Month: May 2024
Amazon has permission to fly its drones over longer distances
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has given Amazon permission to fly its delivery drones beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS). With that hurdle cleared, the company claims it can fly farther and expand drone service, providing customers faster delivery and a larger selection of items, Amazon announced in a blog post.
Until now, the FAA has only allowed Amazon to fly drones as far as someone could see them from the ground. That way, spotters or pilots could ensure that drones weren’t interfering with aircraft. However, the constraint seriously limited how far the drones could travel.
To move beyond that, Amazon said it spent years developing “onboard detect-and-avoid technology.” It submitted engineering information to the FAA including operation, maintenance and performance details. Flight tests were then conducted in the presence of FAA inspectors around airplanes, helicopters and a hot air balloon to “demonstrate how the drone safely navigated away from each one of them,” Amazon said.
With BVLOS approval in hand, the company plans to expand its delivery area around its drone facility at College Station, Texas. Later in 2024, drone deliveries will be integrated into its broader delivery network.
Last month, Amazon announced that it was halting drone deliveries at one of its first test sites in Lockeford, California, without providing a specific reason. At the same time, it said it would launch drone deliveries in the West Valley, Phoenix metro area.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/amazon-has-permission-to-fly-its-drones-over-longer-distances-133602573.html?src=rss
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has given Amazon permission to fly its delivery drones beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS). With that hurdle cleared, the company claims it can fly farther and expand drone service, providing customers faster delivery and a larger selection of items, Amazon announced in a blog post.
Until now, the FAA has only allowed Amazon to fly drones as far as someone could see them from the ground. That way, spotters or pilots could ensure that drones weren’t interfering with aircraft. However, the constraint seriously limited how far the drones could travel.
To move beyond that, Amazon said it spent years developing “onboard detect-and-avoid technology.” It submitted engineering information to the FAA including operation, maintenance and performance details. Flight tests were then conducted in the presence of FAA inspectors around airplanes, helicopters and a hot air balloon to “demonstrate how the drone safely navigated away from each one of them,” Amazon said.
With BVLOS approval in hand, the company plans to expand its delivery area around its drone facility at College Station, Texas. Later in 2024, drone deliveries will be integrated into its broader delivery network.
Last month, Amazon announced that it was halting drone deliveries at one of its first test sites in Lockeford, California, without providing a specific reason. At the same time, it said it would launch drone deliveries in the West Valley, Phoenix metro area.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/amazon-has-permission-to-fly-its-drones-over-longer-distances-133602573.html?src=rss
Fracking wastewater has “shocking” amount of clean-energy mineral lithium
40% of US need for lithium could be covered by Pennsylvania’s fracking byproduct.
Enlarge / A hydro-fracking drilling pad for oil and gas operates October 26, 2017 in Robinson Township, Pennsylvania. (credit: A fracking drilling pad operates in the Marcellus Shale formation near Robinson Township, Pa. Credit: Robert Nickelsberg/Getty Images)
In 2007, a geoscientist at Penn State named Terry Engelder calculated that Pennsylvania could be sitting on more than 50 trillion cubic feet of accessible natural gas deposits. Engelder later revised his calculation upward, to 489 trillion cubic feet, enough to meet U.S. natural gas demand for 18 years. These massive numbers set off the fracking boom in Pennsylvania, leading to drilling across the state. Since the rush began, there have been 13,000 unconventional wells drilled in Pennsylvania.
Now, a new “astounding” calculation has caught the attention of the gas industry: A study from researchers at the National Energy Technology Laboratory shows the wastewater produced by Pennsylvania’s unconventional wells could contain enough lithium to meet 38 to 40 percent of current domestic consumption. Lithium is a critical mineral that’s an “essential component” of many clean energy technologies, including batteries for electric vehicles.
The study used chemical and production compliance data from the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection to estimate that approximately 1,160 metric tons of lithium per year could be extracted from this produced water, which is a combination of fluids used for fracking and water from natural formations underground that returns to the surface during the drilling process. The lithium in Pennsylvania’s produced water likely comes from ancient volcanoes that were erupting at the time the natural gas deposits were being formed. This volcanic ash contained lithium that eventually seeped into the water underground.
