Category: UNCATEGORIZED

 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 Batman director Matt Reeves has revealed a new image of Zoë Kravitz’s Catwoman/Selina Kyle ahead of the upcoming trailer for the film. Kravitz will play the iconic Batman character alongside Robert Pattinson’s Bruce Wayne, Paul Dano’s Riddler, Jeffrey Wright’s Jim Gordon, John Turturro’s Carmine Falcone, Peter Sarsgaard’s Gil Colson, Andy Serkis’ Alfred Pennyworth, and Colin Farrell’s Penguin. The Batman is scheduled to release in theaters on March 4, 2022.

Catwoman has been a common inclusion in the modern era of live-action Batman films, having been played by Michelle Pfeifer in Batman Returns and Anne Hathaway in The Dark Knight Rises, in addition to a solo Catwoman film in 2004 starring Halle Berry. Kravitz is the latest star to bring Selina Kyle to the big screen, though she’s previously voiced the character in The LEGO Batman Movie. Depending on how The Batman performs at the box office, she could be playing the character for years to come.

A new image released on Twitter by Reeves shows Kravitz’s Selina Kyle sporting a shoulder-length haircut and a white tank top, staring intently at someone out of frame. It’s not the full shot of her Catwoman costume that some may have been hoping for, but it’s still a fun look at what’s sure to be a fierce new version of the character. Check out the new Catwoman image below.

Developing…

Source: Matt Reeves

Hailee Steinfeld compares playing Kate Bishop in Hawkeye to the young poet in Dickinson. Created by Alena Smith for Apple TV+, the first season of Dickinson premiered in 2019 along with the debut of the streaming service itself. It was quickly renewed for a sophomore season and now, the Dickinson season 3, its last, is set to air on November 5. Starring Steinfeld in the titular role, the series has received rave reviews for its exploration of 19th century society with a millennial sensibility and tone.

Dickinson isn't the only series Steinfeld is starring in that airs this November, with the other being Hawkeye on Disney+. The Marvel show is set after the events of Avengers: Endgame as the MCU's famous archer, Clint Barton (Jeremy Renner), heads back to New York City for a fun Christmas with his family, but becomes sidetracked when is he confronted by enemies from his past as Ronin. Barton is then forced to join forces with a young super-fan named Kate Bishop, portrayed by Steinfeld in her MCU debut.

Now, in an interview with Screen Rant, Steinfeld talked about how her Marvel character isn't so much different from the audacious writer that she's been playing on Dickinson over the past three years. Steinfeld described the young poet she plays as a "strong and determined and independent and driven female character," which made the transition to playing Kate Bishop a little easier, since she shares a lot of those same qualities. Read what Steinfeld had to say below:

I am so excited to have gone from playing a character like Emily Dickinson for the last three years -- and because I feel I've spent so much time with her in playing this very strong and determined and independent and driven female character -- going into one that has those same qualities was a very exciting thing for me. And entering the world of Kate Bishop and entering the world of the Marvel Universe has been absolutely incredible and a rollercoaster ride to say the least and I cannot wait for the show to come out.

After her breakthrough role at the age of 13 in the Coen Brothers' True Grit (for which she was nominated for an Academy Award), Steinfeld went on to land a number of prominent leading roles like the coming-of-age drama The Edge of Seventeen and Bumblebee. Her career is certainly set to take off in an even bigger way now that she's been cast in the MCU and possibly taking over the Hawkeye mantle as Kate Bishop.

While Emily Dickinson and Kate Bishop might not appear to have much in common at first glance, it's certainly hard to argue with Steinfeld's assessment. The Christmassy vibes and dynamic between Clint and Kate are two of the most anticipated parts of the Hawkeye show. Coming over from Dickinson surely made the transition easier for Steinfeld, but Kate will still have her work cut out for her as she attempts to earn Clint's approval and become his successor.

