Netflix says a ‘Stranger Things’ stage play and spin-off series are on the way

The otherworldly dust has settled on season four of Stranger Things, which just wrapped up with a blockbuster pair of episodes. While The Duffer Brothers, who created the show, have one more season of the Netflix megahit to make, they’re looking ahead to future projects.

Matt and Ross Duffer have set up a new production company as part of their partnership with Netflix. Fittingly enough, it’s called Upside Down Pictures. The studio, which will be run by Ozark and Orphan Black producer Hilary Leavitt, will “aim to create the kind of stories that inspired the Duffers growing up — stories that take place at that beautiful crossroads where the ordinary meets the extraordinary, where big spectacle co-exists with intimate character work, where heart wins out over cynicism,” Netflix said.

The company and the Duffers also revealed some of the projects they have in the pipeline. For one thing, they’re working on a stage play set in the world of Stranger Things. Emmy- and Tony-award winner Stephen Daldry, known for his work on The Crown and Billy Elliot, will direct the play. A live-action Stranger Things spin-off series is also in the works.

Intriguingly, Netflix is taking another stab at adapting the classic manga and anime series Death Note with the help of the Duffers. Unlike the poorly received 2017 movie, this will be a live-action show.

Also in the works under the wing of Upside Down Pictures are a series from Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance creators Jeffrey Addiss and Will Matthews and an adaption of Stephen King and Peter Straub‘s The Talisman. The production company and Netflix have teamed up with Steven Spielberg’s Amblin Entertainment and Paramount Television for the latter series.

Stranger Things is easily one of Netflix’s biggest successes. Fans have already collectively viewed more than a billion hours of Stranger Things 4 alone. After Squid Game, it’s only the second season of a Netflix show to hit that milestone within 28 days of release.

As such, it’s not too much of a surprise that Netflix wants to expand the Duffers’ remit to (hopefully) work their magic on more shows and movies. The company is having a rough year and is in desperate need of more big hits to draw in new subscribers and keep existing ones on board.

Apple is building a Lockdown Mode to fend off cyberattacks on high-profile users

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Japan’s amended cyberbullying law makes online insults punishable by one year in prison

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NASA reestablishes communications with its wayward CAPSTONE satellite

It’s been a wild few days for NASA’s CAPSTONE mission. Following the lunar satellite’s successful launch from Rocket Lab’s site on New Zealand’s Mahia Peninsula, ground control lost contact with the spacecraft shortly after it escaped Earth’s gravity well and separated from its Electron rocket carrier on Monday. But after nearly a full day in the dark, NASA announced on Wednesday that its engineers have managed to reopen a line to the 55-pound satellite.

While the situation was concerning, NASA had accounted for just such a possibility. “If needed, the mission has enough fuel to delay the initial post-separation trajectory correction maneuver for several days,” a NASA spokesperson told Space.com on Monday.

Dubbed, the Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System Technology Operations and Navigation Experiment (CAPSTONE), this spacecraft had spent nearly a week orbiting the planet in order to build up enough momentum to sling it on a four-month, trans-lunar injection (TLI) route over to the moon. Once the CAPSTONE arrives on November 13th, it will follow the planned Near Rectilinear Halo Orbit of the forthcoming Lunar Gateway in order to verify the stability of the path. 

“Specifically, it will validate the power and propulsion requirements for maintaining its orbit as predicted by NASA’s models, reducing logistical uncertainties,” NASA described in an April blog post. “The orbit will bring CAPSTONE within 1,000 miles of one lunar pole on its near pass and 43,500 miles from the other pole at its peak every seven days, requiring less propulsion capability for spacecraft flying to and from the Moon’s surface than other circular orbits.”

The Gateway, once it launches in 2024, will act as a staging platform first for the larger Artemis mission and lunar colonization efforts, then forays further out into the solar system with an eye on eventually settling Mars. NASA plans to follow this launch with that of the Orion spacecraft — it’s launch window spanning August 23rd to September 6th — which will evaluate the impacts a trans-lunar trip might have on astronaut physiology.

Marriott suffers at least its seventh data breach since 2010

Marriott confirmed it was the target of yet another data breach after attackers recently breached the company’s systems. The company said hackers used social engineering techniques to gain access to an employee’s computer. After obtaining around 20GB of data, the person or group behind the attack tried to extort Marriott, but the company refused to pay up. 

The hackers had access to Marriott’s network for less than a day. The company told CyberScoop it was already looking into the breach before it received the extortion attempt. The incident is said to have taken place around a month ago, but it only just came to light. 

Marriott has informed law enforcement and is assisting with the investigation. It also will notify regulators and between 300 and 400 individuals, most of whom are former employees. “Their information was in archived files that were not detected by the scanning tool we use as part of our proactive security efforts to identify and remove sensitive data from devices,” a Marriott spokesperson told Engadget.

According to DataBreaches, which first reported on the attack, the hackers gained access to a server at BWI Airport Marriott in Maryland. They provided the publication with screenshots that appear to show reservation documents for flight crews, along with corporate credit card numbers for an airline or travel agency. Marriott said most of the information the hackers accessed was “non-sensitive internal business files regarding the operation of the property.”  

“The incident only involved access to one associate’s device and documents on a connected file share server,” the spokesperson said. “The incident did not involve access to Marriott’s core network, the guest reservation system at the property or the payment processing system at the property.”

This is at least the seventh data security incident involving Marriott since 2010, according to DataBreaches. One of the more notable cases emerged in November 2018. The company said hackers gained access to the reservation database of its Starwood subsidiary and obtained personal details of as many as 383 million guests (though some of those were believed to be duplicate records). The data included 5.3 million unencrypted passport numbers. The UK’s Information Commissioner’s Office fined Marriott £18.4 million (around $21.9 million at today’s rates) over the incident.

Update 7/6 3:24PM ET: Added more details from Marriott.

Ubisoft is killing online support for 15 games on September 1st

If you have fond memories of older Ubisoft games with online components from the early 2010s, you might want to check in on them soon. That’s because on September 1st 2022, Ubisoft is dropping support for online services in 15 different games including Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood.

In a post on Ubisoft’s website, the company says it’s decommissioning online services in some of its older games in order to “focus our resources on delivering great experiences for players who are playing newer or more popular titles.” Depending on the title, gamers will no longer be able to access multiplayer modes or even download and install additional content (DLC). 

Affected games are spread across various platforms including the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PC, HTC Vive, Oculus and Wii U, with notable titles including Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood, the 2012 release of Assassin’s Creed 3, Anno 2070 and more. And in some cases like Space Junkies, which is a multiplayer-only title, the game will be completely unplayable. Meanwhile, for others such as Ghost Recon Future Soldier, you’ll need to put your console in offline mode just to play the solo campaign. 

While most of these games enjoyed 10 to 12 years of support since their release, it’s still a bit sad to see Ubisoft drop support for online services for some of its most iconic franchises — especially in titles where DLC will no longer be accessible. For a full list of games that are being decommissioned on September 1st, please visit the company’s help page here for more information.