Month: October 2018

SLS contractor gets real, says program needs to focus on “affordability”

“All of us need to be thinking about our annual budget for this.”

STS-91 Mission Commander Charles J. Precourt now works for Northrop Grumman.

Enlarge / STS-91 Mission Commander Charles J. Precourt now works for Northrop Grumman. (credit: NASA)

Annually, NASA spends nearly $4 billion on development of its "exploration" hardware, including the Space Launch System rocket, Orion spacecraft, the launch pad, and related facilities. This is a large amount of money, comprising nearly half of the space agency's expenditure on human spaceflight activities. Development has been ongoing since 2011, and NASA hopes to finally fly the vehicles together in 2020.

The exploration program spreads those funds around to four principal contractors who once played a key role in the space shuttle program, and now support the SLS rocket and Orion. Senior representatives of all four of these companies, Aerojet Rocketdyne, Lockheed Martin, Boeing, and Northrop Grumman, appeared last week for a panel discussion at the annual Wernher von Braun Memorial Symposium in Huntsville, Ala.

For the most part, the presentations went as usual for these kinds of events—corporate vice presidents talking about the progress they were making on this or that component of the rocket and spacecraft. Although the Space Launch System rocket is going to launch three years later than originally planned, is over budget, and NASA's own inspector recently said the program was being poorly managed, you would not have known it from these presentations.

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RED Hydrogen One goes on sale Nov 2nd for $1,295

RED’s first smartphone is finally here. First announced last summer, the RED Hydrogen One will be available from AT&T and Verizon starting Friday, November 2nd, 2018. With a $1,295 price tag, the Hydrogen One is one of the most expensive phon…

RED’s first smartphone is finally here. First announced last summer, the RED Hydrogen One will be available from AT&T and Verizon starting Friday, November 2nd, 2018. With a $1,295 price tag, the Hydrogen One is one of the most expensive phones to launch this year. But it’s also one of the most unusual. In addition […]

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Gab forced offline over apparent tie to Pittsburgh synagogue shooter

PayPal, Medium, Joyent, and GoDaddy all denied Gab service over the weekend.

Gab's mascot is a cartoon frog.

Enlarge / Gab's mascot is a cartoon frog. (credit: Cam Miller)

Gab, a "free speech" alternative to Twitter that's popular with the far right, has been shut down after losing service from a number of mainstream technology platforms, including PayPal, Joyent, Medium, and GoDaddy.

"Gab is under attack," the company's home page now reads. "We have been systematically no-platformed by App Stores, multiple hosting providers, and several payment processors." Gab is working to get back online using new service providers.

The attacks on Gab follow revelations that the man accused of Saturday's deadly mass shooting at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh appeared to be a regular Gab user. An account with his name was "rife with anti-refugee, anti-Semitic and white supremacist posts," according to the Washington Post. One post complained about a "kike infestation."

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Android-Verbreitung: Android 9 noch immer unter 0,1 Prozent Marktanteil

Fast drei Monate nach dem Release von Android 9 alias Pie taucht die aktuelle Android-Version noch immer nicht in Googles monatlichen Zahlen zur Verbreitung des Betriebssystems auf. Dafür gewinnt der Vorgänger leicht, die älteren Versionen verlieren an…

Fast drei Monate nach dem Release von Android 9 alias Pie taucht die aktuelle Android-Version noch immer nicht in Googles monatlichen Zahlen zur Verbreitung des Betriebssystems auf. Dafür gewinnt der Vorgänger leicht, die älteren Versionen verlieren an Marktanteilen. (Android 9, Google)

PlayStation Classic’s full game list announced, and it might annoy you

Metal Gear Solid, Resident Evil make the cut; some huge Sony, Activision classics don’t.

The European PlayStation Classic has the same game selection as the American one, but it's the only one to get an official listing image today. Hence, the release date is listed up there as "03-12-2018," meaning, December 3rd.

