Year: 2021

HBO Max's Peacemaker trailer was revealed at DC FanDome - and here's a full breakdown of everything revealed. Played by John Cena, Peacemaker made his DCEU debut in James Gunn's The Suicide Squad. Although Peacemaker considers himself a superhero, he still wound up in Belle Reve - presumably for killing the wrong people. Amanda Waller will have been delighted to get her hands on Peacemaker, because she could be confident he'd obey orders - especially if he felt those orders protected America's reputation.

The Suicide Squad may not grossed as much as Warner Bros. hoped, but they nevertheless greenlit a spinoff TV series set up in The Suicide Squad's post-credits scene, helmed by James Gunn himself. This is the first TV series to take place in the DCEU, meaning the franchise is once again imitiating the MCU by embracing the potential of transmedia. But Peacemaker has a very different tone and style to anything in the Marvel Cinematic Universe; indeed, the only thing tonally similar to it in the DCEU is Gunn's The Suicide Squad.

DC released a full trailer for Peacemaker at the DC FanDome event, giving a taste of the brutal vigilante's ongoing story - and hinting he may not be fighting on the side of the angels after all. It's full of humor, introduces a number of new characters, and features just as many gunshots as you'd expect. Here's our full breakdown of the Peacemaker trailer.

The opening scene in the Peacemaker trailer reveals the story picks up straight from the end of The Suicide Squad. Although Peacemaker considers himself a superhero, in reality he was the one who turned on the rest of the team - and he almost died as a result. He's still in hospital, and he can't resist telling a random cleaner about his being a hero; he doesn't get the reaction he expects. This serves as the perfect setup for the Peacemaker series, given realistically he's the last person any comic book reader would have expected to get their own show.

The Peacemaker trailer moves on to show Peacemaker training with Vigilante, his brother-in-arms. Played by Freddie Stroma, Vigilante is a district attorney who fights crime with the law by day, before taking the law into his own hands by night. He's often teamed up with Peacemaker in the comics, and the two appear to have the same kind of skillset. It wouldn't be a surprise to see Peacemaker ultimately end in the two going head-to-head, with Peacemaker forced to take down his one true friend.

The Peacemaker trailer moves on to establish its basic premise, Peacemaker's central mission; to perform black ops missions on behalf of Amanda Waller's team, and in doing so to stay out of prison. This is a logical extension of Task Force X, and in part it's been put together by Waller to punish members of her team who rebelled during The Suicide Squad. This particular project is led by Clemson Murn, a mercenary hired by Waller because of his specific skillset. It's likely Waller believes he possesses the skills to take Peacemaker out if necessary.

Emilia Harcourt is the NSA agent who led the rebellion against Amanda Waller in The Suicide Squad, and she's now Peacemaker's handler. In the comics, she was a terrorist who infiltrated ARGUS and took control of Task Force X; she was eventually killed by Waller, who had carefully manipulated events to expose Harcourt's treachery. She's now serving as Peacemaker's handler, and he's clearly smitten with her, in large part because of her stunning combat skills. Given Harcourt's comic book background, she may well turn out to be a traitor.

Every team needs a "man in the chair," and in Peacemaker that's John Economos - another operative who used to work for Amanda Waller as part of Task Force X's support team. Unlike Harcourt, John Economos has no basis in the comics; he's an original character. He appears to be well-meaning, and if Harcourt does indeed prove to be a traitor he'll presumably be a key part in bringing her down.

Finally, Leota Adebayo is a brand new recruit to this particular ARGUS program. Described as "smart, driven, full-figured and capable, but with her fair share of insecurities," she's a relatively inexperienced field operative who nevertheless finds herself drawn into action - even shooting someone straight after Peacemaker has killed her. The relationship between Adebayo and Peacemaker is expected to be a fun one, with the murderous vigilante taking her under his wing.

The final member of this mismatched team is one Amanda Waller never expected to recruit; Vigilante, who seems to turn up simply to check up on his pal Peacemaker and decides he wants to help out. The team's introduction to Vigilante is played for laughs, with Vigilante encouraging Harcourt, Economos and Adebayo to underestimate him. It's possible he isn't quite so ridiculous as he seems, though, and instead he winds up a threat.

