Tech
Stealth Satellite TV Defeats Iran’s Internet Blackout
On 8 January 2026, the Iranian government imposed a near-total communications shutdown. It was the country’s first full information blackout: For weeks, the internet was off across all provinces while services including the government-run intranet, VPNs, text messaging, mobile calls, and even landlines were severely throttled. It was an unprecedented lockdown that left more than 90 million people cut off not only from the world, but from one another.
Since then, connectivity has never fully returned. Following U.S. and Israeli airstrikes in late February, Iran again imposed near-total restrictions, and people inside the country again saw global information flows dry up.
The original January shutdown came amid nationwide protests over the deepening economic crisis and political repression, in which millions of people chanted antigovernment slogans in the streets. While Iranian protests have become frequent in recent years, this was one of the most significant uprisings since the Islamic Revolution in 1979. The government responded quickly and brutally. One report put the death toll at more than 7,000 confirmed deaths and more than 11,000 under investigation. Many sources believe the death toll could exceed 30,000.
Thirteen days into the January shutdown, we at NetFreedom Pioneers (NFP) turned to a system we had built for exactly this kind of moment—one that sends files over ordinary satellite TV signals. During the national information vacuum, our technology, called Toosheh, delivered real-time updates into Iran, offering a lifeline to millions starved of trusted information.
How Iran Censors the Internet
I joined NetFreedom Pioneers, a nonprofit focused on anticensorship technology, in 2014. Censorship in Iran was a defining feature of my youth in the 1990s. After the Islamic Revolution, most Iranians began to lead double lives—one at home, where they could drink, dance, and choose their clothing, and another in public, where everyone had to comply with stifling government laws.
Iran’s internet infrastructure is more centralized than in other parts of the world, making it easier for the government to restrict the flow of information. Morteza Nikoubazl/NurPhoto/Getty Images
My first experience with secret communications was when I was five and living in the small city of Fasa in southern Iran. My uncle brought home a satellite dish—dangerously illegal at the time—that allowed us to tune into 12 satellite channels. My favorite was Cartoon Network. Then, during my teenage years, this same uncle introduced me to the internet through dial-up modems. I remember using Yahoo Mail with its 4 megabytes of storage, reading news from around the world, and learning about the Chandra X-ray telescope from NASA’s website.
That openness didn’t last. As internet use spread in the early 2000s, the Iranian government began reshaping the network itself. Unlike the highly distributed networks in the United States or Europe, where thousands of providers exchange traffic across many independent routes, Iran’s connection to the global internet is relatively centralized. Most international traffic passes through a small number of gateways controlled by state-linked telecom operators. That architecture gives authorities unusual leverage: By restricting or withdrawing those connections, they can sharply reduce the country’s access to the outside world.
Over the past decade, Iran has expanded this control through what it calls the National Information Network, a domestically routed system designed to keep data inside the country whenever possible. Many government services, banking systems, and local platforms are hosted on this internal network. During periods of unrest, access to the global internet can be throttled or cut off while portions of this domestic network continue to function.
The government began its censorship campaign by redirecting or blocking websites. As internet use grew, it adopted more sophisticated approaches. For example, the Telecommunication Company of Iran uses a technique called deep packet inspection to analyze the content of data packets in real time. This method enables it to identify and block specific types of traffic, such as VPN connections, messaging apps, social media platforms, and banned websites.
The Stealth of Satellite Transmissions
Toosheh’s communication workaround builds on a history of satellite TV adoption in Middle Eastern and North African countries. By the early 2000s, satellite dishes were common in Iran; today the majority of households in Iran have access to satellite TV despite its official prohibition.
Unlike subscription services such as DirecTV and Dish Network, “free-to-air” satellite TV broadcasts are unencrypted and can be received by anyone with a dish and receiver—no subscription required. Because the signals are open, users can also capture and store the data they carry, rather than simply watching it live. Tech-savvy people learned that they could use a digital video broadcasting (DVB) card—a piece of hardware that connects to a computer and tunes into satellite frequencies—to transform a personal computer into a satellite receiver. This way, they could watch and store media locally as well as download data from dedicated channels.
Many Iranian citizens have free-to-air satellite dishes, like the ones on this apartment building in Tehran, and can thus download Toosheh transmissions, giving them a lifeline during internet blackouts.Morteza Nikoubazl/NurPhoto/Getty Images
Toosheh, a Persian word that translates to “knapsack,” is the brainchild of Mehdi Yahyanejad, an Iranian-American technologist and entrepreneur. Yahyanejad cofounded NetFreedom Pioneers in 2012. He proposed that the satellite-computer connections enabled by a DVB card could be re-created in software, eliminating the need for specialized hardware. He added a simple digital interface to the software to make it easy for anyone to use. The next breakthrough came when the NFP team developed a new transfer protocol that tricks ordinary satellite receivers into downloading data alongside audio and video content. Thus, Toosheh was born.
