The Beatles arrive at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York on February 7, 1964. Public domain via Wikimedia CommonsOn December 26, 1963, syndicated Hollywood columnist Erskine Johnson issued a stark notice in newspapers across the United States.Warning: Beatles Are Coming, the headline read, like a 20th-century version of Paul Reveres midnight ride.Johnson, for one, was not impressed with the British band, who had just released their breakout singles, I Want to Hold Your Hand and I Saw Her Standing There, in the U.S. that day.I watch. Im appalled, he wrote after attending a Beatles show in London. He described the stage presence of John Lennon, Ringo Starr, George Harrison and Paul McCartney as eels after an explosion in a wig factory.Their music was brash, loud and full of guitars, and it apparently had little or no melody. Worse, Johnson found, were the fanatic fans who inspired the term Beatlemania. Girls fell to their knees during the concert and beat their fists against the floor, he reported.The thought of U.S. teenagers becoming Beatle Bewitched is frightening, Johnson wrote. It isnt fair. Yeah, yeah, yeah.The Beatles' first appearance on American TV -- NBC NewsWatch on But, indeed, the Beatles were coming stateside, having already conquered their home island. On December 26, they already held five top-20 slots on the British pop charts, including the coveted first two. (The Fab Four also made a cameo appearance in the 20th spot on Dora Bryans single All I Want for Christmas Is a Beatle, in which the singer pines for a real live Liverpool boy.)Four days before releasing their second studio album With the Beatles on November 22, the same day President John F. Kennedy was assassinated, the Beatles had made their first television appearance in the U.S. during a four-minute report by NBCs Edwin Newman. Millions of people watched, and hype for the British groups American visit skyrocketed.Whatever the nature of Beatlemania, this country is about to be exposed to its carriers, the New Yorker wrote in a profile of the Beatles manager Brian Epstein, who was tirelessly arranging the bands visit to America.On February 7, 1964, it finally happened: The Beatles touched down at the recently renamed John F. Kennedy Airport in New York. As they stepped off their airplane, they were met by a crowd of 200 jostling reporters and photographers and some 4,000 fans, mostly teenaged girls, who lined the rooftop observation deck of the airports International Arrivals Building in a great singing, shrilling mass, Jonathan Gould wrote in Cant Buy Me Love: The Beatles, Britain and America. The Beatles performing on "The Ed Sullivan Show" in February 1964 Public domain via Wikimedia CommonsAfter a chaotic and quippy press conference, four black Cadillac limousines brought each Beatle individually to the Plaza Hotel, where they were trapped by throngs of press and fans.Then, on February 9, the Beatles had their formal television introduction to the American public through a live performance on the Ed Sullivan Show. Seventy-three million Americans, roughly 34 percent of the population, tuned in, and Beatles fans in the studio were so rowdy while the shows other guests performed that Sullivan at one point joked, If you dont keep quiet, Im going to send for a barber.To joyous screams, the four Beatles came onto the stage. They ripped through three songs: All My Loving, Till There Was You and She Loves You. During the second number, the camera cut between individual Beatles, displaying their first names and introducing them personally to America. (Under Lennons name, text stated, SORRY GIRLS, HES MARRIED.) The show then went to commercial, but the course of rock music was forever changed.Writing for Smithsonian, Joseph Stromberg described the Beatles performance on the show as a watershed moment, a turning point in the history [of] American music that inextricably influenced a huge proportion of all the pop and rock thats come since.In retrospect, Johnsons warning back on December 26 was apt. The British Invasion was underway.Get the latest stories in your inbox every weekday.

