Month: September 2023

Enlarge (credit: ArLawKa AungTun | iStock / Getty Images Plus)

Today, DC-based US District Court Judge Amit Mehta will hear opening arguments in a 10-week monopoly trial that could disrupt Google's search business and redefine how the US enforces antitrust law in the tech industry.

The trial comes three years after the Department of Justice began investigating whether Google—currently valued at $1.7 trillion—potentially abused its dominance in online search to make it nearly impossible for rival search engines to compete. Today, Google controls more than 90 percent of the search engine market within the US and globally, and this has harmed competitors and consumers, the DOJ argued, by depriving the world of better ways to search the web.

"Google’s anticompetitive conduct harms consumers—even those who prefer its search engine—because Google has not innovated as it would have with competitive pressure," the DOJ wrote in a pre-trial brief filed on Friday.

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Intel today confirmed key details about the next generation of Thunderbolt cable, Thunderbolt 5. The company expects PCs and accessories with Thunderbolt 5 to release in 2024.

Intel will release Thunderbolt 5 technical collateral and development resources to developers in Q4 of 2024, Jason Ziller, general manager of the client connectivity division at Intel, told reporters ahead of the announcement.

Thunderbolt 5: What’s the difference?

The main feature of the new specification is its ability to transmit data at up to 120 gigabits per second (Gbps) while simultaneously receiving data at up to 40 Gbps. The mode, which Intel is dubbing Bandwidth Boost, only occurs when a high-bandwidth display is connected. Intel hasn't publicly specified the display requirements for triggering Bandwidth Boost mode.

Enlarge / On January 23, 2016, Blue Origin launched its New Shepard rocket again, after its previous flight in late 2015. This marked the first time a booster had flown into space, landed vertically, and re-flown again. (credit: Blue Origin)

One year ago today a Blue Origin-built rocket carrying a spacecraft exploded above the West Texas desert in dramatic fashion. There were no passengers aboard the New Shepard capsule, which was able to push powerfully away from the rocket with its escape system and land safely under a parachute in the desert.

The failure of the New Shepard-23 mission happened at 1 minute and 4 seconds into the flight. The vehicle had already passed through max Q, the point at which the launch system faces maximum dynamic pressure during ascent, and its BE-3 rocket engine was throttling back up to continue climbing on its suborbital trajectory.

Half a year after this failure, Blue Origin provided an update on the accident investigation it had conducted with assistance from the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board. According to this update, the mishap team noted "hot streaks" on the rocket engine's nozzle and determined that it was operating at higher temperatures than it was designed for.