Have you noticed a conspicuous absence of hacktivist attacks lately? You’re not the only one. IBM’s X-Force has published data showing that activist hacks dropped 95 percent since 2015, falling from a peak of 35 known incidents to just two in 2018 — there were zero in the first few months of 2019. Researchers credited the plunge to a combination of Anonymous’ downfall and sustained efforts on the part of law enforcement.

Anonymous was once responsible for 45 percent of these attacks, but the group started falling apart in 2016 after it both obtained tampered political data and grappled with "fake Anons" who attached their personal hacking crusades to the group. Countries also tried to pin the blame on Anonymous for their own campaigns, such as Russia’s hacks targeting doping critics. The more Anonymous tried to kick out pretenders, the more it splintered the remaining members.

Law enforcement, meanwhile, had success taking down the perpetrators. There have been "at least" 62 arrests in the US, UK and Turkey since 2011, IBM said, and the real number is likely to be higher. Prominent hacktivists like LulzSec’s Sabu also turned informants and went clean, eroding the groups from within.

IBM cautioned that this didn’t necessarily mean an end to activist hacking. It was more likely a "lull," the company said. Political circumstances and reorganization could quickly lead to a resurgence. There are also hints that some recent attacks might qualify as hacktivism, such as the campaign against Ecuador’s government following Julian Assange’s arrest. Whatever you think of the motivations behind these attacks, it’s safe to say that security teams will want to remain on guard.

Via: ZDNet

Source: IBM

from Engadget https://engt.co/2YINDLr
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These are perilous times for advertising companies. What might seem like an innocuous marketing campaign to you, can and will “outrage” someone somewhere and those offended parties have social media to voice their fauxrage. The latest company to feel the wrath of the outrage mob is Calvin Klein for their ad featuring Bella Hadid kissing a robot.

Calvin Klein recently released a new commercial with model Bella Hadid and Lil Miquela, who is a female robot. The premise of the Ex-Machina-esque ad is simple, Bella Hadid and Lil Miquela kiss. Seems harmless, right? That’s where you’re wrong kiddo.

There were people who were upset over the robosexual intimacy. After seeing the headline, one might assume that people were mad and might have an arguement of something like: “You can’t force a robot to kiss a human because can the robot give consent?” The actual reason for the backlash might even be dumber than this.

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No one else can define our own truths. #MYTRUTH #MYCALVINS

A post shared by *~ MIQUELA ~* (@lilmiquela) on May 16, 2019 at 6:00am PDT

There was fauxrage over the 30-second video because… get ready for this… Hadid identifies as heterosexual and she is kissing a female robot. There are people upset because they say that the ad should have used an LGBT model because the robot identifies as female, thus it is a homosexual relationship.

It’s a robot.

Technically, the only person who truly should kiss a robot is a robosexual. Since Bella Hadid is willing to be intimate with a robot, that makes her a robosexual. So there’s that.

Never-the-less, Calvin Klein was forced to bend the knee and apologize. The clothing company issued an apology on Friday.

“The concept for our latest #MYCALVINS campaign is to promote freedom of expression for a wide range of identities, including a spectrum of gender and sexual identities,” Calvin Klein said in a statement. “This specific campaign was created to challenge conventional norms and stereotypes in advertising. In this particular video, we explored the blurred lines between reality and imagination.”

“We understand and acknowledge how featuring someone who identifies as heterosexual in a same-sex kiss could be perceived as queer-baiting,” the statement continued. “As a company with a longstanding tradition of advocating for LGTBQ+ rights, it was certainly not our intention to misrepresent the LGTBQ+ community. We sincerely regret any offense we caused.”

Calvin Klein must be thinking, “We just wanted to sell some $50 t-shirts by having a beautiful woman kiss a robot, where did we go wrong?”

