Spotify achieved its first full year of profitability since launching in 2008. The company has previously had occasional profitable quarters, but consistently lost money each year.Apple may have played a role in the companys turnaround, thanks to a change introduced last year Spotify had long told investors that it was prioritizing growth over profitability, but switched tack in 2023 as it strove to turn a profit. Todays earnings report reveals that the company has finally done so.Today, we announced our fourth quarter 2024 earnings, closing Q4 stronger than ever by outperforming across key metrics and celebrating our first full year of profitability.The company reported strong growth in both usage and premium subscribers.Monthly active users grew 12% year-on-year to 675 million [] net additions of35 million marked the largest Q4 in our history. Premium Subscribers grew 11% to 263 million.One profitability factor may have been Apples decision to allow Spotify to display pricing within the iOS app within Europe, and to direct users to the Spotify website to sign up avoiding Apples 30% cut.In a major u-turn,Appleis now allowingSpotifyto display pricing in the app including promotional offers and to direct users to its website to sign up.The move comes three months after the iPhone maker rejected a a Spotify app update which did just that, and four months afterthe EU fined the company $2Bfor anticompetitive practices in its treatment of its streaming music competitor.It was never clear why Apple blocked this given that it appeared to be permissible under the companys music entitlement.Photo byomid arminonUnsplashAdd 9to5Mac to your Google News feed. FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.Youre reading 9to5Mac experts who break news about Apple and its surrounding ecosystem, day after day. Be sure to check out our homepage for all the latest news, and follow 9to5Mac on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn to stay in the loop. Dont know where to start? Check out our exclusive stories, reviews, how-tos, and subscribe to our YouTube channel

Feb 04, 2025Ravie LakshmananVulnerability / Cyber EspionageA recently patched security vulnerability in the 7-Zip archiver tool was exploited in the wild to deliver the SmokeLoader malware.The flaw, CVE-2025-0411 (CVSS score: 7.0), allows remote attackers to circumvent mark-of-the-web (MotW) protections and execute arbitrary code in the context of the current user. It was addressed by 7-Zip in November 2024 with version 24.09."The vulnerability was actively exploited by Russian cybercrime groups through spear-phishing campaigns, using homoglyph attacks to spoof document extensions and trick users and the Windows Operating System into executing malicious files," Trend Micro security researcher Peter Girnus said.It's suspected that CVE-2025-0411 was likely weaponized to target governmental and non-governmental organizations in Ukraine as part of a cyber espionage campaign set against the backdrop of the ongoing Russo-Ukrainian conflict.MotW is a security feature implemented by Microsoft in Windows to prevent the automatic execution of files downloaded from the internet without performing further checks through Microsoft Defender SmartScreen.CVE-2025-0411 bypasses MotW by double archiving contents using 7-Zip, i.e, creating an archive and then an archive of the archive to conceal the malicious payloads."The root cause of CVE-2025-0411 is that prior to version 24.09, 7-Zip did not properly propagate MotW protections to the content of double-encapsulated archives," Girnus explained. "This allows threat actors to craft archives containing malicious scripts or executables that will not receive MotW protections, leaving Windows users vulnerable to attacks."Attacks leveraging the flaw as a zero-day were first detected in the wild on September 25, 2024, with the infection sequences leading to SmokeLoader, a loader malware that has been repeatedly used to target Ukraine.The starting point is a phishing email that contains a specially-crafted archive file that, in turn, employs a homoglyph attack to pass off the inner ZIP archive as a Microsoft Word document file, effectively triggering the vulnerability.The phishing messages, per Trend Micro, were sent from email addresses associated with Ukrainian governing bodies and business accounts to both municipal organizations and businesses, suggesting prior compromise."The use of these compromised email accounts lend an air of authenticity to the emails sent to targets, manipulating potential victims into trusting the content and their senders," Girnus pointed out.This approach leads to the execution of an internet shortcut (.URL) file present within the ZIP archive, which points to an attacker-controlled server hosting another ZIP file. The newly downloaded ZIP contains the SmokeLoader executable that's disguised as a PDF document.At least nine Ukrainian government entities and other organizations have been assessed to be impacted by the campaign, including the Ministry of Justice, Kyiv Public Transportation Service, Kyiv Water Supply Company, and City Council.In light of the active exploitation of CVE-2025-0411, users are recommended to update their installations to the latest version, implement email filtering features to block phishing attempts, and disable the execution of files from untrusted sources."One interesting takeaway we noticed in the organizations targeted and affected in this campaign is smaller local government bodies," Girnus said."These organizations are often under intense cyber pressure yet are often overlooked, less cyber-savvy, and lack the resources for a comprehensive cyber strategy that larger government organizations have. These smaller organizations can be valuable pivot points by threat actors to pivot to larger government organizations."Found this article interesting? Follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn to read more exclusive content we post.SHARE

Feb 04, 2025Ravie LakshmananMalware / CryptocurrencyThe North Korean threat actors behind the Contagious Interview campaign have been observed delivering a collection of Apple macOS malware strains dubbed FERRET as part of a supposed job interview process."Targets are typically asked to communicate with an interviewer through a link that throws an error message and a request to install or update some required piece of software such as VCam or CameraAccess for virtual meetings," SentinelOne researchers Phil Stokes and Tom Hegel said in a new report.Contagious Interview, first uncovered in late 2023, is a persistent effort undertaken by the hacking crew to deliver malware to prospective targets through bogus npm packages and native apps masquerading as videoconferencing software. It's also tracked as DeceptiveDevelopment and DEV#POPPER.These attack chains are designed to drop a JavaScript-based malware known as BeaverTail, which, besides harvesting sensitive data from web browsers and crypto wallets, is capable of delivering a Python backdoor named InvisibleFerret.In December 2024, Japanese cybersecurity company NTT Security Holdings revealed that