Jul 24
Jul 24
A SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket will be launching NASA’s long-awaited mission to Europa, Jupiter’s icy moon that may have the conditions to support life. The agency has been planning to send a probe to the Jovian moon for years and finalized its plans in 2019. In its announcement, NASA said the Europa Clipper spacecraft is scheduled to launch in October 2024 on top of a Falcon Heavy rocket from Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Complex 39A. It has also revealed that the contract will cost the agency approximately $178 million — a bargain, compared to what it would’ve cost to launch the mission on top of NASA’s Space Launch System rocket.
As Ars Technica notes, Congress originally urged NASA to use the SLS to launch the Europa Clipper. At the time, though, the White House estimated a single SLS launch to cost a whopping $2 billion. Far from ideal, especially since the SLS would need gravity assist from Venus and travel farther to be able to reach its goal, whereas the Falcon Heavy wouldn’t. In addition, NASA told Ars that the SLS would need $1 billion worth of additional modifications to be able to complete the mission.
If Europa Clipper launches in October 2024 as planned, it will reach Jupiter’s orbit in April 2030. The probe will then investigate whether the icy moon truly has conditions suitable for life. It’ll capture “high-resolution images of Europa’s surface, determine its composition, look for signs of recent or ongoing geological activity, measure the thickness of the moon’s icy shell, search for subsurface lakes, and determine the depth and salinity of Europa’s ocean.”
Jul 24
As with all things, the internet has its high points, such as adorable cats, and its low points, or spammers, trolls, and people who share abusive content. Many of us avoid these individuals, though it’s easier to do on some platforms than on others. Here’s some good news: If you’re having trouble with these kinds of…
Jul 24
Dutch Teen Who Went to Space With Jeff Bezos Told Him He’s Never Bought Anything on Amazon
Posted in: Today's ChiliThe award for “Best Small Talk on a Flight to Space” goes to Oliver Daemen, the 18-year-old from the Netherlands who was part of Blue Origin’s inaugural crewed flight to space earlier this week. On the roughly 10-minute flight, Daemon told Amazon founder Jeff Bezos what probably sounded like blasphemy to his…
Jul 24
He posted photos and boasted about the insurrection on Bumble, according to the federal complaint against him.
Jul 24
The sports reporter and ESPN had been unable to agree on a contract after news emerged of a colleague’s racist remarks.
Jul 24
MagSafe is Apple’s proprietary “wireless” charging technology that uses a magnet to attach a puck to the back of an iPhone to help it charge. In a way, it’s similar to the same tech that they use to charge the Apple Watch, and prior to that, their MacBooks as well. If you were envious of that tech, you’ll be pleased to learn that it is now available for Samsung devices.
No, we’re not talking about how Apple and Samsung worked together to share this tech, but rather it is thanks to camera lens maker and accessory maker Moment. Moment has announced their new lineup of Samsung Galaxy S21 cases and one of the features of the case is that it will be compatible with MagSafe.
However, by compatible we mean that it will play nicely with accessories designed with MagSafe in mind. This includes Moment’s very own lineup of mounts and tripod systems that use MagSafe as a way of mounting the phone to a car vent, cold shoes, to the wall, and so on. We’re not 100% sure if it will be capable of supporting MagSafe charging, but if the idea of magnetic-based accessories sounds good to you, there is that at the very least.
As expected of Moment, the case also comes with mounts for the company’s lineup of smartphone camera lenses, so depending on your model, you should be able to use it with a variety of lens types.
Moment’s New Galaxy S21 Cases Brings MagSafe To Samsung’s Phones
, original content from Ubergizmo. Read our Copyrights and terms of use.
Jul 24
One of the features of a lot of photo sharing platforms is facial recognition. This is something that Apple has built into its own Photos app. For the most part, we have to say that it does a good job at picking out faces, even if it’s in a group photo, but when it comes to photos where faces are partially hidden or obscured, then that’s when it falters.
We can’t really blame Apple for that because if there isn’t that much data to work with, what can they do about it? It turns out that they can do something about it because in a post on their Machine Learning blog, Apple has revealed that with iOS 15, its Photos app will be better at recognizing people even if their faces aren’t shown completely.
According to Apple, “Faces are frequently occluded or simply not visible if the subject is looking away from the camera. To solve these cases we also consider the upper bodies of the people in the image, since they usually show constant characteristics— like clothing— within a specific context. These constant characteristics can provide strong cues to identify the person across images captures a few minutes from each other.”
It sounds interesting and promising, although since iOS 15 isn’t widely available yet as it is still in beta, we haven’t got a chance to try it out yet, but hopefully it works as intended once the update is released later this year.
iOS 15’s Photos Will Be Better At Recognizing People
, original content from Ubergizmo. Read our Copyrights and terms of use.
Jul 24
Corning is a name that many of you might be familiar with. The company’s Gorilla Glass series has been used in smartphones for its display covers, but now it looks like Corning wants to expand to cover more than that. The company wants to start protecting the cameras of your smartphone as well.
To that end, Corning has announced that they will be taking its Gorilla Glass DX glass and bringing it to smartphone cameras. The DX and DX+ series were originally introduced a few years ago where they were initially designed for smartwatches. Corning claimed back then that the DX series would be better than sapphire, which is what some companies use to cover cameras with, as they are apparently more scratch-resistant and can reduce reflections better.
According to Jaymin Amin, vice president and general manager, Corning Gorilla Glass, “Antireflective coatings have long been used on conventional cameras to improve light capture. However, these coatings have a propensity to scratch easily, negatively impacting image quality. Corning’s Gorilla Glass composites not only provide mobile device camera lens covers with enhanced scratch resistance and durability compared to traditional coatings, but also the improved optical performance required for these devices.”
The first phones expected to take advantage of this glass would be Samsung where it will be used on the company’s upcoming smartphones, which presumably will be their new foldables that they plan on announcing in the coming weeks.
Corning Will Be Bringing Its Gorilla Glass To Smartphone Cameras
, original content from Ubergizmo. Read our Copyrights and terms of use.
Jul 24
Fortnite Short Nite 2 brings short movies and a premiere to Party Royale theater
Posted in: Today's ChiliEpic Games has announced the return of its Short Nite event with the new Short Nite 2. As with the original event, this latest short film showcase is happening in Fortnite‘s battle-free Party Royale mode where players can gather around the big screen. The first short debuted earlier today with more to come throughout the weekend. Fortnite‘s Short Nite is … Continue reading
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