Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 and its Warzone component kicked off its Season 1 multiplayer today, marking its first major update since launch. The former gets three new maps as part of its 24/7 playlist, in addition to a 6v6 arena set in Rio, which will be available later in the season. As usual, there are some rewards for racking up kills without dying, granting players an EMP upon getting a 13 killstreak and the ability to summon mosquito swarms as cover on a 15 killstreak. There’s also a new perk called the Assassin Vest, which makes players immune to UAV scans and doesn’t pop skulls on the minimap upon performing an execution.

The three new maps take you to a coastal town in ‘Greece’, a blood-drenched close-quarters slaughterhouse called ‘Meat’, and a ‘Training Facility’ set in a warehouse that enables 2v2 gunfights. Building on that, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III brings back two fan-favourite modes — the All or Nothing equips players with throwing knives and an empty pistol, taking them with slowly upgrading armaments via killstreaks and perk activations. Then there’s the standard round-based Gunfight with small teams. Ranked Play is expected to drop later in Season 1, alongside promotional skins for the upcoming Denis Villeneuve movie Dune: Part 2 — Paul Atredis and Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen — and an in-game event titled ‘Trial of Power.’ There are no specifics of the event yet, but we can assume that the timing of the collaboration had to do with the film’s delay from November to March 2024 due to the Hollywood labour strikes. Still, a weird game to pick for promoting Dune 2.

Over on Warzone, Call of Duty’s long-running battle-royale mode, the brand-new Urzikstan map is now live, throwing you onto a greyish metropolis punctuated by lavish resorts, power mills, a military base, a luxurious mansion and more. Activision describes it as a point where the Middle East meets Europe — or to put it more bluntly in the game’s universe, it’s located on the ‘easter border of the Black Sea and bordering Al Mazrah.’ As previously reported, the map adds a few unique mechanics for traversal such as horizontal ziplines and a drivable train, whose speed can be controlled by players using dedicated levers. Of course, one could also flip the brakes by heading to the backside. With such major changes comes a new 1v1 Gulag called ‘Silo,’ which is entirely symmetrical but will be varied based on luck.

Season 1 also brings a new story mission to the Zombies mode, plopping a ‘massive gateway’ in the Exclusion Zone for players to investigate. Additionally, there’s a new battle pass, promising new weapon unlocks such as the XRX Stalker, RAM-7, and Stormender, which can be added to your loadout. The Call of Duty roadmap also reveals plans for Christmas-themed events and game modes, a skin for A-Train from the Amazon Prime Video series The Boys, and more — you can check out the complete patch notes on the official website.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 and Warzone Season 1 is now live on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series S/X.

Nothing is considering the development of its own mobile operating system, according to CEO and founder Carl Pei. The UK startup’s handsets currently run on Google’s Android operating system, with a custom interface running on top. Most smartphones today run on Android, while Apple’s iPhone models run on iOS, the company’s mobile OS. Developers offering access to popular apps on Android and iOS via the Play Store and App Store, respectively, while Huawei’s HarmonyOS is attempting to present a third alternative, and Nothing could eventually join the fray.

Nothing Considering Development of Its Own Mobile Operating System

During a discussion with Brian Heater at TechCrunch Disrupt, Pei said that the company is exploring the development of a new operating system to create a new revenue stream for the company, while further establishing the startup in the mobile industry. “We’re thinking about how we manoeuvre here, and maybe create something of our own. Some kind of operating system,” he said.

The co-founder and former CEO of OnePlus also stated that such an operating system would include support for artificial intelligence (AI) feature, but it would not be the “be-all and end-all”. Both Google and Apple have heavily invested in features powered by machine learning and artificial intelligence for their latest operating system updates.

If Nothing were to build its own OS, the company would focus on improving the user experience, taking advantage of all of the information available on devices to offer a better experience, according to Pei. He said that the company could work on the project even in the absence of funding, and did not comment when Heater asked whether Nothing planned to raise funds to create its own operating system.

Pei’s company isn’t the first to consider the development of an operating system to challenge market leaders Google and Apple. Huawei has replaced Android on some of its devices with its own operating system called HarmonyOS, which offers access to popular apps via the Huawei AppGallery.

In order to successfully compete with Android and iOS, Nothing would need to offer a similar app marketplace and convince developers to offer its apps on that platform. The lack of access to popular apps is widely believed to be one of the reasons mobile operating systems like Windows Phone or Sailfish OS failed to compete with Android and iOS.

