‘Earlier this month, the company behind the pioneering smart vacuum, iRobot, filed for bankruptcy. The remainder of the business will go to its primary manufacturing partner—the one it owes all that money to—Shenzhen Picea Robotics. It’s a stark reminder that the longevity of a connected smart device depends entirely on the financial health of the company that made it.

…Whether you have a Neato, a Roomba, or another robot vacuum approaching the end of its connected, you can mirror my steps to keep your device cleaning.…’ (Florence Ion via Lifehacker)

When Blaise Metreweli spoke recently, she didn’t issue the usual warnings about rising powers or looming catastrophe. Instead, she described something more unsettling: a world that has quietly slipped beyond the post–World War II order.

 In this world, wars are rarely declared, borders are routinely ignored, and power no longer rests only with nation-states. Conflict now unfolds through AI-enabled drones, autonomous weapons, hyper-targeted psychological operations, and algorithms that rival states in influence. Information itself has become a weapon.

 This isn’t a future scenario. It’s the terrain we’re already standing on.

 The conflicts Metreweli outlined don’t begin with explosions. They begin with destabilization—confusion, economic pressure, disinformation, and the slow erosion of democratic trust. The front lines are no longer just physical; they are digital, cognitive, and economic. War now moves from sea to space, from battlefield to boardroom, and from social media feeds directly into our heads.

 Perhaps most alarming is her core observation: power is becoming radically diffuse—shifting from governments to corporations, platforms, and even individuals. Private actors now control satellite networks essential to warfare, shape elections through information systems, and deploy AI faster than laws can meaningfully constrain them. This is conflict without uniforms and accountability without borders.

 What gives this warning real weight is what’s happening quietly alongside it. Across Europe, democracies are preparing. Britain’s military leadership is calling for a “whole-of-nation” response. Germany and France have reintroduced forms of national service. Europe is rapidly restructuring defense production, supply chains, and industrial capacity.

 These are not symbolic gestures. Democracies don’t mobilize like this unless multiple intelligence streams are telling the same story.

 The unsettling implication is simple: the war Metreweli described isn’t coming. It’s already underway. (Via Dean Blundell)

‘From mudstones on Mars to strange gases in exoplanet atmospheres, tentative evidence for extraterrestrial life is starting to come thick and fast. But when we’ve found it, how will we know for sure?…’ (Miriam Frankel via New Scientist)