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House of the Dragon fans, please come to the front of the class.

The Oscars buzz is rising for this one.

Two sides looking to build on big league wins at the weekend face off in this cup clash in north London.

President-elect Donald Trump and his newest top-lieutenant, Elon Musk, have sent Washington scrambling to avoid a government shutdown, even before Trump takes office.

(Image credit: Brandon Bell)

Thousands of workers are striking, as picket lines formed outside seven Amazon distribution centers from New York to California Thursday morning.

It’s been a big year in the world of tech, what with the unstoppable wave of AI, the smart ring revolution, outages galore, and so much more. And in this special episode of the TechRadar podcast we recap it all.

Sprinkling in a healthy dose of Christmas theming as we approach the holidays, on top of our usual tech chat you can you can look forward to a few special games namely ‘Naughty vs Nice’ which has debating which category the biggest tech news stories of the year fall into, and ‘What’s in the box?’ where we try to clue the other podcast guests into which mystery gadget we’ve been gifted by Santa. We also design our dream Christmas gadgets.

This week Josie and I are joined by TechRadar’s Phones Editor Axel Metz, as well as journalist, podcaster, and friend of the show Jon Devo.

You can catch the episode by watching the embedded video above, or you can stream it directly via our YouTube channel, Spotify or Apple Podcasts.

While you’re there, you can catch up on all of our earlier podcast episodes if you haven’t listened to them before, or browse all of our other YouTube content.

Make sure to subscribe too so you can catch our next episode, which will be a special fitness tech-focused episode with tips to help you smash your New Year New You health goals. See you in 2025!

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• The first official trailer for James Gunn's Superman movie has been revealed

Treat yourself or a loved one to this cordless handheld vacuum this holiday season and let it help clear debris from all those hard to reach places.

• Trend Micro spots sophisticated spear-phishing campaign targeting military and government targets
• It uses almost 200 RDP proxies to gain access to endpoints
• The total number of victims is in the hundreds

AN advanced persistent threat, known as Midnight Blizzard, HAS launched a large-scale spear phishing attack that targeted governments, military organizations, and academic researchers in the West.

The group exploited red team methodologies and anonymization tools, as it exfiltrated sensitive data from their target’s IT infrastructure, cybersecurity researchers from Trend Micro has revealed.

In a report, the researchers said the group utilized a rogue Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) and a Python-based tool called PyRDP. The attack starts with a spear-phishing email carrying a malicious RDP configuration file. If the victim runs it, it connects to an attacker-controlled RDP server.

On Russia's payroll

The campaign used 34 rogue RDP backend servers in combination with 193 proxy servers to redirect victim connections and mask the attackers' activities.

Once the victim is connected, the crooks use PyRDP to intercept the connection, acting as a man-in-the-middle (MitM). Then, with access to target endpoints, the attackers could browse files, exfiltrate sensitive data, and more.

While the total number of victims across the entire campaign is unclear, Trend Micro says that approximately 200 high-profile victims were targeted in a single day, when the campaign was at its peak, in late October 2024.

The victims were government and military organizations, think tanks and academic researchers, entities related to the Ukrainian government, a cloud service provider, and entities associated with the Netherlands’ Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Most of them are located in Europe, the United States, Japan, Ukraine, and Australia.

To put things into more context, it’s worth noting that Midnight Blizzard is also known as APT29, Earth Koschchei, or Cozy Bear. It’s a sophisticated advanced persistent threat group sponsored by the Russian government and under direct control of the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR). It is known for conducting cyber-espionage campaigns primarily in Western countries.

Via BleepingComputer

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• Windows 11 24H2 Auto HDR bug causes colors to be displayed wrongly
• There are also problems with games crashing
• Microsoft has promised a fix is coming soon

Windows 11’s 24H2 update has another bug that’s affecting PC gamers, and others besides, with the glitch causing colors to be displayed incorrectly.

Microsoft has confirmed the problem in its release health status dashboard, informing us that the bug is happening to those who’ve enabled the Auto HDR feature.

Windows Latest reports that issues with the 24H2 update aren’t just affecting games but also colors in general on the desktop, which may be rendered wrongly until you go to the Settings app in Windows 11 and switch off the ‘Automatically manage color for apps’ option.

Microsoft doesn’t mention bugs pertaining to anything outside of PC games when using Auto HDR, though.

Auto HDR is a Windows 11 feature that, ironically, is designed to enhance your gaming visuals automatically. If you turn on Auto HDR, it’ll apply HDR effects to an SDR game, meaning that game will appear more vibrant and immersive on an HDR monitor.

Games that support HDR natively will deliver a better visual experience, of course, but Auto HDR is much better than playing in SDR - unless, as is the case with this bug, it completely messes up your colors.

(Image credit: Shutterstock / Dean Drobot) This isn’t just about wonky colors - but also games crashing

In the same support document, Microsoft explains that not only does the Auto HDR bug cause colors to appear incorrectly in games, but it could cause some games to crash.

