Month: February 2025

Marvel’s first family faces Galactus in Fantastic Four: First Steps teaser

“Whatever life throws at us, we’ll face it together… as a family.”

Marvel's teaser for The Fantastic Four: First Steps, coming to theaters in July.

We haven't heard much lately about The Fantastic Four: First Steps apart from last year at San Diego Comic-Con, when attendees were treated to an exclusive preview teaser set in a 1960s retro-futuristic New York City, with the foursome blasting off into space for an unspecified mission. But Marvel Studios just dropped a one-minute teaser for the film, which will kick off the MCU's Phase Six this summer.

Marvel Comics' "First Family" hasn't been seen on the big screen since 2015's disastrous reboot of the moderately successful films from the 2000s. Per the official premise:

Set against the vibrant backdrop of a 1960s-inspired, retro-futuristic world, The Fantastic Four: First Steps introduces Marvel’s First Family—Reed Richards/Mister Fantastic, Sue Storm/Invisible Woman, Johnny Storm/Human Torch, and Ben Grimm/The Thing 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 weren’t bad enough, it suddenly gets very personal.

Pedro Pascal plays Reed Richards/Mister Fantastic; Vanessa Kirby plays Sue Storm/Invisible Woman; Joseph Quinn plays Johnny Storm/Human Torch; and Ebon Moss-Bachrach plays Ben Grimm/The Thing. His Thing appearance is a combination of motion capture and CGI rather than heavy prosthetics, and director Matt Shakman consulted scientists and drew inspiration from desert rocks for the character's design. The cast also includes Paul Walter Hauser, John Malkovich, Natasha Lyonne, and Sarah Niles in as-yet-undisclosed roles, and the character of Mole Man is expected to appear.

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China responds to tariffs with antitrust investigations of Google, Nvidia

Beijing seeks leverage against US president by reviving probes into tech giants.

China has revived antitrust investigations into Google and Nvidia, while considering a new probe against Intel, as Beijing looks for leverage in talks with US President Donald Trump.

China’s State Administration for Market Regulation announced on Tuesday that it had opened a competition investigation into Google, which two people familiar with the matter said would focus on dominance of the US group’s Android operating system and any harm caused to Chinese phonemakers, such as Oppo and Xiaomi, which use the software.

Chinese regulators, who announced a similar antitrust investigation into Nvidia in December, were now also looking at launching a formal probe into Intel, said two people familiar with the situation.

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China responds to tariffs with antitrust investigations of Google, Nvidia

Beijing seeks leverage against US president by reviving probes into tech giants.

China has revived antitrust investigations into Google and Nvidia, while considering a new probe against Intel, as Beijing looks for leverage in talks with US President Donald Trump.

China’s State Administration for Market Regulation announced on Tuesday that it had opened a competition investigation into Google, which two people familiar with the matter said would focus on dominance of the US group’s Android operating system and any harm caused to Chinese phonemakers, such as Oppo and Xiaomi, which use the software.

Chinese regulators, who announced a similar antitrust investigation into Nvidia in December, were now also looking at launching a formal probe into Intel, said two people familiar with the situation.

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Boeing has now lost $2B on Starliner, but still silent on future plans

Boeing has brought back a previous Starliner manager to helm the troubled program.

Boeing announced Monday it lost $523 million on the Starliner crew capsule program last year, putting the aerospace company $2 billion in the red on its NASA commercial crew contract since late 2019.

The updated numbers are included in a quarterly filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. "Risk remains that we may record additional losses in future periods," Boeing wrote in the filing.

In 2014, NASA picked Boeing and SpaceX to develop and certify two commercial crew transporter vehicles. Like SpaceX, Boeing's contract, now worth up to $4.6 billion, is structured as a fixed-price deal, meaning the contractor is on the hook to pay for cost overruns that go over NASA's financial commitment.

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Boeing has now lost $2B on Starliner, but still silent on future plans

Boeing has brought back a previous Starliner manager to helm the troubled program.

Boeing announced Monday it lost $523 million on the Starliner crew capsule program last year, putting the aerospace company $2 billion in the red on its NASA commercial crew contract since late 2019.

The updated numbers are included in a quarterly filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. "Risk remains that we may record additional losses in future periods," Boeing wrote in the filing.

In 2014, NASA picked Boeing and SpaceX to develop and certify two commercial crew transporter vehicles. Like SpaceX, Boeing's contract, now worth up to $4.6 billion, is structured as a fixed-price deal, meaning the contractor is on the hook to pay for cost overruns that go over NASA's financial commitment.

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22-year-old math wiz indicted for alleged DeFI hack that stole $65M

22-year-old Andean Medjedovic of Canada could spend decades in prison if convicted.

Federal prosecutors have indicted a man on charges he stole $65 million in cryptocurrency by exploiting vulnerabilities in two decentralized finance platforms and then laundering proceeds and attempting to extort swindled investors.

The scheme, alleged in an indictment unsealed on Monday, occurred in 2021 and 2023 against the DeFI platforms KyberSwap and Indexed Finance. Both platforms provide automated services known as “liquidity pools” that allow users to move cryptocurrencies from one to another. The pools are funded with user-contributed cryptocurrency and are managed by smart contracts enforced by platform software.

“Formidable mathematical prowess”

The prosecutors said Andean Medjedovic, now 22 years old, exploited vulnerabilities in the KyberSwap and Indexed Finance smart contracts by using “manipulative trading practices.” In November 2023, he allegedly used hundreds of millions of dollars in borrowed cryptocurrency to cause artificial prices in the KyberSwap liquidity pools. According to the prosecutors, he then calculated precise combinations of trades that would induce the KyberSwap smart contract system—known as the AMM, or automated market makers—to “glitch,” as he wrote later.

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