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EU foreign ministers meet ahead of Friday’s Trump-Putin talks in Alaska, with Brussels insisting any peace deal must include Ukraine. And Al Jazeera’s Anas al-Sharif was killed in an Israeli airstrike that also took out the broadcaster's crew in Gaza City.

Here are hints and the answers for the NYT Connections: Sports Edition puzzle for Aug. 12, No. 323

• Fraudulent TikTok Shops driving victims into fake portals designed to steal cryptocurrency and data
• Scammers mimic trusted seller profiles and lure shoppers with unrealistic discounts across popular platforms
• SparkKitty malware secretly collects sensitive data from devices, enabling long-term unauthorized surveillance and control

Cybercriminals are now making use of TikTok Shops to spread malware and steal funds from unsuspecting young users of the platform.

The campaign, revealed by security experts at CTM360, mimics the profile of legitimate ecommerce sellers to build its credibility, often using AI-generated content.

In addition to TikTok, these fake shops can also be found on Facebook, where their modus operandi is to advertise massive price cuts to lure potential victims.

Exploiting brand trust for profit

The main target of these malicious actors is not only to defraud users, mostly in cryptocurrency, but also to deliver malicious software and steal login details.

At the moment, TikTok Wholesale and Mall pages have been linked to over 10,000 such fraudulent URLs.

These URLs, which look like official platforms, offer “buy links” that redirect visitors to a criminal phishing portal.

Once users click the link and enter the portal, they will be made to pay a deposit into an online wallet or purchase a product – the online wallet is fake and the product does not exist.

Some operations take the deception further by posing as an affiliate management service, pushing malicious apps disguised as tools for sellers.

More than 5,000 app download sources have been uncovered, many using embedded links and QR codes to bypass traditional scrutiny.

One identified threat, known as SparkKitty, is capable of harvesting data from both Android and iOS devices.

It can enable long-term access to compromised devices, creating ongoing risk even after the initial infection.

The malware is often delivered through these fake affiliate applications, turning what appears to be a legitimate opportunity into a direct path for account takeover and identity theft.

Because cryptocurrency transactions are irreversible, victims have little recourse once funds are transferred.

A common thread in the campaign is the use of pressure tactics, with countdown timers or limited-time discounts designed to force quick decisions.

These tactics, while common in legitimate marketing, make it harder for users to pause and assess the authenticity of an offer.

Domain checks reveal many of the scam sites using inexpensive extensions such as .top, .shop, or .icu, which can be purchased and deployed rapidly.

How to stay safe

• Make sure you check the website address carefully before entering your payment information. Every detail of the website should match the legitimate domain.
• Ensure that you use secure HTTPS encryption
• If the price cut feels too huge, follow your gut and stay away.
• Do not allow a countdown timer to pressure you into making payment; this pressure is a common tactic my malicious actors
• Always insist on the standard payment methods and avoid direct wire transfers or cryptocurrency, as these are harder to trace and often used in scams.
• Install and maintain a trusted security suite that combines robust antivirus protection with real-time browsing safeguards to block malicious websites.
• Configure your firewall to actively monitor and filter network traffic, preventing unauthorized access and blocking suspicious connections before they reach your device.
• Pay close attention to alerts from reputable security programs, which can detect and warn you about known phishing sites or fraudulent activities in real time.
• Remain cautious even when shopping on professional-looking platforms, as well-designed storefronts can still conceal sophisticated attempts at theft.

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You may be able to recycle old printers and PCs for free and even score store credit.

Online game chats are notorious for vulgar, offensive, and even criminal behavior. Even if only a tiny percentage, the many millions of hours of chat can accumulate a lot of toxic interactions in a way that's a problem for players and video game companies, especially when it involves kids. Roblox has a lot of experience dealing with that aspect of gaming and has used AI to create a whole system to enforce safety rules among its more than 100 million mostly young daily users, Sentinel. Now, it's open-sourcing Sentinel, offering the AI and its capacity for identifying grooming and other dangerous behavior in chat before it escalates for free to any platform.

