Satellite-internet dick swinging accelerates

Watch out Elon, Uncle Jeff is here to crash your light polluting party. Amazon have launched their first test satellites for their "Kuiper" internet network. Launched from the famed Cape Canaveral in Florida, an Atlas 5 rocket shot 2 satellites into low-earth-orbit where Amazon will conduct tests before deploying another 3236 of the bastards. The Kuiper project is a direct competitor to Musk's Starlink service, which is aiming to have 5000 satellites in orbit over the next 2 years. Unlike Starlink though, Kuiper will use 3rd parties to get their satellites up, Bezos backed Blue Origin and their dick shuttle isn't quite up to the job. The satellite internet game is expected to be a US$10b industry over the next 10 years.

A union, a TV series & and a GOTY expansion walk into a Polish bar

What do they all have in common? They're orbiting breakout Polish developer CD Projekt Red in the news this week. The Witcher developers have had a tumultuous ride since the release of their latest & much-hyped franchise Cyberpunk 2077. Panned by reviewers they were heavily criticised at the time for breaking their promise and forcing their devs to work a crunch period prior to its release. Years later this has resulted in the forming of the Polish Gamedev Workers Union. The group is aiming for "stable, fair, diverse and healthy" workplaces. The announcement comes just hours ahead of news that a live-action TV series set in the Cyberpunk 2077 universe is under development. The series is being developed by media company "Anonymous Content" who is behind some of the best shows in recent history, Mr. Robot & True Detective (Season 1). For those who don't know, the game already features Hollywood talent, one of it's main characters played by Keanu Reeves and joining in the recent Phantom Liberty expansion, Idris Elba. Speaking of which, the expansion has reviewers doing a total 180 on their initial take and now feel it could be a real contender when it comes to game of the year conversations.

Hacks & ransoms US style

DNA detectives 23andMe have confirmed that a variety of their user data is now floating around on hacker forums. They currently believe the data was accessed using compromised credentials that have been reused within their system. There is no indication their security systems have been compromised. That said, the information accessed includes names, profile information, date of birth, genetic ancestry results & location data. Meanwhile MGM Resorts, a part of the MGM casino group, refused to pay out the ransom associated with a Sept 11 attack that stopped their entire booking system from operating. The company instead chose to restore their systems and take the hit of not being able to operate in a fully-functional capacity. A loss they estimate to be worth US$100m, not much for a company worth US$34b I guess? That said the attackers supposedly gained access to the system with nothing more than a couple of LinkedIn profiles and a 10 minute phone call to their support desk.

Swedish gangs launder cash with Spotify

According to a Swedish newspaper, criminal organisations in Sweden have been using Spotify as a way of cleaning their dirty money. They allegedly use the money from all their nefarious goings-on to pay for false streams of songs that are published by artists that are all in on the scam. Spotify then pays out the money to the artist and the crims take their cleaned booty. If only Spotify was around for Walter White and Jessie back in the day, how much easier would life have been for the great Heisenberg then?!