News
- The three man team is known as “Slopfix”
- It claims to be able to reduce AI generated codebases by up to 65% in size
- They aim to "refactor vibecoded codebases back to maintainability"
Vibecoding has a lot to answer for, not least some excessively large codebases. A new team of software engineers are collaborating to reduce the size of these cumbersome projects… with a $10,000 per week bill.
Slopfix is the name of the team (comprising a trio: Maciej, Kuba, and Krzysztof), but its aim is efficiency and functionality, rather than code golf, where code is reduced to the shortest possible length.
However, while this might seem like a noble task and a service worth paying for, Slopfix isn’t taking a stand against the use of AI. In fact, it is employing AI tools to detect the AI flab in your codebases.
Use an AI to catch an AIChallenges around vibecoded projects have increased in recent months, as the limitations of the technology become apparent.
While using an AI to program based on your prompts and requirements is straightforward, agents habitually begin to lose context and logic once the project reaches a certain size or age. Once that happens, you’re looking at duplication, features breaking, and of course, the dreaded hallucination.
Slopfix is targeting companies that have adopted vibecoding, built huge codebases, and found that they’re running into issues. To find the problematic AI code, however, Slopfix is employing AI.
They state that a full “screen by screen, endpoint by endpoint” evaluation of the vibecoded app is made, which aims to find the duplicated functions, broken logic, and other issues. There’s also the promise of a two-week warranty for anything they break.
All of this is aided by Claude Code “on a very short leash” which Slopfix uses find problems. They clearly state that “the agent doesn’t get a vote.” Instead, they’re relying on their experience as developers to improve your code.
$10,000 seem a bit steep?While the price might seem high, $10,000 for one successful week’s work for three seasoned developers shouldn’t really be a budget breaker.
The fee covers successful work only, and as the Slopfix website states, payment is in proportion to how much of the reduction target the team hits, with $10,000 being the price for hitting the target – it’s not the default fee.
However, there is a lot of preparation involved, and the analysis of your codebase is conducted free of charge. If they can't fix your project's issues, they'll let you know and refuse the contract.
As software consultancies go, Slopfix is an unusual case. But as the problems with vibecoded projects begin to become apparent, competing consultancies may begin offering similar services.
- AI hallucination can be weaponized, new report warns
- HalluSquatting is short for “adversarial hallucination squatting”
- GitHub Copilot, Gemini CLI, and OpenClaw are all affected
Your favorite AI service could be subverted to deploy code that turns your phone or PC into a botnet, according to researchers at Intuit, Technion, and Tel Aviv University.
The technique has been given the name HalluSquatting, a portmanteau of adversarial hallucination squatting, and is similar to typosquatting in that it relies on a mistake in order to distribute malicious code. While typosquatting might occur with the incorrect input of a website URL, HalluSquatting pivots on an LLM being unable to identify a resource or repository with 100% accuracy.
Relying on an LLM’s tendency to hallucinate repository resource identifiers, this weakness could be scaled up to conduct massive ransomware campaigns, botnets, and more.
Push-me-pull-youPrevious LLM-based malware operations have relied on pull-based attacks. In this scenario, a prompt designed to jailbreak or otherwise subvert the AI is (for example) placed on a website and the LLM encouraged to gather the information, thereby reducing its internal security.
What the researchers have shared in their paper, is that pull techniques are being combined with push attacks, which are traditionally executed as code injection.
The paper’s introduction summary states: “By preemptively registering hallucinated resources—a technique we call adversarial hallucination squatting (HalluSquatting)—we demonstrate remote tool execution and remote code execution at scale across a range of popular agentic LLM applications, which could be exploited to the establishment of a botnet.”
Once an attacker has identified the resource likely to be misnamed by an LLM, and squatted on it (to embed adversarial prompts), the work is done. All that remains is for a user to trigger the resource, the AI chatbot or agent to initiate the response, and the squatted resource will be accessed.
Promptware attackFollowing this, the adversarial content held within the squatted resource is activated, triggering the tool invocation stage. This is the promptware attack, where attacker-controlled instructions are executed, with results potentially including turning the device you’re using into a botnet zombie.
LLMs such as the Cursor, Cursor CLI, Windsurf, GitHub Copilot, Cline coding assistants have been used in the testing of this avenue of attack along with Gemini CLI, and the OpenClaw, ZeroClaw, and NanoClaw AI assistants. The researchers successfully achieved remote tool execution (essentially remotely accessing and controlling the LLMs) and remote code execution (RCE, where malicious code is executed remotely).
