Tech
“Digital Colonialism”: U.S. Demands To Access Africans’ Data Raise Privacy, Sovereignty Concerns
from the a-very-bad-look dept
This story was originally published by ProPublica. Republished under a CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 license.
Frank Ssekamwa says the United States presented his country with an impossible choice. If it accepted the terms of a new health agreement, Uganda would have to give the U.S. access to the data of millions of his fellow citizens — a decision he worries would make their personal information more vulnerable to breaches and possible exploitation.
But if it refused, the East African nation would likely lose out on more than a billion dollars to address HIV, malaria, tuberculosis and other illnesses, even as its people face ongoing threats from Ebola and other deadly infectious diseases.
So, on Dec. 10, it agreed.
“If you take the deal, you’re going to be exploited. If you don’t take it, you’re going to die,” said Ssekamwa, an attorney and digital rights expert in Uganda. “It’s the essence of digital colonialism.”
Across Africa, countries have faced similar dilemmas as the U.S. has held a series of closed-door negotiations in which lifesaving aid has been conditioned on access to citizens’ health data. The negotiations come in the wake of the dismantling of the U.S. Agency for International Development, which — in contrast with the new contracts — provided billions of dollars in aid with few strings attached. Officials in Zambia, Zimbabwe and Ghana have been so outraged by the demands that they rejected the initial deals.
The demand to access health data is central to the Trump administration’s new America First Global Health Strategy, an openly transactional approach that seeks to leverage the desperate need for medical treatments abroad. Aid will now be given “in a way that directly benefits the American people and directly promotes our national interest,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio stated in September.
The State Department declined to publicly release global aid and data-sharing agreements it has signed with more than 30 countries as part of its new approach. But a ProPublica analysis of nine of the deals offers a window into the extensive U.S. demands for access to data — and the potential risks and vulnerabilities for the citizens of countries that have signed them. ProPublica also reviewed a data-sharing agreement struck with Uganda, which has not previously been reported; a data agreement with Kenya; six agreements over the sharing of pathogens that can cause pandemics that were made public by the State Department this week; generic templates of deals for sharing both data and pathogens that can cause pandemics; and an analysis of the documents the advocacy group Public Citizen shared exclusively with ProPublica.
ProPublica also consulted more than a dozen experts in data privacy and global health, including several with direct knowledge of U.S. policy who said that the insistent demands for data access and other resources as a condition of aid are unprecedented. Without seeing the full suite of agreements, they could not identify all vulnerabilities. But they spotted some red flags: The terms of the deals are vague and lack language standard in most data-sharing agreements that adequately limits what data is collected and how it can be used. That increases the risk that individuals’ personal data could be exposed, misused or commercialized without their consent.
In the Ugandan data deal, the U.S. will get direct, real-time access to nine of the nation’s health data systems for seven years, including the central repository that stores all of its health information, lab data, data collected by community health workers and, critically, its system for managing individuals’ electronic medical records. The agreement calls for the sharing of aggregated data with all personally identifiable information removed. It also says the data should be used for delivering and auditing healthcare services.
But lawyers and digital privacy experts argue that the deal raises questions about who will have access to the massive cache of health data and whether it could be inappropriately accessed and exploited.
Some expressed concern that, because it is possible to reverse-engineer data that has been anonymized, people with HIV, tuberculosis and other diseases could have their records exposed.
Stephanie Psaki, who served as the U.S. coordinator for global health security under President Joe Biden, described the Trump administration’s approach as a “blunt instrument of ‘just give me the login to your data systems.’”
“The U.S. would never agree to that,” she said, if the deal were offered in reverse.
In Uganda, the U.S. will provide up to $1.7 billion over five years for global health security and the treatment and prevention of deadly conditions such as malaria, tuberculosis, HIV and polio. In the past, the U.S. gave this aid without asking for direct benefits in return, saving an estimated 170,000 Ugandan lives per year.
While a significant investment, it is less than the U.S. previously spent in Uganda and will decrease every year of the agreement. By 2030, the African nation will receive 45% less global health funding than when Trump retook office, according to an analysis by Vincent Lin of Partners in Health, which provides healthcare in poor countries.
Several experts said there is broad support for some of the goals of the new plan for aid, including reducing African countries’ dependence on the U.S. for healthcare needs. But they worry the transactional nature of the approach could backfire by undermining trust or, in some cases, driving nations to reject deals altogether.
After withdrawing from the World Health Organization and losing access to its global network that tracks and combats disease outbreaks, the U.S. is attempting to obtain the information necessary to address potential pandemics through a patchwork of deals with individual countries. Each of the agreements ProPublica reviewed includes a section on responding to outbreaks. And some countries have signed separate pathogen-sharing agreements, which state that countries must “initiate sharing specimen(s) and related data” within five days of a U.S. request. The Trump administration is also planning unprecedented involvement of private companies to manage and process data.
The State Department told ProPublica that it needs access to the data to improve health outcomes in recipient countries and keep Americans safe. The new approach also requires countries to invest more in their own health systems in exchange for the aid, a promise many countries will likely struggle to fulfill. And, in some cases, including the deal with Uganda, it aims to boost local manufacturing through partnerships with American companies.
The State Department said it took multiple factors into account to ensure the required investments from other countries were “realistic and achievable.”
“The United States is investing billions of dollars in other countries’ health systems to fight infectious disease. In return, we expect governments to increase their own spending on health, so programs are sustainable and under genuine national ownership, not permanently financed by U.S. taxpayers. For the first time, both sides are putting skin in the game to ensure lasting impact,” a State Department spokesperson said in response to questions about the agreements.
In response to follow-up questions from ProPublica, spokesperson Tommy Pigott said the agreements “share only the same kinds of aggregated, de-identified data that has been shared and used for years in the fight against HIV/AIDS, malaria, tuberculosis, and other diseases. All data sharing is consistent with each country’s laws and approvals. No personally identifiable information is being received or shared by the United States government.”
Uganda’s Ministry of Health, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Personal Data Protection Office and embassy in Washington, D.C., did not respond to questions for this article.
In the age of artificial intelligence, large health data sets have become so valuable they’ve been referred to as the new gold. The precise value of the health data of an entire nation is unclear, but it could be extremely valuable to AI-driven companies for training models. The industry of buying and selling such information troves is worth billions. And countries around the world have come to regard their citizens’ health records as national assets that deserve special protections and can confer economic and strategic advantages.
Yet the agreements, which are part of a strategy the State Department openly states is intended to make America “more prosperous” and “promote American health innovations,” provide no guarantee that Africans subject to them will have a say in what happens with their data or receive a fair share of its benefits. “Once companies get this data, the value is being accrued. But there’s no way for the [African] population to know how companies will use it,” said Jane Munga of the Carnegie Endowment for Intenational Peace, who has argued that the agreements may violate African privacy laws.
Africans have also expressed concern that they will not be able to access and benefit from medicines and vaccines developed from pathogen samples shared with the U.S. Five of the six specimen-sharing agreements reviewed by ProPublica state that, in the event that a medical product is developed primarily from a specimen from the country, the U.S. government “shall prioritize” a request from that government behind the needs of the U.S. Only one of the agreements, with Nigeria, commits the U.S. to facilitating “priority access” to — and the donation of — any medical products developed using the specimens.
