A ransomware gang is demanding $50 million from Acer

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It's Saturday, March 20, 2021.

On Friday night, The Record and Bleeping Computer reported that PC manufacturer Acer has been hit by a ransomware attack on its back-office network. According to information they’ve seen posted on the dark web, the REvil ransomware gang is demanding $50 million to decrypt its computers and delete stolen data instead of leaking it.

Acer has not publicly admitted that there is an attack going on, only that it has “reported recent abnormal situations” to law enforcement. If it needs an example of what to do next then CD Projekt Red may be an example, having publicly acknowledged a ransomware attack that impacted plans to release new patches for Cyberpunk 2077. The game developer may be on its way to recovering from that, as it just posted a video showing off tweaks that will be a part of the upcoming 1.2 patch.

While we wait to find out what happens next, don’t forget to take a minute and read through Karissa Bell's look at the changes Twitter is making,15 years in. By pursuing new features that change the way people can make money on and off of its platform, Twitter is suddenly about “a lot more than just Tweets.”

— Richard Lawler

This week’s best tech deals: $40 off the Echo Show 5 and more

DJI’s Osmo Pocket gimbal camera dropped to $199.

An Amazon that started over the weekend continued and saw prices slashed on the latest Echo, Echo Show 5 and Echo Dot, among others. Apple's MacBook Pro M1 fell to its lowest price yet thanks to coupons that accompanied sale prices, and the Apple Watch SE remains on sale for $259. And through Sunday, Best Buy has a limited-time sale on a bunch of gear, including the latest Samsung smartphones, Surface tablets and OLED TVs.

Here are all the best deals from the week that you can still snag today, and remember to follow @EngadgetDeals on Twitter for more updates.
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The Engadget Podcast

Samsung's A-series event and Google's sleep-tracking display

This week, Cherlynn and Devindra are joined by senior mobile editor Chris Velazco to try and make sense of Samsung’s ‘Awesome Unpacked’ event. The company didn’t just unveil new Galaxy A-series phones, but also tried excruciatingly hard to flex its ‘understanding’ of Gen Z lingo. We also take a look at Google’s new Nest Hub, which is a smart display that uses radar to tell when you’re asleep. Is that cool or creepy? Plus, updates from elsewhere PC hardware land with news from Intel, AMD and Alienware.

Stay tuned to the end of the episode for interviews with The Walking Dead creator Robert Kirkman on his upcoming Amazon animated series Invincible as well as Fede Alvarez, director of the upcoming Apple TV series Calls.

Listen on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Pocket Casts or Stitcher.
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Elon Musk changes job title to 'Technoking of Tesla'

You’re a grown man, Elon.

In the midst of Tesla’s SEC filing, Elon Musk has apparently claimed a new title, the “Technoking of Tesla,” for some reason. The company’s CFO, Zach Kirkhorn, has a new position that’s right out of Game of Thrones: Master of Coin. There’s also probably a nod there to the recent Bitcoin machinations of both Tesla and Musk himself. Last month, Tesla bought $1.5 billion worth of Bitcoin to help “diversify and maximize” its returns. The news juiced the price of Bitcoin further, hitting an all-time high of over $44,000.

The filing notes: “Elon and Zach will also maintain their respective positions as Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer.”
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Intel's 11th-gen desktop CPUs could win gamers back from AMD

This year’s flagship CPU is 14 percent faster while running ‘Flight Simulator’ in 1080p.

11th Gen Intel Core desktop processors (code-named

Intel has finally given us more information about its next family of desktop CPUs, codenamed Rocket Lake S. The fastest offering will be the Core i9-11900K, an 8-core chip that reaches up to 5.3GHz on a single core. Notably, that's two fewer cores than last year's 10900K. Devindra Hardawar explains what performance Intel has been able to wring out of its aging 14nm process, and how that compares to the competition from AMD for gamers and professionals.
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Barnes & Noble unveils a new 10-inch Nook tablet

A ‘full-featured Lenovo Android tablet...with Nook at its heart.’

Designed in collaboration with Lenovo, this Android device is powered by an octacore processor and has a 10.1-inch HD IPS display that's apparently been certified to be gentle on the eyes by lowering blue light. It also has 32GB of storage with the option to expand with a microSD card and can last up to 10 hours of web browsing on a single charge.

As you'd expect, the $130 slate has access to the Nook app for ebooks, newspapers and magazines, Google Play and Google Assistant.
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