Welcome to Edition 8.11 of the Rocket Report! We have reached the time of year when it is possible the US government will shut down its operations at the end of this month, depending on congressional action. A shutdown would have significant implications for many NASA missions, but most notably a couple of dozen in the science directorate that the White House would like to shut down. At Ars, we will be watching this issue closely in the coming days. As for Artemis II, it seems to be far enough along that a launch next February seems possible as long as any government closure does not drag on for weeks and weeks.
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.
Rocket Lab to sell common shares. The space company said Tuesday that it intends to raise up to $750 million by selling common shares, MSN reports. This new at-the-market program replaces a prior agreement that allowed Rocket Lab to sell up to $500 million of stock. Under that earlier arrangement, the company had sold roughly $396.6 million in shares before ending the program.
Revealed at Meta’s Connect 2025 conference, the Ray-Ban Display has a small, integrated display on the right lens, designed for quick, discreet glances at notifications, directions and even video calls. The clever part is its subtlety; to an onlooker, you’re just wearing a pair of Ray-Bans, not accessing a tiny screen with your peripheral vision. (Although you will appear to offer multiple pensive stares into the middle-distance)
Paired with a Meta Neural Band, which you wear on your wrist, the glasses respond to subtle hand gestures. A simple swipe of your thumb across your index finger navigates the interface, while a twist of the wrist handles volume control. This system makes interacting with the glasses feel impressively seamless and intuitive.
While these glasses aren’t about to make your smartphone obsolete, they represent a significant refinement of the smart eyewear concept. According to Engadget’s Karissa Bell, who tested them earlier this week, they are a practical step towards integrating digital information more naturally into our daily lives.
She also tested the Conversational Focus feature, which gives you live captions of the person you’re speaking with even in a loud environment that may be hard to hear.
The Ray-Ban Display are priced at $799 — once again a pricey test of new tech. They’re heading to select US store shelves on September 30. Check out our full impressions right here.
Fivver, best known for offering gig economy job listings for all kinds of creative endeavors, is laying off 250 employees. It says it’s pivoting to being an AI-first company.
CEO Micha Kaufman says the ultimate goal is to turn Fiverr into “an AI-first company that’s leaner, faster” — comparing it to “startup mode.” I’m sure Kaufman’s salary and CEO benefits won’t be at startup levels.
While the iPhone Air might be the scene-stealer, for the best specs and cameras, the iPhone Pro remains the pick. And let’s not forget: It got a redesign too! It has a versatile triple-sensor system for rear cameras, while the new aluminum unibody is scratch-resistant and feels sturdy. So do you want the technically more capable new iPhone or the new model?
It’s here. Maybe it’s just a stepping stone on the way towards that first foldable iPhone, but the iPhone Air is officially here. It might not be the most affordable iPhone or the one with the most cameras, but for style and sleekness, the iPhone Air is without a doubt Apple’s coolest smartphone since it ditched the home button. And you know what? Battery life isn’t terrible.
Announced last month was the Ubuntu “Dangerous” Desktop Images as a new form of the Ubuntu Linux desktop images that would ship with leading-edge Snaps atop the latest Ubuntu development images… Basically, pulling in the very latest Snaps to go along with the latest Ubuntu development Debian packages…
Rotor has revealed the Uno, a new wireless electronic groupset for mountain and gravel bikes that promises fast shifting speeds, low weights and “maximum modularity”.
But while the previous Uno groupset was an outlier in a field of cable-actuated and electronic drivetrains, the new Uno groupset could signal where drivetrain tech is headed.
The groupset is offered with different components for mountain biking and gravel riding, with hydraulic disc brakes also being part of the package for the latter.
In terms of pricing, the MTB upgrade kit (derailleur and shifter) will be under €700, according to Rotor. The gravel kit (derailleur, levers and brake calipers) is expected to be around €800.
In a growing and increasingly crowded market of challenger brands, Rotor believes the new Uno components “will be among the most competitive on the market” and “a reliable alternative” to Shimano and SRAM.
Last year, Chinese manufacturer Lanxi Wheeltop Cycle Industries LTD acquired a majority stake in Rotor.
Now, the new Uno groupset combines Rotor’s expertise in power meters and brakes with the electronic shifting technology from Wheeltop’s EDS groupsets.
Rotor says the main advantage of the Uno groupset is its “versatility and modularity”.
The Spanish brand says that the groupset’s components are interchangeable, allowing riders to build the drivetrain they require to meet their needs and budget.
The shifter and derailleur can also be programmed to work with any 10, 11, 12, or 13-speed cassettes.
