Alibaba got a reprieve from a US ban, Sony says it will still make physical discs after 2028, as long as the game came out before then, and a NASA mission to rescue the falling Swift observatory has launched

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Alibaba got a reprieve from a US ban.
Sony says it will still make physical disks after 2028, and a NASA mission to rescue the falling Swift Observatory has launched. It's Monday, July 6th, and here's a quick look at some of the news happening in and around tech this morning from Engadget.
A judge has ruled that the Pentagon must not treat Chinese online retailer Alibaba as a Chinese military company with respect to new lobbying restrictions. The decision comes after Alibaba sued the US government for being placed on the Pentagon's 1260H Entity List, asserting that the decision had no basis in fact or law and violated its right to speech and constitutional due process. The list is not the same as the US government's OFAC sanctions list that completely prevents companies like DJI from doing business in America, but it now has greater consequences than before. A recent legislative change prevents the DOD from entering into contracts with any company that engages lobbyists or lobbying firms representing any 1260H list company. That new clause, said Alibaba, is preventing it from hiring representation that could help it challenge the government, in turn, violating its constitutional right to free speech. On Sunday, a US district judge ordered the Pentagon not to treat Alibaba as a Chinese military company with regard to the lobbying rule. Until she resolves the company's motion or 60 days after a court hearing on the matter, whichever comes first, the judge's decision could affect current and future companies placed on that list. In its lawsuit, Alibaba said it did not work with the Chinese military and should be removed from the list. The company argued that the new restrictions caused it to lose its voice across the whole of its dealings with the federal government, on legislation, on regulation, on the policies that shape its business. Alibaba noted that all of its more than two dozen registered lobbyists withdrew their registrations recently, after it was added to 1260H. While arguing that the lobbying restriction was constitutional, the Pentagon recognized that it will benefit both the parties and the court to enter into a stipulation for a limited period of time, so the court can assess the complaint.
Sony's move to abandon physical game disks may have elicited the Everyone Disliked That response from the gaming world, but there's a small consolation for game developers. As reported by Game File, Sony shared a private message to PlayStation developers and publishers that said they will still be able to place reorders for existing PlayStation disk games. Sony's post on the PlayStation blog mentioned that its discontinuation of physical game disks would have no impact on games that already released or will be releasing prior to January 2028 in disk format. But this latest report makes clear that publishers can still continue ordering physical versions of their PlayStation games so long as it's released before the cutoff date. According to Game File, Sony said that its ordering process for disks will change, but did not yet detail how. However, this is expected considering Sony has reportedly already invested millions of dollars into repurposing its disk factory in Salzburg, Austria to manufacture optical microlenses instead. Game File also reported that Sony said in its message to publishers that it will provide publishers with the opportunity to release new games at retail using digital codes, but similarly did not reveal details yet. While that does address the concern of gamers being limited to purchasing games through Sony's online store ecosystem, the overall loss of physical disks is still expected to have major implications for the industry.
The NASA Swift Boost mission launched on Friday morning after a couple of delays and the agency has started preparing for its ultimate goal, to rescue the Swift Observatory, which is falling faster than anticipated. Swift Boost's ground teams have already established communication with LINC, the robotic spacecraft designed by Arizona company Catalyst Space, to dock with the observatory and to tug it back into a higher orbit. LINC will capture Swift, dock with it using its three robotic arms, and then tug it upwards until they reach an orbit with an altitude of approximately 370 miles, which will extend its life by a decade or so. Delivering the observatory to a higher orbit is expected to take 10 to 12 weeks. While all spacecraft will eventually fall, recent solar activity caused the observatory's orbit to decay much faster. Without the help of LINC, the Swift telescope would be falling from orbit by the end of the year. The Swift observatory has been studying gamma-ray bursts for over two decades.