Some mitigation is available, including LLM developers blocking fetch operations in favor of a search tool, and resource owners enforcing strict naming, perhaps in favor of globally unique resource names. However, these are will require collaboration by disparate parties, and may take a while to implement.
The risk of LLM-based malware is increasing, and some has already been spotted in the wild. Of these, the JADEPUFFER attack is perhaps the most notable, as it isn’t simply AI-based malware – it is a full ransomware attack run entirely by an LLM.
OpenAI is building an AI-powered smart speaker nobody wants. That is, if you believe the Bloomberg report from Mark Gurman and you've read his description of said rumored device.
According to the report:
"OpenAI believes the product’s defining feature will be its personality and ability to connect on a humanlike level with users. The speaker incorporates mechanical elements that can move on their own, creating a sense that it is alive and not just an object responding to commands. The machine also will draw on personal information such as emails to better understand its owner."
The news sources, it appears, come from an insider who decided to spill all the juicy details mere hours after Apple dropped a blockbuster trade-secrets lawsuit on OpenAI's head. OpenAI claims it's done nothing of the sort, and recent reports say that Apple's claim that the AI giant has not even responded to Apple's earliest concerns was based on it potentially incorrectly identifying the former Apple employees who left to join OpenAI (allegedly with Apple trade secrets in tow).
Apple's concerns here are twofold: First, these former employees had access to many of Apple's secretive product development details and may even have asked recruits to share fresh details when they approached them to interview for jobs at OpenAI. The other concern is that Apple is already far behind in the AI race, and if Apple's plans for Siri, AI, and a potential robotic desktop home assistant were also leaked, it could harm its ability to catch up in multiple market sectors.
This latest news, which may or may not be accurate, should put Apple's fears to rest.
OpenAI is apparently not building something that could ably compete with any of Apple's key hardware or future hardware initiatives.
First of all, there's the smart-speaker-ness of the whole rumored OpenAI concept. There are already too many smart speakers on the market, many of them with their own smart assistants. Amazon, for instance, is smack in the middle of trying to convince millions of customers that not only do they need Echo devices throughout the home, but they need the AI-powered Alexa+ to guide them through their smart home experiences and, to some extent, their lives.
Apple has its own HomePod, Siri-infused speakers, which may get considerably more powerful with the Gemini foundation model-backed version arriving this Fall.
Put another way, smart speakers are a known quantity in the home consumer electronics space, and I think what most tech companies are realizing is that people like and use them, but mostly in limited ways: they want music, occasional answers to simple questions, and voice control of their smart home devices. That's it.
Why does my speaker think it's alive?(Image credit: Future)OpenAI appears to be prepared to offer something different: a personality-filled speaker that can watch you, move to engage, seem alive, and generally make you feel uncomfortable.
Obviously, that would not be the objective, but it could be the result. Who needs a speaker that quietly watches you as you walk from your kitchen to the den, waiting and hoping for you to say, "hey ChatGPT, what's up with the Strait of Hormuz today?"
In my home, we have a Psync smart security webcam with one oddball feature: it has a motorized body that can turn almost 360 degrees on its base and lift its thin, rectangular face and camera to keep track of people and alert me to intruders. However, most of the time, it's just watching us move around the house, and I can tell you that my family hates it. Sometimes I come home and find its face forced down so it can't pop up and track anything.
Now, imagine a larger and far smarter OpenAI AI smart speaker in your home, watching, waiting, chiming in when you don't want it to, and generally making people feel uncomfortable.
This will not be the breakout hardware hit OpenAI is hoping for.
Look, I was under the impression that OpenAI (really Jony Ive and Sam Altman) were working on an AI wearable. I didn't love that idea either, but it was a lot less creepy than this.
So, Apple, chill out. OpenAI's plans are no threat to you, even if they do allegedly have a bunch of insidery Apple information.
- Environmental groups seek broader review before massive satellite constellations receive approval
- More than one million proposed satellites face increased regulatory scrutiny
- FCC is reconsidering satellite environmental review rules
Environmental groups have petitioned federal regulators to pause approval of orbital data center satellite constellations pending a full environmental review process.
Earthjustice recently filed a petition on behalf of DarkSky International, Environment America, and Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, known as PEER.
