‘Axie Infinity’ hack victims will only get back around a third of what they lost

Sky Mavis, the developer of blockchain game Axie Infinity, says it will start reimbursing the victims of a $617 million hack that took place earlier this year. The attackers took $25.5 million in USDC (a stablecoin that’s pegged to the value of the US dollar) and 173,600 ether, which was worth around $591.2 million at the time. The FBI claimed North Korean state-backed hacker groups were behind the attack.

Impacted Axie Infinity players will be able to withdraw one ether token for each one they lost in the hack, Sky Mavis told Bloomberg (the company didn’t mention a USDC reimbursement). However, as with other cryptocurrencies, the value of Ethereum has plummeted since the attack in March. 

Because of that, Sky Mavis will return around $216.5 million to users. It’s possible that the price of Ethereum will rise again, but as things stand, affected users will get back around a third of what they lost.

In April, Sky Mavis raised $150 million in funding to help it pay back the victims. The developer plans to reimburse affected users on June 28th, when it restarts the Ronin software bridge that the hackers targeted. 

Axie Infinity is widely considered the most popular play-to-earn game. Players collect and mint NFTs representing creatures that battle each other, Pokémon-style. These NFTs can be sold to other players, with Sky Mavis charging a transaction fee. By February, Axie Infinity had facilitated $4 billion in NFT sales.

However, the NFT market has all but bottomed out, which has had a significant impact on Axie Infinity. For one thing, according to Bloomberg, the daily active user count dropped from 2.7 million in November to a quarter of that by the end of May.

Apple Music raises the price of its student plan in the US, UK and Canada

Expect an Apple Music student plan to add slightly more to your college debt. As developer Michael Burkhardt and 9to5Mac have noticed, Apple has quietly raised the price of Music’s student discount from $5 per month to $6 in the US and Canada, and from £5 to £6 in the UK. It’s not clear exactly when or why the change occurred (we’ve asked Apple for comment), but it appears to have occurred within the past two days.

The student tier was introduced in 2016 and offers the full functionality of Apple Music to those who qualify, just at a more affordable price. You currently get Apple TV+ as a bonus, but this is a “limited-time offer” that could vanish at any moment. In May, Apple hiked prices in countries like India, New Zealand and South Africa.

The increase makes Apple Music a tougher sell. Spotify Student Premium is still priced at $5 per month in the US as of this writing, and it includes Hulu’s ad-supported plan as well as Showtime. While there are still some reasons to pick Apple Music over rivals (such as tighter integration with Apple hardware), it might not be so enticing if you’re trying to wring every last drop of value out of your subscriptions.

Mars Express orbiter finally gets a software upgrade, 19 years later

Think the computers at your office are overdue for an update? They probably don’t compare to one of the European Space Agency’s best-known spacecraft. The ESA is upgrading its Mars Express orbiter’s MARSIS (Mars Advanced Radar for Subsurface and Ioniospheric Sounding) software 19 years after its June 2003 launch. For context, the original code was created using a toolset built for Windows 98 — there are computers in museums that are newer than Microsoft’s OS.

The update promises to dramatically improve the Mars Express craft’s efficiency. The initial approach gathered large amounts of high-resolution data that quickly swamped memory. With the new software, scientists can toss out unnecessary data. This lets MARSIS run for five times longer than before, and cover much wider swaths of Mars and Phobos in a given pass.

The improvement should help explore the subsurface levels of Mars and Phobos in much greater detail. Researchers hope the extra resolution will let them quickly confirm signals hinting at liquid water near Mars’ south pole. In effect, the MARSIS revamp will make sure Mars Express can continue its mission. 

Mars Express is most famous for discovering previous signs of liquid water on the Red Planet, but it’s also known for capturing dramatic visuals of the martian landscape. While it won’t necessarily make similar headlines as a result of the update, it should remain relevant where it might have become obsolete.

How to watch the Summer Games Done Quick 2022 speedrunning marathon

The 2022 edition of Summer Games Done Quick, the semi-annual speedrunning event, gets underway on June 26th. From then until July 3rd, SGDQ will host a non-stop livestream of skilled players tearing through a wide variety of games as fast as they can. Hopefully, they’ll set a few world records in the process.

You can watch the event live on Twitch — the stream is embedded below for your convenience. The pre-show gets underway at 12:30PM ET on Sunday, followed by the first run, a Shadow of the Colossus random boss rush. If you miss anything, you’ll be able to catch up on YouTube later.