Squid Game season 2 is now streaming on Netflix.If season 1 of the masterful Korean thriller Squid Game introduced audiences to the capitalist hellscape that made its macabre elementary school field day for deeply indebted adults possible, season 2 is seemingly meant to parse through the complexities of that cutthroat terrain. As we follow reluctant winner Seong Gi-hun (Lee Jung-jae) back into the arena, we find an atmosphere charged not by lethal rounds of I Spy or hopscotch, but by interactions that muddle any prior notion of hero vs. villain or right vs. wrong. Expanded backstories and complicated motives ladder up to this seasons harshest reality: As easy as it is to blame a faceless machine for everything thats wrong with the world, no machine can work without the cogs that keep it running. With a much leaner seven-episode run at his disposal, creator, writer, and director Hwang Dong-hyuk explores the layers of this universe with rich storytelling that doesnt simply take the cruelties and inequalities of this system to task. This time, he and Squid Games talented cast dig into why any reasonable person would feed themselves to its gears in the first place.Still traumatized from the events of season 1, burgeoning vigilante Gi-hun refuses to disappear into a comfy life with his winnings. We learn that hes invested three years and his own cash into a private search for the games magnetic recruiter (Gong Yoo), initially convinced that ending him would end the games. We also learn the recruiters unsettling backstory, which offers the grim perspective of someone wholly blinded by his allegiance to these games and a deeply flawed, oversimplified pick-yourself-up-by-your-bootstraps mentality. This mainly gives Gong Yoo the space to be less stoic and more of a terrifying arbiter of corporate injustice, delivering an absolutely rattling performance in the process. Not only does he make a worthy adversary for Lees more grounded but equally intense Gi-hun, hes also a conduit for some of the seasons most creative moments of tension and breathtaking cinematography. The recruiters story makes up most of the first episode a departure from how quickly season one got to the games. But this isnt cause for alarm. Despite taking place entirely in the outside world, the first two episodes are so loaded with anxiety-inducing pressure points that even a game of Rock, Paper, Scissors in a darkened building can become nightmare fuel. Yes, the games are an obvious centerpiece, but this thoughtful, more leisurely journey to them proves that Squid Games biggest draw is its worldbuilding.We also reconnect with police officer Hwang Jun-ho (Wi Ha-joon), who previously went undercover as a games guard in search of his brother In-ho (who, in a first-season twist, turned out to be the games Front Man, played by the quietly chilling Lee Byung-hun). After taking on a much less exciting assignment, he eventually reunites with Gi-hun and joins the heros quest to uncover the secret location of the games. His presence briefly and intriguingly indicates that season 2 has the police in its social-commentary sights; new character Choi Woo-Seok (Jeon Seok-ho) notes that cops, in his experience, rarely help civilians. But its a thread that Hwang and company only tug at lightly, a notably weaker approach when compared to the other ways Squid Game speaks truth to powerSquid Game Season 2 GalleryWhen we do eventually return to the Squid Game, we meet a legion of new players, including a former YouTuber in trouble for slinging faulty crypto (Im Si-wan), his pregnant and savvy ex (Jo Yu-ri), a mother-son duo looking to collectively pay off gambling debt (Kang Ae-shim and Yang Dong-geun, respectively), a young former marine (Kang Ha-neul), and a menacing former shaman (Chae Kook-hee). While some feel more like archetypes than fully fleshed-out characters, Kangs Jang Geum-ja stands out. More than a doting mom, Geum-ja often leans on her hard-knock upbringing to draw immeasurable strength for herself and the ragtag bunch of players she adopts as her own family. Other competitors might underestimate the older woman in their midst, but she proves them wrong with fierce conviction and a strong resolve.Also among the ensemble are two rather high-profile additions. Park Sung-hoon plays Hyun-ju, a former special forces soldier and transgender woman who enters the games to earn funding for gender-affirming surgery. (Worth noting: Park is a cis man; Hwang says he had difficulty finding an out trans actress in Korea and chose Park for the role rather than cutting this important storyline.) Hyun-ju is sharp, compassionate, capable, and complicated a fully realized person with her own incredibly valid motivations whos treated with notable care by Park and Hwang. Another headline-grabbing choice: Choi Seung-hyun, a.k.a revered, once-underground South Korean rapper T.O.P, who plays, well, a revered underground rapper named Thanos. Thanos