Month: October 2023

Enlarge / Elon Musk, SpaceX's founder and CEO, participated by video conference in the 74th International Astronautical Congress held in Baku, Azerbaijan. (credit: Resul Rehimov/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

Anyone who keeps track of Elon Musk knows the world's richest man has a penchant for setting aspirational schedules for his companies. SpaceX misses those ambitious timelines so often that Musk has joked the company specializes in making the impossible late.

So, if you have an opportunity to interview him, why spend time asking Musk to prognosticate when one of his companies will do something years in the future? This is especially true for things that are impossible to know, like when will SpaceX land a Starship on Mars? Predictably, Musk replied to that question Thursday by saying it was feasible for Starship to achieve a Mars landing—without people on board—in three or four years.

Landing Starship on Mars in 2026 or 2027 is probably among the least likely of all the feasible outcomes, but setting this timetable helps keep SpaceX's workforce razor-focused. Starship is a revolutionary design, with the goal of becoming a rapidly reusable rocket that could fly thousands of times per year. It's also the largest rocket ever built, with at least twice the thrust of NASA's Saturn V rocket from the Apollo program more than 50 years ago. Musk described Starship on Thursday as a "generalized transport system to anywhere in the Solar System."

Enlarge / Elon Musk, SpaceX's founder and CEO, participated by video conference in the 74th International Astronautical Congress held in Baku, Azerbaijan. (credit: Resul Rehimov/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

Anyone who keeps track of Elon Musk knows the world's richest man has a penchant for setting aspirational schedules for his companies. SpaceX misses those ambitious timelines so often that Musk has joked the company specializes in making the impossible late.

So, if you have an opportunity to interview him, why spend time asking Musk to prognosticate when one of his companies will do something years in the future? This is especially true for things that are impossible to know, like when will SpaceX land a Starship on Mars? Predictably, Musk replied to that question Thursday by saying it was feasible for Starship to achieve a Mars landing—without people on board—in three or four years.

Landing Starship on Mars in 2026 or 2027 is probably among the least likely of all the feasible outcomes, but setting this timetable helps keep SpaceX's workforce razor-focused. Starship is a revolutionary design, with the goal of becoming a rapidly reusable rocket that could fly thousands of times per year. It's also the largest rocket ever built, with at least twice the thrust of NASA's Saturn V rocket from the Apollo program more than 50 years ago. Musk described Starship on Thursday as a "generalized transport system to anywhere in the Solar System."

Enlarge / The reformulated Microsoft Teams app. (credit: Microsoft)

If you or your employer uses Microsoft Teams for communication, good news: Microsoft is releasing a fully rewritten version today for Windows PCs and Macs that promises to run faster while using fewer system resources.

A preview of this app was originally released for Windows in March, but the final release covers all types of Teams instances, re-adds support for features like breakout rooms and third-party app support, and supports macOS.

The new Teams app is notable for improved performance and reduced disk space usage, especially when running on Windows PCs. Microsoft says that the reformulated version of Teams is "up to two times faster while using 50 percent less memory" on Windows systems. That sound you hear is old and underspecced work PCs in offices around the world breathing a sigh of relief.

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  Samsung's new smart tags. [credit: Samsung ]

Samsung has announced its next Tile/AirTag competitor, the Galaxy SmartTag 2. The new Bluetooth trackers are $30 each and ship globally on October 10.

The design is interesting, with a giant ring on the top and a large overall size. Samsung says the battery, a removable CR2032, will last for 500 days in "normal" mode, while a new "Power Saving" mode will last 700 days (Samsung did not expand on what "power saving" mode does). It's also IP67-rated.

The big ring on top feels like it should somehow attach to an object, but it's a solid ring that never opens; it's not a clip. The press release says you'll need a "clip or keyring" to attach the SmartTag 2 to something. Samsung's hero shot shows the tag directly attached to some objects like a key, but this does not appear to be possible outside the world of Photoshop.

Enlarge (credit: Aurich Lawson | Getty Images)

Despite leading AI companies' attempts to block users from turning AI image generators into engines of racist content, many 4chan users are still turning to these tools to "quickly flood the Internet with racist garbage," 404 Media reported.

