For the majority ofMetal Gearfans,the upcomingMetal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eateris taking up most of our attention, but but Konami is continuing to update and improveMetal Gear Solid: Master Collection Vol. 1with patches as well. Another one of those has now released in the form of update 2.0, and it adds some notable features for players on all platforms- other than the Switch.For starters, players on PC, PS5, Xbox Series X, and PS4 Pro can now play Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of LibertyandMetal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eaterat an upscaled 4K resolution, courtesy of a new Adjusted Mode, which uses an internal upscales to allow for improved visual quality. On Xbox Series S and PS4, meanwhile, the game is upscaled to 1080p.Multiple different custom settings for internal resolution and upscaling have also been added in on all of the aforementioned platforms. Though update 2.0 has launched for the games Switch version as well, it doesnt include any of the aforementioned improvements, instead just bringing new controller settings and fixes for other minor issues.Konami has kept up a decent cadence of updates forMetal Gear Solid: Master Collection Vol. 1, which, after its somewhat rough launch, is worth noting, at the very least, especially with the company having confirmed that aMaster Collection Vol. 2is also in the works.

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Mission Impossible 8 TrailerOur lives are the sum of our choices. Mission: Impossible The Final Reckoning. See you at the movies May 23, 2025.https://adapt.one/editorial/link/185/Mission+Impossible+8+Trailer/

Netflixs livestream of the Mike Tyson and Jake Paul boxing match was a mess. Im not talking about the bout itself although people had their qualms with that, too its the livestream, which people across the internet complained was plagued by buffering, unstable, and unwatchable muddiness. That doesnt bode well for Netflixs live sports ambitions, especially its upcoming Christmas Day NFL games. I had the same experience, having tuned in a few minutes before Paul showed up in the back of a lowrider truck. For the vast majority of the 8-round match, I had to lean heavily on my brains ability to construct a cohesive picture from very little information to have an idea of what was going on. The X post below was very much what the fight looked like for me, and there are plenty of others like it.Netflix didnt immediately respond to our request for comment, and hasnt said how many people tuned in last night, but it was available to all of the streaming giants 283 million subscribers. Fans, like those posting below, worry that last nights quality issues dont bode well for its upcoming broadcasts of WWE Raw, which 1.4 million people watch every week, nor for its NFL matchups on Christmas Day, one of which will feature this years Superbowl winner, the Kansas City Chiefs. The Chiefs drew almost 30 million viewers on Christmas Day last year and have topped NFL broadcast ratings with similar numbers throughout this season. Will Netflix pull off its December NFL streams as well as Peacock did the Superbowl this year? Or will it be more like YouTubes NFL Sunday Ticket stream in late December last year? Well see, but after last night, it seems like the company needs to fix some things.

