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Ava DuVernay is confirmed to direct DC's new superhero movie New Gods and fans of the comic are losing their damn minds. Reported by Variety, A Wrinkle in Time director DuVernay has signed on to steer the ship for the new DC Extended Universe epic, based on the Jack Kirby-created comic. SEE ALSO: I'm obsessed with the cast of 'A Wrinkle In Time' and you should be too It'll be the second DC superhero film to be directed by a woman, following the Patty Jenkins-helmed box office smash Wonder Woman. While DuVernay's current Disney film, A Wrinkle in Time, underperformed at the U.S. box office, she's smashed it elsewhereSelma made her the first black female director to be nominated for a Golden Globe, she was nominated for an Oscar for her documentary 13th, and she took home the directing award at Sundance for her second feature film Middle of Nowhere. Boom. Read more... More about Dc, Superheroes, Dc Comics, Ava Duvernay, and New Gods View the full article

oh Where were you in 2012? The subreddit r/blunderyears is an homage to the pains of puberty. It's full of photos from people's worst ages, from cringey prom photos to terrible trends. (Remember frosted tips?) The nostalgia for terrible photos of adolescence took over Twitter this past month with the six year glow up challenge. People are comparing their selfies from 2012 to their selfies from 2018 and sharing them on Twitter to show just how much can change in six years. SEE ALSO: 35 snacks that will take you back to the '90s Whether it was growing out their hair, getting their braces removed, or finally figuring out their angles, everyone's just glad they're past the awkward years of middle school and early high school. Read more... More about Twitter Reactions, Throwback, Culture, and Web CultureView the full article

Update: Danny Boyle confirmed that he is now working on a the next installment in the James Bond series. He told Metro US: "We’ve got an idea, John Hodge, the screenwriter, and I have got this idea, and John is writing it at the moment. And it all depends on how it turns out. … Bond would be right at the end of the year." Boyle and Hodge have collaborated frequently over the years, most recently on T2: Trainspotting. The filmmaker is also working on a script with Richard Curtis (Love, Actually), which he hopes to start shooting in six or seven weeks. (Original post follows.) After falling short with his recent Trainspotting follow-up, Danny Boyle might get a chance at a sure-thing sequel. According to Variety, the Oscar-winning director... Read More View the full article

Russian hackers don't just go after emails. A report released Thursday afternoon by the United States Computer Emergency Readiness Team (US-CERT) details an alleged years-long Russian effort to infiltrate and control critical infrastructure across the U.S. And in many cases they appear to have succeeded. SEE ALSO: Russian hacking group Fancy Bear targets hundreds of journalists "Since at least March 2016, Russian government cyber actors—hereafter referred to as 'threat actors'—targeted government entities and multiple U.S. critical infrastructure sectors, including the energy, nuclear, commercial facilities, water, aviation, and critical manufacturing sectors," reads the warning. It was based on analysis from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the FBI. Read more... More about Russia, Hacking, Tech, and Cybersecurity View the full article

Every product here is independently selected by Mashable journalists. If you buy something featured, we may earn an affiliate commission which helps support our work. In another blow to RSS fans everywhere, Digg announced that it would soon be shuttering Digg Reader. As of March 26, the RSS service will no longer work on the web or in Digg's mobile apps. The company didn't say why it was closing the service, which it started in response to Google killing off its own RSS service in 2013. SEE ALSO: Which news platform will win in a post-Facebook world? Naturally, the news was pretty upsetting to Digg Reader fans who had turned to the service as a replacement for the once beloved Google Reader. Read more... More about Tech, Apps And Software, Tech, and Consumer TechView the full article

He was previously arrested on assault, kidnapping charges View the full article

It's pretty much confirmed: Luigi has a dick. Nintendo is releasing Mario Tennis Aces for the Switch in June, and its promotional material features the Super Mario gang in fun athletic new outfits. But some more salacious gamers were focused on one revamped character in particular. SEE ALSO: Nintendo refuses to answer questions about Mario's sex life People freaked out over Nintendo's image of our favorite sidekick, because if you zoom in enough, Luigi has a defined bulge in his pants. There's his bulge, in all of its mesh shorts encased glory. Image: nintendo Here's a close up. It's definitely there. Those mesh athletic shorts are holding in something. Read more... More about Nintendo, Twitter Reactions, Culture, and Web Culture View the full article