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

The Wheel of Time show introduces its eyeless villains and their minions in a new video. Amazon is hoping it can find its own Game of Thrones as it adapts Robert Jordan’s sprawling fantasy novel series.

The first trailer for Amazon’s Wheel of Time released back in September and indeed teased a huge fantasy world filled with magic, monsters and prophecies. The magical element of the story as fans of the novels know revolves around The One Power, an energy that allows its users to perform feats like healing, teleportation and mind control. Season 1’s story follows a magic practitioner named Moiraine (Rosamund Pike) as she leads a group of five young people on a journey, believing that one of them may be the long-awaited Dragon Reborn.

Of course any good fantasy story needs its villains and The Wheel of Time has some monstrous ones indeed. A new video shared on social media gives fans their first good look at these baddies, who go under the general name Shadowspawn. See the clip in the space below:

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In Wheel of Time lore Shadowspawn are in fact divided into a number of different groups. The two main groups, both mentioned in Pike’s voice-over in the clip, are Trollocs and Myrddraal (or Fades as they’re called in the video). Trollocs are horned ogres who operate as foot-soldiers of the story’s true Big Bad The Dark One, while the eyeless and big-mouthed Fades are more advanced and dangerous and also less numerous. In season 1 of Amazon’s Wheel of Time, Pike and her group of heroes are being pursued by these creatures. “Armies of Trollocs and Fades a million strong will wash across the Land, killing and eating every person they find,” Pike’s character Moiraine ominously intones, pointing up just how terrifying the Shadowspawn are.

It’s interesting indeed that The Wheel of Time seems to dive right in and introduce this monstrous threat in all its horror. Contrast this approach with Game of Thrones, which took time teasing its own swarming enemies the White Walkers. Of course, Game of Thrones didn’t have a huge budget right out of the gate, so fully visualizing George R.R. Martin’s supernatural ice zombies wasn’t really an option in early seasons. The Wheel of Time on the other hand reportedly had an $80 million budget for its first season, which obviously allowed its creators to immediately go whole-hog in bringing to life the books'  nightmarish bad guys. Of course, just being able to go wild with special effects doesn’t guarantee that a story will work – as became painfully evident in later seasons of Game of Thrones. Hopefully The Wheel of Time won’t fall victim to the same big-budget pitfalls that ultimately hurt HBO's iconic fantasy series. The first three episodes of The Wheel of Time arrive on Amazon on November 19, 2021.

Source: The Wheel of Time/Twitter

The Far Cry 6 secret ending offers an early, grim conclusion to the events of the game. Far Cry 6's relatively lengthy story follows guerilla soldier Dani Rojas in their attempt to bring down oppressive dictator Anton Castillo and save the Cuba-inspired country of Yara. It's a tale full of the bombastic action and open-world shenanigans found in most Far Cry games, but a majority of the events can be avoided if players choose to follow the secret ending.

The Far Cry series has become well known for providing secret, early endings that can be unlocked through unconventional methods. In Far Cry 4, players can choose to avoid fighting Pagan Min in Kyrat’s civil war by simply waiting for him to return to the room he's trapped protagonist Ajay in. When he comes back, he decides to let Ajay scatter his mother's ashes exactly where she wanted in a moment of unexpected camaraderie. Far Cry 5 goes a similar route by allowing players the chance to ignore the prompt to arrest Joseph Seed at the beginning of the game, which sees the lawmen give up on trying to take the Montana cult down and go home.

These alternate endings go against the grain of Far Cry’s intended violent and heroic acts by asking players to abandon their missions entirely, and Far Cry 6 continues that series pattern. Just like the previous ones, its secret ending involves choosing between two options and is considered the "bad" ending for Dani’s story, but players who choose this path will unlock an achievement to commemorate their unconventional decision. Here's how Far Cry 6's secret ending plays out.

[Warning: The following contains SPOILERS for Far Cry 6.]

