Facebook wants you to post Reels from third-party apps

Facebook is taking another step to encourage users to create original content for its TikTok clone. The company introduced a new “sharing to Reels” feature to allow users of third-party apps to post directly to Facebook Reels.The update allows outside …

Cash App breach impacted over 8 million users

Block disclosed today that a security breach involving a former employee impacts 8.2 million Cash App users. In an SEC filing, the company reported that an ex-employee on December 10th downloaded a number of reports with information on customer informa…

Twitter confirms it will test an edit button

More than a decade and a half into its existence, Twitter has confirmed what was once unthinkable: an edit button is on the way. The company confirmed as much Tuesday, saying that it’s been “been working on an edit feature since last year.” 

The company was light on details, but it did share a mock-up of the feature, which it said it would test first with Twitter Blue subscribers “in the coming months.”

Twitter added that “no, we didn’t get the idea from a poll,” in an apparent reference to Elon Musk, who recently became the company’s largest shareholder and immediately asked his followers if the company should create the long-requested feature.

In a separate thread, the company’s head of consumer product Jay Sullivan said that an edit button “has been the most requested Twitter feature for many years.” He said the company would be “actively seeking input and adversarial thinking” prior to launching the feature in order to prevent potential misuse.

“Without things like time limits, controls, and transparency about what has been edited, Edit could be misused to alter the record of the public conversation,” Sullivan wrote. “Protecting the integrity of that public conversation is our top priority when we approach this work. Therefore, it will take time and we will be actively seeking input and adversarial thinking in advance of launching Edit.”

That Twitter will start experimenting with editable tweets is a major shift for the company. Executives have long acknowledged the practicality of being able to fix typos and correct errors, but have cited concerns that an edit button could chip away at Twitter’s ability to act as a public record. As recently as 2020, Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey said it would “probably” never happen, despite previously seeming open to the idea. “We wanted to preserve that vibe, that feeling, in the early days,” he said, referring to Twitter’s origins as an SMS-based service.

Prior to Twitter confirming it was in fact working on an edit button, Meta CTO Andrew “Boz” Bosworth weighed in on the idea, claiming that Facebook had already “solved” issues around potential misuse. “You just include an indicator that it has been edited along with a change log,” he wrote. “If you are really worried about embeds they can point to a specific revision in that history but with a link to the latest edit. Not a real issue.” 

Bringing the edit button to Twitter Blue subscribers first could also be a major boost to Twitter’s recently-launched subscription service. The $2.99/month service gives subscribers additional features, like the ability to “undo” tweets and access to NFT profile photos. But that doesn’t mean edit functionality will always be limited to those who pay. Editing will be available first as a “Twitter Blue Labs” feature, but the company has said it intends to make some “labs” features available to everyone after initial testing. Whether that will be the case with tweet editing is unclear for now.

Microsoft’s Xbox Series S is $50 off at Adorama today only

For today only, you can get $50 off the Xbox Series S through camera retailer Adorama. With the discount, Microsoft’s entry-level ninth-generation console costs $250. That matches one of the best prices we’ve seen for the system to date. To take advant…

Germany seizes the world’s largest, longest-serving dark web market

Authorities aren’t done busting dark web crime operations this week. German federal police (the Bundeskriminalamt) working with US law enforcement have seized Hydra Market, billed as the world’s largest and longest-serving dark web marketplace. It reportedly accounted for about 80 percent of all dark web-linked cryptocurrency transactions and had taken about $5.2 billion in crypto since 2015. It had roughly 17 million user accounts and 19,000 sellers.

The seizure included both the servers and crypto wallets holding about $25 million in Bitcoin. The US Justice Department simultaneously charged Russia resident Dmitry Pavlov with narcotics distribution and money laundering due to his operation of Hydra servers. Hydra mainly served people in Russian-language countries hoping to buy or deal in contraband, including drugs, hacking services and stolen data. It also participated in the previously mentioned laundering as well as crypto “mixing” that made it harder to track digital currency usage.

The Treasury Department further punished Hydra and Garantex, a Russian crypto exchange, by adding them and over 100 crypto addresses to a “specially designated nationals” list. In a statement, the Bundeskriminalamt said it had been investigating Hydra with US help since August of last year.

This is far from the first time authorities have shuttered major dark web markets. They shut down previous record-setters like AlphaBay, Silk Road and most recently DarkMarket. We wouldn’t count on the seizure preventing other dark web shops from taking Hydra’s place, then. It could disrupt operations for a while, though, and might serve as a reminder that even the larger digital black markets can fold with little warning.

Epic Games made a mobile app that turns photos into 3D models

Epic Games has built a mobile app that can turn photos into 3D scans. Capturing Reality, a company Epic bought last year, created photogrammetric software called RealityCapture. It can quickly convert laser scans or images into 3D scans of assets. With the RealityScan app, Epic is hoping to give users access to the same tech right on their phone. 

The idea is that creatives will be able to scan real-world objects at any time to use in their projects. After you sign in with your Epic Games account, the app will prompt you to take at least 20 photos of an item. You can also hold down your finger on the capture button as you move around the object. 

After the app processes the images and turns it into a 3D object with the help of RealityCapture’s servers, you can export the scan to Sketchfab (a 3D asset platform Epic also bought in 2021).

You’ll then be able to sell the asset to other creatives or use them for your own 3D, virtual reality and augmented reality projects. Game developers might find the app particularly useful if they’re in need of a particular item to place in a virtual environment. As it happens, Epic just opened up access to Unreal Engine 5.

Epic is testing a beta of the app with a limited number of iOS users before a broader, early access rollout on iPhone this spring. An Android version of RealityScan will arrive later this year.

Opera’s paid Android VPN secures your entire device

Opera has long offered a free VPN to its browser’s Android users, but now it’s hoping you’re willing to pay up. The software maker has launched a beta VPN Pro service for Android that, for a fee, secures connections across the entire device. That sounds much like any other paid VPN service, but Opera is promising a few advantages.

You can subscribe using an existing Opera browser and account, so you won’t have to download a separate app if you’re already using the free option. Opera also won’t maintain data logs that might be used to track your activity. It’s too soon to know if the company will live up to promises of “high-speed servers,” but you can combine Opera’s data-saving mode with VPN Pro to avoid running into any carrier data caps.

The VPN Pro beta is available now if you’re using at least Android 6.0 and Opera for Android Beta 68.2. The price may be appealing, too. Early adopters can subscribe for $2 per month if they commit to three months, or $3 for one month. This won’t be enough if you want VPN service across every device your own, but it might do the trick if you either value a more secure phone or just want to stream services in other countries.