You’ve all missed the best Oculus Quest 2 deal of the year, but please don’t buy a different one until Black Friday

Sorry folks, you’ve all missed out on Amazon’s best Oculus Quest 2 Black Friday deal – possibly the one of best Black Friday deals in general – that would have got you $ 50/£50 off the 128GB model and a free $ 50/£50 gift card to spend on anything at Amazon. But please don’t panic buy a different Quest 2 deal yet.

The gift card deal is currently sold out at both Amazon US and Amazon UK, but there’s a chance it may rematerialize on Black Friday itself – which is November 24 this year.  It’s not uncommon for deals to appear, disappear then return in the build-up to the biggest sales event of the year; I’m hoping this incredible Quest 2 will continue this trend and show up on Friday.

If it does reappear then you’re in the money; you’ll get a great bargain on Meta’s budget VR headset. If it doesn’t then you’ll still be able to grab one of the other excellent (but not quite as excellent) Quest 2 deals out there. In the US you can get the Oculus Quest 2 (128GB) for $ 249 at Walmart instead of $ 299, while in the UK you can get the Quest 2 (128GB), Elite Strap and case for £249 at Currys, saving you £140. So unless you are absolutely desperate to get a VR headset as soon as possible hold out a few days longer as you might be able to save big.

The best Black Friday Quest 2 deals

Oculus Quest 2 + Amazon Gift Card: was $ 349.99 now $ 249.00 at Amazon
This incredible Black Friday deal on Meta’s Oculus Quest 2 is currently sold out, but it might reappear on November 24 (Black Friday itself). Check this link every so often and worst case you can pick up one of the other great Quest 2 deals on this page.View Deal

Oculus Quest 2 (128GB): was $ 299 now $ 249 at Walmart
Meta’s Oculus Quest 2 was, until recently, our favorite VR headset and this Black Friday you can get it for its lowest-ever price of just $ 249. You’ll then be able to jump into an incredible selection of VR games and apps available on the Quest platform and finally see how much fun VR can be.
You can also find the same deal at Amazon and Best Buy if you’d rather shop somewhere else.View Deal

Meta Quest 2 and £50 gift card: was £349.99 now £249 at Amazon
This deal is sold out at the time of writing but there’s a chance it may return on Black Friday. When November 24 comes around follow this link and see if Amazon has put it live again because this sale hasn’t been beat.View Deal

Oculus Quest 2 (128GB), Elite Strap and case: was £389 now £249 at Currys
Currys’ bundle deal has just got better. Now you’re saving £50 on Meta’s Oculus Quest 2 VR headset and getting the official Elite Strap and a carry case for free. This is one of the best deals we’ve seen this Black Friday, and one you definitely don’t want to miss out on.

Preferred partner (What does this mean?)View Deal

Admittedly, I think you should just ignore all of the Oculus Quest 2 deals, no matter how good they are. 

I love my Quest 2, it’s a super solid VR gadget that doesn’t break the bank. But the Meta Quest 3 is the new kid on the block, and it’s more than worth the added cost. It’s more powerful, offers better graphics, and has full-color mixed reality. If you’re looking for a VR headset, get this one – for the vast, vast majority of people, you don’t need anything else.

Though at $ 499 / £479 it’s twice (or almost twice) as pricey as a Quest 2 while it’s on sale for Black Friday. If you’re on a tight budget the Quest 2 will definitely serve you well, but those of you who can stretch to the Quest 3 should splash out.

Meta Quest 3: $ 499 & get a free game at Amazon
The Meta Quest 3 isn’t currently discounted, and likely won’t be for Black Friday as it’s so new, but you can get a free digital copy of Asgard’s Wrath 2 when it launches later this year.
If you’d rather not shop at Amazon the same offer is available from Walmart, Best Buy, and Target as well as others. View Deal

Meta Quest 3: £479.99 & get a free game at Amazon
The Meta Quest 3 only just launched so it was extremely unlikely it would see much of a discount for Black Friday. There is still a deal on though; if you order the headset before January 27, 2024, and activate it before February 9, 2024, you’ll get Asgard’s Wrath 2 for free when the game releases.
If you’d rather shop elsewhere the same deal is available at Very, Currys, and Game among others. View Deal

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Microsoft reins in Bing AI’s Image Creator – and the results don’t make much sense

You may have noticed that Bing AI got a big upgrade for its image creation tool last week (among other recent improvements), but it appears that after having taken this sizeable step forward, Microsoft has now taken a step back.

