Bitcoin dropped, crashed, and burned - then it skyrocketed. My $50 investment went through the wringer. Here's how 2024's halving event and political shifts turned massive losses into unexpected gains.

Google won't fix this confirmed AI security issuehere's whySOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty ImagesGmail users love the smart features that make using the worlds most popular email provider with 2.5 billion accounts such a breeze. The introduction of Gemini AI for Workspace, covering multiple Google products, only moved usability even further up the email agenda. But, as security researchers confirmed security vulnerabilities and demonstrated how attacks could occur across platforms like Gmail, Google Slides, and Google Drive, why did Google decide this was not a security issue and issue a Wont Fix (Intended Behavior) ticket? Ive been digging with the help of Google, and heres what Ive found and you need to know.The Gmail AI Security Issue ExplainedAcross the course of 2024 there were multiple headlines that focused attention on AI-powered attacks against Gmail users, from the viral story about a security consultant who came oh so close to becoming yet another hacking statistic, to Googles own security alerts being turned against users and, as the end o0f the year approached, a warning from Google itself about a second wave of attacks targeting Gmail users. But one technical security analysis caught my attention from earlier in the year that left me wondering just why one problem with potentially devastating security consequences was seemingly not being addressed: Gemini is susceptible to indirect prompt injection attacks, the report stated, and illustrating just how these attacks can occur across platforms like Gmail, Google Slides, and Google Drive, enabling phishing attempts and behavioral manipulation of the chatbot. Jason Martin and Kenneth Yeung, the security researchers involved in writing the detailed technical analysis, said that, as part of the responsible disclosure process, this and other prompt injections in this blog were reported to Google, who decided not to track it as a security issue and marked the ticket as a Wont Fix (Intended Behavior).With some people suggesting that Gmail users should disable smart features, and others asking how they can opt out of AI reading their private email messages, I thought it was worth talking to my contacts at Google as I dug deeper into what was going on here.MORE FOR YOUThe Gmail Gemini Prompt Injection Problem In A NutshellI would, as always, recommend that you go and read the HiddenLayer Gemini AI security analysis in full, but heres the security issue in as small a nutshell as I could get to fit. Like most large language models, Googles Gemini AI is susceptible to what are known as indirect prompt injection attacks. This means that under certain conditions, the report said, users can manipulate the assistant to produce misleading or unintended responses. So far, so meh, unless you paid attention to the indirect bit of that. Indirect prompt injection vulnerabilities allow third-parties to take control of a language model by inserting the prompt into less obvious channels such as documents, emails or websites. So, when you then take into consideration that attackers could distribute malicious documents and emails to target accounts, compromising the integrity of the responses generated by the target Gemini instance, it starts getting, as Elon Musk might say, interesting. Through detailed proof-of-concept examples, the researchers explained they were able to illustrate how these attacks can occur across platforms like Gmail, Google Slides, and Google Drive. Specifically, the report covered phishing via Gemini in Gmail, tampering with data in Google Slides and poisoning Google Drive locally and with shared documents. These examples show that outputs from the Gemini for Workspace suite can be compromised, the researchers said, raising serious concerns about the integrity of this suite of products.Google Responds To Gmail Prompt Injection Attack ConcernsI approached my contacts within Gmail and a Google spokesperson told me:Defending against this class of attack has been an ongoing priority for us, and weve deployed numerous strong defenses to keep users safe, including safeguards to prevent prompt injection attacks and harmful or misleading responses. We are constantly hardening our already robust defenses through red-teaming exercises that train our models to defend against these types of adversarial attacks.A more detailed conversation with my contacts revealed the following information that all Gmail users should take into consideration when thinking about security and Googles AI resources.These vulnerabilities are not novel and are consistent in LLMs across the industry.When launching any new LLM-based experience, Google conducts internal and external security testing to meet user needs as well as its own standards regarding user safety.This includes security testing from the Google AI Red Team on prompt attacks, training data extraction, backdooring the model, adversarial examples, data poisoning and exfiltration.Google also includes AI in its Vulnerability Rewards Program, which includes a specific criteria for AI bug reports to assist the bug hunting community in effectively testing the safety and security of Google AI products.In addition, Gmail and Drive include strong spam filters and user input sanitization which help to mitigate against hostile injections of malicious code into Gemini.