The World’s Fastest Typist Is 17 Years Old, and His Next Trick Is Topping 305 Words Per Minute
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Exclusive: An affordable 16TB PCIe SSD is on the way — Chinese firm behind world’s first 2TB microSD card plans another world’s first and, yes, we’re chasing a review sample
AGI is on a roll with the world’s largest PCIe SSD that will appeal to business users.
A Chinese company which hit the spotlight earlier in 2024 with the world’s first 2TB microSD card – which we have tested already – now plans to launch a 16TB PCIe NVMe SSD, also a world’s first, at Computex 2024.
Precise details are scant, with AGI’s press release only mentioning, “a 16TB PCIe SSD that leads in the HMB domain, providing unmatched performance” along with a picture of a M.2 2280 SSD.
We don’t know whether it is a 4th or 5th generation PCIe model, if it will have a graphene heatsink but it will almost certainly use QLC parts.
New player in town?
Right now, there are about a dozen 8TB PCIe NVMe SSDs; shaped like a stick of chewing gum, they are popular upgrades for mobile workstations, mini PCs, PS5 gaming consoles or SSD NAS where their data density counts.
They do carry a significant premium: At the time of writing, the cheapest model is the Sabrent Rocket Q NVMe which is a PCIe 3.0 part and retails for $800. A 16TB SSD based on the same price per TB would fetch a whopping $1,600, if not more given that it is a premium model.
That’s a bit more expensive than, say the enterprise-focussed Solidigm D5-P5316, which starts from $1,490 but the latter is a 2.5-inch SSD – so is far larger and won’t fit in a laptop – and has a smaller capacity.
8TB SATA SSD could be a bargain
As for the acronym HMB, it refers to a technology called Host Memory Buffer which is a popular way for manufacturers to cut down costs by removing DRAM components while maintaining performance; doing so also frees space for additional memory chips to be added.
AGI also plans to unveil an 8TB SATA SSD which will compete with the Samsung 870QVO, the most popular drive of this size and one which retails for around $600. The unnamed device is expected to push “the limits of consumer-grade storage, setting a new benchmark for capacity” and will most likely integrate its current AI238 family, one which comes with a three-year warranty.
The company also produces portable SSDs, USB flash drives as well as DDR5 and DDR4 memory modules. We have contacted AGI for review samples and for additional details regarding these products. We will update the article in due course.
The appetite for large capacity SSDs in the consumer market is far too small, which explains why most laptops selling under $1,000 come with up to 2TB. The advent of cloud storage coupled with the ability to run software as a service (i.e. from the cloud) means that 2TB is plenty for most.
In addition, large laptops (15.6-inch upwards) often have a spare SSD slot which means you can add another empty SSD for extra capacity, removing the need to go for the biggest model at a premium.
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The latest Sonos sale slices $90 off the flagship Era 300
Folks who have been on the fence about buying a Sonos soundbar or speaker for the first time or those who want to expand their existing home audio setup may be pleased to learn that the company is running a sale. (Its new Ace headphones aren’t included, unfortunately.) You can save up to 25 percent on many Sonos products until June 16. The Era 300 speaker, for instance, has dropped from $449 to $359. That’s 90 bucks off, and the deal is also being matched at Amazon.
The Era 300 is the first Sonos speaker with spatial audio support. While we had some reservations about just how well the spatial audio actually works, in general we reckon the Era 300 delivers excellent sound. We gave it a score of 80 in our review, in part because it’s expensive, but the current deal certainly offsets that. The unusual appearance and lack of Google Assistant support were also negatives in our book.
On the plus side, though, the Era 300 is very easy to set up and the Trueplay tuning system no longer requires you to walk around the room while waving an iPhone (though the latter might give you better results). The speaker works with pretty much any music streaming service, while Bluetooth and line-in options are very welcome.
You can also find good deals on some of the best soundbars. The second-gen Sonos Beam is $399 ($100 off) and it checks almost all the boxes — it delivers good audio for its size and has Dolby Atmos support. The main negative is that it has just one HDMI port. On the high end of the price spectrum, the Arc is $180 off and down to $719. Most of these Sonos deals are being matched at Amazon as well.