This isn’t just a profanity filter that gets triggered when someone types a curse word. Roblox has always had that. Sentinel is built to watch patterns over time. It can track how conversations evolve, looking for subtle signs that someone is trying to build trust with a kid in potentially problematic ways. For instance, it might flag a long conversation where an adult-sounding player is just a little too interested in a kid’s personal life.

Sentinel helped Roblox moderators file about 1,200 reports to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children in just the first half of this year. As someone who grew up in the Wild West of early internet chatrooms, where “moderation” usually meant suspecting that people who used correct spelling and grammar were adults, I can’t overstate how much of a leap forward that feels.

Open-sourcing Sentinel means any game or online platform, whether as big as Minecraft or as small as an underground indie hit, can adapt Sentinel and use it to make their own communities safer. It’s an unusually generous move, albeit one with obvious public relations and potential long-term commercial benefits for the company.

For kids (and their adult guardians), the benefits are obvious. If more games start running Sentinel-style checks, the odds of predators slipping through the cracks go down. Parents get another invisible safety net they didn’t have to set up themselves. And the kids get to focus on playing rather than navigating the online equivalent of a dark alley.

For video games as a whole, it’s a chance to raise the baseline of safety. Imagine if every major game, from the biggest esports titles to the smallest cozy simulators, had access to the same kind of early-warning system. It wouldn’t eliminate the problem, but it could make bad behavior a lot harder to hide.

AI for online safety

Of course, nothing with “AI” in the description is without its complications. The most obvious one is privacy. This kind of tool works by scanning what people are saying to each other, in real time, looking for red flags. Roblox says it uses one-minute snapshots of chat and keeps a human review process for anything flagged. But you can’t really get around the fact that this is surveillance, even if it’s well-intentioned. And when you open-source a tool like this, you’re not just giving the good guys a copy; you also make it easier for bad actors to see how you're stopping them and come up with ways around the system.

Then there’s the problem of language itself. People change how they talk all the time, especially online. Slang shifts, in-jokes mutate, and new apps create new shorthand. A system trained to catch grooming attempts in 2024 might miss the ones happening in 2026. Roblox updates Sentinel regularly, both with AI training and human review, but smaller platforms might not have the resources to keep up with what's happening in their chats.

And while no sane person is against stopping child predators or jerks deliberately trying to upset children, AI tools like this can be abused. If certain political talk, controversial opinions, or simply complaints about the game are added to the filter list, there's little players can do about it. Roblox and any companies using Sentinel will need to be transparent, not just with the code, but also with how it's being deployed and what the data it collects will be used for.

It's also important to consider the context of Roblox's decision. The company is facing lawsuits over what's happened with children using the platform. One lawsuit alleges a 13‑year‑old was trafficked after meeting a predator on the platform. Sentinel isn't perfect, and companies using it could still face legal problems. Ideally, it would serve as a component of online safety setups that include things like better user education and parental controls. AI can't replace all safety programs.

Despite the very real problems of deploying AI to help with online safety, I think open-sourcing Sentinel is one of the rare cases where the upside of using AI is both immediate and tangible. I’ve written enough about algorithms making people angry, confused, or broke to appreciate when one is actually pointed toward making people safer. And making it open-source can help make more online spaces safer.

I don’t think Sentinel will stop every predator, and I don’t think it should be a replacement for good parenting, better human moderation, and educating kids about how to be safe when playing online. But as a subtle extra line of defense, Sentinel has a part to play in building better online experiences for kids.

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How often do you upgrade your MacBook? I’m willing to bet it’s not very often, and certainly not every year. If so, that’s great news for you, but perhaps not so pleasing for Apple, which would rather you stumped up for one of the best MacBooks as often as possible. Yet is there really a reason to upgrade if your laptop does everything you need for years at a time?

Take me, for example. I’ve had a MacBook Pro with M1 Pro chip since 2022, and it’s served me superbly well in that time. It handles all my work without a hitch and gives me strong gaming performance for the titles I play. Even Cyberpunk 2077 performs impressively well if I turn frame generation on, and I’m happy to do that since it boosts the frame rates from my integrated laptop chip – which is several generations out of date – up to the mid-70s.

