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  • Steve Maslow, Oscar-Winning Sound Mixer on ‘The Empire Strikes Back,’ ‘Raiders of the Lost Ark’ and ‘Speed,’ Dies at 81

    Steve Maslow, the top-notch re-recording mixer whose seven Oscar nominations for best sound included wins for The Empire Strikes Back, Raiders of the Lost Ark and Speed, has died. He was 81.

    Maslow died Monday at a therapy facility in West Hills after a battle with cancer, his wife, Ronna Maslow, told The Hollywood Reporter.

    The Los Angeles native also landed Oscar noms for his work on Dune (1984), Waterworld (1995), Twister (1996) and U-571 (2000).

    Maslow did 200-plus features during his career, teaming with fellow mixer Gregg Landaker on more than 130 of them, starting with Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979). He specialized in dialogue and music while Landaker focused on sound effects, and he shared all his Oscar noms with him with the exception of Dune.

    “Maz” also collaborated with John Carpenter on Escape From New York (1981), Halloween II (1981), The Thing (1982), Halloween III: Season of the Witch (1982), Christine (1983), Starman (1984) and Escape From L.A. (1996) and with Tim Burton on Beetlejuice (1988), Edward Scissorhands (1990) and Batman Returns (1992).

    From left: Bill Varney, Steve Maslow and Gregg Landaker at the 1982 Academy Awards after their win for ‘Raiders of the Lost Ark.’

    ABC Photo Archives/Disney General Entertainment Content/Getty Images

    Maslow was born on Oct. 17, 1944. His father worked for Mattel toys and his mother was a legal secretary. After graduating from Grant High School, he hooked up as a roadie in 1969 with the Strawberry Alarm Clock, setting up the sound for the psychedelic rock band that had a big hit with “Incense and Peppermint.”

    “That opened up the whole music industry for me,” he said in 2017, and as a recording engineer, he served as a mixer on songs including “Oh What a Night (December 1963)” from Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons and “Boogie Oogie Oogie” from A Taste of Honey.

    With the rise of garage bands and the music industry relying less on studios, Maslow looked around for an opportunity to become a film mixer.

    He segued into the movie business and worked on four films released in 1978, including the documentary The Last Waltz, and other music films followed, including Hair (1979), The Kids Are Alright (1979), Rust Never Sleeps (1979) and Stop Making Sense (1984).

    Before he knew it, Maslow was working with producer George Lucas on More American Graffiti (1979), The Empire Strikes Back (1980) and Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) and picking up Oscars in consecutive years.

    Maslow’s impressive film résumé also included The Wanderers (1979), 10 (1979), Ordinary People (1980), The Postman Always Rings Twice (1981), Dead Men Don’t Wear Plaid (1982), My Favorite Year (1982), The Dead Zone (1983), St. Elmo’s Fire (1985), Teen Wolf (1985), Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (1986), Children of a Lesser God (1986), Angel Heart (1987), Broadcast News (1987), The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad! (1988), Pet Sematary (1989), Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls (1995), Patch Adams (1998), Bruce Almighty (2003), The 40-Year-Old Virgin (2005), X-Men: The Last Stand (2006), Rocky Balboa (2006), The Town (2010), The Great Gatsby (2013), The Conjuring (2013), Non-Stop (2014) and Mad Max: Fury Road (2015). There are too many movies to mention.

    In addition to his wife, survivors include his son, Travis, and a granddaughter.

    “We lost one of the best of the best, and so many who loved him are heartbroken today,” 16-time Oscar-nominated sound mixer Greg P. Russell wrote on Instagram. “We’ll miss you buddy, and thanks for all the memories. Anytime he ever walked onto a stage I was mixing on, he’d walk over to me and lean on my shoulder and say, ‘You’re not gonna leave it like that, are ya????’ Loved to laugh with him.”

  • Gotham TV Awards: ‘Big Mistakes,’ ‘Death by Lightning’ Lead Nominations

    Gotham TV Awards: ‘Big Mistakes,’ ‘Death by Lightning’ Lead Nominations

    The Gotham TV Awards have revealed this year’s nominees, with Big Mistakes and Death by Lightning leading the way with four nods.

    A number of series landed three nominations apiece including I Love L.A., Beef, DTF St. Louis, Alien: Earth and Pluribus.

