Alvaro Lopez Ortega / 2026-06-15 Briefing

Created Mon, 15 Jun 2026 19:41:37 +0000 Modified Thu, 30 Jul 2026 19:09:58 +0000
5516 Words

Fox Corporation plans a massive $22 billion acquisition of Roku, a move that sent its shares tumbling. Meanwhile, Nvidia is seeking at least $20 billion through its first corporate bond sale since 2021. In tech news, Meta is rolling out an “AI Mode” for Facebook search, even as the company faces legal challenges regarding allegations of using copyrighted adult content to train its AI models.

🤖 Artificial Intelligence

Meta launches “AI Mode” for search, using Meta AI to surface answers from public posts.

Meta is rolling out new AI features on Facebook, most notably an “AI Mode” that uses Meta AI to provide synthesized search answers from public posts, Groups, and Reels. The update also introduces AI-powered photo and video editing tools, such as presets for changing hairstyles or clothing, aimed at increasing user engagement.

Radical Numerics raises $50M seed led by Emergence Capital to develop bio-data AI models

Radical Numerics, an AI research lab specializing in biological data, has raised $50 million in a seed funding round led by Emergence Capital. The company is developing AI models that learn directly from biological data to advance pharmaceutical research and development.

US judge rejects Meta’s bid to dismiss lawsuit alleging use of porn videos for AI training

A U.S. judge has rejected Meta’s motion to dismiss a lawsuit from adult film producers Strike 3 Holdings and Counterlife Media regarding alleged copyright infringement via BitTorrent. The court ruled that the plaintiffs do not need to prove their films were used specifically for AI model training to proceed with claims of unauthorized downloading.

AI hits limits in court reporting; human skill remains vital amid worker shortages.

While advancing AI tools struggle to replicate the ability to capture gestures and navigate courtroom noise, human court reporters remain essential to the legal process. However, the profession is currently facing a significant shortage of skilled workers.

Orbio raises $21M Series A led by Dawn Capital to manage frontline workers with AI agents.

Madrid-based startup Orbio has raised $21 million in a Series A funding round led by Dawn Capital to expand its platform for managing frontline workers. The company utilizes AI agents to automate tasks such as interviewing, onboarding, and employee monitoring for industries including retail and healthcare.

I Am Not a Reverse Centaur

An open-source developer is expressing frustration over an increase in unsolicited, LLM-generated pull requests that force them to spend excessive time reviewing low-quality code. To avoid the role of a “reverse centaur” filtering through machine-produced content, the author now requires all contributors to discuss proposed changes via issues before submitting any pull requests.

Tesla presented misleading Full Self-Driving safety data to EU regulators, Reuters finds

A Reuters investigation has revealed that Tesla presented misleading and flawed safety statistics to regulators in the Netherlands and Sweden to exaggerate the performance of its “Full Self-Driving” system. These inflated claims were used as part of the company’s efforts to secure broader approval for the technology across Europe.

Eric Trump claims rigged UFC event texts were actually AI deepfakes

Eric Trump has dismissed leaked screenshots appearing to show him seeking insider betting information from UFC commentator Daniel Cormier as AI-generated deepfakes. Although Cormier initially shared the alleged messages, he later deleted them and mocked those who believed they were authentic.

Advancing Europe’s AI capabilities

New strategies are emerging to overcome Europe’s challenges in AI deployment and technological sovereignty. Onix’s Wingspan platform aims to accelerate enterprise-wide AI integration, while the EuroMesh report proposes federating existing public compute resources to enable the development of frontier-class models by 2028.

Drafted (YC P26) – Models for residential architecture

Drafted is an AI startup that generates residential floor plans and exterior elevations based on specific design constraints such as square footage, lot boundaries, and room preferences. The platform enables users to instantly explore, iterate, and export architectural designs in both 2D and 3D formats to make custom home design more accessible.

We put voice agent on our website, learned retrieval isn’t bottleneck

The creators of Moss developed a voice AI agent for their website to provide real-time, conversational answers to visitor inquiries using proprietary retrieval technology. Following significant interest from other businesses, they have launched Founding Agent, a new tool that enables companies to automate lead qualification and visitor engagement through voice interaction.

