The United Nations has mediated conflicts since its founding in 1945. That domain of involvement extended into space in 1967 with the Outer Space Treaty. Today, their role is increasingly active with more and more nations entering space and the private sector getting into the game. The US's space-related branches, UNOOSA (the UN Office of Outer Space Affairs) and COPUOUS (UN Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space), are busy. Many years ago, the National Space Society gained permanent UN observer status, which is much less passive than the name sounds. The organization has addressed the committees on more than one occasion and is working to influence the policy for space flight positively. Dr. Rick Jenet has been instrumental in these efforts and joins us in explaining the landscape of newspace, international space efforts, and the organization's future initiatives.Headline Space Shuttle Discovery Controversy: Rod and Isaac discuss the proposed $85 million move of the Space Shuttle Discovery from the Smithsonian to Houston, plan that faces obstacles from the Smithsonian, which holds the rights to the shuttle. Main Topic: UNOOSA & Dr. Rick Jenet The National Space Society's UN Observer Status: Dr. Jenet explains that the NSS gained permanent observer status at the UN in 2001. The NSS uses this privilege to inform delegates by providing research and presentations. UNOOSA and COPUOS Explained: Dr. Jenet clarifies that UNOOSA organizes the Committee on Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS). While UNOOSA maintains a registry of space objects, COPUOS is the body of 104 member states that develops legal frameworks. Outer Space Treaty of 1967: Dr. Jenet talks about the Outer Space Treaty, a global treaty dating back to the Cold War era that governs how state actors behave in space. He that the treaty's language on property ownership is being re-examined due to the rise of commercial space activities. Space Traffic Management and Orbital Debris: Dr. Jenet highlights that discussions on space traffic management and orbital debris are in their early stages. These discussions focus on basic tenets like coordination and information sharing. Lunar Activities and Resource Utilization: The development of policies for lunar exploration and resource extraction is also an area of new activity. UNOOSA's "Action Team for Lunar Activities Consultation," with co-chairs from Romania and Pakistan, coordinates the future of humanity's return to the moon by aligning different national initiatives. The "Regulation Sandbox" Concept: Dr. Jenet discusses the "regulation sandbox" concept, where existing regulations for an area with commercial potential, for example a lunar ice deposit, are set aside for a limited time to allow a new set of rules to be tested. This concept could be applied more boradly to space launch or ISRU. Why the Public Should Care: Dr. Jenet emphasizes that the public should care about these efforts because these high-level discussions will lead to international laws governing the behavior of all actors in space, including private companies and entrepreneurs. Early awareness of these frameworks will be less painful for startups later on. These show notes have been truncated due to length. For the full show notes, visit https://twit.tv/shows/this-week-in-space/episodes/171 Host: Rod Pyle Co-Host: Isaac Arthur Guest: Fredrick (Rick) Jenet

Not everyone can build a dedicated home theater room, but that doesn't mean you can't have a great audio/video system in your living room. Over 19 years, Conrad Castelo went from mediocre to marvelous with his living-room system.

Host: Scott Wilkinson

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Jennifer Pattison Tuohy joins Mikah Sargent this week on Tech News Weekly! Jennifer shares her first impressions of Alexa Plus. The growing overlap between consumer wellness gadgets and regulated medical technology. And Google's rolling out a machine-learning age verification model to detect account users who are under or over the age of 18. Jennifer Pattison Tuohy has spent some time with Amazon's new, AI-powered Alexa, Alexa Plus. She shares her excitement and criticisms for the new voice assistant. Victoria Song of The Verge joins Mikah to talk about wearable tech companies using the idea of "wellness" technology to skirt FDA regulation on medical technology. And Mikah talks about Google's rollout of a machine-learning age verification model to verify account users' age in the U.S. Hosts: Mikah Sargent and Jennifer Pattison Tuohy Guest: Victoria Song Download or subscribe to Tech News Weekly at https://twit.tv/shows/tech-news-weekly. Join Club TWiT for Ad-Free Podcasts! Support what you love and get ad-free shows, a members-only Discord, and behind-the-scenes access. Join today: https://twit.tv/clubtwit Sponsors: spaceship.com/twit uscloud.com threatlocker.com for Tech News Weekly

