Artemis II Astronauts Praise Orion Capsule, Reflect on Mission Impact
NASA’s Artemis II crew praised Orion’s performance after completing a nine‑day lunar flyby, the agency’s first crewed mission beyond low Earth orbit since Apollo 17. Astronauts highlighted flawless handling during manual docking tests, a robust heat‑shield re‑entry despite minor char loss, and only minor onboard glitches such as a clogged toilet vent and a brief smoke‑detector alarm. Their positive assessment suggests Orion is ready for the upcoming Artemis III launch, which aims to land astronauts on the Moon’s surface. The crew is now undergoing health checks and debriefs while reflecting on the mission’s public impact.
Secret Service Is Embracing New Solutions to Combat Malicious Drones, Director Says
The U.S. Secret Service is adopting kinetic counter‑drone technologies to protect high‑profile events such as the FIFA World Cup, the nation’s 250th anniversary, the G20 summit and the 2028 Olympic Games. Director Sean Curran said the agency has spent just...
OpenAI's Big Codex Update Is a Direct Shot At Claude Code
OpenAI announced a major upgrade to its Codex platform, adding agent‑like capabilities that let the model operate macOS desktop applications, browse the web, and generate images. The update also introduces new plug‑ins for GitLab, Atlassian Rovo and Microsoft Suite, plus...
Aged Care Tool Inquiry
The Commonwealth Ombudsman has opened an investigation into the Integrated Assessment Tool (IAT), an algorithm used for aged‑care assessments, after receiving 834 formal complaints. Senators highlighted that the tool, mandatory since November 2025, prevents human assessors from overriding its outcomes,...
NIST Cuts Down CVE Analysis Amid Vulnerability Overload
The National Institute of Standards and Technology announced it will scale back enrichment of its National Vulnerability Database, concentrating only on the most critical CVEs—those in CISA’s Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog and software used by the federal government. The change...
Whoop Wants to Test Your Blood
Whoop is expanding its health platform with Specialized Panels, a set of five targeted blood‑test packages that measure 75‑89 biomarkers. Priced at $299 per panel, the tests are offered as one‑time purchases through Quest Diagnostics and sync results directly into...
Making Solar Truly Sustainable: The Case for Recycling End of Life Panels
Corporate sustainability drives rapid solar adoption, but a looming wave of end‑of‑life panels threatens waste management. The EPA estimates 0.17‑1 million metric tons of PV waste by 2030, rising to 10 million tons by 2050, with about 1.7 million tons of recoverable aluminum....
Mozilla Throws Thunderbolt at Enterprise AI Providers
Mozilla’s MZLA subsidiary unveiled Thunderbolt, an open‑source AI client aimed at enterprises seeking data‑sovereignty. The client integrates with deepset’s Haystack platform and supports Model Context Protocol and Agent Client Protocol standards, allowing firms to run any LLM on‑premise or in...
FERC Sets June Deadline to Rewrite Large-Load Grid Rules for AI-Era Power Demand
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) set a June 2026 deadline to rewrite rules governing the interconnection of large loads—defined as 20 MW or more—to the U.S. interstate transmission system. The move follows a Department of Energy advance notice that highlights the...
Regional Collaboration: The Overlooked Layer in Government IT
U.S. government technology leaders face rising cyber threats, talent shortages, and increasingly complex service platforms. While national associations and state bodies provide some coordination, they leave a gap for peers operating under similar geographic and regulatory conditions. A regional collaboration...
Army’s Work With OPV Black Hawk To Inform Bringing Autonomy To MV-75 FLRAA
The U.S. Army has accepted the first H‑60Mx Optimally Piloted Vehicle (OPV) Black Hawk, equipped with Sikorsky’s MATRIX autonomy suite, to serve as a testbed for autonomous capabilities on the upcoming MV‑75 Cheyenne II FLRAA tilt‑rotor. Recent DARPA‑originated demonstrations, including the...
Telecom Sales Platform CableFinder Announces Partnership with Fiber Carrier Lightpath
CableFinder, a telecom sales platform, announced a partnership with fiber carrier Lightpath that will enable single‑session contracts and real‑time serviceability checks via an API‑driven marketplace. Lightpath contributes over 12,000 miles of AI‑grade fiber, owned by Optimum and Morgan Stanley, to...