    Big Mistakes is nominated for breakthrough comedy series and scored two noms for lead performance in a comedy series (Dan Levy and Taylor Ortega) and one for supporting performance in a comedy series (Laurie Metcalf). Death by Lightning is nominated for best limited or anthology series, two nominations for lead performance in a limited or anthology series (Matthew Macfadyen and Michael Shannon)

    The 2025 Gotham TV Awards, the third year in which the Gotham Awards have broken out TV honors with a separate ceremony during Emmys season, is set for June 1 at Cipriani Wall Street in New York.

    Full disclosure: The Hollywood Reporter‘s chief TV critic Dan Fienberg was part of the nominating committee for outstanding limited or anthology series and outstanding performance in limited series and TV critic Angie Han was part of the nominating committee for breakthrough drama series and outstanding performance in a drama series.

    A complete list of this year’s nominees follows.

    Breakthrough Comedy Series

    Big Mistakes
    Dan Levy, Rachel Sennott, creators; Etan Frankel, Timothy Greenberg, Dean Holland, Dan Levy, Anne-Marie McGintee, Rachel Sennott, executive producers (Netflix)
     
    The Chair Company
    Zach Kanin, Tim Robinson, creators; Andrew DeYoung, Zach Kanin, Adam McKay, Tim Robinson, Todd Schulman, Igor Srubshchik, executive producers (HBO Max)
     
    I Love LA
    Rachel Sennott, creator; Emma Barrie, Aida Rodgers, Lorene Scafaria, Rachel Sennott, Max Silvestri, executive producers (HBO Max)
     
    Long Story Short
    Raphael Bob-Waksberg, creator; Raphael Bob-Waksberg, Noel Bright, Steven A. Cohen, executive producers (Netflix)
     
    Too Much
    Lena Dunham, Luis Felber, creators; Tim Bevan, Michael P. Cohen, Lena Dunham, Eric Fellner, Surian Fletcher-Jones, Bruce Eric Kaplan, executive producers (Netflix)

    Breakthrough Drama Series

    A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms
    George R.R. Martin, Ira Parker, creators; Sarah Bradshaw, Ryan Condal, Vince Gerardis, Owen Harris, George R.R. Martin, Ira Parker, executive producers (HBO Max)
     
    Alien: Earth
    Noah Hawley, creator; Dana Gonzales, Noah Hawley, Joseph E. Iberti, Clayton Krueger, Ridley Scott, David W. Zucker, executive producers (FX/Hulu)
     
    Dept. Q
    Scott Frank, Chandni Lakhani, creators; Rob Bullock, Scott Frank, Andy Harries, Charlotte Moore, executive producers (Netflix)
     
    Pluribus
    Vince Gilligan, creator; Jeff Frost, Vince Gilligan, Diane Mercer, Allyce Ozarski, Gordon Smith, Alison Tatlock, executive producers (Apple TV)
     
    Task 
    Brad Ingelsby, creator; David Crockett, Brad Ingelsby, Paul Lee, Mark Roybal, Mark Ruffalo, Ron Schmidt, Salli Richardson Whitfield, Jeremiah Zagar, executive producers (HBO Max)

    Outstanding Limited or Anthology Series

    Beef
    Lee Sung Jin, creator; Sam French, Oscar Isaac, Lee Sung Jin, Ethan Kuperberg, Charles Melton, Anna Ouyang Moench, Carey Mulligan, Ravi Nandan, Alli Reich, Kitao Sakurai, Jake Schreier, Cailee Spaeny, Ali Wong, Steven Yeun, executive producers (Netflix)
     
    Death by Lightning 
    Mike Makowsky, creator; David Benioff, Bernadette Caulfield, Mike Makowsky, Matt Ross, D.B. Weiss, executive producers (Netflix)
     
    DTF St. Louis
    Steven Conrad, creator; Molly Allen, Jason Bateman, Todd Black, Jason Blumenthal, Steven Conrad, Michael Costigan, David Harbour, James Lasdun, Michael Nelson, Jennifer Scher, Bruce Terris, Steve Tisch, K.C. Wenson, executive producers (HBO Max)
     
    Half Man
    Richard Gadd, creator; executive producers to be determined (HBO Max)
    
Lord of the Flies
    Jack Thorne, creator; Jamie Campbell, Amanda Duthie, Nawfal Faizullah, Marc Munden, Cailah Scobie, Jack Thorne, Joel Wilson, executive producers (Netflix)

