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Voyager 1 Just Fired Up Thrusters It Hasn’t Used in Decades
Ashley Strickland, reporting for CNN:
Engineers at NASA have successfully fired up a set of thrusters
Voyager 1 hasn’t used in decades to solve an issue that could keep
the 47-year-old spacecraft from communicating with Earth from
billions of miles away. […]
As a result of its exceptionally long-lived mission, Voyager 1
experiences issues as its parts age in the frigid outer reaches
beyond our solar system. When an issue crops up, engineers at
NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, have to
get creative while still being careful of how the spacecraft will
react to any changes.
Currently the farthest spacecraft from Earth, Voyager 1 is about
15 billion miles (24 billion kilometers) away. The probe operates
beyond the heliosphere — the sun’s bubble of magnetic fields and
particles that extends well beyond Pluto’s orbit — where its
instruments directly sample interstellar space.
Michael Chabon, on Threads:
I find the continuing mission of Voyager 1 so moving, for the way
its name alone evokes a time of promise, for the thought of that
tiny contraption way out there in the vastness at the edge of the
heliosphere — perhaps the farthest any human-made thing may ever
travel — a bit battered, swiftly aging, still doing the work it
was purposed to do.
An amazing feat of engineering five decades ago, kept going by amazing feats of engineering today.
★
Ashley Strickland, reporting for CNN:
Engineers at NASA have successfully fired up a set of thrusters
Voyager 1 hasn’t used in decades to solve an issue that could keep
the 47-year-old spacecraft from communicating with Earth from
billions of miles away. […]
As a result of its exceptionally long-lived mission, Voyager 1
experiences issues as its parts age in the frigid outer reaches
beyond our solar system. When an issue crops up, engineers at
NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, have to
get creative while still being careful of how the spacecraft will
react to any changes.
Currently the farthest spacecraft from Earth, Voyager 1 is about
15 billion miles (24 billion kilometers) away. The probe operates
beyond the heliosphere — the sun’s bubble of magnetic fields and
particles that extends well beyond Pluto’s orbit — where its
instruments directly sample interstellar space.
I find the continuing mission of Voyager 1 so moving, for the way
its name alone evokes a time of promise, for the thought of that
tiny contraption way out there in the vastness at the edge of the
heliosphere — perhaps the farthest any human-made thing may ever
travel — a bit battered, swiftly aging, still doing the work it
was purposed to do.
An amazing feat of engineering five decades ago, kept going by amazing feats of engineering today.
Israel Planted Explosives in Pagers Sold to Hezbollah, Officials Say
Sheera Frenkel and Ronen Bergman, reporting for The New York Times:
Israel carried out its operation against Hezbollah on Tuesday by
hiding explosive material within a new batch of Taiwanese-made
pagers imported into Lebanon, according to American and other
officials briefed on the operation.
The pagers, which Hezbollah had ordered from Gold Apollo in
Taiwan, had been tampered with before they reached Lebanon,
according to some of the officials. Most were the company’s AP924
model, though three other Gold Apollo models were also included in
the shipment.
The explosive material, as little as one to two ounces, was
implanted next to the battery in each pager, two of the officials
said. A switch was also embedded that could be triggered remotely
to detonate the explosives.
At 3:30 p.m. in Lebanon, the pagers received a message that
appeared as though it was coming from Hezbollah’s leadership, two
of the officials said. Instead, the message activated the
explosives. Lebanon’s health minister told state media at least
nine people were killed and more than 2,800 injured.
The devices were programmed to beep for several seconds before
exploding, according to three of the officials.
Hezbollah leadership had ordered its members to forgo modern phones for security reasons, convinced (probably correctly) that Israeli intelligence was able to track them. So they switched to decades-old pagers. But Israel seemingly infiltrated the supply chain of Gold Apollo and boobytrapped the pagers.
In the initial pandemonium after the attack was triggered, there was speculation that, somehow, it was simply the batteries that exploded. But batteries — especially the AAA batteries these pagers use — don’t explode with that much force:
Independent cybersecurity experts who have studied footage of the
attacks said it was clear that the strength and speed of the
explosions were caused by a type of explosive material.
