The Nintendo Switch 2 has been officially announced, and after years of leaks and rumours, that feels surreal enough in and of itself. For now, however, theres not much that we know about the console, with many of its most crucial details set to be revealed in a Nintendo Direct presentation in April. In all likelihood, that will include the consoles pricing, though veteran industry analysts have already offered some clues as to what to expect on that front.Multiple analysts spoke to IGN about the Switch 2s likely price, and most seem to agree that it will likely cost $400 at launch. In comparison, the Switch launched for a price of $300, while the Switch OLED is currently available for $350.Kantan Games Dr. Serkan Toto has said that $400 is the price they need to succeed, and touching on the devices reveal trailer, says that he cannot see a lot from the trailer that would justify them charging $450. Fellow analysts Piers Harding-Rolls and Circanas Mat Piscatella seem to be in agreement.That said, theres a chance that the Switch 2 could be available for higher prices, going up to $450 or even $500. Rhys Elliot of MIDiA, for instance, says that factors such as early supply shortages could lead to Nintendo choosing a higher launch price for the device.If the Switch 2 is supply-constrained at launch, Nintendo could charge more, the analyst said. Early adopters would be willing to pay for it, and if its going to sell out anyway, Nintendo might think, Why not? I think Sony and Microsoft regret releasing the base PS5 and Series X consoles at $500. Both could have got away with $600 or more at launch. Elliot did, however, ultimately also agree that $400 would likely be the sweet spot for Nintendo.Meanwhile, Piscatella suggested that the price that the console launches at might not necessarily affect its initial sales too much. Early adopters wont be price sensitive, and prices can always be lowered. Of course, people will want it to be lower than whatever it is it will be announced at, he said.Prices for consoles tend to fluctuate, though that hasnt always been the case with Nintendo, especially during the Switch era. For instance, all three Switch models have had exactly zero price cuts. The base Switch is priced at $300, the Switch OLED at $350, and the Switch Lite at $200, which are exactly the prices that those models launched at. Theres a good chance, then, that the price the Switch 2 launches at will be that models price until the end of its lifecycle.

Youd think that TikTok would have a Plan B by now.Its now clear the company never planned for a scenario in which it would lose to the Supreme Court. Maybe it couldnt, given that the Chinese government ultimately has final say on a sale. Now, TikToks leaders are banking on Donald Trump to save them in a last-ditch effort that will unquestionably come with strings attached.Politically, TikTok misplayed its hand at every turn of this multi-year saga. Executives repeatedly dismissed the possibility of a ban, even going so far as to literally laugh at the idea. They were blindsided by Congress overwhelmingly agreeing on a ban. Then, they lost on appeal to the Supreme Court with only a day left before the law goes into effect. The only leverage they seemingly have left is that Trump thinks the app helped him win the election plus their willingness to let him extract whatever pound of flesh he wants.TikTok backed itself into this corner technically, too. It spent over $1 billion on Project Texas to try and appease concerns about US data making its way to China. Amazingly, TikTok started Project Texas before the government gave its blessing, which of course never came. US data is now walled off in separate infrastructure maintained by Oracle, which will have to legally stop working with TikTok as of the 19th.Undoing Project Texas now would be a massive effort involving many engineers, someone who worked on it recently told me. Shutting the app down, rather than merely removing it from US app stores, is TikToks only option. Its unclear how this would impact the experience of using TikTok outside of the US. Its an unprecedented situation.Even still, TikTok is trying to play it cool externally. Blake Chandlee, the companys president, told advertisers after the Supreme Courts decision that were optimistic about finding the best path forward and to expect next steps before the ban goes into effect. Employees have yet to receive other directions internally, Im told. As I wrote earlier this week, the mood is grim, even among those who worked at TikTok during the first ban attempt four years ago.Given that no one wins if TikTok goes away, Trump will probably still find a way to make sure the app stays running in the US. Hes invited Shou Chew to sit on the inauguration dais and Elon Musk could be in play. But theres no denying that ByteDance put