The phenomenon of extracting information and samples from less-resourced populations and failing to credit and compensate them for their contributions to medical developments is well known enough to have several names, including “parachute science.” Just a few years ago, countries, including some in Africa, hosted COVID-19 vaccine trials, only to later struggle to access the shots they helped to develop.
Each agreement includes “benefit-sharing provisions,” the State Department said in response to questions.
After the Trump administration dismantled USAID, the world’s largest provider of humanitarian assistance, it also drastically reduced funding for international health work done by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and severely scaled back the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, which combats HIV globally. In addition to withdrawing from the WHO, the U.S. removed itself from international negotiations over a pandemic agreement intended to affirm countries’ sovereign rights to their biological resources and ensure equitable access to medical interventions.
Brad Smith, an entrepreneur who served in the first Trump administration, is now in charge of creating the system that would rise from the ashes. Before joining this administration, Smith founded three companies with business models that rest in part on using data to reduce healthcare costs, including CareBridge, a home care provider that sold for a reported $2.7 billion in 2024. During the presidential transition that year, Smith led the government efficiency panel that would become Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency. After Trump took office, he presided over some $67 billion in sweeping cuts to the Department of Health and Human Services before being brought on as an adviser to the State Department.
Although the humanitarian aid system had been largely dismantled, Congress required the executive branch to continue providing aid. So Smith and his team had to find new ways to get the funding to countries, ensure that it was being spent wisely and address potential pandemics — all without most of the international partners and staff the government had previously relied on to carry out this complex work.
A Rhodes scholar known for his intense work ethic, Smith threw himself into the effort. State Department staff fielded calls from him at all hours of the night to explain budget items on spreadsheets. Through his personal lawyer, Smith referred questions to the State Department.
One of the greatest challenges lay in the handling of health data. In the past, PEPFAR, the HIV program, built its own systems to handle anonymized data, separate from government health records — a setup that Trump administration officials and others have criticized as inefficient.
The America First plan proposed standardizing data collection and processing within countries. The Ugandan data agreement requires the country to provide the U.S. — and its contractors — with logins “or other secure access mechanisms” to directly enter the country’s data systems. The new approach, U.S. officials say, will enable the U.S. to continue auditing programs and track outbreaks.
The agreements ProPublica reviewed include statements about the U.S. government’s intent to ensure data security and say that the data is being accessed for the purposes of addressing diseases and auditing that work, but they leave open the possibility that sensitive information could be revealed, according to the data privacy experts ProPublica consulted.
At particular risk are countries that don’t have national data privacy laws, such as Liberia, whose memorandum of understanding requires “interlinked and interoperable” data systems for “surveillance, laboratory, response, health, environment, agriculture.” That country’s main health agreement doesn’t require the U.S. to limit the amount of data it takes to the least needed, a standard clause in U.S. contracts, according to Abdoul Jalil Djiberou Mahamadou, a recent postdoctoral fellow focusing on bioethics at Stanford University. (Neither Liberia nor the State Department has released the supplemental data-sharing agreement.) “Once data is breached, it’s nearly impossible to get it back,” Mahamadou added.
The Liberian government did not respond to a request for comment.
The Ugandan data-sharing agreement says it will comply with the laws of both nations and permits the sharing of “sensitive personal data” if the consent of individuals whose data is shared is obtained, there is a compelling public health emergency of international concern and it is the only way information can be provided in a “timely and accurate format.”
Ssekamwa, the digital rights expert who also founded and runs the African Centre for Digital Justice, said there are important questions that haven’t been answered by the Ugandan government.
“Does the U.S. have appropriate data protections? Can the systems provide anonymized data? Are they really up to that standard?” said Ssekamwa. “If I’m someone who has had health issues, can you deny me a visa because of the health issues I’m having?”
Psaki, the former global health security coordinator, worried about the haste with which the changes to data access are happening. “Even in the best of circumstances, you can’t go from having parallel data systems that were established over 20-plus years to finding some way to integrate those data systems in six months.”
Speed has been a hallmark of the America First global health effort. In September, just a month after Smith joined the State Department, it launched the strategy at an event co-sponsored by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and five large pharmaceutical companies. By November, Smith was crisscrossing the African continent with a small team of negotiators, trying to persuade dignitaries to agree to deals.
The State Department said the deals were “negotiated in a thoughtful and strategic way over many months.”
On Dec. 4, Kenya became the first country to sign, during a triumphant celebration with Rubio and President William Ruto in Washington. Outcry over the agreement had already begun two days earlier, when a Kenyan activist named Nelson Amenya announced on the social platform X that he had seen a sample of the specimen-sharing agreement as well as a legal analysis that showed it would violate Kenyan law.
As a condition for receiving $1.6 billion in aid, the Kenyan government agreed to provide access to seven years’ worth of health records — two years longer than the U.S. would provide financial support.
Although the Kenyan data-sharing agreement states that the U.S. will take “all reasonable measures to protect the confidentiality of information” and abide by American and Kenyan laws, Amenya worried that wouldn’t be enough. “Every HIV test, TB diagnosis, malaria case – accessible to US officials,” he wrote in the post, which now has one million views. “Your medical records, your children’s health data – all exposed.”
A few days later, a Kenyan senator named Okiya Omtatah sued members of the Kenyan government over the agreement, arguing that it poses a threat to citizens’ constitutional right to privacy by “allowing broad foreign access to sensitive data.” A Kenyan nonprofit also sued, and more than 50 groups weighed in on their side, describing the document as giving the U.S. “excessive access” to African data and raising the possibility of serious human rights violations.
In court filings, the Kenyan government argued that it is obligated to achieve the “highest attainable standard of health” and that it is unable to do that on its own. After blocking the deal for months, in May, the Kenyan court temporarily allowed implementation of the agreement to proceed while it considers the case.
Since outrage bubbled up in Kenya, some other countries have negotiated shorter terms for sharing data and pandemic specimens, and have inserted additional protections, according to the Public Citizen analysis.
Still, groups across Africa have sounded alarms about dangers inherent in these provisions, including data breaches. Examples of such unauthorized access to personal data abound, including a recent case where the healthcare data of some 500,000 participants in the UK Biobank wound up listed for sale on the Chinese website Alibaba.
Revealing whether someone has had an abortion, mental health condition, substance use treatment or sexually transmitted disease can be devastating anywhere. In Africa, research has shown it can lead to discrimination and violence. And even when personal information has been removed, individuals in “anonymized” data can be reidentified using AI and other tools.
The Ugandan data-sharing agreement calls for the U.S. government to “promptly notify the Government of Uganda of any unauthorized access” in such cases and requires the parties to conduct a joint breach assessment and remediation plan afterward. But by that point, it may be too late, Ssekamwa fears. “Once the data gets out of Uganda, we are skeptical that the government of Uganda will actually have any power to control it,” he said.
The secrecy around both the negotiations and the agreements has raised further suspicions. The State Department has declined to share the agreements, telling ProPublica the agency will release them when negotiations with all partner governments are complete and describing its actions as “protecting sensitive negotiations—not ‘secrecy.’” In response to a public records request filed by ProPublica, the State Department said it planned to provide the documents in September 2027. The advocacy group Public Citizen recently filed suit against the federal government in an effort to obtain the documents.