Satellite TV uses a file system called an MPEG transport stream that allows multiple audio, video, or data layers to be packaged into a single stream file. When you tune in to a satellite channel and select an audio option or closed captions, you’re accessing data stored in different parts of this stream. The NFP team’s insight was that, by piggybacking on one of these layers, Toosheh could send an MPEG stream that included documents, videos, and more.
HOW TOOSHEH WORKS: At NetFreedom Pioneers, content curators pull together files—news articles, videos, audio, and software [1]. Toosheh’s encoder software [2] compresses the files into a bundle, in .ts format, creating an MPEG transport stream [3]. From there, it’s uploaded to a server for transmission [4] via a free-to-air TV channel on a Yahsat satellite that’s positioned over the Middle East to provide regional coverage [5]. Satellite receivers [6] directly capture the data streams, which are downloaded to computers, smartphones, and other devices, and decoded by Toosheh software [8].Chris Philpot
A satellite receiver can’t tell the difference between our data and normal satellite audio and video data since it only “sees” the MPEG streams, not what’s encoded on them. This means the data can be downloaded and read, watched, and saved on local devices such as computers, smartphones, or storage devices. What’s more, the system is entirely private: No one can detect whether someone has received data through Toosheh; there are no traceable logs of user activity.
Toosheh doesn’t provide internet access, but rather delivers curated data through satellite technology. The fundamental distinction lies in the way users interact with the system. Unlike traditional internet services, where you type a request into your browser and receive data in response, Toosheh operates more like a combination of radio and television, presenting information in a magazine-like format. Users don’t make requests; instead, they receive 1 to 5 gigabytes of prepackaged, carefully selected data.
Access to information is not only about news or politics, but about exposure to possibilities.
During this year’s internet blackout, we distributed official statements from Iranian opposition leader Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi and the U.S. government. We provided first-aid tutorials for medics and injured protesters. We sent uncensored news reports from BBC Persian, Iran International, IranWire, VOA Farsi, and others. We also shared critical software packages including anticensorship and antisurveillance tools, along with how-to guides to help people securely connect to Starlink satellite terminals, allowing them to stay protected and anonymous as they sent their own communications.
How to Combat Signal Interference
Because Toosheh relies on one-way satellite broadcasts, it evades the usual tactics governments use to block internet access. However, it remains vulnerable to satellite signal jamming.
The Iranian government is notorious for deploying signal jamming, especially in larger cities. In 2009, the government used uplink interference, which attacks the satellite in orbit by beaming strong noise in the frequency of the satellite’s receiver. This makes it impossible for the satellite to distinguish the information it’s supposed to receive. However, because this type of attack temporarily disables the entire satellite, Iran was threatened with international sanctions and in 2012 stopped using the method .
A graph of network connectivity in Iran shows that on 9 January 2026, internet access dropped from nearly 100 percent to 0. Samuel Boivin/NurPhoto/Getty Images
The current method, called terrestrial jamming, uses antennas installed at higher elevations than the surrounding buildings to beam strong noise over a specific area in the frequency range of household receivers. This attack is effective in keeping some of the packets from arriving and damaging others, effectively jamming the transmission. But it’s short-range and requires significant power, so it’s impossible to implement nationwide. There are always people somewhere who can still watch TV, download from Toosheh, or tune into a satellite radio despite the jamming. Even so, we wanted a workaround that would keep our transmissions broadly accessible.
NFP’s solution was to add redundancy, similar in principle to a data-storage technique called RAID (redundant array of independent disks). Instead of sending each piece of data once, we send extra information that allows missing or corrupted packets to be reconstructed. Under normal circumstances, we often use 5 percent of our bandwidth for this redundancy. During periods of active jamming, we increase that to as much as 25 to 30 percent, improving the chances that users can recover complete files despite interference.
From Crisis Response to Public Access
Toosheh initially came online in 2015 in Iran and Afghanistan. Its full potential, however, was first realized during the 2019 protests in Iran, which saw the most widespread internet shutdown prior to the blackout this year. Wired called the 2019 shutdown “the most severe disconnection” tracked by NetBlocks in any country in terms of its “technical complexity and breadth.” Our technology helped thousands of people stay informed. We sent crucial local updates, legal-aid guides, digital security tools, and independent news to satellite receivers all over the country, seeing a sixfold increase in our user base.
When that wave of protests subsided, the government allowed some communication services to return. People were again able to access the free internet using VPNs and other antifilter software that allowed them to bypass restrictions. Toosheh then became a public access point for news, educational material, and entertainment beyond government filtering.
Toosheh’s impact is often personal. A traveling teacher in western Iran told NFP that he regularly distributed Toosheh files to students in remote villages. One package included footage of female athletes competing in the Olympic Games, something never broadcast in Iran. For one young girl, it was the first time she realized women could compete professionally in sports. That moment underscores a broader truth: Access to information is not only about news or politics, but about exposure to possibilities.