itself in this corner. To get out of it, there will be a price to pay, and its going to cost more than money.ElsewhereTech kisses the ring: The visual of tech CEOs at Trumps inauguration on Monday will be striking. The CEOs of Apple, Google, Microsoft, Amazon, Meta, OpenAI, and more are descending on Washington DC this weekend to kiss the ring. The only major CEO to sit out the proceedings will be Nvidias Jensen Hunag, who is out of the country on business. X, Uber, Spotify, Mark Zuckerberg, Peter Thiel, David Sacks, and more are throwing parties in DC this weekend.Metas fallout continues: CTO Andrew Bosworth admitted internally that some of the changes were pretty ham-fisted and are being reconsidered, including the removal of tampons from mens restrooms. Mark Zuckerberg did damage control after it was reported that he blamed Sheryl Sandberg for the companys DEI culture. He also announced that 5 percent of the company will be let go in cuts targeting low-performers. And the civil rights team was axed.Other headlines: Democratic Senators are mad at tech CEOs for donating to Trumpdeemed critical AI talent by your manager may help you get a raise at Microsoft Amazons RTO mandate is off to a rocky start SpaceX caught another rocket Apple is disabling AI summaries of news stories.Job boardSome recent, noteworthy job changes in the tech world:Jay Parikh, Facebooks early head of engineering and the ex-CEO of Lacework, is now leading a new Core AI engineering org at Microsoft. His org will be in charge of the end-to-end Copilot & AI stack for both our first-party and third-party customer, according to CEO Sayta Nadella.Alex Dunlap, VP of productivity apps for AWS,Andy Jassys new shadow advisor at Amazon. Meanwhile, Ralf Groene reunited with Panos Panay to lead design for the devices org.Tom Conrad is the new interim CEO of Sonos, replacing Patrick Spence. Read his full letter to employees. Chief product officer Maxime Bouvat-Merlin is also out.Bumble founder Whitney Wolfe Herd is back as CEO.Global Infrastructure Partners CEO Adebayo Ogunlesi joined OpenAIs board.Ex-Unity CRO Jules Shumaker was named Discords first chief business officer.The former head of Snaps content business, David Brinker, joined Character.AI as SVP of partnerships.More linksOpenAIs regulation pitch to the White House.Matthew Balls deep dive on the state of the gaming industry.Apple and Samsung saw flat phone sales growth last year, while Xiaomi grew market share the fastest among the top five brands.Marc Andreessen tells The New York Times why Democrats Drove Silicon Valley Into Trumps Arms.If you havent already, dont forget to subscribe to The Verge, which includes unlimited access to Command Line, all of our reporting, and an improved ad experience on the web.As always, I want to hear from you, especially if youre attending any tech inauguration parties this weekend. Respond here, and Ill get back to you, or ping me securely on Signal.Thanks for subscribing.

Jan 18, 2025Ravie LakshmananCyber Espionage / Telecom SecurityThe U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has imposed sanctions against a Chinese cybersecurity company and a Shanghai-based cyber actor for their alleged links to the Salt Typhoon group and the recent compromise of the federal agency."People's Republic of China-linked (PRC) malicious cyber actors continue to target U.S. government systems, including the recent targeting of Treasury's information technology (IT) systems, as well as sensitive U.S. critical infrastructure," the Treasury said in a press release.The sanctions target Yin Kecheng, who is assessed to have been a cyber actor for over a decade and affiliated with China's Ministry of State Security (MSS). Kecheng, per the Treasury, was associated with the breach of its own network that came to light earlier this month.The incident involved a hack of BeyondTrust's systems that allowed the threat actors to infiltrate some of the company's Remote Support SaaS instances by making use of a compromised Remote Support SaaS API key. The activity has been attributed to a nation-state group named Silk Typhoon (formerly Hafnium), which was linked to the then zero-day exploitation of multiple security flaws (aka ProxyLogon) in Microsoft Exchange Server in early 2021.According to a recent report from Bloomberg, the attackers are said to have broken into no less than 400 computers belonging to the Treasury and stole over 3,000 files, including policy and travel documents, organizational charts, material on sanctions and foreign investment, and 'Law Enforcement Sensitive' data.They also gained unauthorized access to computers used by Secretary Janet Yellen, Deputy Secretary Adewale Adeyemo, and Acting Under Secretary Bradley T. Smith, as well as material on investigations run by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S., the