Second crypto investor arrested in alleged Bitcoin password torture case
Chainsaw threats, electrocution, beatings, and being hung off a roof -- all for a crypto wallet password
Putin calls for "throttling" Microsoft and Zoom in Russia, urges development of domestic alternatives
Even McDonald's didn't escape Putin's wrath
The CIA used a Star Wars fan website to secretly communicate with spies
The Force wasn't the only thing hiding in this website
Through the looking glass: The internet has seen its fair share of weird, but a Star Wars fan site secretly run by the CIA to communicate with overseas spies might top the list. StarWarsWeb.net looked like any other 2010-era fan page, complete with lightsabers, Yoda quotes ("Like these games you will"), LEGO ads, and hyped-up mentions of games like Battlefront 2 and The Force Unleashed II. But behind that nostalgic facade was a covert login system. If you entered the right password into the search bar, you'd unlock a secure line to CIA handlers. Or at least, that was the plan.
Most online games are now dead, Stop Killing Games proponents say
Planned obsolescence is becoming a successful business model for publishers
German court rules cookie banners must offer "reject all" button
A web without cookie banners would be even better
Klarna's losses double as more buy now, pay later customers struggle with loans
Buy now, don't pay later
Global crackdown led by Microsoft shuts down Lumma Stealer malware infecting 394,000 PCs
A Russian-based cyber-criminal with hundreds of clients is now jobless
Doom: The Dark Ages hits 3 million players, but is the success real?
Is Bethesda's victory lap warranted or is it an attempt to drum up some viral marketing?
Court lets mother sue Google, Character.ai over Daenerys Targaryen chatbot's role in son's death
What just happened? A judge has ruled that the lawsuit against Google and Character.ai over claims the latter's chatbot caused a 14-year-old's suicide can go ahead. The boy's mother, who brought the suit, says her son became addicted to the service and emotionally attached to a chatbot based on the personality of Game of Thrones character Daenerys Targaryen.
Trump tariffs haven't impacted Amazon's prices or customer spending, says CEO
In contrast to Walmart and Target, Amazon reports no tariff-driven average-price hikes
In brief: Amazon CEO Andy Jassy has assured the company's shareholders that Trump's tariffs have neither increased average selling prices of items on the site nor have they affected consumer demand. It comes a few weeks after Amazon was blasted by the White House over a plan to show exactly how much the tariffs will increase the cost of items on its Amazon Haul site.
Kansas woman sues porn sites after teenage son accessed adult content on old laptop
The sites are accused of violating a Kansas age-verification law
Texas is pushing a bill to block under-18s from joining social media platforms
The bill's author labeled social media "the most harmful product our kids have legal access to in Texas"
Nvidia's RTX 5060 launch and the erosion of independent GPU reviews
Why you shouldn't trust early (controlled) coverage of a product
Facepalm: As Computex 2025 is set to unfold in Taipei, much of the tech world's attention will be understandably drawn to new innovations and big announcements at the show. Yet, amid the buzz, a more troubling story is playing out behind the scenes – one that raises serious concerns about transparency, media integrity, and the trustworthiness of GPU launch coverage. The issue? Nvidia's release strategy for the GeForce RTX 5060, and how the company is manipulating public perception through tightly controlled media "previews."
Italy fines thousands as crackdown on pirate IPTV targets viewers
Illegal streaming drains €1 billion every year from Italy's football industry
Europe prepares trial for Open Web Index to reduce reliance on Google and Bing
The public index would facilitate the creation of new search engines outside of current crawlers
Which mobile app was the first to hit 1 billion active users?
Was it TikTok, WhatsApp, Facebook, or WeChat?
Google faces $13 billion in European lawsuits over price comparison abuses
Shopping sites accuse tech giant of stifling competition across Europe
United becomes largest airline to deploy fast Starlink in-flight Wi-Fi
Say goodbye to Airplane Mode and hello to endless doom scrolling at 30,000 feet
YouTube cracks down harder on fake movie trailer channels with new demonetizations
Don't expect a lot of sympathy
VPN service cancels customers' lifetime subscriptions after takeover, says new owners didn't know they existed
Lifetime subscriptions rarely last a lifetime
WTF?! When you see an advertisement for a "lifetime" subscription to something, always remember that it rarely means your lifetime. Those who took out lifetime subscriptions to VPNSecure discovered this when the company was taken over by new owners who promptly canceled the subs. Their excuse? They didn't know some customers had them.
FTC delays click-to-cancel rule enforcement, giving companies more time to simplify cancellations
Arduous cancellation processes aren't disappearing yet
Mexico sues Google for renaming Gulf of Mexico to Gulf of America
Mexico's president previouly threatened legal action
Google adds on-device AI to Chrome to catch scams in real time
GenAI also helps Android apps and mobile search combat scam campaigns
Cloudflare CEO warns AI and zero-click internet are killing the web's business model
The web as we know it is dying fast
You can finally buy ebooks through Amazon Kindle apps on your iPhone and iPad
Taking advantage of recent rulings against Apple's App Store policies