The Guardian has announced it will no longer post content on Elon Musks social media platform, X, from its official accounts.In an announcement to readers, the news organisation said it considered the benefits of being on the platform formerly called Twitter were now outweighed by the negatives, citing the often disturbing content found on it.We wanted to let readers know that we will no longer post on any official Guardian editorial accounts on the social media site X, the Guardian said.The Guardian has more than 80 accounts on X with approximately 27 million followers.The Guardian said content on the platform about which it had longstanding concerns included far-right conspiracy theories and racism. It added that the sites coverage of the US presidential election had crystallised its decision.This is something we have been considering for a while given the often disturbing content promoted or found on the platform, including far-right conspiracy theories and racism, it said.The US presidential election campaign served only to underline what we have considered for a long time: that X is a toxic media platform and that its owner, Elon Musk, has been able to use its influence to shape political discourse.Anti-hate speech campaign groups and the EU have criticised Musk, the worlds richest person, over content standards on the platform since he bought it for $44bn in 2022. A self-declared free speech absolutist, the Tesla chief executive has reinstated banned accounts including those of the conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, the misogynist influencer Andrew Tate and the British far-right activist Tommy Robinson.The Guardian said X users would still be able to share its articles across the platform and that posts on X would occasionally be embedded in its work as part of its live news reporting. Reporters would also be able to continue using the platform for newsgathering purposes, the Guardian said.Although the Guardians official accounts are withdrawing from X, there will be no restrictions on individual reporters using the site beyond the organisations existing social media guidelines.Social media can be an important tool for news organisations and help us to reach new audiences but at this point X now plays a diminished role in promoting our work. Our journalism is available and open to all on our website and we would prefer people to come to theguardian.com and support our work there, the Guardian said.Responding to the announcement, Musk posted on X that the Guardian was irrelevant and a laboriously vile propaganda machine.Last year National Public Radio (NPR), the non-profit US media organisation, stopped posting on X after the social media platform labelled it as state-affiliated media. PBS, a US public TV broadcaster, suspended its posts for the same reason.This month the Berlin film festival said it was quitting X, without citing an official reason, and last month the North Wales police force said it had stopped using X because it was no longer consistent with our values.In August the Royal National orthopaedic hospital said it was leaving X, citing an increased volume of hate speech and abusive commentary on the platform.

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The Eyes Have ItI played Bloodborne on PS5 Pro, and all Im left with are these lousy questionsA slight image quality boost is not enough, I need more. I need more frames, more resolution, more texture. Grant me eyes.Image credit: VG247 Article by Dom Peppiatt Editor-in-chief Published on Nov. 13, 2024 Bloodborne, a legendary game. In my eyes, the best FromSoft game. The first one I fell in love with. The one that opened my mind to the grizzly machinations of Miyazaki and co., and that still echoes in my blood today whenever I pick up the pad and enter the Lands Between or venture back to Lordran.To see this content please enable targeting cookies. But, to be a Bloodborne fan is to be cursed. The game came out in March 2014 - nearly a whole decade ago, now! - and since then it has been largely ignored by its own developer (FromSoft), its publisher (Sony), and even the various remaster-specific studios that have shot to prominence in the interceding years (heres looking at you, Nixxes). Fans praying for a version of the game running above the frankly dismal 720p/30FPS native to the PS4 version have had to make do with modders and dataminers showing off illicit builds of the game online. Were probably never even going to get an officially-sanctioned PC port. Mores the pity.So, imagine my delight when I saw that the PS5 Pro was going to apply some hardware-level wizardry to PS4 games. Imagine the speed with which I hastened to get Bloodborne installed on my PS5 Pro when it arrived last week. Imagine my disappointment when I realised with growing horror exactly what Id gotten here -- somewhere, I felt a monkeys paw curling its finger, a Needful Things-type fella cooly smirking as the imposing spires of Yharnam rendered on my screen once more. Is that fog, or just some patchy rendering? | Image credit: PlayStation/FromSoftwareThe only real upgrade you get playing Bloodborne on PS5 Pro is a slight image quality boost, to use Sonys own parlance. It sharpens everything up, basically; takes off the jaggedness and removes some of that vaseline-smear that I actually came to associate with the game in some ways. As a result, text and UI elements look better, some details in the world are clearer, and that huge YOU DIED message hits harder than it ever has. It doesnt exactly make Bloodborne feel like a new game, but more like youre playing it with a new pair of glasses on - everythings a bit more