The astronauts aboard the Artemis II mission are called a crew, but they really regard themselves as a team, right down to just getting around the Orion spacecraft’s cabin. But they have been intently focused on the overall success of the Artemis program, as there is a lot at stake because it’s the first crewed deep-space flight in more than 50 years. And the astronauts are acutely aware of that and how what they will impact future moon missions.

“Part of our ethos as a crew and our values from the very beginning were that this is a relay race,” Mission Specialist Christina Koch said during a virtual news conference with reporters Wednesday evening. “In fact, we have batons that we bought to symbolize physically that. We plan to hand them to the next crew. And every single thing we do is with them in mind.”

Koch referenced tasks she and the Orion crew have performed so far during their mission, such as manually piloting the spacecraft and ensuring that procedures are as they should be.

Watch this: Getting Personal With the Crew of Artemis II | Tech Today

19:07

“We’re always thinking from the perspective of what is the next crew going to think about this, how will this help them to succeed,” stated Koch.

It also takes teamwork just to live in such a small space. Koch said that the Orion’s cabin feels bigger in microgravity than what she expected, even though the astronauts are constantly bumping into each other “100% of the time.” Moving around the cabin, even to perform simple tasks, requires them to narrate their exact movements to one another to avoid colliding with crewmates.

“Everything we do in here is a four-person activity, but it’s also really fun,” joked Koch.

That insight was among the personal details the Artemis crew shared from space on Wednesday evening — the eighth day of their mission — as they prepare for their return to Earth on Friday after a historic 10-day journey around the moon. The first crewed deep-space flight since 1972 saw the Orion Integrity spacecraft carry the crew 252,756 miles from Earth — the farthest distance humans have ever traveled from our planet.

Watch this: Watch NASA’s Artemis II Launch to the Moon

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During the mission, the astronauts also shared an emotional moment with viewers back on Earth when they proposed naming one of the craters on the moon “Carroll,” in memory of Commander Reid Wiseman’s late wife, a nurse who died of cancer in 2020 at the age of 46. Wiseman opened up about his feelings in that moment when asked during the press conference. Mission Specialist Jeremy Hansen made the proposal to Mission Control to name the crater on Orion’s lunar flyby.

“When Jeremy spelled Carroll’s name C A R R O L L, that’s when I was overwhelmed with emotion. I looked over and Christina was crying. I put my hand down on Jeremy’s hand as he was still talking. (It was right there on that rail.) And I could just tell he was trembling,” remembered Wiseman. “We all pretty much broke down right there. And just for me personally, that was the pinnacle moment of the mission for me. 

Wiseman went on to say the moment was “where the four of us were the most forged, the most bonded, and we came out of that really focused on that day ahead.”

The crew is also focused on the journey back to Earth — and has been for more than three years, as Pilot Victor Glover pointed out to reporters.

“We’ve actually been thinking about entry since April 3, 2023, when we got assigned to this mission, and one of the first press conferences, we were asked, ‘What are we looking forward to?’” Glover said. “And I said, ‘splash down.’ And it’s kind of humorous, but it’s literal as well, that we have to get back. There’s so much data that you’ve seen already, but all the good stuff is coming back with us. 

He explained that there are so many more pictures and stories that the Artemis II crew still has to share. Glover also admitted that he hasn’t even begun to process everything the astronauts have been through over the past week.

“We’ve still got two more days, and riding a fireball through the atmosphere is profound as well,” Glover exclaimed. 

The Artemis crew is scheduled to return to Earth on Friday, with a splashdown in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of San Diego at 5:07 p.m. You can follow the conclusion of the mission on CNET. You can also watch the entirety of Wednesday’s press conference on NASA’s YouTube channel.

Display vehicles for NIO’s new ES9 electric SUV have arrived in showrooms around China, ahead of tomorrow’s tech showcase. The ES9 measures 211 inches long and has a wheelbase of 128 inches, making it somewhat larger than the ES8, and currently the largest pure electric SUV available in the country.

The ES9’s front end takes a bit of a sharp-headed shark approach, swinging into some split headlights that can project some beautiful patterns in the form of welcome lights. Wide angle LiDAR devices are tucked away in the fenders, along with some extra lighting components, as well as a roof-mounted unit that works with cameras and radar to provide data into NIO’s next-generation support system. The wheels, which range from 21 to 23 inches depending on the trim, help to create a silhouette that appears to be supposed to be there – planted and premium from almost every aspect.