The Case of the Golden Idol was a rewarding series of point-and-click murder mysteries that became one of my favorite games of 2022. And while I felt there was more story to explore about the titular golden idol, I wasnt sure if a potential sequel could live up to its clever puzzles and fascinating, slowly unfolding story. Turns out, I had nothing to fear: The Rise of the Golden Idol, the newly launched sequel, easily surpasses the original by improving on just about everything.At its core, Rise is a very similar game to Case. The new game takes place in the 1970s, around 200 years after the events of the original, and each of Rises cases drops you into a specific moment in time, typically during or shortly after a murder. Youre tasked with solving whats going on. To figure that out, you first have to click around the scene to discover relevant words and names that get saved in a menu. Then you use those words to solve puzzles within the case, like the names of the individuals in a scene, a description of how the murder happened, or even things like how to interpret parts of a dance or who won a game show.Heres an example of how you use the words you find to solve elements of a case. Image: Playstack / Color Gray GamesIts a clever system. Clicking around to collect all of the words forces you to scrutinize everything thats going on, and having to fill in the blanks means you really have to think about how elements of the scene might be connected. Ive come to think of it like an elaborate jigsaw puzzle: while the scattered elements may seem like a lot to tie together, as you slowly solve the disparate elements of the puzzles within cases, its easier to figure out how they connect.There are more layers, too, as you have to solve puzzles encompassing the events of entire chapters, which typically have three or four cases within them, to be able to move on to the next one. A few recurring characters will pop up across chapters, meaning the game is able to tell a holistic story by forcing you to understand their actions across a bunch of different scenes. (You dont need to have played Case to understand the events of Rise, though there are a few tidbits that will be familiar to fans of the first game.)The system isnt perfect. Like with Case, if youre off the mark after youve slotted in words for a specific puzzle, Rise will tell you if your guess is incorrect or if you have two or fewer words in the wrong place. Usually, knowing that I was close meant I could reexamine my assumptions and tweak a few words to get things right. But as I also did with Case, if I couldnt figure out the two or fewer incorrect words on my own, I would just brute-force a bunch of guesses until I got things right.Rise has some tough puzzles, but so far, Ive been able to solve all of them without turning to an online guide like I had to do with the final few cases of Case. Rise also has an improved hint system that offers up to three hints for a specific part of a case, and often, checking those pointed me in the right direction when I was stuck. Id also recommend having pen and paper handy to write things down, especially because some cases scatter details across multiple areas. And if you can play with someone else, that helps, too my wife saw a bunch of things that I completely missed. Image: Playstack / Color Gray GamesI will warn you that the game can be grotesque. Case generally erred on the side of creepy with its old-school pixel art style, but Rise looks more like a painting, and that means youll be seeing slightly more realistic dead bodies. Scenes and characters move in short loops, which makes them feel alive but also means youll see certain uncomfortable movements over and over again. The first case opens with a man actively strangling somebody else; another shows a person getting electrocuted. If you have a fear of birds, theres one case youre really not going to like. But like a good scary movie, those twisted scenes are part of what makes the game compelling. Every time I started a new case, I was always eager to see what terrible things Id come across.Im not quite done with Rise. After more than 15 hours, Im on one of the last of the games 20 cases, and this one is taking me a couple of days to muddle through. I think the eventual thrill of figuring it all out will be worth the pain, though, as theres nothing better than that lightbulb moment of slotting the final word into the right place of the puzzle. And even when Im done with all 20 cases, there will be four DLC packs to look forward to next year perhaps theres even more that we dont know about the mysterious golden idol.The Rise of the Golden Idol is now available for PC, PlayStation, Xbox, Nintendo Switch, and on mobile with a Netflix subscription.

Apple Pay is celebrating 10 years since launching, and a new video ad highlights something about Apple Pay that has been true since day one. Apple Pay makes it really easy to spend money on the internet.Even on copperplateantiques.com, which doesnt appear to be real: But seriously, Apple Pay on the web truly makes online shopping so incredibly convenient. How many thousands of dollars have you spent online thanks to the simplicity of shopping with Apple Pay?MoreFollow Zac: X, Threads, Instagram / Shop Apple on Amazon to support my work Add 9to5Mac to your Google News feed. FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.Youre reading 9to5Mac experts who break news about Apple and its surrounding ecosystem, day after day. Be sure to check out our homepage for all the latest news, and follow 9to5Mac on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn to stay in the loop. Dont know where to start? Check out our exclusive stories, reviews, how-tos, and subscribe to our YouTube channel

