Most people don't think of spaceflight when talking about the United Nations, but the UN, through its Office of Outer Space Affairs, or UNOOSA, has been pivotal in securing agreements on space poilicy and behavioral norms. This week, we speak with Aarti Holla-Maini, the director of UNOOSA, and Dr. Rick Jenet, the executive director of Expanding Frontiers and the National Space Society's representative to the UN, about the importance of this office. It's a wide-ranging discussion of the intersection of international space efforts and the intersection with commercial space as we expand activities into Earth orbit, the moon, and beyond.

Headlines:

• SpaceX Crew-12 Launch Sends New Astronauts to the ISS
• Vast Joins Commercial Flights to the ISS, Prepares for Private Space Stations
• Axiom and Vast Face Off in Commercial LEO Station Race
• International Collaboration Ramps Up for Future of Space Policy

Main Topic: Inside UNOOSA—The United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs

• Dr. Rick Janet Explains the Role of COPUOS and UNOOSA in Global Space Governance
• Aarti Holla-Maini Shares Her Path to Leading UNOOSA and Her Vision for Its Future
• Distinguishing UNOOSA (the office) from COPUOS (the committee)
• UNOOSA's Expanding Mission: Capacity Building, Disaster Response, Space Law, and Sustainability
• The Importance of Neutral Convening, Capacity Building, and Industry Input
• Growing Need for Space Sustainability, Debris Mitigation, and New Regulatory Focus
• Anticipating Lunar Activity: Resource Use, Transparency, and Non-Appropriation Principle
• Engaging Commercial Space Actors While Maintaining Member State Authority
• Megaconstellations: Building New Norms for Responsible Behavior in Orbit
• Future UNOOSA Goals: Coordinating Space Traffic, Centralizing Satellite Data Access, and Fostering Global Partnerships

Hosts: Rod Pyle and Tariq Malik

Guests: Fredrick (Rick) Jenet and Aarti Holla-Maini

Download or subscribe to This Week in Space at https://twit.tv/shows/this-week-in-space.

Join Club TWiT for Ad-Free Podcasts!
Support what you love and get ad-free audio and video feeds, a members-only Discord, and exclusive content. Join today: https://twit.tv/clubtwit

Sponsors:

• Melissa.com/twit
• threatlocker.com/twit

Amanda Silberling of TechCrunch joins Mikah Sargent this week on Tech News Weekly! A Stanford graduate built a matchmaking algorithm that's sweeping across the Stanford campus. Is social media "clinically addictive"? Discord announced an age-verification process that sparked privacy concerns among users. And the Virtual Boy is back?

• Amanda talks about an AI-powered dating app that was developed by a Stanford graduate and how dating for young adults is becoming more driven by tech.
• Mikah talks about the social media addiction trial and comments made by Instagram's CEO, Adam Mosseri.
• Emma Roth of The Verge joins the show to talk about Discord's age verification mandate that has sparked huge user privacy concerns, especially following a data breach the company suffered last year.
• And Scott Stein of CNET stops by to share his thoughts and time with Nintendo's revival of Virtual Boy as a replica accessory for the Nintendo Switch and Switch 2.

Hosts: Mikah Sargent and Amanda Silberling

Guests: Emma Roth and Scott Stein

Download or subscribe to Tech News Weekly at https://twit.tv/shows/tech-news-weekly.

Join Club TWiT for Ad-Free Podcasts!
Support what you love and get ad-free audio and video feeds, a members-only Discord, and exclusive content. Join today: https://twit.tv/clubtwit

Sponsors:

• preview.modulate.ai
• bitwarden.com/twit
• joindeleteme.com/twit promo code TWIT

Speaker drivers haven't changed much in the last 100 years, but they have certain drawbacks, especially in small form factors such as earbuds. A company called SonicEdge is developing a new type of driver that takes a completely different approach. CEO and co-founder Moti Margalit talks about his company's innovations with Scott Wilkinson.

Host: Scott Wilkinson

Guest: Moti Margalit

Download or subscribe to Home Theater Geeks at https://twit.tv/shows/home-theater-geeks

Join Club TWiT for Ad-Free Podcasts!
Support what you love and get ad-free audio and video feeds, a members-only Discord, and exclusive content. Join today: https://twit.tv/clubtwit

Club TWiT members can discuss this episode and leave feedback in the Club TWiT Discord.

Forget the built-in Windows tools—Paul shares why third-party password managers are the secret to making passkeys smarter, more powerful, and truly universal across all your devices.

