Pope scolds bishops for lifting up phones, not hearts, during Mass

Pope Francis took a moment during his most recent St. Peter’s Square Papal Audience gathering, where he addresses thousands of faithful attendees, to remind everyone present it’s a time to lift up your heart, not your smartphone. He was referring to the many phones he saw looking out over the crowd, held aloft taking pictures of the proceedings. It was a sight that saddened him, he said, calling the use of phones during Mass, “a very ugly thing.”

He wasn’t only scolding the general audience, but naughty, phone-wielding priests and bishops too.

“It makes me very sad when I celebrate Mass here in the piazza or in the basilica and I see so many cell phones held up. Not only by the faithful, but also by some priests and even bishops! The Mass is not a show, so remember, no cell phones!”

The pope’s unscripted words were met with applause and laughter, as shown in a video of the address, and no doubt some red faces among any clergy who were quickly putting their phones away. It’s not an unreasonable request, as few would want to watch the Papal Audience address on a phone screen held up by the person in front of them, a situation that has become common at many concerts and live events around the world.

Despite his words, the pope is not anti-technology — he has a Twitter account, an Instagram account, a YouTube channel, and a dedicated bot on Facebook Messenger. He has even given a TED Talk, a first for any Pope. This isn’t the first time, however, that he has raised the issue of using smartphones at inappropriate times. In 2015, he used another Papal Audience address to blame the smartphone for the disappearance of the traditional family dinner.

It’s not just smartphones he views as potentially intrusive, but modern technology generally. In 2014, he told a gathering of 50,000 altar servers that high-tech products and the internet “should simplify and improve the quality of life” — words we think many tech companies should heed too — but instead, “they distract attention away from what’s really important.”

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NASA describes its plan for reaching Mars, but timing could be challenging

NASA unveiled its proposed three-step plan for reaching the Red Planet in October 2015, but even with a 36-page report and an artistic graphic touching on the mission’s stages, required equipment, and time frame, actually reaching Mars still feels a ways away. The mission has already been delayed once, with a new target date of December 2019, but even that goal seems a bit far-fetched as per a recent review. Never fear, though, NASA is insisting that in just over two years, we will be going to Mars.

“While the review of the possible manufacturing and production schedule risks indicate a launch date of June 2020, the agency is managing to December 2019,” Robert Lightfoot, acting NASA administrator, said in a statement. “Since several of the key risks identified have not been actually realized, we are able to put in place mitigation strategies for those risks to protect the December 2019 date.”

Last year, NASA held a two-day event geared toward pulling back the veil on its ambitious future plan — and Digital Trends was there to get the inside scoop.

Instead of simply packing a group of journalists and social media fans into a room and clicking through various PowerPoint presentations, NASA did one better: It allowed visits to two of its official space centers, Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans and Stennis Space Center in Hancock County, Mississippi. As expected, the information given during each tour teetered on the edge of being both extremely dense — it is rocket science, after all — and purposely vague; NASA doesn’t plan on actually sending humans to Mars until the 2030s, leaving it some time to elaborate.

With that said, the agency did have a former astronaut on hand who was as enthusiastic about space travel as anyone, along with a slew of engineers, technicians, and representatives who were all eager to finally expose the foundation for how we plan to travel to the red planet.

Peering behind NASA’s curtain

With just 1.5 days planned for the big event, NASA intended to share as much information pertaining to its journey to Mars as possible. With companies like Boeing and Lockheed Martin on hand — as well as various other NASA centers — it was clear the space agency wasn’t messing around; it had an agenda. After all, traveling to Mars will be no small feat. To see NASA take the event as seriously as it did bodes well for the future of the program.

“I’ve always said that it’s not a question of ‘if’ we’re going to Mars, it’s really just a question of ‘when.’

NASA doesn’t actually intend to send humans to Mars until the mid- to late-2030s, meaning a mission of this magnitude won’t occur for at least 20 years. Perhaps this is why it seemed like there were so many moving pieces during the event. NASA does still have a decade or two to create some components, like the heat shield for the Mars lander, as well as a Mars ascent vehicle, which are still merely concepts.

Though the plan is far from complete, proving it has the capability to show something puts NASA on par with others embroiled in the race to Mars — even if the agency is thought to be bringing up the rear.

