See at Paramount Plus Selection Sunday and CBS games for $13 a month Paramount Plus with Showtime See at Paramount Plus See more details See at Max TBS, TNT and TruTV games for $10 a month Max See at Max See more details See at YouTube TV Carries CBS, TBS, TNT and TruTV for $83 a month YouTube TV See at YouTube TV See more details See at Hulu + Live TV Carries CBS, TBS, TNT and TruTV for $83 a month Hulu with Live TV See at Hulu + Live TV See more details See at DirecTV Stream Carries CBS, TBS, TNT and TruTV for $87 a month DirecTV Stream See at DirecTV Stream See more details See at ExpressVPN Best VPN for streaming ExpressVPN See at ExpressVPN See more details Soon, the madness will ensue. The NCAA men's college basketball tournament is affectionately labeled March Madness for its unpredictability, and has given us small-school Cinderella runs and bracket-busting buzzer beaters. The 68-team bracket will be revealed this Sunday, and the tournament tips off next Tuesday, March 18.Here's everything you need to know to get ready for March Madness, from tuning into Selection Sunday to catching the Final Four and the national championship. Cooper Flagg has the Duke Blue Devils poised to be a No. 1 seed for March Madness. Lance King/Getty ImagesWhen is Selection Sunday?The March Madness bracket and matchups will be revealed this Sunday, March 16. The Selection Sunday show begins at 6 p.m. ET (3 p.m. PT) on CBS.When does March Madness start?With 68 teams invited to the Big Dance, the NCAA holds four play-in games to get the field down to 64, after which point the math works out to have four regional tournaments of 16 teams each. The winners of the four regional tournaments then advance to the Final Four, held this year at the Alamodome in San Antonio, TexasMarch Madness begins on Tuesday, March 18 with two play-in games followed by two more play-in games the next night. After these First Four games, the field of 64 is set and the tournament begins in earnest on Thursday, March 20 with a full slate of games that will take place all afternoon and into the night, with at least a few moments of madness practically guaranteed.What is the March Madness tournament schedule?Here's the schedule, round by round:First Four: March 18-19First round: March 20-21Second round: March 22-23Sweet 16: March 27-28Elite Eight: March 29-30Final Four: Saturday, April 5National championship: Monday, April 7How can I watch March Madness?As in past years, the tournament will be shown across four channels: CBS, TBS, TNT and TruTV (that's right, it's the time of year to find TruTV again).You can watch these channels with a cable subscription or a live TV streaming service, but the most affordable option is signing up for a month of two streaming services: Max and Paramount Plus with Showtime.What are my March Madness streaming options?For $23, you can watch every March Madness game live. With the $10 a month Max streaming service, you can watch the games broadcast on TBS, TNT and TruTV. And with the $13 a month Paramount Plus with Showtime plan, you'll be able to watch the CBS games, which include both Final Four semifinal games and the national championship game. James Martin/CNET You'll need the $13 a month Paramount Plus with Showtime plan in order to livestream the March Madness games broadcast on CBS. You'll also be able to watch the CBS broadcast of the Selection Sunday show with Paramount Plus.The final two rounds of the tournament flip-flop between TBS and CBS each year, and this year's Final Four and national championship will be shown on CBS.Read our Paramount Plus review. See at Paramount Plus Max/Warner Bros. Discovery The Basic with ads plan for Max costs $10 a month and will show March Madness games on TBS, TNT or TruTV.Live sports on Max will soon require the $17 a month ad-free Standard plan, but you shouldn't need to shell out for it to watch this year's March Madness games. The change goes into effect on March 30, so you might need the pricier ad-free plan to watch two of the four Elite Eight games that day. With the Final Four games and national championship airing on CBS, however, you won't need any Max plan after the Elite Eight round.Read our Max review. See at Max Which devices can I use to watch March Madness?You'll find an app for the Paramount Plus and Max streaming services on an iPhone or Android phone as well as an iPad, Android tablet or Amazon Fire tablet. Each services is also available on mainstream streaming platforms including Roku, Apple TV, Android TV/Google TV and Fire TV, as well as smart televisions from major manufacturers LG, Samsung and Vizio. They're also accessible through Xbox and PlayStation game consoles.For more specifics, check out the full list of supported devices for Paramount Plus and Max.Can I stream March Madness for free?Go to the NCAA'sMarch Madness Live siteor use itsMarch Madness Live appand you'll be able to watch games for free. You can watch March Madness Live on iOS and Android devices along with