Ars reports

Welcome to Edition 4.44 of the Rocket Report! This week saw the successful completion of Boeing's Starliner test flight to the International Space Station, which is a promising step forward for assured US astronaut access to space. And wherever you find yourself this Memorial Day Weekend, I hope it is a happy and safe one. As always, we welcome reader submissions , and if you don't want to miss an issue, please subscribe using the box below (the form will not appear on AMP-enabled versions of the site). Each report will include information on small-, medium-, and heavy-lift rockets, as well as a quick look ahead at the next three launches on the calendar. Virgin Orbit targets August UK launch . The California small launch company expects to perform its first mission from England in late August, pending receipt of a launch license, Space News reports . In a speech at Space Tech Expo in Southern California, Jim Simpson, chief strategy officer of Virgin Orbit, said the UK … [Read more...] about Rocket Report: Meet the Gravity-1 rocket; will Starship really cut launch costs?

Further Reading The state of 4K gaming in 2015 With the 2020 release of the Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5, we've started to see the era of console games that finally make full use of TVs capable of 4K resolutions (i.e., "Ultra HD" 3840×2160 pixels) that have become increasingly popular in the marketplace . Now, though, at least one TV manufacturer is already planning to support 8K-capable consoles (i.e., 7680×4320 resolution) that it thinks could launch in the next year or two. Polish gaming site PPL reports on a recent public presentation by Chinese TV and electronics maker TCL . Tucked away in a slide during that presentation is a road map for what TCL sees as "Gen 9.5" consoles coming in 2023 or '24. Those supposed consoles—which the slide dubs the PS5 Pro and "New Xbox Series S/X"—will be capable of pushing output at 8K resolution and up to 120 frames per second, according to TCL's slide. First off, there's little reason to believe that a lesser-known TV … [Read more...] about Are we on the verge of an 8K resolution breakthrough in gaming?

Cristiano Amon, directeur général de Qualcomm, estime que les ventes de smartphones haut de gamme ne seront pas affectées par un éventuel ralentissement économique, et a déclaré au Forum économique mondial (WEF) de Davos qu'il voyait une marge de croissance possible même dans le climat actuel. Les ventes de smartphones ont chuté de 12,5 % en 2020, car les détaillants ont fermé leurs portes et les consommateurs ont retardé leurs achats. Cependant, la réouverture des marchés et la disponibilité des combinés 5G à des prix plus abordables ont contribué à une augmentation de 6 % en 2021. Néanmoins, les défis permanents concernant les pénuries de composants, les perturbations de la chaîne d'approvisionnement et les blocages en Chine se sont conjugués pour menacer toute nouvelle croissance. Ventes de smartphones Ces problèmes ont été aggravés par des facteurs macroéconomiques et géopolitiques plus larges qui ont affecté l'économie mondiale, l'industrie mobile craignant que … [Read more...] about Le PDG de Qualcomm croit toujours en l’avenir des smartphones haut de gamme

Walmart announced on Tuesday that it’s planning on expanding the number of stores that offer drone-delivered packages; by the end of the year, it hopes to fly deliveries from 34 sites across Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Texas, Utah, and Virginia. The company says the expansion will give up to 4 million households access to the service, which is a significant increase. When the company launched the program in November 2021 , it was only available in a single town in Arkansas. Walmart says that customers who live near drone-capable stores will be able to order items weighing less than 10 pounds in total between 8AM and 8PM. The deliveries, which cost $3.99, are done via a drone operated by a company called DroneUp, which has a partnership with Walmart. (The retailer has also invested in the delivery company .) Workers at the Walmart location receive the order, pack it into a box, and then secure the box to a drone. Then, a pilot flies the drone to the customer, and it’s dropped … [Read more...] about Walmart is expanding its drone deliveries to reach 4 million households

In the wake of yet another preventable American gun violence tragedy—one that involved the slaughter of 21 people, including 19 children in a Texas elementary school—doctors, nurses , hospital administrators, health experts, and scientists are once again demanding a long-overdue, evidence-based public health response to the uniquely American public health crisis of gun violence. This is " very much our lane ," Dr. Bindi Naik-Mathuria, a pediatric surgeon at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, told NBC. She spoke vividly about the immediate impacts that AR-15-style weapons have on a human body—particularly the smallest ones. In the Uvalde, Texas school shooting this week, the gunman used an AR-15-style rifle (the Daniel Defense DDM4 V7 rifle), which he bought online. AR-15-style rifles are often used in mass shootings. They use a common military-caliber ammunition. The bullets don't always pass cleanly through flesh, but can instead become " unstable " and tumble, causing … [Read more...] about US gun violence is a health crisis with evidence-based solutions, experts plea