Category: Technology

NASA has reestablished connection with Voyager 2 after a tense two weeks of not hearing anything from the probe. On July 21st, the agency lost contact with Voyager 2 following a series of planned commands that mistakenly pointed it two degrees away from our planet. While it is scheduled to automatically reset its orientation on October 15th, it’s not surprising that NASA scientists didn’t just wait for that date to know whether the spacecraft is still running. Voyager 2 was launched way back in 1977, and it’s one of the only two probes sending us back valuable data on interstellar space. 

For a few days after July 21st, NASA wasn’t even sure what the spacecraft’s condition was. It wasn’t until August 1st that multiple ground antennas from the Deep Space Network (DSN) were able to detect a carrier signal from the probe. A carrier signal is what a spacecraft uses to beam data back to the ground, but NASA said the one DSN detected was too weak to be able to transmit any information. Still, it was enough to confirm that Voyager 2 was still working and that it hadn’t deviated from its trajectory. 

Instead of simply waiting for October, Voyager’s ground team decided to take action. They concocted a plan to “shout” a command to the spacecraft across over 12.3 billion miles of space using the DSN, telling it to turn its antenna back to Earth. The whole process illustrated just how vast outer space truly is: It took 18.5 hours for that message to reach the probe, and another 18.5 hours for NASA to start receiving science and telemetry data again, indicating that Voyager 2 had received the command. 

This isn’t the first time NASA has had issues with the spacecraft. In 2020, it had to provide tech assistance from billions of miles away after it tripped a system that shut off its scientific gear to conserve electricity. Voyager 2 entered interstellar space — that means it exited the plasma bubble created by our sun — back in 2018, becoming the second human-made object to do so after Voyager 1. Although NASA believes that both Voyager 1 and 2 could remain in contact with the DSN until 2036, it also says that “science data won’t likely be collected after 2025.” The spacecraft could only be providing us information on interstellar space for less than two years, so it stands to reason that scientists don’t want to waste a single day it can send data back to Earth. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/nasa-regains-contact-with-voyager-2-after-it-went-dark-for-two-weeks-074447578.html?src=rss 

Apple has quietly launched a new feature for its music streaming service that could help you expand your playlists and find new artists to listen to. It’s a personalized radio station called “Discovery Station,” which picks the songs it thinks you’d be into from Apple Music’s catalog. As Apple Insider notes, the tech giant’s music service hasn’t gone all in on algorithmic recommendations like Spotify, which has several playlists that can generate mixes based on your listening habits. 

An Apple spokesperson told us that Discovery Station will only play music you haven’t played on the service before from both familiar artists and potentially unfamiliar ones it thinks you might like. And since its main purpose is to help you discover new music, it will never play the same song twice and will play continuously until you stop it. Like other playlists that use algorithms to recommend tracks, Discovery Station also bases its suggestions on your activity and will keep changing as your taste evolves. 

The feature is now live around the world. If you’re an existing subscriber, you can access it by going to your Listen Now page and checking out the Stations for You section. If you don’t have a subscription, it will cost you at least $5 a month in the US for an audio-only plan or at least $11 a month if you want access to Apple Music’s video programming and other features, such as lossless audio and Dolby Atmos. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/apple-music-will-help-you-find-new-songs-and-artists-with-discovery-station-051205049.html?src=rss 

Late last year, Nikkei Asia reported that Japan was planning to add thousands of personnel to its military cyber defense unit. Now, we might know why — according to a report from the Washington Post, hackers in China had “deep, persistent access” to Japanese defense networks. When the National Security Agency is said to have first discovered the breach in late 2020, NSA Chief and Commander of US Cyber Command General Paul Nakasone flew to Japan with White House deputy national security advisor Matthew Pottinger to report the breach to officials.

Despite briefings that reached as high as Japan’s prime minister, the Washington Post reports that hacking from China remained an issue for several months, persisting through the end of the Trump administration and well into early 2021.

US Cyber Command initially offered Japan assistance in purging its systems of malware but were reportedly rebuffed because the country was not comfortable with another nation’s military accessing their systems. Instead, Japan elected to use domestic commercial security firms to find vulnerabilities, relying on the US only for guidance on what those firms found. Japan would eventually adopt a more active national security strategy, which is said to include a new cyber command to monitor networks around the clock, and as many as 4,000 active cybersecurity personnel.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/china-reportedly-had-deep-persistent-access-to-japanese-networks-for-months-233516478.html?src=rss 

Boeing has rediscovered just how hard space can be in recent months, as its ambitious Starliner program has been repeatedly sidelined by lingering technical issues. However, the company announced at a press conference Monday that it is confident that it will have those issues ironed out by next March and will be ready to test its reusable crew capsule with live NASA astronauts aboard.

