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by admin May 23, 2025

Understanding the Curve Finance DNS hijacking

On May 12, 2025, at 20:55 UTC, hackers hijacked the “.fi” domain name system (DNS) of Curve Finance after managing to access the registrar. They began sending its users to a malicious website, attempting to drain their wallets. This was the second attack on Curve Finance’s infrastructure in a week.

Users were directed to a website that was a non-functional decoy, designed only to trick users into providing wallet signatures. The hack hadn’t breached the protocol’s smart contracts and was limited to the DNS layer.

The DNS is a critical component of the internet that functions like a phonebook. It allows you to use simple, memorable domain names (such as facebook.com) instead of complex numerical IP addresses (like 192.168.1.1) for websites. DNS converts these user-friendly domain names into the IP addresses computers require to connect.

This is not the first time Curve Finance, a decentralized finance (DeFi) protocol, has suffered such an attack. Back in August 2022, Curve Finance faced an attack with similar tactics. The attackers had cloned the Curve Finance website and interfered with its DNS settings to send users to a duplicate version of the website. Users who tried using the platform ended up losing their money to the attackers. The project was using the same registrar, “iwantmyname,” at the time of the previous attack.

How attackers execute DNS hijacking in crypto

When a user types a web address, their device queries a DNS server to retrieve the corresponding IP address and connect to the correct website. In DNS hijacking, fraudsters interfere with this process by altering how DNS queries are resolved, rerouting users to malicious sites without their knowledge.

Fraudsters execute DNS hijacking in several ways. Attackers might exploit vulnerabilities in DNS servers, compromise routers, or gain access to domain registrar accounts. The objective is to change the DNS records so that a user trying to visit a legitimate site is redirected to a fake, lookalike page containing wallet-draining code.

Types of DNS hijacking include:

Local DNS hijack: Malware on a user’s device changes DNS settings, redirecting traffic locally.
Router hijack: Attackers compromise home or office routers to alter DNS for all connected devices.
Man-in-the-middle attack: Intercepts DNS queries between user and server, altering responses on the fly.
Registrar-level hijack: Attackers gain access to a domain registrar account and modify official DNS records, affecting all users globally.

Did you know? During the Curve Finance DNS attack in 2023, users accessing the real domain unknowingly signed malicious transactions. The back end was untouched, but millions were lost through a spoofed front end.

How DNS hijacking worked in the case of Curve Finance

When attackers compromise a website with DNS hijacking, they can reroute traffic to a malicious website without the user’s knowledge.

There are several ways DNS hijacking can occur. Attackers might infect a user’s device with malware that alters local DNS settings, or they may gain control of a router and change its DNS configuration. They may also target DNS servers or domain registrars themselves. In such cases, they modify the DNS records at the source, affecting all users trying to access the site.

In the case of Curve Finance, the attackers infiltrated the systems of the domain registrar “iwantmyname” and altered the DNS delegation of the “curve.fi” domain to redirect traffic to their own DNS server.

A domain registrar is a company authorized to manage the reservation and registration of internet domain names. It allows individuals or organizations to claim ownership of a domain and link it to web services like hosting and email.

The precise method of the breach is still under investigation. By May 22, 2025, no evidence of unauthorized access or compromised credentials was found.

Did you know? DNS hijacking attacks often succeed by compromising domain registrar accounts through phishing or poor security. Many Web3 projects still host domains with centralized providers like GoDaddy or Namecheap.

How Curve Finance responded to the hack

While the registrar was slow to respond, the Curve team took measures to deal with the situation. It successfully redirected the “.fi” domain to neutral nameservers, thus taking the website offline while efforts to regain control continued.

To ensure safe access to the frontend and secure fund management, the Curve team quickly launched a secure alternative at “curve.finance,” now serving as the official Curve Finance interface temporarily.

Upon discovering the exploit at 21:20 UTC, the following actions were taken:

Users were immediately notified through official channels
Requested the takedown of the compromised domain
Initiated mitigation and domain recovery processes
Collaborated with security partners and the registrar to coordinate a response.

Compromise of the domain notwithstanding, the Curve protocol and its smart contracts remained secure and fully operational. During the disruption of the front end, Curve processed over $400 million in onchain volume. No user data was at risk, as Curve’s front end does not store any user information.

Throughout the compromise, the Curve team was always available through its Discord server, where users could raise issues with them.

