This article is part of the Collectors Digest Holiday Edition powered by: The thing about being a fan is that, like going on a quest in a fantasy realm, searching for things that you love is part of the fun. Hobbits have to walk a long way to complete their tasks. Luke Skywalker has to find a ship to get him off Tatooine. You get it. Treasure, literal and figurative is foten involved in all the things we love the most. And, around the time of the holidays, you might be wondering what geeky treasures are the best, and also the most elusive.Diving into eBay is a great way to find pop culture treasures from the distant past as well as the hottest things right now. And, when it comes to finding a great gift, its not just that some thing that is really geeky, but also something that is unique. With that in mind, here are a bunch of rare, unique geeky gifts, perfect for yourself, or someone in your life who has to have the thing that nobody every thought to get.1990 Bruce Wayne Quick Change Action Figure (Kenner)One of the greatest things about 80s and 90s action figures was the endless supply of characters rocking outfits they never wore in their respective movies or TV shows. Sometimes it felt like it was easier to find Ice Attack Batman than, say, a regular Batman. However, the Quick Change Bruce Wayne action figure split the difference.With this action figure, Bruce Wayne (Michael Keaton) is wearing a ridiculous turtleneck, complete with a requisite 80s/90s red little squiggle line. But, because he comes with this Batman suit, you can pop him into that with relative ease.Buy the Bruce Wayne Action Figure Here1998 Dark Empire Princess Leia Jedi Action Figure (Kenner)Kids in the late 1990s were so confused about Star Wars. Many of the Star Wars toys of the time were almost exclusively focused on events that didnt take place in the original trilogy, but instead, focused on characters and specifics from the comics and novels. In 1996, this hit a fever pitch with the various Shadows of the Empire toys, but less discussed are the excellent toys Kenner produced based on the Dark Empire comics from 1991. In 1998, you could get a dark side version of Luke Skywalker, a young cloned Emperor Palpatine, and coolest of all, Princess Leia as a full-blown Jedi.Refreshingly, this comes from a time when Lucasfilm wasnt too fussy about lightsaber color, meaning Leias orange/red saber here doesnt mean anything other than the fact that shes a badass.Buy the Leia Jedi Action Figure Here2023 Magic: The Gathering Secret Lair, Lord of the Rings Foil Cards (Wizards of the Coast)Okay, so you probably know that Wizards of the Coast has turned pretty much every IP known to humankind into playable Magic cards at this point. But, in 2023, you might have missed the fact that as a part of The Lord of the Rings cards for Magic: The Gathering, there were some limited edition Secret Lair cards with art taken directly from the most obscure and weirdest version of LotR ever. These cards sported art from the 1978 Ralph Bakshi version of Lord of the Rings.The coolest of these is arguably the foil of the version of Mirror of Galadriel, which sports a vintage screen pull directly from 1978, featuring the animated version of Galadriel, who was, in that film, voiced by Annette Crosbie.Buy MTG Lord of the Rings Cards Here1999 Phantom Menace Qui-Gon Jinn Lightsaber (Hasbro)There have been various improvements to lightsaber toys since the 1970s, and there are plenty of contemporary lightsaber toys but, its very possible that twenty-five years ago, in 1999, the best lightsaber toy ever was released. Mind you, not the most efficient or most accurate replica, but simply the best toy lightsaber.The Qui-Gon Jinn green-bladed lightsaber from 1999 was longer than many of the ones that were released after, and had a nice dark green blade rather than the nearly transparent ones that were created later. Yes, the red button was in the worst spot for doing that lightsaber-spinning thing, but you can get used to it.Buy the Qui-Gon Jinn Lightsaber Here2009 Star Trek Reboot Phaser Toy (Playmates)Its strange to have nostalgia for 2009, specifically, the first J.J. Abrams Star Trek reboot, but here we are. Its been 15 years since Chris Pine and the gang boldly reimagined the classic Enterprise crew. And, as such, some of the stuff from that era is suddenly feeling a bit vintage. Specifically, the redesigned phaser that Kirk and Spock rocked while taking down Neros Romulan ship in the climax of that now (somehow?) classic film.This phaser design has a feature where the blue setting indicates stun and the red setting indicates well, you can guess what the opposite of stun is. Aspects of this design were incorporated into the Discovery phasers in 2017, so theres a lot of weird Star Trek canon crossing over with itself in this slightly hard-to-find elegant Starfleet weapon.Buy the Star Trek Reboot Phaser Here2022 Lower Decks USS Titan (Eaglemoss)When Eaglemoss went bankrupt in 2022, the popular