“These pagers were likely modified in some way to cause these
types of explosions — the size and strength of the explosion
indicates it was not just the battery,” said Mikko Hypponen, a
research specialist at the software company WithSecure and a
cybercrime adviser to Europol.
Hypponen, whom I believe I met, at least once, at a long-ago Macworld Expo or WWDC, was previously referenced on DF in 2012 regarding a widespread Mac Trojan horse.
★
Sheera Frenkel and Ronen Bergman, reporting for The New York Times:
Israel carried out its operation against Hezbollah on Tuesday by
hiding explosive material within a new batch of Taiwanese-made
pagers imported into Lebanon, according to American and other
officials briefed on the operation.
The pagers, which Hezbollah had ordered from Gold Apollo in
Taiwan, had been tampered with before they reached Lebanon,
according to some of the officials. Most were the company’s AP924
model, though three other Gold Apollo models were also included in
the shipment.
The explosive material, as little as one to two ounces, was
implanted next to the battery in each pager, two of the officials
said. A switch was also embedded that could be triggered remotely
to detonate the explosives.
At 3:30 p.m. in Lebanon, the pagers received a message that
appeared as though it was coming from Hezbollah’s leadership, two
of the officials said. Instead, the message activated the
explosives. Lebanon’s health minister told state media at least
nine people were killed and more than 2,800 injured.
The devices were programmed to beep for several seconds before
exploding, according to three of the officials.
Hezbollah leadership had ordered its members to forgo modern phones for security reasons, convinced (probably correctly) that Israeli intelligence was able to track them. So they switched to decades-old pagers. But Israel seemingly infiltrated the supply chain of Gold Apollo and boobytrapped the pagers.
In the initial pandemonium after the attack was triggered, there was speculation that, somehow, it was simply the batteries that exploded. But batteries — especially the AAA batteries these pagers use — don’t explode with that much force:
Independent cybersecurity experts who have studied footage of the
attacks said it was clear that the strength and speed of the
explosions were caused by a type of explosive material.
“These pagers were likely modified in some way to cause these
types of explosions — the size and strength of the explosion
indicates it was not just the battery,” said Mikko Hypponen, a
research specialist at the software company WithSecure and a
cybercrime adviser to Europol.
Hypponen, whom I believe I met, at least once, at a long-ago Macworld Expo or WWDC, was previously referenced on DF in 2012 regarding a widespread Mac Trojan horse.
[Sponsor] WorkOS
With WorkOS you can start selling to enterprises with just a few lines of code. It provides a complete User Management solution along with SSO, SCIM, and FGA. The APIs are modular and easy-to-use, allowing integrations to be completed in minutes instead of months.
Today, some of the fastest growing startups are already powered by WorkOS, including Perplexity, Vercel, and Webflow.
For SaaS apps that care deeply about design and user experience, WorkOS is the perfect fit. From high-quality documentation to self-serve onboarding for your customers, it removes all the unnecessary complexity for your engineering team.
★
With WorkOS you can start selling to enterprises with just a few lines of code. It provides a complete User Management solution along with SSO, SCIM, and FGA. The APIs are modular and easy-to-use, allowing integrations to be completed in minutes instead of months.
Today, some of the fastest growing startups are already powered by WorkOS, including Perplexity, Vercel, and Webflow.
For SaaS apps that care deeply about design and user experience, WorkOS is the perfect fit. From high-quality documentation to self-serve onboarding for your customers, it removes all the unnecessary complexity for your engineering team.
Ten Years of Six Colors
Jason Snell:
Ten years sure seems like a long time.
Ten years ago the iPhone got physically big for the first time.
(In the ensuing decade, iPhone revenue has doubled.) Ten years ago
Apple announced the Apple Watch.
Ten years ago I found myself without a job for the first time.
I ran into Snell before (and again after) Apple’s event last week, and he mentioned that it marked Six Colors’s 10th anniversary. My reaction: I somehow simultaneously think of Six Colors as still kinda new and a bedrock, irreplaceable part of the Apple media firmament.
On days like today, it’s the first site I visit, because of pieces like these:
Dan Moren: “iOS 18 Review: Your iPhone, Your Way”
Snell: “iPadOS 18 Review (ish): Math Notes, Calculator, and Weird Tab Bars”
And, nearest and dearest to my heart, Snell’s review of MacOS 15 Sequoia. All of that, just today.
