SpaceX rocket survives an intentional water landing

Right now, SpaceX is only reusing rockets to a limited degree — it’s disposing of vehicles after a short while when they’re unlikely to survive their next flight. With its latest launch, though, it got lucky. Elon Musk has confirmed that the Falcon 9 first stage from the GovSat-1 launch survived its intentional water landing. It was only meant to test a “very high retrothrust landing” for the sake of protecting the drone ship and was expected to meet an untimely end, but it appeared to have survived largely intact.

Musk hoped the booster could be towed to shore, although there’s no mention of what happens if it comes back safely. We wouldn’t count on much happening, however. It doesn’t exactly look like it’s in a healthy state, and SpaceX isn’t about to preserve every rocket with a special story behind it.

As it is, the company’s eyes are elsewhere. SpaceX is poised to launch Falcon Heavy for the first time on February 6th, and the successful GovSat-1 effort makes sure the Heavy launch can go ahead without hiccups. The rocket recovery is really icing on the cake.

This rocket was meant to test very high retrothrust landing in water so it didn’t hurt the droneship, but amazingly it has survived. We will try to tow it back to shore. pic.twitter.com/hipmgdnq16

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 31, 2018

Source: Elon Musk (Twitter)

Messaging giant Line catches cryptocurrency fever

Let’s say you run Line. Your messaging service, plus other forays like smart speakers and music, aren’t enough to avoid substantial losses. What do you do to turn things around? If you ask the company, finance is the answer. Line has created a new financial company that will offer cryptocurrency trading on top of staples like insurance and loans. It’s not saying what currencies will trade or when the virtual money service will be an option, but it plans to make all the services available within the Line chat app.

This isn’t as far-fetched as it sounds. Japan is one the largest cryptocurrency markets, and it still has a huge user base even when you don’t include its other products. Its existing payment service has about 40 million users, and this would be a logical extension. New financial services could give Line a healthy source of revenue and lock people in, whether they want to insure their apartment or buy a new car.

As it stands, Line isn’t betting solely on finance. It just struck a deal that gives wireless giant SoftBank a controlling 51 percent stake of its Line Mobile cellular service. It’s far from giant with a value of about $15 million, but this gives Line a boost while letting SoftBank wrap its fingers around yet another cell network. Don’t be surprised if Line Mobile grows beyond its fledgling roots, even if it’s unlikely to have a global presence.

Via: TechCrunch (1), (2)

Source: Line (1), (2)

Nintendo Switch Online will launch in September

We knew Nintendo’s new online service would launch this year, and now we know Switch owners will be waiting until September for it. The company tweeted that Nintendo Switch Online will launch then, but didn’t reveal much else, other than the fact that it will remain free to use until the official launch (which will come about a year after gamers were expecting it). Nintendo has revealed a few of the features (like access to archived titles) and that it will cost $20 per year, but that’s about it for now. A few games are already making use of its mobile apps for things like voice chat, but hopefully, we’ll find out more information soon. For now, Nintendo’s flooding the channel with news, including word of its Mario Kart Tour mobile game, and a Mario movie in development.

#NintendoSwitch Online will launch in September 2018! pic.twitter.com/h3Rpeyymsx

— Nintendo of America (@NintendoAmerica) February 1, 2018

Source: Nintendo (Twitter)

Nintendo will bring ‘Mario Kart Tour’ to smartphones by March 2019

After Super Mario Run and Animal Crossing Pocket, the next Nintendo game to get a mobile version is Mario Kart. Following up on the company’s plan to release 2-3 games per year (there’s a Zelda game in development too) Mario Kart Tour is scheduled to arrive at some point before March 2019.

Developing…

The checkered flag has been raised and the finish line is near. A new mobile application is now in development: Mario Kart Tour! #MarioKartTour Releasing in the fiscal year ending in March 2019. pic.twitter.com/8GIyR7ZM4z

— Nintendo of America (@NintendoAmerica) February 1, 2018

Source: Nintendo (Twitter)

Shigeru Miyamoto will co-produce a ‘Mario’ animated movie

Nintendo’s third big announcement of the evening comes right back to its main star, Mario, and the news that he will star in an animated movie. Confirming earlier rumors, Shigeru Miyamoto is listed as co-producer along with Illumination Entertainment (Despicable Me, Minions, Ice Age) head Chris Meledandri, but the announcement didn’t mention other details like a title or release date. The press release notes that Universal Pictures is co-financing the project and will handle worldwide distribution, and it seems ripe for a tie-in with theme park plans both companies are working on.