in-focus, a little nicer to look at. Thats it.The framerate is still a bit choppy. Some of the textures and colours are still a bit weird (the gold trim on some of the items and environmental assets in Old Yharnam still look really weird baked into the gloomy twilight of the early game, for example). In the dark and gloom, some of the vibe is still lost to ageing graphics. I cant help but imagine how amazing Bloodborne would look with proper HDR implementation -- how itd look to see an amygdala peering at you from the top of the cathedral in the dark when you finally reach enough wisdom, the screen dark enough so you can only make out its vague shape, see its alien movements out the corner of your eyeAlas. If youre waiting for a 60FPS and 4K version of this game, you need to wait for a remaster or remake thats likely never going to happen. Whilst Sony is out there remaking/remastering more recent games like TLOU2 or Horizon Zero Dawn (why?), Bloodborne remains out in the cold, rocking back and forth in its creaky wheelchair, visibly ageing with every passing iteration of hardware. Spinning a Yharnam. | Image credit: FromSoftwareI am not alone in thinking that a Bloodborne acknowledgement, in whatever form it takes, would move consoles. People would have been knocking down doors for a PS5 Pro if it had come with a version of Bloodborne that run at 4K/60FPS, Im sure of it. Look here, here, and here. The people chattering about parting with 700 for a PS5 Pro are the exact people Sony is aiming for with premium tech like this; the system is being sold as something for enthusiasts, for people who can actually tell the difference between 30FPS and 60FPS (because, lo and behold, not everyone can, nerd).Im not even talking about a full-blown remake or new product here, really, to take advantage of this in-built audience. I think a patch for Bloodborne, making it juice the PS5 Pro hardware, would have been just as appealing to all the FromSoft goths as a wholly new title. The audience has been clamouring for something like this since even the PS4 Pro in 2016. Its a license to print money. So, to go back to that headline, why wont Sony even acknowledge Bloodborne these days? The best we have are fan efforts, which admittedly do look spectacular. There's also a lot of cut content we could get in a re-release...Theres a rumour going around that FromSoft is working on over 20 games right now. The developer and publisher is famous for keeping many of its irons in the proverbial fire at all times, and I dont think Im alone in praying that one of these is something to do with Bloodborne -- a sequel, a remaster, a remake, something.The world is turning to ruin all around us, theres no better time to head back to Yharnam to suffer alongside its denizens. Grant us eyes.

The producer thinks it would be "kind of difficult" to reverse.Legend of Zelda's longtime producer Eiji Aonuma has recently been doing the press rounds to promote the new entry Echoes of Wisdom, but he's also been discussing the design philosophy of the Zelda series in general.Speaking to Washington Post reporter Gene Park recently, Aonuma shared one rather interesting fact, mentioning how his teams always prioritise the gameplay with stories then used as a vessel. Here's exactly what he had to say:Read the full article on nintendolife.com

Image: ConcernedApeAfter the long-awaited rollout of Stardew Valley earlier this month on the Switch, the game's creator Eric 'ConcernedApe' Barone has now released a new patch bumping the game up to Version 1.6.9.37.According to the creator, this new update for Nintendo's hybrid system allows you to "put hats back on pets now". It also fixes the "bomb crash, disappearing chickens, and more". This follows our story last week about how players were removing pet hats to combat performance issues in the game.Barone has also noted in this latest update on social media how there will be "further patches" to Stardew Valley on consoles to "fix additional bugs" and eventually "get it in sync" with where the PC version is currently at.Subscribe to Nintendo Life on YouTube784kWatch on YouTube In case you missed the big 1.6 update for Stardew Valley it delivers multiple new festivals, a brand new farm layout, a new "mastery" system, the ability to have multiple pets and also adds a new Lost Items Shop. There's much more as well, which you can learn about on the official changelog.In some other news, we were also lucky enough to talk to the legend himself at PAX West recently. If you haven't already seen our amazing feature by our video producer Felix Sanchez, it's well worth reading (and watching). "I feel like I could work on it for the rest of my life"No capBack to the farm we goHave you downloaded this new patch yet? How are you finding the new update so far? Let us know in the comments.[source x.com]Related GamesSee AlsoShare:01 Liam is a news writer and reviewer for Nintendo Life and Pure Xbox. He's been writing about games for more than 15 years and is a lifelong fan of Mario and Master Chief. Hold on there, you need to login to post a comment...Related Articles'Switch Pro' Dongle Is Making A Comeback With New 'RGB Collection'But we're not sure what they actually doIt's Official, 'Switch 2' Will Be Backwards CompatibleSwitch Online will also be available on the "successor"Feature: "I Dont Want To See It Fizzle Out - Stardew Valley Creator On Why He Can't Give It Up"I feel like I could work on it for the rest of my life"Round Up: The Reviews Are In For Mario & Luigi: BrothershipHere's what the critics thoughtMario & Luigi Fans Aren't Happy About Brothership's Battle Button TweaksIt should be 'B' for the Bro, right?

