Longtime Slashdot reader ArchieBunker shares a report from NBC News: NASA revealed that astronaut Mike Fincke was the crew member who suffered a medical incident at the International Space Station in January, which prompted the agency to carry out the first evacuation due to a medical issue in the space station’s 25-year history. The rare decision to cut a mission short and bring Fincke and three other crew members home early made for a dramatic week in space early this year.
In a statement released by NASA “at the request of Fincke,” the veteran astronaut said he experienced a medical event on Jan. 7 “that required immediate attention” from his space station crew members. “Thanks to their quick response and the guidance of our NASA flight surgeons, my status quickly stabilized,” Fincke, 58, said in the statement. […] In his statement, Fincke thanked his Crew-11 colleagues, along with NASA astronaut Chris Williams and Russian cosmonauts Sergey Kud-Sverchkov and Sergei Mikaev, who were also aboard the space station at the time and are still in space. Fincke also thanked the teams at NASA, SpaceX and the medical professionals at Scripps Memorial Hospital La Jolla. “Their professionalism and dedication ensured a positive outcome,” he said.
Fincke ended his statement by saying he is “doing very well” and still actively involved with standard post-flight reconditioning at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. “Spaceflight is an incredible privilege, and sometimes it reminds us just how human we are,” he said. “Thank you for all your support.”
Although not as reviled as the sound of nails on chalkboard, the sound of adhesive tape being peeled is quite probably at least as distinctive. With every millimeter of the tape’s removal from the roll sounding like it’s screaming in protest, it has led some to wonder just why this process is noisy enough to be heard from across an open-plan office. Recently [Er Qiang Li] et al. had their paper on a likely theory published in Physical Review E, in which they examine the supersonic air pulses at the core of this phenomenon.
The shockwaves produced by peeling tape, captured on Schlieren imaging. (Credit: Er Qiang Li et al., 2026)
Using rolls of adhesive tape and two microphones synchronized with two high-speed cameras in a Schlieren imaging setup, they gathered experimental data of this stick-slip mechanism. Incidentally, in addition to this auditory effect, adhesive tape is also known for the triboluminescence effect, as well as the generating of X-rays, making them quite the source of scientific demonstrations, even when they’re not also being used to create graphene with.
What they deduced from the recorded data was that the transverse fractures that suddenly appear after the extended stick phase hold a vacuum until they reach the end of the fracture during the brief slip phase, at which point the vacuum collapses very suddenly. This produces a pressure of 9600 Pa and clearly visible shock fronts on the Schlieren images.
Now that we know why peeling adhesive tape from its roll is so noisy, it won’t make it any more quiet, but at least we can add another fascinating science fact to its role of achievements.
For most retailers, that kind of turnout is reserved for limited edition launches or concert ticket drops. For SGFR, it’s a recurring phenomenon.
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The brand has gone viral multiple times, drawing huge crowds for each store opening and new product launches—and it’s a sign of just how quickly the brand has captured a niche in Singapore’s snack market.
SGFR Store’s founder was just 18 when he started the business
Image Credit: SGFR Store
Opened in Mar 2022, SGFR Store brands itself as a “concept candy store.” The business’s focus is on cult favourite goodies among today’s chronically online youth.
Its shelves are stocked with the likes of PRIME energy drinks from influencers Logan Paul and KSI, chocolate bars by YouTuber MrBeast, and Takis tortilla chips in flavours such as ‘Blue Heat’ and ‘Fuego.’ These aren’t just snacks—the influencers behind them have followings bigger than some countries, while Takis taste-test videos rack up millions of views online.
Too niche for mainstream grocery chains like NTUC FairPrice, they find a home at SGFR, catering to young consumers who grew up idolising these online personalities and now seek out their favourite snacks in one place.
Price points vary just as wildly as the products: you can grab Hershey’s Popping Candy for as little as S$1, or splash out on a limited-edition Gold PRIME drink for S$300.
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Image Credit:Paing Htoo Kyaw, Sridevi Gogini via Google Reviews
Behind the business is 23-year-old Mohamed Haikkel, whose entrepreneurial streak began early. Before SGFR Store took its current form, it was known as SGFishingRigz, where Haikkel sold fishing kits.