is a lightning bolt of unrepentant chaos in an already electric environment, and Choi has found a way to imbue pitch-perfect physical comedy, rage, and tragic recklessness into a character that makes the viewer simultaneously hold their breath in fear and beg for more. Its a match made in hell through and through though Thanos isnt without his own sobering baggage, making him just as easy to pity as he is to fear. The games take a backseat to a new, unnerving wrinkle: democracy.There are new games and the return of one daunting bloodfest but truthfully, they all take a backseat to a new, unnerving wrinkle: democracy. Voting played a small role in season one, but each one of season twos games is punctuated by a chance for the surviving players to end it all with a majority vote, walking away with an even share of the prize money. Of course, as the body count grows, so does the size of those shares. Here, Hwang best blurs the lines between us vs. them, which are no longer restricted to the players and their overseers. It also means roles are constantly adjusting. While the players may not have guns, theyre armed with their own personal motives (like costly healthcare, or combatting serious addictions), strategic stories, and a vote that dictates everyones chances at survival. Its a game-within-the-game, and it provides the chance for everyone to indulge their killer instinct even those who seem to mean well.Following a U.S. election cycle when voting for self-preservation versus the greater good was the hottest of hot-button topics, this development is almost uncomfortably timely. But it also cleverly illustrates how the games can sow division, how tough choices can swiftly adjust our perception of other people, and how, in some cases, you dont need masked gunmen to make a space feel incredibly dangerous. Before, it was much easier to tell when the games were in session. Now, not so much. Squid Game trusts us to navigate this more nuanced story, and its rewarding. As we watch this heightened depiction of the economic and political forces that dictate our everyday lives, were challenged to pinpoint how wed actually fit in in such a thorny universe.

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After three years,Squid Gameis back with more deadly games to play. The seven-episode second season premieres today onNetflix. By all accounts, it's just as good as the show's first outing. However, this is not a retread of season 1, and that's due to Seong Gi-hun's (Lee Jae) return to the gauntlet that nearly killed him.Why would Gi-hun (aka Player 456) even come back after the violence he endured previously? After all, he won the competition and left the island a billionaire. You'd think he'd put this in his rearview for good and move on with his life. When it comes to the lingering impact of trauma, that's easier said than done.See at NetflixWhen audiences first met Gi-hun, he was an aloof low-life with a gambling habit, struggling to pay off some massive debts. In short, he had a clear detachment from any meaningful responsibilities. In Season 2, Gi-hun is a changed man. A hardened shell of his former self, his sole purpose has shifted from paying off debtors to taking down the whole mysterious operation entirely.Instead of starting a new lavish life with his competition winnings, he spends copious amounts of money to find the people connected to the games. He wants revenge, and nothing will stop him from getting it.Or, to paraphrase Michael Corleone from The Godfather: Part III: Just when we thought he was out, he threw himself right back in.This is the part of the review where I warn you ofspoilers for Squid Game season 2. If you haven't watched the new episodes, tread lightly or turn back now. Getty Image/ Zooey Liao Lee Jung-jae returns as Gi-hun (aka Player 456) in Squid Game season 2 on Netflix. NetflixIt's not a spoiler that Gi-hun returns to the games; that detail was prominentin the trailer. On the surface, this new installment looks a lot like the first one. People who need money are forced to play childhood games for big money while putting their lives on the line. A shadowy figure runs the show with an army of hooded, masked henchmen doing his bidding.Even though the competitors are all in this life-threatening situation together, bonds are forged and conflicts arise. Once again, we are presented with a Lord of the Flies-style scenario showing how easy it is for humanity to pull itself apart from within.Gi-hun's determination to end this operation and save as many lives as possible puts him at odds with a number of competitors. His tenacity and knowledge of the games also bring new friends his way, introducing the audience to a collection of new faces, each with their own flaws and nuances.As expected, Jung-jae delivers another stand-out performance. Every player in the expansive ensemble delivers on all fronts, from Lee Byung-hun -- whose sinister return as the