Apple has updated its lists of vintage and obsolete products today, adding the iPhone XS Max, several Apple Watch models, and more. Heres what that means.Two new vintage products and four obsoleteTodays additions were spotted by Joe Rossignol at MacRumors and come after Apple marked a variety of Macs and iPads vintage just last month.Heres whats been added in the most recent update:Newly VintageiPhone XS MaxiPhone 6s PlusNewly ObsoleteApple Watch Series 2, Aluminum (2nd generation), 38mmApple Watch Series 2, Aluminum (2nd generation), 42mmApple Watch Series 2, Stainless Steel (2nd generation), 38mmApple Watch Series 2, Stainless Steel (2nd generation), 42mmIts interesting that the iPhone XS Max and iPhone 6s Plus are joining the vintage list at the same time, since they debuted three years apart. The 6s Plus arrived in 2015 and the XS Max not until 2018.Apples vintage and obsolete designations, though, are based on when a product stops being sold rather than when it starts. Clearly, the iPhone 6s Plus had an especially long run in the market compared to the XS Max.Apples definitions for vintage and obsolete productsHere are Apples definitions of these two terms:Vintage: Products are considered vintage when Apple stopped distributing them for sale more than 5 and less than 7 years ago.Obsolete: Products are considered obsolete when Apple stopped distributing them for sale more than 7 years ago. Monster-branded Beats products are considered obsolete regardless of when they were purchased. Apple discontinues all hardware service for obsolete products, and service providers cannot order parts for obsolete products. Mac laptops may be eligible for an extended battery-only repair period for up to 10 years from when the product was last distributed for sale, subject to parts availability.In short, the designations are entirely tied to the passage of time, no other factor.What they mean, though, determines a devices repairability prospects. Vintage products can perhaps still be repaired by Apple, assuming parts are available, but obsolete products cannot.Anything you find surprising from todays vintage and obsolete additions? Let us know in the comments.Best iPhone accessoriesAdd 9to5Mac to your Google News feed. FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.Youre reading 9to5Mac experts who break news about Apple and its surrounding ecosystem, day after day. Be sure to check out our homepage for all the latest news, and follow 9to5Mac on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn to stay in the loop. Dont know where to start? Check out our exclusive stories, reviews, how-tos, and subscribe to our YouTube channel

Image by Getty / FuturismStudiesScientists looked into the efficacy of an app that claims to help people lucid dream and foundit was a runaway success.Published in the journalConsciousness and Cognition, this study out of Northwestern University seems to demonstrate that so-called "Targeted Lucidity Reactivation" (TLR) can help people remember their dreams, and even propel them into a fascinating dive into the subconscious.The app involves training people to associate a specific sound, such as a tone or melody, with the awareness of dreaming. That sound is then played while subjects are asleep, tipping them off that they're not in the waking world helping them enter the state of lucid dreaming.In a two-part study, Northwestern psychology researchers first recruited participants 19 in the first phase, and 416 in the second who historically remembered their dreams upon waking.Using a specialized Android smartphone app, the participants in the first phase completed one week of TLR training that consisted of 20-minute sessions in which they were instructed to associate the sound, which was either a sequence of beeps or a violin note, with lucid dreaming.After participants fell asleep, the app would stay on and play these sound cues on a six-hour delay softly, so as not to wake the dreamers. In the morning, study subjects were asked to write down any dreams they remembered, and whether they were lucid or the sound was merely incorporated into the dream's narrative.Second-phase participants had a similar training protocol, with some variation in the post-sleep execution: some would get the cues they were trained on, while others would get unrelated sounds or no cues at all.In both phases, participants who received the sound cues on which they were trained reported the highest frequency of lucid dreaming. In the first phase, subjects reported an average of 2.11 lucid dreams during the training week compared to 0.74 before a nearly three-fold increase.AsPsyPost notes, this experiment appears to be the first to take lucid dreaming research out of a sleep laboratory setting and into the hands of the public.By the way, for those wondering, you can try out the app here.In an interview with PsyPost, study author and Northwestern postdoctoral student Karen Konkoly gushed that these findings could help bring lucid dreaming to the masses."Since weve been developing more effective ways to induce lucid dreams in the sleep laboratory," Konkoly said, "we wanted to take a step towards making these advances available for individuals to use on their own."More on dream research: Startup Claims It's Achieved Communication Between Two People Who Were Both DreamingShare This Article