Enlarge / The European PlayStation Classic has the same game selection as the American one, but it's the only one to get an official listing image today. Hence, the release date is listed up there as "03-12-2018," meaning, December 3rd. (credit: PlayStation)

When the PlayStation Classic was announced in September, the mini-retro box had plenty of details confirmed, including a December 3 release date and a $99.99 price. But its full 20-game list was missing, which changes today with an unveiling of what will likely be the make-or-break factor for potential buyers.

In the United States, the PlayStation Classic will ship with the following games. (An asterisk means the game was previously announced during the September unveil.)

  • Battle Arena Toshinden
  • Cool Boarders 2
  • Destruction Derby
  • Final Fantasy VII *
  • Grand Theft Auto
  • Intelligent Qube
  • Jumping Flash! *
  • Metal Gear Solid
  • Mr. Driller
  • Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee
  • Rayman
  • Resident Evil (Director's Cut)
  • Revelations: Persona
  • Ridge Racer Type 4 *
  • Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo
  • Syphon Filter
  • Tekken 3 *
  • Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six
  • Twisted Metal
  • Wild Arms *

The list includes a few glaring omissions for PlayStation faithful. The biggest crater in the list is arguably thanks to publisher Activision, whose PlayStation-defining series Crash Bandicoot, Spyro the Dragon, and Tony Hawk's Pro Skater all missed the cut. (Sony originally published Crash and Spyro games, before those series' rights were acquired by Activision.) EA is nowhere to be found, as well, though its roster of popular sports games would likely be a rights quagmire to bring back in a retro collection like this.

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Threadripper 2970WX/2920X ausprobiert: AMDs 24- und 12-Kerner liefern viel CPU pro Euro

Sechs Wochen nach dem 32-Core-Chip lässt AMD zwei Threadripper v2 mit 24 und 12 Kernen folgen. Beide CPUs sind sehr schnell bei Rendering-Aufgaben und kosten in Anbetracht ihrer Leistung vergleichsweise wenig. Ein Hands on von Marc Sauter (AMD Zen, Pro…

Sechs Wochen nach dem 32-Core-Chip lässt AMD zwei Threadripper v2 mit 24 und 12 Kernen folgen. Beide CPUs sind sehr schnell bei Rendering-Aufgaben und kosten in Anbetracht ihrer Leistung vergleichsweise wenig. Ein Hands on von Marc Sauter (AMD Zen, Prozessor)

OnePlus launches the OnePlus 6T with bigger screen, smaller notch

Less than half a year after introducing the OnePlus 6 smartphone, Chinese phone maker One Plus is back with the OnePlus 6T. The new model has more RAM and more storage than its predecessor, but the first thing you’ll probably notice is the new de…

Less than half a year after introducing the OnePlus 6 smartphone, Chinese phone maker One Plus is back with the OnePlus 6T. The new model has more RAM and more storage than its predecessor, but the first thing you’ll probably notice is the new design: the OnePlus 6T has a smaller notch and a bigger, […]

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Elektromobilität: 120 Kilowatt ohne Kabelanschluss

Auto einparken, weggehen und eine halbe Stunde später ist der Akku wieder aufgeladen, ganz ohne Kabelsalat. Forscher demonstrieren Stromübertragung über eine 20-Zentimeter-Luftstrecke mit nur 3 Prozent Stromverlust. Von Frank Wunderlich-Pfeiffer (Elekt…

Auto einparken, weggehen und eine halbe Stunde später ist der Akku wieder aufgeladen, ganz ohne Kabelsalat. Forscher demonstrieren Stromübertragung über eine 20-Zentimeter-Luftstrecke mit nur 3 Prozent Stromverlust. Von Frank Wunderlich-Pfeiffer (Elektromobilität, Elektroauto)

Bethesda: The Elder Scrolls 6 erscheint für nächste Konsolengeneration

Es ist wohl ein bisschen zu früh, schon mal Urlaub für The Elder Scrolls 6 einzureichen: In einem Interview hat Entwicklungschef Matt Firor gesagt, dass das Rollenspiel erst für die nächste Konsolengeneration erscheint. Vorher gibt’s immerhin den Ableg…

