NASA has a launch date for that most Hollywood of missions, the Double Asteroid Redirection Test, which is basically a dry run of the movie “Armageddon.” Unlike the film, this will not involve nukes, oil rigs or Aerosmith, but instead is a practical test of our ability to change the trajectory of an asteroid in […]
Strike looms over labor conditions on TV and film productions by big streaming services
A dispute over working conditions at “new media” properties like Netflix, Disney+, Apple TV and others may shut down productions across the country if a strike vote by the union succeeds. Thousands of workers on and off set claim they are not receiving appropriate wages, breaks, safety measures and other needs due to a contractual […]
Virgin Galactic is clear to fly again following FAA’s ‘mishap investigation’ of Branson flight
The Federal Aviation Administration has closed its “mishap investigation” into the July 11 flight of Virgin Galactic founder Richard Branson and three others, the space tourism company’s first dedicated passenger trip. Future flights will reserve a greater volume of airspace and the company promises better communication, but other than that the company is clear to […]
Google beefs up wildfire tracking, tree cover, and Plus Codes in Maps
Google has updates for a handful of tools aimed at helping people use Maps for more, or get on them in the first place. The company is improving wildfire tracking, expanding a tool for calculating tree canopy cover in cities, and further automating virtual address creation with Plus Codes. The wildfires will be of the […]
Lynk demos global satellite connection for ordinary phones and prepares for commercial launch
The days of “no signal” may be behind us with the advent of Lynk’s satellite network that lets any modern phone exchange data directly with a satellite overhead, no special antenna or chip required. The company just demonstrated a two-way data link this week and announced its first network partners in Africa and the Bahamas […]
DroneSeed’s $36M A round makes it a one-stop shop for post-wildfire reforestation
DroneSeed started as a tech-powered alternative to the backbreaking work of large-scale tree-planting, but this important task is only one small part of forest restoration, the infrastructure for which is being pushed to the breaking point by wildfires. Armed with $36M in new funding, the company is reimagining reforestation from root to crown in a […]
FCC showers schools across the US with $1.2B from Emergency Connectivity Fund
The FCC has sent out the first checks from its Emergency Connectivity Fund, an effort to help close the “homework gap” at schools by covering the cost of computers and internet services. Thousands of school districts, in every state plus D.C., Guam and Puerto Rico, will split this first $1.2 billion distribution, and there’s still […]
Google powers up assistive tech in Android with facial gesture-powered shortcuts and switches
Making smartphones more accessible is always a good idea, and Google’s latest features bring quick actions and navigation to people whose expressions are their primary means of interacting with the world. Project Activate and Camera Switches let users perform tasks like speaking a custom phrase, or navigating using a switch interface, through facial gestures alone. […]
Sofar and DARPA look to standardize ocean monitoring gadgets with Bristlemouth
The ocean is important to countless industries, but we still only have a rough idea of what it’s like as a whole at any given time. To foster a new generation of ocean-monitoring floats and other devices, Sofar Ocean Technologies and DARPA are publishing an open hardware standard called Bristlemouth so that researchers will have […]
Peter Beck says Rocket Lab actively prepared for interplanetary missions ‘from day one’
Rocket Lab long ago graduated from underdog launch provider to industry heavyweight (with funding to match). Now the company is planning to go to the moon, Mars and Venus in the next decade.