Kris Guyer – Page 8

After decades, FDA finally moves to pull ineffective decongestant off shelves

decongestant, fda, health, phenylephrine, Science, sudafed / Kris Guyer / November 7, 2024

In a long-sought move, the Food and Drug Administration on Thursday formally began the process of abandoning oral doses of a common over-the-counter decongestant, which the agency concluded last year is not effective at relieving stuffy noses.

Specifically, the FDA issued a proposed order to remove oral phenylephrine from the list of drugs that drugmakers can include in over-the-counter products—also known as the OTC monograph. Once removed, drug makers will no longer be able to include phenylephrine in products for the temporary relief nasal congestion.

“It is the FDA’s role to ensure that drugs are safe and effective,” Patrizia Cavazzoni, director of the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, said in a statement. “Based on our review of available data and consistent with the advice of the advisory committee, we are taking this next step in the process to propose removing oral phenylephrine because it is not effective as a nasal decongestant.”

For now, the order is just a proposal. The FDA will open up a public comment period, and if no comments can sway the FDA’s previous conclusion that the drug is useless, the agency will make the order final. Drugmakers will get a grace period to reformulate their products.

Reviewed reviews

The slow-moving abandonment of phenylephrine is years in the making. The decongestant was originally approved by the FDA back in 1976, but it came to prominence after 2006. That was the year when the “Combat Methamphetamine Epidemic Act of 2005” came into effect, and pseudoephedrine—the main component of Sudafed—moved behind the pharmacy counter to keep it from being used to make methamphetamine. With pseudoephedrine out of easy reach at drugstores, phenylephrine became the leading over-the-counter decongestant. And researchers had questions.

In 2007, an FDA panel reevaluated the drug, which allegedly works by shrinking blood vessels in the nasal passage, opening up the airway. While the panel upheld the drug’s approval, it concluded that more studies were needed for a full assessment. After that, three large, carefully designed studies were conducted—two by Merck for the treatment of seasonal allergies and one by Johnson & Johnson for the treatment of the common cold. All three found no significant difference between phenylephrine and a placebo.

After decades, FDA finally moves to pull ineffective decongestant off shelves Read More »

Sega is delisting 60 classic games from Steam, so now’s the time to grab them

ecco the dolphin, gaming, Sega, Sega Dreamcast, Sega Genesis, sega saturn, steam / Kris Guyer / November 7, 2024

Sega has put dozens of its Master System, Genesis, Saturn, and other console titles onto modern game stores over the years. But, like that Dreamcast controller stashed in your childhood garage, they’re about to disappear—and getting them back will cost you a nostalgia tax.

Those who have purchased any of the more than 60 games listed by Sega from Steam, Xbox, Nintendo’s Switch store, and the PlayStation store will still have them after 11: 59 pm Pacific time on Dec. 26. But after that, for reasons that Sega does not make explicit, they will be “delisted and unavailable.” Titles specific to the Nintendo Switch Online “Expansion Pack” subscription will remain.

As PC Gamer has suggested, and which makes the most sense, this looks like Sega is getting ready to offer up new “classics” collections on these storefronts. Sega previously rearranged its store shelves to pull Sonic games from online stores and then offer up Sonic Origins. The title underwhelmed Ars at the time and managed to pack in some DLC pitches.

Sega already offers a few bundles and collections in Steam, like the Mega Drive and Genesis Classics and Dreamcast Collection. As with individual titles, buyers will retain access to them, even after Sega comes back around with new bundles.

First-person RPG screenshot showing a character named — *Shining in the Darkness* might be the turn-based retro RPG missing from your collection (for 99 cents). Credit: Sega

So if you’ve felt like you wanted to reclaim some Sega moments now, piecemeal, while you still can, the Ars writers can suggest a few places to look. These are links to the Steam store, and are mostly Windows-only, though they can often work through Proton on Linux or Steam Deck, and some work with older mac OS versions. Xbox has a smaller list, while PlayStation and Nintendo offer only the Mega Drive Classics at the moment.

Some obvious classics: Crazy Taxi, Jet Set Radio, and Ecco the Dolphin
Quirkier picks from Kyle Orland: Space Channel 5 Part 2, Toejam & Earl in Panic on Funkotron
An unexpected puzzle hit: Dr. Robotnik’s Mean Bean Machine
Benj Edward’s Shining RPG selections: Shining Force, Shining Force II, Shining in the Darkness
My “Minimum of 300 hours in this” choice: Virtua Fighter 2

Sega is delisting 60 classic games from Steam, so now’s the time to grab them Read More »

Hundreds of code libraries posted to NPM try to install malware on dev machines

code libraries, malware, Security, typosquatting / Kris Guyer / November 4, 2024

The IP address returned by a package Phylum analyzed was: hxxp://193.233.201[.]21: 3001.

While the method was likely intended to conceal the source of second-stage infections, it ironically had the effect of leaving a trail of previous addresses the attackers had used in the past. The researchers explained:

An interesting thing about storing this data on the Ethereum blockchain is that Ethereum stores an immutable history of all values it has ever seen. Thus, we can see every IP address this threat actor has ever used.

On 2024-09-23 00: 55: 23Z it was hxxp://localhost: 3001

From 2024-09-24 06: 18: 11Z it was hxxp://45.125.67[.]172: 1228

From 2024-10-21 05: 01: 35Z it was hxxp://45.125.67[.]172: 1337

From 2024-10-22 14: 54: 23Z it was hxxp://193.233[.]201.21: 3001

From 2024-10-26 17: 44: 23Z it is hxxp://194.53.54[.]188: 3001

When installed, the malicious packages come in the form of a packed Vercel package. The payload runs in memory, sets itself to load with each reboot, and connects to the IP address from the ethereum contract. It then “performs a handful of requests to fetch additional Javascript files and then posts system information back to the same requesting server,” the Phylum researchers wrote. “This information includes information about the GPU, CPU, the amount of memory on the machine, username, and OS version.”