JavaScript malware is also configured to fetch and execute another malware known as OtterCookie.The discovery of the FERRET family of malware, first uncovered towards the end of 2024, suggests that the threat actors are actively honing their tactics to evade detection.This includes the adoption of a ClickFix-style approach to trick users into copying and executing a malicious command on their Apple macOS systems via the Terminal app in order to address a problem with accessing the camera and microphone through the web browser.According to security researcher Taylor Monahan, who goes by the username @tayvano_, the attacks originate with the attackers approaching the targets on LinkedIn by posing as recruiters and urging them to complete a video assessment. The end goal is to drop a Golang-based backdoor and stealer that's designed to drain the victim's MetaMask Wallet and run commands on the host.Some of the components associated with the malware have been referred to as FRIENDLYFERRET and FROSTYFERRET_UI. SentinelOne said it identified another set of artifacts named FlexibleFerret that takes care of establishing persistence on the infected macOS system by means of a LaunchAgent.It's also engineered to download an unspecified payload from a command-and-control (C2) server, which is no longer responsive.Furthermore, the FERRET malware has been observed being propagated by opening fake issues on legitimate GitHub repositories, once again pointing to a diversification of their attack methods."This suggests that the threat actors are happy to expand the vectors by which they deliver the malware beyond the specific targeting of job seekers to developers more generally," the researchers said.The disclosure comes days after supply chain security firm Socket detailed a malicious npm package named postcss-optimizer containing the BeaverTail malware. The library remains available for download from the npm registry as of writing."By impersonating the legitimate postcss library, which has over 16 billion downloads, the threat actor aims to infect developers' systems with credential-stealing and data-exfiltration capabilities across Windows, macOS, and Linux systems," security researchers Kirill Boychenko and Peter van der Zee said.The development also follows the discovery of a new campaign mounted by the North Korea-aligned APT37 (aka ScarCruft) threat actor that involved distributing booby-trapped documents via spear-phishing campaigns to deploy the RokRAT malware, as well as propagate them to other targets over group chats through the K Messenger platform from the compromised user's computer.Found this article interesting? Follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn to read more exclusive content we post.SHARE

TechTarget and Informa Techs Digital Business Combine.TechTarget and InformaTechTarget and Informa Techs Digital Business Combine.Together, we power an unparalleled network of 220+ online properties covering 10,000+ granular topics, serving an audience of 50+ million professionals with original, objective content from trusted sources. We help you gain critical insights and make more informed decisions across your business priorities.Shopping for an LLM? Here's What to Know About PricingShopping for an LLM? Here's What to Know About PricingCIOs and other smart shoppers who want to watch their AI spending should understand what goes into the bill they'll receive from their large language model providers. Here's what to know to start comparison shopping.Pam Baker, Contributing WriterFebruary 4, 20251 Min ReadTithi Luadthong via Alamy StockRead more about:Cost of AIAbout the AuthorPam BakerContributing WriterA prolific writer and analyst, Pam Baker's published work appears in many leading publications. She's also the author of several books, the most recent of which are "Decision Intelligence for Dummies" and "ChatGPT For Dummies." Baker is also a popular speaker at technology conferences and a member of the National Press Club, Society of Professional Journalists, and the Internet Press Guild.See more from Pam BakerNever Miss a Beat: Get a snapshot of the issues affecting the IT industry straight to your inbox.SIGN-UPYou May Also LikeWebinarsMore WebinarsReportsMore Reports

Shane Snider, Senior Writer, InformationWeekFebruary 4, 20256 Min ReadTithi Luadthong via Alamy StockDuring many major tech conferences and events in 2024, talk of implementing artificial intelligence was a common theme as IT leaders are tasked with creating new GenAI tools for business. But a common refrain was the need to prepare data for machine learning.That need for clean data may slow AI launch efforts and add to costs.A recent Salesforce report found CIOs are spending a median of 20% of their budgets on data infrastructure and management and only 5% on AI. A lack of trusted data ranked high on the list of CIOs' main AI fears. In another report, research firm International Data Corporation (IDC) says worldwide spending on AI will reach $632 Billion in 2028.The industry was caught off guard as OpenAIs ChatGPT quickly launched the GenAI arms race two years ago -- many companies are faced with juggling data needs with getting that data AI-ready. Spending on data preparation could be a significant upstart cost for AI, varying with the size and maturity of different businesses and organizations.Preparing data for AI is a tricky and potentially costly task. IT leaders must consider several factors, including quality, volume, complexity of data, along with preparing for costs associated with data collection, cleaning, labeling, and conversion suitable for an AI model. When added on top of needs for new hardware, software, and labor costs associated with GenAI adoption, and the bills add up quickly.Related:CIOs and other tech leaders are faced with presenting AI as a potential value creator and possible revenue generator. But many companies face an uphill battle when it comes to ROI on new GenAI programs, the time and cost to prepare data often doesnt lead to immediate returns.Spending Money on Data to Make Money with AIBarb Wixom, author and principal research scientist at MITs Center for Information Systems Research (MIT CISR), says leaders can point to specific successes at other companies that have more mature AI rollouts. Those companies, she says, have built strong data value through forward-looking governance.AI has to be viewed, not as AI, but as a part of the data value creation or data realization, she tells InformationWeek in a phone interview. I call it data monetization converting data to money. If organizations and especially leaders just consistently think about AI in that context, you wont have a problem if an organization is trying to reduce its cost structure by a certain percentage, or trying to increase sales in some way, or increase service growth -- whatever the objective is -- thats often big money. Even if you have an extraordinary investment in AI, the outcome could be orders of magnitude greater.Related:With tech budgets tightening in the face of macroeconomic woes, IT leaders need to convince non-technical members of the C-suite that data