A recent ransomware (opens in new tab) attack against ION Group has sent ripples throughout the finance industry and trading world, being so disruptive that the FIA global trading organization released a statement saying it jumped in to help affected members.
ION Group is a UK-based software company that develops solutions for banks and other financial institutions, with its products used for trading, investing, financial management, and analysis.
In late January 2022, it released a short statement saying one of its departments, ION Cleared Derivatives, was hit with a cyberattack.
Leaking sensitive data
“ION Cleared Derivatives, a division of ION Markets, experienced a cybersecurity event commencing on 31 January 2023 that has affected some of its services,” ION Group said. “The incident is contained to a specific environment, all the affected servers are disconnected, and remediation of services is ongoing. Further updates will be posted when available.”
But the containment could not prevent wider consequences. According to BleepingComputer, large customers using ION Group’s services in both the US and Europe had to switch to manual trade processing, which caused major delays.
“We are working with impacted members, including clearing firms and exchanges, as well as market regulators and others, to assess the extent of the impact on trading, processing, and clearing,” FIA said.
“FIA is coordinating communication and information sharing, through regular calls with relevant parties assessing the firms impacted, how firms can work together to mitigate the disruption and seeking clarity over concerns about affected regulatory obligations and reporting.”
The threat actors behind the attack used the LockBit ransomware, it was confirmed, as the data stolen in the incident was posted to the group’s leak site. Unless ION Group pays up, the data will be released on February 4. Whether ION Group pays or not remains to be seen, but it’s safe to assume that the crooks obtained sensitive information on large investors, which could result in major damages.
Let’s cut to the chase: this weekend might be the worst in history for new things to watch on streaming services. Despite last week’s crop of headline-grabbing arrivals – which included new Netflix series Lockwood & Co. and another Harrison Ford-starring drama – the next few days are drier than the Sahara on almost every major platform.
That’s not to say there’s nothing at all to watch this weekend – Netflix, in particular, has a couple of interesting projects up its sleeve – but the distinct lack of franchise and sequel content is sure to provide a much-needed boost to movie theater attendance the world over.
Below, we’ve rounded up seven of the biggest new movies and TV shows to stream on Netflix, Prime Video, HBO Max and more. We apologize in advance.
Dear Edward (Apple TV Plus)
Apple will be hoping to continue its good run of form with new family drama series Dear Edward, which begins streaming on Apple TV Plus this weekend.
An adaptation of Ann Napolitano’s novel of the same name, this 10-part story centers on 12-year-old boy (Colin O’Brien) whose life is upended when he becomes the sole survivor of a commercial plane crash that kills everyone on board, including the rest of his family.
Granted, that synopsis doesn’t exactly make Dear Edward sound like a barrel of laughs, but the success of (and critical praise for) its source material could potentially land the series a spot on our list of the best Apple TV Plus shows. Its first three episodes are available to stream now.
Now available to stream on Apple TV Plus.
Cunk on Earth (Netflix)
Having debuted on BBC in the UK back in September 2022, acclaimed mockumentary series Cunk on Earth now finds its way onto Netflix internationally.
Created by Black Mirror‘s Charlie Brooker, the show follows fictional investigative journalist Philomena Cunk (Diane Morgan) – a character who has appeared in several Brooker projects throughout the last decade – as she interviews unsuspecting academics about the greatest inventions in human history, Borat-style.
Guest stars throughout the series’ five episodes include Lisa Kudrow, Kumail Nanjiani, Hugh Grant and Tracey Ullman, so you’re guaranteed at least one laugh from Cunk on Earth.
Now available to stream on Netflix.
Harlem season 2 (Prime Video)
Girls Trip creator Tracy Oliver’s acclaimed comedy series, Harlem, returns for its highly anticipated second season on Prime Video this weekend.
Once again following misadventures of a group of stylish and ambitious girlfriends (played by Megan Good, Grace Byers, Shoniqua Shandai and Jerrie Johnsonin) in the eponymous New York City neighborhood, Harlem season 2 finds the gang reckoning with complicated questions of fertility and parenthood.
Episodes 1 and 2 are available to stream on Prime Video now, with the remaining six installments set to arrive in pairs on a weekly basis every Friday.
Now available to stream on Prime Video.
True Spirit (Netflix)
If you’re in the mood for an uplifting and excessively saccharine family adventure this weekend, look no further than True Spirit on Netflix.
This true story-inspired new Netflix movie dramatizes 16-year-old Jessica Watson’s quest to become the youngest person to complete a non-stop solo sail around the globe. Teagan Croft, Anna Paquin and Cliff Curtis all star.
