With the Artemis 1 launch site in the predicted path of Hurricane Ian, NASA has decided not to take any chances with the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and Orion spacecraft. The agency will roll them back to the safety of the Vehicle Assembly Building, starting at around 11PM ET this evening. You’ll be able to watch the rollback on NASA’s ongoing Artemis 1 livestream below.
“Managers met Monday morning and made the decision based on the latest weather predictions associated with Hurricane Ian, after additional data gathered overnight did not show improving expected conditions for the Kennedy Space Center area,” NASA said in a statement. “The decision allows time for employees to address the needs of their families and protect the integrated rocket and spacecraft system.”
Although an SLS fueling test that took place last week was successful, NASA was forced to scrub a planned September 27th launch due to the threat of the hurricane. If the agency is unable to launch Artemis 1 before October 3rd (which seems unlikely at this point), it won’t be able to make another attempt until the next window opens on October 17th.
Netflix is no longer relying exclusively on third-party teams to bolster its game catalog. The streaming giant is forming an in-house game studio in Helsinki, Finland to create “world-class” original games without ads or in-app purchases. While it’s too soon for details of the games themselves, Zynga and EA alumnus Marko Lastikka will serve as director.
Helsinki is a good fit as the home to some of the “best game talent” on the planet, according to Netflix. This includes The Walking Dead mobile developer Next Games (which Netflix bought in March). Netflix has purchased multiple developers, including Boss Fight and Oxenfree creator Night School Studio, but hasn’t built a developer from scratch until now.
You won’t see the first fruits of this internal studio for “years,” Netflix says. Still, this and recent acquisitions show how the company’s gaming strategy is evolving. Where Netflix initially depended on outsiders’ games, including slightly tweaked versions of existing titles, it’s increasingly focused on truly unique projects you won’t find elsewhere. In theory, more people will subscribe to Netflix with the game library in mind.
NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) spacecraft is about to crash into the asteroid Dimorphos, and you’ll have plenty of options to follow along as it happens. The space agency is livestreaming coverage of the DART collision starting at 6PM Eastern, and you can tune into either a full presentation or a dedicated stream from the craft’s DRACO (Didymos Reconnaissance and Asteroid Camera for Optical Navigation) instrument. That last feed will show one image per second up to the moment of impact. The vehicle is expected to smash into Dimorphos at about 7:14PM, although its distance from Earth will delay the footage you see.
You aren’t tied to official sources, either. The Virtual Telescope Project will host its own stream starting at 6:30PM ET. It’s teaming up with two South African observatories to provide an Earth-bound view of the collision. The Didymos asteroid system (where Dimorphos is a moonlet) will just be a dot, but you should see it flare up after DART makes contact.
DART will gauge the viability of using spacecraft to deflect asteroids, comets and other objects that might otherwise strike Earth. If all goes well, it will show that NASA can use autonomous vehicles as defensive systems and confirm the results using ground telescopes. Dimorphos is an ideal candidate due to both its relative proximity and the lack of threats — NASA won’t inadvertently create the very calamity it’s trying to avoid.
This won’t be the only mission headed to the Didymos system, either. The European Space Agency expects its Hera mission to reach Didymos by 2026, when it will study DART’s effects on Dimorphos. If there are any questions left after tonight’s one-way flight, they should be answered within a few years.
Lego has pulled back the curtain on its latest Star Wars set, and it’s one that will keep you occupied for a while. It’s a 72 cm-long version of the Razor Crest from the Disney+ show The Mandalorian. While there was already a 1,000-piece version of Din Djarin’s ship, this one has 6,187 pieces.
The set, which is part of the Star Wars Ultimate Collector Series, features removable engines, along with a cockpit, escape pod and a carbon-freezing chamber that’s just the right size for a minifigure. Speaking of which, minifigures of Grogu, the Mandalorian, Mythrol and Kuiil (who can be placed on a buildable Blurrg model) come with the set. You can display the figures on a stand that includes an information plaque.
Lego
The model, which is 50 cm wide and 24 cm tall, costs $600. Lego VIP members can snap it up on October 3rd. Everyone else will have a shot at buying the Razor Crest set on October 7th at Lego’s website and stores.
Building the set could help fans of The Mandalorian pass some time until the show returns. The third season is slated to hit Disney+ in February 2023.
