Day: December 20, 2022

Twitter CEO and owner Elon Musk is taking legal action against Jack Sweeney, the University of Central Florida student who tracks his private plane and publishes his flight information on social media under the @ElonJet banner.

Musk announced his intentions on Twitter Wednesday evening hours after the social media platform permanently suspended the @ElonJet account and Sweeney’s personal account. In a tweet, Musk said that a “crazy stalker” had followed the car his 2-year-old son, X, was riding in on Tuesday night in Los Angeles. The perpetrator reportedly blocked the car from moving and climbed onto the hood.

“Last night, car carrying lil X in LA was followed by crazy stalker (thinking it was me), who later blocked car from moving & climbed onto hood,” Musk wrote. “Legal action is being taken against Sweeney & organizations who supported harm to my family.”

The billionaire later posted a video of the alleged perpetrator, who is wearing a black hoodie and a half-cover ski mask, as well as his license plate. He asked his more than 120 million followers if they recognized the person or car.

In addition, Musk on Wednesday also revealed a change to Twitter’s policy on the sharing of real-time information, stating that “any account doxxing real-time location info of anyone will be suspended.” The Twitter owner said that sharing a person’s real-time location was a “physical safety violation.”

Accounts that post links to sites with real-time location information will also be banned, the billionaire explained.

What happened to @ElonJet? 

Tensions over the future of the @ElonJet account on Twitter became the latest scandal on the Musk-owned social network in recent days. The drama began when Sweeney accused Twitter of shadowbanning @ElonJet this past weekend. By Monday, Sweeney said that @ElonJet appeared to have its visibility back, leading him to believe that Twitter had reversed course. That was not the case. Instead, it was the beginning of a roller coaster ride.

Early on Wednesday, users began to notice that the @ElonJet account had been suspended, which Sweeney later confirmed. On Wednesday evening, @ElonJet returned briefly, tweeting: “Wait Hello? How long does delay mean @elonmusk… hour? we need some well defined rules.”

Hours later @ElonJet and Sweeney’s personal Twitter account were permanently suspended again. The student’s other plane trackers, dedicated to following high-profile people like Drake, Jeff Bezos, and Taylor Swift, were also suspended.

Musk’s decision to ban @ElonJet comes roughly a month after he said he wouldn’t ban the account in the name of “free speech.” His tweeted commitment not to ban the account now includes a Community Note that points out Musk’s flip flopping on the issue.

“My commitment to free speech extends even to not banning the account following my plane, even though that is a direct personal safety risk,” the Twitter CEO wrote on Nov. 6.

What’s the history between Musk and Sweeney?

Musk’s beef with Sweeney dates back to January of the this year, when he messaged the student on Twitter to ask him to take down the @ElonJet account because it was a “security risk.” At the time, Musk offered Sweeney $5,000 to delete the account, stating that he didn’t want “crazy people” tracking his flights.

“I don’t love the idea of being shot by a nutcase,” Musk told the student.

Sweeney rejected Musk’s offer and instead asked the billionaire for $50,000, which he said he could use to pay for college or perhaps buy a Tesla Model 3. The student also suggested that Musk could offer him an internship in exchange for taking down the account. Musk didn’t like any of those options and blocked Sweeney on Twitter.

Sweeney originally started tracking Musk’s plane because he was a fan of the billionaire. His methods are far from nefarious. Sweeney’s tracker, which is still available on Facebook and Instagram, uses information from ADS-B exchange, a hobbyist site that gathers public transponder data from different aircraft.

The student told The New York Times on Wednesday that he didn’t share Musk’s opinion about the safety risks posed by his tracker.

“If someone wanted to do something, they could do it without me,” Sweeney said.

A team of researchers from the University of Kent in Canterbury, England, have used a protein called talin, which functions as “the cell’s natural shock absorber,” to create a new shock-absorbing material capable of stopping projectiles traveling at supersonic speeds without destroying them in the process.

Developing materials to improve the efficacy of armor isn’t a pursuit exclusive to the militaries of the world. Shock-absorbing materials have benefits in other fields, too. In the aerospace industry, they’ll be essential as we continue to expand our presence in space, where even tiny particles moving at supersonic speeds can cause significant damage to spacecraft. Even other researchers can benefit from breakthroughs in this field, particularly those conducting experiments with high-speed projectiles that eventually need to be safely stopped.