After implementing immediate damage control measures, the Curve team is now taking additional steps to prepare for the future.

Assessing and enhancing registrar-level security, incorporating stronger protections and exploring alternative registrars
Investigating decentralized front-end options to eliminate dependence on susceptible web infrastructure
Partnering with the broader DeFi and Ethereum Name Service (ENS) communities to advocate for native browser support for “.eth” domains.

Did you know? Unlike smart contract exploits, DNS hijacks leave no trace onchain initially, making it hard for users to realize they have been tricked until funds are gone. It is a stealthy form of crypto theft.

How crypto projects can deal with DNS hijacking vulnerability

The Curve Finance attack is concerning because it bypassed the decentralized security mechanisms at the protocol level. Curve’s backend, meaning its smart contracts and onchain logic, remained unharmed, yet users lost funds because they were deceived at the interface level. This incident underscores a significant vulnerability in DeFi.

While the backend may be decentralized and trustless, the front end still depends on centralized Web2 infrastructure like DNS, hosting and domain registrars. Attackers can exploit these centralized choke points to undermine trust and steal funds.

The Curve attack serves as a wake-up call for the crypto industry to explore decentralized web infrastructure, such as InterPlanetary File System (IPFS) and Ethereum Name Service (ENS), to reduce reliance on vulnerable centralized services.

To address the gap between decentralized backends and centralized frontends, crypto projects must adopt a multi-layered approach.

Here are various ways crypto projects can deal with this gap:

Minimize reliance on traditional DNS: They can minimize reliance on traditional DNS by integrating decentralized alternatives of DNS like the ENS or Handshake, which reduce the risk of registrar-level hijacks.
Use decentralized file storage systems: Hosting frontends on decentralized file storage systems such as IPFS or Arweave adds another layer of protection.
Implement domain name system security extensions (DNSSEC): Teams should implement DNSSEC to verify the integrity of DNS records and prevent unauthorized changes.
Secure registrar accounts: Registrar accounts must be secured with strong authentication methods, including multifactor authentication (MFA) and domain locking.
Train users: Educating users to verify site authenticity, such as bookmarking URLs or checking ENS records, can reduce phishing success rates.

Bridging the trust gap between decentralized protocols and centralized interfaces is essential for maintaining security and user confidence in DeFi platforms.

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May 23, 2025 0 comments

Gaming Gear

Ncuti Gatwa Is a Barbie, Again

by admin May 23, 2025

Not content with simply being Ken again after his guest appearance in the Barbie movie coincided with the news that he would be Doctor Who‘s latest Doctor, Ncuti Gatwa is going full circle with his very own 15th Doctor Barbie doll.

Revealed by the BBC this morning, Mattel Creations will release new Barbie dolls of the 15th Doctor and his first companion, Ruby Sunday. He’s Ken no more!

“Barbie is iconic, so to see a Barbie iteration of the Doctor was emotional, surreal, incredible and I can’t wipe the smile off my face,” Gatwa told the BBC. “I hope kids out there are able to enjoy the doll and see themselves in it and think ‘I can do anything’”.

Gatwa isn’t the first Time Lord to be Barbie-fied–Jodie Whittaker’s 13th Doctor had that honor back in 2018–but Millie Gibson’s Ruby Sunday will mark the first time a Doctor Who companion has entered the Barbie world.

Doctor Who 15th Doctor and Ruby Sunday Barbie Dolls

Neither the Doctor nor Ruby come with much in the way of accessories–their respective jackets are removeable, and both have a display stand included, but there’s no sonic screwdriver or anything to be found here. But just like Mattel’s other more adult-collector-focused Barbie releases, you can still expect to pay a pretty penny for the Doctor and Ruby.

Both dolls will be available through Mattel Creations in the US for $55 each starting today, with an August release date, but will also eventually head to Target, Walmart, and Amazon closer to launch.

Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.

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May 23, 2025 0 comments

GameFi Guides

Ethereum, XRP Drop as Altcoins Brace for New Trump Tariffs on EU, Apple

by admin May 23, 2025

In brief

Altcoins were hit especially hard on Friday after Trump threatened new tariffs against Apple and the EU.
A renewed trade war would “likely support Bitcoin adoption over the medium term,” according to Grayscale’s Zach Pandl.
Although Bitcoin retreated from its recent all-time high, the price of gold jumped.