NASA representatives during the event were beyond enthusiastic about flinging open its doors and sharing an exclusive peek of this ambitious mission. One of these passionate employees was none other than astronaut Rick Mastracchio, whose impressive resume includes three NASA Space Shuttle missions — one of which he served as the mission’s Flight Engineer. Considering his reputation dates back to 1996, Mastracchio has seen many of NASA’s highs and lows, but feels particularly confident in its current focus on the red planet.

“I became an astronaut 20 years ago and we had big dreams back then, we were going to the Moon, we were going to go to Mars, NASA had big plans,” Mastracchio told Digital Trends in an exclusive interview. “Of course, as my career progressed, things happened. The Columbia accident, of course … we built the Space Station instead of going beyond low-Earth orbit [with] the NASA budget. So, I’m not surprised that we’re going to Mars, as I’ve always said that it’s not a question of ‘if’ we’re going to Mars, it’s really just a question of ‘when.’”

NASA

NASA

NASA

NASA

To indulge those in attendance about more of the “when,” NASA first treated the group with a trip to its massive Michoud Assembly Facility, a 2.2 million square foot facility that houses much of the space agency’s large-scale manufacturing and assembly capabilities. Located in the humid bayou climate, not far from countless New Orleans jazz bands, Michoud is an otherworldly spectacle in its own right. The facility houses throngs of unfathomably large pieces of hardware — i.e. a three-story, 150-ton friction-stir welding tool — which go a long way in helping an ordinary journalist gain an understanding of space travel’s immense scale.

Orion, the most advanced spacecraft ever

The first piece of future history we saw on our agency-guided tour of the facility was the Lockheed Martin-manufactured Orion spacecraft. Designed with long-duration deep space travel in mind, the Orion spacecraft is perhaps the most ambitious project native to NASA’s journey to Mars. Not only are Lockheed and NASA building the craft to house a team of astronauts for long periods of time — getting to (and from) Mars will likely take months — but it will also have the ability to land and relaunch from either the Moon or Mars as well. According to Rick Mastrecchio, pushing the limits of technology is critical in the mission to Mars.

“We need to be a multi-planet species.”

“We need to continue to push technology, we’re not just going to Mars to support a few people on the planet,” Mastrecchio continued. “The things that we learn on the way to Mars — the technologies we develop in terms of recycling water and air and things like that — those are technologies that can be used here on the planet. That’s one good reason to go, but also, we need to be a multi-planet species. We need to go to Mars eventually and it has to be a priority for us. It’s not going to be cheap but I think we need to start down that path.”

Initially traveling to space via the mammoth Space Launch System rocket, Orion is shaping up to be the most advanced spacecraft ever created. With 30 percent more habitable volume than Apollo — meaning up to four astronauts can travel comfortably inside — the craft also features redundant computer systems, software, and various life support devices capable of resisting long bouts of severe radiation. Furthermore, Lockheed is currently constructing its exterior structure to withstand micrometeoroid strikes, further increasing its durability while also improving the mission’s chance of success.

Though the craft itself is still only a collection of pieces at Michoud, its high level of quality is immediately apparent. From a mostly-constructed portion of Orion’s bulkhead to a completed cone-shaped adapter, much of Lockheed’s innovative project was on display at Michoud, though full versions of the craft are now making their way to Kennedy Space Center for rigorous testing.

After getting an up close and personal view of the Orion spacecraft, Michoud facility members whisked us away to an utterly jaw-dropping section of the premises: a daunting, mammoth, 210 ft. high Vertical Assembly Building where NASA will construct portions of the Space Launch System.

Though NASA didn’t actually show off any part of the Space Launch System being constructed inside the manufacturing facility, getting a peek at where the future assembly will take place again helped us understand the mission’s scale. To give you an idea of the relative size of the SLS, it will be so tall that it could touch the ceiling, meaning NASA has to piece it together in parts. Even a 210 ft. tall building isn’t tall enough to house the largest rocket ever created.

Up the road to Stennis Space Center

Not content to show us just one space center in a day, NASA loaded us onto a motorcade of buses and shuttled everyone to the Stennis Space Center. Stennis is enormous, so large that it has its very own ZIP code — even though zero people actually live in the area. Getting from one side to the other takes 15 minutes by bus.