Attacks like this one rely on typosquatting, a term for the use of names that closely mimic those of legitimate packages but contain small differences, such as those that might occur if the package was inadvertently misspelled. Typosquatting has long been a tactic for luring people to malicious websites. Over the past five years, typosquatting has been embraced to trick developers into downloading malicious code libraries.

Developers should always double-check names before running downloaded packages. The Phylum blog post provides names, IP addresses, and cryptographic hashes associated with the malicious packages used in this campaign.

Hundreds of code libraries posted to NPM try to install malware on dev machines Read More »

Rocket Report: New Glenn shows out; ULA acknowledges some fairing issues

rocket report, Science, Space / Kris Guyer / November 2, 2024

“We have integrated some corrective actions and additional inspections.”

New Glenn arrives at Launch Complex 36 in Florida. Credit: Blue Origin

Welcome to Edition 7.18 of the Rocket Report! One of the most intriguing bits of news this week is the rolling of Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket out to its launch complex in Florida. With two months remaining in 2024, will the company make owner Jeff Bezos’ deadline for getting to orbit this year? We’ll have to see, as the Rocket Report is not prepared to endorse any timelines at the moment.

As always, we welcome reader submissions, and if you don’t want to miss an issue, please subscribe using the box below (the form will not appear on AMP-enabled versions of the site). Each report will include information on small-, medium-, and heavy-lift rockets as well as a quick look ahead at the next three launches on the calendar.

ESA selects four companies for reusable launch. The European Space Agency announced this week the selection of Rocket Factory Augsburg, The Exploration Company, ArianeGroup, and Isar Aerospace to develop reusable rocket technology, European Spaceflight reports. The four awardees are divided into two initiatives focused on the development of reusable rocket technology: the Technologies for High-thrust Reusable Space Transportation (THRUST!) project and the Boosters for European Space Transportation (BEST!) project. The awarded companies will now begin contract negotiations with ESA to further develop and test their solutions.

The best thrust anywhere … The THRUST! initiative aims to push forward the development of European liquid propulsion systems, and Rocket Factory Augsburg and The Exploration were selected to develop projects under this initiative. The BEST! project was launched to stimulate the development of future reusable rocket first stages or boosters, and ArianeGroup and Isar Aerospace were chosen for this. Europe has a number of initiatives now aimed at developing a reusable rocket, but it seems doubtful that a European rocket will launch into orbit in the 2020s and successfully return to Earth. (submitted by Ken the Bin)

UK startup pursues fully reusable rocket. Astron Systems intends to develop a fully reusable two-stage rocket to transport about 360 kilograms to low-Earth orbit, Space News reports. Founded in 2021 and located at the Harwell Science Campus in England, Astron is one of 12 startups in the fall 2024 class of the TechStars Space Accelerator. “We have a vision for the future in-orbit economy being this big thriving thing,” Astron co-founder Eddie Brown said. “Small satellites are the beating heart of the in-orbit economy today. There are a lot of customers that are crying out for better launch solutions.”

But they have a ways to go … The company seeks to build a methane-liquid oxygen rocket, but clearly it is starting small. Astron Systems has raised more than $600,000 to date, including private investment, grants from Innovate UK and ESA, and backing from Techstars Space. The company’s initial work is with pump technology and a torch igniter. The company’s optimistic forecast calls for a test launch in late 2027. We’ll pencil that date in rather than putting it down in ink, if that’s OK. (submitted by Ken the Bin)

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Avio to build rocket motors for US military. Arlington-headquartered Avio USA was incorporated in April 2022. At the time, Italy-based Avio stated that the wholly owned subsidiary would be used to “explore business opportunities in the US market.” By 2023, the company revealed that it had identified “a significant production capacity gap relative to the substantial acceleration in demand requirements” in the area of tactical propulsion. This week the Italian rocket maker said it had begun design work on its first US-based solid rocket motor production facility, European Spaceflight reports.

Demand is rising … Avio USA is evaluating a number of possible locations in multiple US states for the several-hundred-acre production facility. A decision on the location of the facility is expected in the first half of 2025. “We are seeing significant demand for our capabilities from our current customers in multiple product lines, and this facility will be critical in creating our production capacity so we can meet the needs of our current and future customers as an independent supplier,” said Avio USA CEO James Syring. Avio will join several US startups in a hurry to ramp up solid rocket motors for missiles as the conflict in Ukraine continues. In the immortal words of Megadeth: Peace Sells … but Who’s Buying? (submitted by Ken the Bin)

ULA assessing fairing issues. A little more than a year ago, a snippet of video that wasn’t supposed to go public made its way onto United Launch Alliance’s live broadcast of an Atlas V rocket launch carrying three classified surveillance satellites for the US Space Force and the National Reconnaissance Office. The public saw video of the clamshell-like payload fairing falling away from the Atlas V rocket as it fired downrange from Cape Canaveral, Florida, on September 10, 2023. It wasn’t pretty. Numerous chunks of material, possibly insulation from the inner wall of the payload shroud’s two shells, fell off the fairing, Ars reports.

Issue still being looked at … We have heard murmurings about fairing issues on the Atlas V for a while now, but United Launch Alliance and Space Force officials have been tight-lipped. More than a year later, however, the company acknowledges it is still investigating the issue. A ULA spokesperson said the company continues to review data related to the fairing debris and will share information upon completion of the investigation. “We are working very closely with our customers and suppliers on the observations in advance of future launches to improve our capabilities,” the spokesperson said. “We have integrated some corrective actions and additional inspections of the hardware.” Payload fairing debris could pose a risk to sensitive components on the spacecraft that the shroud is supposed to protect.