Judging by the film’s trailer, we’re not expecting True Spirit to break onto our list of the best Netflix movies any time soon – but critics have nonetheless called this one “an empowering tribute to a magnificent achievement.”
Now available to stream on Netflix.
The Great British Baking Show: The Professionals (Netflix)
(Image credit: Channel 4)
The pro-grade spin-off to beloved UK import The Great British Bake Off returns for its sixth season on Netflix this weekend.
For those not in-the-know, The Great British Baking Show: The Professionals swaps out its parent show’s tent, Paul Hollywood and Prue Leith in favor of a luxurious catering kitchen, intentionally haughty judges and – you guessed it! – professional patisserie chefs as its embattled contestants.
The bread-and-butter format of The Professionals, though, is identical to that of The Great British Baking Show, so existing fans will likely find plenty of culinary carnage to enjoy here.
Now available to stream on Netflix.
Dionne Warwick: Don’t Make Me Over (HBO Max)
This week’s documentary pick is Dionne Warwick: Don’t Make Me Over on HBO Max.
Chronicling the titular singer’s iconic six-decade career in both music and activism, this feature-length production combines archive footage with commentary from Warwick herself, alongside revealing insights from the likes of Quincy Jones, Bill Clinton, Gladys Knight, Elton John and Snoop Dogg.
This one is only available to stream on HBO Max in the US for now, but we expect UK viewers will be able to find it on Sky’s documentary channel in the coming months.
Now available to stream on HBO Max.
65th Grammy Awards (Paramount Plus)
The 65th annual Grammy Awards will be available to stream on Paramount Plus this Sunday.
Kicking off at 5pm PT / 8pm ET / 1am GMT in Los Angeles, the star-studded ceremony will honor the best recordings, compositions and artists of last year in music. Comedian Trevor Noah, who hosted the 63rd and 64th Grammy Awards, is returning to the stage for a third time.
We’ve attached the official nominations announcement above.
Available to stream on Paramount Plus from Sunday.
Apple has confirmed it still aims to launch its own Buy Now Pay Later scheme later this year, despite growing concerns that ongoing delays might have meant the project’s cancellation.
Apple Pay Later was first announced in June 2022, but has suffered multiple delays and setbacks since then. It was initially expected to launch alongside iOS 16 back in September 2022, but now looks set for release some time in 2023.
The company’s official iOS website currently states that Apple Pay Later is, “coming in a future update” – but now the company’s CEO appears to have shed some light on when this may be.
Apple Pay Later, soon
Speaking to CNBC (opens in new tab) around the company’s Q1 2023 financial results, Apple CEO Tim Cook confirmed that plans to launch the service are still underway – although he was unable to put a concrete date on the board.
“It will be launching soon,” Cook noted, with CNBC saying he had also revealed Apple employees were beta testing the service.
Built into Apple Wallet, and available both online and within apps, Apple Pay Later is set to be available as a payment option for high-cost products alongside paying in full whenever a user checks out with Apple Pay or Wallet.
The service is built on Mastercard’s network, and gives users a clear view of exactly what payment amounts are expected, and on which date. Users have the option to pay early to clear a balance if wanted, with Apple saying the tool is “designed with users’ financial health in mind”.
Apple has been trying to get into the financial services industry for some time, as it looks to offer its customers a full range of products alongside its popular hardware, such as the iPhone, iPad and Mac lines.
Apple’s Tap to Pay on iPhone service launched in February 2022 in a significant show of support for small businesses everywhere, allowing thousands of them to accept payment via iPhone.
Initially only available in the US, Tap to Pay on iPhone uses NFC to securely complete and process transactions, and will work on the iPhone XS and newer models.
The company recently announced Tap to Pay is now an option on the iOS apps for PayPal and Venmo, meaning merchants who already use these services will have more ways to accept payment without the need for cash.
The creative director of Dragon Age, John Epler, has revealed that the game’s horses have been lying to us the entire time, thanks to the magic of creative thinking and camera angles.
In the lead-up to Dragon Age 4, more and more gems have been dropping about the beloved action RPG game Dragon Age Inquisition. In a Twitter post (opens in new tab), Epler dropped some hard truths about how sprinting on a horse didn’t actually make you go faster.
In reality, the game engine BioWare used to develop Dragon Age Inquisition called Frostbite “couldn’t stream in levels fast enough,” Epler said. This meant that the team was forced to change the camera angle and add speed lines when you started sprinting on your horse to make you feel as if you were faster.