Anthropic Sued over Limits on Its $200-a-Month AI Plans

Anthropic faces a federal lawsuit alleging the company misled subscribers about usage limits for its “Max 5x” and “Max 20x” AI subscription plans. The suit seeks class-action status on behalf of customers who purchased these premium tiers since April of last year.

My Homelab AI Dev Platform

The author has implemented an AI-driven development platform for their homelab by integrating OpenCode Web UI with a GitOps workflow using Arcane. This system automates tasks such as container updates and configuration management by allowing the AI to propose changes via pull requests that require manual approval before deployment.

India, UAE partner on AI sovereignty to bypass Google, Microsoft

India is partnering with the UAE’s G42 to deploy an AI supercomputer powered by Cerebras chips as part of a move toward achieving AI sovereignty. This initiative aims to reduce India’s dependence on major U.S. cloud providers like Amazon, Microsoft, and Google by establishing domestic computing infrastructure under Indian governance rules.

CrankGPT

CrankGPT is a local, on-device AI solution designed to provide privacy and offline functionality without reliance on cloud-based services. The product enables users to generate their own tokens through physical activity, aiming to reduce environmental impact and avoid the costs associated with large tech corporations.

Applying Brevity and Language Efficiency in Prompt Engineering

This guide outlines strategies for maximizing the performance of budget-tier AI models by increasing the signal-to-noise ratio in prompts. It recommends replacing conversational language with a structured approach that clearly defines context, tasks, constraints, and output formats to ensure accuracy and cost-efficiency.

Apple Foundation Models

The “Claude for Foundation Models” Swift package integrates Anthropic’s Claude into Apple’s Foundation Models framework as a server-side language model. By utilizing the same protocol as Apple’s on-device models, it enables developers to seamlessly switch between local and cloud-based processing via a unified API.

🛡️ Security & Privacy

NewCore exits stealth with $66M seed led by Cyberstarts to manage human and AI agent identities.

Cybersecurity startup NewCore has emerged from stealth with $66 million in seed funding led by Cyberstarts to develop a unified identity management system for both humans and AI agents. The platform aims to address security gaps by providing the necessary tools to authenticate, govern, and control autonomous digital workers at scale.

Chainguard, Cisco, Cloudflare, and JPMorgan Chase launch Athena to secure open-source via AI

A new coalition named Athena, including participants such as Chainguard, Cisco, Cloudflare, and JPMorgan Chase, has been launched to secure open-source software. The initiative aims to leverage artificial intelligence to improve security across the open-source ecosystem.

Chinese State-Sponsored Cyber Espionage

Chinese-linked cyber operations have been infiltrating U.S. and Canadian medical, military, and research networks to steal sensitive data ranging from AI technology to pathogens. In response to these persistent threats, the FBI has successfully dismantled “Outsider Enterprise,” an AI-powered phishing group responsible for stealing millions of credit card records.

Leading digital forensics expert Hany Farid now struggles to identify deepfakes.

Renowned digital forensics expert Hany Farid is increasingly struggling to distinguish authentic footage from sophisticated, AI-generated deepfakes. As generative technology advances, even seasoned professionals are finding it nearly impossible to verify the reality of viral videos and images.

Curl Vulnerability Reporting Suspension

The curl project will pause all vulnerability report processing from July 1 to August 3, 2026, to allow maintainers a period of rest. Consequently, the release of version 8.22.0 has been delayed until September 2, 2026, though regular GitHub activity will continue as normal.

ShinyHunters claims Kodak hack, threatens to leak 2.2M records

The ransomware group ShinyHunters claims to have stolen over 2.2 million customer and corporate records from Eastman Kodak as part of a “pay or leak” extortion campaign. While the group has threatened to release the data if its demands are not met, they have provided no proof of the theft, and Kodak has not acknowledged any breach.

Hackers demand $2M from Nintendo over alleged data breach

A threat actor named ShadowByte$ is demanding $2 million from Nintendo, claiming to have stolen approximately 859MB of internal corporate data. While the full extent of the breach remains unverified, leaked samples containing employee information and HR analytics suggest the theft may be legitimate.

Council of Europe Data Breach

The hacker group ShinyHunters has claimed responsibility for a massive data breach at the Council of Europe, allegedly stealing approximately 429,000 HR and payroll files. This incident is part of a broader PeopleSoft-related heist that has targeted various institutions and reportedly exposes sensitive employee information, including bank details and medical records.

