All the News that Matters

• Fedora 43 qpdfview Critical Denial of Service 2026-c06fd97a53
  mupdf 1.27.1 and dependencies

• Fedora 43 zathura-pdf-mupdf Denial of Service Fix 2026-c06fd97a53
  mupdf 1.27.1 and dependencies

• Fedora 43 python-PyMuPDF Important Denial of Service CVE-2026-25556
  mupdf 1.27.1 and dependencies

• Fedora 43 mupdf 1.27.1 Medium Denial of Service Fix FEDORA-2026-c06fd97a53
  mupdf 1.27.1 and dependencies

• Debian 11 libvpx Important Buffer Overflow DoS Advisory DLA-4489-1
  A buffer overflow was discovered in libvpx, a library implementing the VP8/VP9 open video codecs, which could result in denial of service or potentially the execution of arbitrary code. For Debian 11 bullseye, this problem has been fixed in version 1.9.0-1+deb11u5.

• openSUSE Tumbleweed updates for chromedriver addressing CVE-2026-2648
  An update that solves 3 vulnerabilities can now be installed.

• What’s Up Docker 8.2 Enables Digest Watching by Default
  What’s Up Docker 8.2 enables digest watching by default and adds support for TrueForge and Codeberg registries.

• Fanless Factor 101 Arrives with Qualcomm QCS6490 and 10GbE Networking
  OnLogic has introduced the Factor 101, a compact fanless industrial system built around Qualcomm’s QCS6490 platform. The unit targets edge deployments that need wired networking, basic display output, and local inference acceleration in a small enclosure. The platform is based on an 8-core Qualcomm Kryo 670 CPU clocked at up to 2.1GHz, paired with 8GB […]

• Beginners Guide for Bash Command on Linux
  The bash (Bourne-Again SHell) is a sh-compatible command-line interpreter that reads from standard input or from a file and gives you the resulting output.

• KDE Says Plasma Desktop Will Never Force Users to Use systemd
  The KDE project is addressing recent concerns that they are forcing systemd on current or future versions of its Plasma desktop environment.

• GNU Gawk 5.4 Released With New MinRX Regex Matcher, Faster Reading Of Files
  Developers behind the widely-used GNU Awk text processing utility today released Gawk 5.4...

• DietPi 10.1 Released with NanoPi Zero2 Support and WhoDB Integration
  DietPi 10.1 adds NanoPi Zero2 support, introduces WhoDB, unlocks RISC-V Navidrome builds, and delivers multiple enhancements and bug fixes.

• Linux 7.0-rc1 Released With Many New Features:
  Linus Torvalds just capped off the Linux 7.0 merge window with the release of Linux 7.0-rc1. While the big version bump is coincidental with Linus Torvalds liking to bump it after x.19, Linux 7.0 is quite heavy on new features...

• Linus Torvalds Announces First Linux Kernel 7.0 Release Candidate
  Linus Torvalds announced today the general availability for public testing of the first Release Candidate (RC) development milestone of the upcoming Linux 7.0 kernel series.

• Linuxiac Weekly Wrap-Up: Week 8, 2026 (Feb 16 – 22)
  Catch up on the latest Linux news: Sparky 8.2, KDE Plasma 6.6, COSMIC 1.0.7, Fish Shell 4.5, PipeWire 1.6, Bottles 62, open-source community launches MinIO fork, and more.

• Let’s Encrypt Introduces DNS-PERSIST-01 for Persistent ACME DNS Validation
  With DNS-PERSIST-01, Let’s Encrypt users can validate their domains without having to update DNS records every time they issue or renew a certificate.

• Richard Stallman in the United States - Part III - Georgia Tech Did a Fine Job Upholding Free Speech Principles
  The main issue, in this case, was social control media. It breeds hostility and conflict. It thrives in attention, no matter the means.

• Setup CachyOS Kernel 6.19.3 on MX25.1 KDE Edition (VENV)
  MX Linux consistently tops DistroWatch because it is a highly capable, lightweight, and user-friendly Debian-based system that appeals to a wide range of users.

• Linux 7.0 Makes Preparations For Rust 1.95
  Last week was the main feature pull of Rust programming language updates for the Linux 7.0 kernel merge window. Most notable with that pull was Rust officially concluding its "experimental" in now treating Rust for Linux kernel/driver programming as stable and here to stay. Sent out today was a round of Rust fixes for Linux 7.0 that includes preparations for the upcoming Rust 1.95 release...

• Ubuntu Touch OTA-1.2 Fixes Boot Issues for Sony Xperia X, Improves VoLTE Support
  Ubuntu Touch OTA 1.2 update is now rolling out with improvements to VoLTE support and fixes for boot issues on Sony Xperia X devices.

• AppArmor Enhancements Merged For Linux 7.0
  The AppArmour security module for the Linux kernel, which most notably is backed by Canonical for Ubuntu, has some small improvements and fixes for Linux 7.0...

• Ceph In Linux 7.0 Lands Support For AES256K Keys
  For those making use of the Ceph open-source, distributed storage platform, with the upcoming Linux 7.0 kernel they are introducing support for the AES256K key type...

• Calibre 9.3 E-Book Manager Improves Support for the Hanvon N10 e-Reader
  Calibre 9.3 open-source e-book manager is now available for download with improved support for the Hanvon N10 e-reader and other changes. Here’s what’s new!

• KDE Plasma 6.7 to Add Desktop Switching in Overview
  KDE Plasma 6.7 will introduce virtual desktop switching in Overview using scroll or Page Up/Page Down keys, along with a new multi-printer print queue viewer.

• Beginners Guide for Mkdir Command on Linux
  The mkdir command is used to create single or multiple directories while also setting a permission when they are created in a Linux system.

• PipeWire 1.6 Released with Support for Audio Channel Layouts, LDAC Decoder
  PipeWire 1.6 open-source server for handling audio/video streams and hardware on Linux is now available for download with new features and improvements.

• Rule-Breaking Black Hole Growing At 13x the Cosmic 'Speed Limit' Challenges Theories
  "A surprisingly ravenous black hole from the dawn of the universe is breaking two big rules," reports Live Science. "It's not only exceeding the 'speed limit' of black hole growth but also generating extreme X-ray and radio wave emissions — two features that are not predicted to coexist..." "How is this rule-breaking behavior even possible? In a paper published Jan. 21 in The Astrophysical Journal, an international team of researchers observed ID830 in multiple wavelengths to find an answer...."As they attract gas and dust, this material accumulates in a swirling accretion disk. Gravity pulls the material from the disk into the black hole, but the infalling material generates radiation pressure that pushes outward and prevents more stuff from falling in. As a result, black holes are muzzled by a self-regulating process called the Eddington limit... Its X-ray brightness suggests that ID830 is accreting mass at about 13 times the Eddington limit, due to a sudden burst of inflowing gas that may have occurred as ID830 shredded and engulfed a celestial body that wandered too close. "For a supermassive black hole (SMBH) as massive as ID830, this would require not a normal (main-sequence) star, but a more massive giant star or a huge gas cloud," study co-author Sakiko Obuchi, an observational astronomer at Waseda University in Tokyo, told Live Science via email. Such super-Eddington phases may be incredibly brief, as "this transitional phase is expected to last for roughly 300 years," Obuchi added. ID830 also simultaneously displays radio and X-ray emissions. These two features are not expected to coexist, especially because super-Eddington accretion is thought to suppress such emissions. "This unexpected combination hints at physical mechanisms not yet fully captured by current models of extreme accretion and jet launching," the researchers said in a statement. So while ID830 is launching massive radio jets, its X-ray emissions appear to originate from a structure called a corona, produced as intense magnetic fields from the accretion disk create a thin but turbulent billion-degree cloud of turbocharged particles. These particles orbit the black hole at nearly the speed of light, in what NASA calls "one of the most extreme physical environments in the universe." Altogether, ID830's rule-breaking behaviors suggest that it is in a rare transitional phase of excessive consumption — and excretion. This incredible feeding burst has energized both its jets and its corona, making ID830 shine brightly across multiple wavelengths as it spews out excess radiation. Additionally, based on UV-brightness analysis, quasars like ID830 may be unexpectedly common, the researchers said. Models predict that only around 10% of quasars have spectacular radio jets, but these energetic objects could be significantly more abundant in the early universe than previously suggested. Most importantly, ID830 also shows how SMBHs can regulate galaxy growth in the early universe. As a black hole gobbles matter at the super-Eddington limit, the energy from its resultant emissions can heat and disperse matter throughout the interstellar medium — the gas between stars — to suppress star formation. As a result, ancient SMBHs like ID830 may have grown massive at the expense of their host galaxies.
  
  
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• Should Job-Seekers Stop Using AI to Write Their Resumes?
  When one company asked job applicants to submit a video where they answer a question, most of the 300 responses were "eerily similar," reports the Washington Post (with a company executive saying it was "abundantly clear" they'd used AI.)Job seekers are turning to AI to help them land jobs more quickly in a tough labor market.... Employers say that's having an unintended consequence: Many applications are looking and sounding the same... It's easy to spot when candidates over-rely on AI, some employers said. Oftentimes, executive summaries will look eerily similar to each other, odd phrases that people wouldn't normally use in conversation creep into descriptions, fancy vocabulary appears, and someone with entry-level experience uses language that indicates they are much more senior, they added. It's worse when they use auto-apply AI tools, which will find jobs, fill out applications and submit résumés on the candidate's behalf, some employers said. Those tend to misinterpret some of the application questions and fill in the wrong information in inappropriate spots. If these applications were evaluated alone, employers say they'd have a harder time identifying AI usage. But when hundreds of applications all have the same issue, they said, AI's role in it becomes obvious. The article acknowledges that some employers could be using AI tools to screen resumes too. One job-seeker in Texas even says he'll stop submitting an AI-written résumé when the recruiter stops using AI to evaluate them. "You're saying, 'You shouldn't be doing this' when I know a good chunk of them do this!" Obligatory XKCD.
  
  
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• Raspberry Pi Stock Rises Over Its Possible Use With OpenClaw's AI Agents
  This week Raspberry Pi saw its stock price surge more than 60% above its early-February low (before giving up some gains at the end of the week). Reuters notes the rise started when CEO Eben Upton bought 13,224 pounds worth of shares — but there could be another reason. "The rally in the roughly $800 million company has materialised alongside social-media buzz that demand for its single-board computers could pick up as people buy them to run AI agents such as OpenClaw." The Register explains:The catalyst appears to have been the sudden realization by one X user, "aleabitoreddit," that the agentic AI hand grenade known as OpenClaw could drive demand for Raspberry Pis the way it had for Apple Mac Minis. The viral AI personal assistant, formerly known as Clawdbot and Moltbot, has dominated the feeds of AI boosters over the past few weeks for its ability to perform everyday tasks like sending emails, managing calendars, booking appointments, and complaining about their meatbag masters on the purportedly all-agent forum known as MoltBook... In case it needs to be said, no one should be running this thing on their personal devices lest the agent accidentally leak your most personal and sensitive secrets to the web... In this context, a cheap low-power device like a Raspberry Pi makes a certain kind of sense as a safer, saner way to poke the robo-lobster... The Register argues Raspberry Pis aren't as cheap as they used to be "thanks in part to the global memory crunch. Today, a top-specced Raspberry Pi 5 with 16GB of memory will set you back more than $200, up from $120 a year ago." "You know what's cheaper, easier, and more secure than letting OpenClaw loose on your local area network? A virtual private cloud..."
  
  
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• Telegram Disputes Russia's Claim Its Encryption Was Compromised
  Russia's domestic intelligence agency claimed Saturday that Ukraine can obtain sensitive information from troops using the Telegram app on the front line, reports Bloomberg. The fact that the claims were made through Russia's state-operated news outlet RIA Novosti signals "tightening scrutiny over a platform used by millions of Russians," Bloomberg notes, as the Kremlin continues efforts to "push people to use a new state-backed alternative."Russia's communications watchdog limited access to Telegram — a popular messaging app owned by Russian-born billionaire Pavel Durov — over a week ago for failing to comply with Russian laws requiring personal data to be stored locally. Voice and video calls were blocked via Telegram in August. The pressure is the latest move in a long-running campaign to promote what the Kremlin calls a sovereign internet that's led to blocks on YouTube, Instagram and WhatsApp... Foreign intelligence services are able to see Russia's military messages in Telegram too, Russia's Minister for digital development, Maksut Shadaev, said on Wednesday, although he added that Russia will not block access to Telegram for troops for now. Telegram responded at the time that no breaches of the app's encryption have ever been found. "The Russian government's allegation that our encryption has been compromised is a deliberate fabrication intended to justify outlawing Telegram and forcing citizens onto a state-controlled messaging platform engineered for mass surveillance and censorship," it said in an emailed response.
  
  
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• EVs Are Already Making Your Air Cleaner, Research Shows
  Fossil fuels produce NO2, which is linked to asthma attacks, bronchitis, and higher risks of heart disease and stroke, according the EV news site Electrek. But the nonprofit news site Grist.org notes a new analysis showing that those emissions decreased by 1.1% for every increase of 200 electric vehicles — across nearly 1,700 ZIP codes."A pretty small addition of cars at the ZIP code level led to a decline in air pollution," said Sandrah Eckel, a public health professor at the University of Southern California's Keck School of Medicine and lead author of the study. "It's remarkable." The study was done at the University of Southern California's medical school, by researchers using high-resolution satellite data, reports Electrek:The study, just published in The Lancet Planetary Health and partly funded by the National Institutes of Health, adds rare real-world evidence to a claim that's often taken for granted — that EVs don't just cut carbon over time, they also improve local air quality right now... The researchers ran multiple checks to make sure the trend wasn't driven by unrelated factors. They accounted for pandemic-era changes by excluding 2020 in some analyses and controlling for gas prices and work-from-home patterns. They also saw the expected counterexample: neighborhoods that added more gas-powered vehicles experienced increases in pollution. The findings were then replicated using updated ground-level air monitoring data dating back to 2012... Next, the researchers plan to compare EV adoption with asthma-related emergency room visits and hospitalizations. If those trends line up, it could provide some of the clearest evidence yet of what we already know: that electrifying transportation doesn't just clean the air on paper; it improves public health in practice. Thanks to long-time Slashdot reader jhoegl for sharing the article.
  
  
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• Long Before Tech CEOs Turned To Layoffs To Cover AI Expenses, There Was WorldCom
  Long-time Slashdot reader theodp writes:Jeopardy time. A. This company spurred CEOs to make huge speculative capital expenditures based on wild unverified claims of future demand, resulting in the layoffs of tens of thousands of workers to reduce the resulting expenses, harming their core businesses. Q. What is OpenAI? Sorry, the correct response is, "What is WorldCom?" In 2002, WorldCom, the second largest long-distance company in the U.S., entered Chapter 11 bankruptcy after disclosing accounting fraud that eventually totaled $11 billion, the biggest ever at the time. CEO Bernard Ebbers was subsequently sentenced to 25 years in prison. CNBC reported that an employee of WorldCom's Internet service provider UUNet set off a frenzy of speculative investment and infrastructure overbuild after he used Excel to create a best-case scenario model for the Internet's growth that suggested in the best of all possible worlds, Internet traffic would double every 100 days, a scenario that would greatly benefit WorldCom, whose lines would carry it. Despite no evidence to support it, WorldCom's lie became an immutable law and businesses around the world made important decisions based on the belief that traffic was doubling every 100 days. "For some period of time I can recall that we were backfilling that expectation with laying cables, something like 2,200 miles of cable an hour," AT&T CEO Michael Armstrong said. "Think of all the companies that went out of business that assumed that that was real." In 2003, NBC News reported: Armstrong and former Sprint CEO Bill Esrey struggled for years to understand how WorldCom could beat them so handily. "We would look at the conduct of WorldCom in terms of their pricing, revenue growth, margins, in terms of their cost structure... and the price leader almost every quarter was WorldCom," Armstrong said. Added Esrey, "We couldn't figure out how they were pricing as aggressively as they were.... How could they be so efficient in their costs and expenses?" AT&T and Sprint began cutting jobs to push down their costs to WorldCom's level. "The market said what a marvelous management job WorldCom was doing and they would look over to AT&T and say, 'these guys aren't keeping up.' So, my shareholders were hurt. We laid off tens of thousands of employees in an accelerated fashion [in a futile effort to match WorldCom's phantom profits] and I think the industry was hurt," Armstrong says. "It just wrecked the whole industry," says Esrey.
  
  
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• 'Open Source Registries Don't Have Enough Money To Implement Basic Security'
  Google and Microsoft contributed $5 million to launch Alpha-Omega in 2022 — a Linux Foundation project to help secure the open source supply chain. But its co-founder Michael Winser warns that open source registries are in financial peril, reports The Register, since they're still relying on non-continuous funding from grants and donations. And it's not just because bandwidth is expensive, he said at this year's FOSDEM. "The problem is they don't have enough money to spend on the very security features that we all desperately need..."In a follow-up LinkedIn exchange after this article had posted, Winser estimated it could cost $5 million to $8 million a year to run a major registry the size of Crates.io, which gets about 125 billion downloads a year. And this number wouldn't include any substantial bandwidth and infrastructure donations (Like Fastly's for Crates.io). Adding to that bill is the growing cost of identifying malware, the proliferation of which has been amplified through the use of AI and scripts. These repositories have detected 845,000 malware packages from 2019 to January 2025 (the vast majority of those nasty packages came to npm)... In some cases benevolent parties can cover [bandwidth] bills: Python's PyPI registry bandwidth needs for shipping copies of its 700,000+ packages (amounting to 747PB annually at a sustained rate of 189 Gbps) are underwritten by Fastly, for instance. Otherwise, the project would have to pony up about $1.8 million a month. Yet the costs Winser was most concerned about are not bandwidth or hosting; they are the security features needed to ensure the integrity of containers and packages. Alpha-Omega underwrites a "distressingly" large amount of security work around registries, he said. It's distressing because if Alpha-Omega itself were to miss a funding round, a lot of registries would be screwed. Alpha-Omega's recipients include the Python Software Foundation, Rust Foundation, Eclipse Foundation, OpenJS Foundation for Node.js and jQuery, and Ruby Central. Donations and memberships certainly help defray costs. Volunteers do a lot of what otherwise would be very expensive work. And there are grants about...Winser did not offer a solution, though he suggested the key is to convince the corporate bean counters to consider paid registries as "a normal cost of doing business and have it show up in their opex as opposed to their [open source program office] donation budget." The dilemma was summed up succinctly by the anonymous Slashdot reader who submitted this story. "Free beer is great. Securing the keg costs money!"
  
  
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• Researchers Develop Detachable Crawling Robotic Hand
  Long-time Slashdot reader fahrbot-bot writes: Researchers have developed a robotic hand that can not only skitter about on its fingertips, it can also bend its fingers backward, connect and disconnect from a robotic arm, and pick up and carry one or more objects at a time. This article in Science News includes footage of the robotic arm reattaching itself to the skittering robot hand, which can also hold objects against both sides of its palm simultaneously, and "can even unscrew the cap off a mustard bottle while holding the bottle in place." With its unusual agility, it could navigate and retrieve objects in spaces too confined for human hands. When attached to the mechanical arm, the robotic hand could pick up objects much like a human hand. The bot pinched a ball between two fingers, wrapped four fingers around a metal rod and held a flat disc between fingers and palm. But the bot isn't constrained by human anatomy... When the robot was separated from the arm, it was most stable walking on four or five fingers and using one or two fingers for grabbing and carrying things, the team found. In one set of trials with both bots, the hand detached from the robotic arm and used its fingers as legs to skitter over to a wooden block. Once there, it picked up the block with one finger and carried it back to the arm. The crawling bot could one day aid in industrial inspections of pipes and equipment too small for a human or larger robot to access, says Xiao Gao, a roboticist now at Wuhan University in China. It might retrieve objects in a warehouse or navigate confined spaces in disaster response efforts.
  
  
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• AI Now Helps Manage 16% of America's Apartments
  Imagine a 280-unit apartment complex offering no on-site leasing office with a human agent for questions. "Instead, the entire process has been outsourced to AI..." reports SFGate, "from touring to signing the lease to completing management tasks once you actually move in." Now imagine it's far more than just one apartment complex...At two other Jack London Square apartment buildings, my initial interactions were also with a robot. At the Allegro, my fiance and I entered the leasing office for our tour and asked for "Grace P," the leasing agent who had emailed us. "Oh, that's just our AI assistant," the woman at the front desk told us... At Aqua Via, another towering apartment complex across the street, I emailed back and forth with a very helpful and polite "Sofia M." My pal Sofia seemed so human-like in her responses that I did not realize she was AI until I looked a little closer at a text she'd sent me. "Msgs may be AI or human generated...." [S]he continued to text me for weeks after I'd moved on, trying to win me back. When I looked at the fine print, I realized both of these complexes were using EliseAI, a leading AI housing startup that claims to be involved in managing 1 in 6 apartments in the U.S... [50 corporate landlords have funded a VC named RET Ventures to invest in and deploy rental-automating AI, and SFGate's reporter spoke to partner Christopher Yip.] According to Yip, AI is common in large apartment complexes not just in the tech-centric Bay Area, but across the entire country. It all kicked off at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, he said, when contactless, self-guided apartment tours and completely virtual tours where people rented apartments sight unseen became commonplace. Technology's infiltration into the renting process has only grown deeper in the years since, Yip said, mirroring how pervasive AI has become in many other facets of our lives. "From an industry perspective, it's really about meeting the renter where they are," Yip said. He pointed to how many renters now prefer to interact through text and email, and want to tour apartments at their convenience — say, at 7 p.m. after work, when a typical leasing office might be closed. The latest updates in technology not only allow you to take a self-guided tour with AI unlocking the door for you, but also to ask AI questions by conversing with voice AI as you wander through the kitchen and bedroom at your leisure. And while a human leasing agent might ghost you for days or weeks at a time, AI responds almost instantly — EliseAI typically responds within 30 seconds, [said Fran Loftus, chief experience officer at EliseAI]... [I]n some scenarios, the goal does seem to be to eliminate humans entirely. "We do have long-term plans of building fully autonomous buildings," Loftus said.... "We think there's a time and a place for that, depending on the type of property. But really right now, it's about helping with this crazy turnover in this industry." The reporter says they missed the human touch, since "The second AI was involved, the interaction felt cold. When a human couldn't even be bothered to show up to give me a tour, my trust evaporated." But they conclude that in the years ahead, human landlords offering tours "will probably go the way of landlines and VCRs."
  
