Its tough enough bringing the first major redesign of a commercial jetliner to fruitionespecially when it looks more like something out of The X-Files than a travel brochure. So, to streamline that journey, JetZerothe first commercial blended-wing body (BWB) aircraftis teaming with Delta as a potential buyer to troubleshoot operation and design issues from the ground up.Our biggest challenge is, `How do you bring an aircraft to market as quickly as possible so that you can have the most impact for your customer? says CEO Tom OLeary, who cofounded JetZero with CTO Mark Page. We dont want to zig-zag our way to entry into service. We want to take the cleanest, most direct shot. Because, ultimately, saving time means youre saving money.Not to mention, the environment. The aircrafts lighter weight and superior aerodynamics aim to deliver the same speed and range as existing midbody jetliners on half the fuel, potentially saving airlines billions of dollars and bringing them closer to an industry goal of zero-carbon flight by 2050. Incontrast to the conventional tube and wing design, the tailless BWB combines the wing structure and passenger area, making it look a bit like a flying manta ray. Its shape reduces drag and increases lift, so the plane can cruise at higher altitudes in thinner air on less fuel.We want to think about a world in 2050JetZero is targeting the underserved midbody, 250-seat class of carriers, which it plans to manufacture domestically. Since its 2021 founding, the Southern California startup has raised $300 million from investors including NASA, Airbus, Alaska Air, and EasyJet, plus a $235 million award from the U.S. Air Force for a demonstrator plane in 2027. The partnership with Delta gives JetZero access to itsSustainable Skies Lab,an R&D and testing accelerator for more sustainable air travel, and Delta TechOps, which streamlines fleet maintenance management. There, experts help refine the economics, engineering, and workflow through the operations and passenger experience lens, such as airport and gating constraints, loading and unloading, cabin configuration, and interior design.[Rendering: JetZero]Its really expensive and challenging to bring a new aircraft to market, says Delta CSO Amelia DeLuca. What we can do is, from the ground up, say, `This is what you need to be the best-in-class from a customer experience, to work for our employees, to maintain this aircraft when it flies. We look at how we would deploy it, and the specs and seat count we would need to put this into market.Adds OLeary: Its figuring out whats going to work or not as quickly as possible. We dont see any other way to do that other than have a deep interaction with the customers. Delta knows its products better than the manufacturers because theyre operating them days, weeks, months, years, decades; theyre the real experts on all the things we need to get the plane to a point where you fundamentally de-risk it.JetZero and Delta have been collaborating since the startups inception in 2021 but opted to publicize their partnership in the wake of Deltas March 3 Centennial and its message for greater sustainability and customer service during the next hundred years. Jet Zeros fuel-efficiency also enables greater potential range, opening Delta to more destinations. We want to think about a world in 2050 where we are flying more sustainably, more efficiently, but also opening up new markets and points of connection, says DeLuca.Engineering catnipA working commercial BWB would realize a long-held aviation dream that began decades ago but never progressed past prototypesmany involving future JetZero engineers. Page, a chief engineer with NASAs BWB program in the `90s, is considered one of the fathers of BWBs alongside Robert Liebeck, who developed the first prototype for NASA, and Blaine Rawdon, both JetZero technical advisors.Deltas made up of so many aerospace engineers who learned about Mark Page and BWB technology when they went through school, says DeLuca. So as soon as you say that were talking to Jet Zeroyou know, with Mark Page with BWBtheyre like, `Oh my gosh, Ive always wanted to make this thing fly.

This is a great portable USB-A and USB-C power bank that has to make a few compromises in service of high capacity.

Its made for the new generation of thrill seekers.

MacworldI love my AirTags, but they dont fit everywhere. Theyre great for tossing in a bag or tracking a sneaky pet, but theyre awkward in a wallet and dont seamlessly slide into a laptop sleeve. If youve ever wished for a sleeker, more discreet tracker, the KeySmart SmartCard is the gadget youve been looking for.This credit card-sized tracker works like an ultra-slim AirTag (less than 2mm thick), so it fits easily in a wallet, laptop bag, or folio without creating a bulky lump. Youll never have to dig through couch cushions searching for your missing wallet again. And since this 3-pack includes multiple SmartCards, you can track all your essentialsor gift one to that friend whos always late because they misplaced their stuff.The KeySmart SmartCard integrates with Apples Find My app, so you can track its location, get alerts if you leave it behind, and even use Lost Mode to display your contact info. Its waterproof, wirelessly rechargeable, and lasts up to five months on a single charge.If you love the idea of AirTags but need something sleeker, grab a 3-pack of KeySmart SmartCards for $79.97 until March 31 at 11:59 p.m.KeySmart SmartCard Works with Apple Find My (3-Pack) $79.97See DealStackSocial prices subject to change.