The Cost of Toosheh
Unlike internet-based systems, Toosheh’s operational cost remains constant regardless of the number of users. A single TV satellite in geostationary earth orbit, deployed and maintained by an international company such as Eutelsat, can broadcast to an entire continent with no increase in cost to audiences. What’s more, the startup cost for users isn’t high: A satellite dish and receiver in Iran costs less than US $50, which is affordable to many. And it costs nothing for people to use Toosheh’s service and receive its files.
We aim not just to build a tool for censorship circumvention, but to redefine access itself.
However, operating the service is costly: NetFreedom Pioneers pays tens of thousands of dollars a month for satellite bandwidth. We had received funding from the U.S. State Department, but in August of 2025, that funding ended, forcing us to suspend services in Iran.
Then the December protests happened, and broadcasting to Iran became an urgent priority. To turn Toosheh back on, we needed roughly $50,000 a month. With the support of a handful of private donors, we were able to meet these costs and sustain operations in Iran for a few months, though our future there and elsewhere is uncertain.
Satellites Against Censorship
Toosheh’s revival in Iran came alongside NFP’s ongoing support for deployments of Starlink, a satellite internet service that allows users to connect directly to satellites rather than relying on domestic networks, which the government can shut down. Unlike Toosheh’s one-way broadcasts, Starlink provides full two-way internet access, enabling users to send messages, upload videos, and communicate with the outside world.
In 2022, we started gathering donations to buy Starlink terminals for Iran. We have delivered more than 300 of the roughly 50,000 there, enabling citizens to send encrypted updates and videos to us from inside the country. Because the technology is banned by the government, access remains limited and carries risk; Iranian authorities have recently arrested Starlink users and sellers. And unlike Toosheh’s receive-only broadcasts, Starlink terminals transmit signals back to orbit, creating a radio footprint that can potentially be detected.
The internet shutdown in Iran continued after the attacks by Israel and the United States began in late February, preventing Iranians from communicating with the outside world and with one another.Fatemeh Bahrami/Anadolu/Getty Images
Looking ahead, we envision Toosheh becoming a foundational part of global digital resilience. It is uncensored, untraceable, and resistant to government shutdowns. Because Toosheh is downlink only, it can sometimes feel hard to explain the value of this technology to those living in the free world, those accustomed to open internet access. Yet, people living under censorship have few other choices when there’s a digital blackout.
Currently, NFP is developing new features like intelligent content curation and automatically prioritizing data packages based on geographic or situational needs. And we’re experimenting with local sharing tools that allow users who receive Toosheh broadcasts to redistribute those files via Wi-Fi hotspots or other offline networks, which could extend the system’s reach to disaster zones, conflict areas, and climate-impacted regions where infrastructure may be destroyed.
We’re also looking at other use cases. Following the Taliban’s return to power in Afghanistan, NetFreedom Pioneers designed a satellite-based system to deliver educational materials. Our goal is to enable private, large-scale distribution of coursework to anyone—including the girls who are banned from Afghanistan’s schools. The system is technically ready but has yet to secure funding for deployment.
We aim not just to build a tool for censorship circumvention, but to redefine access itself. Whether in an Iranian city under surveillance, a Guatemalan village without internet, or a refugee camp in East Africa, Toosheh offers a powerful and practical model for delivering vital information without relying on vulnerable or expensive networks.
Toosheh is a reminder that innovation doesn’t have to mean complexity. Sometimes, the most transformative ideas are the simplest, like delivering data through the sky, quietly and affordably, into the hands of those who need it most.
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Abortion provider Carafem’s phones were ringing nonstop over the weekend after a US federal appeals court reinstated a nationwide requirement that the drug mifepristone, one of two pills used for a medication abortion, must be obtained in person. The decision, handed down on Friday, left patients unsure if they could gain access to their treatment through telehealth. “People are afraid, and they’re angry,” says Carafem’s chief operations officer, Melissa Grant. “I had people contact us saying, This can’t be true. Do you still have the medication available? Can’t you just give it to me? They were bargaining.”
With the restriction in place, Carafem quickly pivoted to a backup approach. Instead of prescribing the two-drug protocol typical for a medication abortion—mifepristone, which blocks progesterone and prevents the pregnancy from progressing, and then misoprostol, which causes the uterus to contract—the organization began prescribing misoprostol on its own. While slightly less effective than the dual-pill option, it’s been widely used in the past. “We feel comfortable prescribing it,” says Grant.
Some Planned Parenthood clinics also pivoted to the misoprostol-only regimen this weekend. “Planned Parenthood providers are doing everything they can to make sure patients know that medication abortion is still safe, legal, and available,” says Danika Severino, vice president of care and access at Planned Parenthood Federation of America.