HaloParamountI recently just finished Secret Level, the new Amazon anthology focused on specific video games in the vein of Love, Death and Robots on Netflix, which makes sense, given that they share a creator in Tim Miller.Many franchises both new and old appeared in the series, from Pac Man to Warhammer to new mobile hits like Honor of Kings and Crossfire. Sony also had a big presence with an extremely unfortunate episode focused on its instantly-killed Concord shooter, and they also had the last episode of the season, a very, very bad segment featuring a number of PlayStation icons in a way that felt like an overly long ad rather than a coherent story.But Sonys rival Microsoft did not show up in the same way (well, sort of with Spelunky), even when they could have. And it turns out there was a great idea for an episode that involved a crossover between Master Chief and the Doom Slayer. An idea Microsoft apparently killed, according to the shows creator. Heres Miller speaking to Collider:I get a little chafed when I read online, and they're like, Hold on, these assholes took Spelunky when they could have taken Halo? Or something like that. I'm like, Man, you think that we didn't talk to Halo or something?And director Dave Wilson:The creative director at id [Software] is a good friend of ours, and so are folks at Microsoft, so we made a big plea because one of the things both Tim and I would love to do is do something that isn't currently available in the games, like crossovers. We wanted to make a Master Chief/Doom Slayer crossover episode, and I spent a whole weekend crafting this impassioned letter of my childhood. And it's exactly what Tim said; they were like, Nah.MORE FOR YOUDOOMidWhenever something like this gets shot down, its usually in the name of brand safety if you do or dont want your IP represented in a specific way (Microsoft now owns both properties after acquiring Bethesda). This seems like an incredibly bad call on their end. Doom has a new game coming out in 2025, The Dark Ages, and Halo? Well, Master Chief really needs a win after the last few years.Halo Infinite was delayed a year and arrived with a somewhat underwhelming launch. Its made improvements to multiplayer over the years but remains largely ignored.Halo has been entirely left out of Microsofts vast showcases of future games the next few years. Work continues behind the scenes on...something, but we have no idea if well see Master Chief again before the end of the decade.The most significant presence of Master Chief lately was the very bad Halo live-action series that was just cancelled after two seasons and lambasted by fans for constant inaccuracies, including a John-117 that was constantly out of his helmet and armor.But a Master Chief/Doom Slayer crossover? I mean come on, thats a slam dunk if Ive ever seen one. Now that Secret Level is a hit, I hope Microsoft changes its mind for next time on that concept.Follow me on Twitter, YouTube, Bluesky and Instagram.Pick up my sci-fi novels the Herokiller series and The Earthborn Trilogy.

Facepalm: BitLocker is a full volume encryption feature introduced by Microsoft with Windows Vista. The technology can apparently keep users' data safe thanks to AES and other advanced encryption algorithms, but it isn't safe from bugs and serious hacking attempts. According to a presentation shown during the recently held Chaos Communication Congress at the Chaos Computer Club (CCC), Windows BitLocker can be screwed without a screwdriver. A Hacker named Thomas Lambertz found a way to exploit an old, supposedly fixed vulnerability in Microsoft's encryption tech, bypassing many security features to compromise a fully-updated Windows 11 setting.The software vulnerability abused by Lambertz is also known as bitpixie (CVE-2023-21563). Microsoft has known about it since 2022 but never managed to effectively address the issue. The CVE-2023-21563 flaw is a "BitLocker Security Feature Bypass Vulnerability," Microsoft said. A successful attack could bypass full volume encryption and access protected data, though it would need physical access to the target system.Lambertz was able to "repurpose" the bitpixie bug using the controversial Secure Boot technology to load an outdated Windows bootloader. The bootloader is instrumental for extracting the encryption key into memory, which can then be retrieved by using a Linux OS. The hack requires a one-time physical access to the target system, plus a working network connection.The new bitpixie attack sounds impractical from a consumer standpoint, but the enterprise sector is a completely different matter. Many corporate clients use BitLocker to secure their PC fleets, Lambertz noted, and the encryption technology is now being enabled by default on newer Windows 11 installations. The popular "Device Encryption" mode doesn't need an additional password, which means users can "unseal" a BitLocker volume by just booting Windows with their normal user accounts.This BitLocker configuration has been broken for a while, the hacker said, and can be attacked from both hardware and software sides to decrypt a drive's data. In his hour-long presentation, Lambertz explained how Secure Boot and TPM work, the role of PXE boot and BCD bootloaders, what the new exploit needs to run, and more. // Related StoriesLambertz's presentation is in English, and was recently uploaded on CCC's official platform for video and audio content. The CCC collective is the largest association of hackers in Europe, with 7,700 registered members who have been working tirelessly since 1981 to hack almost everyone and everything.

