FuboTV blames World Cup outage on cyberattack

Some soccer fans may have missed Wednesday’s World Cup semi-final between France and Morocco because of a FuboTV outage. The streaming service says that it was not knocked offline due to demand or reaching bandwidth limitations. Instead, it claims to have been the victim of a cyber attack.

At 9:20AM ET on Wednesday, Fubo reported that users may have been unable to log into their account or create a new one. The issue logged some users out of the FuboTV app as well. On its status page, Fubo apologized to those who were having issues while trying to watch the game, and directed them to a free, 60-minute livestream preview on Fox’s website.

“While this ongoing issue has been resolved for some users, we are aware that many users are still unable to access the FuboTV app and website at this time,” a message posted on Fubo’s status page at midnight reads. “Our teams remain engaged and will be working into the night to fully resolve this issue.” 

Even though Fubo claimed that service was fully restored on Wednesday evening, the status page still said that account creation, password reset requests and streaming functions remained disrupted as of 12:45PM on Thursday. In any case, fingers crossed everything goes more smoothly for Sunday’s World Cup final between Argentina and France.

Fubo said it took steps to contain the attack as soon as it discovered what was going on. It has reported the incident to law enforcement and it brought in third-party cybersecurity experts to look into what happened and how.

“Our investigation is at an early stage, but we are committed to transparency regarding this incident,” Fubo co-founder and CEO David Gandler wrote in a note to users. “We will provide an update at an appropriate time when we have more information to share.”

Amazon will publish the next Tomb Raider game

Lara Croft is making a return with the help of Amazon Games. The company will publish the next Tomb Raider title, which Crystal Dynamics is developing. Amazon said the studio is using Unreal Engine 5 to craft the biggest and most expansive Tomb Raider game to date.

It’ll likely be a few years before you can get your hands on the next Tomb Raider game, which is coming to multiple platforms. It’s still in early development, but Amazon says it’ll retain all of the franchise’s hallmarks. This will be a single-player game with “an environment that rewards exploration and creative pathfinding.” Naturally, you’ll solve puzzles and battle a variety of enemies. The game will continue Lara’s story rather than being another reboot (so it’s probably not going to be the Tomb Raider 2 remake some have been hoping for).

This will be the first mainline Tomb Raider game since 2018’s Shadow of the Tomb Raider (mobile title Tomb Raider Reloaded arrived earlier this year). Embracer Group recently bought Crystal Dynamics, Eidos-Montreal and Square Enix Montreal from Square Enix in a cut-price $300 million deal. Embracer snagged the intellectual property rights to Tomb Raider, Deus Ex and dozens of other games from Square Enix as well. The gaming giant also plans to revive Deus Ex in Unreal Engine 5.

“Crystal Dynamics has an extraordinary opportunity following our acquisition by Embracer to redefine what a publishing relationship is for Tomb Raider,” Crystal Dynamics head of studio Scot Amos said in a statement. “Transformative is what we’re looking for, and with Amazon Games, we found a team that shares our creative vision, ambitions and values for a Lara Croft universe across the spectrum of possibilities. They’re uniquely positioned to rewrite what publishing and development collaborations are, and we’re eager to forge this new path together, starting with building the biggest and best Tomb Raider game yet!”

Amazon has been making more waves in game publishing recently. It had another hit on its hands when it brought Smilegate’s Lost Ark to North America, South America and Europe earlier this year. Last week, Amazon revealed that it will bring Bandai Namco’s upcoming free-to-play multiplayer RPG Blue Protocol to the west. Amazon Games will be moving into new territory with Tomb Raider, as that will be its first single-player narrative title.

Instagram’s latest feature helps hacked users regain account access

Instagram is introducing more safety and security tools. These include a hub where people can go to report and resolve account access issues they’re having. This could be hugely beneficial for hacked users who are struggling to regain access to their accounts.