On Monday, the Supreme Court offered a temporary reprieve, pausing the appeals court ruling for a week. The measure allows patients to once again get mifepristone through virtual clinics at least until May 11, when SCOTUS will take another look at the case. Carafem and Planned Parenthood say they are prepared to shift back to misoprostol-only if necessary. Other providers, including the digital abortion clinic HeyJane, have confirmed that they will also take that approach if necessary.
Mifepristone was developed in the 1980s in France and has been extensively studied for safety and efficacy. It was approved by the Food and Drug Administration in 2000. Under President Joseph Biden, the FDA first allowed the drug to be obtained by mail instead of in person in April 2021, during the Covid-19 pandemic. The agency permanently lifted the in-person dispensing requirement in 2023.
After the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, ending the constitutional right to an abortion, medication abortion via telehealth became a more sought-after option, especially for patients in states that adopted abortion restrictions. Approximately one in three abortions that took place in the first half of 2025 used abortion pills obtained through telehealth, according to public health nonprofit Plan C.
Access to mifepristone has become the next major battleground in reproductive health, with anti-abortion politicians and lobbyists seeking to reinstate in-person dispensing requirements on the drug and, by doing so, make medication abortion harder to obtain.
After conflicting legal rulings in 2023 sparked confusion over whether mifepristone would be available from virtual clinics, some of them planned to temporarily shift to offering misoprostol-only medication abortions. Some virtual clinics have offered single-pill options even before that. Carafem offered misoprostol-only medication abortions beginning in 2020, in an effort to provide patients with options for virtual care during the early days of Covid.
Originally developed to treat gastric ulcers, misoprostol has been used for medication abortion since the late 1980s. It remains the primary method of medication abortion in many parts of the world where access to mifepristone is limited.
“Mifepristone and misoprostol are both very safe medications, and in general, having mifepristone increases the efficacy and decreases complication rates of medication abortion,” says Rachel Jensen, a fellow with the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, which endorses the misoprostol-only protocol when mifepristone isn’t available. The single-drug regimen is also endorsed by the World Health Organization, the Society of Family Planning, and the National Abortion Federation.
School’s (almost) out for summer.
When it comes time to throw open campus doors for the new school year in the fall, research tells us one out of every seven teachers won’t be returning — either because they moved schools or left the profession entirely.
But when the going gets tough, teachers don’t necessarily want to leave. Even when they’re burned out, they still love what they do.
So, the concerning data throughout the country tells a story about how stark the conditions of the teacher workforce are. In Wisconsin, for instance, teachers say they are exiting the profession at the highest rate in 25 years thanks to a range of issues, from poor leadership to safety concerns like students bringing guns to school.
Worse, shrinking student populations and rising costs have forced school districts like Portland Public Schools to make staff cuts in the face of astronomically high budget gaps. Early career teachers are thinking hard about whether they even want to continue in their chosen field.
That’s why we at EdSurge want to hear from educators who have recently left or plan to leave their jobs for another sector: What was the deciding factor? What could your school (or district or state-level leaders) have done differently to change your mind?
Your responses will help shape our coverage, and we may be in contact for an interview.
Microsoft is pulling the plug on its AI-powered Copilot assistant for Xbox, winding down the feature on mobile and canceling its planned launch on consoles.
The pullback, announced Tuesday by new Xbox CEO Asha Sharma, comes barely a year after the company debuted the gaming chatbot as a centerpiece of its AI push into gaming, demonstrating the limits of Microsoft’s strategy of embedding AI across its product lineup.
Microsoft first unveiled Copilot for Gaming at the Game Developers Conference in March 2025, pitching it as an AI sidekick that could offer gameplay tips, coaching, and recaps of where players left off. A beta launched on the Xbox mobile and PC apps and later on the ROG Xbox Ally handheld. The console version was expected to arrive later this year.
Sharma’s decision to kill the feature aligns with the AI strategy she outlined in an April 30 post on X, where she said Xbox was “refocusing our AI efforts to solving player problems like enhancing real-time graphics, improving discovery, and deepening personalization.”
She pointed to Automatic Super Resolution, which boosts image quality and performance in the background, as an example of AI done right — a contrast with the chatbot approach.
It’s part of a broader set of changes by Sharma, who told employees in a memo Tuesday that she’s overhauling Xbox’s leadership team, including bringing in executives from the Microsoft CoreAI engineering group where she previously worked.
“Xbox needs to move faster, deepen our connection with the community, and address friction for both players and developers,” Sharma wrote on X, noting that the company promoted leaders who helped build Xbox while bringing in new voices to the gaming unit.
According to CNBC, which saw the memo, the changes include the addition of four executives from CoreAI:
- Jared Palmer, formerly a vice president of product in CoreAI and a senior vice president at GitHub, will work on engineering, developer tools, and infrastructure.