  
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• Amazon Disputes Report an AWS Service Was Taken Down By Its AI Coding Bot
  Friday Amazon published a blog post "to address the inaccuracies" in a Financial Times report that the company's own AI tool Kiro caused two outages in an AWS service in December. Amazon writes that the "brief" and "extremely limited" service interruption "was the result of user error — specifically misconfigured access controls — not AI as the story claims." And "The Financial Times' claim that a second event impacted AWS is entirely false."The disruption was an extremely limited event last December affecting a single service (AWS Cost Explorer — which helps customers visualize, understand, and manage AWS costs and usage over time) in one of our 39 Geographic Regions around the world. It did not impact compute, storage, database, AI technologies, or any other of the hundreds of services that we run. The issue stemmed from a misconfigured role — the same issue that could occur with any developer tool (AI powered or not) or manual action. We did not receive any customer inquiries regarding the interruption. We implemented numerous safeguards to prevent this from happening again — not because the event had a big impact (it didn't), but because we insist on learning from our operational experience to improve our security and resilience. Additional safeguards include mandatory peer review for production access. While operational incidents involving misconfigured access controls can occur with any developer tool — AI-powered or not — we think it is important to learn from these experiences.
  
  
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• Man Accidentally Gains Control of 7,000 Robot Vacuums
  A software engineer tried steering his robot vacuum with a videogame controller, reports Popular Science — but ended up with "a sneak peak into thousands of people's homes."While building his own remote-control app, Sammy Azdoufal reportedly used an AI coding assistant to help reverse-engineer how the robot communicated with DJI's remote cloud servers. But he soon discovered that the same credentials that allowed him to see and control his own device also provided access to live camera feeds, microphone audio, maps, and status data from nearly 7,000 other vacuums across 24 countries. The backend security bug effectively exposed an army of internet-connected robots that, in the wrong hands, could have turned into surveillance tools, all without their owners ever knowing. Luckily, Azdoufal chose not to exploit that. Instead, he shared his findings with The Verge, which quickly contacted DJI to report the flaw... He also claims he could compile 2D floor plans of the homes the robots were operating in. A quick look at the robots' IP addresses also revealed their approximate locations. DJI told Popular Science the issue was addressed "through two updates, with an initial patch deployed on February 8 and a follow-up update completed on February 10."
  
  
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• F-35 Software Could Be Jailbreaked Like an IPhone: Dutch Defense Minister
  Lockheed Martin's F-35 combat aircraft is a supersonic stealth "strike fighter." But this week the military news site TWZ reports that the fighter's "computer brain," including "its cloud-based components, could be cracked to accept third-party software updates, just like 'jailbreaking' a cellphone, according to the Dutch State Secretary for Defense." TWZ notes that the Dutch defense secretary made the remarks during an episode of BNR Nieuwsradio's "Boekestijn en de Wijk" podcast, according to a machine translation:Gijs Tuinman, who has been State Secretary for Defense in the Netherlands since 2024, does not appear to have offered any further details about what the jailbreaking process might entail. What, if any, cyber vulnerabilities this might indicate is also unclear. It is possible that he may have been speaking more notionally or figuratively about action that could be taken in the future, if necessary... The ALIS/ODIN network is designed to handle much more than just software updates and logistical data. It is also the port used to upload mission data packages containing highly sensitive planning information, including details about enemy air defenses and other intelligence, onto F-35s before missions and to download intelligence and other data after a sortie. To date, Israel is the only country known to have successfully negotiated a deal giving it the right to install domestically-developed software onto its F-35Is, as well as otherwise operate its jets outside of the ALIS/ODIN network. The comments "underscore larger issues surrounding the F-35 program, especially for foreign operators," the article points out. But at the same time F-35's have a sophisticated mission-planning data package. "So while jailbreaking F-35's onboard computers, as well as other aspects of the ALIS/ODIN network, may technically be feasible, there are immediate questions about the ability to independently recreate the critical mission planning and other support it provides. This is also just one aspect of what is necessary to keep the jets flying, let alone operationally relevant." "TWZ previously explored many of these same issues in detail last year, amid a flurry of reports about the possibility that F-35s have some type of discreet 'kill switch' built in that U.S. authorities could use to remotely disable the jets. Rumors of this capability are not new and remain completely unsubstantiated."At that time, we stressed that a 'kill switch' would not even be necessary to hobble F-35s in foreign service. At present, the jets are heavily dependent on U.S.-centric maintenance and logistics chains that are subject to American export controls and agreements with manufacturer Lockheed Martin. Just reliably sourcing spare parts has been a huge challenge for the U.S. military itself... F-35s would be quickly grounded without this sustainment support. [A cutoff in spare parts and support"would leave jailbroken jets quickly bricked on the ground," the article notes later.] Altogether, any kind of jailbreaking of the F-35's systems would come with a serious risk of legal action by Lockheed Martin and additional friction with the U.S. government. Thanks to long-time Slashdot reader Koreantoast for sharing the article.
  
  
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• Has the AI Disruption Arrived - and Will It Just Make Software Cheaper and More Accessible?
  Programmer/entrepreneur Paul Ford is the co-founder of AI-driven business software platform Aboard. This week he wrote a guest essay for the New York Times titled "The AI Disruption Has Arrived, and It Sure Is Fun," arguing that Anthropic's Claude Code "was always a helpful coding assistant, but in November it suddenly got much better, and ever since I've been knocking off side projects that had sat in folders for a decade or longer... [W]hen the stars align and my prompts work out, I can do hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of work for fun (fun for me) over weekends and evenings, for the price of the Claude $200-a-month." He elaborates on his point on the Aboard.com blog:I'm deeply convinced that it's possible to accelerate software development with AI coding — not deprofessionalize it entirely, or simplify it so that everything is prompts, but make it into a more accessible craft. Things which not long ago cost hundreds of thousands of dollars to pull off might come for hundreds of dollars, and be doable by you, or your cousin. This is a remarkable accelerant, dumped into the public square at a bad moment, with no guidance or manual — and the reaction of many people who could gain the most power from these tools is rejection and anxiety. But as I wrote.... I believe there are millions, maybe billions, of software products that don't exist but should: Dashboards, reports, apps, project trackers and countless others. People want these things to do their jobs, or to help others, but they can't find the budget. They make do with spreadsheets and to-do lists. I don't expect to change any minds; that's not how minds work. I just wanted to make sure that I used the platform offered by the Times to say, in as cheerful a way as possible: Hey, this new power is real, and it should be in as many hands as possible. I believe everyone should have good software, and that it's more possible now than it was a few years ago. From his guest essay:Is the software I'm making for myself on my phone as good as handcrafted, bespoke code? No. But it's immediate and cheap. And the quantities, measured in lines of text, are large. It might fail a company's quality test, but it would meet every deadline. That is what makes A.I. coding such a shock to the system... What if software suddenly wanted to ship? What if all of that immense bureaucracy, the endless processes, the mind-boggling range of costs that you need to make the computer compute, just goes? That doesn't mean that the software will be good. But most software today is not good. It simply means that products could go to market very quickly. And for lots of users, that's going to be fine. People don't judge A.I. code the same way they judge slop articles or glazed videos. They're not looking for the human connection of art. They're looking to achieve a goal. Code just has to work... In about six months you could do a lot of things that took me 20 years to learn. I'm writing all kinds of code I never could before — but you can, too. If we can't stop the freight train, we can at least hop on for a ride. The simple truth is that I am less valuable than I used to be. It stings to be made obsolete, but it's fun to code on the train, too. And if this technology keeps improving, then all of the people who tell me how hard it is to make a report, place an order, upgrade an app or update a record — they could get the software they deserve, too. That might be a good trade, long term.
  
  
  Read more of this story at Slashdot.
  

• After 16 Years, 'Interim' CTO Finally Eradicating Fujitsu and Horizon From the UK's Post Office
  Besides running tech operations at the UK's Post Office, their interim CTO is also removing and replacing Fujitsu's Horizon system, which Computer Weekly describes as "the error-ridden software that a public inquiry linked to 13 people taking their own lives." After over 16 years of covering the scandal they'd first discovered back in 2009, Computer Weekly now talks to CTO Paul Anastassi about his plans to finally remove every trace of the Horizon system that's been in use at Post Office branches for over 30 years — before the year 2030:"There are more than 80 components that make up the Horizon platform, and only half of those are managed by Fujitsu," said Anastassi. "The other components are internal and often with other third parties as well," he added... The plan is to introduce a modern front end that is device agnostic. "We want to get away from [the need] to have a certain device on a certain terminal in your branch. We want to provide flexibility around that...." Anastassi is not the first person to be given the task of terminating Horizon and ending Fujitsu's contract. In 2015, the Post Office began a project to replace Fujitsu and Horizon with IBM and its technology, but after things got complex, Post Office directors went crawling back to Fujitsu. Then, after Horizon was proved in the High Court to be at fault for the account shortfalls that subpostmasters were blamed and punished for, the Post Office knew it had to change the system. This culminated in the New Branch IT (NBIT) project, but this ran into trouble and was eventually axed. This was before Anastassi's time, and before that of its new top team of executives.... Things are finally moving at pace, and by the summer of this year, two separate contracts will be signed with suppliers, signalling the beginning of the final act for Fujitsu and its Horizon system. Anastassi has 30 years of IT management experience, the article points out, and he estimates the project will even bring "a considerable cost saving over what we currently pay for Fujitsu."
  
  
  Read more of this story at Slashdot.
  

• Ask Slashdot: What's Your Boot Time?
  How much time does it take to even begin booting, asks long-time Slashdot reader BrendaEM. Say you want separate Windows and Linux boot processes, and "You have Windows on one SSD/NVMe, and Linux on another. How long do you have to wait for a chance to choose a boot drive?" And more importantly, why is it all taking so long?In a world of 4-5 GHz CPU's that are thousands of times faster than they were, has hardware become thousands of times more complicated, to warrant the longer start time? Is this a symptom of a larger UEFI bloat problem? Now with memory characterization on some modern motherboards... how long do you have to wait to find out if your RAM is incompatible, or your system is dead on arrival? Share your own experiences (and system specs) in the comments. How long is it taking you to choose a boot drive? And what's your boot time?
  
  
  Read more of this story at Slashdot.
  

• Ignite Your Next Career Move
  Save up to 75% in celebration of Lunar New Year!Renew Your Skills. Accelerate Your Future.Offer ends February 24. SAVE NOW
  
  The post Ignite Your Next Career Move appeared first on Linux.com.
  

• Celebrating the Second Year of Linux Man-Pages Maintenance Sponsorship
  Sustaining a Core Part of the Linux Ecosystem The Linux Foundation has announced a second year of sponsorship for the ongoing maintenance of the Linux manual pages (man-pages) project, led by Alejandro (Alex) Colomar. This critical initiative is made possible through the continued support of Google, Hudson River Trading, and Meta, who have renewed their [0]
  
  The post Celebrating the Second Year of Linux Man-Pages Maintenance Sponsorship appeared first on Linux.com.
  

• Disaggregated Routing with SONiC and VPP: Lab Demo and Performance Insights  Part Two
  In Part One of this series, we examined how the SONiC control plane and the VPP data plane form a cohesive, software-defined routing stack through the Switch Abstraction Interface.` We outlined how SONiC’s Redis-based orchestration and VPP’s user-space packet engine come together to create a high-performance, open router architecture. In this second part, we’ll turn [0]
  
  The post Disaggregated Routing with SONiC and VPP: Lab Demo and Performance Insights  Part Two appeared first on Linux.com.
  

• Disaggregated Routing with SONiC and VPP: Architecture and Integration  Part One
  The networking industry is undergoing a fundamental architectural transformation, driven by the relentless demands of cloud-scale data centers and the rise of software-defined infrastructure. At the heart of this evolution is the principle of disaggregation: the systematic unbundling of components that were once tightly integrated within proprietary, monolithic systems.` This movement began with the separation [0]
  
  The post Disaggregated Routing with SONiC and VPP: Architecture and Integration  Part One appeared first on Linux.com.
  

• Kubernetes on Bare Metal for Maximum Performance
  When teams consider deploying Kubernetes, one of the first questions that arises is: where should it run? The default answer is often the public cloud, thanks to its flexibility and ease of use. However, a growing number of organizations are revisiting the advantages of running Kubernetes directly on bare metal servers. For workloads that demand [0]
  
  The post Kubernetes on Bare Metal for Maximum Performance appeared first on Linux.com.
  

• How to Deploy Lightweight Language Models on Embedded Linux with LiteLLM
  This article was contributed by Vedrana Vidulin, Head of Responsible AI Unit at Intellias (LinkedIn). As AI becomes central to smart devices, embedded systems, and edge computing, the ability to run language models locally — without relying on the cloud — is essential. Whether its for reducing latency, improving data privacy, or enabling offline functionality, local AI [0]
  
  The post How to Deploy Lightweight Language Models on Embedded Linux with LiteLLM appeared first on Linux.com.
  

• Automating Compliance Management with UTMStacks Open Source SIEM 8 XDR
  Achieving and maintaining compliance with regulatory frameworks can be challenging for many organizations. Managing security controls manually often leads to excessive use of time and resources, leaving less available for strategic initiatives and business growth. Standards such as CMMC, HIPAA, PCI DSS, SOC2 and GDPR demand ongoing monitoring, detailed documentation, and rigorous evidence collection. Solutions [0]
  
  The post Automating Compliance Management with UTMStacks Open Source SIEM & XDR appeared first on Linux.com.
  

• A Simple Way to Install Talos Linux on Any Machine, with Any Provider
  Talos Linux is a specialized operating system designed for running Kubernetes. First and foremost it handles full lifecycle management for Kubernetes control-plane components. On the other hand, Talos Linux focuses on security, minimizing the user’s ability to influence the system. A distinctive feature of this OS is the near-complete absence of executables, including the absence [0]
  
  The post A Simple Way to Install Talos Linux on Any Machine, with Any Provider appeared first on Linux.com.
  

• Using OpenTelemetry and the OTel Collector for Logs, Metrics, and Traces
  OpenTelemetry (fondly known as OTel) is an open-source project that provides a unified set of APIs, libraries, agents, and instrumentation to capture and export logs, metrics, and traces from applications. The project’s goal is to standardize observability across various services and applications, enabling better monitoring and troubleshooting. Read More at Causely
  
  The post Using OpenTelemetry and the OTel Collector for Logs, Metrics, and Traces appeared first on Linux.com.
  

• Project Tazama, A Project Hosted by LF Charities With Support From the Gates Foundation, Receives Digital Public Good Designation.
  Exciting news! The Tazama project is officially a Digital Public Good having met the criteria to be accepted to the Digital Public Goods Alliance ! Tazama is a groundbreaking open source software solution for real-time fraud prevention, and offers the first-ever open source platform dedicated to enhancing fraud management in digital payments. Historically, the financial [0]
  
  The post Project Tazama, A Project Hosted by LF Charities With Support From the Gates Foundation, Receives Digital Public Good Designation. appeared first on Linux.com.
  

Engadget"Engadget is a web magazine with obsessive daily coverage of everything new in gadgets and consumer electronics"

• The best cheap Windows laptops for 2026
  You don’t need to spend a fortune to get a capable Windows laptop. For everyday tasks like web browsing, writing documents, streaming video or handling schoolwork, a well-chosen budget machine can still deliver a smooth, reliable experience. The challenge is cutting through the noise to find affordable options that balance performance, build quality and battery life without serious compromises.
  
  For many buyers, timing is no longer optional. With Windows 10 support now officially over, upgrading has become a necessity rather than a nice-to-have. The picks below focus on cheap Windows laptops that can handle day-to-day workloads comfortably while keeping you current on software and security updates. If you’re open to spending more for extra power or premium features, our broader guide to the best Windows laptops covers higher-end alternatives as well.
  What to look for in a budget-friendly Windows laptop
  While you can do a lot even when spending little on a Windows laptop, you must set your expectations accordingly. The biggest downside when purchasing a budget laptop (of any kind, really) is limited power. You’ll want to carefully consider a few specs, the most important among them being the processor (CPU). Many Windows laptops under $500 run on Intel Celeron or Pentium chipsets, but you can find some with Core i3/i5 and AMD Ryzen 3/5 CPUs at the higher end of the price spectrum.
  
  We recommend getting the most powerful CPU you can afford because it will dictate how fast the computer will feel overall. Memory (RAM) is also important because, the more you have, the easier it will be for the laptop to manage things like a dozen browser tabs while you edit a Word document and stream music in the background.
  
  When it comes to storage, consider how much you want to save locally. If you primarily work in Google Docs or save most things in the cloud, you may not need a machine with a ton of onboard storage. Just remember that your digital space will also be taken up by apps, so it may be worth getting a little extra storage than you think you need if you know you’ll be downloading big programs. A final side note: solid state drives (SSDs) are ubiquitous at this point, not to mention faster and more efficient than hard drives (HDDs), so we recommend getting a laptop with that type of storage.
  
  As for screens, there’s a healthy mix of HD (720p resolution) and FHD (1080p) options in this price range and we recommend springing for a notebook with a 1080p display if you can. Touchscreens aren’t as common in the budget space as standard panels, but you’ll only really miss one if you get a 2-in-1 laptop.
  
  Before we get to our recommended specs for a cheap Windows laptop, it’s worth mentioning that Microsoft clearly lays out the true minimum requirements for any Windows 11 machine. Those include a 1GHz or faster processor that includes two or more cores, at least 4GB of RAM and 64GB of available storage space. That’s the bare minimum to run Windows 11; we recommend giving yourself some wiggle room by choosing a machine that will perform well now and for years to come.
  Specs to look for in an affordable Windows laptop
  CPU: Intel Core i3 or AMD Ryzen 3 processors, at minimum
  
  RAM: At least 8GB
  
  Storage: At least 128GB SSD
  
  Screen: At least 1080p FHD
  
  It’s essential to prioritize what’s important to you. But at the lower end of the budget, a good laptop may not offer everything you need, whereas a great one might. Although most machines come with features like Bluetooth, built-in Wi-Fi and additional ports, you might find not all of them come with the specifics you require, like an SD card slot, webcam, charger, and so on. Be sure to check the spec list of any laptop you’re considering before you buy, especially if you need specific connectors and capabilities.
  
  See Also:
  
  Best Laptops for 2026
  
  Best Gaming Laptops
  
  Best 2-in-1 Laptops for 2026
  
  Best Chromebooks
  
  Best Laptops for College Students
  
  As for Copilot+, don’t expect to see much of it on truly affordable Windows laptops just yet. Microsoft’s AI features and Copilot assistant require certain specs to run, namely a powerful neural processing unit (NPU), 16GB of RAM and 256GB of storage. Currently, the cheapest Copilot+ AI PCs will run you about $700, so if you’re willing to pay more for those perks, check out our best laptops guide for more options.
  
  If you’re looking for either a gaming laptop or a “Windows on Arm” laptop, both categories will require you to spend more money than we’re discussing here.
  Best cheap Windows laptops for 2026
  The cheap Windows laptop market moves fast, and — unlike nearly all of our other buying guides — we haven9t necessarily tested each specific configuration listed below. However, the combination of these technical specifications and familiar brands represent exactly the sort of entry-level laptops we9d recommend to shoppers in this price range based on our thorough research and expert knowledge.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  What to know about the budget Windows laptop market
  The best cheap laptop models change all the time. Unlike more expensive, flagship machines, these notebooks can be updated a couple times each year. That can make it hard to track down a specific model at Amazon, Best Buy, Walmart or any other retailer. Also, we’ve seen prices vary widely depending on the configuration and retailer you’re looking at.
  
  You can ensure you’re getting a quality laptop by doing a few things. First and foremost, make sure you get a machine that follows the recommended specs we list above. Also, make sure you’re buying from a reputable retailer, including big-box stores like Walmart, Best Buy and Costco, online shops like Amazon or direct manufacturers like Dell, HP, Lenovo and others. If you have a physical store near you (likely a Best Buy in the US), it’s never a bad idea to go play around with some laptops in person before choosing one.
  
  If you decide to shop online from the likes of Amazon or Walmart, double check the seller of the laptop you’re considering. For example, many items on Amazon are “shipped and sold” by Amazon and those are typically the best options. You’ll see that information on Amazon on the right sidebar on a product page, under the Add to Cart and Buy Now buttons. Third-party sellers are common in the affordable laptop space. Amazon sometimes classifies laptop manufacturers as third-party sellers, so you may see a laptop shipped and sold by HP or Dell — that’s a good thing, since it’s coming directly from the manufacturer.
  
  However, there are other third-party electronics sellers out there. We recommend clicking on the third-party seller’s name on Amazon or Walmart (yes, Walmart has them, too) to see how much positive feedback and how many five-star ratings they’ve received from buyers.
  What about Chromebooks and tablets?
  You may be inclined to recommend a Chromebook or a tablet to anyone considering a budget Windows laptop computer. Those instincts aren’t wrong, but Chromebooks and tablets aren’t the best buy for everyone. Tablets have the most portability, but they will only work for the most mobile-competent users like kids who have been grabbing smartphones out of their parents’ hands since they’ve been dexterous enough to do so. Tablets can also be just as expensive as some of the cheapest Windows laptops, and that’s without a mouse or keyboard.
  
  Chromebooks are a good alternative for those that basically live in a browser, the trade-off being you must give up the “traditional desktop.” And Chrome OS is a more limited operating system than Windows when it comes to the programs you can install and run.
  What Windows laptops do well
  What can you realistically accomplish on a cheap Windows laptop? Quite a bit, especially if you’re doing one thing (or a limited number of things) at a time. They’re great for everyday tasks like web browsing, checking email, video streaming and more. All of those things can be done on Chromebooks as well, but Windows laptops have a big advantage in Microsoft Office. While yes, there is a browser based version, the native, desktop apps are considered a must have for many and will run smoothly on even the most bare-bones budget laptop. The only caveat is that you may run into some slowdown on low-powered devices if you’re multitasking or working with large data sets in Excel or a lot of photos and graphics in Powerpoint.
  
  When it comes to specs, a bright spot for Windows laptops is storage. Even the most affordable devices tend to have at least a 128GB solid state drive. That will come in handy if you prefer to keep your most important files saved locally on your laptop9s hard drive. In contrast, cheaper Chromebooks often have less storage because they’re built on the assumption that you’ll save all of your documents in the cloud. Not only is that less convenient when you need to work offline, but it also limits the size of programs and files that you can download. So, Chromebooks aren9t the best for hoarding Netflix shows before a long trip or for use as a gaming laptop.
  
  Windows also has thousands of apps that you can download from its app store. Chromebooks have some Chrome apps, numerous browser extensions and the ability to download Android apps, but quality control is… inconsistent. Android apps, in particular, often haven’t been optimized for Chrome OS, which makes for a wonky user experience. Windows may not have as many apps as Android, but at least the experience is fairly standard across the board.
  
