On Tuesday, Google disclosed it recently disrupted a massive network of computers infected by Glupteba. The company estimates the malware has infected approximately one million Windows PCs globally, which would make it one of the largest known botnets to date.A botnet is a network of computers or internet-connected devices all infected by malware that is under the control of a single party. In this case, Google traced Glupteba to at least two individuals based out of Russia. The company is suing them in hopes it will “set a precedent, create legal and liability risks for the botnet operators, and help deter future activity.”At times, the company says it saw the network grow by about 1,000 devices per day. The malware that adds a computer to the Glupteba botnet is usually found hidden on sketchy websites that offer free software. According to Google, Glupteba’s operators used the malware to steal personal data, mine cryptocurrencies and funnel other internet traffic through the infected machines.Per The Washington Post, the hackers also used some of Google’s own services to distribute the malware. The company suspended more than 1,000 accounts that had been used to spread Glupteba.“We don’t just plug security holes, we work to eliminate entire classes of threats for consumers and businesses whose work depends on the Internet,” the company said. “We have teams of analysts and security experts who are dedicated to identifying and stopping issues like DDoS, phishing campaigns, zero-day vulnerabilities, and hacking against Google, our products, and our users.”Google coordinated with internet infrastructure providers to disrupt the botnet, but warns it has so far only succeeded in stopping it temporarily. Glupteba uses blockchain technology as a failsafe against a complete shutdown. When it doesn’t hear from its owners, the software is programmed to automatically use data encoded on the Bitcoin blockchain for instructions on how to reconnect.“Unfortunately, Glupteba’s use of blockchain technology as a resiliency mechanism is notable here and is becoming a more common practice among cyber crime organizations,” Google said. “The decentralized nature of blockchain allows the botnet to recover more quickly from disruptions, making them that much harder to shutdown.” The company says it’s working with its partners to make the internet more resilient to such attacks.......

Architecture studio LANDPROCESS has transformed Thammasat University’s once grey rooftop into an organic farm. The community-ran garden is powered by solar panels and uses a special rainwater collection system for irrigation. As extreme weather events increase, the studio is on a mission to optimise water infiltration by bringing nature back to the city.......

The US Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating Tesla following a whistleblower complaint alleging the company failed to disclose a variety of safety risks associated with rooftop solar panels from its SolarCity division. Per Reuters, the agency acknowledged the probe in a Freedom of Information Act request made by Steven Henkes (pictured above), a former Tesla employee. He contacted the SEC in 2019 after the automaker allegedly ignored his pleas to notify consumers and regulators about the safety issues with its solar panels. One of those involved defective electrical connectors that could cause fires.In 2020, Henkes later sued Tesla, alleging the company had dismissed him in retaliation for his actions. "The top lawyer cautioned any communication of this issue to the public as a detriment to the Tesla reputation,” Henkes said in his complaint. According to the lawsuit, more than 60,000 residential customers were affected by the issues Henkes documented in his complaint.The investigation follows several years of reports of safety concerns with Tesla’s solar panels. In 2019, Walmart sued the company after its solar panels led to seven store fires. While the two companies eventually settled, Walmart claimed at the time Tesla regularly sent inspectors who “lacked basic solar training and knowledge." It also asserted the company’s panels were plagued by visible defects. That same year, the Tesla solar panels at an Amazon warehouse in California reportedly caught fire as well.......

Netflix and Disney set their festive films in a made-up mishmash of France, Switzerland, Romania and everything in between. Is real Europe so hard to love?Netflix’s Christmas universe is an inescapable one, and two of its most successful franchises are The Princess Switch – which recently saw the release of the series’ third film – and A Christmas Prince. Both these franchises take place in a particularly interesting non-place: their American heroines travel to a made-up country which is a perfect synthesis of a certain Europe as seen through certain eyes. This territory – whether it’s named Belgravia, Montanero or Aldovia – does not exist on the map, and yet gets built again and again. It is a curious mishmash of Romania, Switzerland, Italy and everything in between, topped off with a healthy dose of bad British accent.What are the characteristics of this strange enclave? Does it have national ambitions, and if so, of what nature? Can we understand its people? In investigating this potpourri Europeland it’s best to shift away from Netflix and turn to another blockbuster franchise, The Princess Diaries. Based on a YA book series, the two Princess Diaries movies have introduced us to Genovia and its capital Pyrus. Anne Hathaway plays American commoner Mia Thermopolis, who, in Europelandish dialect, becomes princess Amelia Mignonette Thermopolis Renaldi. The name alone distils a funky mixture of France, Greece and Monaco. “Whatever, it’s Europe!” – we can almost hear the Hollywood executive growling in the back. Continue reading.........

