SpaceX’s Starship should take off for the second ever time this week, Elon Musk has said. The world’s most powerful and tallest rocket is aiming to launch this week, he tweeted. The rocket will attempt to fly around the Earth and then drop into the ocean in a major test. Eventually, SpaceX hopes that Starship will help carry humans to the Moon and onto Mars. But first it must prove that it is safe for orbital flight in an uncrewed test. Friday’s flight would mark the second launch after a spectacular failure in April that saw the rocket blow up soon after launch. Since then, the private space company has been working to secure regulatory approval for another test. Now Elon Musk says that those approvals should be granted in time to launch on Friday, 14 November. Earlier, SpaceX had only said the rocket “could launch as early as Friday”. It may still be delayed, and previous tests have been pushed back mere seconds before launch. The first orbital test flight was attempted in April this year. Soon after it took off, Starship began to tumble, and the rocket exploded. Since then, SpaceX has been working to fix a number of issues with both the rocket and the launchpad. The FAA required that 63 fixes were needed before it would give permission for the rocket to launch again. Those changes have led to a series of improvements that SpaceX says should reduce the chance of another failure, as well as protecting the humans who will eventually fly in the spacecraft. “Starship’s first flight test provided numerous lessons learned that directly contributed to several upgrades to both the vehicle and ground infrastructure to improve the probability of success on future flights,” SpaceX says on its website. “The second flight test will debut a hot-stage separation system and a new electronic Thrust Vector Control (TVC) system for Super Heavy Raptor engines, in addition to reinforcements to the pad foundation and a water-cooled steel flame deflector, among many other enhancements. “This rapid iterative development approach has been the basis for all of SpaceX’s major innovative advancements, including Falcon, Dragon, and Starlink. Recursive improvement is essential as we work to build a fully reusable transportation system capable of carrying both crew and cargo to Earth orbit, help humanity return to the Moon, and ultimately travel to Mars and beyond.” Read More ChatGPT creator mocks Elon Musk in brutal tweet Elon Musk’s new AI bot will help you make cocaine which proves it’s ‘rebellious’ Elon Musk weighs in on the scooped bagel debate How Elon Musk’s ‘spicy’ Grok compares to ‘woke’ ChatGPT Elon Musk unveils new sarcasm-loving AI chatbot for premium X subscribers Elon Musk mocks politicians at AI summit

Dark and Darker Early Access is now playable. Check out the different prices for each edition.

Apple has held its biggest event of the year, announcing four new iPhones and two new Apple Watches. The livestreamed event saw no mention of Macs, Apple TVs or iPads. But some products were even more rejected than that: being discontinued during the event, or after it. That includes the smaller iPhones, all leather accessories and some products with the Lightning connector that was removed from the new phones. Here’s everything that was discontinued during the event. iPhone Mini In 2020, Apple released a phone that was incredibly exciting to some: a smaller model, at 5.4-inches, which it referred to as the iPhone 12 Mini. A year later came its predecessor, the iPhone 13 Mini. Some people may have liked them a lot – but not enough people did. Last year, Apple didn’t announce a follow-up model in the iPhone 14 range, and instead launched the iPhone 14 Plus. But the iPhone 13 Mini stuck around in the line-up, until the iPhone 15 event. Now it is gone, and it doesn’t look like anything is replacing it. Other iPhones have also been removed from the line-up: the iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max, and the iPhone 12. They all have direct replacements, however, in the form of the previous year’s model. Lightning accessories Perhaps the biggest news for the new iPhones was the switch away from the Lightning cable, used for more than a decade, and its replacement with USB-C. Apple had initially resisted the switch, but after the European Union forced it to change, it relented and presented it as a selling point during the event. That switch, however, means that some Lightning accessories have been removed. That includes, for instance, the MagSafe charging pack that Apple released with the iPhone 12, presumably because it had a Lightning connector at the bottom. It is unclear whether they will be coming back, with a USB-C port or any other changes. But they are no longer on the store. (Some Lightning accessories are still here, however, for now. The mouse and keyboard that comes with the iMac still plugs in that way, for instance.) And lightning AirPods The AirPods have also been moved to USB-C, and so the old ones have left the market. Apple presented this as a straightforward upgrade during its event – though after the fact it has emerged that the new AirPods are actually new in other ways, with support for lossless audio and better dust protection. The silent switch The switch has been on the side of the phone in some form since the very first iPhone. And now it is gone, at least in the Pro line-up. Instead, Apple has swapped it for the “action button”. That can still be used for muting – and by default it is set that way – but it can be changed to do other actions, too. The switch is still around in the normal, cheaper iPhone 15 and 15 Plus. But given that those tend to get many of the innovations from the previous years’ model, expect it to be removed fully in next year’s iPhones. Leather accessories Apple focused on sustainability a lot during its event. And the star announcement of that focus was the removal of leather from Apple’s line-up. It will make no new accessories out of the material, it said – though some will still be available, they are being phased out. Apple said that was because of their environmental impact, not mentioning ethical concerns. Instead, Apple has launched a range of new Apple Watch straps and iPhone cases in a new material, named FineWoven. It says that it will do the same job but with “significantly lower emissions”. Read More The iPhone has gone all grown-up. Here’s why we should be grateful Why Apple getting rid of lightning cable iPhone charger is a big deal France bans Apple iPhone 12 sales due to ‘too high radiation’ Here’s the brand new Apple Watch Apple to stop using leather in all new products Apple is changing the plug on the bottom of your iPhone

