On Tuesday, the day after hundreds of thousands of Haitian migrants effectively lost their temporary protected status that allowed them to live and work in the US, Republican pundit Steve Bannon wasted little time in demanding their instant removal.

“I was under the assumption that when they pulled TPS and their eligibility for that program ended … they were going to be boarding planes or buses today … today, this morning at dawn to go back to Haiti,” said Bannon, a longtime ally of President Donald Trump, on his War Room podcast on Tuesday. “Why are they not out of the country?”

Mike Davis, a conservative political strategist agreed with Bannon: “The solution is to get these people the hell out of our country as fast as possible, and that includes these Haitians.”

White nationalist Nick Fuentes, who has been a vocal critic of Trump’s deportation policies because he doesn’t find them extreme enough, called Haitians “the worst of the worst” and “very low IQ people” on his Rumble show Tuesday night.

In a Telegram channel run by the Proud Boys of Columbus, one member posted a clip of the song “I’m Walking on Sunshine” alongside the news about the revoking of temporary protected status. “They gotta go back,” the member wrote.

It’s been a while since shock-and-awe tactics from Immigration and Customs Enforcement first gained national notoriety. For months, figures like former Border Patrol leader Greg Bovino terrorized cities like Minneapolis and Chicago. But since replacing former Department of Homeland Security secretary Kristi Noem with Markwayne Mullin—derisively referred to by Bannon as the “Kung fu plumber”—ICE’s operations have shrunk into the shadows, though the agency’s deportation and arrest numbers have remained astronomical.

In recent weeks, things are boiling over again.

Earlier this month, an ICE agent shot and killed Lorenzo Salgado Araujo in Houston, Texas. Araujo had lived in the country for 35 years, had three children, and owned his own business. Just days later, another ICE agent killed Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero in Biddeford, Maine. Both men were shot while in their vehicles. ICE, as WIRED has revealed, is also tracking its critics online, using data brokers to “identify unaccompanied minors,” and working to prevent state health inspectors from reviewing its network of detention centers. On Tuesday, The New York Times reported that the Trump administration was now targeting immigrants at airports whose visas have expired, or are in a transition status, arresting spouses of American citizens.

Even so, Steve Bannon and the other Republican pundits aren’t alone: Support for ICE among Trump’s most loyal supporters remains incredibly high, with 74 percent of people who identify as MAGA Republicans professing confidence in ICE, according to a YouGov poll published last week. The same poll shows that 80 percent of MAGA Republicans oppose abolishing ICE.

The YouGov findings were backed up by another poll published last week by the Public Religion Research Institute , which found that three-quarters of Republicans had a positive view of ICE, would be in favor of more funding for the agency, and disagreed that ICE was making communities less safe. The poll also found that 73 percent of Republicans are in support of internment camps to hold “immigrants who are in the country illegally” until they can be deported.

The YouGov poll also found that just 51 percent of Republicans had, in the week of the shootings, read, seen, or heard anything about immigrants being shot and killed by ICE agents. What they may have seen however is Trump’s Truth Social post around the same time. In the post, Trump appeared to overrule an internal ICE memo telling agents to suspend vehicle stops, after a furious response from his MAGA base. He also told his supporters that ICE was “loved and respected in America.”

The company’s tech chief said a fix for the error will be arriving soon.

Here’s the strategy behind Shaw Theatres’ 90-year run

It’s easy to conclude that Singapore’s cinema scene is in decline.

After all, cinemas have been downsizing and closing in recent years, from fan-favourite indie cinema The Projector to the shuttering of Cathay Cineplexes after 86 years of operation.

Data from the Singapore Department of Statistics also shows that cinema attendance has more than halved over the past decade, falling from over 20 million visits to fewer than 10 million.

But there’s one local brand that’s managed to hold its ground through the tumultuous years of pandemic lockdowns, Hollywood strikes, and the rise of streaming—and that’s Shaw Theatres.

We spoke with Mark Shaw, Director of Shaw Organisation, about the cinema chain’s playbook for staying relevant over the last 90 years and what it actually takes to survive Singapore’s evolving yet brutal cinema scene.