Front Man brings some unexpected new layers to the evil role -- and Wi Ha-jun, who is back as detective Hwang Jun-ho, to Gong Yoo's delightful reprisal of his sociopathic Recruiter role, everyone does a fantastic job raising the emotional stakes. And that's a necessity.Let's remember where we were three years ago when Squid Game premiered on Netflix in 2021. At the time, there was a global lockdown, and millions of people were stuck at home, looking for entertainment to numb the pain of the pandemic realities they were living through daily. The Korean series was a hit out of the gate and quickly became the streamer's most-watched series ever.Emmys were won, and careers were made. Series lead Lee Jung-jae got the Star Wars bump with the Disney Plus series The Acolyte. The spotlight was indeed well-received. But after a three-year wait, one has to wonder if the second season of Hwang Dong-hyuk's global hit scratches the same sort of itch.It does. But it also doesn't. And that's a good thing.Squid Game isn't the first piece of entertainment that pits people against each other in bloody combat for monetary gain. Titles like Running Man or Battle Royale come to mind. However, the deadly competition here isn't a means of popcorn-munching revelry for an at-home audience. No, that would be too easy. This deadly gauntlet of children's games may take place at the whims of a sociopathic man hiding behind a black mask -- but it's the competitors themselves who own the majority of the trauma.Season 2 gives everyone a proverbial get-out-of-jail-free card by allowing competitors to vote on whether they should stay or leave. Much like in the first season, though, humanity's greed offsets common sense and once again guides the series into a bloodbath. Adding an election theme to the mix creates a violent polarity that feels a bit too close to home, considering our present-day reality.Squid Game has changed with the times more than enough to keep it interesting. It's just as terrifying as it is funny, heartfelt and dramatic. Like Gi-hun, audiences everywhere are already familiar with this bloody competition -- Red Light, Green Light is still the scariest game, to be honest. So, to keep our attention, the story needs to enter a new phase.The Front Man and his henchmen messed around in season 1. Now, it looks like Squid Game is in the finding-out stage, and I can't wait to see what comes next.

You can trust VideoGamer. Our team of gaming experts spend hours testing and reviewing the latest games, to ensure you're reading the most comprehensive guide possible. Rest assured, all imagery and advice is unique and original. Check out how we test and review games hereThere was no update for The Finals as per usual on Wednesday thanks to Christmas day and the fact Embark personnel are deservedly taking time off to celebrate the holidays. While the team are still off and not providing anything major, they have still released The Finals update 5.2.0 patch notes. This includes an XP boost for the Arena along with a few urgent fixes. So far, Season 5 has been a lot of fun. It introduced a new map, gadgets, and weapons, andupdate 5.1.0 celebrated Christmas in style with an event and apropos skins. If you havent already, make sure to grab thenew Season 5 bundlesthat contain free Legendary and Epic weapon skins with Multibucks.Now Embark has shared The Finals update 5.2.0 patch notes, and players can celebrate Boxing Day with some new year celebration skins plus bonus XP. The Finals update 5.2.0 patch notes Below are The Finals update 5.2.0 patch notes: HAPPY NEW YEAR2025 is right around the corner! Were excited about all the plans we have for this new year, and to celebrate, weve added some shiny new things to the shop:Were also happy to introduce a new World Tour stop: Boost Protocol! This is the final stop of the VAIIYA International, and to make it pop, our generous sponsor is offering an additional boost to XP when you party up in the Arena!Maps:SYS$Horizon Sponsored by VAIIYAJultide BernalJultide KyotoJultide MonacoGet in there and start racking up the XP!Finally, we have a few urgent fixes for this update to read about below:Content and Bug FixesAudioFixed an issue where an experimental voice line featuring player names played far too often and only mentioned a single name (sorry, TTV.Scruy!). This feature needs some fine-tuning, but for now, you should at least not hear the same voiceline over and over againContractsTemporarily removed two contracts that were not functioning as intendedFor more The Finals, check out our guide to thebest weapons in the game ranked, and we also have a guide to thebest gadgets. In addition, we have a guide to thebest FPS settingsto help you win matchesalong witharanking of the best classesin the game.The FinalsPlatform(s):PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series S, Xbox Series S/X, Xbox Series XGenre(s):Action, First-Person Shooter, ShooterSubscribe to our newsletters!By subscribing, you agree to our Privacy Policy and may receive occasional deal communications; you can unsubscribe anytime.Share

