From its opening minutes, Moves of the Diamond Hand is upfront about what it offers: You’re going to have a lot of strange conversations, and you’re going to roll a lot of dice. Get on board with this proposition, and the reward is one of the most creative roleplaying games I’ve seen in years, even if its many mysteries won’t be resolved until 2027.
Technology
Grok’s Elon Musk worship is getting weird
It’s no secret that Elon Musk shapes the X social platform and X’s “maximally truth-seeking” Grok AI chatbot to his preferences. But it’s possible Musk may have needed a bit of an extra ego boost this week, because Grok’s worship of its creator seems, shall we say, more noticeable than usual.
As a number of people have pointed out on social media over the past day, Grok’s public-facing chatbot is currently prone to insisting on Musk’s prowess at absolutely anything, no matter how unlikely — or conversely, embarrassing — a given feat is.
If pressed, Grok will also contend Musk would be the best at eating poop or drinking urine, but it would prefer to focus on how good he is at making rockets, please. At least some of these posts have been deleted in the past hour; X did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the phenomenon from The Verge.
This glazing appears to be exclusive to the X version of Grok; when I asked the private chatbot to compare Musk with James, it conceded, “LeBron James has a significantly better physique than Elon Musk.” The GitHub page for Grok’s system prompts indicates they were updated three days ago, with the additions including a prohibition on “snarky one-liners” and instructions not to base responses on “any beliefs stated in past Grok posts or by Elon Musk or xAI,” but there’s nothing that seems to clearly explain this new behavior — although system prompts are only one way to shape how AI systems work.
Either way, this is far from the weirdest Grok has gotten, and it’s less disruptive than the bot’s brief obsession with “white genocide” or its intense antisemitism — which, incidentally, is still flaring up in the form of Holocaust denial. Grok has previously searched for Musk’s opinion to formulate its own answers, so even the preoccupation with Musk isn’t new. But it reminds us all what a weirdly intimate connection Grok — a product that’s been rolled out across the US government, among other places — has with its owner, and how randomly that connection is prone to appear.
Moves of the Diamond Hand is an Early Access videogame available on PC, macOS, and steamOS (including the Steam Deck, where I played it) from musician and game designer Cosmo D. The game looks and feels like a 2000s-era first-person RPG or immersive sim: environments are grimy, stark, and blocky; characters’ features are stretched over smooth heads a bit too small for their faces; an eerie soundtrack pulses over all. You’ll arrive on a train and immediately meet an old mentor, disgraced by some kind of political scandal. You convey your desire to join a powerful organization called Circus X, then declare which of several wildly different paths you’ll take into its fold — you can try joining the city council, but could find equal success crafting the perfect sandwich or joining the best band.
These options help introduce the central mechanic. The game gives you one upgradeable die for each of seven stats, ranging from standard fare like Physique and Observation to the more idiosyncratic Cooking and Music. To set a challenge, it will roll a die corresponding to one of those attributes, and you’ve got to match or beat it with your own roll.
Once you emerge into the train station, the complexity quickly multiplies. There are a plethora of sub-mechanics including cooking, performing music, laundering disguises, and mixing cocktails — all of which add additional dice with unique quirks. You can selectively re-roll dice in a manner similar to Yahtzee, introducing an element of strategy within each encounter, and your final score (win or lose) is translated into experience points. The basic system was introduced in Cosmo D’s last game, Betrayal at Club Low, but in a less flexible and elegant form; Diamond Hand feels like its evolution. (Disclosure: My husband has provided outside feedback for Cosmo D’s games.)
It’s all a little intimidating at first. But the game allows you to ease into its options, which happens quickly, since you’re rolling for virtually every action and verbal exchange from making small talk to opening a door. There’s a meaningful element of chance to all this, without descending into unbounded randomness. Some rolls can be mathematically impossible to win or lose at a given skill level, but it’s possible to still damage your health or gain an unwelcome status effect with safe challenges, preventing them from becoming purely rote. You can retry most actions if you fail them, but they’ll become slightly more difficult on a second attempt, so there’s a constant balancing act of deciding when to take the initial leap. The ambient low-level risk makes even simple spaces feel substantive and engaging — it negates the common RPG urge to speed through environmental detail and flavor text while looking for the “real” parts of the game.