Cinema’s tumultuous years

For decades, if you wanted to catch the latest movie, you went to the cinema.

The pandemic fundamentally changed that.

Streaming platforms, already growing before COVID-19, became the default entertainment choice overnight as audiences were confined at home due to lockdown restrictions. So when cinemas reopened, they faced a different kind of audience, one accustomed to the convenience of watching whatever they wanted, whenever they wanted, without leaving the couch.

Just as the industry was beginning to recover, the 2023 strikes by the Writers Guild of America and Screen Actors Guild disrupted Hollywood’s pipeline of blockbusters, delaying the cinema industry’s recovery back by another year, and there is no doubt that the effects rippled all the way to Singapore.

“The industry needs a constant lineup of quality content to fully recover, and we are only now discovering how tastes are changing,” Mark said.

Even so, he believes the worst is behind them. Since the Hollywood strikes ended and pandemic restrictions were lifted, cinema attendance has been steadily improving.

Some films, he added, continue to prove why cinemas remain relevant. Titles shot specifically for IMAX—such as Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey—offer an experience that simply cannot be replicated at home.

“Cinema is an experience that you share with friends and family, and is something that can only be truly experienced on the Big Screen,” Mark said.

How Shaw held its ground

While other cinema operators shrank their footprints over the years, Shaw has stayed remarkably consistent. Today, it still operates eight outlets across Singapore, and its flagship Shaw House continues to stand prominently along Orchard Road.

Rather than pursuing aggressive expansion, the company has focused on reinvesting in its existing cinemas and giving audiences reasons to keep coming back.

One of its biggest bets came in 2011, when Shaw became the first operator to introduce IMAX to Singapore at its Lido flagship.

According to Mark, IMAX screenings have consistently outperformed regular halls, with tickets often selling out well ahead of standard screenings. Today, Shaw operates five IMAX theatres, each built to meet the format’s strict specifications for screen size and auditorium design.

But IMAX wasn’t the company’s only investment. Over the years, Shaw has continued experimenting with different cinema concepts tailored to different audiences.

The Premiere concept, which combines in-theatre dining with a more premium seat, launched in 2010 and first opened at the NEX outlet in Feb 2011. For more than a decade, it remained a single-location offering, since the kitchen infrastructure required for in-cinema dining meant it couldn’t simply be rolled out everywhere. 

Lumiere, which debuted at Jewel Changi Airport and Paya Lebar Quarter in 2019, was designed as a middle ground, offering the comfort of premium seating without the full dining experience.

That same year, Shaw also introduced Dreamers at Jewel: Singapore’s first and only cinema concept designed specifically for families with young children. Featuring lower seats and more spacious layouts, the concept aims to make moviegoing more comfortable for both parents and their kids.

“We look at our data, and we listen to our patrons’ feedback,” Mark said, explaining how Shaw develops new concepts.

Shaw has also noticed changing tastes beyond the cinema experience itself.

Demand for alternative content has grown significantly in recent years. Anime screenings, which were relatively ad hoc before COVID-19, have become a much bigger part of Shaw’s programming, growing from six titles in 2023 to 11 in 2024.

Meanwhile, special fan events, from K-pop concert films to anniversary screenings of cult classics, routinely sell out in under 15 minutes, he added.

The shift has changed how Shaw programmes its screens. Rather than relying solely on Hollywood’s release calendar, it has increasingly curated content for niche communities, giving audiences more reasons to visit the cinema beyond the latest blockbuster.

The Lido revamp

The clearest expression of that strategy is Shaw’s flagship Lido outlet on Orchard Road, which has undergone a major transformation over the past two years.

As the first Shaw location to introduce IMAX in 2011, Lido has long served as the company’s flagship. And according to Mark, that isn’t changing anytime soon.

“Lido is our flagship venue, and there will always be an emphasis on this location. We will continue to invest in Lido with every bell and whistle that we have to offer.

The latest phase of investment saw the addition of a Premiere hall and Dreamers hall in March 2026, alongside Lumiere Grand—Shaw’s most premium cinema experience—which opened a month earlier in February.

But perhaps the biggest change isn’t inside the cinema hall at all.