Rural Co-Ops Navigate a New Era of Load Growth, Rising Costs, and Policy Pressure
Rural electric cooperatives, which power 42 million customers across more than half of the United States, are confronting an unprecedented surge in electricity demand driven by heat‑pump adoption, electric‑vehicle charging, and AI‑powered data centers. At the same time, supply‑chain bottlenecks and...
NodeWeaver Says Its Perpetual Licensing Beats VMware’s Perpetual Price Hikes
NodeWeaver is marketing a perpetual‑license edge platform that runs on any off‑the‑shelf x86 server, positioning itself as a low‑cost alternative to VMware after Broadcom’s price hikes. The solution eliminates per‑core subscription fees, promising 60‑80% savings and the ability to reuse...
Lack of Governance Coordination on AI Costing Companies
Grant Thornton’s 2026 AI Impact Survey reveals that weak governance and compliance barriers are the top reason—cited by 46% of respondents—AI projects fail or underperform. Although 75% of organizations continue to approve major AI spend, nearly half have not set...
Val Kilmer’s AI Movie Trailer Reveals Major Problem With AI Actors
The upcoming drama "As Deep as the Grave" uses generative AI to insert a digital Val Kilmer, who died in 2025, into a role he never filmed. The trailer, released with the consent of Kilmer’s estate, shows an uncanny, poorly rendered...
REPORT: Text Campaigns Can Help States Increase Public Benefit Participation
A pilot SMS campaign by Maryland's Department of Human Services and nonprofit mRelief targeted SUN Bucks participants who were not enrolled in SNAP. By texting 194,402 households, the effort drove 2,700 new SNAP enrollments and unlocked roughly $5.5 million in federal...
IRS Creates Online Tax Debt Tool
The Internal Revenue Service unveiled the Tax Debt Help tool on its website a day after the April 15 filing deadline. The interactive service walks individuals and businesses through a series of financial questions to recommend payment plans, temporary collection...
DuckDuckGo VPN Audit Shows It Doesn't Track Your Activity
DuckDuckGo’s VPN has passed a third‑party no‑log audit conducted by cybersecurity firm Securitum. The audit, spanning October 2025 to January 2026, included source‑code review, deep‑dive technical inspection and live system analysis, confirming the service does not collect or retain user‑identifiable data. The...
Anthropic Squeezes Enterprises by Ejecting Bundled Tokens From Seat Deal
Anthropic has overhauled its enterprise seat pricing, replacing the former $20‑per‑employee plan that bundled token allowances with a flat monthly fee that no longer includes any usage credits. All token consumption is now billed at standard API rates, effectively turning...
AI Agent Delegation via MCP Has Gaps a Murderbot Could Walk Through
Anthropic’s Model Context Protocol (MCP) expands data‑sharing among AI agents, but securing those interactions remains a challenge. At the 2026 MCP Dev Summit, Gluu CEO Michael Schwartz warned that relying on a single gateway for zero‑trust is insufficient and advocated...
Industry Leaders Urge Congress to Boost Chip Policy to Win AI Race Against China
Industry leaders and congressional representatives urged Congress on April 16 to strengthen U.S. chip policy to keep pace with China in the AI race. They highlighted that AI now accounts for more than half of semiconductor revenue, with the market...
Air Force’s Experimental Ops Unit Flies and Maintains Anduril CCA
The Air Force’s new Experimental Operations Unit (EOU) flew Anduril Industries’ YFQ‑44A Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) from Edwards AFB, with Airmen—not engineers or test pilots—controlling each sortie. The exercise proved that a handful of maintainers can sustain semi‑autonomous drones, accelerating...
Yoti, Luciditi Demo Interoperable Age Check at 2026 GAASS
At the 2026 Global Age Assurance Summit in Manchester, Yoti and Luciditi demonstrated an interoperable digital‑identity solution that verifies a customer’s age for alcohol purchases. The live demo showed Yoti’s Digital ID Connect app confirming a proof‑of‑age credential issued by...