15,000 shifts per charge
Uno derailleurs will actuate a shift in 150 milliseconds, according to Rotor Rotor
The Uno groupset’s electronic system is controlled by a microprocessor powered by an internal 600mAh battery. Rotor says this guarantees 15,000 shifts before needing recharging.
The shifting speed is claimed to be 150 milliseconds, and the shifter and mech are connected by Bluetooth and ANT+.
MTB derailleur and shifter
The Rotor Uno MTB shifter is IP67 waterproof-rated. Rotor
Rotor claims the MTB rear derailleur and MTB shifter will weigh in at under 453g, with the batteries.
As the rear derailleur is configurable for compatibility with 10 to 13-speed cassettes, this offers myriad opportunities for using different manufacturers’ cassettes and chains.
Using a 12t pulley and 93mm-long aluminium cage, the mech can accommodate cassettes with up to 52 teeth, like the largest SRAM cassettes.
The mech is constructed from aluminium and fibreglass-reinforced nylon, featuring a parallelogram designed to optimise, Rotor says, the stiffness-to-weight ratio.
The shifter is powered by a CR2032 battery, is IP67 waterproof-rated and has what Rotor describes as a ‘non-slip’ finish, with an indicator light to note activity.
Rotor intriguingly hints that the CPU (central processing unit) is in the mech, so the system will be “expandable to new and future additions of components and peripherals”.
Anyone buying the mountain bike groupset will have to add brakes from elsewhere. Rotor says it’s “leaving this choice up to the user” because of the wide range of mountain bike brakes available. This also means you can choose your brakes depending on your riding discipline.
Hydraulic brakes, but only with the gravel groupset
The gravel setup will use Shimano hoses and mineral-oil-filled Rotor Uno calipers Rotor
The gravel-specific Uno will come with hydraulic disc brakes included.
The brakes use carbon lever blades and titanium clamps. They use mineral oil and are actuated by a horizontal brake master cylinder. Lever travel can be adjusted up to 26mm.
The 160mm brake rotors are available in either centrelock or 6-bolt configuration. The flat-mount calipers have ceramic pistons for improved heat dissipation, according to Rotor. They use Shimano BH90 hoses and Shimano-compatible brake pads, allowing you to choose a brake compound that suits your needs.
The gravel groupset uses the same electronic rear derailleur body as the MTB version, but with a shorter cage, and it can accommodate cassettes with up to 46 teeth.
Rotor claims that the system, comprising rear derailleur, levers, brakes and cables, is similar in weight to competitor offerings. However, Rotor says if you add its own 12-speed, 11-46t cassette (with a claimed weight of 294g), that could make the whole package one of the lightest available.
The gravel version of the Uno system is also designed to be used with Rotor’s Aldhu carbon crankset, (which Rotor claims is the lightest on the market), along with the brand’s INspider chainrings and power meter.
Rotor Uno app
The groupset can be programmed using the Rotor Uno app Rotor
Rotor’s Uno groupset will be programmable with an app – for example, to establish whether it’s running as a 10, 11, 12 or 13-speed drivetrain. The Rotor Uno app will be available for both iOS and Android devices.
Users will be able to view the battery level of each component in the app. Metrics and graphs from Rotor’s Power app (used for the brand’s power meters) will not be integrated into the initial version of the app but will be included in future updates.
Any software updates to components will be managed through the app using OTA (Over The Air) updates.
Electronic challengers
Rotor will become part of a select group of manufacturers offering electronic shifting equipment. Rotor
The groupset market is dominated by Shimano and SRAM, but there are now several manufacturers setting out their stall as challengers, with Rotor back in the mix.
Rotor is positive that there is a place for its new Uno groupset in this growing market.
“In terms of weight, reliability and price, [this groupset] will be among the most competitive on the market, so we are confident that we will be a reliable alternative in the field of groupsets,” Rotor told BikeRadar.
Pricing
Pricing looks set to be competitive. Rotor
Rotor says the retail price for the MTB upgrade kit (derailleur and shifter) will be under €700, while the gravel kit (derailleur, levers, and brake calipers) is expected to be around €800.
In addition to working on optimizing the performance of Zink for workstation graphics, Mike Blumenkrantz has also been tackling support for OpenGL mesh shaders with this generic OpenGL-on-Vulkan open-source driver…
In addition to AMD posting patches this week working on ACPI C4 power savings support available in some newer AMD systems, patches were separately posted this week for enabling S0ix sleep support within the AMDKFD compute kernel driver…
In the summer of 2025, Denmark’s government put forward a major policy change in its digital infrastructure: moving away from using Microsoft Office 365, and in part, open-source its operations with LibreOffice. Below is an original account of what this entails, why it matters, how it’s being done, and what the risks and opportunities are.