In Apr 2026, Shaw launched Centro, a multi-concept dining destination that aims to transform Lido from somewhere people simply watch a film into a place where they spend an entire evening.

Rather than developing the concepts in-house, Shaw partnered with Stephanie Hancock and Guy Wachs, co-founders of Wild Honey, drawing on their experience in building one of Singapore’s well-known café-restaurant brands.

“Partnering with them allows us to create something credible, enduring and well-executed from day one,” Mark said. “It’s very much a collaborative approach—they have the expertise to create an F&B brand from scratch while we provide the launching pad, locations, infrastructure, and core support.”

The collaboration resulted in four dining concepts designed to complement, rather than compete with, the cinema experience. The goal is to encourage guests to arrive before their movie, stay after it, or simply visit Centro without watching a film at all.

“Centro is open to everyone, not just moviegoers,” Mark noted. “It is a concept that we thought could add to the idea that going to the cinema is a night or day out.”

One size does not fit all

The rollout of Centro also reflects how Shaw approaches its different locations: rather than replicating the same concepts everywhere, it tailors each cinema to the audience it serves.

Lido, situated in the heart of Orchard Road, attracts office workers, tourists, and shoppers looking for a complete night out. There, the full Centro experience, comprising an espresso bar, cocktail bar, dining room, and grab-and-go concept, fits naturally alongside its premium cinema offerings.

The newest addition to the Centro family is at Shaw’s Jem outlet in Jurong, where a Centro Gelato & Dessert Bar opened in Jun 2026. Paired with Dreamers halls for parents with young children, the concept is tailored to Jem’s family-oriented demographic rather than replicating the full Lido experience.

For moviegoers seeking something between a standard hall and the Lumiere experience, Shaw’s Premiere halls at NEX, Lido, and Jem offer another option, combining in-seat dining with premium seating in a more intimate setting. Selected screenings even begin with a cocktail reception before the film.

“Each location serves a different audience and context,” Mark explained. “Rather than applying a one-size-fits-all model, we believe in tailoring concepts to suit the environment and demographic.”

Giving S’poreans a reason to get out of their living rooms

Shaw is looking to increase its premium halls footprint to make up 40% to 50% of capacity at each of its locations, with the specific mix of concepts reflecting the demographics of each neighbourhood. 

Regular halls will still remain a core offering of Shaw’s, with student and senior discounts remaining, and the group sees itself as serving all segments of the market. 

But Shaw’s long-term strategy is evident in its planned investments.

Mark wants to make each Shaw outlet a one-stop destination for dining and entertainment, with Shaw Theatres Lido serving as the blueprint for what the rest of the network could eventually look like.

Getting there won’t be quick. Infrastructure investment is costly, and renovations can only be carried out periodically, which is why Mark stressed that it matters to continuously evaluate who the patrons are and what they actually need, rather than renovating for its own sake.

While patrons visit cinemas less, they are willing to spend more if they find the experience worthwhile. Looking at the data, this reflects an audience that hasn’t abandoned cinema but has raised the bar for what justifies a trip to the cinema.

“The role of cinema is no longer just to screen films, but to create moments, whether through storytelling, hospitality, or community,” Mark reflected. “That’s where we see the future.”

“We believe cinema can be a profitable business, and our aim is to give all our patrons a reason to get out of their living room and watch a movie, and we aim to entertain them for a long time to come.”

• Learn more about Shaw Theatres here.
• Read other articles we’ve written on Singaporean businesses here.

Featured Image Credit: Prestige Online/ Shaw Theatres

Today’s NYT Connections: Sports Edition puzzle is a real challenge, but also fun. If you’re struggling with the puzzle but still want to solve it, read on for hints and the answers.

Hints for today’s Connections: Sports Edition groups

Yellow group hint: Helps you identify a team.

Green group hint: Short for a hoops team.

Blue group hint: He shoots, he scores!

Purple group hint: Seventh letter of the alphabet.

Answers for today’s Connections: Sports Edition groups

Yellow group: A team’s symbol.

Green group: NBA teams, informally.

Blue group: Hockey stick manufacturers.

Purple group: What “G” might mean.

What are today’s Connections: Sports Edition answers?

