Tetris has been immortalized in a playable McDonald’s plastic chicken nugget, a playable fake 7-Eleven Slurpee cup, and a playable wristwatch. But the most intriguing way to play Tetris yet is encased in paper.
Technology
SoundCloud data breach exposes 29.8 million user accounts
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Hackers have exposed personal and contact information tied to SoundCloud accounts, with data breach notification service Have I Been Pwned reporting impacts to approximately 29.8 million users. The breach hit one of the world’s largest audio platforms and left many users locked out with error messages before the company confirmed the incident.
Founded in 2007, SoundCloud grew into an artist-first service hosting more than 400 million tracks from over 40 million creators. That scale made this incident especially concerning. SoundCloud said it detected unauthorized activity tied to an internal service dashboard and launched its incident response process. At the time, users reported 403 Forbidden errors, especially when connecting through VPNs.
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149 MILLION PASSWORDS EXPOSED IN MASSIVE CREDENTIAL LEAK
SoundCloud confirmed unauthorized activity after users reported access errors, triggering an internal incident response. (iStock)
What data was exposed in the SoundCloud breach
SoundCloud initially said attackers accessed limited data and did not touch passwords or financial information. The company said the exposed information matched what users already show publicly on profiles.
Later disclosures painted a much bigger picture.
According to Have I Been Pwned, attackers harvested data from approximately 29.8 million accounts. That data included:
- Email addresses
- Usernames and display names
- Profile photos and avatars
- Follower and following counts
- Geographic locations, in some cases
While no passwords were taken, linking emails to public profiles creates real risk. That combination fuels phishing, impersonation and targeted scams.
Who is behind the attack
Security researchers tied the breach to ShinyHunters, a well-known extortion gang. Sources told BleepingComputer that the group attempted to extort SoundCloud following the data breach. SoundCloud later confirmed those claims. In a January update, the company said attackers made demands and launched email-flooding campaigns to harass users, employees and partners. ShinyHunters has also claimed responsibility for recent voice phishing attacks targeting single sign-on systems at Okta, Microsoft and Google. Those attacks targeted corporate SaaS accounts to steal data and extort.
Why this breach matters even without passwords
At first glance, this may sound less serious than breaches involving passwords or credit cards. That assumption can be dangerous. Email addresses tied to real profiles allow scammers to craft convincing messages. They can pose as SoundCloud, brands or even other creators. With follower counts and usernames, messages feel personal and believable. Once attackers gain trust, they push links, malware or fake login pages. That is often how larger account takeovers begin.
What SoundCloud users should expect next
SoundCloud has not said whether more details will be released. The company did confirm the attack and the extortion attempt, but it has not answered follow-up questions about the scope or internal controls. For users, the long-term risk comes from how widely this dataset spreads. Once published, exposed data rarely disappears. It circulates across forums, marketplaces and scam networks for years.
We reached out to SoundCloud for comment, and a representative told us, “We are aware that a threat actor group has published data online allegedly taken from our organization. Please know that our security team—supported by leading third-party cybersecurity experts—is actively reviewing the claim and published data.”
SoundCloud has said it has found no evidence that sensitive data, such as passwords or financial information, was accessed.
Ways to stay safe after the SoundCloud breach
If you have or had a SoundCloud account, now is the time to act. Even limited data exposure can lead to targeted scams if you ignore it.
1) Watch for phishing and impersonation emails
Scammers often move fast after a breach. Watch your inbox for messages that mention SoundCloud, music uploads, copyright issues or account warnings. Do not click links or open attachments from unexpected emails. When in doubt, go directly to the official website instead of using email links. Strong antivirus software adds another layer of protection here.
Nearly 29.8 million accounts had emails and public profile data harvested, raising concerns about phishing and impersonation. (Cyberguy.com)
The best way to safeguard yourself from malicious links that install malware, potentially accessing your private information, is to have strong antivirus software installed on all your devices. This protection can also alert you to phishing emails and ransomware scams, keeping your personal information and digital assets safe.
