Category: Tutorials

Boeing finally has a chance to redeem itself after its first Starliner test flight went awry, and you can watch as it happens. NASA is launching Starliner Orbital Flight Test-2 from Cape Canaveral today (August 3rd) at 1:20PM Eastern, with a livestream available from NASA's YouTube channel (below) starting at 12:30PM ET. If successful, the unoccupied spacecraft will deliver over 400lbs of cargo to the International Space Station before returning to Earth with 550lbs of material.

Starliner will start an orbital insertion burn about 30 minutes after launch. You'll have to be patient after that, though. The capsule isn't expected expected to dock with the ISS until August 4th at 1:37PM ET, and will touch down in the western US after its "daylong" mission.

The vessel was originally supposed to launch on July 30th, but was delayed after the new Russian ISS module Nauka accidentally activated and forced a correction.

Much depends on a successful flight. Boeing and NASA will follow a successful test with six crew rotation missions. For Boeing, this is also about pride. SpaceX beat Boeing to the punch by successfully launching a crewed capsule in 2020, and is already performing crewed operational flights. The sooner Starliner is cleared to launch with people aboard, the sooner Boeing can catch up and play a key role in the privatization of spaceflight.

Update: Boeing has announced that the launch won't happen today after all, due to "unexpected valve position indications in the propulsion system."

A few months after it introduced new Touch ID-enabled Magic Keyboards along with M1 Macs, Apple is now selling the peripheral separately. The Magic Keyboard with Touch ID costs $149, while a version with a number pad can be all yours for $179. It's worth noting the Touch ID functions only work on M1-powered Macs.

Along with helping you log in to your Mac without having to punch in a password, you can use Touch ID to verify Apple Pay transactions. For now, the standalone version of the Magic Keyboard is only available in the standard silver and white color scheme. You won’t be able to snag it in one of those funky M1 iMac-inspired designs without shelling out for a new computer. 

Apple

Apple has also refreshed several other Magic accessories. The standard $99 Magic Keyboard now has keys for Spotlight, dictation, do not disturb and emoji, as do the Touch ID-equipped models. The $129 Magic Trackpad, meanwhile, has a tweaked shape to match the Magic Keyboard. 

All of these accessories, as well as the $79 Magic Mouse, now come with a braided USB-C to Lightning cable rather than the old Lightning to USB-A one. Apple says the accessories can run for around a month, if not longer, on a single charge.

Blizzard Entertainment's leadership is in upheaval following a California lawsuit over sexual discrimination and harassment. Studio president J. Allen Brack, who was named in the lawsuit, is "stepping down" from his role. Executive development VP Jen Oneal and GM Mike Ybarra (also a former Xbox executive) will take his place as co-leaders.

The company didn't formally explain the exit, but indicated a desire to change company culture. It said that Oneal and Ybarra would strive to make Blizzard the "most welcoming workplace possible" and help with "rebuilding your trust."

Brack previously said in a company email (shared by Bloomberg's Jason Schreier) that he was against harassment and "bro culture." As Massively Overpowerednoted, though, California accused Brack of taking "no effective remedial measures" to curb sexual harassment at the company. The executive allegedly held multiple conversations with employee Alex Afrasiabi about his drinking and harassment of women, but didn't offer much more than counselling in an attempt to correct the behavior.

There was certainly pressure on Blizzard to change leadership. Workers balked at the developer's dismissive initial response to the lawsuit, prompting a walkout protest. Activision Blizzard chief Bobby Kotick even labeled the early reaction as "tone deaf" and promised quick action to improve company culture. In that light, Brack's departure isn't surprising at all — it's one of the fastest and easiest actions the company could take.

Update 5:05PM ET: Activision Blizzard's top HR executive, Jesse Meschuk, also left the company this week, as first reported by Bloomberg.

Didn’t get an invite from Microsoft to the Halo Infinite technical preview? That’s okay. The company has a consolation prize for you. Microsoft and 343 Industries have partnered with Waze to bring the Master Chief and Escharum, his Banished foil in Infinite’s upcoming story campaign, to the navigation app. For a limited time, you can give Waze a Halo makeover.

As part of the experience, you can have the voice of either Master Chief or Escharum provide you with directions. It’s also possible to change your car’s live map icon to either a Warthog or Ghost and update your profile “mood” to feature the visage of the Spartan or alien war chief. Waze didn’t say how long the experience will run, but you can enable it by navigating to the “My Waze” section of the app and selecting the Halo banner.