Peacemaker's first target is a United States senator, Royland Goff (explaining the title of episode 3, "Better Goff Dead"). This certainly raises a number of red flags, suggesting this mission may have gone off the rails right from the start, but Peacemaker is too naive to question the idea of assassinating a U.S. senator. Again, Goff is an entirely original character, meaning there's no way to know whether Amanda Waller has targeted him for specific reasons - say, due to criminal connections or corruption - or whether he's instead been targeted by Harcourt for more nefarious purposes. The episode titles suggest it will take three episodes to bring this particular mission to a climax, so clearly the team aren't particularly efficient.

In a surreal intervention that demonstrates James Gunn's trademark humor, Peacemaker sidetracks the mission debrief by discussing "butt babies." Apparently his brother managed to persuade him particularly ugly children are birthed from a mother's backside, and for years Peacemaker assumed he was a "butt baby" himself. It's a perfect demonstration of Peacemaker's stupidity and naivete, suggesting he really will believe anything he's told. It's no wonder he wound up in Belle Reve, given he'd believe anything he saw on the news and take lethal action as a result.

It seems the HBO Max TV series will actually explore Peacemaker's origin, which is something of a surprise. One shot in the trailer shows Peacemaker visiting his dad, an extremely patriotic individual who seems to disapprove of his son - even complaining at his being a "nancy boy." It's unclear why Peacemaker has gone to visit his father, given their relationship seems rather strained, but later comments in the trailer suggest this is where he gets his car and pet American eagle.

One of the more surprising moments in the Peacemaker trailer seets its titular hero question why people treat him as though he's a maniac. It's immediately followed by a shot of Peacemaker and Vigilante about to gun down someone they shouldn't, making it quite clear why he's treated that way; still, this is a level of observation and self-reflection that Peacemaker hasn't shown before. It suggests Peacemaker won't simply be a mindless vigilante in this HBO Max series, but instead that he'll have a character arc of some kind.

Judomaster is one of the more mysterious figures in Peacemaker, a skilled martial artist who reportedly has some sort of connection to Peacemaker himself. There have been several incarnations of Judomaster in the comics, but they've typically been superheroes - one was even a member of the Justice Society of America - so it's surprising to see one positioned as an antagonist. That said, given Peacemaker's first mission is to kill a U.S. senator, it's possible he draws the attention of real superheroes and more reputed vigilantes.

The Peacemaker trailer doesn't exactly hide the fact its protagonists are deeply disturbed; one amusing shot shows Vigilante wielding a chainsaw, evidently eager to use it to cut somebody apart, and he's holding it as though it's a Phallic symbol. This shot is accompanied by dialogue in which Vigilante presents his philosophy to Peacemaker, accepting the two of them are killers but insisting it's okay because they only kill bad people - well, mostly. There's a level of self-awareness to Vigilante that Peacemaker doesn't possess, one that supports the theory he's actually a rogue.

Peacemaker and Adebayo seem to become friends, and one shot shows her giving Peacemaker some basic psychoanalysis; she suggests he uses being a jerk as a defense mechanism to push people away. The comments support the idea Peacemark develops as a character over the course of the series, suggesting he'll learn how to relate to and interact with others. This theme isn't especially unusual for James Gunn; his Guardians of the Galaxy films were about a bunch of a**holes learning to be a family as well.

James Gunn is well-known for his love of integrating popular music into his films, so it's no surprise to see even Peacemaker gets a dance scene. It's unclear what causes this outpouring of joy from Peacemaker, but the structure of the trailer suggests it's because he's learning to actually build friendships - for probably the first time in his life. Given Peacemaker is rather more adult fare than your typical superhero TV show, Gunn chooses to have this dance scene take place in Peacemaker's room - when he's wearing nothing but his underwear.

Judomaster seems to be a major character in Peacemaker, although his precious role is a mystery right now. The Peacemaker trailer shows a number of action scenes featuring him, including one at night - which may suggest he's reconnoitering around the vigilante team's base. Both Harcourt and one incarnation of Judomaster have ties to an espionage agency called Checkmate in the comics, so it's possible the two are connected through that.