Apple TV, Roku, Fire TV and Xbox. The app also supports AirPlay and Chromecast.As with most things that are free, there's a catch. Without proving you're a pay TV subscriber, you get only a three-hour preview, after which point you'll need to log in to continue watching.What's the best live TV streaming service for March Madness?You can also use a live TV streaming service to watch March Madness. Three of the five live TV streaming services offer the four channels needed to watch every tournament game, but keep in mind that not every service carries every local network, so check each one using the links below to make sure it carries CBS in your area. Sarah Tew/CNET YouTube TV costs $83 a month and includes CBS, TBS, TNT and TruTV. Plug in your ZIP code on its welcome page to see if CBS is available in your area. Right now, the first six months are discounted to $70 a month, and there is a free, 21-day trial.YouTube TV is our pick for March Madness. Not only is it the cheapest live TV streaming service (with the current discount for the first six months) that offers all four channels for the tournament, but it's alsothe only service that offers multiview so you can watch four games at once. And if there's one sporting event that cries out for multiview, it's March Madness, especially the first two rounds when so many games are happening all at once.Read our YouTube TV review. See at YouTube TV James Martin/CNET Hulu with Live TV costs $83 a month and includes CBS, TBS, TNT and TruTV. There's a free trial but it lasts only three days. On its live news page, you can enter your ZIP code under the "Can I watch local news in my area?" question at the bottom of the page to see which local channels you get.Read our Hulu with Live TV review. See at Hulu + Live TV Directv stream DirecTV Stream's basic $87 a month plan includes CBS, TBS, TNT and TruTV. You can use its channel lookup tool to see which local channels are available where you live.Read our DirecTV Stream review. See at DirecTV Stream The live TV streaming services above allow you to cancel anytime and require a solid internet connection. Looking for more information? Check out ourlive TV streaming services guide.How to watch March Madness with a VPNIf no convenient opportunities exist to watch the games where you live, then using a VPN with US-based server should provide access to the tournament. With a VPN, you're able to virtually change your location on your phone, tablet or laptop to get access to the game. So if your internet provider or mobile carrier has stuck you with an IP address that incorrectly shows your location in a blackout zone, a VPN can correct that problem by giving you an IP address in your correct, non-blackout area. Most VPNs, like ourEditors' Choice, ExpressVPN, are very easy to use.Using a VPN to watch or stream sports is legal in any country where VPNs are legal, including the US and Canada, as long as you've got a legitimate subscription to the service you're streaming. You should be sure your VPN is set up correctly to prevent leaks: Even where VPNs are legal, the streaming service may terminate the account of anyone it deems to be circumventing correctly applied blackout restrictions. ExpressVPN ExpressVPN isour current best VPN pickfor people who want a reliable and safe VPN, and it works on a variety of devices. It's normally $13 a month, but if you sign up for an annual subscription for $100 you'll get three months free and save 49%. That's the equivalent of $6.67 a month.Note that ExpressVPN offers a 30-day money-back guarantee. See at ExpressVPN

March 11, 20258 min readHow COVID Shaped a Resilient Generation of KidsCOVIDs emotional and educational strain on children still lingers, but educators and mental health specialists say they are far from a lost generationBy Lauren J. Young edited by Dean Visser Vera Livchak/Getty ImagesAs COVID surged and schools across the U.S. shuttered in March 2020, Jamie Wyss, an elementary school counselor at the Virginia Beach City Public Schools system in Virginia, vividly remembers quickly assembling paper packets on social-emotional learning to hand out to parents. She initially thought students and staff would return in a week, maybe two. But neither parents nor students would come back to the systems campuses for the rest of the school year.I promised them that I would always be there for them, Wyss says. Honestly, it felt like I abandoned my students.Nothing could have prepared Wyss or her fellow educators for what came next. Health care facilities were quickly overwhelmed, and governments around the world enacted stay-at-home orders, or lockdowns, as millions of people became infected with the COVID-causing coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2. As of today, COVID has claimed more than seven million lives globally. Amid this devastating loss, children grappled with sudden social isolation, emotional distress and new academic pressures involved in learning remotely. Teachers, suddenly