  Windows also gives you the ability to download and use programs from other sources, like direct from the developer. You can run things like Adobe Creative Suite, certain VPNs and programs like GIMP, Audacity and ClipMate on a Windows device, which just isn’t possible on Chrome OS. Chromebooks limit you to the apps and programs in The Play Store and the Chrome Extensions store, reducing any others to unusable, space-sucking icons in your Downloads folder.
  This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/computing/laptops/best-affordable-windows-laptops-123000512.html?src=rss

• The best earbuds for Android devices in 2026
  If you’re using an Android phone, finding the right pair of wireless earbuds can take a little more work than it does for iPhone owners. Apple’s AirPods are tightly woven into iOS, but that same level of seamless integration doesn’t automatically carry over to Android. The good news is there are plenty of earbuds that play just as nicely with Android devices, and in some cases offer features AirPods simply don’t.
  
  From earbuds designed to pair especially well with Samsung Galaxy and Google Pixel phones to models that prioritize strong noise cancellation, long battery life or workout-friendly durability, the Android ecosystem has no shortage of solid options. We’ve tested a wide range of wireless earbuds to find the best picks for Android users, whether you’re after premium sound, reliable everyday performance or a more affordable alternative.
  Best Android earbuds for 2026
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  What to look for in wireless earbuds for Android devices Photo by Jeff Dunn / Engadget
  For the most part, the features you want from a set of “Android earbuds” are the same as what you want from any headphones. Great sound quality, a comfortable fit and sufficient battery life are still the foundations. Adequate water resistance is good for workouts, and nobody wants a crummy mic for making calls. Once you approach the $100 range, features like active noise cancellation (ANC), wireless charging, an ambient sound mode (which lets you better hear outside noise without turning off your music) and multipoint connectivity (the ability to pair with multiple devices simultaneously) should be expected.
  
  For Android devices specifically, there are a few extras to consider. A dedicated app that makes it easy to switch sound modes, customize the audio profile, locate your earbuds if they ever get misplaced or adjust other settings is strongly preferred. Features like Google Fast Pair or NFC-based pairing, which can help you avoid having to dig through your Bluetooth menu to connect your earbuds for the first time, are also nice perks. Some Android devices can also utilize higher-quality Bluetooth codecs such as aptX Adaptive or Sony’s LDAC — these aren’t nearly as important to audio quality as the actual architecture of your earbuds, but they can help wring out a little more detail if the buds are capable enough and you’re streaming lossless files. AptX Adaptive can also help reduce latency, which is good for streaming video or gaming.
  
  Diversity is Android’s greatest strength, but it also means that some wireless earbuds play nicer with certain devices, typically those made by the same company. Recent Samsung earbuds, for instance, come with a few perks that are only available if you use a Galaxy phone. We have a couple of recommendations related to this idea above.
  How we test Android earbuds Photo by Billy Steele/Engadget
  The best way to test earphones is simply to wear them as much as possible, so that’s what we do. We typically do this over a one- to two-week period, though embargo times occasionally force us to finish our review process a bit faster. We listen to a test playlist that includes several musical genres and podcasts, paying close attention to how each pair approaches the bass, mid and treble frequencies to get an accurate sense of its sound profile. We also test at high and low volumes to check for consistency in the tuning. We do not have access to a dummy head to take more objective measurements, but we’ll sometimes look to sites like tariff policy affects the pricing and stock of our recommendations (and the consumer tech industry as a whole). All of our picks are still available in their normal price ranges today, but we’ll update this guide if that changes.
  
  February 2025: The Noble FoKus Rex5 is our new "best for sound quality" pick, replacing the Sennheiser Momentum True Wireless 4. Our other recommendations remain unchanged.
  
  December 2024: We’ve lightly edited this guide for clarity and ensured that our current picks are still accurate.
  This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/audio/headphones/best-earbuds-for-android-devices-120015765.html?src=rss

• NASA's crewed Artemis II launch gets pushed back again, this time due to a helium issue
  It looks like a March launch is no longer in the cards for Artemis II, NASA9s first crewed trip to the moon9s vicinity since the final Apollo mission over 50 years ago. While preparations were underway at the Kennedy Space Center for a launch as soon as March 6, the space agency says it ran into an issue with the flow of helium to its SLS rocket9s upper stage this weekend and it now has to roll the rocket from the launch pad back to the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) to figure out what9s wrong and fix it. A media briefing is planned for sometime this week to discuss the problem and what9s next. 
  
  But in a post on X, NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman confirmed the rollback will "take the March launch window out of consideration." NASA noted on its blog that the current effort "potentially preserves the April launch window, pending the outcome of data findings, repair efforts, and how the schedule comes to fruition in the coming days and weeks." It9s a four-mile trip back to the VAB that will take hours to carefully transport the massive rocket and the Orion spacecraft. NASA says it9s eyeing February 24 for this trek.
  
  The issue occurred overnight in the early hours of February 21, when NASA says it observed "interrupted flow of helium to the SLS (Space Launch System) rocket’s interim cryogenic propulsion stage." The space agency explained:
  
  The upper stage uses helium to maintain the proper environmental conditions for the stage’s engine and to pressurize liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen propellant tanks. The systems worked during NASA’s Artemis II wet dress rehearsals, but teams were not able to properly flow helium during normal operations and reconfigurations following the wet dress rehearsal that concluded Feb. 19. Operators are using a backup method to maintain the environmental conditions for the upper stage engines and the rocket, which remains in a safe configuration. 
  
  The Artemis II crew — Commander Reid Wiseman, Pilot Victor Glover, Mission Specialist Christina Koch and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen, Mission Specialist — had just entered quarantine a day before the issue arose. NASA says the astronauts have since come out of quarantine.
  
  At the start of this year, NASA announced an accelerated timeline for Artemis II, which was previously set for April 2026 after experiencing delays in 2024. For this 10-day mission, which will be the first crewed flight of the SLS rocket, the Artemis II astronauts will take a trip around the moon in the Orion spacecraft. While it initially targeted early February, the launch was pushed to March due to issues that popped up during the wet dress rehearsal. Now, we9re back to the beginning with a possible April launch, but that’ll depend on the fix being a quick one.
  This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/science/space/nasas-crewed-artemis-ii-launch-gets-pushed-back-again-this-time-due-to-a-helium-issue-231010042.html?src=rss

• Colorado is working on a bill that would make it illegal to 3D print firearms and gun parts
  A collective of Colorado lawmakers wants to put an end to "ghost guns" and their rising popularity. Earlier this week, the state9s House Judiciary Committee voted in a 7-4 majority to pass the bill, HB26-1144, along for a decision with the full House of Representatives. The proposed law would "prohibit the use of a three-dimensional printer, or similar technology, to make a firearm or a firearm component."
  
  Ghost guns are typically made from 3D printers or similar machines without serial numbers, making them virtually impossible to trace and allowing users to skirt the federal requirements for purchasing a firearm. While the bill targets using a 3D printer to make guns, large-capacity magazines and other related components, it even bans possessing and distributing the instructions to manufacture guns in this way. However, these rules would be exempt for federally licensed firearm manufacturers.
  
  "These ghost guns are increasingly found at crime scenes, making it harder for law enforcement to track down a suspect because the gun isn’t traceable," the bill9s sponsor, Lindsay Gilchrist, said in a press release.
  
  Prior to this proposal, Colorado passed a law in 2023 that banned owning ghost guns or making frames for them. While SB23-279 laid the groundwork, HB26-1144 can be seen as the next step since it9s much more encompassing by targeting ghost guns even before they9re made. According to the bill, first-time violations will be treated as a misdemeanor, while repeat offenses will be upgraded to a felony charge. Looking ahead, HB26-1144 still has to secure a vote from both the Colorado Senate and House of Representatives before being delivered to the governor to be signed into law.
  This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/science/colorado-is-working-on-a-bill-that-would-make-it-illegal-to-3d-print-firearms-and-gun-parts-211508169.html?src=rss

• Samsung is adding Perplexity to Galaxy AI for its upcoming S26 series
  Samsung9s next flagship devices will offer Perplexity as part of an expansion to support multiple AI agents in Galaxy AI. Perplexity9s AI agent will work with apps including Samsung Notes, Clock, Gallery, Reminder and Calendar, according to the announcement. And, some third-party apps will support it, though Samsung hasn9t yet said which. The news comes just a few days before Samsung9s Galaxy Unpacked event, so we can expect to find out more about that integration and how it fits in with Samsung9s revamped Bixby very soon. 
  
  What we know so far is that the Perplexity agent will respond to the wake phrase, "Hey Plex" (not to be confused with the streaming service Plex). It can also be initiated by quick-access physical controls. In a statement, Samsung9s Won-Joon Choi, President, COO and Head of the R&D Office for Samsung9s Mobile eXperience Business, said the expansion of Galaxy AI is aimed at giving users more choice and flexibility in getting their tasks done. "Galaxy AI acts as an orchestrator, bringing together different forms of AI into a single, natural, cohesive experience,” Choi said.
  
  Samsung previously announced a partnership with Perplexity last year to integrate the company9s AI search engine into Samsung TVs.  Perplexity has been in hot water though over alleged content scraping and copyright infringement, and was even sued in September by Merriam-Webster — yes, the dictionary — and Encyclopedia Britannica. 
  This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/samsung-is-adding-perplexity-to-galaxy-ai-for-its-upcoming-s26-series-203729539.html?src=rss

• 2026 Olympics: How to watch the Winter Games Closing Ceremony today
  The Closing Ceremony for the 2026 Winter Games is this Sunday. (Li Jing/Xinhua via Getty Images) Xinhua News Agency via Getty Images
  The 2026 Winter Olympics come to an end this weekend. This year9s Closing Ceremony theme is "Beauty in Action." The event will feature appearances from musician and DJ Gabry Ponte, actress Benedetta Porcaroli, and ballet dancer Roberto Bolle. Alfredo Accatino, the ceremony9s artistic director, has promised the ceremony will "begin with lots of colors and end with a party."
  
  The ceremony will kick off today at 2:30PM ET on NBC and Peacock. An encore broadcast will air on NBC at 9PM Here9s everything you need to know to watch the 2026 Milan Cortina Olympics Closing Ceremony. (And as we close out the Winter Games, here9s a look at the final medal count, too.) 
  How to watch the Closing Ceremony at the 2026 Winter Olympics
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Date: Sunday, Feb. 22
  
  Time: Airs live at 2:30PM ET; primetime re-air at 9PM ET
  
  Location: Verona Arena, Verona, Italy
  
  TV channel: NBC
  
  Streaming: Peacock, DirecTV, NBC.com and more
  Olympics Closing Ceremony start time
  The ceremony will kick off at 2:30 PM ET on Sunday afternoon. An encore broadcast will also air on NBC at 9PM ET/PT. 
  How to watch the Closing Ceremony live for free
  There are a couple of ways to watch the 2026 Milan Cortina Winter Olympics Closing Ceremony on Sunday, Feb. 22. You can tune in live Sunday afternoon on NBC or stream live on Peacock, or catch the encore broadcast on NBC, which is available with DirecTV, Hulu + Live TV, and more.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  More ways to watch the closing ceremony without cable
  You can watch the ceremony live or on demand on Peacock as well as on NBC.com, NBCOlympics.com and the NBC app.
  
  
  Who is performing at the Closing Ceremony?
  Italian musician and DJ Gabry Ponte is one of the headliners. Other confirmed performers include Italian actress Benedetta Porcaroli and Italian ballet dancer Roberto Bolle. Expect to see another parade of athletes, the flag handover to the 2030 Olympic hosts from France, and the ceremonial extinguishing of the Olympic flame.
  Where is the Closing Ceremony being held?
  The 2026 Winter Olympics Closing Ceremony will be held at the Verona Arena in Verona, Italy.
  This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/streaming/2026-olympics-how-to-watch-the-winter-games-closing-ceremony-today-115500771.html?src=rss

• Apple is reportedly considering red as the next premium color for its iPhones
  First, we got iPhones in Hermès orange, and now we might get them in Louboutin red. According to sales in China. The bold orange option has been informally rebranded as Hermès orange among fans and is becoming somewhat of a status symbol in Chinese markets. With red as a potential frontrunner for the next iPhone Pro colors, Apple could capture even more sales in China, especially since the color is seen as lucky in Chinese culture.
  
  It9s not the first time Apple has offered red iPhones, though. Previously, Apple manufactured iPhones in deep red hues in collaboration with Product Red, with the last available models being the iPhone SE, iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Plus. On the other hand, Gurman reported that Apple will play it much safer when it comes to the rumored foldable iPhone, sticking with its basic tones.
  This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/smartphones/apple-is-reportedly-considering-red-as-the-next-premium-color-for-its-iphones-185748052.html?src=rss

• Apple's first event of the year will reportedly bring at least five products over a 'three-day blitz'
  Ready your wallets if you9ve been thinking about upgrading your Apple products. According to choice of colors that could reference the new laptop colors. Gurman also predicted that Apple could announce the iPhone 17e, since its predecessor was launched last spring, and an iPad Air that9s updated with the M4 chip. Previous rumors point to Apple getting ready to drop the upgraded MacBook Pro, which will likely get M5 Pro and Max chips, and the new MacBook Air with the base M5 chip. If that wasn9t enough, Apple could even debut the refreshed Mac Studio and a new Apple Studio Display since the two desktop-oriented options were already expected to be released in the first half of the year.
  
  There hasn9t been any confirmation from Apple directly, but it may have left behind some hints for this "three-day blitz" of product announcements. Going off Apple9s wording, the March 4 event will be an "Apple Experience" with locations in New York, London and Shanghai, which doesn9t sound like the typical format of an event with keynote addresses that9s paired with a livestream. Gurman also noted that Apple usually announces its new products on Tuesday, unlike the official Wednesday timing.
  This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/computing/apples-first-event-of-the-year-will-reportedly-bring-at-least-five-products-over-a-three-day-blitz-175017716.html?src=rss

• How to send a message via satellite on iPhone
  Apple’s satellite features were originally designed for emergencies, allowing iPhone users to contact emergency services when cellular and Wi-Fi coverage is unavailable. With recent versions of iOS, Apple has expanded those capabilities to include sending and receiving messages via satellite. This makes it possible to stay in touch with friends and family from remote locations where traditional networks do not reach, such as hiking trails, rural areas or offshore locations.
  
  Messaging via satellite is built directly into the iPhone and works automatically when no cellular or Wi-Fi signal is available. While it is not intended to replace regular messaging, it can be a useful backup when coverage drops.
  How to send a message via satellite
  Before you can get started, you’ll need to turn on iMessage before you’re off the grid. It’s also important to set up an emergency contact as well as members of your Family Sharing group prior to your departure. This will enable them to message you via SMS without the need to message them first.     To send a message via satellite, open the Messages app when no cellular or Wi-Fi signal is available. If the feature is supported in the current location, the app will display a prompt indicating that satellite messaging is available.
  
  Selecting the option to connect via satellite launches a guided connection screen. Your iPhone will provide real-time instructions to help maintain alignment with the satellite. Once connected, a text message can be typed and sent, although delivery may take longer than usual.
  
  The iPhone will notify you when the message has been sent successfully. Replies from the recipient will also be delivered via satellite, as long as the connection remains active.
  What you need before you can send satellite messages
  Sending messages via satellite requires a compatible iPhone model and the correct software version. The feature is supported on iPhone models with satellite hardware, beginning with iPhone 14 and later. The device must be running a version of iOS (iOS 18 or higher) that supports satellite messaging, which Apple has continued to refine through recent iOS updates.
  
  The feature also depends on location and availability. Satellite messaging is currently supported in select regions, including the United States and parts of Canada, with expanded support rolling out gradually. The iPhone must be outdoors with a clear view of the sky, as trees, buildings and terrain can interfere with the satellite connection.
  
  Satellite messaging is not designed for continuous conversations. Messages are compressed and sent at a slower pace than standard texts, and delivery times can vary depending on conditions and satellite positioning.
  How satellite messaging works on iPhone
  When an iPhone loses access to cellular and Wi-Fi networks, the system automatically detects that only satellite connectivity is available. Instead of failing to send, the Messages app prompts the user to connect to a satellite.
  
  On-screen instructions guide the user to position the phone correctly. This typically involves holding the device up and following directional prompts to align it with an overhead satellite. The phone uses built-in sensors to help maintain the connection while the message is being sent.
  
  Messages sent via satellite are text-only and use a reduced data format to ensure they can be transmitted reliably. Images, videos, audio messages and large attachments are not supported.
  Who can receive satellite messages?
  Satellite messages can be sent to contacts using iMessage or standard SMS, depending on the recipient’s device and settings. If the recipient is using an Apple device with iMessage enabled, the message will be delivered through Apple’s messaging system. If not, the message will be sent as a standard text.
  
  Recipients do not need a satellite-capable device to receive messages. From their perspective, the message appears similar to a regular text, though delivery times may be longer.
  Tips for getting a reliable connection
  A clear view of the sky is essential for satellite messaging to work properly. Open areas with minimal obstructions offer the best results. Movement, heavy foliage and nearby structures can interrupt the connection.
  
  Because satellite bandwidth is limited, keeping messages short improves reliability and delivery speed. The iPhone may prompt the user to edit longer messages to fit within satellite constraints.
  
  Battery life is also a consideration. Maintaining a satellite connection uses more power than standard messaging, so it helps to conserve battery when relying on satellite features for extended periods.
  Limitations to keep in mind
  Satellite messaging is designed for occasional use when other networks are unavailable. It does not support group messages, media attachments or read receipts in the same way as standard messaging.
  
  Delivery times can range from under a minute to several minutes, depending on environmental conditions and satellite availability. The feature should not be relied upon for time-sensitive communication unless no other option is available.
  
  Apple has also noted that satellite features may be offered free for a limited period, with potential pricing or subscription requirements introduced in the future depending on region and carrier arrangements.
  When satellite messaging can be useful
  Messaging via satellite can be helpful for travelers, hikers and anyone spending time in remote areas where coverage is unreliable. It offers a way to check in, share basic updates or request non-emergency assistance when traditional networks are unavailable.
  
  While it is not a replacement for emergency services, it complements Apple’s existing emergency satellite features by providing an additional communication option when users are off the grid.
  
  As Apple continues to expand satellite support, messaging via satellite is likely to become a more familiar part of the iPhone experience, particularly for users who regularly venture beyond the reach of cellular networks.
  
  
  This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/smartphones/how-to-send-a-message-via-satellite-on-iphone-130000418.html?src=rss

• The Stop Killing Games campaign will set up NGOs in the EU and US
  The Stop Killing Games campaign is evolving into more than just a movement. In a YouTube video, the campaign9s creator, Ross Scott, explained that organizers are planning to establish two non-governmental organizations, one for the European Union and another for the US. According to Scott, these NGOs would allow for "long-term counter lobbying" when publishers end support for certain video games.
  
  "Let me start off by saying I think we9re going to win this, namely the problem of publishers destroying video games that you9ve already paid for," Scott said in the video. According to Scott, the NGOs will work on getting the original Stop Killing Games petition codified into EU law, while also pursuing more watchdog actions, like setting up a system to report publishers for revoking access to purchased video games.
  
  The Stop Killing Games campaign started as a reaction to Ubisoft9s delisting of The Crew from players9 libraries. The controversial decision stirred up concerns about how publishers have the ultimate say on delisting video games. After crossing a million signatures last year, the movement9s leadership has been busy exploring the next steps.
  
  According to Scott, the campaign leadership will meet with the European Commission soon, but is also working on a 500-page legal paper that reveals some of the industry9s current controversial practices. In the meantime, the ongoing efforts have led to a change of heart from Ubisoft since the publisher updated The Crew 2 with an offline mode. 
  
  
  This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/the-stop-killing-games-campaign-will-set-up-ngos-in-the-eu-and-us-203359604.html?src=rss

• The US will send Tech Corps members to foreign countries in its latest push for AI dominance
  The government agency that sends its corps members abroad to volunteer in foreign countries launched its latest initiative called Tech Corps. The Peace Corps9 latest proposal will recruit STEM graduates or those with professional experience in the artificial intelligence sector and send them to participating host countries.
  
  According to the press release, volunteers will be placed in Peace Corps countries that are part of the American AI Exports Program, which was created last year from an executive order from President Trump as a way to bolster the US9 grip on the AI market abroad. Tech Corps members will be tasked with using AI to resolve issues related to agriculture, education, health and economic development. The program will offer its members 12- to 27-month in-person assignments or virtual placements, which will include housing, healthcare, a living stipend and a volunteer service award if the corps member is placed overseas.
  
  Richard E. Swarttz, the acting director of the Peace Corps, said in a press release that Tech Corps volunteers will be "building technical capacity, supporting AI adoption across critical use cases and addressing barriers to last-mile AI implementation." While the Tech Corps program is framed at benefiting host countries, it would also help to secure the US9 position in the rapidly expanding global AI market that includes growing competition from China.
  This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/the-us-will-send-tech-corps-members-to-foreign-countries-in-its-latest-push-for-ai-dominance-191916940.html?src=rss

• A judge ruled Tesla still has to pay $243 million for a fatal crash involving Autopilot
  Tesla is still on the hook for $243 million after a US judge rejected the EV maker9s bid to overturn a jury verdict from last year. On Friday, US District Judge Beth Bloom upheld the jury9s decision to hold Tesla partially responsible for a deadly crash that happened in 2019 and involved the self-driving Autopilot feature.
  
  The judge added that there was enough evidence to support the jury9s verdict, which was delivered in August 2025 and ordered Tesla to pay millions in compensatory and punitive damages to the two victims in the case. Judge Bloom added that Tesla didn9t present any new arguments to dispute the decision. 
  
  While the case has been moving along recently, the incident dates back to several years ago when the driver of a Model S, George McGee, was using Tesla9s Autopilot feature while bending down to retrieve a dropped phone. The Model S then crashed into an SUV that was parked on a shoulder, where Naibel Benavides Leon and Dillon Angulo were standing aside. Benavides was killed in the crash, while Angulo was severely injured.
  
  Tesla hasn9t publicly commented on Judge Bloom9s decision yet, but it won9t be a surprise to see the company appeal the latest ruling with a higher court. Tesla9s lawyers previously tried to pin the blame on the driver, claiming that the Model S and Autopilot weren9t defective. As this major case plays out, Tesla is also facing several investigations from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration for both its Autopilot and Full-Self Driving features.
  This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/transportation/evs/a-judge-ruled-tesla-still-has-to-pay-243-million-for-a-fatal-crash-involving-autopilot-174548093.html?src=rss

• 13-hour AWS outage reportedly caused by Amazon's own AI tools
  A recent Amazon Web Services (AWS) outage that lasted 13 hours was reportedly caused by one of its own AI tools, pic.twitter.com/eD7ZrEdEn5
  — Kiro (@kirodotdev) January 14, 2026
  The company launched Kiro in July and has since pushed employees into using the tool. Leadership set an 80 percent weekly use goal and has been closely tracking adoption rates. Amazon also sells access to the agentic tool for a monthly subscription fee.
  
  These recent outages follow a more serious event from October, in which a 15-hour AWS outage disrupted services like Alexa, Snapchat, Fortnite and Venmo, among others. The company blamed a bug in its automation software for that one.
  