replica maker was very close to releasing starship models for every single Star Trek incarnation up until that point. And one of the last ships that Eaglemoss made was the Lower Decks version of the USS Titan. Not to be confused with the Titan from Star Trek: Picard Season 3, this is the Titan from Lower Decks Season 1 and Season 2, which is the moment where Riker is very much in command of the ship.This Luna-class USS Titan is pretty slick, and the Eaglemoss version of this ship specifically from Lower Decks is among the harder-to-find Star Trek starship replicas. If theres a white whale of contemporary Star Trek models, its this.Buy the Lower Decks USS Titan Here1982 Tron Action FiguresTron is the most underrated cyberpunk movie of all time, and the precursor to The Matrix and so much more. Thinking about where the world would be without Tron is a frightening thought. That said, collecting original, legit vintage Tron stuff is very difficult. Even the makers of the original toyline, Tomy, seemed to misunderstand the premise of the film, referring to it as a futuristic world.The fact that Tron took place in the present has always been, sneakily, the most compelling thing about it. Right now, vintage Tron figures from 1981 feel like theyre from another world, mostly because many of them are extremely valuable. But if you need a gift thats a bit off the grid, these are the programs youre looking for.Buy Tron Action Figures HereMagic: The Gatherings eagerly anticipated crossover with Marvel doesnt come out until 2025, but fans lucky enough to attend the MTG panel at New York Comic Con 2024 got an early sample. Everyone in attendance was given a limited edition Doctor Strange Counterspell promo card. Suffice to say, Marvels premiere sorcerer casting one of Magics most iconic spells is pretty dang cool. This would be quite the neat gift, especially considering how hard it was to get the other early cards from the Secret Lair Marvel Superdrop.Buy the MTG Doctor Strange Card HereThe One Ring Borderless Poster Magic: The Gathering CardMagic: The Gatherings crossover with Lord of the Rings made headlines last year when the 1 of 1 version of The One Ring card was sold for a staggering $2 million to noted MTG fan and famous music artist Post Malone. While youll probably never be able to afford that version of the card because of its one-of-a-kind rarity, its far more likely you can afford the second most rare version. This gnarly Band Poster variant of The One Ring by artist Justine Jones is quite eye-catching (see what we did there?). Its certainly one of the most unique looking styles that has ever come to MTG, and if you look closely there are lots of little Easter eggs, such as the nine Nazgul along the border. The best part is that itll only set you back a couple hundred dollars instead of a couple million.Buy the MTC One Ring Borderless Poster Card HereUmbreon VMAX Alternate Art Secret Rare Pokemon CardIts common knowledge that Pikachu, Charizard, and Mewtwo are the three most popular Pokemon, and cards featuring those characters tend to have a lot of value to collectors. But it might surprise you to hear that cards featuring a certain black-and-yellow Gen II Eeveelution are just as valuable. Thats right, were talking about Umbreon. The eye-catching Umbreon VMAX Alternate Art Secret Rare card from Evolving Skies, showing a giant version of the Pokemon reaching for the moon, is one of the most in-demand cards on the market, years after its release in 2021. Currently the card goes for about a grand(!) and the crazy part is that the value is still going up. If youre looking to give someone an extremely generous Pokemon TCG gift, one ticket to the Moonbreon hype train looks like an investment that may pay off.Buy the Umbreon VMAX Secret Rare Pokemon Card HereMasterpiece Series: Platinum Dark Magician Yu-Gi-Oh! CardIf youve ever wondered what the most expensive Dark Magician card looks like, then wonder no more. In 2023, Konami released the second card in their Masterpiece Series, the Platinum Dark Magician. Only 1000 of these were made and each bears a unique print number. The card is made of silver and comes in a handsome display case. As far as Yu-Gi-Oh! collectibles go, this is one of the most impressive there is. That is, unless youre more of a Kaiba fan and would prefer to get the Platinum Blue-Eyes White Dragon card from 2021.Buy the Platinum Dark Magician Yu-Gi-Oh! Card HerePikachu with Grey Felt Hat Pokemon x Van Gogh CardYou may have heard the news in 2023 about overeager Pokemon fans causing a riot trying to get their hands on a limited edition card at the Van Gogh Museum. Well, this is it. The Pikachu with Grey Felt Hat card features the Pokemon mascot wearing the same kind of headwear as depicted in Van Goghs classic painting, Self-portrait with Grey Felt Hat. The hype around this card certainly makes it one of the more unique Pokemon cards a collector can own. Even a year after its release, it remains one of the most in-demand Pokemon cards for collectors.Buy the Pikachu With Grey Felt Hat Pokemon Card Here

