Cisco warned that Chinese government hackers are exploiting a zero-day in some of its products. Researchers now say there are hundreds of vulnerable Cisco customers.
Latest charges join the mountain of indictments facing alleged Tren de Aragua members
A Venezuelan gang described by US officials as "a ruthless terrorist organization" faces charges over alleged deployment of malware on ATMs across the country, illegally siphoning millions of dollars.…
In a memo obtained by media outlets, TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew informed employees that the company has signed a deal to be acquired by a group of American investors. The agreement is scheduled to close on January 22.
'Twas the last weekend before Christmas, when all through the...okay, I'm not doing that. No one would blame you if you didn't read every single Android article published this week. Lucky for you, I've hand-picked five for you to check out—along with a cheat sheet of top headlines.
FiiO just announced the Snowsky Disc, a brand-new digital audio player that blends throwback CD style with serious modern audio guts. This device follows the success of the Snowsky Echo Mini and Nano players, but it offers a unique aesthetic twist that adds nostalgia.
Netflix is acquiring Estonian startup Ready Player Me, a company creating "cross-game avatar tech" that allows players to bring their digital personas with them to different games, the company's CEO Timmu Tõke shared in a LinkedIn post. The acquisition is part of Netflix's new games strategy, which puts an emphasis on approachable multiplayer titles and adaptations of the streaming service's IP.
Ready Player Me's team of around 20 employees will be incorporated into Netflix's staff, TechCrunch writes, though Tõke is the only one of the startup's four founders who will continue on after the acquisition. Neither company has shared when the avatar tech will be incorporated into Netflix's games or what games will support the feature when they do.
Besides designing its avatar system to be easy for developers to implement in their games, Ready Player Me's big pitch for their system is using AI to automatically redesign avatars for different games' art styles and "automatically fit assets to any avatar rig or topology without manual work."
Netflix has taken multiple different approaches to games in the last few years, but lately, the company has actively retreated from AAA development and its more ambitious projects. Other than the premiere of its take on HQ Trivia, Netflix's last few game announcements of 2025 were focused on a collection of streamable party games, and a partnership with FIFA to release a new soccer sim in 2026. All of those projects could support avatars in one form or another, now Netflix just needs to decide how.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/netflix-is-acquiring-game-avatar-maker-ready-player-me-204443001.html?src=rss
Microsoft's latest holiday ad for its Copilot AI assistant features a 30-second montage of users seamlessly syncing smart home lights to music, scaling recipes for large gatherings, and parsing HOA guidelines -- none of which the software can actually perform reliably when put to the test. The Verge methodically tested each prompt shown in the ad and found that Copilot repeatedly hallucinated interface elements that didn't exist, claimed to highlight on-screen buttons when it hadn't, and abandoned calculations midway through.
The smart home interface shown in the ad belongs to "Relecloud," a fictional company Microsoft uses in internal case studies. A Microsoft spokesperson confirmed that both the HOA document and the inflatable reindeer photo were fabricated for the advertisement. The ad closes with Santa Claus asking Copilot why toy production is behind schedule.
Further reading: Talking To Windows' Copilot AI Makes a Computer Feel Incompetent.
President Trump's closure of the de minimis customs loophole in May -- which previously allowed Chinese packages valued under $800 to enter the U.S. duty-free -- has redirected a flood of cheap goods toward Europe, where similar exemptions for packages under $175.8 in the EU and $180 in the UK remain intact.
The shift has been swift: exports of low-value Chinese packages to the U.S. have dropped more than 40% since May, according to Chinese customs data, and the EU has this year overtaken the U.S. as the largest market for China's roughly $100 billion cheap package trade.
Shipments to Hungary and Denmark have quadrupled, and those to Germany, France, and the UK have risen 50% or more. Temu has recorded seven straight months of double-digit U.S. sales declines, per Consumer Edge data tracking credit and debit card transactions. Its European sales, on the other hand: up 56% in the EU and 46% in the UK since May compared to a year ago. The EU agreed last week to impose a $3.5 fee on imported small packages starting in July and to close the de minimis exemption entirely by 2028. The UK plans to follow in 2029.
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