At 16, fresh out of his O-Levels, Haikkel broke his leg in an accident that left him stuck at home. Looking for something to pass the time, he picked up fishing—and quickly spotted a gap in the market.
“When my friends started asking me how to fish, I noticed something. The uncles and aunties at fishing shops only wanted to sell to pros. Nobody wanted to help beginners,” he shared in an interview with Spirit of Enterprise.
So he built what the market didn’t have. Through SGFishingRigz, Haikkel offered beginner-friendly fishing kits that included everything needed to get started, along with QR codes linking to tutorials.
The timing worked in his favour: during the pandemic, when travel was drawn to a halt and people were searching for new hobbies, demand grew. By 2022, at just 18 years old, Haikkel had opened a physical store in Tampines and was running a full-fledged business.
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(Left): Haikkel (far left) fishing together with his friends, who also helped him run SGFishingRigz; (Right): The SGFishingRigz store in Tampines./ Image Credit: Mohamed Haikkel/ SGFR Store
By then, however, with COVID-19 restrictions easing and travel resuming, interest in fishing was tapering off. Despite attempts to revive sales through events and new product launches, the store’s revenue declined sharply.
Amid the downturn, Haikkel spotted a new opportunity. He noticed that customers browsing for fishing gear would often pick up snacks and drinks as well. Influenced by YouTubers showcasing viral American snacks, he began to question why such products were not as easily accessible in Singapore.
That curiosity led Haikkel to import PRIME Hydration, starting with just 10 cartons (or a total of 150 bottles). One TikTok post later, the entire stock sold out in four hours, proving there was a ready market in Singapore for viral, Internet-famous snacks.
Hence, Haikkel pivoted fully from fishing gear to focus on this new venture, marking the start of SGFR Store that same year.
Expanding to nine outlets & launching its own product line
SGFR Store’s early success snowballed quickly. Haikkel brought in other trending brands and expanded to multiple locations, running the business alongside co-owner and longtime friend Lucas Phua.
At first glance, it might seem like SGFR is simply chasing viral trends on TikTok. Some Reddit users have questioned the sustainability of the business model, noting that some outlets appear quiet on certain days.
Haikkel addressed this in a TikTok video. The business doesn’t sell necessities like Watsons, Guardian or NTUC—it is a candy store, hence it “won’t have footfall at every moment.”
Some days are good, some days are bad, and we try doing events and online sales to expand our income streams.
That said, SGFR Store didn’t just want to wait for trends—it aimed to create them. This led to the launch of its first in-house product line. The debut was Quench, billed as the world’s first canned ice cream milk drink, inspired by Singapore’s balang-style pasar malam drinks.
Months of research and development were documented on social media, generating anticipation ahead of launch. The product sold out immediately.
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Image Credit: SGFR Store
Today, the brand has even expanded to launch snacks like the Cwumble Cwunch, inspired by the viral Kunafe Dubai Chocolate. When shipment delays threatened supply, Haikkel and his small team improvised, working tirelessly for five days to recreate the recipe in-house. Today, Cwumble Cwunch remains one of SGFR’s signature products.
SGFR Store aims to grow beyond Singapore’s shores
SGFR Store’s expanding product line and growing number of outlets are fuelled by its loyal following, something Haikkel has emphasised repeatedly in interviews and on social media.
Influencers like Logan Paul and KSI shaped his approach—it’s not about fame, but about interacting with your audience and keeping them invested with fun, engaging content, he shared in the Spirit of Enterprise interview.
Haikkel together with streamer IShowSpeed./ Image Credit: Mohamed Haikkel via Instagram
Every month, SGFR Store does something for its community, even if it comes at a cost. During streamer IShowSpeed’s Sept 2024 visit to Singapore, Haikkel gifted him an iPhone 16 Pro Max and a One Piece figure when the streamer dropped by the Arab Street outlet.
On another occasion, the business gave out 400 bottles of PRIME to a local mosque. “This is the stuff that people really remember. This creates a personal connection between us and the viewers each time,” he told Rice Media.