As ever, viewers will be encouraged to donate to Doctors Without Borders. Last year’s event raised $2.9 million for the cause. The most recent winter edition, Awesome Games Done Quick, raised $3.4 million for the Prevent Cancer Foundation. SGDQ 2022 takes place in Bloomington, Minnesota and it’s the first in-person GDQ event since Awesome Games Done Quick 2020.

GDQ has released the full schedule, and there are a bunch of intriguing runs in the pipeline. I haven’t seen a reverse boss run of Donkey Kong Country before. I’m looking forward to that, as well as the Super Mario Maker 2 relay race. Among the games making their debut at a core GDQ event are Kirby and the Forgotten Land, Halo Infinite, Tunic and, inevitably, Elden Ring.

Juul asks appeals court to block the US ban on its vaping products

Juul has asked a federal appeals court to temporarily block a Food and Drug Administration ban on sales of its vaping products in the US. The agency issued the order on Thursday, citing a lack of sufficient evidence provided by the company to show its devices are safe. The FDA acknowledged that it wasn’t aware of “an immediate hazard” linked to Juul’s vape pen or pods.

“FDA’s decision is arbitrary and capricious and lacks substantial evidence,” Juul said in a filing with the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit, according to The Wall Street Journal. The company called the ban extraordinary and unlawful. It requested an administrative stay until it can file a motion for an emergency review of the FDA’s order.

Juul claimed that, without the stay, it would suffer significant and irreparable harm. The company makes the lion’s share of its revenue in the US. If the stay is granted, Juul and retailers will be able to keep selling its products there. The company argued in the filing that the order marked a move away from the FDA’s typical practices, which allow for a transition period. 

“We respectfully disagree with the FDA’s findings and decision and continue to believe we have provided sufficient information and data based on high-quality research to address all issues raised by the agency,” Juul’s chief regulatory officer Joe Murillo told Engadget after the FDA issued the order. “In our applications, which we submitted over two years ago, we believe that we appropriately characterized the toxicological profile of JUUL products, including comparisons to combustible cigarettes and other vapor products, and believe this data, along with the totality of the evidence, meets the statutory standard of being appropriate for the protection of the public health.”

Murillo said Juul was exploring all of its options in the wake of the ruling. Among those, according to the Journal, is a possible bankruptcy filing if the company is unable to secure a stay or successfully appeal the ban.

In 2020, the FDA required makers of e-cigarettes to submit their products for review. It looked at the possible benefits of vaping as an alternative to cigarettes for adult smokers. It was weighing those up against concerns about the popularity of vaping among young people. The agency has authorized 23 “electronic nicotine delivery systems,” including products from NJOY and Vuse parent Reynolds American.

The FDA slammed Juul in 2019 for telling students that its products are “totally safe.” The Federal Trade Commission and state attorney generals have investigated Juul over claims it marketed its vape pens to underage users. In the last year, the company has agreed to pay at least $87 million to settle lawsuits in several states — including North Carolina, Washington state and Arizona — which alleged that it targeted young people with its marketing. It has faced similar suits in other states.

Update 6/24 12:51PM ET: Added a note about the possible bankruptcy filing.

Apple’s second-gen AirPods drop to $100, plus the best early Prime Day deals you can get now

We may be a few weeks out from Amazon Prime Day, but early deals are already starting to roll in. If you’re in need of a new smart TV, Amazon has discounted a bunch of Fire TVs and Prime members can pick up a 55-inch Omni Series set for only $300. Else…

Netflix confirms an ad-supported tier is coming (updated)

Netflix continues to lock down plans to offer ad-supported service. As The Hollywood Reporternotes, company co-chief Ted Sarandos confirmed to guests at the Cannes Lions festival that Netflix is adding an ad-backed tier with a lower price. He stressed that the option wouldn’t bring ads to Netflix “as you know it today” — as with rivals like Peacock, you’ll still have the option to avoid marketing altogether. This is just for people who “don’t mind advertising,” he said.

Sarandos didn’t share further details. However, The Wall Street Journalsources recently claimed Google and NBCUniversal are the “top contenders” to help Netflix build the ads-included plan. Either would likely have an exclusive arrangement to serve and (at least in NBCU’s case) sell ads. Roku has also had early discussions, according to tipsters. Industry executives talking to Netflix supposedly haven’t learned specifics, such as the amount of ads you’ll see each hour or whether there will be ad targeting. We’ve asked Netflix for comment.