preparation is a worthwhile investment. Wixom points to success stories in the financial services industry where IT leaders had strong credibility within their executive team. One such leader, she says, used an internal consulting group to accumulate use cases to present a more traditional business plan to executives. They road-mapped how they were going to build out over four years -- they were able to deliver that, Wixom says.But other organizations may not be as mature in their data governance as a major financial institution. In those cases, an incremental, bottom-up approach can be effective as well. You dont have to start with the vision of all thats going to be done but by taking an incremental approach that builds capability, where you learn along the way and establish not silos, but a growing enterprise resource.The next step: Finding the right architecture to align with your AI goals. Data mesh and data fabric are two competing modern data architecture frontrunners that are similar but have key differences.Related:Mesh or Fabric? Modern Data ArchitecturesIn the pre-GenAI era, data governance was relatively straightforward. Many companies pooled data into data lakes that stored large amounts of raw data. For AI use, that generalized architecture can create bottlenecks that hinder productivity. Data fabric and data mesh architectures are becoming the new industry standards when it comes to GenAI implementation. Thats because these modern architectures integrate data from multiple sources into a unified view, simplifying data maintenance, and reducing time and costs.Data Mesh:Using a data mesh architecture can be a good option for those looking to empower separate business units with data ownership.Data Fabric:Data fabric offers centralized architecture, integrating data across an organization. This method allows a unified data structure with a central governance.But those new architectures come with a price. Higher startup costs and ongoing maintenance fees can pose significant barriers to entries for some enterprises, depending on the size and current state of data governance. Data mesh will likely have higher up front costs. Data fabric has lower implementation costs but will likely cost more to maintain.So, its important to understand potential use cases to justify the spend and to understand which architecture is right for your organization, experts say.Inna Tokarev Sela, chief executive officer and founder of data fabric firm Illumex, points to specific use cases that can most benefit from modern data architectures. She says organizations that can most benefit from data fabric include those which aspire to create a degree of automation, self-service access to data analytics by business users, workflow automation, and process automation. She says businesses with disparate teams who need to use data to build analytics and collaborate can benefit from a data fabric architecture.Data fabric and data mesh are like the Montagues and Capulets, or the Hatfields and McCoys, says Kendall Clark, co-founder and CEO of data firm Stardog. Its like a frenemy rivalry they are so similar that nobody can tell them apart, but its the small differences.Because data fabric is so similar, Clark says clients will request data fabric but what they are really describing is data mesh architecture. So, its more important to have a strong understanding of your businesses unique data needs. The labels really arent that important.Where to Start? Finding the 'Rallying Point'You dont have to get the decision right, you just have to choose, Clark says of picking a new data architecture for GenAI implementation. I would start by picking a super critical, important problem that will make a real difference for your organization. Something that will make your business save more money, manage risk, make more money, make people more productive -- those are the keys to driving the business forward. You need to pick one as your rallying point.No matter your starting point, a successful switch to any data architecture requires clean, well-governed data, MIT CISRs Wixom contends. It doesnt matter if its data mesh or data fabric, if we just do the practices the way we really should for instance, like using good metadata, all of the sudden, you have interoperability because you have consistency and standards. The problem is that most organizations are silos and spaghetti -- they havent followed the textbook rules to begin with so theyre in remediation mode.About the AuthorShane SniderSenior Writer, InformationWeekShane Snider is a veteran journalist with more than 20 years of industry experience. He started his career as a general assignment reporter and has covered government, business, education, technology and much more. He was a reporter for the Triangle Business Journal, Raleigh News and Observer and most recently a tech reporter for CRN. He was also a top wedding photographer for many years, traveling across the country and around the world. He lives in Raleigh with his wife and two children.See more from Shane SniderNever Miss a Beat: Get a snapshot of the issues affecting the IT industry straight to your inbox.SIGN-UPYou May Also LikeWebinarsMore WebinarsReportsMore Reports

In Cinemautopsy,welook back at a recent, high-profile failure and ask a simple question: What the hell happened? In this installment... the comic that launched Marvel Comics. A cast of beloved up-and-comers. One of the hottest young directors in Hollywood. A bold attempt to reinvent the superhero genre.What could possibly go wrong?Many things. Many things could go wrong. And did.Movie:Fantastic FourDirector:Josh TrankWriters:Jeremy Slater, Simon Kinberg, and Josh TrankRelease date:August 7, 2015Worldwide box office:$167.9 millionReported budget: $120 millionRotten Tomatoes rating:9Metacritic score: 27CinemaScore:C-Franchise context:FourthFantastic Fourfilm; first in rebooted series.What Went Right:FoxFoxloading...On paper, this is such an appealingFantastic Four. The director, Josh Trank, was responsible for Chronicle,one of the most unusual superhero movies of the 21st century. That film, about a group of high school kids who get super powers from a mysterious hole in the ground, was particularly well-attuned toteenagers emotions and hardships, two things that should have served this reboot about a younger version of the FF well. Its four main leads were all rising stars: Miles Teller fromWhiplash, Kate Mara fromHouse of Cards, Michael B. Jordan from theFriday Night LightsTV series (and TranksChronicle), and Jamie Bell fromBilly Elliot,The Adventures of Tintin, and, more recently, Snowpiercer and Nymphomaniac.LikeChronicle, TranksFantastic Four is less interested inthe superficial trappings of superheroeslike spandexand special effects, and more curious aboutthe mental and emotional toll of superheroeslife-altering transformations.His interpretation brokefromFFtradition in numerous ways. His team never wore bright bluecostumes, and they gained their powers in a doomed journey to another dimension, rather than an outer-space encounter with cosmic rays. He also cast Jordan, an African American, as