Month: July 2022

Enlarge (credit: Hubble Heritage Team)

On Friday, NASA continued to build the hype for next week's image release from the Webb Space Telescope by announcing the five objects that will be in the first cache of images. A few of the targets are exactly what you'd expect, given what scientists have said they want to use the telescope to image, while a couple have likely been chosen simply because they'll produce some fantastic visuals.

The target list also shows NASA's thoughts about how it can get informative data as quickly as possible. We'll give a little background on each of the targets below.

WASP-96 b: One of the most exciting features of Webb is its ability to analyze the composition of the atmospheres of exoplanets. When a planet passes between its host star and Earth, some of the star's light will pass through its atmosphere, allowing the materials in the atmosphere to absorb specific wavelengths in the star's light. This signal is tiny since only a small fraction of the star's light will pass through the atmosphere, so it will typically take months of observations to get a good signal.

Enlarge (credit: Scharon Harding)

Google is testing a method to boost the battery life of Chromebooks by changing how they work with the Chrome web browser. It's shaping up to be a potentially attractive update for users who leave a lot of tabs open on their Chromebooks.

Google Chrome currently cuts the CPU time and throttles the CPU load for any tab you haven't touched or looked at for five minutes. Google calls this "intensive throttling of JavaScript timer wake up," and it's supposed to help conserve system battery life. The feature also makes the page wake up once every 60 seconds to check if you're actively using the tab again.

It seems Google is interested in pushing the idea even further, at least for Chromebook users. About Chromebooks this week spotted a new flag in Chrome OS 105, currently being tested in the dev channel, that changes this five-minute period to 10 seconds.

Enlarge / A license plate reader in California. (credit: Gado | Getty Images)

Since the United States Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade last month, America’s extensive surveillance state could soon be turned against those seeking abortions or providing abortion care.

Currently, nine states have almost entirely banned abortion, and more are expected to follow suit. Many Republican lawmakers in these states are discussing the possibility of preventing people from traveling across state lines to obtain an abortion. If such plans are enacted and withstand legal scrutiny, one of the key technologies that could be deployed to track people trying to cross state lines is automated license plate readers (ALPRs). They’re employed heavily by police forces across the US, but they’re also used by private actors.

Enlarge (credit: Getty Images | SOPA Images )

Update: As suspected, Elon Musk has bailed on his bid to buy Twitter, citing multiple breaches of the merger agreement. Musk's attorneys detailed their complaints in a regulatory filing with the SEC. "As further described below, Mr. Musk is terminating the Merger Agreement because Twitter is in material breach of multiple provisions of that Agreement, appears to have made false and misleading representations upon which Mr. Musk relied when entering into the Merger Agreement, and is likely to suffer a Company Material Adverse Effect," reads the filing.

As noted below, Musk is on the hook for a $1 billion breakup fee. But not following through with the purchase is likely to be an even more expensive proposition. In a tweet posted shortly after Musk’s announcement, Twitter Chairman of the Board Bret Taylor said the company would sue to force the deal to close.

"The Twitter Board is committed to closing the transaction on the price and terms agreed upon with Mr. Musk and plans to pursue legal action to enforce the merger agreement. We are confident we will prevail in the Delaware Court of Chancery."