Listen to a recap of the top stories of the day from9to5Mac. 9to5Mac Daily is availableon iTunes and Apples Podcasts app,Stitcher,TuneIn,Google Play, or through ourdedicated RSS feedfor Overcast and other podcast players.Sponsored by Roborock: Check out Roborocks incredible Black Friday Deals now.New episodes of 9to5Mac Daily are recorded every weekday. Subscribe to our podcast in Apple Podcast or your favorite podcast player to guarantee new episodes are delivered as soon as theyre available.Stories discussed in this episode:Listen & Subscribe:Subscribe to support Chance directly with 9to5Mac Daily Plus and unlock:Ad-free versions of every episodeBonus contentodCatch up on 9to5Mac Daily episodes!Dont miss out on our other daily podcasts:Share your thoughts!Drop us a line at happyhour@9to5mac.com. You can also rate us in Apple Podcasts or recommend us in Overcast to help more people discover the show.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

I have an AirTag on my keychain to keep track of my keys, but obviously an AirTag is too big and bulky to fit inside a wallet. Thats what the SwitchBot Wallet Finder is for. (Wallet Finder is currently 30% off for Black Friday, so its an even better deal than normal right now.)Disguised inside a thin, credit-card form factor, the SwitchBot Wallet Finder connects to the Find My app on your iPhone, so you can follow its location, and it even houses a speaker so you can make it beep to help you find your wallet when it inevitably gets lost somewhere in your home.Read on for my review SetupSetup is super simple. Although it ostensibly supports its own app and Android, I have used it solely through the Apple Find My app built into the phone. I didnt even download the SwitchBot app at all. To set up, you open Find My, tap Add Item, and press and hold the button on the Wallet Finder card for a couple of seconds. You then choose a name and emoji icon to identify it later. By default, it suggested Benjamins Keys, but I renamed it to Benjamins Wallet, selected one of the wallet-adjacent available emojis, and pressed Continue and I was done. Then, it just slips into one of the empty card pockets in my wallet.How it tracks locationAs a reminder, Find My accessories do not have GPS. Instead, they broadcast a low-energy Bluetooth signal that nearby Apple devices like iPhones, iPads and Macs pick up on. The location is then transmitted securely and privately to the Find My network, so you can hopefully locate and retrieve your lost item.Even if you are miles away, as long as someone with an Apple device is nearby, the wallet will be locatable on the map in the Find My app.Theres also no ongoing subscription or other costs to worry about (unlike some competitors).As demonstrated by the success of AirTags, the Find My network works really well and the SwitchBot Wallet Finder is just as effective. If your item is stationary, and nearby one of the billion iOS devices in the world, it wont take too long for its location to appear in Find My. If the item is moving, location updates are slightly delayed behind real-time, however.You can also use the Find My app to mark your item as explicitly lost. Then, if someone else finds your wallet and wants to help give it back to its rightful owner, they can use the Identify Found Item feature in Find My which will present your contact information to help arrange returning it to you. The upcoming iOS 18.2 update even adds the ability to make a shareable link to send to others to help assist in tracking down your lost items.Finding nearby using the speakerUnlike an AirTag, the Wallet Finder does not incorporate an ultra-wide band radio. That means it lacks the Precision Finding feature that the AirTag offers when in close proximity.However, the integrated speaker in the Wallet Finder more than suffices for the job of finding your lost wallet. When in Bluetooth range, the card emits a reasonably loud tone. It is slightly less loud than the sound an AirTag makes, and naturally gets a bit muffed when ensconced inside a closed wallet, but it is still audible, more than enough for you to hear it from a good distance away.For the (embarrassingly common) case of when Ive misplaced my wallet somewhere inside my house, I can now just open the Find My app, press Play Sound, and instantly hear which room it is in.Find My also works with the Siri voice assistant, as an added convenience. For example, I can shout wheres my wallet? at my HomePod, and it will start pinging it for me.Safety and trackingJust like AirTags, the Wallet Finder is marketed as a device to help recover lost items. It is not designed to address problems of theft or nefariously track other people. If the card is separated from its owner for a period of time, the speaker will emit a noise to make people aware of its presence. It will also trigger Unknown Item Moving With You alerts on any nearby iPhones in the