South Korean news outlet ETNews claims to know the date Samsung will launch its Android XR headset.
According to the report Samsung will reveal the headset’s name and specifications, and start selling it, on October 21.
While twoother South Korean news outlets previously reported that Samsung would open preorders on September 29 and start shipping on October 13, ETNews says that Samsung has changed its plans.
Samsung Galaxy XR
Samsung first announced that it was working on a standalone headset almost three years ago, with Google handling the software.
It finally revealed the device’s design in December of last year, alongside Google formally naming Android XR, and gave UploadVR’s Ian Hamilton a hands-on demo while saying it would ship in 2025. But what it still has not revealed is the product’s name and detailed specifications.
What we do know is that it will feature Qualcomm’s Snapdragon XR2+ Gen 2, a higher-end variant of the chipset in Quest 3 and Quest 3S which has already shipped in Play For Dream MR, as well as “state-of-the-art displays”, eye tracking, hand tracking, and an external tethered battery.
Beyond that, Samsung confirmed that it was working on controllers, but did not disclose whether they will be included in the box or sold as an optional accessory.
Back in March, South Korean news outlet The Elec reported that the headset will use Sony’s new 1.35-inch 3552×3840 micro-OLED display, with slightly higher resolution and wider color gamut than the one in Apple Vision Pro.
Last month another outlet, Newsworks, reported that Samsung is targeting a price somewhere between 2.5 million and 4 million South Korean won, around $1800 to $3000. That compares to 5 million won for Apple Vision Pro, which has been sold in South Korea since November.
Most recently, last week Samsung started rolling out an update for the Camera app of its Galaxy phones that adds the ability to capture 3D photos and videos. The option to enable 3D capture describes the feature as being for viewing on “Galaxy XR headsets”, strongly suggesting that this will be the company’s branding.
Strava is prepping for a US initial public offering (IPO), with the fitness platform said to have invited banks including Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan and Morgan Stanley to pitch for roles, according to reports.
Reuters reported that the listing could happen as soon as early 2026, depending on market conditions, and that Strava has yet to finalise how much it plans to raise or the valuation it will target.
The potential IPO follows the San Francisco-based company closing a fundraising round valuing it at $2.2 billion back in May 2025.
The valuation followed a series of acquisitions made by Strava. In April, it acquired Runna, a UK-based run training app. Then, in May, it bought The Breakaway, a cycling training app.
The rumours follow two leadership appointments. In August, Strava announced Matt Anderson as its new chief financial officer and Louisa Wee as chief marketing officer.
Anderson joined Strava from Nextdoor, a social network for neighbourhood communities, where he served as chief financial officer and guided the company through its public listing.
Strava says the platform saw more than 50 per cent growth in new users last year, with Gen Z turning to the platform. The fitness training app now has more than 150 million users in over 185 countries.
Strava has not responded to a request for comment.
With a raft of mounts, more tyre clearance and geometry inspired by mountain bikes, the new Marin Headlands V2 looks set to be one of 2026’s most exciting and affordable new gravel bikes.
The original Headlands combined a lightweight carbon construction with heavily MTB-influenced geometry.
The Headlands’ combination of impressive handling and great value made it a very popular option for trail-seeking gravel riders, and the inclusion of rack and mudguard fittings made it popular with bikepackers, too.
The new Headlands V2 will certainly keep both parties happy; the raft of updates and design changes seem set to enhance the experience, making the V2 look like one of this year’s most capable and versatile gravel designs.
The Marin Headlands is intended as a trail-capable gravel bike that can handle epic bikepacking adventures, too. Marin
The new frame keeps the same 1x drivetrain-specific design. It means that, while increasing the tyre clearance to 50mm, Marin has been able to retain short 420mm chainstays.
The new Headlands frame features short chainstays and a cut-out seat tube. Marin
The front end retains the slackened 70.5-degree head angle, which is combined with a long front centre, deeply sloping top tube and steep (73.5-degree) seat angle.
The Headlands is designed to be run with a very short stem (60mm on the first four sizes, 70mm on the two largest). From these numbers, it’s apparent the Headlands still wears its mountain bike inspiration boldly.
The mudguard bridge is removable. Marin
The rear dropout is now UDH-compatible, bringing the frame bang up to date. There are further practical additions, such as the ‘Bear Box’ down tube storage, as seen on the Alpine Trail XR mountain bike, and internal cable routing that enters at the fork crown and down tube rather than being fully internally routed.
