Gran Turismo 7’s April update aims to appease angry fans and fix the grind

A recent Gran Turismo 7 update sparked outrage, not just because it raised the prices of in-game cars, but also because it led to a server outage than lasted for over a day. Now Polyphony Digital President Kazunori Yamauchi has issued an apology “for the frustration and confusion” caused by the patch, along with the announcement of a big update rolling out in early April to “improve player experience.” 

Players complained that the presence of microtransactions and higher car prices made it harder to obtain new vehicles and upgrades without paying real money and spending a lot of time grinding for in-game currency. Yamauchi said back then that he believes it’s important for the cars’ prices to be linked with their real-world counterparts to convey their “value and rarity.” 

That obviously didn’t go over well with fans, who also had to deal with downtime because the update came with an issue that prevented the game from starting properly on the PS4 and the PS5. The game ended up being review bombed on Metacritic, where it currently has a score of 1.5 that translates to “overwhelming dislike.”

The updates coming in early April include higher rewards for events, as well as more events and opportunities to earn in-game currency. Polyphony is also working on more additional features that don’t have a release date yet, such as the ability to sell cars. At the moment, there’s no way to do so in GT7, even though its predecessors had the feature. 

Unfortunately, Yamauchi didn’t mention whether the company is exploring the possibility of making the game available to play offline, so it will likely continue requiring an internet connection for the foreseeable future. He did say, however, that Polyphony is giving players who may have been affected by the server outage a credit pack of 1 million Cr. Only those who already own the game before his post had been published and who log in between March 25th and April 25th will get the free credit pack. 

Reddit is reportedly exploring the addition of TikTok-like video features

Reddit is looking into the possibility of introducing some video features reminiscent of TikTok’s, according to TechCrunch. While the project is still in its very early stages and hasn’t even entered the testing phase yet, TechCrunch says it could include TikTok-like video editing tools that make it easy for you to “react” to another person’s post or to incorporate it into your content.

On TikTok, you can use a feature called Duet to put your video side by side with another user’s to create remixes, parodies and the like. In 2020, the service also introduced Stitch, which lets you integrate scenes from another video into your own. It enabled the quick creation of funny responses to viral videos and even responses that fact check wrong information going around on the platform. Reddit does allow you to post videos on its website, but it doesn’t have features like Duet and Stitch yet.

You probably wouldn’t think of Reddit if you’re made to list social networks with a focus on video. And the goal of this project isn’t to create a TikTok competitor, but rather to provide its users another way to engage in discussions, especially if the original post is also a video. Reddit did purchase TikTok rival Dubsmash back in 2020, but it shut down the service in February this year and incorporated video features from the defunct video-sharing platform. This particular project will also use video technology from Dubsmash. 

A spokesperson told TechCrunch that Reddit is now reaching out to individual communities to see if they’re interested in the new video features. It will only take steps to begin initial testing after they receive (most likely positive) feedback from the communities:

“In line with our work to help people engage in the topics that matter to them through social audio, video, text, memes, and more, we’re in the process of reaching out to a few Reddit communities to see if a new video feature we’re working on is something they find useful and fun. After getting feedback from Redditors, we’ll explore an initial test for this new capability.”

NASA to accept new Artemis lunar lander proposals from commercial companies

Back in April 2021, NASA chose SpaceX to develop a lunar lander that will take astronauts to the moon for its future Artemis missions. SpaceX’s vehicle won’t be the only one flying astronauts to the surface of the Moon, though: NASA has announced that it’s welcoming proposals from American companies for landers that can take human spacefarers from the Gateway station in the lunar orbit to the Moon itself. By having that capability, the lander design can be used for missions beyond Artemis III, which will be the first crewed landing on the Moon since Apollo 17.

In its announcement, the agency said it’s also exercising an option under its existing contract with SpaceX and is asking the company to change the landing system it proposed to meet the new requirement. “Pursuing more development work under the original contract maximizes NASA’s investment and partnership with SpaceX,” the agency said. Having a second lunar lander “provides redundancy in services” and can help ensure reliable transportation for astronauts that will be part of future lunar missions.