★
Jason Snell:
Ten years sure seems like a long time.
Ten years ago the iPhone got physically big for the first time.
(In the ensuing decade, iPhone revenue has doubled.) Ten years ago
Apple announced the Apple Watch.
Ten years ago I found myself without a job for the first time.
I ran into Snell before (and again after) Apple’s event last week, and he mentioned that it marked Six Colors’s 10th anniversary. My reaction: I somehow simultaneously think of Six Colors as still kinda new and a bedrock, irreplaceable part of the Apple media firmament.
On days like today, it’s the first site I visit, because of pieces like these:
Dan Moren: “iOS 18 Review: Your iPhone, Your Way”
Snell: “iPadOS 18 Review (ish): Math Notes, Calculator, and Weird Tab Bars”
And, nearest and dearest to my heart, Snell’s review of MacOS 15 Sequoia. All of that, just today.
Apple Watch’s Sleep Apnea Detection Feature Now Available in More Than 150 Countries
Joe Rossignol, reporting for MacRumors:
Apple released watchOS 11 today following months of beta testing.
A key new health-related feature included in the software update
is sleep apnea detection, which is available starting today on the
Apple Watch Series 10, Apple Watch Series 9, and Apple Watch Ultra
2 in more than 150 countries and regions, according to Apple.
The list of countries includes the U.S., U.K., France, Germany,
Italy, Spain, Japan, New Zealand, Singapore, and many others, with
a full list available on Apple’s website. A few
English-speaking countries where the feature is not yet available
are Australia and Canada, as Apple is still seeking regulatory
clearance for the feature in some regions.
Apple has also published the clinical validation summary for the sleep apnea notification feature.
★
Joe Rossignol, reporting for MacRumors:
Apple released watchOS 11 today following months of beta testing.
A key new health-related feature included in the software update
is sleep apnea detection, which is available starting today on the
Apple Watch Series 10, Apple Watch Series 9, and Apple Watch Ultra
2 in more than 150 countries and regions, according to Apple.
The list of countries includes the U.S., U.K., France, Germany,
Italy, Spain, Japan, New Zealand, Singapore, and many others, with
a full list available on Apple’s website. A few
English-speaking countries where the feature is not yet available
are Australia and Canada, as Apple is still seeking regulatory
clearance for the feature in some regions.
Apple has also published the clinical validation summary for the sleep apnea notification feature.
Thierry Breton Resigns, Forced Out by the European Commission President
Thierry Breton, in a letter to Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission:
On 24 July, you wrote to Member States asking them to nominate
candidates for the 2024-2029 College of Commissioner, specifying
that Member States that intend to suggest the incumbent Member of
the Commission were not required to suggest two candidates. On 25
July, President Emmanuel Macron designated me as France’s official
candidate for a second mandate in the College of Commissioners — as he had already publicly announced on the margins of the
European Council on 28 June. A few days ago, in the very final
stretch of negotiations on the composition of the future College,
you asked France to withdraw my name — for personal reasons that
in no instance you have discussed directly with me — and offered,
as a political trade-off, an allegedly more influential portfolio
for France in the future College. You will now be proposed a
different candidate.
Over the past five years, I have relentlessly striven to uphold
and advance the common European good, above national and party
interests. It has been an honour.
However, in light of these latest developments — further testimony
to questionable governance — I have to conclude that I can no
longer exercise my duties in the College.
I am therefore resigning from my position as European
Commissioner, effective immediately.
Translation from bureaucratese to English: “Faced with being fired for being a jackass or resigning, I resign.”
★
Thierry Breton, in a letter to Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission:
On 24 July, you wrote to Member States asking them to nominate
candidates for the 2024-2029 College of Commissioner, specifying
that Member States that intend to suggest the incumbent Member of
the Commission were not required to suggest two candidates. On 25
July, President Emmanuel Macron designated me as France’s official
candidate for a second mandate in the College of Commissioners — as he had already publicly announced on the margins of the
European Council on 28 June. A few days ago, in the very final
stretch of negotiations on the composition of the future College,
you asked France to withdraw my name — for personal reasons that
in no instance you have discussed directly with me — and offered,
as a political trade-off, an allegedly more influential portfolio
for France in the future College. You will now be proposed a
different candidate.