    Breakthrough Nonfiction Series

    High Horse: The Black Cowboy
    Kadine Anckle, Tom Casciato, Mari Keiko Gonzalez, Sacha Jenkins, Liz Yale Marsh, Keith McQuirter, Jordan Peele, Win Rosenfeld, Keisha Senter, Jamal M. Watson, executive producers, Jason Perez, director (Peacock)
     
    Katrina: Come Hell and High Water 
    Geeta Gandbhir, Spike Lee, Sam Pollard, executive producers (Netflix)
     
    Mr. Scorsese
    Damon Cardasis, Chris Donnelly, Rebecca Miller, Cindy Tolan, Julie Yorn, Rick Yorn, executive producers (Apple TV)
     
    Sean Combs: The Reckoning
    Brad Bernstein, Ariel Brozell, Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson, David Karabinas, Stacy Scripter, Alexandria Stapleton, executive producers (Netflix)
     
    The Yogurt Shop Murders
    Nancy Abraham, Avi Belkin, Margaret Brown, Beth Garrabrant, Lisa Heller, Ali Herting, Dave McCary, Emily Osborne, Sara Rodriguez, Limor Gott Ronen, Mickey Stanley, Emma Stone, Nicole Stott, executive producers (HBO Max)

    Outstanding Lead Performance in a Comedy Series 

    Elle Fanning, Margo’s Got Money Troubles (Apple TV)
    Dan Levy, Big Mistakes (Netflix)
    Taylor Ortega, Big Mistakes (Netflix)
    Tim Robinson, The Chair Company (HBO Max)
    Rachel Sennott, I Love LA (HBO Max)

    Outstanding Lead Performance in a Drama Series

    Malin Akerman, The Hunting Wives (Netflix)
    Sydney Chandler, Alien: Earth (FX/Hulu)
    Peter Claffey, A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms (HBO Max)
    Chase Infiniti, The Testaments (Hulu)
    Rhea Seehorn, Pluribus (Apple TV)

    Outstanding Lead Performance in a Limited or Anthology Series

    Riz Ahmed, Bait (Amazon Prime Video)
    Jamie Bell, Half Man (HBO Max)
    Matthew Macfadyen, Death by Lightning (Netflix)
    Carey Mulligan, Beef (Netflix)
    Sarah Pidgeon, Love Story: John F. Kennedy Jr. & Carolyn Bessette (FX/Hulu)
    Lili Reinhart, Hal & Harper (MUBI)
    Michael Shannon, Death by Lightning (Netflix)

    Outstanding Supporting Performance in a Comedy Series 

    Odessa A’zion, I Love LA (HBO Max)
    Erika Alexander, The Fall and Rise of Reggie Dinkins (Peacock)
    Laurie Metcalf, Big Mistakes (Netflix)
    Michelle Pfeiffer, Margo’s Got Money Troubles (Apple TV)
    Daniel Radcliffe, The Fall and Rise of Reggie Dinkins (Peacock)
    Haley Lu Richardson, Ponies (Peacock)

    Outstanding Supporting Performance in a Drama Series

    Dexter Sol Ansell, A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms (HBO Max)
    Babou Ceesay, Alien: Earth (FX/Hulu)
    Zach Galifianakis, The Audacity (AMC)
    Tom Pelphrey, Task (HBO Max)
    Karolina Wydra, Pluribus (Apple TV)

    Outstanding Supporting Performance in a Limited or Anthology Series

    Linda Cardellini, DTF St. Louis (HBO Max)
    David Harbour, DTF St. Louis (HBO Max)
    David McKenna, Lord of the Flies (Netflix)
    Nick Offerman, Death by Lightning (Netflix)
    Cailee Spaeny, Beef (Netflix)

    Outstanding Original Film, Broadcast or Streaming 

    Color Theories by Julio Torres
    Julio Torres, director; Matthew Vaughan, producer (HBO Max)
     
    People We Meet on Vacation
    Brett Haley, director; Marty Bowen, Wyck Godfrey, Isaac Klausner, producers (Netflix)
     
    Reflection in a Dead Diamond
    Hélène Cattet, Bruno Forzani, directors; Pierre Foulon, producer (Shudder)
     
    Remarkably Bright Creatures
    Olivia Newman, director; Peter Craig, David Levine, Bryan Unkeless, producers (Netflix) 