While the call for a second lunar lander is new, the plan to have more than one company working on the project isn’t. NASA was originally supposed to choose more than one lunar lander provider for Artemis, but the agency didn’t receive enough funding from Congress, prompting it to go with SpaceX alone. 

Blue Origin, one of the finalists for the contract, filed a complaint with the US Court of Federal Claims, calling the decision “fundamentally unfair.” The Jeff Bezos-owned space corporation argued that NASA allowed SpaceX to modify its bid and wasn’t given the same chance to do so. To note, the contract SpaceX won was worth $2.9 billion, while Blue Origin’s bid was almost twice that at $5.9 billion. NASA believed Blue Origin bid high on purpose on the assumption that NASA would haggle and that it would receive more funding than it did. While the court dismissed Blue Origin’s lawsuit in November, SpaceX had to pause work on the lander twice, losing months in the process. When NASA pushed back the Artemis III mission to 2025, NASA administrator Bill Nelson said Blue Origin’s lawsuit was partly to blame.

NASA will issue a draft solicitation for the second lunar lander in the coming weeks before issuing a formal request for proposals this summer.

Lisa Watson-Morgan, NASA’s Human Landing System Program manager, said:

“This strategy expedites progress toward a long-term, sustaining lander capability as early as the 2026 or 2027 timeframe. We expect to have two companies safely carry astronauts in their landers to the surface of the Moon under NASA’s guidance before we ask for services, which could result in multiple experienced providers in the market.”

‘Elden Ring’ update fixes bug that could put players in an endless death loop

You may want to update your copy of Elden Ring on PC to make sure that you don’t end up losing hours of gameplay to the endless death loop exploit. Bandai Namco has rolled out a patch for the game, which fixes a bug in multiplayer that “allowed players to teleport others to incorrect map coordinates.” A few days ago, reports surfaced about bad actors exploiting a bug that gives them a way to crash your game and teleport your character off the map. Upon reloading, you’ll just find yourself falling to your death and seeing the reviving/loading screen again and again. 

Here’s the infinite death loop in action:

As The Verge notes, some players were able to save their game by quickly teleporting elsewhere, but others reported losing as much as 100 hours of gameplay to the death loop. In addition to fixing this particular bug, the update also patches other issues, including ones that will prevent you from advancing certain quests. 

Elden Ring has been out for less than a month, but it has become huge very, very quickly. It sold 12 million units worldwide merely 18 days after its release, smashing the records of other Souls-type titles — Dark Souls 3, the best-selling game in the franchise, only reached 10 million units sold four years after it became available. When Bandai Namco and Elden Ring developer FromSoftware announced the milestone, they also said that the IP could be expanded “beyond the realm of games.” 

HBO Max’s new shuffle play feature is limited to 45 shows

Almost a year after Netflix introduced its shuffle play button, HBO Max has also launched its own. Unlike Netflix’s version that randomly plays shows and movies from the service’s whole catalog based on your viewing history, though, HBO Max’s has a pretty limited scope. When you tap on the shuffle button, the service will pull random episodes from one of the 45 shows included in the feature. Also, it’s only available on the service’s desktop interface at the moment. 

It’s unclear if HBO Max plans to expand the number of shows included in the list it can randomly play. The WarnerMedia-owned service also didn’t say whether the feature will eventually be available on its apps, though it’s hard to believe that it’ll stay a desktop exclusive. When Netflix first introduced its “play something” button, the company initially made it available on TV devices only. Six months later, though, Netflix released it for Android devices and told us testing for iOS devices would begin in the following months. 

Here are the 45 shows included in HBO Max’s list, per Deadline:

  • A World of Calm

  • Adventure Time

  • Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown

  • Apple & Onion

  • Chappelle Show

  • Courage the Cowardly Dog

  • Craig of the Creek

  • Curb Your Enthusiasm

  • Ed, Ed and Eddy

  • ER

  • Flight of the Conchords

  • Fresh Prince

  • Friends

  • Full House

  • Great Pottery Throwdown

  • Hot Ones

  • How It Really Happened

  • Impractical Jokers

  • Key and Peele

  • Looney Tunes

  • Martin

  • Mike & Molly

  • Regular Show

  • Reno 911!