Superhero landings have become a common trope in the genre over the last few decades - and it's become traditional for more humorous superhero films and TV shows to mock the idea, riffing on Deadpool's explicit shout-out to them. In the case of Peacemaker, appropriately enough he simply lacks the skill and sense of coordination to manage a good superhero landing, crashing into a series of balconies before landing painfully on his back - watched by his team, who wince in sympathy. It's a smart way of reminding viewers Peacemaker isn't really a superhero, but falls far short of that ideal.

The Peacemaker trailer shows Judomaster caught up in a car crash - likely one that's been engineered by Peacemaker. It suggests the feud between Judomaster and the Peacemaker team will escalate over the course of the HBO Max TV series - but, as noted, it's still impossible to say who's fighting on the side of the angels. The interesting question is whether or not there'll be any collateral damage.

The Peacemaker trailer doesn't pull any punches, assuring viewers its hero will get beaten up quite a lot - including by a super-strong woman who can literally toss him through a brick wall. Both the mystery woman and Peacemaker are in a state of undress, suggesting this fight follows a sex scene. It's unclear who the superhuman woman is, or what part she plays in the series - but Peacemaker may well come to regret this particular liaison.

A patriot to the core - which is why he obeyed Amanda Waller's instructions in The Suicide Squad - Peacemaker has a pet American eagle named Eagly. One of the more surreal shots in the Peacemaker trailer shows him in his car, taking Eagly for a drive; the American eagle is sticking its head out the window to enjoy the breeze in a moment reminiscent of someone taking their dog out. Again, this demonstrates James Gunn's typical sense of humor.

The Peacemaker trailer follows the Marvel formula, ending with a humorous note. In this case, Peacemaker is given a surprising hug by Eagly. Delighted, he tries to tell his dad to get his phone to take a photo, unaware his father has walked away. It's a great scene, and it suggests Eagly is really owned by Peacemaker's father - this seems to be his dad's garage, and there's a perch on which Eagly is resting. Peacemaker may well take Eagly simply because he's become attached to the American eagle.

The annual Halloween event in Fortnite's, Fortnightmares, is well underway in the popular battle royale, and players can continue to earn unique rewards until Nov. 2. Fortnitemares is full of Halloween-themed maps, games, and other experiences that were created by the community during the Fortnitemares Callout event. Players can access the community-created experiences featured in the Fortnitemares section of the menus.

Throughout the rest of October, Fornitemares cards will reveal iconic monsters that will be featured in the Item Shop. Additionally, classic Fortnite characters will continue to receive new Halloween twists throughout October. Fortnitemares 2021 has various new and returning Halloween Outfits in the Item Shop, as well as costumes and items that players are able to earn during the event.

Multiple new cards are going to be flipped over through each week during the Fortnitmares 2021 event, so it's important for players to check the Fortnite Item Shop daily. Epic Games has kept these cards well hidden until they're released, but each release has always happened at 8:00 pm EST. Week one of Fortnitemares brought Frankenstein's Monster, Curdle Scream Leader, Skeletara, and The Walking Dead's Rick Grimes to Fortnite.

Week two has six cards that will be flipped over, so players should expect at least one card every night until week three begins. Two of Fortnite's Fortnitemares have already been flipped over for week two, namely the Poisonous Big Mouth and the Gilded Skull Trooper and Gilded Skull Ranger. The Poisonous Big Mouth is an alt style of Big Mouth. Week two will last until Oct. 18. Various Halloween-themed pickaxes, weapons skins, backpacks, and gliders will be available throughout Fortnitemares as well.

Week three and four rewards for Fortnitemares are currently a mystery, but week three will begin on Oct. 19, and week four starts on Oct. 26. Players can keep returning to the Fortnite Fortnitemares blog post daily to see what new cards are going to be unlocked next. Every week has a random order of how the cards will be unlocked, but the card previews show a glimpse into what the new costumes will be. For example, one of the week two cards features the Fishstick costume head on the back of it with a chunk bitten out of its face, indicating that the card will likely be some variation of the Fishstick or Fortnite's Fishstick princess costume.