Get my picks for the best 2026 antivirus protection winners for your Windows, Mac, Android & iOS devices at Cyberguy.com
2) Change your SoundCloud password anyway
Passwords were not exposed, but changing them is still smart. Create a new password that you do not use anywhere else. If remembering passwords feels impossible, consider using a password manager to generate and securely store strong passwords. This reduces the risk of reuse across platforms.
Next, see if your email has been exposed in past breaches. Our #1 password manager (see Cyberguy.com) pick includes a built-in breach scanner that checks whether your email address or passwords have appeared in known leaks. If you discover a match, immediately change any reused passwords and secure those accounts with new, unique credentials.
Check out the best expert-reviewed password managers of 2026 at Cyberguy.com
3) Turn on two-factor authentication
Two-factor authentication (2FA) adds a critical barrier if someone tries to access your account. Even if attackers guess or obtain a password later, they still need a second verification step. Enable 2FA anywhere SoundCloud or connected services offer it.
4) Lock down your email account
Your email is the real target after most breaches. If someone gains access to it, they can reset passwords everywhere else. Use a strong, unique password for your email account and turn on two-factor authentication. Review recovery emails and phone numbers to make sure they still belong to you.
DATA BREACH EXPOSES 400,000 BANK CUSTOMERS’ INFO
5) Reduce your online data footprint
Attackers use breached emails to search data broker sites and social platforms for more details. The less data available, the harder you are to target. Consider a data removal service to limit how often your email and personal details appear across the web.
While no service can guarantee the complete removal of your data from the internet, a data removal service is really a smart choice. They aren’t cheap, and neither is your privacy. These services do all the work for you by actively monitoring and systematically erasing your personal information from hundreds of websites. It’s what gives me peace of mind and has proven to be the most effective way to erase your personal data from the internet. By limiting the information available, you reduce the risk of scammers cross-referencing data from breaches with information they might find on the dark web, making it harder for them to target you.
Check out my top picks for data removal services and get a free scan to find out if your personal information is already out on the web by visiting Cyberguy.com
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6) Check your other accounts for suspicious activity
Attackers often reuse exposed email addresses to test logins across streaming services, social media and shopping accounts. Watch for password reset emails you did not request or login alerts from unfamiliar locations. If something looks off, act fast.
Security researchers linked the breach to the ShinyHunters extortion group, which later attempted to pressure SoundCloud for payment. (Thomas Trutschel/Photothek via Getty Images)
Kurt’s key takeaways
Data breaches no longer stay contained to one app or one moment in time. Even when attackers expose information that looks harmless, the fallout can last much longer. The SoundCloud breach shows how public profile data paired with private contact details creates real exposure. Staying alert, limiting data sharing and using strong security habits remain your best defense as breaches continue to escalate.
Have you checked which old or forgotten accounts still expose your email and could be putting you at risk right now? Let us know your thoughts by writing to us at Cyberguy.com
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Copyright 2026 CyberGuy.com. All rights reserved.
Last year the Tetris Company partnered with Red Bull for a gaming tournament that culminated in the 150-meter-tall Dubai Frame landmark being turned into the world’s largest playable Tetris installation using over 2,000 drones that functioned as pixels. Although the timing was a coincidence, Red Bull also published a 180-page gaming edition of its The Red Bulletin lifestyle magazine around the same time as the event, with a limited number of copies wrapped in a less grandiose, but no less technically impressive, version of Alexey Pajitnov’s iconic puzzle game.
To create a playable gaming magazine, Red Bull Media House (the company’s media wing) enlisted the help of Kevin Bates, who in 2014 wowed the internet by creating an ultra-thin Tetris-playing business card. In 2015, he launched the $39 Arduboy, a credit card-sized, open-source handheld that attracted a thriving community of developers. Over the course of a decade, Bates also created a pair of equally pocketable Tetris-playing handhelds that cost less than $30, and the shrunken-down USB-C Arduboy Mini.