Basara: ReFantazioMetaphor: ReFantazio makers hope it becomes a series, and they may already have some ideas about a sequelMetaphor: ReFantazio was, by many accounts, one of the best games of 2024. But it may or may not kick off its own series at Studio Zero. News by Sherif Saed Contributing Editor Published on Dec. 26, 2024 Regardless of the quality of Metaphor: ReFantazio, the project was started as a way for its developer, Studio Zero, to create a third JRPG franchise of its own, to stand alongside Shin Megami Tensei, and Persona - two series the studio worked on.Now that ReFantazio is out and everyones had time to play it, love it and nominate it as their game of the year, its clear this first game was a success. Whether or not it gets a sequel, however, is another story.To see this content please enable targeting cookies. In this weeks issue of Japanese magazine Famitsu (#1880), theres an interview with Katsura Hashino, the director of Studio Zero, the makers of Metaphor: ReFantazio. In the interview, which was leaked by ryokutya2089 (via Persona Central), Hashino touched on his views and hopes for future sequel.The studio director revealed that he would like the next game to have a different setting, hinting that it could be a historical one, such as Japans Sengoku period.If I decide that the best setting for a future title is the Sengoku period, it might turn into a JRPG with a world like the Basara series (laughs), said Hashino.With that in mind, however, a sequel to ReFantazio isnt actually in the works, and there don't appear to be any concrete plans to produce one, either. Hashino and team would like Metaphor to become a series, though. Shake on it?Considering Metaphor: ReFantazio is Atlus fastest-selling game ever - shifting over 1 million copies at launch - theres a very likely chance its going to get a sequel, perhaps even several. Its also worth noting that ReFantazio broke big on PC, something Atlus Persona series hasnt always been good at it.Catch up on our 5 star Metaphor: ReFantazio review to see why everyone has been raving about this one, just in case you missed all the frenzy last October. And no, the game is more than just grown-up Persona.

H2Oh no.Over the holiday season, we're republishing some of the best articles from Nintendo Life writers and contributors as part of our Best of 2024 series. Enjoy!Soapbox features enable our individual writers and contributors to voice their opinions on hot topics and random stuff they've been chewing over. Today, Jim is reliving a childhood trauma to mark Pikmin 2's 20th anniversary...Read the full article on nintendolife.com

AI in the legal industrygettyWhether or not you like it, as long as there are laws and conflicts, there will be the need for lawyers and legal assistance. While we may never replace human lawyers with fully autonomous AI counterparts, AI is already helping to make the legal profession more efficient and effective.AI Assisting with Legal Research & DiscoveryLaws are a uniquely human invention, with lawyers there to litigate on behalf of those who follow, or dont follow, those laws. While machines dont possess the sort of common sense necessary to truly interpret the nuance inherent in laws, there's a lot of things that we can do using AI to make the legal industry more efficient, more effective, and more accessible to those who need it.AI is already helping keep costs down by assisting with legal research and discovery. AI powered legal research platforms are able to use natural language processing to quickly analyze vast data stores of legal documents, case law, statutes, and regulations.This gives legal teams who might not be familiar with specific industries, certain regions of the world, and legal precedents, the ability to gain insights that they would otherwise have to spend hours or days investigating. AI tools sift through this information to surface the key insights right away and provide potential legal arguments more efficiently than traditional methods.AI is also helping to automate and improve the e-discovery process, which involves identifying, collecting, and producing electronically stored information from amongst huge troves of gathered information for legal proceedings. AI is really good at looking at large amounts of data quickly and being able to analyze that data to uncover key evidence or support.MORE FOR YOUOf course, AI systems arent perfect, so lawyers need to be careful to double-check machine work to avoid getting into legal hot water as has happened in the past when AI systems hallucinated and made up cases that were then presented in court.Furthermore, AI is assisting with due diligence processes that are needed in funding, mergers and acquisitions (M&A), and similar transactions by automating the review of large volumes