The price of various altcoins fell on Friday after U.S. President Donald Trump threatened to impose new tariffs on the European Union and Apple, the $3 trillion iPhone maker.

Ethereum was recently changing hands around $2,550, a 4.1% decrease over the past day, according to crypto data provider CoinGecko. XRP and Dogecoin fell around 3.6% to $2.35 and $0.23, respectively, while Solana edged down 0.8% to $177.

The EU, one of America’s largest trading partners, should face 50% tariffs on goods imported to the U.S., starting in no less than nine days, Trump said in a post on Truth Social. Apple should also pay 25% tariffs on iPhones that aren’t manufactured in the U.S., the president suggested in a separate post, although he did not specify when the new levies could take effect.

“Altcoins have more downside in an escalating trade conflict because they are fundamentally riskier than Bitcoin,” Zach Pandl, head of research at crypto asset manager Grayscale, told Decrypt. “Most altcoins will not benefit from reserve diversification away from the Dollar.”

Trump’s return to trade-related threats immediately punctured a risk-on sentiment that had prevailed for weeks as his administration took a de-escalatory approach to trade negotiations with nations affected by his “reciprocal” tariffs. The price of gold spiked as Treasury yields moved lower, while Wall Street indices opened in the red on Friday.

Meme coins, including Official Trump ($TRUMP), fell hardest. A day after the president hosted a private dinner for top $TRUMP holders, the asset showed a 13% decrease to $13.47.

Bitcoin’s price fell to 2.7% to $108,500, retreating from an all-time high of $111,800 a day before. Still, Pandl said that “the trade conflict will likely support Bitcoin adoption over the medium term,” echoing the asset’s performance as a safe-haven asset this year.

As markets wavered in April on tariff-related uncertainties, Bitcoin’s correlation with gold strengthened. Investors turned to both non sovereign assets, amid growing risks to the U.S. dollar and the prevailing global economic order. The trend continued into early May.

Bitcoin’s dominance ticked up on Friday, representing over 62% of the crypto market’s entire value, according to CoinGecko. That measure had softened recently amid risk-on-sentiment, retreating from a high of around 63% at the start of this month.

Conceptually, a renewed trade war could benefit altcoins, if it provokes greater interest in decentralized systems, Pandl said. However, he acknowledged that “the implications are much less direct,” and a reduced risk appetite among investors is likely to impact valuations more.

Edited by James Rubin

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May 23, 2025 0 comments

Game Updates

Here’s what happened to Peter Molyneux’s Kinect game Project Milo

by admin May 23, 2025

Project Milo was initially revealed alongside Microsoft’s Kinect device all the way back in 2009, and featured a young character named Milo who players could interact with. However, it never actually made it to release, and the project was cancelled in 2010.

So, what happened? Well, Peter Molyneux recently shared his side of the story during Nordic Game 2025 in Malmö, explaining how changing priorities led to the end of the project and how he didn’t want to “prance around like a twat”.

Does Anyone Really Want Long Games Anymore? Watch on YouTube

“I’ll tell you exactly what happened,” Molyneux said, as transcribed by Eurgamer’s sister-site GamesIndustry.biz. “Microsoft had [bought] us, we were owned by Microsoft, and they had…I’m going to say this, I might get in trouble…what I thought was a bit of a crazy idea. And that was to do gesture recognition as an input device, rather than a controller. They showed me this stuff, and Microsoft had this amazing research building. Incredible.

“It was run by this brilliant bloke called Alex Kipman. Makes me look boring and passionless – he had ten times more passion than I had. He had this demo of this device, and when he showed me this demo, it could see people’s faces. He said, ‘it can do voice recognition’, and it had a massive field-of-view so it could see this whole room.”

When Kipman first asked Molyneux his thoughts on the tech that would ultimately end up as the Kinect, the game developer replied:

“‘Well, firstly’ – when he did the demo, he was jumping all over the room – ‘I’m a gamer, I don’t want to play games standing up. That’s the first thing. It doesn’t appeal to me, I want to sit back, I want to smoke what I smoke, and I want to drink what I want to drink, and I don’t want to prance around like a twat’.”

Molyneux said he would go and instead create a demo of how he believed the technology should be used, with a more sedentary slant with a focus on feeling. For this, he took inspiration from his then seven-year-old son, Lucas.