Following an online pilot in the fall of 2020 with Maricopa County Community College District, Intel is expanding its AI for Workforce Program to include 18 additional schools in 11 states, including California, New Mexico and Michigan. With the expansion, more than 800,000 students can take part in a curriculum designed by the company, at the end of which they can earn a certificate or associate degree in artificial intelligence.

The program includes courses on data collection, computer vision, model training, coding and AI ethics. In addition to designing the curriculum, Intel has provided training and technical advice to the college faculty involved in the program. Dell is also helping with technical and infrastructure expertise.

According to Carlos Contreras, senior director of AI and digital readiness at Intel, the program consists of four parts. In the initial “Awareness” section, a teacher introduces students to some of the “possibilities” and “issues” around AI, with an emphasis on class discussion. The following two parts involve a lot of hands-on learning while students are gradually introduced to the technical skills they need to become proficient in the field. The final part of the program, “Capstone,” sees students asked to create and present projects that use AI to impact society.

For Intel, the company says working with community colleges offers a chance to “democratize AI technology.” Citing data from the American Association of Community Colleges, the company notes they attract people from various backgrounds and walks of life. But as with most programs of this type, it’s also an opportunity for the company to find candidates in a demanding field. It’s no accident then Intel plans to expand the program to include 50 more schools by 2022.

In 2020, I found out just how solid a pair of $29 true wireless earbuds could be. JLab's Go Air covers all the basics even though they lack the polish of more expensive sets. For its latest buds, the Go Air Pop, the company is taking things a step further with better battery life and a fully enclosed charging case. JLab cut the price even more too: these earbuds will only cost you $20. 

Like the Go Air, you'll get all of the core functionality of true wireless earbuds with the Go Air Pop. That includes on-board touch controls, the ability to use either earbud independently, EQ presets and IPX4 moisture resistance. The overall design of the buds is also similar, although JLab says the Go Air Pop is 15 percent smaller and 40 percent lighter than the Go Air. 

JLab

The biggest differences are the case and the battery life. The Go Air comes in an open case with an attached USB cable that tucks in the bottom. The integrated plug is back on the Go Air Pop, but the case has a lid like almost every other set of true wireless buds. JLab extended battery life to eight hours on the buds themselves, up from five on the Go Air. The case will give you three additional charges before you'll need to plug the whole set in. 

JLab isn't the only company cranking out sub-$30 true wireless earbuds. Skullcandy debuted the $25 Dime back in March, a set of buds with a more AirPod-like design. The Dime can only muster three and a half hours on a charge, but it does offer on-board controls and IPX4 water resistance for your workouts. 

The Go Air Pop will ship in late August. When it does, you can choose between black, lilac, rose, slate and teal color options. 

Ever since Apple's MagSafe made its grand return by way of the iPhone 12 series, it was only a matter of time before other phone makers came up with similar — and maybe better — solutions. Realme, the sister brand of Oppo and OnePlus, has announced its very own "MagDart" magnetic wireless charging system as part of its latest concept phone, the Flash.

Realme

Not only is MagDart the first of its kind in the Android world, it's also more powerful than Apple's MagSafe, with its maximum output rated at 50W instead of just 15W. This 50W magnetic charger leverages Realme's speedy 65W SuperDart charging tech — a rebranded version of Oppo's SuperVOOC and OnePlus' Warp Charge 65 — and has its own air-cooling system for maximum performance. Realme claims that the charging speed here is almost on par with its 50W SuperDart wired charger. Specifically, for the 4,500mAh battery inside the Realme Flash, it'll go from zero to 100 percent in under an hour.

The downside of this 50W MagDart charger is its bulkiness, but Realme will also offer a slim 15W MagDart charging pad — one that's a tad thinner than Apple's MagSafe charger. This design is mainly thanks to having the circuit board tucked away in the plug, which also keeps the charging coil cooler for higher efficiency. For the same phone, this will take about 90 minutes to go from zero to 100 percent.

Naturally, the MagDart ecosystem offers a few other snap-on accessories as well. There's a MagDart power bank which one-ups the MagSafe Battery Pack by doubling as a wireless charging stand, so you can charge or grab both the phone and the power bank simultaneously.