The current design of projectile-stopping armors and materials uses a mix of ceramics and fiber-based components layered together, which are effective at stopping a high-speed object from passing straight through them, but end up transferring a lot of the projectile’s kinetic energy onto the armored vehicle or person, often resulting in non-fatal injuries. These materials also tend to get destroyed in the process, requiring them to be replaced after every use. This new research brings us one step closer to solving the unique challenges of developing shock-absorbing materials.

At the molecular level, talin has a structure that unfolds under tension to dissipate energy and then fold back up again afterwards, leaving it ready to absorb shocks again and again, keeping cells resilient against outside forces. When the protein was combined with other ingredients and polymerised into a TSAM (or Talin Shock Absorbing Material), those unique shock-absorbing properties were maintained.

To test the effectiveness of TSAMs, the researchers subjected them to impacts from basalt particles (around 60 µM in size, or roughly the diameter of a human hair) and later, larger aluminum shrapnel, traveling at 1.5 kilometers/second. That’s over 3,300 miles per hour, and three times faster than the speed of a nine-millimeter bullet fired from a hand gun. Not only was the impact of the particles completely absorbed by the TSAM material, but the particles themselves weren’t destroyed in the process.

The size of these test materials means the particles weren’t imparting as much energy into the TSAMs as a projectile fired from something like a tank would, but it does help demonstrate their potential. Eventually, the researchers are confident the hydrogel could be incorporated into lighter wearable armors for soldiers that do a better job of absorbing the energy of an impact, while retaining their shock-absorbing capabilities, even after saving a life.

It would potentially be even more useful for the aerospace industry, both for protecting spacecraft and for research involving space debris, dust, and micrometeoroids, which could be captured without being destroyed in the process. Of course, the captured micrometeroids would be easier to study than a handful of decimated dust. But far more important to regular readers of Gizmodo is how this new material can be incorporated into smartphone cases, making our expensive investments as durable and resilient as the nearly indestructible Nokia handsets from years ago.

Some of Google’s biggest rivals are coming together in a kind of rogues gallery with the hopes of creating new open source services to knock Google Maps from its mapping throne.

On Thursday, the nonprofit Linux Foundation announced its own open project that’s meant to collate new map projects through available datasets. And several other major companies have come out of the woodwork to support it in what seems like a bid to finally end Google’s domineering geolocation reign. Those companies include Meta, Microsoft, Amazon Web Services, and none other than Dutch geolocation company TomTom.

This Overture Maps Foundation is essentially an open source program for curating and collating map data across the globe from multiple different data sources. So in essence, the project promises it will use the massive amount of global data housed by these various companies and from outside to build up-to-date maps that developers can then use. Linux also promised this new project will essentially level the playing field for anybody looking to develop up-to-date geolocation services or maps without breaking the bank on expensive commercial data that may not even be accurate.

In the release, Linux Foundation’s Executive Director Jim Zemlin said “Mapping the physical environment and every community in the world, even as they grow and change, is a massively complex challenge that no one organization can manage.”

Of course, all the companies involved could have a major stake in such open services. AWS’ general manager Michael Kopenec said in the release that map data is “cost prohibitive and complex,” though it’s unclear if Amazon wants to break into the world of geolocation as well. Overture could also be a boon to its flagging “metaverse” ambitions, with applications in both VR and AR. The company has its own street view company called Mapillary, and it’s already worked alongside Microsoft on street mapping data.

While Google and its parent company Alphabet were combining its Maps and Waze teams, its street view and AR capabilities keep getting more sophisticated, leaving its potential competitors in the dust, even after it was cited for selling users’ location data. That domination is so great that Google Maps has mapped more than 220 countries and territories, according to the company. Maps is the most-downloaded GPS app by far, and it’s not even close.

Though TomTom’s market share has seriously depleted since highs in 2008, the company has survived against Google Maps with deals in countries where the top performing app wasn’t available. Last month, the company announced a new maps platform. TomTom’s Chief Technology Officer Eric Bowman said in an internal Q&A “The world of maps today is pretty siloed. Everyone who is making a commercial map—whether they admit it or not—is starting to see that there are limits to what any one company can do, no matter how big or powerful or well funded they are.”

TomTom’s CEO Harold Goddijn, said in a release “Overture’s standardization and interoperable base map is fundamental to bringing geospatial information from the world together.”

Last week, we got a staggering price reveal for Dyson’s first-ever audio product, the Zone. The combination headphones-air-purifier will already cost you your privacy, as folks are bound to shoot stares at you from across the train or plane while you’ve got it on. But it’ll also run you $950—at least.