In BriefPosted:2:28 PM PST November 13, 2024Image Credits:JASON REDMOND/AFP / Getty ImagesOpenAIs take on AI agents could come in JanuaryOpenAI could release an AI agent tool as soon as January. Thats according to Bloomberg, which reports that OpenAI is close to launching software, code-named Operator, that can take direct actions on a persons computer. OpenAI is said to be planning to initially launch Operator as a research preview through its developer API.Operator would go up against Anthropics recently unveiled agent feature, Computer Use, and Googles rumored consumer-focused agent, among others. Its unclear whether OpenAIs will have any advantage; Bloomberg reports that it could take the form of a general-purpose tool that executes tasks in a web browser.The report on Operator arrived the same day as the release of OpenAIs policy paper with suggestions for the U.S. AI strategy. That paper reportedly proposes, among other things, that the federal government create AI-focused economic zones permitting work to build AI infrastructure, and the establishment of a bloc with U.S. allies to compete with China on AI.Topics

The inimitable architect, educator, mentor, and feminist Debora Reiser passed away just over a year ago, after a 75-year career in architecture. A new retrospective at Pratt Institute, Her Practice: the Architecture of Debora Reiser, celebrates the late trailblazers life and all that she contributed. The exhibitions location inside the Hazel and Robert Siegel Gallery at Higgins Hall is fitting: Reiser graduated from Pratt Institute in 1948, where she was one of just a few women in her class. She went on to lead RUR Architecture together with her son, Jesse Reiser, and daughter-in-law, Nanako Umemoto.Both Jesse Reiser and Nanako Umemoto helped bring Her Practice: the Architecture of Debora Reiser to life as curators and exhibition designers, respectively.Her Practice: the Architecture of Debora Reiser has ephemera which introduces Debora Reiser to the public. (Courtesy Pratt Institute)Her Practice formally opened on September 12. That night, Reisers friends and family members sat down with Pratt faculty and students to discuss her legacy.At Hazel and Robert Siegel Gallery, visitors can see photographs of the late architect when she was just out of architecture school, around the time she worked in the office of George Nemeny and Abraham Geller, two contemporaries of Marcel Breuer. Other ephemera including publications, drawings, and furniture share details of her life story. The exhibition is meant to pay tribute to Reisers unwavering belief in modernisms aspirations to a free architecture of light, air, and movement, the curatorial statement reads. Standing just short of five feet she nonetheless projected a commanding presence to clients and contractors especially necessary in the context of male-dominated mid-century America, it continued. As a woman architect in the early 50s she had to be relentless.The exhibitions features photography and news clippings of Reisers work (Courtesy Pratt Institute)Jesse Reiser designed the exhibition with Nanako Umemoto, Tyler Armstrong, Hisa Matsunaga, Tilok Costa, with assistance by Logan West, Linus Coersmeier, and Austin Hsu. Logan West produced the film that accompanies the exhibition. Her Practices timeline diagram was by Dana Cupkova.In contrast to the singular genius of the so-called Modern Masters, Reisers practice of Total Design always embraced the heterogeneous and the open and always built upon a continuous dialogue between architect and clientform and space, Jesse Reiser said.Her Practice: the Architecture of Debora Reiser is on view through November 15.

Lawyers representing a former boxer charged with serious drug trafficking offences are challenging the legality of the US governments use of intercepted messages obtained by a European police hacking operation against the worlds largest cryptophone network.The former heavyweight boxer from Montenegro, Goran Gogic, faces charges over his alleged involvement in the import of large quantities of cocaine. His lawyers accuse prosecutors of bypassing US legal protections by relying on overseas partners to conduct surveillance.The case will test the validity of evidence obtained by French law enforcement from the hacking and mass interception of 170,000 users of Sky ECC phones in a joint operation with Belgian and Dutch police in the US courts.Joseph Corozzo, a lawyer for Gogic, said the case is the first time legal arguments used to exclude evidence obtained through the torture of individuals outside of the US have been applied in an attempt to exclude overseas intercept material.Corozzo said his client, as a non-US citizen, did not benefit from Fourth Amendment protections against government surveillance under the US Constitution.If he were a US citizen, we feel strongly that the court would suppress [the intercept material] very quickly. Since he is a non-US citizen, its a greater burden to us to establish all the factors involved, he added.US prosecutors argue that the intercepted text messages used as evidence against Gogic in the case are broadly similar to the communications data that the government regularly receives from telecoms and social media companies in the US.Even if Gogic did have rights under the Fourth Amendment, the conduct of French law enforcement agencies in seizing the data does not shock the conscience and the US did not act with an intention to evade the constitution. they claim.Sky Global, a company with headquarters in Vancouver, Canada, began developing encrypted phones in 2008, which were later sold through a network of distributors and resellers.Belgian police began investigations into the use of Sky ECC phones by organised criminals in 2016, after seizing the encrypted phones in a drug trafficking operation in the port of Antwerp. Dutch police began parallel investigations following their own seizures of Sky ECC phones.By late 2018, Sky ECC was gaining international attention, and more than 20 police officers from the US, Canada, Australia