The yellow words in today’s Connections

The theme is a team’s symbol.

The four answers are badge, crest, emblem and logo.

The green words in today’s Connections

The theme is NBA teams, informally.

The four answers are Clips, Grizz, Mavs and Wolves.

The blue words in today’s Connections

The theme is hockey stick manufacturers.

The four answers are Bauer, CCM, Sher-Wood and Warrior.

The purple words in today’s Connections

The theme is what “G” might mean.

The four answers are games, Gatorade, goaltender and guard.

CNET editor Gael Fashingbauer Cooper, a journalist and pop-culture junkie, is co-author of “Whatever Happened to Pudding Pops? The Lost Toys, Tastes and Trends of the ’70s and ’80s,” as well as “The Totally Sweet ’90s.” She’s been a journalist since 1989, working at Mpls.St.Paul Magazine, Twin Cities Sidewalk, the Minneapolis Star Tribune, and NBC News Digital. She’s Gen X in birthdate, word and deed. If Marathon candy bars ever come back, she’ll be first in line.

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State-of-the-art home theater systems are surprisingly difficult for consumers to experience. CEDIA Expo may be where the custom installation industry gathers to see the latest projectors, processors, loudspeakers, and room correction technologies, but its exhibit floor is restricted to industry professionals. Audio Advice Live remains one of the few major shows where enthusiasts can walk into a properly designed room, take a seat, and experience what a cutting-edge home cinema can actually deliver.

Audio Advice Live 2026 will be held August 7 through 9 at the Sheraton Raleigh Hotel in downtown Raleigh, North Carolina, with more than 50 listening rooms and home theater demonstrations open to attendees. eCoustics will be there throughout the weekend covering the new products, systems, and demonstrations that deserve your attention.

In our previously published Audio Advice Live 2026 preview, we briefly mentioned that ASCENDO, Trinnov Audio, and Christie would be joining forces for one of the show’s most ambitious home theater demonstrations. We now have additional details about the 9.7.4 channel system planned for the Magnolia II room, including ASCENDO immersive audio, dedicated infrasonic bass, Trinnov Cylindrical WaveForming, and Christie projection technology.

Ascendo and Trinnov

Building on the success of last year’s Audio Advice Live demonstration, which earned eCoustics’ award for Best Bass Response at the show, Trinnov and ASCENDO will showcase the next evolution in active room acoustics using Cylindrical WaveForming. The demonstration will focus on how exceptional bass performance can be achieved even in a square room.

Unlike conventional approaches that attempt to correct standing waves after they occur, Cylindrical WaveForming is designed to prevent them from developing in the first place. Using a floor-level front subwoofer array and strategically positioned rear subwoofers, the system is intended to deliver more consistent bass response, improved transient accuracy, and greater seat-to-seat uniformity while requiring less architectural complexity than a traditional planar implementation.

WaveForming can be implemented with as few as four subwoofers, but for Audio Advice Live 2026, Trinnov and ASCENDO are planning a considerably more ambitious demonstration.

The 25-by-25-by-8-foot Magnolia II demonstration room will feature Trinnov’s flagship AltitudeCI audio processor, an Amplitude16 power amplifier, and Trinnov’s Dante interface driving a high-performance ASCENDO immersive audio system.

The low-frequency system will showcase ASCENDO’s subwoofer technology, with four THE18 SUB PASSIVE VENTED subwoofers positioned along the front wall and two additional units along the rear wall to complete the Cylindrical WaveForming array.

ASCENDO will also deploy its THE32 infrasubwoofer to reproduce the deepest frequencies below WaveForming’s operating range, delivering low-frequency impact that will be difficult to ignore.

Rounding out the 9.7.4-channel system, 13 ASCENDO coaxial point-source loudspeakers designed specifically for home cinema will deliver a realistic, time-coherent presentation across the room while reducing the traditional limitations of a single listening sweet spot.

The complete system is intended to demonstrate how Trinnov’s advanced room optimization and ASCENDO’s high-output subwoofer technology can produce bass that is powerful, articulate, and consistent throughout the listening area.

