NASA and SpaceX will study the possibility of using a Dragon capsule to boost Hubble’s orbit

NASA and SpaceX have signed an agreement to study the possibility of using a Dragon spacecraft to lift the Hubble telescope to a higher orbit. The Hubble telescope’s orbit decays over time due to atmospheric drag, and reboosting it to a more stable one could add more years to its life. SpaceX proposed the idea several months ago in partnership with the Polaris Program, the human spaceflight initiative organized by billionaire businessman, Jared Isaacman. If you’ll recall, Isaacman funded Inspiration4, the first mission to launch an all-civilian crew to orbit back in 2021. 

The space agency said it’s not going to spend any money for the study and there are no plans to fund a mission to reboost the Hubble with a Dragon spacecraft at the moment. According to The New York Times, Thomas Zurbuchen, NASA’s associate administrator for science, said during a news conference: “I want to be absolutely clear. We’re not making an announcement today that we definitely will go forward with a plan like this.” NASA and SpaceX didn’t even enter an exclusive agreement, which means other companies can propose studies with their spacecraft as the model. At this point, this partnership is all about looking at the possibilities. 

The teams will spend six months collecting technical data from both Hubble and the Dragon spacecraft. They’ll then use that information to determine whether it’s safe for the capsule to rendezvous and dock with the telescope, as well as to figure out how it can physically raise Hubble to a higher altitude. At the same conference, SpaceX VP of customer operations Jessica Jensen explained: “What we want to do is expand the boundaries of current technology. We want to show how we use commercial partnerships as well as the public-private partnerships to creatively solve challenging and complex problem missions such as servicing Hubble.” In addition to potentially adding years to the 32-year-old telescope’s life, the servicing solutions the study finds could also be applied to other spacecraft in near-Earth orbit.

Twitch will charge you $100 to pin your chat message for 2.5 minutes

Twitch is testing a new feature that gives viewers a way to make sure their favorite streamer (and their fellow fans) can see their message in the chatbox. The livestreaming platform has given select channels access to an experimental feature called “Elevated Chat,” which pins a viewer’s message for visibility if they’re willing to pay for it. Similar to YouTube’s Super Chat, the more people pay, the longer their message stays highlighted. A payment of $5 will elevate their message for 30 seconds, while $10 will get them a minute. If they want 1.5 minutes, they’ll have to pay $25. Two minutes? That’s $50. And if they want their message to stay highlighted for 2.5 minutes, they better be prepared to pay $100 for it. 

Paying $100 on YouTube’s Super Chat is typically enough to highlight a message for an hour. That said, while the features are similar, their implementations aren’t exactly the same. YouTube adds markers to the top of the chatbox for each Super Chat, and clicking on them will take viewers to the donor’s message. Meanwhile, Twitch is testing two potential locations for elevated chats. Streamers who’ve been chosen to participate will see the highlighted messages appear either at the top of the chatbox or at the bottom of the video. Also, it sounds like there can only be one highlighted message at a time, since Twitch said in the feature’s support page that viewers will enter a queue if multiple people pay for elevated chats at the same time.

Twitch
Twitch

Of course, $100 for 2.5 minutes of visibility sounds pretty outrageous no matter what — especially if you can just pay for five 30-second elevated messages for $25. The experiment will last for four weeks, after which Twitch will likely look at data from the test to decide whether to give the feature a wider rollout.

All Facebook and Instagram users in the US can now show off their NFTs

Meta is done rolling out support for non-fungible tokens or NFTs in the US. The company first started giving select creators in the country the option to display their tokens on Facebook and Instagram earlier this year. But now everyone in the US can display their collections on both platforms, whether they’re NFTs they’ve created and are selling or something they’ve purchased from creators. Those who have both social media apps can also cross-post their digital collectibles from either app so they don’t have to share them twice.

In addition, the ability to post NFT collections on Instagram is now live for users in 100 countries. The social network first announced that it was going to expand the feature’s availability back in August to countries in Africa, Asia-Pacific, the Middle East and the Americas. This probably doesn’t sound like good news for people who aren’t fond of NFTs or are concerned about their environmental impact. But it looks like Meta is set on making them a part of its platforms in its journey towards creating the metaverse it envisions. 