China launches next space station crew. A Long March 2F rocket topped with the Shenzhou 19 crew spacecraft lifted off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center on Tuesday carrying a crew of three Chinese astronauts, Space.com reports. Aboard were commander Cai Xuzhe, 48, who was a member of the Shenzhou 14 mission, and rookie astronauts Song Lingdong, 34, a former air force pilot, and Wang Haoze, also 34, a spaceflight engineer. About six hours after the launch, the Shenzhou 19 spacecraft docked with the Tiangong space station.

Keeping the station on track … The astronaut trio is set to spend six months in orbit aboard Tiangong, conducting various experiments and embarking on several extravehicular activities, or spacewalks. Shenzhou 19 is the 33rd spaceflight mission under China’s human spaceflight program. These missions include uncrewed test flights, crewed missions, launching Tiangong modules and smaller space lab precursor missions, next-generation crew spacecraft test flights, and Tianzhou cargo and refueling missions. China intends to keep Tiangong, which has about 20 percent of the mass of the International Space Station, flying for at least a decade. (submitted by Ken the Bin)

Firefly’s CEO to work “maniacally” to scale the company. Firefly’s previous CEO was in the job for less than two years before a shock exit in July after reported allegations of an inappropriate employee relationship. Now the company has a new top boss, Jason Kim, who left his job as chief executive of satellite-making subsidiary Millennium for Firefly. “I’m thrilled to be here,” Kim told CNBC in an interview. “I’m going to work maniacally to support this team so that we can achieve all of our visionary ideas.”

It starts with the engines … Kim is looking to fly more Alpha rockets and bring the Medium Launch Vehicle (MLV) online in 2026. Kim sees Firefly as having a key advantage—”an engine that works”—in its Reaver engines that power the Alpha rockets. And for MLV, Kim said Firefly took that “great engine technology” and “scaled it up to become Miranda, so you’re not starting from scratch” with a new engine. “We’re making huge strides on MLV,” Kim added. “We’ve had 50 Miranda engine tests already.” Although Alpha may not be reusable, the company has purposely designed the MLV for reusability. “We’re closer to how SpaceX tackled [rocket reuse],” Kim said. (submitted by Ken the Bin)

US Senator wants FAA to move faster. The Federal Aviation Administration must make “immediate changes” to the regulatory framework governing launch and re-entry, according to Sen. Jerry Moran (R-Kan.), a senior authorizer and appropriator who oversees the space sector, Payload reports. “Across the commercial space industry, concerns are abundant in every stage of FAA’s Office of Space Transportation of both its formal licensing process and its information pre-application review,” Moran wrote in a letter to FAA Administrator Michael Whitaker.

More funding may help … Referencing possible delays with NASA’s Artemis program, Moran called on the FAA to rapidly increase transparency and accountability, saying that America’s leadership in space depends on faster action. “It is irrational to think it often takes more time to complete licensing evaluations than actual rocket development and testing,” Moran wrote. The chief of the FAA’s space division, Kelvin Coleman, has previously said Congress could fix the issues with more funding. The FAA’s Office of Space Transportation has an annual budget of $42 million.

Europe moves to address geo-return concerns in launch. In its most basic form, the European Space Agency’s geo-return policy ensures that companies in member states receive contracts proportional to their country’s financial contributions to ESA. While the policy does foster greater contributions to the agency, it can also add complexity to programs, requiring supply chains to be spread across multiple European countries. For commercial launch companies, this is almost certain to add cost to a public-private partnership with ESA.

No constraints … Now, European Spaceflight reports, ESA seeks to exempt a commercial launch competition from this geo-return policy. The program aims to incentivize the development of a diversified European commercial launch services market. ESA Director of Space Transportation Toni Tolker-Nielsen said, “There will be no constraints on geo-return in this request for proposals.” This would seem to be a positive step forward for private launch companies in Germany, the United Kingdom, Spain, France, and elsewhere. (submitted by Ken the Bin)

What are the next steps for Starship? In a feature, Ars explores the roadmap for SpaceX and the Starship rocket over the next three to five years and the path toward landing NASA astronauts on the Moon. The capture of a Super Heavy booster on October 13 at the company’s Starbase facility in South Texas brings the company closer to such a higher flight rate. SpaceX proved its titanic booster does not need cumbersome landing legs and can eliminate days of processing time otherwise needed to move a landed rocket back to the launch site. Less mass and shorter turnarounds are huge wins for Starship.

A long road ahead … Among the key milestones are: an in-flight relight of a Raptor engine, returning a Starship upper stage to land, reflying a Super Heavy booster, performing one or more in-flight refueling demonstrations, flying a long-duration mission around the Moon (probably 100 days or longer), landing an uncrewed version of Starship on the Moon, and, finally, landing humans as part of the Artemis program. If all goes well, it should be possible for NASA to fulfill the initial promise of the Artemis program and land two astronauts on the surface of the Moon in 2028. This is two years later than NASA’s current goal of September 2026 but would still represent a herculean task by SpaceX and the space agency. If there are significant setbacks, such as failed tower catches or mishaps during fueling in space, the program will doubtlessly face more delays.

New Glenn first stage rolls to the launch site. Blue Origin took another significant step toward the launch of its large New Glenn rocket on Tuesday night by rolling the first stage of the vehicle to a launch site at Cape Canaveral, Florida, Ars reports. Moving the rocket to the launch site is a key sign that the first stage is almost ready for its much-anticipated debut. Development of the New Glenn rocket would bring a third commercial heavy-lift rocket into the US market, after SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy and Starship vehicles. It would send another clear signal that the future of rocketry in the United States is commercially driven rather than government-led.

