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: June 23, 1868: The First Practical Typewriter Patented (Read more HERE.)
Flashback: June 23, 2005: Reddit Launched (Read more HERE.)
Security News:
• Google Adds Multi-Layered Defenses to Secure GenAI from Prompt Injection Attacks (Read more HERE.)
• Critical Authentication Bypass Flaw Patched in Teleport (Read more HERE.)
• Windows Snipping Tool now lets you create animated GIF recordings (Read more HERE.)
Something Spacy
Psyche keeps its date with an asteroid, but now in backup mode
According to Ars Technica:
"The $1.4 billion Psyche mission, built to explore an asteroid with the same name, has four electric thrusters fueled by xenon gas. Psyche’s solar-electric propulsion system is more fuel-efficient than conventional rocket thrusters, and it works by flowing xenon through an electromagnetic field, which ionizes the gas and expels the ions at high speed to produce thrust. . . .
Psyche launched in October 2023 to kick off a six-year trip to its asteroid destination, located between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. The robotic mission proceeded normally until April 1, when the spacecraft detected a drop in pressure inside the line that feeds xenon fuel to its four thrusters. The craft reacted to the pressure signature by powering off the thrusters.
The good news is two-fold. First, one of the advantages of using electric thrusters is flexibility. With conventional thrusters, key burns on a deep space mission often must happen at the appointed time. In the case of this mission, the electric thrusters could remain powered off from April 1 until the middle of this month with no effect on the mission’s scheduled arrival. . . .
Second, the Psyche spacecraft’s propulsion system has a backup fuel line. Ground controllers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory ended up commanding the probe to switch to the backup line last month, and test burns showed the thrusters worked well. The spacecraft resumed “full thruster operations” on Monday, according to NASA.
The spacecraft, built by Maxar Space Systems, will operate its electric thrusters for the equivalent of three months between now and November to keep the mission on track for arrival at asteroid Psyche in 2029."
Learn more HERE.
Something Odd
MSI’s new Toy Story PC
According to TechSpot:
"MSI has announced a team-up with Pixar and Disney as part of Toy Story’s 30th anniversary. The limited-edition prebuilt PC in question features five themed components: The graphics card, motherboard, power supply, AIO liquid cooler, and the case itself.
*Starting with the card, it’s the Buzz Lightyear RTX 5070 Gaming Trio GPU, which was on show at Computex this year. . . . The card will sit in an MSI Z890 Gaming Plus motherboard themed around Buzz’s pal Woody. . . . Powering everything is an 850W MAG A850GL power supply in the purple colors of Emperor Zurg. . . . *
MSI also uses a special version of the MAG CoreLiquid AIO cooler. Its theme is the Little Green Men promotional toy for Pizza Planet. Their famous “I have been chosen” when picked by the claw machine is printed on the side, which leads us to the case itself. Yes, this MSI MAG PANO 110R case is based on the claw machine from the first Toy Story. There’s even a joystick and button on the front. . . .
If all that’s not enough goodies for fans, the PC also includes a set of building blocks that spell “Toy Story,” eight character figurines from the franchise, a Disney plaque featuring a collector’s number (1 to 500), and a set of themed magnets.
Sadly, the PC is only available in Taiwan with no overseas shipping service available. . . . The company does say that the individual components are “currently” only available in [Taiwan], so they could make their way to other markets in time."
Learn more HERE.
Something Interesting
Burnout Might Not Actually Be a Work Problem After All
According to ScienceAlert:
"The research involved 813 employees in Norway, some of whom had reported feelings of burnout. The scientists compared what participants perceived as contributing factors to burnout, exhaustion, and non-specific psychological distress.
Burnout tended to have the strongest link with job variables, but some work-related factors like job security and colleague support were more closely associated with general psychological stress than with burnout, the data showed. Intriguingly, only 27.7 percent of participants with burnout symptoms said they thought work was the main reason they felt burned out. . . .
The World Health Organization describes burnout as “chronic workplace stress” with three dimensions: exhaustion or a lack of energy, increased distance from or negativity towards work, and behavior that’s less professional. Definitions involving work have in fact been around since the term “burnout” was first coined by US psychologist Herbert Freudenberger. Originally, it was applied to people in caregiving professions, before being expanded to all types of jobs.
Those definitions may need a rethink, the researchers behind this latest study suggest – not just so that we can better recognize burnout and its symptoms, but also so that we can improve ways of dealing with it. Focusing on the work environment won’t make much of a difference if the burnout has little to do with work to begin with."
Learn more HERE.
Did You Know?
The designer of the QWERTY keyboard kept inventing improvements and alternatives, and he filed a patent application for a XPMCH keyboard a year before he died.
(Read more HERE.)
Tip of the Day
Be aware of how different roles can “break” at work to avoid burnout and unhealthy patterns.
(Read more HERE.)
What was the most interesting story today? Vote in our poll below.
- Flashback 1868: The First Practical Typewriter Patented
- Flashback 2005: Reddit Launched
- Google Adds Multi-Layered Defenses to Secure GenAI from Prompt Injection Attacks
- Critical Authentication Bypass Flaw Patched in Teleport
- Windows Snipping Tool now lets you create animated GIF recordings
- Psyche keeps its date with an asteroid, but in backup mode
- MSI’s new Toy Story PC
- Burnout Might Not Actually Be a Work Problem After All
- Did You Know? The designer of the QWERTY keyboard also designed an XPMCH keyboard.
- Today’s Tip: Be aware of how different roles can “break” at work.
- None: leave suggestions below
Missed a day? If so, check out previous editions of Snap! HERE.
