'Final Fantasy XIV' is so popular that Square Enix stopped selling it

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It's Friday, December 17, 2021.

Square Enix is suspending the sales and delivery of Final Fantasy XIV Starter Edition and Complete Edition because it's doing too well and the company's servers can't keep up. The decision applies to both physical and digital versions of the game and will happen in the coming weeks. FFXIV players have been struggling with lengthy queues ever since the Endwalker expansion came out in late November. They still have to wait hours to get into a server and be able to play the game.

It’s a little inside-baseball, but I’m planning a story on the record-breaking online RPG — but can’t access the game while this suspension continues. I guess I’ll have to find something else to write about over the holiday season. At least I have Deathloop and Metroid Dread to keep me busy.

— Mat Smith

What happened to the 'Meta' Instagram handle?

A motorcycle magazine controlled it for years — until Facebook changed its name.

When Facebook decided to change its name, changing its websites, business documents and more, the company didn’t control the @Meta handle on Instagram. It belonged to a small Denver-based magazine called META. The day of the announcement, the magazine posted a photo of assorted print issues with the caption “Since 2014.” But by the next day, the account had mysteriously vanished. @Meta now hosts all the content from the @Facebook Instagram page, while posts from META, the magazine, now appear under the @readmeta handle. What happened? And doesn’t this break Meta’s own rules about Instagram handles?

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Uber will test 'autonomous' food delivery sometime next year

Expect meal kits, not fast-food. For now.

Uber and autonomous vehicle company Motional announced a partnership for "autonomous deliveries" through Uber Eats. The pilot will launch at some point in "early 2022,” but it won’t offer the full range of Uber Eats options. Instead customers will be able to pick from "a curated set of meal kits from select restaurants." The joint venture isn’t entirely driverless, either. A Motional spokesperson told Engadget: "We will be launching the service with safety operators present in the vehicle." Meal kit deliveries will be in Santa Monica, California, to start, where a large portion of Motional's team works.

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Researchers call new zero-click iPhone exploit 'incredible and terrifying'

Apple has sued the NSO group over the 'nation state' level iMessage attack.

Google researchers have described NSO Group's zero-click exploit used to hack Apple devices as "incredible and terrifying,” calling it "one of the most technically sophisticated exploits we've ever seen," on par with attacks from elite nation-state spies.

The Project Zero team said it obtained one of NSO's Pegasus exploits from Citizen Lab, which managed to capture it via a targeted Saudi activist. NSO's original exploit required the user to click on a link, but the latest, most sophisticated exploits require no click at all. Called ForcedEntry, it takes advantage of the way iMessage interprets files like GIFs to open a malicious PDF file with no action required from the victim. Last month, the US Department of Commerce added NSO Group to its "entity list," essentially banning it for use in the US.

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Arrival offers an early look at its first electric car

Made for rideshare drivers, but not a taxi?

Arrival is a UK–US startup that wants to revolutionize the design and manufacture of electric vehicles. Its first sales pitch is the Arrival Car, designed, first and foremost, for rideshare drivers during their working day. We’ve got an exclusive first look, but is it just me or does it remind you of the Johnny Cab from Total Recall?

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