Facepalm: Apple is believed to have ended production of its Vision Pro headset amid weak demand from customers. The news comes months after a report claimed that the company would wind down manufacture of the much-hyped mixed-reality headset by the end of October. Apple is said to have scaled back production of the Vision Pro last summer after building up a large inventory that it believed would last through the year. Now that production has ended, the company reportedly has enough units in stock to meet demand for the device's remaining lifespan through 2025.According to an earlier report by The Information, most Vision Pro suppliers produced enough components by October for 500,000 to 600,000 headsets. However, some of them apparently stopped manufacturing components as early as May 2024 based on Apple's weak sales forecasts.Luxshare, the Chinese contract manufacturer producing the Vision Pro, was reportedly told by Apple in November that it will need to wind down production by the end of this year. Toward the end of its production run, Luxshare was believed to have been making around 1,000 units per day, about half of its peak production rate.According to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, Apple sold fewer than 500,000 units of the Vision Pro since launch. While many returned the product after experiencing headaches, vision issues, neck pain, and motion sickness, even the people who kept it are reportedly not using it as much as Apple expected, largely due to the lack of compelling apps and games.It is worth noting that an earlier report claimed Apple will release an updated version of the first-generation Vision Pro with a faster chip, but we haven't heard anything about it in a while. It's unclear whether that project is still in the works, or if Apple has canceled those plans permanently. // Related StoriesThe Vision Pro was unveiled in June 2023 at Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference and became available for purchase in February 2024. The device launched to mixed reviews from the media and never set the sales charts ablaze, mostly due to its astronomical price-tag.Apple is rumored to be working on two new mixed-reality headsets: a second-generation Vision Pro and a new low-cost model that could bring in more sales. However, the company is believed to have suspended development of the former for at least a year to focus on the affordable variant. Cupertino is betting big on the low-cost headset, and has reportedly told suppliers that it expects to sell four million units of this device over its lifespan.

In brief: European nations are becoming increasingly serious about cracking down on smoking and vaping, especially among young people. Belgium has become the first country in the European Union to outright ban the sale of disposable vapes starting this month. At the same time, Italy's Milan also ushered in the new year by implementing a ban on outdoor smoking in public spaces. As reported by The Guardian, Belgian health minister Frank Vandenbroucke didn't mince words when announcing the prohibition last year, calling disposable e-cigarettes an "extremely harmful" product designed to hook a new generation on nicotine. He cited the waste from the non-reusable vapes as being packed with "hazardous chemicals" that damage the environment.While reusable vape systems aren't included in Belgium's ban, the country does have an ambitious goal of reducing new smokers to zero or near zero by 2040 through various "denormalizing" efforts.Smoking is already banned in playgrounds, sports fields, zoos, and theme parks. Starting April 1, tobacco products will no longer be sold in large supermarkets or displayed at points of sale.Recent surveys show Belgium's smoking rate among adults over 15 has fallen from 25.5% in 1997 to 15.3% in 2018. But health officials still felt tougher actions were needed to stay on track to achieve their 2040 target.As for Milan's new outdoor smoking ban, the smog-prone city is hoping to improve air quality and cut exposure to secondhand smoke by prohibiting lighting up on streets and in crowded public areas. Violators face fines ranging from 40 to 240. // Related StoriesThis builds on an existing 2021 rule that made parks, playgrounds, bus stops, and sports venues smoke-free zones. While e-cigs get a pass, the ban is another step in Italy's decades-long effort to reduce smoking rates by introducing stricter regulations.Nationwide, around 24% of Italians still smoke, according to data from last year. An estimated 93,000 deaths per year are attributed to smoking-related illnesses, according to the health ministry. Italy enacted its first public smoking restrictions back in 1975.Elsewhere, England, Wales and Scotland are making it illegal to sell single-use vapes starting in June due to environmental and health concerns.Masthead credit: haiberliu