Realme

There's also a MagDart Beauty Light, which is a flip-up ring light — consisting of 60 mini LEDs, with adjustable brightness and color temperature — to keep your selfie game strong. Interestingly, this kit is powered by the phone's reverse wireless charging feature.

Another handy accessory here is the self-explanatory MagDart Wallet, which holds up to three credit cards in its vegan leather pockets. Though unlike the MagSafe version, this one adds an aluminum kickstand to your phone as well.

Last but not least, existing Realme GT users can get a special case to make their phone MagDart-compatible, though this will add a slight bulge near the bottom on the back side.

There's no word on when we will see the first MagDart-compatible devices on the market just yet, but when that happens, chances are future products from Oppo and OnePlus will get to share the love with Realme (unless Apple gets in the way, of course). But if you use a pacemaker, then you'll probably want to avoid those also.

You can now grab the first-gen Echo Show 5 for $45 on Amazon, if you didn't get the chance to do so on Prime Day in June and on Black Friday last year. The Alexa-powered smart display is also currently available for $45 on Best Buy, but you now have another option if you'd rather purchase it from Amazon for Prime shipping or any other reason. While you can get a refurbished version for less elsewhere, this is the lowest price we've seen for a brand new device that originally retails for $80.

Buy Amazon Echo Show 5 (1st Gen) at Amazon – $45

At $45, that also makes this smart display $45 cheaper than the second-gen Echo Show 5. And, as we mentioned in our review of the newer device, its changes are pretty minor. Instead of a one-megapixel camera, you now get 2 megapixels, which isn't that much of an upgrade. The newer smart display also comes in a light blue option, while its predecessor is only available in black and white. That's pretty much it, though — the display's resolution remains the same, and it still doesn't come with features its bigger counterpart, the Echo Show 8, has.

As we said in our review for the first-gen Echo Show 5, it's meant for those who want a smaller Amazon smart display that's also a decent alarm clock. It has a sunrise alarm feature, which slowly brightens the screen 15 minutes before the time you set, and it has ambient light sensor that automatically adjusts the screen's brightness based on your surroundings. You can also use it to display photos and watch videos, though, if you don't mind the smaller screen. The device supports Amazon Prime, NBC and Hulu, and you can always access YouTube using its built-in browsers.

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Amazon is offering $10 in promotional credit to get people to sign up to its palm print payments system. Our sister site TechCrunch spotted the promotional offer and shared a screenshot of it, which you can peep below. The retailer launched Amazon One last fall as a contactless way of authenticating purchases and allowing entry into stores using a biometric device. In this case, a palm scanner. With surface hygiene a major concern during the pandemic, the move made sense. 

Since then, Amazon has expanded the system to 53 of its physical retail spots in places including New York, New Jersey, Maryland and Texas. You can find the tech at Amazon Go convenience stores, Whole Foods Market, Amazon Go Grocery, Amazon Books, Amazon 4-star stores and Amazon Pop Ups. 

Shoppers can enroll on Amazon One at those sites by pairing their credit card and mobile number with one or both of their palm signatures. The sign-up process is the only part that requires you to touch the device. After that, you just hover your palm over the scanner to enter a store and complete purchases. The promotion also requires you to link your Amazon account with your One ID.

The limited number of Amazon One locations means that the promo will be restricted to a small circle of users. But, if Amazon gets its way, the system may be hard to avoid in a contactless, check-out free future. It's already begun discussions to offer the tech to third-party retailers.

Amazon / TechCrunch

Of course, the idea of handing over more data (especially biometric information) to Amazon may not sit right with some people. Chances are, a $10 voucher won't sway the naysayers put off by the horror stories around Amazon's facial recognitiontech and Alexa voice recordings. 

But, Amazon is aware of the privacy concerns the device raises. To assuage those fears, the company has promised to secure palm data using encryption, data isolation and dedicated secure zones with restricted access controls. For those worried their data could be monetized, it also committed to keeping palm data separate from other Amazon customer data. 

The company says that a subset of "anonymous" palm data is used to improve its system and this data is "protected using multiple layers of security controls." Amazon has also pledged to delete the data if you cancel your Amazon One ID and if you haven't interacted with one of its palm scanners for two years. 

I’ve been a user of mechanical keyboards for a few years now, and I love them. I like the semi-analogue quality of the devices, and the percussiveness, and the customisability. The one thing I haven’t always liked is the size and heft of conventional layouts like full size or TKL (ten key less, i.e. without a numpad but still with a dedicated set of cursor keys and Home/End/etc).