Lyft is testing a monthly subscription plan for people who tend to take a lot of rides, The Verge first reported. This is no surprise, given Lyft CEO and co-founder Logan Green said earlier this week Lyft would like to achieve in transportation what Netflix achieved in streaming media with subscriptions. There seems to be a couple of plans Lyft is testing out. One costs $199 up front to get 30 free rides worth up to $15 per ride. Another plan costs $399 a month for 60 rides. So, it appears as if Lyft is A/B testing to try to figure out just how much people are willing to pay. “We’re always testing new ways to provide passengers the most affordable and flexible transportation options,” a Lyft spokesperson told TechCrunch. “For the past few months, we’ve been testing a variety of All-Access Plans for Lyft passengers. If you already spend $450 a month on Lyft rides, both plans would likely be worth the money. Uber has previously offered a subscription service, Uber Plus Pass that guaranteed prices on rides for an upfront fee. View the full article

“We’re sorry for not providing more information but navigating this privately has felt like the best way to be respectful to all parties.” View the full article

New Indie For a straight white guy, writer-director Sean Baker tells some of the most compassionate and empathetic stories about marginalized communities. The man behind Tangerine and Starlet returns with The Florida Project (Lionsgate Home Entertainment), a powerful tale of a young girl (played indelibly by Brooklynn Prince) and her barely-getting-by mother (Bria Vinaite) as they eke out a day-to-day existence in a Crayola-colored motel in the shadow of Walt Disney World. Willem Dafoe received richly deserved Oscar and Independent Spirit nominations for his turn as the hotel’s compassionate manager. Not always an easy watch – and I love the ending, even though it’s been divisive – this is a powerful and heartfelt story of people just trying to make it in... Read More View the full article

By adding a cryptocurrency exchange, a web version and stock option trading, Robinhood has managed to quadruple its valuation in a year, according to a source familiar with a new round the startup is raising. Robinhood is closing in on around $350 million in Series D funding led by Russian firm DST Global, the source says. That’s just 11 months after Robinhood confirmed TechCrunch’s scoop that the zero-fee stock trading app had raised a $110 million Series C at a $1.3 billion valuation. The new raise would bring Robinhood to $526 million in funding. Details of the Series D were first reported by The Wall Street Journal. The astronomical value growth shows that investors see Robinhood as a core part of the mobile finance tools upon which the next generation will rely. The startup also just proved its ability to nimbly adapt to trends by building its cryptocurrency trading feature in less than two months to make sure it wouldn’t miss the next big economic shift. One million users waitlisted for access in just the five days after Robinhood Crypto was announced. The launch completed a trio of product debuts. The mobile app finally launched a website version for tracking and trading stocks without a commission in November. In December it opened options trading, making it a more robust alternative to brokers like E*Trade and Scottrade. They often charge $7 or more per stock trade compared to zero with Robinhood, but also give away features that are reserved for Robinhood’s premium Gold subscription tier. Robinhood won’t say how many people have signed up for its $6 to $200 per month Gold service that lets people trade on margin, with higher prices netting them more borrowing power. That and earning interest on money stored in Robinhood accounts are the startup’s primary revenue sources. Rapid product iteration and skyrocketing value surely helped recruit Josh Elman, who Robinhood announced yesterday has joined as VP of product as he transitions to a part-time roll at Greylock Partners. He could help the company build a platform business as a backbone for other fintech apps, they way he helped Facebook build its identity platform. In effect, Robinhood has figured out how to make stock trading freemium. Rather than charge per trade with bonus features included, Robinhood gives away the bare-bones trades and charges for everything else. That could give it a steady, scalable business model akin to Dropbox, which grew by offering small amounts of free storage and then charging for extras and enterprise accounts. From a start with free trades, Robinhood could blossom into a hub for your mobile finance life. View the full article