and Belgium met at an international conference in Sydney to discuss ways of breaking the Sky ECC encryption.French investigators began intercepting encrypted messages from Sky ECC in June 2019. A breakthrough by Dutch technicians who discovered how to decrypt the platform led to the live interception and decryption of all Sky ECC messages from February 2021.French, Belgian and Dutch police launched an action day against Sky ECC users on 9 March 2021, making large numbers of arrests, searches and seizures in the three countries. The operation, dubbed Operation Argus, led to the interception of one billion messages.Gogic was arrested in Miami in October 2022 and faces charges under the US Maritime Drug Law Enforcement Act.His arrest came after police seized a shipment of 18 tonnes of cocaine in Philadelphia, in an operation described as one of the largest cocaine seizures in US history.The case stems from federal investigation into a vast network of international narcotics traffickers who smuggled cocaine from South America to the US and Europe in commercial container ships.Gorgics lawyers argue in a motion to suppress that US investigators engaged in forum shopping to circumvent US law and constitutional protections.They claim the US put its own investigation into Sky ECC on hold to obtain intercept material from France that would otherwise be inadmissible in the US.An internal French police report shows that during a meeting in Europol in May 2019, Belgian and Dutch investigators learned that the US intended to arrest Skys executives, based in Canada.However, the US agreed with the Dutch to suspend US investigations until after European police forces completed their investigation into Sky ECC.A tacit agreement between the American and Dutch authorities allowed the European investigations to continue, with the Americans suspending further operations pending the outcome of ongoing investigations, the report states.Belgium, France and Holland closed their investigation into Sky ECC in March 2021, making multiple arrests and seizures of drugs and firearms.Three days later, US prosecutors indicted Sky Globals Canadian CEO, Jean-Francois Eap, and a former phone distributor, Thomas Herdman, for racketeering and knowingly facilitating the import and distribution of drugs and the sale of encrypted communications devices. Their cases have not been heard in court.By receiving intercepted material from France, rather than carrying out its own interception, the US could maintain the faade of keeping its hands clean during the interception and then receive the same evidence anyway through requests for mutual legal assistance, Gogics defence lawyers claim.They point to evidence that Dutch police carried out a similar forum shopping exercise by obtaining intercept material from France that would not be admissible if carried out under Dutch law.According to a Dutch court document, in 2019, a Dutch magistrate refused an order to seize full copies of the Sky ECC servers as it could not be established that the users of Sky ECC were using the system exclusively for illegal purposes.The magistrate found that because there was no concrete suspicion against individual users, it would be too far reaching to grant unconditional permission to search the messages of all Sky ECC users.Dutch police ultimately obtained intercepted messages of all incoming and outgoing communications from Sky ECC from French law enforcement.Gogics lawyers claim that the Dutch authorities successfully circumvented the Amsterdam investigative judges 2018 denial of their application to copy the Sky ECC servers by getting the same relief they had been denied from a different venue: France.Defence lawyers are also pressing US prosecutors to disclose all documentation of how the US obtained Sky ECC data from European law enforcement.According to the motion, filed in the Eastern District of New York, a major problem from an evidentiary standpoint is that digital data is at a significantly higher risk of (intentional) manipulation or (unintentional) alterations.An expert who examined spreadsheets of intercepted messages provided by the US has found evidence that the files were modified on multiple dates.The motion claims there are thousands of missing media files and numerous other anomalies in the data supplied by US prosecutors.Defence lawyers are pressing US prosecutors to disclose the underlying raw data and hash values that would allow experts to check that data provided in evidence had not been modified.They point to a case in Panama where a judge acquitted 28 defendants after finding the leaked documents that formed the basis of the charges against them did not comply with digital evidence principles, and lacked the hash values necessary for verifying the authenticity and accuracy of digital data.Dutch police developed AI software known as Chat-X to access and analyse intercepted messages. According to Dutch lawyer Yehudi Moszkowicz, the artificial intelligence (AI)-based software was used to search millions of intercepted messages for keywords associated with threats to life, and later to automatically identify chat messages referring to money laundering and other crimes.Read more about Sky ECCMarch 2021Belgian police raid 200 premises in drug operation linked to breach of encrypted phone network: More than 1,600 police and law enforcement officials conduct drug raids after the compromise of an encrypted mobile phone network that has parallels with EncroChat.Police crack worlds largest cryptophone network as criminals swap EncroChat for Sky ECC: Belgian and Dutch police have breached the encryption of users of Sky ECC, the worlds largest cryptophone network.Arrest warrants issued for Canadians behind Sky ECC cryptophone network used by organised crime: The US has issued arrest warrants for the CEO of Sky Global and a former distributor for racketeering, aiding and abetting the distribution of illegal drugs by supplying encrypted phones to criminals.November 2021Cryptophone supplier Sky Global takes legal action