Lifeboat Foundation

We will soon need to make some difficult choices.

Given current trends, that number will be reached within a year or so. There are ways to mitigate the effect of these streaks. Painting the satellites and adding reflective panels could reduce their brightness, particularly at infrared wavelengths that are important for near-Earth asteroid detection.

But the study points out that the mitigation strategy currently proposed by Starlink won’t be sufficient to avoid an impact on astronomy.

Continue reading “SpaceX Starlink: Why humanity needs to act now before it’s too late” »

Say goodbye to that buffering wheel.

The next generation of Wi-Fi is just around the corner.

Taiwan-based semiconductor firm MediaTek successfully conducted the first-ever live demo for Wi-Fi 7 technology, according to a report from DigitalTrends. The company also stated that it expects Wi-Fi 7 products to become available next year in anticipation of the launch of the next-gen Wi-Fi sometime around 2024.

Continue reading “WI-FI 7: The First Time WI-FI Will Be a ‘True Ethernet Replacement’” »

Space Exploration Technologies Corp. Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk is offering to send Starlink internet terminals to Tonga after an underwater volcanic eruption and subsequent tsunami cut off communication links.

Digital Twins are virtual models of the physical world. They use the Internet of Things, artificial intelligence and complex data in models that create insights and support (real-time) decision making. It is perhaps healthcare that holds the greatest potential for Digital Twins.

A string of Chinese video platforms are accelerating moves toward producing high-quality, 8K ultrahigh definition content by integrating 5G, artificial intelligence and virtual reality technologies.

It’s an important step toward moving 8K video into people’s living rooms, experts said.

Chinese UHD video production and distribution platform Sikai Garden Network Technology Co Ltd, also known as 4K Garden, plans to send UHD content to different terminal devices, including televisions, outdoor 8K light-emitting diode screens and VR headsets, and to explore diversified and innovative applications for the UHD industry, said Wu Yi, chairman of 4K Garden.

Throughout most of human history, the goal was to establish a better life for people. Whether proponents of change admit to it or not, they hope to make everything perfect. However, this very impulse to improve security against everything bad and eliminate all physical ills could precipitate just another kind of doom.

To borrow the words of a Jeff Goldblum character, those of us who did the most to uplift humanity may have been “so preoccupied with whether they could, they didn’t stop to think if they should.”

In Carl Sagan’s The Demon-Haunted World, he pointed out that the modern world is complicated. Everything we don’t understand is something to fear (unless you are a specialist in it), and it is a thing that can be ignorantly speculated about in a vacuum, as vaccines are by many on social media.

Rather than give up on humanity’s ability to come to correct judgments, Sagan offers the tools of critical thinking, taking the form of the famous Baloney Detection Kit. The rules are things you can always try to offer someone if they believe nonsensical conspiracy theories.

Continue reading “On rumors of impending doom” »

| Hackaday

Quantum computers aren’t quite ready for the home lab, but since there are ways to connect to some over the Internet, you can experiment with them more easily than you might think. [Norbert] decided to interface a giant quantum computer to an ordinary Arduino. Why? Well, that isn’t necessarily clear, but then again, why not? He explains basic quantum computing and shows his setup in the video below.

Continue reading “Arduino Meets Quantum Computer” »

ORLANDO, Fla., Jan. 6 (UPI) — SpaceX kicked off a surge in launch activity Thursday with the successful launch of 49 of the company’s Starlink communications satellites from Florida, heading south along the state’s coastline.

Five SpaceX missions may launch in the next month on the southern polar trajectory, flying closer to the Florida coast toward Miami than most launches, according to the U.S. Space Force.

Continue reading “SpaceX successfully completes first launch of 2022 from Florida” »

They claim that more than 100,000 passengers could be affected in a single day. 🤔

#engineering

Several high-profile executives of U.S. airlines warned on Monday, January 17, of an oncoming “catastrophic” aviation crisis that will take hold by Wednesday should AT&T and Verizon activate their new 5G services, a report from Reuters reveals.

Continue reading “US Airlines Warn of a ‘Catastrophic’ Crisis Caused by New 5G Services” »