Our initial tour at Michoud showed off the Orion spacecraft and the facility where NASA’s SLS rocket was to be assembled, but Stennis was all about rockets. It housed AeroJet RocketDyne, the company responsible for manufacturing SLS’s rocket engines: the RS-25. With a production time of roughly 18 months, the SLS program will make use of a staggering 16 engines for its trip to Mars — four engines for each of the four planned missions, with the first of these missions coming in 2018.

The ferocity of the steam escaping the test stand was unlike anything we’d ever seen before; it was utterly fascinating.

Powerful hardly comes close to describing the RS-25 engine, but it’s certainly a good start. Boasting roughly 500,000 lbs. of thrust, each RS-25 engine can burn around 1,500 lbs. of fuel per second. Once all four are attached to the SLS rocket and begin firing, a whopping 2 million lbs. of thrust will be generated. During its presentation, AeroJet RocketDyne boasted about its previous tests saying its engine has the capability of running at 111 percent — literally dialed to 11 — and that the engine test scheduled for later that afternoon would demonstrate this.

After explaining the ins and outs of its day-to-day rocket production, AeroJet RocketDyne decided to enlighten the attending crew with perhaps the next best thing to seeing the test: taking a look at the engines in person. A guided tour through its manufacturing facility provided an up close and personal view of many of the RS-25s slated for use on the SLS program. Unfortunately, photos were prohibited, but take our word for it, the engines are marvels and are absolutely jaw-dropping.

And finally, the engine test

With several hours of facility tours, bus rides, and sticky New Orleans heat already in the books, it was finally time for NASA to crank up the intensity. After bussing us to Stennis Space Center’s B-2 Test Stand, NASA shuffled everyone to where we’d actually witness the rocket show some 1,000 feet away.

With nary a rocket launch or similar test under our belt, we weren’t the least bit prepared for what await us as NASA’s test clock ticked down to :00. Unlike typical launches — or those you see in Hollywood flicks — after the loud speaker announced the 10-second countdown, there were no subsequent “nine, eight, seven,” notifications. What actually happened was a 10-second silence followed by a few hundred jaws hitting the floor as an incredibly powerful blast of steam came charging out of the test bay almost unannounced.

One of the engineers — with a smile on his face — said some people prefer engine tests to actual launches because of the longevity of the test. An actual rocket launch, no matter how sensational it is, fades from view in minutes; an engine test just keeps firing. In the case of the RS-25 on display at Stennis this day, the engine fired for just shy of five solid minutes.

Even from 1,000 feet away, the ground beneath us shook as NASA dialed the engine from 109 to 111 percent and back again. The ferocity of the steam escaping the test stand was unlike anything we’d ever seen before; it was utterly fascinating. As the test came to a close, it became apparent why the AeroJet employee posited that some may prefer engine tests over launches. Then again, we wouldn’t mind watching an actual rocket launch for a fair comparison.

What’s up NASA’s sleeve?

NASA’s event certainly didn’t answer every question you might have about the mission. Though some of the “how” was fleshed out in the form of the Orion spacecraft, the revolutionary RS-25 engines, and a host of other projects (big and small) currently in the works, there’s a lot of work to be done.

Some folks shrugged at the agency’s initial 36-page report last October, but one thing is now crystal clear: NASA is going to Mars, and we couldn’t be more thrilled. If we’re lucky, it may not take as long as we think.

Update: NASA is committed to going to Mars in December 2019. 

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The Morning After: Friday, November 10th 2017

Hey, good morning!

This morning, there’s the wearable powered by you, a land-speed record test that was a long time coming and the very best laptops for that special someone.

The company later decided to offer free upgrades after public blowback.
Logitech will brick all Harmony Link devices in March

Bricking a device, which usually happens during firmware updates gone wrong, is never a good thing. It’s even worse when companies do it to their devices intentionally. According to emails received by users, Logitech will be bricking all Harmony Link devices via a firmware update as of March 16th, 2018. This is pretty shitty, but fortunately there’s a happy ending to it all: Logitch says it will give all Harmony Link owners the newer Harmony Hub free of charge. Previously, the company said it would only do so if a Link device was still under warranty.