So when New Glenn? … The rocket must still undergo two key milestones: completing a wet dress rehearsal in which the vehicle will be fully fueled and its ground systems tested, followed by a hot-fire test during which the first stage’s seven BE-4 rocket engines will be ignited for several seconds. Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos has been pushing the company hard to launch New Glenn for the first time this year, and the schedule is getting tight. Blue Origin already had to stand down from an October launch attempt and delay the launch of a small Mars-bound payload for NASA called ESCAPADE. Ars estimates the rocket will launch no earlier than early- to mid-December if all goes well.

Next three launches

Nov. 3: Falcon 9 | Starlink 6-77 | Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Fla. | 20: 57 UTC

Nov. 4: H3 | Kirameki 3 | Tanegashima Space Center, Japan | 05: 48 UTC

Nov. 4: Electron | Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes| Māhia Peninsula, New Zealand | 09: 30 UTC

Eric Berger is the senior space editor at Ars Technica, covering everything from astronomy to private space to NASA policy, and author of two books: Liftoff, about the rise of SpaceX; and Reentry, on the development of the Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon. A certified meteorologist, Eric lives in Houston.

Rocket Report: New Glenn shows out; ULA acknowledges some fairing issues Read More »

Apple is snapping up one of the best non-Adobe image editors, Pixelmator

acquisitions, Apple, Pixelmator, pixelmator pro, Tech / Kris Guyer / November 1, 2024

Pixelmator, the Lithuania-based firm that makes popular Mac-based photo editing tools, has agreed to be acquired by Apple.

The company says that, pending regulatory approval, there will be “no material changes to the Pixelmator Pro, Pixelmator for iOS, and Photomator apps at this time,” but to “Stay tuned for exciting updates to come.” The Pixelmator team, now 17 years old, states that its staff will join Apple. Details of the acquisition price were not made public.

Fans of Pixelmator’s apps, which are notably one-time purchases, unlike Adobe’s tools, may be hoping that those “exciting updates” do not include the sublimation of Pixelmator into an Apple product at some future time, while the Pixelmator apps disappear.

Regulatory approval may not be a rubber stamp. Adobe had to abandon its $20 billion proposed acquisition of design software firm Figma after UK and European Union regulators signaled opposition to the deal and launched investigations. Similar objections from Europe arose over Amazon’s attempted purchase of iRobot, while Microsoft’s biggest acquisition ever, the $69 billion Activision Blizzard purchase, found a way through.

Apple is snapping up one of the best non-Adobe image editors, Pixelmator Read More »

Person accidentally poisoned 46 coworkers with toxin-loaded homemade lunch

food poisoning, health, health department, outbreak, Science, staph aureus, toxins / Kris Guyer / October 30, 2024

For some, microwaving fish in the employee lunch room is the ultimate work faux pas. But for one (likely mortified) employee of a seafood distribution plant in Maryland, it’s probably causing a mass poisoning with the homemade noodle dish they brought to share for lunch. The dish sickened 46 employees, spurring their employer to hastily release a statement assuring customers that it wasn’t the company’s food that caused the illnesses.

On October 21, first responders and paramedics arrived at the NAFCO Wholesale Fish Distribution Facility in Jessup, where dozens of employees had abruptly fallen ill about three hours after lunch. Helicopter footage of the event captured images of workers around picnic tables outside the plant, some doubled over and with their heads down.

Ultimately, 46 people were sickened, and at least 26 were treated at an area hospital with symptoms of food poisoning, according to The Baltimore Banner. They all recovered.

“NAFCO maintains the highest standards of food safety and regularly undergoes rigorous inspections by health authorities,” NAFCO said in a written statement. “Its products continue to be safely produced and consumed by customers nationwide, and there are no issues related to its supply chain.”

Enterotoxins

In an update on Tuesday, the Maryland Department of Health announced that testing found that Staphylococcus aureus was the cause of the illnesses. S. aureus is often thought of as a skin bacterium, but the pathogen can spread to food from unwashed hands, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention notes. In food that isn’t thoroughly cooked or is held at warm temperatures (between 40° F and 140° F) conducive to bacterial growth, the germ can grow and produce toxins.

Person accidentally poisoned 46 coworkers with toxin-loaded homemade lunch Read More »

Downey Jr. plans to fight AI re-creations from beyond the grave

AI, ai deepfake, Biz & IT, culture, Deepfakes, interview, iron man, Kara Swisher, machine learning, podcast, Robert Downey Jr. / Kris Guyer / October 30, 2024

Robert Downey Jr. has declared that he will sue any future Hollywood executives who try to re-create his likeness using AI digital replicas, as reported by Variety. His comments came during an appearance on the “On With Kara Swisher” podcast, where he discussed AI’s growing role in entertainment.

“I intend to sue all future executives just on spec,” Downey told Swisher when discussing the possibility of studios using AI or deepfakes to re-create his performances after his death. When Swisher pointed out he would be deceased at the time, Downey responded that his law firm “will still be very active.”

The Oscar winner expressed confidence that Marvel Studios would not use AI to re-create his Tony Stark character, citing his trust in decision-makers there. “I am not worried about them hijacking my character’s soul because there’s like three or four guys and gals who make all the decisions there anyway and they would never do that to me,” he said.

Downey currently performs on Broadway in McNeal, a play that examines corporate leaders in AI technology. During the interview, he freely critiqued tech executives—Variety pointed out a particular quote from the interview where he criticized tech leaders who potentially do negative things but seek positive attention.