“Anyone who’s a parent will probably experience this: there was this moment where you realise you’re crafting, inspiring, a human being,” the developer said. “Wouldn’t it be an incredible thing to create a game around that feeling… About inspiring, in Milo’s case, a boy. That was contentious in itself, because of course, lots of people go to the dark side with that [idea].”

Staff at Molyneux’s studio Lionhead subsequently started work on the demo, and began collaborating with a technology company on Project Milo’s voice recognition.

“We had all sorts of experiences, like you could hand things to Milo in the game world and he would take them. They really worked well.”

The team “cheated in a big way about how you could talk to Milo”, Molyneux said, adding he wanted to make sure that players would be able to relax on the couch at the end of a day (or, to be fair, in the middle of it), and “just experience things with this game character”.

“Even though voice recognition now is almost a solved problem, back in those days we solved the problem by cheating,” Molyneux explained. “So, when Milo asked you the player a question, we had set that question up to different points, so he knew what sort of answer he’d give.”

The developer went on to explain some more about the behind the scenes of Project Milo, admitting it was unfortunate that at the same time as all of this was going on, Microsoft was also working on its Kinect device.

“And [Microsoft] realised that the device that Alex Kipman first showed off would cost $5k for consumers to buy. So they cost-reduced that device down to such a point, where the field-of-view… I think it was a minuscule field-of-view. In other words, it could only just see what’s straight in front of you.”

In the end, changing priorities at Microsoft, which wanted to focus on the Kinect, led to the end of Project Milo. Molyneux said the “death blow” which still “breaks his heart” today, “was that it was decided that Kinect shouldn’t be a gaming device: it should be a party device. You should play a sports game with it, or dancing games with it.”

Project Milo, then, “didn’t fit into the Microsoft portfolio”, and the whole thing was ultimately canned.

“No one ever saw the complete experience,” Molyneux closed. “We didn’t finish the experience. But it was a magical thing. What was so magical about it: it wasn’t about heroes and aliens coming down, there wasn’t this ‘end of the world’ narrative scenario.

“It was just experiencing what it’s like to hang out with someone that loves you.”

E3 2009: Project Natal Milo demo. Watch on YouTube

Eurogamer spoke to Molyneux last year, about his Masters of Albion project. Masters of Albion will take place “in the land of Albion”, and has – in the words of Katharine Castle – big Black and White energy, with a more customisable bent that lets you design buildings, meals, armour and more.

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May 23, 2025 0 comments

Product Reviews

Seagate suggests AI is causing a carbon crisis for the industry

by admin May 23, 2025

Just like cryptocurrency put a new strain on the GPU market, AI is starting to push into the demands of data storage companies. Recently, at Computex 2025, Seagate came forward with a panel showcasing new developments for the upcoming year. According to Digitimes, Seagate also used the opportunity to express growing concern about the impact AI is having on the tech industry and potentially developing into what they describe as a “carbon crisis”.

Seagate also provided some figures for those interested in exactly how big the impact appears to be. It claims the hard drive industry as a whole is only able to create 1 to 2 zettabytes of storage each year, with 1 zettabyte being the equivalent of 1 trillion GB. However, this is only a small portion of how much data is expected to be created.

Digitimes explained how Seagate surveyed 1,000 IT professionals, 72% of whom are planning to use or are already using artificial intelligence in their respective fields. 90% of those who claim to currently use AI also believe that data storage is critical for improving the performance of AI. Seeing the rising demand, Seagate responded with research and found that HDDs have lower carbon footprints than your typical SSD.

Monster Hunter Wilds’ Street Fighter collaboration is all about Akuma

by admin May 23, 2025

Capcom has officially announced that, yes, in case all the teasers weren’t clear enough, the first Monster Hunter Wilds collaboration event will be with none other than Street Fighter. Collaboration events provide an opportunity for Capcom to bring elements and characters from other games into Wilds.

The Monster Hunter series certainly isn’t a stranger to that sort of thing, and this one appears to be following in the same footsteps.

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First things first, the Monster Hunter Wild x Street Fighter event kicks off next week, on Wednesday, May 28. It’s going to arrive alongside a free patch, version 1.011 – though Capcom didn’t say what else we can expect from the update itself.

As for the Street Fighter event, it’s going to introduce Akuma to Wilds. The update will add a new side mission, completing which earns you materials that allow you to craft gear from the collaboration event.

