SpaceX faces more Starship delays as NASA seeks launch safety assurances

The explosive demise on SN-10 last year broke more than SpaceX’s Starship prototype. It’s also spurred NASA to put a pin in plans for the vessel to use Cape Canaveral as a backup launchpad, at least until the company can provide evidence that another blow up on the pad won’t damage infrastructure critical to resupplying the ISS.

The situation is this: Plans for the primary launchpad SpaceX wants in Boca Chica, Texas for the upcoming Starship rocket is already facing lengthy regulatory delays (though the review phase is expected to wrap up next week). The Army Corps of Engineers in April also denied the company’s application to expand Galveston-area launch site after SpaceX failed to provide required documentation. 

The company has also been rapidly constructing a secondary launch pad at its Cape Canaveral facility but those plans are now on hold. The problem is that SpaceX’s new Starship launch pad sits just a few hundred feet from NASA’s launchpad 39A, you know, the only NASA launch pad currently in existence that SpaceX’s Dragon Crew is approved to launch from. Should another Starship — which relies on an mix of liquid nitrogen and methane as fuel that is unfamiliar to regulators — go kablooey, the explosive force and ship shrapnel could damage launch complex 39A. And with no 39A, we have no more crewed missions to the ISS until it gets fixed.

“We all recognize that if you had an early failure like we did on one of the early SpaceX flights, it would be pretty devastating to 39A,” Kathy Lueders, NASA’s space operations chief, told Reuters. 

SpaceX, which has already invested heavily in the construction of its now-paused platform, has offered to try to “harden” pad 39A against the forces imparted by both successful and unsuccessful Starship launches as well as build up launch complex 40, located about 5 miles away, with crew launching capabilities. Both of those options would still require agency approval as well as months if not years of construction to get ready. 

Watch Xbox and Bethesda’s showcase here in under 20 minutes

This weekend’s Xbox and Bethesda showcase was jam-packed with news, trailers, updates and announcements about games that are already on Xbox or coming to the platform over the next year. If you don’t have a spare hour and 40 minutes or so to watch the entire event, don’t worry. You can catch up on the highlights with our supercut, which runs less than 20 minutes.

Freshly announced games include Forza Motorsport, Minecraft Legends, Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty and Rick and Morty co-creator Justin Roiland’s typically wacky High on Life. You’ll get also your first in-depth look at gameplay from Starfield, along with news on Diablo IV, Grounded, Microsoft Flight Simulator and a tonof titles that are coming to Game Pass. The highlights for me were the first peek at co-op vampire shooter Redfall in action and the Overwatch 2 release date, but there’s at least a little of something for just about everyone here.

Spotify buys an AI startup that turns text into ‘realistic’ speech

Spotify’s string of recent acquisitions now includes a potentially huge text-to-speech upgrade. The streaming music service is acquiring Sonantic, a startup that uses AI to produce “stunningly realistic” voices from text. While Spotify didn’t divulge its exact plans for the purchase, it teased multiple potential improvements.

Sonantic’s tech could provide context for upcoming recommendations even when you aren’t looking at your screen, Spotify said. The AI voice platform could also “reduce barriers” for new audio experiences. We’d add that this could help with accessibility. You might have an easier time navigating Spotify without relying on the visual interface.

Spotify didn’t say when it expected the deal to close. The move makes sense in light of broader trends, however. Social networks like Instagram and TikTok already use text-to-speech for robotic voiceovers. Meld this with Spotify’s TikTok-style discovery feed and the company may have a better chance of reeling in listeners used to finding their tunes on social networks.

These are the games included with PlayStation Plus Extra and Premium

You don’t have to wonder just what games you can play if you subscribe to PlayStation Plus Extra or Premium. Twitter user Wario64 has noticed that Sony published its game catalog for those who sign up for PS Plus’ two higher-end plans. As hinted earlier, the company is offering a mix of big-name hits, classics (for Premium users) and lower-profile titles.