Microsoft Edge is the default web browser and PDF reader in Windows 11, and a modern and capable successor to the Internet Explorer browser of yesteryear. It's built on the same Chromium web platform that Google uses for Chrome, and it integrates more deeply with Windows and Microsoft online services–most notably Copilot–than other browsers. But Microsoft Edge is also a vector for some of the worst behaviors in Windows 11. For this reason, it's important to configure Microsoft Edge correctly, whether you expect to use it regularly or not.

Host: Paul Thurrott

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Custom keyboards take center stage as Mikah and Rosemary explore the surprisingly small but mighty world of third-party iOS keyboards, from snippet management to AI-powered writing assistance, plus listener feedback on AirPods cleaning and some delightful app picks.

• Snippety keyboard ($29.99) - Rosemary demonstrates this powerful snippet management keyboard with collections, search functionality, rich formatting options, and advanced features like JavaScript snippets with placeholders and multi-select menus
• Bitmoji keyboard (free) - Mikah showcases this fun cartoon avatar keyboard that creates personalized messages and can include friends who also use Bitmoji, though he notes the unsettling 3D redesign
• Microsoft SwiftKey AI keyboard - Rosemary highlights its reliability during iOS beta issues, easy-to-spot emoji button, built-in paste functionality, GIF search, and translator feature, plus Copilot AI integration for enterprise users
• Grammarly AI Writing keyboard - Overview of grammar and writing improvement features, tone suggestions, vocabulary enhancements, and rewriting capabilities for professional communication

Feedback

• AirPods cleaning kit question from Gregg - Detailed explanation of the Belkin AirPods cleaning kit, featuring distilled water and micellar water that breaks down oils and earwax using micelles that attract fats and dirt

App Caps

• Rosemary's pick: PopSocket MagSafe Stand ($40) - New MagSafe PopSocket that doubles as a phone stand with swappable decorative tops, though she warns against overly symmetrical patterns that make you obsess over alignment
• Mikah's pick: Pet Libro water fountain - Smart pet fountain with inductive charging base, built-in scale for tracking water consumption, alternating 15-minute cycles (perfect for anxious dogs), Wi-Fi connectivity, and foreign object detection

Hosts: Mikah Sargent and Rosemary Orchard

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Interview with Ian Krietzberg Leo's shows off his new AI toys Paris unveils her new desk setup Personal Superintelligence You might want to delve into this paper. I want to underscore, that's a joke you'll comprehend only with meticulous reading of it. Source: Yann LeCun will continue to work at Meta as chief scientist of the AI research group FAIR and will report to Alexandr Wang Last Week on My Mac: 🦉 No AI content Tyler the Creator's No. 1 album overshadowed by 40-second AI-generated clip The High-Schoolers Who Just Beat the World's Smartest AI Models My 2.5 year old laptop can write Space Invaders in JavaScript now, using GLM-4.5 Air and MLX Zuckerberg Walks Back Open-Source AI Pledge, Citing Safety Risk Chipotle's AI hiring tool is helping it find new workers 75% faster Elon Musk opened a diner in Hollywood. What could go wrong? I went to find out TikTok Live and iHeartRadio Launch New Singing Competition Show This guy Saved a PNG Image To A Bird JC makes wine Hosts: Leo Laporte, Jeff Jarvis, and Paris Martineau Guest: Ian Krietzberg Download or subscribe to Intelligent Machines at https://twit.tv/shows/intelligent-machines. Join Club TWiT for Ad-Free Podcasts! Support what you love and get ad-free shows, a members-only Discord, and behind-the-scenes access. Join today: https://twit.tv/clubtwit Sponsors: zscaler.com/security helixsleep.com/twit agntcy.org