report added. It's believed that Silk Typhoon overlaps with a cluster tracked by Google-owned Mandiant under the moniker UNC5221, a China-nexus espionage actor known for its extensive weaponization of Ivanti zero-day vulnerabilities. The Hacker News has reached out to Mandiant for further comment, and we will update the story if we hear back.The sanctions also target Sichuan Juxinhe Network Technology Co., LTD., a Sichuan-based cybersecurity company that the Treasury said was directly involved in a series of cyber attacks aimed at major U.S. telecommunication and internet service provider companies in the country.The activity has been associated with a different Chinese hacking group named Salt Typhoon (aka Earth Estries, FamousSparrow, GhostEmperor, and UNC2286). The threat actor is estimated to be active since at least 2019."The MSS has maintained strong ties with multiple computer network exploitation companies, including Sichuan Juxinhe," the Treasury said.Separately, the Department of State's Rewards for Justice program is offering a reward of up to $10 million for information that could lead to the identification or location of any individuals who are acting at the direction or under the control of a foreign state-sponsored adversary and engage in malicious cyber activities against U.S. critical infrastructure in violation of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act."The Treasury Department will continue to use its authorities to hold accountable malicious cyber actors who target the American people, our companies, and the United States government, including those who have targeted the Treasury Department specifically," Adeyemo said in a statement.The attacks on U.S. telecom service providers has since prompted the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to issue new rules requiring companies operating in the sector to secure their networks from unlawful access or interception of communications. Outgoing FCC chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel described the hacks as "one of the largest intelligence compromises ever seen.""That action is accompanied by a proposal to require communications service providers to submit an annual certification to the FCC attesting that they have created, updated, and implemented a cybersecurity risk management plan, which would strengthen communications from future cyber attacks," the FCC said.Earlier this week, Jen Easterly, director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), said "China's sophisticated and well-resourced cyber program represents the most serious and significant cyber threat to our nation, and in particular, U.S. critical infrastructure."Easterly also revealed that Salt Typhoon was first detected on federal networks, much before the cyber espionage group burrowed into the networks of AT&T, Lumen Technologies, T-Mobile, Verizon, and other providers.The designations are just the latest in a long list of moves made by the Treasury in a bid to combat malicious cyber activity by Chinese threat actors. Previously sanctioned by the agency are three other companies, Integrity Technology Group (Flax Typhoon), Sichuan Silence Information Technology (Pacific Rim), and Wuhan Xiaoruizhi Science and Technology Company (APT31).Found this article interesting? Follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn to read more exclusive content we post.SHARE

Our Picks Best overall pizza oven Ooni Koda 12 View details $399 at Ooni View details Another excellent option Gozney Roccbox View details $500 at Gozney View details Best budget pizza oven Ooni Karu View details $299 at Ooni View details Easiest pizza oven to use Halo Versa View details $500 at Amazon View details Best semipermanent pizza oven Alpha Nano View details $1,088 at The Outdoor Store View details Table of Contents The Ooni Koda 12. OoniWhat's the best pizza oven for 2025? If you enjoy eating pizza, you're going to love making them at home. A good homemade pie can jazz up family pizza nights, birthday parties and summer gatherings. Making a pizza isn't as complicated as it sounds but the market is packed with ovens, making it tricky to choose the right one. Should you get an outdoor pizza oven or perhaps one that's good for Neapolitan-style pizza? The options are numerous, and the confusion is, well, confusing. But don't worry. Were here to help you find the ideal option, whether it's for yourself or as a gift for the pizza lover in your life.CNET's experts tested several top-rated models from Ooni, Gozney and others to find the best ones. Our top pick is the Ooni Koda 12, which excels at fast cooking and comes with responsive temperature controls. We've got other picks, too, all of which offer fantastic features, even allowing you to make the cheesy, saucy goodness that is a Chicago-style deep-dish. These outdoor