If you can’t log in, you can visit the hub on the Instagram website. Instagram will ask whether the issue concerns a hacked account, forgotten password, impersonation, loss of two-factor authentication method or disabled account. Once you select the issue, you can follow a string of steps to help you access your account again.

One method you can use to verify an account is actually yours is to ask others to confirm your identity. If you get locked out of an account, you can get two Instagram friends to verify your identity. Instagram started testing this feature earlier this year and now it’s available to everyone. Your friends will have 24 hours to respond to the request. If they do, Instagram will let you reset your password. 

Screenshots of Instagram's
Instagram

Meanwhile, Instagram says it’s employing more measures to prevent account hacking in the first place. The service is removing accounts that its systems deem malicious, such as those that are impersonating others. A new test involves sending you a warning “if an account that we suspect may be impersonating someone requests to follow you.” In the coming months, Instagram will start sending warnings to those who get a DM from an account that may be impersonating a business.

On top of all that, you’ll start seeing the blue badge for verified accounts in more places. Along with profiles, you’ll now see the badge on Stories and DMs. The badge will show up in the feed soon as well. Instagram says this will help users know if an account they’re interacting with is the real deal.

Epic is taking over a dozen games offline, including Rock Band and Unreal titles

Epic Games is shutting down “out-of-date online services” and servers for several of its older games, including multiple Rock Band and Unreal titles, starting today. The company notes that most affected games will still be available offline, but others will no longer work. It says the move is part of a shift that will only see it support online functions through Epic Online Services, which offers a unified friends system, voice chat, parental controls and parental verification.

Epic is removing the mobile title DropMix and the Mac and Linux versions of Hatoful Boyfriend and Hatoful Boyfriend: Holiday Star from storefronts today. You’ll still be able to play these games if you already own them.

Servers for several games will be shut down on January 24th, but Epic has already started delisting them from digital storefronts and turning off in-game purchases. After that date, you’ll still be able to play the following offline in single or local multiplayer modes:

  • 1000 Tiny Claws

  • Dance Central 1-3

  • Green Day: Rock Band

  • Monsters (Probably) Stole My Princess

  • Rock Band 1-3

  • The Beatles: Rock Band

  • Supersonic Acrobatic Rocket-Powered Battle-Cars

  • Unreal Gold

  • Unreal II: The Awakening

  • Unreal Tournament 2003

  • Unreal Tournament 2004

  • Unreal Tournament 3

  • Unreal Tournament: Game of the Year Edition

Dance Central VR and Rock Band 4 online multiplayer features will remain available. Epic also plans to restore online features to Unreal Tournament 3 down the line. It will integrate Epic Online Services into the game.

Battle Breakers, a hero collector RPG that a small team of Epic developers built inhouse and released in 2019, will shut down on December 30th. Epic will refund all in-game purchases made through its direct payment system in the 180 days before today. As of January 24th, the alpha of the Unreal Tournament reboot, Rock Band Blitz, the Rock Band companion app and SingSpace will no longer be available.

It’s unclear how many people are still playing the Unreal Tournament and Rock Band titles but at their peaks, they were among the biggest franchises around. It’s a shame to see Epic sunsetting these games and all the others on the list. Still, if you happen to have a Rock Band guitar or drum set gathering dust, this may at least be a decent reminder to bust those out and play along to “I Want to Hold Your Hand” or “Basket Case.”

Meanwhile, Rock Band developer Harmonix, which Epic bought last year, recently announced that its most recent game, Fuser, will go offline. The studio will also stop selling the game and in-game purchases on December 19th.

Tidal now lets you DJ for other paid users in real time

Tidal users in the US can now become DJs on the streaming service. The company is testing a feature called DJ, which enables those on the $20 per month HiFi Plus tier to share songs or a playlist they’re listening to with other paying users in real time. Tidal added a proper playlist sharing option just last month. 

You can choose a name for the DJ session and share a link that others can use to access it. Unfortunately, Tidal says that those tuning in won’t be able to listen to whatever the DJ’s playing at high-resolution or lossless quality for the time being. The songs will play in regular AAC quality (160 Kbps) — higher-resolution streams will be available at a later date.

