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The original team behind npm has shipped version one point zero of vlt, a drop-in replacement for the ubiquitous JavaScript package manager. The tool introduces phased installations that stop scripts from running automatically, a queryable dependency graph with over sixty selectors, and hosted registries designed to block malicious packages before they reach your codebase. For developers burned by supply chain attacks, that combination is worth paying attention to.
Shifting gears, an astronaut's long-running observation project is drawing fresh attention online. Over twenty-three years, photos taken from space have quietly documented how cities around the world have swapped out their old sodium streetlights for LEDs, and the transformation, visible from orbit as a shift from warm amber to cool blue-white, is a surprisingly vivid record of a global infrastructure change that mostly happened without fanfare.
And in a story that is equal parts espionage and intrigue, Canadian intelligence agencies are scrambling to reconstruct the movements of a woman accused of spying for China with access to NATO-level information. The case raises pointed questions about how foreign intelligence operations embed themselves inside trusted institutions, and how long it can take to notice.
Stay curious, stay skeptical. Tech Beat out.