pizza ovens are easy to set up and use, they cook pies in as little as two minutes with their high heat, and they're simpler to clean than a traditional grill. To get your oven going, all you need is your flour mixture, sauce, toppings and olive oil. Here are our top picks for the best pizza ovens of 2025, ranging from a budget-friendly pie maker that comes in at under $300 to splurge-worthy models that rival professional setups.Read more: The secret ingredient for making instant pizza dough may surprise youBest pizza ovens for 2025 Photo Gallery 1/1 $399 at Ooni $399 at Best Buy Pros Heats up quickly Easy to set up and operate Lightweight Cons Precise temperature control can be difficult Pizza size Up to 12 inchesFuel type GasMaximum temp 932 FWeight 27 lbs.Price $399 $399 at Ooni $399 at Best Buy The versatile gas-powered Koda is portable, weighing just 20 pounds, and it's easy to operate. It ignites in seconds and reaches the coveted 900 degrees Fahrenheit -- the optimal temperature for cooking killer pizzas -- in less than 15 minutes.Though you can often find the smaller model on sale for around $300 and the larger Koda 16 for a bit more, stick to the cheaper Koda 12. Smaller pizzas typically net better results, particularly for first-timers. And the smaller cooking chamber delivers fast results: This oven turns out crispy, thin pizzas in under 2 minutes.Ooni's Koda is simple to set up and a pleasure to use. The temperature controls are responsive and accurate, and the gas fixture takes just a few seconds to screw in and out.

What we've been playing - great escapes, unexpected ends, and Salem SocksA few of the things that have us hooked this week.Image credit: Eurogamer Feature by Robert Purchese Associate Editor Additional contributions byChristian Donlan, Marie Pritchard, and Victoria KennedyPublished on Jan. 18, 2025 17th JanuaryHello and welcome back to our regular feature where we write a little bit about some of the games we've been playing this week. This time, we can barely get past the bloody Sims character creator again, let alone the house decoration part; we search around for another puzzle game to bake our noodles; and we unexpectedly find the end of Animal Crossing.What have you been playing?Catch up with the older editions of this column in our What We've Been Playing archive.Escape Academy, Xbox Series XTo see this content please enable targeting cookies. After finishing with my puzzling adventure calendar - which was essentially an escape room with chocolate rewards - I found myself missing the kick of having a daily puzzle to solve. Thanks to Eurogamer reader themightyant, however, I have managed to find a fix in the form of Escape Academy.As the name suggests, Escape Academy plops players into a school dedicated to the study of escape, and escape I have. So far, I've managed to liberate myself from the head teacher's rather plush office, as it steadily filled with gas, climbed my way out of a flooding maintenance area, and done a spot of courtyard graffiti (at the request of my teacher - don't worry, no needless vandalism here), to name three.The puzzles - for now at least - have all been well balanced. They aren't 'walk in the park easy' by any means, but also aren't so rock hard that they've left me wanting to launch my controller at the TV. There's also been a good variety of them, so each new area has felt fresh and original, and never overwhelming. I've still had to make pages and pages of notes, though - got to keep track of what goes where and why!Escape Academy.Watch on YouTubeMeanwhile, the Escape Academy team has added an allusion of urgency via time limits for each of the game's, um, let's call them missions. While these can be a touch stressful, I largely haven't minded them. They add to the thrill, and these timers are really just there to act as a sort of a placebo; there isn't actually any real consequence if you don't 'make it out' in time (although, as someone who can be a wee bit competitive, it is always nice to).All in all, if you are looking to get yourself an escape room-like experience for the comfort of your own home, Escape Academy absolutely ticks that box. It is clear the game has been crafted with a great deal of love by fellow puzzle enthusiasts, and while it may not measure up exactly to a real-life escape room, for obvious reasons, it comes a very close second. If you also like puzzle games, you really should give this one a go.