- Tim Allen, a vice president of design who previously led design and research at Instacart, will lead Xbox design.
- Jonathan McKay, a former Meta director and head of growth for ChatGPT at OpenAI, will lead Xbox growth.
- Evan Chaki, a general manager, will run a forward-deployed engineering team focused on simplifying development.
In addition, David Schloss, a senior director of product and growth at Instacart, will take charge of Xbox’s subscription and cloud business.
Two execs with more than two decades each at Microsoft are departing: Kevin Gammill, who oversaw Xbox user experience and game development platforms, and Roanne Sones, who led devices and ecosystem and will take a leave of absence before moving to an advisory role.
Sharma took over as Xbox CEO in February, replacing Phil Spencer, who retired after 38 years at the company. She had been running Microsoft’s CoreAI product organization and previously served as chief operating officer at Instacart and as a vice president at Meta.
Since arriving, she has moved quickly, cutting Game Pass prices, dropping the “Microsoft Gaming” name in favor of Xbox, and adopting daily active players as the division’s new internal success metric.
The changes come as Xbox faces a sustained revenue slump. Gaming revenue totaled $5.3 billion in the most recent quarter, down from $5.7 billion a year earlier, and has declined in four of the past six quarters. Hardware revenue fell 33%.
Microsoft’s recent 10-Q filing also disclosed impairment charges in the gaming business, meaning the company has written down the value of some gaming assets, suggesting that parts of its gaming portfolio aren’t performing as expected.
Sharma described the decision to wind down Copilot on mobile and stop its development for consoles as part of a plan to “retire features that don’t align with where we’re headed.” Her post did not address the status of the Copilot beta on the Xbox PC app or the ROG Xbox Ally handheld.
The feature drew skepticism from the start. Gaming writer Thomas Wilde called it “a solution looking for a problem” in a March 2025 analysis on GeekWire, questioning whether players wanted an AI chatbot alongside their games.
More recently, Wilde raised additional concerns about the feature pulling guide content from the open internet without attribution, writing that Gaming Copilot was “eating its own seed corn” by undermining the ecosystem of online guides it depended on.
The feature’s full lifecycle, from announcement to cancellation, spanned roughly 14 months.
Apple has settled a class-action lawsuit over its delayed Siri features.
While Apple’s promised Siri overhaul is still nowhere to be found, shareholders who sued over the delay can now rest easy, thanks to a huge settlement.
At WWDC 2024, as part of its Apple Intelligence announcements, Apple previewed major enhancements for Siri. The virtual assistant was supposed to receive an AI-powered cognitive boost, allowing for advanced in-app actions, contextual awareness, and more.
The company went so far as to feature Siri’s new capabilities in its marketing materials, including video advertisements. Things went south in a matter of months, however.
Apple had to delay its planned Siri update, which led to a class-action lawsuit that was settled in December 2025. On Tuesday, as noted by The Financial Times, the settlement details were finally revealed.
The parties settled for $250 million, offering U.S. Settlement Class Members $25 per eligible device. Still, Apple could be forced to pay up to $95 per device if the number of claims filed is low. Part of Apple’s $250 million settlement will also go toward administrative costs and attorneys’ fees.
Eligible devices include iPhone models with Apple Intelligence support, purchased between June 10, 2024, and March 29, 2025, in the United States. This encompasses the entire iPhone 16 range, along with the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max.
Those who wish to submit a claim will need to provide proof of purchase, the serial number of the eligible device, their phone number, and Apple Account information. Apple will begin inviting claim submissions within 45 days, as of May 5, 2026.
Apple also provided a statement on the matter, as shared by 9to5mac.
“Since the launch of Apple Intelligence, we have introduced dozens of features across many languages that are integrated across Apple’s platforms, relevant to what users do every day, and built with privacy protections at every step. These include Visual Intelligence, Live Translation, Writing Tools, Genmoji, Clean Up, and many more.
Apple has reached a settlement to resolve claims related to the availability of two additional features. We resolved this matter to stay focused on doing what we do best, delivering the most innovative products and services to our users.”
As one would expect, Apple’s statement largely praises the currently available Apple Intelligence features, while treating the Siri-related settlement as little more than a footnote.
The now-settled class-action lawsuit accused Apple of promoting “AI capabilities that did not exist at the time, do not exist now, and will not exist for two or more years.”
It was also said that Apple’s advertisements “saturated the internet, television, and other airwaves to cultivate a clear and reasonable consumer expectation that these transformative features would be available upon the iPhone’s release.”
Legal troubles over Siri delays will continue elsewhere
At the time of writing, the long-overdue Siri features are still not available to end users. They are expected to roll out with the iOS 27 update, which is set to debut at WWDC 2026 on June 8.