Ten years ago yesterday, Microsoft released Windows 10, fixing the issues with Windows 8.x and giving Windows 7 users a solid upgrade. One historical curiosity: It was the first Windows release without a major launch event. In other news, Microsoft publishes a Nadella email to the troops about the layoffs, but he never really addresses the layoffs.Windows 10 turns 10 The Bad: Its legacy is mixed, as this is when the enshittification of Windows began, really Windows as a Service Ads, crapware, and telemetry — plus some made-up privacy issues Terry Myerson gaff about one billion users Universal apps/One Windows was a bust, with Windows Phone and HoloLens failures Windows 10's launch was a missed opportunity to make the Store matter The Good: Windows Subsystem for Linux was huge WinGet was also huge, but is underappreciated and underutilized to this day It did reverse the mistakes of Windows 8, and in time it got more stable as Microsoft figured out WaaS (and then went on to abuse it) Oh, and the Windows 10 Field Guide is free to celebrate the anniversary Windows 11 Microsoft is using Rust for Surface drivers, and it wants all Windows drivers to switch to Rust too The Link to Windows app is getting a nice upgrade on Android Dev (25H2) and Beta (24H2): Settings agent for x86, SCOOBE changes, Click to Do improvements, Windows Search improvements Canary: Just a couple of bug fixes (Actually, two builds, one today also with no features) Adobe Premiere Pro, After Effects, Audition, and Media Encoder are Now Native on Windows 11 on Arm in beta Opera files antitrust case against Microsoft in Brazil for Windows 11/Edge behaviors Another app blocking Recall in a slow-drop of negative Recall-related AI privacy news for Microsoft. Rant: More importantly, Recall is boring and not useful given the hype around it. Intel earnings are flat, but more layoffs are on the way Lenovo rollable laptop in action! (ThinkBook Plus Gen 6) Lenovo makes a lot of weird laptops now (like the dual-screen Yoga Book 9i Paul reviewed last year) — apparently they didn't get the message after Microsoft cancelled the Surface Neo and Windows 10X. Does the average modern Windows laptop really need a touchscreen? Is this a relic of the Windows 8 era? AI & Microsoft 365 Perplexity Comet is real and it shows the way forward for AI web browsers Coincidentally, Microsoft suddenly launches Copilot mode for Microsoft Edge. (But I've played with Copilot Mode, and it's no Comet or Dia.) Copilot is getting real-time expressions. It's the return of Clippy! Microsoft's long-term Copilot plans are a lot wilder than you might expect Google earned $96.4 billion in one quarter. This shows that it has not been impacted by other AIs yet Xbox & gaming Xbox is coming to Gamerscom in Germany in August, and it's bringing the ROG Xbox Ally handhelds The July Xbox Update is here and it's all about the PC Paul reviewed the Lenovo Legion Go S, and the Windows experience was so bad. Also, PC OEMs are having trouble competing with the Steam Deck's pricing on gaming handhelds. Tips & picks Tips of the week: Chris and Paul are partnering on his new newsletter App pick of the week: Perplexity Pro Beer pick of the week: Alesong Rhino Suit These show notes have been truncated due to length. For the full show notes, visit https://twit.tv/shows/windows-weekly/episodes/943 Hosts: Leo Laporte and Paul Thurrott Guest: Chris Hoffman Sponsor: cachefly.com/twit

Brave randomizes its fingerprints. The next Brave will block Microsoft Recall by default. Clorox sues its IT provider for $380 million in damages. 6-month Win10 ESU offers are beginning to appear. Warfare has significantly become cyber. Allianz Life loses control of 125 million customers' data. The CIA's Acquisition Research Center website was hacked. The Pentagon says the SharePoint RCE didn't get them. A look at a DPRK "laptop farm" to impersonate Americans. FIDO's passkey was NOT bypassed by a MITM after all. Is our data safe anywhere? The UK is trying to back-pedal out of the Apple ADP mess. Meanwhile, the EU resumes its push for "Chat Control". Microsoft fumbled the patch of a powerful Pwn2Own exploit Show Notes - https://www.grc.com/sn/SN-1036-Notes.pdf Hosts: Steve Gibson and Leo Laporte Download or subscribe to Security Now at https://twit.tv/shows/security-now. You can submit a question to Security Now at the GRC Feedback Page. For 16kbps versions, transcripts, and notes (including fixes), visit Steve's site: grc.com, also the home of the best disk maintenance and recovery utility ever written Spinrite 6. Join Club TWiT for Ad-Free Podcasts! Support what you love and get ad-free shows, a members-only Discord, and behind-the-scenes access. Join today: https://twit.tv/clubtwit Sponsors: canary.tools/twit - use code: TWIT threatlocker.com for Security Now bitwarden.com/twit uscloud.com