vicinity.Its also worth pointing out that someone else with the card in their possession can deactivate the Find My connection, by pressing the button in a particular shutdown sequence.ConclusionIf used for its intended purpose, the SwitchBot Wallet Finder is a very effective and great value for money. While obviously designed to be kept inside a wallet, it even has a built-in hole cutout if you did want to slip it on some kind of lanyard or keychain. I highly recommend it.Perhaps the only drawback to be aware of is that the Wallet Finder card has no means of replacing the battery. It is a single use consumable, rated for about 3 years of usage. But the contents of your wallet are valuable enough that it probably makes financial sense to simply buy another when it eventually dies. You just have to be okay with yourself regarding the environmental waste.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

"There's a little bit of disappointment in knowing you miss those things as a father."Lonely at the TopThe dismal failure of Boeing's Starliner spacecraftleft two NASA astronauts stranded aboard the International Space Station this year, meaning they won't be able to return home until this coming February. At that point, their return will be more than half a year overdue.This is something that fellow NASA astronaut Frank Rubio can sympathize with. He too was once left marooned on the orbital outpost, when the Russian Soyuz spacecraft that brought him there couldn't carry passengers on its return trip due to a radiator leak. What was supposed to be a six month rotation turned into longer than a year.It's the price you pay for being the elite of the elite. As a family man, some of the sacrifices Rubio's had to make were especially gut-wrenching, like not being there for his son's high school graduation or his daughter's send-off to college.And don't even think about the holidays: Christmas and Thanksgiving were pretty much a write-off."There's a little bit of disappointment in knowing you miss those things as a father," Rubio told The Washington Post in a new interview.Star StuckOriginally, the currently-stranded NASA astronauts Barry "Butch" Wilmore and Sunita "Suni" Williams were slated for just an eight day mission. But it will now last at least eight months.Their ride, the ill-fated Starliner, sprung helium leaks on the way there, while its thrusters malfunctioned. It was deemed too dangerous to carry any passengers and instead went barreling back to Earth empty-seated.Another Starliner will not be coming to the rescue. That honor will be going to a SpaceX Dragon Crew capsule which is still months away. Unfortunately, Wilmore and William's winter festivities will have to be spent in the confines of the ISS, eating the astronaut equivalent of a TV dinner."I think it's important to acknowledge it's not the ideal situation," Rubio told WaPo. "We're all humans, we all have expectations that kind of set the tone for things. So when you're expecting an eight- to 15-day mission, and you get the news that it's going to be longer, it's always going to be a little bit hard, mostly for personal reasons."Nightmare LayoverLife as an astronaut aboard the International Space Station can be lonely, claustrophobic, tedious, and even grueling.You have to work out two hours everyday to stave off muscle atrophy that comes from living in microgravity. You look at the same "walls of computers, walls of cables," everyday, Rubio described. Your sole respite is the stunning view of Earth from a room called the cupola and that's about it."You only get to look out the cupola for a few minutes a day... so the monotony is something that you fight," he told WaPo. "You almost just block out the fact that it is repetitive and it is monotonous, because it is your job."Yeah, that's rough. To our stranded spacefarers: hang in there.Share This Article

"Why would anybody want to bring harm to the American people?"RainmakerIn an apparent attempt to dispel hurricane misinformation, a member of Congress asked the head of FEMA outright if she controls the weather.Asspotted by Mediaite, Illinois Democrat Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi used part of his time during a recent Congressional hearing to highlight how outrageous right-wing conspiracy theories can be.During the performance, Krishnamoorthi asked Federal Emergency Management Agency Director Deanne Criswell if there was any truth to preposterous theories that a atmospheric research facility in Alaska has the ability to "control" weather using only one's mind."One of the conspiracy theories out there is that somehow FEMA controls the weather," the Illinois congressman asked. "And I assume that you as the administrator do not control the weather, right?""I do not control the weather," Criswell responded, with a hint of resignation.BlasFEMAUnfortunately, the FEMA director herself has become the subject of right-wing ire in the aftermath of hurricanes Milton and Helene after a supervisor