Lackmeyer: Community Rallies During Tough Times

Enlarge (credit: Getty) After acquiring VMware, Broadcom swiftly enacted widespread changes that resulted in strong public backlash. A new survey of 300 director-level IT workers at companies that are customers of North American VMware provides insight into the customer reaction to Broadcom's overhaul. The survey released Thursday doesn't provide feedback from every VMware customer, but it's the first time we've seen responses from IT decision-makers working for companies paying for VMware products.

Launched in 2000, the Zvezda Service Module provides living quarters and performs some life-support system functions. (credit: NASA) NASA and the Russian space agency, Roscosmos, still have not solved a long-running and worsening problem with leaks on the International Space Station. The microscopic structural cracks are located inside the small PrK module on the Russian segment of the space station, which lies between a Progress spacecraft airlock and the Zvezda module.

Enlarge (credit: Hajohoos via Getty) Artificial intelligence heavyweights in California are protesting against a state bill that would force technology companies to adhere to a strict safety framework including creating a “kill switch” to turn off their powerful AI models, in a growing battle over regulatory control of the cutting-edge technology. The California Legislature is considering proposals that would introduce new restrictions on tech companies operating in the state, including the three largest AI start-ups OpenAI, Anthropic, and Cohere as well as large language models run by Big Tech companies such as Meta. The bill, passed by the state’s Senate last month and set for a vote from its general assembly in August, requires AI groups in California to guarantee to a newly created state body that they will not develop models with “a hazardous capability,” such as creating biological or nuclear weapons or aiding cyber security attacks.

Newrez, a large mortgage lender based in Pennsylvania, informed the state on Monday that it will fire another 271 workers in Colorado beyond the 103 it said it would dismiss in early May. “Newrez LLC will be conducting a reduction in force at its Greenwood Village, CO facility located at 6200 S Quebec Street … on August 2, 2024.

Enlarge / What can I say? It was tough putting the Brompton C Line Electric through its paces. Finding just the right context for it. Grueling work. (credit: Kevin Purdy) There’s never been a better time to ride a weird bike. That's especially true if you live in a city where you can regularly see kids being dropped off at schools from cargo bikes with buckets, child seats, and full rain covers.

Enlarge / The fourth full-scale test flight of SpaceX's Starship rocket took off from Starbase, the company's privately-owned spaceport near Brownsville, Texas. Welcome to Edition 6.47 of the Rocket Report! The monumental news of late is that Boeing's Starliner spacecraft not only successfully launched on an Atlas V rocket, but then subsequently docked with the International Space Station.