Follow @EngadgetDeals on Twitter and subscribe to the Engadget Deals newsletter for the latest tech deals and buying advice.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-latest-sonos-sale-slices-90-off-the-flagship-era-300-133043027.html?src=rss
Folks who have been on the fence about buying a Sonos soundbar or speaker for the first time or those who want to expand their existing home audio setup may be pleased to learn that the company is running a sale. (Its new Ace headphones aren’t included, unfortunately.) You can save up to 25 percent on many Sonos products until June 16. The Era 300 speaker, for instance, has dropped from $449 to $359. That’s 90 bucks off, and the deal is also being matched at Amazon.
The Era 300 is the first Sonos speaker with spatial audio support. While we had some reservations about just how well the spatial audio actually works, in general we reckon the Era 300 delivers excellent sound. We gave it a score of 80 in our review, in part because it’s expensive, but the current deal certainly offsets that. The unusual appearance and lack of Google Assistant support were also negatives in our book.
On the plus side, though, the Era 300 is very easy to set up and the Trueplay tuning system no longer requires you to walk around the room while waving an iPhone (though the latter might give you better results). The speaker works with pretty much any music streaming service, while Bluetooth and line-in options are very welcome.
You can also find good deals on some of the best soundbars. The second-gen Sonos Beam is $399 ($100 off) and it checks almost all the boxes — it delivers good audio for its size and has Dolby Atmos support. The main negative is that it has just one HDMI port. On the high end of the price spectrum, the Arc is $180 off and down to $719. Most of these Sonos deals are being matched at Amazon as well.
Follow @EngadgetDeals on Twitter and subscribe to the Engadget Deals newsletter for the latest tech deals and buying advice.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-latest-sonos-sale-slices-90-off-the-flagship-era-300-133043027.html?src=rss
How to Get Microsoft 365 for Free – CNET
You could get Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint and other apps for free, saving up to $100 a year with these tips.
You could get Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint and other apps for free, saving up to $100 a year with these tips.
NASA’s DART mission punched the Didymos asteroid in 2022 — now it’s time to go back
This is Hera’s asteroid framing camera being used in Spain for testing navigation algorithms. | Image: MPS / GMV
The European Space Agency (ESA) is running some of the final tests required to launch its Hera mission this October, which aims to investigate the asteroid that NASA intentionally slammed a spacecraft into back in 2022. The goal is to gather more accurate information about the collision to help develop systems that can protect our planet by deflecting asteroids that head our way.
The spacecraft for the Hera mission is undergoing preflight testing, alongside the Guidance Navigation and Control (GNC) system it needs to maneuver around the Dimorphos and Didymos binary asteroid system. The GNC system is being validated via virtual tests conducted in Spain and Germany using replicas of Hera spacecraft components.
“The system for Hera’s interplanetary cruise phase — which of course is the most critical to be ready for launch — is now fully tested using the actual spacecraft flight model,” said ESA GNC engineer Jesus Gil Fernandez in the announcement blog. “This phase will end at asteroid arrival when camera images will be used to distinguish the asteroid from background stars by spotting its gradual motion across successive images.”
Image: ESA – Science Office
Here’s a timeline of the Hera mission following its launch this October.
The main objective of the autonomous Hera mission is to assess what actually happened to Dimorphos, the smaller asteroid that NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) mission impacted, to help guide planetary defense systems. Even for a space mission, the nature of the paired asteroid system — which has a combined gravity field tens of thousands of times weaker than Earth — makes it a difficult destination to navigate. The collision with NASA’s DART spacecraft has also shifted the orbit around Didymos and likely made some major changes to its overall shape.
The ESA is currently focused on the GNC for the follow-on proximity operations phase of Hera’s mission, according to Gil Fernandez, which is needed to bring the spacecraft as close as one kilometer (0.6 miles) to the two asteroids.
Like the technology behind autonomous cars, Hera’s GNC system will use a variety of different data sources to operate safely around Didymos. “Its main data source will be its main Asteroid Framing Camera, whose images are being used both for science and navigation,” said Gil Fernandez. “These images will be combined with other inputs to make a robust estimate of its position.”
You can read all the specific technical details about how the ESA is planning for Hera to overcome these navigational issues, including surface feature tracking and repeat velocity changes, in the agency’s blog post.
Provided the Hera mission is launched successfully this October, the spacecraft is expected to spend two years journeying through space — making a flyby past Mars to gain speed and observe its moon Deimos — before reaching the Didymos binary asteroid system in October 2026.