  However, Amazon disagrees with the characterization of certain products and services being unavailable as an outage. In response to the Financial Times report, the company shared the following statement, which it also published on its news blog:
  
  We want to address the inaccuracies in the Financial Times9 reporting yesterday. The brief service interruption they reported on was the result of user error—specifically misconfigured access controls—not AI as the story claims.
  
  The disruption was an extremely limited event last December affecting a single service (AWS Cost Explorer—which helps customers visualize, understand, and manage AWS costs and usage over time) in one of our 39 Geographic Regions around the world. It did not impact compute, storage, database, AI technologies, or any other of the hundreds of services that we run. The issue stemmed from a misconfigured role—the same issue that could occur with any developer tool (AI powered or not) or manual action. We did not receive any customer inquiries regarding the interruption. We implemented numerous safeguards to prevent this from happening again—not because the event had a big impact (it didn9t), but because we insist on learning from our operational experience to improve our security and resilience. Additional safeguards include mandatory peer review for production access. While operational incidents involving misconfigured access controls can occur with any developer tool—AI-powered or not—we think it is important to learn from these experiences. The Financial Times9 claim that a second event impacted AWS is entirely false.
  
  For more than two decades, Amazon has achieved high operational excellence with our Correction of Error (COE) process. We review these together so that we can learn from any incident, irrespective of customer impact, to address issues before their potential impact grows larger.
  
  Update, February 21 2026, 11:58AM ET: This story has been updated to include Amazon9s full statement in response to the Financial Times report. 
  This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/13-hour-aws-outage-reportedly-caused-by-amazons-own-ai-tools-170930190.html?src=rss

• How to know if an AirTag is tracking you
  Apple’s AirTag is designed to help people keep track of personal belongings like keys, bags and luggage. But because AirTags and other Bluetooth trackers are small and discreet, concerns about unwanted tracking are understandable. Apple has spent years building safeguards into the AirTag and the Find My network to reduce the risk of misuse and to alert people if a tracker they don’t own appears to be moving with them.
  
  If you’re worried about whether an AirTag or similar tracker might be following you, here’s how Apple’s unwanted tracking alerts work, what notifications to look for and what you can do on both iPhone and Android.
  How AirTag tracking alerts work
  AirTags, compatible Find My network accessories and certain AirPods models use Apple’s Find My network, which relies on Bluetooth signals and nearby devices to update their location. To prevent misuse, Apple designed these products with features that are meant to alert someone if a tracker that isn’t linked to their Apple Account appears to be traveling with them.
  
  If an AirTag or another compatible tracker is separated from its owner and detected near you over time, your device may display a notification or the tracker itself may emit a sound. These alerts are intended to discourage someone from secretly tracking another person without their knowledge. Apple has also worked with Google on a cross-platform industry standard, so alerts can appear on both iOS and Android devices, not just iPhones.
  How to make sure tracking alerts are enabled on your iPhone
  If you use an iPhone or iPad, tracking notifications are on by default, but it’s worth confirming your settings.
  
  To receive unwanted tracking alerts, make sure that:
  
  Your device is running iOS 17.5 or later (or iPadOS 17.5 or later). Earlier versions back to iOS 14.5 support basic AirTag alerts, but newer versions add broader compatibility with other trackers.
  
  Bluetooth is turned on.
  
  Location Services are enabled.
  
  Notifications for Tracking Alerts are allowed.
  
  Airplane Mode is turned off.
  
  You can check these by opening Settings, then navigating to Privacy & Security, Location Services and Notifications. Apple also recommends turning on Significant Locations in the System Services menu, which helps your device determine when an unknown tracker has traveled with you to places like your home.
  
  Go to Settings, tap Privacy & Security, then select Location Services.
  
  Toggle Location Services on.
  
  Scroll down and tap System Services, then toggle Significant Locations on.
  
  If these settings are disabled, your iPhone may not be able to alert you when an AirTag or similar device is nearby.
  What tracking alerts look like
  If your iPhone detects a tracker that doesn’t belong to you moving with you, you may see a notification such as:
  
  AirTag Found Moving With You
  
  AirPods Detected
  
  “Product Name” Found Moving With You
  
  Unknown Accessory Detected
  
  Tapping the alert opens the Find My app, which shows a map of where the item was detected near you. The map uses dots to indicate locations where your device noticed the tracker nearby. This doesn’t mean the owner was actively watching your location at those times, only that the tracker was detected in close proximity.
  
  In some cases, the alert may have an innocent explanation. For example, you might be borrowing someone else’s keys, bag or AirPods. If the item belongs to someone in your Family Sharing group, you can temporarily pause alerts for that item by tapping the notification and opting to turn off alerts for that item either for one day or indefinitely. 
  What to do if you hear an AirTag making a sound
  If an AirTag or compatible tracker has been separated from its owner for a period of time and is moved, it may emit a sound on its own. This is another built-in safety feature meant to draw attention to the device.
  
  If you hear an unfamiliar chirping or beeping sound, especially from a bag, jacket pocket or vehicle, it’s worth checking your belongings to see if there’s an AirTag or similar tracker inside.
  How to find an unknown AirTag or tracker
  If you receive an alert and believe the tracker is still with you, the Find My app offers tools to help locate it.
  
  From the alert, you can choose to play a sound on the device to help pinpoint where it’s hidden. 
  
  Tap the alert.
  
  Tap Continue and then tap Play Sound.
  
  Listen for the sound or play it again to give yourself more time to find the item.
  
  If the tracker is an AirTag and you have a compatible iPhone with ultra wideband connectivity, you may also see a Find Nearby option, which uses Precision Finding to guide you toward it with distance and direction indicators.
  
  Tap the alert.
  
  Tap Continue and then tap Find Nearby.
  
  Follow the onscreen instructions. You may need to move around the space until your iPhone connects to the unknown AirTag.
  
  Your iPhone will display the distance and direction of the unknown AirTag, so you can use that information to identify where the unknown AirTag is. When the AirTag is within Bluetooth range of your iPhone, you can tap the Play Sound button to listen for it. You can also tap the Turn Flashlight On button to provide more light if it’s needed.
  
  If neither option is available, or if the tracker can’t be located electronically, manually check your belongings. Look through bags, pockets, jackets and vehicles. If you feel unsafe and can’t find the device, Apple recommends going to a safe public place and contacting local law enforcement.
  The new Apple AirTag that works with Find My app.AppleHow to get information about an AirTag
  If you find an unknown AirTag, you can learn more about it without needing to unlock it or log in.
  
  Hold the top of your iPhone, or any NFC-capable smartphone, near the white side of the AirTag. A notification should appear.
  
  Tap the notification to open a webpage with details about the AirTag. This page includes the serial number and the last four digits of the phone number associated with the owner’s Apple Account.
  
  If the AirTag was marked as lost, the page may also include a message from the owner explaining how to contact them. This can help determine whether the situation is accidental or intentional.
  How to disable an AirTag that isn’t yours
  If you confirm that an AirTag is tracking you and it doesn’t belong to you, you can disable it so it stops sharing its location.
  
  From the Find My alert or information page, select Instructions to Disable and follow the steps provided. For an AirTag, this usually involves removing the battery, which immediately stops location updates. Disabling Bluetooth or turning off Location Services on your phone does not stop the AirTag from reporting its location. The device itself must be disabled.
  
  If you believe the tracker was used for malicious purposes, keep the AirTag and document its details before contacting law enforcement. Apple states that it can provide information to authorities when legally required.
  What Android users should know
  Android devices running Android 6.0 or later can also receive alerts if a compatible Bluetooth tracker, including an AirTag, appears to be moving with you. These alerts are enabled automatically on supported versions of Android.
  
  Android users can also manually scan for unknown trackers at any time. Additionally, Apple offers a free Tracker Detect app on the Google Play Store. The app allows Android users to scan for AirTags and Find My network accessories within Bluetooth range that are separated from their owner. If Tracker Detect finds a nearby AirTag that’s been with you for at least 10 minutes, you can play a sound to help locate it.
  Wrap-up
  While no system is perfect, Apple has built multiple layers of protection into AirTag and the Find My network to reduce the risk of unwanted tracking. With alerts, audible warnings and cross-platform detection on both iOS and Android, most people will be notified if a tracker they don’t own is moving with them. Knowing what these alerts look like and how to respond can help you stay informed, avoid unnecessary panic and take appropriate action if something feels off.
  This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/computing/accessories/how-to-know-if-an-airtag-is-tracking-you-130000764.html?src=rss

• Engadget review recap: Sony WF-1000XM6, ASUS Zenbook Duo and more
  Gather ‘round, it’s time to catch up on the latest batch of Engadget reviews. Whether you missed our in-depth testing of Sony’s latest flagship earbuds or a truly unique ASUS laptop, I’ve compiled our recent reviews so you can get up to speed quickly. Read on for the list that also includes a love letter to a tiny camera and another VPN option that worth considering.
  Sony WF-1000XM6
  
  
  Sony’s 1000X earbuds have always been the top pick in our best wireless earbuds guide. With the M6 though, the company doesn’t do enough to clearly separate itself from the competition like it has in the past. “The two most obvious places the company is lagging behind the competition is ANC performance and overall voice quality, not to mention my continued dissatisfaction with the fit that Sony’s foam tips provide,” I wrote.
  ASUS Zenbook Duo (2026)
  
  
  If you’re looking for something unique in your next laptop, the ASUS Zenbook Duo is worth considering. Dual screens? Yep. Detachable keyboard? Sure. Good battery life? It does that too. “I9m a believer that one day people will eventually embrace typing on screens with laptops just like they have for smartphones,” senior reporter Sam Rutherford explained. “However, even if you9re not willing to make that jump just yet, the Zenbook Duo still has all of its bases covered.”
  Kodak Charmera It9s so cute Cheyenne MacDonald for Engadget
  A tiny $30 camera was too cute for our editors to resist. Despite the subpar images it captures, they’re still smitten with the thing. “I9ve been pleasantly surprised by how much I9m enjoying the Charmera experience,” weekend editor Its crunchy photos are just good enough to feel like they9re successfully preserving a moment in time. And being so tiny, it9s really convenient to bring everywhere.”
  Mullvad VPN
  Senior writer Sam Champman’s latest VPN review is Mullvad, which he says is often regarded as one of the best in terms of overall privacy. “It9s not trying to be an everything app — it does privacy and does it well,” he noted. “Of course, it has its own compromises. It9s solidly in the middle of the speed pack and occasionally trips up when unblocking streaming sites. The lack of any protocols other than WireGuard grates on me a bit, since it reduces the user9s options for troubleshooting.”
  This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/engadget-review-recap-sony-wf-1000xm6-asus-zenbook-duo-and-more-130000298.html?src=rss

• An old-school Zelda-like, Skate Bums and other new indie games worth checking out
  Welcome to our latest roundup of what9s going on in the indie game space. As a reminder, the latest edition of Steam Next Fest runs from February 23 until March 2, during which you9ll be able to check out demos for hundreds of upcoming games. A bunch are available already, including one for checking out. As it turns out, doing Tony Hawk Pro Skater-style tricks with a high-speed Japanese train absolutely rips.
  
  On Thursday, there were four showcases highlighting indie games all in a single day. It9s not exactly feasible for me to recap them in full here, unfortunately, but I can at least tell you about a few of the many highlights.
  
  The Black History Month edition of the Black Voices in Gaming Showcase includes trailers and interviews for some games that are already available, such as carried out some of the parkour motion capture work personally.
  
  There was lots of good stuff in this week9s Convergence Showcase too, including another peek at Mouse: P.I. for Hire as we get to see one of the game9s bosses for the first time. This first-person shooter with rubber-hose animation is set to arrive on March 19.
  
  There were other welcome announcements for me in this showcase. First, there was a release date for the Zelda-inspired adventure Gecko Gods. I9ve had this on my wishlist since 2022, so I9m glad to learn it9ll hit Nintendo Switch, PS5 and PC on April 16. 
  
  In addition, record shop sim Wax Heads (which probably should have been called Low Fidelity, tbh) is coming to PC, Xbox Series X/S, PS5, and Nintendo Switch on May 5. You can check out a Steam Next Fest demo for that one now.
  
  The second edition of Indie Fan Fest had a trove of goodies as well. For one thing, Balatro publisher Playstack could be about to cause another mass reduction in collective productivity with Raccoin, which now has a release date of March 31. This is another roguelike deckbuilder, but this time it9s in the form of a coin pusher. I didn9t have a chance to check out the previous playtest to get a better sense of why there9s so much buzz around this one, but I9ll for sure be trying the Steam Next Fest demo, which is available now.
  
  It remains deeply weird to refer to a game under Acclaim9s umbrella as an indie, but that9s where we are now. The publisher is bringing Ridiculous Games9 GridBeat to Nintendo Switch and Steam on March 26. This is a rhythm-based dungeon crawler in which you (a hacker) try to escape from a corporate network after pilfering valuable data. There9s a Next Fest demo available for this one too. 
  
  Meanwhile, a narrower release window for Japanese convenience store sim Steam, PS5, Nintendo Switch and Xbox in April.
  
  Alongside a related sale on Steam, the first Quebec Games Celebration Showcase took place on Thursday. It9s always neat to learn about games being made in my neck of the woods.
  
  One of those is Surfpunk, a co-op action RPG that looks a bit like Hades with surfing. Radical. You9ll venture to procedurally generated islands in search of loot. There are four weapon classes to choose from and gadgets you can craft after collecting resources on your run. There9s an updated Steam demo that9s said to have around five hours of gameplay. Surfpunk (which is from demo announcement trailer for Croak, a precision platformer from Woodrunner Games that appears to be heavily inspired by the likes of Celeste, separately for one main reason. You have to check out the studio9s head of "barketing." (Okay okay, the game9s hand-drawn visuals look lovely too.)
  
  There9s plenty of other interesting stuff in the Quebec Games Celebration Showcase, including another look at Tears of Metal from Paper Cult Games, the studio behind the very enjoyable Bloodroots. There9s a Steam demo available for the hack-and-slash roguelite, which should be out this spring. Gothic sci-fi Metroidvania strong early reviews. It9s available now on Steam, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PS4, PS5 and Nintendo Switch for $20, though there9s a 15 percent launch sale (you9ll need to be a PS Plus member to get the discount on PS4 and PS5).
  
  Demon Tides — a 3D, open-world platformer from Bubsy 4D and Demon Turf developer Fabraz — has lots of movement mechanics, including paragliders and hookshots. You can shapeshift into different forms as well.
  
  You can create and share graffiti, and this will appear in other players9 games (which is a neat touch). Demon Tides is out now on Steam. It9ll usually cost $25, but until March 5, you can snap it up for $20.
  
  Skate Bums is a 2D skateboarding game in the tradition of the OlliOlli series. As novice skateboarder Lux, you9ll try to take down the Skate Bums, a gang of bullies. There are "weird characters," sick combos to pull off, coins to collect and wrecking balls to dodge. 
  
  There9s said to be a "simple directional trick system" while each run is apparently short. That seems ideal for quick, pick-up-and-play sessions on Nintendo Switch and Switch 2. I also just really like the title. Steam, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S and Nintendo Switch for $10. There9s a 15 percent launch discount (again, you9ll need to be a PS Plus member to take advantage of that on PlayStation).
  Upcoming 
  Woe Industries, the developer of Adventure Game Aptitude Test (AGAT) at any time between 1PM and 2PM ET on February 28. 
  
  You9ll have four hours to complete an 980s adventure game of Woe Industries’ choosing. The developer will seemingly be monitoring your browser and smartphone activity to ensure you don9t consult a walkthrough. If you9re successful, you9ll receive an AGAT certification and diploma. Good luck!
  
  "Musical narrative adventure" People of Note is coming to Steam, Epic Games Store, the Xbox App on PC, Nintendo Switch 2, PS5 and Xbox Series X/S on April 7 for $25 (though there9ll be a 10 percent launch discount). The game follows pop singer Cadence on her quest for stardom. Along the way, Cadence and her buds will have to overcome enemies in battles that have turn-based and rhythm-based elements.
  
  I mostly enjoyed playing through a preview several months ago, though I had to grit my teeth through the turn-based combat, which is not something I enjoy as a rule. However, Iridium Studios will allow players to turn off elements like that and environmental puzzles so more people who might have otherwise been turned off can enjoy People of Note. You can sample the game now on Steam via a 90-minute Next Fest demo.
  
  I don9t fully understand what9s going on in the reveal trailer for Titanium Court, which is from AP Thomson (a solo developer who previously worked on Consume Me) and publisher Fellow Traveller. Even the press release notes that it9s "impossibly difficult to describe." But it has an absorbing trailer soundtracked by an odd, Bill Callahan-esque song and it has already picked up several IGF award nominations, so I9m intrigued.
  
  What I am able to surmise is that it9s a surrealist, roguelike strategy game with match-three, auto battle and tower defense elements. It9s also for "clowns and criminals," apparently. I9m gonna have to give the Steam Next Fest demo a shot to try to get my head around it. Titanium Court is coming to Steam “imminently.”
  
  Sometimes, a game pops up that makes me think "how has no one done this before?" Such is the case with Become. It9s a third-person linear adventure from solo developer Valentin Wirth in which you take on the guise of a single sperm. You can probably guess what the goal is.
  
  The game has "no explicit sexual acts, nudity or violence," according to its Steam page, though you will encounter some danger along your journey. You can upgrade your bespectacled spermatozoon via skill trees and seemingly adorn various pieces of headgear. Become is slated to hit Steam later this year.
  This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/an-old-school-zelda-like-skate-bums-and-other-new-indie-games-worth-checking-out-120000770.html?src=rss

• Xbox head Phil Spencer is leaving Microsoft
  Phil Spencer, CEO of Microsoft Gaming, is retiring, Satya Nadella has announced. Asha Sharma, the President of Microsoft9s CoreAI division is taking over Spencer9s role, while Sarah Bond, the current President of Xbox, is resigning.
  
  "I am long on gaming and its role at the center of our consumer ambition, and as we look ahead, I’m excited to share that Asha Sharma will become Executive Vice President and CEO, Microsoft Gaming, reporting to me," Nadella says. "Over the last two years at Microsoft, and previously as Chief Operating Officer at Instacart and a Vice President at Meta, Asha has helped build and scale services that reach billions of people and support thriving consumer and developer ecosystems. She brings deep experience building and growing platforms, aligning business models to long-term value, and operating at global scale, which will be critical in leading our gaming business into its next era of growth."
  I’m excited for @asha_shar as she steps into the CEO role. She’s joining an incredible group of people; teams full of talent, heart, and a deep commitment to the players they serve. Watching her lean in with curiosity and a real desire to strengthen the foundation we9ve built…
  — Phil Spencer (@XboxP3) February 20, 2026
  In a thread on X, Spencer shared his thoughts on Sharma’s new position. “I’m excited for [Asha Sharma] as she steps into the CEO role,” Spencer wrote. “She’s joining an incredible group of people; teams full of talent, heart, and a deep commitment to the players they serve. Watching her lean in with curiosity and a real desire to strengthen the foundation we9ve built gives me confidence that our Xbox communities will be well supported in the years ahead.”
  
  Alongside Sharma, Matt Booty, the current head of Xbox Game Studios, is getting promoted to Chief Content Officer, and will report to Sharma. Sarah Bond, who like Spencer served as a public face for the Xbox brand and was assumed to be his successor, is leaving Microsoft to "begin a new chapter." Bond has yet to make a public statement about her resignation.
  
  Spencer joined Microsoft in 1988, and has worked on Xbox since at least 2001. He assumed responsibility for Microsoft9s gaming brand and its various studios and associated subscription products in 2013, before becoming an Executive VP of Gaming in 2017 and later CEO of Microsoft Gaming in 2022. Spencer9s biggest impact on Xbox will likely be remembered as the creation of Game Pass, Microsoft9s "Netflix for Games" and the wave of studio acquisitions Microsoft completed from 2018 to 2022, which included smaller studios like Double Fine and the massive$68.7 billion purchase of Activision Blizzard King.
  
  While Microsoft has plenty of developers and IP to fall back on, it9s struggled to compete with the likes of Sony and Nintendo during the current console generation. Microsoft9s gaming division has gone through widespread layoffs, its revenue continued to fall throughout 2025 and it raised the prices of both its consoles and Game Pass Ultimate, which likely won9t help things going forward. Sharma is in many ways inheriting a broken-down car.
  
  As far as her plans go, Sharma’s email to staff that was included in Nadella9s announcement is light on details. Sharma says she plans to continue developing "great games," wants to "recommit" to core Xbox fans and "invent new business models and new ways to play." Whether that’s enough to turn Xbox9s fortunes around remains to be seen.
  
  Update, February 20, 4:52PM ET: Added statement from Phil Spencer shared on X.
  This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/xbox/xbox-head-phil-spencer-is-leaving-microsoft-212838419.html?src=rss

• Samsung Galaxy Unpacked 2026: The Galaxy S26 and other devices that might launch on February 25
  Samsung’s 2025 was filled with new foldables, an ultra-thin new form factor and the launch of Google's XR platform. After making some announcements at CES 2026, the company has announced its first Galaxy Unpacked of the year will take place on February 25, where it is expected to introduce the Galaxy S26 lineup. Official invites have been shared, but actual information on what devices are arriving then is still not completely confirmed. But as usual, we know a lot about what’s expected at Unpacked.
  
  Engadget will be covering Galaxy Unpacked live from San Francisco next week, and we'll most likely have hands-on coverage of Samsung's new smartphones soon after they're announced. While we wait for the full details, here's everything we expect Samsung will introduce at the first Galaxy Unpacked event of 2026.
  When is Unpacked 2026 taking place?
  According to the official invite that Samsung shared on February 10, Unpacked will happen on February 25, 2026 in San Francisco. The keynote will start at 10AM PT (1PM ET) and be livestreamed on Samsung.com, as well as the company’s newsroom and YouTube channel. The announcement on February 10 also said this launch will mark “a new phase in the era of AI as intelligence becomes truly personal and adaptive.” It’s not a lot to go on, since we’ve heard a version of this from various companies over the last few years, but at least we won’t be shocked when we hear more about AI in just about two weeks.
  Galaxy S26, S26+ and S26 UltraSamsung Galaxy S25 Ultra hands-on photoPhoto by Sam Rutherford/Engadget
  Samsung's restrained approach to updating its phones will likely continue with the Galaxy S26. Based on leaked images of the new lineup, the company is not expected to radically reinvent the look of the Galaxy S26, Galaxy S26+ or Galaxy S26 Ultra, and instead will stick with a similar design to what it used on the Galaxy S25. The phones will have a flat front screen and frame, with rounded corners and cameras housed in a vertical pill-shaped plateau on the back. Unlike Apple's move from the iPhone 16 Pro to the iPhone 17 Pro, the biggest difference here will likely be internal components like the screens, chips and camera sensors Samsung uses.
  