That all means that over the past few years, I’ve looked at advances in the MacBook Pro and decided to take a pass. New chips have been the only major changes of note, and with no big design adjustments or feature improvements to tempt me – and my M1 Pro chip performing so consistently – there’s been no need to rock the boat.

However, I’m starting to get the feeling that this situation is not going to last. Judging by the latest rumors, things could change in a big way in the next year or two, and it might be harder than ever for me to resist the lure of a new MacBook Pro. The good news, though, is that this step up could last me well into the next decade.

The OLED revolution

(Image credit: Apple)

That idea centers around Apple’s M6 chip, which is expected to land in the MacBook Pro in late 2026 or early 2027. This model is expected to come with an OLED display as well as the new chip, according to Bloomberg journalist Mark Gurman’s latest Power On newsletter.

There, Gurman says that the upcoming M6 MacBook Pro “represents enough of a change to finally move the needle” in his opinion, bringing with it a new chip, an improved screen, plus a thinner, redesigned chassis for the first time in several years.

Gurman is not the only person who could be swayed by this upcoming Mac: it’s the kind of upgrade that might convince me to open the purse strings as well. After all, by the time the M6 model launches, my M1 Pro laptop will be five generations out of date and might start showing its age a little more. It’s still going strong for now, but that won’t be the case forever.

But the bigger change will be the OLED display. This has been rumored for years, but Apple’s obsessive perfectionism has meant we still haven’t seen it in action. When it finally arrives, though, Apple’s gaming gains could finally be married up with the kind of visual output they deserve. The question of whether MacBooks are actually gaming machines has been discussed much over the last few years, but adding an OLED display into the mix would surely settle the question in Apple’s favor once and for all.

What does the future hold?

(Image credit: Future)

But the fact that it would take an upgrade as momentous as this to convince me to get a new MacBook raises another question: what happens after the M6 MacBook Pro has been and gone?

Generally, MacBook upgrades aren’t usually as feature packed as the one we’re expecting when the M6 chip and OLED display come around. The M4 MacBook Pro, for example, offered a new chip, added Center Stage to the front-facing camera, brought Thunderbolt 5 connectivity to the M4 Pro and M4 Max chips, added a nano-texture coating to the display… and not a whole lot else. Those changes are fine, but they’re not groundbreaking.

Apple has, in some ways, created a problem for itself: its chips are now so performant that they can last for generations, dissuading people from upgrading. Contrast that to the bad old Intel Mac days, when the chips were so underpowered that many people felt forced into expensive annual upgrades, and it’s clear that Apple users are in a better spot than ever.

These days, Apple silicon chips have a lot more longevity, which means it’s harder for Apple to persuade its users to buy new MacBooks on the regular. My hope, at least, is this means Apple will bring more significant new features in the coming years in a bid to tempt upgraders.

But even if it doesn’t, just having a chip that lasts years without faltering is a win for Apple fans, and my M1 Pro is a testament to that. If I upgrade to the M6 MacBook Pro and its OLED display, I’m hoping the improvements it brings last me half a decade or more, just as my long-serving M1 Pro chip has done before it.

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• Meta has two new VR headsets you can try
• They're protypes that aren't usually accessible to the public
• You'll have to attend SIGGRAPH 2025 to give them a whirl

Every so often, Meta will showcase some of its prototype VR headsets – models which aren’t for public release like its fully fledged Meta Quest 3, but allow its researchers to test attributes when they’re pushed too far beyond current commercial headset limits. Like the Starburst headset, which offered a peak brightness of 20,000 nits.

Tiramisu and Boba 3 – two more of its prototypes – are more concerned with offering “retinal resolution” and an extremely wide field of view rather than just boasting incredible brightness, but like Starburster, Meta is giving folks the chance to demo these usually lab-exclusive headsets.

That is, if you happen to be attending SIGGRAPH 2025 in Vancouver.