“Why are they hiding the agreement if they think the terms are OK?” asked Bernard Okpi, a Nigerian lawyer who sued his government in March, alleging that the deal violates the country’s constitutional right to privacy and promotes religious discrimination by prioritizing funding for Christian faith-based health facilities. That suit is pending, and the Nigerian government did not respond to questions from ProPublica.
The State Department said that the agreement with Nigeria “was negotiated in connection with reforms the Nigerian government has made to prioritize protecting Christian populations from violence.”
The Trump administration says that its new global health strategy is designed to save lives and keep the U.S. — and the world — safe from disease outbreaks. But ultimately its hard-driving and secretive negotiations may work against those goals.
While the administration aspired to strike agreements with 50 nations, including the three countries that walked away from negotiations in part over concerns about data sharing, it has fallen far short of that number. (In Zambia, officials also balked at U.S. demands for critical minerals.) The loss of aid in those countries is already proving to be devastating.
Despite the Trump administration’s stated goal of putting “America first,” the U.S. may feel the consequences of those failed negotiations, too, as mistrust compounds the loss of long-standing systems that provided care and responded to disease outbreaks.
“It’s in everyone’s interest to have a comprehensive approach to respond to an outbreak early,” said Psaki, who pointed to the quickly escalating number of Ebola cases in the Democratic Republic of Congo as evidence. While that country struck a healthcare deal with the U.S., five of the nine countries bordering it have not. “We need to get data and samples from all nine countries to collaborate effectively on that outbreak, and now we don’t have that.”
The State Department said the U.S. has responded swiftly to the outbreak and has provided over $270 million to the global fight against Ebola.
In Uganda, where people have also fallen sick and died from Ebola, Ssekamwa said that his country needs all the help that the healthcare deal can bring, including improved protection from outbreaks, but there needs to be more robust protection of people’s personal data.
“We are happy to benefit from the technological advancement and the fruits of big data,” he said. Instead, he said, “the U.S. has left so many gaps within the agreement, which can be exploited in their favor.”
Filed Under: america first global health strategy, data sharing, digital sovereignty, donald trump, foreign aid, health data, kenya, liberia, marco rubio, privacy, state department, uganda, usaid
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Outside gatherings seldom feature an ideal climate. A quiet morning may rapidly shift to heavy wind, abrupt gusts, or an unanticipated downpour. If you’re displaying goods at a commercial exhibition, organizing a public function, visiting a produce vendor site, or executing an advertising drive, erratic atmospheric conditions might ruin a whole arrangement unless the canopy was designed specifically for such elements.
A tent offers more than just shade protection. It shields individuals, gear, merchandise, and brand identity while allowing events to proceed securely against shifting weather patterns. Yet, no single canopy functions identically once winds begin to rise significantly. Your custom event tents are built with wind performance in mind, helping you select structures that avoid injuries, limit property destruction, and provide attendees with increased assurance during the whole exhibition period.
Knowing what traits boost stability aids firms in buying gear that works well every single year.
Attributes Causing Tents to Remain Steadier During Blustery Conditions
1. Choose a Strong Frame
Everything starts with the frame.
A high-quality frame gives the structural support required to endure shifting weather patterns. Commercial aluminum grades offer a good mix of strength and ease of carrying, whereas heavy steel frames give extra steadiness for tough settings. Stronger joints and lasting connectors likewise cut down on motion when winds blow hard.
A strong frame creates a stronger foundation.
2. Secure Anchoring Matters
Even the most robust tent will fail to stay steady if it lacks correct securing.
Stakes function nicely on grass plus soft ground areas, yet heavy plates, sandbags, or water containers give extra stability on concrete plus pavement surfaces. Each leg needs securing prior to the start of events, specifically whenever wind conditions are anticipated.
Proper anchoring greatly improves safety.
3. Select Wind-Resistant Canopy Fabric
Fabric quality affects more than appearance.
Heavy-duty fabrics stretch less, tear less, fade less, and hold up against water better than lightweight options. Waterproof layers, UV protection, strong seams, and tough corner pads help make things work well at outside parties.
Quality materials increase long-term durability.
4. Look for Aerodynamic Designs
Tent shape influences wind performance.
Certain roof shapes let wind pass over the frame rather than hitting big flat areas hard. Open vents cut down on pressure too since they give air a way out via special holes, which lowers the upward push made by fast winds. The same aerodynamic thinking applies to your custom inflatable arches, which are engineered to channel airflow smoothly rather than resist it, making them a reliable choice for outdoor events where wind is a concern.
Smart design improves overall stability.
5. Match Tent Size to the Event
Larger tents catch more wind.
Selecting a cover fitting true space needs cuts unneeded wind drag. Small gatherings might need just small shelters, yet big shows ought to employ properly strengthened frames plus extra anchoring support.
The right size improves both safety and efficiency.
6. Inspect Your Equipment Regularly
Even durable tents require routine maintenance.
Prior to each event, check the frame, connectors, fabric, anchors, and fasteners for indications of wear or harm. Secure loose hardware and swap out broken parts prior to them turning into bigger issues under windy circumstances.
Regular inspections help prevent unexpected failures.
7. Use Sidewalls Wisely
In terms of wind resistance, fully enclosed sidewalls could create wind traps, which may increase the load onto the frame. If you’re expecting heavy winds, consider partially opening your sidewall (or using some vented panels), as this will allow for good airflow while keeping you protected against weather elements. Balanced airflow improves the stability of your tent.
8. Monitor Weather Conditions Throughout the Event
Check weather forecasts again right before you start setting up for an event. You might be able to avoid problems by watching wind conditions all day long.
If you see that the winds have exceeded those recommended by the manufacturers of your tent, consider lowering or dismantling the tent to reduce the risk of damage or danger to yourself and others. Staying alert protects more than just your interests.
Final Thoughts
Windy conditions ought not to stop a successful outdoor gathering from happening. Firms putting money into tough frames, dependable anchor setups, nice cloth materials, airflow shapes, correct sizes, and routine care get better steadiness and less worry during all events.
Top tents are not merely made for looks; they are designed for function. When weather turns uncertain, reliable gear shields your crew, clients, goods, and reputation so events proceed with assurance.
AI has made it stupidly easy to fake being a real person online, so Facebook is rolling out a new badge to prove you’re not one of them. It’s called Facebook Verified, and the best part is that it won’t cost you a thing.
How do you get verified on Facebook?
I love that Facebook has made it easy to get verified. You record a short video selfie, and Facebook checks it against your existing profile photos to confirm it’s really you. The whole thing takes just a few minutes, and unlike some other social media platforms, Facebook isn’t charging you a subscription fee for this checkmark.
That said, not everyone gets to join the club. You need to be 18 or older, and your account has to be in good standing with Facebook’s rules around fraud, scams, and deceptive behavior. Show any signs of inauthentic activity, and you can forget about getting that badge. Also, Pages and ProMode accounts are not eligible right now.
Facebook has said that the feature is rolling out in phases, starting with select markets before it goes global, so don’t panic if you don’t see it on your account just yet.
Where will you see this badge?
Once you’re verified, the badge follows you to the spots where trust actually matters, like Marketplace, Facebook Dating, Groups, and your profile. Facebook says Feed posts will get the badge too, eventually.
You only have to verify once, and that badge travels with you everywhere. So next time you’re negotiating over a secondhand couch or matching with someone on Dating, you’ll know there’s an actual human on the other side.
