Month: April 2019

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Falcon Heavy making only second flight, but it’s already changing the game

https://arstechnica.com/?p=1488715

The three cores of the Falcon Heavy are mated in SpaceX processing facilities in Florida.

Enlarge / The three cores of the Falcon Heavy are mated in SpaceX processing facilities in Florida. (credit: SpaceX)

The Falcon Heavy made a rousing debut a little more than a year ago, launching from Florida and sending a cherry red Tesla Roadster beyond the orbit of Mars. At the time, no one was quite sure how SpaceX would market the world’s most powerful rocket, which did not seem to fit particularly well into any niche, especially after the company’s own Falcon 9 rocket saw significant performance increases.

But in the 14 months since the large rocket’s inaugural flight, Falcon Heavy has had a remarkable effect on the nation’s space policy. In three key areas—national defense, science, and human exploration—the Falcon Heavy rocket has to some extent changed the discussion. As it turns out, the demand was there for a low-cost, heavy lift booster.

Falcon Heavy’s most immediate and tangible impact has been with national security missions. In June, only a little more than four months after the vehicle’s debut flight, the U.S. Air Force certified the rocket to fly its reconnaissance and communications satellites into orbit. The Air Force also announced that it had selected the Falcon Heavy to launch its classified Air Force Space Command-52 satellite later in 2020. The rocket offers the military access to all of the desired orbits for its spacecraft.

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via Ars Technica https://arstechnica.com

April 10, 2019 at 07:11AM

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AI On The Edge: New Flex Logix X1 Inference AI Chip For Fanless Designs

https://www.anandtech.com/show/14189/flex-logix-inferx-x1-inference-ai-chip

A large number of inference demonstrations published by the big chip manufacturers revolve around processing large batch sizes of images on trained networks. In reality, when video is being inferenced, it is frame by frame – an effective batch size of one. The large chips on the market aren’t optimized for a batch size of one, and grossly overconsume power to do so: Flex Logix believes it has the answer with its new InferX chip design and IP for this market, focusing directly on those edge devices that process at a batch size of one and are fanless.

via AnandTech http://bit.ly/phao0v

April 10, 2019 at 07:35AM

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Facebook Promises To Stop Asking You To Wish Happy Birthday To Your Friend Who Died

https://www.npr.org/2019/04/09/711399357/facebook-promises-to-stop-asking-you-to-wish-happy-birthday-to-your-friend-who-d?utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=news

Facebook

The social media company said new artificial intelligence will figure out who has died, and make sure their profile doesn’t appear in "painful ways."

(Image credit: Gerard Julien/AFP/Getty Images)

via NPR Topics: News https://n.pr/2m0CM10

April 9, 2019 at 04:45PM

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Congress is about to ban the government from offering free online tax filing

https://arstechnica.com/?p=1488363

Congress is about to ban the government from offering free online tax filing

Just in time for Tax Day, the for-profit tax preparation industry is about to realize one of its long-sought goals. Congressional Democrats and Republicans are moving to permanently bar the IRS from creating a free electronic tax filing system.

Last week, the House Ways and Means Committee, led by Rep. Richard Neal (D-Mass.), passed the Taxpayer First Act, a wide-ranging bill making several administrative changes to the IRS that is sponsored by Reps. John Lewis (D-Ga.) and Mike Kelly (R-Pa).

In one of its provisions, the bill makes it illegal for the IRS to create its own online system of tax filing. Companies like Intuit, the maker of TurboTax, and H&R Block have lobbied for years to block the IRS from creating such a system. If the tax agency created its own program, which would be similar to programs other developed countries have, it would threaten the industry’s profits.

“This could be a disaster. It could be the final nail in the coffin of the idea of the IRS ever being able to create its own program,” said Mandi Matlock, a tax attorney who does work for the National Consumer Law Center.

Experts have long argued that the IRS has failed to make filing taxes as easy and cheap as it could be. In addition to a free system of online tax preparation and filing, the agency could provide people with pre-filled tax forms containing the salary data the agency already has, as ProPublica first reported on in 2013.

The Free File Alliance, a private industry group, says 70% of American taxpayers are eligible to file for free. Those taxpayers, who must make less than $66,000, have access to free tax software provided by the companies. But just 3% of eligible US taxpayers actually use the free program each year. Critics of the program say that companies use it as a cross-marketing tool to upsell paid products, that they have deliberately underpromoted the free option, and that it leaves consumer data open to privacy breaches.

The congressional move would codify the status quo. Under an existing memorandum of understanding with the industry group, the IRS pledges not create its own online filing system and, in exchange, the companies offer their free filing services to those below the income threshold.

One member of the Free File Alliance explicitly told shareholders that the IRS “developing software or other systems to facilitate tax return preparation…may present a continued competitive threat to our business for the foreseeable future.”