Over the past five years, I have relentlessly striven to uphold
and advance the common European good, above national and party
interests. It has been an honour.
However, in light of these latest developments — further testimony
to questionable governance — I have to conclude that I can no
longer exercise my duties in the College.
I am therefore resigning from my position as European
Commissioner, effective immediately.
Translation from bureaucratese to English: “Faced with being fired for being a jackass or resigning, I resign.”
Tiptop
My thanks to Tiptop for sponsoring DF last week. Tiptop is a completely new way to pay that makes everything you buy more affordable with trade-in at checkout. It’s incredibly easy. At checkout, you simply select any item you own that you want to trade in from Tiptop’s catalog of over 50,000 choices, and you’ll receive instant credit towards your purchase.
If you’re a merchant, you can easily enable Tiptop with no up front costs, Shopify checkout support, and great APIs for integration with any store. Plus, they are currently offering $10,000 in Tiptop Promotional Credit that you can use to help your customers learn about Tiptop without discounting.
Get started now as a merchant, or experience Tiptop as a shopper at partners like Nothing Tech, Daylight, Cradlewise, and King of Christmas. (And if you’re thinking Tiptop rings a bell, you may recall that after leaving TechCrunch last year, Matthew Panzarino joined Tiptop, and we chatted about it when last he was on The Talk Show earlier this year.)
★
My thanks to Tiptop for sponsoring DF last week. Tiptop is a completely new way to pay that makes everything you buy more affordable with trade-in at checkout. It’s incredibly easy. At checkout, you simply select any item you own that you want to trade in from Tiptop’s catalog of over 50,000 choices, and you’ll receive instant credit towards your purchase.
If you’re a merchant, you can easily enable Tiptop with no up front costs, Shopify checkout support, and great APIs for integration with any store. Plus, they are currently offering $10,000 in Tiptop Promotional Credit that you can use to help your customers learn about Tiptop without discounting.
Get started now as a merchant, or experience Tiptop as a shopper at partners like Nothing Tech, Daylight, Cradlewise, and King of Christmas. (And if you’re thinking Tiptop rings a bell, you may recall that after leaving TechCrunch last year, Matthew Panzarino joined Tiptop, and we chatted about it when last he was on The Talk Show earlier this year.)
Dithering, and This Week’s Apple Event
I’m still collecting my thoughts on this week’s “It’s Glowtime” Apple event, and where Apple stands in general. But this episode of Dithering that dropped Friday morning captures my high-level thoughts well. We haven’t done this in a while, but we’re making it free for everyone to listen to. Give it a listen, while I continue to write and think.
Dithering as a standalone subscription costs just $7/month or $70/year. You get two episodes per week, each exactly 15 minutes long, with yours truly and Ben Thompson. I just love having an outlet like Dithering for weeks like this one. People who try Dithering seem to love it, too — we have remarkably little churn.
(You can also get Dithering by subscribing to Stratechery, a bundle that includes all of Ben’s writing, his interviews, plus the Sharp Tech, Sharp China, and Greatest Of All Talk podcasts — all of that, including Dithering, for just $15/month or $150/year.)
★
I’m still collecting my thoughts on this week’s “It’s Glowtime” Apple event, and where Apple stands in general. But this episode of Dithering that dropped Friday morning captures my high-level thoughts well. We haven’t done this in a while, but we’re making it free for everyone to listen to. Give it a listen, while I continue to write and think.
Dithering as a standalone subscription costs just $7/month or $70/year. You get two episodes per week, each exactly 15 minutes long, with yours truly and Ben Thompson. I just love having an outlet like Dithering for weeks like this one. People who try Dithering seem to love it, too — we have remarkably little churn.
(You can also get Dithering by subscribing to Stratechery, a bundle that includes all of Ben’s writing, his interviews, plus the Sharp Tech, Sharp China, and Greatest Of All Talk podcasts — all of that, including Dithering, for just $15/month or $150/year.)
