Elon Musk used an open-ended Twitter message addressed to Tesla customers Tuesday to promise an electric pickup truck “right after Model Y.” That’s the compact crossover he’s been promising with an unknown arrival date.
Musk took to Twitter the day after Christmas to thank owners for their faith in the company and ask them for feedback on how to improve. He said he already has the core design and engineering elements in mind for a pickup and is “dying to build it.”
I promise that we will make a pickup truck right after Model Y. Have had the core design/engineering elements in my mind for almost 5 years. Am dying to build it.
Musk teased the idea of a pickup in November during the reveal of the electric semi truck and the surprise announcement of the next-generation Roadster sports car. He showed a rendering of a truck that looks like the Tesla semi with a pickup bed big enough to swallow a Ford F-150 SuperCrew, though it left many people with more questions than answers (perhaps the actual pickup will look something more like this?). He added in Tuesday’s Twitter thread that the new truck might be bigger than an F-150 “to account for a really gamechanging (I think) feature I’d like to add.”
Similar total size. Maybe slightly bigger to account for a really gamechanging (I think) feature I’d like to add.
Electrek writes that Musk in a Tesla owners event in 2013 discussed his idea for a Tesla truck:
One of the things that I think should be present in trucks is something like an air suspension that dynamically adjusts the load and sorta keeps the angle of the truck correct and the ride height even and adjust the dampening in real-time. Because the challenge you have with any vehicle where there’s a big potential difference between the minimum and maximum load is that the suspension is always wrong and usually wrong by a lot.
As for the Model Y, Musk most recently told investors and analysts it would be based on the Model 3 platform in order to bring it to market faster and meet the demand for SUVs. He had previously suggested the Model Y could arrive in 2019, or not for “a few years.”
While neither the Model Y or pickup are technically new ideas, they add major commitments and costs to an already daunting to-do list for Tesla. To recap, that now includes fixing production bottlenecks and ramping production of the all-important Model 3, developing a production version of the semi and figuring out where to build it, doing the same with the Roadster, maybe opening a factory in China, and now launching a new Model Y crossover and pickup truck — all, presumably, in the next couple of years. Oh, and becoming profitable. (Can’t forget that.)
In addition to the new models, Musk on Tuesday promised “major browser upgrades coming to all cars in a few months” and “Vastly better maps/nav coming soon,” among other things. As of this writing, he was still posting responses to Twitter users.
When future historians of Silicon Valley look back at 2017, they’ll see a time when America’s most powerful tech companies and the venture capital ecosystem that created them came under unprecedented scrutiny from politicians and the public. The region’s innovation engine produced numerous technical advances, but controversy over fake news and revelations about sexual harassment of female entrepreneurs have cast a shadow over the Valley this year. Here’s a brief recap of some of the most significant developments.
The HighsÂ
Big tech companies in the San Francisco Bay Area were busier than ever in 2017, and artificial intelligence was a top priority for many of them. Among a long list of AI initiatives, Google launched TensorFlow Lite, a lightweight version of its open-source machine-learning software that has accelerated AI adoption among companies. The new version enables AI to run on mobile phones and household gadgets such as fridges and speakers. Facebook also contributed to the AI software push by releasing ParlAI, a platform that makes it easier for researchers to build conversational AI systems and combine different approaches to machine dialogue (see “Facebook Wants to Merge AI Systems for a Smarter Chatbotâ€).
There was progress in AI hardware, too. Santa Clara–based semiconductor company Nvidia saw its share price soar over the year as research labs and companies bought large numbers of its GPUs, which have become the chips of choice for many machine-learning applications. Nvidia launched a number of new AI-focused products, as well as demonstrating creative applications of its technology (see “Nvidia Lets You Peer Inside the Black Box of Its Self-Driving AIâ€). Google also unveiled a new machine-learning chip, the Cloud Tensor Processing Unit, and linked TPUs in the cloud via high-speed data connections to form powerful AI supercomputers.
Self-driving vehicles and augmented reality were two other priorities for the Valley’s tech companies. Alphabet’s Waymo, as well as Uber, Lyft, and Tesla, all made significant transportation-related announcements during the year, including Waymo’s decision to test a fleet of driverless cars in Phoenix and Uber’s decision to spend $1 billion on 24,000 self-driving vehicles from Volvo. (There were a few bumps in the road, too, including a legal battle between Uber and Waymo over allegations of intellectual-property theft that’s likely to stretch into 2018.) In the field of augmented reality, Google and Apple both launched AR software development kits for their smartphones and tablets that should help bring the technology to a mass market.