In case you missed it, Bing’s image creation system was upgraded to a whole new version – Dall-E 3 – which is much more powerful. So much so that Microsoft noted the supercharged Dall-E 3 was generating a lot of interest and traffic, and so might be sluggish initially.

There’s another issue with Dall-E 3 though, because as Windows Central observed, Microsoft has considerably reined in the tool since its recent revamp.

Now, we were already made aware that the image creation tool would employ a ‘content moderation system’ to stop inappropriate pics being generated, but it seems the censorship imposed is harsher than expected. This might be a reaction to the kind of content Bing AI users have been trying to get the system to create.

As Windows Central points out, there has been a lot of controversy about an image created of Mickey Mouse carrying out the 9/11 attack (unsurprisingly).

The problem, though, is that beyond those kinds of extreme asks, as the article makes clear, some users are finding innocuous image creation requests being denied. Windows Central tried to get the chatbot to make an image of a man breaking a server rack with a sledgehammer, but was told this violated Microsoft’s terms of using Bing AI.

Whereas last week, the article author noted that they could create violent zombie apocalypse scenarios featuring popular characters (that are copyrighted) with Bing AI not raising a complaint.


Analysis: Random censorship

The point is about censorship being an overreaction here, or this seemingly being the case going by reports, we should add. Microsoft left the rules too slack in the initial implementation, it appears, but has gone ahead and tightened things too much now.

What really illustrates this is that Bing AI is even censoring itself, as highlighted by someone on Reddit. Bing Image Creator has a ‘surprise me’ button that generates a random image (the equivalent of Google’s ‘I’m feeling lucky’ button, if you will, that produces a random search). But here’s the kicker – the AI is going ahead, creating an image, and then censoring it immediately.

Well, we suppose that is a surprise, to be fair – and one that would seem to aptly demonstrate that Microsoft’s censorship of the Image Creator has maybe gone too far, limiting its usefulness at least to some extent. As we said at the outset, it’s a case of a step forward, then a quick step back.

Windows Central observes that it was able to replicate this scenario of Bing’s self-censorship, and that it’s not even a rare occurrence – it reportedly happens around a third of the time. It sounds like it’s time for Microsoft to do some more fine-tuning around this area, although in fairness, when new capabilities are rolled out, there are likely to be adjustments applied for some time – so perhaps that work could already be underway.

The danger of Microsoft erring too strongly on the ‘rather safe than sorry’ side of the equation is that this will limit the usefulness of a tool that, after all, is supposed to be about exploring creativity.

We’ve reached out to Microsoft to check what’s going on with Bing AI in this respect, and will update this story if we hear back.

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We’re amazed at how well Windows 11 runs with 176MB of RAM – but don’t try this at home

Windows 11 running with a tiny amount of system RAM is something we’ve seen before, but this is a new low for the OS (in a good way).

NTDEV, the developer responsible for the stripped-back version of Windows 11 called Tiny11, has got Microsoft’s operating system functioning in a PC with only 176MB of system memory.

How is this possible? By removing pretty much everything the dev could, and using an “extensive trial and error” process to see which services and drivers Windows 11 required to boot (then getting rid of everything else).

Tiny11 has previously been run in as little as 196MB of RAM, the catch with that being that the OS was incredibly slow. You could do things, just about, but at glacial speeds.

With NTDEV’s successful attempt at firing up Windows 11 in just 176MB, the system runs relatively responsively, and for example Task Manager is brought up in just a few seconds. (No, that isn’t snappy, but compare it to the 15-minute wait for Task Manager to appear with the 196MB demonstration).

It’s an eye-opening difference, for sure, but there’s a big catch here, which we’ll discuss next.


Analysis: An impressive feat with a twist of a cheat

The cheat NTDEV has used to do this is that they’ve trimmed Tiny11 down even further and removed a major element – File Explorer – allowing Windows 11 to run faster because it doesn’t have to bring up the desktop.