Christie 

In addition to the ASCENDO and Trinnov Audio demonstration, the home cinema exhibit will feature Christie’s Korus 4K1000-KS laser projector. Best known for its substantial presence in commercial cinemas, Christie is bringing that professional projection pedigree to Audio Advice Live 2026.

The 4K1000-KS is a single-chip DLP projector built around a 0.8-inch HEP DMD imaging device. It delivers more than 10,000 ISO lumens, 4K UHD+ resolution, wide contrast, and accelerated color cycling intended to produce vivid, accurate, and lifelike images. A 1.25-2.0:1 zoom lens provides additional installation flexibility for premium residential cinema environments.

Pro Tip: Christie does not officially specify HDR format compatibility for the Korus 4K1000-KS.

For Audio Advice Live 2026, the Christie Korus 4K1000-KS will be paired with a 135-inch Stewart Wallscreen Deluxe featuring Harmony woven screen material.

Bonus Demo

In addition to their 9.7.4-channel home theater demonstration in the Magnolia II room, ASCENDO and Trinnov Audio will present a more “modest” 2.1-channel audio system in the Sheraton’s upstairs main lobby.

Featured products in this demo will include  ASCENDO’s flagship BLACK SWAN loudspeakers in a Carbon finish and THE28 SUB SQUARED flat panel subwoofer in combination with the Trinnov AltitudeCI and Amplitude16.

The Bottom Line 

Audio Advice Live has become one of the more worthwhile stops on an increasingly crowded high-end audio show calendar. More importantly, it remains one of the few consumer-accessible events where enthusiasts can experience a state-of-the-art home cinema rather than merely stare at equipment, specifications, and carefully staged photographs. CEDIA Expo is built primarily for integrators, installers, designers, and other industry professionals; Audio Advice Live puts consumers in the seats.

That makes the ASCENDO, Trinnov Audio, and Christie showcase especially relevant for anyone designing a dedicated home theater, upgrading a projection system, or trying to understand what advanced bass management and room optimization can accomplish in a challenging space. Most consumers will never install a 9.7.4-channel system with seven subwoofers and a 10,000-lumen Christie projector, but hearing and seeing one properly configured provides a useful reference for what these technologies can deliver at any scale.

Audio Advice Live 2026 runs August 7 through 9 at the Sheraton Raleigh Hotel in downtown Raleigh, North Carolina. The ASCENDO, Trinnov, and Christie demonstration in Magnolia II should be considered a must-see and must-hear presentation, and the more approachable ASCENDO and Trinnov 2.1-channel system in the second-floor lobby should not be overlooked. eCoustics will be on-site, with our reactions and coverage following the show.

Price & Availability

All the products mentioned in this article are available through Authorized Dealers or Special Order at the approximate prices:

• Trinnov Altitude CI: $11,000 to $26,000 depending on channel configuration
• Trinnov Amplitude 16 Amplifier: $13,250 
• Ascendo THE18 Passive Sub: Starting at $2,450 (each)
• Ascendo THE32 Infrasub: Starting at $26,500 (each)
• Ascendo THE28 SUB SQUARED Flat Panel Subwoofer: $30,000 (each)
• ASCENDO Coaxial Point-source Speakers: Starting at $1,550 to $3,550 (each)
• Christie Korus 4K1000 KS Laser Projector: $12,500 to $14,800

Related Reading:

The 2026 iPhone lineup could divest further from Qualcomm as Apple increases use of its in-house C-series modem, though Qualcomm blames supply constraints on a faster-than-expected transition.

Qualcomm and Apple’s relationship has been in question since Apple’s release of an in-house C-series modem. While a contract between the companies is set to end in March 2027, Qualcomm is looking to use AI data centers to replace the revenue provided by Apple.

According to a report from Reuters, Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon says that revenue from Apple will decline more quickly starting in the fourth quarter as due to supply constraints. The share of components used in the iPhone 18 will fall well below Qualcomm’s earlier estimate of 20%.

Amon is blaming this change on supply availability, which could be a boon for Apple. As the iPhone and other Apple products look to get away from Qualcomm modems, a supply chain shortage offers an excellent loophole for escaping a contract earlier than expected.

Qualcomm will also be raising prices due to supply chain shortages and component cost increases.

