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Fortnite players are teaming up to hunt Elon Musk’s Cybertrucks in the battle royale.
The new in-game vehicle has not received the fanfare that Tesla was expecting but has certainly become a focus for some players.
Fortnite is no stranger to big collaborations. Recently they have been futuristic with Fallout’s dystopian weapons and armor on display and a Wasteland expansion based on Mad Max.
The most recent to join the digital avatar battle royale is the merc with a mouth, Deadpool, and his six-clawed pal, Wolverine. Just in time for the cinematic debut of Deadpool 3.
The Cybertruck, designed by Tesla has been much maligned in the media across the last year. From brake issues to product recalls and the firing and re-hiring of the Tesla supercharger team, it seems the carmaker is never far away from the spotlight. Neither is the billionaire at the helm of the company, Elon Musk.
Musk cuts a very controversial character in the real world, so love him or hate him, Tesla’s latest creation will be a talking point for new players.
Tesla Cybertruck in Fortnite
Epic Games posted the new wheels via X (formerly Twitter) in a small video displaying some fan-favorite characters:

Pulls
Catch a ride in the @tesla Cybertruck in Fortnite tomorrow! pic.twitter.com/CA8xuYQreS
— Fortnite (@FortniteGame) July 22, 2024

The new content dropping hasn’t gone down too well with all fans of Fortnite. Even former employees of Epic and well-known Fortnite faces like Kyle Wynn, who was a producer on the title came out in response to the announcement on X.
Wynn said. “Reminder that:

Voting with your wallet works and sentiment on social media is a tangible factor.
Companies are composed of lots of different people with their own unique opinions.
That truck looks f***ing silly and the CEO of that company is a piece of s**t.”

Wynn’s venomous response was echoed by some fans who wanted to immediately send those players who powered up the Tesla car back to the lobby. User @KaiuswithaK, said “there’s an unspoken rule amongst a lot of players that they will drop whatever they’re doing to force a cybertruck user back to the lobby. it’s your civic duty to uphold this honor code.”
There will be no shortage of trolls taking this as an ample opportunity to enrage players. @Kippgames, responded to Kaius on X saying:

I’m buying this now just so I can make people angry, then die
— Kippgames2 (@Kippgames) July 22, 2024

Fortnite recently collaborated with Metallica and no doubt the seminal ‘Seek and Destroy’ song by the Californian kings of heavy metal will be blaring whilst the hunt is on.
Image: Epic Games.
The post Fortnite players are going after Elon Musk’s Cybertrucks appeared first on ReadWrite.

In an unusual twist, the people who don’t pay for a Spotify subscription will once again be able to see the lyrics for any song they choose to listen to.
While it’s usually the opposite, with restrictions often added for those on the free level, Spotify has done a reversal.
In May, the streaming service stopped people from seeing the lyrics to songs unless they paid for one of the plans.
The cheapest of which, reserved only for students, costs $5.99. The Premium Individual plan sets people back $11.99 a month.
In a conversation with publisher Engadget, a Spotify spokesperson put the brief lyric blackout down as a testing situation. These lyrics are supposed to pop up on the screen when a song is played, allowing users to sing along or simply see the words.
“At Spotify, we’re always testing and iterating. This means the availability of our features can vary across tiers and between markets and devices.
“Over the coming weeks, we’ll be expanding Lyrics availability for Spotify Free users so more people can enjoy viewing more lyrics, globally.”
Spotify faced backlash on social media after taking away the lyrics feature
The continued rollout of the once-free and now free-again lyrics has been met with happiness from users which was a contrast from the previous few months.

LYRICS ARE BACK ON SPOTIFY LETSGOOOOOOOO pic.twitter.com/UtA8o4mxHx
— The Player (@GD_Player23) July 31, 2024