over US government website seizures: Canadian tech company Sky Global has filed a legal motion claiming that the US government unlawfully seized the companys internet sites following police investigations into the use of its cryptophones by organised crime.Sky ECCprovided free cryptophones to a Canadian police force: Internal emails disclosed in a US court show how Sky Global supplied sample encrypted phones to a Canadian police force before its phone users became subject to an international police investigation.September 2024Canadian arrested by France after cooperating with US on Sky ECC cryptophone investigation: Thomas Herdman, who faces charges in France over his involvement in distributing Sky ECC encrypted phones, arrested by French police despite agreeing to cooperate with US law enforcement.Chat-X also provided access to metadata, including the location from which a message was sent, the International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) number (a unique identifying number for each handset), the Access Point Name (APN) and the IMSI (a unique identifying number for each SIM card).Defence lawyers claim that the US government has failed to disclose the metadata from the messages used as evidence in the case, which could be used, for example, to establish whether Gogic was present when the messages were sent. They have also asked the court to order the disclosure of the Chat-X software.US law allows evidence supplied by other countries to be used in US courts under the silver platter doctrine.But defence lawyers argue that the interception of Sky ECC amounted to a global fishing expedition and that there was no probable cause to suspect every one of the individuals placed under surveillance of criminality.The fact that Sky ECC phones were sold for cash by dealers who met clients in person, they say, does not establish reasonable suspicion, let alone probable cause, that criminal activity is afoot.Prosecutors argue that the Fourth Amendment does not apply to searches and seizures made against non-US nationals on foreign soil.Even if it did, the conduct of French law enforcement agencies in seizing the data from Sky ECC does not shock the conscience and was upheld by French courts.There is no plausible claim that the government cooperated with the Europeans with the intent to evade constitutional requirements, according to a prosecution motion.The most the facts show is that the US extended a courtesy to European law enforcement by delaying overt investigation and enforcement actions that could harm the European investigation.That is not a case where American officials use foreign officials to intercept phone calls made from the US to a foreign country to circumvent constitutional requirements that would apply if the same phone calls were intercepted in the US, they say.A sworn statement from the law enforcement officer who received the data from France would be all that is needed to prove its authenticity.Questions around chain of custody should only have a bearing on the weight of evidence, not its authenticity, according to the prosecutors. There is no reason to believe that materially different data exists, nor that it would be favourable to the defendant if it did, they added.Corello said US prosecutors were following the same argument as prosecutors in Europe that the court should honour the prosecutorial activities of France based on the French courts finding that the conduct was permissible.Theyre not addressing in any fashion the issues of reliability and chain of custody, he added.The Sky ECC hack2016: Netherlands and Belgium begin independent investigations into Sky ECC encrypted phones.2018: Twenty police officers from the US, Canada, Australia, Belgium and other countries participate in an international conference in Sydney, discussing ways to access Sky ECC. They follow up with a meeting in Antwerp.19 November 2018: A report by investigators identifies the location of Sky ECC infrastructure in the OVH datacentre in Roubaix, France.30 November 2018: A Dutch judge allows an application to seize copies of the Sky ECC servers for technical research into encryption and interception of messages on the phone network, but does not allow the collection of data on the services for use as evidence. The magistrate concludes that it is not established that the encrypted communication of SkyECC is almost exclusively used by organised serious crime.13 February 2019: A French prosecutor at the Lille court initiates a formal investigation into Sky ECC.27 May 2019: A meeting at Europol with the Belgian, Dutch and French authorities is told that US authorities had also opened an investigation into Sky ECC and their ultimate goal was to arrest the companys executive in Canada. The Americans reach a tacit agreement with the Dutch to suspend US investigations while European investigations continue.12 June 2019: A French prosecutor applies for a court order to intercept, record and transcribe communications passing through Sky ECC servers in France.14 June 2019: French court authorises the interception of Sky ECCs servers for one month. The order is repeatedly renewed until December 2020.13 December 2019: Dutch, Belgian and French law enforcement authorities agree to form a Joint Investigation Team to gather evidence about alleged criminal activities of Sky Global and its users, and to share technical information and resources.December 2020: Dutch investigators work out how to obtain encryption keys from Sky ECC handsets. Work begins on decrypting a backlog of intercepted encrypted data.February 2021: French investigators begin live interception and decryption of Sky ECC phones. More than 70,000 phones are monitored.9 March 2021: Sky ECC is shut down after a joint operation by French, Belgian and Dutch law enforcement authorities, known as Operation Argus. Arrests, house searches and seizures are made in Belgium and the Netherlands. 12 March 2021: US files an indictment against Jean-Francois Eap, CEO of Sky Global, and former phone distributor Thomas Herdman.