Windows Latest describes its own experience of the problem and references a Reddit thread where user Rachidramone describes multiple games freezing or crashing entirely (including popular titles like Call of Duty, Assassin’s Creed, and Far Cry).

Microsoft’s recommendation to remedy the issue is to either turn off Auto HDR in Settings, or to avoid using Windows 11 24H2, and stick with 23H2 instead.

Furthermore, Microsoft has enacted a ‘compatibility hold’ for PCs that have Auto HDR enabled, which means that these devices won’t be offered the 24H2 update. When the issue is fixed, 24H2 will then be rolled out to those PCs again.

Microsoft also warned against bypassing its upgrade block, and manually installing 24H2 (using, for example, the media creation tool), if you use Auto HDR at all.

For those who have already installed the 24H2 update, Microsoft recommends turning off Auto HDR to get things back to normal. You can do this by heading to Settings > System > Display, and then selecting Graphics. Under the ‘Default Settings’ panel you’ll see the toggle for Auto HDR and you just need to turn this off to disable it for all games, which is what I’d recommend. (However, this can also be done on a per-game basis via the ‘Custom settings for applications’ panel, should you wish).

Microsoft has said it’s working to fix the bug now, and will provide more information when it’s available. According to Windows Latest, the cure should be rolled out in the near future.

Windows 11 24H2 is clearly still finding its feet, especially when it comes to gaming. A bunch of bugs in 24H2 have hit PC gamers, unfortunately, including issues with anti-cheat systems, random crashes of one sort or another, and some serious glitches with Ubisoft games in particular.

If you’re not looking to deal with unexpected bugs and blips, it’s probably best to be a little cautious when it comes to updating to 24H2, and maybe hold off on upgrading until it becomes more stable and predictable. Hopefully, it won’t be too long before that happens.

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• The Witcher 4's narrative director says he knew the decision to make Ciri the protagonist could be "controversial"
• Narrative director Phillipp Weber understands that some players would prefer Geralt but hopes to prove Ciri's role by delivering on "a lot of interesting things"
• Weber said making Ciri the next Witcher "really was the natural evolution of what we’ve already been making for so long"

CD Projekt Red knew that making Ciri the protagonist of The Witcher 4 "could be controversial" for some people, but it was a decision the team made "a very long time ago".

In a recent interview with VGC, following the reveal of The Witcher 4 at The Game Awards, narrative director Phillipp Weber addressed the fan reaction to Ciri starring as the playable protagonist.

"I think we definitely knew it could be controversial for some people because of course, in the previous three Witcher games Geralt was the protagonist and I think everyone really loved playing as Geralt," Weber said.

"I really loved playing as Geralt, so I think we’re aware that if some people think right now that they would still prefer to be Geralt, I do think that’s a legitimate concern, so if this is where that concern is coming from, that’s valid."

According to Weber, the decision to make Ciri the titular Witcher of the next major game was made "a very long time ago" and hope to deliver on "a lot of interesting things" with Geralt of Rivia's adopted daughter at the forefront.

The narrative director also pointed out that the Ciri was originally set up as the secondary main character of Andrzej Sapkowski's novels and in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, so for the development team "it really was the natural evolution of what we’ve already been making for so long".

It also allowed CDPR to "honor" the ending of the Blood and Wine expansion where players get to see Geralt retire.

The Witcher 4's executive producer Małgorzata Mitręga also commented on the positive reaction from fans, saying the team is "overwhelmed by so many people liking the choice, being excited for," and "understanding where it came from".

"Also actually doing a little bit of our job, the community itself is doing the explanation on why it’s the correct choice," Mitręga said.

"Everyone has the right to have an opinion, and we do believe it comes from the passion for our games and I think the best answer for that will be the game itself when the game is released."

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• The Witcher 4 will introduce new regions, but the map will remain "more or less the same" size as The Witcher 3
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A court ruled that Fulton County DA Fani Willis and her office can't continue prosecuting the Georgia election interference case involving Donald Trump — the last active prosecution against Trump.

(Image credit: Alex Slitz)

Fulton County DA Fani Willis and her office can't continue prosecuting the Georgia election interference case involving Donald Trump — the last remaining criminal charges against the president-elect.

(Image credit: Alex Slitz)

• The Witcher 4 will feature "new regions" but the map will be around the same size as The Witcher 3's
• CD Projekt Red teased that players will be able to explore regions in the north, like the village showcased in the trailer
• Game director Sebastian Kalemba said the team "want to deliver a super compelling experience"

CD Projekt Red has confirmed that it will introduce new regions in The Witcher 4, but fans shouldn't expect a bigger map than the one featured in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt.

In a recent interview with Easy Allies, game director Sebastian Kalemba and executive producer Gosia Mitręga spoke on the surprise reveal of The Witcher 4 at The Game Awards 2024 and the decision to make Ciri the titular Witcher and playable protagonist.