“Based on the current plans, we’re anticipating that we’re going to be ready with the spacecraft in early March. That does not mean we have a launch date in early March,” Boeing VP and Starliner manager Mark Nappi stressed during the event, per CNBC. “We’re now working with NASA – Commercial Crew program and [International Space Station] – and ULA on potential launch dates based on our readiness … we’ll work throughout the next several weeks and see where we can get fit in and then then we’ll set a launch date.”

The Starliner has been in development for nearly fifteen years now, first being unveiled in 2010. It’s Boeing’s entry into the reusable crew capsule race, which is currently being dominated by SpaceX with its Dragon 2. 

The two companies were actually awarded grants at the same time in 2014 to develop systems capable of transporting astronauts to the ISS with a contract deadline of 2017. By 2016, Boeing’s first scheduled launch had already been pushed from 2017 to late 2018. By April 2018, NASA was tempering its launch expectations to between 2019 and 2020.

The first uncrewed orbital test flight in late 2019 failed to reach orbit, which further delayed the project. NASA, however, did agree to pay for a second uncrewed test in August of 2021. That test never made it off the launch pad due to a “valve issue.” Fixing that problem took until the following May when the follow-up test flight completed successfully.

The two subsequent preparatory attempts for a crewed flight, did not. The scheduled July 21 flight was scrubbed after faults were discovered in both the parachute system and wiring harnesses. Which brings us to March, which is when Boeing is confident its Starliner will successfully shuttle a pair of NASA astronauts to the ISS for a weeklong stay. To date, Boeing is estimated to have incurred around $1.5 billion in project cost overruns.   

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/boeings-starliner-could-be-ready-for-crewed-flights-by-next-march-210222245.html?src=rss 

Zoom has made changes to its terms of service after online blowback over recent updates to the company’s fine print allowing AI training on customer data. A report from StackDiary over the weekend highlighted how the changes, which rolled out in March without fanfare, appeared to grant the company sweeping control over customer data for AI training purposes. In response, Zoom published a blog post today claiming it wouldn’t do what its terms said it could do; the company then updated its terms in response to the continued blowback. It now says it doesn’t train AI models on consumer video, audio or chats “without customer consent.”

At least part of the issue stemmed from Zoom’s experimental AI tools, including IQ Meeting Summary (ML-powered summarizations) and IQ Team Chat Compose (AI-powered message drafting). Although account owners have to provide consent before starting a meeting using these tools, additional participants are only presented with two options: accept the terms and join the meeting, or reject them and leave the meeting.

“What raises alarm is the explicit mention of the company’s right to use this data for machine learning and artificial intelligence, including training and tuning of algorithms and models,” Alex Ivanovs wrote for Stack Diary. “This effectively allows Zoom to train its AI on customer content without providing an opt-out option, a decision that is likely to spark significant debate about user privacy and consent.” Ivanovs highlighted how the terms give it the right to “redistribute, publish, import, access, use, store, transmit, review, disclose, preserve, extract, modify, reproduce, share, use, display, copy, distribute, translate, transcribe, create derivative works, and process Customer Content and to perform all acts with respect to the Customer Content.”

In the company blog post published today, Zoom’s Chief Product Officer Smita Hashim stressed that account owners and administrators indeed have to provide consent before choosing to share their data for AI training, insisting it’s “used solely to improve the performance and accuracy of these AI services.” Hashim added that “even if you chose to share your data, it will not be used for training of any third-party models.” Continuing, she wrote, “We have permission to use this customer content to provide value-added services based on this content, but our customers continue to own and control their content. For example, a customer may have a webinar that they ask us to livestream on YouTube. Even if we use the customer video and audio content to livestream, they own the underlying content.”

“We will not use customer content, including education records or protected health information, to train our artificial intelligence models without your consent,” the blog post reads. A new section added to Zoom’s terms today makes it clearer: “Notwithstanding the above, Zoom will not use audio, video or chat Customer Content to train our artificial intelligence models without your consent.”