The side mission will be available at Hunter Rank 21 and beyond, so it’s pretty accessible to most players. You’ll be able to pick it up from Quinn at the Oilwell Basin Base Camp. There are three sets of rewards you can expect to craft as part of this collaboration.

Watch on YouTube

There’s the Akuma full armor set and lawyered equipment, as well as a Blanka-Chan full armor set and layered equipment for your Palico. There’s also a hunter profile background, nameplate, pose and titles – all sporting new designs.

The mission itself will also unlock two new Arena Quests: Demonic Strength and True Strength, which will offer more ways for you to earn the materials required to craft all that gear. It wouldn’t be a collab without some paid cosmetics, of course, and so you can look forward to some new DLC in the store.

It’s all Street Fighter 6-themed, and includes two outfits for Alma that change her look to that of Chun-Li or Cammy, three gestures – Hadoken, Shoryuken, Tatsumaki Senpu-kyaku – a sticker set, and a Blanka-Chan Doll pendant.

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May 23, 2025 0 comments

NFT Gaming

SMLR Adds 455 BTC to Balance Sheet

by admin May 23, 2025

Medical equipment company Semler Scientific (SMLR) announced its third-largest bitcoin

purchase since adopting a bitcoin standard roughly one year ago.

The company in the ten days ending May 22 acquired 455 BTC for $50 million, averaging $109,801 per bitcoin. This acquisition, funded through its at-the-market (ATM) equity offering program, brings Semler’s total holdings to 4,264 BTC, purchased for $390 million and currently valued at more than $450 million.

To date, the company has issued 3,003,488 shares under its April 15 $500 million ATM program, raising $114.8 million.

Now roundly used as a key performance indicator by most companies adding bitcoin to their balance sheet, Semler’s BTC Yield, has risen to 25.8% in 2025. BTC Yield measures the year-to-date percentage change in the ratio of total bitcoin holdings to assumed diluted shares outstanding.

SMLR shares are lower by 5.3% in premarket trading alongside a sizable decline in the price of bitcoin Friday morning to $108,300.

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May 23, 2025 0 comments

Crypto Trends

ETH Shows Big Bullish Sign After Reclaiming $2,700: Report

by admin May 23, 2025

ETH shows bullish sign, here’s what level to watch
Ethereum boasts 21 achievements on its network by top platforms

Popular on-chain data aggregator Glassnode has published a report about the recent price behavior of the second-largest cryptocurrency in terms of market capitalization value, Ethereum.

Glassnode has spotted a major bullish sign logged by ETH and named a key price level to watch for traders.

ETH shows bullish sign, here’s what level to watch

Glassnode’s report pointed out that after Ethereum recovered the Realized Price level at $1,900 in May, which means that average holders are now back in profit. It happened after ETH unrealized profits switched to the level where this indicator “provides meaningful financial relief for many holders, signaling a bullish outlook.”

After that, as May rolled on, Ethereum surpassed the $2,400 mark, the true market mean. The overtaking of this level by ETH indicates large inflows of fresh funds into ETH triggered by the Pectra upgrade implemented on May 7. Petra’s goal was to consolidate the validator set and improve overall Ethereum network efficiency, including cost-cutting on gas fees and targeting the congestion issue that often hits Ethereum.

In May, $ETH broke above its Realized Price at $1.9K, putting the average holder back in profit. Price is now above the True Market Mean ($2.4K), a bullish sign – but reclaiming the Active Realized Price at $2.9K remains key for further confidence: https://t.co/EdqeH4GGXO pic.twitter.com/BHEN9Mgdfs

— glassnode (@glassnode) May 23, 2025

As part of these inflows, large investments into spot Ethereum exchange-traded funds were noticed. Over the past five weeks, these ETFs recorded almost $6.6 billion worth of inflows.

Glassnode referred to this price move as “a bullish sign.” After this, the key level to watch is $2,900, as it “remains key for further confidence” and will confirm sustained bullish momentum. Within just a few weeks, the Ethereum price rallied from $1,800 to $2,700, signifying a 50% price surge. As it moved up, it once demonstrated a 21% daily price jump, which is the highest since 2021, according to Glassnode.

Ethereum boasts 21 achievements on its network by top platforms

Earlier this week, the official X account of Ethereum published a tweet that enumerated 21 important milestones that were achieved on the network by top altcoin platforms running on ETH.

