According to The Wall Street Journal, President Trump has — with varying degrees of seriousness — floated the idea of the U.S. buying the autonomous Danish territory of Greenland. From the report: In meetings, at dinners and in passing conversations, Mr. Trump has asked advisers whether the U.S. can acquire Greenland, listened with interest when they discuss its abundant resources and…
Tag: command
Microsoft’s New Windows Terminal Update Is Out and It’s ‘Huge’
Microsoft has released Windows Terminal Preview version 0.3, the recently launched command-line interface, which it wants to be the newest and best experience for developers who use Windows Command Prompt and PowerShell. ZDNet reports: It launched in June amid concern that it might replace the familiar Command Prompt and PowerShell. Microsoft is allowing Windows Terminal to co-exist with Windows Console but…
Amazon Quietly Gives Alexa’s Voice Recordings a ‘No Human Review’ Option
“Amazon Alexa users can now choose whether human reviewers listen to recordings of their exchanges with the AI assistant,” reports VentureBeat, citing an Amazon spokesperson. To ensure people don’t listen to voice recordings collected following each exchange with Alexa, go to Settings, tap the Alexa Privacy link, then choose Manage How Your Data Improves Alexa. Users can also delete their voice…
Is The Internet Making Us Better Writers?
The New Yorker reviews linguist Gretchen McCulloch new book Because Internet: Understanding the New Rules of Language For McCulloch, the primary feat of the digital writer has been to enlist typography to convey tone of voice. We’ve used technology to “restore our bodies to writing”: to infuse language with extra-textual meaning, in the same way that we might wave our hands…
France to unveil new space defence strategy
France will on Thursday outline a new strategy for defence in space after President Emmanuel Macron announced the creation of a French space force command to deal with emerging threats to its interests in orbit. Source: https://phys.org/news/2019-07-france-unveil-space-defence-strategy.html…
First of two Van Allen Probes spacecraft ceases operations
On July 19, 2019, at 1:27 p.m. EDT, mission operators sent a shutdown command to one of two Van Allen Probes spacecraft, known as spacecraft B, from the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Lab, or APL, in Laurel, Maryland. Source: https://phys.org/news/2019-07-van-allen-probes-spacecraft-ceases.html…
Apollo 11 Had a Hidden Hero: Software
“Monday’s Wall Street Journal includes a special Apollo 11 feature,” writes Slashdot reader Outatime in honor of the 50th anniversary since Apollo 11’s Saturn V launched from the Kennedy Space Center. “[O]f particular interest to many Slashdot nerds is the piece on the pioneering computer hardware and software that took three astronauts, and landed two, on the moon.” Here’s an excerpt…
Apollo 11 launch pad
A satellite image from January 2019 shows launch pad 39A at Cape Canaveral, Florida. From there – on July 16, 1969 – a Saturn V rocket carrying the crew of Apollo 11 launched humanity’s historic voyage to the moon. Source: https://earthsky.org/todays-image/apollo-11-launchpad-satellite-image…
France’s Macron announces creation of a new space force command
French President Emmanuel Macron on Saturday announced the creation of a new national military space force command that will eventually be part of his country’s air force. Source: https://phys.org/news/2019-07-france-macron-creation-space.html…
Moon Landing Could Have Infected the Earth With Lunar Germs, Say Astronauts
PolygamousRanchKid quotes a report from The Independent: A mistake made during the Apollo 11 moon landing could have brought lunar germs to the Earth, astronauts have revealed. When the three astronauts flew to the Moon and back, exactly 50 years ago this month, NASA worked hard to ensure that no bugs were brought back from the lunar surface. All three of…