Engine failure
(Image credit: Electronic Arts)
This isn’t the only time Frostbite failed the dev team. According to a [report] by Kotaku, the engine was the bane of many devs’ existence. “Frostbite is like an in-house engine with all the problems that entails—it’s poorly documented, hacked together, and so on—with all the problems of an externally sourced engine,” a former BioWare employee said.
BioWare also used Frostbite for their online multiplayer RPG Anthem. This engine could make expansive and stunning levels, but it wasn’t equipped to handle the finer details. This forced the team to cut back many features that could not function because of the engine.
More lies
While the lie about the horse speeds is certainly reality-shattering for me, it isn’t the only slip-up in Dragon Age Inquisition. This RPG has a somewhat complicated story with rogue Magi, civil war, and a space-bending rift that breaks a hole in the boundary between the physical world and the Fade, a place of spirits and demons. But one of the most crucial plot points is the mark left on your character’s hand, which is the only thing capable of closing said rifts.
(Image credit: Electronic Arts)
As you would think, this vibrant green mark gives your hero instant main character qualities and propels them into the center of this violent story. So I was pretty surprised when I saw this iconic and powerful mark on the wrong hand in all of Dragon Age Inquisition’s marketing material. In the posters, you can see the glowing green light emanating from the Inquisitor’s right hand when it should be on the left, according to the game.
While this isn’t as groundbreaking as the discovery that my horse has been lying to me all these years, I always thought that it was a weird slip-up to make. I’ve seen some reasons that this was a silent nod to The Legend of Zelda and Link, who has the same pose, while others just think telling right from the left can be hard sometimes. Either way, this adds to the strangely increasing list of lies and slip-ups in Dragon Age Inquisition, and I think that’s hilarious.
Usually, Android devices are the testbed for innovative smartphone features that Apple designers eventually improve upon and incorporate into their devices; but it seems that, for a change, Google wants to adopt a popular iOS 16 feature for an upcoming version of its OS.
At WWDC 2022 Apple unveiled an iOS 16 and macOS Ventura 13 update called Continuity Camera. Rather than relying on your Mac’s inbuilt webcam, you could instead use one of the best iPhones running the latest OS, and take advantage of its souped-up cameras, microphone, and video effects.
Third-party apps could allow the best Android phones to be used in a similar way, but according to Google Open Source Project changelogs (opens in new tab), it appears that a feature similar to Continuity Camera could become a baked-in feature for a future version of Android (via Mishaal Rahman on Twitter (opens in new tab)).
Currently named ‘DeviceAsWebcam’, it would (as you can probably guess from the name) turn “an android device into a webcam.” However, little else is known about the feature right now.
It does appear that it will allow for a wired USB connection – which suggests you won’t be limited to one computer OS, as is the case with Continuity Camera – though it’s unclear if Continuity Camera features like Desk View (which lets you see your desk and face at the same time), or Centre Stage and Studio Light (which keep you in the shot, and make you appear brighter than the background respectively) will appear in the Android iteration.
What’s more, there’s no guarantee we’ll see DeviceAsWebcam appear anytime soon. While it’s certainly possible that it will launch with Android 14, depending on how far into development the tool is, we could see it delayed until Android 15, which is at least a year away, or even Android 16.
We’ll have to wait and see what Google announces at Google I/O 2023 – it’s big annual developer’s conference, which we expect will be in May – but be on the lookout for DeviceAsWebcam among the list of new tools headed to our Android smartphones.
Google Cloud appears to be opening up to a new series of cooperation with some potentially surprising new partnerships that could see it attract more customers who have loyalties to other brands, too.
According to a Google Open Source Blog (opens in new tab) post, Google Cloud Engine customers can now choose to use VMWare ESXi as their underlying hypervisor where they were previously required to use the open-source KVM hypervisor.
Google explains that new users can, “migrate [their] VMware-based disaster recovery and backup workloads to Google Cloud to reduce management and storage costs, while using the same tools, processes, and policies that [they] use on-premises.”
Google Cloud VMWare Engine
A support document (opens in new tab) highlight’s its “key partners”, Zerto, Dell, Veeam, Cohesity, and NetApp, which have ”certified disaster recovery, backup and storage solutions that work seamlessly with VMware Engine.”
Google is inviting customers to try it out now, offering an enticing proposition of money-saving by reviewing whether users may be able to automate some of their current manual processes using infrastructure-as-code.
The company has also recently announced (opens in new tab) plans to bring Microsoft 365 to its Chromebooks. Up until now, Microsoft users have had to use the progressive web app versions of its office software, however the company is set to offer a more fixed solution with installable apps.