The IRS’ deal with the Free File Alliance is regularly renegotiated and there have been repeated, bipartisan efforts in Congress to put the deal into law.

Those efforts have been fueled by hefty lobbying spending and campaign contributions by the industry. Intuit and H&R Block last year poured a combined $6.6 million into lobbying related to the IRS filing deal and other issues. Neal, who became Ways and Means chair this year after Democrats took control of the House, received $16,000 in contributions from Intuit and H&R Block in the last two election cycles.

Neal, who describes himself as a longtime champion of the existing Free File program, has argued that it would “would help low- and moderate-income taxpayers.”

Free File Alliance Executive Director Tim Hugo called it “a great idea when you can provide a great product—free tax returns—to Americans at no cost to the federal government.” An H&R Block spokesperson said the company believes “Free File should be the subject of ongoing improvement, and we are committed to working with all parties to strengthen and improve Free File on behalf of the American taxpayer.”

Spokespeople for Neal, Lewis and Kelly did not immediately respond to requests for comment about the provision. A companion Senate bill with the same provision has been introduced by Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Ron Wyden (D-Ore).

While efforts to make the IRS’ deal with the tax preparation industry permanent have fizzled in the past, critics are particularly worried this year. The Taxpayer First Act also includes a provision that would restrict the IRS’ use of private debt collectors to those above a certain income. A Wyden spokesperson said the current bill is a “bipartisan, bicameral compromise, so it includes priorities of both chairmen and ranking members.” Wyden “supports giving the IRS the resources it needs to offer more services to taxpayers,” the spokesperson added.

Do you have information about the IRS or the tax preparation industry? Contact Justin Elliott at justin@propublica.org or via Signal at 774-826-6240.

This story originally appeared on ProPublica.

via Ars Technica https://arstechnica.com

April 9, 2019 at 08:42AM

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The Best Android and iOS Apps to Keep Your Data Private and Secure

https://lifehacker.com/the-best-android-and-ios-apps-to-keep-your-data-private-1833838923

Large corporations collecting our data and resetting passwords after every major data breach can feel like inevitabilities we just have to accept in 2019. But there are ways to protect your data and privacy.

A disclaimer before we continue: the apps I recommend in the video above will not make you 100% secure. That’s impossible. What they will do is help keep your data more secure and more private.

Password Managers

The most important tool is a password manager. Using a password manager to randomly generate long complex passwords is arguably the most important step you can take in making your online accounts more secure.

The two Lifehacker recommends are 1Password and LastPass.

Browsers

Choosing a browser other than Chrome can seem like a futile effort, given its dominance of the market. But when it comes to data privacy, there are much better options.

The two we recommend are Firefox and Brave.

VPN

In addition to using a more privacy-focused browser, using a VPN service to mask your internet traffic is also a great way to be more secure online. My colleagues have written extensively on how to choose the right VPN and how to make sure the one you’re using is trustworthy.

Messaging

I already made a video about how messaging apps are a mess, so I’ll keep it brief. In an ideal world, we’d all convince our friends and family to use an open-source end-to-end encrypted messaging platform like Signal.

Given how fragmented cross-platform messaging is, iMessage and WhatsApp are good alternatives. They’re end-to-end encrypted and popular. Obviously, one is owned by Apple and the other by Facebook, so it’s up to you how much you trust these companies to keep your data private.

Payments

It feels like every day there’s a new data breach that exposes customer data and credit card information. That’s why we recommend using Apple Pay or Google Pay wherever you can. Both services hide your actual credit card number behind a virtual one, so merchants are never given that data. That can be a lifesaver if a retailer has a major data breach.

via Kotaku https://kotaku.com

April 9, 2019 at 07:31AM

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Amazon Planning 3,236-Satellite Constellation for Internet Connectivity

https://www.space.com/amazon-plans-3236-satellite-constellation-for-internet.html

WASHINGTON — Amazon is joining the list of companies planning a constellation of thousands of satellites for broadband internet connectivity.

The internet shopping giant has asked international spectrum regulators to provide spectrum rights for a constellation of 3,236 satellites.

Amazon hasn’t disclosed who would build the satellites or when they would be launched, and hasn’t yet filed with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for U.S. market access for the system.

Amazon’s constellation is filed with the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) under the name Kuiper Systems. Amazon confirmed its connection to Kuiper Systems in a statement to SpaceNews.

“Project Kuiper is a new initiative to launch a constellation of Low Earth Orbit satellites that will provide low-latency, high-speed broadband connectivity to unserved and underserved communities around the world,” Amazon said. “This is a long-term project that envisions serving tens of millions of people who lack basic access to broadband internet. We look forward to partnering on this initiative with companies that share this common vision.”