Women founders and investors raised $38.8 billion in funding in the U.S. in 2024, up 27% from the year before, according to PitchBook.Read More

In The Pitt, Maxs new medical drama, a Silicon Valley-esque directive to do more with less is delivered shortly before a patient with botched silicone butt implants cries for help. A doctor dealing with her pregnancy complications must convince a mother to allow her teenager to have an abortion. Rats that escaped from the many layers of an unhoused mans clothes roam the emergency room while an unfathomable amount of misdirected bodily fluids chip away at an ever-dwindling supply of fresh scrubs.If the employees at this hospital were working a regular eight-hour shift, they would have been able to clock out shortly after the death of a child and the honor walk for a recently deceased organ donor teenager rocked them to their cores. But this isnt a 9-5 job and The Pitt isnt an eight episode prestige TV show. Everyone involved has to endure seven more hours of hellish events that compound the horrors that came before.Much has been made of The Pitts single-day format and pseudo real-time structure. As weve discussed, that format makes The Pitt the stylistic heir to Foxs 24 and gives it a creative edge over countless other medical dramas. As someone who has historically bounced off those other medical shows, Ive found that The Pitts chaotic nature not only gives it a creative edge but helps ensure that the series doesnt have time to fall into the same dramatic pitfalls that often make this well-tread genre frustratingly complacent.Yet, The Pitt is more than a medical drama. In many ways, its a show that confronts the question all of us have probably asked some version of in the last few years, How much more can we possibly take?That isnt meant to belittle the unique horrors The Pitts doctors and their real-life equivalents endure. It is mercifully difficult to imagine having to wake up and endure the kind of day The Pitt portrays, much less a careers worth of such experiences. The Pitt may be exaggerated for dramatic purposes, though the biggest exaggeration seems to be the idea all of these things would happen so quickly during the same shift. The greater purpose is to convey that aforementioned sense of compounding tragedies that can make such days feel like this.But when The Pitt star Noah Wyle described the show as a medical drama for the post-COVID world, you get the sense that he wasnt just talking about the fresh hells and PTSD that event brought to the medical community. The last several years have tested the resiliency and sanity of every right-minded person. Supposed once in a lifetime events have been stacked on top of each other in ways that may have also once felt exaggerated for dramatic purposes. Some have lost everything and many have been forced to process more than they thought they could ever stand.All the while, we and the staff at the Pittsburgh Trauma Medical Hospital must deal with a world that refuses to slow down long enough to let us actually heal. Worse, those in charge often seem more obsessed with archaic metrics of production and progression that often feel more trivial than ever, despite their growing prevalence. Are any of those metrics (such as the vague patient satisfaction score that threaten to get The Pitts staff fired) used to help find ways to make things truly better? Rarely. More often, they are used to further a world in which the only real incentive is the threat that things could still get worse.So, we develop a callus. We harden ourselves enough to allow us to press on without having to constantly process the everything of it all. It helps us survive, but we cant help but wonder if weve given away too much of what makes us human. As surviving and living have become so intertwined, we look for proof that sacrifices and displays of humanity will allow us to do more than feel like fools in a world seemingly trying to tell us to stop caring and make the whole thing easier.This is where The Pitt performs its most miraculous trick. It shows us what heroes look like in such a world. In a post-anti-hero age where the cynical have seemingly inherited the Earth, The Pitt makes it so easy to root for protagonists that have been molded by the toughest of times but havent fallen victim to them. At least not yet, and at least not entirely.Its not that we can do exactly what they do. Even if we had their training, were not TV doctors. What matters so much more is that we can watch them be taken to the absolute brink of human endurance and handle it in a way that feels truly admirable. Each of them is as resilient as we can possibly hope to be while still feeling, and its still never going to be enough. Get enough such people together, though, and things feel different. When someone thinks they cant do it anymore, another comes through with the kindness, empathy, and strength required to keep them on the path.How much more can we possibly take? All signs suggest we havent found out yet. In such times, its odd to find comfort in a show that also offers an unlimited supply of trauma. Yet, there is a comfort in watching people act as we would like to believe we would act when things are as bad as they could possibly be. Because as The Pitts doctors sometimes find the time to realize, where else would you rather be in a world where everything is going wrong than where you could do the most good?Join our mailing listGet the best of Den of Geek delivered right to your inbox!New episodes of The Pit premiere Thursdays at 9 p.m. ET on Max, culminating with the finale on April 10.

Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo today shared his expectations for the upcoming Apple foldable iPhone, which is set to launch in 2026. Kuo says the Apple foldable is positioned as a top-tier iPhone, with accompanying eyewatering price tag. It may cost well in excess of $2000. However, customers are expected to get premium hardware specs including a display that does not visibly crease when folded, stainless steel and titanium alloy hinge, in a casing that is just 4.5 mm thick when unfolded. However, the thinness also may come at the price of Face ID, with Kuo predicting that Touch ID will return.Kuo says thickness and internal space constraints appear to prevent Face ID module from being included in the first-generation device. Touch ID biometric authentication will be available instead, through a capacitive side button. This is similar to the Touch ID button in the iPad Air, however it would be the first non-home-button iPhone to use fingerprint recognition. Kuo expects the device to have a folding book design, with an approximately 7.8-inch inner display and a 5.5-inch outer display. This means the iPhone would be similar to an iPad mini screen when unfolded. Apple is also expected to promote the device as one of the first foldables with an invisible crease, which will elevate the devices premium status. Apple is also believed to be developing a foldable MacBook/iPad, featuring a 18-inch display, with the same invisible crease technology.In terms of cameras, the analyst believes the device will feature two cameras, with one front facing camera that is positioned to be available in both folded and unfolded configurations. The rear camera will have two lenses.Kuo says the foldable iPhone will measure about 4.5 mm when unfolded, or 9.5 mm thick when folded. This is not the thinnest foldable we have ever seen, but it is close. The most popular foldables on the market today from the likes of Samsung measure about 12 mm when folded.Final specifications are apparently due to be locked in imminently, with mass production kicking off in the fourth quarter of next year. The first iteration of the foldable iPhone will be relatively low volume, partly due to the devices complex production process. Kuo anticipates shipments in the 3 5 million units range for 2026, with sales of about 20 million through 2027. This estimate includes sales of a second-generation model, expected to go on sale in the second half of 2027.Add 9to5Mac to your Google News feed. FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.Youre reading 9to5Mac experts who break news about Apple and its surrounding ecosystem, day after day. Be sure to check out our homepage for all the latest news, and follow 9to5Mac on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn to stay in the loop. Dont know where to start? Check out our exclusive stories, reviews, how-tos, and subscribe to our YouTube channel