Facebook also says that verification isn’t an endorsement. The company is upfront that the badge doesn’t mean it’s vouching for anyone’s trustworthiness. Verified users still have to play by the same Community Standards and Commerce Policies as everyone else.
As much as I abhor some of the Meta policies, this is a step in the right direction. As AI-generated profiles get harder to spot, a free badge that says “yes, I’m a real person” feels like a pretty useful thing to have around.
In a headquarters and lab space formerly occupied by SpaceX in Redmond, Wash., AIM Intelligent Machines (AIM) is focused on solving big problems on Earth. But the startup’s CEO envisions a day when autonomous bulldozers and excavators will dig, haul, and grade on the moon or Mars, and take AIM’s “terraforming mission” off planet.
For now, AIM’s 25,000-square-foot facility in a nondescript business park is a long way from Mars. Inside the sprawling space, there are glimpses of what the rapidly growing company is working on, including the apparatuses that attach to existing machines to make them self-driving.
Around the office, desk cubicles are decorated with tiny yellow excavator buckets, mirroring photos on the walls of heavy equipment operating on job sites worldwide.
The toy excavators are a nod to a massive global market that AIM founder and CEO Adam Sadilek wants to continue to disrupt with modern technology.
Autonomous passenger vehicles have captured the public’s attention for decades, but construction, mining and hauling equipment attracts little fanfare, even as legacy companies including Komatsu and Caterpillar embrace new technology.
AIM’s goal is not to build new machinery, but retrofit existing earthmoving fleets with a physical AI platform — using advanced sensors and edge compute to let heavy iron operate entirely on its own.
Founded in 2021, the startup grew out of Sadilek’s background at Google where he spent nine years working on projects involving AI and autonomous vehicle systems.
Whether building anti-flood structures or wildfire breaks, managing nuclear waste, mining critical materials or clearing land for agriculture or the military, Sadilek views AIM’s work as immediate terraforming on Earth that is necessary to drive down costs for housing and commodities. But the long-term vision remains interplanetary.
“When humanity goes to Mars, the real question is not so much around what the rocket looks like as a vehicle to get us there, but what is going to happen after the rocket lands,” Sadilek said. “You cannot have human operators run there. That’s why this is a very long mission that we are on.”
Building autonomy for heavy equipment presents a paradox self-driving cars never have to face: the ground itself is constantly changing. While a Tesla or Waymo relies on pre-mapped roads and predictable lanes, a bulldozer or excavator’s entire job is to reshape its environment. AIM’s physical AI platform has to continuously build real-time 3D maps using onboard 360-degree LiDAR and edge compute, making split-second decisions without relying on persistent GPS or cloud connectivity on remote job sites.
Furthermore, taking human operators out of cab seats addresses one of the most perilous aspects of heavy industry. By creating “zero-entry” sites where machines operate autonomously, AIM’s platform effectively removes workers from harm’s way — transitioning traditional equipment operators into remote site supervisors who oversee entire fleets from a safe distance.
Beyond early deployments in mining and site preparation for data centers, AIM landed a $4.9 million U.S. Air Force contract earlier this year to deploy autonomous machines for airfield repair and base construction in remote or high-risk zones. The military work builds on the company’s growing momentum following a $50 million funding round backed by Khosla Ventures, General Catalyst, and Human Capital.
AIM has risen to No. 110 on the GeekWire 200 ranking on top Pacific Northwest startups.
To support its growth, AIM has rapidly expanded its headcount, doubling in size to about 80 employees in the last few months. Sadilek is attracted to the Seattle area’s intersection of hardware expertise from companies like Boeing and Amazon alongside top-tier software and AI talent.
But while AIM has managed to hire a couple former SpaceX engineers to build out its team, it isn’t the only startup mining that rocket-engineering pedigree. TerraFirma, an Austin-based company founded by two more SpaceX engineers, raised $115 million earlier this month in the burgeoning race to semi-automate physical construction.
For Sadilek, anchoring his team in Redmond rather than Silicon Valley was a deliberate decision to stay rooted in physical engineering. Having spent years in the Bay Area during his time at Google, Sadilek wanted to avoid the tech industry’s “echo chamber.”
“I wanted to be somewhat shielded from the Kool-Aid in Silicon Valley,” he said. “We wanted to build something that’s real and gets in the black really quickly… To do that, you need to do it in an environment that is more anchored in reality.”
That philosophy extends directly into their field testing. AIM’s regional proving grounds in the mountains near Monroe, Wash., expose the autonomous equipment to heavy snow and inclement weather early in development so the physical AI is built for harsh, real-world conditions from day one.
Amid the hard hats, safety vests and construction-related decor in AIM’s headquarters space, one piece of art offers a fun take on where AIM has been and where it’s headed.
The 1949 photograph, titled “Refueling the Sunkist Lady,” shows a Jeep driving beneath a low-flying plane and transferring supplies to aid the crew during an endurance flight.
Sadilek likes it as a reminder of getting started, and what it feels like to build a company from scratch, literally working on the airplane while it’s already rolling down the runway.
“The first years of AIM were exactly like that,” he said. “I think every tech startup is like that in the early days. The problem is that some of them never finish building it before the runway ends.”
The Hide My Email failure is real but nowhere near as significant to users as it’s being portrayed, Apple is hiking so many prices yet looking at ways to make that palatable, plus Foxconn has begun its annual recruitment drive as it begins producing millions of new iPhones, all on the AppleInsider Podcast.
It’s been painted as a big security failing by Apple, and it definitely isn’t good. But even if someone does manage to circumvent your use of Hide My Email, the worst they can do is send you a spam message.
There’s more to it, of course, and if there weren’t then you wouldn’t benefit from listening to Wesley Hilliard explaining it on the podcast. But while it’s good to know the background, not to mention interesting, you can be reassured too.
Which you might also be by how Foxconn is ramping up its recruitment right on schedule. Even if you’re not looking for a job assembling iPhones, it means that the iPhone 18 Pro is on track.
It would be, of course, and the only real questions are whether it can possibly match the success of the iPhone 17 Pro range, and whether there will be an iPhone Fold.
Although of course, there is also the issue of just how much any of these new iPhones will cost. But a strong new rumor claims that Apple will shortly launch a new Apple Upgrade program, specifically to make it possible to buy with a lower upfront cost.
If Apple gives us this leasing program, it also may take away something. To protect it from people just signing up and walking away with costly iPhones, Apple is believed to be readying a way to restrict the use of its devices if a payment is missed.
BONUS: Subscribe via Patreon or Apple Podcasts to hear AppleInsider+, the extended edition. This time, speaking of payments, the discussion is on technology and money, specifically how we need to manage our finances and how options like Apple Card can usually help.
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Three attacks, three names, and one identical flaw: AI coding agents treat a hallucinated identifier as a verified command.
By Shane Warden, Principal Architect, ActiveState
Ask an AI coding agent to fetch a tool. Occasionally, it returns a name that sounds right, but does not exist. Developers used to ignore this mistake, assuming a compiler or test would stop it. Unfortunately, that assumption is dangerous and wrong.
Effectively now we’re giving root access to language models that sometimes guess words, and attackers know how to use that against us.
The attack goes like this: an attacker can calculate URLs, software library names, and other output an LLM will produce and subsequently access somehow. The attacker grabs the name, then sets a trap and waits.They do not need to steal passwords. They do not need to send phishing emails.