Top 5 AI News Stories You Can’t Miss This Week
PaySpace Magazine’s weekly roundup spotlights the five most consequential AI developments reshaping financial technology. The piece highlights AI agents orchestrating data and payment flows with minimal prompts, generative chatbots streamlining customer interactions, and a surge of venture funding into AI‑focused...
OpenSearch, Hybrid Vectors, and AI
The post OpenSearch, Hybrid Vectors, and AI appeared first on Techstrong IT.
Meta Raises Prices on Quest 3 and Quest 3S Due to RAM Shortage
Meta announced price increases for its Quest 3 and Quest 3S VR headsets, attributing the hikes to a global RAM shortage. The 512 GB Quest 3 rises from $500 to $600, while the 128 GB and 256 GB Quest 3S models each add $50 to their original...
Home Depot Acquires Automation Firm
Home Depot announced the acquisition of SIMPL Automation, a Massachusetts‑based AI and robotics firm, to accelerate its distribution network. The deal builds on a successful pilot at the Locust Grove, Georgia, center that delivered faster pick speeds, reduced cycle times,...
UK to Deploy Biometric ID in Prisons After 179 Released in Error
The UK government will introduce a biometric "Justice ID" system to curb mistaken prisoner releases, allocating up to £82 million (≈US$111 million). Fingerprint and facial‑scan verification will be applied at key points, starting with trials within six months and a full rollout...
These Four Apple Intelligence Features Might Be Coming in iOS 27
Apple is reportedly preparing four new Apple Intelligence features for iOS 27, as uncovered in backend code by MacRumors. The features include a Visual Intelligence nutrition label scanner that could log foods in the Health app, and the ability to...
Albertsons Is the New Walmart when It Comes to Tech Dominance
Albertsons is accelerating its tech agenda, deploying AI across merchandising, pricing, inventory and supply‑chain functions. The retailer reported that AI‑driven personalization is boosting conversion rates, basket sizes and loyalty, while generative‑AI scheduling and computer‑vision tools are sharpening demand forecasts and...
Alcohol Retailers Awaiting Digital Age Checks Lay Out What They Want From a Solution
UK alcohol retailers are pressing for practical digital‑ID age‑assurance solutions after the promised rollout by Christmas 2025 failed to materialise. At the 2026 Global Age Assurance Standards Summit, representatives from Co‑op, Tesco, Marks & Spencer and others outlined core requirements:...
Bring Your Own CNI: Inside VMware’s Open Kubernetes Strategy
VMware’s Cloud Foundation 3.6 removes the default‑CNI lock‑in by allowing customers to bring any CNCF‑compatible networking plugin, such as Cilium or Calico Enterprise. The update also unifies governance across virtual machines and containers, giving hybrid‑cloud operators a single policy framework....
Fuji GA645Zi Review: My Favorite Medium Format Camera (That's Perfect for Instagram)
The Fujifilm GA645Zi is a 1998 medium‑format film camera that packs 120/220‑film capability into a sub‑kilogram body, delivering negatives 2.7 times larger than 35 mm. Its Super‑EBC Fujinon zoom lens offers sharp, high‑contrast images, and the camera’s portrait‑oriented viewfinder and aperture‑priority mode...
Maritime Passport Prepares to Launch Digital Wallet for Seafarers’ ID Management
Maritime Passport, a UK‑based digital firm, unveiled a free‑to‑use digital wallet for seafarers at an International Maritime Organization (IMO) Facilitation Committee meeting in London. The wallet, slated for a Q2 2026 rollout, leverages face‑biometrics and liveness detection to streamline identity...
Grokstream Expands Scope and Reach of AIOps Platform
Grokstream has updated its Grok artificial intelligence for IT operations (AIOps) platform to better identify patterns and prioritize incident responses. Company president Josh Kindiger said the Proactive Problem Identification capability makes use of predictive and causal artificial intelligence (AI) models...
Google, Pentagon Discuss Classified AI Deal
Google is in talks with the U.S. Department of Defense to let the Pentagon use its Gemini AI models in classified environments. The discussions include a contract that would permit all lawful defense applications while adding clauses to block domestic...
Loud, Power Hungry - Opposition Grows to Datacenters as Maine Passes Bit Barn Ban
Maine lawmakers approved the nation’s first statewide moratorium on new datacenters that draw 20 megawatts or more, pausing approvals until November 1, 2027 pending the governor’s signature. The pause gives regulators time to assess the facilities’ impact on power grids, water use, noise,...