The Valley’s startup ecosystem also had a busy year. Forecasts in 2016 of an impending meltdown for tech “unicorns,†or private firms valued at $1 billion or more, never became reality. Overall investment by venture capital firms also looks on track to rise again. According to data published in October by the National Venture Capital Association and PitchBook, VC investment in 2017 was on the way to its highest level in a decade. That’s buoyed Silicon Valley startups, though there have been signs that funding for early-stage companies is starting to slow as more money gets poured into deals for unicorns.Â
The Lows
That takes care of the good news. Then there’s the fake stuff. The controversy over Russia’s efforts to influence the outcome of the 2016 presidential election by fabricating posts on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and other platforms led to intense scrutiny of social-media companies in Congress this year. Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook’s CEO, initially dismissed suggestions that its platform might have been manipulated by Russia to influence voting. When it subsequently emerged that Russian posts had appeared in the news feeds of 126 million people—a far higher number than Facebook’s first estimate of 10 million—the revelation helped spark an unprecedented debate about how to rein in the power of Facebook and other popular networks.
Further disturbing evidence emerged throughout the year that Silicon Valley’s social-media platforms have been failing to police content effectively. In response to a spate of violent videos and hate speech that appeared on its service, Facebook announced in May that it would add another 3,000 employees to the 4,500 who review content that might violate the company’s community standards. In early December YouTube, which had also been criticized for not doing enough to tackle objectionable content, said that Google, its owner, intends to expand the team scrutinizing material that might violate its policies to over 10,000 next year.
Throwing more bodies at this problem won’t solve it. The challenge for Silicon Valley in 2018 and beyond will be to find better technological tools to use. AI will be critical here (see “Can AI Win the War Against Fake News?â€) . YouTube says that 98 percent of the videos it removes for promoting violent extremism have been flagged by machine-learning algorithms, and that those algorithms help it take down nearly half of this content within two hours of being uploaded to the site. That’s encouraging, but social-media companies need to come up with even more effective solutions.
Another thing that Silicon Valley—and the tech industry more generally—urgently needs to do is address deep-seated discrimination against women. Susan Fowler’s courageous decision in February to publish a post about the toxic culture at Uber triggered an internal review that ultimately led to the ouster of Travis Kalanick as the company’s CEO. Her post also sparked a broader debate about sexism in the technology world. It’s a debate that has become all the more pressing since reports emerged during the year of female entrepreneurs being sexually harassed by some male venture capitalists and other prominent Valley figures.
In an interview with MIT Technology Review in November, Reid Hoffman, the founder of LinkedIn and a highly respected Silicon Valley investor who has championed a decency pledge that stipulates zero tolerance for sexual harassment against entrepreneurs, called on tech leaders to make greater efforts to combat sexism and racism (see “Reid Hoffman: It’s Time to Change Silicon Valley Cultureâ€). As tech companies get bigger, he noted, “you have a responsibility to do well; the standard is higher for you.†Silicon Valley has been great at imposing change on other industries; in 2018 it should try harder to change itself.
from Technology Review Feed – Tech Review Top Stories http://ift.tt/2zviGxh
via IFTTT
By this point, it’s pretty much understood that Russia attempted to influence the 2016 Presidential election in the United States through social media posts. However, what you may not know is whether or not you personally ended up seeing any of those posts.
This week, Facebook made that a little easier with a tool that lets you know if you liked art followed a page that has been since linked to Russia.
More than 140 million people were likely exposed to Russia-linked propaganda during the election, so if it did happen to you, you’re certainly not in the minority. More than 3,000 ads posted on Facebook during the election were tied to Russian accounts.
To figure out if you were a victim of “fake news†during the election go to this Facebook page. The pages you liked or followed will be displayed in the middle of the page.
I didn’t have any (woohoo!) but I’m also super selective about what I interact with on the social network, so I don’t actually like many pages in general.
From the tool, you also have the option to log in with your Instagram account and make sure you didn’t follow any fake accounts there either.
It seems like everyone in southern California is looking up and asking "what is that?" this evening, and after revelations earlier this week about government investigations into unidentified flying objects, UFO is a popular answer. In truth, the trails were left by a SpaceX launch in the last hour from Vandenberg Air Force Base in Santa Barbara, CA. You can watch a live video feed of the launch below.
Face ID on the iPhone X is helpful for authorizing a purchase for yourself, but don’t expect to use it if you’re approving a purchase for your kids. Numerous owners have discovered that the face authentication feature doesn’t work for family purchases (that is, where a family member asks you to buy apps or music on their behalf) like Touch ID does on earlier iPhones. It’s not a tremendous pain, but you probably won’t relish the thought of punching in your password every time your little ones want a new game for their iPads.
