It’s no secret that 2024’s batch of AI PCs owes much of their success to the excellent batch of Qualcomm Snapdragon chips, which has the best version of Windows Arm running as the OS. However, a nasty split between the two could jeopardize everything, especially for consumers.

According to a breaking news report from Bloomberg, Arm canceled a “license that allowed longtime partner Qualcomm Inc. to use Arm intellectual property to design chips.” The company issued Qualcomm a 60-day notice of the cancellation of said license as required by law. The report stated that the split was caused by a breach of contract back in 2022, which escalated a legal dispute over vital smartphone technology.

The National Space Commission recently approved its fifth lunar mission, called the Lunar Polar Exploration Mission (LUPEX). Unlike the Chandrayaan 1 to 4 missions, this upcoming LUPEX mission is a collaboration between India and Japan. However, it remains part of India’s broader lunar mission series, which aims to eventually send an Indian astronaut to the Moon and bring them back safely. It’s important to note that no astronauts will be sent as part of the LUPEX mission itself. The Union Cabinet had approved the Chandrayaan-4 mission on September 18, and the LUPEX mission is expected to be presented for cabinet approval soon.

Although ISRO and Japan’s space agency JAXA signed an agreement in 2017, progress on the Lupex mission was delayed after India’s Chandrayaan-2 was unable to successfully demonstrate a soft landing on the lunar surface. The LUPEX project is designed to explore the Moon in search of water and other valuable resources. It also aims to develop skills and knowledge in studying the lunar surface. The LUPEX project is a joint international effort, where Japan’s space agency (JAXA) is building the lunar rover, and India’s space agency (ISRO) is creating the lander that will transport the rover to the Moon.

Other space agencies will also send scientific instruments for the mission. NASA’s Neutron Spectrometer will search for hydrogen up to 1 metre (3.3 feet) below the surface at the Moon’s south pole. Meanwhile, the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Exospheric Mass Spectrometer will measure gas pressure and identify chemical signatures on the surface.

Interestingly, the global interest in the Moon is growing and that has been highlighted by the Artemis mission, a US-led initiative aimed at sending astronauts back to the Moon. The goal is to establish a long-term presence on the lunar surface and carry out ongoing exploration activities.

“Recent studies of different observation data suggest that water might exist in the lunar polar regions. These regions are located near the Moon’s north and south poles. If water is discovered in these areas, it could be used as a source of energy for future human missions on the Moon. This is why many countries are actively pushing forward with lunar exploration efforts,” space expert Girish Linganna said.

JAXA is developing a rover that will move independently to look for spots on the Moon where water may be found. “It will use a drill to dig into the ground and collect soil samples. The plan is to gather data by closely analysing these samples with the observation tools installed on the rover. The rover will carry tools to measure the water content in lunar soil (called regolith), as well as equipment for drilling and collecting samples. It will also feature advanced technologies for its driving system and batteries, which are some of the first of their kind in the world. The project faces a big challenge—getting a rover that weighs several hundred kilogrammes, loaded with all these tools, to the Moon, moving it around, and analysing the samples directly on-site,” added Linganna.

As per JAXA, the rover is still in the basic design stage, and she often encounters challenges when building prototypes and conducting tests. During these tests, they spread sand similar to lunar soil at the test site and run the rover prototype over it. The team constantly adjusts the sand’s softness to match the actual Moon’s surface and tweaks the unevenness to ensure the rover can move properly. They also carefully study how much the rover’s tracks (which act like its tires) sink into the sand, making small adjustments each time. It’s a complex process with no simple solutions.

ISRO has developed advanced technology for operating lunar orbiters, landers, and rovers. However, for the LUPEX project, they will need to create a larger rover than ever before. The goal is to make a significant international impact by combining ISRO’s expertise with JAXA’s rover technology and tools for measurement and analysis.