They do not need a human to click a link. They need someone, somewhere to give an automated process permission to fetch something malicious.
Researchers at Tel Aviv University, Technion, and Intuit published a paper on July 8, 2026. The team, led by Aya Spira in Ben Nassi’s group, proved that these fake names are predictable.
They tested multiple prompts across Cursor, Windsurf, GitHub Copilot, Cline, Gemini CLI, and OpenClaw. Models hallucinated identical names up to 85% of the time for repository requests. They hallucinated identical names 100% of the time for skill installs.
“Slopsquatting exploited a fake package name. Phantom squatting exploited a fake domain. HalluSquatting exploits a fake repository or skill,” Warden says. “In every case, the agent trusts a name nobody verified.”
This Time, the Payoff Is a Botnet
That comparison undersells what is new here. Slopsquatting and phantom squatting get an attacker’s code onto one machine at a time. HalluSquatting scales further for attackers, because the agent does the delivery work a botnet operator used to need real machine compromise for.
There are no stolen passwords, no worms crawling from device to device, and no single operating system to target. Any machine running an exposed agent can be a target.
The researchers built this attack specifically to demonstrate that it repeats at scale, which is why they treat their own numbers as a floor rather than a ceiling: “Attacks always get better,” they write. “They never get worse.”
Cordyceps passed every check because no single workflow file was wrong, it was the composition that was exploitable.
See how to close that gap by governing what enters your build at the source, not just what passes the scan.
The Third Time Is a Pattern, Not a Coincidence
Security teams have seen this failure three times in six months.
January 2026 (Slopsquatting): Charlie Eriksen at Aikido Security caught AI agents trying to install a fake npm package named react-codeshift across 237 projects. He registered the name to stop attackers from taking it.
June 2026 (Phantom Squatting): Unit 42 at Palo Alto Networks found 250,000 domains that language models hallucinate. Anyone could register those domains.
July 2026 (HalluSquatting): Spira’s research team showed how attackers can take over AI agents by claiming predictable names in advance.
Every attack relies on the same core defect. The system trusts a name that a model generated without checking if anyone verified and validated it.
Design Principle Failure: Late Binding
This problem stems from two connected issues.
First, language models generate their outputs based on probabilities. Given the right inputs, they’ll produce predictable outputs (not deterministic, of course, but the paper shows that they’re predictable enough to produce attack vectors). This reminds me of rainbow tables, where you can pre-generate the output of password hashes.
You don’t have to know someone’s password if you can get the (insecure) hash and you know an input which creates that hash.
Second, developers build and run code and pipelines that execute commands based on the generated output of these language models. Unless you’re very careful, your agents will run code or fetch data before they take the opportunity to vet and verify the source of that code and data.
In software architecture, this kind of late binding offers flexibility. In security architecture, trusting an unverified external data source creates a massive vulnerability. The danger lives in the gap between text generation and code execution. What was safe and true may have changed since you last checked yesterday (or an hour ago).
Developers are rushing to ship products faster. They treat build infrastructure like disposable tooling, even while granting these tools expansive permissions to download, change, and deploy things. They have automated typosquatting and dependency confusion.
When agents now have permission to fetch and execute code without sufficient human review, your risks of attacks grow.
The Risk Extends Down the Dependency Tree
The risk extends beyond the top-level packages. An agent might select a real package with a real name. Modern security tools may check that top-level package. Do you know they rarely inspect the transitive dependencies three or four layers down the tree?
Developers cannot inspect those dependencies simply by reading the top-level source code or saying “That looks correct” and hitting Enter. Worse, if a dependency is compromised but the previous versions were fine, the rules you had in place yesterday may not protect you today.
If an attacker can compromise a deep dependency or anything it relies on, an automated pipeline can bring that compromise into your systems.
Traditional Security Backstops Fall Flat
The researchers note that their findings represent a minimum risk level. These attacks will become faster and more accurate in their targeting. Existing security tools fail against these attack patterns.
In June 2026, Trail of Bits bypassed agent skill store scanners in less than an hour. Scanners examine stated claims rather than hidden payloads.
SSL certificates and DNSSEC fail to stop this threat. An attacker who registers a fake domain can easily get a free Let’s Encrypt certificate. The certificate proves who owns the domain, but it cannot prove that the user intended to connect to it or that the domain is safe.
DNSSEC prevents other people from taking over a domain, but what if the domain were registered yesterday because an attacker predicted the latest model would send people there?
Fixing the Intake Pipeline
To secure your systems, you must ensure that none of your pipelines ever execute unvetted code or data. That vetting and verification has to happen automatically, at the speed of AI. Human review cannot keep up with automated AI tools.
Engineering teams must address this problem directly. They can spend significant time building internal verification pipelines, or they can adopt an existing governance solution.
Teams that patch individual tools will spend years chasing new variations of this exploit. Teams that fix the underlying design flaw will stop the attack before the model ever runs an untrustworthy command.
Organizations must resolve open source dependencies through something like ActiveState’s Curated Catalog, a private, policy-governed repository of vetted components. The catalog verifies the package before the agent downloads it. A package which fails this vetting is completely invisible to the agent, causing a failure before any bad code can enter your systems.
This is a different defense than scanning. Trail of Bits broke scanners because scanners inspect an unknown upload at the moment of fetch, exactly when an attacker has optimized the payload to slip past.
The Curated Catalog removes that moment entirely: it only ever serves components that were vetted and verified before any agent asked for them, so there is no unknown upload left to bypass. This single step turns a statistical guess into a trusted resource or a deliberate failure which needs human investigation.
If you want to see how many of your team’s current fetches would pass unchecked today, request an OSS Risk Assessment from ActiveState and find out before an attacker does.
FAQ
What is HalluSquatting?
HalluSquatting is an attack where researchers pre-compute the fake repository, package, or skill names that AI coding agents predictably invent, register those names first, and load them with malicious instructions before a real user’s agent goes looking for them.
How is this different from slopsquatting or phantom squatting?
All three exploit the same flaw, an agent trusting a name nobody verified, but target different resources. Slopsquatting targets npm package names, phantom squatting targets web domains, and HalluSquatting targets repositories and agent skills, then executes the payload directly through the agent’s own tool-use permissions.
Can existing security scanners catch this?
Not reliably. Trail of Bits bypassed every public skill-store scanner they tested in under an hour, because scanners inspect an unknown upload’s stated content rather than its hidden payload. A static, post-hoc scan is racing an attacker who built the payload specifically to defeat that scan.
What should engineering teams do this week?
Turn on pre-fetch verification wherever it exists; most agent frameworks ship with it off by default. Route open source dependency resolution through a governed, pre-vetted catalog instead of letting agents fetch directly from public registries.
Does this affect every AI coding agent equally?
The researchers found hallucinated names were consistent across tools built on different underlying models, including Cursor, Windsurf, GitHub Copilot, Cline, Gemini CLI, and OpenClaw. This is a pattern in how agents are built and permissioned, not a flaw isolated to one vendor.
Sponsored and written by ActiveState.
SCIENCE
Replacement Raptors head for liftoff without a static fire test
SpaceX is gearing up for another attempt to launch Starship following a last-second abort on July 16 and a scrub due to weather yesterday.