Additionally, the Dual Fiend Hunters are a new weapon that deals extra damage to the Cube Monsters, and it has a faster rate of fire than last year's Fiend Hunter Crossbow. Dual Fiend Hunters can be found in chests or on the ground. Lastly, Fortnitemares will wrap up with the third Short Nite film festival. Named "Shortnitemares," the animated short will be based on sinister Halloween themes. The Shore Nite film festival will take place in a creator-made movie theater, and each short will have its own theatre room.

Fortnite is available now on PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X, Xbox One, PC, Nintendo Switch, and Android.

Source: epicgames.com

One of Spotify's latest recommendation tricks is Enhanced, a feature that scans a user's playlist and automatically adds songs that fit with the current theme and style. The music streaming service already has a few neat tricks that make the discovery of new music easier. For example, the radio feature plays hours of music based on one song (artist or playlist) that a user currently enjoys listening to.

The Discovery Weekly playlist, on the other hand, is a weekly compilation of 30 news songs that users might love based on their listening history over the past seven days. Then there is the Daily Mixes playlist, which blends music from all genres that users listen to and presents a great mix of unexplored new music that will fit with their taste. Finally, there is Release Radar, which analyses the listening pattern and then curates a list of 30 new songs that have come out over the past week. The aforementioned tool somewhat overlaps with the purpose of the What's New feature.

While discovering fresh music hasn’t been much of an issue on Spotify, maintaining and growing multiple playlists simultaneously can be a painstaking task. This is where Enhanced comes to the rescue. Enhanced reads an existing playlist, and with the press of a button, automatically adds new tracks to the playlist that the user might like based on their taste and listening habit. Spotify claims that Enhanced is the way to create a perfect playlist, and it actually works quite well. However, Enhanced is exclusive to Spotify Premium subscribers, which costs $9.99 per month for a single listener, and $15.99 per month for a family with six users. For users without a Spotify Premium subscription, the Spotify Mixes feature might be of some help here.

The best part about Spotify Enhanced is that enabling it doesn’t require a multi-step journey. At the top of each playlist, users will see an Enhanced button. Just tap the Enhanced button and Spotify will add one song for every two songs in the playlist. Each recommended song can be identified with a bright green sparkle icon just below the song title. To make sure that things don’t get too chaotic, Spotify will only add a maximum of 30 songs to each playlist. Another great thing about Spotify’s new feature is that it doesn’t replace any existing songs in the playlist and all recommended tracks can be removed at once by simply tapping on the Enhanced button at the top.

However, if users like a song recommendation, adding it to the playlist is just as easy. Simply tap the rounded plus icon in front of a recommended song’s name and it will become a permanent member of that playlist. Enhanced happens to be a non-invasive way of sprucing up one’s music library, one playlist at a time, without the risks of messing it up. In case users appreciate a song but don't want to add the song to their playlist, they can like that track and it will appear in the 'a collection for you' section for liked songs. For now, Enhanced is available on the Spotify app on Android and iOS, although users in certain regions may have to wait for it to roll out in their location.

Source: Spotify

It’s looking less and less likely that Ridley Scott will helm another Alien prequel, but fortunately, Alien: Covenant could still receive a follow-up in the form of a limited series. Despite starting strong, the Alien franchise has struggled to find its feet with critics over the last few decades. The original Alien, a brutal and brilliant “haunted house in space” sci-fi horror, and its more action-forward sequel Aliens are beloved by viewers and critics alike, often still held up as classics of the sub-genre.

However, the horror-focused Alien 3 was too dark for many, and its follow-up Alien: Resurrection was too uneven, leaving critics frustrated with the once-promising franchise. Since then, original Alien director Ridley Scott returned for 2012’s Prometheus, a prequel that explored the origins of the franchise in detail. However, this effort warranted a cold response by many thanks to its slow pace and excessive focus on familiar world-building.