The Uber UK office treated 50 employees to a night of London theater Wednesday — but it wasn't just any show. No, it was a satirical take on the rise and fall of a big-time CEO busy disrupting the world with his ride-hailing app and endless scandals. Sound familiar? The Vault Festival's play Brilliant Jerks opened Wednesday evening. Uber snagged 50 seats to the show, which focus on the character of Tyler Janowski, an ex-CEO in the ride-hailing world. It's not explicitly former Uber CEO Travis Kalanick, but yes it is. SEE ALSO: Women say they fear for their safety after Uber loses its license in London Read more... More about London, Uber, Theater, Travis Kalanick, and Brilliant JerksView the full article

Google Maps has a pretty solid set of data for taking transit from here to there, but anyone with a physical disability knows it isn’t quite that simple. Some stations may be wheelchair-unfriendly, have out-of-service elevators, that kind of thing. A new update to the service adds an option for you to specify a wheelchair-accessible route — though that’s just a start on what’s really needed. Transit riders in London, New York, Tokyo, Mexico City, Boston and Sydney will now have the option to select “wheelchair accessible” in their route options in the same way they might opt to have fewer transfers or minimal walking. More are on the way. No doubt this will make life easier for disabled folks, people with strollers or even anyone lugging around something heavy. But maps, even Google’s extremely detailed ones, are still extremely short on information critical to anyone with a physical disability. Walking routes that take into account sidewalk condition and grade, curb cuts, pedestrian crossing zones or buttons, wheelchair-accessible entrances to buildings and much more could be better integrated into the world’s most popular mapping platform. We know it can be done because a handful of students did it on their own for a summer project. AccessMap uses a combination of manually generated and publicly available data to label sidewalks as safe or risky for people who have trouble getting around. It’s limited to Seattle at present (can’t expect undergrads to map the country) but the concept is more than sound. Here’s hoping Google dedicates a bit more of its considerable resources to improving this aspect of the product. Millions will thank them. View the full article

After previously teasing a collaboration with Shrek director Andrew Adamson View the full article

What happens when Spacemen 3’s “Honey” and Post Malone’s “Rockstar” collide View the full article

When the Spectre and Meltdown bugs hit, it became clear that they wouldn’t be fixed with a few quick patches — the problem runs deeper than that. Fortunately, Intel has had plenty of time to work on it, and new chips coming out later this year will include improvements at the hardware/architecture level that protect against the flaws. Well, two out of three, anyway. CEO Brian Krzanich announced the news in a company blog post. After thanking a few partners, he notes that all affected products from the last 5 years have received software updates to protect them from the bugs. Of course, the efficacy of those updates is debatable, as well as their performance hits — and that’s if your hardware vendor even gets a patch out. But at any rate, the fixes are available. There are actually three semi-related bugs here: Spectre is variants 1 and 2; then there’s variant 3, which researchers dubbed Meltdown. Variant 1 is arguably the most difficult of them all to fix, and as such Intel doesn’t have a hardware solution for it yet — but variants 2 and 3 it has in the bag. “We have redesigned parts of the processor to introduce new levels of protection through partitioning that will protect against both Variants 2 and 3,” Krzanich writes. Cascade Lake Xeon and 8th-gen Core processors should include these changes when they ship in the second half of 2018. Although that’s a bit vague, we can be certain that Intel will prominently advertise what new chips include the mitigations as we get closer to release. Lastly, even older hardware will be getting the microcode updates — back to the 1st-gen Core processors. Remember Nehalem and Penryn? Those will be patched in time, as well. Anyone surprised that a Nehalem system is still in use anywhere probably hasn’t worked in IT at a big company or government agency. I bet there are 98SE systems running on Pentiums somewhere in the Department of Energy. This announcement doesn’t require anything from users, but keep your computer up to date if you know how, and ask customer service for your device provider if you’re not sure. View the full article