That’s right, as you can see in the video clip above, there is no desktop, with the system booting to a command line. You then have to type manual commands (in text) to run different apps and functions, which is hardly ideal. Indeed, it’s a very clunky way of operating, but it does allow for the OS to be much faster.

To put this achievement in perspective, normally Window 11 requires 4GB of RAM to run, which is 4096MB. That’s 23x the amount the OS is seen running in here.

What’s the point of this? Well, it’s a fun exercise and nothing more, as nobody sane would want to operate Windows 11 in this manner. Much like huge overclocks on GPUs and CPUs that are completely impractical – and happen for seconds, only thanks to exotic cooling with say, liquid nitrogen – these are feats undertaken just to prove it can be done. Although in this case, the goal isn’t big numbers, but small ones – as tiny as possible.

Is 176MB a world-record low for running Windows 11 (functionally)? We think it could be, but then, technically, are you running Windows if there’s no desktop? There are still windows, of course – brought up via the command line – but without a desktop and icons, the core graphical interface, this isn’t really Windows, is it?

Still, hats off to NTDEV for what remains an impressive achievement.

Via Tom's Hardware

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Don’t worry, WhatsApp isn’t actually using your phone’s microphone to listen in

Google finally acknowledged and fixed an Android bug that caused WhatsApp to gain unauthorized access to a smartphone’s microphone. 

If you’re not super familiar with the story, around early April some people began noticing, and reporting online, that the software was using their device's mic without their consent. This issue came to a head on May 6 when Twitter engineer Foad Dabiri noticed WhatsApp had gained access to the microphone on his Pixel 7 Pro at least nine times in one morning. Every time the error occurred, a notification appeared informing him of what happened. WhatsApp’s official Twitter account responded, claiming the problem was caused by an Android bug misattributing information on the phone’s Privacy Dashboard, and then proceeded to ask Google to quickly roll out a fix. It took the tech giant nearly two months to recognize the issue, but fortunately, that day has arrived.

The official Android Developers Twitter account recently stated the bug only affected a “limited number of WhatsApp users”, explaining why it wasn’t a widespread problem. To patch up the security error and stop those notifications, Google states all you have to do is install the latest version of WhatsApp, which we strongly recommend you do.

Misattributed panic

To this day, no one knows what caused the microphone bug in the first place. Technical details surrounding the error are almost nonexistent as neither Google nor Meta (WhatsApp's parent company) has revealed any specifics. There's not even anything about it in the Android 13 changelog on the Android Developer website.

But the one thing that can be said is nothing was actually recorded. As clarified by WABetaInfo, WhatsApp didn’t actually gain access to the microphone on anyone's mobile device. It just triggered the notifications causing them to go a little haywire. This in turn resulted in some people online thinking they were being spied on or their privacy was being violated, but in truth, nothing of the sort happened. We reached out to Google to see if the company is willing to divulge any extra information about the fix. This story will be updated if we hear back. 

Having the piece of mind of knowing your information is safe and nothing is being recorded is vital for many users. However, software can’t solve everything. If you want to take your security to the next level, be sure to check out TechRadar’s list of the most secure smartphones for June 2023

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Windows 11 has a hidden ‘emergency restart’ feature you probably don’t know about

Windows 11 has an ‘emergency restart’ feature that’s tucked away, and you’ve likely never seen it, but the function could come in handy if your PC freezes up.

Indeed, this option has been hidden deep in the restart machinery of Microsoft’s OS since Windows Vista, apparently (so yes, it’s in Windows 10 as well as 11, and all the other outdated incarnations of Windows going back to the big ‘V’).

What exactly does this feature do? It reboots your PC when all has gone awry, with the warning: “Click OK to immediately restart. Any unsaved data will be lost. Use this only as a last resort.”

Can’t you just reboot your PC anyway, using the Start menu (Power button)? Indeed you can, and that’s the way to go normally, but the emergency restart option is for situations where the interface has partly fallen over when your system has frozen, and the Start menu is unresponsive (or a crashed app is interfering with the reboot process, stalling it).