Combined proposals from SpaceX, Starcloud, Blue Origin, and Cowboy Space could place well over a million satellites into low Earth orbit.
Why regulators are being asked to slow downThe petition asks the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to prepare a Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement before approving any pending applications currently under review.
Such a review, required under the National Environmental Policy Act, would examine risks, alternatives, costs, and cumulative impacts together across every proposal.
Environmental groups argue the agency's current approach treats satellite licenses as automatically excluded from any detailed environmental scrutiny under existing federal rules.
They say that framework no longer fits proposals measured in hundreds of thousands, or potentially millions, of individual spacecraft rather than dozens.
The filing lists specific concerns, including rocket emissions, reentry pollutants, ozone depletion, orbital debris, and disruption to astronomy research conducted worldwide.
The petition specifically challenges the FCC's default assumption that these projects individually and cumulatively carry no environmental impact whatsoever on nearby ecosystems.
It further warns that light pollution and wildlife disruption cannot be properly assessed through isolated regulatory reviews conducted individually rather than collectively.
The petition states that these proposals compound risk "synergistically and cumulatively" in ways single-project reviews cannot capture on their own.
Industry ambitions collide with regulatory uncertaintyBackers of orbital computing describe their projects in sweeping, civilization-changing language while offering few environmental details in return for regulatory approval.
Companies including SpaceX, Blue Origin, Starcloud, and Cowboy Space have not publicly detailed environmental mitigation plans for their satellites currently under regulatory review.
MOL and Hitachi have separately explored floating data center concepts, showing wider commercial interest beyond traditional orbital satellite proposals currently facing regulatory review.
The FCC is separately reconsidering its environmental review rules, acknowledging rapid growth across the broader commercial space industry over the past decade.
If the commission agrees, orbital data center operators could face considerable regulatory delay before launching any additional hardware skyward into low Earth orbit.
Some industry analysts have already questioned whether orbital data center economics make sense given high launch and maintenance costs involved in space deployment.
Analysts note that environmental reviews of this scope could take years, delaying deployment timelines.
This could delay deployment schedules and extend regulatory timelines if a comprehensive environmental review becomes mandatory.
Whether the FCC ultimately requires a full review remains uncertain, given ongoing industry pressure and competing national security interests tied to space dominance.
Until regulators decide, the fate of orbital computing may depend as much on environmental politics as on rocket technology or launch capacity itself.
Via The Register
The AI buildout is well and truly underway with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman leading the charge, having made various deals with companies including Oracle and Nvidia to guarantee the infrastructure needed to train future AI models is installed. But as this ensues, the spotlight has been thrown on how much energy these models will need.
Eating machinesAltman was speaking during an AI summit in India earlier this year when making the remarks to The Indian Express.
Quote of the dayThis article is part of TechRadar Pro's QOTD project to provide an insight into the minds of the brightest and most recognized figures in the technology industry today and in years gone by. Read the full series here.
The OpenAI chief was being questioned about the substantial amount of energy that AI has already been consuming – and will be projected to continue consuming – for both training and inference. Bringing these models online, after all, and keeping them running require a huge amount of resources, not only in terms of the energy to power the data centers, but the water for cooling, and the components and resources in building the hardware.
Altman's defence hinged on the idea that people, too, require plenty of energy in order to reach utility — while AI can be trained much quicker. This view, in essence, frames machine intelligence as a like-for-like competitor with human intelligence.
Energy efficiencyAltman argued that humans are deeply inefficient, and that you should compare the total energy spent to create a human expert versus a machine expert. There's also an argument that energy efficiency of AI could improve over time.
But detractors were scathing in their criticism of this entire point of view – saying this framing doesn't take into account the fact that the human brain operates on roughly 20 watts of power. This isn't to mention the ethically gray and dehumanizing nature of the remarks.
A new NYT Strands puzzle appears at midnight each day for your time zone – which means that some people are always playing 'today's game' while others are playing 'yesterday's'. If you're looking for Wednesday's puzzle instead then click here: NYT Strands hints and answers for Wednesday, July 15 (game #864).
Strands is the NYT's latest word game after the likes of Wordle, Spelling Bee and Connections – and it's great fun. It can be difficult, though, so read on for my Strands hints.
Want more word-based fun? Then check out my NYT Connections today and Quordle today pages for hints and answers for those games, and Marc's Wordle today page for the original viral word game.