The cockpit, the escape pod, the carbon-freezing chamber, the engines… witness the power of the force as LEGO® bricks connect to create the Ultimate Collector Series version of The Razor Crest, ready for The Mandalorian and Grogu’s next mission. #LEGO#StarWars#LEGOStarWarspic.twitter.com/X2DTGPb8Dz
TikTok isn’t just facing financial penalties in the US over claimed child privacy breaches. The UK’s Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has warned TikTok that it might face a £27 million (about $29.2 million) fine after the watchdog determined that the social network may have broken data protection law by “failing to protect” kids’ privacy between May 2018 and July 2020. The company may have handled the data of children under 13 without parental consent, processed “special category” data (such as ethnicity, sexual orientation or health) without a legal foundation and didn’t offer necessary information to users in a “concise, transparent and easily understood” fashion.
ICO began investigating TikTok in February 2019, soon after the US’ Federal Trade Commission fined the social media heavyweight $5.7 million over reported child privacy infringements. At the time, the UK overseer was concerned about both TikTok’s “completely open” direct messaging as well as its transparency tools. Sexual predators were found messaging users as young as eight years old, and it was relatively easy for kids to bypass the app’s age gate.
The office stressed that these were preliminary findings, and that there was no definitive conclusion that TikTok broke the law or will pay a fine. ICO added it would “carefully consider” TikTok’s stance before making a final decision. We’ve asked the company for comment, and will let you know if we hear back.
There’s mounting pressure on TikTok to protect kids. In the US, members of Congress and state attorneys general are grilling TikTok over possible harms to child users, including attempts to keep them riveted to using the app. A UK fine might not be the end of the company’s troubles, at least until politicians and regulators are satisfied it’s keeping young people safe.
Audacity is best known as a free app to do quick audio edits and record audio, but the latest update makes it more viable as a full on production tool, parent Muse Group has announced. Version 3.2 now supports non-destructive editing, real-time effects and enhanced VST3 support, along with user interface improvements and faster audio sharing via a new service, audio.com.
The most welcome addition is non-destructive audio capabilities that allow creators to adjust effects without the changes being permanently baked into the audio file. It also supports real-time playback of effects and crossfades as you adjust them, allowing for more accurate edits while listening to audio. That compares to previous versions, which required that you render the effect before you could hear it.
The company has completely rewritten the code base for VST plugins to improve stability and reliability, while adding improved support for VST3. It also addressed concerns about what we’ve called its “ugly and a bit archaic” user interface. And it now offers a “clearer and more consistent set of visuals” in the top bar for editing, with a new “Audio Setup” option that makes it easier to change input, mic and output settings.
Finally, the new audio.com site lets you easily share audio files by sending a link rather than the entire file. You can share files either publicly or privately, or use your account for cloud storage. (Muse Group recently updated its privacy policy, promising it wouldn’t sell any of the “very limited” data it collects from users.) The new version of the app is now available as a free download.
According to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, next year’s iPhone could introduce a change to Apple’s naming convention. It could call its largest and most expensive device in 2023 the iPhone 15 Ultra instead of the iPhone 15 Pro Max. Gurman expects the iPhone 15 to feature USB-C, among other “bigger changes” – which he didn’t elaborate on at this point.
Engadget
Interestingly, Gurman thinks Apple might not hold another event this fall. He says the company will announce new Mac mini, MacBook Pro and iPad Pro models before the end of the year, but that they’ll likely be iterative and land without the Apple event fanfare.
Respeecher recreated the actor’s voice as it was in 1977.
Disney
James Earl Jones has said goodbye to Darth Vader. At 91, the actor recently told Disney he was “looking into winding down this particular character.” That forced the company to ask itself how do you even replace Jones? The answer Disney eventually settled on, with the actor’s consent, involved an AI program. Respeecher can use archival recordings and a “proprietary AI algorithm” to create new dialogue featuring the voices of “performers from long ago.”
Meanwhile, season three of ‘The Witcher’ arrives next summer.
The Witcher: Blood Origin, a prequel to Netflix’s live-action adaptation of Andrzej Sapkowski’s fantasy novel series, will debut on December 25th. Set thousands of years before the story of the Witcher Geralt and Ciri, Blood Origin will center on the moment in the Witcher universe when humans, elves and monsters all come to inhabit the fantasy world of the series. Actress Michelle Yeoh stars as Scian, the elven protagonist. Originally slated to run six episodes, Blood Origin will instead be four episodes long.
Night School Studio needs more time to make the sequel ‘truly special.’
The sequel to 2016’s Oxenfree won’t arrive until next year, the developer announced on Saturday. “To make Oxenfree II truly special and add more localizations, we’re moving our release window to 2023,” the studio posted on Twitter. News of the delay came shortly after Netflix announced subscribers could download the original game for free. Yes, more than six years after its PC debut, Netflix is making Oxenfree available freely to those with a subscription to its streaming service.
The 17-year-old may also have been responsible for an Uber cybersecurity incident.