The 90-minute launch window for Starship’s 13th flight test will open at 1745 CT on Friday, July 24. The launch was postponed by 24 hours due to weather, according to SpaceX.
Elon Musk’s rocketeers explained: “A key objective for the flight test is to get clear imagery from the ground of Starship’s heatshield as it flies at a higher dynamic pressure during ascent, which won’t be possible with today’s weather conditions. Visibility is forecast to be ideal for a Friday attempt.”
The first attempt last week was aborted in the final seconds after some of the booster’s Raptor engines failed to start. At the time, Musk said “two Raptors will be removed and replaced.”
Interestingly, the company did not perform a static fire test of the booster with the new engines on July 22, opting for what appeared to be little more than a leak check. The Register asked SpaceX what testing it performed, but it has yet to respond. In a post on X, the company only stated “additional preflight testing on Super Heavy complete.” There is speculation that last-second shutdowns, whether during a static fire or launch attempt, may not be kind to Raptor engines.
The Starship project is under greater scrutiny than ever. NASA requires it to have orbital capability for Artemis III in 2027, and a launch cadence high enough to support a lunar landing mission in 2028. SpaceX is also a publicly traded company and, while its current stock price has already fallen below its IPO, it could do without further rattling investor nerves with a failure.
Should all go well, the entire mission should last just over an hour. After launching Starship, the Super Heavy booster is expected to make a controlled splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico. Starship will use its Raptor engines to enter a suborbital trajectory before coming down in the Indian Ocean.
Before re-entry, SpaceX plans to deploy 20 Starlink V3 satellites, which will follow the vehicle on its suborbital trajectory, and attempt a relight of a Raptor engine. The latter is a critical step on the path to Starship going orbital. ®
Gravis Robotics, an ETH Zurich spinout, fits autonomy kits to excavators. A tie-up would extend Masayoshi Son’s robotics buying spree from the factory floor to the building site.
SoftBank is weighing a deal for Gravis Robotics, a Swiss startup that fits excavators and diggers with the sensors and software to run themselves, according to Bloomberg.
The report did not spell out the shape of any transaction, and the size, structure, and valuation were not disclosed. The discussions appear to be at an early stage, and there is no guarantee they lead anywhere.
What they do signal is where SoftBank is looking next. Masayoshi Son’s group has spent the past year assembling a robotics portfolio at speed, from an $800mn round it is reportedly circling for Agile Robots to smaller bets on the kind of autonomy kits that bolt onto existing machinery.
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Gravis Robotics spun out of ETH Zurich in 2022, from the Swiss university’s Robotic Systems Lab. Rather than build a robot from scratch, it retrofits standard heavy equipment, attaching a kit that fuses LiDAR, cameras, GNSS positioning, and hydraulic sensors so an ordinary excavator can trench, grade soil, and manage stockpiles on its own.
The company says the approach can lift site output by roughly 30%.
The kit has a name, or two. The hardware, Gravis calls Rack; the operator controls it through a tablet interface named Slate that switches between autonomous and manual modes.
The pitch is that a machine can be taught to feel the soil through its hydraulics rather than follow a fixed programme.
It is run by chief executive Ryan Luke Johns, an architect turned roboticist, alongside chief technology officer Dominic Jud and co-founder Marco Hutter, an ETH robotics professor.
Johns and Jud hold a Guinness World Record together for the largest robot-built dry-stone wall, which tells you something about the company’s temperament.
In November 2025 the startup raised $23mn in a round co-led by IQ Capital and Zacua Ventures, with Pear VC, Sunna Ventures, and cement group Holcim among the backers.
By its own account, Gravis now has machines working on active sites across seven countries. Its customer list, per the company’s own announcements, includes contractor Taylor Woodrow, which used the technology at Manchester Airport, plant-hire firm Flannery, and Holcim, which runs it in quarries. Those claims come from Gravis and have not been independently audited.
For SoftBank, construction is a logical extension of a much larger thesis. The group agreed last October to buy ABB’s robotics division for $5.4bn, and a four-bank syndicate only finished putting together the roughly $1.75bn loan behind that purchase this week.
It is also selling its remaining stake in Boston Dynamics to Hyundai, tidying up an older robotics bet even as it places newer ones.
The Gravis talks, if real, would join a run of similar moves. SoftBank led Agile Robots’ 2021 financing, the round that made the Munich firm Germany’s first robotics unicorn, and is now said to be anchoring a fresh $800mn raise there.
Earlier in 2025 it put $500mn into Skild AI, a startup building a general-purpose model to control robots. The common thread is machines that do physical work, and software good enough to run them.
Son’s pitch is that artificial intelligence has matured in software and the next frontier is giving it a body. SoftBank is reportedly preparing a US-based AI and robotics vehicle, provisionally called Roze, that it hopes to float at a $100bn valuation.
The wider market has moved with him, with global robotics investment more than doubling to $27.6bn in 2025, the year of record rounds for firms such as NEURA Robotics.
A digger that drives itself is a less photogenic proposition than a walking humanoid, but it may be a more immediately useful one. Construction faces a persistent shortage of skilled machine operators, and earthmoving is repetitive, dangerous, and expensive to staff.
Whether SoftBank ends up buying into Gravis, or simply kicking the tyres, the direction of travel is clear enough. The company that once bet on a chatty humanoid named Pepper now wants the machines that move actual earth.
Verdict
More suction, improved (and very good) obstacle avoidance and brilliant mopping with the track mop make the Narwal Flow 2 a great choice for those with hard floors. Improved suction power makes short work on carpet, but as the mop can only lift by 10mm, those with deeper pile carpets may prefer a model that can drop its pads or that close off their rollers.
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Excellet mopping
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Very powerful vacuuming
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Moves around obstacles with ease
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Can’t leave its mop behind for vacuum only mode
Key Features
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Track mop
Wide mopping cloth polishes stains off easily.
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Powerful suction
30,000Pa suction power makes short work of fine dust.
Introduction
With its unique mopping system, the original Narwal Flow proved to be the best robot at removing stains that I’d tested, but it wasn’t quite up there when it came to overall flexibility. With the Narwal Flow 2, the company is back to sort that.
There’s the same clever track mop system, but a lot more suction power and a redesigned docking station. Is it all enough to make the Flow 2 the best robot vacuum cleaner, or is more work required? Read my full review to find out.
Design and Features
- Self-empty, self-clean dock
- Track mop
- Powerful obstacle avoidance
You can buy the Narwal Flow 2 in black or white, a choice that covers both the robot and its docking station. Aside from the way the robot looks, there’s no difference between the colour variants in terms of performance or features.
Narwal has completely redesigned its docking station for the Flow 2. The new one looks more like something that Roborock would ship, rather than continuing the more curved design of the original.
One change is that the new dock now has a front ramp that needs to be attached to the front, sticking out slightly. The old dock didn’t need this and contained the robot fully inside.
There’s also a status light bar on the new dock that glows to give a visual indicator of the robot and whether or not it’s ready to go or has any issues. That’s fine, but I’m actually a fan of fewer lights, and only having them when there’s an issue.
On top are the two water tanks. There’s a 4.5-litre tank for clean water, and a slightly smaller 4-litre tank for dirty water. Given that some water ends up on the floor after use, when the dirty tank needs emptying, the clean one will need filling.
