NASA to test a tiny parachute for spacecraft re-entry in 2017
When JAXA’s Kounotori (white stork) 6 left for the ISS, it was carrying a small parachute called “Exo-Brake” with it. Exo-Brake was designed to give small satellites and payloads a way to return back to Earth without getting destroyed in the process, and NASA will put it to the test in 2017. The contraption looks like a small, cross-shaped parachute that deploys from the rear end of the payload to increase the drag during the de-orbit phase.
To make sure the payload lands where it can be retrieved, a ground team will control Exo-Brake’s movements by relying on a real-time simulation of its orbital trajectory and adjusting its system of mechanical struts and flexible cord. NASA already tested an older version of the parachute back in 2013, but that one couldn’t be controlled like this new model can.
Exo-Brake is part of a larger experiment called Technology Education (TechEdSat-5), which also includes testing an avionics board that uses Intel’s Edison microprocessor. If the de-orbit device successfully ferries the TechEdSat-5 satellite back to Earth, then its design could be used as a building block for larger systems that can carry payloads to Mars and other celestial bodies.
[Image credit: NASA Ames/Dominic Hart]
Source: NASA
Trump adds CEOs of Tesla, Uber to his presidential policy forum
US President-elect Donald Trump has been crafting a Strategic and Policy Forum to ask business leaders for advice on economic decisions, but it has mostly drawn from conventional corporate heavyweights like General Motors, JPMorgan Chase and IBM. However, he’s shaking things up a bit today: the future leader has announced that Tesla/SpaceX CEO Elon Musk and Uber CEO Travis Kalanick will join the Forum. Trump sees them as broadening the reach of his advisor group, adding “innovative and vibrant” companies that will help create jobs “from Silicon Valley to the heartland.”
This doesn’t mean that either executive is a cheerleader for Trump. As recently as November, Musk said that Trump was “not the right guy” for the presidency. Kalanick, meanwhile, joked that he would move to China if Trump won. As with the imminent tech CEO meeting with Trump, this is likely about making sure their voices are heard in a White House that isn’t necessarily sympathetic to their views. Musk, for instance, wants a quick move toward clean energy and electric cars — a stark contrast with a Trump camp bent on protecting the fossil fuel industry and denying evidence of human-made climate change.
This isn’t to say the Forum additions aren’t raising eyebrows. If you’ll recall, Musk worked with Trump transition team member Peter Thiel when the two were leaders at PayPal. It’s been over a decade since Musk and Thiel were so closely linked, but it’s hard to ignore the connection. And Kalanick may well be happy with Trump’s choice of Elaine Chao as the head of the Department of Transportation. Chao isn’t a fan of federal-level regulation or worker’s rights groups, which suits a ridesharing company that sometimes skirts the law and fights tooth and nail to avoid treating its drivers as employees. Even though they have clear objections to Trump, they also have some skin in the game.
Source: Electrek, CNBC Now (Twitter)
Microsoft will give Skype chatbots a voice next year
Not content with just stuffing Cortana into your home appliances, Microsoft now wants you to have real conversations with needy Skype bots. In a bid to make those awkward chatbot encounters feel more natural, next year will see the company granting third parties access to its Skype calling API. With this, Microsoft partners like StubHub and Expedia will be able to give their bots a voice, offering users an alternative to text chat.
Aside from being more engaging conversationalists, these talking bots will also be able to use video, audio and GIFs in Skype chat windows.
While Microsoft’s push to make scripted interactions less painful is certainly admirable, and makes sense given the trend towards more natural voice controls, these Skype chatbots will have something to prove. In an age where all we want is to achieve our daily tasks as quickly as possible, the last thing we want to do is actually talk to anyone — and for many, that still includes relatively helpful robots.
Source: Skype Blog
Evernote’s new privacy rules may let its employees read your notes
Evernote set off a minor fracas on Twitter Tuesday when it announced an upcoming change to its privacy policy that would enable company employees to “exercise oversight of machine learning technologies applied to account content” in order to improve the service. The changes, which will take effect January 23rd, 2017, did not sit well with some of the service’s users despite the company’s explanation that it was only as oversight for the machine learning process.
I need a good replacement for @evernote. Preferably one that lets me import existing notes & works on desktop, iOS and Android. What is it?