As per Inoue Hiroka, a researcher with the Lunar Polar Exploration Project Team at JAXA’s Space Exploration Center, one of the key tasks ahead is selecting a specific landing site. The plan is to land in the Moon’s south polar region, which is believed to have a high chance of containing water. However, this area has very few flat spots that are ideal for landing and ensuring good lighting and communication. Since other countries might choose the same area, the team aims to announce their landing site as soon as they identify the best location.

If the mission gathers detailed information about water on the Moon, it could open possibilities not only for living on the Moon but also for using this water to produce fuel. This would allow us to travel to farther planets, pushing the boundaries of human exploration.

DNA has been used for years to store data, but encoding information into the molecule is painstaking work. Now, researchers have drastically sped it up by mimicking a natural biological process that drives gene expression. This could lead to durable, do-it-yourself DNA data storage technologies.

Even though a single gram of DNA can store hundreds of millions of gigabytes of data, the technology to make use of this isn’t yet fully viable. This is partly because the process of encoding data in DNA requires that each molecule be synthesised “from scratch” after being designed to encode a specific piece of information.

Long Qian at Peking University in China and her colleagues have now developed a way to write information onto DNA more efficiently.

“A good analogy is using a typewriter, where you have to type each letter, versus printing,” says Harris Wang at Columbia University in New York, who wasn’t involved with the work. “They could essentially get all of [the information] onto the ‘paper’ all at once.”

The team turned long strands of DNA into binary code, the sequence of 1s and 0s that is used in computing to store data. They started with prefabricated DNA templates that served as a base onto which they added shorter DNA strands, similar to threading beads onto a string. Then they used a chemical reaction to add a methyl group, which is a molecule made from carbon and hydrogen, to some of these “beads”. The methylated beads become the 1s of binary code and the unmethylated ones serve as the 0s.

Cells naturally use the same methylation process to “modify DNA without changing the underlying sequence, allowing them to store additional layers of regulatory information stably over time”, says Qian. She and her colleagues worked out how to perform this process many times at once, in parallel, by adding a special bar code to each template. This let them write 350 units of information, or bits, onto a DNA sample at once – hundreds of times more than the previous standard of just one bit at a time.

In tests, they stored an image of a panda and of a rubbing in the shape of a tiger from ancient China, then retrieved them with a DNA sequencer aided by an error correcting algorithm. The retrieved images were reproduced with 97 per cent accuracy or more.

Finally, they made the process so convenient that 60 student volunteers could practise storing text in DNA samples using do-it-yourself kits that included simple chemistry equipment for the methylation reaction and a computer program that translated their words into code. Though these volunteers hadn’t been previously trained to work with DNA, the error rates in their encoding process were smaller than 2 per cent. Qian says this could lead to “desktop DNA printers or storage kits [that] could be developed for use at home or in small organisations, enabling users to back up important personal data, such as legal documents or digital photos, in a form that can last for centuries”.

Wang says DNA-based technology could be especially useful for archival storage, and while technology discs and magnetic tape may eventually fall by the wayside, he thinks that DNA sequencing will only keep getting better.

There’s really no limit to how much one can spend on a gaming PC. The most basic machines only cost a few hundred bucks or so and may be strong enough to get you through a round or two of Minecraft. But if you’re the kind of PC gamer who wants as much power and performance as money can buy, it’s a good idea to start looking at Alienware deals. Fortunately, that’s part of our job, and we came across this terrific offer while looking through Dell promotions: 

For a limited time, when you order the Alienware Aurora R16 Gaming Desktop through Dell, you’ll only spend $1,600. At full price, you can expect to pay $2,050 for this PC. 

Why you should buy the Alienware Aurora R16 

We’re not sure how long this Dell markdown is going to last, so now might be the best time to save this much on a new gaming PC. Take $450 off the Alienware Aurora R16 Gaming Desktop when you order through Dell, and be sure to check out some of the other gaming PC deals we’ve been finding. We have an entire list of Dell deals, too!

The Apple Intelligence rollout has been slow, staggered and steady since the company first unveiled its take on AI at WWDC this year. It continues today with the release of the latest developer betas for iOS 18, iPadOS 18 and macOS Sequoia. The updates in iOS 18.2, iPadOS 18.2 and macOS Sequoia (15.2) bring long-awaited features like Genmoji, Image Playground, Visual Intelligence and ChatGPT integration for those running the preview software, as well as Image Wand for iPads and more writing tools.

