🚀 Japan Launches Mission to Bring Back a Piece of Martian Moon Phobos

Japan has launched a mission to bring soil back to Earth from Phobos, a moon of Mars, for the first time. The MMX probe is expected to return about 10 grams of samples in 2031.

The spacecraft will arrive at Mars in August 2027 and will spend several years studying Phobos and the second moon, Deimos. In 2029, a mini-rover will land on Phobos. It will examine the surface, choose a landing spot, and collect soil.

📱 Hello, Laggy Android

Chinese manufacturers are reportedly preparing to cut RAM in their new smartphones. According to an insider, most budget phones will come with 4 GB of RAM, with 6 GB reserved for the top-tier models.

The mid-range segment is getting cuts too: 8 GB instead of 12 GB. Some brands have even started buying used smartphones to desolder memory chips from older devices.

Do you have enough RAM in your smartphone?

❤️ — Yes!
🔥 — No...

🤖 Unitree Revealed the H2-X Bodyguard Robot

It was specially designed for security. The android knows kung fu, can dent a car with a single punch, and is capable of lifting a light vehicle.

It looks like robot fighting will hit a whole new level soon.

🇮🇹 Switch 2 Jailbroken on Latest Firmware

Developer pepsipu built a software-only, tethered jailbreak for the Nintendo Switch 2 running the latest firmware, 23.0.1.

It lets users run their own code with the privileges of ordinary system modules and the file-system module, which is enough to mod games and dig into the console's internals. He showed it off by adding new characters to Mario Kart World.

The AI agent Codex helped find the way in: a 32-bit integer overflow in the BASIC interpreter of SmileBASIC, a game for the first Switch, which let data be changed outside the array. Hajhamid then chained other bugs in the file-system module to get his own code running with those system privileges.

Do you have a Nintendo Switch?

❤️ — Yes
🔥 — No

🎧 OnKey Launches Free AI Vocal Coach for Mac

It shows you in real time when you're singing off-key.

Play a track on Spotify, Apple Music, or YouTube. The AI breaks the vocals down into notes and listens to your voice through the microphone. The screen displays the melody alongside your pitch, and once the song ends, you get a score and a line-by-line breakdown.

Requires a Mac with Apple Silicon (M1 or later).

➡️ Download it here.

💼 Bill Gates Proposes Reserving Certain Professions for Humans

In an interview with The Verge, Gates said that within roughly 20 years, AI and humanoid robots will eliminate shortages of goods and services worldwide. Androids will build cheap housing and perform surgery, and in poor countries where children are malnourished and many people never see a doctor in their entire lives, AI will help defeat disease and hunger.

But in the end, people will have nothing left to do — because beyond the purely economic struggle against scarcity, work gives people a sense of purpose, dignity, and social connection.

That's why Gates proposes creating a reserve of professions that society deliberately keeps for humans, even if machines can do them better. Examples include childcare, cooking, art, and sports. In Gates's view, society should decide which fields make the list.

👨‍💻 Ironically, Gates discussed this idea with Claude. He tried to push the share of such professions to around 40% of the labor market, but Claude kept objecting that this would artificially restrict AI.

Does humanity need a "reserve of professions"?

❤️ — Yes, it's the right call
🔥 — No, AI will do everything better

❤ A pup dressed as a data center stole the show at Bark Bash, a doggy Halloween event in Virginia.

The event takes place in Ashburn, Loudoun County, as close as you can get to America's data center capital.

More than 200 data centers are already up and running or under construction in the county, and local officials expect them to bring in over $1.3 billion in 2027 — 40% of the local budget.

🎃 MONSTERS, IT’S GAME ON! CELEBRATE HALLOWEEN WITH US

Vampires are sharpening their fangs, werewolves are gathering in packs, witches are brewing potions, and ghosts and zombies are returning to the human world.

Join the epic Halloween battle for a chance to win a year of Premium X2 and 2,000 other prizes!

HOW TO JOIN THE BATTLE:

1️⃣ Open our app and choose your side: vampires or werewolves.
2️⃣ Generate photos and videos featuring your favorite characters and try out some seriously spooky Halloween looks.
3️⃣ Earn points, help your team win, and compete for awesome prizes!

➡️ Where? In our app 🔴
➡️ When? October 26 – November 8
➡️ Prizes will go to the top 1,000 vampires and top 1,000 werewolves.

✈️ Three in Four European Pilots Have Fallen Asleep Mid-Flight

Three in four pilots have fallen asleep in the cockpit during a flight, according to a European Cockpit Association survey of 7,200 captains and first officers. The report refers to "microsleep," brief lapses a person may not even notice.

The culprit is bureaucracy at smaller airlines and low-cost carriers. More than 80% of budget-airline pilots believe their employers fail to manage fatigue, and almost half fear being penalized for reporting that they are tired.

Are you afraid of flying?

❤️ — Yes
🔥 — No
😱 — I am now!!!

🌐 Highway Thieves Make Off With $100 Million in GPUs

Thieves in the U.S. have already stolen graphics cards worth more than $100 million. Since June, thieves have carried out more than twenty heists of high-tech data center equipment in California, Texas, and Utah, and at least some of the stolen hardware is reportedly being smuggled into China.

The two biggest robberies could have come straight out of a Fast & Furious movie. In one, a car slammed into a police vehicle escorting a truck full of GPUs in the middle of a highway. The thieves drove off with the truck, and police later found only the empty trailer.

"We've seen some of these thefts go up to 30-plus million dollars for one particular shipment. It's so much easier to steal this than to rob a bank," says Keith Lewis, head of operations at risk-assessment firm Verisk CargoNet.