of documents, contracts, and financial records. AI tools can identify potential risks, liabilities, and compliance issues more quickly and accurately than manual review processes, ensuring thorough and efficient due diligence.AI-Augmented Assistance with Document Management and PreparationA whole lot of law is really about dealing with electronic and paper documents and written content. Laws are written content, interpretations of laws are written content, and people are making decisions based on this written content that has been developed over time.Just as the media industry is all about content creation and engagement, the legal industry is not that far from that, if you think about it. It just happens to be that all the content is written in the form of laws and in a very domain-specific language, subject to interpretations. Even the judges don't always agree on those interpretations. That's why we have courts and appeals courts and at the highest level, supreme courts.There's many ways that AI is being used throughout that whole process. Foremost, AI is generating many legal documents, from highly transactional and boilerplate legal filings and paperwork to more sophisticated contracts and legal arguments. AI platforms are also being applied to interpret legal documents prepared by others, identifying key clauses and flag risks, helping with ensuring compliance, suggesting revisions, maintaining consistency across documents, and reducing a lot of the time and effort needed to handle complex documents.Whereas it might have taken paralegals many billable hours to read and process these documents, AI systems can handle the documents in a matter of minutes and surface insights that perhaps even trained professionals are unable to discern.Legal-heavy governmental agencies such as intellectual property, patent, and trademark offices are using AI to help with IP search and office filings to identify prior art, determine the key claims in a filing, and assist with multilingual searches across worldwide IP and content databases.On the document generation front, AI is automating the creation of legal documents, especially the sorts of documents that are very repetitive such as wills, contracts, and court filings. With proper legal oversight, AI systems are reducing time and effort to produce accurate legal documents. AI systems are also helping with intellectual property filings and monitoring, keeping an eye out on the Internet for potential infringements, prior art, or related IP data.AI-Augmented Legal OperationsAs is the case in many industries, the legal industry is often bogged down with processes that make delivery of services less efficient. The best applications of AI are as an augmented intelligence tool that doesnt replace humans, but just helps them do their job better. One of those areas of legal operations in determining whether or not cases are worth pursuing based on time, complexity, and expense.AI is seeing increasing use analyzing historical case data to help predict the likely outcomes of legal disputes. Because it's augmented intelligence, the human makes the final decision, but the AI system gives you an idea of whether or not you really should move forward.The legal industry is also making increasing use of AI powered chatbots to help with client interaction. Law firms and legal departments often handle a lot of routine inquiries that can easily be shifted to automated, intelligent chatbots that dont require the use of expensive counsel. AI chatbots are now able to handle a lot of those routine client inquiries, provide basic legal information, assist with case intake, and handle general inquiries that law firms dont need to tie up expensive human resources handling.These AI systems reduce response times, improve client satisfaction, and free up the human experts to do more complex tasks. These systems not only help to reduce the cost for the client and law firm, but also make legal services more accessible to those who might be resource constrained.AI systems can also provide legal analytics by processing large datasets to uncover trends, patterns, and insights related to legal cases, judicial behavior, and law firm performance. This information helps law firms make data-driven decisions, optimize their strategies, and improve client outcomes.AI systems are also helping improve compliance and risk management by helping legal professionals monitor and manage compliance with regulations and industry standards. AI-driven compliance tools analyze business operations, identify potential legal risks, and ensure adherence to regulatory requirements.So while AI wont fully replace humans in the legal industry, the increasing use of AI will make the legal profession more efficient, more effective, keep costs down, make lawyers better at what they do, improve customer satisfaction, help make legal help more accessible, and maybe even make the legal industry better.