Beyond giveaways, SGFR Store regularly hosts meet-and-greets with fans and content creators like Luqmaan Hakiim, who joined Haikkel and Lucas as a co-owner.
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Unlike most retail owners, the SGFR team is treated almost like celebrities—at store launches, fans line up for autographs and selfies, a clear reflection of the brand’s cultural influence among young Singaporeans.
Building on this momentum, SGFR Store aims to expand to 15 outlets by 2026 and set its sights on overseas markets by 2027. “None of this would have been possible without our customers,” said Haikkel. “From day one, they weren’t just buying snacks—they were part of this journey with us.”
On sale in late March for $1,970 / £1,799 (about AU$3,000)
I can’t say I’m the core target audience for the best digital audio player — I don’t have thousands (or even hundreds) to spend on kit like this, so it’s the ultra-cheap options like the Majority MP3 that I end up focusing on. But a new release from Astell & Kern is really catching my attention.
Just a few days after its new copper DAP was one of the gadgets I played with at a high-end audio show, A&K has revealed a new device. Meet the Astell & Kern PD20, which is set to go on sale in mid-March for $1,970 / £1,799 (about AU$3,000).
The headline feature of this new digital audio player (often shortened to DAP by people who know about such things) is that it comes with a “Personal Sound” system, as A&K is calling it. This uses the packaged in-ear headphones — yep, no need to worry about buying separate IEMs — to analyze your hearing, and create a bespoke listening profile just for you. The idea is that it can compensate for any flaws or shortcomings in your own hearing; after all, our ears are all unique. For example, if you struggle to hear bass, it could boost it a little bit.
This feature was designed with Audiodo, another testament to its usefulness: this company also designed the build-in listening test in headphones like the Nothing Ear (3), CMF Headphone Pro and Noble FoKus Amadeus. We praised all three, so expectations are high.
It sounds like the listening test requires the dedicated earphones, so make sure not to lose them: it could affect resale value, and cut you off from the key feature.
I absolutely love listening tests, and while a growing number of wireless earbuds come with their own proprietary solutions, they’re rather hit-or-miss. I imagine a respected company like Astell & Kern will get it right, especially when working with a reputed audio design brand.
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Sounding PD good
(Image credit: Astell & Kern)
Beyond its listening test, the A&K PD20 has a few other draws. It uses a triple-amp design, with a slider letting you easily switch between three listening modes, and a second slider letting you adjust the amp’s current to get even more control over your sound.
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There are four built-in DACs, and the device uses the Digital Audio Remaster tech that also came in the fantastic SP4000. This creates a more natural sound by putting the audio signal through several stages of processing to restore lost sound.
You can use the PD20 as a USB-connected DAC for computers (both Windows and Macs) which is a neat extra. It offers 2-channel stereo sound and EQ control that doesn’t interrupt your playback. There’s a sound wheel,
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The PD20 has 256GB memory and you can bump that up to 2TB with microSD cards, and it supports aptX HD, LDAC and BT Sink wirelessly to act as a Bluetooth DAC too.
The device itself has a 6-inch FHD+ screen and, according to A&K, lasts for about 14 hours of playback if you’re not listening to high-end codecs. It has both 3.5mm and 4.4mm out jacks, and a USB-C port for charging or computer connection.
It all sounds pretty neat, but we’ll have to let our dedicated audio reviewers get their hands (and ears) on it, to see how well it runs. Watch this space…
And of course, you can also follow TechRadar on YouTube and TikTok for news, reviews, unboxings in video form, and get regular updates from us on WhatsApp too.
If there’s one thing that stops people using their smart rings over the long term, it’s the battery life. After all, they’re so unobtrusive, it’s easy to forget to drop it on the charging plate every few days. It doesn’t take long for your pricey gadget to become little more than a very expensive piece of jewelry. It’s one of many maladies Ultrahuman is looking to address with the advent of its new Pro, a smart ring boasting up to 15 days of battery life. It even ships with a fancy battery case, which itself includes enough power to last it 45 days, making it easier to keep re-charged on the go.
