512 Pixels

Basic Apple Guy’s impressive project pairs nicely with mine.

When Jim Bridenstine was named NASA Administrator during Trump’s first time in office, many folks (including me) were worried that a Congressional representative from Oklahoma was a bad choice, but by the time he was out of office, I think most people thought he had done a pretty good job at shepherding NASA through a couple of rocky years.

In the years since, he’s been working in the private space sector, and was recently questioned on Capitol Hill about where NASA is in its slow motion return to the moon.

Ryan Caton and Chris Bergin report:

In a pointed testimony before the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, former NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine expressed deep concerns about the complexity and feasibility of NASA’s Artemis program, warning that the United States is “highly unlikely” to land astronauts on the Moon before China due to challenges with orbital refueling and an ambitious architecture.

They go on:

Bridenstine highlighted the high costs and sustainability issues with NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket, calling it “extraordinarily expensive”, but advocating for its continued use since it’s already developed. He also praised the recent “Big Beautiful Bill,” which secures funding for Artemis 4 and 5 missions using SLS Block 1B and the Orion spacecraft.

However, he stressed a critical gap: notably that the U.S. lacks a ready Lunar Lander.

Under NASA’s Human Landing System (HLS) contracts, two vehicles are in development—SpaceX’s Starship HLS for Artemis 3 and 4, and Blue Origin’s Blue Moon Mk2 for Artemis 5.

I wish he had been more vocal about these issues when he was running the agency, but that doesn’t mean he’s wrong now.

Hayden Field at The Verge:

In what’s potentially the first major payout to creatives whose work was used to train AI systems, Anthropic has reached an agreement to pay “at least” a staggering $1.5 billion, plus interest, to authors to settle its class-action lawsuit. The amount breaks down to smaller payouts expected to be approximately $3,000 per book or work. Lawyers for the plaintiffs said it’s “believed to be the largest publicly reported recovery in the history of US copyright litigation.”

“This result is nothing short of remarkable,” the legal filing states.

We’ll see how this pans out, but for now, all I can think is that it couldn’t happen to a more deserving company.

This week on a jam-packed episode of Connected:

With the next iPhone introduction just days away, Federico, Myke, and Stephen gather their thoughts and their picks to see who has the best guesses on what will happen at Apple’s “Awe Dropping” event.

It’s been a busy summer at Cross Forward, and David is showing off part of that work today, with a tour of the next version of Pedometer++:

I love this refresh, and can’t wait to share what we’ve been working on for Widgetsmith.

In probably unsurprising news, The Browser Company has a new owner, as reported by David Pierce at The Verge:

Mike Cannon-Brookes, the CEO of enterprise software giant Atlassian, was one of the first users of the Arc browser. Over the last several years, he has been a prolific bug reporter and feature requester. Now he’ll own the thing: Atlassian is acquiring The Browser Company, the New York-based startup that makes both Arc and the new AI-focused Dia browser. Atlassian is paying $610 million in cash for The Browser Company, and plans to run it as an independent entity.

The conversations that led to the deal started about a year ago, says Josh Miller, The Browser Company’s CEO. Lots of Atlassian employees were using Arc, and “they reached out wondering, how could we get more enterprise-ready?” Miller says. Big companies require data privacy, security, and management features in the software they use, and The Browser Company didn’t offer enough of them. Eventually, as companies everywhere raced to put AI at the center of their businesses, and as The Browser Company made its own bets in AI, Cannon-Brookes suggested maybe the companies were better off together.

OTJ has the details:

Announced on Instagram’s blog today, the new iPad app supports iPadOS 15.1 and later and includes the features you’d expect like Reels and Stories, plus a new “Following” tab that includes sections for posts and Reels from Friends who follow you back, a “Latest” section that’s sorted chronologically, and an “All” section. Instagram’s messaging is supported and with more screen real estate allows you to view your inbox and threads simultaneously. It even supports keyboards, trackpads, and the Apple Pencil.