Scott’s second prequel, Alien: Covenant, wisely dropped the mythology and pseudo-philosophy in favor of a more brutal atmosphere and faster pace, and the 2017 release was well-liked as a result. That said, five years elapsed between the two outings and, although Alien: Covenant was the better Alien prequel, fans were hardly clamoring for a return to its world. The reception of the prequel series was mixed at best, meaning the odds of a third Alien prequel movie happening are slim. However, Scott mounting an event miniseries to wrap up the story of Michael Fassbender's David and how it ties into the original Alien would garner interest and would be a less risky investment to boot. Scott’s recent critical success with Raised By Wolves also shows the television miniseries format is probably better for the type of story he wants to explore, and with a longer runtime and more immersive atmosphere, the infamous Xenomorph could appear without being the sole focus of the plot.

Alien: Covenant managed to outdo the dark ending of Prometheus with the bleakest coda of the series so far — an impressive achievement, considering how brutal Alien 3’s finale is. As Katherine Waterston’s heroine Daniels is placed into hyper-sleep by her robot helper, she realizes that the Fassbender-faced android is not friendly Walter at all, but instead the lethally ambitious David. The switch occurred via an entirely unlikely plot hole, but that’s not the worst of the ending’s action. As outlined earlier in the outing, David’s Alien: Covenant master plan is to use his genetically engineered Neomorphs to wipe out entire planets solely to satisfy his God complex, using the heroine and everyone else aboard her ship as unknowing incubators for his grisly Xenomorph cross-breed creations. As Daniels is incapacitated, she is unable to stop this plot and, judging by the movie’s blackly comic closing moments, David’s plan goes off without a hitch — thus dooming an untold number of planets and their populations.

Although Alien: Covenant was no flop and fared fine with critics, the sequel’s reception with a textbook example of an unnecessary franchise installment receiving middling responses from viewers and reviewers. The movie’s tepid box office and the general lack of excitement for another movie are but two reasons that it is too late for an Alien: Covenant sequel, while Fargo showrunner Noah Hawley’s recently announced Alien television series is a more exciting prospect that further diminished the likelihood of another theatrically released prequel for the franchise. However, this television series may also be evidence that Alien: Covenant can still receive a follow-up, albeit one limited to the small screen.

The fact that Neill Blomkamp’s canceled Alien 5 never saw the light of day proves that even a direct sequel to the series is unable to muster sufficient excitement despite promising to retcon the much-maligned Alien 3 and bring back Ripley. Thus, there is no chance that the comparatively middle-of-the-road Alien prequels will earn a sequel when their plot is less immediately compelling than Blomkamp’s proposed Alien 5 and requires viewers to invest in characters who have been absent from the big screen for over four years already. However, a smaller-scale television miniseries would be a different proposition.

One major flaw of the Alien prequels is that both movies attempt to fit too much material into a slim runtime, whether it is Prometheus trying to outline the very origins of the universe or the less ambitious but still overstuffed Alien: Covenant failing to make sense of David’s ambitions within the movie’s compressed runtime. As such, a 6-to-8 episode miniseries could cover a lot of ground, from more exploration of the Engineers to catching up with David to how it all connects to the roots of the Alien series at large. Currently, David’s motivations for wiping out the Engineers upon arriving on their home planet is as unclear as to the reason the Engineers wanted to create Xenomorphs and humanity, both of which are teased but never explored in-depth by the prequel movies.

An Alien prequel miniseries would also allow the franchise to do justice to one of its most underrated figures, Noomi Rapace’s Elizabeth Shaw. Last seen unceremoniously vivisected by David sometime between movies, Shaw was a resourceful heroine whose quick thinking and scientific acumen rivaled the original heroine of the series, Sigourney Weaver’s iconic Ripley. However, while fan debate still rages about Ripley’s death, there is no denying that the brutal fate of Prometheus’ Shaw was a waste of a compelling character and a cheap shock tactic that did little to elevate Alien: Covenant. A miniseries that fleshes her character out in more detail while also leaving viewers uncomfortably aware of her eventual, inevitable fate would be a brilliant way to reverse this unfortunate twist, keeping Shaw’s death but adding an element of real pathos to the otherwise pointless surprise. Between exploring Shaw’s character, expanding on David’s plan, and explaining the origins and purpose of the Engineers, there is plenty of ideas for an Alien: Covenant sequel to explore — provided it does so on the small screen.