Ultrahuman Ring Pro hasn’t just got a far bigger battery, it’s been re-engineered from the ground up. The company’s Bhuvan Srinivasan explained the older hardware had been pushed to its limit, especially in terms of the data it could process. Consequently, the Pro is equipped with a dual core processor with on-device machine learning to better crunch the numbers your body is throwing out. Its memory has also been increased, holding up to 250 days of data before it needs to sync with your smartphone. As well as improvements to durability, the new ring is also easier to cut apart in the hopefully rare event your finger, or its battery, begins to swell.
Ultrahuman
I’ll admit, having seen a prototype Pro Charger in person back in January, that it’s the prettiest way to re-juice a smart ring I’ve ever seen. Whereas Samsung and Oura have both opted for discreet, ring box-style hardware, Ultrahuman made something designed to sit on your nightstand. It’s not taking up space just for show, either, since it includes the aforementioned battery, LED charge indicator, speaker and haptics. It’s also got the ability to diagnose and address firmware issues to eliminate worries around firmware issues bricking devices.
Ultrahuman
At the same time, Ultrahuman is pulling the covers off Jade, its new “real time biointelligence AI.” The company promises Jade will be able to “pull real-time actionable insights, and even start breathwork or trigger Afib detection.” Jade is expected to get new features over time, with some examples being ordering good, changing your room temperature or flagging potential health issues. The idea is that Jade will keep a constant eye on your health, pulling in data from the ring, M1 continuous glucose monitor and environmental stats from your Ultrahuman Home.
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Naturally, we’ll be getting in the Pro to test and will give our opinions on how effective all of this is when we’ve spent a month or two actually using it. But if you’d rather not wait and you’re based outside the US, you can pre-order the Ultrahuman Ring Pro right now, for $479, with shipments beginning in March. If you already have an Ultrahuman Ring, you can also get a trade-in deal to help cut the cost of the new model.
In the past year, Intel has lost its CSO, the CEO of products and the head of AI.
Intel Foundry’s senior vice-president and general manager Kevin O’Buckley is leaving the company to join Qualcomm, where he will be leading the company’s semiconductor operations.
Naga Chandrasekaran, whose remit was expanded to include Intel Foundry months earlier, will be leading the entire segment now, according to a statement from an Intel spokesperson.
In his new role, effective from 2 March, O’Buckley will be reporting directly to Qualcomm’s executive vice-president, chief financial officer and chief operations officer Akash Palkhiwala.
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“Kevin brings deep operational expertise, proven commercial leadership, and decades of experience scaling complex semiconductor operations and delivering custom silicon products across data centre and edge devices,” said Palkhiwala.
“His leadership will further strengthen our global operations as we continue to deliver industry-leading products with high-performance, low-power computing, AI and connectivity at scale.”
O’Buckley served at Intel for less than two years, prior to which he led chipmaker Marvell as its senior vice-president. O’Buckley has also spent more than 17 years working across various roles in IBM.
“We thank Kevin O’Buckley for his contributions to foundry services and wish him the very best as he pursues an opportunity outside the company,” an Intel spokesperson told Tom’s Hardware.
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“Intel Foundry remains one of Intel’s highest strategic priorities, and under Naga Chandrasekaran’s leadership the organisation is focused on disciplined execution and delivering for customers.”
Qualcomm develops chips for mobile phones and computers. It is behind the Snapdragon series of processors for mobiles, laptops and extended reality sets.
Lip Bu-Tan has been attempting to flatten executive leadership, cut costs and secure new customers for Intel ever since he took over as CEO last March. Since then, the company has seen some major leadership exits.
While November saw Intel’s chief technology and AI officer Sachin Katti leaving to join OpenAI to build compute infrastructure for “artificial general intelligence”. Tan has taken over the company’s AI and advanced technologies groups.
Intel has been closely collaborating with SambaNova, an up and coming chipmaker chaired by Tan. SambaNova recently announced a $350m raise and a strategic investment from Intel to accelerate an Intel-powered AI cloud.
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Qualcomm subsidiary Qualcomm Technologies announced a €125m investment to upgrade its Cork city site and create 300 new jobs.