SPOILER WARNING: Information about NYT Strands today is below, so don't read on if you don't want to know the answers.
NYT Strands today (game #865) - hint #1 - today's themeWhat is the theme of today's NYT Strands?• Today's NYT Strands theme is… Rerouting…
NYT Strands today (game #865) - hint #2 - clue wordsPlay any of these words to unlock the in-game hints system.
- NOISE
- CHANCE
- VERSE
- TRUANT
- GIVE
- SKATE
• Spangram has 12 letters
NYT Strands today (game #865) - hint #4 - spangram positionWhat are two sides of the board that today's spangram touches?• First side: left, 4th row
• Last side: left, 8th row
Right, the answers are below, so DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON'T WANT TO SEE THEM.
NYT Strands today (game #865) - the answers(Image credit: New York Times)The answers to today's Strands, game #865, are…
- TACK
- ZIGZAG
- TURN
- VEER
- DEVIATE
- PIVOT
- SWERVE
- SPANGRAM: CHANGECOURSE
- My rating: Hard
- My score: 1 hint
Rerouting… is a word I used to see a lot when I used a sat nav in my car, so this is exactly the theme I was expecting — but I still struggled over it.
It’s not until you play Strands that you realize how many different ways there are to say the same thing, in this case a change of direction.
I took a hint to get going, but TACK didn’t help much. Then, I connected the two Zs for ZIGZAG and finally got motoring.
Yesterday's NYT Strands answers (Wednesday, July 15, game #864)- QUIXOTIC
- IDEALISTIC
- ROMANTIC
- IMPRACTICAL
- SPANGRAM: PIEINTHESKY
Strands is the NYT's not-so-new-any-more word game, following Wordle and Connections. It's now a fully fledged member of the NYT's games stable that has been running for a year and which can be played on the NYT Games site on desktop or mobile.
I've got a full guide to how to play NYT Strands, complete with tips for solving it, so check that out if you're struggling to beat it each day.
A new NYT Connections puzzle appears at midnight each day for your time zone – which means that some people are always playing 'today's game' while others are playing 'yesterday's'. If you're looking for Wednesday's puzzle instead then click here: NYT Connections hints and answers for Wednesday, July 15 (game #1130).
Good morning! Let's play Connections, the NYT's clever word game that challenges you to group answers in various categories. It can be tough, so read on if you need Connections hints.
What should you do once you've finished? Why, play some more word games of course. I've also got daily Strands hints and answers and Quordle hints and answers articles if you need help for those too, while Marc's Wordle today page covers the original viral word game.
SPOILER WARNING: Information about NYT Connections today is below, so don't read on if you don't want to know the answers.
NYT Connections today (game #1131) - today's words(Image credit: New York Times)Today's NYT Connections words are…
- NEEDLE
- INK
- JET
- DOT MATRIX
- TONER
- POINT BREAK
- LASER
- CHARCOAL
- PEEL
- PITCH
- PERIOD PIECE
- BULLSEYE
- SPOT REMOVER
- EYE CREAM
- CLOCKWORK
- CLAY MASK
What are some clues for today's NYT Connections groups?
- YELLOW: Cosmetics
- PURPLE: Small beginnings
- BLUE: Seeking perfection
- GREEN: The darkness
Need more clues?
We're firmly in spoiler territory now, but read on if you want to know what the four theme answers are for today's NYT Connections puzzles…
NYT Connections today (game #1131) - hint #2 - group answersWhat are the answers for today's NYT Connections groups?
- YELLOW: SKINCARE PRODUCTS
- PURPLE: STARTING WITH TINY MARKS
- BLUE: ASSOCIATED WITH PRECISION
- GREEN: SHADES OF BLACK
Right, the answers are below, so DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON'T WANT TO SEE THEM.
NYT Connections today (game #1131) - the answers(Image credit: New York Times)The answers to today's Connections, game #1131, are…
- YELLOW: SKINCARE PRODUCTS: CLAY MASK, EYE CREAM, PEEL, TONER
- PURPLE: STARTING WITH TINY MARKS: DOT MATRIX, PERIOD PIECE, POINT BREAK, SPOT REMOVER
- BLUE: ASSOCIATED WITH PRECISION: BULLSEYE, CLOCKWORK, LASER, NEEDLE
- GREEN: SHADES OF BLACK: CHARCOAL, INK, JET, PITCH
- My rating: Hard
- My score: 1 mistake
Looking at today’s game after I completed it, I don’t understand why I failed to see SHADES OF BLACK as it is the only group that I could have actually got right.