IDW's Ghostbusters comic revealed that their defeat of Gozer in the first film created the franchise's multiverse of film and TV adaptations. In Ghostbusters 101 #1, the Ghostbusters learn of the dimension protected by the 2016 reboot's female Ghostbusters, whose world is beginning to overlap with their own. As both Ghostbusters teams wonder how this can be, Ray and Egon believe they have an answer.

What began as a simple paranormal investigation and elimination business has expanded beyond what any of the original Ghostbusters could have ever expected. In the IDW Comics, the guys in grey have franchises in other states, liaisons with the FBI, and interns to do their bidding, but everything changes after their crossover with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. After helping them build an interdimensional gateway to return to their world, the Ghostbusters now have the ability to explore the multiverse. In Ghostbusters 101, the Ghostbusters' interns turn on the device and open a portal to another dimension, attracting ghosts. When the door is closed on an aggressive phantom, part of the other-dimensional ghost is trapped outside its home reality, and both universes begin to overlap, introducing the original Ghostbusters to the Ghostbusters from the 2016 remake.

In the story by writer Eric Burnham and artist Dan Schoening, the female Ghostbusters are confused and alarmed at the sight of a different group of people calling themselves the Ghostbusters. With both paranormal investigators meeting at the Firehouse, the scientists and their colleagues try to make sense of this unusual situation and what it means. The original Ghostbusters explain that not only were they the ones that started it all, but their research into the multiverse has revealed the existence of even more Ghostbusters, even teams that have nothing to do with them. Their theory is that, when they crossed the streams in their battle with Gozer, the total protonic reversal created a connection to every reality at once that spread the subconscious information and methods necessary for Ghostbusters to exist in other dimensions.

Ray and Egon's theory not only recalls one of the Ghostbuster's greatest battles but adds even more importance to it, especially the act that they were so hesitant to do. When they crossed the streams, this action did almost destroy them, but it apparently also caused much more lasting consequences. With Gozer the Gozerian being a unique multiversal being with no duplicates, his portal allows the Ghostbusters to impart their thoughts, personalities, concepts and methods throughout multiple worlds. This explains how certain characters may act like one of the original four but still maintain their own individuality - for instance in the animated The Real Ghostbusters - making the original Ghostbusters the true architects of the franchise while also establishing the individuality of every incarnation fans have seen in film, television, video games and comics.

Although both Ghostbusters teams are able to put aside any differences and work together to save their realities, this was only one chapter in their adventures through the multiverse. When an unlicensed dimensional doorway unleashes ghosts from the Containment Unit throughout multiple worlds, 2017's Crossing Over maxi-series saw multiple Ghostbusters groups work together to find and retrap them before the unthinkable happened. The awesome comic twist set up future stories while also tying every Ghostbusters property back to the original movie in a way that expands, rather than ignores, the series' lore.

 A new cross-chain bridge is currently connected to Ethereum through a cross-chain bridge, with Cardano and other public chains to come in the future.

Nervos today announced that the Force Bridge is now live on the mainnet. The Nervos Network is a collection of protocols and public blockchain ecosystem aiming to solve the various challenges facing blockchains like Bitcoin and Ethereum today.

The Force Bridge is currently connected to Ethereum through a cross-chain bridge and will be connected to Cardano and other EVM and non-EVM public chains in the future, such as Bitcoin, TRON, EOS, and Polkadot.

The Force Bridge is a trustless cross-chain bridge that allows for seamless transactions between the Nervos ecosystem and other public chains, making it easier for developers to expand their dApps and user base to the Nervos ecosystem.

Currently, the bridge supports ETH and whitelisted ERC-20 tokens, including Dai (DAI), Tether (USDT), and USD Coin (USDC), with more tokens to come in the future. No CKB, the native token of the Nervos ecosystem, is required to transfer assets to Nervos via the Force Bridge.

