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Today’s Storystream

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Meta is detailing how it’s fighting ‘pig butchering’ scams.

“This year alone, we’ve taken down over two million accounts linked to scam centers in Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia, the United Arab Emirates and the Philippines,” Meta says.

The scams typically involve a scammer (who is sometimes a forced laborer) building trust with someone, asking them for money, and then disappearing.


Two telephotos for the price of one.

Oppo has launched the Find X8 series globally, including the X8 Pro with dual telephoto lenses. The standard X8 comes with just one zoom lens, and it looks an awful lot like the OnePlus 13 — also expected to launch globally sooner than later. Both brands sure are leaning into the big circular camera bump look, but there’s an essential piece of hardware still present: the alert slider.


Rendering of the Find X8 and Find X8 Pro.
The Oppo Find X8 in shell pink and the Find X8 Pro in pearl white.
Image: Oppo

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl is a glorious and beautiful pain in the ass

GSC Game World’s long-awaited survival epic delivers the ultimate stalker fantasy — if you can look beyond the plethora of glitches.

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LinkedIn’s live audio events are going away.

After hopping on the live audio bandwagon in 2022, LinkedIn has decided to discontinue the feature in favor of its livestreaming platform, LinkedIn Live.


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Steam’s autumn sale kicks off on Wednesday.

Based on a trailer, a lot of great games are getting discounts — might be time for me to finally pick up Animal Well.

The sale runs from 1PM ET on November 27th to 1PM ET on December 4th.


JVC’s new open earbuds are smaller and cheaper than Bose’s Ultra Open.

Borrowing the design of Bose’s open-style earbuds, the JVC Nearphones attach to the side of your ear and position a 10mm driver inside so you can hear your music plus everything else around you. They’re smaller and lighter than the $299 Bose Ultra Open, and at $99.95 they’re a more affordable solution if you find regular earbuds uncomfortable.


JVC’s Nearphones wireless earbuds pictured in five different colorways.
JVC’s Nearphones are available in five colorways with matching charging cases.
Image: JVC

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Samsung Galaxy Watch FE review: a bogus bargain

As an entry-level device, the FE doesn’t quite nail the right mix of price, features, and hardware.

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Remember Elio from Pixar’s upcoming film Elio?

Feels like it’s been ages since we heard anything about Pixar’s Elio from co-directors Domee Shi, Madeline Sharafian, and Adrian Molina. But the studio has just dropped another trailer teasing how an alien bathroom is one of the most beautiful things young Elio (Yonas Kibreab) will see on his space adventure when the film hits theaters on June 13th.


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Gary Gensler quits.

The controversial head of the SEC was targeted by Donald Trump during Trump’s presidential campaign. It is customary for the SEC chair to resign when a president from the other party is elected. That cheering you hear? It’s the crypto lobby.


Microsoft Ignite 2024: all the news from Microsoft’s IT pro event

Ignite is Microsoft’s big event to sell the future of Windows, AI, and Office to its biggest customers.

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Matt Gaetz is out.

Gaetz announced he was withdrawing from consideration for Attorney General on Thursday — shortly after being asked to comment on the House Ethics Committee’s report into alleged sexual misconduct with underage girls.

Per CNN, the a woman said she had two sexual encounters with Gaetz in 2017, when she was 17 years old. A hacker reportedly gained access to a file with “damaging” details about Gaetz, including the woman’s testimony.


Here’s a fun thing!

So this is NSFW because it’s just gonna holler profanity at you, but if that’s what you’ve wanted — well, Bluesky is the kind of platform that lets you build it.


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Amazon may face an EU antitrust investigation.

Sources tell Reuters that EU regulators will likely look into whether Amazon is favors its own products on its retail platform — a violation of the European Union’s Digital Markets Act.

In March, the European Commission confirmed that it was looking into Amazon’s ranking practices. At the time, an Amazon spokesperson said the company’s practices were compliant with the DMA.


The Verge’s 2024 holiday gift guide

A collection of fun, affordable, and unique gifts fit for everyone on your list.

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Don’t expect any DLC for Final Fantasy VII Rebirth.

In an interview with Daily Star, the game’s director, Naoki Hamaguchi said that while he understands fans’ desire for an Integrade-style DLC for Rebirth, he thinks what they really want is simply the next entry in the series and it’s best to let the team focus on that instead. A bit of a bummer, though not unexpected as Nintendo made the same decision for Tears of the Kingdom.


Threads will now show you replies when you’re working on a reply.

This seems very useful!


A screenshot from the Threads account showing a compose window over other replies.
Screenshot from the Threads account.
Image: Meta

Inside Elon Musk’s messy breakup with OpenAI

Emails in Musk’s lawsuit against OpenAI expose the startup’s rocky origins.

Jaguar follows up its ‘Copy Nothing’ campaign with a new car teaser.

The automaker is preparing for a big reveal of a new car in Miami on December 2nd — amidst the internet jeering at the perplexing “JaGUar” rebrand this week. Besides its HVAC-like appearance, the car's rear seems to have a closed-off windshield, à la Polestar 4.


back left closeup of a silver car with a vent looking grille and a closed windshield.
There’s a grille in the back?
Image: Jaguar
Squad up.

It’s been less than a month since Fortnite’s last concert, where Snoop Dogg and Ice Spice performed in Times Square. But the game is already gearing up for another performance, this one more virtual, to close out Chapter 2: Remix on November 30th. It’ll include the debut of a new Juice WRLD track — you can check out all the details right here.


Promotional art for a Fortnite concert featuring Eminem, Snoop Dogg, Ice Spice, and Juice WRLD.
Image: Epic Games

If Netflix can’t make live work, can anyone?

On The Vergecast: the perils of streaming sports, notebooks past and future, and TikTok CarPlay.

This hub for Apple’s M4 Mac Mini brings back the USB-A ports.

Satechi’s new, perfectly-sized stand / hub for the M4 Mac Mini will be available this spring. You’ll be able to outfit it with NVMe storage without paying Apple’s ludicrous upgrade prices. And yes, it features several USB-A ports along with an SD card slot.

Pricing will be available closer to when it ships next year.


A marketing image of Satechi’s M4 Mac Mini hub.
Image: Satechi
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Scott Pilgrim lands.

The Netflix animated series was a clever reinvention of Scott Pilgrim, but according to creator Bryan Lee O’Malley, the story in season 1 of Scott Pilgrim Takes Off is all we’re getting.


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Apple and Google may have to verify users’ ages through their app stores under a coming bill.

Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) and Rep. John James (R-MI) are prepping a new bill granting Meta’s wish of putting the onus for age verification on app store operators, The Washington Post reports. Parents could reportedly sue those companies if their kids are exposed to things like sexual material, but businesses could shield themselves by implementing age verification.