However, Apple’s legal issues over its delayed Siri features are set to continue via a separate class-action lawsuit. This one is led by South Korea’s National Pension Service, which argues that Apple’s delays have cost billions in stock market losses.
“It is no secret that Apple faced challenges and weathered ups and downs in its stock price in 2025, like many major companies,” Apple said in a February 2026 request to dismiss the suit. “But plaintiff takes a massive and unsupported leap by claiming that securities fraud caused the temporary price drops.”
Ultimately, it remains to be seen if this lawsuit will be dismissed or if Apple will reach a similar settlement as it did in its other Siri-related case.
You might run into trouble if you try to browse Reddit posts without logging in on your phone. Some Reddit users have reported seeing a new pop-up when visiting the website on mobile that prompts you to download the app to keep reading.
The social media platform said it’s running a test on a “small subset” of users who frequent the site on mobile browsers while logged out.
Multiple Reddit users have shared a prompt they encountered that says, “get the app to keep using Reddit.” I wasn’t able to replicate this message after deleting the Reddit app from my phone and poking around on the web version. Those who encounter the prompt while using their mobile web browser may be able to log in to continue without installing the app.
A Reddit spokesperson told CNET the company is running a test to see whether users find the app more satisfying than a mobile browser.
“These users are already familiar with Reddit, and we’ve seen that the experience is much better for them in the app,” according to a statement from Reddit. “The app offers a more personalized experience, and users can more easily find communities that match their interests.”
Redditors who noted the change expressed frustration with having to be routed to an app just to browse something that was otherwise visible as a website in a web browser. “This is a website,” one user said. “I do not want to use an app to view your website.” Others suggested possible workarounds, like having the site display as a desktop site.
Running into a prompt to log in or download an app isn’t uncommon when using social media platforms. LinkedIn curbs my anonymous snooping, so I’ve resorted to screen recording to share TikToks with some friends who’ve avoided the app.
During a quarterly earnings call last week, Reddit CEO Steve Huffman said that logged-in users spend more time on the platform than logged-out users, due to personalization.
“Seeing more users in the app, more users logging in, more users getting the personalization faster, drives engagement and, then, therefore, monetization,” Huffman said, according to a transcript of the call. “Again, all roads lead to basically the same strategy, which is: Help users find content that’s relevant to them and come back to the app more often.”
The full assets of Metal Gear Solid 2’s HD remaster were recently leaked on 4chan. An unnamed party used the notorious imageboard to distribute the source code for every version of the remaster across all supported platforms, including the PlayStation Vita edition. The leak also reportedly includes 30GB of raw,…
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Boston Dynamics engineers just released new footage of their Atlas robot being tested. The machine is shown lurching from two feet to all sorts of weird positions, challenging its balance with each stride. It is not uncommon to watch it shift its weight from both legs onto one while the other extends outward like a spear, arms waving in sync to keep its center of mass stable as it totters about. Atlas quickly puts both hands on the floor and throws its entire body into a handstand, smooth as silk.
Then, just as you get comfy, the legs fly straight out in a horizontal line. Atlas manages to ease right back down again, with no wobble or drama, just flawless. Following that, the robot performs some gymnastics, moving into a clean stand-up stance and landing flat on both feet with barely a judder. Every recovery is a precision motion, as the software makes the smallest modifications on the fly, via the hips and ankles, to absorb the shock. The same process occurs in a cartwheel, where the arms and legs work in perfect harmony to keep the torso on track.
Unitree G1 Humanoid Robot（No Secondary Development）
- Sleek & Durable Design: Standing at 132cm tall and weighing only approx. 35kg, the G1 is constructed with aerospace-grade aluminum alloy and carbon…
- High Flexibility & Safe Movement: Boasting 23 joint degrees of freedom (6 per leg, 5 per arm), it offers an extensive range of motion. For safety, it…
- Smart Interaction & Connectivity: Powered by an 8-core high-performance CPU and equipped with a depth camera and 3D LiDAR. It supports Wi-Fi 6 and…
We already know that Atlas is more than willing to do some heavy lifting for factories, transferring loads with steady hands from container to dolly without flinching, even in uneven flooring environments, and the balance system that allows the robot to flip also means it has the ability to step across uneven ground or recover when loads shift unexpectedly on the job, as the robot delivers results on both fronts with aplomb.
Boston Dynamics claims that its test teams fine-tune Atlas by subjecting it to simulation after simulation after real-world test, with the machine learning its way through to the point where it can detect its own position without relying on external cues to stay on track. All combined, its hydraulic/electric actuators respond faster than the blink of an eye to data from all of the numerous sensors, transforming moments of uncertainty into smooth sailing.
Apple has pulled even more higher-end configurations of its Mac Studio and Mac mini, removing some of the most expensive memory options as the entire industry deals with the RAM crisis.
