Wes Davis

Former Weekend Editor

Microsoft’s repairability push now extends to Xbox controllers, too

Wes Davis and Richard LawlerJul 31, 2023

Wes DavisJul 31, 2023

California’s privacy regulator will investigate what car companies do with the data they collect.

The California Privacy Protection Agency (CPPA) is gearing up to make automakers’ data collection its first target since the agency’s inception in 2020.

CPPA executive director Ashkan Soltani said in the regulator’s release that modern, connected vehicles can gather a “wealth of information” about people in or near them, and the agency wants to know what they’re doing with that data:

“Our Enforcement Division is making inquiries into the connected vehicle space to understand how these companies are complying with California law when they collect and use consumers’ data,” Soltani said.

California Opens Privacy Probe Into Who Controls, Shares the Data Your Car Is Collecting

[WSJ]

Europe’s dark matter-hunting space telescope nabs its first test images

Wes DavisJul 31, 2023

Here’s a sneak peek at Google’s Find My Device service.

Google’s delayed version of Apple’s Find My feature may offer more granular privacy options than its iOS counterpart, according to screenshots shared on Telegram (via 9to5Google).

With the update, Android users could determine whether, and in what situations, their devices can be located with the Find My network — for instance, one option limits devices’ network participation to “high-traffic” areas only.

A screenshot of Google’s upcoming Find My Device options, showing “Off,” “Without network,” “With network in high-traffic areas only,” and “with network in all areas.”

Google Find My Device options.

Image: @google_nws / Telegram

Twitter gets special permission to be ‘X’ in the iOS App Store

Wes DavisJul 31, 2023

Tesla under investigation in California over Autopilot safety issues and false advertising

Wes DavisJul 26, 2023

To seek out new jokes and new improvisations.

Lower Decks actors Tawney Newsom and Jack Quaid came up with some of the funniest moments of the Strange New Worlds crossover episode — Newsom’s Ensign Mariner spouting that Spock is hot and Quaid’s Ensign Boimler pulling the “Riker maneuver” — on the spot, per interviews cited by Gizmodo.

Trek alum and episode director Jonathan Frakes seemed envious in his Variety interview:

“[Improvisation] doesn’t happen a lot on ‘Star Trek,’ as you probably have heard,” Frakes says. “I mean, especially in our fucking show” — i.e. “Next Gen” — “they were so strict. It was like we were doing Shakespeare or Chekhov.”

And just because it’s very good, here’s the closer from Gizmodo’s James Whitbrook’s article:

We’re living in a golden age of exploring the fact that Spock Is Hot.

Strange New Worlds-Lower Decks Crossover 'Hot Spock' Moment Was Improv

[Gizmodo]

Wes DavisJul 26, 2023

How I learned to stop worrying and love the nuclear spaceship?

Lockheed Martin has been awarded a contract from DARPA to “develop and demonstrate a nuclear-powered spacecraft” for the joint DARPA and NASA DRACO project. The first demonstration will “take place no later than 2027.”

What is nuclear thermal propulsion (NTP)?

[NTP] uses a nuclear reactor to quickly heat hydrogen propellant to very high temperatures... then funnels that gas through the engine nozzle to create powerful thrust... The reactor will not be turned on until the spacecraft has reached a nuclear safe orbit, making the NTP system very safe.

That last bit is important — see the 1978 Kosmos 954 accident that spread radioactive debris all over the Canadian wilderness.