The first one on the list was the rollout of the Pectra upgrade on Ethereum. It was followed by Stripe launching its stablecoin financial accounts. Now, thanks to this, Stripe has accounts in more than 101 countries, where users can hold, receive and send stablecoins using Ethereum.

The tweet also mentioned the major Uniswap DEX reaching a whopping $3 trillion in all-time swap volume. Thanks to Superstate announcing Opening Bell, companies can now issue public equities on Ethereum.

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May 23, 2025 0 comments

Gaming Gear

The Best Travel Tech for Families (2025)

by admin May 23, 2025

Ah, the joys of a vacation. A little time to unwind and put your feet up. Or if you have kids, a chance to get moaned at in a new time zone. The nagging kicked off before my family left the airport on our last holiday and didn’t let up.

“Dad, my internet isn’t working.” “Dad, where can I charge this?” “Dad, what’s the Wi-Fi password?” “Dad, are we there yet?”

Luckily, this year I planned ahead, and you can too with our best travel tech guide to a harmonious family vacation. Disclaimer: I’ll show you how to keep everyone online and fully charged, but I can’t accept responsibility for non-tech-related family arguments.

The Internet

In theory, it would be great to leave your phones and tablets behind and immerse yourself in the vacation experience to “live, laugh, love” your way around the world. In reality, travel has dull moments and downtime, and teenagers cannot be separated from the internet for long. You can save yourself a lot of trouble by ensuring that everyone can get online.

A Travel Router

My top tip is to set up a travel router before you go. Plug it into your existing router and then connect all the devices you are taking on vacation, but most importantly, you, your partner, and your kids’ phones. Now, when you arrive at your apartment or hotel, you can plug in, connect the travel router to public Wi-Fi, or even connect your phone to the router and use it as a hot spot, so everyone is securely connected without needing any login details. Here’s the one I recommend in our Best Wi-Fi Routers guide.

Connecting Smartphones

You should check your roaming options based on where you are going, but it’s a safe bet that roaming charges will be a hefty unwelcome extra expense when you get home, especially if you allow your kids to connect to foreign networks. You have a few options to avoid this issue.

Use your phone as a hot spot: I have certain roaming travel allowances on my phone contract that my wife and kids don’t have, so it made sense to use my phone as a hot spot for them to connect to when we were out and about. Check your contract before you do this, but even if you don’t have specific benefits, you’ll find it cheaper to get data for one device than more. Here’s how to use your phone as a hot spot. It will drain your battery faster, but I have a tip for that below in the charging section. Remember to turn off cell service or mobile data on the rest of your family’s phones.
Buy a Travel SIM or eSIM: You can snag international SIM cards to switch into your phone when you land abroad. This can be a cost-effective way to make sure you have plenty of data and can connect to foreign networks, although it does mean using a different number for the duration of your stay. We have a guide on how to use an eSIM for international travel.
Buy a hot spot: Instead of using your phone as a hot spot, you could always snag a purpose-built one for everyone to connect to. These portable devices need a SIM or eSIM and enable you to connect multiple gadgets via Wi-Fi. Some portable hot spots even come with service included. I recently tested the excellent but pricey Netgear Nighthawk M6 Pro ($800) and the cheaper but inferior Acer Connect Enduro M3 5G ($356).

Download Ahead of Time

To prepare for the journey, you should download maps in advance and plot your routes. If you use Google Maps, you can tap your profile icon at the top right (bottom right if you use Apple Maps) and choose Offline maps to get started. Downloading a map of the area you are visiting is a good way to save data and serves as a backup in case there are connection issues when you arrive.

Courtesy of Simon Hill

If you’re looking for directions in Google Maps, say for public transport from the airport to the hotel, remember you can tap the Leave drop-down box (Now in Apple Maps) and select a day and time to get the correct directions for your arrival.

It’s also a great idea to ensure you and your kids have some entertainment on your phones before you go. Pick a few movies or episodes of a favorite show and download them the night before. Here’s how to download videos to watch offline. Some of the best mobile games can also be played offline (I recommend Mini Metro).

Entertainment

Speaking of entertainment, you should take some with you. At the end of a busy day sightseeing or roller coaster riding, you might want to unwind with an hour of TV, and the novelty of Spanish soap operas or French debate shows will wear off quickly if you don’t speak the language. I always pack our Chromecast, but any of the picks in our Best Streaming Devices guide will do. This Roku stick is our favorite and plugs easily into any available HDMI port.