FDA Grants Approval to AirPods Pro 2 for Use as Hearing Aids
Brian Heater, reporting for TechCrunch:
The iPhone 16 took center stage at Apple’s “It’s Glowtime” event,
but the most interesting tidbit came from a different line
entirely. Indeed, among a sea of new hardware came an intriguing
software update to one already on the market: the AirPods Pro 2.
Apple announced that its most premium earbuds would double as an
over-the-counter hearing aid, courtesy of a software update,
pending approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
The FDA on Thursday announced that it has granted what it
calls “the first over-the-counter (OTC) hearing aid software
device, Hearing Aid Feature.” Specifically, it has approved the
software update that enables that functionality.
In briefings on Monday, Apple employees expressed what I can only describe as confidence that FDA approval for this would be imminent, but like sports fans, it almost as though they didn’t want to jinx it. Asked if FDA approval might come before the iOS 18.0 and MacOS 15.0 updates scheduled for this coming Monday, they wouldn’t really answer, but had looks on their faces that said that’s what we’re hoping.
What a great feature this seems to be.
★
Brian Heater, reporting for TechCrunch:
The iPhone 16 took center stage at Apple’s “It’s Glowtime” event,
but the most interesting tidbit came from a different line
entirely. Indeed, among a sea of new hardware came an intriguing
software update to one already on the market: the AirPods Pro 2.
Apple announced that its most premium earbuds would double as an
over-the-counter hearing aid, courtesy of a software update,
pending approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
The FDA on Thursday announced that it has granted what it
calls “the first over-the-counter (OTC) hearing aid software
device, Hearing Aid Feature.” Specifically, it has approved the
software update that enables that functionality.
In briefings on Monday, Apple employees expressed what I can only describe as confidence that FDA approval for this would be imminent, but like sports fans, it almost as though they didn’t want to jinx it. Asked if FDA approval might come before the iOS 18.0 and MacOS 15.0 updates scheduled for this coming Monday, they wouldn’t really answer, but had looks on their faces that said that’s what we’re hoping.
What a great feature this seems to be.
OpenAI Releases New O1 Reasoning Model
Kylie Robison, reporting for The Verge:
OpenAI is releasing a new model called o1, the first in a planned
series of “reasoning” models that have been trained to answer more
complex questions, faster than a human can. It’s being released
alongside o1-mini, a smaller, cheaper version. And yes, if you’re
steeped in AI rumors: this is, in fact, the extremely hyped
Strawberry model.
For OpenAI, o1 represents a step toward its broader goal of
human-like artificial intelligence. More practically, it does a
better job at writing code and solving multistep problems than
previous models. But it’s also more expensive and slower to use
than GPT-4o. OpenAI is calling this release of o1 a “preview” to
emphasize how nascent it is. […]
“The model is definitely better at solving the AP math test than I
am, and I was a math minor in college,” OpenAI’s chief research
officer, Bob McGrew, tells me. He says OpenAI also tested o1
against a qualifying exam for the International Mathematics
Olympiad, and while GPT-4o only correctly solved only 13 percent
of problems, o1 scored 83 percent.
Putting aside the politics and other legitimate social and legal concerns around AI, scoring that well in a difficult math exam is just incredible.
★
Kylie Robison, reporting for The Verge:
OpenAI is releasing a new model called o1, the first in a planned
series of “reasoning” models that have been trained to answer more
complex questions, faster than a human can. It’s being released
alongside o1-mini, a smaller, cheaper version. And yes, if you’re
steeped in AI rumors: this is, in fact, the extremely hyped
Strawberry model.
For OpenAI, o1 represents a step toward its broader goal of
human-like artificial intelligence. More practically, it does a
better job at writing code and solving multistep problems than
previous models. But it’s also more expensive and slower to use
than GPT-4o. OpenAI is calling this release of o1 a “preview” to
emphasize how nascent it is. […]
“The model is definitely better at solving the AP math test than I
am, and I was a math minor in college,” OpenAI’s chief research
officer, Bob McGrew, tells me. He says OpenAI also tested o1
against a qualifying exam for the International Mathematics
Olympiad, and while GPT-4o only correctly solved only 13 percent
of problems, o1 scored 83 percent.
Putting aside the politics and other legitimate social and legal concerns around AI, scoring that well in a difficult math exam is just incredible.