Chinese space officials confirmed this weekend that the Asian nation plans to land its astronauts on the Moon within three years.

At the Seventh Manned Spaceflight Conference in Beijing, officials, including Wang Xiang, chief designer for the lunar exploration program, laid out the country’s most publicly detailed plans yet for a series of missions leading up to a crewed lunar landing “before 2030.”

China’s lunar landings will involve a lunar-orbit rendezvous similar to what NASA did in the 1960s and early 1970s with the Apollo program. However, lacking a rocket as powerful as the Saturn V vehicle, the crew and lunar lander will launch separately to the Moon.

Read full article

Comments

Formula 1 has a new World Drivers’ Champion. Just a few months after turning 20, Kimi Antonelli sealed his first title this weekend at Mexico City, becoming the sport’s youngest-ever champion. Elsewhere, there was drama aplenty, perhaps a consequence of the thin air affecting decision-making in some cases. The race was Ferrari’s to win, but yet again, the team handed victory to a rival this season, in this case Red Bull. Further down the grid, we saw a last-minute driver change in the Haas team, synchronized retirements from both Aston Martins, and the wheels literally coming off Cadillac Racing. And there was I, expecting a dull weekend.

It might not be as high as Pikes Peak, but at an elevation of 7,350 feet (2,240 m) above sea level, the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez provides a unique challenge on the F1 calendar. Wings that would create huge amounts of downforce at circuits like Monaco just generate Monza-like levels in Mexico, and there’s little slipstream effect when following another car.

Cooling tends to be a problem, too, with insufficient airflow across radiators, and obviously engine power is reduced with less oxygen to burn. The track is very flat, with a rather low-grip surface and mostly medium- and slow-speed corners, including a processional route through a stadium that was built in the 1990s, plus a very long run from the start into turn 1.

Read full article

Comments

Microsoft is scrambling to fix time-zone problems across Outlook, Power Automate, Fabric, SharePoint and other products after parts of Canada stopped observing seasonal clock changes on November 1. “The company has confirmed problems across a chunk of its software estate, leaving some customers facing incorrect times, broken schedules and a collection of workarounds while Redmond catches up,” reports The Register. From the report: Outlook users have been left with the most homework. Switching to the new Canadian time zones won’t automatically update existing calendar entries, meaning that meetings scheduled after November 1 are potentially an hour out of whack. Microsoft advises users to change their Outlook calendar time zone, then update upcoming events and meetings to use it. For meetings involving other people, only the organizer can make the change.

Recurring meetings come with an additional treat: changing the time zone resets any previously moved occurrences, which then have to be recreated. Anyone with a calendar full of recurring meetings may wish to put the kettle on first. Microsoft is working on an Exchange Online PowerShell cmdlet to remediate non-recurring meetings, but according to its guidance, that’s not due until later this week. A fix for recurring meetings remains “in development,” with an ETA yet to be confirmed.

Things get stranger with Power Automate and Fabric, where Microsoft’s temporary fix involves pretending you’re somewhere else entirely. Depending on the product and province, that could mean Saskatchewan, Arizona or, for Manitobans, Bogota. Because apparently time zones weren’t confusing enough already. SharePoint On-Prem customers, meanwhile, have to wait until November 10 for the correct time zones to arrive, while Power Pages users could see server-formatted dates appear an hour out until a service fix lands. Microsoft’s current milestone for that is December 12.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

We may earn a commission from links on this page.

I may not be “messy,” exactly, but no one would describe me as “neat,” either. One of my biggest issues is that I tend to wait for a mess to get big enough to justify dragging out a full-size vacuum before I deal with it, because a full-size vacuum means finding the cord or the charger, wrestling it out of the closet, going room to room, and then putting it all away again. When the mess in question is still only a few cracker crumbs? Forget it—I’m just too lazy.

The solution to my laziness has been removing all the friction and hassle of my full-size vacuum, and instead keeping a handheld vacuum always within reach.

Why you need a handheld vacuum

Though there are many handheld vacuums out there, I use the Sharper Image Dual Air Slim, which I got from Target. It’s great for quickly sucking up crumbs and everyday messes, and that’s exactly the job I need it to handle. The “dual air” part is what makes it more interesting than your average handheld: It’s both a vacuum and a blower, so it can pull debris in or push it out, depending on what you’re dealing with. I didn’t expect to need the blower at all, but I’m surprised how handy it is for blasting crumbs out of keyboard keys or loosening up stubborn debris before I suck it up.