Nothing previously announced that its upcoming software updates for its smartphones will be based on Android — this includes the Nothing OS 3.0 update, which is based on Android 15. If it does develop a new mobile OS, it is likely to arrive on a new smartphone that is optimised to work with the company’s software, which suggests that it could be several months until we see a new handset with a new operating system developed by Nothing.

Apple’s iPhone 17 series is not expected to debut until next year, but details of the company’s purported plans for its upcoming devices have already surfaced online. According to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, Apple is working on an iPhone 17 model with a slimmer body than the company’s existing smartphones, as well as slimmer versions of its existing MacBook Pro and Apple Watch models. Last month, the company launched a redesigned iPad Pro model — the slimmest tablet from Apple to date — alongside the new Apple Pencil Pro.

In his weekly Power On newsletter, Gurman states that the iPad Pro isn’t the only device from Apple to be updated with a slimmer chassis. Citing unidentified sources, he says that the Cupertino company is “focused” on developing a new model with a slim design as part of the iPhone 17 lineup, which is expected to arrive in 2025.

Readers might recall that the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus both measure 7.8mm in thickness, while the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max are 8.3mm. It is currently unclear whether Apple will equip is Pro models with a slimmer chassis, like the new iPad Pro (2024) models.

Apple is also working on a slimmer version of the MacBook Pro, according to Gurman. The latest MacBook Pro model with the company’s M3 chip and a 16-inch display measures 1.68cm in thickness when closed, while its smaller sibling is slightly thinner at 1.56cm.

Recent MacBook Pro models (dating back to 2021) have seen an increase in thickness due to the return of MagSafe charging, an SD card slot, and additional ports, while the company’s MacBook Air models have fewer ports and a slimmer design.

Similarly, Gurman says in his newsletter that the Apple Watch will be refreshed with a slimmer chassis compared to previous models. This claim is corroborated by TF Securities International analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, who claims that the Apple Watch Series 10 will sport a thinner design and could arrive with a bigger display (up to 49mm).

There’s no word from both Kuo and Gurman on when the redesigned Apple Watch models will be launched, while the slimmer iPhone is expected to arrive as part of the iPhone 17 series in the second half of 2025, based on Apple’s previous launch timelines. It is currently unclear when Apple will launch the purported MacBook Pro with a thinner design, but more details are likely to emerge in the coming months.

The Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) of Nepal has highlighted a rise in the misuse of crypto assets in the country. The agency, which closely monitors the crypto sphere, has said that the laundering of illicit funding through cryptocurrencies has spiked in the country. The Nepal Rastra Bank has released its ‘Strategic Analysis Report’ that claims that notorious actors have been converting their illegally obtained funds into cryptocurrencies because these assets provide private transactions. Nepal is working on a roadmap to combat these existing issues related to crypto exploitation.

Cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ether bring an element of anonymity to financial transactions that are also facilitated in real time, making them difficult to trace. This makes it challenging for law enforcement agencies to follow transaction trails that could lead to the identification of initiators.

In its report, the FIU-Nepal (Nepal Rastra Bank) noted, “conversion of proceeds of fraud to cryptocurrency or for online betting purpose too is observed frequently. The purpose is to increase the time necessary for FIUs and LEAs to access and analyse the necessary financial data across sectors, and institutions making it difficult for tracing the funds, freezing the proceeds and recovering it.”

Nepal is also witnessing a rise in fraud cases that involve luring potential investors into finally risky crypto schemes.

“The advertisements direct the potential prey to deposit amount in certain bank accounts or wallet accounts. The amount thus deposited is later not returned as promised. In countries like Nepal where investment in virtual assets like cryptocurrency is illegal, the victims rarely come up with complaints against such scams for potential repercussions,” the report noted elaborating into its matter of concerns.

FIU-Nepal is currently conducting an analysis of the kind of actions that other countries have taken to tackle cyber-enabled frauds. The country is planning to launch educational campaigns to increase awareness around the financial risks involved with volatile crypto assets.

In addition, Nepal is exploring the development of a technologically advanced platform capable of tracing information across different financial institutions to intercept illicit proceeds.

In 2023, Nepal instructed all internet service providers (ISPs) in the country to block access to crypto trading platforms. At the time, there were growing concerns around the misuse of crypto assets for moving illicit funds. In Nepal, it is prohibited to utilise cryptocurrencies as any kind of a monetary instrument.