pivoting to online instruction, were thrust into unpredictable territory. Parents had to balance surviving a deadly pandemic and raising their kids in a massively altered world.On supporting science journalismIf you're enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today.Kids look to us adults to be their stabilizing forceand as adults, we were also really struggling, says Elizabeth Reichert, a child psychologist and co-director of the Stanford Parenting Center.The turbulent times took a massive toll on the U.S. education system, with student support varying dramatically among states, school districts and communities. Five years later, the pandemics emotional and educational scars are still felt by kids who are reaching their teenage years or early adulthood, leaving experts wondering about lasting effects.The decisions [to close schools] were made to protect society, and there was going to be a cost, says Candice Odgers, a quantitative and developmental psychologist specializing in adolescent mental health at the University of California, Irvine. There was going to be a cost to children's learning, and that seemed to be part of the calculus that was being made.Growing Gaps in LearningStudent academic performance had been declining before 2020, but math and reading scores dipped even further during the pandemic. In the fall of 2021 mean math scores among third to eighth graders dropped by 0.2 to 0.27 standard deviations, and average reading scores among these students decreased by 0.09 to 0.18 standard deviations compared with same-grade peers in 2019, according to a 2022 report by the Brookings Institution.Discrepancies in math and reading werent felt equally among communities, however, Odgers says. What we really saw with COVID was a hit for the entire population on learning, she adds, but children in the least-equipped and least-resourced schools were hit the hardest.In a 2023 study, Odgers and her colleagues surveyed elementary school teachers in the U.S. and Canada about student performance during the 20202021 school year. In classrooms with high-income students, 40 percent of teachers reported a performance drop. In those with lower-income students, the proportion was more than 70 percent. The study also found that students from lower-income households were nearly twice as likely to lack teachers with prior online instruction experience and adult learning support at home.Amanda Montaez; Source: School Pulse Panel, National Center for Education Statistics, Institute of Education Sciences (data)The latest data from the U.S. Department of Educations Institute of Education Sciences show 49 percent of public school students overall were behind their grade level in at least one academic subject at the start of the 20222023 school year compared with 36 percent before the pandemic. In high-poverty communities, 61 percent of public school students were behind their grade level. The 2024 National Assessment of Educational Progress, also called the Nations Report Card, showed slight improvements in math for eighth graders from well-resourced families and schoolsbut testing scores of those from lower socioeconomic backgrounds and marginalized communities dipped or remained unchanged compared with 2022.If we dont concentrate on social-emotional learning, then were probably not going to see as fast of an improvement in academics as we want. Jamie Wyss, elementary school counselorSchools and educators have been tackling learning gaps in multiple ways, such as reducing class sizes and extending the academic year. For example, in July 2023 the Richmond Public Schools district in Virginia ran a pilot program that added 20 days to the school calendars of two elementary schools. The initial results indicated an increase in literacy levels and student attendance at the end of the year, according to district superintendents.The academic performance data are alarming, and theyre interlocked with another challenge: youth mental health.If we dont concentrate on social-emotional learning, then were probably not going to see as fast of an improvement in academics as we want, Wyss says. Trust me, if a child is upset sitting in the classroom, they are not going to be listening to math.Mental Health RamificationsYoung peoples ability to cope with the emotional and social stress of the pandemic varied among age groups. Students who were in kindergarten when the pandemic began are now on the cusp of middle schooland adolescence. Our [current] fifth graders lost about two years of social-emotional learning, Wyss says. Among this group, she says, she has observed behaviors more commonly seen in younger grades. For instance, Wyss has noticed an increase in sensory-seeking behavior (touching others more frequently), a lack of self-awareness (not noticing theyre wearing a shirt inside out) and difficulty with reading social situations. They lost those two super important years [of peer interaction] in the first and second grade, where they were learning