    Skyking
    Patricia E. Gillespie, director; Christopher G. Cowan, Patricia E. Gillespie, David Sloan, Claire Weinraub, producers (Hulu)

    Outstanding Performance in an Original Film

    Sally Field, Remarkably Bright Creatures (Netflix)
    Allison Janney, Miss You, Love You (HBO Max)
    Cassandra Naud, Influencers (Shudder)
    Yannick Renier, Reflection in a Dead Diamond (Shudder)
    Cory Michael Smith, Mountainhead (HBO Max)

  • Lesli Linka Glatter Talks Decades-Spanning Career, Working With Anti-Trump Robert De Niro on ‘Zero Day’ – and Why Everyone Needs a Moose Head on the Table

    Lesli Linka Glatter Talks Decades-Spanning Career, Working With Anti-Trump Robert De Niro on ‘Zero Day’ – and Why Everyone Needs a Moose Head on the Table

    Veteran TV director and Canneseries juror Lesli Linka Glatter opened up about Netflix’s political thriller “Zero Day.”

    Showing the aftermath of a shocking cyberattack, it stars Robert De Niro. 

    “Before I met Bob, I was really panicked. Here I am, working with a legend – what will it be like to direct him? It was awesome. He’s an actor who wants to be directed, and he delivered a great performance. It was very interesting to work with Bob at this time, because he speaks out against Trump all the time and the right hates him. Trump hates him.”

    She directed all six episodes. 

    “The biggest fear is that there will be a ‘zero day’ event that takes down every industry simultaneously. We wanted to look at this. Would America behave any differently to how it did after 9/11, when we went to war with the wrong country? Would we stop and investigate, and find out what was really going on? Don’t answer that question.” 

    During a masterclass moderated by Variety, Glatter talked about decades-spanning career and had the audience in stitches – especially when recalling a certain moose head from “Twin Peaks.” 

    “Being around David Lynch is pretty iconic. He ate the same thing for lunch every single day: tuna fish on white bread. There was a scene where Michael Ontkean and Kyle MacLachlan are in a bank vault, and there’s a moose head on the table. No one ever says anything about it. I asked David: ‘How did you get the idea to put the moose head on the table?’ He just looked at me and went: ‘It was there’.”

    She added: “Something cracked open for me [as a director]. Have your plan. Know exactly what you want. But be open to the moose head on the table. Be open to life.”

    “Twin Peaks” was Glatter’s first series following Spielberg’s anthology “Amazing Stories.”

    “It was Steven who told me never to look down on TV as a lesser medium. He said: ‘You have to tell a visual story, and it doesn’t matter what the delivery system is.’ That was the best advice. Oh, and listen to your instincts. If you tell your instincts to shut up, they will. And they won’t talk to you anymore.”

    She listened to them when making her first short “Tales of Meeting and Parting.” It ended up being nominated for an Academy Award. 

    “Everyone’s story is different. Mine started in Tokyo, back in the good old days when the American government actually cared about the arts and thought that cultural exchange was a positive thing for human beings,” she said. 

    A longtime dancer, Glatter went to Japan to choreograph and perform, only to meet a Buddhist monk in a café. 

    “I was 25. He was about 80. Three years into knowing him, he told me a series of stories I knew I had to pass on. I also met my first filmmaker in Japan – George Miller! – and he said: ‘That’s a film’.” 

    She followed “Twin Peaks” with “Homeland,” “Mad Men,” “True Blood” or “ER,” earning nine Emmy nominations along the way. 

    “It sounds like it has been easy. It hasn’t been easy. But one always learns. Every time I start something new, it’s like I’m starting all over again. And I love that,” she said.  

    “I come from dance, where you make absolutely no money. You do it because it’s your passion. I would get offered these big, horrible movies, and I would go: ‘This is fucking stupid.’ Is that a good career choice? I don’t know. But that’s how I make decisions, which drives my agents crazy.”

    That’s how she ended up directing “Mad Men,” too. 

    “My agents did not want me to do this show because it was on AMC – and nobody watched AMC. I loved these characters, who are morally complicated and complex, and they’re not what they appear to be. Don Draper is a man who created who he is – and that’s America.”

    As a director, she’s not afraid to talk to actors. 

    “And that tends to be the one thing people are scared of. For me, it’s all about the story. What are the themes? What does each character want in a scene? What motivates them? I come in, having done all that homework, and then I want to know what they think.” 