html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/loose.dtd" Table of ContentsTable of ContentsRambunctious remastersReal remakesRadical revivalsInspired indiesIf you love retro games, 2025 is about to be a feast.From remakes to remasters to series revivals to games inspired by the classics, plenty of games with a heavy retro influence are already slated for 2025. While titles like Ghost of Yotei and Grand Theft Auto VI will capture most of the mainstream gaming zeitgeist this year, remasters like Capcom Fighting Collection 2, reimaginings like Double Dragon Revive and Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves, and indies like Demonschool could be well worth your time.Recommended VideosThese different pockets of retro-inspired gaming often exist in disparate parts of the game industry, so it can be a lot to keep track of. To help, Ive combed through the video game release calander and pulled out 50 retro remakes, remasters, reimaginings, and revivals currently in the works. Many of those are set to launch in 2025. If you consider yourself a retro gaming fan, you should have no shortage of games to choose from this year.The best place to start is with all of the remakes and remasters of retro classics, as these will give players new opportunities to revisit their favorites or check out classics for the first time. Ys Memorie: The Oath in Felghana kicks things off on January 7, but many more will follow. Digital Eclipse is one company that has spearheaded the recent wave of retro game collections through titles like Tetris Forever. Right now, its only announced upcoming game is Yu-Gi-Oh! Early Days Collection, which bundles several Game Boy, Game Boy Color, and Game Boy Advance Games together into a single collection. It arrives February 27.Meanwhile, the first-person shooter remaster gurus at Nightdive Studios are working on their long-awaited remasters System Shock 2: Enhanced Edition and SiN Reloaded; hopefully, we will hear more about both projects this year. Limited Run Games is also continuing its push to become a retro game rerelease publisher with a smattering of titles slated to come out throughout the year. As seen in the LRG3 2024 showcase, its bringing some Square Enix-owned franchises like Fighting Force, Fear Effect, and Gex back with rereleases of their own.LRG3 2024 | Tell EVERYONELimited Run Games is bringing a little-known Turrican successor to the West this year with Rendering Ranger R2 Rewind, helping Konami re-launch the obscure GBA platformer Ninja Five-0, and creating Bubsy in the Purrfect Collection, which will make the infamous platformer character retro games available on modern consoles for the first time. Aspyr will launch Star Wars Episode I: Jedi Power Battles on January 23 and Tomb Raider IV-VI Remasteredon February 14.Classics like Power Stone and Capcom vs. SNK will make a comeback as part of Capcom Fighting Collection 2 later this year, while Sunsofts obscure beat em up Shounen Ninja Sasuke is getting rereleased on Steam as Justice Ninja Casey. Plus, Croc: Legend of the Gobbosis getting an intensive remaster as part of Argonauts comeback, and Konami is finally remastering the first two Suikoden RPGs.While all of the remasters Ive mentioned are essentially preserving the original experience and just offering it up on modern gaming platforms, there are retro remakes on the way that are rebuilding these classics from the ground up. Amerzone The Explorers Legacyis a cult classic PC adventure game from the creators of Syberia, and Microids will release a modern remake of it in the second quarter of 2025.Amerzone - The Explorers Legacy - Reveal Trailer | PS5 GamesIn the wake of Dragon Quest III: HD-2D Remake, Square Enix will give the same treatment to the first two games in that iconic RPG series with Dragon Quest I & II HD-2D Remake. Meanwhile, the Trails series is beloved by many, but hard to broach due to the complex, interconnected narratives of this massive RPG series. To help, Trails in the Sky 1st Chapterwill help give players a clear starting point by remaking the beginning of the saga later in 2025.The highest-profile remake in the cards heading into this year is Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater. Digital Trends considers Metal Gear Solid 3 to be one of the best games of all time, so itll be tough for Konami to rebuild this classic in Unreal Engine 5 without the help of Hideo Kojima and still create something that feels inspired. Konami and Bloober Team managed to pull that off with Silent Hill 2s 2024 remake, so hopefully, Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater is just as respectful to the classic its based on.While I enjoy a good remaster or remake, I get more excited by retro reimaginings that take a classic game or series and reinterpret it with modern game design philosophies. If The Game Awards 2024 was any indication, many of those are on the way in 2025. Theres Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound, a new 2D platformer in that beloved Koei Temco series from the developers of Blasphemous. Fatal Fury: City of the Wolvesrevives one of the earliest fighting game competitors to Street Fighter with all the learnings SNK has taken from its recent The King of Fighters games; its out on April 24.FATAL FURY: CotW Official TrailerFans of strategy games can look forward to Phantom Brave: The Lost Hero and Commandos: Origins, while shoot em up players can anticipate Sonic Wings Reunion, a new game in the Aero Fighters series.A new Backyard Sports game is in the works alongside the rerelease of more of Humongous classic sports titles, while series that began in the early 2000s, such as Mafia, Fable, and Metroid Prime, will all get new games in 2025. Netflix is building on the success of its Carmen Sandiego TV show by bringing the classic edutainment series back with a new game, and Paradox might finally make 2025 the year where the long-awaited Vampire The Masquerade: Bloodlines 2releases.Shadow Labyrinth builds on Pac-Mans odd Secret Level episodeand transforms the arcade classic into a Hollow Knight-inspired action platformer. Atari will also continue its efforts to reinterpret its 2600 classics with the futuristic racer Fatal Run 2089.Finally, Double Dragon Reviveis the latest reinterpretation of the classic beat em up series, and we already know that its launching on October 23. Arc System Works tells Digital Trends that its goal with Double Dragon Revive was to make a natural evolution of the series, and it will do so by adding more depth to the game mechanics to increase the thrill and tension in every fight. While the classics should be preserved, I love to see these series evolve and change over time thanks to new ideas from different teams of developers. Thats why these are the games in this roundup that Im looking forward to the most this year.While every 2025 release Ive mentioned thus far has been tied to some classic game or series, we cant forget about the brand-new games that take old-school aesthetics and create something original with them. Some are outright made for older consoles, like the upcoming Game Boy and Chromatic game Chantey, but most take their inspiration at the visual and gameplay design level. Some feel like spiritual successors, like how Demonschool is a tactical RPG that looks like the earliest Persona games, and Agent 64: Spies Never Die is trying to replicate the look and feel of Rares Goldeneye 007. The Transylvania Adventure of Simon Quest is also like that; its a tribute to Castlevania with a ridiculous title.The Transylvania Adventure of Simon Quest - Announcement TrailerWarside follows in the steps of Wargroove to offer up an indie alternative to Advance Wars. Fields of Mistirais expected to exit early access sometime this year, too, and could potentially become the most beloved Harvest Moon spiritual successor since Stardew Valley. Known entities in the video game industry are also making new retro-inspired titles. Yacht Club Games is working on Shovel Knight: Shovel of Hope DX and Mina the HollwerNeon Abyss 2 at Day of the Devs: The Game Awards 2024 Edition.Takaya Imamura is a former Nintendo artist best known for his work on F-Zero and Star Fox and for inventing Tingle. On February 28, hell make his mark as an indie developer by releasing the 16-bit visual novel OMEGA 6 The Triangle Stars. Indie publisher Playism plans on launching the pixel art action game Blade Chimera on January 16, while Retrovibe is putting out a sports-inspired boomer shooter called Sportal later in the year. Keep Driving, a brand new The Oregon Trail-inspired game with beautiful pixel art about driving across the country, impressed me during the last Steam Next Fest, as did the GBA-inspired action roguelike Rogue Labyrinth.Finally, if youre a horror fan, then upcoming ones with retro aesthetics like Dead of Darkness, Hell Drive, and Labyrinth of the Demon King should all be on your radar. If nothing else, this massive list of games should show you that there will be no shortage of ways to experience retro gaming goodness in 2025 if you actively seek it out. Tons of long-dormant franchises are getting revived through remakes, remasters, and reimaginings, while indies keep the retro gaming spirit alive with original titles. Theres certainly no shortage as to what we can enjoy.