The future option is an acknowledgment that Netflix left a large group of customers “off the table,” according to Sarandos. The company lost subscribers for the first time in a decade this past quarter, and it’s eager to return to growth quickly. An ad-supported plan could help with that goal by drawing in customers put off by Netflix’s regular pricing.

Update 6/24 11:25AM ET: A Netflix spokesperson told Engadget that the company was “still in the early days” of developing the ad-based tier, and hadn’t nailed down its approach. It’s all “speculation” at present, the representative added. You can read the full statement below.

“We are still in the early days of deciding how to launch a lower priced, ad supported option and no decisions have been made. So this is all just speculation at this point.”

How NASA might protect tomorrow’s astronauts from deep space radiation

There are a million and one ways to die in space, whether it’s from micrometeoroid impacts shredding your ship or solar flares frying its electronics, drowning in your own sweat during a spacewalk or having a cracked coworker push you out an airlock. …

Twitch clarifies its self-harm policy

Twitch has been tightening its content policies in recent months, and that now includes mentions of self-harm. The livestreaming service has updated its Community Guidelines to include examples of the self-harm behavior it doesn’t allow. The clarified policy is meant to foster “meaningful conversation” about mental and physical health while preventing further harm.

Broadcasters can share stories of self-harm or suicide, but can’t describe them in “graphic detail” or share suicide notes. Studies show this could lead to similar thoughts among vulnerable people, Twitch said. The refined policy also singles out content that encourages eating disorders, such as unhealthy weight loss programs and attempts to glorify common eating disorder habits.

The move comes relatively soon after Twitch clamped down on usernames referencing hard drugs and sex, as well as creators who routinely spread misinformation. Not long after, the Amazon brand rolled out improved reporting tools to help viewers flag inappropriate content while providing a streamlined appeals process. Twitch has dealt with abuses in the weeks since, but it’s clearly hoping the policy changes will reduce the volume of incidents going forward.

In the US, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is 1-800-273-8255. Crisis Text Line can be reached by texting HOME to 741741 (US), 686868 (Canada), or 85258 (UK). Wikipedia maintains a list of crisis lines for people outside of those countries.

The largest bacterium discovered is visible to the naked eye

When you hear the word “bacteria,” you probably picture organisms that couldn’t be seen unless they’re placed under a microscope. A bacterium that has now been classified as the largest in the world ever discovered, however, needs no special tools to be visible to the naked eye. Thiomargarita magnifica, as it’s called, takes on a filament-like appearance and can be as long as a human eyelash. As the BBC notes, that makes it bigger than some more complex organisms, such as tiny flies, mites and worms. It was first discovered by marine biologist Olivier Gros living on sunken mangrove tree leaves in the French Caribbean back in 2009. 

Due to the organism’s size, Gros first thought he was looking at a eukaryote rather than simpler prokaryotic organisms like bacteria. It wasn’t until he got back to his laboratory that he found out that it wasn’t the case at all. Years later, Jean-Marie Volland and his team at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California took a closer look at the bacterium using various techniques, such as transmission electron microscopy, to confirm that it is indeed a single-cell organism. They’ve recently published a paper describing the centimeter-long bacterium in Science.

Volland said T. magnifica is “5,000 times bigger than most bacteria” and is comparable to an average person “encountering another human as tall as Mount Everest.” One other information Volland’s team has discovered is that the bacterium keeps its DNA organized within a structure that has a membrane. In most bacteria, DNA materials just float freely in their cytoplasm. Further, it has around 6,000 billion bases of DNA. “For comparison, a diploid human genome is approximately six giga (billion) bases in size. So this means that our Thiomargarita stores several orders of magnitude more DNA in itself as compared to a human cell,” said team member Tanja Woyke. 

While the scientists know that T. magnifica grows on top of mangrove sediments in the Caribbean and that it creates energy to live using chemosynthesis, which is similar to photosynthesis in plants, there’s still a lot about it that remains a mystery. And it’ll likely take some time before the scientists can discover its secrets: They have yet to figure out how to grow the organism in the lab, so Gros has to gather samples every time they want to run an experiment. It doesn’t help that the organism has an unpredictable life cycle. Gros told The New York Times that he couldn’t even find any over the past two months. 

Volland and his team now aim to find a way to grow T. magnifica in the lab. As for Gros, he now expects other teams to go off in search of even bigger bacteria, which like T. magnifica, may also be hiding in plain sight.