Downey Jr. plans to fight AI re-creations from beyond the grave Read More »

Preparing for a Billion Developers

Preparing / Kris Guyer / October 29, 2024

With the vision of a billion developers, AI is evolving from a specialized tool to a platform that democratizes coding. As AI’s potential grows, so does the role of the CTO. No longer solely managing infrastructure, today’s CTO must architect a secure, adaptive, and data-driven environment ready to leverage AI responsibly and at scale. Here’s how CTOs can lead this transformation.

1. Define Roles: Professional Developers vs. Nonprofessional Developers

With AI’s rise, coding is becoming accessible to individuals beyond traditional tech roles. For nonprofessional developers—employees who incorporate coding into their roles but aren’t exclusively focused on development—the focus should be on fostering curiosity and exploration.

Professional developers take on an expanded role. Their responsibilities extend beyond governance and scalability; they must become mentors who support nonprofessional developers by understanding business needs and guiding them to achieve goals effectively and securely.

Takeaway: Structure your team with clear roles. Nonprofessional developers focus on experimentation, while professional developers emphasize governance, scalability, and mentoring.

2. Let AI Handle Repetitive Tasks—But Maintain Human Oversight

AI should take on the repetitive, time-consuming tasks developers tend to avoid—documentation, vulnerability checks, and testing. But don’t expect AI to fully understand your business context, risks, or compliance standards. This knowledge comes from human oversight, not from AI.

While AI’s ability to find and fix issues is faster than human work, blind trust isn’t an option. Start today with a scientific approach: run A/B tests on AI-driven and manually executed work, comparing results across experience levels. Use this data to build confidence and assess AI’s strengths and limitations objectively.

Takeaway: Leverage AI for efficiency, but measure its impact. Use A/B testing to build trust while maintaining human review until confidence in AI is earned.

“CTOs: AI isn’t just another tool—it’s a revolution. To lead in a billion-developer world, you need to redefine your operating model and make AI a core part of your strategy.”

3. Measure AI’s ROI Through Time Savings and Operational Change

When evaluating AI’s impact, time saved is the most telling metric. How much time did your team spend on testing, documentation, or process improvements before AI? Tracking these metrics before and after AI adoption reveals a clear ROI and shows how well AI is transforming your operating model.

Takeaway: Track time savings as a core metric of AI’s value. View AI’s impact as a shift in your operating model, not a one-off improvement.

4. Build Trust in AI: Experiment, Test, and Upskill

Integrating AI effectively means upskilling your team based on their strengths. Those with strong interpersonal skills should focus on prompt engineering, as they’re likely to find it intuitive. For others, prioritize technical AI skills, enhancing interpersonal abilities only where it will deliver a direct return.

This approach allows leaders to upskill team members to provide the most immediate value while fostering a culture of adaptability to AI. Everyone becomes proficient in prompt engineering, but team members also develop in areas where they can make the biggest impact.

Takeaway: Tailor AI training to each team member’s strengths, focusing on prompt engineering and enhancing soft skills where they’ll have the most impact.

5. Treat AI as a Product—You Are the Product Manager

With AI evolving rapidly, CTOs need to act as product managers for AI within their organization. Don’t let AI decisions become “settled”; instead, reassess them regularly. In a world where sticking with a single model for six months can leave you behind, constant agility is essential.

For highly regulated industries, this means creating a repeatable review and approval process for AI models that balances innovation with compliance. Agile model evaluation is part of the CTO’s role, as is building a culture of continuous AI integration.

Takeaway: Constantly reassess AI decisions. Build a model evaluation process that enables agility without sacrificing compliance, especially in regulated industries.

6. Set the Foundation with an AI Design Guide Focused on Data Quality

AI lives and dies by data quality. CTOs should start by defining an AI design guide for the organization, ensuring that every AI project is backed by high-quality data. This guide should set standards for aligning AI with organizational goals, including levels of human oversight based on data sensitivity. Projects with low data risk may require minimal oversight, while sensitive applications need more rigorous review.

It’s also important to set clear expectations around AI adoption and support. CTOs should actively endorse AI, provide time for training, and communicate that this investment will pay off long-term.

Takeaway: Begin with an AI design guide that defines data standards and oversight levels. Show commitment to AI and foster a culture of learning and growth.

Conclusion

As AI reshapes development, CTOs must adapt to a world where coding and innovation extend beyond the technical experts. This evolution requires strategic oversight, flexibility, and an unwavering focus on data quality. The competitive edge lies in building an organization where AI is integrated thoughtfully, securely, and with full executive alignment.

If you’re ready to make AI a product your organization can trust, my team and I are here to help. Let’s build an AI-ready operating model together—one grounded in agility, data quality, and strategic oversight.

Preparing for a Billion Developers Read More »

These hornets break down alcohol so fast that they can’t get drunk

alcohol consumption, Biology, entymology, Genetics, hornets, insects, Science / Kris Guyer / October 29, 2024

Many animals, including humans, have developed a taste for alcohol in some form, but excessive consumption often leads to adverse health effects. One exception is the Oriental wasp. According to a new paper published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, these wasps can guzzle seemingly unlimited amounts of ethanol regularly and at very high concentrations with no ill effects—not even intoxication. They pretty much drank honeybees used in the same experiments under the table.

“To the best of our knowledge, Oriental hornets are the only animal in nature adapted to consuming alcohol as a metabolic fuel,” said co-author Eran Levin of Tel Aviv University. “They show no signs of intoxication or illness, even after chronically consuming huge amounts of alcohol, and they eliminate it from their bodies very quickly.”

Per Levin et al., there’s a “drunken monkey” theory that predicts that certain animals well-adapted to low concentrations of ethanol in their diets nonetheless have adverse reactions at higher concentrations. Studies have shown that tree shrews, for example, can handle concentrations of up to 3.8 percent, but in laboratory conditions, when they consumed ethanol in concentrations of 10 percent or higher, they were prone to liver damage.

