Microsoft just increased all Xbox prices: Grab one before the hikes go into effect
Gaming is about to get a lot more expensive — at least for Xbox fans. Effective today, May 1, Microsoft is increasing the price of Xbox consoles and controllers, and not by an insignificant amount:
The Xbox Series S 512GB, is now $380, more than a 25 percent increase from $300.
The Xbox Series X 1TB Digital is now $550, a 22 percent increase from $450.
The Xbox Series S 1TB is now $430, a 22 percent increase from $350).
The Xbox Series X 1TB with Blu-ray is now $600, a 20 percent increase from $500.
The Xbox Series X 2TB Galaxy Black Special Edition is now $730, a 22 percent increase from $600.
The news doesn't end there. Controllers and headsets now start at $65 and top out at $200 for the "Full" Xbox Elite Wireless Controller Series 2. Games will also increase in price, though not right away: "Some of our new, first-party games will launch at $79.99 beginning this holiday season," Microsoft explains. That last one seems more about leaning in to Nintendo's ambitious Switch 2 game pricing, and less about any possible tariff impact (though it's worth noting Xbox prices are going up worldwide, not just in the US.)
But not all is negative, as if you're in the market for a new console, prices at online retailers have yet to catch up. Before you whip out your credit card, remember some key caveats here. The current Xbox platform is effectively five years old, with the leaked mid-gen "Brooklin" refresh seemingly canceled. An all-new Xbox generation is also expected to arrive in the next few years, perhaps 2028, with leaks suggesting it may be a "cloud hybrid" machine. And more and more previous Xbox exclusives are beginning to pop up on the PS5, too. That said, if you've been waiting to buy an Xbox, now is the time, as these legacy prices could disappear any minute.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Forbes
30 minutes ago
- Forbes
Silent Breach Exposes 16 Billion Passwords: 5 Things You Must Do Now
A staggering 16 billion passwords were exposed in a silent, decentralized breach compiled from years ... More of malware activity — an unseen cyber threat now looming over governments and tech giants alike. picture alliance via Getty Images While the cybersecurity world was focused on usual suspects like ransomware gangs, nation-state espionage and zero-day exploits, something massive happened in the background. A credential leak of staggering proportions quietly spilled onto the open internet. No ransom note. No press release. No named corporate victim. Just a silent detonation of more than 16 billion individual records containing usernames and passwords for Apple, Google, Microsoft, Facebook and government accounts across 29 countries. Let that sink in. Sixteen billion login records. The scope of this breach eclipses almost every known hack to date. Yet most people have never heard about it. On June 26 2025, researchers at Cybernews revealed that they had discovered 30 unsecured datasets containing over 16 billion records. These were not theoretical vulnerabilities. These were usernames and passwords that provide real access to real systems. The data included everything from private citizen logins to accounts tied to government domains. Facebook, Telegram, Instagram, PayPal, Discord, Roblox — no platform seemed untouched. The data was formatted exactly as infostealing malware delivers it: a string of website URLs, usernames and passwords scraped from infected machines over time. And it was found online, publicly accessible for a period of time before being locked down. One of the earlier warnings came from cybersecurity researcher Jeremiah Fowler, who in May uncovered 47GB of data with 184 million records, sitting in the open on an Elasticsearch server. The server was hosted by World Host Group, a global web hosting provider. Once alerted, the company disabled access and confirmed the server had been spun up by a fraudulent user. But the damage had already been done. 'This is probably one of the weirdest ones I've found in many years,' Fowler told Wired . 'As far as the risk factor here, this is way bigger than most of the stuff I find, because this is direct access into individual accounts. This is a cybercriminal's dream working list.' It wasn't just tech companies that were implicated. Fowler found 220 government email addresses from more than two dozen countries, including the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, India, Israel and Australia. May 2025 : Fowler discovers 184 million exposed records, including government and enterprise credentials, and immediately notifies the hosting provider. : Fowler discovers 184 million exposed records, including government and enterprise credentials, and immediately notifies the hosting provider. Early June 2025 : World Host Group disables the server. No further public comment or disclosure from affected entities. : World Host Group disables the