  Qualcomm's new Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chip is expected to be in all Samsung Galaxy S26 phones, though Korean news site Exynos 2600 chip could be used in some phones in the lineup depending on the region, a strategy Samsung has deployed in the past. Either way the new phones should be more performant than the previous generation, and in the case of the models with the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5, particularly good at on-device AI processing.
  I have compiled the most accurate comprehensive parameter comparison of Galaxy S25, S25+ and Galaxy S26、 S26+. Which one do you want to buy? pic.twitter.com/aQpoSvYjOz
  — Ice Universe (@UniverseIce) November 29, 2025
  One notable difference between the Galaxy S26 and the Galaxy S25 could be the phone's screen. The new phone will reportedly feature a 6.3-inch FHD+ display according to specs shared by leaker Ice Universe, which makes it ever so slightly larger than the 6.2-inch display used on the Galaxy S25. The S26 will also allegedly come with 12GB of RAM, either 256GB or 512GB of storage and a slightly larger 4,300mAh battery. Samsung isn't changing the cameras on the entry-level phone, though: leaks suggest it'll feature the same 50-megapixel main camera, 12-megapixel ultrawide, 10-megapixel 3x telephoto and 12-megapixel selfie camera as the previous generation. Changes appear to be even more minor on the Galaxy S26+. Other than the new Snapdragon chip, the phone will reportedly feature the same 6.7-inch FHD+ screen, 4,900mAh battery, 12GB of RAM and the same camera array used on the base Galaxy S26.
  
  The difference between the Galaxy S26 Ultra and Galaxy S25 Ultra is reportedly a bit clearer. only technically work with the standard when a case is attached, rumors suggest Samsung will remove the S Pen digitizer layer in the phone and adopt a new method for accepting stylus input. It's not clear what that new method will actually be, but it could let the Galaxy S26 Ultra more easily work with Qi2 accessories without losing its stylus.
  
  Android Headlines also recently shared what appear to be full image renders of the S26 series, and they generally line up with what has already been rumored, leaked and reported so far. If these pictures are accurate, they give us a clearer look at the camera bump and two color variants of the S26 Ultra.
  
  Fans of magnets may continue to be disappointed by Samsung if the latest rumors are accurate. Despite the launch of the Qi 2 wireless charging standard adding support for convenient magnetic alignment years ago, Samsung has yet to bring that feature to its phones. Though the S-series have the higher speed charging rates that the spec enables, Galaxy Buds 3 and 3 Pro in 2024, with a major redesign that brought them much more in line with Apple's AirPods. The Galaxy Buds 4 and Buds 4 Pro Samsung is rumored to be announcing soon won't necessarily change that, though they will feature a more compact case and less angular stems, according to leaked images from the Samsung Tips app.
  
  Support for head gestures to accept and decline calls, a feature Apple includes on the AirPods Pro 3 and AirPods 4, is also rumored to work on both versions of the new Galaxy Buds. Google's Find Hub network.
  Galaxy Z TrifoldYes, the TriFold has a crease, two in fact. But they still don't ruin the experience. Sam Rutherford for Engadget
  Samsung announced the Galaxy Z TriFold in late 2025 without firm details of when the new smartphone-that-folds-into-a-tablet would be available in North America. That info came on January 27, when the company announced the TriFold would be available in the US on January 30, for a whopping $2,900. Considering we’ve already seen the device in person at CES 2026 and people are most likely to have had a chance to look at, if not buy the foldable for themselves by the time Unpacked rolls around, we don’t expect Samsung to spend too much time dwelling on it, if at all.
  Galaxy S26 EdgeAt just 5.8mm thick, the Samsung Galaxy S25 Edge is one of the thinnest smartphones ever made. Sam Rutherford for Engadget
  When the Galaxy S25 Edge was announced in 2025, it seemed possible that Samsung could replace its "Plus" smartphone with a unique form factor, just like Apple has opted to do with the iPhone Air. There have been conflicting reports on the matter, but it seems like Samsung will not be doing that with the Galaxy S26 Edge.
  
  Instead, the smartphone will reportedly remain another option, much like foldables are for customers not swayed by Samsung's traditional smartphones. The Galaxy S26 Edge is rumored to feature a slightly different design than last year's model, a deal with Motorola on its Razr phones, so the only thing that would make a deal with Samsung unusual is the close relationship the company already has with Google.
  
  The company also accidentally announced a new version of its Bixby AI assistant, which will likely also be integrated with Perplexity and could serve as an alternative to Google Gemini. Both a new Bixby and a deeper integration with Perplexity seem like natural new software features to show off at Galaxy Unpacked.
  
  On February 17, Samsung teased some mobile AI photography features ahead of Unpacked. These expand the S-series’ existing image-editing tools by bringing the ability “to turn a photo from day to night in seconds, restore missing parts of objects in images, capture detailed photos in low light, and seamlessly merge multiple photos into a single, cohesive result.” A lot of these things are already possible in other photo-editing apps or even in the Google Photos app, but we’ll have to wait to see them in action on the S26 phones for more details on whether they’re different or more effective.
  
  Update, January 27 2026, 11:55AM ET: This story has been updated to reflect the latest news around the Galaxy Z TriFold’s price and availability in the US.
  
  Update, January 30 2026, 12:45PM ET: This story has been updated to include the latest leaks on the possible dates for Unpacked 2026.
  
  Update, February 02 2026, 11:30AM ET: This story has been updated to include the latest leaks with full image renders of the S26 trio of devices.
  
  Update, February 03 2026, 11:00AM ET: This story has been updated to include the latest leaks about the possible lack of magnetic support on the S26 series.
  
  Update, February 10 2026, 7:15PM ET: This story has been updated to include the official date of Galaxy Unpacked as Samsung announced it today. The intro was also edited to reflect that detail.
  
  Update, February 17 2026, 4:55PM ET: This story has been updated to add Samsung’s teaser about its upcoming mobile AI photography tools. The intro was also edited for timeliness.
  This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/smartphones/samsung-galaxy-unpacked-2026-the-galaxy-s26-and-other-devices-that-might-launch-on-february-25-130000063.html?src=rss

• Tunic publisher claims TikTok ran 'racist, sexist' AI ads for one of its games without its knowledge
  Indie publisher and developer Finji has accused TikTok of using generative AI to alter the ads for its games on the platform without its knowledge or permission. Finji, which published indie darlings like Night in the Woods and Tunic, said it only became aware of the seemingly modified ads after being alerted to them by followers of its official TikTok account.
  
  As reported by IGN, Finji alleges that one ad that went out on the platform was modified so it displayed a "racist, sexualized" representation of a character from one of its games. While it does advertise on TikTok, it told IGN that it has AI "turned all the way off," but after CEO and co-founder Rebekah Saltsman received screenshots of the ads in question from fans, she approached TikTok to investigate.
  
  A number of Finji ads have appeared on TikTok, some that include montages of the company’s games, and others that are game-specific like this one for Usual June. According to IGN, the offending AI-modified ads (which are still posted as if they’re coming directly from Finji) appeared as slideshows. Some images don’t appear to be that different from the source, but one possibly AI-generated example seen by IGN depicts Usual June’s titular protagonist with "a bikini bottom, impossibly large hips and thighs, and boots that rise up over her knees." Needless to say (and obvious from the official screenshot used as the lead image for this article), this is not how the character appears in the game.
  
  As for TikTok’s response, IGN printed a number of the platform’s replies to Finji’s complaints, in which it initially said, in part, that it could find no evidence that "AI-generated assets or slideshow formats are being used." This was despite Finji sending the customer support page a screenshot of the clearly edited image mentioned above. In a subsequent exchange, TikTok appeared to acknowledge the evidence and assured the publisher it was "no longer disputing whether this occurred." It added that it has escalated the issue internally and was investigating it thoroughly.
  
  TikTok does have a "Smart Creative" option on its ad platform, which essentially uses generative AI to modify user-created ads so that multiple versions are pushed out, with the ones its audience responds more positively to used more often. Another option is the “Automate Creative” features, which use AI to automatically optimize things like music, audio effects and general visual "quality" to "enhance the user’s viewing experience." Saltsman showed IGN evidence that Finji has both of these options turned off, which was also confirmed by a TikTok agent for the ad in question.
  
  After a number of increasingly frustrated exchanges in which TikTok eventually admitted to Saltsman that the ad "raises significant issues, including the unauthorized use of AI, the sexualization and misrepresentation of your characters, and the resulting commercial and reputational harm to your studio," the Finji co-founder was offered something of an explanation.
  
  TikTok said that Finji’s campaign used a "catalog ads format" designed to "demonstrate the performance benefits of combining carousel and video assets in Sales campaigns." It said that this "initiative" helped advertisers "achieve better results with less effort," but did not address the harmful content directly. Finji seemingly also opted into this ad format without knowing it had done so. TikTok declined to comment on the matter when approached by IGN.
  
  Saltsman was told the issue could not be escalated any higher, with communication not resolved at the time of IGN publishing its report. In a statement to the outlet, Saltsman said she was "a bit shocked by TikTok’s complete lack of appropriate response to the mess they made." She went on to say that she expected both an apology and clear reassurance of how a similar issue would not reoccur, but was "obviously not holding my breath for any of the above."
  This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/tunic-publisher-claims-tiktok-ran-racist-sexist-ai-ads-for-one-of-its-games-without-its-knowledge-185303395.html?src=rss

• OpenAI will reportedly release an AI-powered smart speaker in 2027
  OpenAI is reportedly hard at work developing a series of AI-powered devices, including smart glasses, a smart speaker and a smart lamp. According to reporting by The Information, the AI company has a team of over 200 employees dedicated to the project.
  
  The first product scheduled to be released is reported to be a smart speaker that would include a camera, allowing it to better absorb information about its users and surroundings. According to a person familiar with the project, this would extend to identifying objects on a nearby table, as well as conversations being held in the vicinity of the speaker. The camera will also support a facial recognition feature similar to Apple9s Face ID that would enable users to authenticate purchases.
  
  The speaker is expected to retail for between $200 and $300 and ship in early 2027 at the earliest. Reporting indicates the company9s AI-powered smart glasses, a space currently dominated by Meta, would not come until 2028. As for the smart lamp, while prototypes have been made, it9s unclear whether it will actually be brought to market.
  
  Last year OpenAI acquired ex-Apple designer Jony Ive9s startup io Products for $6.5 billion. Ive is considered largely responsible for Apple9s design aesthetic, having been involved in designing just about every major Apple device since joining the company in the 990s before his departure in 2019. The acquisition of his AI-focused design firm sets the stage for Ive to lead hardware product development now for OpenAI.
  
  Since the partnership was forged, there have already been delays due to technical issues, privacy concerns and logistical issues surrounding the computing power necessary to run a mass-produced AI device. Regardless of the behemoths behind the project, the speaker and other future products may still face a consumer reluctant to buy a product that is always listening to and watching its users.
  This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/openai-will-reportedly-release-an-ai-powered-smart-speaker-in-2027-173344866.html?src=rss

• NASA targets March 6 for Artemis 2 launch to take astronauts around the Moon
  The Artemis 2 launch is edging closer as NASA has now set a target date for the 10-day mission to get underway. The agency is aiming to launch as soon as March 6 following a successful wet dress rehearsal on Thursday. The first attempt, which took place in early February, failed due to a hydrogen leak.
  
  During Thursday9s rehearsal, NASA was able to fuel the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket with more than 700,000 gallons of liquid propellant and complete two runs of terminal count — the final step of the launch countdown — at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. While there was a hiccup due to a loss of ground communications, NASA was able to move to a backup system before the regular comms channels were back in operation. The agency said engineers pinpointed the equipment that caused the problem.
  
  "Following that successful wet dress yesterday, we9re now targeting March 6 as our earliest launch attempt," Dr. Lori Glaze, NASA9s Moon to Mars program manager, said at a press conference on Friday. Glaze added that there9s still much that has to be done before launch, including an analysis of the wet dress, a flight-readiness review and work on the launch pad.
  
  The four Artemis 2 astronauts are expected to go into quarantine later on Friday in preparation for the launch, which will mark the Orion spacecraft’s first crewed mission. It will be the first time in more than 50 years that a crew will travel around the Moon and it will be humanity’s furthest-ever journey into space. The astronauts will test Orion’s critical life support systems as a precursor to lunar landings.
  This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/science/space/nasa-targets-march-6-for-artemis-2-launch-to-take-astronauts-around-the-moon-170727116.html?src=rss

• Ubisoft lays off 40 staff working on Splinter Cell remake, says game remains in development
  It has already been a depressingly busy year for layoffs at Ubisoft, and the French publisher’s Toronto studio is the latest workforce to be hit. Around 40 jobs have been cut at the studio, which is one of Ubisoft’s largest and has previously worked on games including Watch Dogs: Legion and Far Cry 6.
  
  "This decision was not taken lightly and does not in any way reflect the talent, dedication, or contributions of the individuals affected," Ubisoft said in a statement to Mobile Syrup, which first reported the new layoffs. "Our priority now is to support them through this transition with comprehensive severance packages and robust career placement assistance."
  
  Ubisoft Toronto is currently working on the long-awaited Splinter Cell remake, which was first announced in 2021. The publisher says the game remains in development, and the Canadian studio will continue to assist with development on other games.
  
  The Toronto layoffs come after similar staff cuts at its Swedish studios, while up to 200 people could reportedly be let go at its Paris headquarters. The affected roles are casualties of a wider organizational restructuring at the troubled company, which recently canceled another high-profile remake in The Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time. Last week, 1,200 Ubisoft employees went on strike in reaction to the recent layoffs and sweeping cost-cutting measures.
  This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/ubisoft-lays-off-40-staff-working-on-splinter-cell-remake-says-game-remains-in-development-151139753.html?src=rss

• Engadget Podcast: Instagram on trial and the RAMaggedon rages on
  This week, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg testified in a landmark social media trial, claiming the company only wanted to make Instagram "useful" and not addictive. In this episode, we chat about Zuck9s testimony and the potential implications of this trial for social media companies. Also, we dive into the latest effects of the RAMaggedon RAM shortage, including a potential PlayStation 6 delay and a dire future for practically every consumer electronics company.
  Subscribe!
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  Topics
  Mark Zuckerberg testifies that Instagram was meant to be “useful,” not addictive in social media addiction trial – 1:27
  
  Meta reportedly plans to launch a smartwatch later this year – 13:23
  
  The RAMageddon will likely kill some small consumer electronics companies – 15:54
  
  Apple could unveil a MacBook, new M5 Pro chip, and iPhone 17e at March 4th event – 26:26
  
  Google’s Pixel 10a arrives on March 5 – 32:17
  
  Email leaked to 404 media suggests Ring had plans to use its Search Party function for wider surveillance – 34:48
  
  Listener mail – 45:14
  
  Working on – 48:40
  
  Pop culture picks – 49:04 
  Credits
  Host: Devindra Hardawar
  Producer: Ben Ellman
  Music: Dale North and Terrence O’Brien
  
  
  This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/engadget-podcast-instagram-on-trial-and-the-ramaggedon-rages-on-131526178.html?src=rss

• US website 'freedom.gov' will allow Europeans to view hate speech and other blocked content
  The US State Department is building a web portal, where Europeans and anyone else can see online content banned by their governments, according to freedom.gov, which currently just shows the image above. “Freedom is Coming,” the homepage reads. “Information is power. Reclaim your human right to free expression. Get Ready.”
  
  Reuters says officials discussed making a virtual private network function available on the portal and making visitors’ traffic appear as if they were from the US, so they could see anything unavailable to them. While it’s a state department project, disbanded a few months after it was formed, following complaints by Republican lawmakers that it would impinge on people’s rights to free speech.
  
  When asked about the project, the state department said it didn’t have a program specifically meant to circumvent censorship in Europe. But the spokesperson said: “Digital freedom is a priority for the State Department, however, and that includes the proliferation of privacy and censorship-circumvention technologies like VPNs."
  This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/us-website-freedomgov-will-allow-europeans-to-view-hate-speech-and-other-blocked-content-130000014.html?src=rss

• LA County lawsuit accuses Roblox of exposing children to 'grooming and exploitation'
  Los Angeles County has sued Roblox for "unfair and deceptive business practices," claiming the platform9s moderation and age-verification systems are inadequate. "Roblox portrays its platform as a safe and appropriate place for children to play," the complaint states. "In reality, and as Roblox well knows, the design of its platform makes children easy prey for pedophiles." 
  
  Representatives accused Roblox of failing to implement adequate platform safety features to prevent child endangerment. "Specifically, Roblox has not effectively moderated game content or enforced age-appropriate restrictions and warnings established by the creators, allowing the predatory and inappropriate language and interactions between users to persist," the County stated. It also said the platform failed to disclose any danger to children, including sexual content and the risk of predators. 
  
  Roblox rejected the allegations, saying the platform was built around safety. "We have advanced safeguards that monitor our platform for harmful content and communications, and users cannot send or receive images via chat, avoiding one of the most prevalent opportunities for misuse seen elsewhere online," the company accused the company of having a "lack of safety protocols" that endanger the safety of children in favor of "growth, revenue and profits." That state9s lawsuit cited a specific example of a subject arrested last year that used voice-altering tech to mimic a younger feminine voice to lure and sexually exploit young players.
  
  Roblox has said that it has about 144 million daily active users around the world, with over 40 percent of them under the age of 13. However, it has faced repeated accusations that it doesn9t do enough to protect young players. In 2024, Roblox banned players under 13 from accessing some types of in-game content and restricted their ability to message with other players outside of specific games. Last year, the company also began asking tens of millions of children to verify their age with a selfie. 
  This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/la-county-lawsuit-accuses-roblox-of-exposing-children-to-grooming-and-exploitation-124523028.html?src=rss

• Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen are coming to Switch next week for the series’ 30th anniversary
  It’s a big month for Pokémon, with February 27 marking 30 years since the world’s highest-grossing media franchise first introduced itself in the shape of two Game Boy games. Pocket Monsters Red and Pocket Monsters Green, which later arrived in the West as Pokémon Red and Pokémon Blue, kicked off a craze in Japan that would soon spread worldwide. And to mark the series’ 30th anniversary, the little turn-based RPGs that started it all are being re-released on Nintendo Switch.
  
  Well, sort of. The versions we’re actually getting are the Game Boy Advance remakes, Pokémon FireRed Version and Pokémon LeafGreen Version, which originally came out in 2004. Explaining its decision to bring back the enhanced GBA titles rather than the originals, Nintendo said in an FAQ that it thought Switch owners would like the opportunity to revisit the "ultimate versions of the original Pokémon adventures in the Kanto region."
  Get ready to relive the Kanto region Trainers, Pokémon FireRed Version and Pokémon LeafGreen Version are coming to Nintendo Switch!
  
  Pre-order here:https://t.co/WzCCWh1fn8https://t.co/5SdXjg75is https://t.co/XVYS5wVZYp
  — Nintendo of America (@NintendoAmerica) February 20, 2026
  These aren’t modern remakes or remasters. Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen will look and play pretty much the same as they did in 2004, just on a far superior display, obviously. There’s no online play, but the original games’ local multiplayer features return via the Switch’s built-in wireless features. If you’re playing on Switch 2, you can also play using GameChat. Other than that, it doesn’t sound like there are any notable differences between the Switch and Switch 2 versions. 
  
  In a move that might surprise some, Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen won’t be available as part of the Nintendo Switch Online GBA library. In fact you don’t even need an NSO membership to play them. Instead, the games are being sold as standalone titles for $20 in the eShop. No physical release is planned outside of Japan. Nintendo added in its FAQ that there are no current plans for more old-school Virtual Console-style releases beyond these ones, with the company still committed to building out its NSO subscription offerings.
  
  Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen will be available to buy after a Pokémon Presents showcase that will air next Friday, February 27 (the day of Pokémon’s 30th anniversary), at 9am ET. And if you need yet more Pokémon after that, Pokémon Pokopia, which is the series’ long-awaited stab at a cozy Animal Crossing-like, arrives on March 5.
  This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/nintendo/pokemon-firered-and-leafgreen-are-coming-to-switch-next-week-for-the-series-30th-anniversary-123505741.html?src=rss

• The Morning After: What to expect from Apple’s March 4 hardware event
  Apple has lined up its first event of the year. Already! It’s taking place in New York City on March 4 at 9AM ET, but the company hasn’t confirmed if it will stream the media event.
  
  It seems likely the event will be mainly iPads and MacBooks — so business as usual. However, it could include new entry-level MacBooks in a fresh array of colors. I think that’s what everyone’s reading into the lemon-and-lime tinged invitation.
  
  I’m very much up for a return of the colorful Mac. The first Mac I ever used was one of those bubbly orange iMacs, interning at a video-game magazine. Yes, a magazine.
  
  We’re also expecting a 2026 MacBook Air and refreshed 14- and 16-inch MacBook Pros, with the M5 Pro and M5 Max chips also breaking cover. Is it too early for an iPhone 17e? Perhaps. We’ll be reporting from the event.
  
  And for those asking about yesterday9s newsletter, thanks for your continued support and we9ll have more to say soon. 
  
  — Mat Smith
  The other big stories (and deals) this morning
  Meta’s metaverse is going mobile-first
  
  Meta reportedly plans to release a smartwatch this year
  
  Ring could be planning to expand Search Party feature beyond dogs
  Netflix’s first MMA livestream is coming in MayRousey v. Carano.
  Netflix is streaming its very first live MMA fight on May 16. The combatants are Ronda Rousey, (last match 2016) and Gina Carano (2009). The streamer has had to pluck fighters out of retirement because more contemporary stars are under contract with various promotional entities. The featherweight bout will take place inside a hexagon cage and stream globally — hopefully, Netflix can keep its stream up. The fight is co-hosted by Most Valuable Productions, Jake Paul’s production company. Because of course it is.
  
  The Pixel 10a is your next midrange Android phoneIt launches March 5.Dyson’s tiny PencilVac gets turned into a floorwasherThis is the PencilWash.Engadget
  I won’t shut up about floor cleaning. I’m 41. Dyson has crunched its wet-floor tech into the same cylindrical profile of its Penac. I like the size, but how does it clean? I’ll hold judgment till I’ve tried it.
  
  $600 is a lot more than a mop. Yes, I know that’s not the point.
  
  Continue reading.
  This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/general/the-morning-after-engadget-newsletter-122534537.html?src=rss

• Samsung updates Bixby to become more conversational
  Bixby isn’t typically part of the conversation when it comes to virtual assistants for mobile devices, but Samsung is clearly hoping that you would use it more. The company has launched the latest version of Bixby with the new One UI 8.5 beta, and it has been tweaked to work as a “conversational agent.” Samsung says you’ll now be able to talk to it and give it tasks using natural language, like how you’d talk to other people or, these days, to chatbots.
  