with the agency told employees to "avoid" houses that had Donald Trump signs in the yard for fear of political violence.Though that supervisor was summarily fired, the incident sparked a firestorm among conservatives alleging the government was intentionally ignoring Trump supporters for partisan purposes. As outraged as anyone else, Criswell authorized an independent investigation into allegations of political bias within FEMA but the damage was already done.Blame GameThough he didn't address those smears directly, Krishnamoorthi seemed to reference the heart of the matter when asking Criswell if she was "directing" severe weather against political opponents or building FEMA camps to "detain individuals or enact martial law.""Why would anybody want to bring harm to the American people?" the FEMA director mused.Though she was stoic in the face of Krishnamoorthi's intentionally outlandish line of questioning, Criswell was candid in interviews earlier in the year about how misinformation was making FEMA's job harder as it worked to respond to the devastation caused by hurricanes Helene and Milton."Its absolutely the worst that I have ever seen," the disaster czar told reporters in October, per theNew York Times.In a press release about the stunt, Krishnamoorthi thanked the FEMA director for humoring his unusual line of questioning."Dangerous misinformation like we have seen in recent weeks undermines the governments efforts to aid those in need," he said. "Im grateful for Administrator Criswell coming before the committee to put to rest these damaging rumors."More on weather weirdos: Meteorologists Are Getting Death Threats From Insane Hurricane Conspiracy TheoristsShare This Article

Nov 29, 2024Ravie LakshmananCorporate Espionage / National SecurityA 59-year-old U.S. citizen who immigrated from the People's Republic of China (PRC) has been sentenced to four years in prison for conspiring to act as a spy for the country and sharing sensitive information about his employer with China's principal civilian intelligence agency.Ping Li, 59, of Wesley Chapel, Florida, is said to have served as a cooperative contact for the Ministry of State Security (MSS) as early as August 2012, working at their behest to obtain information that's of interest to the Chinese government. Li was employed at telecom giant Verizon and later at information technology service company Infosys.In addition to four years of jail time, Li has been handed a $250,000 fine and three years of supervised release. He was charged with acting as an agent of the PRC without notification to the Attorney General in late July 2024. Li subsequently pleaded guilty to the charges a month later."The MSS often uses 'cooperative contacts' located in countries outside of the PRC in furtherance of their intelligence goals, which include obtaining information concerning foreign corporate or industrial matters, foreign politicians or intelligence officers, and information concerning PRC political dissidents residing in those countries," the U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) said."These cooperative contacts assist the MSS in a variety of ways, including by conducting research on topics of interest to the PRC that can be used to further the MSS's mission."As revealed in the sentencing memorandum, Li obtained information pertaining to Chinese dissidents and pro-democracy advocates, members of the Falun Gong religious movement, and U.S.-based non-governmental organizations, and shared them with two MSS officers, one of whom he befriended during high school and college in China.He has also been found to have shared training applications used by Verizon for new employees, as well as materials relating to cybersecurity training, the SolarWinds cyber attack on the U.S. government in 2021, and publicly available information regarding several politicians. The details were transmitted using various anonymous Gmail and Yahoo! accounts.The development comes as the U.S. government is actively investigating a widespread cyber espionage campaign undertaken by a Chinese state-sponsored threat actor called Salt Typhoon targeting major telecommunications companies in the country.Earlier this August, the DoJ also convicted Shujun Wang, a resident of Queens, New York, for acting and conspiring to act as a covert Chinese agent while starting a pro-democracy advocacy outfit named Memorial Foundation opposing the current communist regime in China."This defendant infiltrated a New York-based advocacy group by masquerading as a pro-democracy activist all while covertly collecting and reporting sensitive information about its members to the PRC's intelligence service," Assistant Attorney General Matthew G. Olsen of the DoJ's National Security Division said at the time.According to the China Threat Snapshot assessment released by the House Committee on Homeland Security (CHS) last month, there have been over 55 cases of Chinese Communist Party (CCP)-related espionage across 20 states in the U.S.This includes the transmission of sensitive military information to the PRC, theft of trade secrets to advance its goals, transnational repression schemes to target PRC dissidents, and obstruction of justice."Between 2000 and 2023, there have been 224 reported incidents of Chinese espionage directed at the U.S.," the report said. "About 80% of economic espionage prosecutions allege conduct that would benefit the Chinese state, and there is at least some nexus to China in around 60% of all trade secret theft cases."Found this article interesting? Follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn to read more exclusive content we post.SHARE