To be able to display their collection, a user must have a supported digital wallet, which includes Rainbow, Trust Wallet, Dapper, Coinbase Wallet and MetaMask, installed on their device. They then have to link their wallet to either or both apps by going to the “digital collectibles” tab in their app settings. Once they’ve linked their wallets, they’ll be able to view their collectibles through the Facebook or Instagram app and share their NFTs to their feed. 

Former eBay execs get prison time in cyberstalking case involving Twitter threats and fetal pig deliveries

Two of the eBay executives who were charged for staging a cyberstalking campaign against the creators of the eCommerceBytes newsletter have been sentenced to prison. The Justice Department says that these execs, along with five other former eBay employees, worked together to intimidate David and Ina Steiner. They apparently hatched a scheme targeting the Steiners shortly after Ina published an article in their newsletter about a lawsuit eBay filed accusing Amazon of poaching its sellers. David said the people involved in their harassment made their lives “a living hell.”

James Baugh, eBay’s former senior director of safety and security, was sentenced to almost five years in prison and was ordered to pay a fine of $40,000. Meanwhile, David Harville, eBay’s former Director of Global Resiliency and the last person in the case who pleaded guilty, got a two-year sentence and was ordered to pay a $20,000 fine. 

According to the DOJ, the group sent disturbing deliveries to the couple’s home, including “a book on surviving the death of a spouse, a bloody pig mask, a fetal pig, a funeral wreath and live insects.” They also sent the couple threatening Twitter messages and posted on Craigslist to invite the public to partake in sexual encounters at the victims’ home. Authorities also said that Baugh, Harville and another eBay employee monitored the couple’s home in person with the intention of attaching a GPS tracker to their car. 

Based on the case’s court documents, David Wenig, who was eBay’s CEO at the time, sent another top exec a message that said “If you are ever going to take her down … now is the time” 30 minutes after Ina’s post was published. In turn, that executive sent Wenig’s message to Baugh, adding that Ina was a “biased troll who needs to get BURNED DOWN.” As The Washington Post notes, Wenig was not charged in the case but is facing a civil lawsuit from the Steiners, who accused him of attempting to “intimidate, threaten to kill, torture, terrorize, stalk and silence them.” He denied any knowledge of the harassment campaign. 

As for Baugh and Harville, both asked the Steiners for forgiveness, according to The Post. “I take 100% responsibility for this, and there is no excuse for what I have done. The bottom line is simply this: If I had done the right thing and been strong enough to make the right choice, we wouldn’t be here today, and for that I am truly sorry,” Baugh said.

Square makes Tap to Pay on iPhone available to all US sellers

Square has publicly launched its Tap to Pay solution for the iPhone after running an early access program these past few months. That means sellers across the US can now use the company’s Point of Sale app to receive payments from customers using just their iPhones anywhere they are. Sure, they need to have a newer iPhone — the oldest model that can run the feature is the iPhone 11 — but they don’t need to buy additional hardware to access the feature.

Like with any other point-of-sale system, sellers only have to ring up the sale on Square’s app and then have the customer pay using contactless credit and debit cards or Apple Pay and other digital wallets. Square is hoping that the solution could provide even small merchants an easy way to conduct in-person business. In its announcement, the company also addressed a potential security concern and said that Apple doesn’t store card numbers on the sellers’ device or on its servers.

Square first announced that it was going to support Apple’s Tap to Pay on iPhones, which the tech giant was seen testing at its visitor center in May, back in June. It opened its early access program at the same time to give select sellers and retailers the chance to try it out. One of the participants said it allowed their business to better accommodate younger customers who preferred paying with their digital wallets and contactless cards. 

Adobe vows to continue offering Figma’s free plan if its buyout is approved

In an interview with Bloomberg, Adobe Chief Product Officer Scott Belsky has reassured worried Figma users that the online collaborative design platform’s acquisition will not change its pricing model and ease of use. If you’ll recall, Adobe announced in mid-September that it’s purchasing Figma for roughly $20 billion in cash and shares. Users understandably raised concerns about the merger, seeing as Adobe’s programs are quite expensive. 