whats socially acceptable and whats not, she says.Meanwhile todays teens, who were in elementary or middle school during the lockdowns, face other challengesincluding changes in brain development that typically occur later in life. A 2024 study at the University of Washington looked at the cerebral cortices of young people aged 12 to 20 in 2018 and 2021 and found preliminary signs of abnormal structural changes at the latter time. The cerebral cortex plays a crucial role in cognition, social interaction and emotional regulation. As the brain develops in adolescence, neurons are naturally pruned back, and cortex thickness decreases. The 54 study participants whose brain was scanned after the pandemic showed accelerated cortical thinninga sign of rapid brain maturation. Other brain studies of teens who experienced pandemic isolation corroborate the general findings. Corrigan and her colleagues study also highlighted striking differences in sex, however.In males, it looked like the brains were a year and a half older, whereas for females, they looked more than four years older, on average, than typical development, says study co-author Neva Corrigan, a research scientist at the University of Washingtons Institute for Learning and Brain Sciences.Accelerated cortical thinning, which is well documented in children who have experienced a severely stressful life event, is associated with an increased risk of developing neuropsychiatric disorders, including anxiety and depression. Its not clear if the pandemic was the primary cause of the cortical thinning recorded in the 2024 study at the University of Washington, and researchers dont know if the changes are permanent. Corrigan says it will be crucial to keep an eye on adolescents because they may require extra support.We knew that anxiety and depression really skyrocketed during the pandemic, and there are many studies showing that it was much more severe for females than males, Corrigan says. Now, notably, these trends seem to have continued even after the lockdowns ended.Amanda Montaez; Source: Youth Risk Behavior Survey Data Summary & Trends Report: 20132023. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2024 (data)The 2023 Youth Risk Behavior Survey, conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, found that four in 10 high schoolers experienced persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness and that two in 10 considered attempting suicide. Overall, in 40 percent of high schoolers, the severity of mental health issues caused them to withdraw from their regular activities.Chronic absenteeism (missing 10 percent or more school days in a year) spiked during remote learning and remains a struggle: the Department of Education reported average national rates at 31 percent in the 20212022 school year and 28 percent in the following year, compared with 17 percent in the 20182019 school year. Some states saw rates as high as 47 percent. Wyss says growing student apathy may be another factor. Children realized, I don't have to get on a bus and go to school to learn. So why are you making me do that now? Wyss says. Students lost trust in the educational system, and adults did, too.Building ResilienceResearch shows the well-being of parents, teachers and other adults directly affects that of kids. Last year the U.S. surgeon general released a report highlighting the enormous stress and burdens placed on parents and the need for more support for caregivers of children. Teachers, too, have shown increased burnoutwith the rate of teacher absences and demand for substitutes on the rise.The health of our children is intrinsically tied to the health of the adults around them, Odgers says. Solutions are going to involve not just investments in children but [also] investments in families and schools.Studies suggest that interventions focused only on children produce some gains but that providing support for a whole family leads to greater improvements in both learning and mental health, Odgers says. At the Stanford Parenting Center, Reichert, along with co-director and child psychiatrist Mari Kurahashi, created a webinar series to help parents with pandemic-focused caregiving strategies, from facilitating family communication during a crisis to managing screen use and transitioning into and out of remote learning.One of the guiding principles that we follow across a lot of different parenting programsthats based on decades of researchis balance in parenting, Kurahashi says. Balance being supportive, warm, validating, affectionate and, at the very same time, being firm, having lots of limits, setting consistency.Reichert and Kurahashi say parents have been emphasizing affection a lot more lately. In this post-COVID time, so many parents have kind of leaned more toward the warmth, the love ... and then really, really relaxing on the rules, Reichert says. Children have gone through this really hard time, and now we want them to just be able to kind of live their lives. But