Es ist wohl ein bisschen zu früh, schon mal Urlaub für The Elder Scrolls 6 einzureichen: In einem Interview hat Entwicklungschef Matt Firor gesagt, dass das Rollenspiel erst für die nächste Konsolengeneration erscheint. Vorher gibt's immerhin den Ableger Blades. (The Elder Scrolls, Bethesda)

The New Mayor of Prague is a ‘Pirate’

The Pirate Party movement has booked quite a few successes already and this week it can add yet another. The 37-year-old Pirate Party member Zdeněk Hřib is the newly appointed mayor of the Czech Republic’s capital Prague, which solidifies the party’s recent election win. Hřib initially joined the Pirates to help with its health care program, but he’s now leading the country’s largest city.

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The Czech Pirates have made quite a name for themselves in recent years.

The party previously took on a local anti-piracy outfit by launching their own movie download sites, making the point that linking is not a crime.

The bold move resulted in a criminal investigation, but the case was eventually dropped after it was deemed that the Pirates acted in accordance with EU law.

The Czech Pirate Party has chalked up several successes in the political arena too. In last year’s parliamentary elections the Pirates won 10.79% of the total vote, securing 22 seats in the national parliament.

That success was replicated earlier this month when the Pirates got 17.1% of the votes in Prague’s municipal elections, making it the second largest party locally.

This week the Czech Pirates reached another significant milestone, as the party delivers the new mayor of the country’s capital, Prague. Pirate Party member Zdeněk Hřib will fill the prominent position and several of his colleagues will take places in the city council.

Hřib is a relative newcomer who graduated in General Medicine at Prague’s Charles University and first registered as a Pirate Party supporter five years ago. During the most recent municipal elections, however, he was listed as the party’s top candidate.

While Hřib is not the first Pirate mayor, Prague’s status makes it a unique achievement. With the total population exceeding well over a million people, Prague is among the twenty largest cities in the European Union.

The new mayor is not a widely known figure to the general population of Prague, but that will likely change during the months to come. Speaking with TorrentFreak, the new mayor says he joined the Pirates half a decade ago when he was trying to find a party that fitted his own ideals.

“Originally I was just helping with the healthcare part of the political program because healthcare is my primary specialty,” Hřib tells us.

“I wanted to have a political party in Czech Republic, that I could vote for. Pirate Party appeared on my list, and their healthcare program was a good basis, but without details. So I had helped with the details.”

He later became the main healthcare expert of the Pirate party and following the successful elections in Prague, he is now leading the city. During the years to come, he hopes to bring positive change in several areas, including IT.

“The IT of City Hall is now not very helpful in fulfilling the needs of public services. The information is not shared well inside the office, nor outside. Besides this, Prague has a huge problem with investments in transport infrastructure and there is an imminent housing crisis. These problems need to be solved,” Hřib says.

The new mayor has less political experience than some members of the old guard, but he has appeared on the Pirate Party’s ballot in Prague before. Hřib believes that the new coalition is well supported, and the fact that he’s the new mayor proves that he and the party know how to get something done.

“I believe that becoming a mayor in the Czech political system actually proves, that I have just enough political skills for this,” Hřib says.

“We had managed to create a coalition with a group of conservative People parties and an activist group led by a conservative member of Czech parliament. The coalition is well perceived by the citizens, although the opinions on who should be a mayor could vary.”

For the Pirate Party, delivering the mayor of the largest city in the country solidifies the election win in Prague’s municipal elections earlier this month. However, it’s also just the start.

Like other Pirate parties, the Czech branch is by no means a single issue outfit. The party previously campaigned on a broad range of issues including the fighting of corruption, tax reform, and overhauling the country’s copyright legislation.

Whatever the future brings, the success of the various Pirate parties is certainly remarkable. Especially when keeping in mind that the movement might have never become what it is today, without the raid on The Pirate Bay’s server in 2006.

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