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Power is sent to all four wheels via a dual motor system. The front unit produces 241 horsepower, while the rear motor produces 456 horsepower, totaling 697 horsepower and 700 Newton meters of torque. Engineers designed the entire system around a 900volt architecture to get the energy out rapidly and sustain rather fast charging speeds, much exceeding what most people are used to on a regular basis.

The ES9 gets a a 102 kilowatt-hour battery from CATL, which uses the ternary lithium chemistry that NIO prefers. The Chinese cycle has a range of up to 385 miles with the most efficient arrangement, while other models do not perform as well. However, one feature shared by all variations is the incorporation of NIO’s battery swapping network, which allows you to replace the pack in minutes rather than waiting for a full charge.

Inside, the ES9’s cabin is divided into two 2+2+2 configurations, with capacity and comfort for six adults as primary priorities. Nappa leather covers every surface, and real wood trim and embroidered details give it a warm, cozy feel. A wraparound dashboard design then houses the true star of the show, a crisp 15.6-inch AMOLED floating screen that runs NIO’s SkyOS interface and sits beside the NOMI Mate 3.0 voice assistant sitting on top. Second row passengers perform particularly well and benefit from the ES9’s 128-inch wheelbase, with higher trims receiving zero gravity seats that recline rather deeply and have all of the frills such as heating, ventilation, massage, and memory features. Then there’s electrochromic glass, which allows you to turn a switch and the rear windows go from clear to tinted in seconds. Add two 14.5-inch entertainment displays and a dedicated 8-inch control screen, and you have a car that will keep passengers happy in the back seat. There’s also a built-in fridge to keep your drinks cool without the need to stop anywhere, as well as a split panoramic roof that lets in plenty of natural light.

Technology does not stop with the touchscreens and seats. How it all works together, in this example the steer by wire technology and the SkyRide chassis, has a significant impact on your driving experience, providing precise handling and a comfortable ride even in a large vehicle like this one. The Shenji NX9031 chip powers it all, combining data from several lidar sensors and 4D radar to make driving feel rock solid regardless of the weather. And if you’ve seen the films of the car being flung around on snow-covered trails and then surviving a high-speed blowout at -30 degrees Celsius with barely a glitch, you know what I’m talking about.

On April 9th, we’ll find out what price the ES9 starts at, which is rumored to be around 500,000 yuan ($73,200). That puts it just below the price of NIO’s top-of-the-line ET9 sedan, but with a lot more room to spread out in and plenty of comforts thrown in, and you’ll be able to get your hands on one just a few months later, in late May. If you are lucky enough to be one of the first in line, you will receive your new ES9 Horizon Edition around a week later.

If you’re someone who spends hours gaming, you already know how important a good mouse is. The problem? Most gaming mice look different on paper but feel almost identical in hand. With so many options out there, it’s getting harder to find something that actually stands out. The HyperX Pulsefire Saga tries to flip that idea on its head with a modular design. Instead of adjusting your grip to the mouse, you can tweak the mouse itself to match your comfort. It also promises strong performance, with features such as a 26K DPI sensor and an 8K polling rate. But beyond the specs, I wanted to see if the modular design makes it better to use in real gameplay.

Design and Build

The first thing I noticed when I started using the HyperX Pulsefire Saga was how light it felt in my hand. At just 69 grams, it felt easy to control without feeling too fragile. While gaming, this made tracking and quick reactions feel smoother. What really makes this mouse different is its modular build. I was able to change the top shell, button covers, and side buttons within seconds. The magnetic system works well, and everything clicks into place securely. Even after changing configurations multiple times, the build stayed consistent.

In terms of comfort, I used it for long sessions, sometimes up to a few hours at a stretch. The weight, or lack thereof, helps a lot with comfort, and I didn’t experience the strain that I normally get with a heavier mouse. There are a couple of things that didn’t quite work for me, though. The side buttons don’t really feel as high-quality as the rest of the mouse, and there’s a little wobble if you look up close. The scroll wheel is also a bit smaller, but these are just nitpicks.

Overall, the module design is more about function than style, especially if you like to have control over mouse comfort.

Performance

In terms of performance, this mouse does not disappoint. The 26K DPI sensor shines for tracking, and the ability to reach an 8K polling rate is a clear indicator that this mouse is intended for precision use. I tested it with games like Valorant and GTA V, and the performance was pretty stellar. The movements felt smooth, and I did not feel jitters or unusual behavior.

Whether I was making small aim corrections or fast flicks, it reacted instantly. This made it easier to stay consistent during matches. The clicks have a fast and responsive feel, particularly when you’re firing weapons in FPS games.