In such cases, as Betanews discovered, you can press CTRL+ALT+DELETE together, and here’s the clever bit, hold down the CTRL key and click on the Power button at the bottom-right of the screen (the icon that’s a little circle with a line at 12 o’clock).

That will put you into the Emergency Restart screen, with the message mentioned above, so you can then click OK and an emergency reboot will be performed.


Analysis: A useful extra escape route – but not without risks

This is a pretty cool ability to have, because if you can’t action a normal reboot (via the Start menu) for whatever reason – including a crashed application messing that option up, as mentioned – you can (hopefully) access this emergency restart.

Now, Microsoft only advises it as a last resort (and this is maybe why the feature isn’t documented, too) because it’s a short and sharp reboot that doesn’t bother with any of the pleasantries that a normal restart executes. Meaning all that housekeeping stuff that really should be done before shutting down the system. It quickly kills everything and turns off the system without safeguards, but that comes with some risks (data corruption is the most obvious potential peril that springs to mind).

However, and this is the key bit, it’s still a (somewhat) safer option than physically powering off your PC when it has locked up (by pressing the reset button, if your computer has one, or holding down the power button – or simply yanking out the plug, which is the real last resort).

So, if you can’t reboot any other way, this is a useful last-ditch method to know about. Of course, if your PC has frozen to the extent that even CTRL+ALT+DELETE doesn’t do anything, then you’ll have no choice but to turn to the power switch (or plug).

While we’re on the subject of cool Windows 11 shortcuts you might not know about, here’s another one we were reminded of on Twitter this morning. As Jen Gentlemen, Senior Program Manager at Microsoft, points out, any time you want live captions to appear in a game or when watching a video (if the source content doesn’t have its own captions), just press the Windows key + CTRL + L together to swiftly turn them on.

Via PC Gamer, PC World

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Don’t ask ChatGPT or Google Bard for a Windows 11 key – here’s why

There’s been a flurry of reports of ChatGPT and Google Bard providing users with serial keys for Windows 11 (or Windows 10), but as you might guess, these don’t appear to be fully functional (and neither is it a good idea to seek out this method of getting an OS up and running – we’ll come back to why later on).

Neowin reported on some of these incidents, as flagged up on Twitter by Sid, who posted about Windows 10 Pro keys being provided by both ChatGPT (which powers Bing AI) and Google’s Bard chatbot.

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Sid also posted about successfully getting an upgrade from Windows 11 Home to Windows 11 Pro using the same method (which we also witnessed nabbing Windows 7 keys previously, last week – as discovered by Enderman).

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Indeed, we’ve seen a post on Reddit that a code requested for Windows 7 Ultimate actually worked for Windows 11 Pro (add seasoning with all these claims, of course – it’s not hard to find further reports along such lines across various online forums).


Analysis: Don’t be tempted…

So, what’s going on here? For starters, as you can see if you sift through these various threads, a large number of these keys don’t work anyway. However, some folks are having success with at least a small number of the provided serial keys, and they’re getting Windows 10 or 11 to install (or firing up an upgrade to Pro).

The advice given to those who can’t get one to work is simply to keep trying, but even if you do stumble upon one that’s good for starting the installation of the OS, that isn’t the end of the story.

The thing is these appear to be generic installation keys, meaning they allow for installation of a given Windows version, but crucially, not activation. These generic keys are freely available and designed for anyone who wants to, for example, try out an OS on their machine to make sure it works, or get a flavor of it.

In other words, going ahead with the installation (or upgrade process, in some cases) with one of these keys that seems to work at first glance might well end in heartache when you realize it can’t be activated – and you'll eventually have to revert your PC back to how it was. In short, you’ll be going through a lot of hassle for nothing.

What the chatbot is seemingly doing is pulling generic keys off a website somewhere (these aren’t hard to find, all you need to do is a simple web search). As Neowin informs us, when it tried the same stunt, Bard even pointed out that the key was from an old PC (and, amusingly, ChatGPT said that keys were for “personal use only and should not be used for any illegal activities”).