We’ve asked Apple if it can elaborate on why Face ID doesn’t work in these situations. Is it a security decision, a lack of time to add the feature or something else?
As Ars Technicanotes, there could be good practical reasons to avoid using Face ID for family sharing decisions like this. When Apple was introducing Face ID, it was up front about the possibility that twins and other similar-looking family members could fool the detection system. And sure enough, we’ve seen at least one instance where a child successfully unlocked a parent’s iPhone X because of a strong resemblance. Apple probably doesn’t want to risk someone’s child going on a shopping spree simply because genetics worked in their favor, even if the chances of that happening are slim.
Whatever the reasons, the findings highlight the challenges of switching biometric security formats — each one has its own limitations, and could force companies to reevaluate security policies that they’d taken for granted after years of including fingerprint readers. It could be a while before depth-based face recognition is reliable enough to use in every situation, and that’s assuming there are no insurmountable obstacles.
Aboard the International Space Station, an A4-size flag of the United States hangs next to a 1:100 model of a space shuttle. The memento, placed there by the last crew to fly on shuttle Atlantis, is meant to be retrieved by the next batch of astronauts that launches on a US spacecraft. NASA had hoped to reach that goal in 2017 after awarding Boeing and SpaceX billion-dollar contracts under the Commercial Crew Program (CCP). However, the road back to manned missions is paved with thorns and technical challenges. We certainly won’t see any astronauts ferried to Low Earth Orbit before the year ends, but both companies believe that 2018 is the year that flag will be returned to Earth.
The contenders
By awarding two companies contracts under the same program, NASA kicked off a new kind of space race. In one corner, we have the SpaceX Crew Dragon, a successor to the original Dragon capsule it’s been using to deliver supplies to the ISS. The seven-seater vehicle appears to be quite the looker, with fairly large windows to give passengers a stunningly clear view of their journey — a feature you’d definitely appreciate if you were a paying customer. The company already has a solid idea of what to do with the capsule outside of its Commercial Crew responsibilities. In fact, it already sold two seats to take private citizens on a trip around the moon next year … but only if it has already started taking astronauts to the ISS for NASA.
In the other corner, we have Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner, which the company has been working on since 2010. Boeing has three different types of Starliners in production, each serving a different purpose. Starliner 1 will remain Earth-bound, specifically designed for ground testing. Its sibling, Starliner 3, will blast off to space for the capsule’s first unmanned orbital mission to the ISS. That leaves Starliner 2, which Boeing intends to use for its first manned-flight test.
Both commercial crew partners were on track for a 2017 launch at the beginning of the program, but by the end of 2016, they admitted that they wouldn’t be able to stick to their original schedules. NASA had to purchase additional seats on Russian Soyuz rockets for late 2017 and early 2018 to make up for the delay. While it’s unfortunate that NASA can’t end its reliance on the Russian space agency Roscosmos just yet, the companies had valid reasons to adjust their calendars.
Boeing had to push back its timeline because a Spacecraft 3 dome was damaged during the manufacturing process. Rebecca Regan, the company’s Commercial Crew communications specialist, told Engadget that Boeing needed time to identify the root causes of the damage as well as find solutions for it. The company is now looking to launch its first unmanned orbital test flight sometime in the third quarter of 2018; its first manned flight with two astronauts onboard is slated for the fourth quarter.
Things weren’t any easier for SpaceX. It, too, was forced to delay its first CCP flights after a Falcon 9 exploded on the launch pad in 2016. SpaceX needed more time to assess the rocket and to investigate the incident with government authorities because Crew Dragon will blast off from a modified Falcon 9. If things go more smoothly for Elon Musk and his team going forward, an unmanned Crew Dragon will be zooming toward Low-Earth Orbit in the second quarter of 2018, while a crewed mission will follow in the third quarter. Both companies will be sending two astronauts to the ISS for their tests flights, which will last for 14 days.
Starliner approaching the ISS.
Boeing
2017: Tests, tests, tests
Because the partially reusable space taxis will carry cargo far more precious than dehydrated food and science experiments, NASA and both aerospace corporations have made safety their top priority. They put their vehicles through some rigorous testing over the past year, pulling no punches to ensure their creations can withstand the stress of spaceflight. One of SpaceX’s most notable tests in 2017 involved engineers sealing themselves inside a Crew Dragon prototype to evaluate its life-support system. While inside, they assessed the temperature, carbon-dioxide levels, oxygen levels and cabin pressure, all in an similar environment to what astronauts would experience in flight.