Black Friday and Cyber Week are just weeks away, if you can believe it. Whether you're shopping on a budget ahead of this holiday season or just love a good discount on a must-have product, we've rounded up some of the best deals on the internet ahead of Black Friday.I've sorted through loads of deals to find relevant discounts on household tech, kitchen gadgets, and doodads that are worth your time ahead of the deals-palooza. And check back in every week up until Black Friday, as I'll be updating these deals regularly with better and more substantial deals ahead of the sales event.Shop deals at AmazonOur favorite deals under $100 for Black Friday 2024 Maria Diaz/ZDNETBeats Solo Headphones: $100 (save $100 at Amazon): Looking for a pair of headphones with Apple ecosystem compatibility that aren't Apple's $500 AirPods Max? These headphones have it for a fifth of the price.Apple AirTag: $19 (save $10 at Amazon): The AirTag has hit a new low price, cutting $10 off its original price on Amazon right now.Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K: $40 (save $20 at Amazon): This Fire TV stick offers a 4K viewing experience for a smoother watch of sporting events, TV shows, and movies -- no cable required.Amazon Fire HD 10 Tablet: $75 (save $65 at Amazon): Catch up on emails, stream your favorite shows, and surf the web with this 10-inch tablet.Keurig K-Express Single-Brewing Coffee Machine: $60 (save $30 at Amazon): Brew a small, medium, or large cup of coffee with this single-serve brewing machine. Amazon/ZDNET Current price: $100Original price: $200Beats audio products work for Android and iOS devices, but they're made for iOS first. That's one of the major selling points for iPhone users -- this seamless Apple ecosystem compatibility that easily connects with your headphones or earbuds. If you're an iPhone owner and don't want to splurge on the $500 AirPods Max (but still want Apple ecosystem compatibility) these headphones are a not-too-shabby deal. View now at Amazon Amazon/ZDNET Current price: $19Original price: $29Track your lost luggage, wallet, and, heck, even your dog with an AirTag. If you have an iPhone, AirTags are great for locating and keeping track of all your personal belongings. Ahead of the holiday travel season, they could come in handy if your luggage goes missing at the airport. View now at Amazon Amazon/ZDNET Current price: $40Original price: $60Stream clearer and crisper live TV without cable with this Amazon Fire TV Stick. There are a few variations of the Fire Stick, but this one offers 4K streaming for a smoother view. View now at Amazon Keurig/ZDNET Current price: $60Original price: $90Outfit your small apartment kitchen or dorm room with this single-serve coffee machine. You can choose between a small, medium, or large brew. Customers enjoy the compact size that suits a small space and the near-instant brew time. View now at Amazon Amazon/ZDNETEarly Black Friday home and office tech deals under $100Echo Pop: $18 (save $22 at Amazon): You can grab this Amazon smart speaker for under $20 and plop it in a bedroom or small space (where it works best).Echo Spot: $50 (save $30 at Amazon): The Echo Spot is a smart alarm clock connected to Alexa. Not only can the alarm clock wake you up every morning, but it can also provide weather forecasts upon request, create morning and night routines, and control other Alexa devices, like a thermostat or smart lights, around your home.Echo Spot Bundle with stand: $80 (save $30 at Amazon): If you're interested in an Echo Spot, this bundle combines the smart alarm clock and a stand for the device with charging ports to boost your phone's battery or other electronics.Beats Solo Headphones: $100 (save $100 at Amazon): Looking for a pair of headphones with Apple ecosystem compatibility that aren't Apple's $500 AirPods Max? These headphones have it for a fifth of the price.Levoit Humidifier: $29 (save $11 at Amazon): My roommate recently purchased this humidifier, and whenever it's on, her room becomes foggy with plumes of mist. Buy this ahead of winter to combat dry skin and sinus issues.Levoit Air Purifier for $78 (save $22): Clear the air with this air purifier that's over 20% off right now. It's got over 100,000 reviews on Amazon with an average rating of 4.7 stars.TP-Link Wi-Fi extender: $25 (save $25 at Amazon): This Wi-Fi extender expands your coverage area up to 1,500 square feet.Ring Battery Doorbell and Indoor Camera: $80 (save $60 at Amazon): Equip your home with a smart doorbell to keep an eye on visitors and an indoor camera to monitor your space -- all for $60 off.Google Nest Audio Smart Speaker for $50 (save $50): Take half off this smart speaker that can answer your weather questions, make calls, and set timers.Google Nest Doorbell for $100 (save $80): This smart camera doorbell is known for its accuracy and guest detection. Amazon/ZDNETEarly Black Friday tablet deals under $100Amazon Fire HD 10 Kids Tablet: $110 (save $80 at Amazon): Take $80 off this tablet for your kid. It's made for children ages 3 to 7, and it comes with a two-year worry-free guarantee.Amazon Fire Kids 7 Tablet: $55 (save $55 at Amazon): Here's another tablet deal for an earlier model of an Amazon Fire tablet for kids with a steeper discount. Like many of the Fire Kids tablets, Amazon will replace the tablet if your kid breaks it.Amazon Fire HD 10 Tablet: $75 (save $65 at Amazon): Catch up on emails, stream your favorite shows, and surf the web with this 10-inch tablet.Amazon Fire HD 8 Tablet: $55 (save $45 at Amazon): This tablet has 50% more battery life compared to its 2022 model, and customers enjoy its compact size and expansive storage.Early Black Friday streaming deals under $100Amazon Fire TV Stick$20 (save $20 at Amazon): Stream your favorite shows with this Fire stick. It comes with a voice-activated Alexa remote for easy navigation and control.Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K: $40 (save $20 at Amazon): This Fire TV stick offers up a 4K viewing experience for a smoother watch of sporting events, TV shows, and movies -- no cable required.Insignia F20 32-inch Fire TVfor $80 (save $50): TVs don't get cheaper than this. Well, they do, but most can't match the price for a quality product. According to reviews, this one can.Philips 24-inch Frameless Full HD Monitor for $80 (save $10): Get to work with this 24-inch HD monitor.Early Black Friday kitchen appliance deals under $100KitchenAid Food Processor: $45 (save $15 at Amazon): KitchenAid's appliances are some of the best in the kitchen tool business, and this food processor is no different. I have one in the aqua sky color, and am impressed by how easily it can puree, chop, and dice my ingredients.Ninja SS151 Twisti Blender Duo: $100 (save $40 at Amazon): Blend small batches of protein shakes, smoothies, and sauces in Ninja's single-serve cup, or blend a big batch in the 34 oz. pitcher. Did we mention there's a medium-size cup as well?Keurig K-Express Single-Brewing Coffee Machine: $60 (save $30 at Amazon): Brew a small, medium, or large cup of coffee with this single-serve brewing machine.Ninja 6-in-1 Air Fryer: $90 (save $80 at Amazon): Don't want to turn on that oven for your French fries? An air fryer cooks your food on the countertop, and this one can perform six different cooking functions -- no oven necessary.Instant Pot 6-quart 9-in-1 pressure cooker$60 (save $70): My mom swears by her Instant Pot for making soups, broths, yogurt, and even cheesecake. Right now, you can get a 6-quart pressure cooker for more than 50% off.Nutribullet Pro 900W Matte Blender: $64 (save $46 at Kohls with code LETSGO20): Use the discount code at Kohls to take $46 off this single-serve blender.Cuisinart Deep Fryer: $100 (save $20): Crisp up fries, chicken, and sweet treats in this Cuisinart deep fryer.Early Black Friday mobile accessory deals under $100Apple AirTag: $19 (save $10 at Amazon): The AirTag has hit a new low price, cutting $10 off its original price on Amazon right now.Apple AirTag 4-Pack: $70 (save $30 at Amazon or Best Buy): If you're waiting for a good time to stock up on Apple's Bluetooth trackers, this is it. The 4-pack just got a price drop.Tile Mate Bluetooth Tracker: $15 (save $10 at Amazon): These Bluetooth trackers are like AirTags for Android (and they're a little cheaper than the Apple variety).Anker MagGo 3-in-1 iPhone charging station: $82 (save $28 at Amazon): Ditch multiple ports and cords. Charge your iPhone, Apple Watch, and AirPods all on one device with this charging station.Anker PowerCore Travel Battery Power Bank: $19 (save $5 at Amazon): Boost your phone's battery on the go with this power bank.Anker 633 Battery Pack: $40 (save $15 at Amazon): This battery pack has 7,000 reviews and a 4.5 average star rating.Soundcore by Anker A40 noise-canceling earbuds: $59 (save $20 at Amazon): Take $20 off the black and navy colorways of these affordable but effective noise-canceling earbuds.Samsung Galaxy Buds FE for $60 (save $40 at Amazon): Samsung phone owners looking for a new pair of earbuds with seamless connectivity will be happy with this 40% discount.Moondrop Quarks Wired Earphones: $13 (save $2 at Amazon): Tech reviewers say that these are a legit and high-quality pair of wired earbuds, and you can get them for less than $15 right now.Early Black Friday wellness deals under $100Luma LED Skin Therapy Mask for $85 (save $15): This LED mask uses light to help inflammation, dehydration, redness, and more.Philips Sonicare Power Flosser for $75 (save $15): Go beyond threaded floss: this water flosser cleans your teeth through a gentler and faster stream.Fitbit Inspire 3 health tracker for $70 (save $30): Track your workouts and sleep with a device under $100.Fitbit Charge 6 for $100 (save $60): With seven days of battery life, a nightly sleep score, a stress management score, and Fitbit's "most accurate heart rate yet," the Fitbit Charge 6 takes fitness tracking up a notch (and takes the price down by $60).FAQsWhen is Black Friday?Black Friday is Nov. 29, though you can expect some products to be discounted a few days ahead and after the deals event. Deals will likely run from Black Friday through Cyber Monday, Dec. 2.When is Cyber Monday?Cyber Monday takes place on Monday, Dec. 2.Are products really cheaper on Black Friday?The short answer is: it depends. The long answer is that brands decide at what price they'd like to discount their products, based on demand and availability. Sometimes, they will inflate the price ahead of Black Friday to make discounts look more attractive than they actually are. But other times, you will see products discounted well below their original price. When we see a good or rare deal on a loved piece of tech, whether that's AirPods or a TV, we try to call it out through our Black Friday coverage. We'll also do our best to tell you whether something is worth your money based on our experience with the product and customer reviews.How