“Our goal is to enable Zoom account owners and administrators to have control over these features and decisions, and we’re here to shed light on how we do that and how that affects certain customer groups,” Hashim wrote.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/zoom-reverses-policy-that-allowed-it-to-train-ai-on-customer-data-212230598.html?src=rss 

Scientists at a federally funded research center in the US have successfully conducted a second nuclear fusion reaction experiment that resulted in a net energy gain. The Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) said scientists at the National Ignition Facility (NIF) generated a higher energy yield than in their December breakthrough, as Reuters reports.

The nuclear fusion approach is very similar to the process that results in stars being able to emit light and heat. The scientists used a laser aimed at fuel to combine two light atoms into a denser one. This releases a great deal of energy. The process is said to have a lot of potential as a source of sustainable, low-carbon energy that could help combat climate change.

In the initial experiment in December, the laser delivered 2.05 megajoules to the target. The scientists achieved fusion ignition by generating 3.15 megajoules of energy output. That’s a net yield of around 1.1 megajoules, which is equivalent to 0.31kWh — enough energy to power a 50-watt LED TV for six hours.

It’s not yet clear exactly how much of a net energy yield was obtained from the latest successful experiment, which was carried out on July 30th. An LLNL spokesperson told Reuters that researchers are still analyzing the final results.

There’s quite some way to go until fusion ignition becomes a viable option for mainstream energy production with the capability of powering homes. For one thing, scientists will have to scale up the system substantially. In any case, showing that it was possible to repeat the experiment and surpass the previous results is a positive step forward for clean energy.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/scientists-have-reproduced-last-years-nuclear-fusion-breakthrough-200611282.html?src=rss 

If you’ve been meaning to stock up on Sony’s DualSense controllers for your PS5, today is a good day to shop. The massively-popular gamepad is on sale for $49 via Amazon and other retailers, matching the previous low price. In other words, you likely won’t get a better deal than this. DualSense controllers typically sell for around $70, so this is a discount of more than 30 percent. The sale ends on August 20th. 

This is the same deal for the DualSense that pops up around Black Friday, so you’ll likely have to wait until then to nab a controller at this price if you miss the sale. The deal is available in just about every color option, from white to red, and even camouflage, though the deal doesn’t apply to the fancy DualSense Edge gamepad. 

This is the same controller that comes with the PS5 and is generally considered one of the preferred gamepads on the market, along with other fantastic accessories for the console. There’s haptic feedback, adaptive triggers, a built-in microphone, an integrated headphone jack and that iconic Sony button/control stick layout. If you are looking for the perfect controller for couch co-op sessions, this will certainly get the job done. 

As previously mentioned, the sale is for the OG DualSense, and not the revamped DualSense Edge controller. The Edge brings some new features to the table, like adjustable trigger buttons, removable rear paddles and joysticks, a cable-locking mechanism and a nifty hardshell case. However, it costs $200, which is a far cry from $49. As for the console itself, the disc-based PS5 is currently on sale for $450, a discount of $50.

Follow @EngadgetDeals on Twitter and subscribe to the Engadget Deals newsletter for the latest tech deals and buying advice.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/playstation-dualsense-controllers-are-on-sale-for-49-190046996.html?src=rss 

The ghost kitchen company that runs MrBeast Burger has countersued Jimmy Donaldson, aka YouTube megastar MrBeast. Virtual Dining Concepts (VDC) alleges that Donaldson and his Beast Investments (BI) company failed to abide by contractual obligations, such as carrying out promotional work, and that they “materially damaged” its reputation. VDC is seeking over $100 million in damages according to Variety, which first reported the news.

“VDC alleges that Mr. Donaldson’s and BI’s actions have materially damaged the reputation of MrBeast Burger and VDC, turned away customers, and shattered hard-won relationships with vendors and suppliers, damaging the bottom lines of hundreds of restaurants across the country and around the world, and causing damages to VDC that, according to VDC’s evidence and Mr. Donaldson’s own estimations are in the nine-figure range,” VDC told Nation’s Restaurant News in a statement.

Donaldson filed suit against VDC and its parent company last week. He sought to end his partnership with them, citing issues including “disgusting” and “inedible” food. The original suit claimed VDC caused “material, irreplaceable harm” to the MrBeast brand. Donaldson also alleged that VDC had generated millions of dollars in revenue but he had “not received a dime.”