Police in the UK have arrested a 17-year-old suspected hacker, with reports connecting it to the Rockstar Games hack that led to a major Grand Theft Auto VI leak. The individual may have been involved with an intrusion on Uber as well. The arrest is the result of an investigation involving the City of London Police, the UK’s National Cyber Crime Unit and the FBI. According to reports, he was arrested earlier this year for hacking Microsoft and NVIDIA.
The holiday shopping season will begin earlier than ever this year.
Amazon plans to hold a second sales event this fall, exclusively for Prime members. The second Prime Day of the year, dubbed Prime Early Access Sale, will be on October 11th and 12th in the US, UK, Canada and 12 other countries, following the same two-day format as the original event. That said, we don’t know what sort of discounts this event will include. There will probably be a Kindle or two, though.
Square Enix’s genre-twisting RPG, NieR Automata was a cult hit in 2017. Now, an anime adaptation is almost here. Titled NieR: Automata Version 1.1a, it will debut in January 2023. NieR creator Yoko Taro shared the release window, adding that the anime’s story would differ from its source material.
Following a request by South Korean prosecutors, Interpol has placed Terraform Labs founder Do Kwon on a “red notice” list, TechCrunch has reported. That will create a request for law enforcement agencies around the world to arrest Kwon following his blockchain company’s collapse that took $40 billion from investors with it.
After Korean authorities issued an arrest warrant for Kwon last week, he tweeted that he was “not on the run” or “anything similar.” However, prosecutors said that they believed Kwon left Korea to “evade investigation” as he told them through his lawyers that he didn’t intend to appear before questioning. “He is clearly on the run as his family members and the company’s key finance people also left for the same country [Singapore] at the same time,” they said.
Kwon and other Terraform Labs’ employees are under investigation for financial fraud and tax evasion following the collapse of its stablecoins, TerraUSD and Luna. The investors, many of whom lost their life savings following the collapse, filed complaints accusing him of running a Ponzi scheme. The crash of the Luna token also played a roll in the collapse of the crypto hedge fund Three Arrows Capital.
If you have your eye on Samsung’s new Galaxy Watch 5 but were waiting for a deal, one has already arrived. Amazon’s Woot portal is selling the 40mm model in several colors (Grey, Pink Gold and Silver) for $250, a savings of $30 or 11 percent off the regular price.
The Galaxy Watch 5 scored a solid 85 in our Engadget review, and we once again called it “the best non-Apple smartwatch.” Samsung was focused more on perfecting it over the Watch 4, adding extra battery life (a runtime of up to 80 hours), greater durability with Sapphire Crystal glass and an inactive temperature sensor.
Otherwise, it carries the same design and features as before, which is a good thing. Powered by a responsive 5-nanometer Exynos processor and running Wear OS, it uses Samsung’s bezel-based navigation with a touch-sensitive ring framing the screen. That gives you access to numerous apps, along with sleep-tracking and coaching plus health and activity tracking. You can get your body composition reading using the body-impedance analysis tool, take ECG scans, reply to messages, control music playback and more.
The lightly curved underside keeps the sensors in contact with your wrist, and it’s rated IP68, 5ATM and MIL-STD-810H for durability (water, dust and pressure resistance). The main downside is that battery life is considerably lower with the always-on display compared to the Apple Watch 7. Still, it’s the best Android smartwatch available and it’s rare to see a discount on such a new device. Bear in mind that sales from Woot are time limited and have a different return policy from parent Amazon.
The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has formed a new office designed to help marginalized communities deal with the extra burdens of pollution and climate change, Reuters has reported. The Office of Environmental Justice and External Civil Rights will be staffed by 200 EPA employees located in the agency’s Washington head office and 10 regional bureaus.
“The establishment of a new office dedicated to advancing environmental justice and civil rights at EPA will ensure the lived experiences of underserved communities are central to our decision-making while supporting community-driven solutions,” said US Vice President Kamala Harris.
One of the primary jobs of the new office will be to oversea the distribution of $3 billion in environmental justice grants created by the passage the of Inflation Reduction Act, as part of a $60 billion investment in environmental justice. It’ll also check that other EPA programs hew to President Biden’s Justice40 initiative designed to ensure that 40 percent of certain government investments flow to disadvantaged communities. Finally, it’ll help communities access grants, enforce civil rights laws and resolve environmental conflicts.
The new office was launched at an event in Warren County, North Carolina, the site of 1982 protests over toxic waste dumping in the region. The resulting civil disobedience actions and arrests failed to stop the 22-acre dump, but gave birth to the modern environmental justice movement. The 40th anniversary of the protests was commemorated by participants last week.