Memory safety CVEs differ between Rust and C/C++

This article explores the differences in how memory safety vulnerabilities manifest in Rust compared to C/C++. While acknowledging that both languages can experience undefined behavior, the author argues that Rust provides inherent protections that mitigate many common security risks found in C-based libraries like libcurl.

Exploiting Slack’s video embeds to achieve E2EE communication

A developer has created an end-to-end encrypted messaging application for Slack by leveraging the platform’s video block feature to embed interactive iframes. Using OpenPGP.js and browser crypto APIs, the system enables all cryptographic operations to be performed locally on the client side, ensuring the server never accesses decrypted keys.

Russia was behind arson attacks targeting the UK’s Prime Minister, BBC reveals

A BBC investigation has linked Russia to a campaign of arson, sabotage, and disinformation targeting UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer. The report identifies Russian diplomat Evgeny Lyukshin as the handler who used Telegram to recruit individuals for vandalism and spread lies intended to incite division within the UK. Two men have already been convicted in connection with attacks on properties linked to the Prime Minister.

đź’» Software Engineering

Typst 0.15 Release

Typst 0.15 introduces several significant updates, including support for variable fonts and enhanced HTML exports featuring MathML-based equations. The release also brings improved multi-file functionality, better bibliography management, and clearer compiler diagnostics, along with a breaking change requiring the use of forward slashes in all file paths.

The Release of Iroh 1.0

Iroh has announced the stable 1.0 release of its networking technology, which replaces traditional IP-based addressing with user-controlled cryptographic keys for secure, direct device-to-device connectivity. The update introduces official support for Python, Node.js, Kotlin, and Swift, while adding advanced features such as QUIC multipath and NAT traversal.

Personal History with Emacs

The author recounts their personal journey through various text editors, such as Microsoft Word and Notepad++, before ultimately adopting Emacs as their primary tool. They emphasize that this transition was driven by pragmatic requirements rather than any ideological or political motivations.

Xavier Leroy’s new book on Control Sturctures in Programming

A preview has been released for Xavier Leroy’s upcoming book regarding control structures in programming. The publication is set to be released by Cambridge University Press.

Nordstjernen Web Browser

Nordstjernen is a lightweight web browser written in C that prioritizes HTML and CSS standards compliance across Windows, macOS, and Linux. The browser emphasizes security and privacy by utilizing a process-per-tab architecture, avoiding JIT compilation, and ensuring no telemetry is collected.

Parsing JSON at compile time with C++26 static reflection

By utilizing C++26’s #embed directive alongside simdjson’s static reflection, developers can now parse JSON configuration files entirely at compile time. This approach transforms embedded data into typed C++ objects during compilation, enabling build-time error detection and optimized runtime performance by removing the need for runtime parsing.

Diplomat: Multi-language FFI for Rust Libraries

Diplomat is a multi-language, unidirectional FFI tool designed to wrap Rust libraries and expose their APIs across various programming languages. The project aims to act as a neutral hub, eliminating the need for manual, language-specific bindings or complex bidirectional interoperability.

Java’s Project Valhalla finally lands a preview in JDK 28

A preview of Java’s Project Valhalla has been introduced in JDK 28. However, architect Brian Goetz has warned developers that the project will likely remain in a preview state through the next LTS release.

The Y2K bug is back! Dutch dev digs up untimely flaw in old BSD build

A Dutch developer has discovered a flaw in an old BSD build that resembles the Y2K bug. This vulnerability specifically affects PDP-11/70 systems that rely on short-wave timekeeping broadcasts.

Game Engine White Papers Commander Keen

“The Game Engine White Papers: Commander Keen” has been released, offering an in-depth look at game development techniques from the late 1980s and early 1990s. The 214-page book covers topics such as hardware, assets, and engine mechanics and is available in both print and free digital formats.

I wrote 5000 lines of assembly because I was angry

A developer describes writing 5,000 lines of assembly code driven by frustration. The accompanying text also details browser compatibility requirements for ujjwalvivek.com, noting that modern software versions are necessary to run the application.

Google Flight Simulator

The Google Earth web-based flight simulator provides a simplified experience for exploring the world using keyboard shortcuts to control aircraft movement and thrust. Accessible through the Tools menu, the feature is designed for casual use but may be subject to dynamic loading delays or terrain-related visual anomalies.