With a wired mouse, I found that the cable didn’t interfere with my gaming experience because it was flexible enough to allow natural movement. Overall, performance is accurate, fast, and reliable, which is particularly important for a competitive gamer.

Software and Battery

Since this is a wired mouse, battery life isn’t something you need to worry about. I could just plug it in and start playing without worrying about charging or interruptions, which I found really convenient.

For software, HyperX provides NGENUITY. I used it to customize DPI settings, adjust the polling rate, and play around with RGB lighting. The controls are easy to understand, so setting things up didn’t take much effort. There are also options to remap buttons and fine-tune performance settings. It gives enough control for most users without feeling overwhelming.

That said, once I finished setting things up, I didn’t really need to open the software again. It works well, but it’s more of a one-time setup tool rather than something you’ll use regularly.

Verdict

After using the HyperX Pulsefire Saga for a while, it’s clear that it’s more than just a gaming mouse. You can currently buy this mouse from Amazon for Rs. 3,990. I played around with a few settings before finding one that felt comfortable to use, and once I got into the swing of things, it was much more comfortable. From a functionality standpoint, I can say it’s held up incredibly well. The sensor is fast and reliable, and the lightweight design is a big plus for long-term use.

One or two things could be improved, particularly the side buttons and the wheel, but they didn’t really affect my overall experience. If you’re like me and want a slightly more personalized, comfortable experience, this mouse makes a lot of sense.

If you missed your chance to pay Samsung $2,900 for a phone earlier this year, we have great news for you. Android Police reported that what may be the final shipment of the Samsung Galaxy Z TriFold will be arriving in the US on April 10. The unique foldable was discontinued a mere three months after it first went on sale, and it seems like Samsung is clearing out whatever inventory it has left. So if you have a spare $3,000 that you’re just desperate to get rid of, bookmark the TriFold’s page where Samsung has a countdown ticking away.

All jokes aside, our hands-on time with the TriFold at CES 2026 revealed a pretty snazzy device that managed to strike a decent balance between size and heft. But perhaps unsurprisingly for a phone with such an intricate design and high price tag, the company didn’t appear to have any intention to make the TriFold widely available. Samsung may have sold out each batch of the smartphone that went to retail, but the device didn’t offer much in the way of profit, according to reports in South Korean newspaper Dong-A Ilbo.

As AI becomes an integral part of workflows across businesses in all industries, ensuring the technology offers genuine gains in efficiency and productivity has become a significant consideration for firms of all sizes.

This is particularly true in financial services, where critical data is analysed and stored most carefully, and the idea of handing such valuable information to an AI could be a cause for concern.

Algorithms. Beauty filters. Endless scrolling.

The case over “social media addiction” against Meta and Google in a California courtroom ultimately came down to these elements, legal experts say, and what a jury found was negligence on social media companies’ part when designing apps where tweens and teens would come to spend roughly one-fifth of their day.

Joseph McNally, former federal prosecutor and director of Emerging Torts and Litigation at McNicholas & McNicholas in California, says jurors agreed with the novel legal argument that Meta and Google were negligent in their design of Instagram and YouTube, respectively, contributing to the mental health problems of the plaintiff. Parent companies of Snapchat and TikTok settled with the plaintiffs before the trial.

McNally and other experts tell EdSurge the verdict will affect thousands of similar cases and influence how tech companies roll out their features — and that the legal tussle over where liability falls when it comes to youth mental health isn’t over yet. With the social media giants vowing to appeal, the case could end up before the U.S. Supreme Court.

Email Evidence

The impact left by the presentation of internal company emails was undeniable, McNally says. Internal Meta communications showed that employees raised alarms about the potential harm to teen girls posed by a beauty filter. Documents also showed they knew that users much younger than 13 — the minimum age required for sign up — were on their platforms, he adds.

“They looked the other way because — the plaintiffs argued — they had a long-term benefit, long-term value of hooking those users early,” McNally says. “I think that the emails painted a picture of a company whose own employees were raising concerns about features in the product, and the plaintiff effectively used those emails to show that they knew about the risk of the product.”

“Addictive” Design

If Meta and Google had settled, the court wouldn’t have had cause to grapple with the legal question of whether social media companies can be held liable for harm caused by their design. But from the defense’s perspective, tech companies had been solidly protected by Section 230 in the past, explains Princess Uchekwe, corporate attorney and founder of The Chief Counsel in New York. That’s the part of the 1996 Communications Decency Act that shields websites and online platforms from being sued over content posted by users.

Just one day before the California verdict, a New Mexico jury found Meta liable in a $375 million consumer protection lawsuit over its failure to protect children from social media harm on its platforms.

