A SpaceX Dragon capsule carrying the first fully private space crew has docked with the International Space Station. The quartet launched from Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Friday morning without any major hiccups. Their journey to the ISS took around 20 hours. The Dragon ran into a video routing problem before the docking sequence could start, causing a 45 minute-delay as it stayed roughly 20 meters away from the ISS while SpaceX was troubleshooting the issue. 

The crew members — commander and former NASA astronaut Michael López-Alegría and businessmen Larry Connor, Eytan Stibbe and Mark Pathy — are expected to spend eight days on the space station. They'll conduct science experiments, along with outreach and commercial activities. They'll also bring some scientific samples back to Earth for NASA as well.

Axiom Space's first all-civilian mission, AX-1, is the first of several private ISS missions the company plans to launch in the coming years. It will build the first commercial module on the space station as well as a module that houses a sports arena and film studio. The Axiom Station and attached film studio module are expected to separate from the ISS in 2028.

Mariella Moon contributed to this report.

WarnerMedia and Discovery have completed their merger. Warner Bros. Discovery, as the new entity is called, will eventually combine HBO Max and Discovery+ into a single streaming service. The blend of entertainment and reality programming could help Warner Bros. Discovery better compete with the likes of Netflix and Disney+. In the meantime, the company will likely offer a bundle of the two services. WarnerMedia recently launched another streaming service in CNN+.

Not long before the merger closed, WarnerMedia CEO Jason Kilar announced his departure. Kilar, who started running the company in May 2020, was behind the controversialplan to release all 2021 Warner Bros. movies on HBO Max and in theaters on the same day amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The move seemed to have paid off, as HBO Max and HBO had 73.8 million subscribers combined at the end of 2021.

As if the departures of Kilar and several other WarnerMedia executives didn't make things clear enough, Warner Bros. Discovery will have a new leadership structure. Discovery CEO David Zaslav is running the company.

The merger is the latest in several major media consolidation moves in recent years. Amazon sealed its $8.45 billion purchase of MGM only last month. Disney spent $71.3 billion to snap up most of 21st Century Fox a few years back, while Microsoft agreed a $68.7 billion deal to buy Activision Blizzard, which is expected to close by June 2023.

AT&T announced last year it was spinning off WarnerMedia in a $43 billion deal that would combine it with Discovery. Now that the T's are crossed and I's are dotted, the deal is done and AT&T is more or less out of the content business.

Soon after Russia invaded Ukraine in February, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk pledged to send Starlink internet terminals to the country. His company donated thousands of units and is covering the cost of the service for a few months. However, the US government reportedly paid millions for some of the terminals and to get them all to Ukraine, in spite of statements to the contrary from the company's president.

The United States Agency for International Development bought around 1,500 terminals at a cost of $1,500 each, according to documents obtained by The Washington Post. It also covered transportation costs for all the terminals to the tune of $800,000, resulting in the agency shelling out over $3 million. In all, the agency and SpaceX sent more than 5,000 terminals to Ukraine, with a third-party contractor handling transportation and delivery.

It's unclear whether USAID paid over the odds for the terminals. SpaceX recently increased the price of a Starlink terminal from $499 to $549 for deposit holders and to $599 for fresh orders. As of April 22nd, the monthly price of the satellite-powered internet service is increasing from $99 to $110. The company announced a higher tier service earlier this year that costs $2,500 for a terminal and $500 per month for service.

SpaceX president Gwynne Shotwell said last month that France and possibly Poland helped get the terminals to Ukraine. “I don’t think the US has given us any money to give terminals to the Ukraine,” Shotwell said. SpaceX is said to have donated $10 million worth of terminals and Starlink service to the country, which is laudable enough, though the company wasn't exactly clear about where funding for other parts of the operation came from.

On top of that, Musk had to issue a warning over the use of Starlink, given that Russia may be able to triangulate the location of a terminal uplink. Musk urged people to use Starlink only when needed and stay away from other people while doing so.

This isn't the first time that Musk has offered help during a crisis where his input hasn't gone without a hitch. In 2018, he took a mini-submarine to Thailand to assist with the rescue of 12 boys and their coach who were trapped in a cave. Not only were those people safely retrieved by the time he got there, the mini-sub was deemed impractical for the mission anyway.

Puerto Rico is gradually recovering from an island-wide power outage that started on Wednesday evening. However, hundreds of thousands of people still lack electricity as the territory continues to struggle with its fragile power grid.

The outage was the result of a failed circuit breaker at Costa Sur power plant. According to The New York Times, the plant produces more electricity than any other facility on the island. Luma, a private Canadian-American entity that took over management of the power grid from a public utility last year, said there was "extensive damage" to the plant. An investigation is underway to determine the exact cause, though it appears there was a fire.

According to poweroutage.us, a site that tracks power interruptions, more than 429,000 customers out of 1.47 million were without power as of 1:25PM Eastern time on Friday. As of Friday morning, Luma said it couldn't provide an estimate on how long it would take to fully restore power.

Critical facilities such as hospitals are up and running, though public school service was canceled on Friday. Around 182,000 or 10 percent of water and sewer customers didn't have water on Thursday.

