proactive solution that sets a new safety standard for social platforms,” Telegram wrote. 

Individuals or groups that want to be able to verify others must already have an official bot verified by Telegram. Once that happens, they can apply to become a third-party verifier on Telegram. They’re also required to have a unique icon (simple and. minimalistic in a solid color) that will appear next of the names of accounts they verify. 

Any accounts verified in this way will have that logo next to their name, and opening their profile will show a detailed explanation of that status and what it means. The company emphasized that this type of verification is “completely separate” from its internal verification, and provided more details in a guide. 

Telegram also introduced new search filters that let you refine a list of results only from private chats, group chats or channels. It also added custom emojis for folder names, reactions for service messages and the ability to upgrade gifts to NFTs. 

The company also announced that it reached profitability for the first time thanks to monetization features like Premium subscriptions, ads, Telegram Stars and more. Not all has been rosy for the company of late, though: In August last year, the founder of the chat app, Pavel Durov, was arrested over charges that the company hadn’t done enough to stop illegal activity on the app. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/social-media/telegram-introduces-third-party-verification-and-new-search-filters-140013424.html?src=rss

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Welcome to 2025. Wave farewell to yesteryear with the biggest losers in tech. Picking our favorite villains in 2024 was challenging when it simply wasn’t a great time for tech. With the depressing spiral that is social media, the will-they-or-won’t-they dance of banning TikTok in the US and the neverending edited and deepfaked content, it’s just so noisy. Is it the internet of slop? Is it exhaustion? Is it AIs talking to AIs about AIs? In between all that, there’s the obsolescence of connectors past, Intel’s major struggles to turn around its fortunes, and, ugh, those AI assistants.
Engadget
And, because it’s a new year, we’ll be making some changes to the Engadget newsletter in the next few weeks. We’ll still be hitting the biggest tech stories and events, but also fold in more context, more writers and editors and even some features from Engadget’s past. Is there something you’d like to see in your inbox? Get in touch.
– Mat Smith
The biggest tech stories you missed

Dang, 2024 was a great year for horror game fans
Bluesky and Threads showed us very different visions for a post-X future
CNBC’s new streaming service can cost up to $600 a year

Get this delivered daily direct to your inbox. Subscribe right here!

New year, new public domain characters and media
Tintin dancing to Rhapsody in Blue.
Engadget
It’s the start of a new year, and a fresh crop of creative works have entered the public domain. Today, many materials copyrighted in 1929 and sound recordings from 1924 become fair game to freely adapt, reuse, copy and share. Several seminal directors debuted their first projects with sound, such as Alfred Hitchcock’s Blackmail and Cecil B. DeMille’s Dynamite. 1929 was also the year when Walt Disney directed the iconic Skeleton Dance short animated by Ub Iwerks, as well as when Mickey Mouse starred in his first talkie.
Continue reading.

The first PlayStation Plus games of 2025 include The Stanley Parable and Suicide Squad
Two games from a decade ago and a critical flop.

Sony just revealed the first set of PlayStation Plus games in 2025 available for all subscribers. This month includes Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, Need for Speed Hot Pursuit Remastered and The Stanley Parable: Ultra Deluxe. Suicide Squad is a surprising addition: It went through multiple delays, got largely negative reviews and reportedly cost Warner Bros. some $200 million. Developers announced that the current season of content would be its last, though there are no plans to shut the game down yet. So play it while you… can?
Continue reading.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/general/the-morning-after-engadget-newsletter-121556766.html?src=rss

Welcome to 2025. Wave farewell to yesteryear with the biggest losers in tech. Picking our favorite villains in 2024 was challenging when it simply wasn’t a great time for tech. With the depressing spiral that is social media, the will-they-or-won’t-they dance of banning TikTok in the US and the neverending edited and deepfaked content, it’s just so noisy. Is it the internet of slop? Is it exhaustion? Is it AIs talking to AIs about AIs? In between all that, there’s the obsolescence of connectors past, Intel’s major struggles to turn around its fortunes, and, ugh, those AI assistants.

And, because it’s a new year, we’ll be making some changes to the Engadget newsletter in the next few weeks. We’ll still be hitting the biggest tech stories and events, but also fold in more context, more writers and editors and even some features from Engadget’s past. Is there something you’d like to see in your inbox? Get in touch.

– Mat Smith

The biggest tech stories you missed

Dang, 2024 was a great year for horror game fans

Bluesky and Threads showed us very different visions for a post-X future

CNBC’s new streaming service can cost up to $600 a year

Get this delivered daily direct to your inbox. Subscribe right here!