    “Jon Hamm already knows who Don Draper is. But he still needs to be directed, so you need to understand what this scene is about. Actors show us something about the human condition. I love them, so I’ll be whatever they need me to be: mum, dad, or a therapist.”

    Or an investigative journalist, like on “Homeland.”

    “I don’t think you could make this show now, given what’s going on in the U.S. But at that time, the writers, Claire Danes, Mandy Patinkin and I would meet with the heads of the CIA, DNI and NSA, and basically ask them: ‘What keeps you up at night? What are your deepest fears for America and for the world’?” 

    “I’ve met so many spooks. Once, we were talking to an actor who was going to play the head of the GRU [Russia’s military intelligence agency]. He went: ‘Guys, I hate to stop you, but I was with Mossad.’ We were telling a spy how to be a spy.” 

    When it comes to TV, people often forget about directors. And that’s a mistake. 

    “It’s a team sport, and you’re only as good as your team. This concept of a showrunner is a really tricky one. I’ve been blessed to work with maybe five showrunners who are brilliant writers and who also know how to make a show. Those are very different skill sets, but in the U.S. they have somehow been lumped together,” she pointed out.  

    “I’ve had the best experiences with writers when there’s a real collaboration. We need each other to tell the story. To me, the best idea wins. I don’t want to be the smartest person in the room – I want to be in the room with the smartest people. If I get a great idea from the key grip, I’m thrilled.”

    When she started directing, there were very few women around.

    “We had a TV directors’ dinner at the DGA and there were 400 men and three women. Everyone smoked cigars, so I took one too,” she laughed. 

    “We just had this dinner again and it was half and half. That’s a huge shift. I had people say to me: ‘You represent all women.’ Really? All of them? It’s still not good in feature films, but in TV, it’s about 37% of women and people of color [directing] now. Things have changed – and it’s good for storytelling.” 

  • BAFTA-Winning ‘Under the Shadow’ Filmmaker Babak Anvari and Production Company Two & Two Pictures Sign With Range (EXCLUSIVE)

    BAFTA-Winning ‘Under the Shadow’ Filmmaker Babak Anvari and Production Company Two & Two Pictures Sign With Range (EXCLUSIVE)

    Range has signed BAFTA-winning filmmaker Babak Anvari and his production company Two & Two Pictures.

    The London-based, Iranian-born filmmaker’s feature directorial debut “Under the Shadow,” which he also wrote, premiered at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival. The Persian-language psychological supernatural horror film established Anvari as one of the biggest discoveries out of the festival and Netflix quickly acquired the film, later releasing it to continued critical acclaim. The film went on to win numerous festival awards, including the New Visions Award at Sitges. It was also selected as the United Kingdom’s entry for best foreign language film for the 89th Academy Awards and was nominated for two BAFTA Awards in 2017, winning for outstanding debut. It was also nominated for six British Independent Film Awards, winning for best screenplay among two other wins.

    Anvari’s second feature film “Wounds,” which he also wrote and produced, premiered at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival and screened at the Cannes Film Festival in the Director’s Fortnight section. The psychological horror film, starring Armie Hammer, Dakota Johnson and Zazie Beetz, was distributed by Hulu in the United States and Netflix internationally. His follow-up feature was “I Came By,” a neo-noir thriller with Netflix. Anvari’s most recent film, “Hallow Road,” starring Rosamund Pike and Matthew Rhys, premiered at SXSW in 2025 to acclaim.

    In television, Anvari served as an executive producer of “Monsterland,” a horror drama anthology series on Hulu, and also directed the series finale.

    Anvari is also the co-founder of Two & Two Pictures, a production company he launched with Lucan Toh. The London and Los Angeles-based company is focused on filmmaker-driven, elevated genre films aimed at a global audience. Two & Two’s films include Jean-Stéphane Sauvaire’s “Asphalt City,” which premiered in competition at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival; Yorgos Zois’ “Arcadia,” which premiered at the 2024 Berlin Film Festival; Max & Sam Eggers’ debut film, “The Front Room,” for A24; and Jim O’Hanlon’s “Fackham Hall,” starring Thomasin McKenzie and Damian Lewis. Next up, Two & Two produced Bassam Tariq’s “You Mother Your Mother Your Mother,” starring Mahershala Ali, for Orion MGM, which will be released later this year.