How the Force Bridge Works

While most cross-chain bridges require multiple steps before an asset can be moved, Force Bridge requires only a simple contract deployment to begin asset movement to a user or decentralized app (dApp).

When users send assets from Ethereum using the Force Bridge user interface (UI), the asset gets locked into a multi-signature wallet on Ethereum. Corresponding tokens are then minted on Nervos and sent to the corresponding users’ wallet addresses.

To ensure the safety and security of assets as they move cross-chain, the Nervos community formed a Force Bridge committee to ensure that the smart contract wallet is secure on Ethereum.

“The Force Bridge plays an integral role in our suite of multi-chain solutions, which are aimed at creating Universal Applications that transcend individual blockchains,” said Kevin Wang, co-founder at Nervos. “With the recent launch of some of our other multi-chain solutions, Polyjuice and Godwoken which were tested during our recent Hackathon, and now the Force Bridge, we’re making important progress in our roadmap and moving closer to a truly interconnected blockchain ecosystem.”

Earlier this year, Nervos announced it would connect to Cardano, the latest project in an existing research collaboration between Nervos and IOHK. Once completed, it will be the first cross-chain bridge to Cardano, allowing users to use Nervos and Cardano’s native currencies ($CKB and $ADA, respectively) interchangeably, as well as create their own tokens (user-defined tokens) across both blockchains.

As Nervos moves closer towards its vision for an interoperable blockchain ecosystem—or Interoperability 2.0—users from other chains will soon be able to use their wallets to trade in the same liquidity pool on CKB with Yokaiswap, the first interoperable AMM, DEX, Yield Farming, and Staking platform in the Nervos ecosystem. Additionally, the project is developing an update to transfer $CKB to Ethereum as wrapped $CKB (wCKB).

Kevin added, “Progress on the blockchain is an iterative process. As we continue to make headway on the Force Bridge and our multi-chain solutions, we look forward to receiving feedback from the community.”

Source: cryptoslate

The operators behind the pernicious TrickBot malware have resurfaced with new tricks that aim to increase its foothold by expanding its distribution channels, ultimately leading to the deployment of ransomware such as Conti.

The threat actor, tracked under the monikers ITG23 and Wizard Spider, has been found to partner with other cybercrime gangs known Hive0105, Hive0106 (aka TA551 or Shathak), and Hive0107, adding to a growing number of campaigns that the attackers are banking on to deliver proprietary malware, according to a report by IBM X-Force.

"These and other cybercrime vendors are infecting corporate networks with malware by hijacking email threads, using fake customer response forms and social engineering employees with a fake call center known as BazarCall," researchers Ole Villadsen and Charlotte Hammond said.

Since emerging on the threat landscape in 2016, TrickBot has evolved from a banking trojan to a modular Windows-based crimeware solution, while also standing out for its resilience, demonstrating the ability to maintain and update its toolset and infrastructure despite multiple efforts by law enforcement and industry groups to take it down. Besides TrickBot, the Wizard Spider group has been credited with the development of BazarLoader and a backdoor called Anchor.

While attacks mounted earlier this year relied on email campaigns delivering Excel documents and a call center ruse dubbed "BazaCall" to deliver malware to corporate users, recent intrusions beginning around June 2021 have been marked by a partnership with two cybercrime affiliates to augment its distribution infrastructure by leveraging hijacked email threads and fraudulent website customer inquiry forms on organization websites to deploy Cobalt Strike payloads.

Image Credit: Dimitri karastelve 

 We may all have our favorite apps and services, but loyalty only goes so far. When something suddenly stops working, it doesn't take us long to go scrambling for alternatives. That's just what's been happening with Facebook and its properties lately, and a series of high-profile outages has had the consequence of pushing users to competing services, including Telegram. Now we're seeing the evidence of that exodus, as the Telegram app crosses the 1 billion installs threshold in the Google Play Store.

Facebook's servers have been taking users for a roller-coaster ride this month, going down, up, and back down again within days. In addition to Facebook proper, many of those outages also affected Instagram and WhatsApp. The combined effect of that was to deny millions of users access to their favorite messaging platforms — and Telegram was only too happy to help pick up the slack.