The other three groups were the result of muddled game play and lucky guesses — particularly STARTING WITH TINY MARKS, which I didn’t get because I spotted dot, period, point and spot, but because all the tiles were made up of two words.
Before that, though, I made the mistake of putting together what I thought were four different types of printer. Hopefully I wasn't the only player to fall into that trap, but in truth it doesn't take much to catch me.
Yesterday's NYT Connections answers (Wednesday, July 15, 2026, game #1130)- YELLOW: TERMS FOR THE LEGAL SYSTEM: BAR, BENCH, COURT, TRIBUNAL
- GREEN: THINGS WITH LACES: BASEBALL GLOVE, CORSET, FOOTBALL, SHOE
- BLUE: KINDS OF SPORTS: EXTREME, MOTOR, RACKET, WATER
- PURPLE: WORDS BEFORE "ROOM" TO INDICATE EXTRA SPACE: BREATHING, ELBOW, HEAD, WIGGLE
NYT Connections is one of several increasingly popular word games made by the New York Times. It challenges you to find groups of four items that share something in common, and each group has a different difficulty level: green is easy, yellow a little harder, blue often quite tough and purple usually very difficult.
On the plus side, you don't technically need to solve the final one, as you'll be able to answer that one by a process of elimination. What's more, you can make up to four mistakes, which gives you a little bit of breathing room.
It's a little more involved than something like Wordle, however, and there are plenty of opportunities for the game to trip you up with tricks. For instance, watch out for homophones and other word games that could disguise the answers.
It's playable for free via the NYT Games site on desktop or mobile.
A new Quordle puzzle appears at midnight each day for your time zone – which means that some people are always playing 'today's game' while others are playing 'yesterday's'. If you're looking for Wednesday's puzzle instead then click here: Quordle hints and answers for Wednesday, July 15 (game #1633).
Quordle was one of the original Wordle alternatives and is still going strong now more than 1,500 games later. It offers a genuine challenge, though, so read on if you need some Quordle hints today — or scroll down further for the answers.
Enjoy playing word games? You can also check out my NYT Connections today and NYT Strands today pages for hints and answers for those puzzles, while Marc's Wordle today column covers the original viral word game.
SPOILER WARNING: Information about Quordle today is below, so don't read on if you don't want to know the answers.
Quordle today (game #1634) — hint #1 — VowelsHow many different vowels are in Quordle today?• The number of different vowels in Quordle today is 4*.
* Note that by vowel we mean the five standard vowels (A, E, I, O, U), not Y (which is sometimes counted as a vowel too).
Quordle today (game #1634) — hint #2 — repeated lettersDo any of today's Quordle answers contain repeated letters?• The number of Quordle answers containing a repeated letter today is 2.
Quordle today (game #1634) — hint #3 — uncommon lettersDo the letters Q, Z, X or J appear in Quordle today?• No. None of Q, Z, X or J appear among today's Quordle answers.
Quordle today (game #1634) — hint #4 — starting letters (1)Do any of today's Quordle puzzles start with the same letter?• The number of today's Quordle answers starting with the same letter is 0.
If you just want to know the answers at this stage, simply scroll down. If you're not ready yet then here's one more clue to make things a lot easier:
Quordle today (game #1634) — hint #5 — starting letters (2)What letters do today's Quordle answers start with?• I
• P
• Y
• A
Right, the answers are below, so DO NOT SCROLL ANY FURTHER IF YOU DON'T WANT TO SEE THEM.
Quordle today (game #1634) — the answers(Image credit: Merriam-Webster)The answers to today's Quordle, game #1634, are…
- IGLOO
- PLAIT
- YEAST
- AROMA
This was a tricky game — mainly due to two words ending in vowels.
I thought I had exhausted all words ending in the letter O, before I finally got to one ending in two of them.