    Anvari continues to be represented by WME, Independent Talent Group and Ziffren Brittenham. Two & Two Pictures continues to be represented by WME and Ziffren Brittenham.

  • Google and the Pentagon sign classified deal to give the Department of Defense unfettered access to its AI models

    Google has signed a deal that allows the US Department of Defense to use its AI models for “any lawful government purpose.” This is according to a report by The Information, which also notes that the full details of the contract are classified.

    An anonymous source within the company has suggested that the two entities have agreed that the search giant’s AI tech shouldn’t be used for domestic mass surveillance or autonomous weapons “without appropriate human oversight and control.” However, the contract also reportedly doesn’t give Google “any right to control or veto” anything the government decides to do. In other words, the famously trustworthy US government will just have to be taken at its word.

    “We believe that providing API access to our commercial models, including on Google infrastructure, with industry-standard practices and terms, represents a responsible approach to supporting national security,” a Google spokesperson told Reuters. The spokesperson also echoed that the company holds the opinion that AI shouldn’t be used for mass surveillance or autonomous weaponry without appropriate human oversight. Some might argue that the technology shouldn’t be used for that stuff at all, oversight or not.

    To that end, nearly 600 Google employees just penned an open letter to CEO Sundar Pichai to urge the company against making this kind of deal with the Pentagon. This stems from concerns that the tech would be used in “inhumane or extremely harmful ways.”

    “Human lives are already being lost and civil liberties put at risk at home and abroad from misuses of the technology we are playing a key role in building,” the letter states. “As people working on AI, we know that these systems can centralize power and that they do make mistakes.”

    Google will join OpenAI and Elon Musk’s xAI in this endeavor, as they both have made classified AI deals with the US government. Anthropic had a deal in place, but refused the government’s demands to remove weapon and surveillance-related safeguards.

    That refusal annoyed President Trump and the Pentagon so much that Anthropic was entirely blacklisted from federal use. This doesn’t exactly sound like the actions of a government that is dedicated to “appropriate human oversight and control” of dangerous AI military tech. Engadget has reached out to Google to ask for more specifics and will update this post when we hear back.

  • A crypto coalition releases technical proposal to save Aave users from a massive token exploit

    A crypto coalition releases technical proposal to save Aave users from a massive token exploit

    A $300 million hole doesn’t usually come with a neat repair manual. This time, the group spearheading the Kelp DAO recovery effort is trying to write one.

    DeFi United, a coalition of multiple blockchain projects and crypto ecosystem individuals, has laid out a detailed, step-by-step plan to restore the backing of rsETH after this month’s Kelp DAO hack sent shockwaves through DeFi lending markets, releasing more than 116,000 tokens that weren’t properly accounted for.

    The proposal, circulated on Aave’s official X account, reads like a coordinated cleanup operation, one that leans heavily on Aave’s infrastructure to unwind the damage and get markets back on a stable footing.

    The incident traces back to April 18, when an attacker exploited a vulnerability in rsETH’s bridge. By forging a message that appeared legitimate, the attacker tricked the Ethereum side of the system into releasing 116,500 rsETH, making the system believe the funds had moved when they hadn’t, allowing a large batch of rsETH to be created without backing.

    Those tokens didn’t just sit idle. They were spread across multiple wallets and deployed across DeFi, with a significant portion used as collateral on Aave and other lending platforms.

    That’s where the problem became systemic: protocols like Aave suddenly found themselves holding collateral that, at least temporarily, wasn’t fully backed.

    According to the proposal, most of the exploited funds are still in play. Roughly 107,000 of the original 116,500 rsETH remain tied up in active positions across Aave and Compound.

    That leaves two problems to solve at once: restoring the actual backing of rsETH itself, and unwinding the loans created using those extra tokens.

    DeFi United’s proposal aims to tackle both sides of that equation simultaneously.

    On the backing side, the group says it has already lined up enough $ETH commitments to fully re-collateralize rsETH. The plan is to feed that $ETH back into the system in stages, converting it to rsETH and depositing it back into the system so the token is once again fully backed.

    At the same time, attention shifts to the lending markets where the damage is most visible.

    Instead of letting things play out chaotically, the plan is to step in and carefully unwind the mess.

    A big part of that involves dealing with the positions the attacker opened on Aave. These are essentially loans backed by rsETH that shouldn’t have existed in the first place. Rather than waiting for those loans to collapse on their own — which could cause more market disruption — the proposal suggests nudging the system so they can be closed out in a more controlled way.