the Human Torch, an inspired and ideal choice for the hotheaded Johnny Storm despite complaints from some close-minded comic-book fans.The whole cast, in fact, was terrific.These are all talented people. This is a group you want to see make a movie together. Just not necessarilythis movie.READ MORE:Every Marvel Movie, Ranked From Worst to BestWhat Went Wrong:MarvelMarvelloading...In the film, Tellers Reed Richards, Jordans Johnny Storm, Maras Sue Storm, and Toby Kebbells Victor Von Doom create a device that can transport people to another dimension they call Planet Zero. Afraid that the government will hijack their project and steal all the glory, Reed, Johnny and Victor, along with Reeds friend Ben (Bell) sneak into the machine after hours and transport themselves to the other world. The trip is a disaster, Victor seemingly dies, and the other three (along with Sue, whos monitoring their journey from back on Earth) are irreversiblytransformed.In broad strokes, its not that different from the originalFantastic Fourorigin from the 1961 Stan Lee and Jack Kirby comic book. Its also a surprisingly cogent metaphor for what happened to Tranks movie during production: A group of young filmmakers withhigh-minded ideals developed acreativespin on well-known characters, only to find their creativity threatenedfrom craven interests concerned with the bottom line. The people in charge wanttheir creation, and when our heroes try to seizecontrol, the result is a catastrophefor everyone involved.Unfortunately, clever self-referentiality does little to mitigate the boredom of the finished product, or to mask the fact that the movie was clearly mutated away from its original intent at some point during production. TranksFantastic Four is very clearly split right down the middle. The first half is focused on scientific exploration and discovery, and follows young Reed as he invents his first teleporter and gets recruited into the Baxter Foundation, aschool for prodigies. Reed, Sue, Victor, and Johnny then collaborate on the Quantum Gate which leads to their accident on Planet Zero. When they return home, the government experiments on the survivors, and Ben agrees to help the U.S. Military in exchange for a cure to his rocky condition.Cut to a One Year Later title card, and suddenly were in anothermovie, with characters behaving totally differently than they did seconds earlier(introverted Reed, who previously wore glasses, no longer needs them and acts more arrogantly than Johnny). Several actors look different too(Kate Mara wears an obvious and unfortunate wig duringmany scenes; Michael B. Jordan is clean shaven in one scene and sports a goatee and mustache in the next).FoxFoxloading...None of Fantastic Fourssecond halfmakes any sense. The Thing is supposedly used on covert operations, but theres nothing covert about a giant rock man who doesnt wear pants. He blamesReed for his transformation, but no one forced him to go on the extremely dangerous and entirely unsupervised trip to the unknown alternate dimension. Reed supposedly wants to cureBen, but he runs away to Latin America where he cant help him, and then when he gets back to the base he forgets abouthisresearch to focus onanother trip to Planet Zero.On a second, post-hype viewing, the first half of TranksFantastic Fourshows promise. The scenes between Teller and Mara are good, and in very limited screentime Jordan captures Johnny Storms combinationof cockiness and decency. Parts of thevery long first act that are deeply confusing (including the basic nature of the Baxter Foundation; Reed describes it as a school but he never goes to a single class and most of the kids look to be in their mid-20s)but there are also flashes of a moving story aboutidealistic youngsters who must band together to avoid exploitation from an older and more cynical generation.Fantastic Fours second half, sadly,is all cynicism and exploitation. Doom, who never seems all that evil in the early scenes, vanishes from the movieat the midpoint, then returns with only about 20 minutes left because the movie never gets around to introducing any otherbad guys for theFantastic Fourto fight.Doom somehow survived alone on Planet Zero for a year, and he displays godlike powers back on Earth, where he blocks bullets with telekinesis and pops dudes heads like ripe grapes. But then in the big final fight, Reed and Ben defeat him by punching him. (Stretchy and/or rocky punches! My one weakness!)The movie is a total mess. It goes from semi-thoughtful consideration of the moral ramification of superpowers to illogical globe-hopping adventure in the span of a single title card. Structurally, it seems to be missing most of its second and third acts; its about an hour and 15minutes of setup and then less than a half-hour of payoff. Numerous shots and scenes from the films marketing, including some of the most impressive special effects (like the Thing droppingfrom a helicopter onto a military target), dont appear in the movie at all.Is this a bold reinvention of superhero mythology? Or is it just a minor variation on a filmweve seen before? As the movie morphs from scene to scene, youcan feel the various interests all trying to shape it into different things. And as in the film itself, experimentation only leads to tragedy.Postmortem:FoxFoxloading...In hindsight, Tranks Fantastic Four looks likeone of the first examples of an increasingly common type of blockbuster, where studios green light a challenging take on material,get cold feet during production, thentry to backtrack to something formulaic and familiar after its too late to start from scratch.With so much money on the line, it makes sense that executives would want to protect their investment (and, by extension, their own jobs). But Im baffled why they dont just play it safe in the first place. How do you start with a weird, seriousFantastic Four and wind up with the Thing punching Doctor Doom into a giant sky laser? I reached out to Jeremy Slater, one of the three credited screenwriters of the film, who offered a few insights into early versions of the script, and the thinking behind these massive tentpoles.Slater estimated that he wrote 10-15 drafts ... over a six month period for Trank before he was replaced. Although hes credited as one of the writers of the final film (Trank and producer Simon Kinberg are the others), he says just one line of his dialogue made it into the movie. (Dont blow up, when young Reed tries his home-brew teleporter for the first time.)He also stressed thats fairly normal for this kind of blockbuster, which tend to go through a half-dozen writers on their way to the screen.Although TranksFantastic Fourwould ultimately get darker and more serious,the storySlater describes sounds a lot brighter, with more material drawn from the comics.His screenplay opened, like the film, with Reed and Ben as children, followed by Reeds recruitment by the Baxter Foundation, which in its original conception was envisioned as a sort of Hogwarts for nerds: a school filled with young geniuses zipping around on prototype hoverboards and experimenting with anti-gravity and