“What the lawyers for the plaintiffs were arguing is, essentially, it’s not the content that we have a problem with,” Uchekwe says, “It’s the fact that when people use your platform, you have implemented certain features that make it almost impossible for people to leave. You can scroll into the bottomless pit of hell on Instagram, and nothing ever tells you, ‘Maybe you should pause.’”

The Appeal of an Appeal

The $6 million in damages is a drop in the bucket for the two social media giants, but McNally says there are potential benefits to appealing the ruling anyway. There are thousands more consumer lawsuits against social media companies around the country, with school districts joining as plaintiffs.

One is that an appellate court might find that the long-time protections that social media companies have relied on should have come into play. The verdict barreled through the defenses raised by Section 230, which protects platforms from claims of harm caused by third-party content. It’s a policy that makes a free and open internet possible.

“[Section] 230 has resulted in the dismissal of hundreds of lawsuits over the years where they would’ve otherwise faced hundreds of millions of dollars in liability,” McNally says. “An appeal [based on] Section 230, which is a federal statute, could make its way up to the Supreme Court, who would have the final word on the scope. [If the] court of appeals remanded it back to the trial court and said, ‘Look, Section 230 applies,’ it would essentially bar these claims [of harm caused by the design].”

Uchekwe says failure to win an appeal could be “almost devastating” for tech companies due to the sheer amount of damages they could have to pay across thousands of similar lawsuits, along with the cost of restructuring how their apps function. That could mean rethinking features like targeted algorithms, the ability to endlessly scroll and notifications that draw users back into the app.

“Not only social media companies,” Uchekwe says, “all tech companies that have implemented things like that, especially if they have children as a base, are going to have to start reconsidering.”

First Amendment Question

There’s also a First Amendment case to be made, McNally adds. Some legal experts, including UC Berkeley law professor Erwin Chemerinsky, argue that the “addictive” algorithms that came under fire during the trial are protected free speech. If that argument succeeds on appeal, it could stop the legal cases arguing product liability in their tracks.

“If the Supreme Court overturned it based on Section 230 and the First Amendment, it’s unlikely there’s going to be a new trial. It would likely be dismissed,” McNally says. “I won’t say that with certainty, but the prospects of dismissal would be pretty good for the defendants.”

Ripple Effect

McNally says the fact that a jury ruled Meta and Google’s app features were “unreasonably unsafe for its users” creates challenges for them in the swaths of similar lawsuits they’re facing. Plaintiffs in those cases still must prove a direct link between the social media companies and the harm they’re alleging.

“I think it’s going to result in some cases probably moving closer to settlement, but in all those cases, I think that the defendants are going to be looking closely at the causation issue,” McNally says. “There’s probably other cases out there where the evidence of causation is not as strong, and those cases may be harder for a plaintiff to get across the finish line.”

Uchekwe predicts that if the verdict sticks, tech companies — especially those with users who are under 18 — will be forced to retool their app features to encourage users to spend less time on their platforms. That could hurt the companies’ ad revenue and their ability to gather data on users.

“Undoing some of those things may decrease their bottom line, but I’m not sure it will do it to the extent that it’s detrimental to their revenue,” Uchekwe says. “If you weigh the benefits of putting these safeguards in for children versus your revenue, I never think that your profit should come at the expense of a generation of people.”

WireGuard, the major software project and VPN that underpins popular security software including Mullvad and others, has found itself locked out of a key part of its Microsoft developer’s account and unable to ship software updates to Windows users.

Jason Donenfeld, the creator of the open source WireGuard VPN software, told TechCrunch that he has been locked out of his Microsoft developer account, and as a result cannot sign drivers or ship updates for WireGuard for Windows users, which are critical for its software to run. Donenfeld said in a post on X on Wednesday that the account termination stopped a WireGuard update from shipping.

It’s the second such incident of a high-profile and widely used open source project being shut out from its customers due to a seemingly abrupt account termination from Microsoft, with popular encryption software VeraCrypt facing a similar circumstance. Both developers said Microsoft locked them out of their accounts without first alerting them. 

In the case of VeraCrypt, which is used by hundreds of thousands of users to encrypt files and operating systems, its developer Mounir Idrassi told TechCrunch that being locked out of his account means he is unable to update the software in time for a crucial certificate authority expiry, which he said may prevent some users from booting up.

Donenfeld, the WireGuard developer, told TechCrunch in an email: “If there were a critical vulnerability to fix right now — there isn’t! I just mean hypothetically — then users would be totally exposed.”

