This Week in Tech: A Water Satellite, Anthropic's Long Week, iPhones on the Moon & More

A water-powered satellite, a big source code leak, iPhones on the Moon and more. Here's what we picked for this week.

Very eventful week, people. A Korean satellite used steam to save itself. Anthropic leaked its source code. And NASA sent iPhones to the Moon. Here's the rundown.

The Claude Code Leak

Anthropic accidentally leaked 512,000 lines of source code. Hackers spun up fake repos with malware, knowing people would go looking for the leak. DMCA takedowns nuked 8,000 unrelated repos by mistake. Then the code got rewritten in Python. Long week for the company.

Perplexity Incognito Mode Lawsuit

A class action claims Perplexity's Incognito Mode is a sham. The lawsuit says trackers from Google and Meta allegedly kept sending user data even when privacy features were on. Perplexity says it hasn't seen the lawsuit yet and can't verify the claims.

Axios Supply Chain Hack

A malicious version of Axios, one of the most downloaded npm packages, was live for three hours. It included cross-platform malware. If you installed versions 1.14.1 or 0.30.4 during that window, assume your machine is compromised.

K-RadCube Water Satellite

A South Korean shoebox-sized satellite on NASA's Artemis II mission used a water vapor thruster to save itself from burning up. No chemicals or fire. Just steam, burning for up to 12-hours. It could change how small satellites maneuver.

Netflix Refunds in Italy

A Rome court ruled that Netflix's 2017-2024 price hikes were unlawful. Premium subscribers could get 500 euros back. Standard subscribers about 250 euros. Netflix says it will appeal, but the ruling stands for now.

Swift 24/7 Blockchain Ledger

Swift is building a shared blockchain ledger for 24/7 cross-border payments with over 40 global banks. The goal is to let banks settle payments around the clock, not just during business hours.

EU Bans AI-Generated Visuals in Official Comms

The European Commission, Parliament, and Council banned their press teams from using fully AI-generated videos and images in official communications. No deepfakes, no synthetic visuals.

NASA's Moon iPhones

The four astronauts on Artemis II are using iPhone 17 Pro Maxes to document their lunar flyby. No internet or Bluetooth, so they're essentially dedicated cameras. NASA had to rethink old safety rules about glass and electronics. Solution? Velcro patches and flight suit pockets.

Those are our top picks for this week. See you on the 12th?