The result is that my apartment is simply cleaner. Not because I’m spending more time cleaning overall, but because I’m no longer letting small messes pile up into big ones. When my monthly (or quarterly) deep clean does roll around, it’s far less painful, because there’s so much less to deal with. Perhaps this is the real upgrade: cleaning up messes the moment they happen instead of saving them up.

I love the Sharper Image Dual Air Slim, but there are plenty of similar cordless handheld vacuum and air duster combos out there, and they tend to land in a pretty similar price range. If another one catches your eye, or goes on sale, or has a design you prefer, go for it.

When comparing models, here are my handheld vacuum musts:

• It should offer both vacuum and blower modes.

• It should be both cordless and rechargeable. If it needs an outlet, you’ll have another barrier to using it, and that defeats the purpose.

• It should be lightweight and slim. You want something you can grab and use one-handed without thinking about it.

• The dust cup should be easy to empty. If emptying it is a hassle, you’ll use it less.

• You should be able to keep it in plain sight. The closer it lives to where messes happen (the kitchen, the entryway), the more you’ll use it.

The bottom line

I used to think a clean apartment meant big, scheduled cleaning sessions. Now I think it’s mostly about making the small stuff effortless. A handheld vacuum and blower won’t replace your regular vacuum, but it will make you far less likely to need it as often. If you’ve been waiting for the next big mess, or the next big clean, to get things tidy, consider changing the system instead.

Apple’s new CEO, John Ternus, is apparently pushing the tech company’s development of household robots—and the first to debut may be a home robot designed to autonomously roam around while supporting FaceTime calls and switching lights on whenever a person enters the room.

People who worked on Apple’s robotic projects told The Information that the AI-driven home robot, code-named J595, could be named HomeView Ultra in line with Apple’s new HomeView stationary smart display. The company is reportedly aiming to launch the robotic product with a possible price tag of $1,000 or more by 2027, although development delays may push that back to 2028.

The earliest prototypes of the home robot first came out in 2018 and received approval from former Apple CEO Tim Cook to continue the project. The Information describes Apple’s engineers as trying to give the robot more capabilities beyond being a “fancy way to make FaceTime calls” in order to justify a high price tag, even as the team has spent years refining the software and incorporating more AI technologies.

Read full article

Comments

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication.

StackSocial has a refurbished, factory-unlocked iPhone 16e with 128GB of storage on sale for $354.99 right now, down from a $599 list price. The catch, and it’s one worth understanding before you click buy, is that this particular unit carries a Grade C refurbished rating, meaning that it may arrive with visible scratches or dents on the housing. If that matters to you, you can get a Grade B-rated model for $399.99 for a B- grade or $434.99 for a B+ grade.

Cosmetic wear aside, the hardware is recent, and the 16e launched in 2025 as Apple’s lower-cost entry with much of the same internals as the standard iPhone 16. That means you still get the A18 chip, 8GB of RAM, and a 16-core Neural Engine—enough to run Apple Intelligence features and handle games without feeling like an entry-level phone. Its 6.1-inch OLED screen is similarly well suited to everyday use, whether you’re reading, browsing, or streaming, with a sharp 2532 x 1170 resolution and up to 1,200 nits of brightness. The battery should also be able to keep up with a full day of typical use, with Apple rating it for up to 26 hours of video playback, while charging is handled through USB-C or a Qi wireless pad.

The potential downside shows up around back, where a single 48MP camera with optical image stabilization and a 2x telephoto option covers everyday photos and closer shots—though you lose the ultrawide lens that makes group shots and landscapes easier on the regular iPhone 16. Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.3 also put it a step behind newer models on wireless, and while its IP68 rating covers immersion up to six meters for half an hour (so spills and rain aren’t a worry), it isn’t a dust-proofing guarantee. But for this sale price, it’s a great opportunity to upgrade your older iPhone.

A cabinet might seem like a convenient spot for your console, but it can’t provide enough airflow for the system to run safely.

A potential deal with Boost Mobile could serve as a shortcut to establishing SpaceX as a mobile carrier.

Last week, Anthropic introduced a new system prompt designed to stop its Claude models from re-creating specific, existing video games. While that move could help shield Anthropic from some liability, it’s unlikely to slow much of the massive wave of AI-assisted game porting and copying that has emerged in recent months.

A social media user and AI decompilation enthusiast going by the name “chasm” was among the first to note the prompt change late last week, saying a new rule seemed to be added to the Claude Code prompt on or around October 27. That rule—included in a json file under the name “tengu_heron_brook”—reads as follows:

Do build original games, games in a genre, and games from the user’s own designs and assets. Don’t build a recreation of a specific existing game, even if it is renamed or called original.