This docking station can use 100°C water for mop washing, plus it can use detergent, automatically mixing it. Narwal keeps the detergent holder underneath the water tanks. There’s a sample of the company’s own hard floor cleaner in the box, but the design means you can use your own cleaner if you prefer.
Also under the tanks is the 2.5-litre disposable dust bag, which Narwal says can hold 120 days’ worth of dirt.
Pulling the main robot out, it’s quite similar to its predecessor in looks. With no LiDAR dome on top, the 95mm tall robot can slip under a lot of furniture without trouble.
At the front are the Dual RGB Cameras and Side Structured Light, which let the robot spot and avoid obstacles. Narwal says that this robot has unlimited obstacle detection, with Free FlowMove effectively allowing it to move around any issue and keep cleaning.
There’s a small dust bin that can be removed to be cleaned out, which also contains the Flow 2’s filter.
On the underside is the FlowWash Mopping system. This shares some similarities with a roller, but the track mop system means there’s more surface contact with the floor. A cloth is dosed with clean water, and then pulled along the floor with 12N of pressure to remove dirt.
In addition, the robot can use its cameras for stain detection, focusing on areas that need to be cleaned more.
When carpet is detected, the FlowWash system can be lifted 10mm off the ground to avoid soaking carpets. That works well enough on short pile carpet, but for more varied flooring you might prefer a robot that can either block off its roller or one that can drop its mopping pads off at the dock.
In addition, the Flow 2 can climb double thresholds of up to 4cm or single thresholds of up to 3cm, so it should be able to navigate most basic obstacles.
Control of the robot is via the Narwal app. It’s quick to get the robot connected to Wi-Fi, and then the initial mapping run. At the end of mapping, the app suggests the room layout, but I could merge or split to get the layout that I wanted.
Alongside the regular options, such as no-go zones, there are advanced options. Set the Room Character, for example, and you get to choose to say that a room is High-soil or Low-noise, which helps the robot adjust its cleaning strategy for that area.
Furniture can be added to the map, and then selected as a zone for quick cleaning, which is handy, say, for cleaning up after eating a meal. Otherwise, cleaning options including rooms of your choice or zones that you draw on the map.
There’s a choice to vacuum and mop, vacuum then mop, vacuum, or mop. For each choice, you can use the Freo Min option, which cleans automatically based on the environment and detected dirt level, or you can override and choose your settings.
For vacuuming, there’s a choice of four power modes, and two coverage choices (depending on how thorough you want the robot to be), plus up to three passes. Mopping has the same basic coverage settings but three choices of mop humidity.
I like that with the vacuum-then-mop setting that I could pick different numbers of passes for vacuuming (one or two) to mopping (up to three). This makes it much easier to customise how the clean works.
Performance
- Excellent vacuuming power
- Removes most stains fast
- Brilliant navigation
I put the Narwal Flow 2 through its paces around the Trusted Reviews Home Technology Lab. Starting with the carpet test, I added a teaspoon of flour to the test carpet. With 30,000Pa of suction, this robot is one of the most powerful and it shows. After two passes, the carpet is back to its original state.
I had the same result on the hard floor with dust in the middle. This was all gone after vacuuming only.
My edge test proved tough in the vacuum-only test, with the side brushes not quite enough to tease out all of the dust.
Things get a lot better when mopping is added, and the Flow 2 managed to run along my kitchen plinth mopping up that mess, leaving only a fine trace of dust behind. That’s as good as I’ve seen from any robot vacuum cleaner.
I then moved to the mopping tests, starting with the dried-on coffee stain. I had set the robot to three passes, but it only needed one to quickly wipe this up.
Similarly, the dried-on red wine stain was removed with just that single pass, leaving a streak-free finish.
My mud stain was first vacuumed, removing the loose debris, and then completely cleaned after two mopping passes.
My ketchup stain is the hardest to remove, and this did prove tricky, especially as the abnormally hot weather had really dried the stain out. After three passes, the stain had been hugely reduced, but was still visible.
Given how hard the stain had set, I gave it a quick spray with kitchen cleaner, left it for five minutes, and then let the Flow 2 go about its work. This time, it picked up everything: the mopping system really is impressive.
I put some human hair down on the carpet, and then let the Narwal Flow 2 collect the mess. Turning the robot over, there was one loose strand of hair, but nothing wrapped tightly around the roller.
Object detection and avoidance is very good, too. I didn’t have any issue with the robot running into fake pet mess, shoes or cables that I left out, neatly navigating around them while still cleaning.
Sound is good, too. I measured the robot at just 50.5dB, which makes it very quiet.
Battery life is as good as you’d expect, too. Even with three passes set, the Narwal Flow 2 could easily manage to clean the entire Lab with a single charge.
Should you buy it?
You want clever navigation and great mopping
The track mop quickly wipes up tough stains, while the new AI obstacle avoidance is a winner for cluttered homes.
You need more flexibility for carpets
If you’ve got deeper pile carpets, a robot that can drop its pads or close off its roller may be a better choice.
Final Thoughts
Its ability to move through cluttered areas with ease, combined with the powerful mopping performance, makes the Narwal Flow 2 a star on hard floors. Improved suction power makes for better carpet cleaning, too. The main downsides of this model are that it can’t drop its track mop or cover it when dealing with deeper-pile carpet, which may make it unsuitable for some homes, in which case an alternative from the list of best robot vacuum cleaners may be better.
How We Test
We test every robot vacuum cleaner we review thoroughly over an extended period of time. We use industry standard tests to compare features properly. We’ll always tell you what we find. We never, ever, accept money to review a product.
Find out more about how we test in our ethics policy.
- Used as our main robot vacuum cleaner for the review period
- We test for at least a week
- Tested with real-world dirt in real-world situations for fair comparisons with other vacuum cleaners
FAQs
When it detects carpet, the robot can lift its mop off the ground to pass; you can also set the app so that the robot avoids carpet.
Test Data
| Narwal Flow 2 | |
|---|---|
| Sound (high) | 50.5 dB |
Full Specs
| Narwal Flow 2 Review | |
|---|---|
| Manufacturer | – |
| Size (Dimensions) | 364 x 351 x 95 MM |
| Release Date | 2026 |
| First Reviewed Date | 23/07/2026 |
| Vacuum cleaner type | Robot vacuum and mop |
| Bin capacity | 2.5 litres |
| Modes | Vacuum, vacuum and then mop, vacuum and mop, mop |
| Filters | 1 (washable) |
| Run time | 190 mins min |
| Charge time | 3 hrs |
| Brushes | 1x side brush, 2x brush bar |
| Mop Option | Track mop |
| UK RRP | TBC |
| USA RRP | $1499.99 |
WTF?! As movie adaptations of video games have turned from mostly box-office bombs into commercial hits, it seems studios are now trawling the entire history of gaming for ideas. In what sounds like a particularly bewildering move, Atari has signed a deal with Universal Pictures to give 10 of the company’s classic games the movie treatment, including Pong and Centipede.
Atari’s retro games aren’t the first that come to mind when you think of titles that would be great on the big screen. The full list consists of Asteroids, Adventure, Berzerk, Breakout, Centipede, Crystal Castles, Millipede, Missile Command, Pong and Yars’ Revenge.
Deadline writes that Universal has already bought the first project based on an Atari IP, though it never revealed which one. It will be produced by Entertainment 360’s Guymon Casady from a screenplay by Matt Reilly and Carl Hampe.