The best thing I can say about Halo: Infinite is that it gets better as it goes. The single-player campaign starts out as a basic first-person shooter dripping in nostalgia juice, and it ends up as a rudimentary open-world shooter swimming in sci-fi tropes, starring everyone's favorite emotionless space soldier and his co-dependent AI assistant.As the first open-world entry in the Halo franchise and with more than a year of extra development time, I had high hopes for Infinite. Maybe too high. And even with a grapple hook, this game just can’t reach them.I say all of this with love in my heart. I’ve been a Halo fan since Combat Evolved, and I have two decades of happy memories associated with the franchise, most of which I’ve re-lived while playing Infinite. That part has been a treat — there’s nothing like turning the corner in a random metal-lined corridor, or driving a Warthog down a narrow mountain path, and feeling that warm, gleeful sense of familiarity. This happens over and over again in Infinite.EngadgetRevamping old environments is the easy part, though. Halo Infinite is the first open-world entry in the franchise’s history, promising more exploration and spontaneity for Master Chief than ever before. However, in practice, the world of Zeta Halo is contained and largely linear, offering few surprises and little incentive to travel off the beaten path. There are bases to capture and hordes to defeat, but with such a cramped map, these sidequests pop up naturally along the path of the main storyline, and the game automatically switches the objective to whatever mission is nearby. Sidequests are folded into the campaign like this, and they become indistinguishable from the main missions. By the time I felt ready to get out and explore the Ring, I realized I’d already hit all the icons on my map.EngadgetThat said, Infinite introduces new mechanics and tools that are really fun to play with, and the best of these gadgets is the grapple hook. There are no invisible walls in Infinite, and the grapple hook allows players to take advantage of Zeta Halo’s vertical space, scaling mountains and buildings in a series of pops and swings. The grapple hook opens up fresh vantage points for every battle, and it saved my Master Chief from falling to his death many times over. (I may have even sang, "Spider-Chief, Spider-Chief..." under my breath every now and then. Maybe.)Playing with an Xbox controller, the grapple hook lives on the D-pad, alongside three other tools that get added to Chief's arsenal as the game progresses: a shield, radar darts and a dash move that I rarely use. I’ve tried to deploy the dash, but I really don’t see the point when the grapple hook does the same thing, but faster and in more directions. Switching among these options on the D-pad takes some practice, but once that becomes second-nature, the hook, shield and radar make each fight more dynamic than Halo’s ever been. The grapple hook allows Master Chief to pick up objects from afar like guns and throwable explosives, it eventually shocks enemies on contact, and it lets players smoothly take over enemy vehicles. Infinite is at its best when it provides a rich environment for grappling, shielding and landing floaty in-air headshots, with enemies attacking from all sides.EngadgetNow I’m going to talk some shit about the grapple hook. I know, I just sang its praises, and I stand by everything I said, but I have to put it all in context. From my perspective, the most obvious innovation in Halo Infinite is its use of vertical space, aided by the grapple hook — but that’s hardly a new idea at all, and frankly, other games have done it better. To name just a few recent examples: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild made headlines in 2017 for rethinking vertical exploration in an open-world space; last year, Doom Eternal beautifully demonstrated the power of parkour mechanics in an FPS environment; and Insomniac’s Spider-Man series has perfected the art of high-swinging action. In comparison to games like these, Infinite’s mechanics aren’t innovative at all.I bring this up because I think it’s a disservice to compare Halo Infinite only to other Halo games, rather than its competitors. After all, competition is the root of evolution — and that's kind of Halo's jam. I expected more from a pioneer of the FPS genre as it ventured into open-world gaming. Just because it’s new for Halo doesn’t mean it’s new for the industry.Even with the fresh toys and larger world, Infinite plays like a classic Halo game. The levels are repetitive and mazelike, and the story is packed with military stereotypes, sarcastic robots, women in skin-tight bodysuits and cheesy dialogue. There are a handful of cool new weapons, like the reticle-shifting Heatwave and the revolver-like Mangler, and the entire map is generously stocked with loose ammo and guns. It’s a blockbuster action movie in interactive form, and it has high-energy, entertaining moments, but these are largely overshadowed by the simplistic grind of it all.Overall, Halo Infinite lacks surprise and intrigue, from the map to individual fights. Failing a boss battle, for instance, rarely feels like a failure of strategy. These encounters generally take place in simple settings with repetitive attacks, and I don’t feel like I’m learning anything new with each runthrough; I’m just going through the motions until I catch a lucky break and I can follow the yellow diamond to my next checkpoint. And then the next. And the next.EngadgetAll of this should make for an incredibly fun multiplayer component, and so far, it seems like that’s the case. Maybe Infinite’s campaign is more engaging in split-screen co-op, historically my preferred way to play, but that mode won’t be available until next year. Neither will Forge mode, for that matter.If Halo Infinite had launched day-one with the Xbox Series X and S, I likely wouldn’t have many complaints. The fact that 343 Industries and Microsoft took an extra year to build this game, hyping it up the whole way through, shifted my expectations a bit. Maybe too much. Regardless, I’ll see you in the Halo: Infinite multiplayer lobby on December 8th.......