Daily Sequence today (game #1634) — the answers(Image credit: Merriam-Webster)The answers to today's Quordle Daily Sequence, game #1634, are…
- NEEDY
- GOOFY
- ABIDE
- VISIT
- Quordle #1633, Wednesday, 15 July: PROXY, BRICK, BROTH, SURGE
- Quordle #1632, Tuesday, 14 July: EBONY, AVOID, RODEO, CUTIE
- Quordle #1631, Monday, 13 July: VOICE, BISON, BURNT, BUILT
- Quordle #1630, Sunday, 12 July: STAIN, BINGO, LARVA, DICEY
- Quordle #1629, Saturday, 11 July: WORTH, PRONG, DINGO, DRUID
- Quordle #1628, Friday, 10 July: GREET, STEAK, DUSKY, HAUTE
- Quordle #1627, Thursday, 9 July: CRUMP, PHONE, SHINY, STONY
- Quordle #1626, Wednesday, 8 July: GHOST, TREND, EXALT, ALONG
- Quordle #1625, Tuesday, 7 July: ARRAY, SUITE, KIOSK, BOULE
- Quordle #1624, Monday, 6 July: TRAWL, SPICE, PIANO, SHARK
- Quordle #1623, Sunday, 5 July: PINEY, SWOON, TITLE, PINTO
- Quordle #1622, Saturday, 4 July: ARGUE, MOTEL, OPERA, TRUCE
- Quordle #1621, Friday, 3 July: AVERT, MOTOR, MANIC, WORDY
- Quordle #1620, Thursday, 2 July: BULKY, PARSE, BELOW, MOVIE
- Quordle #1619, Wednesday, 1 July: EASEL, OTTER, LYRIC, SHACK
- Quordle #1618, Tuesday, 30 June: HALVE, DRYER, THERE, MINTY
- Quordle #1617, Monday, 29 June: SLURP, CRACK, CRANK, PHONY
- Quordle #1616, Sunday, 28 June: RUPEE, TOPAZ, FULLY, BEING
- Quordle #1615, Saturday, 27 June: PRINT, MARRY, SADLY, BICEP
- Quordle #1614, Friday, 26 June: JUICE, ARRAY, BONEY, SKIFF
- Pentagon seeks an affordable drone capable of replacing many MQ-9 Reaper missions
- Reaper drones hit hard in Iran, and losses force demand for lower-cost unmanned combat aircraft
- New aircraft must combine long range with substantial payload capacity
The United States Air Force is examining a lower-cost unmanned aircraft concept after losing “dozens” of MQ-9 Reaper drones during the recent conflict involving Iran.
Those losses have intensified concerns about relying upon expensive aircraft in environments where increasingly affordable air defenses can destroy them.
With roughly 135 Reapers in service and each drone costing about $30 million, officials increasingly question whether existing loss rates remain sustainable.
Pentagon seeks a lower-cost drone with long range and heavy payloadRather than pursuing a more advanced version of the MQ-9, defense planners are exploring a drone intended for larger-scale deployment.
The Defense Innovation Unit is seeking proposals for a Massed Modular Aircraft, or MMA, capable of performing many missions currently assigned to the Reaper.
According to the solicitation, the Pentagon believes dependence upon “exquisite” aircraft costing more than $30 million is becoming increasingly difficult to sustain.
The concept favours quantity alongside capability, allowing forces to continue operating even after suffering substantial battlefield attrition.
Unlike many smaller drones commonly associated with swarm operations, the proposed aircraft would retain significant reach and carrying capacity.
The solicitation calls for a payload of at least 2,800 pounds, compared with roughly 3,800 pounds carried by the MQ-9.
Requirements also include an unrefueled combat radius of at least 2,300 nautical miles and a one-way transfer distance exceeding 8,000 nautical miles.
The drone must travel at speeds above 200 miles per hour while remaining capable of operating from 6,000-foot runways and improvised airstrips.
Defense planners also want enough onboard power and cooling capacity to support diverse internal and external mission equipment.
The specifications mention 25kW of available electrical power and 5kW of cooling capacity for future mission systems.
Ambitious timeline aims for operational capability by 2031The proposal places considerable emphasis upon autonomy, allowing a single operator to supervise several aircraft simultaneously during complex missions.
While no specific dimensions were included, the performance requirements indicate an aircraft broadly comparable in size to the MQ-9.
Officials have also not disclosed a preferred procurement price, though expectations suggest a figure substantially below the Reaper's estimated $30 million cost.
The timeline remains aggressive, with full-scale prototype flight testing expected within 21 months following contract award.
Initial Operating Capability is planned for fiscal year 2031, with 20 mission-ready aircraft delivered to an operational unit.
Recent combat experiences appear to have influenced the concept's development, particularly situations where defenders exhausted interceptors before attackers exhausted drones.