Nov 28, 2024Ravie LakshmananSoftware Security / Data BreachCybersecurity researchers have discovered a software supply chain attack that has remained active for over a year on the npm package registry by starting off as an innocuous library and later adding malicious code to steal sensitive data and mine cryptocurrency on infected systems.The package, named @0xengine/xmlrpc, was originally published on October 2, 2023 as a JavaScript-based XML-RPC server and client for Node.js. It has been downloaded 1,790 times to date and remains available for download from the repository.Checkmarx, which discovered the package, said the malicious code was strategically introduced in version 1.3.4 a day later, harboring functionality to harvest valuable information such as SSH keys, bash history, system metadata, and environment variables every 12 hours, and exfiltrate it via services like Dropbox and file.io."The attack achieved distribution through multiple vectors: direct npm installation and as a hidden dependency in a legitimate-looking repository," security researcher Yehuda Gelb said in a technical report published this week.The second approach involves a GitHub project repository named yawpp (short for "Yet Another WordPress Poster") that purports to be a tool designed to programmatically create posts on the WordPress platform.Its "package.json" file lists the latest version of @0xengine/xmlrpc as a dependency, thereby causing the malicious npm package to be automatically downloaded and installed when users attempt to set up the yawpp tool on their systems.It's currently not clear if the developer of the tool deliberately added this package as a dependency. The repository has been forked once as of writing. Needless to say, this approach is another effective malware distribution method as it exploits the trust users place in package dependencies.Once installed, the malware is designed to collect system information, establish persistence on the host through systemd, and deploy the XMRig cryptocurrency miner. As many as 68 compromised systems have been found to actively mine cryptocurrency through the attacker's Monero wallet.Furthermore, it's equipped to constantly monitor the list of running processes to check for the presence of commands like top, iostat, sar, glances, dstat, nmon, vmstat, and ps, and terminate all mining-related processes if found. It's also capable of suspending mining operations if user activity is detected."This discovery serves as a stark reminder that a package's longevity and consistent maintenance history do not guarantee its safety," Gelb said. "Whether initially malicious packages or legitimate ones becoming compromised through updates, the software supply chain requires constant vigilance both during initial vetting and throughout a package's lifecycle."The disclosure comes as Datadog Security Labs uncovered an ongoing malicious campaign targeting Windows users that uses counterfeit packages uploaded to both npm and the Python Package Index (PyPI) repositories with the end goal of deploying open-source stealer malware known as Blank-Grabber and Skuld Stealer.The company, which detected the supply chain attack last month, is tracking the threat cluster under the name MUT-8694 (where MUT stands for "mysterious unattributed threat"), stating it overlaps with a campaign that was documented by Socket earlier this month as aiming to infect Roblox users with the same malware.As many as 18 and 39 phony unique packages have been uploaded to npm and PyPI, with the libraries attempting to pass off as legitimate packages through the use of typosquatting techniques."The use of numerous packages and involvement of several malicious users suggests MUT-8694 is persistent in their attempts to compromise developers," Datadog researchers said. "Contrary to the PyPI ecosystem, most of the npm packages had references to Roblox, an online game creation platform, suggesting that the threat actor is targeting Roblox developers in particular."Found this article interesting? Follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn to read more exclusive content we post.SHARE

Companies that recognize current market opportunities -- from the need to safely implement revolutionary technology like AI to the vast proliferation of cyber threats -- have remarkable growth prospects.