Through countless skill checks, you’ll internalize the odd logic of the game’s world. The setting, Off-Peak City, is a garish metropolis shaped by the machinations of sinister corporations, corrupt politicians, and shady operatives, but also musicians, restaurateurs, and literally and figuratively underground tailors — a neon retro-future for streetwise aesthetes. What might be niche skills in any other game prove extraordinarily powerful here. The Music stat, whose uses include sewing (machines can, among other options, be literally operated by improvisation), calming aggressive animal-human hybrids (by whistling tunes), and mixology (which can be performed “rhythmically”), is arguably the single strongest power in the game.
Circus X, you’ll soon learn, is a secretive arts institution that influences everything from politics to the sandwich supply chain — imagine the Factory crossed with the Freemasons. While pursuing membership, you’re embroiled in a local election between a scandal-plagued technocrat, a former boy-band star, and the corporate-controlled clone of a mayor from decades past. In place of a Maltese Falcon, everyone’s scheming for control of a sentient Big Mouth Billy Bass. And meddling behind the scenes is the mysterious, anarchic Diamond Hand, frequently alluded to but not explained.
Diamond Hand’s story evokes real-world parallels, but as a jumping-off point for something that’s rich and alive in its own right. In perhaps the most obvious example, a company in Off-Peak City is pumping the place full of clones, supplanting human artists with corporate-guardrailed regurgitations of old media. But rather than stop at commentary, the game walks this out to explore the idea that clones are also conscious beings who are frustrated by their creative limits and lack of autonomy, while letting human characters reflect on their own relationship with nostalgia and artistic taste.
Put this all together and you’ve got a hard-boiled sci-fi thriller involving subway busking, finding library books, stumping for politicians, harvesting lettuce, arguing about jazz, and doing laundry, infused with the lizard-brain appeal of a nonstop game of chance. It’s irresistible.
Most of Diamond Hand’s main quests end in roadblocks, because its Early Access build includes only the first two of six chapters, with the next scheduled for this summer and a full launch set for the spring of 2027. But even in its current state, Diamond Hand is dense and tantalizing, delivering a string of absurd premises and dry humor with a straight face. (Among many tossed-off jokes that are also actual game mechanics, local pizza-makers require everyone to bake their own pie, so if you don’t like your order, you have only yourself to blame.) You’re granted experience points for letting characters ramble through their backstories and opinions — which lands somewhere between a sly gag about RPG infodumping and a straightforwardly clever decision — but the dialogue pays off even without that prize.
And for all its dystopian elements, there’s something idealistic about a world where art, for good or ill, deeply matters. Diamond Hand may be a work in progress, but it’s a recipe for becoming obsessed with skill and perfection, chasing the world’s greatest sandwich and the string of lucky dice rolls that will get you there.
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Getting hacked once is scary enough. But getting hacked again after changing carriers, replacing cards and trying to recover your accounts can make it feel like the criminals are always one step ahead. That is exactly what happened to Lela in Ohio, who reached out after a frightening string of account takeovers.
“All my accounts have been hacked,” Lela said. “I had my phone number transferred to another carrier, AT&T, and I’m experiencing it again. They have hacked my phone number again.” She said criminals accessed her checking accounts, credit cards and even started charging new cards before she received them.
Then she asked the question anyone in her situation would be asking: “Should I be just getting a new phone number instead of trying to recover the number I’ve had for 20 years?”
The answer is maybe, but changing your number should rarely be the first move. A new number can help in some cases. However, if hackers still control your email, bank login, recovery settings or wireless account, they may keep breaking back in.
SCAMMERS TARGET WIRELESS CUSTOMERS IN NEW PHONE SCHEME
A SIM swap or port-out scam can let criminals take over your phone number and intercept security codes for sensitive accounts. (Jacob Wackerhausen/Getty Images)
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Why your phone number matters so much
Your phone number may feel harmless. After all, it is how friends, family, doctors and businesses reach you. But today, that number is also connected to some of your most important accounts. It may be tied to your bank accounts, credit cards, email accounts, Apple ID, Google account, medical portals, shopping accounts and password resets.