teleportation and artificial lifeforms. There Reed was supposed to strike up a friendship with a damaged young Latverian scientist named Victor, who slowly seduced Reed into bending the rules, damaging his friendship with Ben.There was still a portal device at the center of the Fantastic Fours transformation, but originally it sent the kids to the Negative Zone (a classic Lee/Kirby comic-book creation) where they would have fought Annihilus (described by Slater as a pissed-off cybernetic T-Rex). Annihilus appears to kill Victor, and the rest get zapped with radiation on their return home. giving them their powers. Later, Victor returns from the Negative Zone, having killed Annihilus and reshaped his Control Rod into a sort of living body armor.Minus Annihilus and calling Planet Zero the Negative Zone, the outline is basically the same as the finished movie. According to Slater, the difference is tone and structure. He preferred stuff with lots of humor, lots of heart, lots of spectacle, while Trank preferred something grounded, gritty, and as realistic as possible. And while all of the aforementioned events took placeby page 45 of the early 130-page draft, in the final movie, they take up almost the entire runtime. Slater says their early screenplay had a lot more stuff after that point that nevermade it to the screen:In addition to Annihilus and the Negative Zone, we had Doctor Doom declaring war against the civilized world, the Mole Man unleashing a 60 foot genetically-engineered monster in downtown Manhattan, a commando raid on the Baxter Foundation, a Saving Private Ryan-style finale pitting our heroes against an army of Doombots in war-torn Latveria, and a post-credit teaser featuring Galactus and the Silver Surfer destroying an entire planet. We had monsters and aliens and Fantasticars and a cute spherical H.E.R.B.I.E. robot that was basically BB-8 two years before BB-8 ever existed. And if you think all of that sounds great...well, yeah, we did, too. The problem was, it would have also been massively, MASSIVELY expensive.Though Slater admits he didnt have any contact with Trank or the studio after he finished his six months of work on the screenplay, he assumes the exorbitant price tag squashed this ambitious take on the material. He doesnt blame Fox for that either. Would you spend $300 million on a Fantastic Four film? he asked. Particularly after the previous two films left a fairly bad taste in audiences mouths? ... Its understandable that everyone involved would take steps to minimize their risk as much as possible. Unfortunately, those steps probably compromised the film to a fatal degree.During production, there were otherrumors about issues that compromised the film. Just as the movie was opening in theaters, Trank tweeted (and then deleted) that a year earlier hed made a fantastic version of the film that the world will probably never see. Toby Kebbell later confirmedthat Trank made a great film youll never see that was much darker than the theatrical cut. The Hollywood Reporterpublished a different perspective; according to their sources Trank was extremely withdrawn on set, and his movie was ill-conceived.THRquoted a crewmember who believedFantastic Fourwas made for the wrong reasons, namelyto ensure the rights to the charactersdidnt revert to Marvel.That would certainly explainsome ofFantastic Fours problems.Ultimately, though, the reasons are irrelevant. All that matters is the movie, and Tranks Fantastic Four was a majordisappointment.For his part,Slater says hes not bitter about the experience and hes grateful he got to work for as long as he didwith characters hes loved since childhood. (He describes himself as an ubernerd who was brought in to balance out Tranks more grounded take.)For decades, Marvel Comics has published a series calledWhat If? thatspins new variations on classic comic book tales. In devising such an outrageous concept forFantastic Fourand then settling on a bland alternative,Trank and Slatercreated a cinematic what-if to rival that comics best issues.Get our free mobile app12 Movie Performances So Bad They Became IconicThey might be bad, but they're also impossible to forget.Gallery Credit: Emma Stefansky

Its February 4 or F4. Get it? So Marvel decided to cross-promote their movie with the Gregorian calendar, and used F4 to release the first trailer for their biggest superhero film of 2025,The Fantastic Four: First Steps.Although there have been multiple previousFantastic Four film franchises, this is the first from Marvel Studios, and the first set within the confines of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.The new Fantastic Four are Pedro Pascal, Vanessa Kirby, Joseph Quinn, and Ebon Moss-Bachrach, playing Mr. Fantastic, Invisible Woman, Human Torch, and The Thing, respectively. Matt Shakman, best known for his work on theWandaVisionDisney+ TV series, directed the film.Watch the first full trailer for the movie below:READ MORE: Every Marvel Cinematic Universe Movie, Ranked From Worst to BestThis is the fourth attempt at aFantastic Four movie franchise, although the first technically never got released. That was the one produced by Roger Corman and made solely to preserve a producers hold on the propertys film rights. It was bad, but unfortunately thats sort of been a running theme withFFfilms. The first legit, big-budget, actually-releasedFantastic Four came from Fox in 2005, and featured Ioan Gruffudd, Jessica Alba, Michael Chiklis, and a pre-Captain America Chris Evans as the Human Torch. Although the film is not great, it did well enough at the box office to get a sequel, 2007sFantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer.That one was also not great, but it was practicallyHamlet compared to the nextFFmovie, 2016s Fantastic Four, a darker take on the material starring Miles Teller, Kate Mara, Jamie Bell, and a pre-Black PantherMichael B. Jordan as the Human Torch. Hounded by rumors of a production in disarray (and multiple reshoots) the film bombed in theaters and got some of the worst reviews of a Marvel movie in history. After that, Marvel eventually acquired Fox, setting the stage for this new take on the material.Here is the official synopsis for MarvelsThe Fantastic Four: First Steps:Set against the vibrant backdrop of a 1960s-inspired, retro-futuristic world, Marvel Studios The Fantastic Four: First Steps introduces Marvels First FamilyReed Richards/Mister Fantastic (Pedro Pascal), Sue Storm/Invisible Woman (Vanessa Kirby), Johnny Storm/Human Torch (Joseph Quinn) and Ben Grimm/The Thing (Ebon Moss-Bachrach) as they face their most daunting challenge yet. Forced to balance their roles as heroes with the strength of their family bond, they must defend Earth from a ravenous space god called Galactus (Ralph Ineson) and his enigmatic Herald, Silver Surfer (Julia Garner). And if Galactus plan to devour the entire planet and everyone on it werent bad enough, it suddenly gets very personal.The Fantastic Four: First Steps is currently scheduled to open in theaters on July 25.Get our free mobile appThe Most Anticipated Movies of 202520 movies we cant wait to see in 25.