The free ride didn’t get off to a good start.
Las Vegas’ self-driving bus crashes in first hour of service

Las Vegas’ self-driving shuttle service marked its return by getting into a minor collision. Navya’s autonomous electric vehicle shuffles at around 15MPH on a 0.6 mile circuit in the downtown Fremont East district. But just an hour into its year-long trial (which follows a successful stint in January), the shuttle was hit by a delivery truck that was backing up.

The power was inside you, all along.
Matrix PowerWatch hands-on: the promise of a world without chargers

When Matrix co-founder Douglas Tham handed Cherlynn Low her PowerWatch review unit, she had to fight the instinct to ask for a charger. This wearable gets energy by converting your body heat into electricity. The self-proclaimed energy-harvesting company is finally ready to ship PowerWatches to the early adopters who backed its Indiegogo campaign. Our Reviews Editor spent some time with this first-generation watch in all its chunky, rugged glory and found its potential rather compelling.

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Nine years later…The long wait for a 1,000MPH car

The Bloodhound project was first announced at London’s Science Museum back in 2008, when pilot Andy Green and project director Richard Noble explained their “three-year mission” to build a car that could break the world land-speed record and reach a dizzying 1,000MPH (1,609KM/H).

Noble, a Scottish entrepreneur and qualified pilot, had held the land-speed record between 1983 and 1997 with the jet-propelled Thrust2. He relinquished his driving duties shortly after and became project director for the Thrust SSC. Back in 2008, Noble and Green hoped that a new car and record attempt, which the public could easily follow through blog posts and update videos, would show how exciting the industry can be — but it’s been a very long almost-decade. We take a closer look.

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UK ISPs will automatically compensate customers for shoddy service

A poor level of customer service shown by your broadband or landline provider is like a late train. You know you could probably argue your way into some nominal refund, but it just seems more trouble than it’s worth. The issue with that is there’s no incentive to ensure the train runs on time, so earlier this year, Ofcom floated the idea that telecoms providers should compensate customers for poor service automatically, no complaints necessary. Today the regulator announced that BT, Sky, TalkTalk, Virgin Media and Zen Internet — which cover 90 percent of broadband and landline customers between them — have “agreed” to be part of such a scheme.

Unfortunately, the proposals don’t have your back if your internet is just a bit rubbish from time to time. If your broadband or landline completely dies and hasn’t been revived within two working days, however, you’ll get £8 in compensation for every following day your service remains down. If an engineer doesn’t turn up for an appointment, or cancels less than 24 hours before they were due to show, that’s £25 headed your way. Finally, if a provider says your new broadband or landline service will be up and running on a particular day and doesn’t deliver, you get £5 for every day you’re disconnected “including the missed start date.”

A fiver automatically credited to your account might go largely unnoticed, but you can bet it’s within a company’s interests to improve its service to avoid paying out 100,000 fivers. Providers have a while to get to grips with what’s expected of them, though. “Launching the first ever automatic compensation scheme for telecoms customers will be complex, and requires significant changes to providers’ billing systems, online accounts and call centres. So, there will be a 15-month implementation period before it comes into effect to ensure a smooth introduction,” Ofcom said.

Automatic compensation is something providers have “agreed” to, insinuating the commitment is voluntary on their part. But they best not forget that a regulator’s job is to regulate, should it come to that. “Ofcom will closely monitor the industry scheme, and review it one year after being implemented to ensure it’s working for consumers. If not, we will step in.”

Source: Ofcom

Twitter expands display name length to 50 characters

If you’ve always wanted to use all your names, aliases, titles and suffixes on Twitter, now’s your time to shine. The social network now supports display names up to 50 characters in length. It would’ve been better if the feature came out last Halloween so you could’ve used that awesome but lengthy spooky name you wanted to use. However, rolling out support for 280-character tweets seemed to be more important to Twitter, so we got that first instead.