RawTree Adaptive Compression Codec

RawTree’s new Adaptive compression codec automatically selects the most efficient encoding strategy for each data column by testing multiple candidates on data samples. This approach eliminates the need for manual configuration while improving compression ratios, ingestion speeds, and query performance compared to standard methods like ZSTD.

I wrote a C++ ray tracer from scratch without AI

Luz is a C++20 path tracer developed from scratch without the use of third-party dependencies or AI. The software supports advanced features such as Monte Carlo path tracing, BVH acceleration, and atmospheric scattering across macOS, Linux, and Windows.

⚙️ Systems & Infrastructure

savearoundtrip: publish an HTTPS DNS record, skip a round trip

Publishing HTTPS DNS records enables browsers to discover HTTP/3 support during the initial name resolution process, allowing for an immediate QUIC connection. This method saves a network round trip by eliminating the need for the prior HTTP/1 or HTTP/2 connection required when using the Alt-Svc header.

Latest News on Boot Naked Linux

An experiment explores an ultra-minimalist Linux boot process by stripping away all components except the kernel to minimize boot times. The method replaces complex initramfs files with a minimal filesystem containing only a single, statically compiled C-based init program to bypass modern system bloat.

MONOLITH: An experimental non-Unix operating system for x86

MONOLITH is an experimental non-Unix operating system designed for the x86 architecture with a focus on simplicity and portability. Primarily written in C, the project features several core components including a kernel, libraries, and userspace.

pyinfra — agentless infrastructure automation, in plain Python

pyinfra is an agentless, Python-native automation tool that manages infrastructure via SSH using real Python control flow instead of YAML. It is designed for high performance, claiming to be up to six times faster than Ansible while requiring only a shell and SSH on target hosts.

Removing my nix flakes vs guix post

The author of a blog post comparing Nix flakes and Guix has decided to delete the content following accusations from critic Andrew Tropin that it was written using a Large Language Model (LLM). While denying the use of AI, the author stated that being accused of lacking authenticity was too personally devastating to maintain the post.

The only scalable delete in Postgres is DROP TABLE

Large-scale DELETE operations in PostgreSQL are inefficient because they create dead tuples, increase replication overhead, and do not immediately return disk space to the operating system. For better scalability, the article recommends using DROP TABLE or TRUNCATE, which remove files directly from the OS and avoid additional workload for readers and vacuum processes.

The last quiet place on Earth is about to get WiFi

Major airlines are increasingly adopting SpaceX’s Starlink technology to provide high-speed, satellite-powered internet for tasks such as streaming and remote work. While this upgrade offers significantly faster connectivity, it has raised concerns regarding increased cabin noise from passengers making voice and video calls.

Feds snooze as US datacenter law set to lapse with no replacement in site

The Federal Data Center Enhancement Act (FDCEA) of 2023, which establishes essential security and sustainability standards, is set to expire without a replacement in sight. The absence of new legislation leaves the future of US data center regulations in a state of uncertainty.

How TimescaleDB compresses time-series data

TimescaleDB’s hypercore engine achieves up to 98% compression by converting older time-series data from a row-based format into an efficient columnar format. By utilizing specialized algorithms such as delta encoding and Gorilla XOR, the engine optimizes cross-row patterns to significantly reduce storage costs and accelerate analytical queries.

machine0 – Persistent NixOS VMs You Control from the CLI

machine0 is a new command-line interface designed to simplify the creation, provisioning, and snapshotting of persistent NixOS and Ubuntu virtual machines. Functioning as a modern VPS provider, the tool offers scalable resources and features native support for managing system configurations via Nix flakes or Ansible playbooks.

Smashed Toilet Phone Web Server

An author has repurposed a physically damaged Samsung A70 smartphone with a broken touchscreen into a functional web server. By utilizing a USB-C hub to provide wired ethernet and continuous power, the obsolete device was transformed into a reliable piece of networking hardware.

21 years and counting of ’eight fallacies of distributed computing’ (2025)

The article examines the “eight fallacies of distributed computing,” which are common yet incorrect assumptions made when designing and managing network software. Originally developed by employees at Sun Microsystems, these fallacies serve as a vital guide for developers to account for real-world complexities such as network latency and unreliability.