A full launch isn’t expected for another couple of months, but developers and beta testers may be able to get their hands on the tools even sooner.
More widely, some have been led to believe that such “improbable alliances” may become more commonplace, including The Register (opens in new tab). In a world of growing economic pressure, companies may look to reduce overlap and share technologies in a cost-cutting measure, and this duo of Google announcements could just be the start of a new trend to grace the tech industry.
Apple’s HomePod 2 is available to buy today, with pickup available from stores in the US and UK. But should you buy the surprise second edition of Apple’s smart speaker? Only if you’ve fully bought into the Apple ecosystem.
Our Apple HomePod 2 review praises the speaker’s “rich sound”, concluding that “for its price, no single speaker sounds quite as good”. If you can afford to double up on its $299 / £299 / AU$479 price tag, we also recommend combining two in a stereo system. While there’s still a wait on home deliveries, the HomePod 2 is available to buy online from the Apple Store (opens in new tab) today if you choose the store pickup option.
The second edition HomePod – which follows the original that arrived in 2018 and was discontinued just three years later – continues to have a relatively niche appeal. It doesn’t hugely improve on its predecessor or fix its main issues, most notably its lack of Bluetooth connectivity.
The latter means the HomePod 2 is again pretty fussy about where it receives its audio from. In fact, the only ways to play music are by using Apple AirPlay 2 via Wi-Fi, or the Siri voice assistant. That means you can only send audio from an Apple device, which is pretty limiting if anyone in your household uses Android.
Still, if you do mainly own iPhones and iPads – and also subscribe to Apple Music for its Dolby Atmos powers – there is nothing quite like the HomePod 2. It’s the best smart speaker around for Apple fans, even if it still isn’t particularly smart.
The HomePod 2’s new support for the Matter smart home standard, plus its temperature and humidity sensors, have some potential, but we didn’t find them to be particularly compelling right now. The speaker’s smart home potential is likely one of the main reasons that Apple has brought it back, though, so we’re looking forward to seeing how this develops.
Analysis: Why has the HomePod returned?
(Image credit: Apple)
It’s highly unusual for Apple to relaunch a product less than two years after saying it’s been discontinued. As our Apple HomePod 2 review discovered, the new model doesn’t offer a great deal more than the original version or fix its biggest problems; so why has it returned?
Apple’s Matthew Costello (vice president of Hardware Engineering and Operations) recently told TechCrunch (opens in new tab) that Apple fans were simply demanding it. “We really did hear from our customers this growing interest for more powerful and richer acoustics of a larger speaker,” he said.
Given that sales are also a good way to gauge customer demand, and that these seemingly weren’t high enough to prevent Apple from discontinuing the original HomePod, this is a slightly strange argument. But it’s also true that a couple of things have changed in the past couple of years to make a full-size HomePod more appealing again.
Firstly, Apple Music now supports lossless playback along with Dolby Atmos spatial audio. The latter bounces sound off your walls to create greater separation and is particularly useful if you own an Apple TV, as you can use a pair of HomePod 2’s as an alternative to the best soundbars.
We also saw the Matter 1.0 smart home standard finally launch last November. All devices that support it – including the HomePod 2 – can interact with each other, regardless of their manufacturer or whether they support Google Assistant, Amazon Alexa, or Apple HomeKit.
Apple clearly sees the HomePod 2 as a key piece of its new push to be part of your Matter-supporting smart home. While it’s still early days for that, the new HomePod’s detailed and balanced sound will serve up a good soundtrack to listen to in the meantime.
One of Samsung’s flagship SSDs has been giving users headaches with several reports of significantly decreased health which could limit its capacity.
The PCIe 4.0 990 Pro SSD, which is available in both 1TB and 2TB flavors, costs around $170/£160 and $290/£280 respectively, offering customers significant updates over the 980 model it replaces with up to 7,450 / 6,900 MB/s sequential read/write speeds.
It also gets access to Samsung’s Magician software, which is designed to help users optimize performance, protect data, get firmware updates, and monitor the drive’s health.
Samsung 990 Pro SSD problem
That piece of software has proven problematic to Samsung. Many users report seeing drops in their 990 Pro’s health in a short space of time, and without having reached the drive’s capacity.
Robbie Khan of Neowin (opens in new tab) wrote of a 1% drop in his 990 Pro’s health within a couple of days, using both Magician and third-party tools. He knew this wasn’t normal, because Khan also runs other Samsung drives with vast amounts of data stored on them, reporting still seeing 99% health after a year and a half.