Starting today, your Twitter display name can be up to 50 characters in length! Go ahead, add that middle name or even a few more emojis. https://t.co/QBxx9Hnn1j

— Twitter Support (@TwitterSupport) November 10, 2017

Since Twitter has so many deeper issues, it’s getting a lot of flak for introducing features that seem trivial in comparison. It continues to grapple with abuse and harassment on its website, fake accounts created to influence the US Presidential Elections as well as accounts made by terrorist organizations to spread propaganda. Just recently, it had to suspend its verification process when it faced backlash after verifying the account of the leader of the Charlottesville white supremacist rally. Some users even took advantage of the platform’s display name expansion by changing their names to add “#wouldpreferthatyoubannazis.”

Source: Twitter

YouTube to target disturbing videos masquerading as kids’ shows

YouTube is clamping down on the disturbing videos aimed at children on its service. The burgeoning genre depicts family-friendly characters (like Spider-Man and Frozen’s Elsa) in violent and sexual scenarios. We reported on the clips (and inappropriate ads) earlier this year, and recent coverage in the The New York Times claimed the vids are evading filters on the YouTube Kids app. In August, YouTube enforced a policy that restricted creators from monetizing videos that make “inappropriate use of family friendly characters.” The video platform’s latest step will automatically block this content from its kids app, as initially reported by The Verge.

“We’re in the process of implementing a new policy that age restricts this content in the YouTube main app when flagged,” YouTube’s director of policy Juniper Downs said in a statement. “Age-restricted content is automatically not allowed in YouTube Kids.”

The move adds an additional human element to the policing process. Until now, Google has mainly relied on its algorithms to filter inappropriate content from its kids app. But, that obviously didn’t do the trick. It also claims that dedicated human teams work around the clock to block disturbing videos. Google will be hoping that the age-gate feature combined with its existing security layers will stop the sinister clips from reaching children. Time may also be on its side, as it takes several days for a video from YouTube proper to reach YouTube Kids. The changes will go live within a few weeks.

It seems YouTube doesn’t want to censor the content altogether. But, its latest safeguard will also impact its main service, where age-restricted videos are only accessible to signed-in users aged 18 and over. Meanwhile, creators of the clips will feel the heat from the lack of monetization.

Parents should also note that YouTube Kids already contains controls that let you block channels and turn search on and off — there’s also the relatively new kids profiles.

Chrome Browser Updates Coming to Prevent Unexpected Web Page Redirects

Google this week revealed some upcoming enhancements to its Chrome browser that aim to protect users from encountering unwanted content on the web, such as when a site unexpectedly redirects them to another page when they click on a video play button.

Google says that incidents of users being redirected by websites to unintended destinations are mentioned in 1 of every 5 Chrome feedback reports it receives, and it’s now intent on putting a stop to the “abusive” behavior.

One piece of feedback we regularly hear from users is that a page will unexpectedly navigate to a new page, for seemingly no reason. We’ve found that this redirect often comes from third-party content embedded in the page, and the page author didn’t intend the redirect to happen at all. To address this, in Chrome 64 all redirects originating from third-party iframes will show an infobar instead of redirecting, unless the user had been interacting with that frame. This will keep the user on the page they were reading, and prevent those surprising redirects.

Another example that Google says causes user frustration is when clicking a link opens the desired destination in a new tab, but the main window navigates to a different, unwanted page. The behavior is designed to circumvent pop-up blockers, but Google is planning a clampdown.

Staring in Chrome 65, the browser will detect this abusive behavior, trigger an infobar, and prevent the main tab from being redirected, allowing the user to continue on to their intended destination.

Lastly, starting in early January, Chrome’s pop-up blocker will attempt put a stop to several other types of abusive experiences that are harder to detect, such as links to third-party websites disguised as play buttons or other site controls, or transparent overlays on websites that capture all clicks and open new tabs or windows.

To help site owners prepare for the changes, Google is launching the Abusive Experiences Report alongside other similar reports in the Google Search Console. These can be used by owners to see to see if any of the abusive experiences have been found on their site and help them improve their user experience.

Tags: Google, Chrome
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Instagram’s Testing a Feature That Lets Users Follow Hashtags

Instagram is currently testing a new feature that allows users to follow hashtags on the picture-sharing social platform, according to reports.

Currently, Instagram users must rely on individual accounts to keep up with content they want to engage with. However the added ability to follow hashtags, first spotted by Twitter user @Social_Pip and The Next Web, could make it much easier for users to find the content they’re interested in.

