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‘Final Fantasy XV’ lands September 30th, ten years in the making

Final Fantasy XV hits PlayStation 4 and Xbox One on September 30th, Square Enix announced during its Uncovered live event in Los Angeles. The release date may not be a surprise for everyone, considering it leaked a tad early , but this announcement marks official confirmation. A new teaser for FFXV launches tonight, called Platinum Demo , and it’s free to download on PS4 and Xbox One. PC players, you’re out of luck — for now. FFXV director Hajime Tabata told Engadget that the studio isn’t currently working on a PC version of the game. But, Tabata said he was “aware of the big call for a PC version.” “Unfortunately we weren’t able to do simultaneous development on a PC and console version for XV, ” he said. “We had to focus on the console version and our goal was to maximize, optimize everything for the HD consoles. Once that’s done, then we will definitely take a good, hard look at PC and what we need to do, and consider all our options. But right now we aren’t decided, we’re still considering a lot of things.” For Xbox One and PS4 players, there is a Deluxe Edition and Ultimate Collector’s Edition available to purchase on the official Square Enix online store. FFXV stars Prince Noctis and his friends as they take one final, epic road trip together before Noctis is married to a neighboring princess. Players will control Noctis only throughout the entire game, though his friends are independent AI helpers and he can give commands to them. The main characters in FFXV have rich backstories and personalities, and these will be on full display in two supplemental pieces of media set to launch before the game itself. Brotherhood: Final Fantasy XV is a five-episode animated series from A-1 Pictures, the studio behind Sword Art Online and Black Butler . Its story focuses on the strong emotional bonds connecting Noctis and his best buds, and explains how they became friends. The first episode is available now for free on YouTube . Kingsglaive: Final Fantasy XV is a full-length, 3D-animated feature film a la Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children , directed by veteran Final Fantasy director and animator Takeshi Nozue. It takes place during the events of FFXV , but it focuses on King Regis (Noctis’ dad) and the Crown City once the bro trip leaves the kingdom. Game of Thrones stars Lena Headey and Sean Bean provide their voice-acting talents to the film, as does Breaking Bad actor Aaron Paul. Kingsglaive will be released digitally in 2016, and the studio is still figuring out if it will pursue other formats as well. FFXV has traveled a long and rocky path toward release: Square Enix announced it in 2006 under the name Final Fantasy Versus XIII , but over the years, it changed titles and directors. Final Fantasy XV is led by Type-0 director Tabata, who took over from long-time Final Fantasy and Kingdom Hearts mastermind Tetsuya Nomura.

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‘Final Fantasy XV’ lands September 30th, ten years in the making

Chinese Scammers Take Mattel To the Bank, Phishing Them For $3 Million

itwbennett quotes a report from The Associated Press: Mattel, the popular toy maker behind Barbie and Hot Wheels, was the victim of a phishing attack last year that nearly cost them $3 million. On April 30, 2015, a Mattel finance executive got a note from the new CEO, Christopher Sinclair, requesting a new vendor payment to China. Transfers required approval from two high-ranking managers; the finance exec qualified and so did the CEO. The transfer was made. The only thing preventing a total loss was the fact that the following day was a bank holiday. Details of the attack against Mattel come from a report by the Associated Press, investigating money laundering and other financial crime in Wenzhou, China. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Chinese Scammers Take Mattel To the Bank, Phishing Them For $3 Million

Transparent Wood Could Replace Glass, Become Coolest Building Material Ever

Wood is a great material because it’s cheap, renewable, and versatile. But this crazy transparent wood that scientists in Sweden brewed up is nuts. It could replace glass for some seriously eye-catching architecture, and even be used in cheap solar panels or windows. Read more…

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Transparent Wood Could Replace Glass, Become Coolest Building Material Ever

Massive email leak reveals the worst bribery scandal in history

Reporters from Fairfax Media and The Huffington Post obtained a huge trove of email from Unaoil, a business run by a rich Monaco family, that reveal that the family ran a corrupt bribery empire that spanned the world’s oil-producing states, and that they world with companies like Rolls-Royce, Halliburton, Leighton Holding, Samsung and Hyundai, to rig contracts through a system of bribes and kickbacks that looted the national treasuries of some of the world’s poorest countries. (more…)