đź“Š Business & Economics

Electronic Arts launches EA Advertising for real-time, in-game brand placements.

Electronic Arts has launched EA Advertising, a new service that allows brands to integrate directly into gameplay through dynamic, real-time placements such as stadium signage and custom in-game content. The company also introduced the EA SPORTS Partner Program, providing advertisers with various ways to engage with its monthly audience of over 120 million players.

Nvidia seeks to raise $20B+ in its first corporate bond sale since 2021

Nvidia Corp. is seeking to raise at least $20 billion through its first corporate bond sale since 2021. The offering will consist of seven tranches with maturities ranging from two to 30 years.

Fox Plans $22B Roku Acquisition

Fox Corporation has announced plans to acquire Roku in a deal valued between $22 billion and $25 billion, aiming to strengthen its ad-supported streaming presence across more than 100 million households. Following the announcement, shares of Fox Corp. dropped by as much as 15% during early trading.

Tencent-backed Enflame approved for $888M Shanghai IPO; last of China’s top 4 AI chipmakers

Tencent-backed Shanghai Enflame Technology Co. has received approval for an initial public offering on the Shanghai Stock Exchange’s STAR board. The company plans to raise approximately $888 million to fund the development and production of AI cloud chips and related software.

Trump: Drop France’s 3% digital tax or face 100% tariff on French champagne and wine

President Trump has threatened to impose 100% tariffs on all French wines and champagnes unless France abolishes its 3% digital services tax targeting American tech companies. This ultimatum contradicts recent claims that the trade dispute between the two nations had been resolved, heightening tensions ahead of the G7 summit in Évian-les-Bains.

Alibaba in talks to buy grocery platform Pupu for $1.5B to rival Meituan

Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. is reportedly offering $1.5 billion to acquire Chinese grocery delivery platform Pupu in an effort to compete with rival Meituan. This proposed price more than doubles an earlier $600 million bid from Sun Art Retail.

HPE offers VMware refugees a year off the meter

HPE is targeting customers looking to migrate away from VMware by offering free VM Essentials licenses and discounted Zerto services. The move aims to attract organizations seeking alternative virtualization platforms.

Red Hat gives Ubuntu a bootc up the backside at Canonical shindig

Red Hat has demonstrated how bootable containers can be used to manage Ubuntu distributions using familiar Open Container Initiative (OCI) tooling. This approach highlights new methods for managing operating systems within established containerized workflows.

Salesforce Acquires Fin

Salesforce has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire AI customer agent company Fin, formerly known as Intercom, for approximately $3.6 billion. The acquisition aims to bolster Salesforce’s Agentforce platform by integrating technology capable of resolving about three-quarters of customer queries without human intervention.

UK Treasury hunts CTO on salary that may not compute for top tech talent

The UK Treasury is searching for a new Chief Technology Officer (CTO) with an offered salary of ÂŁ77,000. There are concerns that this compensation package may be insufficient to attract top-tier talent from the private technology sector.

How Brexit has made Britain poorer – in charts

Although the immediate deep recession predicted after the Brexit vote did not occur, long-term economic data shows that the UK economy is significantly smaller than it would have been otherwise. The nation has faced slower growth, reduced GDP per head, and increased trade friction with the EU alongside a weakened pound.

Hetzner increased dedicated server prices 3-4x

Hetzner has significantly increased its bare metal server pricing by 3 to 4 times, following a previous 30% hike just a few months ago. Specifically, costs for the AX102 have risen from €124 to €454, while the AX162 jumped from €244 to €844.

Hetzner Price Adjustment

Hetzner has announced price adjustments as part of an initiative to standardize its product portfolio. This move aims to simplify the company’s service offerings through increased consistency across its products.

Hetzner Cloud prices are up 120%

Starting June 15, 2026, Hetzner will standardize its dedicated server portfolio into fixed types and introduce a new “Limited” series. While monthly prices for new cloud and dedicated server orders will increase due to rising hardware costs, one-time setup fees for many models will decrease. Existing contracts remain unaffected by these changes.

New Hetzner price increase (As of 15 June)

Hetzner Cloud offers shared and dedicated server options suitable for workloads ranging from development to high-performance production environments. The service features global locations in Europe, North America, and Asia, alongside a commitment to data security and a 99.9% guaranteed uptime SLA.