The public betas for iOS 26, iPadOS 26, and others are available now. A new feature in iOS 26 could help filter spam messages more effectively. Will Chase be the new home for the Apple Card? And is Apple's new AppleCare One service worth it for you? Does iPadOS 26 steer the iPad in the wrong direction? First Look: macOS Tahoe Public Beta. iPadOS 26 preview: The rare software update that makes (most) old hardware feel new. Apple's iOS 26 text filters could cost political campaigns millions of dollars, top GOP group warns. JPMorgan Chase is the hot favorite for Apple Card takeover. AppleCare One launches as a single plan to cover multiple Apple devices. First look: Blackmagic URSA Cine Immersive test footage for Apple Vision Pro. Sundar Pichai thinks that phones will still matter for at least a few years. Developers can now try special offers to persuade subscribers to stay. UK ready to impose competition interventions on Apple and Google. Blender is building a full-featured iPad app, but it's not clear when it will be released. Adobe rolls out new generative AI features for Photoshop to let users more easily add or remove people and objects. Apple TV+ unveils first look at Vince Gilligan's new science fiction drama "Pluribus," starring Emmy Award nominee Rhea Seehorn. iPhone 17 development device spotted in the wild. Apple loses fourth AI researcher in a month to Meta's Superintelligence team. Picks of the Week: Jason's Pick: Rocket Leo's Pick: Perplexity MCP for Mac Andy's Pick: Tom Lehrer's public domain songs Alex's Pick: Magic John Screen Protector Hosts: Leo Laporte, Alex Lindsay, Andy Ihnatko, and Jason Snell Download or subscribe to MacBreak Weekly at https://twit.tv/shows/macbreak-weekly. Join Club TWiT for Ad-Free Podcasts! Support what you love and get ad-free shows, a members-only Discord, and behind-the-scenes access. Join today: https://twit.tv/clubtwit Sponsor: helixsleep.com/twit

OpenAI prepares to launch GPT-5 in August Trump's AI Action Plan Is a Crusade Against 'Bias'—and Regulation UN tech chief pleads for global AI regulatory cooperation Trump, who promised to save TikTok, threatens to shut down TikTok Google AI Mode has 100M users, 2.5 Pro & Deep Search rolls out FDA's New Drug Approval AI Is Generating Fake Studies: Report Tesla is set to face off with the California DMV over claims it exaggerated Autopilot's and FSD's capabilities and misled consumers, in a five-day Oakland trial Google, Microsoft say Chinese hackers are exploiting SharePoint zero-day A look at Tea, a woman-only safety app with 4M users that lets users anonymously assign red or green flags to local men, as it goes viral with 900K new signups People in the UK now have to take an age verification selfie to watch porn online Intel is laying off tens of thousands and cancelling factories AMD CEO Sees Chips From TSMC's US Plant Costing 5%-20% More Spotify Publishes AI-Generated Songs From Dead Artists Without Permission DJI couldn't confirm or deny it disguised this drone to evade a US ban FCC approves Skydance-Paramount merger Gwyneth Paltrow is the new face of a kiss-cam tech scandal Julian LeFay, 'Father of The Elder Scrolls,' Has Died Aged 59 Tom Lehrer, Musical Satirist With a Dark Streak, Dies at 97 Host: Leo Laporte Guests: Molly White, Janko Roettgers, and Jacob Ward Download or subscribe to This Week in Tech at https://twit.tv/shows/this-week-in-tech Join Club TWiT for Ad-Free Podcasts! Support what you love and get ad-free shows, a members-only Discord, and behind-the-scenes access. Join today: https://twit.tv/clubtwit Sponsors: smarty.com/twit zscaler.com/security expressvpn.com/twit uscloud.com spaceship.com/twit