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Apple TV is doing great in Brazil, but services chief Eddy Cue says Apple doesn’t have any plans for new content developed in the country.
Apple’s SVP of services, Eddy Cue, says Brazil is Apple TV’s fastest-growing market.
During a special press event on February 4, Apple previewed content coming to its streaming service in 2026, with several new films and series set to debut on Apple TV later in the year. However, we didn’t hear much about Apple’s international streaming-related endeavors — until now. Apple’s Senior Vice President of Services, Eddy Cue, revealed a few key details about the future of Apple TV in an interview with the Brazilian publication Folha de Sao Paulo, spotted by 9to5mac. Continue Reading on AppleInsider | Discuss on our Forums
This marks the seventh co-founder exit since xAI was founded in 2023.
Toby Pohlen is the latest co-founder to leave xAI, announcing his decision to resign just weeks after two others left.
The Elon Musk-owned xAI lost three co-founder in the weeks after his space-tech company SpaceX bought xAI for a reported $250bn. The combined business is worth an estimated $1.25trn, and could gain more after a planned initial public offering this year.
In a post on X, Pohlen thanked Elon Musk for taking him on board. “I’ve learnt more about execution, speed, and product perfectionism than I could ever have imagined. Thanks for everything,” he said. Musk responded, “Thanks for helping get xAI to where it is.”
Pohlen is the seventh co-founder to exit xAI in three years, following Jimmy Ba and Tony Wu, who left earlier this month. Kyle Kosic left in 2024, followed by Igor Babuschkin and Christian Szegedy in 2025.
Greg Yang, another co-founder, announced last month that he would be stepping down after being diagnosed with Lyme disease. Pohlen had worked in Google DeepMind as a research engineer for more than six years before founding xAI.
The flurry of exits leaves behind Musk, Manuel Kroiss, Zihang Dai, Guodong Zhang and Ross Nordeen at the company.
Meanwhile, a year-long inquiry by French authorities has expanded to probe Grok’s possible role in disseminating Holocaust denials and sexual deepfakes. California also launched a similar investigation into X and Grok’s parent company xAI last month.
In this week’s roundup of the latest news in online speech, content moderation and internet regulation, Ben is joined by Casey Newton, founder and editor of Platformer and co-host of Hard Fork, a podcast that makes sense of the rapidly changing world of tech. Together, they discuss:
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Play along with Ctrl-Alt-Speech’s 2026 Bingo Card and get in touch if you win!
Bellevue, Wash.-based startup Union.ai announced that it closed a $38.1 million Series A round, led by NEA, with participation from Nava Ventures and new investor Mozilla Ventures. The total includes a previously announced $19.1 million portion raised in 2023.
Union is the company behind Flyte, an open-source orchestration tool used to run complex machine learning and data workflows. Union is positioning itself as broader “AI development infrastructure” — covering orchestration as well as pieces such as training, inference, and observability — aimed at helping engineering teams move from experimentation to production faster.
“Building AI requires a fundamentally different approach than traditional software, and engineering teams are now embracing that,” CEO Ketan Umare said in a statement.
This funding comes at an inflection point for AI: engineering teams are discovering that legacy software infrastructure and devtools struggle to handle AI development. They were designed for basic and deterministic processes of traditional data workflows, not for the non-deterministic processes of AI workflows, which expect agents to adapt and recover from failure at runtime. Union.ai is building the new category of AI development infrastructure. Engineering teams can develop dynamic, durable AI workflows and agents while dramatically reducing time spent maintaining brittle pipelines.
The startup says revenue grew 3X in 2025, and its customer base expanded 2.6X. Union’s customers include Spotify, HederaDx, Carfax, Hopper, and others.
The company says the round supports the commercial launch of Union 2.0 and continued development of Flyte 2, including “pure Python” authoring, improved debugging, runtime decision-making, and crash-resilient workflows.
Umare helped develop the underlying technology for Flyte while he was an engineer at Lyft. He previously worked at Amazon and Oracle. He co-founded Union.ai in 2020 with Haytham Abuelfutuh.
The company has more than 40 employees and is actively hiring.