Boeing’s Starliner had a tough time as well. The company performed one drop test after another in 2017. It dropped the Starliner on dry soil and wet soil to see how either condition would affect landing. It also examined how touching down on land will affect astronauts’ head, neck and spine by loading the test vehicle with crash dummies. And even though Starliner was designed to land on solid ground — Crew Dragon, by contrast, will land on water — it also conducted water-drop tests to make sure that it could withstand an abort scenario.
Regan said Boeing pushed its spacecraft to the limit during those tests, proving that its airbag and parachute-landing system works as a result. Back in February, The Wall Street Journalrevealed that the Government Accountability Office (GAO) "raised questions about the status of tests" designed to determine the reliability of Boeing’s parachute-landing system in its report about the CCP recipients.
In the same report, the department warned that Falcon 9’s turbine blades suffer from persistent cracks — a major threat to rocket safety. SpaceX struggled with that problem for months, even years. Eva Behrend, the company’s representative, explained to Engadget that the private space corporation ultimately had to modify its engine design to avoid turbine wheel cracks altogether.
Despite all those successful tests and design changes, a report recently published by TheWall Street Journalsays that experts are still worried the capsules won’t reach the safety levels NASA demands. The agency apparently imposed a new standard that requires the companies to meet a statistical limit of no more than one possible fatal accident for every 270 flights.
That sounds dangerous compared to airplanes’ safety rate of one accident for every million departures. But the technical difficulties associated with manned missions are so hard to overcome that one accident for every 270 flights can be considered safe. NASA’s own space shuttle had a safety rate of one fatal accident in 90 flights, and it killed more people than any other space vehicle.
Space Shuttle Atlantis before it docked with the ISS during its last mission.
NASA
One of the biggest safety threats Boeing and SpaceX had to address was space debris. Both have to make sure their capsules are sufficiently protected from orbital debris, tiny meteors and other particles hurtling through space that could cause serious damage. Boeing plans to use 3D-printed plastic components that can endure extremely harsh environmental conditions better than other materials can. According to The Wall Street Journal’s report, it also plans to fit Starliner with some Kevlar. SpaceX said it worked with NASA to define the orbital-debris environment in Low Earth Orbit and to conjure up a Dragon design that mitigates risks brought about by being pummeled with flying space rocks.
If NASA itself had concerns about safety, it certainly did its best to hide them: The agency showed tremendous confidence and trust in the program and its participants this year. It promised to award both companies four more contracts after they successfully demonstrate that their vehicles can safely carry humans to orbit. In March, ISS crew members even installed a second dock that space taxis can use when they finally start ferrying astronauts to the space station. That said, the agency is thinking up ways to ensure Crew Dragon and Starliner stay in top shape. According to Tabatha Thompson, NASA Commercial Space Program’s communications lead, the agency is evaluating the use of in-orbit inspections for the capsules.
Outside of safety-related tests and regulations for their vehicles, Boeing and SpaceX both showed off their spacesuit designs this year. Between the two, Boeing’s blue suit bears more resemblance to astronauts’ current fashion choices, though it’s 40 percent lighter than NASA’s bulky suits and can keep their wearers much cooler. (Here’s a little trivia: The suit was modeled by Christopher Ferguson, the last space-shuttle mission’s commander and the one who left that historic American flag aboard the ISS. He’s now the director of Crew and Mission Operations for Boeing’s Commercial Crew Program.)
SpaceX’s, on the other hand, is far removed from typical astronaut wear and has a much slimmer silhouette. That’s because it’s meant to be worn only inside the Dragon and other pressurized environments. It also wouldn’t look out of place at a Daft Punk concert.
Unsurprisingly, before they can get their first flights off the ground, both companies have to put their vehicles through even more grueling tests. In the first quarter of 2018, Boeing will put the spotlight on Starliner’s propulsion systems needed to maneuver the spacecraft during its journey. The company will follow that up with a pad-abort test. It will fire Starliner’s four launch-abort engines, taking the capsule a mile up and a mile out before it parachutes into the desert.
SpaceX is already making custom-fit suits for the Crew Program astronauts and will continue the suits’ qualification and validation testing next year. In addition, it intends to ramp up the testing of the engines that will provide the power that Falcon 9’s first and second stages need to be able to reach the ISS. Because it plans to take off from launch pad 39A, the same historic complex NASA used to launch space shuttles, it’ll also complete the installation of a crew-access arm at the site.