The GamePop GP-1 Playable Magazine System (as it’s officially called) is the latest evolution of Bates’ mission to use existing, accessible, and affordable technologies to reimagine what a portable gaming device can be. It took “most of last year” to develop, Bates revealed during a call with The Verge. He wouldn’t divulge the exact details of how his collaboration with Red Bull came to be. But if you’re looking to make an officially licensed version of Tetris that’s thin enough to flex, Bates has the experience, and he shared with us some of the technical details that make this creation work.
While OLED display technology has given us tablet-sized devices that fold into smartphones, they’re still expensive and fragile. To make a display that can survive being embedded in a flexible magazine cover without reinforcement, Bates created a custom matrix of 180 2mm RGB LEDs mounted to a flexible circuit board just 0.1mm thick. While the display and coin-cell batteries make it thicker in a few places — nearly 5mm at its thickest point — you genuinely feel like you’re playing a handheld made of paper. The flexible circuits are bonded between two sheets of paper to create the sleeve that wraps around the book-sized magazine, and it feels satisfyingly thin and flexible.
Flexible circuits aren’t a new idea. They’ve been used in electronics for decades. You can find them in flip phones old enough they now feel like antiques, and nearly every laptop. They’re also frequently used to miniaturize devices that don’t fold or flex at all, connecting internal components where space is extremely limited. But it’s only in the past five or six years that the technology has become available to smaller makers, and Bates says he’s been “messing around with the flexible circuits for about as much time.” This collaboration was an opportunity to use what he’s learned to create a device that would live outside his workshop.
The GamePop GP-1’s display resolution pales in comparison to the OLED screens used in folding phones, but Bates’ creation is far more durable. The game has not only undergone the typical safety tests, but Bates even “hit it with a hammer a few times” to test its durability. His display survived, but don’t try that with a folding phone. They’re still far less durable.
Instead of buttons, the game uses seven capacitive touch sensors that are directly “printed in the copper layer of the board,” Bates says. There’s no true mechanical feedback when pressed, but the paper’s flex helps them feel a bit like a button when you press down. Bates says the responsiveness of the sensors was specifically tuned to account for the thickness of the paper stock and the glues used in the final print run. You’re not going to be chasing Tetris world records on the cover of a magazine, but the controls are satisfyingly responsive and the game is surprisingly much easier to play than other Tetris devices I’ve tested.
How much does a flexible Tetris game cost to manufacture? Neither Bates nor Red Bull would divulge the total price tag for all the off-the-shelf and custom components you’ll find sandwiched inside the magazine’s cover. But to help keep costs down, not all components are flexible. Inside the edge of the cover, next to the magazine’s spine, you’ll find a long but thin rigid PCB where an ARM-based 32-bit microprocessor is located, along with four rechargeable LIR2016 3V coin cell batteries.
Like most devices now, the game can be recharged using a USB-C cable, but it’s not immediately obvious where. Hidden along the bottom edge of the magazine’s cover is a deconstructed USB-C port. Instead of a metal ring, its socket is a small paper pocket containing a pin-covered head inside. It doesn’t feel quite as durable as the charging port on your phone, but it’s a welcome alternative to making the game disposable when the batteries die.
Bates did have to cut some corners. The GamePop GP-1 saves high scores, but modern Tetris gameplay features, like previews of upcoming pieces and being able to save tetrominoes for later, aren’t included. There’s sound effects, but when starting a game you only hear a small snippet of the iconic Tetris theme. The game’s piezo speaker “uses about as much energy as it does to run the rest of the system,” Bates says, so this helps prolong the life of the small rechargeable batteries. He tells us you can play for an hour or two that way, and the battery should last many months when not in use.
Red Bull made around 1,000 copies of the magazine. It’s only available online in Europe, but can also be found in some stores and newsstands, including Iconic Magazines in New York and Rare Mags outside Manchester in the UK. However, only 150 copies with the playable cover were produced, and none were made available to the public. They were distributed to Tetris competitors, those featured in the magazine, influencers, and select media.
The playable cover isn’t going to revolutionize the print industry, or pave the way for smartphones we can roll up and stick in our back pockets. The goal was to use existing tech in a way that gamers haven’t seen before.
