Twitter whistleblower says company had Chinese agent on payroll

During a hearing with the Senate Judiciary Committee, Twitter’s former security chief turned whistleblower, Peiter Zatko, shed new light on his claims that the company’s lax security practices harmed U.S. national security. Among the new allegations was that the company had a Chinese agent working for the country’s Ministry of State Security (MSS) on its payroll.

During his opening statement, Sen. Chuck Grassley stated that “the FBI notified Twitter of at least one Chinese agent in the company.” In the public version of his whistleblower complaint, Zatko stated he had been warned that the company was employing “one or more” people who were “working on behalf of another particular foreign intelligence agency.” But the version of the complaint made public, parts of which were redacted, didn’t specify what country the FBI was referring to.

In his testimony, Zatko confirmed the company had been warned about the presence of Chinese agents. “This was made aware to me maybe a week before I was summarily dismissed,” Zatko said. “I had been told because the corporate security/physical security team had been contacted and told that there was at least one agent of the MSS, which is one of China’s intelligence services on the payroll inside Twitter.”

Zatko also raised concerns about the presence of foreign agents from other countries, including India, which he said “forced” Twitter to hire government agents. 

Notably, Zatko’s disclosures are not the first time Twitter has had to contend with the presence of unregistered foreign agents on its payroll. A former Twitter worker was recently convicted of acting as an agent for Saudi Arabia. Prosecutors alleged the man was paid to turn over sensitive information about dissidents.

Zatko alleged that the danger posed by foreign agents was even greater due to a litany of factors: the vast amount of data the platform collects and its lack of insight into that data, as well as the broad and largely unfettered access Twitter’s engineers have to it. “It’s not far-fetched to say that an employee inside the company could take over the accounts of all of the senators in this room,” Zatko said. 

The hearing is likely to amp up the pressure on Twitter, which has so far declined to address Zatko’s claims in detail. Senator Grassley said that the committee had also invited CEO Parag Agrawal to testify at the hearing but that he had “refused to appear.”

“He rejected this committee’s invitation to appear by claiming that it would jeopardize Twitter’s ongoing litigation Mr. Musk,” Grassley said, referring to the company’s legal battle with Elon Musk over his $44 billion acquisition of the company. “Protecting Americans from foreign influence is more important than Twitter’s civil litigation in Delaware. If these allegations are true, I don’t see how Mr. Agrawal can maintain his position at Twitter going forward.”

‘The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom’ lands on Switch May 12th, 2023

The sequel to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is called Tears of the Kingdom and it’s due to hit Switch on May 12th, 2023. Nintendo revealed the release date, name and a short teaser for the game during today’s Direct showcase. The studio says Tears of the Kingdom will travel into the skies beyond Hyrule, to an expanded world among the clouds.

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild debuted in 2017, the same day the Switch came to market. It was a huge critical and commercial success, and the sequel has been hotly anticipated since. The new game was originally announced with a release window in 2022, but in March, Nintendo delayed it into spring 2023.

It wasn’t the only major game to be pushed out of 2022. A handful of titles from big publishers, including Starfield, Redfall, Hogwarts Legacy and Forspoken, were delayed into 2023 this year.

‘GoldenEye 007’ is coming to Nintendo Switch Online’s Expansion Pack with online play

You’ll soon have a way to play one of the most beloved Nintendo 64 games on your Switch without having to jailbreak the console. During today’s Nintendo Direct, it emerged that GoldenEye 007 is coming to the Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack service. What’s more, you’ll be able to hop into the iconic multiplayer mode with your friends through online play. Nintendo didn’t say when the first-person shooter will arrive on Switch, other than to say it’s “coming soon.” In the meantime, you can check out a new documentary about the game.

On top of that, GoldenEye 007 is coming to Xbox Game Pass. Rare says the game has been “faithfully recreated for Xbox consoles.” It will feature split-screen local multiplayer (but no online play), achievements, 4K resolution and a seemingly smoother framerate. In fairness, it would be tough to have a lower framerate than the N64 version.

Nintendo also revealed a bunch of other N64 titles that it will gradually add to the Expansion Pack service. Pilotwings 64, Mario Party and Mario Party 2 will all be available later this year. In 2023, Mario Party 3, Pokémon Stadium, Pokémon Stadium 2, 1080 Snowboarding and Excitebike 64 will join the lineup.

What we bought: How the Blue Yeti Nano finally earned a spot on my desk

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‘Fire Emblem Engage’ is coming to Switch on January 20th

Today’s Nintendo Direct kicked off with a bang, with the reveal of a new, mainline Fire Emblem game. You won’t have to wait too long to get your hands on Fire Emblem Engage either. It’s coming to Nintendo Switch on January 20th. 

