Month: October 2022

Enlarge / The default wallpaper for macOS 11 Big Sur. (credit: Apple)

Earlier this week, Apple released a document clarifying its terminology and policies around software upgrades and updates. Most of the information in the document isn't new, but the company did provide one clarification about its update policy that it hadn't made explicit before: Despite providing security updates for multiple versions of macOS and iOS at any given time, Apple says that only devices running the most recent major operating system versions should expect to be fully protected.

Throughout the document, Apple uses "upgrade" to refer to major OS releases that can add big new features and user interface changes and "update" to refer to smaller but more frequently released patches that mostly fix bugs and address security problems (though these can occasionally enable minor feature additions or improvements as well). So updating from iOS 15 to iOS 16 or macOS 12 to macOS 13 is an upgrade. Updating from iOS 16.0 to 16.1 or macOS 12.5 to 12.6 or 12.6.1 is an update.

"Because of dependency on architecture and system changes to any current version of macOS (for example, macOS 13)," the document reads, "not all known security issues are addressed in previous versions (for example, macOS 12)."

Enlarge / Starlink satellite dish seen on September 25, 2022 in Izyum, Kharkiv region, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. (credit: Getty Images | Yasuyoshi Chiba)

Russia has made some of its most provocative comments yet about Western commercial satellites, which have provided valuable imagery and communications data to Ukraine this year, suggesting they are appropriate wartime targets.

In comments made Wednesday, a deputy director in Russia's foreign ministry, Konstantin Vorontsov, said the use of Western commercial satellites by Ukraine is "an extremely dangerous trend." While Vorontsov did not specifically name any satellites, he almost certainly was referring to SpaceX's Starlink satellite constellation, which has been used by Ukrainian soldiers for communications, and synthetic aperture radar satellites that have tracked Russian troop and tank movements. Vorontsov said:

We would like to specifically stress an extremely dangerous trend that goes beyond the harmless use of outer space technologies and has become apparent during the latest developments in Ukraine. Namely, the use by the United States and its allies of civilian, including commercial, infrastructure elements in outer space for military purposes. Apparently, these States do not realize that such actions in fact constitute indirect participation in military conflicts. Quasi-civilian infrastructure may become a legitimate target for retaliation. Western actions needlessly put at risk the sustainability of peaceful space activities, as well as numerous social and economic processes on Earth that affect the well-being of people, first of all in developing countries. At the very least, this provocative use of civilian satellites is questionable under the Outer Space Treaty, which only provides for the peaceful use of outer space, and must be strongly condemned by the international community.

This is not the first time Vorontsov has made such comments, as he made similar remarks last month to the United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs working group. However, it is not clear to what extent Russia might be able to follow through on its threat to target commercial satellites.

Enlarge / The Lego Mindstorms Robot Inventor kit (51515), apparently the last of the Mindstorms series. (credit: Lego)

Yesterday, The Lego Group announced it will discontinue its Mindstorms-branded products at the end of 2022, as first reported by Brick Fanatics and several other Lego fan websites. In an official statement, the company said it will redirect its internal Mindstorms team into "different areas of the business" and that its Mindstorms Robot Inventor App digital platforms will remain live until the end of 2024.

Lego Mindstorms debuted on September 1, 1998, as a breakthrough educational tool—originally developed at MIT—that allowed kids and adults alike to craft robotic systems using standard Lego parts and a computerized control brick.

The set gained a key part of its appeal by allowing owners to program the control brick easily on a personal computer using a drag-and-drop visual programming language, making sophisticated robots possible with a relatively simple set of parts. Over the years, hobbyists and researchers took the Mindstorms series in unexpected new directions while Lego itself iterated the product line with increasingly sophisticated offerings.

Enlarge / Elon Musk walking into Twitter headquarters, carrying a sink. (credit: Elon Musk)

Elon Musk visited Twitter headquarters in San Francisco yesterday and reportedly assured staff that he doesn't plan to eliminate 75 percent of their jobs. Musk told employees "that he doesn't plan to cut 75 percent of the staff when he takes over the company, according to people familiar with the matter," Bloomberg wrote.

Musk's statement comes a week after a Washington Post report stated that "Musk told prospective investors in his deal to buy the company that he planned to get rid of nearly 75 percent of Twitter's 7,500 workers, whittling the company down to a skeleton staff of just over 2,000." Twitter employees reportedly slammed Musk in an open letter circulating within the company, writing that "Elon Musk's plan to lay off 75 percent of Twitter workers will hurt Twitter's ability to serve the public conversation" and that a "threat of this magnitude is reckless, undermines our users' and customers' trust in our platform, and is a transparent act of worker intimidation."

According to Bloomberg, Musk "denied the previously reported number in an address to employees" at the San Francisco office. Despite telling workers he won't get rid of three-quarters of them, Musk "is still expected to cut staff as part of the takeover," the article said.