I say “at least” because I had a demo today where I got to try on the “premium” version of the Zone, which comes in a unique navy blue and bronze colorway, and also nets you a leather carrying case and extra filters. When you’re already throwing around hundreds of dollars, an extra $50 doesn’t sound like much. But now you can at least tell family members that your headphones cost an even $1,000 (OK, $999) and see their reactions. And that’s not including accessories like the N95 mask attachment.

For that eye-watering price, you’ll be getting 8-10 mic active noise canceling (ANC), depending on whether you have the air purifier on, and a promised 50 hours of battery life. Running the purifier drastically shortens that lifespan to 1.5 – 2.5 hours, depending on its speed. But the benefit you can’t put a price on, the piece de resistance here, is the Bane cosplay that comes with the detachable air purifier. It works with filters in the ear cups to push fresh air into your mouth and nose at 10,000 RPM as you confront your nemesis, Batman.

Trying on the Dyson Zone

So what was it like to break the Bat?

Dyson’s been working on The Zone for six years, long before the first cough of the covid-19 pandemic, and yet the headset still feels at odds with itself… and now the times. With the purifier visor detached, the headphones felt properly hefty without actually hurting my head, despite their 1.3 pound weight (the AirPods Max weigh a half pound less), but the purifier visor attachment is bizarrely flimsy in comparison, despite bringing the weight up to 1.48 pounds when attached. That’s purposeful, as the purifier needs to be able to twist and bend to fit your face, but the shift from aluminum to plastic and nylon is sorely felt. The unfitting combination raises the same question passersby will be asking: why even combine headphones with a portable air purifier?

Dyson’s been cagey about this, telling me in my demo that noise is a type of pollution, too, as if the idea for the purifier came before the headphones. The real reason might have something to do with the headphone form factor simply making a great mount for the purifier, or the presence of ear cups making a good place to hide the purifier’s motors, or ANC being helpful for blocking noise from said motors. But people who want great audio won’t necessarily want the air purification, and vice versa, so selling them as one product raises the price for both functions without extending the value of either thing. Especially given the difference in build quality, and thus material cost, between the sturdy headphones and thin, plasticky purifier visor attachment.

Some positives: each part of the Zone, individually, works well. The purifier visor itself is especially impressive. It works alongside an app that reads external air quality, and while the already heavily filtered office where I had my demo read as “good quality” to begin with, the fresh air felt noticeably lighter and smelled better, and the fan pushing it towards me never felt annoying or too cold on my face. Your face is exposed when wearing this, by the way, so don’t expect it to block covid without the N95 attachment.

The angle at which the purifying visor sits is also adjustable, as is how far it sits from your face, and you can quickly pull the whole purifier visor down if you want to get it out of the way without removing the whole attachment (this also swaps the headphones into transparency mode, as the device assumes you’re taking the visor down to talk). The three speed presets are reasonably different and cover a wide variety of use cases, while an auto mode uses an accelerometer inside the Zone to adjust the purifier’s speed depending on how much you’re moving, both for convenience and to save battery life. The health benefits behind this kind of personal air filtration are unclear, but from an experiential standpoint, I could see it making a long plane ride or a walk through a trash-strewn New York street more bearable.

The headphones are also comfortable, and while Dyson didn’t give me driver or audio codec specs, music playing through Spotify exceeded the quality I normally get on the Sennheiser headset I use at home ($180, but also wired and without ANC or an air purifier). The Zone’s active noise canceling is, subjectively, less robust than on its Apple or Sony competitors, but for Dyson’s debut audio product, it’s impressive. Noise cancelling is also great to have if you’re running the purifier, as 2 mics are dedicated purely to blocking out the noise from it, and they work flawlessly. If only they could block the fan noise your fellow commuters will hear, too. While I didn’t get to test how noisy the Zone is to those around you, you can definitely hear the purifier running if you’re wearing the Zone and don’t have active noise canceling on.

The Zone’s audio controls work via a directional joystick, which gives you easy access to pause/play/skip and to your phone’s digital assistant, but active noise canceling controls are the one pain point here, and that’s a pretty nasty pain point to have. You’re supposed to be able to swap between ANC and transparency by double tapping either of the headphone’s ear cups, sending an input to an accelerometer inside, but this only worked on about a fifth of my attempts. I’m confident this is something that can be fixed with tuning, but for now, I had to resort to the app to swap ANC and transparency, which is not something I want to bother with on a crowded train.

At the very least, the headset’s considerable weight is well-distributed, and you can easily and precisely adjust the notched headband.