Even if, somehow, one of these keys does work and turns out to be valid for activation – which admittedly there are reports of too (here, have the salt shaker) – we still think that at some point, you’ll inevitably pay the price for circumventing paying for a product, which after all is piracy. Blaming it on a chatbot giving you the code is not going to be a credible defense – you’ve still gone ahead and knowingly done something illegal.

To sum up, then, you’re best off ignoring these whisperings of free serial keys, and we’d be surprised if you got one that works for actual validation (and continues to work going forward – because there are no guarantees with a key obtained via dodgy means). Is it worth living under the shadow of the potential of your OS installation going defunct at some stage down the line thanks to that key? In our book, no, it isn’t – and as we’ve already said, this is illegal, anyway. Steer well clear…

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Apple shuts My Photo Stream on July 26, so make sure you don’t lose your photos

Apple has announced that it's shutting down its older My Photo Stream service on July 26, and encouraging everyone to move over to iCloud Photos. If you still use My Photo Stream, your files will remain available in the cloud for 30 days from July 26.

My Photo Stream was the forerunner to iCloud Photos. It was free to use but only covered a maximum of 1,000 pictures and video clips, keeping these files in sync across every Apple device you owned and on the web.

Apple hasn't given a reason for shutting down the service, but iCloud Photos is clearly the newer and more comprehensive option for photo and video backups – while also making some money for Apple in terms of storage fees at the same time.

“Moving forward”

“Moving forward, iCloud Photos is the best way to keep the photos and videos you take up to date across all your devices and safely stored in iCloud,” Apple said in an email sent out to anyone who is still making use of My Photo Stream.

While photos and videos won't be deleted from your actual devices, they will be removed from the cloud 30 days from July 26 (so August 25), and syncing will be switched off. No new uploads will be permitted from July 26.

The service launched alongside iCloud in 2011 and is something of a throwback to the time when tech companies were still figuring out how to get photo and video uploads to work in a speedy and seamless way.


Analysis: what you need to do

What Apple is doing here is phasing out the cloud storage and syncing service for your last 1,000 photos and videos. The original files – which in most cases will be on an iPhone, if they were captured with the iPhone camera – won't go anywhere.

Unless you want to risk losing all your precious memories if something happens to your phone, you really need to get your pictures and videos uploaded to the cloud for safekeeping. Apple is pushing its own iCloud Photos service, which works well: once you go past 5GB of files though, you'll need to start paying for storage.

Other similar services that offer paid-for cloud storage include Google Photos and Dropbox. If you don't want to pay or store anything in the cloud, you need to make sure your photos and videos are regularly backed up to a computer or storage drive or two, preferably in a different location to where your iPhone normally lives.

There's more information in the official Apple support document about how the My Photo Stream shutdown is going to work, what you need to do with your photos and videos, and how to get them into iCloud Photos if you want to.

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Windows 11 widget change could give you flashbacks to Windows Vista – but don’t panic

Windows 11 might be getting the ability to pin widgets to the desktop, and maybe sooner rather than later, as we’ve heard another nugget from the rumor mill to this effect.

Windows Latest tells us that it has seen documents that indicate Windows 11 will ‘soon’ introduce this feature, and that the ability will be present for third-party widgets (as well as Microsoft’s own efforts).

At the moment, Windows 11’s widgets are confined to their own panel (off the taskbar). With this feature, you’ll be able to stick your favorite widgets on the desktop, enabling you to see them and get at-a-glance info all the time, rather than having to dive into the widget panel.

This change has been rumored in the past via Zac Bowden, a respected source of Microsoft-related leaks, who has been claiming widgets will get a new home on the desktop – if you want to put them there – for quite some time now.

The most recent rumor from Bowden held that his sources within Microsoft have confirmed that it’s the software giant’s intention, at least currently, to eventually allow Windows 11 users to be able to pin widgets to the desktop.


Analysis: This isn’t invasion of the widgets

When the topic of widgets on the desktop comes up, you’ll likely be reminded of the gadgets that Windows 7 had – and indeed Windows Vista, going back much further in time. That gives the impression that Microsoft is really turning back the clock with this change, and that’s true to some extent – just remember that having widgets on the desktop isn’t compulsory.