Ben Stiller doesnt think Tropic Thunder could be made today because edgier comedy is harder to do.The 58-year-old actor starred in and directed the 2009 satirical action comedy which also starred Jack Black, Tom Cruise, Steve Coogan and Robert Downey Jr. and has now admitted the film likely wouldnt be greenlit today because of its controversial elements.When Collider asked if he could see Tropic Thunder coming out now, he said: I doubt it. Obviously, in this environment, edgier comedy is just harder to do. Definitely not at the scale we made it at, too, in terms of the economics of the business.DreamWorksDreamWorksloading...READ MORE: 2000s Movies That Couldnt Be Made TodayI think even at the time we were fortunate to get it made, and I credit that, actually, to Steven Spielberg and DreamWorks. He read it and was like, Alright, let's make this thing. It's a very inside movie when you think about it.The Zoolanderstar pointed to Downey Jr.s character Kirk Lazauras, a white actor who undergoes pigmentation alteration surgery to temporarily darken his skin for his portrayal of the black character, as a particular aspect of Tropic Thunder that studios would never approve of now.Stiller continued: Yeah, the idea of Robert playing that character who's playing an African American character, I mean, incredibly dicey. Even at the time, of course, it was dicey too.Even so, the Night at the Museum star added the joke was included to mock Hollywood actors willingness to push their morals aside in an effort to win awards, not to make fun of African Americans.He explained: The only reason we attempted it was I felt like the joke was very clear in terms of who that joke was on actors trying to do anything to win awards. But now, in this environment, I don't even know if I would have ventured to do it, to tell you the truth. Im being honest.Recently, Stiller commented on returning as the villainous Hal L. for Happy Gilmore 2, and said he was always ready to reprise the role and work with Adam Sandler again since the original sports-comedy released in 1996.He said: You don't get the opportunity to play Hal L. that often.The actor added it was his friendship with Sander that flared his desire to come back for the follow-up flick.He said: I love Adam. He's a dear friend. And the opportunity to do that guy is just so much fun because he has no redeeming characteristics.I think he's [Hal] a good person inside. I think he's misunderstood. It bothers him that everybody loves Happy. You don't have to worry about making him likable, so it's really fun to just go for it. We had the best time.Get our free mobile app25 Big Blockbuster Movies You Forgot ExistedRemember these movies? They made a lot of money at the box office!Filed Under: Ben Stiller, Tropic ThunderCategories: Movie News

Time zones: EST (UTC -5), CST (UTC -6), MST (UTC -7), PST (UTC -8), AKST (UTC -9), HST (UTC -10)Our Benefits Advisor assist union employees, existing clienteles, and new members understand voluntary group benefits, insurance benefits and signing up qualified candidates during the annual enrollment period.Responsibilities:Explain benefits to new employees and existing clients via zoomDevelop and calculate suitable plans based on clients' needsSpecializes in mortgage protection, final expense, college education, paycheck protection etcResolve client inquiries and complaintsExpand business reach through networking techniquesComply with insurance standards and regulationsTrack and identify areas of improvementAttend ongoing training sessionQualifications:Previous experience in customer service, customer Representative, or other related HR fields is a plusAbility to build rapport with clientsStrong negotiation skillsExcellent written and verbal communication skillsAbility to prioritize and multitaskBenefits:Work from homeWeekly compensationWeekly BonusesHealth Insurance - upon qualificationEmployee Life InsuranceResidual IncomeLeadership Career Track