Morning Brief

1. SpaceX acquires xAI
2. Adobe discontinues Animate
3. Hypergryph responds to overseas payment issues in Arknights: Endfield
4. Malicious skills found in the OpenClaw skill library
5. ROG Kithara premium gaming headset announced and released
6. Rumors You Can Just Glance At

---

SpaceX acquires xAI

On February 2, SpaceX announced its acquisition of Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence company xAI. The deal makes SpaceX the most valuable private company in the world, with a valuation reaching USD 1.25 trillion. In the acquisition memo, Elon Musk stated that the primary goal of this acquisition is to build space-based data centers, aiming to avoid the power consumption and cooling challenges associated with running AI in large terrestrial data centers. Source

---

Adobe discontinues Animate

On February 2, Adobe announced that it will discontinue Adobe Animate effective March 1, 2026, and remove the application from its official website, after which users will no longer be able to purchase it. Enterprise customers will be able to continue using the app, download content, and receive technical support until March 1, 2029. Other users will be able to keep using the app, download content, and access technical support until March 1, 2027. Adobe Animate was previously known as Adobe Flash Professional / Macromedia Flash and has been used to create vector graphics and animations. In its announcement, Adobe stated that due to technological advancements and the emergence of new platforms and paradigms, better applications are now available to support users’ creative needs. The company recommends After Effects or Adobe Express as alternatives. Source

---

Hypergryph responds to overseas payment issues in Arknights: Endfield

On February 1, Hypergryph responded to Southern Metropolis Daily regarding a serious PayPal payment interface error that occurred on January 22, the launch day of Arknights: Endfield, affecting overseas servers. According to Hypergryph, when the payment issue occurred, most overseas regions were outside peak gaming hours. Upon receiving user feedback, the company promptly disabled the PayPal payment option, and the overall response was considered timely. In total, 3,429 orders were affected, with the total amount involved not exceeding USD 80,000. Fewer than 1,800 users were impacted, and the highest abnormal charge for a single user reached USD 5,289. As of that day, Hypergryph had completed full refunds for all affected users. Source

---

Malicious skills found in the OpenClaw skill library

According to OpenSourceMalware, between January 27 and February 1, two waves totaling more than 230 malicious skills were published to OpenClaw (formerly ClawdBot/MoltBot) skill repositories, including ClawHub and GitHub. These malicious skills primarily target cryptocurrency traders, disguising themselves as legitimate crypto trading automation tools while stealing and exfiltrating sensitive information on Windows and macOS. All of the malicious skills share the same underlying strategy and rely on sophisticated social engineering to persuade users to execute harmful commands. Once run, these commands steal trading API tokens, wallet private keys, SSH credentials, browser passwords, and other sensitive data. Source

---

ROG Kithara premium gaming headset announced and released

On February 2, the ROG Kithara premium gaming headset was officially released and made available for purchase. Developed in collaboration with audio manufacturer HIFIMAN, the headset features a 100 mm HIFIMAN planar magnetic driver tuned by ROG, along with an open-back design. It comes with a balanced, interchangeable headphone cable, making it compatible with DACs, amplifiers, game consoles, and PCs. The headset is also equipped with a full-bandwidth inline MEMS microphone. The launch price is CNY 1,999. Source

---

Rumors You Can Just Glance At

• Tencent announced on February 2 that QQ Classic Farm will officially return on February 6, launching simultaneously on QQ and WeChat. Based on current official teasers, this new release will include a mobile version and largely retain the gameplay of QQ Farm, which first launched in 2009. Players take on the role of a farmer—planting crops, raising animals, managing agricultural products—and can visit friends’ farms to “steal crops” or “plant weeds” as mischievous interactions. Source
• Baidu’s autonomous ride-hailing service Apollo Go (Luobo Kuaipao) officially announced it will launch in Qingdao at 9:00 a.m. on February 3, with operations limited to the Hongdao area of Chengyang District. Available vehicle options include Arcfox models and the Luobo 06, featuring a “business-class ultra-spacious cabin,” 135-degree intelligent ten-point massage heated seats, and support for VIP music streaming. Users can hail rides by logging into their Baidu account via the Apollo Go app or mini program, and will receive an SMS notification when the vehicle arrives. Source
• According to The Wall Street Journal, Apple is considering shifting the production of some lower-end processors away from TSMC to another supplier. The report does not name the alternative manufacturer, though prior rumors have suggested that Intel may begin supplying chips for Apple in 2027 or 2028, potentially including processors for some Mac and iPad models. Source
• According to DigiTimes, Apple’s rumored plan to enter the smart glasses market later this year has already begun to impact the AR optics supply chain. The report says multiple Taiwanese AR optics suppliers are investing to expand capacity and shift R&D focus. Kinko Optical has reportedly invested around USD 5.6 million to develop a new AR/VR/MR research center, while companies such as Asia Optical, MetaOptics, Chung Yang Optics, and Zhihui Innovation are also accelerating related product development. Source
• Recently, media outlets discovered that a Google app called Desktop Camera was listed on the Google Play Store on January 28. The app description suggests a minimalist UI, closely resembling ChromeOS or the Pixel Camera interface. It is currently speculated that this app may be a system component of the previously rumored “desktop-style Android interface,” Aluminium OS. Source