“Ultimately, the interior of the spaceship was designed with one primary goal in mind, and that is to get the perfect view of Earth from space,” the company said in a video announcing the reveal.
During the livestream event, Virgin Galactic will also discuss a new digital platform that will bring “immersive versions” of its spaceflight and cabin interior to aspiring astronauts around the world.
“We now look forward to revealing our spaceship cabin design, which is progressive, beautiful and functional,” said Virgin Galactic CEO George Whitesides. “We are particularly delighted that, under current restrictions, we have been able to create an experience that we will be able to share with the millions of people around the world who dream of travelling to space.”
Whether or not you actually use the Freestyle filters, the update means that NVIDIA is aligning its streaming service a little closer to its native gaming experience. At the very least, you’ll miss out on one fewer feature if you opt for GeForce Now over a high-end graphics card.
Elsewhere, NVIDIA has added Highlights support to Destiny 2. The feature uses smart pattern and image recognition to automatically detect and capture important gameplay moments, so you can share them elsewhere later without having to remember to manually create clips.
This week marks the 41st anniversary of the very first Walkman: the TPS-L2, a metal-cased, blue-and-silver box that sold more than 30,000 units in the first two months of its release. It led the way for Sony to sell over 200 million cassette-based players by the time production ended in 2010. I can still recall my dad’s horror at seeing me pack a full box of cassette tapes into the car for a road trip, with my Walkman an ever-present companion throughout high school. To this day I still own well over 100 cassettes, including a few dozen mixtapes that friends made for me (a practice that simply cannot be replicated by a Spotify playlist).
To commemorate the anniversary of the first Walkman, head on over to the product page for the TPS-L2 and leave a user review that includes your fondest memories of the device. Tell us all the things you liked (or didn’t like) about the first Walkman — and don’t leave anything out! Remember, the best reviews are included in upcoming user review roundup articles.
Law enforcement agencies began collecting data from Encrochat on April 1st. According to the BBC, the encryption code was likely cracked in early March. It’s not clear exactly how officials hacked the platform, which is now shut down.
It’s not unusual for criminals to communicate via encrypted apps and devices. In 2018, the FBI arrested Vincent Ramos, the CEO of Phantom Secure, a company that was selling custom BlackBerrys to drug cartels. When Ramos pleaded guilty, he admitted that the encrypted handsets were used to facilitate sales of cocaine, heroin and methamphetamines and that Phantom Secure remotely wiped the devices if they were obtained by law enforcement.
In the US, politicians promoting the EARN IT Act want to penalize companies for using end-to-end encryption. In theory, that may prevent platforms like Encrochat and Phantom Secure, but the bill would make changes to Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, and doing that could have far-reaching consequences. For starters, it might lead to social media platforms censoring anything that might prompt a legal challenge — or shutting down altogether.
For now at least, we can be happy that officials busted Encrochat users. In addition to the arrests, police in the UK say they prevented kidnappings and executions, “mitigating over 200 threats to life.”
“Together we’ve protected the public by arresting middle-tier criminals and the kingpins, the so-called iconic untouchables who have evaded law enforcement for years, and now we have the evidence to prosecute them,” NCA Director of Investigations Nikki Holland said in a statement.
The 10-inch Nest Hub Max is one of our favorite Google Assistant devices, earning a score of 86. It’s arguably the best speaker of all of Google’s first-party displays and its larger screen makes it best for viewing photos and watching video. It could become something like a mini TV set if you watch YouTube a lot, and if placed in a kitchen, you can ask the Google Assistant to show you recipe videos while you cook a new meal.
The Hub Max also has a 6.5-megapixel camera that you can use for video chats and as a Nest Cam. The latter is a feature that’s unique to the Hub Max — it essentially lets you use the built-in camera as a security device, allowing you to check in on a part of your home from your smartphone or from other Nest smart displays.
We like the camera’s gesture recognition capabilities, too. While watching a video, you can hold your hand up in front of the camera to pause it. This and other gestures are quite useful once you learn the ones you’d use most, but even if your hands are tied, you can still rely on voice commands and the Google Assistant to fetch information and do things for you. Also, Google made sure you can disable the camera and microphone electronically whenever you want.
We reviewed the Nest Hub back when it was called the Home Hub and gave it a score of 87 for its lovely display and minimalist design. It’s a more compact version of the Hub Max with its 7-inch screen, making it better for tighter spaces. While it doesn’t have a built-in camera like the Hub Max does, it can do almost everything else that its larger counterpart can including play YouTube videos, stream music and handle Google Assistant commands.
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But wait, there’s more! If you’re willing to wait for next-gen hardware, you can buy the basic edition of NBA 2K21 for $69.99 — not $59.99 — on PS5 and Xbox Series X. Finally, you can get a version of the Mamba Forever Edition, which is meant primarily for PS5 and Xbox Series X owners, that comes with a special Kobe Bryant cover and access to the standard edition on PS4 or Xbox One. The bottom line, therefore, is that you’ll need to spend at least $100 to play NBA 2K21 on two different console generations. The announcement also suggests that the industry could be moving toward a standard sticker price of $70 for ‘triple A’ games on next-gen hardware.
The games will, at least, let you carry over most of your in-game progression. NBA 2K21 will ship with a feature called MyTEAM Cross-Progression that allows your MyTEAM points, tokens, cards and progress to move between consoles built by the same manufacturer. In addition, there will be a Shared VC Wallet that keeps your virtual cash in sync.