-VictoriaAnimal Crossing, SwitchI wonder what a new Animal Crossing game on Switch 2 will look like, dot, dot, dot.Watch on YouTubeThe worst has happened - I've finished the art gallery. This was the thread that was keeping me coming back each day since the game started, and now - with the acquisition of a Bruegel - I'm done. I certainly saved one of the best for last - the Hunters in the Snow or whatever it's called is a picture I've loved for years, probably since I first read Michael Frayn's Headlong - but now it's done?I don't know how to answer this. But I think it's interesting. Back when I first encountered Animal Crossing on the GameCube it seemed like a game you'd never come to the end of because it wasn't really asking you to do much except experience things. I'd check in every day because that's what you did - it was life going on in there not a game. But the collection bug, which was always secretly present, I think, came more to the fore with each new instalment, and by the time we got to the Switch I was all about that art gallery. Even though I knew that completing it would mean finishing the game.Anyway, I have to run for a bus, so I'll wrap this up. Just to say, thank you Animal Crossing. I'm sorry our time together is over, but I'm sure I'll check in now and then to see Spike. And to take another look at that Bruegel, which is really something special.-DonlanThe Sims 4, PCGosh, this was a while ago now! Hey Bendix!Watch on YouTubeIt has been years since I played The Sims 4 and, quite honestly, I've missed it. It took a while to remember all the neat shortcuts and tricks you can do alongside using multiple cheats, (it's a shame Motherlode doesn't work in real life), but once I got back into the swing of it there was no stopping me.Now, I don't know about you, but when I start a new save in The Sims I spend a questionable amount of time creating my Sim. I even find myself giving them a backstory while they're being made. For example, the one I'm playing currently is an artist living in a studio apartment with her adopted cat Salem Socks. Very nice. But I also might have spent two hours decorating her studio kitchen and bedroom as well, to get the right vibe for her - what exactly would an artist's apartment look like? Would she be organised or go with the flow? You see my dilemma!I eventually finished the apartment but it wasn't long before another dilemma appeared: should I build her a house? I couldn't help it after seeing all of the options in the Build/Buy menu, especially the outdoor bits such as barbeque sets and sprinklers. But why spend all that time on the apartment just to move out again? Well - to put it simply - because I can. If I want to change her career and make her an equestrian raising horses out in the countryside, I can. If I want to make her a top surgeon who's needed in emergencies, I can. There's no solid plan for what happens next - you're allowed to do whatever you feel like doing.I think that's the joy of it all isn't it? You can make your time with it anything you want it to be - there's a freedom of creation that draws you in for more.-Marie

Distracted driving is one of the leading causes of car accidents and a major reason why auto insurance premiums are expected to increase in 2025. For commercial fleets, thats a nightmare. But for California-based startup Netradyne, its a tailwind.Netradyne provides fleet owners, including big names like Amazon, with AI-enabled dashcams that collect vehicle data and video to improve driver safety, reducing accidents by around 50%, per the company. The devices, which can come equipped with inward- and outward-facing cameras, also use edge computing to send drivers real-time notifications if theyre distracted or driving dangerously, while rewarding drivers for good behavior.TechCrunch last reported on Netradynes $150 million Series C in 2021, and since then the company has expanded beyond North America and India and into Germany, the U.K., Australia, and New Zealand. To further that growth into Ireland and into Japan in the coming months, Netradyne has just raised a $90 million Series D at a pre-money valuation of $1.35 billion, led by Point72 Private Investments with participation from Qualcomm Ventures and Pavilion Capital.And with great expansion comes great data. Over the years, Netradyne has accumulated over 18 billion miles worth of data, which the company says has helped improve the product to a point of 99% accuracy of alerts and 25 million better compliance scores.Aside from global expansion, the fresh capital will go toward improving the product and enhancing go-to-market investments.Today, fleets can access Netradynes Safety Manager Assistant, an AI-powered co-pilot that offers a natural language interface to the companys portal and uses generative AI to have conversations about data and insights. Avneesh Agrawal, CEO and co-founder of Netradyne, told TechCrunch the company would invest more into generative AI, adding additional use cases to its co-pilot and a more agentic approach. Agrawal also noted that Netradyne would use its vast data to develop foundational driving models with a focus on corner case driving scenarios to enhance autonomous driving technology. We have rich vision data