diff --git a/requirements.txt b/requirements.txt
index b43a48752..8964308d4 100644
--- a/requirements.txt
+++ b/requirements.txt
@@ -10,4 +10,4 @@ plac
 six
 ujson
 cloudpickle
-sputnik>=0.7.0,<0.8.0
+sputnik>=0.8.0,<0.9.0
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index ce189985b..5d3a976d7 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -200,7 +200,7 @@ def setup_package():
             ext_modules=ext_modules,
             install_requires=['numpy', 'murmurhash>=0.26,<0.27', 'cymem>=1.30,<1.31', 'preshed>=0.46.1,<0.47',
                               'thinc>=4.2.0,<4.3.0', 'text_unidecode', 'plac', 'six',
-                              'ujson', 'cloudpickle', 'sputnik>=0.7.0,<0.8.0'],
+                              'ujson', 'cloudpickle', 'sputnik>=0.8.0,<0.9.0'],
             cmdclass = {
                 'build_ext': build_ext_subclass},
         )
diff --git a/spacy/about.py b/spacy/about.py
index 36f7130bd..f87af6b3c 100644
--- a/spacy/about.py
+++ b/spacy/about.py
@@ -10,5 +10,5 @@ __uri__ = 'https://spacy.io'
 __author__ = 'Matthew Honnibal'
 __email__ = 'matt@spacy.io'
 __license__ = 'MIT'
-__release__ = True
-__default_model__ = 'en_default==1.0.5'
+__release__ = False
+__default_model__ = 'en_default'