Welcome to today’s edition of the Spiceworks Snap!
It’s your daily dose of security and tech news, in brief, along with a mix of other odd or interesting things that might come up. We’re glad you came.
Now, let’s jump right in…
Image by Suzanne from Spiceworks (AI-generated)
Flashback: 1994: Geek Squad was founded. (Read more HERE.)
Security News:
• Microsoft shares temp fix for Outlook crashes when opening emails (Read more HERE.)
• Fake RTX 4090s Keep Showing Up in Repair Shops With Entirely Different GPU chips (Read more HERE.)
• Anubis Ransomware Encrypts and Wipes Files, Making Recovery Impossible Even After Payment (Read more HERE.)
• Microsoft Warns of DHCP Problems After June 2025 Windows Server Update (Read more HERE.)
Something Spacy
FAA May Start Charging Rocket Companies for Launching
According to ExtremeTech:
"The Federal Aviation Administration may start charging rocket companies for every launch as part of their launch and re-entry licenses, if a recent budget reconciliation bill passes later this year. The idea behind it is to improve the revenue-generating capabilities of the FAA, in what is becoming a much busier and potentially lucrative space launch industry.
The FAA needs to approve commercial launch and re-entry operations, and that means checking over the companies that apply for it. That endeavour has grown more costly over the years, and with the number of launch requests seeing explosive growth, the FAA’s $42 million for its Office of Commercial Space Transportation is seen as far from enough for it to continue to function effectively. . . .
The proposal . . . is to allow the FAA to start charging launch vehicle operators for sharing the skies with commercial aircraft. It would be a fee for each pound of payload mass the rockets were launching, starting with 25 cents per pound in 2026, and rising to $1.50 per pound by 2033. At that point, the fee would rise with inflation, allowing the FAA to seemingly keep pace with future launch cadences.
However, to prevent this from stifling innovation of particularly large rockets, the fees would reportedly be capped at $30,000 per launch starting next year, rising to a $200,000 cap in 2033."
Learn more HERE.
Something Odd
Couple uses AirTag to locate and take back their stolen Jaguar
According to BGR (Boy Genius Report):
"In something of a remarkable story, a couple in England recently used an AirTag to help locate and retrieve their stolen car. Originally brought to light by the BBC, the report relays that Mia Forbes Pirie and Mark Simpson noticed that their Jaguar had been stolen.
Recognizing that they had an AirTag in the car, the couple leveraged Apple’s somewhat inconspicuous tracking device and decided to track down the Jaguar themselves. Embarking on what could have potentially been an ill-advised or dangerous escapade, the couple at the very least did make a point to relay their plan to local police officials. . . .
Pirie said . . . “my fear was that we would find the AirTag and not the car when it was discarded on to the street without the car, so I told them that we were planning to head to the location.”
Upon tracking their car down, they found it parked on a quiet street and were able to reclaim it. The fact that the couple managed to retrieve their car is something of an anomaly. The report notes that most cases involving stolen cars in the UK go unsolved."
Learn more HERE.
Something Interesting
Genetics Startup Advertises App-Based Eugenics Service for Parents to Select “Smartest” Embryos
According to Futurism:
"A[n] . . . entrepreneur and apparent eugenics enthusiast has launched an app that allows prospective parents to rank which embryos they want the most. . . . This new, subscription-based platform hails from Nucleus Genomics, a startup founded by 25-year-old Kian Sadeghi who likens potential backlash against his “genetic optimization” service to the fears surrounding in-vitro fertilization (IVF) just a few decades ago. . . .
Along with its standard $500 saliva send-in test box that tests for hundreds of heritable diseases . . . the . . . company maintains that for $6,000, parents can select their favorites from up to 20 embryos based on everything from how smart the future child may be to how they might look. Unsurprisingly, that alleged phenotypic selection has drawn harsh criticism. . . .
This isn’t the first time Sadeghi — who has also advertised his own singlehood when announcing his company’s new genetic-matching dating app — has been roundly denounced for attempting to sell eugenicist fantasies.
As TechCrunch notes, the startup was accused last year of peddling “bad science as big business” by genetic data scholar Ben Williamson when it launched Nucleus IQ, a service that could allegedly tell parents how their genes would affect their future children’s intelligence.
Though Sadeghi insisted that such intelligence predictions were “not snake oil [but] a starting point,” experts called bull — and as genetic statistician Sasha Gustev noted, the youthful startup founder hasn’t done much to explain whether the product actually works."
Gattaca, anyone?
Learn more HERE.
Did You Know?
Purple streetlights aren’t a new fad, but rather ther result of LED silicone phosphor degradation.
(Read more HERE.)
What was the most interesting story today? Vote in our poll below.
- Flashback 1994: Geek Squad was founded
- Microsoft shares temp fix for Outlook crashes when opening emails
- Fake RTX 4090s Showing Up in Repair Shops With Different GPU chips
- Anubis Ransomware Encrypts and Wipes, Making Recovery Impossible
- Microsoft Warns of DHCP Problems After June Windows Server Update
- FAA May Start Charging Rocket Companies for Launching
- Couple uses AirTag to locate and take back their stolen Jaguar
- Genetics Startup Advertises App-Based Eugenics
- Did You Know? Purple streetlights aren’t a new fad.
- None: leave suggestions below
Missed a day? If so, check out previous editions of Snap! HERE.