In July, a user called P4rttipoopr took to X to say: “Why is Spotify making people pay for lyrics I’m broke brah.”
Another, who goes by the moniker Merry Nation, said: “Spotify is broke asf like wdym I have to pay up to look at ready-made lyrics WHAT.”
Others have questioned why it was even removed in the first place: “Spotify is bringing back lyrics to their free users after removing it a couple of months ago. Why even remove it in the first place?”
In defiance, other social media users have reported refusing to pay for the upgrade. The feature can be easily accessed elsewhere as there are numerous dedicated websites for showing the lyrics of millions of songs.
Image Credit: Via Ideogram
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Harry Potter: Quidditch Champions isn’t just a single player affair, you’ll be able to hop online and battle it out against other Potterheads for the Golden Snitch.
Because of this, many are wondering if the game is crossplay so they’re able to take to the skies with their friends on other platforms.
Additionally, you might want to purchase the game for different systems too, so it’s integral you learn whether cross progression is a feature, or whether you have to start from scratch.
Here, we answer both of those questions, giving you the full rundown on if Quidditch Champions has them and how they work.
Does Harry Potter: Quidditch Champions have crossplay or cross progression functionality?
The short answer is yes, Harry Potter: Quidditch Champions does allow crossplay between all supported platforms.
This means that if you’re on PC you’re able to play with Nintendo Switch owners, PS5 gamers, so on and so forth.
This is amazing for the overall player base and should allow for the online portion of the game to stay healthy for as long as possible.
Moving to cross progression, Quidditch Champions has that also, meaning if you own the game on different platforms, you take your journey over there too.
Portkey Games has stated that “everything you earn goes with you” suggesting that it’s not only the XP that’s carried over, it’s any Gold, or if you’ve unlocked other aspects of the game too.
This is perfect for those who play on Xbox for example and then want to take their Quaffle throwing on the go with the Steam Deck, granting instantaneous pick up and play functionality.
All in all, the developers have really made the effort to make it as easy as possible for you to play with Harry Potter lovers no matter what device they own, something you don’t see too much since more complex titles require serious balancing that is no easy task.
Other Harry Potter: Quidditch Champions articles you may like

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Is Harry Potter: Quidditch Champions free to play?
Harry Potter: Quidditch Champions release date and more
Harry Potter: Quidditch Champions playable characters
Harry Potter: Quidditch Champions system requirements

The post Is Harry Potter: Quidditch Champions crossplay or have cross progression? appeared first on ReadWrite.

Helldivers 2’s latest update, coming Aug. 8, brings the fire in the form of flamethrowing weapons, perfect for barbecuing extraterrestrial insects.
It’s called the “Freedom’s Flame” Warbond, which is how developer Arrowhead Game Studios refers to these live-service updates. The new weapons look good and certainly lend a new and satisfying way to play the multiplayer shooter.

To be clear, fire weapons have been in Helldivers 2 since its February 2024 release date; this just leans further into the concept. Players will get a close-quarters shotgun that sprays “incendiary phosphorous” — which I believe is a violation of the Geneva Conventions — and a new flamethrower with longer range, as well as a matching sidearm.
There will also be two armor sets in the Warbond, conferring a passive trait of 75% damage resistance to fire. Players will also be able to retitle themselves as a Fire Safety Officer, and paint their shuttle, Hellpod, and exosuits in Safety Orange. Additionally, the Hellpod (the vessel players take to planetary surface) can be outfitted with a huge flame-blast as it touches down, getting the critters crispy before they even debark.
How much will Helldivers 2’s newest content pack cost?
Arrowhead has promised these Warbond updates will come out on a regular basis, and told players they can expect them to carry a certain theme. Warbonds typically cost 1,000 Super Credits, which is an in-game currency that is freely earned through play, or bought outright for $9.99.
The last Warbond, which launched in June, was the “Viper Commandos” set of weapons and gear, which evoked action movies set in a jungle, such as Predator. Before that was May’s “Polar Patriots,” which put the heroes in cold-weather gear.
The post Helldivers 2 leans into fire weapons with its August update appeared first on ReadWrite.

In a frightening twist, researchers have found vulnerabilities in the design of dating apps Bumble and Hinge which could allow stalkers to pinpoint victims’ locations down to two meters.
Researchers from the KU Leuven University in Belgium found six dating apps had the same issue after analyzing 15 of the most popular.
In the published paper titled ‘Swipe Left for Identity Theft,’ the dating platforms are said to “allow for pinpointing a victim’s exact location, enabling physical threats to user’s personal safety.”
None of these apps explicitly share the exact location of potential suitors, but they do have location-based features. This is so people can find relevant matches within their area.
Through a process of oracle trilateration, where an attacker gauges three positions representing the location of the victim, the researchers found that Badoo, Bumble, Hinge, and Hily are all susceptible to this approach.
While this is worrying for anyone, the team reached out to the companies behind the apps and they changed how their distance filters work so they’re no longer vulnerable to the technique.
Dating apps to ‘expose’ sensitive data
These geo-location-based apps were also found in this research to “routinely expose personal data to other users.” This could include information that they’re not actually aware of.
A broad privacy analysis of user data risks was carried out too, with the findings pointing to the app’s UI exposing “large amounts of personal and sensitive data to even unsophisticated adversaries.
“While users may feel compelled to share such data, there is a particular risk when APIs leak data hidden in the UI as well as exact user locations, as users will not be aware that they are sharing this data, which can lead to additional harm.”
The paper concludes that “the apps’ privacy policies generally fail to inform users about these privacy threats and leave the burden of protecting personal (sensitive) data to the users.”
Image Credit: Via Ideogram
The post Bumble and Hinge stalkers could track users within two meters on dating apps, researchers say appeared first on ReadWrite.