Time zones: SBT (UTC +11), GMT (UTC +0), CET (UTC +1), EET (UTC +2), MSK (UTC +3)About FilestageFilestage frees people from chaotic approval processes, making work more joyful and productive. From large enterprises to independent agencies, our review and approval platform helps teams share, discuss, and approve all their files, all in one place including documents, designs, images, videos, and audio files.We're a fully remote team with people working in home offices, co-working spaces, and coffee shops all over the world. Together, we're on a mission to create a seamless approval process that helps people deliver their best work.We've raised our Series A and have over half a million users across 500+ companies, including AB InBev, LG, Havas, GroupM, and Emirates. So if you're looking for a fast-growing startup in a booming market, you've found it!This is a fully remote role where you can be based anywhere in a European time zone. We are only able to consider candidates who are fluent in English and German.What youll be working on as our Customer Success Manager (German Speaking)This is your chance to help shape the future of our remote company.We believe that a strong Customer Success Team is the backbone of healthy business growth.You build a good relationship with your customers. You work closely with your customers, build relationships and make them happy users who will gladly recommend Filestage to others.You turn customers into experienced users. You help customers get the most out of Filestage software in training sessions via chat, e-mail, phone, webinars and video conferencing. Don't worry, our customers are friendly and don't bite ;-)You proactively look for ways to make our customers even more successful. With your contribution to customer success, you improve the lives of creative people and project managers around the globe. You are committed to your clients and help them find pragmatic solutions and improve their workflow.You drive the growth of Filestage. You always have your feelers out and find opportunities to grow and expand in your clients' companies and to further distribute Filestage software.Life at FilestageWe believe people are more productive when they can choose their own schedule. So were proud to offer fully-remote roles that give you the perfect balance between work and life.Here are some of the benefits you can look forward to at Filestage:Work from where youre happiest and enjoy a flexible schedule. Weve been fully remote from the start, giving you the opportunity to meet people all over the world and broaden your horizons.For this role, were looking for someone based in Europe to make sure theres a high time overlap with our team members, customers, and partners.Meet up in real life. We all travel together at least once a year (in normal times) at our team retreat to have fun and get to know each other.Enjoy a strong team culture. Were a group of knowledge seekers, reflective thinkers, clear communicators, goal owners, problem solvers, and team players. These are the values we strive for to help us achieve our mission.Join a happy team. Weve been rated five stars on Glassdoor by our lovely team. You can take a look at our reviews here.Create a workspace that suits you. Youll get a 1500 budget for hardware, as well 500 for home office to buy whatever you need to do your best work including a computer, webcam, or standing desk.Get 38 days of holiday. Plenty of time for city breaks, summer escapes, and everything in between. Youll also get a half day on your birthday to give you a chance to celebrate!Volunteer/Charity Day. Enjoy a Volunteer/Charity Day to support a cause close to your heart.Continue to grow and develop your career. We care about your development and want you to be able to learn new things! After six months in the company, youll get a budget to be able to use for personal development.Make your voice heard. We trust our team members to make the best decisions to achieve their goals, so you wont have to put up with micromanagers here.Say goodbye to pointless meetings. We practice what we preach when it comes to productivity, so you can expect flat hierarchies, fast iterations, and no bullshit meetings.What youll bring to the roleYou enjoy connecting with people. You know the definition of empathy without checking Wikipedia and put it into practice daily.Youre passionate about customer success management. You have experience in customer success management or account management. Sales experience is highly valued.You have business acumen and enjoy advising customers and consultative selling.You take ownership. You are filled with passion to take responsibility and to make things happen. You are an energetic self-starter who wants to make a tangible impact on a rapidly growing product and company.You are a team player. You understand that we can only be successful as a team. Like everyone else in our great team, you are fair, honest and respectful and you are ready to have a lot of fun.You are fluent in English & German. Speaking Spanish or French is a plus.

This is today's edition ofThe Download,our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what's going on in the world of technology. How the Rubin Observatory will help us understand dark matter and dark energy We can put a good figure on how much we know about the universe: 5%. Thats how much of whats floating about in the cosmos is ordinary matterplanets and stars and galaxies and the dust and gas between them. The other 95% is dark matter and dark energy, two mysterious entities aptly named for our inability to shed light on their true nature. Previous work has begun pulling apart these dueling forces, but dark matter and dark energy remain shrouded in a blanket of questionscritically, what exactly are they? Enter the Vera C. Rubin Observatory, one of our 10 breakthrough technologies for 2025. Boasting the largest digital camera ever created, Rubin is expected to study the cosmos in the highest resolution yet once it begins observations later this year. And with a better window on the cosmic battle between dark matter and dark energy, Rubin might