html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/loose.dtd" Nvidia, AMD, and Intel are all set to update their lists of the best graphics cards sometime in January. Now, according to HKEPC, a Hong Kong media outlet, we know that the Nvidia RTX 5080 is reportedly set to launch on January 21. Meanwhile, AMD may take more time to ramp up its GPU availability, giving Nvidia the chance to dominate the GPU market in early 2025.With CES 2025 mere days away, we already know that January is going to be one busy month for PC enthusiasts. Nvidias got the RTX 50-series, AMD is launching the RX 9000 series, and Intel will add one more GPU to its Battlemage lineup. Only the last one has a confirmed release date of January 16, but it seems that Nvidia will be just one week behind if the leak is to be believed.Recommended VideosNow, its worth noting that although HKEPC announced the January 21 release date for the RTX 5080 on X (Twitter), the publication deleted the post shortly after. VideoCardz preserved it, which is why we can speculate about this release date. Many leakers have already claimed that the RTX 5080 would be the first to arrive, and two weeks after the anticipated CES 2025 announcement sounds like a reasonable estimate for the RTX 5080, so this very well might be true.Get your weekly teardown of the tech behind PC gaming If the RTX 5080 launches on January 21, then we might be looking at January 28 for the RTX 5090, but many observers think itll appear even later, citing dates up until mid-February. That leaves us with the RTX 5070 (and perhaps the Ti version), which may not be launched until late February. In any case, according to current rumors, we might see three to four Nvidia GPUs within two months of the announcement.AMD may not be as quick to follow, says VideoCardz. According to a post from the Board Channels, which cites AMDs internal department, the availability for the RX 9000 series is going to be fairly limited at first similar to what weve seen with the Ryzen 7 9800X3D. Although the first GPU, now dubbed the RX 9070 XT, is said to have a late January release date, the cards will only become broadly available in February.RelatedWhat about the rest of AMDs lineup? So far, leakers have only talked about one GPU based on the Navi 48 die thats the RX 9070 XT and one based on Navi 44. The Navi 44 variant will likely be found in the RX 9060 (XT). This GPU, alongside a presumed RX 9070 non-XT version, are now said to be launching in March.If all of the above turns out to be true, Nvidia may have free reign over the GPU market in early 2025. With both the RTX 5090 and the RTX 5080 going uncontested, and limited availability from AMD at first, all eyes may be on Nvidia. Well find out whether this is true in just a few days, so stay tuned for more CES 2025 news.Editors Recommendations

LionsgateTable of ContentsTable of Contents7. Trap6. Argylle5. Hellboy: The Crooked Man4. Drive-Away Dolls3. Horizon: An American Saga Chapter 12. Joker: Folie Deux1. MegalopolisIts a common misconception that the most disappointing movies of the year are also the worst films. There is some overlap between them, but you wont find films like Madame Web or Kraven the Hunter on this list. We never expected those movies to be any good, so it was impossible for them to disappoint us. The real disappointments are the films that had the potential to be something more than they turned out to be. An interesting premise, a great cast, and even highly anticipated sequels can go a long way toward building up expectations.Although there are far worse films this year which well get to in our end-of-the-year round-up the following flicks are our picks for the seven most disappointing movies of 2024.Recommended VideosWarner Bros. PicturesRemember when M. Night Shyamalan looked like he might become one of the best filmmakers of his generation? If it seems like that was a long time ago, thats because it really was about two decades in the past. After starting out so strongly with The Sixth Sense, Unbreakable, and others, Shyamalan got himself bogged down in trying to have a stunning twist in each and every movie.RelatedTrap kind of gave away its game with the first trailer for the film, which revealed that Josh Hartnetts girl-dad character was actually a serial killer stuck at a concert with his teenage daughter that was specifically meant to trap him for law enforcement agencies. That was an interesting premise, and Hartnetts been due for a comeback since Penny Dreadful came to an end.Trap Movie Clip - Climb Down (2024)To his credit, Hartnett eats up his role with abloom. Hes just stuck in a maddeningly stupid and implausible movie that barely resembles reality by the time that Shyamalan gets through with it. Its almost as if the director has forgotten how to create characters who even vaguely act like normal