shutting down Archives

AppWizard

July 12, 2025

Minecraft Creator Says That If Buying a Game Is Not a Purchase, Then Pirating It Is Not Theft

Markus Persson, known as Notch, has been a controversial figure in the gaming community for his views on piracy. In 2012, he suggested that a Minecraft fan should pirate the game if they couldn't afford it, stating that if they liked it later, they could buy it. He argued at the 2011 Game Developers Conference that piracy should not be considered theft, as it does not remove the original copy from circulation. Recently, he commented on the Stop Killing Games initiative, which seeks to prevent game developers from permanently shutting down games, noting that if buying a game is not a purchase, then pirating it is not theft. He also reminisced about older games that allowed players to host their own servers. Earlier this year, he gauged interest in a potential return to game development, hinting at a spiritual successor to Minecraft.

AppWizard

July 8, 2025

Romero Games asserts it has not closed

Developer Romero Games has confirmed it is still operational despite facing funding issues and the cancellation of its in-development project due to withdrawn funding. The studio is exploring new opportunities with other publishers and has reassured employees that it is not shutting down. They are evaluating several opportunities from interested publishers and are committed to preventing further disruptions.

AppWizard

July 8, 2025

Romero Games is not closed: ‘We are doing everything in our power to ensure that it does not come to that’

Romero Games announced that funding for its first-person shooter, revealed in 2022, was withdrawn, coinciding with significant layoffs at Microsoft affecting 9,000 employees and leading to multiple project cancellations. The studio clarified on social media that it remains operational and is reassessing its staffing and operations amid concerns about its stability. While the publisher responsible for the funding withdrawal has not been disclosed due to confidentiality agreements, speculation arose regarding the timing of the decision. Former employees expressed fears of the studio shutting down or being sold. Romero Games hopes to attract interest from investors to support their ongoing development efforts.

AppWizard

July 5, 2025

European game publisher group responds to Stop Killing Games, claims ‘These proposals would curtail developer choice”

The Stop Killing Games movement has transitioned into a European Citizens' Initiative, which has faced criticism from Video Games Europe, a trade association for game developers and publishers in the EU. Video Games Europe expressed concerns about the complexities of discontinuing online services, emphasizing that such decisions are multi-faceted and necessary when an online experience is no longer commercially viable. The movement aims to challenge the legality of publishers destroying video games sold to customers, highlighting issues of planned obsolescence and the preservation of digital culture. The movement has gained significant support, amassing over a million signatures for its EU petition, but any potential policy changes would likely be limited to the EU and UK, allowing publishers to continue shutting down games in other regions without similar scrutiny.

TrendTechie

June 27, 2025

5 Best VPNs for uTorrent in 2025: Fast & Secure Downloads

ExpressVPN is recommended as the best VPN for torrenting with uTorrent in 2025, offering support for P2P sharing in 105 countries, high download speeds, and strong security features. It includes a Lightway protocol, split tunneling, and Advanced Protection, along with a 30-day money-back guarantee. Other notable VPNs include Private Internet Access, which supports P2P on all servers in 91 countries and offers a SOCKS5 proxy; CyberGhost, with torrent-optimized servers in over 85 countries; NordVPN, known for its advanced security features and support for torrenting in over 110 countries; and Surfshark, which provides automatic IP rotation in 49+ countries. The testing methodology focused on reliable P2P support, strong security measures, fast download speeds, user-friendly apps, and value for money.

Winsage

June 20, 2025

How Uniphore achieved 30% cost savings by modernizing Windows servers on AWS

Uniphore is an AI innovation company that faced challenges with its legacy Windows Server infrastructure, which was costly and raised security concerns due to its end-of-support status. To modernize, Uniphore utilized Amazon Web Services (AWS) for containerization and cloud-native solutions, achieving a 30% reduction in costs and improved operational capabilities. The migration involved transitioning from 50 bare-metal Windows Server 2008 R2 instances to a Linux environment on AWS, optimizing call-center analytics workloads and enabling better training of large language models. The modernization strategy included three key areas: application modernization through refactoring and containerization, a custom data migration solution using Type 2 hypervisor technology, and a cloud infrastructure setup with Amazon EC2, Amazon EKS, Amazon EFS, and Amazon S3. The migration was executed in three phases: deploying the hypervisor and DataSync agent, secure data migration and validation, and production cutover with application deployment. Best practices adopted during the process included Infrastructure as Code (IaC) with Terraform, CI/CD pipelines using GitLab, comprehensive monitoring with DATADOG and CloudWatch, and enforcement of AWS Backup policies. The modernization resulted in benefits such as improved scalability and performance, flexibility and portability of applications, enhanced security and compliance, efficient data management, reduced operational overhead, and significant cost savings.