The rear dropout is UDH-compatible. Marin
A full raft of mounts on the frame complete the details, with triple fork mounts, top tube mounts and bottle bosses, along with traditional rack mounts and mounts for full mudguards (fenders).
The ‘Bear Box’ storage design is borrowed from Marin’s mountain bikes. Marin
Marin Headlands V2 range details
There are three models in the V2 range. Marin
The Headlands V2 range consists of three models, starting with the Headlands 1, which combines the unidirectional carbon frame with a Shimano GRX610 1×12 drivetrain and GRX610 hydraulic brakes.
The Headlands 1 is priced at £2,499 / CAD$3,499 / €2,849.
Next is the Headlands 2 with Shimano’s GRX RX820 1×12 drivetrain, an integrated dropper lever, GRX RX820 hydraulic brakes and a long-travel dropper post.
The Headlands 2 is priced at £2,899 / CAD$3,999 / €3,295.
The Headlands 3 is the top-of-the-range model, with carbon wheels, SRAM Rival XPLR AXS and a dropper post. Marin
The range is topped by the Headlands 3, which comes with SRAM’s latest Rival XPLR AXS 1×13 drivetrain, SRAM Rival XPLR hydraulic brakes, Novatec G24 carbon gravel wheels and a long-travel dropper post.
The Headlands 3 is priced at £3,799 / CAD$5,399 / €4,499.
If you’d rather build your own, the Headlands V2 is available as a frameset-only option for £1,699 / CAD$2,499 / €1,999.
Why browse the web yourself when an AI sidekick can spoon-feed it to you?Now that it knows it won’t be forced to sell its browser, Google is cramming AI into every vacant corner of Chrome it can find, whether you like it or not. …
Disney is exploring using Ray-Ban Meta glasses to give guests a personal AI guide in its parks, leveraging the new Meta Wearables Device Access Toolkit.
Meta Wearables Device Access Toolkit lets phone app developers access the camera, speakers, and microphone array of Meta’s smart glasses. It was announced earlier today during the Connect 2025 Developer Keynote, and will arrive as a preview release later this year.
Meta provided an early version of the SDK to select developers months ago, including Twitch, Microsoft, Logitech Streamlabs, and Disney’s Imagineering team, who used it to build a custom AI park guide.
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Disney’s experiment with Meta Wearables Device Access Toolkit.
The demo clip shows a mock guest asking Disney’s AI guide what a boat they’re looking at is and how to ride it, where to get a snack that matches their dietary requirements, how to get the merch the person in front of them has, and whether a ride they’re looking at is appropriate for their four year old.
Disney’s AI guide also proactively alerts her, first that a ride she might be interested in currently has a short wait time, asking her if she wants directions, and then that Winnie the Pooh is nearby in case she wants to meet him.
Meta and Disney describe the app as a “prototype” of “a future”, and there’s no suggestion that it will ship, never mind a release timeline. Issues like Wi-Fi reliability when parks are crowded could make deploying the concept in practice a lot more difficult than showing a controlled demo. Nonetheless, it’s an interesting look at what could be possible if venues leverage smart glasses and AI.
During the Connect 2025 Developer Keynote, Meta teased a short clip of the next evolution of Quest’s Horizon OS system interface.
Meta CTO Andrew Bosworth called it “our spatial UI navigation”, and described it as “a work in progress”.
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Meta’s tease during the Connect 2025 Developer Keynote.
It looks to be an evolution of the ‘Navigator’ system UI overhaul Meta started slowly rolling out to the Horizon OS Public Test Channel (PTC) in May, which it first teased at last year’s Connect.
Navigator moves the main system interfaces like Library, Quick Settings, Notifications and Camera into a new large overlay that appears over both immersive and 2D apps, a major improvement from the previous approach of these being in panels that are treated like any other 2D app. It means system interfaces will no longer shift around when opening other windows, and makes it easier to launch new apps. Navigator’s library also allows you to pin up to 10 items, somewhat akin to the start menu on Windows.
At launch, Navigator also had a murky grey background with an oval shape. It was seemingly intended to improve contrast. But as well as obscuring your view of what was behind it, be it passthrough or a virtual world, it just didn’t look good. So Meta got rid of that and made bringing up Navigator dim the background instead.
But Meta doesn’t seem to think Navigator is quite ready yet. With Horizon OS v81, Meta said it’s reverting to making the old Universal Menu UI the default for “most people”, in order to “keep things simple and familiar”.