News of Amazon’s constellation application was first reported by GeekWire.

The Amazon constellation calls for three layers of satellites — 784 in a 590-kilometer orbit, 1,156 in a 630-kilometer orbit, and 1,296 in a 610-kilometer orbit.

Many details about Amazon’s proposed constellation remain unknown, such as who would build the satellites and when Amazon hopes to have them in orbit. Amazon has not yet applied with the FCC for permission to serve the U.S. market with the constellation. That application would include more details about the constellation, including how Amazon would deorbit satellites to maintain a sustainable space environment.

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos also founded the launch company Blue Origin, which is developing a reusable rocket called New Glenn to launch government and commercial satellites. The rocket’s first flight is expected in 2021.

News of Amazon’s ITU filing came the same day as reports that Bezos will retain full ownership of Blue Origin after his divorce. In a statement April 4, MacKenzie Bezos said that her husband will keep his full ownership of the spaceflight company as part of their divorce settlement. Bezos will transfer 25 percent of his existing stake in Amazon to MacKenzie, but keep “sole voting authority” over those shares. Even after the settlement Bezos will remain the wealthiest person in the world, with his remaining Amazon shares worth an estimated $108 billion.

 AWS Ground Station 

Amazon and Lockheed Martin in November announced the launch of AWS Ground Station to leverage the cloud-computing capabilities of Amazon Web Services to support communications with satellites, particularly those in low Earth orbit.

Amazon’s proposed constellation, according to the ITU filing, would circle the Earth much closer than some of the other broadband constellations under development.

OneWeb, for example, is targeting 1,200 kilometers for its initial constellation of 650 satellites.

Telesat plans to have satellites in 1,000-kilometer and 1,250-kilometer orbits, though it’s not clear how many of its envisioned 292-satellite system would go in each orbit, since the target size of the constellation is 58 satellites above what the FCC approved for U.S. market access.

LeoSat’s proposed constellation of 108 satellites would operate at 1,400 kilometers.

SpaceX wants to operate most of its future 4,425-satellite constellation between the altitudes of 1,110 and 1,325 kilometers (though the company asked the FCC in November to authorize 1,584 satellites at a lower 550-kilometer orbit).

Many spectrum applications never progress much beyond the filing of the initial paperwork. Boeing applied in 2016 with the FCC for a constellation of between 1,396 and 2,956 satellites, but said last June that it hadn’t moved forward with those plans. The FCC’s international bureau told SpaceNews that Boeing has withdrawn two applications in the past year.

Amazon’s system, if realized, will likely cost billions of dollars, not unlike the projected cost of constellations for SpaceX, OneWeb, Telesat and LeoSat. Bezos said last year that he already sells $1 billion in Amazon stock annually to fund Blue Origin.

This story was provided by SpaceNews, dedicated to covering all aspects of the space industry.  

via Space.com http://bit.ly/2WPkkGi

April 5, 2019 at 02:07PM

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Two rockets dropped tracers into the northern lights and the result was glorious

https://arstechnica.com/?p=1487619

Accelerated time-lapse video of AZURE mission lighting up the sky.

Late Friday night, two sounding rockets launched from a small spaceport in northern Norway. The two skinny rockets soared to an altitude of 320km, and along the way each released a visible gas to fall through, and illuminate conditions inside the aurora borealis. Some of the resulting images were stunning.

This NASA-funded AZURE mission, which stands for Auroral Zone Upwelling Rocket Experiment, is one of a series of sounding rocket missions launching over the next two years as part of an international collaboration know as the The Grand Challenge Initiative – Cusp. The goal of these flights will be to study the region where Earth’s magnetic field lines bend down into the atmosphere, and particles from space mix with those from the planet.

Friday night’s mission involved two Black Brant XI-A sounding rockets, a three stage sounding booster with a long heritage dating back to Canadian military research in the 1950s. The Black Brant rockets launched within two minutes of one another from the picturesque from the Andøya Space Center in Norway, beginning at 22:14 UTC Friday.

After their launch, the two rockets ascended into space while on-board instrumentation measured the atmospheric density and temperature in order to determine the ideal time to release visible tracers—trimethyl aluminum and a barium/strontium mixture. These gas tracers were released at altitudes varying from 115 to 250km.

As they fell through the atmosphere, the gases ionized, and produced colorful clouds that allowed researchers to better understand the flow of particles in the ionosphere, the upper part of Earth’s atmosphere that forms the boundary between the planet and outer space. For observers below, the tracers also put on quite a show.

Launch video of the AZURE mission.

By studying the movement of particles within the aurora borealis, scientists hope to better understand how the energy of these phenomenon effect atmospheric behavior.

Listing image by Andoya Space Center

via Ars Technica https://arstechnica.com

April 7, 2019 at 09:19AM