Bad for Qualcomm, great for Apple

While there is no way of knowing until the iPhone 18 lineup is announced in September, it seems these comments could suggest that Apple will have a C-series modem in more of the lineup than previously expected. The Apple in-house modems have only been used in the iPhone Air, iPad Pro iPad Air, iPhone 16e, and iPhone 17e so far.

If Apple is able to include C-series modems in more of the iPhone 18 lineup than previously expected, that’ll be a big win for Apple. Qualcomm, on the other hand, is already looking at new revenue streams.

The Qualcomm CEO suggests that Apple’s revenue has been effectively replaced by its entry into the AI data center market. The company forecasts $5 billion in revenue from AI data centers by 2027 and $15 billion by 2029.

These incredible numbers are what has become the norm when companies forecast revenue from AI products. What isn’t mentioned here is how this might change if the AI bubble deflates or pops in the next year.

Meta is betting big on AI. But will CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s investment in the technology ultimately pay off? That’s one of the major questions lingering after Wednesday’s earnings call, which announced Meta’s second-quarter loss of over $4.6 billion in its Reality Labs sector.

Throughout the hour-long call, Zuckerberg spoke about Meta’s business across its slate of social media apps – Facebook, Instagram, Threads and WhatsApp – and the overall message he kept driving home was the role of AI within the company and for the people using Meta’s products daily.

At the center of all this is MuseSpark, the AI model created by Meta’s Superintelligence Labs. With it, Zuckerberg said Meta is hard at work on making a variety of AI agents to streamline workflows for small businesses and enhance the lives of individual Meta users.

“Soon we will have agents that can work 24/7 on your behalf to help you achieve your goals and improve your life, your health, your relationships, your finances, whatever you want,” Zuckerberg said.

If you’ve been paying attention to all the Zuckerberg news that’s fit to print, you may know that Meta’s CEO has been building a personal AI assistant for himself.

Considering his hardline stance on making AI available to all (see his New York Times interview for more on this), it makes sense that he’d extend this technology to the billions of people who use Meta’s apps worldwide.

Privacy is a major concern when it comes to AI models, whether for business or personal use. Zuckerberg said during the call that Meta is making “strong privacy and security a fundamental part of the agents” it is building.

In the same breath, though, he pointed to Meta’s Ray-Bans smart glasses as the ideal product to deliver this functionality to people — the same tech item that many on social media have begun calling “pervert glasses.”

Instagram is cracking down on content captured with the glasses, but this use case raises a broader concern about how people’s information will be used by these proposed AI assistants if Zuckerberg’s big bet on superintelligence for all pays off.

More than 1 million businesses have been using Meta business agents on WhatsApp and Messenger, Zuckerberg said Wednesday. Instagram is next for this type of agentic AI, which learns over time what customers need and delivers those insights back to the business to help shape overall strategies.

This is a “business-in-a-box service” that Meta is aiming to build, which can help you start and run your whole business using the service’s platforms.

The primary goal, repeated throughout the earnings call, is to put superintelligence directly into people’s hands rather than centralize it.

“We are focused on distributing it widely and giving everyone the ability to direct it towards what matters to them,” Zuckerberg continued. “That’s the way that society has always made progress, and I think these are the right values for building a positive AI future.”

What does that future look like, exactly? According to Meta’s CEO, billions of people will have a personal agent that is locked in on their goals and works nonstop to help you acheive them.

“I get that this is sort of a big bet across the industry,” he said, in what could be viewed as a bit of an understatement.

As part of Meta’s earnings report, Reality Labs — the part of the company that develops its VR headsets and smart glasses — generated $431 million in revenue, while its operating loss widened to $4.6 billion.

Since 2020, the division has racked up total operating losses of $80 billion. In response to this loss, which comes two days after Meta’s new investment to build a data center campus in El Paso, Texas, Meta’s stock price dropped by 10% by the end of Wednesday.

“There’s a bit of similarity to Meta’s metaverse missteps in that Meta is once again spending ahead of proven product demand,” Forrester Research Director Mike Proulx told CNET. “The difference is that AI adoption and value are real. The technology is different, but the market’s patience is starting to look familiar.”