The ongoing memory supply problem has claimed another victim from Apple’s roster. After the removal of the 512GB RAM option for the Mac Studio in March, Apple has slimmed down its product options a bit more, as component costs bite.
This time, it’s not just the Mac Studio that’s being hit. The Mac mini is also affected by the memory downgrade.
Prospective buyers of the M3 Ultra version of Mac Studio previously could buy the model with either 96GB or 256GB memory. However, as spotted by @BasicAppleGuy on X, potential shoppers selecting the model will no longer see the 256GB option, only the 96GB.
During April, it was found that the M3 Ultra Mac Studio with 256GB was “unavailable,” while the 96GB version had a lengthy lead time. There was also a similar issue for the M4 Max version, which listed the 128GB capacity as unavailable.
Checks reveal that the 128GB option is also not listed at all for the M4 Max Mac Studio either.
At the same time, anyone looking at the Mac mini with one of the M4 Pro chips will see slim pickings when it comes to memory. Previously, it had an option for 64GB of unified memory, but that too has disappeared, leaving 24GB and 48GB options.
This is the second configuration change for the Mac mini in May alone. Earlier in the month, it removed the option for the $599 256GB capacity M4 model.
Instead, consumers wanting the cheapest desktop Mac model will have to pay at least $799 for the M4 Mac mini with 16GB of memory and an increased 512GB of storage.
RAM bites
While Apple has so far insulated itself from the memory problems affecting the rest of the industry, it wasn’t going to be that way forever.
During the Q2 results call, current-CEO Tim Cook confirmed that the memory pricing problem is affecting Apple’s bottom line. While it didn’t affect the December nor March quarters due to carry-in inventory offsetting the issue, Cook said there would be a significant effect felt in June.
Into future quarters, Cook warned that there will be a further increase in impact, but added that Apple had a range of options available.
Evidently, those options include lopping higher-priced configurations off the deck.
Tech
Dropship Down Over Strogg Turf: Ten Minutes of Gameplay From The Awakening, Quake 4’s Canceled Expansion
Over the past two weeks, those of us who spent hours mulling over the Strogg combat from Quake 4 have been in for a treat, a 10-minute clip of the previously unfinished expansion. The Awakening has appeared on the internet. That’s right, Justin Marshall has now produced a clean version free of the obvious watermarks that were muddying up prior versions of the footage. Anyone viewing can now see a truly raw early prototype build straight from the creators, with all of the bells and whistles intact as they were when the team ceased working on it.
Ritual Entertainment was the team behind the project, and they had the Quake formula down pat after honing their talents with one of their previous mission packs. Unfortunately for them, the parent firm, Activision, canceled the entire project after Quake 4 sales fell short of expectations. According to reports, the expansion was 95% ready at the time, with a few scraps reaching users via the version 1.3 patch. The original game had a napalm launcher and eight new multiplayer levels, as well as a new team-based mode dubbed DeadZone, which sparked a lot of interest.
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The new footage jumps right into the campaign, with cutscenes that use straightforward blocking and conversation to introduce the new group and task. It seems like a homecoming as we join up with the marines who have been through so much and hear their experiences as they trade them on the transport during Operation Sentinel. The squad joins up with Atlas walker forces and Hades infantry to take down one of Strogg’s oldest raw materials processing plants, as the aim is simple: get in there, grab some data, and then blow it up.
Naturally, not everything goes as planned. Anti-aircraft fire appears out of nowhere and whacks the dropship, causing it to take significant damage and rapidly lose altitude, with the crew calling out coordinates and warnings as the engines begin to shut down. You have to make quick judgments, and one of the team members must cut the harness so that the team can jump to safety or at least lower ground. It’s chaos, with shouts and the sound of metal ripping apart as the dropship battles to stay airborne long enough for everyone to escape.
When the crew hits the ground, the pace kicks up again, and we’re back in the Quake 4 groove, with Strogg turrets hammering the area and friendly walkers and troops locked down. You know the score; move low, use your cover, and wait for partner forces to call in reinforcements. There are supply tubes that provide a secondary route to the injured walkers for plate repairs. Clearing those tunnels and continuing the offensive are critical for progress.
Even though we are still looking at an early build, the level design maintains the tight flow of movement and shooting that defines Quake 4. The surroundings combine industrial Strogg architecture with the tight passageways and open kill zones that fans are already accustomed to. Of course, there are a few reminders that we’re looking at an unfinished prototype; placeholder textures and some weird animations here and there indicate that this is still a work in progress, not the finished product.
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Audio Advice is heading west. The Raleigh-based high-end audio and home theater retailer, already one of the largest players in the Southeast, has announced its expansion into Las Vegas with Chris Oram appointed as General Manager of the new location. After moving into the Midwest last year and with another Audio Advice Live event scheduled for August, the Las Vegas move suggests the company is no longer thinking like a regional retailer.