Fitness-oriented New Yorkers aren’t facing a shortage of classes that they can sign up for, but the prices can add up — Clément Benoit, founder of a new startup called FitHouse, said boutique classes cost an average of $35 per session. FitHouse, on the other hand, is charging $99 per month for unlimited classes. Contrast that not just with a traditional studio, but also with ClassPass, where pricing in NYC ranges from $45 (for two to four classes) to $135 (for eight to 12 classes) per month. In many ways, FitHouse offers a more traditional model than ClassPass — instead of giving subscribers access to a classes run by other studios and instructors, it’s building a studio of its own. Benoit said this gives the company more control over the experience, and a bigger piece of the revenue, which he said “we redistribute to both the user and the instructors.” Beyond the pricing, Benoit said FitHouse also stands out because of its approach to real estate. It’s looking to take over empty spaces that require a minimum amount of investment to make them ready for classes. And it’s signing six-month leases with the possibility of a longer-term extension, so that it can quickly spin up new locations in new neighborhoods, with a minimum of risk. FitHouse has already opened its first location in New York’s Bowery neighborhood, with plans to launch 12 locations across the city over the next year. Clément Benoit Benoit also said he’s attracting the best instructors by putting them front-and-center in FitHouse’s marketing and scheduling, and by paying them 10 to 25 percent more than they’d normally make to teach a class. (Though to be clear, these instructors aren’t working with FitHouse exclusively.) Benoit, by the way, is a tech entrepreneur who sold his last-mile delivery startup Stuart to GeoPost last year. (And he’s already raised a $3 million round from Global Founders Capital, Xavier Niel and Fabrice Grinda.) He admitted that FitHouse’s technology isn’t the most flashy part of the offering, but he said it’s still important that the startup created its own frontend and backend infrastructure. “Just the fact that we have information on the user, we can deliver a personalized check in: You came last week, you had a great class with this instructor, how did you like it?” he said. “No studio does that. They don’t control the tech.” View the full article

“It's kind of a sci-fi thing about a guy who gets busted for a crime.” View the full article

Abra, a global currency wallet that was the belle of the early Bitcoin ball, has just added 20 cryptocurrencies and 50 fiat currencies, a feature that allows you to top up and send cash and cryptocurrencies from inside the wallet. “Bitcoin, Ether, Litecoin, Ripple, Bitcoin Cash, Ethereum Classic, Dash, Zcash, Bitcoin Gold, Stellar Lumens, DigiByte, Dogecoin, Golem, OmiseGO, Qtum, Augur, Status, Stratis, Vertcoin and 0x are the initial 20 cryptocurrencies,” the company wrote. “Abra developed a first-of-its kind smart contract investing platform that uses bitcoin technology to allow users to hold exposure to cryptocurrencies and fiat currencies on a smartphone much the same way Fidelity allows you to buy an ETF in the old world,” said founder Bill Barhydt. “With this model, we can enable exposure to any asset — Abra has only started with crypto and fiat.” The system allows you to convert between currencies with “no transaction fees, at any time with no limitations.” It seems to work similarly to ShapeShift, another solution that allows nearly instant conversions between currencies. There are also a few tricks up Abra’s sleeve, including the clever use of smart contracts to reduce the volatility associated with currency trades. They write: Consumers can add money to their wallets using a bank account, an American Express credit card in the United States or using bitcoin purchased outside Abra from anywhere in the world. They can then invest in any of the 20 cryptocurrencies offered on the Abra app, quickly, easily and safely. To develop the new wallet and integrated exchange, Abra built a first-of-its-kind platform using price-stabilized crypto tokens, called stablecoins, that facilitates holding both fiat coins as well as cryptocurrencies through a combination of litecoin and bitcoin based smart contracts. This unique multi-sig smart contract based investment platform uses Pay To Script Hash scripts on the litecoin and bitcoin blockchains that simulate investment contracts the way a gold ETF is a contract based on USD. Abra acts as the counter-party (i.e. the other signatory) to the P2SH scripts, enabling the company to now run a market making operation that hedges away its counter-party risk on these scripts. In short, Abra is trying mightily to ensure that buys and sells won’t drastically change due to volatility. Abra has raised $40 million in funding to date following its Series B round at $16 million in October 2017. Investors include Foxconn Technology Group, Silver8 Capital, Ignia, Arbor Ventures, American Express Ventures, Jungle Ventures, Lerer Hippeau and RRE Ventures. “In addition to the 50 fiat currencies, Abra previously supported Bitcoin and Etherium, but found that their users wanted the ability to invest in alternate cryptocurrencies in an easy and quick manner — without the hassle of multiple transactions and fees,” said Barhydt. View the full article