analyzing every aspect of road and driving behavior and reading different road signs. No one in the autonomous industry has this kind of data, Agrawal said. Our objective now is to train a driving model using generative AI to identify these edge cases.He added that its not Netradynes intention to develop its own AV technology, but rather to partner with others and offer the startups data and insights. Netradynes customers span fleets operating in online retail, food and beverage, oil and gas, utilities, construction, and more. The startup provides two main products. The first is a quad-view dashcam that collects footage from road-facing, driver-facing, and two side window cameras all in one easy-to-install device. This captures driver behavior, reduces blind spots, and provides evidence in case of an accident.The second is a dual-view camera, which faces both the road and the driver. Fleet owners that need more visibility can use the Hub-X add-on, which is an extension to the dashcam that supports up to four additional cameras to be placed anywhere theyre needed, like facing the back of a bus.The startup also offers a driver monitoring solution which can be added onto the quad camera to detect drowsy driving behaviors using a dedicated sensor with nighttime detection and the ability to see through most sunglasses, according to the company.In response to concerns around driver privacy, Agrawal says Netradyne is GDPR-compliant and never provides personally identifiable information of drivers externally.Investing in Netradyne is about believing in safer roads and supporting professional drivers, Sri Chandrasekar, managing partner at Point72 Private Investments, said. Since our initial investment in 2018, weve witnessed Netradynes impressive growth and believe their technology is well-positioned not only to empower fleet managers but also to foster a culture of safe driving.Agrawal said Netradyne has seen 65% growth in the last 12 months, and expects to be net profitable in the next year. This article has been updated to reflect Netradynes new valuation.

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'Gundam GQuuuuuuX' will be coming to theaters in the US this February.SunriseThe Gundam GQuuuuuuX compilation movie, now out in Japan, reveals it as a reimagining of Mobile Suit Gundam. While interesting, it feels like a missed opportunity.Now, this is not to say that Gundam GQuuuuuuX is bad or not interesting, but its what if scenario of shifting events around from the One Year War in the original Mobile Suit Gundam does feel a bit fanfiction-esque.Ikuto Yamashitas new mecha designs are great though in GQuuuuuuX, with the news of a Metal Robot Damashii toy (shown below) on the way this Summer being very welcome.However, if alternate-timeline Gundam series are now just reimagining what has gone before rather than creating something new, why not just animate something that was already made decades ago and was also hugely popular?Of course, I am referring to the serialized story For The Barrel in Newtype magazine back in 2000. This was and is a groundbreaking retelling of the original Mobile Suit Gundam, with a much more believable approach to the characters and especially the mecha designs.MORE FOR YOUWith the mobile suits redesigned as machining skins, these mecha were much more industrial in tone and penned by the very talented Junji Okubo.The upcoming Metal Robot Damashii toy of the titular Gundam from the anime.Bandai SpiritsFor gaming reference, Okubo also designed the very believable and industrial-looking vertical tanks in the equally groundbreaking Xbox game Steel Battalion, released in 2002 along with its entirely massive bespoke controller.So now that GQuuuuuuX is out, it just seems like if we arent getting an all-new alternate timeline story like Iron-Blooded Orphans or Witch from Mercury, and instead more of a what if fanfiction, then why not animate something that already did that excellently decades earlier?For The Barrel was a fascinating and groundbreaking retelling of the early parts of the Universal Century timeline, and to just leave that in favor of GQuuuuuuX feels like a waste.That said, the fact we still havent got an anime adaptation of the insanely popular Crossbone Gundam also warrants some serious discussion, but thats another matter entirely.Naturally, Im sure Ill enjoy the series of GQuuuuuuX once it airs, much like I did with Witch from Mercury before it. Its just that this seems like a missed opportunity when Gundam already has such a rich history of novels and mangas within its pantheon.The compilation Gundam GQuuuuuuX movie will be released in US theaters on February 28 and will be distributed by GKIDS.Follow me on X, Facebook and YouTube. I also manage Mecha Damashii and am currently featured in the Giant Robots exhibition currently touring Japan.