Just make sure that you are logged into all your streaming services and that you connect them to your travel router before you go. That way, you have all your favorite shows and the correct next episode lined up. If you get blocked by those annoying login screens for hotel Wi-Fi, you can always connect to Wi-Fi on your phone and log in, then use it as a hot spot for your streaming stick to connect to.

Travel Charging

It’s crucial to pack charging gear when you travel. You’ll want travel adapters, charging cables, and power banks. Make sure you have the right adapters for the country you are visiting, make sure you have a charging cable for every device you are taking, and test them all out before you leave home. Don’t forget about your smartwatch, fitness tracker, or smart ring. I also recommend taking at least one spare travel charger just in case. I run through various options in my Best Travel Adapters guide, but the top pick is ideal for family trips.

Ceptics

GaN 70W Universal Travel Adapter

The top pick in our Best USB-C Cables guide will charge any device with a USB-C port, but this Nomad cable is a handy option for folks with an Apple Watch.

Nomad Universal Cable for Apple Watch

You can also find several options for different devices in our Best Portable Chargers guide, but this is the one I recommend for travel.

Security

One of our favorite password managers, 1Password, features Travel Mode, enabling you to delete any sensitive data from devices before you travel and restore it with a click after you’ve crossed a border. This prevents anyone, including law enforcement at international borders, from accessing your complete password vault. You may also be interested in how to protect yourself from phone searches at the US border.

If you are staying at campsites or rented accommodations and have concerns about anyone rummaging through your stuff, or you feel there’s a risk of theft, it might be worth packing a portable security camera. For Airbnbs and places with Wi-Fi, try a camera from our Best Indoor Security Cameras guide. Our top pick is compact and affordable.

If you need something that can go outdoors or connect to a mobile network because there’s no Wi-Fi, I recommend this Arlo camera in my Best Outdoor Security Cameras guide. But it is expensive and requires a cell service plan when Wi-Fi isn’t available.

Bonus Travel Tips

Here are a few bonus tips that might help your family trip go a little more smoothly. Bon voyage!

While it’s always a good idea to carry a little cash just in case you run into a store or service that doesn’t accept cards, you can also get plastic that’s widely accepted and enables you to change money with a couple of taps. I love the Wise card and use it on all my trips because it offers instant electronic currency exchange in the app with decent rates for many major currencies. You also get a contactless Visa debit card you can use on your travels. Remember, it’s usually best (cheaper) to pay in the local currency whenever you get a choice.

Photos and videos can help you preserve the highlights of your vacation to bore your extended family and friends with, but they’re also nice to have and look back on in future years. The best camera is the one you have with you, so probably your phone, but if you want to up your game, consider our Best Compact Cameras, Best 360 Cameras, and Best Action Cameras guides.

We always travel light because it means no waiting for bags at the airport and makes it much easier to hop on and off buses and trains. Check out our Best Carry-On Luggage guide for recommendations, but always check the airline’s rules for bag size before you go. On our last trip, I used the Ekster TravelPack Vacuum Kit ($129) to compress my clothes and squeeze more in. If you’re staying at an Airbnb or rented apartment, you can always wash clothes, so you don’t need to pack as much.

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May 23, 2025 0 comments

Esports

Six One Indie launches publishing label

by admin May 23, 2025

The team behind the Six One Indie Showcase and The Indie Game Awards has launched its own publishing label.

Six One Indie Publishing describes itself as an “integrated, indie-first platform” for developers.

It will offer support in launch strategy, media relations, and showcase integration as well as development support in areas including QA testing and localisation.

“The number of games hitting the market grows by the day, but unfortunately, the people to cover and amplify them seem to dwindle just as fast,” said Six One Indie creative director Mike Towndrow.

“Six One Indie has evolved into an ecosystem that can now offer a unique opportunity to get indies in front of players through fresh, unconventional means.”

Towndrow added: “We’re not building a publishing label for the old industry. We’re building one for the new wave of indie – where passion, connection, and creative control comes first.

“Indies deserve more than a checklist, they deserve a major push backed by authenticity, genuine enthusiasm, and a new approach for an unpredictable industry.”

Six One Indie was founded in 2018, with its first showcase debuting in 2022.

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May 23, 2025 0 comments