Seven million women (and men) love theSkimm. With its daily newsletters designed to keep you in the loop on the latest news and pop culture, theSkimm has developed a loyal following, and even recruits fans called “Skimm’bassadors” to help spread the word. That word-of-mouth hype is helping, and the startup has seen enough growth to warrant more funding. TheSkimm is announcing a $12 million round led by GV (Google Ventures), with participation from Spanx founder Sara Blakely as well as existing investors like RRE Ventures and Homebrew. Co-founded in 2012 in New York by former TV news producers Carly Zakin and Danielle Weisberg, the company has expanded beyond its newsletters targeting millennial women and offers subscription products, too. TheSkimm’s app includes a calendar of upcoming news and televised events. It also has podcasts and an e-commerce business. Revenue is said to have more than doubled year over year since 2016, partly due to the subscriptions, but also due to native advertising and affiliate licensing. The staff has doubled, as well, and recently moved into a new headquarters. The latest funding, which adds to the more than $16 million already raised, will be used to add more subscription services and also further expand into video and podcasting. TheSkimm also has plans for data analysis. View the full article

Fox’s The Exorcist series may need the last rites – One of the biggest surprises of the past few years is how good Fox’s television series based on The Exorcist has turned out to be. If you skipped it thinking it would be a poorly conceived cash-in, let me assure you that I know where you’re coming from…but you’re also wrong. The show bucked the odds and garnered a second season that ran late last year, but a Friday night time slot isn’t the best time to air, and the show’s viewership is down. That has Fox chairman Gary Newman making some ominous pronouncements. The exec says the show is "on the bubble," which generally means that while a renewal could happen, it’s leaning towards unlikely. Newman acknowledges the... Read More View the full article

Virtual fighting monkeys! Hologram porn! A problematic Southeast Asian theme! Kind Heaven, ladies and gentlemen! View the full article

With a joint alert from the FBI and DHS, the Trump administration has formally accused the Russian government of a “multi-stage intrusion campaign” targeting the U.S. energy grid for the first time. The alert provides some specifics about an emerging threat that could translate a cyberattack into practical chaos for a country in the crosshairs of such an attack. The alert elaborates on “Russian government actions targeting U.S. Government entities as well as organizations in the energy, nuclear, commercial facilities, water, aviation, and critical manufacturing sectors” — a goal consistent with suspected Russian cyberattacks like last year’s NotPetya malware which focused on industrial targets and past hacks of energy systems in Ukraine. The joint report by FBI and DHS links to Symantec research from October 2017 that detailed efforts by a “sophisticated attack group” then only known as Dragonfly which “[appeared] to be interested in both learning how energy facilities operate and also gaining access to operational systems themselves.” It’s clear from the alert that Russian reconnaissance efforts to probe critical infrastructure systems were also paired with an effort to override control for those systems: “DHS and FBI characterize this activity as a multi-stage intrusion campaign by Russian government cyber actors who targeted small commercial facilities’ networks where they staged malware, conducted spear phishing, and gained remote access into energy sector networks. After obtaining access, the Russian government cyber actors conducted network reconnaissance, moved laterally, and collected information pertaining to Industrial Control Systems (ICS).” To carry out their aims, the attackers employed a blend of technical attacks, social engineering and basic online sleuthing. In one instance, the report describes how the hackers downloaded a small image displayed on a target’s public human resources page. By blowing up the photo, the attackers revealed a “high-resolution photo that displayed control systems equipment models and status information in the background” — a considerable oversight and evidence of just how unevenly implemented basic operational security precautions can be in the energy sector. During the early stage of compromising a system, the alert states that the threat actors used spear-phishing attacks originating from an already hacked legitimate account and watering hole domains, among other methods. After infiltrating a system, the attackers made organized efforts to cover their tracks, deleting logs and removing installed applications, including the VPN software FortiClient. More technical detail is available in the document itself on the US-CERT website. View the full article

Jordan Outdoor Enterprises claims its copyrights were infringed upon View the full article

Holy cow, Lorde said in more colorful language, “there are a lot of people here tonight!” Standing onstage at Staples Center, the young pop singer was surveying the crowd gathered to take in Wednesday’s stop on her world tour behind last year’s “Melodrama” album. If her choice of expletive suggested... View the full article