server. No further public comment or disclosure from affected entities. Mid-June 2025: Cybernews publishes a report about the larger aggregation of 30 databases, revealing the total exposure: 16 billion credentials. Unlike high-profile hacks with clear attribution and corporate response, this breach is fragmented. It is the byproduct of years of careless digital hygiene, cybercriminal harvesting and the steady drip of malware-infected machines feeding stolen credentials into dark web markets. How It Happened: Death By A Thousand Infostealers This was not a hack in the conventional sense. No firewalls were breached. No zero-day vulnerabilities were exploited. Instead, the records were compiled over years using infostealer malware. Infostealer malware is a class of malicious software that silently lifts login credentials from infected devices. Christiaan Beek of Rapid7 noted that the data showed 'a lot of overlap' and was 'a combination of old and new' credentials, adding that the aggregation itself posed a serious threat. 'It reflects around 30 separate breaches, stealer logs compiled over years,' he said. Much of the leaked content appears to come from previously compromised password dumps. But according to Cybernews, the presence of fresh infostealer logs makes this breach 'particularly dangerous for organizations lacking multi-factor authentication or credential hygiene practices.' Why This Leak Hasn't Made Headlines Despite its unprecedented scale, this breach has flown under the radar, unlike the United Natural Foods hack, which triggered widespread headlines. One reason is that no single company was directly compromised. There was no named victim, no regulatory filing and no incident response to point to. The data was quietly compiled over years through malware infections and older breaches, then briefly exposed on an unmanaged server. Without a clear villain or breach notification, traditional media had little to latch onto. They couldn't point to one actor or failure. In truth, we are all to blame. Many of the records were previously stolen which led some to dismiss the incident as old news. But that misses the point. The true threat lies in the scale, the recency and the way this data can now be weaponized by attackers against organizations that have not enforced basic security practices. Further, just because the records were previously stolen, a significant percentage were still active. The Bigger Picture: What We Are Doing Wrong This breach was not about a single company failing. It was about everyone failing. As security analyst Chester Wisniewski of Sophos put it, 'These massive dumps are typically just a recycled pile of credentials with a few new ones sprinkled in.' But even old passwords still work when users reuse them. When organizations fail to enforce password resets. When there is no MFA. And therein lies the danger. Infostealer malware is doing exactly what it was built to do: harvest credentials from unprotected machines. The real problem is how unprepared the world remains to stop it. What Needs To Happen Now This is a five-alarm fire for anyone not practicing basic cybersecurity hygiene. Sixteen billion records are now in circulation. Many are still active. Some are tied to government systems. And nearly all were exposed without any one company triggering the alarm. This should be a wake-up call not just for IT departments, but for every executive and individual who relies on digital tools to function. This is not the time to assume you're safe. This is the time to act. Five Immediate Actions For Individuals: Change your passwords across all platforms: Start with your primary email, banking and social media accounts. If you use the same password in multiple places, change every one of them. Password reuse is the single biggest vulnerability exploited in these kinds of leaks. Use unique passwords for every service: One password per account. No exceptions. This ensures that if one login is compromised, the rest remain safe. Use a password manager if you need help generating or storing them. Enable multi-factor authentication on every account that allows it: MFA is no longer optional. Even a simple text message code can stop an attacker with your password. Wherever possible, use app-based or hardware key MFA for stronger protection. Scan your devices for malware, especially infostealers: This data did not appear out of nowhere. It was harvested from infected machines. If you have not scanned your device recently, or if you have never run anti-malware software, now is the time. Infostealers run silently in the background, siphoning off your credentials without leaving a trace. Monitor account activity for unauthorized access: Watch for unfamiliar logins, password reset attempts, or new devices on your accounts. Most services provide tools to review recent activity. Use them. Set up alerts for suspicious behavior. If anything looks off, change your credentials immediately. Five