This week it's a duet, with Jonathan and Jeff chatting about Clear Linux' last hurrah, and some other Intel projects. The kernel may be about to adopt an AI code policy, and Fedora debates how to handle BIOS bugs. FFmpeg is about to release 8.0, KDE is adding printer ink monitoring, and Valve has a Steam refresh in the works. Our command line tips are vity for AI help with the command line, and immich for building your own video and image store and timeline. You can catch the show notes at http://bit.ly/4lKOPZz

Have a great week!

Host: Jonathan Bennett

Co-Host: Jeff Massie

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Powering spacecraft, especially out in the dark, cold outer solar system, is a huge challenge. There are limits to how large solar panels can be, and they are not very efficient in the weak sunlight beyond Mars. For decades, choice flagship NASA missions have used RTGs--radioisotope thermoelectric generators--to fill this need. From the experiments on the Apollo missions to the Viking Mars landers, Galileo to Jupiter, Cassini to Saturn, and the twin Voyagers, RTGs have provided decades of power for space exploration. From Plutonium to Americium, nuclear elements provide years and years of heat that can be converted into electricity. Dr. Rob O'Brien is the Director of the Center for Space Nuclear Research for the Universities Space Research Association and has specialized in RTGs for decades. It's a fascinating dive into atomic space batteries! Headlines The End of the Universe is Nigh (in 33 Billion Years): New dark matter discoveries suggest an earlier end to the universe, leading to a humorous discussion about bucket list items. August 2nd "Solar Eclipse": Rumors of an August 2nd, 2025, total solar eclipse are false; the next one on that date is in 2027 that won't darken the entire world, but will be the longest one of the century. Mother Earth 2.0 (L98-59f): Discussion of exoplanet L98-59f, 35 light-years away, and its potential habitability despite orbiting a red dwarf with a 23-day year. NASA Budget Concerns: Senate and House pushback against proposed cuts to NASA's 2026 science mission budget is discussed, with calls to preserve vital research. Mass Exodus at NASA: Senior NASA staff, including scientists and engineers, are reportedly leaving due to budget cuts, raising concerns about future capabilities. Main Topic - Dr. Robert O'Brien & RTGs (Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generators) Understanding RTGs: Dr. O'Brien explains RTGs convert heat from radioactive decay into electricity using the Seebeck effect. Early Use of RTGs in Space: The first US public RTG demonstration was on President Eisenhower's desk, and the first space use was the US Navy's Transit 4A satellite in 1961. RTGs on Mars and Deep Space Missions: RTGs power Mars landers and rovers (Viking, Curiosity, Perseverance), and deep space missions like Voyager, Galileo, and Cassini, providing long-term power in harsh environments. Fission Reactors vs. RTGs: RTGs suit small systems and backup power, while fission reactors are better for high-power needs of human expeditions. Plutonium-238 Production Challenges: The scarcity of plutonium-238 is due to its production requiring nuclear reactors and past moratoriums on reprocessing. Americium-241 as an Alternative: Americium-241, abundant in spent fuel and now accessible due to lifted moratoriums on reprocessing, is a viable alternative for powering missions despite lower energy density. Americium in Smoke Detectors and Safety: Americium's safe use in smoke detectors is highlighted, while acknowledging the hazards of working with nuclear materials. Public Perception and RTG Safety: Discussion covers historical atomic energy perceptions, from early toys to environmental concerns, emphasizing rigorous engineering and safety measures like ablative and impact-resistant casings for RTGs. Recovery of These show notes have been truncated due to length. For the full show notes, visit https://twit.tv/shows/this-week-in-space/episodes/170 Hosts: Rod Pyle and Tariq Malik Guest: Dr. Robert O'Brien