(Image credit: Meta)

I’ve been to SIGGRAPH previously, and it’s full of futuristic XR tech and demos that companies like Meta and its Reality Labs have been cooking up.

Though usually the prototypes look just like Tiramasu. That is to say, a little impractical.

Tiramisu does at least seem to be a headset you can wear normally, even if it does look like a Meta Quest 2 that has been comically stretched – Starburst, for example, had to be suspended from a metal frame as it was far too heavy to wear.

But Tiramasu doesn’t look like the most practical model. The trade-off is that Meta can outfit the headset with µOLED displays and other tech like custom lenses to deliver high contrast and resolution – 3x and 3.6x respectively of what the Meta Quest 3 offers.

As a result, Tiramasu is the closest Meta has got to achieving the “visual Turing test”, virtual visuals that are indistinguishable from real ones.

(Image credit: Meta)

Boba 3, on the other hand, looks like a headset you could buy tomorrow, and the way Meta talks about it, it does feel like something inspired by it could arrive at some point in the future.

That’s because it looks surprisingly compact – apparently it weighs just 660g, a little less than a Quest 3 with Elite strap at 698g. It also has a 4k by 4k resolution, and – the reason this headset is special – it boasts a horizontal field of view of 180° and a vertical field of view of 120°.

That’s significantly more than the 110° and 96°, respectively, offered by the Meta Quest 3, and while the 3 covers about 46% of a person’s field of view, Boba 3 captures about 90%.

The only issue is Boba 3 does require a “top-of-the-line GPU and PC system”, according to Display Systems Research Optical Scientist Yang Zhao. That’s because it needs to fill in the extra space the larger field of view creates, leading to higher compute requirements.

Though Zhao did note that Boba 3 is “something that we wanted to send out into the world as soon as possible”, and it does resemble goggles in a way – the design direction Meta’s next headset is said to be taking.

So we’ll have to keep our eyes peeled to see what Meta launches next, but while only a few lucky folks will get to try Boba 3 at Siggraph, I’m hoping many more of us will get to experience the next-gen VR headsets it inspires.

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• Modat found more than 1.2 million misconfigured devices leaking info
• This includes MRI scans, X-rays, and other sensitive files, together with patient contact data
• The healthcare industry needs a proactive approach to cybersecurity, researchers warn

Researchers have warned there are currently over a million internet-connected healthcare devices which are misconfigured, leaking all the data they generate online - putting millions of people at risk of identity theft, phishing, wire fraud, and more.

Modat recently scanned the internet in search of misconfigured, non-password protected, devices and their data, and by using the tag ‘HEALTHCARE’, they found more than 1.2 million devices which were generating, and leaking, confidential medical images including MRI scans, X-rays, and even blood work, of hospitals all over the world.

“Examples of data being leaked in this way include brain scans and X-rays, stored alongside protected health information and personally identifiable information of the patient, potentially representing both a breach of patient’s confidentiality and privacy,” the researchers explained.

Weak passwords and other woes

In some cases, the researchers found information unlocked and available for anyone who knows where to look - and in other cases, the data was protected with such weak and predictable passwords that it posed no challenge to break in and grab them.

“In the worst-case scenario, leaked sensitive medical information could leave unsuspecting victims open to fraud or even blackmail over a confidential medical condition,” they added.

In theory, a threat actor could learn of a patient’s condition before they do. Together with names and contact details, they can reach out to the patient and threaten to release the information to friends and family, unless they pay a ransom.

Alternatively, they could impersonate the doctor or the hospital and send phishing emails inviting the victim to “view sensitive files” which would just redirect them to download malware or share login credentials.

The majority of the misconfigured devices are located in the United States (174K+), with South Africa being close second (172K+). Australia (111K+), Brazil (82K+), and Germany (81K+) round off the top five.

For Modat, a proactive security culture “beats a reactive response”.