Zuckerberg seemed unfazed by the loss during the earnings call, acknowledging the reactions to Meta’s spending push on AI.

“My personal bet is that the people who invest in this are going to be rewarded and feel very good over time.”

Overall for the second quarter, Meta announced revenue of $60.8 billion, up 28%, and net income of $15.8 billion, down 14% from a year earlier. Total costs and expenses were $42 billion, an increase of 55%.

Aaron covers what’s exciting and new in the world of home entertainment and streaming TV. Previously, he wrote about entertainment for places like Rotten Tomatoes, Inverse, TheWrap, Washington Post and The Hollywood Reporter. Aaron is also an actor and stay-at-home dad, which means coffee is his friend.

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A hot potato: The developer behind popular Windows optimization tool Wintoys has uncovered a sophisticated cybercrime operation that mimics dozens of popular Windows apps through duplicate websites built to look uncannily like the real thing. The fraudulent sites reportedly distribute malware capable of compromising user privacy, hijacking account credentials, and draining crypto wallets.

The developer, who goes by the handle Bogdan_X, told Windows Latest that his research began after he spotted a fake website mimicking the official Wintoys page. Tracing the site’s registration led him to 72 fraudulent websites built on the same playbook, several of which use URLs deliberately close to the real domains they’re impersonating.

Shameless plug: it’s exactly this kind of scheme that makes vetted download sources worth the extra click. Every installer in TechSpot’s Downloads section is pulled straight from the developer, scanned for malware, and kept free of bundled junk under our clean-downloads policy, so you’re not left guessing whether an “official” link actually leads where it says it does.

A broader version of this scheme was mapped in detail last month by cybersecurity firm Check Point Research, which found that the fake sites work to rank highly on Google and other search engines for searches tied to popular Windows software, then use that trust to push malware once traffic starts flowing. It’s not yet confirmed whether the same operator is behind both the Wintoys-focused cluster and the wider set Check Point tracked, or whether separate groups are simply running the same playbook.

The real grpcurl project on GitHub shows up right next to grpcurl[.]com, one of the impersonation domains Check Point identified, in Google search.

In the early stages, the sites link to legitimate downloads. Once a site gains traction, though, operators quietly swap those real links out for fraudulent ones. Many of these fraudulent domains are registered to the same owner and even reference genuine upstream resources, like real GitHub repositories, making them harder to tell apart from the legitimate projects they’re copying.

Some of the sites load a JavaScript staging layer via Amazon CloudFront that intercepts clicks on Download buttons and reroutes the connection through a Traffic Distribution System (TDS). The TDS then sends users to either malware-hosting infrastructure or legitimate resources, depending on their location, browser type, and other signals.

Apart from Wintoys, other popular Windows programs being impersonated this way include PowerToys, CrystalDiskMark, EasyBCD, Lively Wallpaper, and more. Check Point’s own mapping of the wider ecosystem also turned up cloned pages for security and research tools such as Ghidra, dnSpy, and SpiderFoot, a reminder that even power users aren’t immune to fraudulent apps and websites.

Check Point’s researchers tied the infrastructure to several malware families. SessionGate, an obfuscated multi-stage loader with heavy anti-analysis defenses, was used mainly to quietly install unwanted software. Two other branches of the same TDS led to more damaging payloads: RemusStealer, an infostealer believed to be a variant of the notorious Lumma Stealer family, and AnimateClipper, crypto-stealing malware that reads a device’s clipboard to swap copied wallet addresses for attacker-controlled ones.

VirusTotal submitter counts for a handful of flagged installers – combined, the totals run well past 5,000.

The scale of the operation shows up clearly in VirusTotal telemetry. Researchers logged more than 5,000 total submissions across relevant samples in just the publicly shared subset, and say the real number of infections is likely significantly higher. The earliest samples date back to August 2025, meaning the operation had been running for close to a year before it was uncovered.

With malware becoming a growing problem across every platform, downloading apps from reputable, vetted sources matters more than ever. TechSpot’s Downloads section hosts safe, clean, unaltered installers pulled directly from developers, and every file is scanned for malware and rechecked daily, so you can grab what you need with peace of mind.