That makes it valuable to criminals. If a scammer takes control of your number, they may receive your calls and text messages. That includes security codes meant only for you. From there, they can reset passwords, break into email, access financial accounts and keep returning even after you think you fixed the problem.
What is a SIM swap or port-out scam?
A SIM swap scam happens when a criminal tricks your mobile carrier into moving your phone number to a SIM card or eSIM they control. A port-out scam happens when they move your number to another carrier.
Once that happens, your phone may suddenly lose service. Meanwhile, the scammer may start receiving your calls and texts. That can give them access to verification codes for email, banking, credit cards and other accounts.
In some cases, victims do not realize what happened until money disappears or accounts get locked.
Should Lela get a new phone number?
Maybe, but not immediately. If Lela gives up her long-time number too fast, she could lose access to accounts that still use that number for recovery. Even worse, if a criminal still controls the old number, they may continue receiving password reset codes for accounts tied to it. Before changing the number, she should secure the number she has and update her most important accounts.
A new number may make sense if the number keeps being targeted despite carrier protections. It may also help if hackers keep using it to reset accounts, the carrier confirms unauthorized SIM swaps or too many accounts tied to that number have already been compromised. A new number may also be worth considering if the old number is widely exposed on the dark web or data broker sites. Still, keeping the number may be safer for now if she needs it to recover critical accounts.
First, lock down the wireless account
Lela should call AT&T directly using the official number on AT&T’s website or on her bill. She should avoid numbers from texts, emails or voicemails. She should ask AT&T to check for SIM swap attempts, port-out requests, unauthorized account changes, new devices, call forwarding, number transfer activity and unknown authorized users.
Then she should ask AT&T to add stronger protections, including a strong account PIN, port-out freeze or number transfer lock, SIM lock if available and extra account verification. She should also remove any unknown authorized users. This makes it much harder for criminals to move her number again.
Secure your email before changing everything else
Your email is often the master key to your digital life. If a hacker controls your email, they can reset passwords for banks, credit cards, shopping accounts and social media. Before changing every password, Lela should make sure her main email account is clean and secure.
She should change her email password from a safe device, sign out of all sessions, check recovery email addresses, review recovery phone numbers and remove unknown forwarding rules. She should also review connected apps and devices and turn on stronger two-factor authentication (2FA). If email remains compromised, a hacker can keep undoing every recovery step.
Stop relying on text message codes
Text message codes are better than having no protection. However, they become risky when criminals target your phone number. For important accounts, use an authenticator app, a security key or passkeys where available.
This matters most for email, banking, credit cards, Apple ID, Google account, social media, password managers, tax accounts and government accounts. This makes your accounts much harder to break into, even if a criminal gets control of your phone number.
ARE BANK TEXT CODES ENOUGH TO PROTECT YOU?
Hackers can use a stolen phone number to reset passwords, break into email and access bank or credit card accounts. (Kurt “CyberGuy” Knutsson)
Change passwords from a safe device
If your phone, tablet or computer has malware, changing passwords from that device may hand the new passwords right back to the hacker. Before resetting passwords, make sure the device is safe. Update the operating system. Delete unknown apps. Run strong antivirus protection. Get my picks for the best 2026 antivirus protection winners for your Windows, Mac, Android and iOS devices at CyberGuy.com.
Avoid links in suspicious texts or emails. Then use a password manager to create unique passwords for every important account. Never reuse old passwords after a hack. Check out the best expert-reviewed password managers of 2026 at CyberGuy.com.
Protect bank accounts and credit cards next
Since Lela said criminals charged new cards before she received them, she should treat this as possible identity theft or account takeover. She should call each bank and credit card company directly and ask for the fraud department. She should explain that her accounts, phone number or identity may have been compromised.
Ask each bank to cancel compromised cards, issue new card numbers, review recent activity, add verbal passwords or extra verification and remove unknown devices from online banking. She should also turn on transaction alerts and ask whether wire transfers, Zelle or other payment tools need temporary limits. Finally, she should check whether criminals opened any new accounts in her name.
Freeze your credit and file an identity theft report
If criminals have enough information to keep attacking your accounts, a credit freeze can help stop them from opening new credit in your name. Place a credit freeze with Equifax, Experian and TransUnion. You can also place a fraud alert.