she and Kurahashi encourage reestablishing boundaries, particularly around screen timewhich spiked during the pandemic.Kids are more resilient than we give them credit for. Elizabeth Reichert, child psychologistKurahashi also stresses the need to listen deeply to children, encourage them to ask questions and validate their feelings and experiences. Wyss agrees that adults must show compassion. If a child is not acting their age, pause before reacting. Staff members or teachers can make assumptions about what students are doing and why theyre doing it, and you cant generalize a behavior to all children, Wyss says.Mental health and learning setbacks in youth have become high-profile consequences of the pandemic, but educators and experts emphasize the need to avoid holding these challenges against young people. Overpathologizing a whole generation can have a really negative impact, especially given that children and adolescents are so impressionable, Kurahashi says.She and Reichert note that many patients in their respective practices have come out of the pandemic strongeran achievement that shouldnt be overlooked. While COVID was a very stressful time, it also was an opportunity for a lot of children, teens and families to grow in their resilience and develop coping skills, Reichert says. Kids are more resilient than we give them credit for.Odgers cringes at terms like the pandemic generation and urges people to stop using labels that oversimplify a complex situation.There is a harm story to be told from this, and theres a resilience story to be told from this. And both can be true at the same time, she says. We have to be careful that we look with a little more nuance and skepticism about what the long-run impacts of this really will be and not to write off an entire generation of young people as lostbecause they are not.IF YOU NEED HELPIf you or someone you know is struggling or having thoughts of suicide, help is available. Call or text the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 988 or use the online Lifeline Chat.

Blizzard's big convention BlizzCon is skipping 2025, but will return in full strength next year. Read more

A new Katamari Damacy game has been revealed, which will release exclusively on Apple Arcade. Read more

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 hereMarvel Rivals, the popular hero shooter, is facing scrutiny as hitbox controversies cast a shadow over its competitive integrity. Players are expressing their frustrations regarding the erratic hit detection, particularly highlighting the issues surrounding Spider-Mans uppercut ability.Recent clips making the rounds online showcase the web-slinger delivering strikes that connect from astonishing distances, leaving enemies both baffled and frustrated. The community is blasting NetEase, highlighting the oversized hitbox as a potential game-changer in the chaotic 6v6 battles. Even with the Season 1.5 patch dropping on February 21 and bringing fresh heroes such as Human Torch into the mix, NetEases lack of communication regarding hitbox adjustments has only intensified player frustration.As gamers analyze footage in the training range, discussions have evolved past Spider-Man, with murmurs about the abilities of another iconic hero sparking comparable debates, and this time its the most banned character in competitive lobbies, Wolverine.Marvel Rivals players demand fixing massive Wolverine hitbox issuesIn a new subreddit post, Marvel Rivals players have been comparing Spider-Mans hitboxes with characters like Magik, who despite wielding a massive sword has a very tight hitbox which requires players to always aim at the center, as compared to spideys bulldozer-sized hitbox smashing ability.Wolverine is an absolute tank killer in Marvel Rivals. Image by VideoGamer.However, its not the clip shared on the post that sparked a debate, rather in the comments section below players have been pointing out some significant issues with Wolverines hitbox. One player raised up the issue and wrote, And Wolverine has to be so close to you that he leaps over the head of anyone not a Vanguard? Lots of wonky hit boxes in the game.Wolverines Feral Leap ability lets him close in on enemies and shred them with quick slashing claw strikes and also has the ability to carry enemies to another position. While the ability itself promises massive damage, the hitbox using that is believed to work differently than other hero hitboxes.To best explain the situation, an experienced Wolverine player said, Wolverines especially funny because he has a hitbox around and behind him, meaning if you stand next to somebody and leap you grab them, but actually aiming your crosshair at somebody dead-on will miss.Adding on to that comment, another player advised, You can pin someone that is right behind you (180 degree) with wolverine. Its a bit different. Wolverine leap is not a dash, its a proximity check link with CC and displacement.While Wolverine is one of the most debatable characters in the game, whether its his boosted health or damage multiplier, if youre on the opposing end of the hero and want a counter, weve got the perfect Marvel Rivals guide for you right here.Marvel RivalsPlatform(s):macOS, PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series S, Xbox Series XGenre(s):Fighting, ShooterRelated TopicsMarvel Rivals Subscribe to our newsletters!By subscribing, you agree to our Privacy Policy and may receive occasional deal communications; you can unsubscribe anytime.Share

