Technology

Before it premiered, Jason Sudeikis described season two of Ted Lasso as the show’s Empire Strikes Back season, and sure enough, the entire season focused on fathers and sons, and after the season finale we have a pretty clear “enemy” all set up for season three. I know season two was not as universally liked as its freshman season, but Ted Lasso dug into some thorny issues about men and sports and mental health that few other shows attempt, and still managed to make me smile pretty much every week. I’ll miss this show until its return next year. I’ve also managed to binge-watch Midnight Mass on Netflix— an interesting if not quite fully-baked examination of organized religion— and am still hanging in there with The Morning Show which has gotten quite spicy thanks mainly to Julianna Margul...

Jeff Bezos’ spaceflight company Blue Origin said Sunday it will postpone the flight that is slated to fly William Shatner to space due to forecasted high winds at its launch site. The flight of the company’s New Shepard spacecraft is now scheduled for 9:30AM ET on October 13th, a day later than originally planned. It’s targeted to lift off from Blue Origin’s Launch Site One in Texas. A statement on Blue Origin’s website said New Shepard NS-18 has met all mission requirements, and the astronauts have started their training. “Weather is the only gating factor for the launch window,” according to the statement, which is signed with the company motto “Gradatim Ferociter” (Latin for “step by step, ferociously”). The company officially announced last week that Shatner, best known as Captain Jame...

Instagram will introduce new measures to nudge teenagers away from harmful content and encourage them to “take a break,” from the platform, Facebook vice president of global affairs Nick Clegg said on Sunday. Clegg made the remarks on CNN’s State of the Union show less than a week after whistleblower Frances Haugen testified before Congress about internal research that showed Instagram can have a negative effect on the mental health of young people. “We’re going to introduce something which I think will make a considerable difference, which is where our systems see that a teenagers is looking at the same content over and over again, and it’s content which may not be conducive to their well being, we will nudge them to look at other content,” Clegg said. He added that in addition to pausing...

Elon Musk said during an open house at Tesla’s new Gigafactory near Berlin this weekend that the company is aiming to begin production of its Model Y cars there before the end of the year. And the CEO added he’s hoping the plant will be producing between 5,000 and 10,000 vehicles weekly by the end of 2022, Bloomberg reported. But Tesla is still waiting for final approval for the plant, as local authorities evaluate its environmental impact on the area. Tesla held a “Giga-Fest” county fair style event in Gruenheide near the Gigafactory on Saturday, which included music, rides, and food trucks along with tours of the new plant for local residents. Tesla’s German Gigafactory is in the final phases of construction, after being delayed several times by complaints from environmental groups in th...

Last week Saturday Night Live poked fun at Jeff Bezos and the billionaire space race, and this week it took aim at the senators who conducted this week’s Facebook whistleblower hearing, portraying them as mostly confused by the social media platform, and the memes they found online (or “mem-ays” as Aidy Bryant’s Ted Cruz pronounces it). Cecily Strong reprises her role as Sen. Dianne Feinstein, who asks Heidi Gardner’s Frances Haugen about an Animorphs post, and Kyle Mooney as Sen. John Kennedy asks about Facebook’s algorithm: “do you have it with you now?” while proudly showing off his Jitterbug flip phone (aw). Bryant as Sen. Cruz asks whether posts that say “Ted Cruz sucks” should be flagged as misinformation, to which “Haugen” answers that it’s not really misinformation, just one person...

NASA has officially pushed back the launch of its Orbital Flight-Test 2 until next year, as it continues to work on an oxidizer isolation valve issue on Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft, the agency announced. The agency said in a blog post that it’s continuing to assess potential launch windows for the mission: “The team currently is working toward opportunities in the first half of 2022 pending hardware readiness, the rocket manifest and space station availability,” according to the post. Steve Stitch, manager of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, added that it was “a complex issue,” affecting parts of the spacecraft that aren’t easy to access, which has required “a methodical approach and sound engineering to effectively examine.” Boeing’s Starliner is one of two vehicles designed to take pass...

New leaks from a marketing site appear to confirm that the camera for the Pixel 6 will have a new Magic Eraser feature, and the devices will apparently get five years of Android security updates (h/t 9to5 Google) According to reliable leaker Evan Blass, the Carphone Warehouse website was showing images of Google marketing materials for the Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro (the images have since been taken down, but you can view the earlier versions of the Carphone Warehouse pages on the Wayback Machine here and here). Screenshots show the description for the previously leaked Magic Eraser, which will apparently be linked to Google Photos: Magic Eraser makes distractions disappear with a few taps. Remove strangers and unwanted objects in Google Photos, so the people and places that you capture remai...

Twitter has invested in Facemoji, a plug-and-play startup platform that aids technological developers in implementing avatar systems into apps and games, as neighboring tech giants including Apple and Facebook begin to move into the avatar space. The platform has raised a $3 million USD seed round led by Play Ventures, according to TechCrunch. Facemoji functions on its own rendering pipeline, unlike most other platforms, which utilize Unity plugins that most developers would prefer to avoid. Additionally, the startup hosts its own system of avatar artwork, which is available to developers. Facemoji is built around the idea that a growing number of game-makers want to conveniently expand their own avatar network without having to plug into other systems. As reported by TechCrunch, ...

Perhaps not as impressive as some of the cutting-edge OLED TVs, it’s tough to argue with a deal this good. The 55-inch Insignia F50 4K TV is currently available at Best Buy for $450, nearly its lowest price ever. This sizeable QLED panel features a 60Hz refresh rate and is powered by the Fire TV OS allowing for built-in Alexa voice controls. This gives the TV native access to most major streaming services, including Netflix, Hulu, and Disney Plus. The picture can be enhanced with Dolby Vision and HDR for increased depth of color, and a narrow bezel provides the TV with a sleek aesthetic. Insignia F50 55-inch 4K TV $450 $650 31% off This 55-inch QLED TV from Insignia features 4K resolution and a 60Hz refresh rate. This model uses the Fire TV OS, which gives it access to an impressive ...

Windows 11 has introduced a brand new Widgets panel, where you can access a variety of updated information using configurable topic boxes (what Microsoft calls information cards). It’s made up of two sections: a top section that offers widgets for weather, sports, your latest photos, and other personalized topics, and a news section that offers clickable headlines from a variety of sources. Here’s how to make the most of the current Windows 11 widgets. Access your widgets To access the widgets, select the Widgets icon in the taskbar (it’s the one that looks like a square divided into white and blue sections). You can also hit the Window + W keys or, if you’ve got a touchscreen, swipe from the left. You’ll probably see a variety of starter widgets on top that will give you info about sports...

Tesla has delayed the rollout of its Full Self-Driving (FSD) Beta 10.2 software rollout because of last-minute concerns, CEO Elon Musk tweeted early Saturday. He apologized for the delay, saying the release would likely happen Sunday or Monday. He didn’t elaborate on what the “concerns” were. A few last minute concerns about this build. Release likely on Sunday or Monday. Sorry for the delay. — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 9, 2021 The software was supposed to roll out Friday to about 1,000 Tesla owners with perfect safety scores of 100 —as determined by the automaker— with a gradual rollout for those with scores at 99 and below after that, according to Musk. Tesla has been testing the beta version of its FSD software for about a year, and despite the head of the National Transportation Sa...