Then file an identity theft report at IdentityTheft.gov. That report can help create an official recovery plan. It can also provide documentation if banks, lenders or credit bureaus need proof.
Check whether your personal information is exposed
If scammers already have your phone number, email, address, date of birth or other personal details, they may use that information to impersonate you.
A data removal service can help reduce the amount of personal information exposed on people-search sites and data broker sites. Data removal will not fix a hacked account by itself. Still, it can reduce the information scammers use to target you again. 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.
Warning signs your phone number may still be under attack
Even after you lock things down, keep watching for signs that criminals are still trying to use your number or accounts. These red flags should get your attention fast.
1) Your phone suddenly loses service
If your phone switches to SOS mode, loses service or stops receiving calls and texts, contact your carrier right away. That can be a sign of a SIM swap or port-out attempt.
2) You receive password reset codes you did not request
Random security codes can mean someone is trying to break into one of your accounts. Do not share the code with anyone. Go directly to the account website or app and change your password from a safe device.
3) Your carrier sends account change alerts
Take any wireless account alert seriously. This includes alerts about a new SIM, eSIM, device, PIN change or number transfer request.
HOW SIM SWAPPING LED TO A $1.8M CYBER FRAUD CASE
A new phone number may help after repeated attacks, but victims should first secure email, banking and wireless account settings. (Kurt “CyberGuy” Knutsson)
4) Your bank alerts show strange activity
Watch for small test charges, declined transactions, new payees or changes to contact information. Criminals often test an account before making bigger moves.
5) Your email shows unfamiliar logins
Check recent login activity, connected devices, forwarding rules and recovery options. If anything looks unfamiliar, remove it and change your password.
When changing your number may be the right move
If the warning signs keep showing up after you lock things down, then changing your number may be worth considering. Changing the number may help if the current number remains a constant attack path. But before switching, Lela should update her phone number on critical accounts first.
That includes email, bank accounts, credit cards, Apple ID, Google account, Social Security account, IRS account, password manager, medical portals, insurance accounts, investment accounts, utilities and shopping accounts. Then she should remove the old number from account recovery settings wherever possible.
Do not forget account recovery settings
A common mistake after a hack is changing the password but forgetting the recovery options. If the scammer added their email, phone number or device, they may still be able to get back in.
Check every important account for recovery phone numbers, recovery email addresses, trusted devices, backup codes, linked apps, forwarding settings, authorized users and payment methods. Remove anything unfamiliar.
Kurt’s key takeaways
A new phone number can help, but it is no magic fix. If hackers still have access to Lela’s email, bank logins, recovery settings or personal information, they may keep getting back in even with a new number. The smarter order is to lock down the wireless account first. Then secure email, stop using text codes, change passwords from a safe device and protect bank accounts. After that, freeze credit, file an identity theft report and remove exposed personal information from the web. Only then should you decide whether changing your number is necessary. Your phone number may feel personal, especially if you have had it for 20 years. But once criminals use it as a doorway into your life, the real goal is cutting off every way they can use it against you.
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Have you ever had your phone number, email or bank account hacked? What was the first sign that something was wrong? Let us know by writing to us at CyberGuy.com.
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Nothing’s next budget phone is the latest victim of RAMageddon. As 9to5Google reports, Nothing co-founder Akis Evangelidis announced in a post on X that a follow-up to the CMF Phone 2 Pro won’t be coming this year:
We were working on a successor but with memory prices where they are right now, we can’t build a phone that feels like a genuine step forward at a price that makes sense for CMF. As a result, we’ve decided not to launch a new CMF phone this year.
Last week, Nothing CEO and co-founder Carl Pei also said the RAM shortage has impacted the cost of the company’s mid-range phone, stating, “For Phone 4A, memory costs doubled between when we decided to build the device and when it launched. They’ve doubled again since.” According to Pei, “memory is now the most expensive component in a smartphone.” Nothing is far from the only company facing RAM pricing challenges — earlier this week, Tim Cook announced Apple will be raising prices, saying “the situation has become unsustainable.”
While there won’t be a new CMF phone this year, Evangelidis added in his post that CMF still has “several new products launching as well as some entirely new categories.” He also hinted that “the smartphone launch season at Nothing isn’t over yet.”
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