🛰️ Space Factories | 🔒 Supply-Chain Hack | 💽 GPU Smuggling Crackdown

Microgravity manufacturing lifts off, hackers skim shoppers, and Congress opens a new front in the AI chip race.

Sascha Thiele
May 06, 2025

Howdy, data wranglers — let’s kick-flip into Tuesday’s scroll.

Space factories leave the launchpad of imagination and glide into near-term reality.
A stealthy supply-chain hack slips malicious code into hundreds of webshops.
LG shows a car screen that literally pops buttons on demand.
Orca AI pockets a whale-sized funding round to make ocean shipping autonomous.
Congress eyes Nvidia-grade GPUs sneaking overseas and wants a paper trail.

Source: https://www.wired.com/story/why-the-future-of-manufacturing-might-be-in-space/

TL;DR: In-orbit manufacturing moves from sci-fi to serious business as startups court NASA contracts and investors, promising purer alloys and flawless fiber-optic cable produced in microgravity.

Source: https://arstechnica.com/security/2025/05/hundreds-of-e-commerce-sites-hacked-in-supply-chain-attack/

TL;DR: Attackers hijacked a popular e-commerce plugin, embedding credit-card skimmers on at least 500 sites — proof that one compromised update can torch an entire mall.

Source: https://www.theverge.com/news/661611/stretchable-touchscreen-buttons

TL;DR: LG Display’s 100 ppi “stretchable” panel expands up to 50 % and inflates tactile controls so drivers can keep eyes on the road; turns out even dashboards have better stretch goals than your gym routine.

Source: https://techcrunch.com/2025/05/06/boosted-by-defense-and-starlink-orca-ai-pulls-in-72-5m-for-its-autonomous-shipping-platform/

TL;DR: Fresh capital lets the London-Tel Aviv startup bolt satellite links and computer vision onto giant freighters, pitching fuel savings and fewer human errors on the high seas.

Source: https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-lawmaker-targets-nvidia-chip-smuggling-china-with-new-bill-2025-05-05/

TL;DR: A bipartisan draft bill would mandate location-tracking for AI accelerators after reports of “gray market” Nvidia hardware crossing borders, signaling Washington’s next front in the chip wars.

GitHub: https://github.com/r-wasm/webr — R now runs in your browser via WebAssembly wizardry.
The Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/may/04/ministers-uk-copyright-artificial-intelligence-parliament-vote — UK ministers rethink AI-training copyright after backlash from Paul McCartney & co.
Slashdot: https://science.slashdot.org/story/25/05/05/2050232/unitedhealth-now-has-1000-ai-applications-in-production — UnitedHealth has 1,000 AI apps live, because paperwork clearly needed more algorithms.
PC Gamer: https://www.pcgamer.com/gaming-industry/skype-dead-at-22/ — Skype signs off at 22; Teams inherits the ringtone.
Axios: https://www.axios.com/2025/05/06/this-small-jet-can-land-itself-in-an-emergency — A light jet that can land itself if the pilot taps out.

May your bugs be shallow and your battery bars long — see you tomorrow! 🎉

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