  • Rick & Morty

  • Robot Chicken

  • Scooby-Do, Where Are You!

  • Selena + Chef

  • Sesame Street

  • South Park

  • Teen Titans Go!

  • The Amazing World of Gumball

  • The Big Bang Theory

  • The Boondocks

  • The Mentalist

  • The Middle

  • The Nanny

  • The Office

  • The Shot: Uninterrupted

  • Tom and Jerry

  • Total Dramarama

  • Two and a Half Men

  • We Bare Bears

  • Whose Line is it Anyway

  • Young Sheldon

Cybersecurity researchers trace Lapsus$ attacks to a teenager from England

A hacking group calling itself Lapsus$ recently made waves by releasing sources codes it claimed to have stolen from Microsoft and Okta. Now, cybersecurity researchers investigating the attacks have traced them to a 16-year-old living with his mother near Oxford, England, according to Bloomberg. While the researchers have identified seven accounts associated with the hacking group — including one traced to another teenager in Brazil — they believe the teenager from England is the mastermind and is behind some of the major Lapsus$ hacks. However, they weren’t able to connect the teen to all the attacks the group carried out.

The researchers looked at forensic evidence from the hacks, as well as public information to determine that the teen was indeed involved. Apparently, rival hackers posted the teenager’s details online, including his address and information about his parents. Bloomberg didn’t release the teen’s personal information and only mentioned that he goes by the aliases “White” and “breachbase.” White is reportedly so skilled at hacking and so fast at what he does that researchers previously thought the attacks were automated. 

Some cybersecurity researchers believe that the group is motivated by not just money, but also notoriety, seeing as the actor doesn’t cover its tracks. As Microsoft detailed in its investigation of the Lapsus$ attacks, the group even announces its hacks on social media and publicly posts calls for employees willing to sell their company logins. The bad actor also joins targets’ communications channels, such as their Zoom calls, to taunt the people responding to their attacks.

Microsoft said the group started by targeting organizations in United Kingdom and South America, but that it has since expanded to target entities around the world, including government agencies, telecoms, and companies in the health sector. Both Microsoft and Okta admitted that they suffered a security breach, but both claim limited impact from the attacks.

Google is removing the Movies & TV section from the Play Store

Google gave its TV app an overhaul last year, redesigning its interface and turning it into a hub for your streaming needs. In the near future, it will also serve as Google’s official home for movies and TV shows you can rent or purchase. While you can already do those now within the TV app, you can also still find movies and TV shows to buy from within the Google Play Store. In May 2022, though, Google will remove the Movies & TV tab from the Play Store menu at the bottom of its interface and will only continue selling apps, games and books.

If you haven’t taken a look at the new Google TV app yet, you’ll see a Shop tab where you can find all the titles the tech giant offers. Everything you pay for will be found in the Library tab, and all purchased content will be there indefinitely — you can either stream it or download it. Take note that you can still use Play credit and Play gift cards for transactions within the app and all your purchases are still eligible for family sharing and Google Play Points. Plus, you can still view and request refunds for your TV app purchases on Google Play. The only difference is that, if there’s a title you want to watch, you’ll soon have to fire up the dedicated Google TV app instead of Play Store to find it. 

Microsoft and Okta detail the impact of recent Lapsus$ attacks

Both Microsoft and Okta have admitted that their systems were indeed infiltrated by the Lapsus$ hacking group, but both companies also said that the cyberattack’s impact was limited. In a post on the Microsoft Security blog, the tech giant has revealed that the group gained limited access to its systems using a single compromised account. 

When the hacking group released a torrent with stolen data, it said the package included 90 percent of Bing’s source code and 45 percent of Cortana and Bing Maps code. Microsoft didn’t say whether those products’ codes were indeed stolen, but it explained that it “does not rely on the secrecy of code as a security measure and viewing source code does not lead to elevation of risk.” Apparently, the company was already investigating the compromised account even before Lapsus$’s announcement. The group’s move prompted Microsoft to move more quickly, allowing it interrupt the bad actor in the middle of its operation, thereby limiting its impact.