You can expect well-known games like Death Stranding, several Final Fantasy releases and Red Dead Redemption 2 alongside major PS4 and PS5 offerings like Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, Demon’s Souls, Ghost of Tsushima and Spider-Man: Miles Morales. There are some curious splits, though. You can play Uncharted 4 and Uncharted: The Lost Legacy through the mid-priced Extra tier, but you’ll need Premium to revisit the series’ roots through the Nathan Drake Collection — it’s considered a classic even though it’s a PS4 title.

There’s also a clearer look at Premium’s time-limited free trials. You’ll have a chance to try Horizon Forbidden West, Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection and Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands in addition to nine other games as of this writing. You won’t want to subscribe to Premium with the trials in mind, then, but they could be nice perks on top of core benefits.

Extra costs $15 per month in the US, while Premium is $18 per month. The full list underscores the differences between the new PS Plus and Xbox Game Pass. While Sony is including some recent games in its costlier tiers, it’s not making a point of adding games on launch day like Microsoft sometimes does. This is a bonus for PlayStation fans, not a replacement for buying the latest blockbusters.

Netflix confirms ‘Squid Game’ is returning for a second season

It was never truly in doubt that Netflix would bring its most popular show of all time back, but the company has at last officially greenlit season two of Squid Game. It hasn’t been revealed when the next batch of episodes will hit the streaming service.

Squid Game became a word-of-mouth phenomenon when it debuted last September. Netflix said that, in the first 28 days it was available, viewers watched a little over 1.65 billion hours of the first season. Money Heist: Part 5, which arrived that same month, is in second place with 792 million hours watched over the same timeframe — less than half the overall viewership time of Squid Game.

The show scooped up Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild awards this year. It’s likely to feature heavily among the Emmy nominations when those are announced next month.

Last October, creator Hwang Dong-hyuk said he wasn’t sure whether there’d be more episodes but that he would hold talks with the company because he wanted to make a film first. Netflix said in January a second season would “absolutely” happen, but it’s not clear why it took quite so long for a formal announcement.

Not too many details have been announced for season two of Squid Game just yet. Hwang confirmed protagonist Seong Gi-hun (Lee Jung-jae) will return, as will villain The Front Man (Lee Byung-hun). In addition, Hwang promised to reveal the “boyfriend” of Young-hee, the giant animatronic doll that monitored competitors during the show’s first deadly game, Red Light, Green Light.

#訪問 收藏達人 – iPod 篇 Engadget Update EP141

Apple 經典產品之一 iPod 在上月正式「畢業」，宣告這個影響隨身聽、智慧型手機演化的產品線步入歷史。這回 Engadget Update 請得香港的收藏達人然哥，讓他與一眾豐富收藏來跟大家回憶 iPod 演化史！片中還有送禮活動，大家記得看到最後喔！…

Crypto lending giant Celsius ‘pauses’ withdrawals after token value plunges

Another big name in crypto finance is taking drastic steps in the wake of plunging currency values. As The Vergenotes, lending heavyweight Celsius Network has ‘paused’ all withdrawals, inter-account transfers and Swaps in response to “extreme market conditions.” The move is meant to stabilize the liquidity of assets and provide a better opportunity to meet withdrawal obligations, according the company.

The firm didn’t say when it would lift the freeze, or what would happen next. It promise to restore usual operations “as quickly as possible,” but cautioned that the effort would “take time” and could include delays.

Celsius has struggled like much of the cryptocurrency market. Its CEL token was worth $7 roughly a year ago, but had tumbled to $3 by early April and is worth just 21 cents as we write this. The company claimed on June 7th that it had the reserves and Ethereum to meet obligations, but CEL’s value was cut by more than half in just the few days after that initial announcement.

Critics have raised concerns about Celsius’ unusually high yields (currently over 18.6 percent for deposits) and its links to the failed stablecoin Terra. Its CFO was arrested in November over fraud, money laundering and sexual assault allegations. Regulators in Alabama, New Jersey, New York and Texas have also scrutinized Celsius’ activities, with New Jersey issuing a cease-and-desist order last September. Simply put, there have long been worries Celsius’ business was unsustainable — the activity pause doesn’t help matters.