human beings. And who did Shyamalan cast as the Taylor Swift-like superstar that everyone was there to see? His own daughter, Saleka Night Shyamalan. What a twist!Apple StudiosWhat happened to Matthew Vaughn? His films used to be a lot of fun, and his first superhero flick X-Men: First Class was one of the best movies that 20th Century Fox ever made with Marvel characters. On paper, Argylle looked like it was going to tap into the same action-comedy vein as Vaughns Kingsman the first one, not the lackluster sequel or even worse prequel. Vaughn also put a hell of a cast together for this flick, including Bryce Dallas Howard, Sam Rockwell, Bryan Cranston, Samuel L. Jackson, and Henry Cavill. That definitely got our hopes up.Shockingly, Vaughn wasnt able to deliver on any of that promise. It feels like a Matthew Vaughn film to a fault and hits a lot of the same beats that weve seen before. But this script bends itself into a pretzel to accommodate its twists and comes off as contrived and unentertaining. This is the kind of movie that Vaughn should have been able to make in his sleep, although we have to wonder if he actually was asleep when he made this. That would explain a lot.Ketchup EntertainmentThe only way that Hellboy: The Crooked Man managed to avoid disappointing more fans in 2024 was by skipping theaters altogether. If youve ever loved the Guillermo del Toro Hellboy movies or even the one that had Stranger Things David Harbour in the leading role, stay far away from this one. It will let you down on every level.There are no redeeming qualities in this movie, and its shocking how cheap it looks, given that this film supposedly had a $20 million budget. Director Brian Taylors camera selections are as bland as can be, and some scenes are even inexplicably blurry. Hellboy creator Mike Mignola co-wrote the script, which only makes it more amazing that it couldnt recapture the fun and excitement of the previous films. This movie is currently in direct-to-video purgatory, and it should stay there forever.Focus FeaturesIt turns out that a film directed by one Coen brother isnt in the same galaxy as a movie directed by both Coen brothers.Ethan Coen went solo with Drive-Away Dolls, a film he co-wrote with his wife, Tricia Cooke. And a lesbian gal-pal road trip with a severed head and a collection of something unmentionable in the trunk while being pursued by mobsters does sound like something the Coen brothers would do together. But from the poor execution, it seems that Joel Coen was very missed.The Substances Margaret Qualley comes out of it completely unscathed because her performance is the best thing in the movie. We just cant say that an Ethan Coen solo movie is going to get our expectations soaring again.New Line Cinema/Warner Bros.If anyones surprised that an Oscar-winning director like Kevin Costner doesnt always have the best instincts for what makes a good movie, then they clearly havent seen Waterworld or The Postman. Costner only directed the latter of those two, but he was also partially responsible for a lot of the mistakes made in the former.Regardless, Costners affinity for Westerns led him to bet on himself with Horizon: An American Saga, the first of what was meant to be four epic movies. Costners work on Dances with Wolves was great, so it wasnt a stretch to hope that this project could recapture some of that films spirit.Horizon: An American Saga Chapter 1 Movie Clip | Make It Known | Warner Bros. EntertainmentInstead, Horizon pulled up like a stagecoach with a boring and bloated script that was more perplexing than entertaining. Costner set the stage with so many characters that keeping track of them all is difficult, and most of them arent properly served by the story. Regardless, Costner hasnt given up on his dream, and hes still working on the third Horizon movie. Yet, with Horizon 2 on indefinite hold and without a firm release date, its hard to see how Costner can change the negative first impression that this film left behind. Was it really worth blowing up Yellowstone for this?Warner Bros. PicturesThe first Joker movie may not have had Batman or a comic-book-accurate story, but it was unquestionably a big hit that a large portion of the fan base embraced. Until Deadpool & Wolverine came along, Joker was the highest-grossing R-rated movie of all time. The sequel, Joker: Folie Deux, had a lot of goodwill from fans, all of which steadily declined as it became clear that director Todd Phillips was determined to include some musical elements in the script for Arthur Fleck (Joaquin Phoenix) and Harleen Lee Quinzel (Lady Gaga).To make a long story short, the sizable audience of the first Joker film stayed home, and those who saw the sequel were largely put off by its ending. This film is a tour de force for dashing fan hopes and expectations.LionsgateIn the year 