— mat honan (@mat) December 14, 2016
According to the company’s policy update notice, “Only employees who are fulfilling one of the customer or business needs… will be able to access your data.” The number of employees that can access user data is strictly limited, all of whom undergo background checks.
If you don’t want to participate, you’re free to opt out of the machine learning service by unchecking the “Allow Evernote to use business data to improve my experience” on the admin console. That said, even if you opt out of the company reading your notes for this purpose, you can’t opt out of them reading your notes for any of a myriad of others — like if you give the company explicit consent, for data and credit card processing service providers contracted by Evernote, for government search warrants or if the company thinks you’ve violated its terms of service. If opting out isn’t enough, you can encrypt your notes (though, ugh, individually) to prevent anyone without the encryption key from viewing their contents.
While this all seems very well and standard for the industry, Evernote’s explanation was a bit sparse on specifics. The Privacy Policy does explain that the machine learning system access your data to customize your searches, show relevant information given your location and time of day and make suggestions based on the type of note and content you are creating. But neither the Privacy Policy itself or Evernote’s explainer blog post appear to specify what the computer’s human overlords can look at. It’s a big difference between an Evernote engineer looking at your credit card information and them reading your erotic My Little Pony fan fic. I’ve reached out to Evernote for further clarification and will update the post upon their response.
Via: Evernote (policy update blog)
Source: Evernote
Dolby Atmos audio is coming to the Xbox One and Windows 10 next year
Earlier this week, Microsoft announced that Dolby Atmos surround sound support was coming to the Xbox One — but only for Blu-ray playback, and only for those enrolled in the console’s preview program. Today, though, the company says that it’ll soon offer full Dolby Atmos support for games on both the Xbox One and in Windows 10.
For best performance, you’ll need a pretty serious high-end speaker setup that supports Atmos. But Microsoft notes that you can use “virtually any pair of headphones” to get a similar experience. And Atmos isn’t limited to games — Microsoft also notes that it’ll work with films as well, assuming the movie’s audio was mixed with Atmos in mind. As for when this will launch, the company is only saying next year — but if you’ve invested in a high-end audio setup and own an Xbox One, just know that things are about to get a lot better.
Source: Microsoft
Candy Mechanics turns heads into 3D chocolate lollipops
The holidays are a time to forget about your fitness goals and indulge. And what better to stuff your face with than, well, your face? Candy Mechanics is in the business of personalised chocolate, but the company’s latest service takes that idea one step further: chocolate people. Or rather, chocolate heads, known as Lolpops. All you need is a smartphone or tablet to film a 30-second, close-up video of someone’s mug from all angles (Candy Mechanics’ website talks you through the process). Upload that video, and fancy Autodesk software builds a 3D model from the footage that’s then used to create chocolate heads on sticks.
Candy Mechanics offered a similar service for a limited time last year, setting up shop in London’s Selfridges store for six weeks. Back then, though, the process involved a 3D scanner, and a 3D printer that would make chocolate molds customers could take away to craft their own Lolpops. It was much more time-consuming than the new process, whereby a machine carves the heads out of chocolate “blanks.” (Confectionary-specific 3D printers aren’t quite up to scratch yet, it would seem.)
While the new Lolpops are available to anyone in the UK with a phone, they are still a “limited edition” product. Candy Mechanics is only accepting 500 orders before Christmas, and with a pack of three setting you back £20 (edible gold finish included), they aren’t the cheapest novelty item. Still, there’s nothing quite like a personalised gift — though if you fancy picking up a set for the chocolate lover in your life, best start coming up with excuses for needing a 30-second close-up video of them if you don’t want to spoil the surprise.
Source: Candy Mechanics
iPhone 7 Tops Google’s 2016 ‘Year in Search’ Tech List, Loses to Pokémon Go in Overall Searches
Google has listed its annual “Year in Search” results, highlighting the most popular searches performed by people throughout 2016. As is usually the case, Apple-related search inquiries topped a few of the charts over the last twelve months, with Apple winning four total spots in the Consumer Tech category: the iPhone 7 topped the list ahead of the Freedom 251, iPhone SE, iPhone 6s, Google Pixel, Samsung Galaxy S7, iPhone 7 Plus, Galaxy Note7, Nintendo Switch, and Samsung J7.
Last December, the iPhone 6s ranked #1 in the same category, with the Apple Watch coming in at a high point at #3. Apple’s wearable was nowhere to be seen in the top Google tech searches in 2016, despite Apple launching the new Series 1 and Series 2 versions of the device.
