Jan 10
Ford has suspended orders for the 2023 Maverick due to supply issues and high demand, but there is a chance that orders will re-open later this year.
Jan 10
Hasbro and Paramount have announced that a new, eight-episode, live-action series set in the world of Dungeons & Dragons has been ordered to series for Paramount+.
Jan 10
Like other popular models, Ford is temporarily suspending sale of the F-150 Lightning due to increased demand, which is big for the electric pickup.
Jan 10
On Monday, Amazon announced its Buy with Prime offering will be available for U.S.-based merchants on January 31. The feature allows merchants to offer Prime members benefits through apps and storefronts that aren’t controlled by Amazon.
Jan 10
Like it or not, Amazon is expanding Prime to cover more of the web. The company says it’s making Buy with Prime “widely available” to eligible third-party sites in the US on January 31st. More shops can offer free shipping, a streamlined checkout and simplified returns to Prime members. Before now, stores had to already be using Amazon’s fulfillment system and receive an invitation.
The company is also introducing an option that lets Buy with Prime partners feature Amazon customer ratings and reviews on their store pages. A site won’t have to hope that someone leaves a glowing review on its own storefron. If someone shopping at Amazon likes a product, it’ll be visible on the third-party shop.
The theoretical advantages are clear. You get products with less hassle, while stores are more likely to turn visitors into paying customers. Amazon, meanwhile, is hoping to boost interest in Prime subscriptions and play an important role at other merchants.
The catch, of course, is that you have to pay Amazon to reap the benefits — and not everyone may be thrilled by the prospect. Amazon is already facing government scrutiny over the treatment of third-party sellers on its marketplace, including accusations it uses their sales data to develop rival products. Buy with Prime extends Amazon’s influence to yet more sellers, and could invite more attention from regulators as a result.
Jan 10
NASA is still willing to fund unusual concepts in its bid to advance space exploration. The agency is handing out $175,000 initial study grants to 14 projects that could be useful for missions in and beyond the Solar System. The highlight may be TitanAir, a seaplane from Planet Enterprises’ Quinn Morley that could both fly through the nitrogen-and-methane atmosphere of Saturn’s moon Titan and sail its oceans. The “flying boat” would collect methane and complex organic material for study by sucking it in through a porous leading edge.
A project from UCLA’s Artur Davoyan, meanwhile, could speed up missions to the outer edge of the Solar System and even interstellar space. His design (shown at middle) would propel spacecraft by producing a “pellet-beam” of microscopic particles travelling at very high speed (over 74 miles per second) using laser blasts. The concept could dramatically shorten the time it takes to explore deep space. Where Voyager 1 took 35 years to reach interstellar space (the heliopause, roughly 123AU from the Sun), a one-ton spacecraft could reach 100AU in just three years. It could travel 500AU in 15 years.
Artur Davoyan
Other efforts are sometimes similarly ambitious. MIT’s Mary Knapp has proposed a deep space observatory that would use a swarm of thousands of tiny satellites to detect low-frequency radio emissions from the early universe, not to mention the magnetic fields of Earth-like exoplanets. Congrui Jin from the University of Nebraska in Lincoln has envisioned self-growing habitat building blocks that could save space on missions to Mars, while Lunar Resources’ Peter Curreri has devised pipelines that could shuttle oxygen between Moon bases.
These are all very early initiatives that aren’t guaranteed to lead to real-world tests, let alone missions. However, they illustrate NASA’s thinking. The administration is funding the projects now in hopes that at least one will eventually pay off. If there’s even partial success, NASA could make discoveries that aren’t practical using existing technology.
Jan 10
Ohio, New Jersey Join Growing Number Of States Banning TikTok From Govt-Owned Devices
Posted in: Today's ChiliThe social media giant, owned by Chinese company ByteDance, has been floated as a national security liability over its ties to Beijing.
Jan 10
Coinbase announced on Tuesday that it would lay off 20% of its employees—950 people out of an estimated 4,700—in an effort to significantly reduce its operating expenses. It’s the company’s second large round of layoffs in less than a year. In June, Coinbase laid off 1,100 employees.
Jan 10
Evil Dead Rise’s Lee Cronin talks about moving the series to a city setting. Naughty Dog’s Neil Druckman talks about a big change to The Last of Us’ virus for the TV show. Plus, new images from the set of The Flash movie, and what’s next on Mayfair Witches. Spoilers now!
Jan 10
Britain’s first orbital launch ended in a disappointing failure after Virgin Orbit’s LauncherOne rocket suffered an anomaly, destroying the seven payloads on board.
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