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 here Contents hide The March 2025 roadmap is full of exciting content for Dead By Daylight, but arguably the most anticipated release has been the Chapter 35 PTB following its delay. The public-test build is now available to play, and BeHaviour Interactive has just confirmed the perks for new DBD Chapter 35 killer The Ghoul as Ken Kaneki from Tokyo Ghoul.Dead By Daylight Ken Kaneki The Ghoul killer perksThe Dead By Daylight Chapter 35 killer perks for The Ghoul as Ken Kaneki from Tokyo Ghoul are as follows:Hex: Nothing But Misery:The effects last until thehex totemis cleansed.When you damage aSurvivorwith abasic attack, they gain5/5/5%Hinderedfor10/12.5/15 seconds.Forever Entwined:For each token, you pick up, drop and hookSurvivors4%faster.None Are Free:When allgeneratorsare completed, for each token, all windows and upright pallets are blocked for everyone for12/14/16 seconds.DBD Ken Kaneki The Ghoul killer power And below is the killer power for Ken Kaneki as The Ghoul:SPECIAL ABILITY: Kagune LeapUse thePower buttonto charge and launch theKagune, tentacles that attach to any vertical surface within range and quickly pull The Ghoul forward.After completing aleap, The Ghoul has a window to perform a second consecutiveKagune Leapor putKagune Leapinto cooldown by using theactive ability button.Kagune Leapenters cooldown once The Ghoul has consumed theirleaps, if theyleapover a vault or downed pallet, or if theKagunegrabs andleapsat aSurvivor.If The Ghouls second consecutiveleaptargets aSurvivor, they will perform a grab-attack. Grab-attacks damageSurvivorsif they are healthy; inflictDeep Wounds; and leave aKagune Mark.Performing a grab-attack also triggersEnraged Mode.SPECIAL ABILITY: Enraged ModeWhileEnraged, The Ghoul can perform up to three consecutiveKagune Leapsand canleapovervaultsmore quickly if they launch theirKaguneat aSurvivor.Enraged Moderemains active while there areSurvivorsafflicted withKagune Mark. MarkedSurvivorswill lose their mark if they are fullyMended, or if they are downed.The Ghoul cannot grab-attack markedSurvivors.Once no markedSurvivorsremain, aCountdownbegins. When theCountdowndepletes,Enraged Modeends. A perfectly timed grab-attack will add extra time to theCountdown. TheCountdownis paused while carryingSurvivors.All of the above perks come courtesy of the 8.6.0 PTB patch notes.How to play Dead By Daylight Chapter 35 PTBYou can only play the Dead By Daylight Chapter 35 PTB if you own DBD on Steam. Assuming you have BeHaviour Interactives multiplayer game on Valves platform, simply follow the below steps:Right-click Dead By Daylight in your Steam librarySelect PropertiesHead into Betas, then select Public Test Build from the listDead By Daylight Chapter 35 release dateThe release date for Dead By Daylight Chapter 35 is April 2nd. The Chapter was originally planned for March, but its full release was delayed so BeHaviour can work on other updates.Ken Kaneki as The Ghoul is the final licensed killer for DBD year 9. We are still set to receive one more Paragraph featuring an original survivor, and then we move into Year 10 for which BeHaviour Interactive has confirmed an FNAF Chapter.Before March comes to an end, make sure to buy the Hellraiser Chapter if you havent already as Pinhead is officially leaving on April 4th. Some of the BDSM torturers content will still remain after his departure, but you will not be able to play as the Master of the Cenobite if you do not own him before his exodus.For more Dead By Daylight content, check out ourranking of the top 10 DLC expansions to buyalong with a ranking of thebest killer perksandbest survivor perks.Dead by DaylightPlatform(s):Google Stadia, Nintendo Switch, PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series XGenre(s):Action, Survival Horror7VideoGamerRelated TopicsDead by Daylight Subscribe to our newsletters!By subscribing, you agree to our Privacy Policy and may receive occasional deal communications; you can unsubscribe anytime.Share