When discussing the game's open world, Mitręga confirmed the development team is "introducing new regions" for players to explore.

Mitręga also hinted that we could see the "village in the trailer" make an appearance, which is "far North" of The Continent, meaning players could travel much further than Geralt did in The Witcher 3.

In terms of the map's size, Kalemba confirmed in a separate interview with Skill Up that The Witcher 4's is "more or less" the same as The Witcher 3's, which if you've played you'll know is pretty massive (thanks, GamesRadar).

"The map is definitely more or less when it comes to size, the amount of quests, more or less the same," Kalemba said. "Again, the game is going to be big. But also, the ambition of the entire team is huge. So first and foremost, we want to deliver a super compelling experience."

Kalemba continued, saying, "Again, quality over quantity. But definitely, what we can promise: yes, this game is going to be pretty big. It's going to be big compared to everything we've prepared so far..."

There's no release date for The Witcher 4 just yet, but we do know that it will be developed in Unreal Engine 5 and will mark the beginning of a new Witcher saga.

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• Amazon had announced full-time RTO mandate for January 2025
• But the company still isn’t ready for the influx of desk workers
• Some workers are worried RTOs are designed to push them away

Amazon’s return-to-office (RTO) policy has apparently been paused because the company doesn’t have enough office space in some locations.

New reports by Bloomberg and Business Insider state that insufficient office space in several of the ecommerce giant’s US locations has caused the temporary pause.

Already a controversial move that sparked widespread worker dissatisfaction, the news follows CEO Andy Jassy’s September announcement that workers would transition from their previous three-day office-working policy to a full-time mandate, which left a bitter taste in the mouths of many.

Amazon’s RTO isn’t working

The move would require workers to be in the office five days per week starting January 2, 2025, yet weeks before the policy is set to be enforced, and with office set to shut over Christmas and the New Year, the company has failed to provide enough office space.

Jassy had hoped that bringing people back into the office would enable better collaboration, cohesion and social benefits. The policy is more akin to pre-pandemic working setups, with assigned desks, rather than more flexible measures that have followed in the post-pandemic world of hybrid working.

Due to capacity limitations in offices in Atlanta, Dallas, Houston, Nashville, New York and Phoenix, some staff have been told that they might not need to go in full-time for another four months.

The company told GeekWire that most of its offices would meet the January 2 target, but acknowledged that some locations might be delayed.

Employees who were previously working remotely, or a hybrid of the two, have previously expressed concerns that returning to the office full-time would make it difficult for them. Many would have to relocate or change their lifestyles to suit, with some believing that RTO mandates are rolling out across tech giants, including Amazon, to get workers to resign.

News that the company has not prepared enough office space certainly reflects that sentiment, but this could just be a coincidence. TechRadar Pro put that notion to Amazon, but we did not receive an immediate response.

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• Drone maker DJI has escaped a US import ban for now
• The company has a year to prove its security or be automatically banned
• DJI protests that Chinese firms are being unfairly singled out

DJI is the world’s largest drone maker, and its products are so good that they occupy seven of the top 10 spots on our list of the best drones money can buy. But that hasn’t stopped it from facing increased scrutiny in the US, and while the company has just narrowly escaped being banned altogether in the United States, things could look very different in a year’s time.

So, what’s happened? Well, the US Senate has just passed the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which allocates defense spending for the year. To DJI’s relief, it did not contain any provisions from the Countering CCP Drones Act, which sought to essentially block imports of all DJI products into the United States.

But DJI isn’t out of the woods yet. The NDAA has started a one-year countdown, during which DJI has to prove that its products are not a national security risk to the United States. If it can’t, all of its devices will be automatically banned in the US, as will those of rival firm Autel Robotics.

DJI must prove its innocence to “an appropriate national security agency” (which has not yet been named). Otherwise, the FCC will add DJI products to its “covered list," which would block DJI devices from running on US networks and prevent the FCC from authorizing their internal radios for use in the United States. It would essentially be an import ban.

Flights grounded

(Image credit: Future / Tim Coleman)

DJI is a Chinese company that has provoked ire and suspicion among US lawmakers. As with many Chinese companies, some in the US are concerned that DJI could have overly close links to the Chinese authorities and that its products could pose a national security threat.

In a blog post, DJI has responded to the allegations by saying it “welcomes the scrutiny and looks forward to the opportunity to demonstrate our privacy controls and security features.” The company also claims that Chinese firms are being unfairly singled out and worries that the US government has not yet assigned an agency to carry out the assessment – if no agency takes charge, DJI will be banned automatically, it believes.

The NDAA has passed both the House of Representatives and the US Senate, meaning it just requires President Biden’s signature. While Biden is almost certain to sign it as it received bipartisan support, it remains to be seen what action – if any – President-elect Trump will take once he assumes office in January. If you’re a fan of DJI drones, you’ll need to watch closely – or start looking for alternative options.

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