A thousand years after four kingdoms and heroes from further afield worked together to imprison a Fell Dragon, this so-called great evil is poised to re-emerge. Your task is to collect Emblem Rings that are scattered across the world in order to bring peace to the Continent of Elyos.

Along with the announcement, Nintendo offered a first look at gameplay. Fire Emblem Engage appears to have grid-based, real-time strategy elements, along with turn-based battles and open-world exploration. The game will feature a new cast of customizable characters, though you’ll be able to summon heroes such as Marth (who’s making his return to the Fire Emblem series) and Celica in your quest. 

You can pre-order Fire Emblem Engage now from the Nintendo eShop. A physical Divine Edition with a steelbook and art case will be available too.

The Sub Mini is a much smaller and cheaper way to add bass to your Sonos system

Sonos has long offered a wireless subwoofer as part of its home theater, a large and powerful product that also costs a whopping $749. For anyone with a smaller room, or a smaller budget, it was a bit of a stretch. Sonos is giving bass-lovers a new option today: the rumored Sub Mini is real — and at $429, it costs a lot less than its bigger sibling. 

The Sub Mini is a cylindrical speaker with a “center tunnel” cutout to move air around. It’s a foot tall and about 9 inches in diameter; at 14 pounds, it’s not exactly light, but that’s more than 20 pounds lighter than the Sonos Sub. It’s compatible with any amplified Sonos speaker aside from portable products like the Move and Roam, which means you can pair it with audio speakers like the Sonos One or Five as well as home theater soundbar like the Beam and Ray. (Sonos recommends pairing its high-end Arc soundbar with the full-sized Sub, but there’s no technical reason you can’t use it alongside the Sub Mini.)

Along with that center tunnel, the Sub Mini includes two 6-inch, force-cancelling woofers and two class-D digital amplifiers, along with a 5GHz wireless connection and a 10/100 ethernet port if you prefer to hardwire your speakers. As with all Sonos products, you set up the Sub Mini through the Sonos mobile app — from there, you’ll tell it which room the sub is in and pair it to a soundbar or speaker set. 

As with other Sonos speakers, you can tune the Sub Mini once it’s set up to properly balance your system’s sound using Trueplay. You’ll need a compatible iOS device to use Trueplay, as it uses the device’s microphone to listen to the room and optimize audio quality based on the acoustics of your room. My experience with Trueplay has always been positive, so this is a step worth taking if you have an iPhone or iPad. 

The Sonos Sub comes in black or white and is up for preorder today and will be widely available on October 6th. As with any speaker, we’ll need to hear this one before we can recommend it, but it’s good that Sonos finally has a more affordable option for improving bass from its products. It should also be appreciated by anyone with a smaller room or setup — I’ve long wanted a little more bass from my pair of Sonos One speakers, for example, but the bigger Sub would be massive overkill. The Sub Mini, on the other hand, could be just right.

Amazon’s Kindle refresh closes the gap between its entry-level and premium e-readers

It’s been a while since Amazon upgraded the entry-level version of the Kindle, but it seems like good things have come to those who wait. The 2022 edition has so many upgrades that it’ll make anyone who bought a Kindle in the last year (like me) biliou…

HBO and Apple TV+ win big at the Emmys

Last year Netflix grabbed the most Primetime Emmys with 10, but this year it was only third best behind Apple TV+ and HBO Max. The latter dominated last night’s proceedings with 12 awards, including five for The White Lotus, four for Succession (including Outstanding Drama Series) and one each for Euphoria, Hacks and Last Week Tonight. 

Apple TV+, meanwhile took all four of its awards with Ted Lasso, including Outstanding Comedy Series, Lead Actor, Comedy (Jason Sudeikis), Support Actor, Comedy (Brett Goldstein) and Directing, Comedy (MJ Delany). Last year Lasso took seven primetime prizes.

Netflix’s most productive show was Korea’s Squid Game, which took two Primetime Emmys while showing off the streamer’s power as a global platform. It also took one award for Ozark, with Julia Garner taking the supporting actress prize. Meanwhile, Hulu took two awards with wins by Michael Keaton for Dopesick and Amanda Seyfried for The Dropout, while Prime Video nabbed a single award for Lizzo’s Watch Out for the Big Grrrls.

Nearly as notable were shows that were shut out. Those include AMC’s Better Call Saul and HBO hit Barry, which have both won Emmys in the past and Apple TV+’s Severance. Netflix’s Stranger Things and Hulu/Disney’s Only Murders in the Building had 17 nominations but only won three non-Primetime Emmys. As with last year, streaming platforms dominated the Emmys over linear TV, with the major networks taking just three Primetime Emmys combined.