Immediate Actions For Businesses And IT Leaders: Deploy Endpoint Detection and Response tools: Infostealer malware thrives on unmanaged or poorly protected endpoints. EDR tools allow your security team to detect, isolate and remediate these threats in real time before they cause widespread damage. Enforce password managers and centralized identity platforms: Encourage or even better, mandate the use of enterprise-grade password managers. Combine that with Single Sign-On and identity federation to reduce the number of credentials employees must manage and attackers can steal. Conduct ongoing employee security training: One-time training is not enough. Phishing and credential theft are constantly evolving. Organizations need to build a culture of cybersecurity awareness that reinforces good behavior, simulates attacks and rewards vigilance. Implement real-time credential leak monitoring and dark web scanning: Do not wait for a breach notification. Be proactive. Invest in services that scan known dark web marketplaces and data dumps for your domains, employee emails and customer credentials. When a match is found, move fast to rotate access and contain the risk. Apply Access Controls Based on Risk, Not Convenience: Implement role-based access and least privilege policies. Restrict administrative access to only those who absolutely need it. Too many organizations default to broad permissions, giving attackers more room to move once they are inside. Aligning access with actual job function reduces the blast radius when credentials are compromised. The playbook is not complicated. But it does require discipline and urgency. The organizations that act now will be the ones still standing when the next wave of credential-based attacks begins. Compliance Is the Starting Line, Not the Finish Too many organizations mistake compliance for security. Checking the box on a framework does not stop infostealer malware. But it does give you a baseline. Compliance is the first signal that your organization is taking security seriously. It offers structure, policy and governance. But it must be paired with continuous improvements, proactive monitoring and threat intelligence. Treating compliance as the finish line is like bolting your front door while leaving all the windows wide open. A Sobering Reminder This breach should be a sobering reminder that we are losing the war on credentials. Sixteen billion of them just got dumped onto the internet. Some old. Some new. All dangerous. And the biggest threat may not be the data itself, but how few people noticed. If this breach did not reach your radar, let it serve as a wake-up call. If your organization is still relying on usernames and passwords without MFA or threat monitoring, you are playing defense without a helmet. The calculous has now changed. Cybercriminals are not just breaking in. They are now logging in.
Forbes
an hour ago
- Forbes
Google's Upgrade Decision—30% Of All Android Users Miss Deadline
Do you need to change your phone? There's a twist to the viral Microsoft news in recent days, as the company suddenly reversed its decision to end free security updates for 700 million Windows 10 users. Without any such fanfare, Google did exactly the same some weeks ago for many more users, most of whom missed the deadline to upgrade their Android phones. Google's decision to stop backporting security updates for any OS older than Android 13 has left almost one-third of all users at risk, running devices that only receive critical security updates if the manufacturer does that work instead. That means between 750 million and 1 billion users are vulnerable to all those attacks Google warns about. This isn't the only security risk for those users. Google has also changed the Play Integrity API used by developers to check the OS their apps are running on, again drawing a line between Android 13 and newer (good) and Android 12 and older (bad). Android Distribution Chart (from Google's servers). And just days ago we saw Google confirm it is ending Chrome updates (including critical security fixes) for Android 8 and Android 9 users. At 10%, that's less than half as many as those on Android 10, 11 and 12. But it's still 300 million users. Google's confirmation that Android 12 is falling off its monthly support schedule, and that its Play Integrity API is ramping up, essentially set a deadline for security-minded users to upgrade their phones (assuming an OS upgrade is not possible). As Android Authority warned at the time: 'Still have an old device running Android 12? It's finally time to upgrade." While some manufacturers might still backport updates when Google is not, 'few have the resources or desire to do this, so if you still have an Android 12 or 12L device, it's time to upgrade if you value security.'
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Will This "Magnificent Seven" Stock Overtake Microsoft and Nvidia As the Largest Company in the World By 2030?