Mar 06, 2025Ravie LakshmananMalware / Cyber EspionageThe U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) has announced charges against 12 Chinese nationals for their alleged participation in a wide-ranging scheme designed to steal data and suppress free speech and dissent globally.The individuals include two officers of the People's Republic of China's (PRC) Ministry of Public Security (MPS), eight employees of an ostensibly private PRC company, Anxun Information Technology Co. Ltd. () also known as i-Soon, and members of Advanced Persistent Threat 27 (APT27, aka Budworm, Bronze Union, Emissary Panda, Lucky Mouse, and Iron Tiger) -Wu Haibo (), Chief Executive OfficerChen Cheng (), Chief Operating OfficerWang Zhe (), Sales DirectorLiang Guodong (), Technical StaffMa Li (), Technical StaffWang Yan (), Technical StaffXu Liang (), Technical StaffZhou Weiwei (), Technical StaffWang Liyu (), MPS OfficerSheng Jing (), MPS OfficerYin Kecheng (), APT27 actor aka "YKC"Zhou Shuai (), APT27 actor aka "Coldface""These malicious cyber actors, acting as freelancers or as employees of i-Soon, conducted computer intrusions at the direction of the PRC's MPS and Ministry of State Security (MSS) and on their own initiative," the DoJ said. "The MPS and MSS paid handsomely for stolen data."Court documents reveal that the MPS and MSS employed a network of private companies and contractors in China to indiscriminately infiltrate companies and steal data, while also obscuring the involvement of the government.The eight i-Soon employees, alongside two MPS officers, have been accused of breaking into email accounts, cell phones, servers, and websites from at least in or around 2016 through in or around 2023.The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), in a court filing, said the activities associated with i-Soon are tracked by the cybersecurity community under the monikers Aquatic Panda (aka RedHotel), while APT27 overlaps with that of Silk Typhoon, UNC5221, and UTA0178.The agency further pointed out that the Chinese government is using formal and informal connections with freelance hackers and information security companies to compromise computer networks worldwide.Separately, the U.S. Department of State's Rewards for Justice (RFJ) program has announced a reward of up to $10 million for information leading to the identification or location of any person who engages in malicious cyber activities against U.S. critical infrastructure while acting under the direction of a foreign government.The DoJ further noted that i-Soon and its employees generated tens of millions of dollars in revenue, making the company a key player in the PRC hacker-for-hire ecosystem. It's estimated to have charged anywhere between $10,000 and $75,000 for each email inbox it successfully exploited."In some instances, i-Soon conducted computer intrusions at the request of the MSS or MPS, including cyber-enabled transnational repression at the direction of the MPS officer defendants," the department said."In other instances, i-Soon conducted computer intrusions on its own initiative and then sold, or attempted to sell, the stolen data to at least 43 different bureaus of the MSS or MPS in at least 31 separate provinces and municipalities in China."Targets of i-Soon's attacks included a large religious organization in the United States, critics and dissidents of the PRC government, a state legislative body, United States government agencies, the ministries of foreign affairs of multiple governments in Asia, and news organizations.An additional monetary reward of up to $2 million each has been announced for information leading to the arrests and/or convictions of Shuai and Kecheng, who are accused of participating in a years-long, sophisticated computer hacking conspiracies to breach U.S. victim companies, municipalities, and organizations for profit from 2011, and steal data after establishing persistent access via the PlugX malware.Concurrent to the charges, the DoJ has also announced the seizure of four domains linked to i-Soon and the APT27 actors.ecoatmosphere.orgnewyorker.cloudheidrickjobs.com, andmaddmail.site"i-Soon's victims were of interest to the PRC government because, among other reasons, they were prominent overseas critics of the PRC government or because the PRC government considered them threatening to the rule of the Chinese Communist Party," the DoJ said.The company is also said to have trained MPS employees how to hack independently of i-Soon and provided for sale various hacking methods that it described as an "industry-leading offensive and defensive technology" and a "zero-day vulnerability arsenal."Advertised among the tools was a software called the "Automated Penetration Testing Platform" that's capable of sending phishing emails, creating files with malware that provide remote access to victims' computers upon opening, and cloning websites of victims in an attempt to trick them into providing sensitive information.Another of i-Soon's offerings is a password-cracking utility known as the "Divine Mathematician Password Cracking Platform" and a program engineered to hack into various online services like Microsoft Outlook, Gmail, and X (formerly Twitter), among others."With respect to Twitter, i-Soon sold software with the capability to send a victim a spear phishing link and then to obtain access to and control over the victim's Twitter account," the DoJ explained."The software had the ability to access Twitter even without the victim's password and to bypass multi-factor authentication. After a victim's Twitter was compromised, the software could send tweets, delete tweets, forward tweets, make comments, and like tweets."The purpose of the tool, referred to as "Public Opinion Guidance and Control Platform (Overseas)," was to let the company's customers leverage the network of hacked X accounts to understand public opinion outside of China."The charges announced today expose the PRC's continued attempts to spy on and silence anyone it deems threatening to the Chinese Communist Party," Acting Assistant Director in Charge Leslie R. Backschies said in a statement."The Chinese government tried to conceal its efforts by working through a private company, but their actions amount to years of state-sponsored hacking of religious and media organizations, numerous government agencies in multiple countries, and dissidents around the world who dared criticize the regime."Found this article interesting? Follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn to read more exclusive content we post.SHARE