  You don’t have to remember exact commands or names for specific settings. You can just describe what you want to happen, such as “I don’t want the screen to time out while I’m still looking at it.” Bixby will then automatically turn on the “Keep Screen on While Viewing” setting. If you ask it a question, such as “Why is my phone screen always on when it’s inside my pocket,” it could provide several solutions you can choose from.
  
  In addition, the assistant can now access new and up-to-date information on the web. You do searches without opening a browser, and Bixby will display web results right within its interface. At the moment, the updated Bixby is only available in Samsung’s home country of Korea, as well as in Germany, India, Poland, the UK and the US, but company will roll it out more widely in the future.
  This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/smartphones/samsung-updates-bixby-to-become-more-conversational-112649179.html?src=rss

• Google Play used AI to help block 1.75 million bad apps in 2025
  Google has announced that with the help of AI, it blocked 1.75 million apps that violated its policies in 2025, significantly down from 2.36 million in 2024. The lower numbers this year, it said, are because its "AI-powered, multi-layer protections" are deterring bad actors from even trying to publish bad apps.
  
  Google said it now runs more than 10,000 safety checks on every app and continues to recheck them after they9re published. Its use of the latest generative AI models helps human reviewers discover malicious patterns more quickly, it added. The company also blocked 160 million spam ratings, preventing an average 0.5-star rating drop for apps targeted by review bombing. Finally, Google stopped 255,000 apps from gaining excessive access to sensitive user data in 2025, down from 1.3 million the year before. 
  
  Meanwhile, Google Play Protect, the company9s Android defense system, sniffed out over 27 million new malicious apps, either warning users or preventing them from running. The company added that Play Protect9s enhanced fraud protection now covers 2.8 billion Android devices in 185 markets and blocked 266 million risky "side-loading" installation attempts. 
  
  "Initiatives like developer verification, mandatory pre-review checks, and testing requirements have raised the bar for the Google Play ecosystem, significantly reducing the paths for bad actors to enter," the company said its blog. "This year, we’ll continue to invest in AI-driven defenses to stay ahead of emerging threats and equip Android developers with the tools they need to build apps safely."
  
  Google has steadfastly justified its relatively high fees on app purchases and subscriptions by touting its investments in app safety. However, its Play store has been under pressure from regulators in Europe and other regions that claim it amounts to a monopoly. Last year, the company changed its fee structure for developers using alternative payment channels, but EU regulators recently claimed the company still isn9t complying with Digital Markets Act regulations. 
  This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/apps/google-play-used-ai-to-help-block-175-million-bad-apps-in-2025-102208054.html?src=rss

• The best streaming services in 2026
  Streaming has become the default way most of us watch TV and movies, but the sheer number of services now available can make choosing what to subscribe to feel like a chore. Each platform leans into something different, from original shows and blockbuster films to comfort rewatches and niche libraries, and not all of them earn a permanent spot in your monthly budget.
  
  This guide focuses on the on-demand streaming services that are the most worthwhile to live with day to day. Whether you’re lining up a few episodes after work, sharing an account with family or just want a reliable place to find something worth watching, these are the streaming services that consistently deliver the best mix of content, value and usability right now.
  Best streaming services for 2026
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/streaming/best-streaming-services-154527042.html?src=rss

• The best cheap Android phones to buy in 2026
  Getting a solid Android phone doesn’t necessitate spending a small fortune. The best budget models strike a great balance between price and performance, giving you smooth everyday use without cutting too many corners. Whether you’re scrolling social media, streaming your favorite shows or snapping photos of a night out, there’s an affordable Android phone that can handle it all.
  
  Cheaper phones have come a long way in recent years. Many now feature bright, fast displays, reliable cameras and battery life that lasts well into the next day. You might miss out on top-tier extras like the latest processor or ultra-high-resolution zoom, but what you get instead is value that makes sense. Some models even surprise with cameras that rival far pricier flagships, making them ideal for casual photographers or anyone who just wants to capture a great shot on the go.
  
  We’ve tested budget Android phones from brands like Google, Samsung and OnePlus to find the ones that deliver the most for less. These are the models that prove you don’t need a flagship price tag to get a dependable Android phone.
  Best budget Android phones for 2026
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  How cheap should you go for an Android phone?
  We tend to define a budget smartphone as costing between $150 and $350. Any lower and the device runs the risk of suffering from too many compromises in function, and above that, you cross over to pricier midrange handsets (if you9re open to spending more, we shouted out a couple of our favorite flagship phones at the very end of this guide).
  
  But for those with a little wiggle room, there are some things to consider. For example, a child may be better off with a cheaper device, especially if it’s intended mainly for emergencies, WiFi browsing or texting parents (and not social media). On the higher end of this price spectrum, sub-$350 Samsung phones and other Android devices have come a long way thanks to improved performance, better phone cameras with low-light capabilities, fast charging, and nicer displays like AMOLED panels. This makes them a viable alternative to, say, a flagship handset with a premium design, even if you have the flexibility to spend more.
  What to look for in a cheap Android phone
  When it comes to cheap phones, you get what you pay for. Most smartphones in this price range are made out of plastic, though the fit and finish of a specific model can vary a lot based on price. A bright screen is also important. Typically you’ll get LCD panels with a 60Hz or 90Hz refresh rate, but some phones may have OLED or AMOLED screens with increased color saturation. Long battery life is critical as well, so we tend to favor devices with larger power cells of around 5,000 mAh. In this price range, performance can vary a lot, so look for devices with at least 8GB of RAM and processors that can deliver stutter-free visuals. It’s also important to consider support length: as periodic security updates and lengthy software support can extend the longevity of your device, which will save you money in the long run.
  Android phone FAQs What9s the price difference for a cheap Android vs a cheap iPhone?
  iPhones tend to be more expensive compared to Android phones — even the cheapest iPhone, the iPhone SE, which starts from $429, is a harder pill to swallow compared to a cheap Android phone. In contrast, you can get your hands on a cheap Android device for as low as $100.
  This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/smartphones/best-cheap-android-phone-160029703.html?src=rss

• Apple inks deal for IMAX screenings of live Formula 1 races
  Formula 1 has been receiving star treatment from Apple for awhile, and now the racing series will literally be getting even bigger. Apple is partnering with IMAX to show five races from the 2026 season. The Miami Grand Prix on May 3, the Monaco Grand Prix on June 7, the British Grand Prix on July 5, the Italian Grand Prix on September 6 and the United States Grand Prix on October 25 will be aired live at select IMAX theaters in the US. 
  
  Apple landed a five-year deal for the US broadcast rights to Formula 1 last fall and there9s already a dedicated channel for the car races on Apple TV ahead of the season9s start. It also got the rights for a splashy feature film about the racing league, which amassed more than $630 million at the global box office, including with some IMAX screenings. It9s unclear if IMAX will be paying to host more live F1 races at its theaters in future years, but it should be a fun way for fans to get the most immersive experience possible short of actually attending the racetrack.
  This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/apple-inks-deal-for-imax-screenings-of-live-formula-1-races-234003582.html?src=rss

• Meta's metaverse is going mobile-first
  Meta is formally sectioning off Horizon Worlds, the closest thing it has to a metaverse, from its Quest VR platform, according to a new blog post from Samantha Ryan, Meta9s VP of Content, Reality Labs. While the decision runs counter to Meta9s original plan to own an immersive virtual world that could serve as the future home for all online interaction, it fits with the recent cuts it made to its costly Reality Labs division, and Mark Zuckerberg9s public commitment to focus the company on AI hardware like smart glasses going forward. 
  
  "We’re explicitly separating our Quest VR platform from our Worlds platform in order to create more space for both products to grow," Ryan writes in the blog post. "We’re doubling down on the VR developer ecosystem while shifting the focus of Worlds to be almost exclusively mobile. By breaking things down into two distinct platforms, we’ll be better able to clearly focus on each."
  
  Meta has been developing mobile and web versions of Horizon Worlds in parallel with its VR app since at least 2023. Switching Worlds to being a mobile-first software platform isn9t good for VR diehards, but it does make it a more natural competitor to something like Roblox or Fortnite, which also offer user-created and monetizable worlds and games. It9s also a business Meta believes it can more easily scale because of its ability to connect games to "billions of people on the world’s biggest social networks."
  
  While Meta shuttered several of its own VR game studios earlier this year, it still wants to support third-party developers publishing games on its platform. The company says new monetization tools, better discoverability, a "Deals" tab and more ways for developers to talk to their customers should help make a difference. Maintaining the Quest9s library of games could also be critical going forward. confirmed earlier this February that the company still had multiple Quest devices on its roadmap.
  This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ar-vr/metas-metaverse-is-going-mobile-first-233030532.html?src=rss

• Slay the Spire 2 will enter early access on March 5
  
  Slay the Spire 2 will launch in early access next month. This sequel to the hugely popular 2019 roguelike deckbuilder hits early access on Steam beginning March 5, 2026. Along with releasing the teaser trailer above, developer Mega Crit shared some details about its goals for this phase ahead of the game9s official release.
  
  "Slay the Spire requires a lot of player feedback so we can balance content, add quality of life features, and make sure the game runs without issues," the developers explained. "Early Access is also a chance for us to test experimental features, try exotic designs, identify niche problems, and helps us make sure the game is headed in the right direction." Slay the Spire 2 is expected to be in early access for a year or two, or more generally "until the game feels great."
  
  Mega Crit has also revealed that it will be introducing a new co-op mode where up to four people can team up. This gameplay option will feature some unique cards just for multiplayer as well as some team-wide synergies. 
  
  Some of the characters from Slay the Spire will be returning for the sequel alongside new ones. For anyone who hasn9t yet experienced the original game, Slay the Spire is available on iOS, including as part of Apple Arcade. It9s also on consoles and PC.
  This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/slay-the-spire-2-will-enter-early-access-on-march-5-210338514.html?src=rss

• Sony is shutting down the studio behind the Demon's Souls remake
  Sony is closing Bluepoint Games, the studio behind the Shadow of the Colossus and was cancelled in 2025, alongside another game from Bend Studio. In the context of Sony9s other live-service failures, the decision wasn9t surprising. Sony shut down the servers for multiplayer shooter Concord just two weeks after its release. Not long after, it also closed Firewalk Studios, the developer behind the game.
  
  Bluepoint Games was originally acquired by Sony in 2021, when it seemed like the studio9s expertise in remaking and remastering classic PlayStation games could be a major asset going forward. Why that changed isn9t entirely clear, but Sony9s mismanagement of its pivot into and out of publishing premium online multiplayer games may have played a role. Some of Sony9s studios are still experimenting with live-service mechanics. Guerilla Games recently announced an online co-op game set in its Horizon universe. Destiny 2 developer Bungie is also releasing its extraction shooter Marathon in March.
  This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/playstation/sony-is-shutting-down-the-studio-behind-the-demons-souls-remake-195234213.html?src=rss

• Meta is shuttering Messenger’s standalone website, which is a thing that exists
  Meta is shutting down the standalone Messenger website, have expressed discontent over the decision to shut down the standalone website, according to a report by TechCrunch. This is particularly true for those who have deactivated their Facebook accounts but continued to use Messenger.
  
  This comes just a few months after Meta shut down Messenger9s standalone desktop apps. At that time, Meta directed existing users to Facebook to continue using the service and not the dedicated Messenger website. In other words, the writing has likely been on the wall since October.
  
  Messenger has had a long and storied history. The platform first launched as Facebook Chat all the way back in 2008. Facebook Messenger became a standalone app in 2011. The company has long-tried to make Messenger a thing outside of Facebook. It removed messaging capabilities from the main Facebook app in 2014 and began directing users to the Messenger app. Meta began reintegrating Messenger back into the Facebook app in 2023 and now here we are.
  This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/apps/meta-is-shuttering-messengers-standalone-website-which-is-a-thing-that-exists-191808134.html?src=rss

• Here are my favorite things from Toy Fair 2026
  Toy Fair 2026 just wrapped earlier this week and while I would have liked to spend even more time there, I have my own kids (and all their toys and trinkets) to look after. That said, there were a ton of cool new products on display at the Javits Center in New York City that set the stage for the rest of the year, so here9s a quick look at some of the most interesting releases from the largest toy show in the Western Hemisphere. 
  apology tour to make up for traumatizing theatergoers with the death of the most beloved Autobot back in 1986. To kick things off, Hasbro is releasing a handful of new figures alongside re-releases for some popular bots including Astrotrain, Skywarp, Snarl and Shockwave. I want to give a special shout-out to the model for Kranix, which looks incredibly accurate, as if he just leapt off the movie screen. And even though his duck-billed spaceship alt-mode might look a bit awkward, I wouldn9t have it any other way. 
  
  The crown jewel of the line might be a near-life-size version of The Matrix of Leadership, which measures more than 15 inches wide and even plays Stan Bush9s iconic song "The Touch" with the push of a button. Unfortunately, the appeal of the Matrix is so powerful that it9s already sold out, including at third-party retailers like Big Bad Toy Store, which thankfully is still taking pre-orders for the rest of the lineup after the initial stock from Hasbro dried up.
  F1 Hot WheelsA collection of some of the new F1 Hot Wheels cars for 2026. Sam Rutherford for Engadget
  Hot Wheels has big plans for 2026 including a new line of Pantone-colored cars, Brick Shop models like the Elite Series Aston Martin (which comes with its own 1:64 scale car) and a Monster Truck Mutant Chaos set with actual slime. However, I9d argue the company9s new F1 offerings are the cream of the crop. Not only are there a bunch of incredibly detailed 1:64 scale racecars with metal bodies, real rubber tires and accurate livery for all the big teams, there9s also a new Downhill Circuit Race course that comes with three official vehicles (Mercedes, Haas and Ferrari) featuring multiple levels and the ability to overtake or crash into other cars. If you9re like a lot of Americans who have recently fallen down the F1 rabbit hole due to Netflix9s Drive to Survive, these new officially licensed miniatures are sure to hit the spot. 
  
  The first five-pack set of cars is available now, with more arriving later this spring before the Downhill Circuit Race course drives by sometime this fall. 
  Lego Star Wars with Smart Bricks ($40 to $160)Darth Vader9s TIE fighter is an all-in-one set, which means it comes included with one of Lego9s Smart Bricks, which isn9t true for every kit. Lego
  We9ve been eagerly awaiting the first batch of playsets featuring Lego9s nifty Smart Brick after it debuted at CES. But now that the company has detailed eight new sets featuring its latest innovation, we9re even more intrigued. For me, the three standout kits are the Millennium Falcon, Luke9s Red Five X-Wing and Darth Vader9s TIE fighter because acting out the Death Star trench run complete with reactive lights and sounds will never get old. I also have a soft spot for the Ewok minifigs that come with the AT-ST set. Alternatively, the Mos Eisley Cantina kit seems like a great way to highlight the smart brick9s ability to play music or kick out some rowdy droids. The one thing to look out for, though, is the tag on the set that says whether it9s Smart Play compatible or if it9s an all-in-one set, because the former will need Smart Bricks from other kits to deliver Lego9s newfound interactivity. 
  
  Pre-orders for these are live now, with sets slated to ship on March 1. 
  All the new K-pop Demon Hunters toysThe HUNTR/X Battle Rumi Deluxe Fashion Doll (right) might be my favorite of the bunch. Sam Rutherford for Engadget
  Rumi, Mira and Zoey may have been the biggest breakout stars of 2025 and Mattel is looking to keep that momentum going with a ton of new toys and figures for everyone9s favorite demon hunters. There are three new singing dolls that can belt out the trio9s hit "Golden" at the touch of a button and a deluxe figure of Rumi complete with her Four Tiger Sword. There are also a ton of other dolls and miniatures showcasing HUNTR/X, the Saja Boys and more. The one downside is that these products aren9t coming out until the fall, so you9ll have to tide yourself over with other K-pop-themed products for now. 
  Hatchin9 Yoshi ($50)If Rosalina isn9t careful, Yoshi will become the biggest draw of the new Mario movie. Spin Masters
  Yoshi seems poised to steal the spotlight from Rosalina in the upcoming Thames and Kosmos SolarFlowersNot only do the SolarFlowers look great, they9re educational too. Thames & Kosmos
  Technically, these went on sale last month, but Thames & Kosmos9 SolarFlowers caught my eye again at Toy Fair due to their combination of art and science. Available in four different styles, each kit features a model that you can build yourself or with your kids (recommended age 8+) that turns into a lasting showpiece. After putting the kinetic sculpture together, you can connect the included solar panel to bring the whole kit to life (no batteries required) and make the flowers spin for perpetual entertainment. 
  Honorable mentionsUpcoming Masters of the Universe figuresSome upcoming figures from Mattel9s line of Masters of the Universe figures. Sam Rutherford for Engadget
  As someone who grew up during the 80s and 90s, I9m trying to be optimistic about He-Man9s return to the big screen later this summer and Mattel9s new line of figures is certainly helping. To help prime people for the movie, there9s a big range of upcoming toys highlighting He-Man, Skeletor, Battle Cat and more, all of which I would have absolutely loved as a kid. Those will be available later this spring.
  Fisher-Price Super Mario Little People collectionJust look how cute these are. Sam Rutherford for Engadget
  It9s hard to gauge the excitement of toys aimed at one-year-olds when they can9t read or get into Toy Fair. But as the parent of a toddler, I adore the partnership between Fisher-Price and Nintendo that has resulted in a line of Mario-themed Little People. All the big names are here, including Peach, Luigi and Bowser and there9s even a couple of super cute playsets to go with them. But perhaps the best part is that a six-pack of figures and Bower9s Airship costs under $25, which means your kid could be in for hours of fun without you spending a ton of money.
  
  
  This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/here-are-my-favorite-things-from-toy-fair-2026-183356720.html?src=rss

• Ring could be planning to expand Search Party feature beyond dogs
  Ring CEO Jamie Siminoff has indicated that the company9s controversial Search Party feature might not always be just for lost dogs, https://t.co/kLbZdR6Is1) pic.twitter.com/W9TFQpriRh
  — Maricopa County Libertarian Party (@LPMaricopa) February 18, 2026
  The words "zero out crime in neighborhoods" are particularly troubling. It is, however, worth noting that this is just an email and doesn9t necessarily indicate a plan by the company. Siminoff wrote the email back in October when suggested in an earlier email to staffers that Ring technology could have been used to catch Charlie Kirk9s killer by leveraging the company9s Community Requests feature. This is a tool that allows cops to ask camera owners for footage, thanks to a partnership with the police tech company Axon.
  Here9s that Ring #SuperBowl commercial: pic.twitter.com/1gAxIJATdz
  — philip lewis (@Phil_Lewis_) February 9, 2026
  Ring had planned an expansion of this program via a partnership with a surveillance company called Flock Safety. The companies canceled this partnership after a Super Bowl ad spotlighting the Search Party tool triggered public outcry. Ring didn9t cite public sentiment for this decision, rather saying the integration would require "significantly more time and resources than anticipated."
  
  Ring has responded to 404 Media9s reporting, saying in an email that Search Party "does not process human biometrics or track people" and that "sharing has always been the camera owner9s choice." This response did not provide any information as to what the future will hold for the company9s toolset.
  
  The organization has been friendly with law enforcement since inception. "Our mission to reduce crime in neighborhoods has been at the core of everything we do at Ring," founding chief Jamie Siminoff said when Amazon bought the company for $839 million back in 2018. 
  This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/ring-could-be-planning-to-expand-search-party-feature-beyond-dogs-175805706.html?src=rss

• YouTube is bringing the Gemini-powered 'Ask' button to TVs
  YouTube9s "Ask" button is making its way to the living room. The Gemini-powered feature is now rolling out as an experiment on smart TVs, gaming consoles and streaming devices. Google support page announcing the change.
  
  Like on mobile devices and desktop, the feature is essentially a Gemini chatbot trained on each video9s content. Selecting that "Ask" button will bring up a series of canned prompts related to the content. Alternatively, you can use your microphone to ask questions about it in your own words.
  The "Ask about this video" feature on desktopYouTube
  Google says your TV remote9s microphone button (if it has one) will also activate the “Ask” feature. The company listed sample questions in its announcement, such as "what ingredients are they using for this recipe?" and "what9s the story behind this song9s lyrics?"
  
  The conversational AI tool is only launching for "a small group of users" at first. Google promises that it will "keep everyone up to speed on any future expansions."
  This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/youtube-is-bringing-the-gemini-powered-ask-button-to-tvs-173900295.html?src=rss

• Rivian rolls out an Apple Watch app with vehicle controls and digital key support
  
  Rivian suggests that vehicle owners can leave their phone at home (or perhaps in a glove box) and instead control some aspects of their EV using a new Apple Watch app. With a tap of your watch, you can unlock and lock the doors, sound the alarm and vent the windows. After the digital key is set up, R1S and R1T Gen 2 owners can unlock their vehicle automatically simply by walking up to it thanks to the passive car key feature.
  
  It9s possible to set the cabin temperature and a target state of charge by turning the digital crown on an Apple Watch. You also can choose four quick controls to put front and center in the app and add a battery status indicator to your watch face if you so wish. Rivian says it will update its Apple Watch app with new features in the future.
  
  Rivian first enabled digital car key support on Apple, Google Pixel and Samsung devices back in December. Apple started supporting digital car keys on iPhone and Apple Watch in 2020 and a boatload of automakers have adopted the tech. 
  This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/transportation/evs/rivian-rolls-out-an-apple-watch-app-with-vehicle-controls-and-digital-key-support-172642545.html?src=rss

• Orbital AI data centers could work, but they might ruin Earth in the process
  At the start of the month, Elon Musk announced that two of his companies — SpaceX and xAI  — were merging, and would jointly launch a constellation of 1 million satellites to operate as orbital data centers. Musk9s reputation might suggest otherwise, but according to experts, such a plan isn9t a complete fantasy. However, if executed at the scale suggested, some of them believe it would have devastating effects on the environment and the sustainability of low Earth Earth orbit.     
  
  Musk and others argue that putting data centers in space is practical given how much more efficient solar panels are away from Earth9s atmosphere. In space, there are no clouds or weather events to obscure the sun, and in the correct orbit, solar panels can collect sunlight through much of the day. In combination with declining rocket launch costs and the price of powering AI data centers on Earth, Musk has said that within three years space will be the cheapest way to generate AI compute power. 
  
  Ahead of the billionaire9s announcement, SpaceX filed an eight-page application with the Federal Communications Commission detailing his plan. The company hopes to deposit the satellites in this massive cluster in altitudes ranging between 500km and 2000km. They would communicate with one another and SpaceX9s Starlink constellation using laser "optical links." Those Starlink satellites would then transmit inference requests to and from Earth. To power the entire effort, SpaceX has proposed putting the new constellation in sun-synchronous orbit, meaning the spacecraft would fly along the dividing line that separates the day and night sides of the planet. 
  What a data center would endure in orbit
  Almost immediately the plan was greeted with skepticism. How would SpaceX, for instance, cool millions of GPUs in space? At first glance, that might seem like a weird point to get hung up on — much of space being around -450 Fahrenheit — but the reality is more complicated. In the near vacuum of space, the only way to dissipate heat is to slowly radiate it out, and in direct sunlight, objects can easily overheat. As one commenter on Hacker News succinctly put it, "a satellite is, if nothing else, a fantastic thermos."
  