This is Hera’s asteroid framing camera being used in Spain for testing navigation algorithms. | Image: MPS / GMV
The European Space Agency (ESA) is running some of the final tests required to launch its Hera mission this October, which aims to investigate the asteroid that NASA intentionally slammed a spacecraft into back in 2022. The goal is to gather more accurate information about the collision to help develop systems that can protect our planet by deflecting asteroids that head our way.
The spacecraft for the Hera mission is undergoing preflight testing, alongside the Guidance Navigation and Control (GNC) system it needs to maneuver around the Dimorphos and Didymos binary asteroid system. The GNC system is being validated via virtual tests conducted in Spain and Germany using replicas of Hera spacecraft components.
“The system for Hera’s interplanetary cruise phase — which of course is the most critical to be ready for launch — is now fully tested using the actual spacecraft flight model,” said ESA GNC engineer Jesus Gil Fernandez in the announcement blog. “This phase will end at asteroid arrival when camera images will be used to distinguish the asteroid from background stars by spotting its gradual motion across successive images.”
Image: ESA – Science Office
Here’s a timeline of the Hera mission following its launch this October.
The main objective of the autonomous Hera mission is to assess what actually happened to Dimorphos, the smaller asteroid that NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) mission impacted, to help guide planetary defense systems. Even for a space mission, the nature of the paired asteroid system — which has a combined gravity field tens of thousands of times weaker than Earth — makes it a difficult destination to navigate. The collision with NASA’s DART spacecraft has also shifted the orbit around Didymos and likely made some major changes to its overall shape.
The ESA is currently focused on the GNC for the follow-on proximity operations phase of Hera’s mission, according to Gil Fernandez, which is needed to bring the spacecraft as close as one kilometer (0.6 miles) to the two asteroids.
Like the technology behind autonomous cars, Hera’s GNC system will use a variety of different data sources to operate safely around Didymos. “Its main data source will be its main Asteroid Framing Camera, whose images are being used both for science and navigation,” said Gil Fernandez. “These images will be combined with other inputs to make a robust estimate of its position.”
You can read all the specific technical details about how the ESA is planning for Hera to overcome these navigational issues, including surface feature tracking and repeat velocity changes, in the agency’s blog post.
Provided the Hera mission is launched successfully this October, the spacecraft is expected to spend two years journeying through space — making a flyby past Mars to gain speed and observe its moon Deimos — before reaching the Didymos binary asteroid system in October 2026.
Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3 Season 4 patch notes detail latest maps and modes, along with balance changes
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 Season 4 has launched, introducing all-new content as well as numerous balance updates.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 Season 4 has launched, introducing all-new content as well as numerous balance updates.
Activision revealed the patch notes alongside the season’s release, which details everything players need to know before they jump in. That includes several new 6v6 multiplayer maps, six new modes, and a fresh battle pass with all-new rewards.
Just like for Season 3, the game has added two new maps at the launch of Season 4 – Tokyo and Paris – with two more expected to arrive later on in the season, Incline and Das Gross.
Players will be able to experience these maps with three new modes at launch, Demolition, Hyper Cranked, and Cache, with Mutation, Headshots Only, and Havoc set to release during the season.
(Image credit: Activision)
There’s also a bunch of new weapons up for grabs from this season’s battle pass, including the return of the Kar98k marksman rifle, the Superi 46 submachine gun, the Reclaimer 18 shotgun, as well as the Sledgehammer melee weapon, the latter of which can be earned in weekly challenges mid-season.
Elsewhere, eight all-new Aftermarket Parts will arrive throughout Season 4, each of which is a fully-fledged conversion kit for fan-favorite weaponry.
Some featured include the JAK Harbinger Kit M4 assault rifle, which is described as a quick-kill weapon with a slow-fire rate, the JAK Gunslinger Basilisk handgun, a revolver that holds eight rounds of .357 ammunition with an increase in rate of fire, and the JAK Thumper-656 RGL-80 launcher, which features improved range and recoil but also unlocks the use of a high-capacity drum mag for the FJX Horus.
Activision also highlighted the fixes for the latest patch, including stability and performance improvements and issues that were causing improper first-person animations.
For customization, camos can now be equipped on the B.E.A.S.T. Glove Blueprint for the Gladiator, and equipping the Karaage skin on the MCW Assault Rifle should no longer result in an error.
For more details on season 4 and other general adjustments to UIX and gameplay, you can check out the latest patch notes.
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