The decision is sure to irritate some fans. EA was criticized, for instance, when it offered a free upgrade option for Madden NFL 21 that expired on March 31st, 2021 — not long after the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X are supposed to be released. The backlash was so severe that EA quietly extended the offer until the release of the series’ next instalment.
The NBA 2K franchise is known for mixing generally-excellent gameplay with frustrating microtransactions. The publisher’s decision to forgo a free cross-gen upgrade, therefore, is hardly surprising. Still, it’s another example of how inconsistently developers and publishers are handling the issue. Crystal Dynamics, for comparison, has confirmed that the PS4 and Xbox One version of Marvel’s Avengers will include a free console upgrade. There’s no single policy, in short, that will apply to either the PS5 or Xbox Series X ecosystem, meaning it will fall on consumers to research and understand what the situation is with each of their favorite franchises.
You might not be aware of GaN, but you’ve certainly interacted with it. It forms the core of blue-light LEDs, which themselves, when paired with a yellow phosphor, can be tuned to produce white light. This property enabled LED indoor lighting, along with LED flat panel screens and much anticipated micro-LED displays.
But recently researchers have been looking at gallium nitride for other reasons. It can be used to build remarkably efficient power electronics, the circuits in a device or charger that convert your wall power into usable voltage. Some scientists are optimistic GaN might eventually outperform silicon power circuitry by a factor of a thousand, leading to ultra-efficient devices with chargers no bigger than a wall plug, and maybe even revolutionizing the power grid.
We spoke to two researchers working with GaN about their work, and how gallium-nitride might revolutionize electronics, telecoms, even space travel. As with any new technology that catches people’s attention, there’s a lot of promise, but also a lot of hype, and they were quick to tell us that these advances will take time. Some changes are coming fast: Since we filmed this video, a UC Santa Barbara lab led by Shuji Nakamura, the inventor of the blue-light LED, announced they’d found a way to make GaN based white-LEDs without a phosphor, a discovery that might revolutionize lighting all over again. Watch the video to learn more about what GaN is, what we can expect in the next few years and where the future might take us.
Xiaomi has launched its first lineup of OLED “Master Series” TVs in China, starting with a 65-inch model at a pretty interesting price (via Engadget Chinese). Using a 10-bit 4K 120Hz LG OLED panel, it covers 98.5 percent of the DCI-P3 cinema-level color gamut while offering just about every feature you’d want in an OLED set. That includes support for every HDR standard (Dolby Vision, HDR10+, HDR and HLG), the latest HDMI 2.1 standard and a 65-watt, 5-channel Dolby Atmos speaker system.
It also offers variable refresh, motion compensation and a stellar 1-millisecond response time for gaming, with Xiaomi declaring it “born for the next generation of game consoles.” Naturally, it has extremely narrow bezels, and a modern design with a glass-type base, very narrow bezels and ambient lighting.
As we prepare to start a new console era this fall, the latest TVs will have to match their capabilities. Vizio just announced specs and prices for its latest models, with HDMI 2.1 features like variable refresh rate on models available for as little as $400.
Vizio
Of course, even at Vizio’s typically lower prices, opting for a 120Hz panel or OLED technology will still cost more than $1,200, but there should be a lot of options available for gamers very soon.
— Richard
Samsung may have leaked the Note 20 Ultra on its own website
Meet the next Note.
Samsung
Samsung’s next flagship device may have already appeared. Whether you believe it was inadvertent or intentional, the company’s websites in Russia, Ukraine and China flashed a picture of this device, which is apparently the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra. Continue reading.
NASA’s ‘smell of space’ is available as a perfume
Eau de Space smells smokey and bitter, and so can you.
Eau de Space
Over a decade ago, NASA chemists developed a scent that mimics the “smell of space” to give astronauts a whiff of the cosmos before they left Earth’s atmosphere. Now, the company Eau de Space has gotten its hands on that scent, and you can order a bottle (or ten) through its Kickstarter.
In a video shared by Eau de Space, NASA astronaut Tony Antonelli says space smells “strong and unique,” unlike anything he has ever smelled on Earth. Others have described the smell as “seared steak, raspberries and rum,” smokey and bitter. Continue reading.
Google discontinues its affordable Pixel 3a and 3a XL phones
Now it’s while supplies last.
Engadget
Mat mentioned only yesterday that a boom in affordable smartphones is happening. Google’s Pixel 3a series was at the vanguard, offering the Pixel 3’s best features — like a really good camera and excellent battery life — on a budget.
Sadly, Google is retiring the device. And while it’s been teased for way too long, we’re still waiting on the Pixel 4a to break cover. Continue reading.
While it’s not an official Samsung design, the company sells the UV Sterilizer via a partnership with ITFIT, a Samsung sub-brand that seems to be applied to rebadged accessories. In the FCC listing for the device, the documentation includes a “Designed for Samsung” seal. Other ITFIT products made for Samsung include headphones and selfie sticks.
Wireless UV chargers aren’t new, but they’ve seen a huge rise in popularity following the coronavirus outbreak. Samsung doesn’t explicitly state that its UV Sterilizer successfully eradicates SARS-CoV-2, but a recent research study suggests that UVC lamps are capable of killing “more than 99.9 percent of airborne coronaviruses.”
The ITFIT UV Sterilizer is currently only being sold in Thailand for 1,590 baht (around $51), although it is also listed (but not available) in Hong Kong. There’s no word on whether it will go on sale in the US, but big-name accessory brands like Mophie and InvisibleShield (both owned by Zagg) are already on the case.