narrow down existing theories on what they are made of. Heres a look at how.Jenna Ahart This story is part of MIT Technology Review Explains, our series untangling the complex, messy world of technology to help you understand whats coming next. You can read more from the series here. Anthropic has a new way to protect large language models against jailbreaks Whats new? AI firm Anthropic has developed a new line of defense against a common kind of attack called a jailbreak. A jailbreak tricks large language models (LLMs) into doing something they have been trained not to, such as help somebody create a weapon. And Anthropics new approach could be the strongest shield against the attacks yet. How they did it: Jailbreaks are a kind of adversarial attack: input passed to a model that makes it produce an unexpected output. Despite a decade of research there is still no way to build a model that isnt vulnerable. But, instead of trying to fix its models, Anthropic has developed a barrier that stops attempted jailbreaks from getting through and unwanted responses from the model getting out. Read the full story. Will Douglas Heaven Three things to know as the dust settles from DeepSeek The launch of a single new AI model does not normally cause much of a stir outside tech circles, nor does it typically spook investors enough to wipe out $1 trillion in the stock market. Now, a couple of weeks since DeepSeeks big moment, the dust has settled a bit. Within AI, though, what impact is DeepSeek likely to have in the longer term? Here are three seeds DeepSeek has planted that will grow even as the initial hype fades.James ODonnell This story originally appeared in The Algorithm, our weekly newsletter on AI. To get stories like this in your inbox first, sign up here. If youre interested in learning more about what DeepSeeks breakout success means for the future of AI, watch this conversation between our news editor Charlotte Jee, senior AI editor Will Douglas Heaven, and China reporter Caiwei Chen. It was held at noon ET yesterday as part of our subscriber-only Roundtables seriescheck it out! The must-reads Ive combed the internet to find you todays most fun/important/scary/fascinating stories about technology. 1 Elon Musk's government allies are weighing up using AI to cut costs As part of Musks plans to gut federal contracts across the board. (NYT $)+ A 25-year old engineer now has access to the USs top secret systems. (Wired $)+ Staffers for the US agency that sends aid to the worlds neediest have been locked out of their email accounts. (NY Mag $)+ Such measures would have been unthinkable just a few short years ago. (Vox)+ Palantir CEO Alex Karp is a fan of DOGE. (Insider $)2 China has announced its own tariffs on US importsSparking new fears of a full-blown trade war. (FT $) + The days of cheap Chinese shopping in the US could be coming to an end. (NY Mag $)+ Heres what Trumps tariffs mean for the likes of Temu and Shein. (The Information $)3 US senators blame Silicon Valley for DeepSeeks runaway success Big Techs lobbying for softer export controls created corporate loopholes, they claim. (WP $)+ The rise of DeepSeek doesnt mean the controls have failed, according to ASML. (WSJ $)+ How a top Chinese AI model overcame US sanctions. (MIT Technology Review)4 Meta says it wont release AI systems it deems too risky But how that risk is measured is up to Meta. (TechCrunch)+ A new public database lists all the ways AI could go wrong. (MIT Technology Review)5 Gender affirming care is under major threat in the US Advocates fear Trumps executive order will prevent many people from accessing lifesaving treatments. (Undark)+ Many hospitals are continuing to offer their services, though. (Axios)+ New Yorks Attorney General says pausing such care could violate state law. (The Hill)6 The App Store is now hosting its first porn appAnd Apple is not happy about it. (Reuters) + The company has an EU antitrust law to thank. (WP $)7 The Doomsday Clock has been given a makeover We are now 89 seconds away from the end of the world. (Fast Company $) 8 Meet the UKs AI grandmother wasting scammers timeFraudsters have been left frustrated by the bots dithering. (The Guardian) + The people using humour to troll their spam texts. (MIT Technology Review)9 We still dont know much about Mars moons But a new mission could change that. (New Scientist $)10 Mark Zuckerbergs famous hoodie is up for auction If youre so inclined to want to own a piece of nerd history. (Insider $)Quote of the day Itll scare people, itll make people think that the industry is a scam. Anthony Scaramucci, Donald Trumps former communications director, doesnt think much of his former bosss memecoin, he tells the Financial Times. The big story The open-source AI boom is built on Big Techs handouts. How long will it last? May 2023 In May 2023 a leaked memo reported to have been written by Luke Sernau, a senior engineer at Google, said out loud what many in Silicon Valley must have been whispering for weeks: an open-source free-for-all is threatening Big Techs grip on AI.New open-source large language modelsalternatives to Googles Bard or OpenAIs ChatGPT that researchers and app developers can study, build on, and modifyare dropping like candy from a piata. These are smaller, cheaper versions of the best-in-class AI models created by the big firms that (almost) match them in performanceand theyre shared for free.In many ways, thats a good thing. AI won't thrive if just a few mega-rich companies get to gatekeep this technology or decide how it is used. But this open-source boom is precarious, and if Big Tech decides to shut up shop, a boomtown could become a backwater. Read the full story.Will Douglas Heaven We can still have nice things A place for comfort, fun and distraction to brighten up your day. (Got any ideas? Drop me a line or skeet 'em at me.)+ Today would have been the 112th birthday of Rosa Parks, the civil activist who changed the course of history.+ If youre planning a spring break, consider this well-timed inspiration.+ A Buffy the Vampire Slayer reboot is reportedly in the works.+ Rise up, daughters of grunge!