The widget panel will remain in Windows 11, and if you want to use widgets only with that, just don’t move any of them onto the desktop. It’s as simple as that, so it’s not like with this change – if it happens – widgets will suddenly be invading the desktop.

Whether or not the functionality to pin widgets to the desktop is actually inbound is another question. However, it does seem more likely now we’re getting something of a rush of rumors from different sources. That indicates this is a change that might be in the pipeline soon, as Windows Latest asserts.

It also seems more likely to be a move in the cards because Microsoft has been doing a lot of work with widgets recently, making various tweaks, and expanding the size of the panel (in testing). Furthermore, Microsoft has been giving a lot of encouragement to software developers to make their own third-party widgets and bolster the overall ecosystem.

So, it appears to be an area the company is focusing on, trying to make it something bigger that plays more of a part in Windows 11 – a goal that would be furthered by the ability to have widgets on the desktop. With the puzzle pieces fitting together fairly neatly in this respect, we’d be surprised at this point if this wasn’t something that turns up in Windows 11 preview builds in the near future.

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Don’t worry – Google Drive is already removing its new file limit

Google appears to have already stepped back from introducing a file limit to its online cloud storage platform.

Earlier this week, reports began to surface from Google Drive users across the globe that they had encountered new notifications about a seemingly newly-introduced account limit of five million files.

However, Google Drive has now officially responded to the reports, revealing that it will not be introducing a limit after all, and reassuring users that their files are safe.

There's no limit

“We recently rolled out a system update to Drive item limits to preserve stability and optimize performance,” the company's official Twitter account said. “While this impacted only a small number of people, we are rolling back this change as we explore alternate approaches to ensure a great experience for all.”

“If we need to make changes, we will communicate them to users in advance.”

The move was met with some alarm by Google Drive customers, who received no warning of the change, suggesting it may have been a mistake on the company's part.

The wording of the warning notification certainly didn't reassure users, who were confronted with a message reading, “Error 403: This account has exceeded the creation limit of 5 million items. To create more items, move items to the trash and delete them forever.”

One Reddit user was even given a notification telling them to, “Please delete 2 million files to continue using your Google Drive account.”

As we noted in our original story, five million files is a pretty big allowance in real terms. For users on Google Drive’s 2TB offering – the highest personal plan available – the average file size across an account would have to be 400 kilobytes (KB). 

That being said, there are certainly some instances where users may have that many files, for instance in the storage of large amounts of record data – but for the vast majority, users shouldn’t hit their limit, whatever Google decides that will be.

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Microsoft’s faster Windows 11 Update speed claims just don’t add up

As part of Microsoft’s attempts to get people to upgrade to Windows 11, the company claimed that one of the benefits of the new operating would be faster Windows Updates – but many users are complaining that those promised speed increases have failed to materialize.

As an article in WindowsReport explains, many users have found that Windows 11 updates are still taking too long despite Microsoft's claims, and are publicly complaining on sites such as Reddit.

In our own experience of using Windows 11, we’ve not noticed updates downloading or installing any faster, and along with these user complaints, it seems like Microsoft may have overstated the improvements to Windows update speeds.


Analysis: Come on, Microsoft

There’s a lot to like about the new operating system – check out our Windows 11 review to see what we think – but Microsoft also has its work cut out to convince people to upgrade. The promise of faster updates was certainly alluring – no one likes to sit around waiting while their PC installs an update, but Microsoft also needs to be careful about over-hyping improvements.

If it talks about faster update speeds, then Microsoft needs to deliver noticeable improvements. If many users feel like they aren’t getting what they were promised, they won’t be happy – and they’ll make their unhappiness known in public.

The good news is that this is still early days for Windows 11 (even though we’ve already begun hearing rumors about Windows 12), so we expect Microsoft to continue updating and improving the operating system.

That means we could see those promised update speeds coming later, or at least current speeds improving. It seems like having Windows 11 installed on modern technology, such as NVMe SSDs, helps speed up the update process as well.

But, Microsoft needs to ensure that it doesn’t over promise and under deliver, no matter what hardware people are using. If it does, then Windows 11’s reputation could suffer serious damage.

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