did we choose these Black Friday deals?ZDNET only writes about deals we want to buy -- devices and products we desire, need, or would recommend. Our experts looked for deals that were at least 20% off (or are hardly ever on sale), using established price comparison tools and trackers to determine whether the deal is actually on sale and how frequently it drops.We also looked over customer reviews to find out what matters to real people who already own and use the deals we're recommending. Our recommendations may also be based on our own testing -- in addition to extensive research and comparison shopping. The goal is to deliver the most accurate advice to help you shop smarter.Where can you shop the best Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals?You can shop anywhere for Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals, but the major retailers, likeAmazon,Walmart,Best Buy, andTarget, will boast the most (and sometimes, the best) deals.What are the best Black Friday 2024 deals?ZDNET's experts have been searching through Black Friday sales live now to find the best discounts by category. These are the best Black Friday deals so far, by category:You can also find the best Black Friday deals by price:Black Friday deals under $25Black Friday deals under $100And the best Black Friday deals by retailer:Black Friday Amazon dealsBlack Friday Best Buy dealsBlack Friday Walmart dealsBlack Friday Apple dealsBlack Friday Samsung dealsTop holiday deals

Key takeaways41-year-old Daren Li, a dual citizen of St. Kitts and Nevis and China, pleaded guilty to laundering $73 million stolen through a crypto scam.US prosecutors accused Li of taking part in crypto investment scams, including pig butchering, which raked millions from victims.Li admitted to helping open US-based accounts under shell companies through which they laundered the stolen funds.A citizen of St. Kitts and Nevis and China, Daren Li, pleaded guilty to laundering proceeds from crypto investment scams.According to prosecutors, 41-year-old Li and his co-conspirators raked millions through fake crypto investments and pig butchering scams between August 2021 and April 2024.A plea agreement filed in a California District Court revealed Li admitted to helping launder proceeds from these scams.He was arrested by US authorities on April 12 at Atlanta International Airport in Georgia. A May 17 press release by the US Department of Justice revealed that Li was indicted in the Central District of California on May 16.Li admitted that he instructed his accomplices to open US-based bank accounts with names of shell companies. This helped them conceal the nature, source, ownership, and source of the funds.The scammers convinced their victims to transfer millions of dollars to their accounts. These funds were later converted to Tether (USDT) and moved to various wallets that Li and his co-conspirators control.According to court filings, one of the wallets linked to the scheme received over $341 million in crypto assets.In a recent statement, Nicole M. Argentieri, head of the Criminal Division of the Department of Justice, said that Li carried out this scheme outside the United States. According to Argentieri, he used several shell companies and international bank accounts to conceal the act.Li admitted that he and his co-conspirators directly deposited $73.6 million in stolen funds into bank accounts linked with the scheme. About $59.8 million of this fund was sent from US shell companies that laundered the funds.Possible SentencingLi is charged with one count of money laundering conspiracy. After his guilty plea, District Judge Robert Gary Klausner set his sentencing hearing for March 3, 2025.Based on his offense, Li could face a maximum of 20 years in prison, with 3 years of supervised release. His sentencing might also include payment of a penalty of $500,000 or twice the gross amount laundered in the scheme.As part of Lis sentencing, prosecutors indicated that the court might order him to pay full restitution to the scam victims. This could be from $4.5 million to $73 million.Besides Li, the authorities arrested his co-conspirator, Yicheng Zhang, a 38-year-old Chinese national residing in Temple City, California. Zhang was arrested in Los Angeles on May 16.According to the DOJ, Zhang worked with Li in the money laundering scheme. Both were responsible for supervising the lower-level co-conspirators who sent proceeds to overseas bank accounts in the Bahamas.Add Techreport to Your Google News Feed Get the latest updates, trends, and insights delivered straight to your fingertips. Subscribe now! Subscribe now Rida is a dedicated crypto journalist with a passion for the latest developments in the cryptocurrency world. With a keen eye for detail and a commitment to thorough research, she delivers timely and insightful news articles that keep her readers informed about the rapidly evolving digital economy. View all articles by Rida Fatima Our editorial processThe Tech Reporteditorial policyis centered on providing helpful, accurate content that offers real value to our readers. We only work with experienced writers who have specific knowledge in the topics they cover, including latest developments in technology, online privacy, cryptocurrencies, software, and more. Our editorial policy ensures that each topic is researched and curated by our in-house editors. We maintain rigorous journalistic standards, and every article is 100% written byreal authors.