    In practice, temporarily adjusting how rsETH is valued inside the system will enable those bad positions to be liquidated or closed more smoothly. As those positions are unwound, the underlying assets (like $ETH) can be recovered. The proposal estimates this could free up around 13,000 $ETH from Aave alone.

    Once that collateral is back in hand, it gets converted into $ETH and used to cover the shortfall created by the exploit — essentially filling the hole left behind.

    The process isn’t risk-free. It hinges on governance approvals across multiple chains, the successful deployment of committed funds and a smooth execution of the unwind.

    Still, the plan reflects a more coordinated response than DeFi has often managed previously. If executed as intended, the end goal is straightforward: “rsETH backing is fully restored, and all affected markets are stabilized,” as the proposal says.

    Read more: Industry leaders are pouring hundreds of millions into a rescue plan for Aave users after massive crypto hack

  • Google Translate uses AI to help you practice pronunciation

    Google is celebrating Translate’s 20th birthday by launching pronunciation practice, which the company says is one of the most requested features for the product. The feature is only rolling out on Android at the moment for English, Spanish and Hindi in the US and India. If it’s available for you, you’ll see a button at the bottom of the app that says “Practice,” which gives you the option to either “pronounce” what you’ve translated or to “listen” to how it’s actually pronounced by native speakers.

    If you choose the “pronounce” option, Translate will listen to you speak and then use artificial intelligence to analyze how you said the words to provide instance feedback. It will then show you a phonetic spelling of how specific words should be pronounced. In the example Google provided, for instance, the speaker pronounced the Spanish word for juice as “jugo” with the English “j” sound instead of with the Spanish “j” sound. So, Translate spells it out as “HU-go” in its pronunciation suggestion.

    Google said around third of users on mobile use Translate to practice speaking and listening in order to be able to hold real-world conversations, making this new feature a very useful addition. The company also revealed other stats about the app. Apparently, it now supports over 250 languages, including some endangered and indigenous ones, and has over 1 billion monthly user who have been translating over 1 trillion words every month.

  • JUST IN: Coinbase Decides to List a Surprise Altcoin

  • Stuck kitten rescued from radiator in Wisconsin

    Stuck kitten rescued from radiator in Wisconsin

    Odd News // 3 weeks ago

    Wrong click earns Michigan woman a $251,738 lottery jackpot

    April 1 (UPI) — A Michigan woman said the wrong click at the right time while buying lottery tickets online led to her winning a $251,738 Fantasy 5 jackpot.

  • Ariana Grande Announces New Album ‘Petal’ and Sets Summer Release Date

    Ariana Grande Announces New Album ‘Petal’ and Sets Summer Release Date

    Ariana Grande is doing it all.

    After concluding her time as Glinda in the Wicked films with Wicked: For Good’s Thanksgiving release — and unveiling a couple more upcoming acting roles — she is also returning to music.

    On Tuesday, Grande took to Instagram to announce that her eighth studio album, Petal, is set to be released on July 31. The photo shows the Grammy winner without her signature ponytail, hinting at a new era coming.

    Petal, from Republic Records, is co-written by Grande and Swedish-Persian producer Ilya Salmanzadeh. On April 18, she shared a video on Instagram describing the album as “something that is full of life and growing through the cracks of something cold and hard and challenging.”

    Grande’s previous album, Eternal Sunshine, celebrated its three-year anniversary last month. The album was nominated for three Grammy Awards.

    On June 6, the singer will kick off her Eternal Sunshine tour in Oakland, Calf. The tour marks her first in seven years, following her last tour, which ended in December 2019, focused on her Sweetener and Thank U, Next albums.

    As far as acting, the Oscar-nominated actress’ upcoming projects include Focker In-Law, the fourth film of the Meet the Parents franchise, where she stars alongside Robert De Niro and Ben Stiller; Jon M. Chu’s Oh, the Places You’ll Go! animated feature adaptation opposite Josh Gad; and season 13 of Ryan Murphy’s American Horror Story, with a star-studded ensemble including Jessica Lange, Sarah Paulson, Evan Peters (who played Grande’s love interest in her “We Can’t Be Friends” music video), Angela Bassett, Emma Roberts (Grande’s Scream Queens co-star) and more.