2024, could the No. 1 pick on this list be anything by Megalopolis? To be sure, there were plenty of red flags on the way toward this movies release, and the buzz was anything but good. However, Francis Ford Coppola is legitimately one of the greatest directors in cinema history. The Godfather, The Godfather Part II, and Apocalypse Now speak to that, and that allowed him some benefit of the doubt that Megalopolis was going to be more than just an out-of-control vanity project.Think of it this way: Megalopolis is only disappointing if you were expecting something that reflected some of Coppolas past work. As a stand-alone movie, its the most gonzo and insane film of the year with a nonsensical story, an all-star cast overacting in a script they barely seem to understand, a bizarre sci-fi touch, and metaphors for the potential fall of America. Not every screening of Megalopolis got the scene where Adam Drivers Cesar Catilina talks to a live actor in the theater.We cant say that Megalopolis wasnt ambitious or that it wasnt the fulfillment of Coppolas dream. It was just a letdown that it couldnt live up to the 40 years of effort that Coppola put into it along with a sizable portion of his personal fortune.Editors Recommendations

Pay close attention AI-generated phishing emails are getting very good at targeting executives Hyper-personalized emails use "an immense amount" of scraped data. Stephanie Stacey, Financial Times Jan 2, 2025 9:24 am | 1 This is definitely not a Razer mousebut you get the idea. Credit: calvio via Getty Images This is definitely not a Razer mousebut you get the idea. Credit: calvio via Getty Images Story textSizeSmallStandardLargeWidth *StandardWideLinksStandardOrange* Subscribers only Learn moreCorporate executives are being hit with an influx of hyper-personalized phishing scams generated by artificial intelligence bots, as the fast-developing technology makes advanced cyber crime easier.Leading companies such as British insurer Beazley and ecommerce group eBay have warned of the rise of fraudulent emails containing personal details probably obtained through AI analysis of online profiles.This is getting worse and its getting very personal, and this is why we suspect AI is behind a lot of it, said Beazleys chief information security officer Kirsty Kelly. Were starting to see very targeted attacks that have scraped an immense amount of information about a person.Cyber security experts said the increasing attacks come during a period of rapid advancement for AI technology, as tech companies race to create ever more sophisticated systems and launch popular products for consumers and businesses.AI bots can quickly ingest large quantities of data about the tone and style of a company or individual and replicate these features to craft a convincing scam.They can also scrape a victims online presence and social media activity to determine what topics they may be most likely to respond tohelping hackers generate bespoke phishing scams at scale.The availability of generative AI tools lowers the entry threshold for advanced cyber crime, said eBay cyber crime security researcher Nadezda Demidova. Weve witnessed a growth in the volume of all kinds of cyber attacks, particularly in polished and closely targeted phishing scams, she added.Kip Meintzer, an executive at security company Check Point Software Technologies, told a recent investor conference that AI had given hackers the ability to write a perfect phishing email.More than 90 percent of successful cyber attacks begin with a phishing email, according to the US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency. As these attacks become more sophisticated, their consequences have become increasingly expensive, with the global average cost of a data breach rising nearly 10 percent to $4.9 million in 2024, according to IBM.Researchers have warned that AI is particularly effective for crafting business email compromise scamsa specific type of malware-free phishing where fraudsters trick recipients into transferring funds or divulging confidential company information. This kind of scam has cost victims worldwide more than $50 billion since 2013, according to the FBI.AI is being used to scan everything to see where theres a vulnerability, whether thats in code or in the human chain, said Sean Joyce, global cyber security lead at PwC.Phishing scams generated using AI may also be more likely to bypass companies email filters and cyber security training.Basic filters, which generally block repeated bulk phishing campaigns, may struggle to track these scams if AI is used to rapidly generate thousands of reworded messages, said eBays Demidova. 2025 The Financial Times Ltd. All rights reserved. Not to be redistributed, copied, or modified in any way.Stephanie Stacey, Financial TimesStephanie Stacey, Financial Times 1 Comments