“This research reinforces the urgent need for comprehensive asset visibility, robust vulnerability management, and a proactive approach to securing every internet-connected device in healthcare environments, ensuring that sensitive patient data remains protected from unauthorized access and potential exploitation," commented Errol Weiss, Chief Security Officer at Health-ISAC.

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Demon Slayer on the seatback screen? Count me in.

• Researchers claim to have found a way to turn a Lenovo webcam into a BadUSB device
• BadUSB is a firmware vulnerability that turns a USB stick into a malware-writing weapon
• Lenovo released a firmware update, so users should patch now

Your device's webcam can be reprogrammed to turn on you and serve as a backdoor for a threat actor, experts have warned.

Security researchers at Eclypsium claim certain Lenovo webcam models powered by Linux can be turned into so-called “BadUSB” devices.

The bug is now tracked as CVE-2025-4371. It still doesn’t have a severity score, but it has a nickname - BadCam.

Reflashing firmware

Roughly a decade ago, researchers found a way to reprogram a USB device’s firmware to act maliciously, letting it mimic keyboards, network cards, or other devices. This allows it to run commands, install malware, or steal data, and the biggest advantage compared to traditional malware is that it can successfully bypass traditional security measures.

The vulnerability was dubbed “BadUSB”, and was seen abused in the wild, when threat actors FIN7 started mailing weaponized USB drives to US-based organizations. At one point, the FBI even started warning people not to plug in USB devices found in office toilets, airports, or received in the postbox.

Now, Eclypsium says that the same thing can be done with certain USB webcams, built by Lenovo and powered by Linux.

"This allows remote attackers to inject keystrokes covertly and launch attacks independent of the host operating system," Eclypsium told The Hacker News.

"An attacker who gains remote code execution on a system can reflash the firmware of an attached Linux-powered webcam, repurposing it to behave as a malicious HID or to emulate additional USB devices," the researchers explained.

"Once weaponized, the seemingly innocuous webcam can inject keystrokes, deliver malicious payloads, or serve as a foothold for deeper persistence, all while maintaining the outward appearance and core functionality of a standard camera.

Gaining remote access to a webcam requires the device to be compromised in the first place, in which case the attackers can do what they please anyway. However, users should be careful not to plug in other people’s webcams, or buy such products from shady internet shops.

Lenovo 510 FHD and Lenovo Performance FHD webcams were said to be vulnerable, and a firmware update version 4.8.0 was released to mitigate the threat.

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LG and Samsung have been locked in an OLED TV battle for a number of years, ever since Samsung reentered the OLED TV market in 2022 with the Samsung S95B.

Samsung has since been our TV of the year winner for two years in a row, with the Samsung S90C taking the crown in 2023 and the Samsung S95D taking the title in 2024. Even so, several LG OLED models still sit on our list for the best OLED TV.

I’ve already tested both brands' 2025 flagship models, the LG G5 and Samsung S95F, side-by-side. Recently, however, I also had the chance to do a side-by-side test of their entry-level OLEDs, the LG B5 and Samsung S85F.

It’s worth noting that both these TVs use the same standard W-OLED display panel. So they can’t really be that different, right? Well, let’s look at the results of my comparison to find out.

Brightness and contrast

The Samsung S85F (right) demonstrated higher brightness in some highlight areas despite having the same panel as the LG B5 (left) (Image credit: Future)

With both TVs using the same panel, I expected their brightness measurements to be similar, and that did turn out to be the case. When I measured peak HDR brightness for both TVs, the LG B5 clocked in at 668 nits, and the S85F at 777 nits. I assumed a difference of just over 100 nits wouldn’t make an impact on the picture, but I was wrong.

Although the difference was subtle, the S85F’s picture did have bolder highlights in specific movie scenes. Watching The Batman, highlights from light sources such as lamps and torches in the opening subway fight and crime scene sections were indeed brighter on the S85F. The B5 still demonstrated solid brightness, but I found my eye more drawn to the S85F’s picture.

In demo footage from the Spears & Munsil UHD Benchmark 4K Blu-ray, with images such as the sun behind a satellite dish or a horizon at sunset, the S85F had a bit more vibrancy, which made these highlight areas look more striking.