Maine Moves to Pause Data Centers Before Demand Arrives
Maine lawmakers approved the nation’s first statewide moratorium on large data centers, banning permits for facilities of 20 MW or more until November 1 2027. The pause is enforced while a newly formed Maine Data Center Coordination Council evaluates the projects’ impact on...
Why This MagSafe Battery Pack Is Our Readers' Favorite Model Right Now - Especially at Its Price
The Torras MiniMag Power Bank has emerged as ZDNET’s top‑rated MagSafe battery, offering 5,000 mAh in a remarkably thin 0.3‑inch, 4‑ounce package. Priced around $55 (often discounted to $36), it delivers 7.5 W charging via MagSafe and up to 18 W through USB‑C,...
T-Mobile Will Give You a Google Pixel 10a for Free - Plus an Extra Gift
T‑Mobile is offering new and existing customers up to four free Google Pixel 10a smartphones plus a complimentary pair of Pixel Buds 2a. The cost is spread over 24 monthly bill credits, and the devices must remain on an active plan for the...
Threat Exposure Management Establishes a Risk-Driven Approach for Federal Agencies
Federal agencies are adopting Continuous Threat Exposure Management (CTEM) to shift from traditional vulnerability counting to a risk‑driven security posture. CDW’s leaders describe CTEM as a five‑stage framework—scoping, discovery, prioritization, validation, and mobilization—that ties technical findings to business impact. By...
North Korea Targets macOS Users in Latest Heist
North Korean Lazarus Group offshoot Sapphire Sleet is targeting macOS users with a fake Zoom SDK update delivered via a malicious AppleScript. The campaign begins with LinkedIn recruiter scams aimed at finance professionals, then tricks victims into running the script, which...
Closing The Deal Is Only The Tip Of The Iceberg
Jordan Zamir warns that B2B SaaS firms treat deal closure as the end, ignoring the 90 percent of the revenue lifecycle that follows. Manual handoffs between sales, finance and engineering create revenue leakage, audit risk, inaccurate forecasts and strained cash flow....
India’s Oil and Gas Crisis Is a Wake-Up Call for Transport Electrification
India’s oil and gas supply shock from the West Asia conflict highlighted the nation’s heavy reliance on imports and accelerated its push for transport electrification. The government responded by diversifying crude sources to 40 countries, boosting LPG output and rationing...
Suniva Announces 4.5-GW Solar Cell Facility in South Carolina
Suniva announced a $350 million investment to build a 4.5‑GW solar‑cell plant in Laurens, South Carolina, slated for operation in Q2 2027. The new facility will raise Suniva’s U.S. capacity to over 5.5 GW, making it the largest merchant solar‑cell manufacturer in the...
MP CM Yadav Reviews Renewable Energy Schemes, Stresses Affordable Power to Farmers
Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Mohan Yadav reviewed renewable‑energy programmes, pledging affordable electricity for farmers and setting a goal to equip over 200,000 farms with solar pumps by the end of the fiscal year. He urged farmers to become self‑reliant energy...
Solar Rooftop Works to Be Accelerated Across Andhra Under PM Surya Ghar Scheme
Andhra Pradesh is speeding up rooftop solar installations under the PM Surya Ghar Muft Bijli Yojana, using a Utility‑Led Aggregation (ULA) model for Scheduled Caste (SC) and Scheduled Tribe (ST) households. To date, 20,636 SC/ST homes have received solar systems,...
Newly Discovered PowMix Botnet Hits Czech Workers Using Randomized C2 Traffic
Researchers at Cisco Talos have uncovered a new botnet, PowMix, actively targeting Czech workers since at least December 2025. The malware is delivered through phishing emails that contain a malicious ZIP file, which drops a Windows shortcut that launches a...
If You Want Into Anthropic's Claude Club, You May Have to Show ID
Anthropic is rolling out identity verification for select Claude features, using Persona Identities as its vendor. The verification prompts may appear at any time to enforce platform integrity, prevent abuse, and meet legal obligations. Anthropic assures users that identity data...