The solicitation argues that maintaining continuous MMA operations could pressure opponents into consuming costly defensive missiles at unsustainable rates.
“Keeping a constant airborne MMA presence to launch weapons, gather intelligence, perform electronic warfare missions, or relay communications will force an adversary to stay on the defensive,” the Defense Innovation Unit stated.
Via Defense News
- Skullcandy launches Crusher 1080 ANC, new premium over-ears
- They mark the debut of three Bose-made features in a non-Bose product
- Just launched and available right now, for $280 / AU$399.99 (about £210)
It is as I foretold: after we saw Skullcandy teases about new headphones, the brand has unveiled exactly the pair of cans I predicted. Meet the Skullcandy Crusher 1080 ANC; they're the pair that skate legend (and brand ambassador) Tony Hawk is pointing at in the picture above — yes, it really is him.
These are, according to the brand, its "best-sounding product" (although interestingly, not the most expensive because Skullcandy's Aviator 900 cans are a little pricier) and in case you didn't know, a 1080 in skateboarding involves three complete skateboard and body rotations performed either frontside or backside.
As a new member of its Crusher line-up, part of the draw will be the adjustable bass (see the big dial on the ear cup), but there's a lot more to celebrate besides that.
You can buy the Crusher 1080 ANC right now; they cost $279.99 / AU$399.99 (about £210) so they're a little cheaper than the likes of the $449 / £449 / AU$699 Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones (Gen 2) which they borrow features from.
They come in black, gray, brown, and pink, as you can see modelled sans Tony Hawk below. I rate them in the following order: brown, pink, gray, black, though I'd love to see a camo or floral redesign as Skullcandy is wont to do.
Colors aren't why you'll buy the Crusher 1080 ANC, though. No, it'll be because they offer three new Sound by Bose features at a non-Bose price...
That which we call a Bose by any other name would smell as sweet(Image credit: Skullcandy)We've seen Skullcandy headphones with Bose features before, but the Crusher 1080 ANC are the first pair of cans not made by the brand which have three specific features. And these three features are a big selling point of the product.
The biggest will be Bose QuietControl ANC, which is a massive draw within Bose's own products (including the QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds 2nd Gen). The company's noise cancellation is best-in-class, and now that proprietary Bose technology is baked into Skullcandy's headphones too. To many, this could be a reason to buy the Crusher all on its own.
Bose's TrueSpatial audio with head-tracking (for surround sound profiles irrespective of source material) and WaveForm audio engine (for snappy digital signal processing) are also stepping foot off the Good Ship Bose for the first time with the 1080. These will be great little extras to refine and finesse what Skullcandy already offers.
And that's before we even mention the Sound by Bose tuning and SpeechClarity voice pickup, to improve the music you listen to and your call quality. The latter is new to Skullcandy, but we've seen the former on some earbuds like my beloved Method 360.
And what about the headphones themselves, beyond the Bose stuff? Skullcandy hasn't confirmed the drivers, but I'd guess they'll be 40mm and joined by woofer units.
The battery life is 60 hours with ANC off and 50 hours with it on, which is pretty impressive; there's a 5-band EQ and other features via the Skullcandy app (not Skull-IQ, which some of the firm's earbuds use). Pictures show a dial on the side of the headphones, amongst other physical controls; I'd wager this is a redesigned bass slider, and given how easy it is to miss this on my Crusher 540 Active, I appreciate the rethink.
Reading between the lines, and having tested the Method 540 earlier this year (a 540 is a one-and-a-half skateboard and body rotation performed either frontside or backside, which I cannot do), I get the impression that Skullcandy is undergoing a push to really level up.
The company doesn't seem to be abandoning the commitment to bass that's defined its products in the past (or its love of athletes as brand ambassadors), but seems to want to bring that into a better-rounded audio package with higher-fidelity music on offer. And if the Skullcandy Crusher 1080 ANC is the culmination of this process, I'm really intrigued to know how they sound.
(Image credit: Skullcandy)- ETH Zurich quantum chip sees superconducting qubit act as CPU and the vibrational modes of a fingernail-width acoustic resonator serve as quantum RAM
- The approach borrows from classical computer architecture as it completely flips the script on how modern quantum computing might store short-term data
- The team demonstrated a universal gate set and ran small instances of the quantum Fourier transform and period finding
A guitar string essentially stores a note based on how it vibrates, and if one plucks it differently, an entirely different note plays.