In the Overall searches category, Pokémon Go came in first place in 2016 thanks to the height of its popularity and player base earlier in the summer, and the game’s continued updates and additions throughout the fall. iPhone 7 ranked second behind Pokémon Go, and was the only Apple-related item to be listed in the section this year. Other popular search terms in 2016 were for Deadpool, the Olympics, Slither.io, Prince, David Bowie, and more.
Check out the rest of Google’s Year in Search rankings here to discover the most popularly searched movies, news, tv shows, musicians, and more this past year.
Related Roundup: iPhone 7
Tag: Google
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AirPods Now Estimated to Ship in 6 Weeks
Apple has updated its website to indicate AirPods are now estimated to ship in 6 weeks in the United States and many other countries around the world. The wireless earphones have been available for purchase on Apple’s website since yesterday, with initial orders set to be delivered as early as December 19.
Apple said AirPods will be shipping in limited quantities at launch, so it is unsurprising that shipping estimates have quickly slipped from 2 weeks to 4 weeks to 6 weeks around the world. The delay means customers who have yet to place an order will likely not receive their AirPods until 2017.
However, those who missed out still have a chance, as Apple said AirPods will be available for purchase at Apple Stores, authorized resellers, and select carriers next week. Apple noted stores will receive “regular AirPods shipments,” and customers would be wise to call their local store ahead of time to confirm stock.
AirPods are Apple’s all-new $159 wireless earphones. The cord-free earphones instantly turn on and connect to your iPhone, Apple Watch, iPad, or Mac when taken out of their charging case. Likewise, audio automatically plays as soon as you put them in your ears and pauses when you take them out.
AirPods, driven by Apple’s custom W1 chip for one-tap setup, deliver up to 5 hours of listening time on one charge, and a 15-minute fast charge provides up to 3 hours of listening time. The accompanying charging case holds multiple additional charges for more than 24 hours of listening time.
AirPods use optical sensors and a motion accelerometer to detect when they are in your ears. Doubling tapping an earpiece invokes Siri, which can be used to adjust the volume, change the song, make a call, or get directions. An accelerometer works with beamforming microphones to filter out background noise.
Tags: AirPods, Apple retail
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Instagram Now Lets You Save Posts to View Later
Instagram today launched a small update for its iOS and Android apps, allowing users to save a post they’re interested in to check out later. Underneath each post in the feed users will find a small bookmark icon, and tapping it will send it to a new Saved Post section in the Profile tab.
Saved Posts are private and only visible for you to view, and Instagram says that it’ll help organize and memorialize each user’s favorite videos and images from their feeds and the Explore tab. Any public profile can have their pictures saved for later by other users, but only followers of private accounts can save their posts.
When you stumble upon a funny video you want to remember, a new outfit you like or even inspiration for an upcoming vacation, you can now keep track of favorite posts right from your profile.
Over the past few months Instagram has been focusing on “pressure-free” updates and anti-harassment tools that let users navigate and post on the social network in a more relaxed environment. Coming soon, users will be able to turn the comments section of their posts off completely.
Instagram is available to download from the iOS App Store for free. [Direct Link]
Tag: Instagram
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‘Pastebot 2.0’ Clipboard Manager From Tapbots Launches on Mac App Store
Tapbots, the developers behind the popular Twitter client Tweetbot, today launched Pastebot 2.0 for Mac, which is designed to make copy and paste better.
Pastebot is a clipboard manager that saves everything you copy so you can access it later. Pasteboards, which are built into Pastebot, let you store links and snippets of text that you frequently copy and paste so you can access the info in just a few seconds.
Multiple Pasteboards can be used to keep your text clippings organized, and the clipboard itself can be opened up with a Command + Shift + V keyboard shortcut or through a Menu bar app. Filters can be applied to copied text snippets for formatting purposes to save even more time. Options include Create List, Wrap in Paragraph Tags, Convert to Plain Text, Change Case, Emoji Remover, and more.
Pastebot has been in beta testing since August, but is now available for download from the Mac App Store starting today. It’s priced at $19.99. [Direct Link]
During beta testing, Pastebot content was not able to sync between Macs because CloudKit is required, and CloudKit is not available to apps outside of the Mac App Store. With the version that’s launching today, syncing is possible so you can use it across multiple Macs.
Tags: Tapbots, Pastebot
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