404 Media uncovered one 4chan thread where users recommended various AI tools, including Stable Diffusion and DALL-E, but specifically linked to Bing AI's text-to-image generator (which is powered by DALL-E 3) as a "quick method." After finding the right tool—which could also be a more old-school photo-editing tool like Photoshop—users are instructed to add incendiary captions and share the images on social media to create a blitz of racist images online.

Make captions "funny, provocative," the thread instructs users. Use "redpilling message (Jews involved in 9/11)" that are "easy to understand."

Enlarge / Apple AI executive and former Google search lead John Giannandrea. (credit: Steve Jennings / TechCrunch / Flickr)

In iOS 17, Apple recently made it easier to use alternatives to Google search in private browsing mode—but the company considered going even further by making DuckDuckGo, which is marketed as a more private alternative, the default choice in that context.

As reported by Bloomberg's Leah Nylen, the information came to light when Amit Mehta, the US District Judge who is handling the US antitrust trial over Google search, unsealed transcripts of testimonies by DuckDuckGo CEO Gabriel Weinberg and Apple SVP of machine learning and AI strategy John Giannandrea. Giannandrea worked as Google's head of search before his current role at Apple.

Weinberg claimed in his testimony that his company had 20 or so meetings with Apple about the possibility and that he believed the change would happen based on prior DuckDuckGo integrations make their way into Safari. He even said this was the one proposed integration that didn't make it "all the way through the finish line."

Enlarge / Apple AI executive and former Google search lead John Giannandrea. (credit: Steve Jennings / TechCrunch / Flickr)

In iOS 17, Apple recently made it easier to use alternatives to Google search in private browsing mode—but the company considered going even further by making DuckDuckGo, which is marketed as a more private alternative, the default choice in that context.

As reported by Bloomberg's Leah Nylen, the information came to light when Amit Mehta, the US District Judge who is handling the US antitrust trial over Google search, unsealed transcripts of testimonies by DuckDuckGo CEO Gabriel Weinberg and Apple SVP of machine learning and AI strategy John Giannandrea. Giannandrea worked as Google's head of search before his current role at Apple.

Weinberg claimed in his testimony that his company had 20 or so meetings with Apple about the possibility and that he believed the change would happen based on prior DuckDuckGo integrations make their way into Safari. He even said this was the one proposed integration that didn't make it "all the way through the finish line."

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  The Displace TV has started cascading itself down its zip line.

Wall-mounting a big-screen TV can be stressful. You typically need to bore holes in your wall, making precise measurements and location selection critical. And when it comes to stability, you either have to bet on your own skills or have a handier person enter your home (and, possibly, pay them). The upcoming Displace TV seeks to address these concerns with a nail-less, hole-less mounting system that allows the 55-inch screen to zip line down to foam-padded safety if mount security is jeopardized.

Displace, a startup founded in 2022, announced the Displace TV at the CES 2023 trade show in January. The TV is 4K OLED and wireless, meaning it has no power cord or ports. Similar to LG's OLED M TVs, it gets its content from what Displace calls a "base control unit" computer placed near the television.

Displace is still finalizing the design of its TV's integrated and removable battery packs. (credit: Displace)

This week, Displace demoed new "safety features" for the TV made in response to concerns about the device's proprietary "active-loop vacuum technology." The vacuum tech is supposed to securely adhere the TV to painted, ceramic, or glass walls without holes, nails, or other tools. But it relies on TV battery power.

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  The Displace TV has started cascading itself down its zip line.

Wall-mounting a big-screen TV can be stressful. You typically need to bore holes in your wall, making precise measurements and location selection critical. And when it comes to stability, you either have to bet on your own skills or have a handier person enter your home (and, possibly, pay them). The upcoming Displace TV seeks to address these concerns with a nail-less, hole-less mounting system that allows the 55-inch screen to zip line down to foam-padded safety if mount security is jeopardized.

Displace, a startup founded in 2022, announced the Displace TV at the CES 2023 trade show in January. The TV is 4K OLED and wireless, meaning it has no power cord or ports. Similar to LG's OLED M TVs, it gets its content from what Displace calls a "base control unit" computer placed near the television.

Displace is still finalizing the design of its TV's integrated and removable battery packs. (credit: Displace)

This week, Displace demoed new "safety features" for the TV made in response to concerns about the device's proprietary "active-loop vacuum technology." The vacuum tech is supposed to securely adhere the TV to painted, ceramic, or glass walls without holes, nails, or other tools. But it relies on TV battery power.