Wednesday 1st May 2024

The CEO's Cyber Resilience Playbook

The spring 2024 issue's special report looks at how to take advantage of market opportunities in the digital space, and provides advice on building culture and friendships at work; maximizing the benefits of LLMs, corporate venture capital initiatives, and innovation contests; and scaling automation and digital health platform.

The spring 2024 issue's special report looks at how to take advantage of market opportunities in the digital space, and provides advice on building culture and friendships at work; maximizing the benefits of LLMs, corporate venture capital initiatives, and innovation contests; and scaling automation and digital health platform.

On May 7, 2021, executives at Colonial Pipeline discovered that cybercriminals had launched a ransomware attack on its IT systems. To prevent the malware from spreading further, the company took its computer systems offline, disabling 5,500 miles of pipeline that supplied 45% of the fuel consumed on the U.S. East Coast. The disruption lasted nearly a week, resulting in panic buying and fuel shortages. In a controversial decision, Colonial Pipeline paid a ransom of nearly $4.4 million in exchange for the decryption keys to get its systems back online. One month later, with recovery efforts and investigations ongoing, Colonial Pipeline CEO Joseph Blount defended that decision before the U.S. Senate, testifying, "We were in a harrowing situation and had to make difficult choices that no company ever wants to face."

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5 Years Later, Billie Lourd Pitches the Star Wars Spinoff We Need Right Now

Star Wars is serious business — even family business — for Billie Lourd. As the daughter of the late Carrie Fisher, Lourd’s spent her whole life in the franchise’s orbit. She’s been outspoken about reconciling Fisher’s legacy with her role as Princess Leia, especially after joining Fisher in front of the camera.

Lourd first appeared as Resistance Lieutenant Kaydel Ko Connix in The Force Awakens, and has only become more involved in the franchise since. Following Fisher’s passing in 2017, Lourd has become the “keeper” of Princess Leia, standing in for a younger version of the character in a Rise of Skywalker flashback. Returning to that galaxy far away has been a “difficult” experience for Lourd, but nowadays, the actress is keen to reprise her role as Connix.

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'Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance' Is the 'Persona 5' Fix You've Been Looking For

If you’re going to invest 100 hours in a Japanese role-playing game, the stakes had better be sky-high. But if you had any doubts about Atlus’ Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance, instantly iconic lines like, “The Tokyo you're referring to is an act of God,” should be enough to win you over.

Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance is the upcoming role-playing adventure from Atlus. The Japanese studio might be best known for the Persona games, but that franchise is nothing more than a spinoff the of the Shin Megami Tensei series. And Vengeance is its latest entry

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EVs That Can Charge From 10 to 80 Percent in 10 Minutes Are Coming

Most of us are still used to spending a couple of minutes refueling at a gas station. On the other hand, some EV owners have to wait around 30 minutes to get enough charge to hit the road again. Polestar may have the solution with a prototype EV that can charge from 10 to 80 percent in 10 minutes.

The EV maker designed its Polestar 5 prototype EV along with battery maker StoreDot, which beats out some of the fastest-charging EVs on the market now. Take the Hyundai Ioniq 6 for example, which can charge up 10 to 80 percent in 18 minutes thanks to its 800V architecture. The fast-charging Polestar 5 may just be a prototype for now, but it does represent the first step towards getting rid of range anxiety once and for all.

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24 Years Later, X-Men Just Subverted One of its Most Infamous Moments

X-Men ‘97 has always been about bringing the mutant supersquad back to their animated roots — its ‘90s nostalgia is literally in the name. It’s keeping the action colorful and bright to counterbalance countless grim and muddy live-action superhero projects, even in the face of its horrific onscreen events. With the three-part finale entitled “Tolerance is Extinction” beginning this week, Disney+ released a final trailer for the season, and it includes a quote that proves just how far this series is willing to go to subvert expectations.

The trailer follows the X-Men, now reunited with their founder, Charles Xavier, as they prepare for one last battle. Near the end, we see Cyclops give Cable a supersuit that matches the rest of the team. “Am I going to war or the circus?” Cable quips. “What did you expect?” Cyclops replies, “Black leather?” You can check out the full trailer below:

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'FF7 Rebirth' Developer May Have to Try Something New After $140 Million Loss

Square Enix is chalking up a roughly $140 million loss to “content abandonment,” as the company is scaling back its approach to game releases. We don’t know which projects are specifically being cut. The move is in line with a shift in publishing strategy Square Enix announced last year and follows the reported underperformance of Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, which launched in February.

In a financial report released April 30, Square Enix said that it’s altering the way it approaches “high-definition (HD) games with the intention of being more selective and focused in the allocation of development resources.” The $140 million loss appears to represent money already spent on games in the developer’s pipeline that don’t fit with its revised business model.

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2024's Most Surprising Soulslike Proves the Genre Needs More Difficulty Options

If there’s one thing Soulslike games are known for, it’s difficulty. Games like Dark Souls and Elden Ring are infamously punishing, and while the conversation is a lot more complex than those games simply being “hard,” you can’t deny that’s the association that’s been built. Beating a Souls game often requires a real commitment, which isn’t realistic for all players. It’s high time the genre takes steps to become more approachable to players of all skills and the most colorful Soulslike ever made, Another Crab’s Treasure, gives a perfect view of how it can be done.

Another Crab’s Treasure is one of the most refreshing Soulslikes we’ve seen in years, an example of a game that doesn’t just try to emulate the masterwork of FromSoftware, but be something different. It’s also clear that the game’s been a hit with players, already selling over 100,000 copies in just four days. No small feat for an indie game developed by a team of a dozen developers.

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Todd Howard Wants To Keep Fallout In America, Even As Fans Look Abroad

Like Ford Mustangs and apple pie, Fallout is all American. At least, according to the man in charge of the gaming franchise.

In a Monday interview with Kinda Funny’s Greg Miller, Bethesda Game Studios' director Todd Howard says he has little interest in seeing the Fallout series go international.

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Look! The Largest Digital Camera In the World Is Ready to Revolutionize Astronomy

Like the family camcorder, the largest digital camera in the world will capture the next 10 years of cosmic life in memorable detail.

In mid-May, the Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST) Digital Camera, now officially called the Vera C. Rubin Observatory, will travel from its current home in California to Cerro Pachón, a mountain in northern Chile.

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Francis Ford Coppola's Risky Sci-Fi Epic is Either Going to Change the Genre or Destroy It

The iconic director has complete creative control for the ambitious project. But will that be his downfall?

There’s been an air of mystery surrounding Francis Ford Coppola’s Megalopolis for years now. Self-funded (in part thanks to his winery) by the director himself, it claims to be a sci-fi epic utopian story boasting stars like Adam Driver and Nathalie Emmanuel. But exact details of the story have been kept under wraps, leading to rampant speculation about its plot — most of which can only be gleaned from divisive screening reactions.

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