Photography by Andrew Liszewski / The Verge
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If you live in cities like San Francisco, Phoenix, Los Angeles, Austin or Atlanta, you may have already seen or even taken a ride in a driverless Waymo operating without a human behind the wheel. In newer markets like Miami, service is rolling out, while other cities, including Dallas, Houston, San Antonio and Orlando, are part of Waymo’s expansion plans.
For everyone else, not so much. At least not yet. For most of us, that still feels like something happening somewhere else, not something that pulls up when you request a ride.
However, that could start to change very soon. Waymo just unveiled its sixth-generation Waymo Driver hardware, and the headline is simple: it costs less and fits into more vehicles. That combination could help driverless rides reach a lot more cities, faster than you and I might expect.
THE ROBOTAXI PRICE WAR HAS STARTED. HERE’S EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW.
Waymo’s new sixth-generation hardware will first roll out in the Zeekr-built Ojai minivan before expanding to more vehicles and cities. (Waymo)
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Why Waymo’s cheaper robotaxi hardware changes the game
Until recently, if you spotted a Waymo on the road, it was usually a Jaguar I-Pace. Nice car. Not exactly built for a massive robotaxi rollout. The sixth-generation system changes that. The first vehicle to carry the new hardware is the Zeekr-built Ojai electric minivan. Zeekr is owned by Geely. Waymo employees in Los Angeles and San Francisco will begin fully autonomous rides in it soon, with public access expected to follow. In these new deployments, Waymo says the vehicles will operate without safety drivers behind the wheel. After that, the hardware will also power versions of the Hyundai Ioniq 5.
Here is where this really matters. When Waymo can install the same system across multiple vehicle types and produce it at a lower cost, expansion becomes much easier. The company says it plans to move into 20 additional cities this year and is ramping up its Metro Phoenix facility to build tens of thousands of Driver kits annually.
Waymo says it has shifted more processing power into its own custom silicon chips, allowing it to use fewer cameras while improving performance and reducing overall system cost. More vehicles and lower costs mean one thing: a better chance that driverless rides show up in your city sooner rather than later.
How the Waymo Driver actually sees the road
If you have never been in a robotaxi, this is the part you are probably wondering about. The sixth-generation Waymo Driver uses 16 high-resolution 17 megapixel cameras, short-range lidar, radar and external audio receivers. Waymo says the updated cameras offer improved dynamic range compared to the previous 29-camera setup. That helps the vehicle perform better at night and in bright glare.
Short-range lidar delivers centimeter-level accuracy to detect pedestrians, cyclists, and other road users. Radar adds another layer of awareness. Waymo says its upgraded imaging radar can track distance, speed and object size even in rain or snow, giving the system more time to react. External audio receivers can detect sirens or trains by sound.
Unlike Tesla, which has emphasized camera-based systems, Waymo relies on multiple overlapping technologies. If one sensor struggles, another can support it. There is also a cleaning system for key sensors. Snow, dirt, or road spray should not easily block visibility.
Waymo says this version is designed to operate in more extreme weather, including heavy winter conditions, which could open the door to colder U.S. cities that were previously harder to support.
The Waymo Driver blends high-resolution cameras, lidar and radar to create a 360-degree view of the road, even at night or in bad weather. (Waymo)
Why you probably haven’t seen a Waymo robotaxi yet
Right now, Waymo has about 1,500 vehicles on the road. That sounds like a lot until you compare it to the millions of cars in the U.S. The company wants to grow that number to around 3,500 this year and eventually into the tens of thousands. Still, service is limited to certain parts of certain cities. If you do not live in one of those areas, you are simply not going to see one.
That is why this new hardware matters. When the system costs less and fits into more vehicles, Waymo can put more cars on the road in more places. This is not about adding flashy features or cool upgrades. It is about getting from a small footprint to something that feels normal in everyday life.
What about safety and past incidents?
Whenever driverless cars expand, safety questions come right with them. Waymo says its system is built with multiple layers of redundancy. The sixth-generation Driver combines cameras, lidar, radar and audio detection so the vehicle is not relying on a single sensor. That layered setup is designed to reduce risk if one system has trouble. The company says this latest system builds on nearly 200 million fully autonomous miles driven across more than 10 major cities, including dense urban cores and freeways.