XDA later independently verified that the new rule appears in version 2.1.314 of the Claude Code binary, which was released on October 30. XDA also reported that the “tengu_heron_brook” rule had been used for other purposes in earlier versions and that the Claude Opus 5.5 model specifically seemed to have its own distinct and independent instructions restricting game recreations as part of its system prompt bundle.

Read full article

Comments

Marvell has agreed to acquire optical components maker Lumentum in an all-stock deal with an implied enterprise value of $115 billion. “AI infrastructure is undergoing a fundamental architectural shift toward optical connectivity, creating an opportunity that comes along once in a generation,” said Marvell Chairman and CEO Matt Murphy. “The companies that move first and help define this transition will set the standard for decades to come.” CNBC reports: Through the acquisition, Marvell said it can combine electrical and optical technologies to meet accelerating and shifting AI connectivity demands across regions and systems. Companies are increasingly relying on optical connections to piece together chips used to run and train large language models. Lumentum shareholders will receive 4.5 Marvell shares for each Lumentum share under the agreement. The deal is expected to close during the first half of 2028. Marvell’s takeover marks one of the most significant bets on AI in 2026 and comes despite recent concerns over the long-term sustainability of infrastructure spending.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Google Chrome is making it easier to autofill online forms with more than just contact information and credit card numbers. For users with Personal Intelligence enabled, Gemini will now suggest items like order numbers, tracking information, membership IDs, and booking confirmations from Gmail messages when completing forms in Chrome.

Chrome expands autofill suggestions based on information from Gmail

Chrome’s expanded autofill capabilities use Gemini to read your emails and surface suggestions, meaning you don’t have to click back and forth between tabs or manually search for codes or confirmations in your inbox. When you click a form field that has a corresponding piece of data, a pop-up menu appears and indicates that an item is “Suggested by Gemini.” You can click this to autofill the suggestion as well as open an additional menu to see the specific source (the original email) or remove the suggestion. The latter doesn’t delete anything from Gmail; it simply dismisses the suggestion in Chrome.

As Android Police reports, Google started testing enhanced autofill in Chrome this summer using data from other connected apps like Google Photos. The feature currently rolling out is specific to Gmail and is coming first to U.S. users who have Personal Intelligence enabled on desktop as well as in the Android and iOS apps when using Gemini in Chrome.

Personal Intelligence may expose your Gmail data for targeted ads

When using enhanced autofill, remember that, thanks to a recent privacy policy update, connecting Gmail and other Google apps to Personal Intelligence may expose more of your data to ad personalization. Personal Intelligence likely hasn’t changed what Google itself can access all that much, but now Google can use data from Gmail, Photos, and Drive to deliver targeted ads. That includes data you don’t explicitly share in search or with Google’s AI. Google says it does not send personally identifiable information to advertisers or scan Gmail for this data—however, linking Personal Intelligence to Google apps does potentially leave you more exposed.

In the blog post announcing the enhanced autofill feature, Google states that “sensitive data is encrypted” and that users can manage autofill, including enabling or disabling enhanced suggestions, via Chrome’s settings.

Apple’s iMessage app offers a lot of useful features and several default apps included in its latest update. However, they may be in an order you dislike.

Smart home devices usually won’t work properly when they lose Wi-Fi signal, so it’s frustrating when they keep disconnecting. Here’s why it might be happening.

It’s unclear what will happen to the studio’s work on Gang of Dragon.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Guardian: Supermarket chains in Sweden, Belgium and Luxembourg have said the temperatures of their refrigerators and freezers in dozens of stores rose overnight, prompting fears of a cyber-attack similar to one that caused millions of euros of food losses in France. Sweden’s Coop chain told the daily Aftonbladet on Monday that six of its stores had been affected, while ICA said it was “aware that a limited number of stores were affected by an incident overnight which impacted their refrigeration and freezer systems”.

The Dutch retailer Ahold Delhaize, which last month reported a cybersecurity incident to police in the Netherlands, said an “IT incident” had hit fridges and freezers in dozens of its supermarkets in Belgium and Luxembourg. A company spokesperson, Sarah De Meester, said the supermarket chain had established that temperatures in the cooling systems had increased, adding that the incident was being investigated. Belgium’s Le Soir newspaper reported that dozens of stores and supermarkets were affected, including five Spar outlets, multiple Shop & Go convenience stores attached to Q8 service stations, and a number of smaller Proxy Delhaize minimarkets. “We started mobilizing technicians at 1am,” Stephan Moelans, the chief executive of Sabcobel, which specialises in refrigeration system installations, told the paper. “We spent all night and morning disconnecting the affected installations from the grid.”

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Turn the clock back to 1998, when the internet was a little more functional.

It’s handy, but most people likely won’t miss it.