Blender at GDC 2025March 11th, 2025EventsFrancesco Siddi html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/loose.dtd"A small delegation of the Blender team (Dalai Felinto and Francesco Siddi) is going to attend theGame Developers Conference GDC in San Francisco on 17-21 March, with the main goal to connect with individuals and teams using Blender to create interactive content.This year we are also organizing a Blender Meetup event (Birds of a Feather-style), focused on connecting producers, developers, TDs and artists working in studios where Blender is part of the pipeline. The goal is to share ongoing Blender development, Blender Studio pipeline insights, and give visibility to teams who wish to share their experience using Blender in production.This time we go for an informal setting on Tuesday, 18 March at 10:00AM at the Yerba Buena Gardens (in front of the Moscone conference center). Look for the Blender flag, bring your own coffee and see you there!If you want to connect besides the event, reach out to francesco at blender.org.

The social network X suffered intermittent outages on Monday, a situation owner Elon Musk attributed to a massive cyberattack. Musk said in an initial X post that the attack was perpetrated by either a large, coordinated group and/or a country. In a post on Telegram, a pro-Palestinian group known as Dark Storm Team took credit for the attacks within a few hours. Later on Monday, though, Musk claimed in an interview on Fox Business Network that the attacks had come from Ukrainian IP addresses.Web traffic analysis experts who tracked the incident on Monday were quick to emphasize that the type of attacks X seemed to facedistributed denial-of-service, or DDoS, attacksare launched by a coordinated army of computers, or a botnet, pummeling a target with junk traffic in an attempt to overwhelm and take down its systems. Botnets are typically dispersed around the world, generating traffic with geographically diverse IP addresses, and they can include mechanisms that make it harder to determine where they are controlled from.Its important to recognize that IP attribution alone is not conclusive. Attackers frequently use compromised devices, VPNs, or proxy networks to obfuscate their true origin," says Shawn Edwards, chief security officer of the network connectivity firm Zayo.X did not return WIRED's requests for comment about the attacks.Multiple researchers tell WIRED that they observed five distinct attacks of varying length against X's infrastructure, the first beginning early Monday morning with the final burst on Monday afternoon.The internet intelligence team at Cisco's ThousandEyes tells WIRED in a statement, During the disruptions, ThousandEyes observed network conditions that are characteristic of a DDoS attack, including significant traffic loss conditions which would have hindered users from reaching the application.DDoS attacks are common, and virtually all modern internet services experience them regularly and must proactively defend themselves. As Musk himself put it on Monday, We get attacked every day. Why, then, did these DDoS attacks cause outages for X? Musk said it was because this was done with a lot of resources, but independent security researcher Kevin Beaumont and other analysts see evidence that some X origin servers, which respond to web requests, weren't properly secured behind the company's Cloudflare DDoS protection and were publicly visible. As a result, attackers could target them directly. X has since secured the servers.The botnet was directly attacking the IP and a bunch more on that X subnet yesterday. It's a botnet of cameras and DVRs, Beaumont says.A few hours after the final attack concluded, Musk told Fox Business host Larry Kudlow in an interview, We're not sure exactly what happened, but there was a massive cyberattack to try to bring down the X system with IP addresses originating in the Ukraine area.Musk has mocked Ukraine and its president, Volodymyr Zelensky, repeatedly since Russia invaded its neighbor in February 2022. A major campaign donor to President Donald Trump, Musk now heads the so-called Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, which has razed the US federal government and its workforce in the weeks since Trump's inauguration. Meanwhile, the Trump administration has recently warmed relations with Russia and moved the US away from its longtime support of Ukraine. Musk has already been involved in these geopolitics in the context of a different company he owns, SpaceX, which operates the satellite internet service Starlink that many Ukrainians rely on.DDoS traffic analysis can break down the firehose of junk traffic in different ways, including by listing the countries that had the most IP addresses involved in an attack. But one researcher from a prominent firm, who requested anonymity because they are not authorized to speak about X, noted that they did not even see Ukraine in the breakdown of the top 20 IP address origins involved in the X attacks.If Ukrainian IP addresses did contribute to the attacks, though, numerous researchers say that the fact alone is not noteworthy.What we can conclude from the IP data is the geographic distribution of traffic sources, which may provide insights into botnet composition or infrastructure used, Zayos Edwards says. What we cant conclude with certainty is the actual perpetrators identity or intent.Additional reporting by Zo Schiffer.