New year, new public domain characters and media

Tintin dancing to Rhapsody in Blue.

It’s the start of a new year, and a fresh crop of creative works have entered the public domain. Today, many materials copyrighted in 1929 and sound recordings from 1924 become fair game to freely adapt, reuse, copy and share. Several seminal directors debuted their first projects with sound, such as Alfred Hitchcock’s Blackmail and Cecil B. DeMille’s Dynamite. 1929 was also the year when Walt Disney directed the iconic Skeleton Dance short animated by Ub Iwerks, as well as when Mickey Mouse starred in his first talkie.

Continue reading.

The first PlayStation Plus games of 2025 include The Stanley Parable and Suicide Squad

Two games from a decade ago and a critical flop.

Sony just revealed the first set of PlayStation Plus games in 2025 available for all subscribers. This month includes Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, Need for Speed Hot Pursuit Remastered and The Stanley Parable: Ultra Deluxe. Suicide Squad is a surprising addition: It went through multiple delays, got largely negative reviews and reportedly cost Warner Bros. some $200 million. Developers announced that the current season of content would be its last, though there are no plans to shut the game down yet. So play it while you… can?

Continue reading.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/general/the-morning-after-engadget-newsletter-121556766.html?src=rss

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It’s the start of a new year, which means a fresh crop of creative works have entered the public domain. Today, many materials that were copyrighted in 1929, along with sound recordings from 1924, become fair game to freely adapt, reuse, copy and share. The Center for Public Domain at Duke Law School collected some of the more notable properties that entered public domain with the start of 2025.
This is a big year when it comes to film, with several seminal directors debuting their first projects with sound, such as Alfred Hitchcock’s Blackmail and Cecil B. DeMille’s Dynamite. 1929 was also the year when Walt Disney directed the iconic Skeleton Dance short animated by Ub Iwerks, as well as when Mickey Mouse starred in his first talkie. The intrepid Tintin and original Popeye characters have arrived in the public domain as well.
The compositions for several great songs joined the public domain today. There are memorable show tunes like Singin’ in the Rain and An American in Paris alongside jazz standards Ain’t Misbehavin’ and (What Did I Do To Be So) Black and Blue and classical hits like the masterwork Boléro. On the recording side are tracks like George Gershwin’s beautiful Rhapsody in Blue and the legendary singer Marian Anderson’s take on My Way’s Cloudy.
Finally, several authors had titles in the Duke Law roundup. Noir fans will be happy to see Dashiell Hammett’s The Maltese Falcon and Red Harvest here. Other notable literary works now in public domain include A Room of One’s Own by Virginia Woolf, A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemmingway, Seven Dials Mystery by Agatha Christie and The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner. And for the verse lovers, the original German version of Rainer Maria Rilke’s Letters to a Young Poet is also on the list.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/thanks-to-public-domain-tintin-can-now-skeleton-dance-to-rhapsody-in-blue-230014559.html?src=rss

It’s the start of a new year, which means a fresh crop of creative works have entered the public domain. Today, many materials that were copyrighted in 1929, along with sound recordings from 1924, become fair game to freely adapt, reuse, copy and share. The Center for Public Domain at Duke Law School collected some of the more notable properties that entered public domain with the start of 2025.

This is a big year when it comes to film, with several seminal directors debuting their first projects with sound, such as Alfred Hitchcock’s Blackmail and Cecil B. DeMille’s Dynamite. 1929 was also the year when Walt Disney directed the iconic Skeleton Dance short animated by Ub Iwerks, as well as when Mickey Mouse starred in his first talkie. The intrepid Tintin and original Popeye characters have arrived in the public domain as well.

The compositions for several great songs joined the public domain today. There are memorable show tunes like Singin’ in the Rain and An American in Paris alongside jazz standards Ain’t Misbehavin’ and (What Did I Do To Be So) Black and Blue and classical hits like the masterwork Boléro. On the recording side are tracks like George Gershwin’s beautiful Rhapsody in Blue and the legendary singer Marian Anderson’s take on My Way’s Cloudy.

Finally, several authors had titles in the Duke Law roundup. Noir fans will be happy to see Dashiell Hammett’s The Maltese Falcon and Red Harvest here. Other notable literary works now in public domain include A Room of One’s Own by Virginia Woolf, A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemmingway, Seven Dials Mystery by Agatha Christie and The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner. And for the verse lovers, the original German version of Rainer Maria Rilke’s Letters to a Young Poet is also on the list.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/thanks-to-public-domain-tintin-can-now-skeleton-dance-to-rhapsody-in-blue-230014559.html?src=rss

Read More