  Scott Manley, who, before he created one of the most popular space-focused channels on YouTube, was a software engineer and studied computational physics and astronomy, argues SpaceX has already solved that problem at a smaller scale with Starlink. He points to the company9s latest V3 model, which has about 30 square meters of solar panels. "They have a bunch of electronics in the middle, which are taking that power and doing stuff with it. Now, some of that power is being beamed away as radio waves, but there9s a lot of thermal power that9s being generated and then having to be dissipated. So they already have a platform that9s running electronics off of power, and so it9s not a massive leap to turn into something doing compute."
  The larger V3 @Starlink satellites that will deploy from Starship will bring gigabit connectivity to users and are designed to add 60 Tera-bits-per-second of downlink capacity to the Starlink network.
  
  That9s more than 20 times the capacity added with every V2 Mini launch on… pic.twitter.com/N0Vl9psbm3
  — SpaceX (@SpaceX) October 13, 2025
  Kevin Hicks, a former NASA systems engineer who worked on the Curiosity rover mission, is more skeptical. "Satellites with the primary goal of processing large amounts of compute requests would generate more heat than pretty much any other type of satellite," he said. "Cooling them is another aspect of the design which is theoretically possible but would require a ton of extra work and complexity, and I have doubts about the durability of such a cooling system."  
  
  What about radiation then? There9s a reason NASA relies on ancient hardware like the PowerPC 750 CPU found inside the Perseverance rover: Older chips feature larger transistors, making them more resilient to bit flips — errors in processing caused most often by cosmic radiation — that might scramble a computation. "Binary ones and zeroes are about the presence or absence of electrons, and the amount of charge required to represent a 9one9 goes down as the transistors get smaller and smaller," explains Benjamin Lee, professor of computer and information science at the University of Pennsylvania. Space is full of energized particles traveling at incredible velocities, and the latest GPUs are built on the smallest, most advanced processing nodes to create transistor-dense silicon. Not a great combination.
  
  "My concern about radiation is that we don9t know how many bit flips will occur when you deploy the most advanced chips and hundreds of gigabytes of memory up there," said Professor Lee, pointing to preliminary research by Google on the subject. As part of Project Suncatcher, its own effort to explore the viability of space-based data centers, the company put one of its Trillium TPUs in front of a proton beam to bombard it with radiation. It found the silicon was "surprisingly radiation-hard for space applications." 
  
  While those results were promising, Professor Lee points out we just don9t know how resilient GPUs are to radiation at this scale. "Even though modern computer architectures can detect and sometimes correct for those errors, having to do that again and again will slow down or add overhead to space-based computation," he said.   
  
  Space engineer Andrew McCalip, who9s done a deep dive on the economics of orbital data centers, is more optimistic, pointing to the natural resilience of AI models. "They don9t require 100 percent perfect error-free runs. They9re inherently very noisy, very stochastic," he explains, adding that part of the training for modern AI systems involves "injecting random noise into different layers."   
  
  Even if SpaceX could harden its GPUs against radiation, the company would still lose satellites to GPUs that break down. If you know anything about data centers here on Earth, it9s that they require constant maintenance. Components like SSDs and GPUs die all the time. Musk has claimed SpaceX9s AI satellites would require "little" in the way of operating or maintenance costs. That9s only true if you accept the narrowest possible interpretation of what maintaining a fleet of AI satellites would entail.
  
  "I think that there9s no case in which repair makes sense. It9s a fly till you die scenario," says McCalip. From an economic perspective, McCalip argues the projected death rate of GPUs in space represents "one of the biggest uncertainties" of the orbital data center model. McCalip9s put that number at nine percent on the basis of a study Meta published following the release of its Llama 3 model (which, incidentally, measured hardware failures on Earth.) But the reality is no one knows what the attrition rate of those chips will be until they9re in space. 
  
  Orbital data centers also likely wouldn9t be a direct replacement for their terrestrial counterparts. SpaceX9s application specifically mentions inference as the primary use case for its new constellation. Inference is the practical side of running an AI system. It sees a model apply its learning to data it hasn9t seen before, like a prompt you write in ChatGPT, to make predictions and generate content. In other words, AI models would still need to be trained on Earth, and it9s not clear that the process could be offloaded to a constellation of satellites. "My initial thinking is that computations that require a lot of coordination, like AI training, may end up being tricky to get right at scale up there," says Professor Lee.     
  Kessler syndrome
  In 1978, a pair of NASA scientists proposed a scenario where low Earth orbit could become so dense with space junk that collisions between those objects would begin to cascade. That scenario is known as Kessler syndrome. 
  
  One estimate from satellite tracking website Orbiting Now puts the number of objects in orbit around the planet at approximately 15,600. Another estimate from NASA suggests there are 45,000 human-made objects orbiting Earth. No matter the number, what9s currently in orbit represents a fraction of the 1 million additional satellites Musk wants to launch.  
  
  According to Aaron Boley, professor of physics and astronomy at the University of British Columbia and co-director of the Outer Space Institute, forward-looking modeling of Earth9s orbit above 700 kilometers — where part of SpaceX9s proposed cluster would live — suggests that area of space is already showing signs of Kessler syndrome. 
  
  While it takes less time for debris to clear in low Earth orbit, Professor Boley says there9s already enough material in that region of space where there could be a cascading effect from a major collision. Debris could, in a worst case scenario, take a decade to clear up. In turn, that could lead to disruptions in global communications, climate monitoring missions and more.     
  
  "You could get to the point where you9re just launching material in, and you could ask yourself how many satellites can I afford to lose? Can you reconstitute your constellation faster than you9re losing parts of it because of debris?" says Boley. "That9s a horrible future in terms of the environmental perspective" In particular, it would limit opportunities for humans to fly into low Earth orbit. "Could you operate in it? Yeah, but it would come with higher and higher costs," adds Boley. 
  
  "The entire world is struggling with the problem of how we safely fly multiple mega constellations," says Richard DalBello, who previously ran the Traffic Coordination System for Space (TraCSS) at the US Department of Commerce. Right now, there is no common global space situational awareness (SSA) system, and government and satellite operators are using uncoordinated national and commercial systems that are likely producing different results. At the start of the year, SpaceX lowered the orbit of thousands of Starlink satellites after one of them nearly collided with a Chinese satellite. 
  
  SpaceX has its own in-house SSA system called Stargaze, which it uses to fly its more than 7,000 Starlink satellites. According to DalBello, competing operators can receive SSA data from SpaceX, but to do so they must share their satellite position information. “Assuming data sharing, it is likely Stargaze can make an important contribution to spaceflight safety" says DalBello. “SpaceX is likely to have success with US and other commercial operators, but without the assistance of the federal government, other governments — particularly China — will likely be unwilling to share their satellite and SSA data." 
  
  According to DalBello, the Biden administration was unable to make meaningful progress on the next-generation TraCSS system, in part because Congress was initially reluctant to fund the program. Meanwhile, the current Trump administration hasn9t shown interest in advancing the work that began during the president9s first term.  
  
  Even if the regulatory situation suddenly changes and the world9s governments agree on an international SSA system, SpaceX launching 1 million satellites along the day-night terminator would see the company effectively monopolize one of the Earth9s most valuable and important orbits. Professor Boley argues we should view our planet9s orbits as a resource that belongs to everyone. "Every time you put a satellite up, you use part of that resource. Now someone else can9t use it." 
  
  And as Hicks points out, even a single cascade of colliding satellites would prevent that space from being used for scientific endeavors. "You would have to wait years for that debris to slowly come back into the atmosphere and burn up. In the meantime, that debris is taking up space that could be used for climate monitoring missions or any other types of missions that governments want to launch."   
  A blow to the atmosphere
  Separately, the constant churn of Starship launches and re-entry of dead satellites would have a potentially dire impact on our planet9s atmosphere. "We9re not prepared for it," Boley flatly says of the latter. "We9re not prepared for what9s happening now, and what9s happening now is already potentially bad." 
  
  According to Musk9s "basic math," SpaceX could add 100 gigawatts of AI compute capacity annually by launching a million tons of satellite per year. McCalip estimates a 100-gigawatt buildout alone would necessitate about 25,000 Starship flights.  
  
  Many of the metals found in satellites, including aluminum, magnesium and lithium, in combination with the exhaust rockets release into the atmosphere, can have complicated effects on the health of the planet. For instance, they can affect polar cloud formations, which in turn can facilitate ozone layer destruction through the chemical reactions that occur on their surfaces. According to Boley, the problem is we just don9t know how severe those environmental factors could become at the scale Musk has proposed, and SpaceX has provided us with precious few details on its mitigation plans. All it has said is that its plan would "achieve transformative cost and energy efficiency while significantly reducing the environmental impact associated with terrestrial data centers."   
  
  Even if SpaceX could and does go out its way to mitigate the atmospheric effects of constant rocket flights, those spacecraft still need to be manufactured here on Earth. At one of his previous roles, Hicks studied rocket emissions and found the supply chains needed to build them produce an "order of magnitude" more carbon emissions than the rockets themselves.   
  
  SpaceX plans to fly its new satellites in a sun-synchronous orbit, meaning for much of the year, they9ll be sunlit. Each new Starlink generation has been larger and heavier than the one before it, with SpaceX stating in a recent filing that its upcoming V3 model could weigh up to 2,000 kilograms, up from the 575 kilograms of the V2 Mini Optimized. While we don9t know the exact dimensions of the company9s still-hypothetical AI satellites, they will almost certainly be bigger than their Starlink counterparts. 
  
  SpaceX has done more than most space operators to reduce the brightness of its satellites, but Professor Boley says he expects that this new constellation will be "strikingly bright" when moving through the night sky. In aggregate, he estimates they will almost certainly be harmful to scientific research here on Earth, limiting what terrestrial observatories can see.  
  
  "You9re going to see them with the naked eye. You9re going to see them with cameras. It9s going to be like living near an airport where you see all these things flying over just after sunset and the next couple of hours after sunset," says Manley. "I don9t know if I want to have my entire sunset be just a band of satellites constantly shooting overhead."
  
  There are good reasons to make some spacecraft capable of doing AI inference. For instance, Professor Lee suggests it would make orbital imaging satellites more useful, as those spacecraft could do on-site analysis, instead of sending high-resolution files over long distances, saving time in the process. But the dose, as they say, makes the poison.
  
  "There9s a lot of excitement about the many possibilities that can be brought to society and humanity through continued access to space, but the promise of prosperity is not permission to be reckless," he says. "At this moment, we9re allowing that excitement to overtake that more measured progression [...] those impacts don9t just impact outer space but Earth as well." 
  
  
  This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/orbital-ai-data-centers-could-work-but-they-might-ruin-earth-in-the-process-170000099.html?src=rss

• West Virginia is suing Apple alleging negligence over CSAM materials
  The office of the Attorney General for West Virginia announced Thursday that it has filed a lawsuit against Apple alleging that the company had "knowingly" allowed its iCloud platform "to be used as a vehicle for distributing and storing child sexual abuse material." The state alleges this went on for years but drew no action from the tech giant "under the guise of user privacy."
  
  In the lawsuit, the state repeatedly cites a text from Apple executive Eric Friedman, in which he calls iCloud "the greatest platform for distributing child porn" in a conversation with another Apple executive. These messages were first uncovered by The Verge in 2021 within discovery documents for the Epic Games v. Apple trial. In the conversation, Friedman says while some other platforms prioritize safety over privacy, Apple9s priorities "are the inverse."
  
  The state further alleges that detection technology to help root out and report CSAM exists, but that Apple chooses not to implement it. Apple indeed considered scanning iCloud Photos for CSAM in 2021, but abandoned these plans after pushback stemming from privacy concerns.
  
  In 2024 Apple was sued by a group of over 2,500 victims of child sexual abuse, citing nearly identical claims and alleging that Apple9s failure to implement these features led to the victims9 harm as images of them circulated through the company9s servers. At the time Apple told Engadget, “child sexual abuse material is abhorrent and we are committed to fighting the ways predators put children at risk. We are urgently and actively innovating to combat these crimes without compromising the security and privacy of all our users."
  
  The case in West Virginia would mark the first time a governmental body is bringing such an action against the iPhone maker. The state says it is seeking injunctive relief that would compel Apple to implement effective CSAM detection measures as well as damages. We have reached out to Apple for comment on the suit and will update if we hear back.
  This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/west-virginia-is-suing-apple-alleging-negligence-over-csam-materials-164647648.html?src=rss

• Nintendo announces surprise Switch 2 version of sci-fi RPG Xenoblade Chronicles X: Definitive Edition
  Last year’s Switch 2 update for one of the most technically impressive games Nintendo has ever published has finally arrived.
  
  Somewhat hilariously titled Xenoblade Chronicles X: Definitive Edition - Nintendo Switch 2 Edition (you get the feeling Nintendo has started a naming convention it may come to regret here), the updated version of Monolith Soft’s sprawling sci-fi RPG now supports up to 60fps performance and 4K resolution when docked to a TV.
  The sprawling alien world of planet Mira, now enhanced on #NintendoSwitch2 with improved frame rates and up to 4K resolution in TV mode!
  
  Join the fight for survival in #XenobladeChroniclesX: Definitive Edition – Nintendo Switch 2 Edition, available now! pic.twitter.com/raA1XhIimC
  — Nintendo of America (@NintendoAmerica) February 19, 2026
  As impressive as the Switch remake of the 2015 Wii U game was, given the frankly absurd size of its open-world setting, you could almost feel the hardware creaking under its weight every time you booted the game up, so this patch was much-needed. Unfortunately the graphical and performance enhancements aren’t free for anyone who already owns the Switch version of Xenoblade Chronicles X: Definitive Edition. A $5 upgrade pack is available on the eShop, and the Switch 2 game costs $65 on its own. A physical version is also arriving on April 16.
  
  Xenoblade Chronicles X: Definitive Edition - Nintendo Switch 2 Edition (again, won’t someone please think of us writers) was the last of a number of Xenoblade Chronicles games to make its way to Switch. It’s a bit different to the other entries in the series, with its hard sci-fi story, emphasis on side quests and completely seamless open world to explore. Also, stick with the game long enough and you can eventually fly around the entire planet of Mira in a giant mech, which is as fun as it sounds.
  
  Like the other games in the series, Xenoblade Chronicles X is a standalone experience, so don’t worry about jumping in if you’ve never played one before. The series’ signature MMO-like hybrid real-time combat system takes a bit of getting used to, but it’s part of what makes these games stand out from other RPG series.
  
  The other Xenoblade games in the Switch library, which are Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition, Xenoblade Chronicles 2 and Xenoblade Chronicles 3, are yet to receive Switch 2 updates, but hopefully they9ll arrive eventually too.
  This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/nintendo/nintendo-announces-surprise-switch-2-version-of-sci-fi-rpg-xenoblade-chronicles-x-definitive-edition-153121689.html?src=rss

• Proton VPN two-year subscriptions are 70 percent off right now
  Proton VPN is running a solid deal right now, dropping its two-year Proton VPN Plus plan to $2.99 per month. That works out to $72 billed upfront for the first 24 months, which represents a 70 percent discount compared to its regular pricing. 
  
  We’ve rated Proton VPN highly thanks to its strong privacy credentials, transparent nonprofit backing and consistently fast performance. It’s one of the services we recommend in our guide to the best VPNs, and this deal also shows up alongside other standout offers in our ongoing roundup of the best VPN deals. It’s a good option if you’re looking to lock in long-term protection at a lower monthly cost.
  
  
  
  In our Proton VPN review, the service impressed us with consistently fast performance and strong privacy protections. We measured average download speeds at 88 percent of our unprotected connection and upload speeds at 98 percent, which is more than enough for 4K streaming, gaming and torrenting. It also unblocked Netflix in every region we tested, and while its Mac and iOS apps aren’t quite as polished as the Windows and Android versions, the service is still easy to install and largely set-it-and-forget-it across platforms. We gave Proton VPN a score of 90 out of 100.
  
  Proton VPN Plus is the company’s premium tier and includes access to its full server network, which now spans more than 15,000 servers across 120-plus countries. A single subscription covers up to 10 devices at once and unlocks features like NetShield ad and malware blocking, Secure Core “double hop” connections, split tunneling, custom DNS controls and priority customer support. Proton VPN Plus also supports fast P2P traffic on nearly all paid servers and includes VPN Accelerator, which helps maintain high speeds over long-distance connections.
  
  Right now, Proton VPN Plus is discounted to $2.99 per month when you commit to two years, billed as $72 upfront for the first 24 months. After that, the plan renews annually at $83.88. That’s a 70 percent discount compared to the standard monthly rate. As with Proton’s other paid plans, the subscription comes with a 30-day money-back guarantee, so you can try it risk-free if you’re not ready to lock in long term.
  
  
  This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/proton-vpn-two-year-subscriptions-are-70-percent-off-right-now-123000972.html?src=rss

• Apple's iPhone Air MagSafe battery pack is cheaper than ever
  We found the iPhone Air to have a pretty decent battery life for such a thin-and-light phone, somewhere in the region of 27 hours if you’re continuously streaming video. But it9s still a phone, arguably your most used device on a daily basis, so you may need to top it up during the day if you9re using it constantly. That’s where Apple’s iPhone Air MagSafe battery pack comes in, and it’s currently on sale for $79.
  
  
  
  This accessory only works with the iPhone Air, but much like the phone it attaches to, it’s extremely slim at 7.5mmm, so crucially doesn’t add so much bulk when attached that it defeats the point of having a thin phone in the first place. The MagSafe Battery isn’t enormous at 3,149mAh (enough to add an extra 65 percent of charge to the Air), but it can wirelessly charge the AirPods Pro 3 as well, making it an even more useful travel companion. You can also charge your iPhone while charging the battery pack.
  
  At its regular price of $99, the MagSafe battery pack is an admittedly pricey add-on to what is already an expensive phone, but for $20 off it’s well worth considering what Engadget’s Sam Rutherford called an "essential accessory" for some users in his iPhone Air review.
  
  Many Apple loyalists will always insist on having first-party accessories for their iPhone, but there are plenty of third-party MagSafe chargers out there too, a lot of them considerably cheaper than Apple’s lineup. Be sure to check out our guide for those. 
  
  Follow @EngadgetDeals on X for the latest tech deals and buying advice.
  This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/apples-iphone-air-magsafe-battery-pack-is-cheaper-than-ever-144516417.html?src=rss

• The latest 45W Anker Nano charger with smart display is $10 off right now
  Anker rolled out a bunch of new chargers and other gear at CES 2026, including a cute one that's already on sale. The new Nano charger with smart display, which is an upgrade to the existing Nano charger in Anker's lineup, is on sale for $30 right now for Prime members. That's $10 off the regular price.
  
  The 45W charger includes a smart display that shows real-time data like power flow, temperature and charging status. It also features "fun animations to keep things cheerful." Anker says it can recognize what's being charged and automatically adjust certain metrics to ensure a longer battery lifespan.
  
  To that end, it works with just about everything. The company advertises that this charger is a good fit for the iPhone, Apple Watch, AirPods and Samsung devices, among others. The new Nano Charger is on the smaller side, with dual folding prongs that rotate to fit most outlets.
  
  
  
  Follow @EngadgetDeals on X for the latest tech deals and buying advice.
  This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/the-latest-45w-anker-nano-charger-with-smart-display-is-10-off-right-now-160707685.html?src=rss

• Russia's recent blocking of Telegram is reportedly disrupting its military operations in Ukraine
  A decision to ban Telegram on home soil may have backfired on the Kremlin. Last week, Russia went on a blocking spree, banning a number of Western apps in an effort to push domestic users towards Max, an unencrypted state-owned app. One of the restricted apps was WhatsApp (which was also blocked) rival Telegram, a move that drew rare internal criticism from soldiers and pro-war bloggers, with the army being heavily reliant on the cloud-based messaging service for communications.
  
  As reported by Bloomberg, pro-Russian military channels are now complaining that the sudden Telegram blackout — coupled with Elon Musk cutting Russia’s access to Starlink earlier this month — is now actively harming frontline operations. As well as being the messaging app of choice for millions of Russian civilians, soldiers also use Telegram to liaise directly on the battlefield. The government said last week that it was banning Telegram for violating national law, and that the decision was for the "protection of Russian citizens."
  
  Bloomberg was told by senior European diplomats that the double blow of Telegram’s sudden unavailability and SpaceX moving to block Russia’s use of "unauthorized” Starlink terminals in Ukraine earlier this month has had a significant impact on Russian comms. Starlink’s satellite coverage is particularly important for coordinating the Russian military’s drone strikes, the frequency of which has seemingly been disrupted in recent weeks, giving Ukrainian forces an advantage.
  
  Whether these developments will have a longer term effect on the tide of the conflict remains to be seen, but a Ukrainian drone operator who calls himself Giovanni has told the BBC that the Russian army has lost "their ability to control the field" in the wake of the Starlink outage. "I think they lost 50% of their capacity for offence," he said. "That9s what the numbers show. Fewer assaults, fewer enemy drones, fewer everything."
  This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/social-media/russias-recent-blocking-of-telegram-is-reportedly-disrupting-its-military-operations-in-ukraine-135250159.html?src=rss

• Get a four-pack of first-gen AirTags for only $64
  Good deals on Apple products aren’t as frequent as we’d like them to be, but if there’s one of the company’s products that does seem to enjoy pretty regular price cuts, it’s the AirTag. Right now you can pick up a four-pack of Apple’s diminutive first-generation Bluetooth trackers for $64, which translates to 35 percent off and a near record low price.
  
  Bear in mind that this deal brings the price per AirTag down to about $16 if you were to buy them individually, and when not on sale they usually cost $29.
  
  
  
  If you use Apple devices and consider yourself to be a serial thing-misplacer, AirTags are extremely useful. Adding one to your account takes a single tap, and with Apple’s Find My network so well established, locating missing items has never been easier.
  
  Using your iPhone you can trigger a sound from the AirTag’s built-in speaker, or alternatively Precision Finding can be used to pinpoint its location via Find My. You just follow the instructions on your iPhone, paying attention to the vibrations that signal you’re getting closer.
  
  A reminder again that the above deals apply to the first-generation AirTag only. Apple introduced a refreshed tracker with greater range and a louder speaker last month, which retails at the same price as its predecessor. For deals on the new AirTag, you may have to wait a bit.
  
