Daily News Roundup: Fortnite World Cup Hands out $30 Million in Prizes

The Fortnite World Cup is over, resulting with $30 million given out in prizes. Featuring both solo and duo divisions, Fortnite World Cup split the prizes over several winners. It created new millionaires along the way.

Fortnite, in case you haven’t been on the internet for the last several years, is an online multiplayer third-person game. The most popular mode, battle royale, starts by dropping 100 players onto an island and ends when one person is left standing. You have to find weapons, items, and resources, all while the game map shrinks forcing you closer and closer to other players.

The Fortnite World Cup focuses on the battle royale mode and takes place over a series of matches, whittling down players until a final person or group is standing.

This year’s competition saw 16-year-old Kyle “Bugha” Giersdorf win the solo championship, and in doing so, he earned 3 million dollars in a single day. All this proves once and for all that Mom was absolutely wrong when she said playing video games was a waste of time. Thanks, Mom. [TechCrunch]

In Other News:

• You can now install Android onto your Nintendo Switch: Enthusiasts over at XDA-Developers released an Android ROM for Nintendo Switch. It should work on any model sold before 2018, but there are no guarantees, of course. The developers based the ROM on the Nvidia Shield TV’s build of LineageOS. Loading the ROM means getting Netflix on your Switch, but also comes with the risk of console bricking. So think before you leap. [XDA-Developers]
• UltraViolet’s shutdown is July 31st: UltraViolet fully closes its doors on July 31st. If you ever used the service to redeem digital movies, be sure to link it to a partner like VUDU before the service goes way. If you don’t, you will lose your movie collection. [CNET]
• Google fully replaces Voice Search with Google Assistant: Before Google Assistant, Google created Voice Search. The function was relatively simple: you’d speak to it, and it would run a Google Search. It’s a redundant feature now that Google Assistant exists, but you could still access it on the Google app, Search bar widget, or app shortcut. Now, Google is rolling out a change to replace Voice Search with Assistant fully. [9to5Google]
• No More Ransom Project saved victims of ransomware $108 million: The No More Ransom Project is an initiative of the National High Tech Crime Unit of the Netherlands’ police, Europol’s European Cybercrime Centre, and McAfee to help victims of ransomware. The service offers free decryption for ransomware wherever it can provide decrypted keys and education for avoiding ransomware. After three years, the group has announced that thanks to those free decryption services, victims have been spared sending $108 million to ransomware creators. That’s a great start. [ZDNet]

In 2014, Japan launched the Hayabusa2 spacecraft with the mission of reaching asteroid 162173 Ryugu. It completed that journey in June 2019 and is now studying the asteroid. While the probe is close, scientists are taking the opportunity to bring back samples from the asteroid. That process involves flying extremely close and reaching out with a collection limb. When scientists attempt the feat, they run the risk of crashing Hayabusa2.

You can watch a video (sped up ten times) of the Hayabusa2 collecting asteroid samples. It’s short, and for a moment it almost looks like the spacecraft will crash, but the attempt was successful. It’s a fantastic feat considering there is a communication lag between earth and the probe. [The Verge]