Day: May 13, 2020

Are you the kind of person who finds catharsis through singing poorly in front of friends and strangers? Do you bottle up all of the emotions of your stressful days, unleashing them in an over-the-top and off-tune performance? Do you really wish you could sing right now, shouting into a microphone as the world around you spins wildly out of control? If you answered yes to any or all of these questions, chances are the lack of karaoke in your life these days is leaving you sad and empty. But you don’t have to feel that way. There can be karaoke—even in the middle of a lockdown.

Sure, karaoke bars are closed; they’re not considered essential businesses. But this is 2020; the lack of watering holes with open mics and Sunfly on their screens can be rectified with a few friends, a couple laptops, and a lot of moxie. Karaoke during the coronavirus quarantine—Quaraoke? yeah, let’s go with that—is possible. In fact, it’ll probably be just as weird, messy, and fun as its pre-pandemic counterpart.

Actually, considering that karaoke nights often end in minor tragedies—ill-advised make-outs, lost iPhones, cuts and bruises from overzealous air-guitar windmills—doing it at home might be slightly safer, provided you’ve disaster-proofed your place. (Also, pro tip: Your phone is in the bathroom, next to the toilet. We promise.)

That said, much of the chaos of the karaoke room will remain, so before you begin any of this, make sure there’s one responsible adult who can be trusted to run the show. There will likely be drinking; there may be other substances depending on which state you call home (we trust you), so having a dedicated karaoke jockey for the night is key. They don’t have to stay sober, but they do have to keep it relatively together. The KJ doesn’t have to be you, but for the purposes of this how-to, we’ll assume you’re the one in charge.

When you’re sending out your invite, you’re going to need to include two key links. The first, obviously, is a Zoom link. Actually, it doesn’t have to be Zoom—any videoconferencing service will do—but for the purposes of this exercise, we used Zoom. (Our apologies to Microsoft Teams and Google Hangouts.) The videofeed, of course, is where the magic will happen.

You’ll also need a Watch2Gether link, which is where you’ll be assembling your queue of karaoke tracks. But before we get to how you put your song list together, you’re going to need some songs. In private-room karaoke, you can add songs on the fly; with at-home karaoke, it helps to know people’s songs in advance, solely to streamline the process up front. How you gather the track list is up to you—Google Form? email thread?—but having them ready really streamlines what comes next.

YouTube has a plethora of karaoke videos, many like what you’d find in a bar or private room. But a lot of those karaoke tracks are mislabeled, often just fan-made lyric videos with the actual song rather than an instrumental. And some YouTube karaoke videos are, unfortunately, not available to play on Watch2Gether because of licensing snags. So part of the KJ’s job will be to test these out ahead of time, just to make sure the tracks work and no extra hiccups occur during Quaraoke. (Being a KJ is really a thankless job. Tip your KJs—even if they’re just your drunk friends on a Zoom call. This is why Venmo was invented, people.)

Now, a few quick housekeeping tips for Watch2Gether. Via the settings menu in the upper left corner of your page, you’ll want to enable moderation—make sure the boxes for Selected Video, Player, and Playlists are all checked, which will limit any of your wild and crazy singers from screwing up the queue or pausing the video. (Do you want to mess up your friend’s barn-burning rendition of Aerosmith’s “Cryin’”? We didn’t think so.) Beyond that, the KJ’s only other job is to alert singers when their time is approaching and keep the songs coming. The chat room feature is the best place for this, which is where everyone should be hanging out and “talking” while a singer is going at it. Everyone’s mic should be muted, naturally—and the KJ should feel emboldened to mute anyone who doesn’t do it first.

During the design process, NASA and its contractors also had to agree on a flight test program that would demonstrate that each spacecraft works as intended. For some tests, NASA let the companies decide how they would be conducted. For example, SpaceX and Boeing had to prove that, in the event of an emergency, their spacecraft could abort a mission and carry its crew to safety. Both companies successfully completed pad abort tests, which involve firing the escape thrusters on a crew capsule while it’s still on the launch pad. But only SpaceX conducted an in-flight abort test and jettisoned its capsule from a rocket during flight. Boeing opted to do simulations of an in-flight abort test based on its data.

Other aspects of the flight test program were non-negotiable. For example, NASA required both companies to conduct a non-crewed demo flight, followed by a crewed demo flight, to the ISS. SpaceX successfully completed its uncrewed Demo-1 mission to the space station last year. Boeing had to end its attempt early thanks to a timer malfunction on its Starliner spacecraft and will have to try again. Although SpaceX’s uncrewed mission demonstrated the core functionality of its capsule, the company still needs to put some humans on board to show that it can do everything it’s meant to. That’s what the upcoming mission is all about.