CEO Pavel Durov announced that Telegram managed to pick up some 70 million new users as a result of the shake-up, and that's unsurprisingly led to a lot of new installs of the Telegram app. Late last night the Play Store's listing finally rolled over from 500,000,000 installs to the lofty 1,000,000,000+.

That's a whole lot of phones running Telegram. Of course, it's still got a ways to go to catch up with WhatsApp or Facebook, both members of the 5,000,000,000+ club, but you've gotta have to something to motivate you, right?

Elon Musk has entered rarified air in the world billionaire rankings. The Tesla and SpaceX CEO is not only currently the richest person in the world, but is now worth as much as fellow billionaires Bill Gates and Warren Buffett combined.

The 50-year-old’s net worth is $230 billion as of Friday morning, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. Gates sits in fourth place with $130 billion and Buffett is No. 10 with $102 billion.

Both Gates and Buffett previously held the mantle of world’s richest person. Musk first passed Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos to become the world’s richest man in January with a net worth of $185 billion. Bezos had held the title since 2017.

Musk has added more than $60 billion to his fortune this year thanks to the strong performance of Tesla stock as well as a recent share sale at SpaceX which valued the company at $100 billion. The SpaceX deal added $11 billion to Musk’s net worth, according to Bloomberg.

Bill Gates and Warren Buffett have a combined net worth of $232 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

Spencer Platt | Getty Images News | Getty Images

Bezos, who was recently the recipient of Musk’s trolling when the Tesla executive tweeted a silver medal emoji at him, is still the second-wealthiest person on earth with a $191 billion net worth.

The developer of Dying Light is currently working on a PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S upgrade for the zombie parkour game. Techland's announcement comes a little while after it shared the news that Dying Light 2 has been delayed by two months. This was the game’s second official delay, with its lead developer later explaining that the additional time is allowing the studio to better polish game. While the Dying Light community expected a December 7 release for Dying Light 2, it may be getting another port of the first game instead.

In the meantime, Techland appears to be revisiting the original Dying Light to drum up 2021 sales, with the current-gen update now known and a previously confirmed Nintendo Switch port of the game arriving soon. A Nintendo Direct in September established an October 19 release date for Dying Light: Platinum Edition’s Nintendo Switch port, which will grant Switch owners the full Dying Light experience in addition to an four DLCs and several skins. The all-inclusive Dying Light re-release originally dropped earlier this year on PC, Xbox One, and PlayStation 4. Now, it seems current-gen owners will get a stab at the acclaimed zombie game, too.

Announced via the Dying Light Twitter account, Techland is evidently working on “a next-gen patch for Dying Light 1.” It’s not clear when the PS5 and Xbox Series X/S updates could drop, however. For now, the developer ensures fans that more will be revealed sometime in the future.

It’s a possibility that Techland plans to release Dying Light’s PS5 and Xbox Series X/S upgrades before Dying Light 2: Stay Human’s February 2022 launch. However, that window of time is a short one, as the end of 2021 is quickly approaching. There's also been no confirmation about whether or not the new-gen update will be a free upgrade for current PS4 and Xbox One owners or if Dying Light: Platinum Edition will be a separate release for the new consoles as it is on the Switch. It’s not impossible that Techland could offer both options, but the latter seems probable.

The studio's choice on the matter will likely affect the community’s response. As a recent example, Grand Theft Auto V was met with severe fan backlash after its revealed its own new-gen gameplay was revealed. Many series fans were dissatisfied with the ports' minimal visual improvements and features announced for GTA 5's upgrade at PlayStation Showcase 2021. A major component of that ire was because it's believed those ports will be full-price and charge previous GTA 5 owners for an upgrade, information that has also yet to be confirmed. In a similar situation, Dying Light is over six years old and a current-gen upgrade could spice up gameplay for the modern era. Hopefully, Techland is able to deliever on its PS5 and Xbox Series X/S upgrade without any further delays on Dying Light 2: Stay Human.

Source: Dying Light/Twitter