Belsky said in the interview that Figma will remain a “freemium” offering with a basic tier that’s available at no cost. Figma co-founder Dylan Field added that Adobe isn’t planning any price increase and that the platform will remain free for education. Adobe does have changes planned for the platform, of course, including integrating features from its software portfolio, as well as its library of fonts and stock images. 

According to Belsky, though, any update Adobe rolls out won’t be obstructive and won’t make it difficult to navigate the platform’s interface. Perhaps most importantly for those who use Figma for collaborations, it will continue allowing file sharing without additional fees — users won’t have to get a Creative Cloud subscription to work on the same document. 

Adobe’s suite of programs will undergo changes due to the acquisition, as well. The company plans to adopt Figma’s collaborative features and may build multi-user web platforms for its programs. Adobe Express and Acrobat might also get their own versions of Figma’s whiteboard and presentation functions. “We would only want to amplify and continue and learn from the things that Figma has done to become a viral product in the enterprise and throughout the world,” Belsky said. 

There is one Adobe program that might not survive the acquisition: Figma’s direct competitor Adobe XD. The company has no immediate plans to kill the software, but it will “reevaluate where [it] want[s] to shift [its] resources and focus” once Figma comes in. Both parties expect the deal to close sometime in 2023, so long as it gets approval from both regulators and shareholders.

Lululemon to launch a subscription service that requires a Mirror home fitness device

On October 5th, Lululemon will launch a new membership service that requires a Mirror at-home fitness device. Lululemon Studio builds upon the 10,000 on-demand and livestream classes already accessible with a Mirror subscription. Members will get access to old online content from studio partners, can stream the new classes they release per week and can sign up for in-person classes at their brick-and-mortar locations at a discount. At the moment, the program lists eight partner studios, namely AARMY, Y7 Studio, DOGPOUND, FORWARD__Space, Pure Barre, Rumble, AKT and YogaSix. Members will also get discounts on Lululemon products and get early access to its events. 

As The New York Times notes, the new program is part of the company’s efforts to expand Mirror’s reach. Lululemon purchased interactive home gym startup Mirror for $500 million back in 2020 during the height of COVID-related lockdowns, when people had no choice but to work out at home. As restrictions eased, people started flocking to gyms again. At-home fitness companies the found their sales dwindling and the demand for their products to be much, much smaller than before. Peloton, for instance, suffered a massive loss worth $757.1 million in the first three months of 2022. Lululemon itself slashed its Mirror sales outlook for 2021 to between $125 and $130 million from $250 million and $275 million.

In an interview with The Times, Lululemon chief executive Calvin McDonald, said: “What we saw in terms of connected fitness was a shift in change coming out of the pandemic where guests were really asking and looking for the convenience and the ability to not just have a solution to work out at home. Profitability is within our control. We’re choosing to invest to grow the business.” McDonald didn’t say how many users Mirror has, but it has apparently brought in new customers to the brand. He also said that the company expects Mirror to account for 5 percent of its sales in the next five years. 

A Lululemon Studio membership will cost $39 a month, and all current Mirror subscription members will automatically become Studio members. Those who don’t have a Mirror yet will have to get one first. To lower the barrier of entry, Lululemon will cut Mirror’s price by almost 50 percent and will sell it for $795 (original price is $1,495) for a limited time starting on October 5th.

Netflix now lets you create your own gamertag

Netflix has launched the ability to create public handles for its games, laying the foundation for additional features that would make the service more social. People can use this public username across all its titles, allowing them to find friends (or to meet new ones) to play with in multiplayer games like Rival Pirates without having to reveal their Netflix name and profile icon. It’s also what’s going to be displayed on leaderboards for single-player games, such as Dominoes Café and the platformer Lucky Luna. 