Don't lose your dataact now as Google confirms deletionsAnadolu Agency via Getty ImagesUpdate, Dec. 26, 2024: This story, originally published Dec. 24 now includes additional information regarding how to recover an inactive account you cant remember the password for before it gets deleted, data deletion timelines from a Google spokesperson and advice on how to efficiently manage multiple Google accounts on a single device without fear of purging.Although many might think of it as the ultimate data-gobbling corporation, Google is actually on something of a data-deleting purge right now. Heres what users of Gmail, Google Photos and Google Maps need to know if they want to save theirs.Google Maps Latest Service To Get The Data Purge TreatmentWhat You Need To KnowLike many others, I have been in receipt of emails from Google recently that inform me unless I take action my Google Maps Timeline data will be deleted in 2025. The precise date varies from user to user, but Ive had emails warning me of both May and June deadlines on different Google accounts I hold. The Google Maps Timeline feature used to be known as your location history, containing both saved visit and route data.The reasoning appears to be security-related, which is no bad thing: the Timeline location history feature is being relocated from Googles cloud servers to on-device where it can benefit from the improved security protections your smartphone offers for such data.MORE FOR YOUGoogleVisit your Timeline, and youll see a popup informing you of the forthcoming changes. The fix to ensure you keep your location history data is simple enough, according to Google itself: Since the data shown on your Timeline comes directly from your device, Timeline wont be available on Maps on your computer after you move your data. To move your data to your device, download the Google Maps app.I recommend clicking the learn more option on the Timeline popup as this will tell you all you need to know to save your Google Maps location data.Gmail And Google Photos Data Also In The Deletion CrosshairsRegular readers will be aware that Google has also been quite clear that Gmail data, photos and docs will also be up for deletion following a change to the inactive Google account policy 2023. Google accounts that have not been signed into for at least two years will be deleted, along with the data stored by those account holders. Like the Google Maps Timeline deletions, the Google account purge is also being implemented for security reasons. Google said that internal analysis had shown, for example, that long inactive accounts were at least 10x less likely than active accounts to have 2-step verification set up, and so more likely to be compromised than active ones.As we shared in our blog post, this update is rolling out gradually, a Google spokesperson said, This means people will see different deletion deadlines, approximately six months from when they were first notified about this change to their account.To ensure your Google accounts are not deleted, if you have more than one of course, is simple enoughjust use them. This means signing into the accounts in question or, according to Google, meeting any of the following activity requirements:Reading or sending an emailUsing Google DriveWatching a YouTube videoSharing a photoDownloading an appUsing Google SearchUsing Sign in with Google to sign in to a third-party app or serviceHow To Recover An Inactive Google Account If You Dont Know The Correct PasswordPosting to the Gmail subreddit on Dec. 25, a user wanted to know if there was any way to recover a Google account without knowing the password. The good news is that, yes, there is. The bad news, however, in their case is that it likely wont help as they didnt set a recovery phone number and cant remember the email recovery address either. The user asked if they could submit proof of identity some other way, and the bad news for them, but better news for privacy and security-minded users out there is no, there is not. Proof of ID is not proof of account ownership, after all. I could open an account using the same name as someone else, and given the number of people on this planet, its highly likely thats the case. So, how do you recover an inactive Google account that youve forgotten the password for?The good news for anyone who cant remember their Google account password, or even those for whom an attacker has compromised the account and changed the passwords, phone numbers and even passkeys to prevent the genuine account holder from regaining access, is that all is not lost. You can still save that inactive account from deletion, but youll need to act fast. I spoke to Googles Gmail spokesperson, Ross Richendrfer, who deals with workspace security and privacy matters, for advice.We recommend all users to set up a recovery phone as well as a recovery email on their account, Richendrfer said, these can be used in cases where users forget their own passwords, or an attacker changes the credentials after hijacking the account.If you have forgotten your account password, then head straight to the Google Account recovery process page and enter the phone number or recovery email associated with the account. If you cant remember them, dont panic: use any phone number you do remember, ditto email address, that youve used in the past as these will often come through. Google will then send a recovery verification code to the email or phone and provide details of any accounts associated with them. Once you get this far, try to sign in and then follow the forgot my password route, which will start off another round of verification codes but end up with you regaining access to your account.The only exception to this advice is for those who have taken the decision to activate the Advanced Protection Program for their Google account. While this is highly recommended for people who are at greater risk of attack, journalists, political activists, public figures and the like, it does make account recovery necessarily more complicated, and there would be many more time-consuming hoops through which to jump. That said, its improbable an account with this kind of protection would be an inactive, let alone forgotten, one.Its Easy To Manage Multiple Google Accounts On The Same DeviceHeres HowManaging multiple Google accounts on the same device might sound like a nightmare of gargantuan proportions, but the fact is that couldnt be further from the truth: its easy and, quite honestly, essential to prevent any chance of data deletion.Switching between multiple Google accounts is easy once you know how.Davey WinderHeres how you can do it in just four simple Google Account steps:Look for your account avatar at the top right of any Google-powered service you are currently signed into and left-click it.Now select the add account option.Obviously, you will already need to have a secondary account set up before this point, so you can then select this and sign in. Id recommend enabling two-factor authentication and, better still, using a passkey for all accounts if you Are not already doing so.Now return to step one, and you will have that second account added from where you can switch between the two on demand. You can add as many accounts as you want you like this way. Id recommend having a sign-in-day once a month where you devote a couple of minutes doing just that between all your Google accounts to ensure they all remain active and not at risk of deletion.

