Month: November 2022

Enlarge / Don't let the blue check mark fool you; "Nintendoofus" is not an official account...

Twitter has begun rolling out its $8-a-month Twitter Blue subscriptions, complete with "verified" checkmarks for paid users. But the social network is also fighting to suspend a wave of accounts that are exploiting confusion over those checkmarks, imitating major brands and celebrities to spread authentic-looking fake information.

In the video game sphere, fraudulent "checkmarked" accounts appearing Wednesday night included Nintendo of America supposedly showing Mario flipping the bird, Valve supposedly announcing Ricochet: Neon Prime, and Rockstar Games supposedly announcing a new trailer date for Grand Theft Auto VI. In the world of sports, a fake Lebron James claimed he was requesting a trade, a fake Aroldis Chapman said he had re-signed with the Yankees, and a fake version of ESPN's Adam Schefter "reported" on the supposed departure of Las Vegas Raiders coach Josh McDaniels.

Following sports transactions and news could become a total mess with the new verification system

Already fake LeBron and Aroldis Chapman tweets going around pic.twitter.com/vQgMqws1W0

— Joon Lee (@joonlee) November 9, 2022

Checkmarked accounts also gleefully imitated political figures, from Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani to former British MP Tony Blair and former US President George Bush. One bold checkmarked scammer even imitated Twitter itself, advertising a fake "free" Twitter Blue deal for crypto/NFT owners who "authenticate their wallet assets."

Enlarge (credit: Scharon Harding)

It's no secret that mechanical keyboards provide some of the best tactile typing experiences available. It's also not a secret that wireless keyboards can be a productivity boon, reducing workspace clutter and easily connecting with numerous device types. Thankfully, wireless mechanical keyboard selection has grown so much in recent years that you can find options with feature sets on par with the priciest wired keyboards.

When exploring today's selection of cable-free mechanical keyboards, there's plenty to consider beyond switch type. For example, how many devices do you want the keyboard to be able to toggle across? Should any of those wireless connections use a USB receiver? Battery life is also paramount (all the options here are rechargeable) and, just as with any other premium keyboard, features like programmability, onboard memory, and quality keycaps are important.

With those qualifications in mind, we sought out the best wireless mechanical keyboards for power users.

Enlarge / The upper part of the Space Launch System rocket and the Orion spacecraft likely faced the strongest wind gusts on Thursday morning. (credit: Trevor Mahlmann)

Early on Thursday morning, Hurricane Nicole made landfall near Vero Beach, on Florida's eastern coast. Because Nicole had a very large eye, nearly 60 miles in diameter, its strongest winds were located well to the north of this landfalling position.

As a result of this, Kennedy Space Center took some of the most intense wind gusts from Nicole late on Wednesday night and Thursday morning. While such winds from a Category 1 hurricane are unlikely to damage facilities, they are of concern because the space agency left its Artemis I mission—consisting of the Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft—exposed on a pad at Launch Complex-39B. The pad is a stone's throw from the Atlantic Ocean.

How intense were the winds? The National Weather Service hosts data from NASA sensors attached to this launch pad's three lighting towers on a public website. It can be a little difficult to interpret the readings because there are sensors at altitudes varying from 132 feet to 457 feet. Most of the publicly available data appears to come from an altitude of about 230 feet, however, which would represent the area of the Space Launch System rocket where the core stage is attached to the upper stage. The entire stack reaches a height of about 370 feet above the ground.

Enlarge (credit: Leon Neal/Getty Images)

FTX is on the brink of collapse as chief Sam Bankman-Fried races to secure billions of dollars to salvage his empire after Binance ditched an eleventh-hour rescue of one of the world’s biggest crypto exchanges.

Venture capital firm Sequoia Capital said it would mark down its $214 million investment in FTX to zero after a run on the exchange in recent days blew a massive hole in its balance sheet and cast serious doubts over its survival.

“In recent days, a liquidity crunch has created solvency risk for FTX,” Sequoia said in a note on Wednesday to investors in its fund.

Enlarge (credit: Leon Neal/Getty Images)

FTX is on the brink of collapse as chief Sam Bankman-Fried races to secure billions of dollars to salvage his empire after Binance ditched an eleventh-hour rescue of one of the world’s biggest crypto exchanges.

Venture capital firm Sequoia Capital said it would mark down its $214 million investment in FTX to zero after a run on the exchange in recent days blew a massive hole in its balance sheet and cast serious doubts over its survival.

“In recent days, a liquidity crunch has created solvency risk for FTX,” Sequoia said in a note on Wednesday to investors in its fund.