Sin City may be better known for casinos, spectacle, and bad decisions made after midnight, but it is also a serious luxury market and that makes it fertile ground for custom theaters, premium two-channel systems, and CI projects with real budgets.
The Las Vegas move also makes sense once you look beyond the Strip, the casinos, and the tourists who think a $38 cocktail is a personality trait. Henderson, Summerlin, Anthem, and other affluent suburbs around the valley have become landing spots for wealthy buyers relocating from California, Washington, and other high-tax markets, bringing the kind of homes and budgets that support serious custom theaters and high-end audio systems.
Vegas is also no longer just a weekend escape hatch; it is becoming a major sports and technology market, with the Raiders already in town, the Athletics relocation underway, the Golden Knights proving that hockey can own the desert, and the NBA formally exploring Las Vegas as a potential expansion city. Add Mitch Marner’s new eight-year, $96 million Golden Knights deal to the mix, and yes — he can probably afford something with more channels than a Rogers cable package. Audio Advice Las Vegas might be arriving at exactly the right moment.
Las Vegas Gets a Serious High-End AV Super-Showroom
Audio Advice is expanding into the western U.S. with a new super-showroom in Las Vegas, marking the company’s latest move beyond its Southeast roots and recent Midwest expansion. The new location will operate at 750 Pilot Rd, Las Vegas, NV 89119, with former Eagle Sentry executive and industry veteran Chris Oram appointed General Manager to lead the launch and growth of the storefront.
Audio Advice’s modern showroom model is built around letting customers experience complete systems in person, from smart home control and lighting to two-channel audio and full-scale home theater systems. That matters in a category where photos, spec sheets, and YouTube demos can only do so much. At some point, you need to sit down, dim the lights, press play, and see whether the system delivers or just looks expensive in walnut.
“Chris is an exceptional leader with deep industry expertise and a proven track record of building high-performing teams and delivering outstanding customer experiences. His passion for innovation, operational excellence, and commitment to the client journey make him the ideal person to lead our expansion into Las Vegas,” said Jonathan Stephens, Chief Revenue Officer of Audio Advice. “We’re thrilled to welcome Chris to Audio Advice as we continue building world-class experiences for customers nationwide.”
Oram’s appointment also gives Audio Advice someone with established local market experience and a background in custom integration, which should matter in a city where residential AV projects can quickly move from “nice media room” to “Bond villain bunker with Dolby Atmos.”
“I’m incredibly excited to join Audio Advice and be part of this next chapter,” shares Chris Oram, General Manager of Audio Advice Las Vegas. “I’ve admired Audio Advice for years. As a longtime YouTube subscriber, I’ve always appreciated their dedication to authentic, expert guidance and helping customers make confident decisions. They’ve also built an incredible community, something I’ve had the opportunity to experience firsthand at Audio Advice Live. I’m honored to bring that same passion for excellence to the West Coast and create exceptional experiences for clients in Las Vegas.”
The Bottom Line
Audio Advice Las Vegas is a smart move because the company is not just opening another retail box with demo rooms and a few expensive loudspeakers under dramatic lighting. The bigger play is customer experience, education, and regional reach. Based on our experience at Audio Advice Live 2025, and with Audio Advice Live 2026 coming this August, Audio Advice has shown that it understands something a lot of the high-end audio industry still pretends not to know: people need to hear it, see it, touch it, ask questions, and feel like they are part of the process before they commit real money. “Trust us, it’s good” is not a sales strategy. It’s what villains say before the trapdoor opens.
The Las Vegas location gives Audio Advice a serious foothold in the western U.S. and a market filled with luxury homes, custom integration opportunities, and customers who are not afraid of premium experiences when those experiences are properly explained. It also raises a very interesting question: could Audio Advice Live Las Vegas eventually become a thing? Nothing has been announced, so let’s not pretend the dice have already landed. But Vegas already has the hotels, infrastructure, airport access, and national draw to support something like that. CES is still huge, but outside of TVs and some scattered audio demos, it has largely stopped being a meaningful high-end audio and home theater show. That leaves room.
Could an Audio Advice Live event in Las Vegas pull attention from T.H.E. Show Las Vegas or even T.H.E. Show SoCal? Possibly. Not because Audio Advice would simply be another show on the calendar, but because its formula is different. Audio Advice is a retailer with access to some of the best brands in the world, but its real strength is the face-to-face educational model: curated systems, real demos, expert guidance, and customers who can ask actual questions without being treated like they wandered into the wrong velvet-rope room.
Audio Advice is betting that the West Coast and Southwest luxury AV market is ready for a larger, experience-driven showroom model. In Sin City, that may be one of the smarter bets on the board.
AUDIO ADVICE LAS VEGAS
750 Pilot Rd
Las Vegas, NV 89119
Phone: (702) 381-1899
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