Maryland hospital group hit by ransomware

Baltimore’s Union Memorial is one of the hopitals hit by Samsam, an autonomous ransomware strain spread by exploiting JBoss servers. (credit: MedStar) Baltimore’s Union Memorial Hospital is the epicenter of a malware attack upon its parent organization, MedStar. Data at Union Memorial and other MedStar hospitals in Maryland have been encrypted by ransomware spread across the network, and the operators of the malware are offering a bulk deal: 45 bitcoins (about $18,500) for the keys to unlock all the affected systems. Reuters reports that the FBI issued a confidential urgent “Flash” message to the industry about the threat of Samsam on March 25, seeking assistance in fighting the ransomware and pleading, “We need your help!” The FBI’s cyber center also shared signature data for Samsam activity to help organizations screen for infections. But the number of potential targets remains vast, and the FBI was concerned that entire networks could fall victim to the ransomware. According to sources who spoke to the Baltimore Sun , the malware involved in MedStar’s outages is Samsam, also known as Samas and MSIL. The subject of a recent confidential FBI cyber-alert, Samsam is form of malware that uses well-known exploits in the JBoss application server and other Java-based application platforms. As Ars reported on Monday, Samsam uses exploits published as part of JexBoss , an open-source security and penetration testing tool for checking JBoss servers for misconfiguration. Read 3 remaining paragraphs | Comments

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Maryland hospital group hit by ransomware

ACLU map shows locations of 63 ongoing phone-unlocking cases

In case you thought the recently and abruptly terminated fracas in San Bernardino was an isolated incident, the ACLU has put together a handy map of cases around the country where the All Writs Act has been used to justify an order to unlock a smartphone. Read More

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ACLU map shows locations of 63 ongoing phone-unlocking cases

New ransomware installs in boot record, encrypts hard disk [Updated]

Yet another harsh lesson for people who click things they shouldn’t. A new type of malware has been described, one that takes crypto-extortion to a new level. While most cryptographic ransomware variants are selective about what they encrypt—leaving the computer usable to make it easier for the victim to pay—this new entry targets the victim’s entire startup drive, encrypting the master file table (MFT). Called Petya, the new ransomware is just the latest ransomware deliberately tailored for victims within organizations with IT support instead of a broader audience. As BleepingComputer’s Lawrence Abrams documented , Petya is currently being delivered via Dropbox links in e-mail messages targeting human resources departments at companies in Germany. The links are purported to be to an application to be installed by the HR employee. Running the attachment throws up a Windows alert; if the user clicks to continue, Petya is inserted into the master boot record (MBR) of the victim’s computer, and the system restarts. On reboot, the malware performs a fake Windows CHKDSK, warning “One of your disks contains errors and needs to be repaired,” Petya then flashes up an ASCII skull and crossbones on a red and white screen, announcing “You became victim of the PETYA RANSOMWARE!” Read 3 remaining paragraphs | Comments

Confirmed: Microsoft and Canonical Partner To Bring Ubuntu To Windows 10

Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols reports for ZDNet: According to sources at Canonical, Ubuntu Linux’s parent company, and Microsoft, you’ll soon be able to run Ubuntu on Windows 10. This will be more than just running the Bash shell on Windows 10. After all, thanks to programs such as Cygwin or MSYS utilities, hardcore Unix users have long been able to run the popular Bash command line interface (CLI) on Windows. With this new addition, Ubuntu users will be able to run Ubuntu simultaneously with Windows. This will not be in a virtual machine, but as an integrated part of Windows 10. Microsoft and Canonical will not, however, sources say, be integrating Linux per se into Windows. Instead, Ubuntu will primarily run on a foundation of native Windows libraries. Update: 03/30 16:16 GMT by M : At its developer conference Build 2016, Microsoft on Wednesday confirmed that it is bringing native support for Bash on Windows 10. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Over 1,400 Vulnerabilities Found In Automated Medical Supply System

An anonymous reader writes: Security researchers have discovered 1, 418 vulnerabilities in CareFusion’s Pyxis SupplyStation system — automated cabinets used to dispense medical supplies — that are still being used in the healthcare and public health sectors in the US and around the world. The vulnerabilities can be exploited remotely by attackers with low skills, and exploits that target these vulnerabilities are publicly available. Things already seem to be getting out hands. Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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Over 1,400 Vulnerabilities Found In Automated Medical Supply System

Windows 10’s Anniversary Update arrives this summer

Just because Microsoft is less focused on monolithic Windows releases doesn’t mean it’s forgetting to deliver big upgrades. The company has used Build 2016 to announce an Anniversary Update for Windows 10 that brings some hefty improvements. For one, it brings Windows Hello’s biometric authentication to all kinds of apps, including the Edge browser — you can sign into a website with your fingerprint. Pen support also gets its due with a sticky note app, a sketchpad and virtual drawing tools like a ruler and a stencil. The upgrade brings more advanced gestures and pen input, too, such as erasing words by striking them out. The Anniversary Update arrives this summer, so it shouldn’t be too long before you can give its features a try. Get all the news from today’s Microsoft Build keynote right here , and follow along with our liveblog ! Free for everyone running #Windows10 : the Anniversary Update arrives this summer. #Build2016 pic.twitter.com/pTbtutRNvy — Windows (@Windows) March 30, 2016

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Windows 10’s Anniversary Update arrives this summer

Ken May

Author: kenmay