The chance to unlock Far Cry 6’s secret ending comes after completing the "Libertad Rises" mission, which sees Dani and the Libertad rebellion take down Anton Castillo’s warships. The cutscene that follows shows Clara fulfilling her promise to help Dani escape to Miami in exchange for their help, providing a boat they could use to sail off into the sunset. When players are given control of Dani, they're prompted to talk to Juan, but they can instead take control of the boat and drive south. After driving for a certain amount of time, a scene will commence where Dani says, "I’m sorry, Clara. Not my fight," and the screen fades to black.

After Dani’s escape, another cutscene informs players three months have passed since leaving behind Clara and the Libertad rebels. Dani is shown relaxing on a beach in Miami, far away from the guerilla warfare of Far Cry 6's campaign. Not all is well for the people of Yara, as a radio newscaster's voice declares Anton Castillo has defeated the Libertad rebellion, murdered Clara, and forced the country into a severe lockdown.

Credits roll on the scene, and players are presented with the "Hidden in Plain Sight" achievement for having found the Far Cry 6 secret ending. It's an incredibly dour conclusion, presenting a bleak vision of how Yara's fate would have been if Dani had stepped on that boat.

2022 could be an exciting year for Android fans, as a new rumor suggests OnePlus co-founder Carl Pei is creating a 'Nothing' smartphone. Any longtime OnePlus followers will know the company has taken a few big shifts in recent years. While OnePlus started out as an enthusiast brand focused on big specs and low prices, it's in a very different place today. Carl Pei left the company in October 2020, OnePlus is preparing to merge its OxygenOS platform with Oppo's ColorOS, and its product lineup is now very reminiscent of any other major smartphone brand.

Shortly after departing OnePlus last year, Carl Pei announced his own tech company called 'Nothing.' Nothing's first product ended up being a pair of true wireless earbuds — called the Nothing Ear (1). The earbuds didn't receive perfect reviews, but they were mostly praised for delivering good audio, a stunning design, and a competitive price. Now, Nothing is getting ready to set its sights on something much bigger.

According to a new report from 91Mobiles, Nothing is preparing to launch its first Android-powered smartphone in early 2022. The report doesn't go into great detail about the device, simply stating that the site has "exclusively learned from noted tipster Mukul Sharma that Nothing will launch its first phone." It's also teased that Nothing will release the Nothing Power (1) battery bank "in the next few weeks," but all attention is obviously on the rumored smartphone.

Although this report doesn't share any concrete details about the Nothing phone, it's not hard to imagine what it could entail. If the Ear (1) earbuds are any indication of Nothing's hardware ambitions, a phone from the company could be really beautiful. Nothing's earbuds are lightweight, comfy to wear, and their transparent design with neatly packed internals is beyond impressive. If Nothing's phone manages to offer that same mix of practicality with a unique aesthetic, it could have a strong design lead over much of the competition. It's also safe to assume the Android experience of the Nothing phone would be reminiscent of the old OxygenOS — that's to say, a stock-like interface, robust customization options, and select few feature add-ons to keep it lightweight.

It's certainly fun to speculate about Carl Pei returning to the smartphone space, but how much weight does this rumor actually carry? There's actually a bit to it. Don't forget that Nothing acquired Essential back in February — a purchase that included all of the latter company's trademarks, logos, and other branding material. While Essential was short-lived, the Essential PH1 was a pretty solid Android handset. The company also teased its Project GEM successor in late 2019, though it was ultimately scrapped following Essential's quick demise. Nothing also announced earlier this week a $50 million partnership with Qualcomm. In a press release, Nothing says the funds will be used for "research and development in preparation for the brand’s entry into new product categories as part of its ecosystem."

It's entirely possible this report is inaccurate and a Nothing smartphone doesn't exist. However, all signs are currently pointing to the opposite being true. If the rumored Nothing phone is real, 91Mobiles says to expect "teasers and reports" coming in the next few weeks.

Source: 91Mobiles, Nothing