Meanwhile, Okta updated its old post made in response to the hacking claim and revealed that approximately 2.5 percent of its customers may have had their data viewed or acted upon. While the company has tens of thousands of customers, it actually supports “hundreds of millions of users,” according to its website. Okta confirmed it has already contacted the affected customers directly via email. 

Okta previously said that it discovered a five-day window in January where an attacker had access to a support engineer’s laptop. However, it said the potential impact to Okta customers is limited, because support engineers only have access to limited data. Lapsus$ claimed that the statement was a lie, because it was able to log into a “superuser portal with the ability to reset the password and MFA” of around 95 percent of the company’s clients.

In addition to announcing the results of its investigation, Microsoft has also detailed how Lapsus$ operates in its post. The group apparently uses various tactics to gain entry into its targets’ systems, such as relying on social engineering and using password stealers. It also purchases logins from underground forums and even pays employees working in target organizations to use their credentials, approve MFA prompts and to install remote management software on a corporate workstation if needed. At times, it also performs SIM-swapping attacks to get access to a user’s phone number in order to receive their two-factor codes. 

If it only gains access to account credentials for someone with limited privileges at first, it explores the company’s collaboration channels like Teams and Slack or exploits vulnerabilities to gain logins for users higher up in the organization. Microsoft said the group started by targeting cryptocurrency accounts, stealing wallets and funds. Eventually, it also targeted telecom companies, higher educational institutions and government organizations in South America and then worldwide. 

Google Photos makes it easier to import and organize your pics

Over the next few weeks, Google is rolling out new features for the Photos app that could make the daunting task of organizing shots you’ve taken over the years feel more achievable. To start with, the tech giant is updating the app’s layout so that you can display groups of photos as a grid or a list that you can filter by type, namely albums, shared albums, favorites and on-device folders. Then, at the bottom menu, you’ll find a new “import photos” section that will help you transfer photos from other services, such as Facebook and iCloud. 

The new feature will also make easier to copy files from a camera, as well as to digitize old images and videos. Plus, it has a function to help you scan physical images with your phone. If you’re on Android, you’ll find more defined sections marked as partner sharing, shared albums and conversations under the sharing tab starting this week, as well. The sections will make their way to the iOS app in the near future.

Another update that could make organizing your images much more doable is the option to exclude your own device folder from backups. If you have a Pixel or another Android device that saves screenshots in that folder, that means you don’t have to wade through snapshots of random things you found online or of bank and other payment transactions. 

Google will soon add a shortcut for screenshots at the top of the main photo grid to take you right to them in case you choose not to back up your device folder. And soon, you’ll also see a carousel of contextual suggestions to copy text, crop and search using Google Lens whenever you view a screenshot. 

Shazam’s new feature makes it easy to find and buy tickets for nearby concerts

Now that pandemic restrictions have started lifting, people are eager to go back to the activities they used to do, such as seeing live music performances. Shazam has launched a new feature meant to make it easier to find shows nearby, so music lovers don’t miss events they can easily go to. Starting today, when users Shazam a song or search for it in the app or on the website, they’ll also see relevant concert information and tickets on sale for upcoming shows near their location.

If they have a specific artist in mind, though, they can simply launch the new Shazam Artist page on the platform and see the dates, times and locations of upcoming performances. Tapping on any of them will show additional tour or show information, along with the ability to add any event to their calendar. Shazam uses information from concert discovery app Bandsintown for this feature, and musicians who want the service to display their event details will have to make the information available via Bandsintown For Artists.

Shazam’s new concert feature is now available on iOS and Android. “Shazam has a long history of innovation in music discovery and connecting artists and fans,” Apple VP for Apple Music and Beats Oliver Schusser said. “With the reemergence of live music, we’re excited to give Shazam users access to concerts and bring even more discoverability to artists.” Apple, which purchased Shazam back in 2018, said last year that the app IDs over a billion songs per month. With this feature, Shazam has taken its music discovery service to another level.