There are many more sizes of keyboard available, though, but the smallest I was ever comfortable with was laptop-style setups which are usually in the roughly 65% category, like on a MacBook Pro or my iPad’s Magic Keyboard, which means a keyboard with around 65% of the keys found on a full-sized one. I do have a 60% board here too (a Snowfox DK61), but the lack of arrow keys constantly tripped me up. I could configure it to have them, of course, but there’s still the issue of feeling I was reaching around too much to trigger various Fn shortcuts. What I really wanted was something contradictory: an even smaller keyboard that was easier to type on in terms of finger-stretching, but that still had all the functions I needed. Also, the aesthetic had to be impeccable, to earn a place on my minimalist desk with my iPad. White, sleek, clean, ascetic; that’s the vibe I like right now.

Sounds impossible, but it exists. Let me tell you a bit about my new daily driver, which is pictured below.

Continue reading “The Planck Keyboard”

On Monday mornings, I send out a story via email: ultra-brief tales of 1,000 words or more, usually in genres including science fiction, horror, and the supernatural. Those stories collectively are called Once Upon A Time. I’ve also published four ebooks and one paperback anthology of those stories so far.

I’d love to have you as a subscriber to the weekly free story. You can subscribe via email here, or use the form below. Unsubscribe any time, from the link in every issue.

Continue reading “Weekly Short Story: Down Deep”

Abuses of location technology might just result in hot political disputes. According to Wired, SkyWatch and Global Fishing Watch have conducted studies showing that over 100 warship locations have been faked since August 2020, including the British aircraft carrier Queen Elizabeth and the US destroyer Roosevelt. In some cases, the false data showed the vessels entering disputed waters or nearing other countries' naval bases — movements that could spark international incidents.

The research team found the fakes by comparing uses of the automatic identification system (AIS, a GPS-based system to help prevent collisions) with verifiable position data by using an identifying pattern. All of the false info came from shore-based AIS receivers while satellites showed the real positions, for instance. Global Fishing Watch had been investigating fake AIS positions for years, but this was the first time it had seen falsified data for real ships.

It's not certain who's faking locations and why. However, analysts said the data was characteristic of a common perpetrator that might be Russia. Almost all of the affected warships were from European countries or NATO members, and the data included bogus incursions around Kaliningrad, the Black Sea, Crimea and other Russian interests. In theory, Russia could portray Europe and NATO as aggressors by falsely claiming those rivals sent warships into Russian seas.

Russia has historically denied hacking claims. It has a years-long history of using fake accounts and misinformation to stoke political tensions that further its own ends, though. And if Russia is connected, the faked warship locations might be a significant escalation of that strategy. Even though such an approach might not lead to shooting matches, it could get disconcertingly close.

NASA just celebrated another major moment in the history of Moon exploration. The New York Timesnoted that July 31st, 2021 marks the 50th anniversary of the Lunar Roving Vehicle's first outing — and the first time people drove on the Moon. Apollo 15 astronauts Dave Scott and Jim Irwin took the car on a stint to collect samples and explore the lunar surface more effectively than they could on foot.

Scott and Irwin would eventually drive the rover two more times (for a total of three hours) before returning to Earth. The Apollo 16 and 17 missions each had an LRV of their own. There was also a fourth rover, but it was used for spare parts after the cancellation of Apollo 18 and further missions. All three serving models remained on the Moon.

Early development was problematic, in no small part due to the lack of real-world testing conditions. They couldn't exactly conduct a real-world test drive, after all. The team eventually settled on a collapsible design with steel mesh wheels that could safely handle the Moon's low gravity, lack of atmosphere, extreme temperatures and soft soil.

The LRV was modest, with a 57-mile range, four 0.19kW motors and an official top speed of 8MPH. It was also expensive, with cost overruns bringing the price of four rovers to $38 million (about $249 million in 2021 dollars). It was key to improved scientific exploration during the later stages of the Apollo program, though, and it was also an early example of a practical electric vehicle — humans were using a battery-powered ride on the Moon decades before the technology became mainstream on Earth.

We wouldn't count on humans driving on the Moon any time soon, although that reflects the progress made in the 50 years since. NASA and other space agencies are now focused on robotic rovers that can explore the Moon without worries about crew safety. Those humans that do go on rides will likely use autonomous vehicles. Think of this anniversary as celebrating a first step toward the technology you see today.