Sep 09
A powerful earthquake that struck Morocco late Friday night killed at least 296 people, the country’s Interior Ministry said.
Sep 09
SpaceX’s latest Starship test launch was its last for the foreseeable future. The FAA announced Friday that it has closed its investigation into April’s mishap, but that the company will not be allowed to resume test launches until it addresses a list of 63 “corrective actions” for its launch system.
“The vehicle’s structural margins appear to be better than we expected,” SpaceX CEO Elon Musk joked with reporters in the wake of the late April test launch. Per the a report from the US Fish and WIldlife Service, however, the failed launch resulted in a 385-acre debris field that saw concrete chunks flung more than 2,600 feet from the launchpad, a 3.5-acre wildfire and “a plume cloud of pulverized concrete that deposited material up to 6.5 miles northwest of the pad site.”
“Corrective actions include redesigns of vehicle hardware to prevent leaks and fires, redesign of the launch pad to increase its robustness, incorporation of additional reviews in the design process, additional analysis and testing of safety critical systems and components including the Autonomous Flight Safety System, and the application of additional change control practices,” the FAA release reads. Furthermore, the FAA says that SpaceX will have to not only complete that list but also apply for and receive a modification to its existing license “that addresses all safety, environmental and other applicable regulatory requirements prior to the next Starship launch.” In short, SpaceX has reached the “finding out” part.
SpaceX released a blog post shortly after the FAA’s announcement was made public, obliquely addressing the issue. “Starship’s first flight test provided numerous lessons learned,” the post reads, crediting its “rapid iterative development approach” with both helping develop all of SpaceX’s vehicles to this point and “directly contributing to several upgrades being made to both the vehicle and ground infrastructure.”
The company admitted that its Autonomous Flight Safety System (AFSS), which is designed to self-destruct a rocket when it goes off its flightpath but before it hits the ground, suffered “an unexpected delay” — that lasted 40 seconds. SpaceX did not elaborate on what cause, if any, it found for the fault but has reportedly since “enhanced and requalified the AFSS to improve system reliability.”
“SpaceX is also implementing a full suite of system performance upgrades unrelated to any issues observed during the first flight test,” the blog reads. Those improvements include a new hot-stage separation system which will more effectively decouple the first and second stages, a new electronic “Thrust Vector Control (TVC) system” for its Raptor heavy rockets, and “significant upgrades” to the orbital launch mount and pad system which just so happened to have failed in the first test but is, again, completely unrelated to this upgrade. Whether those improvements overlap with the 63 that the FAA is imposing, could not be confirmed at the time of publication as the FAA had not publically released them.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/faa-grounds-starship-until-spacex-takes-63-corrective-actions-174825385.html?src=rss
Sep 09
Appeals Court Scales Back Order Squelching White House Contact With Social Media Platforms
Posted in: Today's ChiliA federal appeals court has significantly whittled down a lower court order curbing Biden administration communications with social media companies.
Sep 09
Gavin Newsom Goes After Robert F. Kennedy Jr.: ‘He’s Being Used’ By Conservatives
Posted in: Today's ChiliThe California governor added that the Democratic presidential candidate’s politics have shifted and that he doesn’t buy it.
Sep 09
Google's more durable Pixel Watch 2 will be available for preorder October 4
Posted in: Today's ChiliApple’s iPhone (and likely Apple Watch) event is right around the corner but Google desperately would love for you to remember that it will announce its own devices soon. Rather than just… holding its own event before Apple’s, Google has instead decided to tease its upcoming devices with short videos. After starting to dripfeed details about the Pixel 8 lineup, Google has turned its attention to the Pixel Watch 2.
One major change that’s evident from the 15-second teaser is that “IP68” is printed on the back of the device. That indicates the Pixel Watch 2 will feature IP68 dust- and water-resistance, which should make it somewhat more durable than the previous model.
Last year’s Pixel Watch does not have an IP rating — smartwatches typically have an ATM rating. The original Pixel Watch is water resistant up to 50 meters and can “withstand some rain, shallow pools and sweat from exercise,” Google says.
Other than some minor cosmetic changes to the crown, the Pixel Watch 2 has a very similar design to the first model. We’ll learn much more about the device during the Made by Google event on October 4.
There’s one more thing worth pointing out from the video, however. Google notes that Pixel Watch 2 preorders will open on October 4 as well, so it’s very likely that the device will arrive sometime next month.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/googles-more-durable-pixel-watch-2-will-be-available-for-preorder-october-4-180256306.html?src=rss
Sep 09
If you’ve ever had the privilege (or curse) of listening in on a corporate earnings call, you probably noticed that the executives behave a little mechanically. According to a new study that compared ChatGPT and other AIs to the human robots working in the C-Suite, sometimes that’s a good thing.
Sep 09
X, the social media company previously known as Twitter, is suing the state of California over a law that requires companies to disclose details about their content moderation practices. The law, known as AB 587, requires social media companies to publish information about their handling of hate speech, extremism, misinformation and other issues, as well as details about internal moderation processes.
Lawyers for X argue that the law is unconstitutional and will lead to censorship. It “has both the purpose and likely effect of pressuring companies such as X Corp. to remove, demonetize, or deprioritize constitutionally-protected speech,” the company wrote in the lawsuit. “The true intent of AB 587 is to pressure social media platforms to ‘eliminate’ certain constitutionally-protected content viewed by the State as problematic.”
X is not alone in its opposition to the law. Though the measure was backed by some activists, a number of industry groups took issue with AB 587. Netchoice, a trade group which represents Meta, Google, TikTok and other tech companies, argued last year that AB 587 would help bad actors evade companies’ security measures, and make it harder for them to enforce their rules.
At the same time, AB 587’s backers have said it’s necessary to increase the transparency of major platforms. “If @X has nothing to hide, then they should have no objection to this bill,” Assemblyman Jesse Gabriel, who wrote AB 587, said in response to X’s lawsuit.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/x-is-suing-california-over-social-media-content-moderation-law-233034890.html?src=rss
Sep 09
Ready to meet all the new Apple products? Apple will announce its next generation of mobile products at next week’s Wonderlust event. We’ll know all about the new iPhone 15 on September 12th. We’ll also learn more about its companion accessory, the Apple Watch, which remains the best-selling smartwatch amongst the…
Sep 09
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is adding artificial intelligence tools to crack down on potential tax violations, the agency announced on Friday. The IRS claims it will be focusing on wealthy taxpayers who have used “sophisticated schemes to avoid taxes,” instead of burdening average people with “no-change” audits.
Sep 09
Tens of thousands of Burning Man attendees in Nevada’s Black Rock Desert had to trudge through rain and mud last Friday and into last weekend after an unusual bout of rain in the region.
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