Even so, incidents have happened. Earlier this year, a Waymo vehicle was involved in an accident that injured a child, which raised fresh concerns about how autonomous vehicles respond in complex real-world situations. Regulators continue to monitor autonomous vehicle performance closely, especially in states like California, where reporting requirements are strict.
WAYMO UNDER FEDERAL INVESTIGATION AFTER CHILD STRUCK
Waymo has also released data suggesting its vehicles experience fewer injury-causing crashes per mile compared to human drivers in similar areas. Supporters argue that reducing human error could improve road safety over time. Critics say expanding too quickly could introduce new risks.
Both things can be true. The technology is advancing, but public trust will depend on transparency, accountability and long-term safety performance.
What this means to you
If Waymo expands into your city, you may soon open a rideshare app and see a new option. No driver. No conversation. Just a vehicle that navigates using software and sensors.
More vehicles could mean shorter wait times in busy areas. Increased competition may also affect pricing in the rideshare market. At the same time, comfort levels vary. Many riders may hesitate before stepping into a car with an empty front seat. This shift is about more than technology. It changes how people commute, travel and move around urban areas.
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With lower costs and broader vehicle compatibility, Waymo hopes to put many more driverless cars on real city streets soon. (Waymo)
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Kurt’s key takeaways
Waymo’s sixth-generation Driver is really about one thing: getting more driverless cars on the road, in more cities, at a lower cost. When the hardware becomes cheaper and easier to install in different vehicles, expansion gets easier. That does not automatically mean everyone will be comfortable hopping in. For many people, sitting in a car with no driver might still feel a bit scary. The technology is moving forward whether we are ready or not. The bigger question is simple: will we feel confident enough to get in?
If you had to choose today, would you book the driverless ride or wait for a human behind the wheel? Let us know by writing to us at Cyberguy.com
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Copyright 2026 CyberGuy.com. All rights reserved.
Arturia launched a new version of its flagship effects suite, FX Collection, which includes two new plugins, EFX Ambient and Pitch Shifter-910. FX Collection 6 also marks the introduction of an Intro version with a selection of six effects covering the basics for $99. That pales in comparison to the 39 effects in the full FX Collection Pro, but that also costs $499.
Pitch Shifter-910 is based on the iconic Eventide H910 Harmonizer from 1974, an early digital pitchshifter and delay with a very unique character. Arturia does an admirable job preserving its glitchy quirks. Pitch Shifter-910 is not a transparent effect that lets you create natural-sounding harmonies with yourself. Instead, it relishes in its weirdness, delivering chipmunk vocals at the higher ranges. There is also a more modern mode that cleans up some artifacts while preserving what makes the 910 so special. Though if you ask me, it also takes some of the fun and unpredictability out.
EFX Ambient is the other new addition to Arturia’s lineup, and it’s a weird one. While it does what it says on the tin, it doesn’t always do it in predictable ways. Sure, there’s plenty of big ethereal reverbs and shimmer, but there’s also resonators, glitch processing, and reverse delays. It has six distinct modes with unique characteristics, which it feeds through a big washy reverb. And there’s an X/Y control in the middle for adding movement to your sound.
Neither of the brand-new effects made the cut for the Intro version. FX Collection 6 Intro includes Efx Motions, Efx Fragments, Mix Drums, Tape Mello-Fi, Rev Plate-140, and Delay Tape-201. That offers excellent versatility covering delay, reverb, tape-like lo-fi, modulation, and even granular processing. Primarily, what you miss out on are some of the saturation and mixing effects like bus and compression, as well as the more specialty flavors of delay and reverb like Rev LX-24, based on the Lexicon 224 from 1978.
$499 for the full FX Collection 6 Pro might seem steep, but as the company has grown the lineup from 15 effects in 2020 to 39 in 2026, it’s become a more attractive value proposition. And, while it’s not quite as highly regarded as Arturia’s V Collection of soft synths, it’s building a reputation for high-quality effects.
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