The rich aren’t your role models

The article argues that the emergence of trillionaires signifies a systemic failure of capitalism characterized by extreme wealth concentration. It contends that such vast fortunes are built on the appropriation of value produced by workers’ labor rather than purely through individual merit or innovation.

🌍 Science & Society

AI ’nudify’ tools fuel child bullying, leaving parents and schools struggling

The proliferation of AI-driven “nudify” tools is fueling a new wave of digital bullying by making it easy to create explicit deepfakes of minors. As these technologies advance, parents and schools are struggling to protect young victims and navigate the complex legal challenges of removing non-consensual imagery from the internet.

What are you doing this week?

The article invites readers to share their upcoming plans for the week. It also emphasizes that it is perfectly acceptable to spend the time doing nothing at all.

iPhone supplier Tata accused of polluting deep farmland water near its factory

Indian officials are investigating allegations that wastewater discharge from Tata Electronics’ iPhone component plant has contaminated groundwater and nearby agricultural lands. While local farmers report damaged crops and foul-smelling water, the company maintains that its operations are in compliance with all environmental regulations.

NASA management wants a word and won’t say why

This news digest covers significant developments in artificial intelligence, including Salesforce’s $3.6 billion acquisition of Fin and surging AI hiring trends in the UK. Additionally, it highlights emerging cybersecurity threats such as LLM-driven API attacks and phishing campaigns masquerading as Signal support.

Fruit Is Too Sweet

Driven by consumer demand and advanced breeding techniques, the produce industry is increasingly producing ultra-sweet “designer” fruits such as Sumo Citrus and Cotton Candy grapes. While these high-sugar varieties are highly profitable, some chefs note that this trend toward increased sweetness can lead to a loss of natural flavor complexity and acidity in common fruits.

Balkan Sworn Virgins

Sworn virgins are individuals in certain Balkan cultures who take a vow of chastity to live socially as men, allowing them to access male-specific rights and roles. This practice often enables those assigned female at birth to manage property and lead households when male family members have died in blood feuds.

EU Air travellers to enjoy free cabin luggage and keep delay compensation

The European Council and Parliament have agreed on new air passenger rights regulations effective in 2027, which will maintain entitlements to free cabin luggage and financial compensation for significant flight delays. The agreement ensures passengers can carry both a personal item and a small wheeled bag without extra fees, though airlines warn that bundling these services may increase ticket prices.

Did a medieval flying monk spot Halley’s comet, twice? It’s complicated

In the early 11th century, a Benedictine monk named Eilmer attempted human flight using handmade wings, resulting in a crash that left him with broken legs. Historians continue to debate the precise date of this experiment due to conflicting interpretations of comet sightings during his lifetime.

Copper transport drug restores memory and clears toxic Alzheimer’s proteins

Researchers at Monash University have discovered that the copper compound Cu(ATSM) reduces toxic amyloid-beta proteins and improves spatial memory by repairing waste-clearing pumps at the blood-brain barrier. Because this drug has already undergone safety evaluations for other diseases, it holds significant potential for a rapid transition into human clinical trials for Alzheimer’s disease.

Triple Shockwave from Sun Crossing Rocket

A photograph captured a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket crossing the Sun’s disk during its launch from Cape Canaveral in late May. The rocket’s supersonic speed created visible compressed-air shockwaves and exhaust turbulence as it successfully delivered 29 Starlink satellites to low Earth orbit.

What the Fuck Happened to Nerds

The technology industry is shifting from a culture of product-focused expertise and humility toward one increasingly dominated by attention-seeking leaders. The author warns that prioritizing personal visibility over craftsmanship risks liquidating the long-term public trust essential to the industry’s legitimacy.

Successful Psilocybin Treatment of Alzheimer

An 80-year-old woman with advanced Alzheimer’s disease experienced temporary improvements in speech, mobility, and social interaction following the administration of psilocybin-containing mushrooms. The findings suggest that while the treatment does not reverse the disease, it may transiently access residual functional capacity during late-stage neurodegeneration.

Horizons JPL Solar System Data Demo and NASA DSN Updates: Datastar, Common Lisp

This demonstration showcases interactive JPL Solar System data alongside real-time updates from the NASA Deep Space Network. Developed using Datastar and Common Lisp, the project allows users to view specific planetary details via the JPL Horizons system.