“We got a great check-out of the whole spacecraft on Demo-1,” Steve Stich, the deputy manager of NASA’s commercial crew program, said during a press conference earlier this month. “But this time, we’re going to check on the life support systems, the spacesuits, the display system, and many other systems that Bob and Doug will need to live and work inside the Dragon on the way to the Space Station.”

The Crew Dragon will be on autopilot for most of its 19-hour journey to the space station. But just before it docks with the orbital laboratory, Behnken and Hurley will take manual control. The astronauts won’t really be “piloting” the capsule, since they aren’t changing its trajectory. Instead, they’ll use the spacecraft’s Draco thrusters to perform a few basic maneuvers that will change the capsule’s orientation. This will demonstrate that the crew can control it in the event of an emergency or if there’s an unexpected problem with the automated controls. It is one of the most important goals of the Demo-2 mission, and critical to certifying the capsule for human spaceflight.

SpaceX will continue to conduct tests while the spacecraft is docked to the station. Per NASA’s requirements, the capsule must be able to execute commands from mission control on Earth when there aren’t any crew members inside. During Behnken and Hurley’s stay on orbit, mission control operators on Earth will periodically wake Crew Dragon to run tests and make sure all its systems are in good shape.

Behnken and Hurley may spend up to three and a half months on the ISS, and once they splash down off the coast of Florida, NASA and SpaceX engineers will spend the next few months reviewing data from the mission to determine whether the capsule passed muster. If it passes this final review, SpaceX will be ready to begin operational missions carrying NASA astronauts and other paying customers to the ISS.

The extreme rigor of NASA‘s human-rating process is a product of the agency’s “failure is not an option” ethos. As detailed in the agency’s official certification documents, human rating is less of a process and more of “a mindset where each person feels personally responsible for their piece of the design and for the safety of the crew.” That’s a lot of responsibility for engineers to shoulder, but earlier this month NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine expressed his confidence in the safety of SpaceX’s capsule during a press conference.

“This is a big day for NASA and a big day for SpaceX,” Bridenstine said. “But we should not lose sight of the fact that this is a test flight. We’re doing this to learn things.”

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Porsche-grade technology will trickle down to the Kia range during the 2020s. The South Korean company is planning to launch no less than 11 electric cars globally by 2025, and it confirmed some will come with an 800-volt charging system that promises to slash charging times while reducing the drivetrain’s weight.

As of writing, the only series-produced model equipped with 800-volt technology is the Taycan; the production version of the Audi E-Tron GT concept will get it, too. Kia plans to bring it to the masses when it releases its next-generation electric cars on the European market in 2021. It hasn’t detailed the models yet, but it revealed they will be built on a platform developed specifically to underpin EVs. One will “blur the boundaries between passenger and sport utility vehicles,” a not-so-subtle hint that the segment-bending Imagine concept (pictured) unveiled in 2019 is headed to production. An earlier, unverified report claims Rimac will help Kia make it a reality.

Building electric cars on a purpose-designed platform represents a stunning about-face for the brand. Its two battery-powered models, the Niro EV and the Soul EV, are variants of gasoline-powered models. Kia is also developing battery technology that promises to unlock up to 310 miles of driving range. It hopes the investments it’s making will convince a growing number of buyers to give up gasoline once and for all.

Taking this not-inexpensive route makes integrating technology like an 800-volt charging system much easier. Kia also wants to bring electric cars to the masses, so it will also offer 400-volt charging (which is widely available in 2020) to keep costs in check. It predicted motorists who drive more will pay extra for the 800-volt system, because it will deliver “sub-20-minute high-speed” charging times when plugged into a compatible station, while those who don’t suffer from range anxiety will be able to save money by selecting a 400-volt system.

“Certain models, particularly those aimed at more cost-conscious buyers, will offer 400-volt charging capability; 800-volt charging won’t simply be reserved for Kia’s flagship models, however, but where it most closely matches the usage profile of a particular model line,” said Pablo Martinez Masip, the director of product planning and pricing for Kia’s European division. He added both systems can be charged at home or in public.

Kia called Europe “the focal point for EV sales growth worldwide,” a statement which reflects the immense pressure government regulations are putting on companies all over the automotive spectrum to reduce their fleet-wide CO2 emissions. Most of the 11 electric cars it plans to introduce worldwide will be sold across the pond, but the firm is also thinking globally. It’s targeting global annual sales of 500,000 battery-powered models by 2026. It hasn’t revealed where the United States stands in its broader electrification plans, however.