Beware this dark web face ID farmGetty ImagesUpdate, Dec. 26, 2024: This story, originally published Dec. 25 now includes a breakdown of the know your customer attack threat methodology that the newly discovered dark web facial identity resource brings to the identity fraud table.A dark web criminal operation that appears to have been farming facial ID images along with the genuine identity documents that accompany them has been unmasked, if youll pardon the pun, by threat intelligence researchers. Heres everything you need to know about this sophisticated approach to identity theft that, it would seem likely, has been using information willingly exchanged for financial reward to build the ID farming business.The Dark Web Facial ID Farm ThreatResearchers from iProovs biometric threat intelligence unit have uncovered what appears to be a simple yet simultaneously sophisticated identity protection bypass operation being implemented on the dark web. Describing the significant operation as compromising identity verification systems through the systematic collection of genuine identity documents and images, the iProov analysts said that this demonstrates how the nature of identity fraud is evolving.As detailed in the iProov Q4 threat intelligence update for 2024, threat-insights the unnamed criminal dark web threat group behind the operation has amassed a substantial collection of identity documents and corresponding facial images, which, the report said, was specifically designed to defeat Know Your Customer verification processes. Such systems play a key role in preventing identity fraud against banks and other financial institutions, as I reported in a recent article concerning the use of AI to bypass biometric banking security checks.What is most interesting to me in this particular case, however, is that this doesnt seem to have been a matter of scraping compromised biometric data from published stolen databases, but rather, it looks like the identities have been obtained by paying users for them.Read More: Google User Data Purge UnderwayWhat You Need To KnowThe Know Your Customer Attack ProcessHow This Dark Web Facial ID Resource Maximizes The ThreatThe iProov report warned that the discovery of this facial ID stash highlighted the multi-layered challenge facing verification systems and provided a breakdown of the attack process to show how organizations not only need to be able to detect fake documents but also 100% genuine credentials used in fraudulent financial applications. The attack process breaks down as follows, with details of how the newly uncovered facial ID and documents resource is involved:Document VerificationStandard document verification processes are able to detect both altered and forged identity documents, however, the use of genuine, 100% legitimate documentation as provided by the dark web group makes this traditional verification methodology unreliable.Facial MatchingFacial matching algorithms can accurately compare a submitted photo to the associated ID documentation. But when legitimate facial images are paired with legitimate and corresponding identity documentation, a basic verification system is likely going to be in trouble.Liveness DetectionWhile there are different levels of sophistication involved in identity verification attacks, and basic attempts are always going to be easier to detect thanks to the likes of liveness detection, for example, organizations need to be aware of the total spectrum to best defend against them all. Basic methods include printed photography and manipulated ID documents, mid-tier attacks may use real-time face swapping and deepfakes paired with genuine documentation, and advanced attacks can use 3D modelling and real-time animation in an attempt to respond to liveness detection checks. Researchers at Group-IB have already demonstrated that liveness detection in facial biometrics is no longer a verification gold standard.Dark Web Hackers Pay For Facial Images And Supporting Identity DocumentsUsers Willingly Participate"What's particularly alarming about this discovery is not just the sophisticated nature of the operation, Andrew Newell, chief scientific officer at iProov, said, but the fact that individuals are willingly compromising their identities for short-term financial gain. And hes not wrong, as this isnt just a matter of selling their identity data but also risking their own security here. They're providing criminals with complete, genuine identity packages that can be used for sophisticated impersonation fraud. What makes this process even more dangerous is that what we are talking about here is the perfect storm of the identity matching pair: genuine documents and genuine matching biometric data, making them extremely difficult to detect through traditional verification methods, Newell warned. Boom.Do I really need to say this? If you are approached by anyone, knowingly from the dark web or, more likely not, offering you cold, hard cash in exchange for your image and copies of your identity documents, dont do it. No matter how much the short-term incentive, it could just as quickly turn into a very costly mistake.