Amazon has two key growth segments. Its investment thesis centers on profit growth, rather than revenue growth. 10 stocks we like better than Amazon › While Nvidia and Microsoft are duking it out to see which company will maintain its position as the largest in the world by market cap, another competitor is lurking in the background: Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN). Amazon is a dark horse pick to become the largest company in the world in a few years, because it has several divisions that are growing at an impressive rate while producing stellar profits. But does it have enough juice to overtake the current leaders by 2030? Let's take a look. Amazon is more than just the e-commerce platform you interact with when shopping. There is a lot that goes into selling products online, as well as delivering them to your doorstep, but none of those aspects excite me about the stock. Instead, I'm most interested in the company's advertising and cloud computing segments. Its advertising wing was nearly nonexistent five years ago. Now, it has grown into its fourth-largest segment, behind online stores, third-party seller services, and Amazon Web Services (AWS). It's also the fastest-growing segment, with revenue rising 18% in the first quarter. The company has some of the most valuable consumer data available, like direct information about shopping habits. This makes its ad data incredibly powerful, which is why management was smart to monetize it. Another reason this segment is so important is its increased margins. The company doesn't break down the margins of its individual operations, and advertising gets grouped into Amazon's North American and International commerce segments. But from examining advertising-focused businesses like Meta Platforms, it's clear that this division likely has an incredibly high operating margin. This is crucial for Amazon's future because the faster growth of higher-margin segments will allow profits to increase rapidly. This same dynamic is occurring in AWS' cloud computing segment, which is benefiting from two major trends: a general migration from on-premises to cloud-based solutions and the increasing adoption of AI workloads. Both of these create huge growth catalysts for AWS and are why it produced solid 17% growth in the first quarter. Fortunately for investors, Amazon breaks out its margins. In the first quarter, AWS' operating margin was an impressive 39%. Although it accounted for 19% of overall revenue, it contributed 63% of the company's total operating profits. As long as AWS continues to deliver rapid growth, Amazon's profits will rise much faster than its overall revenue, which is what we've seen play out over the past few years with the stock, although that trend is starting to slow somewhat. Although its operating profit growth isn't as rapid as it once was, it's still delivering a healthy amount of growth. But is that enough to propel it to the top spot by 2030? It's unlikely that Amazon will see a rapid growth catalyst over the next five years different from what's currently happening, so the high-single-digit revenue growth and 20% or so increase in operating profit are reasonable expectations for investors. And the stock is valued around the same level as Microsoft and Nvidia, so it doesn't have an argument for seeing its price-to-forward-earnings multiple increase over the next few years, either. As a result, I don't think Amazon's 20% or so operating profit growth will enable it to surpass Nvidia, which is rising at a significantly faster rate. However, it could allow Amazon to catch Microsoft, which is growing by the low double digits. Regardless, I believe Amazon is an excellent investment, and it will likely deliver market-beating returns over the next five years, driven by its solid profit growth. Before you buy stock in Amazon, consider this: The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the for investors to buy now… and Amazon wasn't one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years. Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $713,547!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $966,931!* Now, it's worth noting Stock Advisor's total average return is 1,062% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 177% for the S&P 500. Don't miss out on the latest top 10 list, available when you join . See the 10 stocks » *Stock Advisor returns as of June 23, 2025 John Mackey, former CEO of Whole Foods Market, an Amazon subsidiary, is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors. Randi Zuckerberg, a former director of market development and spokeswoman for Facebook and sister to Meta Platforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg, is a member of The Motley Fool's board of directors. Keithen Drury has positions in Amazon, Meta Platforms, and Nvidia. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Amazon, Meta Platforms, Microsoft, and Nvidia. The Motley Fool recommends the following options: long January 2026 $395 calls on Microsoft and short January 2026 $405 calls on Microsoft. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. Will This "Magnificent Seven" Stock Overtake Microsoft and Nvidia As the Largest Company in the World By 2030? was originally published by The Motley Fool Sign in to access your portfolio