After they fly astronauts to the ISS for the first time, the companies can start realizing plans outside of their work with NASA. SpaceX, as mentioned earlier, will take private citizens around the moon aboard Crew Dragon and will fly more privately crewed flights in the future. Boeing also plans to sell Starliner’s fifth seat to paying customers, whether they’re wealthy space fans or researchers sent by their institutions. It sees a long-term strategy in turning the Starliner into a Low-Earth Orbit liner, regularly taking passengers to space and back.
Falcon 9 carrying a Dragon capsule lifts off from launch pad 39A.
SpaceX
If you were wondering, NASA doesn’t have an issue with those plans: It even encouraged both corporations to take on paying passengers to reduce the long-term costs the government has to shoulder. Sure it’s already saving billions of dollars by teaming up with private space companies, but saving even more wouldn’t hurt. It’s already sinking too much money into its giant Mars rocket and capsule, after all, and it’s almost always vulnerable to budget cuts.
While we’ve focused on Boeing and SpaceX, they aren’t the only ones working on human-rated spacecraft. Sierra Nevada, a Commercial Crew Program runner-up, is developing a crew version of the Dream Chaser with NASA in an unfunded agreement. Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic is working on SpaceShipTwo, though it’ll probably take a while before the vehicle can take tourists to the edge of space. Its predecessor crashed during testing in 2014, which led to its co-pilot’s death.
Blue Origin also created the New Shepard launch system with space tourism and research in mind. The Jeff Bezos-owned company recently sent the second version of its crew capsule to suborbital space for 11 minutes with a doll named "Mannequin Skywalker" on board, strapped to his seat right next to a huge window. Unlike the doll, passengers will be able to unstrap themselves to experience zero-g, which should help ensure that the experience is worth the ticket price.
A new kind of space race
The Commercial Crew Program represents a chance for Boeing and SpaceX to make history and has ignited a (possibly friendly) rivalry that now encompasses other projects. Just a few days ago, SpaceX chief Elon Musk dared Boeing to "do it" when the latter’s CEO said he’s confident that his team can make it to Mars before anyone else can.
Rivalries like this could be a good thing because they tend to give rise to new technologies that can help make life better. The last space race between the US and the Soviet Union, for instance, led to the creation of better artificial limbs, the water purifier, stronger tires, a freeze-drying technique now used for food and the material used in firefighter gear, among many, many others. Ultimately, it doesn’t matter who makes it to the ISS first — we all win.
Check out all of Engadget’s year-in-review coverage right here.
The tech industry has a clear history of sexism and misogyny, but a recent Newsweek report highlights another problem. The publication got its hands on a slew of emails sent to brothels and pimps between 2014 and 2016 that document the industry’s patronage of brothels and purchasing of services from trafficked sex workers. Among the emails, which were obtained through a public records request to the King County Prosecutor’s Office, were 67 sent from Microsoft employee email accounts, 63 from Amazon accounts and dozens more from companies like Boeing, T-Mobile, Oracle and local Seattle tech firms.
Some of the emails were collected during a 2015 sting operation that targeted sex worker review boards and resulted in the arrest of 18 individuals, including high-level Amazon and Microsoft directors. Two opted for a trial, which is currently set to begin in March.
Seattle’s sex industry has grown right alongside its tech industry and the city’s authorities have said that some men spend up to $50,000 per year on sex workers. Brothels are even known to advertise how close they are to tech offices. Alex Trouteaud, director of policy and research at the anti-trafficking organization Demand Abolition, told Newsweek that the tech industry is a "culture that has readily embraced trafficking."
In a statement sent to Newsweek, Microsoft said, "Microsoft has a long history of cooperating with law enforcement and other agencies on combating sex trafficking and related topics, and we have employees who volunteer their time and money specifically to combat this issue as well. The personal conduct of a tiny fraction of our 125,000 employees does not in any way represent our culture. No organization is immune to the unfortunate situation when employees act unethically or illegally. When that happens, we look into the conduct and take appropriate action. Microsoft makes it clear to our employees they have a responsibility to act with integrity and conduct themselves in a legal and ethical manner at all times. If they don’t, they risk losing their jobs."
Amazon told Newsweek it’s investigating the matter and said, "Amazon’s Owner’s Manual clearly states that, ‘It is against Amazon’s policy for any employee or Contingent Worker to engage in any sex buying activities of any kind in Amazon’s workplace or in any work-related setting outside of the workplace, such as during business trips, business meetings or business-related social events.’ When Amazon suspects that an employee has used company funds or resources to engage in criminal conduct, the company will immediately investigate and take appropriate action up to and including termination. The company may also refer the matter to law enforcement."