“While we continue to experiment and improve Navigator, it’s still available”, Meta noted when starting to roll out v81 PTC.
The Connect 2025 tease shows the direction Meta is taking to improve Navigator.
The clip shows a Library with interleaving offset rows, similar to Apple’s visionOS, though it still looks to scroll vertically. Search, Menu, and Store icons are visible on the left. Further, the bottom buttons like Library, Friends, Profile, Notifications and Quick Settings have all been centered, rather than also being spread between left and right. The time is now at the top, rather than the bottom, and the Wi-Fi and battery status icons seem to be gone.
There’s no word yet on when Meta might roll out the evolved Navigator UI, and we reiterate that Bosworth described it as a work in progress. We’ll keep a close eye on Horizon OS updates in the coming months for any signs of it shipping.
Today during Connect, Meta announced the Wearables Device Access Toolkit, which represents the company’s first steps toward allowing third-party experiences on its smart glasses.
If the name “Wearables Device Access Toolkit” sounds a little strange, it’s for good reason. Compared to a plain old SDK, which generally allows developers to build apps for a specific device, apps made for Meta smart glasses don’t actually run on the glasses themselves.
The “Device Access” part of the name is the key; developers will be able to access sensors (like the microphone or camera) on the smart glasses, and then pipe that info back to their own app running on an Android or iOS device. After processing the sensor data, the app can then send information back to the glasses for output.
For instance, a cooking app running on Android (like Epicurious) could be triggered by the user saying “Hey Epicurious” to the smart glasses. Then, when the user says “show me the top rated recipe I can make with these ingredients,” the Android app could access the camera on the Meta smart glasses to take a photo of what the user is looking at, then process that photo on the user’s phone before sending back its recommendation as spoken audio to the smart glasses.
In this way, developers will be able to extend apps from smartphones to smart glasses, but not run apps directly on the smart glasses.
The likely reason for this approach is that Meta’s smart glasses have strict limits on compute, thermals, and battery life. And the audio-only interface on most of the company’s smart glasses doesn’t allow for the kind of navigation and interaction that users are used to with a smartphone app.
As for what can be done with the toolkit, Meta showed a few examples from partners who are experimenting with the devices.
Disney, for instance, made an app which combines knowledge about its parks with contextual awareness of the user’s situation by accessing the camera to see what they’re looking at.
Golf app 18Birdies showed an example of contextually aware information on a specific golf course.
For now, Meta says only select partners will be able to bring their app integrations with its smart glasses to the public, but expects to allow more open accessibility starting in 2026.
The examples shown so far used only voice output as the means of interacting with the user. While Meta says developers can also extend apps to the Ray-Ban Display glasses, it’s unclear at this point if apps will be able to send text, photo, or video back to the glasses, or integrate with the device’s own UI.
China’s economy increasingly relies on 200 million “flexible workers” who lack formal employment contracts, pensions and urban residency permits despite comprising 25% of the national workforce and 40% of urban workers. The demographic includes 40 million day-wage factory workers and 84 million platform economy workers performing deliveries and ride-share driving. Factory gig workers average 26 years old, are 80% male, and 75-80% single and childless. These workers face systemic exclusions from urban benefits including healthcare, schooling and property ownership due to lacking urban hukou residency permits.
China’s Supreme Court ruled in August that workers can claim compensation from employers denying benefits, though enforcement mechanisms remain unclear. Economic data shows retail sales growth at yearly lows, continuing property price declines, and rising urban unemployment. Analysts project GDP growth potentially falling to 3% in the third quarter. Manufacturing hubs report increasing numbers of young workers sleeping in parks and under overpasses between temporary jobs.
China’s economy increasingly relies on 200 million “flexible workers” who lack formal employment contracts, pensions and urban residency permits despite comprising 25% of the national workforce and 40% of urban workers. The demographic includes 40 million day-wage factory workers and 84 million platform economy workers performing deliveries and ride-share driving. Factory gig workers average 26 years old, are 80% male, and 75-80% single and childless. These workers face systemic exclusions from urban benefits including healthcare, schooling and property ownership due to lacking urban hukou residency permits.
China’s Supreme Court ruled in August that workers can claim compensation from employers denying benefits, though enforcement mechanisms remain unclear. Economic data shows retail sales growth at yearly lows, continuing property price declines, and rising urban unemployment. Analysts project GDP growth potentially falling to 3% in the third quarter. Manufacturing hubs report increasing numbers of young workers sleeping in parks and under overpasses between temporary jobs.