“Within another day or so it had dropped to 98%, by this point I’d not even written 2TB to the drive. Fast forward a couple more days and the drive health was sitting at 95%”, he said.
Khan sent his 990 Pro in for repair once it had dropped to 94%, but was later told that “there was no defect found”, and that his original hard drive had been reformatted and sent back to him.
Since then, other Internet users have complained about their own 990 Pro SSDs, including a number on Reddit (opens in new tab) and this Twitter (opens in new tab) user.
The German branch of Samsung has since issued a statement:
“Samsung stands behind the quality of its SSDs, including the new NVMe M.2 SSD 990 PRO. We are aware of reports of this issue and are currently investigating as user configurations vary.”
TechRadar Pro has asked Samsung whether it has any further developments on the issue affecting its flagship NVMe SSD; the company did not immediately respond to our request.
Following a launch in China late last year, the Vivo X90 Pro is now setting sail and headed for the UK, among other regions in Europe and Asia. While we don’t have an exact release date yet, this global announcement suggests the phone is coming very soon, and we do know pretty much everything else about it.
Highlights of the Vivo X90 Pro include a 50MP f/1.75 1-inch camera sensor, which is a larger size than you’ll find on most phones and may give it a photographic edge. That camera packs optical image stabilization (OIS), and it’s joined by a 50MP f/1.6 portrait camera with 2x optical zoom and OIS, and a 12MP f/2.0 ultrawide.
There’s also a 32MP camera on the front and the cameras are all support by an ongoing collaboration with optics specialists Zeiss, along with the company’s own V2 imaging chip; collectively enhancing the phone’s night photography and astrophotography skills, among other things.
(Image credit: Vivo)
Away from the cameras, the Vivo X90 Pro has a 6.78-inch 1260 x 2800 AMOLED screen with a 120Hz refresh rate, a 4,870mAh battery with speedy 120W charging (or 50W when wireless), a water resistant build, a MediaTek Dimensity 9200 chipset, a black vegan leather back, 12GB of RAM, and 256GB of storage.
The Vivo’s chipset isn’t quite as good and the screen isn’t as high resolution as the S23 Ultra’s, but those are about the only weak links on paper.
Of course, a lot will come down to price and we don’t know that yet, but for reference it costs MYR 4,999 in Malaysia, which converts to around $1,175 / £960 / AU$1,660, though as ever we wouldn’t expect the actual price in these regions to be an exact conversion.
We should know the price and release date soon though, as at the time of writing there’s a launch countdown timer on Vivo’s site (opens in new tab), set to end at 6:30pm GMT / 10:30am PT / 1:30PM ET today (February 3), or at 5:30am AEDT on February 4.
A Vivo X90 Pro Plus (Image credit: Vivo)
Analysis: no sign of the Vivo X90 Pro Plus
The Vivo X90 Pro didn’t land alone in China – there was also a standard Vivo X90, which is set to hit other parts of Asia but currently nowhere else, and the Vivo X90 Pro Plus, which remains a China exclusive.
The standard Vivo X90 lacks the 1-inch camera sensor but is otherwise quite similar to the X90 Pro, while the Pro Plus uses a superior Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chipset and has a higher resolution QHD+ screen. It also sports a quad-lens camera, adding a 3.5x telephoto to the mix and replacing the 12MP ultrawide with a 48MP one.
So it’s a real shame this phone isn’t going global, as on paper that could easily rival the likes of the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra and iPhone 14 Pro Max.
G Suite was a free iteration of Workspace, Google’s collaboration software, offering free email hosting, and, crucially, custom domains, from 2006 to 2012. Accounts created during this period are currently “grandfathered” into the service, meaning their owners don’t have to pay any additional fees while retaining all the benefits.
After Google backtracked on making users start to pay for Workspace in 2022, G Suite users had to pinky promise to Google that they did not intend to use their account for business use and, after that, the matter seemed settled.
Legacy G Suite transitions, or lack thereof
In February 2023, however, a notification claiming that “the transition to Google Workspace has started” began to appear for users, implying that the tech giant had begun to backtrack on its backtrack.
Users were initially confused, but, thankfully, this appears to be a mistake. A Google spokesperson claimed in a statement to Ars Technica (opens in new tab) that the issue is a bug, and that “those who previously opted-in for personal use are not expected to take any further action.”
Even so, the notification, when clicked, appears to refer to a new service, “Google Workspace for personal use”, which does not exist.
The same Google spokesperson also confirmed that users were unintentionally seeing beta branding for the intention to scrap legacy G Suite accounts last year, and so the whole debacle seems to be a wild goose chase – until the idea pops into their head again, presumably.