MIT Technology Review Explains: Let our writers untangle the complex, messy world of technology to help you understand whats coming next. You can read more from the series here. We can put a good figure on how much we know about the universe: 5%. Thats how much of whats floating about in the cosmos is ordinary matterplanets and stars and galaxies and the dust and gas between them. The other 95% is dark matter and dark energy, two mysterious entities aptly named for our inability to shed light on their true nature. Cosmologists have cast dark matter as the hidden glue binding galaxies together. Dark energy plays an opposite role, ripping the fabric of space apart. Neither emits, absorbs, or reflects light, rendering them effectively invisible. So rather than directly observing either of them, astronomers must carefully trace the imprint they leave behind. Previous work has begun pulling apart these dueling forces, but dark matter and dark energy remain shrouded in a blanket of questionscritically, what exactly are they? Enter the Vera C. Rubin Observatory, one of our 10 breakthrough technologies for 2025. Boasting the largest digital camera ever created, Rubin is expected to study the cosmos in the highest resolution yet once it begins observations later this year. And with a better window on the cosmic battle between dark matter and dark energy, Rubin might narrow down existing theories on what they are made of. Heres a look at how. Untangling dark matters web In the 1930s, the Swiss astronomer Fritz Zwicky proposed the existence of an unseen force named dunkle Materiein English, dark matterafter studying a group of galaxies called the Coma Cluster. Zwicky found that the galaxies were traveling too quickly to be contained by their joint gravity and decided there must be a missing, unobservable mass holding the cluster together. Zwickys theory was initially met with much skepticism. But in the 1970s an American astronomer, Vera Rubin, obtained evidence that significantly strengthened the idea. Rubin studied the rotation rates of 60 individual galaxies and found that if a galaxy had only the mass were able to observe, that wouldnt be enough to contain its structure; its spinning motion would send it ripping apart and sailing into space. Rubins results helped sell the idea of dark matter to the scientific community, since an unseen force seemed to be the only explanation for these spiraling galaxies breakneck spin speeds. It wasnt necessarily a smoking-gun discovery, says Marc Kamionkowski, a theoretical physicist at Johns Hopkins University. But she saw a need for dark matter. And other people began seeing it too. Evidence for dark matter only grew stronger in the ensuing decades. But sorting out what might be behind its effects proved tricky. Various subatomic particles were proposed. Some scientists posited that the phenomena supposedly generated by dark matter could also be explained by modifications to our theory of gravity. But so far the hunt, which has employed telescopes, particle colliders, and underground detectors, has failed to identify the culprit. The Rubin observatorys main tool for investigating dark matter will be gravitational lensing, an observational technique thats been used since the late 70s. As light from distant galaxies travels to Earth, intervening dark matter distorts its imagelike a cosmic magnifying glass. By measuring how the light is bent, astronomers can reverse-engineer a map of dark matters distribution. Other observatories, like the Hubble Space Telescope and the James Webb Space Telescope, have already begun stitching together this map from their images of galaxies. But Rubin plans to do so with exceptional precision and scale, analyzing the shapes of billions of galaxies rather than the hundreds of millions that current telescopes observe, according to Andrs Alejandro Plazas Malagn, Rubin operations scientist at SLAC National Laboratory. Were going to have the widest galaxy survey so far, Plazas Malagn says. Capturing the cosmos in such high definition requires Rubins 3.2-billion-pixel Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST). The LSST boasts the largest focal plane ever built for astronomy, granting it access to large patches of the sky. The telescope is also designed to reorient its gaze every 34 seconds, meaning astronomers will be able to scan the entire sky every three nights. The LSST will revisit each galaxy about 800 times throughout its tenure, says Steven Ritz, a Rubin project scientist at the University of California, Santa Cruz. The repeat exposures will let Rubin team members more precisely measure how the galaxies are distorted, refining their map of dark matters web. Were going to see these galaxies deeply and frequently, Ritz says. Thats the power of Rubin: the sheer grasp of being able to see the universe in detail and on repeat. The ultimate goal is to overlay this map on different models of dark matter and examine the results. The leading idea, the cold dark matter model, suggests that dark matter moves slowly compared to the speed of light and interacts with ordinary matter only through gravity. Other models suggest different behavior. Each comes with its own picture of how dark matter should clump in halos surrounding galaxies. By plotting its chart of dark matter against what those models predict, Rubin might exclude some theories and favor others. A cosmic tug of war If dark matter lies on one side of a magnet, pulling matter together, then youll flip it over to find dark energy, pushing it apart. You can think of it as a cosmic tug of war, Plazas Malagn says. Dark energy was discovered in the late 1990s, when astronomers found that the universe was not only expanding, but doing so at an accelerating rate, with galaxies moving away from one another at higher and higher speeds. The expectation was that the relative velocity between any two galaxies should have been decreasing, Kamionkowski says. This cosmological expansion requires something that acts like antigravity. Astronomers quickly decided there must be another unseen factor inflating the fabric of space and pegged it as dark matters cosmic foil. So far, dark energy has been observed primarily through Type Ia supernovas, a special breed of explosion that occurs when a white dwarf star accumulates too much mass. Because these supernovas all tend to have the same peak in luminosity, astronomers can gauge how far away they are by measuring how bright they appear from Earth. Paired with a measure of how fast they are moving, this data clues astronomers in on the universes expansion rate. Rubin will continue studying dark energy with high-resolution glimpses of Type Ia supernovas. But it also plans to retell dark energys cosmic history through gravitational lensing. Because light doesnt travel instantaneously, when we peer into distant galaxies, were really looking at relics from millions to billions of years agohowever long it takes for their light to make the lengthy trek to Earth. Astronomers can effectively use Rubin as a makeshift time machine to see how dark energy has carved out the shape of the universe. These are the types of questions that we want to ask: Is dark energy a constant? If not, is it evolving with time? How is it changing the distribution of dark matter in the universe? Plazas Malagn says. If dark energy was weaker in the past, astronomers expect to see galaxies grouped even more densely into galaxy clusters. Its like urban sprawlthese huge conglomerates of matter, Ritz says. Meanwhile, if dark energy was stronger, it would have pushed galaxies away from one another, creating a more rural landscape. Researchers will be able to use Rubins maps of dark matter and the 3D distribution of galaxies to plot out how the structure of the universe changed over time, unveiling the role of dark energy and, they hope, helping scientists evaluate the different theories to account for its behavior. Of course, Rubin has a lengthier list of goals to check off. Some top items entail tracing the structure of the Milky Way, cataloguing cosmic explosions, and observing asteroids and comets. But since the observatory was first conceptualized in the early 90s, its core goal has been to explore this hidden branch of the universe. After all, before a 2019 act of Congress dedicated the observatory to Vera Rubin, it was simply called the Dark Matter Telescope. Rubin isnt alone in the hunt, though. In 2023, the European Space Agency launched the Euclid telescope into space to study how dark matter and dark energy have shaped the structure of the cosmos. And NASAs Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, which is scheduled to launch in 2027, has similar plans to measure the universes expansion rate and chart large-scale distributions of dark matter. Both also aim to tackle that looming question: What makes up this invisible empire? Rubin will test its systems throughout most of 2025 and plans to begin the LSST survey late this year or in early 2026. Twelve to 14 months later, the team expects to reveal its first data set. Then we might finally begin to know exactly how Rubin will light up the dark universe.