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It’s just like heaven being here with you You’re like an angel, too good to be true But after all, I love you, I do Angel baby, my angel baby

A post shared by *~ MIQUELA ~* (@lilmiquela) on May 2, 2019 at 4:13pm PDT

Lil Miquela started out as a digital project on Instgram in 2016 and has exploded to the point that it has over 1.5 million followers. The sentient robot even has its own music career.

The robot has been interviewed by numerous publications including Vogue, Buzzfeed, the Guardian, and the BBC. Robots are really stealing all of the jobs, even Instagram influencers.

[TheHill]

from BroBible.com http://bit.ly/2HzlNvn
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• Panic, a company best-known for software development, will release a new portable video game console called Playdate.
• Playdate has a black-and-white screen, and an odd hand crank that’s used to control its games.
• Playdate will have 12 exclusive games created by indie game developers, and Panic plans to release one per week after Playdate launches in early 2020.
• Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.

Playdate is a bizarre new video game console with a black-and-white screen and hand crank created by software-maker Panic. While the tiny handheld has a simple retro style, it’s equipped with Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, a USB-C connector, and a headphone jack. Thankfully, the console will have its own battery so you wont need to spin the crank to keep it charged.

The portable console will sell for $150 and comes with 12 exclusive games designed by popular indie developers, including Keita Takahashi ("Katamari Damacy"), Zach Gage ("SpellTower"), Bennett Foddy ("QWOP"), and Shaun Inman ("The Last Rocket").

Playdate is expected to launch in early 2020; Panic will release one new game per week over the course of a 12-week season. Panic announced the handheld device with a detailed Twitter thread on May 23rd and people are already signing up to buy one as soon as they become available.

This won’t be Panic’s first foray into video games– the software company also published the indie-hit "Firewatch" in 2016 and will release another indie title, "Untitled Goose Game," later this year. Playdate looks to have some very unique games as well. Some games will be controlled using just the hand crank while others will only use the standard buttons on the front of the device.

Playdate began as a pet project for Panic four years ago, and the company partnered with Stockholm-based Teenage Engineering to complete design.

You can sign up for updates on Playdate on the console’s official website. Panic will also share more information on the @playdate Twitter account.

Here’s what some people are saying about the odd new video game console so far:

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: This startup turns 100 non-recyclable plastic bags into a high-end Bluetooth speaker

from SAI http://bit.ly/2JBjeeL
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Dear young Buster: why do you look so sad and lonely? Don’t you know that having a yellow Teenage Engineering pocket modular is all the love you need?

Okay, so Buster is in fact Millenial Swedish pop star up and comer Emil Lennstrand, and he is the first face of a record label (really) from the perpetually-open-to-creative-distraction crew of Teenage Engineering. You see, having done cameras for IKEA and marketing campaigns and various synthesizers and … bicycles and lamps and other things … the Teenagers are now getting into a record label.

It’s surprisingly silky-smooth pop from this otherwise fairly hypernerdy and experimental Stockholm shop. But it does predictably feature Teenage Engineering instruments – in this case the pocket operator modular.

They bill the song as “partly produced” by that system 400 (what – the modular isn’t used on the vocals?). But it’s slick stuff, for sure.

So what’s up with the record label? It’s tough to tell from this one track, but here’s what the Teenagers say for themselves:

first teenage engineering started their own band to field test their instruments. now they are taking the next step starting a record label for songs made with teenage engineering products. there are just two rules, it needs to be a good song (easy) and have at least one of teenage engineerings instruments used in the song. the main distribution platform for their releases will be spotify.

Now that’s some serious Swedish loyalty, going Spotify only.

I’m slightly confused, but intrigued. To my mind, the OP-Z remains the best thing recently from Teenage Engineering hands down, but stay tuned for my explanation of why I feel that way.

And there’s more Teenage Engineering stuff to come, including me joining them in Barcelona during SONAR+D this summer – which means a chance to grill them for more information, of course.

https://teenage.engineering/

The post Teenage Engineering has a record label and a pocket modular pop music video appeared first on CDM Create Digital Music.

from Create Digital Music http://bit.ly/2HASnx7
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