This follows the announcement that iOS 18.1 would be available as a stable release to the public next week, which would bring things like writing tools, notification summaries and Apple’s hearing test to the masses.

That represents the first time for people who haven’t opted into beta software to check out Apple Intelligence, which the company has widely touted as the headline feature for the devices it launched this year. The iPhone 16 series, for example, were billed as phones designed for Apple Intelligence, though they launched without those features.

Now that the next set of tools is ready for developers to test, it seems like we’re weeks away from them arriving to the public. For those already on the developer beta, the update will land automatically. As always, a word of caution: If you’re not already familiar, beta software is meant for users to test new features and often to check for compatibility or problems. They can be buggy, so always back up your data before installing previews. In this case, you’ll also need to have an Apple developer account to get access.

Genmoji is arriving today

Today’s updates brings Genmoji, which lets you create custom emoji from your keyboard. You’ll go to the emoji keyboard, tap the Genmoji button next to the description or search input field, then enter what you want to create. Apple Intelligence will generate a few options, which you can swipe and select one to send. You’ll be able to use them as tapback reactions to other people’s messages too. Plus, you can make Genmoji based on pictures of your friends, creating more-accurate Memoji of them. Since these are all presented in emoji style, there won’t be the risk of mistaking them for real pictures.

Apple is also releasing a Genmoji API today so third-party messaging apps can read and render Genmoji, and folks you text on WhatsApp or Telegram can see your hot new gym rat emoji.

Other previously announced features like Image Playground and Image Wand are also available today. The former is both a standalone app and something you can access from the Messages app via the Plus button. If you go through Messages, the system will quickly generate some suggestions based on your conversations. You can also type descriptions or select photos from your gallery as a reference, and the system will serve up an image which you can then tweak. To prevent confusion, only some art styles are available: Animation or Illustration. You won’t be able to render photorealistic pictures of people.

Image Wand will also be arriving today as an update to the Apple Pencil tool palette, helping to turn your cruddy sketches into more-polished works of art.

As announced at WWDC, Apple is bringing ChatGPT to Siri and Writing Tools, and each time your request might be well-served by OpenAI’s tools, the system will suggest heading there. For example, if you ask Siri to generate an itinerary, a workout routine or even a meal plan, the assistant might say it needs to use ChatGPT to do so and ask for your permission. You can choose to have the system ask you each time it goes to GPT or surface these requests less often.

It’s worth reiterating that you don’t need a ChatGPT account to use these tools, and Apple has its own agreement with OpenAI so that when you use the latter’s services, your data like your IP address won’t be stored or used to train models. However, if you do connect your ChatGPT account, your content will be covered by OpenAI’s policies.

Elsewhere, Apple Intelligence will also show that you can compose with ChatGPT within Writing Tools, which is where you’ll find things like Rewrite, Summarize and Proofread. It’s also another area that’s getting an update with the developer beta — a new tool called “Describe your change.” This is basically a command bar that lets you tell Apple exactly what it is you want to do to your writing. “Make it sound more enthusiastic,” for example, or “Check this for grammar errors.” Basically, it’ll make getting the AI to edit your work a bit easier, since you won’t have to go to the individual sections for Proofread or Summarize, for example. You can also get it to do things lke “Turn this into a poem.”

Visual Intelligence cometh for iPhone 16 owners

Finally, if you have an iPhone 16 or iPhone 16 Pro and are running the developer beta, you’ll be able to try out Visual Intelligence. That lets you point your camera at things around you and get answers for things like math problems in your textbook or the menu of a restaurant you pass on your commute. It can tap third-party services like Google and ChatGPT, too.

Outside of the iPhone 16 series, you’ll need a compatible device to check out any Apple Intelligence features. That means an iPhone 15 Pro and newer or an M-series iPad or MacBook.