Budding DJs will need to be enrolled in Tidal’s Early Access Program to access the beta. They’ll only be able to start a session on iOS for now, but Android support is coming soon. All paying Tidal users can listen to a DJ session on either iOS or Android.

The feature is different from Tidal for DJs, which enables producers and DJs to plug songs from the streaming service into professional audio software, as The Verge notes. So, this new feature is geared toward amateur tastemakers. However, the fact that listeners also need to be paid Tidal users might prevent folks from sharing their live DJ sessions with friends who typically use Spotify or Apple Music. At least Turntable.fm is still around, while Amazon’s Amp enables people to host their own radio shows with chat and licensed music.

Twitter suspends account that tracked Elon Musk’s private jet

A Twitter account that tracked the flights of Elon Musk’s private jet is no more. The company has permanently suspended @ElonJet, as Jack Sweeney, a college student who ran the account, noted.

Sweeney used publicly available flight data to operate @ElonJet and accounts that track flights of other public figures. Over the weekend, Sweeney said screenshots provided by a Twitter employee indicated that the company limited the reach of @ElonJet. On Monday, Sweeney said it seemed there were no longer any restrictions on the account, but Twitter has since dropped the banhammer. By Wednesday afternoon, Twitter had suspended Sweeney’s personal Twitter account too. Later that same day, Twitter revealed an update to its private information policy, noting that sharing “live location” information about another person is now prohibited. 

In January, a few months before Musk announced a deal to buy Twitter, he offered Sweeney $5,000 to delete the account. Sweeney rejected the overture, instead asking for $50,000. As CNBC notes, @ElonJet had more than half a million followers. Sweeney also runs a version of the bot on Instagram.

Self-proclaimed free speech absolutist Musk, who has caused chaos at Twitter since taking over the company, suggested in November that he would not ban @ElonJet, despite claiming the account “is a direct personal safety risk.” It’s unclear whether Musk himself reversed course or one of his employees made the call to suspend @ElonJet. Twitter no longer has a communications department that can be reached for comment.

Update 12/14 2:36PM ET: Noted that Twitter has suspended Sweeney’s personal Twitter account.
Update 12/14 8:00PM ET: Added information about Twitter’s updated private information and media policy.

Boom finds a new design partner for its Symphony supersonic jet engine

Boom has revealed more details about Symphony, the engine for the Overture jet with which it aims to bring back commercial supersonic air travel after the retirement of Concorde. Most importantly, the company has secured a new partner to develop the engine after it parted ways with Rolls-Royce in September. 

FTT, a division of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, will help design Symphony. Some of FTT’s engineers were behind the F-22 and F-35 fighter jet engines, so they have experience in powering supersonic aircraft.

Symphony is a medium-bypass turbofan engine that will have the same basic architecture as current commercial aircraft engines. However, Boom says its new propulsion system is designed to help Symphony achieve 35,000 pounds of thrust and speeds of Mach 1.7. Boom claims that Overture will be able to fly between Newark and London in under four hours and San Francisco to Tokyo in around six hours.

Boom expects Symphony to deliver a 25 percent increase in time on wing (i.e. in-flight time) and claims it will have significantly lower maintenance costs than other engines. The engine will be the first that’s optimized for fully sustainable aviation fuel, Boom says, and it will operate at net zero carbon. Symphony will also have a single-stage fan that’s designed for quiet operation.

Despite the switch in engine partners, Boom says the jet is still on track for certification in 2029. Production is set to start in 2024 at a factory in North Carolina with the first jet scheduled to leave the factory in 2026. Boom now expects test flights to start in 2027, a year later than previously planned. 

The company already has customers lined up. American Airlines placed an order earlier this year for 20 jets, with an option for another 40. United Airlines, meanwhile, has ordered 15 Overture planes with an option for another 35.