In its countersuit, VDC claims that Donaldson made “disparaging comments” against the company and MrBeast Burger. It cites several tweets (some of which seem to have been deleted) from the YouTube sensation, including claims that he wanted to shut down MrBeast Burger and that “the company I partnered with won’t let me stop even though it’s terrible for my brand.”

“This case is about a social media celebrity who believes his fame means that his word does not matter, that the facts do not matter, and that he can renege and breach his contractual obligations without consequence,” VDC’s countersuit claims. “He is mistaken.”

MrBeast Burger primarily uses a ghost kitchen format, which VDC specializes in. Ghost kitchens don’t have dedicated storefronts (though some operate out of existing brick-and-mortar restaurants) and only fulfill orders for delivery or pickup. When the first physical MrBeast Burger location opened in New Jersey with Donaldson and his crew in attendance last September, more than 10,000 people showed up.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mrbeasts-burger-company-countersues-the-youtube-megastar-for-over-100-million-183859754.html?src=rss 

Amazon will reportedly meet with the FTC next week before the filing of a possible antitrust lawsuit against the online retailer. The New York Timesreports that FTC chair Lina Khan and commissioners Rebecca Kelly Slaughter and Alvaro Bedoya will sit down with Amazon representatives as the government agency nears a decision on whether to sue the company for antimonopoly laws. The scheduled conversation is viewed as a “last rites” meeting: Amazon’s final chance to persuade the FTC to back off before filing a suit.

The FTC began investigating Amazon in 2019 for using its influence to hurt competition. Investigators reportedly began the probe by interviewing third-party marketplace vendors, asking how their earnings on Amazon compared to those on competing platforms like eBay and Walmart. Politicoreported in July that the potential lawsuit “will likely challenge a host of Amazon’s business practices” and “could lead to a court-ordered restructuring of the $1.3 trillion empire.” This suit is separate from one the FTC filed in June against the retailer, accusing it of tricking customers into Prime subscriptions and making it hard to cancel the service.

Khan has been a longtime Amazon critic. While a law student at Yale, she wrote a paper suggesting the rethinking of antitrust laws in response to the company’s dominance. Her report criticized US antitrust laws for focusing too much on consumer prices while dismissing other ways companies can break the law to gain competitive advantages. “As consumers, as users, we love these tech companies,” she toldThe New York Times in 2018. “But as citizens, as workers, and as entrepreneurs, we recognize that their power is troubling. We need a new framework, a new vocabulary for how to assess and address their dominance.” Amazon has argued for Khan’s recusal from the case based on her academic work and previous statements.

The Biden administration has reportedly “grown increasingly concerned” about the influence of Big Tech companies. Bloombergdescribes the executive branch as “seeking to reverse what it has viewed as decades of lax oversight over corporate consolidation and market power.” The DOJ has sued Meta and Google multiple times (although a federal judge recently narrowed the scope of one of those cases).

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/amazon-will-reportedly-meet-with-the-ftc-ahead-of-potential-antitrust-lawsuit-190316632.html?src=rss 

Microsoft wasn’t subtle in announcing its plans to add AI functionality to any and all of its existing products. On Monday, the company announced that, in addition to its availability on the Edge mobile browser, as well as standalone Android and iOS apps, Microsoft’s Bing Chat AI chatbot will now be accessible through third-party browsers like Safari and Chrome.

The news comes as part of Microsoft’s six-month commemoration of Bing Chat’s public availability. The company also notes that in that time, users have engaged in more than a billion conversations with the AI and have had it generate three-quarters of a billion images. 

“This next step in the journey allows Bing to showcase the incredible value of summarized answers, image creation and more, to a broader array of people,” the company release reads. Features like “longer conversations [and] chat history” remain Edge mobile exclusives, however. 

Microsoft began opening access to Bing Chat in late July, when it became available on 3rd-party desktop browsers. That version is limited as well, offering only 2,000 words per prompt on Chrome and Safari versus 4,000 on Edge. 

Bing Chat is powered by ChatGPT-4 from OpenAI but offers more up-to-date information than the system its built on, thanks to Bing Chat’s access to Bing Search, which allows it access to information on events that have happened since the model was trained. In addition to the third-party browser access, the newest version of Bing Chat will also offer multimodal search, meaning users will be able to upload a photo and have the AI answer specific questions about its contents, as well as a dark mode for after-hours AI queries.  

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/microsofts-bing-chat-is-available-in-chrome-and-safari-mobile-191240880.html?src=rss