WireGuard is an open source VPN software used around the world to connect devices over the internet. WireGuard’s code is highly popular for its simplicity and security, as it serves as the foundation of many VPN implementations and commercial services that rely on its code, like Proton and Tailscale.

Donenfeld told TechCrunch in an email that he has spent the past few weeks modernizing WireGuard’s Windows code and was ready to send a copy update to Microsoft for checks before it can ship out to users, but was met with an “access restricted” error when logging into the developer portion of his Microsoft account.

Despite going through the process to verify his driver’s license or passport with Microsoft (the third party Microsoft uses for verification said he was “verified”), Donenfeld said his access was still suspended.

Donenfeld told TechCrunch that he found a page on Microsoft’s website saying that the company had been carrying out “mandatory account verification for all partners in the Windows Hardware Program who have not completed account verification since April 2024,” but that the verification program had since closed.

Microsoft’s Windows Hardware Program allows developers like Donenfeld and VeraCrypt’s Idrassi to “deploy hardware and device drivers for Windows PCs and other devices.” The ability to develop and release drivers for Windows users is restricted to known and vetted developers, as drivers can grant vast access to an operating system and its data and are known to be abused by hackers for that reason.

That account verification process meant that developers were required to upload their government-issued ID before they were allowed to publish potentially highly sensitive code to the broader Windows user base.

“Microsoft never sent me any notification at all about this. I’ve looked in every inbox in every spam folder in every mail log, and zero, nothing, zilch,” Donenfeld said.

The Windows Hardware Program’s verification program has “now concluded” and developers who have not uploaded their documents had their accounts “suspended,” the page reads, meaning that these accounts can no longer send updates.

Donenfeld said that he was referred to Microsoft’s executive support team, which handles customer service and account requests for high-profile individuals, which confirmed his appeal had been received but that they had to wait as long as 60 days for review.

By late Wednesday, there was a glimmer of hope in Donenfeld’s case. He told TechCrunch that he was finally in contact with Microsoft and that hopefully the issue would be resolved soon.

Microsoft did not immediately comment when reached by TechCrunch.

Donenfeld and Idrassi are not alone, with the account lockout issues affecting others as well.

Windscribe, a maker of VPN and other consumer privacy tools, said in a post on X that it had also been locked out of its Partner Center account. The company said it had a verified account for over eight years in order to sign its drivers.

“We’ve been trying to resolve this for over a month, and getting nowhere. Support is non-existent,” Windscribe said in its post. “Anyone know a human with a brain that still works at Microsoft and can help?”

A new campaign delivering the Atomic Stealer malware to macOS users abuses the Script Editor in a variation of the ClickFix attack that tricked users into executing commands in Terminal.

Script Editor is a built-in macOS application for writing and running scripts, primarily AppleScript and JXA, that can execute local scripts and shell commands. It is a trusted application pre-installed on macOS systems.

While this is not the first time it has been abused for malware delivery, the researchers note that, in the context of the ClickFix social engineering technique, it does not require the victim to manually interact with the Terminal and execute commands.

Apart from the Terminal-based variant being widely reported, macOS Tahoe 26.4 added protection against ClickFix attacks in the form of a warning when trying to execute commands.

In a new campaign distributing Atomic Stealer observed by security researchers at Jamf, the hackers target victims with fake Apple-themed sites that pose as guides to help reclaim disk space on their Mac computers.

These pages contain legitimate-looking system cleanup instructions but use the applescript:// URL scheme to launch Script Editor with a pre-filled executable code.

The malicious code runs an obfuscated ‘curl | zsh’ command, which downloads and executes a script directly in system memory.

This decodes a base64 + gzip payload, downloads a binary (/tmp/helper), removes security attributes via ‘xattr -c,’ makes it executable, and runs it.

The final payload is a Mach-O binary identified as Atomic Stealer (AMOS), a commodity malware-as-a-service that has been extensively deployed in ClickFix campaigns using various lures over the past year.

The malware targets a broad spectrum of sensitive data, including information stored in the Keychain, desktop, and browser cryptocurrency wallet extensions, browser autofill data, passwords, cookies, stored credit cards, and system information.

Last year, AMOS also added a backdoor component to give operators persistent access to compromised systems.

Mac users should treat Script Editor prompts as high-risk and avoid running them on their devices unless they fully understand what they do and trust the resource.

For macOS troubleshooting guides, it is recommended to rely only on official documentation from Apple.

Apple Support Communities, the forum where Apple customers can help each other with advice, although it may not be risk-free.

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