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Investors are backing various startups building behind-the-scenes infrastructure to help companies turn AI prototypes into reliable products. Temporal, a “durable execution” company rooted in the Seattle region, announced a $300 million round last week.
Hair loss isn’t always dramatic. It can be incremental. You start noticing a bit more scalp in harsh bathroom lighting; a tiny bald spot when you tie your hair up in a ponytail. The shower drain is more clogged than usual. Not long ago, hair loss treatments meant topical remedies, supplements, or a flight to Turkey. Luckily, red light therapy brings the potential for hair regrowth into your home—no clinical appointment required.
Beyond skin rejuvenation, research suggests red light therapy can help energize hair follicles, increase blood circulation in the scalp, reduce inflammation, and lower dihydrotestosterone levels—a hormone that causes hair loss and thinning. Red light therapy also supports adenosine triphosphate (ATP) production, which helps provide oxygen and blood flow to the scalp and triggers follicles to remain in the hair growth phase.
To determine the best red light therapy for hair growth, I tapped three WIRED tech reviewers who’ve dealt with hair loss themselves. We assessed red light therapy caps, hands-free helmets with full scalp coverage, and low-level laser therapy or photobiomodulation devices for 16 weeks. Along the way, we reviewed the research, spoke with dermatologists, and tracked ease of use. These are the favorites that produced meaningful results and earned our trust.
Simple device with only one button and a charging port
Bluetooth-enabled so you can listen to your own tunes during treatment
Comes with a stand for easy storage
Observed new hair on scalp after 12-ish weeks
TIRED
Need to use daily for at least four months to achieve results, and use regularly (nearly every day) for maintenance
Even the smallest helmet size is large
Buffer cups can snag and pull hair during helmet removal
Ear cups can be somewhat difficult to adjust while worn
CurrentBody’s LED Hair Growth Helmet is a wearable, cord-free, Bluetooth-enabled device aimed at improving hair’s density, thickness, and overall condition. Each panel on the helmet has 12 red lights (120 total), which are on a spectrum of 620 to 660 nanometers (nm). The 620-nm red light helps improve scalp health by promoting circulation, and the 660-nm red light penetrates deeper, reaching through the epidermis and dermis to the hypodermis, where it stimulates growth and repair at the follicle root. According to CurrentBody, you only need to use the device for 10 minutes a day, and you’ll see results within 12 weeks.
My hair grows famously slow. I got a pixie cut in the spring of 2011, and my hair did not touch my shoulders until the end of 2013. My hair is also super fine. It tangles easily and often breaks off (my ends are chronically dry and split). After 12 weeks, I didn’t notice a huge difference in length (and I got a haircut halfway through testing), but I did notice that my hair seemed to be sprouting new follicles along my scalp and sideburn area in particular. I started to see small baby hairs along my hairline that I had never seen before. My stylist commented that my hair felt thicker, and I noticed less breakage and hair caught in bristles when brushing. My balding roommate also tested it (although not daily like me) and said that his hair felt thicker and that there was new growth around the scalp.
The helmet comes in two sizes: medium for a skull circumference of 21.3 to 23.2 inches, or large, for 23.3 to 25 inches. (I opted for medium, and it was too large for my head size.) The device sits on a base and is charged via a USB-C cord. It takes about three hours to fully charge, and it stays on a single charge for about a week. The device is powered on by the press of the single button located under the charging port. The circular earmuffs protect sensitive ears with a cushy, removable faux leather cloth, and they can be adjusted several inches up or down to ensure a comfortable fit. The screen on the right earmuff indicates the time left in the treatment session, and the helmet automatically turns off when the 10 minutes are up. You can also connect the device to Bluetooth and play any type of music or video while wearing it, because God forbid I be left alone with my thoughts for 10 minutes a day. Just make sure your hair is clean and dry before use.
My only complaints are that the ear covers aren’t the easiest to adjust while wearing and would oftentimes pull out my hair while I removed or adjusted the helmet. Nevertheless, this is the best red light therapy for hair growth. Just you wait, I’ll look like Fabio on the cover of a romance novel by next year. See full review here. —Molly Higgins
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