Total on-chain ransomware payments fell 8% YoY to $820M in 2025, despite a record 50% rise in claimed victims; the median payment grew 368% YoY to nearly $60K (Chainalysis)

Total on-chain ransomware payments fell 8% YoY to $820M in 2025, despite a record 50% rise in claimed victims; the median payment grew 368% YoY to nearly $60K (Chainalysis)

Chainalysis : Total on-chain ransomware payments fell 8% YoY to $820M in 2025, despite a record 50% rise in claimed victims; the median payment grew 368% YoY to nearly $60K —  TL;DR  — Ransomware payments stagnated despite record attacks claimed.  Total on-chain ransomware payments fell by approximately 8% …

Now $470 off! Score Acer’s Intel AI OLED laptop with 16GB RAM

Now $470 off! Score Acer’s Intel AI OLED laptop with 16GB RAM

It’s time to get a laptop that won’t disappoint you day in and day out. The Acer Swift 16 AI is a solid pick for that, with a good configuration and an even better price now that it’s on sale! Best Buy is currently selling it with a massive $470 discount, dropping it down to just $779.99 . That’s a crazy, crazy price for a laptop of this caliber. At its core, it has a super-speedy Intel Core Ultra 7 256V CPU, which qualifies it as a Copilot+ PC that’s capable of Windows AI features and can handle pretty much all but the most demanding of tasks. Rounded out with 16GB of LPDDR5X RAM (pretty decent given the current RAM shortage that’s ruining everything) and a spacious 1TB SSD, this laptop won’t disappoint. You’ll enjoy responsive usage and fast system starts, app launches, and file transfers all around. But that’s not all. Treat your eyes to the beautiful 16-inch 2880×1800 (3K) screen with vibrant OLED panel, delivering the blackest blacks and vivid contrast that’ll blow you away whether you’re gaming or watching Netflix. The 120Hz refresh rate is adequate for gaming, too, and the 340 nits of brightness is enough as long as you aren’t using the laptop out in the sun. With Intel Arc 140V graphics, it’s actually not bad for casual gaming (and it can even do some ray tracing). Other notable bits include 19.5 hours of stated battery life (expect about half that in real-world usage) and a surprising amount of connectivity via double Thunderbolt 4, double USB-A, HDMI 2.1, and an audio jack. It also has a 1440p webcam (you don’t often see that much resolution in laptop webcams) with infrared, meaning it can also do Windows Hello facial recognition for quick and secure logins. You’d normally have to pay well over a grand for a laptop like this. It’s suitable for business, productivity, gaming, or just as an everyday daily driver for leisure. At this price , you’d be crazy to skip past it. But if you happen to miss it, see our daily updated roundup of the best laptop deals to find another one worth jumping on. Get the Acer Swift 16 AI with Core Ultra 7 and 16GB RAM for $470 off Buy now at Best Buy

NVIDIA updates Shield TV after pledging further support

NVIDIA updates Shield TV after pledging further support

NVIDIA is a very busy company, and between all the graphics cards and AI-chasing , it wouldn’t be wholly surprising to see the company forget about its more niche offerings, such as the Android-powered NVIDIA Shield TV . Happily for all those who own one of these powerful set-top boxes, that doesn’t appear to be the case. Not only is NVIDIA continuing to support its Shield devices, but it’s just rolled out its first proper update in nearly a year. The Shield Experience Upgrade 9.2.4, to give it its proper name, applies to both the Shield and Shield Pro boxes. It’s admittedly light on new features, instead being focused on updating security and fixing various issues, but is nice to see all the same. Here’s the full list of changes. Enhancements: Security patches are updated to Jan 2026. Resolved Bugs: Resolved Disney+ playback issue. Resolved 3rd party remote connection issue with Xbox after sleep mode. Resolved a crash issue which turns on SHIELD and CEC devices during sleep mode. Resolved 3rd party Bluetooth remote frequent disconnect issue. Resolved Settings page closes when triggering NVIDIA share on top of settings page. NVIDIA hasn’t given any strong indication that it’s preparing to launch a new Shield TV, but in a a recent interview with ArsTechnica , Andrew Bell, the company’s senior VP of hardware engineering, said it has no plans to end support any time soon, teasing that it had "played with new concepts." Bell also said that a first Shield refresh since 2019 would likely support codecs like AV1 and HDR10+, as well as the latest Dolby Vision profiles. The existing NVIDIA Shield Android TV Pro remains our pick of the best streaming devices for gamers, thanks to its ability to stream in native 4K and effectively upscale lower-resolution content. And with NVIDIA’s GeForce Now cloud gaming service going from strength to strength, the Shield retains a unique position in the PC gaming ecosystem. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/nvidia-updates-shield-tv-after-pledging-further-support-141346264.html?src=rss

You Can Marry Clint And Sandy In The 1.7 Update For Stardew Valley, ConcernedApe Announces

You Can Marry Clint And Sandy In The 1.7 Update For Stardew Valley, ConcernedApe Announces

Stardew Valley turns 10 years old today, marking a huge milestone for one of the most beloved and successful indie games in of the modern era. Despite being far from a live service game, solo developer ConcernedApe (also known as Eric Barone) is still providing content updates to this day, and though they've slowed significantly in recent years. 1.7 is coming soon. Today, that creator premiered a video on YouTube celebrating both of these occasions, taking a trip down memory lane to show off old builds of the farming sim while also providing a sneak peek at 1.7 – specifically, the game's first new marriage candidates in years. At the very end of the video, he revealed that players will be able to romance Clint, the blacksmith, and Sandy, a shopkeeper in the desert. These choices are a bit surprising, for a few reasons. For starters, Clint is commonly made fun of by members in the community who dislike his personality. In a cast of beloved characters, he stands out as one of the most commonly disdained. That said, maybe this is Barone's attempt to turn the character's popularity around, since romance quests give characters a lot more depth. Still, there are other characters players have requested to romance for years. The most notable are Robin (she's married when the player arrives to the village, but that fact doesn't do much to quell romantic fans) and the Wizard. Unless they're coming in some massive 1.8 update, fans will have to stick to fanfic and mods. The rest of the video is worth watching as well, since we don't usually get such a detailed behind-the-scenes look at indie games like this, and it's cool to watch the project come together. Stardew Valley's 1.7 update doesn't have release window yet, but will hopefully be out sometime soon. If you haven't played Stardew Valley in a while, you can check out its Switch 2 update, which includes split-screen co-op and mouse controls . As for ConcernedApe's next game, Haunted Chocolatier, we have no idea when to expect its release, but it's one of our most anticipated games right now .