AppWizard

June 19, 2025

Nexus Mods founder steps down after site “changed hands”

Robin "Dark0ne" Scott, the founder of Nexus Mods, is departing from the platform after it has changed ownership. He started Nexus Mods in 2001 to create a space for modders to share their work. Scott dedicated over two decades to the site, which he described as chaotic and demanding. The platform is now under new ownership by 'Foledinho', who will maintain the commitment to keeping mods free.

Winsage

June 17, 2025

5 registry tweaks I made to instantly speed up my Windows PC

Disabling animations and visual effects can improve the responsiveness of Windows 11. To disable visual effects, navigate to HKEYCURRENTUSERSoftwareMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionExplorerVisualEffects, create a DWORD value named VisualFXSettings, and set its value to 2. To allocate fewer resources to background apps, go to ComputerHKEYLOCALMACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoftWindows NTCurrentVersionMultimediaSystemProfile, double-click on SystemResponsiveness, and change the Base Decimal value from 20 to 10. To speed up shutdown, navigate to ComputerHKEYLOCALMACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetControl, double-click on WaitToKillServiceTimeout, and set the value from 5,000 milliseconds to 2,000 milliseconds. To reduce startup delays, go to HKEYCURRENTUSERSoftwareMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionExplorer, create a new key named Serialize, then create a DWORD (32-bit) Value named StartupDelayInMSec and set its value to 0. To prioritize applications and enhance system responsiveness, navigate to HKEYLOCALMACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoftWindows NTCurrentVersionMultimediaSystemProfile, double-click on SystemResponsiveness, and adjust it from 14 to 10.

AppWizard

June 13, 2025

Google is shutting down Android Instant Apps over ‘low’ usage

Google will retire its Instant Apps feature in December 2025 due to low usage rates. Instant Apps, launched in 2017, allowed users to access streamlined versions of applications without full installation. A warning in Android Studio confirmed the discontinuation, stating that Instant Apps support will be removed and related APIs will no longer function. Google spokesperson Nia Carter mentioned that developers are turning to other tools for app discovery, prompting this decision to focus on more effective solutions.

Tech Optimizer

June 5, 2025

CISA releases TTPs & IoCs for Play Ransomware That Hacked 900+ Orgs

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), in collaboration with the FBI and the Australian Cyber Security Centre, released an advisory on the Play ransomware group, which has targeted around 900 entities since its inception in June 2022. The group employs a double extortion model, exploiting vulnerabilities in public-facing applications and using tools for lateral movement and credential dumping. Their operations involve recompiling ransomware binaries for each attack to evade detection. The advisory highlights mitigation measures such as multifactor authentication and regular software patching. The Play ransomware specifically targets virtual environments and encrypts files using AES-256 encryption. Indicators of Compromise (IoCs) include: - SVCHost.dll (Backdoor) - SHA-256: 47B7B2DD88959CD7224A5542AE8D5BCE928BFC986BF0D0321532A7515C244A1E - Backdoor - SHA-256: 75B525B220169F07AECFB3B1991702FBD9A1E170CAF0040D1FCB07C3E819F54A - PSexesvc.exe (Custom Play “psexesvc”) - SHA-256: 1409E010675BF4A40DB0A845B60DB3AAE5B302834E80ADEEC884AEBC55ECCBF7 - HRsword.exe (Disables endpoint protection) - SHA-256: 0E408AED1ACF902A9F97ABF71CF0DD354024109C5D52A79054C421BE35D93549 - Hi.exe (Associated with ransomware) - SHA-256: 6DE8DD5757F9A3AC5E2AC28E8A77682D7A29BE25C106F785A061DCF582A20DC6