Nov 15, 2024Ravie LakshmananFinancial Fraud / BlockchainIlya Lichtenstein, who pleaded guilty to the 2016 hack of cryptocurrency stock exchange Bitfinex, has been sentenced to five years in prison, the U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) announced Thursday.Lichtenstein was charged for his involvement in a money laundering scheme that led to the theft of nearly 120,000 bitcoins (valued at over $10.5 billion at current prices) from the crypto exchange. Heather Rhiannon Morgan, his wife, also pleaded guilty to the same crimes last year. They were both arrested in February 2022. Morgan is scheduled to be sentenced on November 18."Lichtenstein, 35, hacked into Bitfinex's network in 2016, using advanced hacking tools and techniques," the DoJ said in a press statement. "Once inside the network, Lichtenstein fraudulently authorized more than 2,000 transactions transferring 119,754 bitcoin from Bitfinex to a cryptocurrency wallet in Lichtenstein's control."Besides taking a string of actions to cover up the tracks by deleting access credentials and other log files from Bitfinex's network, the couple is said to have used fictitious identities to set up online banking accounts to launder the proceeds, depositing them in darknet markets and cryptocurrency exchanges.The funds were eventually withdrawn, converted to other cryptocurrencies (a technique referred to as chain hopping), depositing a chunk of the ill-gotten assets into mixing services like Bitcoin Fog, converting them to fiat currency and moving to a U.S. bank account, and exchanging a portion of the crypto for gold coins.The development comes days after Roman Sterlingov, the 36-year-old founder of Bitcoin Fog, was sentenced to 12 years and six months in prison for facilitating money laundering activities between 2011 and 2021. Earlier this year, Lichtenstein had testified in court that he had used Bitcoin Fog 10 times to launder the virtual assets.Blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis previously revealed how the couple's purchase of Walmart gift cards using the stolen bitcoin at an unnamed virtual currency exchange eventually proved to be their undoing, after it was found that the gift cards were redeemed using the retail giant's iPhone app under an account in Heather Morgan's name."That enabled agents to get a search warrant for Lichtenstein and Morgan's home and cloud storage accounts, where they found files containing details of the cryptocurrency addresses used to move the stolen funds including their private keys along with the false information used to open accounts at cryptocurrency exchanges and plans to acquire fake passports," Chainalysis said."That discovery enabled investigators to trace the flow of funds in its entirety."According to the Associated Press, Morgan is a business owner and writer. She also adopted the alter ego Razzlekhan to perform rap songs and record videos for her music. The pair had been living in San Francisco at the time of the hack."Lichtenstein masterminded and orchestrated the Bitfinex hack without telling [Morgan]," prosecutors said. "He also initially solicited the defendant's assistance without explaining exactly what he was doing. The defendant was certainly a willing participant and bears full responsibility for her actions, but she was a lower-level participant."Chinese National Faces 20 Years in U.S. Prison for Pig Butchering ScamThe sentencing also follows a guilty plea from Daren Li, 41, for partaking in a criminal scheme to launder $73.6 million stolen through cryptocurrency investment scams using a network of shell companies and international bank accounts. Li was arrested back in April 2024 at Atlanta. He is expected to be sentenced next March."Li admitted that he conspired with others to launder funds obtained from victims through cryptocurrency scams and related fraud," the DoJ said. "In furtherance of the conspiracy, he communicated with his co-conspirators through encrypted messaging services.""In order to conceal or disguise the nature, location, source, ownership, and control of the fraudulently obtained victim funds, Li would instruct co-conspirators to open U.S. bank accounts established on behalf of shell companies and would monitor the receipt and execution of interstate and international wire transfers of victim funds."The funds were subsequently deposited to financial accounts under their control, after which they would be converted to virtual currency like Tether, and distributed to wallets owned by Li and his co-conspirators. Li faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison."Financial criminals and the money launderers who enable them wreak untold harm, ruining lives in the process," said U.S. Attorney Martin Estrada for the Central District of California. "Investors should be diligent and on guard against anyone offering quick riches via new, exotic investments. A healthy dose of skepticism could prevent financial ruin down the road."Found this article interesting? Follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn to read more exclusive content we post.SHARE