A team of researchers at ETH Zurich has leveraged the same principle to build a quantum chip that stores information by replacing the string with microscopic acoustic resonators.
This allows the chip to increase its working memory significantly, essentially increasing the storage capacity, a prohibitively expensive commodity in quantum computing, significantly.
A vibrations-based quantum storage playETH Zurich's research is led by quantum physicist Yiwen Chu, who used tiny mechanical vibrations to both store and process information. The vibrations, however, go far beyond the range of human hearing, happening inside a quantum chip where they essentially replace or complement the working memory of a quantum computer.
The study, published by the Hybrid Quantum Systems group, lists Professor Yiwen Chu, along with doctoral students Yu Yang and Igor Kladarić, as lead authors and focuses on replicating the division of labor seen in a classical computer.
A superconducting transmon qubit serves as the CPU, while the working memory (the quantum equivalent of RAM) is a high-overtone bulk acoustic wave resonator, or HBAR, whose many vibrational modes each serve as a memory slot.
The Qubit essentially swaps a quantum state from a vibrational mode (reads it, in classical computer terms), manipulates it (modifies it), and swaps it back (writes it). This makes for a unique configuration that most modern quantum computers do not follow, in which processing and storage are two distinct segments; most designs treat both memory and compute similarly.
The approach has advantages, however: acoustic waves have wavelengths roughly a hundred thousand times shorter than electromagnetic ones, allowing an entire quantum chip to be extremely small, as the research team states, even if the actual computer will be many orders of magnitude larger.
The chip has passed stress tests, including a proof of feasibility, which also included testing using two of the most commonly used methods to benchmark a quantum computer: the quantum Fourier transform and a period-finding algorithm.
The endgame here, as noted by the research team, is quantum random-access memory (QRAM), which would allow modern quantum computers to access a much larger store of quantum memory than current specifications allow. Whether this pans out depends on both the scalability of the approach and the computational power in play.
- The Australian Competition & Consumer Commission (ACCC) has bricked thousands of routers
- Flashing alternative firmware like OpenWRT is an option that the ACCC has ignored
- Disposed SamKnows SK-WB8 routers can pose a security risk if they’re not first wiped with a factory reset
The Australian government’s competition regulator, the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission (ACCC), has initiated the bricking of some 4,000 routers, rolled out across the country in 2020 in order to collect information on broadband speeds.
Issued as part of the Measuring Broadband Australia (MBA) program, the routers were whiteboxes from SamKnows, a subsidiary of Cisco, and given a finite lifespan. That date was reached in June 2026, with the SamKnows SK-WB8 routers remotely disabled on June 30.
As a consequence, Australians are likely to toss the bricked routers, resulting in a sharp increase in e-waste. In doing so, they risk breaches of digital security if the routers are not first wiped. Worse, the ACCC’s position is further confused by the fact that these routers can be flashed, making their destruction quite pointless.
Data discarded, but the routers still workSince the June 30 cut-off, the routers are known to power up, and while bricked for internet access, can seemingly be reused with custom router firmware. The nature of the data collected by the routers for the MBA program was for measurement and customer registration, and this has apparently been deleted, according to emails sent to volunteers of the program.
While accurate figures are unknown, by December 2020 over 2,600 of the SamKnows SK-WB8 routers had been distributed by the ACCC, with 4,000 planned for release across the lifespan of the MBA program.
Attempts to contact the ACCC and Cisco to learn more about why volunteers of the MBA program are being encouraged to dispose of perfectly usable routers have been met with stock, non-committal responses.
The ACCC gave ArsTechnica a potted history of the device and the MBA program, as well as stating that “volunteers are encouraged to unplug their disabled whitebox and dispose of it in an environmentally responsible manner via free e-waste recycling services.”
Should you ditch your ACCC router?If there is no reason to keep your ACCC-supplied router and have a replacement ready, it is important to factory reset the device before disposal. This ensures that any administrator passwords, ISP details, and custom network settings are deleted, keeping them from falling into the wrong hands.
Finding a safe disposal option will help to ensure the router is correctly dismantled. The ACCC has emailed recipients of the SamKnows SK-WB8 routers informing them of the correct disposal procedure, with a link to a live list of e-waste services.
However, if you have the time and inclination to flash OpenWRT, a guide explaining how to do this is available on the OpenWRT page for the SamKnows SK-WB8.