Customers, meanwhile, might pay the price. Unlike a conventional bank, Celsius doesn’t have FDIC insurance to protect users. If it fails, the roughly 1.7 million people who use the lender might not have much opportunity to recover their lost finances. While some crypto asset regulation is in development, it might arrive too late for Celsius’ clients. 

Apple’s AirPods Max are back on sale for $449

While the AirPods Max are Apple’s most advanced headphones to date, they’re also the company’s most expensive. Normally priced at $549, all of the colors of the AirPods Max are on sale right now. Most of them are $100 off and down to $449, while currently the pink and the space gray models are $120 off and down to $429.

Shop AirPods Max at Amazon

These headphones will be most useful to Apple diehards as the combine the conveniences of the H1 chipset with remarkable audio quality and ANC. We gave them a score of 84 and found them to have excellent, balanced sound with Adaptive EQ and spatial audio support, plus ANC that’s strong enough to block out most surrounding noises. They have a uniquely “Apple” design, complete with aluminum earcups and a mesh headband, and it’s actually quite comfortable despite being on the heavier side. We also appreciate their reliable onboard controls: you can use the rotating crown to adjust the volume, and there’s a dedicated button that switches between ANC and Transparency mode.

Inside the AirPods Max is Apple’s H1 chipset, which means these headphones have all of the conveniences that the company’s wireless earbuds do. They’ll pair quickly with iPhones and other Apple devices, and you can switch seamlessly from taking a call on your iPhone to listening to music on your MacBook. The chip also powers hands-free Siri access, so you can ask the virtual assistant to do things for you without lifting a finger. Admittedly, they’re still high-priced headphones even when on sale — you could pick up the new Sony WH-1000XM5 for less — but the AirPods Max are a good choice for those that live within the Apple ecosystem.

Follow @EngadgetDeals on Twitter for the latest tech deals and buying advice.

Astra 的火箭發射再次失敗，NASA 損失兩枚氣象立方衛星

Astra 稍早為 NASA 發射兩枚名為 TROPICS 的氣象立方衛星到低地軌道，起初由發射過程一直到上下級火箭分離都一切順利，然而就在最後階段火箭即將入軌時，上級火箭卻意外熄火了，使得 TROPICS 無法進入軌道，與上級火箭一同焚毀在大氣中。…

Google will expand the usefulness of voice commands beyond Android phones

Google has helped app creators make better use of Assistant voice commands over time, but its longstanding Conversational Actions framework for those commands has had its limits. It’s primarily meant for conventional Android mobile devices, and it’s voice-only — the technology won’t help much on your smartwatch, or when you need some on-screen interaction. The company is taking steps to make voice control more useful across all its platforms, though. It’s expanding the App Actions framework to be more helpful for the entire Android ecosystem, and it’s phasing out the old system in the process.

The company is in the midst of integrating App Actions across all Android-based platforms, including automotive platforms and wearables. Assistant can now point you to the relevant apps for a given command even when you don’t mention an app’s name, or when you’re looking for the right software in “All Apps” on a Pixel 6. And if you don’t have the app necessary for a command, you’ll be taken to the appropriate Play Store page. These will help developers by boosting demand for their apps, of course, but they’ll also help you focus on accomplishing tasks rather than crafting the exact phrase you need.

Developers will have a strong incentive to embrace the newer technology. Google is sunsetting Conversational Actions in June 2023, and plans to “turn down” features like console analytics at that point. The extra year will give app producers the time to learn App Actions and otherwise transition away from the earlier approach.

You might have seen this shift coming. Conversational Actions was introduced five years ago, only to be supplemented by App Actions (in an initially limited form) in 2019 — Google has been priming itself for a handover like this for a while. And with Google committing to major expansions of platforms like Android Auto and Wear OS, upgraded voice functionality is that much more important for the company.