A hot potato: Mark Zuckerberg is a vocal proponent of free speech, especially since Donald Trump was re-elected, but it seems the Meta CEO hasn't always been so anti-censorship. There have long been reports that Facebook developed a content suppression tool for the Chinese market. Now, new details about the system have surfaced. Last April, Sarah Wynn-Williams, a former Facebook global policy director who was fired in 2017, revealed in a complaint filed with the SEC that Facebook sought a foothold in the Chinese social media market. It hoped to achieve this by creating a version of its platform that complied with China's strict censorship laws.The company formed a team to work on the China-specific version of Facebook, codenamed Project Aldrin, in 2014. Wynn-Williams says (via The Washington Post) that some of the concessions Facebook agreed to with local authorities included hosting Chinese and Hong Kong user data on servers in China, making it easier for the government to access the personal information of these citizens.It was also proposed that a Chinese private-equity firm be allowed to review content posted by Chinese users, and that hundreds of moderators be hired to remove restricted content.Wynn-Williams alleged that Facebook built a censorship system that automatically detected and removed restricted terms in 2015. She also claims Facebook was ready to appoint a chief editor who would oversee the content that could appear on Chinese Facebook. They would be able to remove anything not aligned with the CCP's policies and could even shut down the site entirely if the country experienced social unrest.The whistleblower report claims that Facebook restricted the account of Chinese businessman Guo Wengui in 2017 in the hope of winning favor from Chinese officials. Wengui regularly posted about the alleged corruption within the Chinese government, though Facebook claimed his account was removed because he was sharing "personal information of others without their consent." The report alleges that this action was encouraged by a Chinese internet regulator to prove that Facebook was willing to "address mutual interests." // Related StoriesMeta spokesperson Andy Stone said the company's interest in the Chinese market was "no secret," and that Zuckerberg announced it was moving away from these efforts in 2019."This is all pushed by an employee terminated eight years ago for poor performance. We do not operate our services in China today. It is no secret we were once interested in doing so as part of Facebook's effort to connect the world," Stone said. "This was widely reported beginning a decade ago. We ultimately opted not to go through with the ideas we'd explored."View this post on InstagramA post shared by Mark Zuckerberg (@zuck)In 2019, Zuckerberg, apparently having given up on the prospect of a Chinese version of Facebook, spoke about the importance of freedom of expression while criticizing China's censorship laws in a speech at Georgetown.In January, Zuckerberg announced that Meta was prioritizing free speech following the recent US elections. This involved the replacement of third-party fact checkers with community notes, removing restrictions on topics such as immigration and gender, and focusing only on high-severity policy violations such as terrorism, child sexual exploitation, drugs, fraud, and scams. Meta is also reinstating civic content, which was removed in 2021 due to political misinformation concerns.

If you're like me, a Monster Hunter Wilds quest probably takes you a few minutes to complete. Maybe even more, if you're tackling one of the game's tempered monsters. However, some players are using a cheeky cheesy strategy to complete hunt quests in a matter of seconds. Their secret? Poison ammo. Read more