As TechCrunch had previously reported, there are codes in the app suggesting that the company is also working on ways that would allow users to invite each other to play games and to show other people that they’re online. Netflix didn’t confirm that those features were underway, but Mobile Games Product Manager Sophia Yang said in the company’s announcement that the launch of game handles “is only the beginning in building a tailored game experience for our members around the world.” Yang added: “We’ll continue to adapt and evolve our service to meet the needs of our members…” Seeing as Netflix recently revealed that it’s going all in on games and is building its own studio in Helsinki, Finland, it wouldn’t come as a surprise for the company to roll out features that would make its service more interactive.

To set a public nickname, Android users can select the games tab in the navigation bar and navigate to “Create your Netflix game handle.” iOS users will first have to download Rival Pirates or Lucky Luna and then launch the game to get a prompt asking them to create a handle. 

Shark’s self-emptying robot vacuum is half off for today only

One of Shark’s higher-end robot vacuums is on sale at Amazon, and you may want to check it out if you’re looking for a model with a clean base. The Shark IQ RV1001AE robot vacuum is currently listed for $300, and the deal is only available today. That’s half off the model’s original retail price of $600 and just a dollar more than its all-time low on the website. The RV1001AE vacuum features powerful suction that can clean both bare floors and carpets, as well as a self-cleaning brush roll that can remove pet and human hair on its own. No more balls of tangled hair getting stuck and preventing the vacuum from being able to clean efficiently.

Buy Shark RV1001AE IQ Robot at Amazon – $300

The machine cleans the floor row by row, and its IQ navigation capability means it can map your whole home so that you can select specific rooms to clean. If it runs out of battery, it can even go back to its dock, recharge and pick up from where it left off. When you want to the robot to start cleaning, you can get it to move by controlling it with your voice through Alexa and Google Assistant. And yes, the vacuum is also connected to the company’s app, which you can use to schedule cleanings for your whole house or for certain rooms at specific hours of the day. The robot empties its bin into the clean base once it’s done, and that bagless base can hold up to 45 days’ worth of dirt.

In case you’d rather get a model you can manually use — maybe your pet is deathly afraid of robot vacuums or maybe you personally want to make sure no corner gets missed — Shark has another two models on sale at Amazon. The Shark IZ363HT has a self-cleaning brush roll, as well, and is listed for $230 at 34 percent off. Meanwhile, the Shark IZ483H is currently on sale for $300, or $200 off its regular price. It has a self-cleaning brush roll, a removable hand vacuum and a 120-minute battery life on a single charge.

Follow @EngadgetDeals on Twitter and subscribe to the Engadget Deals newsletter for the latest tech deals and buying advice.

Deezer can now identify songs that you hum

Deezer can now help you find songs that suddenly start playing in your head in the middle of the night. The music streaming service has upgraded its in-app SongCatcher feature so that it can now identify a track just by humming or even whistling parts of it. Once the service identifies a track, it will show you an information page with its title, artist and single/album cover where you can play the song, add it your playlist or queue and add it to your favorites.

The company says it’s the only music streaming service with an in-app track recognition feature that includes humming and whistling, but it’s worth noting that you can do the same within Google search. I tester Deezer’s new feature and compared it with Google’s and found that the latter is a bit better at recognizing my off-key humming. Google was even able to easily ID the more obscure parts of some Japanese pop songs. 

For Deezer, I sometimes had to hum the more recognizable parts of a track, such as its chorus, even if they’re enormous hits. I’m talking songs like Lady Gaga’s Always Remember Us This Way, Ariana Grande’s Thank U, Next and Lil Nas X’s Industry Baby. If you’re a subscriber, though, it’s the more convenient option, seeing as you can directly add tracks to your playlists. To ID songs by humming, you simply have to go to Search, then tap on “What’s this song” to launch SongCatcher and choose “Sing Now.”

Maybe I was just extra out of tune while testing Deezer — nobody has ever called me a good singer. The good news is that the feature could become much better at identifying tracks over time. Alexandra Leloup, VP Core Product at the company, explained: “As we keep improving the algorithm, the feature will become faster and even more accurate when it comes to recognizing songs across our 90 million track library.”