Host: Paul Thurrott

Download or subscribe to Hands-On Windows at https://twit.tv/shows/hands-on-windows

Join Club TWiT for Ad-Free Podcasts!
Support what you love and get ad-free audio and video feeds, a members-only Discord, and exclusive content. Join today: https://twit.tv/clubtwit

Club TWiT members can discuss this episode and leave feedback in the Club TWiT Discord.

Sponsor:

• canary.tools/twit - use code: TWIT

The Home app just got a major overhaul, thanks to Matter compatibility and fresh features that are quietly transforming how Apple users control their homes. Mikah Sargent breaks down what you need to do, and why this update is bigger than you may think.

• Why updating to the latest Apple Home version is required
• How to prepare your devices and household for the update
• Steps to manually update the Apple Home system
• Overview of post-update Home app features and settings
• Walkthrough of new Home app controls: activity, energy, hubs, security, and more
• Matter accessories and updated connected services explained

Host: Mikah Sargent

Download or subscribe to Hands-On Apple at https://twit.tv/shows/hands-on-apple

Want access to the ad-free audio and video and exclusive features? Become a member of Club TWiT today! https://twit.tv/clubtwit

Club TWiT members can discuss this episode and leave feedback in the Club TWiT Discord.

If you thought Safari extensions were just for desktop power users, this episode demonstrates the game-changing tools and side hustles available right on your iPhone!

• Managing Safari extensions on iOS: Settings, permissions, and cross-device syncing
• Efficiently disabling and enabling Safari extensions using the webpage menu
• Privacy concerns when installing Safari extensions and reviewing permissions
• Favorite Safari extensions: Wipr 2 for ad blocking
• Noir extension for customizable dark mode and theme creation in Safari
• StopTheMadness Pro fixes annoying web behaviors and context menu issues
• Keyword Search adds custom search shortcuts for Amazon, Apple Support, Google Drive
• Amplosion redirects Google AMP pages to original sources; Achoo inspects page HTML
• Pipifier makes web video picture-in-picture; reliability compared to other solutions
• App Caps: Picks include Xteink X4 e-ink reader and Fullscreen Clock for timers

Hosts: Mikah Sargent and Dan Moren

Contact iOS Today at iOSToday@twit.tv.

Download or subscribe to iOS Today at https://twit.tv/shows/ios-today

Join Club TWiT for Ad-Free Podcasts!
Support what you love and get ad-free audio and video feeds, a members-only Discord, and exclusive content. Join today: https://twit.tv/clubtwit

Club TWiT members can discuss this episode and leave feedback in the Club TWiT Discord.

Sponsor:

• shopify.com/ios

Leo Laporte and Paris Martineau go head-to-head over whether today's AI breakthroughs are truly unprecedented or history repeating itself. Hear what happens when the show's hosts use cutting-edge tools to challenge each other's optimism, skepticism, and predictions for the future of work.

• Something Big Is Happening
• Building a C compiler with a team of parallel Claudes
• Amazon's $8 billion Anthropic investment balloons to $61 billion
• Google is going for the jugular — by doubling capex and outspending the rest of Big Tech
• Google's Gemini app has surpassed 750M monthly active users
• OpenAI's Meta makeover
• ChatGPT's deep research tool adds a built-in document viewer so you can read its reports
• Alexa+, Amazon's AI assistant, is now available to everyone in the U.S.
• Amazon Plans To Use AI To Speed Up TV and Film Production
• AI didn't kill customer support. It's rebuilding it
• Worried about AI taking jobs? Ex-Microsoft exec tells parents what kind of education matters
  most for their kids.
• A new bill in New York would require disclaimers on AI-generated news content
• AI Bots Are Now a Signifigant Source of Web Traffic
• Crypto.com places $70M bet on AI.com domain ahead of Super Bowl
• Frontier AI agents violate ethical constraints 30–50% of time, pressured by KPIs
• How To Think About AI: Is It The Tool, Or Are You?
• LEO! Reliability of LLMs as medical assistants for the general public: a randomized preregistered study
• HBR: AI Doesn't Reduce Work—It Intensifies It
• As AI enters the operating room, reports arise of botched surgeries and misidentified body parts
• Waymo Exec Admits Remote Operators in Philippines Help Guide US Robotaxis
• Medicare's new pilot program taps AI to review claims. Here's why it's risky
• Section 230 Turns 30; Both Parties Want It Gone—For Contradictory Reasons
• Meet Gizmo: A TikTok for interactive, vibe-coded mini apps
• The Evolution of Bengt Betjänt
• Uber Eats adds AI assistant to help with grocery shopping
• Is having AI ghostwrite your Valentine's Day messages a good idea?
• As Saudi Arabia's 100-Mile Skyscraper Crumbles, They're Replacing It With the Most Desperate Thing Imaginable
• YouTube Argues It Isn't Social Media in Landmark Tech Addiction Trial
• 'Man down:' Watch Amazon delivery drone crash in North Texas
• Understanding Neural Network, Visually
• Leo's AI Journey
• The TIMELINE
• TWiT x 2 in Super Bowl commercials

Hosts: Leo Laporte, Jeff Jarvis, and Paris Martineau

Download or subscribe to Intelligent Machines at https://twit.tv/shows/intelligent-machines.