Issues with the Dyson Zone

It’s a shame how clunky using both of these mostly well-designed devices at the same time can be, especially given the Zone’s price as a whole. Actually attaching the air purifier visor to the Zone was an exercise in frustration, as it requires precise placement into slots on either ear cup, but also will not easily attach unless both sides of the headset are pulled far away from each other. This makes it best to attach the purifier visor while you’re already wearing the headphones, meaning you’ll have to fumble blindly to properly slot it in. You can try to put the purifier on before you’re wearing the headphones, but the ear cups will want to pull in towards each other, often undoing your work. You’d need three hands to successfully maneuver it.

And because the purifier attachment snaps into slots on the headset, it’s easy to get long hair snagged in it while you’re attaching it to the headphones. I actually lost some hair during my demo. When I took off the purifier off, a clump of my hair went with it.

It’s not just the two core pieces that have problems attaching, though. In the time since the product was conceived, we’ve gone from walking around with naked faces to masking while in public. Masking isn’t as common as it was last year, but it’s still an encouraged practice in some places, and something I’m willing to bet the target audience for a personal air purifier would be interested in. You can use the Dyson Zone with a mask, but it’s not easy, and the result may not be worth it.

As it stands right now, the N95 mask add-on you can buy with your Zone comes in two pieces. One needs to sit underneath a slot on the purifier attachment, which means you’ll need to slightly disassemble it first. It’s a lot of plastic to deal with, and none of the add-ons have guides for fitting everything together, at least in pre-release. Even with Dyson helping me, it took about 20 minutes to get the mask add-on properly attached, and the result was a lessened air flow. That’s to be expected, but it made masking and wearing the air purifier feel not worth the effort. In its current state, it’s probably best to choose one or the other.

Is the Dyson Zone ready?

Most of the problems I identified feel like early issues that could still be ironed out by the time the product launches, but as it stands, this is not the convenience or integration I’d expect from a nearly (or exactly, with the bundle) $1,000 pair of headphones that justifies its price with an ability to work in tandem with an air purifier. In many ways, these feel like two great but separate products awkwardly taped together. I wouldn’t be surprised if Dyson eventually sells them individually in the future.

If you want to see the chimera in its early state, though, you can pre-order the Dyson Zone via an appointment at a Dyson store in March, 2023. Alternately, the Zone will be coming to Best Buys and online storefronts on April 1st. Yes, really. We’re excited to see how well-tamed the beast will be in our full review.

Meta’s pivot away from social media and into virtual reality has hit another snag. One of the company’s executives, John Carmack, who helped build Meta’s Oculus company as Chief Technology Officer—is stepping away from Meta amidst frustration over the company’s efficiency.

Carmack stepped into the role of CTO for Oculus (now called Reality Labs) in 2013, and is shutting the door behind him after nearly ten years, having served as consulting CTO since 2019. News broke this weekend of Carmack’s departure after, according to Carmack, he shared an internal memo within the company that was leaked to the press. Carmack shared the entirety of the memo (with one edit) to his Facebook account on Friday evening. In the letter, Carmack describes how he has been satisfied with the technology that Oculus has produced, but is unhappy with the way the company is being run.

“The issue is our efficiency,” Carmack wrote in the letter. He elaborated: “We have a ridiculous amount of people and resources, but we constantly self-sabotage and squander effort. There is no way to sugar coat this; I think our organization is operating at half the effectiveness that would make me happy.”

Meta did not immediately return Gizmodo’s request for comment on Carmack’s departure.

Carmack explains in a follow-up paragraph the internal friction that even he, as a top executive, felt while trying to guide the company in a more proactive direction:

It has been a struggle for me. I have a voice at the highest levels here, so it feels like I should be able to move things, but I’m evidently not persuasive enough. A good fraction of the things I complain about eventually turn my way after a year or two passes and evidence piles up, but I have never been able to kill stupid things before they cause damage, or set a direction and have a team actually stick to it. I think my influence at the margins has been positive, but it has never been a prime mover.

Meta’s Chief Technology Officer, Andrew Bosworth, responded to Carmack’s letter on Twitter, stating: “[John], it is impossible to overstate the impact you’ve had on our work and the industry as a whole. Your technical prowess is widely known, but it is your relentless focus on creating value for people that we will remember most. Thank you and see you in VR.”

Carmack’s departure comes as Meta faces a continued identity crisis, stuck in purgatory between its VR ventures and its social media past. As the company tries to pivot more and more towards VR, the future of the Metaverse continues to look a bit bleak (and generally ugly).