Ok this is new. What does this do @SimonSocialMM @BizPaul @NatalieTFG any ideas? I’ve followed 2 but can’t find what that means!! pic.twitter.com/LlCBk4Wmfv

— Pippa Akram (@Social_Pip) November 9, 2017

For example, users interested in Formula 1 racing could follow the hashtag #formula1 and see the relevant content in their feed without having to actually follow the account holders who post the content.

Understandably, this could quickly become overwhelming, so Instagram appears to be limiting current hashtag follows to “top posts and recent stories”, as per the overlay description that hovers over the option.

So far there’s no indication if or when Instagram will roll out the hashtag following ability to everyone, but the feature’s usefulness suggests it could make the cut sooner rather than later.

Tag: Instagram
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First Honolulu, now Chicago could hit texting walkers with fines of up to $500

Has Honolulu started something?

Just weeks after the Hawaiian city started fining folks caught looking at their smartphone while crossing the street, officials in Chicago have made similar proposals.

But while in Honolulu the fines starts at $35 for a first offense before topping out at $99 for a third transgression, lawmakers in the Windy City are suggesting fines of between $90 and a whopping $500.

Five hundred bucks! You could buy half an iPhone X for that.

Distracted walking is believed to be the cause of an increasing number of accidents, and staring at your smartphone while sauntering along the street — or indeed across the street — is certainly one way to increase your chances of an unwanted collision.

Two elected officials in Chicago, Edward Burke and Anthony Beale, have co-sponsored an ordinance proposing the fines, Chicago’s Fox32 reports.

The ordinance states: “No person shall cross a street or highway while using a mobile electronic device in a manner that averts their visual attention to that device or that device’s activity.”

Burke told Fox32, “The goal of the introduction of this measure is to reduce pedestrian deaths and injuries, especially at crosswalks.”

Beale added that the passage and enforcement of the proposed law “would increase safety by eliminating distractions for pedestrians at intersections and elsewhere in the city of Chicago.”

The ordinance still has to pass a number of stages to become law, so for the time being at least, Chicago’s pedestrians can continue to look at their phone while crossing the street, secure in the knowledge that they won’t be emptying their wallet when they get to the other side. They’d just better hope they don’t get taken down by a bus while doing so.

Traffic lights and texting lanes

The problem of distracted walking isn’t just an issue for officials in the U.S.

Stopping short of imposing fines, cities in Germany and Australia have have fitted ground-level traffic lights at crossings in the hope that pedestrians lost in their smartphones will spot them as they go to cross.

Other initiatives to cut down on sidewalk collisions include the introduction of “texting lanes” in cities such as Antwerp, Belgium and Chongqing, China.

Our advice? Stop walking when you need to look at your smartphone screen, or else something horrible like this might happen.

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Tesla’s newest driving mode is ‘chill’

Tesla’s latest driving mode is an about-turn from its previous options, which were all about squeezing the optimal performance from its cars. The new “chill” setting makes for a “gentler ride,” according to the manufacturer. That sounds like an odd upgrade from an EV maker that was once obsessed with cracking the fastest acceleration time, motivated by its rivalry with Faraday Future. It achieved that milestone earlier this year (after dropping the “Ludricous” easter egg), when the Tesla Model S P100D became the quickest car to 60 MPH.

Apparently, some people aren’t interested in taking up EVs on their instant torque credentials. All those boring folk can tap chill mode for “smoother” and “more gradual” acceleration. Okay, so maybe we’re being a bit harsh. The setting is probably a godsend for those who can’t handle (or aren’t accustomed to) an EV’s jerky acceleration. According to YouTube channel DragTimes, chill mode in a Tesla Model S 100D gets the car from 0-60 MPH in a “ridiculously slow” 7.2 seconds.

Good point. We will add that to all cars in one of the upcoming software releases.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 19, 2017

Another new feature that comes with the update is “exit mode” — which Elon Musk previously confirmed would make the cut after a Tesla driver suggested it on Twitter. Building on the driver profile, the setting results in the steering wheel and seat automatically adjusting for an “easier exit.” Once you return, they’ll adjust back to your recent driving profile.