Similarly, fruit flies are fine with concentrations up to 4 percent but have increased mortality rates above that range. They’re certainly capable of drinking more: fruit flies can imbibe half their body volume in 15 percent (30 proof) alcohol each day. Not even spiking the ethanol with bitter quinine slows them down. Granted, they have ultra-fast metabolisms—the better to burn off the booze—but they can still become falling-down drunk. And fruit flies vary in their tolerance for alcohol depending on their genetic makeup—that is, how quickly their bodies adapt to the ethanol, requiring them to inhale more and more of it to achieve the same physical effects, much like humans.

These hornets break down alcohol so fast that they can’t get drunk Read More »

The Ars redesign 9.0.2 brings the text options you’ve requested

ars redesign, Staff / Kris Guyer / October 29, 2024

Readers of those other sites may not care much about font size and column widths. “40-character line lengths? In 18-point Comic Sans? I love it!” they say. But not you, because you are an Ars reader. And Ars readers are discerning. They have feelings about concepts like “information density.” And we want those feelings to be soft and cuddly ones.

That’s why we’re today rolling out version 9.0.2 of the Ars Technica site redesign, based on your continued feedback, with a special emphasis on text control. (You can read about the changes in 9.0.1 here.) That’s right—we’re talking about options! Font size selection, colored hyperlink text, even a wide column layout for subscribers who plonk down a mere $25/year (possible because we don’t need to accommodate ads for subs).

Here’s a quick visual look at some of the main changes:

Picture of the changes — Along with a clean, ad-free view, subscribers also have the option for a wider text column. In this comparison, the left image shows the Standard width with the text set to Large, while the right shows the Wide width and the text set to Small. Any combination can be mixed and matched for the right level of reading comfort.

And here’s a list of all the changes in this update:

We now have a font size selector with Small, Standard, and Large options
The new default font is smaller; you can return to the previous redesign size by selecting Large
The selector also offers the option to return to using orange links in article copy
We’ve rolled out a new subscriber-only Wide option in the selector for increased density with wider body copy
Once you’ve set your preferred text settings, you can minimize the selector into the page navigation area to get it out of your way
Text settings are stored in the browser, not your account, so you can set them to your preferred style for every device
Headlines and intros to articles are now more compact, and break points for the responsive design have been improved
Story intro images can now be enlarged if you want to see them bigger

Please do let us know how the new options work for you—and if you have any constructive suggestions for continued improvements to the design.

As we process your feedback, do know that we’re already at work on the next batch of improvements, which should be available in the near future.

Soon—a “true light mode” that removes dark background elements for people who prefer that
Soon—improvements to the front-page notifications on your avatar, such as activity in threads where you’ve participated
A little later—a revamp of our front-page comments and voting system, with more nuanced options

So enjoy! And thanks for reading.

The text settings icon lives next to the opening of the story by default (or right above the copy on mobile views). If you click the Minimize to Nav button the button will instead live in your nav, out of the way until you need it again.

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Apple releases iOS 18.1, macOS 15.1 with Apple Intelligence

AI, AirPods Pro, Apple, apple intelligence, generative ai, iOS 18.1, iPadOS 18.1, large language models, LLMs, macOS 15.1, Siri, Tech, tvOS 18.1, watchOS 11.1 / Kris Guyer / October 28, 2024

Today, Apple released iOS 18.1, iPadOS 18.1, macOS Sequoia 15.1, tvOS 18.1, visionOS 2.1, and watchOS 11.1. The iPhone, iPad, and Mac updates are focused on bringing the first AI features the company has marketed as “Apple Intelligence” to users.

Once they update, users with supported devices in supported regions can enter a waitlist to begin using the first wave of Apple Intelligence features, including writing tools, notification summaries, and the “reduce interruptions” focus mode.

In terms of features baked into specific apps, Photos has natural language search, the ability to generate memories (those short gallery sequences set to video) from a text prompt, and a tool to remove certain objects from the background in photos. Mail and Messages get summaries and smart reply (auto-generating contextual responses).

Apple says many of the other Apple Intelligence features will become available in an update this December, including Genmoji, Image Playground, ChatGPT integration, visual intelligence, and more. The company says more features will come even later than that, though, like Siri’s onscreen awareness.

Note that all the features under the Apple Intelligence banner require devices that have either an A17 Pro, A18, A18 Pro, or M1 chip or later.

There are also some region limitations. While those in the US can use the new Apple Intelligence features on all supported devices right away, those in the European Union can only do so on macOS in US English. Apple says Apple Intelligence will roll out to EU iPhone and iPad owners in April.

Beyond Apple Intelligence, these software updates also bring some promised new features to AirPods Pro (second generation and later): Hearing Test, Hearing Aid, and Hearing Protection.

watchOS and visionOS don’t’t yet support Apple Intelligence, so they don’t have much to show for this update beyond bug fixes and optimizations. tvOS is mostly similar, though it does add a new “watchlist” view in the TV app that is exclusively populated by items you’ve added, as opposed to the existing continue watching (formerly called “up next”) feed that included both the items you added and items added automatically when you started playing them.

Apple releases iOS 18.1, macOS 15.1 with Apple Intelligence Read More »

Rocket Report: Sneak peek at the business end of New Glenn; France to fly FROG

astra, blue origin, china, Commercial space, launch, new glenn, new shepard, rocket report, Science, Space, starship, united launch alliance, vulcan / Kris Guyer / October 26, 2024

“The vehicle’s max design gimbal condition is during ascent when it has to fight high-altitude winds.”

