Comment on Fireworks sales in the U.S. are down due to the pandemic and inflation

Enlarge / Complex space systems like the International Space Station could be vulnerable to hackers. (credit: NASA) If space systems such as GPS were hacked and knocked offline, much of the world would instantly be returned to the communications and navigation technologies of the 1950s. Yet space cybersecurity is largely invisible to the public at a time of heightened geopolitical tensions. Cyberattacks on satellites have occurred since the 1980s, but the global wake-up alarm went off only a couple of years ago.

(credit: Amazon) Amazon is bricking all Astro for Business robots on September 25. It first released the robot about eight months ago as a security device for small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) for $2,350, but the device will soon be a pricey new addition to Amazon's failed products list. Amazon announced Astro in September 2021 as a home robot; that version of the device is still only available as a $1,600, invite-only preview. In November, Amazon pivoted Astro to SMBs.

Enlarge / In the past, car companies engaged in "horsepower wars." Now it seems they're competing in a screen size war. (credit: Jonathan Gitlin) It's important to try to approach a review car with an open mind, but I'll admit my preconceptions were stacked against the Lincoln Nautilus. It's on the larger end of the midsize SUV segment, bigger than I like them, and my last encounter with a Lincoln wasn't entirely positive.

Enlarge / In early June, the rocket for SpaceX's fourth full-scale Starship test flight awaits liftoff from Starbase, the company's private launch base in South Texas. (credit: SpaceX) In a short video released Thursday, possibly to celebrate the US Fourth of July holiday with the biggest rocket's red glare of them all, SpaceX provided new footage of the most recent test of its Starship launch vehicle. This test, the fourth of the experimental rocket that NASA is counting on to land its astronauts on the Moon, and which one day may launch humans to Mars, took place on June 6.

Enlarge / Disney+ promotional art for The Fable, an anime series that triggered Animeflix takedown notices. (credit: Disney+) Thousands of anime fans were shocked Thursday when the popular piracy site Animeflix voluntarily shut down without explaining why, TorrentFreak reported. "It is with a heavy heart that we announce the closure of Animeflix," the site's operators told users in a Discord with 35,000 members.

Enlarge / FTC Chair Lina Khan testifies before the House Appropriations Subcommittee on May 15, 2024, in Washington, DC. (credit: Getty Images | Kevin Dietsch) A US judge ruled against the Federal Trade Commission in a challenge to its rule banning noncompete agreements, saying the FTC lacks "substantive" rulemaking authority. The preliminary ruling only blocks enforcement of the noncompete ban against the plaintiff and other groups that intervened in the case, but it signals that the judge believes the FTC cannot enforce the rule.