It’s a big day for Google, as Judge Amit Mehta has ruled in its favor in several areas:

• Google will not have to sell off Chrome
• Google will not have to sell off Android
• Google can continue paying Apple and others for search engine placement

However, will be barred from exclusive contracts for placement in other products. Jennifer Elias has more at CNBC:

“Google will not be required to divest Chrome; nor will the court include a contingent divestiture of the Android operating system in the final judgment,” the decision states. “Plaintiffs overreached in seeking forced divesture of these key assets, which Google did not use to effect any illegal restraints.”

The company can make payments to preload products, but they cannot have exclusive contracts, the decision showed.

The DOJ asked Google to stop the practice of “compelled syndication,” which refers to the practice of making certain deals with companies to ensure its search engine remains the default choice in browsers and smartphones.

She continues:

Google pays Apple billions of dollars per year to be the default search engine on iPhones. It’s lucrative for Apple and a valuable way for Google to get more search volume and users.

“Google will not be barred from making payments or offering other consideration to distribution partners for preloading or placement of Google Search, Chrome, or its GenAI products. Cutting off payments from Google almost certainly will impose substantial — in some cases, crippling — downstream harms to distribution partners, related markets, and consumers, which counsels against a broad payment ban.”

(This is a huge win for Mozilla, as roughly 85% of its revenue comes from a search deal with Google.)

This comes after Mehta ruled in 2024 that Google had an illegal monopoly in search. That case is still under appeal.

There’s been some discussion this week about what a future folding iPhone would be named. I’m putting a flag in the ground here, today, on September 2, 2025:

The iPhone Ultra.

September 9, 2026 Update: I was wrong. It’s the iPhone Duo.

Stephen Robles recently attempted to write an iOS podcast client. By his own admission, he’s not a developer, so turned to a series of AI tools to write the app. It didn’t go well:

At first, it would hang on searching for shows. After I seemingly fixed that, adding a show to the Library didn’t work. I kept going back and forth with GPT-5 and it kept getting worse. Every new build there was an increasing number or errors and unintended changes to UI elements I hadn’t asked for.

Up until this point, I was using the ChatGPT Mac App with “Work with Xcode” turned on, so GPT-5 could make changes to the code itself within the active window. Sometimes it would think it’s changing document X, but I had document Y opened, requiring me to revert, undo, and many times, get lost in the process.

Eventually the app failed to build and I could not fix it with ChatGPT. It felt like we were going in circles.

In my desperation, I turned to a different LLM. Many commenters on YouTube and social media suggested Anthropic’s offerings were better suited. I downloaded Claude and provided the full context of my app. I uploaded every Swift file I had created with screenshots of all the things I didn’t understand. From Core Data to build…files? I repeat, I have no idea what I’m doing.

Eventually, Robles gave up and ended up without a custom podcast app, but an interesting blog post instead.

I have very complicated feelings about vibe coding. I think a seasoned developer using AI to speed up their work can make a lot of sense, but I honestly don’t want to depend on an app that was written by someone who doesn’t know how it works.

The team at Rogue Amoeba has spent more than two decades perfecting audio software that just works on the Mac. No matter what your needs are, you can be confident when using their apps.

Start with SoundSource, which puts comprehensive audio control right in your menu bar. Adjust individual app volumes, apply real-time effects, and play audio to the exact device you want.

For recording, you have two excellent options: Piezo offers extremely simple one-click recording of any app or input device, while Audio Hijack provides powerful recording options, along with real-time effects, scheduling, and even built-in local transcription capabilities. Use either to capture everything from Zoom calls to streaming audio.

Loopback is essential for live streaming, podcasting, or any situation where you need precise audio routing, all in software. It creates virtual audio devices that let you send audio from one app to another, without external hardware.

Every Rogue Amoeba app offers a fully functional free trial, with instant setup, so get started today.

One more thing: This month, 512 Pixels readers like you can save 20% on any purchase using discount code 512CURE. And that coupon won’t just save you money, it will also help save lives. In support of Childhood Cancer Awareness Month, Rogue Amoeba will donate $10 from every purchase to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in support of their mission to treat and defeat childhood cancer.

My thanks to Rogue Amoeba for sponsoring 512 Pixels, making great audio software, and for supporting such an important cause.

This week on the podcast, Tyler McRae joins the program to talk about the role of AI in coding and his work in the world of church AV and technology.