The big question now is if it will live up/down (depending on how you feel about it) to the reputation of 1993’s Super Mario Bros. movie.

Developing…

Nintendo and Illumination are partnering on a movie starring Mario, co-produced by Shigeru Miyamoto and Chris Meledandri! pic.twitter.com/wVRPLIzcGJ

— Nintendo of America (@NintendoAmerica) February 1, 2018

Source: Nintendo

DirecTV Now’s Revamped Interface and Cloud DVR Features to Debut This Spring

During its fourth quarter earnings report this afternoon, AT&T shared release details (via Engadget) for its next-generation DirecTV Now video streaming platform, which will be a major revamp of the existing service.

When the update rolls out this spring, DirecTV Now subscribers will gain access to a new cloud DVR feature, allowing them to record and access their shows from anywhere.

DirecTV Now will also be gaining an entirely new interface to provide a “consistent look and feel” across all of the company’s consumer video services, and subscribers will be able to stream to one additional device concurrently.

DirecTV Now subscribers have had access to the cloud DVR features in a beta capacity since late 2017, but it will be launching officially in the spring.

AT&T said in December that additional features are planned for DirecTV Now, including support for 4K video, individual profiles, and more on-demand titles.

According to AT&T, DirecTV Now has a total of 1.2 million subscribers, with the company gaining 368,000 new subscribers during the fourth quarter of 2017.

Tags: AT&T, DirecTV Now
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Nintendo Working on ‘Mario Kart Tour’ Game for Mobile Devices

Nintendo this evening announced that a new mobile game is in the works, and this time the company is planning to bring a major fan favorite series to iOS devices — Mario Kart.

According to Nintendo, a new Mario Kart game called “Mario Kart Tour” is in development. Little is known about the game at this time, but Nintendo says it will be released by March 2019.

The checkered flag has been raised and the finish line is near. A new mobile application is now in development: Mario Kart Tour! #MarioKartTour Releasing in the fiscal year ending in March 2019. pic.twitter.com/8GIyR7ZM4z

— Nintendo of America (@NintendoAmerica) February 1, 2018

Mario Kart is on of Nintendo’s most popular titles, and a Mario Kart mobile game would follow successful mobile versions of games in the Super Mario, Animal Crossing, and Fire Emblem franchises.

Nintendo’s other mobile games include Super Mario Run, Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp, and Fire Emblem Heroes. The company’s first game on iOS devices was Miitomo, which was released in March of 2016. Nintendo this week announced that it plans to shut down Miitomo on May 9, 2018.

Though Miitomo was not a successful venture for the company given its imminent termination, Nintendo’s other games have done better. Nintendo’s smartphone profits reached 11.2 billion yen this fiscal quarter, seeing growth thanks to the recent launch of Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp. The game has generated an estimated $17 million globally.

Nintendo also said back in October that Fire Emblem Heroes is on track to meet its business and profit objectives. Unfortunately, Super Mario Run, Nintendo’s one game that is a paid app rather than free-to-play, had not reached an “acceptable profit point” as of late 2017.

Nintendo says it has “learned a lot” about game development and deployment from Super Mario Run, however, and it is too early to tell whether the new Mario Kart game will be free-to-play or another game with an upfront purchase.

With more than a year to go before Mario Kart Tour launches, we’ll likely learn more about it over the course of the next several months. Given the current example of mobile versions of Nintendo games, it’s unlikely to be a full Mario Kart title, but fans of the series will undoubtedly be looking forward to the debut of a Mario Kart smartphone game.

Tag: Nintendo
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Measuring sound waves could offer real-time early warning system for tsunamis

Tsunamis can be incredibly destructive, none more so than the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami, the deadliest on record, which claimed nearly 230,000 lives across 15 countries. While we don’t yet have a way to stop tsunamis from happening, mathematicians at the U.K.’s Cardiff University have come up with a new method for using sound waves to calculate the size and potential destructive force of a tsunami in advance. The results could open up the possibility of developing a live early warning system capable of saving lives.

“We have derived an analytical solution for the propagation of sound waves from slender faults being displaced upwards, then applied an inverse approach to calculate the main properties of the fault and its movement — such as location, length, width, orientation, duration, speed, and time of eruption,” Dr. Usama Kadri, from Cardiff University’s School of Mathematics, told Digital Trends. “Practically, the solution allows us to analyze hydrophone [underwater microphone] recordings and calculate the main properties of the fault in near-real time.”