Blue Origin’s first New Glenn rocket, with seven BE-4 engines installed inside the company’s production facility near NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Credit: Blue Origin

Welcome to Edition 7.17 of the Rocket Report! Next week marks 10 years since one of the more spectacular launch failures of this century. On October 28, 2014, an Antares rocket, then operated by Orbital Sciences, suffered an engine failure six seconds after liftoff from Virginia and crashed back onto the pad in a fiery twilight explosion. I was there and won’t forget seeing the rocket falter just above the pad, being shaken by the deafening blast, and then running for cover. The Antares rocket is often an afterthought in the space industry, but it has an interesting backstory touching on international geopolitics, space history, and novel engineering. Now, Northrop Grumman and Firefly Aerospace are developing a new version of Antares.

As always, we welcome reader submissions. If you don’t want to miss an issue, please subscribe using the box below (the form will not appear on AMP-enabled versions of the site). Each report will include information on small-, medium-, and heavy-lift rockets as well as a quick look ahead at the next three launches on the calendar.

Astra gets a lifeline from DOD. Astra, the launch startup that was taken private again earlier this year for a sliver of its former value, has landed a new contract with the Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) to support the development of a next-gen launch system for time-sensitive space missions, TechCrunch reports. The contract, which the DIU awarded under its Novel Responsive Space Delivery (NRSD) program, has a maximum value of $44 million. The money will go toward the continued development of Astra’s Launch System 2, designed to perform rapid, ultra-low-cost launches.

Guarantees? … It wasn’t clear from the initial reporting how much money DIU is actually committing to Astra, which said the contract will fund continued development of Launch System 2. Launch System 2 includes a small-class launch vehicle with a similarly basic name, Rocket 4, and mobile ground infrastructure designed to be rapidly set up at austere spaceports. Adam London, founder and chief technology officer at Astra, said the contract award is a “major vote of confidence” in the company. If Astra can capitalize on the opportunity, this would be quite a remarkable turnaround. After going public at an initial valuation of $2.1 billion, or $12.90 per share, Astra endured multiple launch failures with its previous rocket and risked bankruptcy before the company’s co-founders, Chris Kemp and Adam London, took the company private again this year at a price of just $0.50 per share. (submitted by Ken the Bin and EllPeaTea)

Blue Origin debuts a new New Shepard. Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin space venture successfully sent a brand-new New Shepard rocket ship on an uncrewed shakedown cruise Wednesday, with the aim of increasing the company’s capacity to take people on suborbital space trips, GeekWire reports. The capsule, dubbed RSS Karman Line, carried payloads instead of people when it lifted off from Blue Origin’s Launch Site One in West Texas. But if all the data collected during the 10-minute certification flight checks out, it won’t be long before crews climb aboard for similar flights.

Now there are two … With this week’s flight, Blue Origin now has two human-rated suborbital capsules in its fleet, along with two boosters. This should allow the company to ramp up the pace of its human missions, which have historically flown at a cadence of about one flight every two to three months. The new capsule, named for the internationally recognized boundary of space 62 miles (100 kilometers) above Earth, features upgrades to improve performance and ease reusability. (submitted by Ken the Bin and EllPeaTea)

Sign Me Up!

China has a new space tourism company. Chinese launch startup Deep Blue Aerospace targets providing suborbital tourism flights starting in 2027, Space News reports. The company was already developing a partially reusable orbital rocket named Nebula-1 for satellite launches and recently lost a reusable booster test vehicle during a low-altitude test flight. While Deep Blue moves forward with more Nebula-1 testing before its first orbital launch, the firm is now selling tickets for rides to suborbital space on a six-person capsule. The first two tickets were expected to be sold Thursday in a promotional livestream event.

Architectural considerations … Deep Blue has a shot at becoming China’s first space tourism company and one of only a handful in the world, joining US-based Blue Origin and Virgin Galactic in the market for suborbital flights. Deep Blue’s design will be a single-stage reusable rocket and crew capsule, similar to Blue Origin’s New Shepard, capable of flying above the Kármán line and providing up to 10 minutes of microgravity experience for its passengers before returning to the ground. A ticket, presumably for a round trip, will cost about $210,000. (submitted by Ken the Bin)

France’s space agency aims to launch a FROG. French space agency CNES will begin flight testing a small reusable rocket demonstrator called FROG-H in 2025, European Spaceflight reports. FROG is a French acronym that translates to Rocket for GNC demonstration, and its purpose is to test landing algorithms for reusable launch vehicles. CNES manages the program in partnership with French nonprofits and universities. At 11.8 feet (3.6 meters) tall, FROG is the smallest launch vehicle prototype at CNES, which says it will test concepts and technologies at small scale before incorporating them into Europe’s larger vertical takeoff/vertical landing test rockets like Callisto and Themis. Eventually, the idea is for all this work to lead to a reusable European orbital-class rocket.

Building on experience … CNES flew a jet-powered demonstrator named FROG-T on five test flights beginning in May 2019, reaching a maximum altitude of about 100 feet (30 meters). FROG-H will be powered by a hydrogen peroxide rocket engine developed by the Łukasiewicz Institute of Aviation in Poland under a European Space Agency contract. The first flights of FROG-H are scheduled for early 2025. The structure of the FROG project seeks to “break free from traditional development methods” by turning to “teams of enthusiasts” to rapidly develop and test solutions through an experimental approach, CNES says on its website. (submitted by EllPeaTea and Ken the Bin)

Falcon 9 sweeps NSSL awards. The US Space Force’s Space Systems Command announced on October 18 it has ordered nine launches from SpaceX in the first batch of dozens of missions the military will buy in a new phase of competition for lucrative national security launch contracts, Ars reports. The parameters of the competition limited the bidders to SpaceX and United Launch Alliance (ULA). SpaceX won both task orders for a combined value of $733.5 million, or roughly $81.5 million per mission. Six of the nine missions will launch from Vandenberg Space Force Base, California, beginning as soon as late 2025. The other three will launch from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida.

