Month: June 2021

Enlarge / A deserted walk-in COVID-19 mass vaccination site at the Convention Center in downtown Washington, DC, on June 1, 2021. (credit: Getty | ANITA BEATTIE )

The rate of COVID-19 vaccinations in the US has now slowed to a crawl after weeks of decline in the number of doses given out each day. The continued trend threatens to further drag out the devastating pandemic. It also now imperils a goal set just last month by President Joe Biden to have 70 percent of American adults vaccinated with at least one dose by July 4.

On Monday, the country’s seven-day average of doses administered per day was again below 1 million, where it has been now for several days. The average hasn’t been this low since January 22. In mid-April, the average peaked at nearly 3.4 million doses a day, following a record of over 4.6 million doses administered in a single day.

With less than a month to go until Independence Day, there’s a real possibility that the US will fall shy of Biden’s 70-percent goal. Currently, about 63.7 percent of adults in the country have received at least one dose. But a chunk of daily doses are now going to adolescents ages 12 to 17, who became eligible for vaccination last month. And total vaccination numbers are still on a significant decline. If current trends hold, the US may only have about 67 percent of adults vaccinated with at least one dose by the Fourth of July, according to one analysis conducted by USA Today.

Enlarge (credit: Getty Images)

The FBI said it has seized $2.3 million paid to the ransomware attackers who paralyzed the network of Colonial Pipeline and touched off gasoline and jet fuel shortages up and down the East Coast last month.

In dollar amounts, the sum represents about half of the $4.4 million that Colonial Pipeline paid to members of the DarkSide ransomware group following the May 7 attack, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing the company's CEO. The DarkSide decryptor tool was widely known to be slow and ineffective, but Colonial paid the ransom anyway. In the interview with the WSJ, CEO Joseph Blount confirmed that the shortcomings prevented the company from using it and instead had to rebuild its network through other means.

Cutting off the oxygen supply

On Monday, the US Justice Department said it had traced 63.7 of the roughly 75 bitcoins Colonial Pipeline paid to DarkSide, which the Biden administration says is likely located in Russia. The seizure is remarkable because it marks one of the rare times a ransomware victim has recovered funds it paid to its attacker. Justice Department officials are counting on their success to remove a key incentive for ransomware attacks—the millions of dollars attackers stand to make.

Enlarge / Google Stadia: Now for televisions. (credit: Google)

Televisions and video games have gone together since the beginning. It only makes sense: If you want to play a AAA video game, you often want to do it on the biggest, best screen in the house. So we're a bit mystified that, just now, 18 months after launch, Google's video game platform will support Google's television platform.

Google has announced that starting this month, Stadia will have support for Android TV. First up is official support for the following devices:

• Chromecast with Google TV
• Hisense Android Smart TVs (U7G, U8G, U9G)
• Nvidia Shield TV
• Nvidia Shield TV Pro
• Walmart Onn FHD Streaming Stick and UHD Streaming Device
• Philips 8215, 8505, and OLED 935/805 Series Android TVs
• Xiaomi MIBOX3 and MIBOX4

Google adds that for Android TV devices not on this list, users will be able to "opt into experimental support to play Stadia." The company warns, "While this feature is still in development and not every Android TV OS device will work perfectly, you can now try out Stadia and play your favorite games on more screens than ever before."