At present, tsunami early warning systems involve floating devices that measure pressure changes in the ocean. This isn’t a perfect solution, since the large number of flotation devices makes it extremely costly. Because it relies on physical contact with the tsunami in order to register a possible wave, it’s also not useful if the device is located too close to shore — since it would provide only a few extra minutes or seconds of warning.

The Cardiff University system, on the other hand, analyzes naturally occurring acoustic gravity waves (AGWs) generated in the deep ocean following a tsunami trigger event such as an underwater earthquake. Because these AGWs travel more than 10 times the speed of a tsunami wave, they can be far more effective in offering a useful alert.

“We’re currently analyzing other main properties under actual scenarios, and developing an efficient tsunami model that can run in parallel to the inverse solution, to maximize efficiency and warning time,” Kadri said. He noted that the team would consider commercializing the technology, although this would only be done “if it will not act as a barrier, at whatever level, in front of the main objective of our work: to create an efficient tsunami warning system to protect lives globally and invariably.”

A paper describing the work was recently published in the Journal of Fluid Mechanics.

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Gaze upon 2018’s super blue blood moon with these spectacular photos

Stargazers the world over must be in heaven right now. Last year saw a number of gorgeous celestial events, and 2018 has started out strong on the cosmic front. On January 31, a “super blue blood moon” graced the skies. If that name seems like a mouthful, there’s a reason, as it is essentially three events happening all at once. Super blue blood moon is also a bit easier for most people to say than the more scientific term — “perigee syzygy.”

First, it was a supermoon, meaning the moon is closer to the Earth than it normally is, making the moon loom larger and shine brighter. When the moon is at the closest point in its orbit to Earth, it is known as “perigee.”

Secondly, it was a blue moon, which is the term for when a second full moon occurs in the same calendar month, which occurs every couple years or so (hence the phrase “once in a blue moon”).

Finally, the moon on January 31 was also a blood moon, which is what happens during a total lunar eclipse. In a lunar eclipse, the moon passes through the Earth’s shadow, making it appear a deep red. Three celestial bodies aligning is known as “syzygy,” which is a word that will make anyone regret playing Scrabble with you.

The super blue blood moon arrived less than two months after the supermoon in December 2017, and watchers in North America may have to wait a while until the next one. According to NASA, the next combination of a lunar eclipse and supermoon — visible from North America — will occur January 21, 2019.

For those who managed to catch a glimpse of the super blue blood moon, the sight was spectacular; for everyone else, there are pictures. Although a photo might not have the same imposing presence as the real thing, there are gorgeous shots from around the world, and we’ve compiled some of the best.

Photo: NASA

Can’t afford a yacht? Get yourself a crazy tiny Rapid Whale Mini Boat instead

Are you in the market for a yacht, but find yourself in the unfortunate position of not being a tech billionaire or Saudi prince with the disposable cash to buy one? No problem: Bay Area maker Josh Tulberg has a budget solution (in both size and cost) for anyone willing to do a bit of work. He has created a tiny electric mini boat that he is selling as a do-it-yourself kit.

“Mini boats are like fancy kayaks, but with way more dock appeal,” Tulberg told Digital Trends. “They are generally slow and 100 percent electric, built for cruising and showing off. I imagine the first mini boats stemmed from the concept of doing more with less.”

Tulberg’s boat is primarily made using three sheets of plywood and stands out from the rest of the mini boat pack in a few key ways. For starters, it’s only 6 feet in length, which makes it far more compact than some of the other options on the market, which are at least a couple feet longer. (He assures us that it’s still stable and comfortable to sit in, however.) It’s also created with a laser cutter, which is unusual for a kit boat, since they are typically made using CNC routers. Finally, it is incredibly easy to construct with what Tulberg describes as a “stitch-and-glue” technique.

The boat’s power comes from a 12-volt sealed lead acid battery, which is reportedly enough to transport a single occupant of less than 6 feet, 2 inches, and 200 pounds at a speed of 3.5 knots. Add to that the fact that you can carry it in the back of your car, and you’ve got a pint-sized James Bond-esque vehicle that will make you the envy of other folks at your nearest lake/beach/large body of water.

“I offer kits on a made-to-order basis, and I also offer plans [in the form of] cut profiles for anyone who is interested in cutting their own, either with conventional power-tools or with a CNC laser or router,” Tulberg continued. Kits cost $950, although you need to shell out around $500-$1,000 more to get various off-the-shelf components to complete it.

If you’re wondering about how much work is involved with the built process, you can check out the entire process online at Instructables. Happy yachting!

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