Head-to-head … This was the first set of contract awards by the Space Force’s National Security Space Launch (NSSL) Phase 3 procurement round and represents one of the first head-to-head competitions between SpaceX’s Falcon 9 and ULA’s Vulcan rocket. The nine launches were divided into two separate orders, and SpaceX won both. The missions will deploy payloads for the National Reconnaissance Office and the Space Development Agency. (submitted by Ken the Bin)

SpaceX continues deploying NRO megaconstellation. SpaceX launched more surveillance satellites for the National Reconnaissance Office Thursday aboard a Falcon 9 rocket, Spaceflight Now reports. While the secretive spy satellite agency did not identify the number or exact purpose of the satellites, the Falcon 9 likely deployed around 20 spacecraft believed to be based on SpaceX’s Starshield satellite bus, a derivative of the Starlink spacecraft platform, with participation from Northrop Grumman. These satellites host classified sensors for the NRO. This is the fourth SpaceX launch for the NRO’s new satellite fleet, which seeks to augment the agency’s bespoke multibillion-dollar spy satellites with a network of smaller, cheaper, more agile platforms in low-Earth orbit.

The century mark … This mission, officially designated NROL-167, was the 100th flight of a Falcon 9 rocket this year and the 105th SpaceX launch overall in 2024. The NRO has not said how many satellites will make up its fleet when completed, but the intelligence agency says it will be the US government’s largest satellite constellation in history. By the end of the year, the NRO expects to have 100 or more of these satellites in orbit, allowing the agency to transition from a demonstration mode to an operational mode to deliver intelligence data to military and government users. Many more launches are expected through 2028. (submitted by Ken the Bin)

ULA is stacking its third Vulcan rocket. United Launch Alliance has started assembling its next Vulcan rocket—the first destined to launch a US military payload—as the Space Force prepares to certify it to loft the Pentagon’s most precious national security satellites, Ars reports. Space Force officials expect to approve ULA’s Vulcan rocket for military missions without requiring another test flight, despite an unusual problem on the rocket’s second demonstration flight earlier this month, when one of Vulcan’s two strap-on solid-fueled boosters lost its nozzle shortly after liftoff.

Pending certification … Despite the nozzle failure, the Vulcan rocket continued climbing into space and eventually reached its planned injection orbit, and the Space Force and ULA declared the test flight a success. Still, engineers want to understand what caused the nozzle to break apart and decide on corrective actions before the Space Force clears the Vulcan rocket to launch a critical national security payload. This could take a little longer than expected due to the booster problem, but Space Force officials still hope to certify the Vulcan rocket in time to support a national security launch by the end of the year.

Blue Origin’s first New Glenn has all its engines. Blue Origin published a photo Thursday on X showing all seven first-stage BE-4 engines installed on the base of the company’s first New Glenn rocket. This is a notable milestone as Blue Origin proceeds toward the first launch of the heavy-lifter, possibly before the end of the year. But there’s a lot of work for Blue Origin to accomplish before then. These steps include rolling the rocket to the launch pad, running through propellant loading tests and practice countdowns, and then test-firing all seven BE-4 engines on the pad at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida.

Seven for seven … The BE-4 engines will consume methane fuel mixed with liquid oxygen for the first few minutes of the New Glenn flight, generating more than 3.8 million pounds of combined thrust. The seven BE-4s on New Glenn are similar to the BE-4 engines that fly two at a time on ULA’s Vulcan rocket. Dave Limp, Blue Origin’s CEO, said three of the seven engines on the New Glenn first stage have thrust vector control capability to provide steering during launch, reentry, and landing on the company’s offshore recovery vessel. “That gimbal capability, along with the landing gear and Reaction Control System thrusters, are key to making our booster fully reusable,” Limp wrote on X. “Fun fact: The vehicle’s max design gimbal condition is during ascent when it has to fight high-altitude winds.”

Next Super Heavy booster test-fired in Texas. SpaceX fired up the Raptor engines on its next Super Heavy booster, numbered Booster 13, Thursday evening at the company’s launch site in South Texas. This happened just 11 days after SpaceX launched and caught the Super Heavy booster on the previous Starship test flight and signals SpaceX could be ready for the next Starship test flight sometime in November. SpaceX has already test-fired the Starship upper stage for the next flight.

Great expectations … We expect the next Starship flight, which will be program’s sixth full-scale demo mission, will include another booster catch back at the launch tower at Starbase, Texas. SpaceX may also attempt to reignite a Raptor engine on the Starship upper stage while it is in space, demonstrating the capability to steer itself back into the atmosphere on future flights. So far, SpaceX has only launched Starships on long, arcing suborbital trajectories that carry the vehicle halfway around the world before reentry. In order to actually launch a Starship into a stable orbit around Earth, SpaceX will want to show it can bring the vehicle back so it doesn’t reenter the atmosphere in an uncontrolled manner. An uncontrolled reentry of a large spacecraft like Starship could pose a public safety risk.

Next three launches

Oct. 26: Falcon 9 | Starlink 10-8 | Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida | 21: 47 UTC

Oct. 29: Falcon 9 | Starlink 9-9 | Vandenberg Space Force Base, California | 11: 30 UTC

Oct. 30: H3 | Kirameki 3 | Tanegashima Space Center, Japan | 06: 46 UTC

Stephen Clark is a space reporter at Ars Technica, covering private space companies and the world’s space agencies. Stephen writes about the nexus of technology, science, policy, and business on and off the planet.

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Author name: Kris Guyer

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