You can save big money during Prime Day 2023, but you have to know where to look.

SAN DIEGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sep 7, 2023--

Russian scientists have warned that powerful solar flare activity on Monday may cause significant disruption for satellite and radio communications. Three solar flares observed on Sunday by the Fedorov Institute of Applied Geophysics in Moscow lasted up to 14 minutes, signalling abnormally large geomagnetic disturbances on Earth. The institute forecasted the arrival of class X flares for Monday, which are the most energetic type of solar radiation, capable of damaging electronics. Earlier this month, a giant sunspot named AR3354 grew to a size roughly 10 times larger than Earth, unleashing an X-class flare aimed directly at Earth that triggered radio blackouts in some parts of the US. The latest solar activity is expected to interfere with short-wave radio communications, used by military, maritime and emergency operators. Increased solar storm activity in recent years has led to fears of an impending solar superstorm, which some astronomers warn could lead to an “internet apocalypse”. Such powerful storms occur approximately once every 100 years, with the last major one taking place in 1921. Nasa predicts that the next peak in the Sun’s 11-year activity cycle will arrive at some point in 2025, though it is not clear yet whether this will be the once-in-a-century event that some astronomers fear. The worst on record, referred to as the Carrington Event, took place in 1859 and resulted in fires at telegraph stations. “If the Carrington Event happened today, it would have even more severe impacts, such as widespread electrical disruptions, persistent blackouts, and interruptions to global communications,” the US space agency warned in a recent blog post. “Such technological chaos could cripple economies and endanger the safety and livelihoods of people worldwide.” Research published in 2021 assessed the robustness of internet and communications infrastructure against severe space weather events The study found that coronal mass ejection events could risk disconnecting Europe from the US, with the authors urging more to be done to improve the resilience of global telecommunication networks. In March this year, Nasa announced a new artificial intelligence model capable of predicting where on Earth a solar storm may strike, giving scientists up to 30 minutes of advanced warning. Vishal Upendran, from the Inter-University Center for Astronomy and Astrophysics in India, who was involved in the AI’s development, said: “With this AI, it is now possible to make rapid and accurate global predictions and inform decisions in the event of a solar storm, thereby minimising – or even preventing – devastation to modern society.” Read More Once-in-a-century solar superstorm could plunge the world into ‘internet apocalypse’, study says Powerful solar flare responsible for blackout in US What to expect from India’s Chandrayaan-3 mission to Moon’s south pole India launches historic mission to Moon’s south pole

REDMOND, Wash.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct 5, 2023--

Jakarta has been blanketed in smog that has made its air quality the worst in the world as

HAMAMATSU, Japan--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jun 15, 2023--

ANN ARBOR, Mich.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug 8, 2023--

This incident was brought to light by Jake Lucky, an E-sports reporter, who recorded and shared a portion of iShowSpeed's offensive remarks

Facebook has lost a legal challenge at the European Union’s top court over a groundbreaking German antitrust decision that limited the way the company uses data for advertising