“The best Atari games dropped you into a world and let your imagination do the rest,” Casady said. “Carl and Matt saw an opportunity to take that same spirit and build an original, large-scale adventure around it. From the moment we read the screenplay, we believed there was a great movie here.”
It’s certainly difficult to imagine how some of these games will translate into movies, but one expects there will be plenty of artistic interpretation. Perhaps Pong will be a Marty Supreme-style tale of becoming a table tennis champion. Missile Command could be a Cold War action thriller. Centipede might become a horror movie (nothing like The Human Centipede, presumably ). And Breakout could be a Shawshank Redemption-like prison-break tale.
The idea is to use the Atari IP to create large-scale action adventures, apparently. Hopefully, they’ll be better than that other “how could this be turned into a movie?” debacle, 2012’s Battleship.
Universal had previously secured the rights for an adaptation of Asteroids in 2019, but it still hasn’t been made into a movie. One assumes this would be an intergalactic adventure with aliens and a lot of threatening rock/metallic/icy space bodies.
Atari’s retro titles aren’t the only old games Hollywood is plundering for big-screen adaptations. Point-and-click classic Broken Sword, which first arrived in the mid-1990s, will also get a movie version, and it’s being made by the studio behind the live-action Sonic the Hedgehog movies.
Video game movies have come a long way since the days of Super Mario Bros in 1993 and the painfully awful Alone in the Dark. There are still a few stinkers, but when A Minecraft Movie made almost $1 billion, it’s easy to see why studios are desperate to make more.
Samsung has expanded its Galaxy lineup with the launch of five new devices at its Galaxy Unpacked 2026 event in London. Three foldable handsets were unveiled, along with the Galaxy Watch 9 and Galaxy Watch Ultra 2, in addition to the Galaxy Z Fold 8 and Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra. The newest additions feature improved technology, slimmer form factors, Galaxy AI, and health monitoring capabilities. Preorders for the new products have already been opened in various markets, and they will be available starting from early August.
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8
The new Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 is built with people who prefer a larger foldable device in mind. For that reason, it comes with a passport-like design, which makes the device relatively shorter but gives a wider cover screen. This type of device enables easy completion of daily activities without unfolding it. The device has a 5.5-inch cover screen and a 7.6-inch foldable OLED screen. Both displays support an adaptive refresh rate from 1Hz to 120Hz.
The company uses a new Flex Titanium display structure to strengthen the folding screen. Samsung has redesigned the hinge for better performance and a less noticeable crease. It is powered by the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chip. The device features up to 16 GB of RAM and 1 TB of internal memory. It includes a 50 MP primary sensor, a 50 MP ultra-wide lens, and a pair of 10 MP selfie shooters.
A 4,800mAh silicon-carbon battery keeps the phone running and supports 45W fast charging. The Galaxy Z Fold 8 ships with Android 17 and One UI 9. It also includes Galaxy AI tools such as Now Nudge, Gemini Intelligence, and Gemini Notebook. Buyers also get six months of Google AI Pro at no extra cost. The phone starts at $1,899.99 and is available in Lavender, Cream, Graphite, and an online-only Pistachio finish.
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra
The latest addition to the line-up of the company’s top-selling foldable model is the Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra. The new smartphone replaces the Galaxy Z Fold 7 and offers a slimmer form factor. Its thickness measures 4.1 mm when unfolded, and 8.9 mm when folded. Samsung has also introduced a toughened Flex Titanium frame along with the improved hinge, which increases the strength of the display and minimizes the crease effect. The Fold 8 Ultra has a 6.5-inch outer screen and an 8-inch folding screen with a 120Hz adaptive refresh rate.
The Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra runs on the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 processor. It comes with up to 16GB of RAM and up to 1TB of storage. Samsung also upgrades the camera system. The phone includes a 200MP main camera, a 50MP ultra-wide camera, and a 10MP telephoto camera. It also has two 10MP selfie cameras, one on each display.
The Fold 8 Ultra includes a 5,000mAh silicon-carbon battery with 45W wired charging support. It runs Android 17 with One UI 9 and includes Galaxy AI features like Now Nudge, Gemini Intelligence, and Gemini Notebook. Samsung offers the phone in Violet Shadow, Cream, Graphite, and an online-only Green Shadow color. The device starts at $2,099.99, while preorder buyers can take advantage of Samsung credit and trade-in deals.
Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 8
The Galaxy Z Flip 8 is the latest folding clamshell from Samsung. The company retains its classic design, but now makes the device slimmer and even more advanced. The features of the new Galaxy Z Flip 8 include the 6.9-inch foldable display and the 4.1-inch FlexWindow cover display.
Galaxy Z Flip 8 comes with the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 processor in America. Overseas versions have the Samsung Exynos 2600 chipset. This model features 12GB RAM along with up to 512GB of internal memory. It has a camera system that comprises 50MP main, 12MP ultra-wide, and 10MP selfie cameras.
The phone runs Android 17 with One UI 9. Samsung includes Galaxy AI features that work directly on the FlexWindow display. Personalized Now Brief updates and Gemini Intelligence help users complete tasks more quickly. The Galaxy Z Flip 8 also packs a 4,300mAh battery with 25W wired charging. It is available in Pink, Cream, Graphite, and an online-only Mint finish. It starts at $1,199.99, and preorder buyers can take advantage of Samsung credit and trade-in deals.
Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra 2
The Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 is Samsung’s newest premium smartwatch. The watch features LTE connectivity as standard across all models. Samsung also redesigned the titanium body to make it thinner than before. The wearable includes a 47mm display with a peak brightness of 5,000 nits. It is powered by the Snapdragon Wear Elite platform and includes 2GB RAM and 64GB storage. Samsung equips the watch with a larger 800mAh battery. The company says it can deliver up to 60 hours of battery life with the Always-On Display enabled.
Samsung adds several new health and fitness features to the watch. These include Heart Health Score, Daily Cardio Load, Trail Run mode, and Nutrition Alert. The watch also provides hydration guidance during workouts. Samsung plans to release a Diving app later this year. The Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 has an IP69K rating and comes in Titanium Gray and Titanium Silver. It starts at $699.99, while preorder buyers can receive Samsung credit and trade-in savings.
Samsung Galaxy Watch 9
Samsung has launched the Galaxy Watch 9 as its more affordable smartwatch. The watch comes in 40mm and 44mm sizes. Buyers can choose between Bluetooth and LTE models. The 40mm version is available in Cream and Graphite, and the 44mm model comes in Silver and Graphite. Samsung powers the watch with the Snapdragon Wear Elite processor. It includes 2GB RAM and 32GB storage. The display offers up to 3,000 nits of peak brightness. The 40mm model packs a 390mAh battery, while the 44mm version includes a 445mAh battery. Samsung claims up to 30 hours of battery life with the Always-On Display turned on.
The Galaxy Watch 9 introduces new health and fitness features. Users get Heart Health Score, Daily Cardio Load, Sleep Apnea detection, and Vitals tracking during sleep. The watch also warns users about unsafe environmental noise levels. Samsung gives the smartwatch MIL-STD-810H and IP68 ratings for durability. Pricing starts at $379.99, with LTE models priced $50 higher. Samsung also offers a 60-day Strava trial and a two-month iFIT membership for new buyers.
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