Space technologies are taking off in the UK, alongside other emerging technologies like quantum computing. “I don’t think there’s a way we can do comprehensive space research and travel, if you like, without quantum technology,” explains Simon Phillips, chief technology officer at Oxford Quantum Circuits (OQC). “It’s just too much to calculate.” “I think […]
Monthly Archives: March 2023
The Download: the battle for satellite internet, and detecting biased AI
What’s coming: Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos are about to lock horns once again. Last month, the US Federal Communications Commission approved the final aspects of Project Kuiper, Amazon’s effort to deliver high-speed internet access from space. In May, the company will test its satellites in an effort to take on SpaceX’s own venture, Starlink, […]
Taking stock of our climate past, present, and future
Before you say anything, I do know that it is, in fact, nearly April. But this week has the distinct feeling of a sort of climate change New Year’s to me. Not only is it the spring equinox this week, which is celebrated as the new year in some cultures (Happy Nowruz!), but we also […]
Amazon is about to go head to head with SpaceX in a battle for satellite internet dominance
Amazon has applied to the FCC to increase its constellation to 7,774 satellites, which would allow it to cover regions further north and south, including Alaska, as Starlink does. There are riches to be had: SpaceX currently charges $110 a month to access Starlink, with an up-front cost of $599 for an antenna to connect […]
If your Netgear Orbi router isn’t patched, you’ll want to change that pronto
Enlarge / An Orbi 750 series router. reader comments 16 with Share this story If you rely on Netgear’s Orbi mesh wireless system to connect to the Internet, you’ll want to ensure it’s running the latest firmware now that exploit code has been released for critical vulnerabilities in older versions. The Netgear Orbi mesh wireless […]
How not to build a national broadband network
Australia’s National Broadband Network is in trouble, shedding 500 staff to cut costs and with declining subscriber numbers as telcos tout rival 5G wireless broadband services. For years, the differences between the NBN and our own ultrafast broadband (UFB) have been stark, with the Australian effort to extend high-speed internet access to the bulk of […]
Journalist plugs in unknown USB drive mailed to him—it exploded in his face
Enlarge / Ecuadorian police tweeted this picture of officials investigating a drive mailed to a journalist in Guayaquil. reader comments 49 with Share this story It’s no secret that USB flash drives, as small and unremarkable as they may look, can be turned into agents of chaos. Over the years, we’ve seen them used to […]
Ethical AI art generation? Adobe Firefly may be the answer
Enlarge / An Adobe Firefly AI image generator example. reader comments 50 with Share this story On Tuesday, Adobe unveiled Firefly, its new AI image synthesis generator. Unlike other AI art models such as Stable Diffusion and DALL-E, Adobe says its Firefly engine, which can generate new images from text descriptions, has been trained solely […]
These new tools let you see for yourself how biased AI image models are
One theory as to why that might be is that nonbinary brown people may have had more visibility in the press recently, meaning their images end up in the data sets the AI models use for training, says Jernite. OpenAI and Stability.AI, the company that built Stable Diffusion, say that they have introduced fixes to […]
Windows 10 and 11 get their own version of the “acropalypse” screenshot bug
Enlarge / Windows 10 and 11 have their own version of the Acropalypse screenshot editing bug. acropalypse.app/Andrew Cunningham reader comments 15 with Share this story Earlier this week, programmer and “accidental security researcher” Simon Aarons disclosed a bug in Google’s Markup screenshot editing tool for its Pixel phones. Dubbed “acropalypse,” the bug allows content you’ve […]