  Follow @EngadgetDeals on X for the latest tech deals and buying advice.
  This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/get-a-four-pack-of-first-gen-airtags-for-only-64-163619159.html?src=rss

• Grab this Elevation Lab 10-year extended battery case for AirTag for only $16
  If you9re an iPhone user who likes to keep tabs on where your stuff is, you can9t go far wrong with an AirTag. The second-gen model that Apple just released outpaces the original in every way (aside from the galling lack of a keyring hole, that is). While it9s easy enough to replace the battery in both versions of the AirTag, you might not want to have to worry about the device9s battery life for a very long time. Enter Elevation Lab9s extended battery case for the AirTag, which is currently on sale at Amazon for $16.
  
  The case usually sells for $23, so that9s a 30 percent discount. It9s not the first time we9ve seen this deal, but it9s a pretty decent one all the same.
  
  
  
  This is arguably one of the more useful AirTag accessories around for certain use cases. It won9t exactly be helpful for an AirTag that you put in a wallet or attach to your keys, as it9s too bulky for such a purpose — and it doesn9t have a hole for a keyring anyway. Still, if you9re looking for an AirTag case that you can place in a suitcase or backpack and not have to touch for years, this could be the ticket.
  
  Elevation Lab says that, when you place a couple of AA batteries in the case, it can extend the tracker9s battery life to as much as 10 years (the brand recommends using Energizer Ultimate Lithium batteries for best results). The AirTag is slated to run for over a year on its standard CR2032 button cell. 
  
  The case gives the AirTag more protection as well. It9s sealed with four screws and it has a IP69 waterproof rating. What9s more, it doesn9t ostensibly look like an AirTag case, so someone who steals an item with one inside is perhaps less likely to realize that the object they pilfered is being tracked.
  
  There are some other downsides, though. Since the AirTag is locked inside a case, the sound it emits will be muffled. Elevation Lab says the device9s volume will be about two-thirds the level of a case-free AirTag. However, the second-gen AirTag is louder than its predecessor, which should mitigate that issue somewhat.
  
  
  
  
  
  Follow @EngadgetDeals on X for the latest tech deals and buying advice.
  This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/grab-this-elevation-lab-10-year-extended-battery-case-for-airtag-for-only-16-151215800.html?src=rss

• Meta reportedly plans to release a smartwatch this year
  Meta is reportedly gearing up to enter another segment of the wearables market. According to reported back in 2021 that Meta was working on a smartwatch powered by an open-source version of Android. Over the next year, more details of its possible features emerged, including reports that it had a detachable camera and that Meta was developing a model with up to three cameras. But in 2022, the company was believed to have put the project on hold to focus on other wearable devices.
  
  The Information says the decision to pause its smartwatch project was made as part of a broader cut in spending in the Reality Labs division. If you’ll recall, Meta laid off more than 1,000 employees from Reality Labs in January, because the division was hemorrhaging money. Mark Zuckerberg said during an earnings call after the layoffs started that when it comes to Reality Labs, the company was focusing most of its investment “towards glasses and wearables going forward.”
  
  At the moment, Meta’s wearable products are comprised of virtual reality headsets and smartglasses. They include the Meta Ray-Bans, which are a hit in the US. Meta reportedly has four augmented reality and mixed-reality glasses in development, but it’ll take some time until we see them. Based on previous reports, it pushed back the unveiling of its next mixed reality headset model codenamed “Phoenix” to early 2027.
  This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/wearables/meta-reportedly-plans-to-release-a-smartwatch-this-year-121247838.html?src=rss

• EU OS: A Bold Step Toward Digital Sovereignty for Europe
  Image
  A new initiative, called "EU OS," has been launched to develop a Linux-based operating system tailored specifically for the public sector organizations of the European Union (EU). This community-driven project aims to address the EU's unique needs and challenges, focusing on fostering digital sovereignty, reducing dependency on external vendors, and building a secure, self-sufficient digital ecosystem.
  What Is EU OS?
  EU OS is not an entirely novel operating system. Instead, it builds upon a Linux foundation derived from Fedora, with the KDE Plasma desktop environment. It draws inspiration from previous efforts such as France's GendBuntu and Munich's LiMux, which aimed to provide Linux-based systems for public sector use. The goal remains the same: to create a standardized Linux distribution that can be adapted to different regional, national, and sector-specific needs within the EU.
  
  Rather than reinventing the wheel, EU OS focuses on standardization, offering a solid Linux foundation that can be customized according to the unique requirements of various organizations. This approach makes EU OS a practical choice for the public sector, ensuring broad compatibility and ease of implementation across diverse environments.
  The Vision Behind EU OS
  The guiding principle of EU OS is the concept of "public money – public code," ensuring that taxpayer money is used transparently and effectively. By adopting an open-source model, EU OS eliminates licensing fees, which not only lowers costs but also reduces the dependency on a select group of software vendors. This provides the EU’s public sector organizations with greater flexibility and control over their IT infrastructure, free from the constraints of vendor lock-in.
  
  Additionally, EU OS offers flexibility in terms of software migration and hardware upgrades. Organizations can adapt to new technologies and manage their IT evolution at a manageable cost, both in terms of finances and time.
  
  However, there are some concerns about the choice of Fedora as the base for EU OS. While Fedora is a solid and reliable distribution, it is backed by the United States-based Red Hat. Some argue that using European-backed projects such as openSUSE or KDE's upcoming distribution might have aligned better with the EU's goal of strengthening digital sovereignty.
  Conclusion
  EU OS marks a significant step towards Europe's digital independence by providing a robust, standardized Linux distribution for the public sector. By reducing reliance on proprietary software and vendors, it paves the way for a more flexible, cost-effective, and secure digital ecosystem. While the choice of Fedora as the base for the project has raised some questions, the overall vision of EU OS offers a promising future for Europe's public sector in the digital age.
  
  Source: It's FOSS
  European Union

• Linus Torvalds Acknowledges Missed Release of Linux 6.14 Due to Oversight
  
  Linus Torvalds Acknowledges Missed Release of Linux 6.14 Due to Oversight
  
  Linux kernel lead developer Linus Torvalds has admitted to forgetting to release version 6.14, attributing the oversight to his own lapse in memory. Torvalds is known for releasing new Linux kernel candidates and final versions on Sunday afternoons, typically accompanied by a post detailing the release. If he is unavailable due to travel or other commitments, he usually informs the community ahead of time, so users don’t worry if there’s a delay.
  
  In his post on March 16, Torvalds gave no indication that the release might be delayed, instead stating, “I expect to release the final 6.14 next weekend unless something very surprising happens.” However, Sunday, March 23rd passed without any announcement.
  
  On March 24th, Torvalds wrote in a follow-up message, “I’d love to have some good excuse for why I didn’t do the 6.14 release yesterday on my regular Sunday afternoon schedule,” adding, “But no. It’s just pure incompetence.” He further explained that while he had been clearing up unrelated tasks, he simply forgot to finalize the release. “D'oh,” he joked.
  
  Despite this minor delay, Torvalds’ track record of successfully managing the Linux kernel’s development process over the years remains strong. A single day’s delay is not critical, especially since most Linux users don't urgently need the very latest version.
  
  The new 6.14 release introduces several important features, including enhanced support for writing drivers in Rust—an ongoing topic of discussion among developers—support for Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Elite mobile chip, a fix for the GhostWrite vulnerability in certain RISC-V processors from Alibaba’s T-Head Semiconductor, and a completed NTSYNC driver update that improves the WINE emulator’s ability to run Windows applications, particularly games, on Linux.
  
  Although the 6.14 release went smoothly aside from the delay, Torvalds expressed that version 6.15 may present more challenges due to the volume of pending pull requests. “Judging by my pending pile of pull requests, 6.15 will be much busier,” he noted.
  
  You can download the latest kernel here.
  Linus Torvalds kernel

• AerynOS 2025.03 Alpha Released with GNOME 48, Mesa 25, and Linux Kernel 6.13.8
  Image
  AerynOS 2025.03 has officially been released, introducing a variety of exciting features for Linux users. The release includes the highly anticipated GNOME 48 desktop environment, which comes with significant improvements like HDR support, dynamic triple buffering, and a Wayland color management protocol. Other updates include a battery charge limiting feature and a Wellbeing option aimed at improving user experience.
  
  This release, while still in alpha, incorporates Linux kernel 6.13.8 and the updated Mesa 25.0.2 graphics stack, alongside tools like LLVM 19.1.7 and Vulkan SDK 1.4.309.0. Additionally, the Moss package manager now integrates os-info to generate more detailed OS metadata via a JSON file.
  
  Future plans for AerynOS include automated package updates, easier rollback management, improved disk handling with Rust, and fractional scaling enabled by default. The installer has also been revamped to support full disk wipes and dynamic partitioning.
  
  Although still considered an alpha release, AerynOS 2025.03 can be downloaded and tested right now from its official website.
  
  Source: 9to5Linux
  AerynOS

• Xojo 2025r1: Big Updates for Developers with Linux ARM Support, Web Drag and Drop, and Direct App Store Publishing
  Image
  Xojo has just rolled out its latest release, Xojo 2025 Release 1, and it’s packed with features that developers have been eagerly waiting for. This major update introduces support for running Xojo on Linux ARM, including Raspberry Pi, brings drag-and-drop functionality to the Web framework, and simplifies app deployment with the ability to directly submit apps to the macOS and iOS App Stores.
  
  Here’s a quick overview of what’s new in Xojo 2025r1:
  1. Linux ARM IDE Support
  Xojo 2025r1 now allows developers to run the Xojo IDE on Linux ARM devices, including popular platforms like Raspberry Pi. This opens up a whole new world of possibilities for developers who want to create apps for ARM-based devices without the usual complexity. Whether you’re building for a Raspberry Pi or other ARM devices, this update makes it easier than ever to get started.
  2. Web Drag and Drop
  One of the standout features in this release is the addition of drag-and-drop support for web applications. Now, developers can easily drag and drop visual controls in their web projects, making it simpler to create interactive, user-friendly web applications. Plus, the WebListBox has been enhanced with support for editable cells, checkboxes, and row reordering via dragging. No JavaScript required!
  3. Direct App Store Publishing
  Xojo has also streamlined the process of publishing apps. With this update, developers can now directly submit macOS and iOS apps to App Store Connect right from the Xojo IDE. This eliminates the need for multiple steps and makes it much easier to get apps into the App Store, saving valuable time during the development process.
  4. New Desktop and Mobile Features
  This release isn’t just about web and Linux updates. Xojo 2025r1 brings some great improvements for desktop and mobile apps as well. On the desktop side, all projects now include a default window menu for macOS apps. On the mobile side, Xojo has introduced new features for Android and iOS, including support for ColorGroup and Dark Mode on Android, and a new MobileColorPicker for iOS to simplify color selection.
  5. Performance and IDE Enhancements
  Xojo’s IDE has also been improved in several key areas. There’s now an option to hide toolbar captions, and the toolbar has been made smaller on Windows. The IDE on Windows and Linux now features modern Bootstrap icons, and the Documentation window toolbar is more compact. In the code editor, developers can now quickly navigate to variable declarations with a simple Cmd/Ctrl + Double-click. Plus, performance for complex container layouts in the Layout Editor has been enhanced.
  What Does This Mean for Developers?
  Xojo 2025r1 brings significant improvements across all the platforms that Xojo supports, from desktop and mobile to web and Linux. The added Linux ARM support opens up new opportunities for Raspberry Pi and ARM-based device development, while the drag-and-drop functionality for web projects will make it easier to create modern, interactive web apps. The ability to publish directly to the App Store is a game-changer for macOS and iOS developers, reducing the friction of app distribution.
  How to Get Started
  Xojo is free for learning and development, as well as for building apps for Linux and Raspberry Pi. If you’re ready to dive into cross-platform development, paid licenses start at $99 for a single-platform desktop license, and $399 for cross-platform desktop, mobile, or web development. For professional developers who need additional resources and support, Xojo Pro and Pro Plus licenses start at $799. You can also find special pricing for educators and students.
  
  Download Xojo 2025r1 today at xojo.com.
  Final Thoughts
  With each new release, Xojo continues to make cross-platform development more accessible and efficient. The 2025r1 release is no exception, delivering key updates that simplify the development process and open up new possibilities for developers working on a variety of platforms. Whether you’re a Raspberry Pi enthusiast or a mobile app developer, Xojo 2025r1 has something for you.
  Xojo ARM

• New 'Mirrored' Network Mode Introduced in Windows Subsystem for Linux
  
  Microsoft's Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) continues to evolve with the release of WSL 2 version 0.0.2. This update introduces a set of opt-in preview features designed to enhance performance and compatibility.
  
  Key additions include "Automatic memory reclaim" which dynamically optimizes WSL's memory footprint, and "Sparse VHD" to shrink the size of the virtual hard disk file. These improvements aim to streamline resource usage.
  
  Additionally, a new "mirrored networking mode" brings expanded networking capabilities like IPv6 and multicast support. Microsoft claims this will improve VPN and LAN connectivity from both the Windows host and Linux guest. 
  
  Complementing this is a new "DNS Tunneling" feature that changes how DNS queries are resolved to avoid compatibility issues with certain network setups. According to Microsoft, this should reduce problems connecting to the internet or local network resources within WSL.
  
  Advanced firewall configuration options are also now available through Hyper-V integration. The new "autoProxy" feature ensures WSL seamlessly utilizes the Windows system proxy configuration.
  
  Microsoft states these features are currently rolling out to Windows Insiders running Windows 11 22H2 Build 22621.2359 or later. They remain opt-in previews to allow testing before final integration into WSL.
  
  By expanding WSL 2 with compelling new capabilities in areas like resource efficiency, networking, and security, Microsoft aims to make Linux on Windows more performant and compatible. This evolutionary approach based on user feedback highlights Microsoft's commitment to WSL as a key part of the Windows ecosystem.
  Windows

• Linux Threat Report: Earth Lusca Deploys Novel SprySOCKS Backdoor in Attacks on Government Entities
  
  The threat actor Earth Lusca, linked to Chinese state-sponsored hacking groups, has been observed utilizing a new Linux backdoor dubbed SprySOCKS to target government organizations globally. 
  
  As initially reported in January 2022 by Trend Micro, Earth Lusca has been active since at least 2021 conducting cyber espionage campaigns against public and private sector targets in Asia, Australia, Europe, and North America. Their tactics include spear-phishing and watering hole attacks to gain initial access. Some of Earth Lusca's activities overlap with another Chinese threat cluster known as RedHotel.
  
  In new research, Trend Micro reveals Earth Lusca remains highly active, even expanding operations in the first half of 2023. Primary victims are government departments focused on foreign affairs, technology, and telecommunications. Attacks concentrate in Southeast Asia, Central Asia, and the Balkans regions. 
  
  After breaching internet-facing systems by exploiting flaws in Fortinet, GitLab, Microsoft Exchange, Telerik UI, and Zimbra software, Earth Lusca uses web shells and Cobalt Strike to move laterally. Their goal is exfiltrating documents and credentials, while also installing additional backdoors like ShadowPad and Winnti for long-term spying.
  
  The Command and Control server delivering Cobalt Strike was also found hosting SprySOCKS - an advanced backdoor not previously publicly reported. With roots in the Windows malware Trochilus, SprySOCKS contains reconnaissance, remote shell, proxy, and file operation capabilities. It communicates over TCP mimicking patterns used by a Windows trojan called RedLeaves, itself built on Trochilus.
  
  At least two SprySOCKS versions have been identified, indicating ongoing development. This novel Linux backdoor deployed by Earth Lusca highlights the increasing sophistication of Chinese state-sponsored threats. Robust patching, access controls, monitoring for unusual activities, and other proactive defenses remain essential to counter this advanced malware.
  
  The Trend Micro researchers emphasize that organizations must minimize attack surfaces, regularly update systems, and ensure robust security hygiene to interrupt the tactics, techniques, and procedures of relentless threat groups like Earth Lusca.
  Security

• Linux Kernel Faces Reduction in Long-Term Support Due to Maintenance Challenges
  
  The Linux kernel is undergoing major changes that will shape its future development and adoption, according to Jonathan Corbet, Linux kernel developer and executive editor of Linux Weekly News. Speaking at the Open Source Summit Europe, Corbet provided an update on the latest Linux kernel developments and a glimpse of what's to come.
  
  A major change on the horizon is a reduction in long-term support (LTS) for kernel versions from six years to just two years. Corbet explained that maintaining old kernel branches indefinitely is unsustainable and most users have migrated to newer versions, so there's little point in continuing six years of support. While some may grumble about shortened support lifecycles, the reality is that constantly backporting fixes to ancient kernels strains maintainers.
  
  This maintainer burnout poses a serious threat, as Corbet highlighted. Maintaining Linux is largely a volunteer effort, with only about 200 of the 2,000+ developers paid for their contributions. The endless demands on maintainers' time from fuzz testing, fixing minor bugs, and reviewing contributions takes a toll. Prominent maintainers have warned they need help to avoid collapse. Companies relying on Linux must realize giving back financially is in their interest to sustain this vital ecosystem. 
  
  The Linux kernel is also wading into waters new with the introduction of Rust code. While Rust solves many problems, it also introduces new complexities around language integration, evolving standards, and maintainer expertise. Corbet believes Rust will pass the point of no return when core features depend on it, which may occur soon with additions like Apple M1 GPU drivers. Despite skepticism in some corners, Rust's benefits likely outweigh any transition costs.
  
  On the distro front, Red Hat's decision to restrict RHEL cloning sparked community backlash. While business considerations were at play, Corbet noted technical factors too. Using older kernels with backported fixes, as RHEL does, risks creating divergent, vendor-specific branches. The Android model of tracking mainline kernel dev more closely has shown security benefits. Ultimately, Linux works best when aligned with the broader community.
  
  In closing, Corbet recalled the saying "Linux is free like a puppy is free." Using open source seems easy at first, but sustaining it long-term requires significant care and feeding. As Linux is incorporated into more critical systems, that maintenance becomes ever more crucial. The kernel changes ahead are aimed at keeping Linux healthy and vibrant for the next generation of users, businesses, and developers.
  kernel

• Linux Celebrates 32 Years with the Release of 6.6-rc2 Version
  
  Today marks the 32nd anniversary of Linus Torvalds introducing the inaugural Linux 0.01 kernel version, and celebrating this milestone, Torvalds has launched the Linux 6.6-rc2. Among the noteworthy updates are the inclusion of a feature catering to the ASUS ROG Flow X16 tablet's mode handling and the renaming of the new GenPD subsystem to pmdomain.
  
  The Linux 6.6 edition is progressing well, brimming with exciting new features that promise to enhance user experience. Early benchmarks are indicating promising results, especially on high-core-count servers, pointing to a potentially robust and efficient update in the Linux series.
  
  Here is what Linus Torvalds had to say in today's announcement:
  Another week, another -rc.I think the most notable thing about 6.6-rc2 is simply that it'sexactly 32 years to the day since the 0.01 release. And that's a roundnumber if you are a computer person.Because other than the random date, I don't see anything that reallystands out here. We've got random fixes all over, and none of it looksparticularly strange. The genpd -> pmdomain rename shows up in thediffstat, but there's no actual code changes involved (make sure touse "git diff -M" to see them as zero-line renames).And other than that, things look very normal. Sure, the architecturefixes happen to be mostly parisc this week, which isn't exactly theusual pattern, but it's also not exactly a huge amount of changes.Most of the (small) changes here are in drivers, with some tracingfixes and just random things. The shortlog below is short enough toscroll through and get a taste of what's been going on. Linus Torvalds

• Introducing Bavarder: A User-Friendly Linux Desktop App for Quick ChatGPT Interaction
  
  Want to interact with ChatGPT from your Linux desktop without using a web browser?
  
  Bavarder, a new app, allows you to do just that.
  
  Developed with Python and GTK4/libadwaita, Bavarder offers a simple concept: pose a question to ChatGPT, receive a response, and promptly copy the answer (or your inquiry) to the clipboard for pasting elsewhere.
  
  With an incredibly user-friendly interface, you won't require AI expertise (or a novice blogger) to comprehend it. Type your question in the top box, click the blue send button, and wait for a generated response to appear at the bottom. You can edit or modify your message and repeat the process as needed.
  
  During our evaluation, Bavarder employed BAI Chat, a GPT-3.5/ChatGPT API-based chatbot that's free and doesn't require signups or API keys. Future app versions will incorporate support for alternative backends, such as ChatGPT 4 and Hugging Chat, and allow users to input an API key to utilize ChatGPT3.
  
  At present, there's no option to regenerate a response (though you can resend the same question for a potentially different answer). Due to the lack of a "conversation" view, tracking a dialogue or following up on answers can be challenging — but Bavarder excels for rapid-fire questions.
  
  As with any AI, standard disclaimers apply. Responses might seem plausible but could contain inaccurate or false information. Additionally, it's relatively easy to lead these models into irrational loops, like convincing them that 2 + 2 equals 106 — so stay alert!
  
  Overall, Bavarder is an attractive app with a well-defined purpose. If you enjoy ChatGPT and similar technologies, it's worth exploring.
  ChatGPT AI

• LibreOffice 7.5.3 Released: Third Maintenance Update Brings 119 Bug Fixes to Popular Open-Source Office Suite
  
  Today, The Document Foundation unveiled the release and widespread availability of LibreOffice 7.5.3, which serves as the third maintenance update to the current LibreOffice 7.5 open-source and complimentary office suite series.
  
  Approximately five weeks after the launch of LibreOffice 7.5.2, LibreOffice 7.5.3 arrives with a new set of bug fixes for those who have successfully updated their GNU/Linux system to the LibreOffice 7.5 series.
  
  LibreOffice 7.5.3 addresses a total of 119 bugs identified by users or uncovered by LibreOffice developers. For a more comprehensive understanding of these bug fixes, consult the RC1 and RC2 changelogs.
  
  You can download LibreOffice 7.5.3 directly from the LibreOffice website��or from SourceForge as binary installers for DEB or RPM-based GNU/Linux distributions. A source tarball is also accessible for individuals who prefer to compile the software from sources or for system integrators.
  
  All users operating the LibreOffice 7.5 office suite series should promptly update their installations to the new point release, which will soon appear in the stable software repositories of your GNU/Linux distributions.
  
  In early February 2023, LibreOffice 7.5 debuted as a substantial upgrade to the widely-used open-source office suite, introducing numerous features and improvements. These enhancements encompass major upgrades to dark mode support, new application and MIME-type icons, a refined Single Toolbar UI, enhanced PDF Export, and more.
  
  Seven maintenance updates will support LibreOffice 7.5 until November 30th, 2023. The next point release, LibreOffice 7.5.4, is scheduled for early June and will include additional bug fixes.
  
  The Document Foundation once again emphasizes that the LibreOffice office suite's "Community" edition is maintained by volunteers and members of the Open Source community. For enterprise implementations, they suggest using the LibreOffice Enterprise family of applications from ecosystem partners.
  LibreOffice