Both the LG B5 (left) and Samsung S85F (right) showed very good contrast, but the B5 handled darker tones better. (Image credit: Warner Bros. / Future)

Both the B5 and S85F demonstrated excellent contrast throughout testing. In The Batman, light sources balanced well with dark tones on screen, creating a good sense of contrast, though the S85F’s higher brightness gave it an edge.

Both TVs also had refined shadow detail when watching The Batman, but the B5 displayed deeper, richer black tones, and it better maintained shadow detail, with the S85F showing minor black crush. In Oppenheimer’s black and white scenes, both TVs again showed a good range of gray tones, but here again, the B5 maintained details in darker areas more accurately than the S85F.

I noticed that while Filmmaker Mode was the more accurate mode for darker movies such as Oppenheimer and The Batman, the differences between the two TVs were more obvious in Cinema mode, especially when it came to brightness, contrast and shadow detail.

Color profile

Both the LG B5 (left) and Samsung S85F showcased vivid colors, but the S85F's had more pop, whereas the B5's looked more natural (Image credit: Universal Pictures / Future )

Where the B5 and S85F really differed was in their color. Although both use the same OLED panel type, the S85F’s colors had a greater visual punch, especially when evaluating both TVs with their Cinema picture preset active.

In Wicked, during the Wizard & I scene where Elphaba stands under some pink flowers, the flowers looked more vibrant on the S85F than the B5, giving them an eye-popping quality. Elphaba’s green skin also appeared brighter, and later in the Emerald City, the greens appeared more dazzling on the S85F.

Where the B5 differed here was in its color depth. The B5’s deeper blacks had the effect of making the pink flowers and Elphaba’s green skin look richer and more lifelike compared to the S85F.

In the same Spears & Munsil footage, shots of colorful butterflies and flowers looked rich and refined on both TVs, but once again, the B5 displayed deeper, richer, and more subtle hues, whereas the S85F had more outright colorful images. I found myself more drawn to the S85F, especially with both TVs in Cinema mode.

Sports

The LG B5 (left) had the better motion handling for sports compared to the Samsung S85F (right) (Image credit: Future)

One thing I wanted to test on these TVs was sports viewing. OLEDs typically have very good motion handling, which is why they always feature in our best TVs for sport guide. I’ve found that Samsung TVs require more setup effort when it comes to sports than LG TVs, and it was no different with the S85F.

In Standard mode (color in the B5’s Sports mode is too oversaturated, so I preferred not to use it), the LG B5 displayed superior motion handling. An MLS soccer game I watched via Prime Video in this mode looked fluid and smooth throughout viewing, with no settings changes required.

The S85F, also in its Standard preset, showed several motion artifacts, such as a ghosting ball and some stuttering. Changing blur and judder reduction to 5 did help, but even then, there was some picture judder compared to the B5.

Of the two TVs, the B5 was the clear winner when it came to motion handling.

Which TV should you choose?

With many similarities between the LG B5 (left) and Samsung S85F (right), the choice may ultimately come down to price (Image credit: Future)

After testing both the LG B5 and Samsung S85F side-by-side, the differences are generally subtle, so which one you should buy will likely come down to personal preference.

If you want a brighter, bolder-looking TV with more vibrant color, opt for the S85F. If you want a more natural-looking TV with richer blacks, opt for the B5.

Both TVs have the full suite of gaming features we look for on the best gaming TVs, and both have great smart TV platforms. But sports fans will want to go for the B5 due to its superior motion handling.

During my testing, I ultimately found myself more drawn to the S85F. So that’s the one I’d choose, but it was very close.

Honestly, it could all come down to discounts. The 55-inch B5 costs $1,499.99 / £1,399 / AU$1,995, and the 55-inch Samsung S85F costs $1,499.99 / £1,399 / AU$2,495, so in the US and UK, there's currently nothing between them. But as we approach the end of the year, both TVs will inevitably receive discounts, and the amount of those discounts could determine which TV is the better overall value.

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