Join Club TWiT for Ad-Free Podcasts!
Support what you love and get ad-free audio and video feeds, a members-only Discord, and exclusive content. Join today: https://twit.tv/clubtwit

Sponsors:

• preview.modulate.ai
• Melissa.com/twit
• spaceship.com/twit

After years of ignoring and maligning Windows, Microsoft has finally woken up and is making some happy noises. Last week, we discussed how Microsoft plans to improve the quality of Windows and that there are already many signs of that work in various security features and new OneDrive Folder Backup changes - plus those two new direct reports to Nadella. Then, Microsoft announced its Windows Baseline Security Mode and User Transparency and Consent initiatives with questions about the timing. And now, Microsoft just explained Windows 11 version 26H1, and it's not like 24H2 at all despite being tied to Snapdragon X2 silicon.

Something happened ... and that something is tied to 26H1

• 26H1: Only for Snapdragon X2, a "scoped release," based on a "different core" from 24H2 and 25H2
• You cannot upgrade 24H2 or 25H2 to 26H1
• You cannot upgrade 26H1 to 26H2 (!) - instead, those on 26H1 "will have a path to update in a future Windows release." - Is that future Windows release Windows 12? Probably
• 24H2, 25H2, and 26H1 will all have the same user-facing features, this has been the case with all support Windows (11) versions for 2+ years
• (Remember, this is not what happened with 24H2. Shipped early on Snapdragon X1, but was made available to all Windows 11 PCs later that year)
• So why is this happening now? Fortune 500/corporate customer pushback on AI is one guess
• This is GOOD news, however it all unfolds

More Windows 11

• Yesterday was Patch Tuesday, so get to work. Updates this month include: Agent in Settings (Copilot+ PCs only) improvements. Settings improvements, cross-device Resume improvements, Windows MIDI Services improvements, Narrator improvements, Smart App Control improvements, Windows Hello New ESS improvements, and File Explorer improvements
• Somewhat related to the quality/security push noted above, Microsoft is rolling out new Secure Boot certificates this year for older (pre-2024/25) PCs
• Microsoft announces a Store CLI that does (almost) nothing new compared to winget
• New Dev and Beta builds with minor changes: Emoji 16.0, camera improvements, various fixes

More earnings

• Amazon hits $213.4 billion in revenues, will spend $200 billion CAPEX/AI infrastructure this fiscal year, more than Google ($175/$185 billion) or Microsoft (estimated $150+ billion)
• Qualcomm $12.25 billion in revenues, up 5 percent
• Alphabet/Google - Up 18 percent (!) to $113.8 billion - 750 million MAUs on Gemini, 74 percent of revenues come from advertising
• Spotify - somehow has over 750 million MAUs now

AI and dev

• OpenAI and Anthropic release dueling agentic AI coding models that do more than agentic AI coding within minutes of each other
• Ads appear in ChatGPT Free and Go as threatened
• Duck.ai adds private, anonymous real-time AI voice chat
• NET 11 Preview 1 arrives, but there's nothing major here

Xbox & games

• Microsoft announces the 2025 Xbox Excellence Awards
• Celebrate 35 years of Id Software - Castle Wolfenstein 3D was a wake-up call for PC gaming, but DOOM was a miracle, and Quake was a real WTF moment
• Sony sold 8 million PlayStation 5s (down 16 percent YOY) in the holiday quarter, 92 million (!) overall
• Valve predictably delays the vaporware Steam Machine
• Epic Games is having a winter sale - for example, Silent Hill 2, GTA V Enhanced are 50 percentR

These show notes have been truncated due to length. For the full show notes, visit https://twit.tv/shows/windows-weekly/episodes/970

Hosts: Leo Laporte, Paul Thurrott, and Richard Campbell

Sponsors:

• threatlocker.com/twit
• helixsleep.com/windows
• trustedtech.team/windowsweekly365
• cachefly.com/twit