When it started running the island's power transmission and distribution, Luma said it would make blackouts less frequent. However, according to reports, outages have persisted and lasted longer than when the public utility was managing the grid.

After Hurricane Maria struck Puerto Rico in 2017, there was a power outage across the island. Some folks had to wait for more than a year before electricity was restored, a situation that highlighted the precarious condition of the territory's power grid.

Axiom Space has successfully launched its AX-1 mission, which is taking the first fully private crew of astronauts to the International Space Station. The quartet departed from Kennedy Space Center in Florida on a SpaceX Dragon capsule, which was propelled by a Falcon 9 rocket. Both the first stage and the Dragon separated without issue. 

The spacecraft is expected to dock at the ISS on April 9th at around 6:45AM ET. The hatch opening is scheduled for approximately 9:30AM and, all going well, the welcoming ceremony will happen at around 10:05AM.

The crew members are commander and former NASA astronaut Michael López-Alegría and three businessmen: Larry Connor, Eytan Stibbe and Mark Pathy. The foursome are due to spend eight days on the ISS, during which they'll take part in scientific research, outreach and commercial activities. They will also retrieve some scientific samples for NASA.

Axiom plans to conduct further private missions to the ISS over the next several years. The company has a contract with NASA to build the first commercial module for the space station. It's also expected to construct a module (SEE-1) containing a film studio and sports arena, which could be attached to the ISS as soon as December 2024. Axiom Station (with SEE-1 still connected) is scheduled to split from the ISS in 2028 and operate independently.

Microsoft and 343 Industries have revealed that season two of Halo Infinite will get underway on May 3rd. The season, which is called Lone Wolves, will herald the arrival of fresh arena and Big Team Battle maps, more modes (including Land Grab and free-for-all elimination in Last Spartan Standing) and limited-time events. There'll also be a new battle pass that won't expire and a slew of other updates.

Season two was initially supposed to arrive three months after the game's launch. That would have been February or March, depending on whether 343 Industries defined the launch date as mid-November (when the multiplayer component debuted) or December, when the full game was released. However, in November, the studio said season one would run until May.

What's more, fans will need to be a bit more patient for the arrival of the long-awaited campaign co-op mode. That was originally supposed to be available at the start of season two. It will emerge sometime later in the season. Forge mode, which allows players to create custom games with map modifiers and unique rules, is still slated to arrive in season three. At least players will have new maps to learn and more game modes to master in the meantime.

Myst, the classic puzzle game, is getting a unusual new lease of life. Developer Cyan Inc. has teamed up with Mighty Coconut to create a Myst-themed expansion for the latter's VR game, Walkabout Mini Golf. The DLC will be released this fall and it'll be available on Meta Quest, Steam VR and "and forthcoming VR platforms."

Mighty Coconut says the expansion will be a 36-hole course with 18 easy and 18 hard-mode holes. It claims the DLC will blend realistic physics with "iconic settings, objects, and the spirit of puzzles from the Myst saga." You'll be able to play through the Myst course solo or with up to four other players as you hunt for 18 lost balls, take on a scavenger expedition and try to collect a commemorative putter.

Myst, which was released in 1993, was the best-selling PC game of the 20th century. Players were prompted to explore an island, solve puzzles and put together the pieces of the story. It's one of the most influential games of all time and its impact can still be felt in modern titles like The Outer Wilds. Although a Myst remake came out not too long ago, it's neat to see Mighty Coconut paying tribute to its legacy, albeit in an entirely unexpected fashion.

Activision Blizzard is converting all of its temporary and contingent quality assurance contractors in the US to full-time employees. Many of the 1,100 workers will receive a pay rise — the minimum hourly rate is going up to $20 per hour.

Developing...

Epic Games and The Lego Group are building a new, family-friendly virtual world. The companies haven't revealed too many details just yet, though they plan to "shape the future of the metaverse to make it safe and fun for children and families."

The pair have agreed on three principles they'll adhere to as they "build an immersive, creatively inspiring and engaging digital experience" for people of all ages to enjoy. They pledged to:

• Protect children’s right to play by making safety and wellbeing a priority.

• Safeguard children’s privacy by putting their best interests first.

• Empower children and adults with tools that give them control over their digital experience.

Epic and Lego didn't announce a timeline for when their collective vision of a virtual world will open for business. Of course, Epic runs perhaps the foremost example of a kid-friendly metaverse in Fortnite. The battle royale modes, countless crossovers, concerts, movie nights and creative islands have helped Fortnite become a massively popular virtual space where people go to hang out.

Lego has experience in virtual worlds as well. Along with its long-running series of licensed games (including one that just dropped this week in Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga), it was behind a sandbox game called Lego Worlds.

While that didn't prove to be quite the Minecraft competitor Lego would have hoped, perhaps its collaboration with Epic will stand a better chance. Their take on the metaverse is also likely to compete with Roblox. That platform has an enormous player base of mostly young people and measures in place to shield them from adult content.

Just a couple months after it started selling its $90 Car Thing to anyone in the US, Spotify is rolling out a bunch more features for the device this week that should make it more useful. Among the updates is what Spotify says is one of the most-requested features: an add to queue option.

There are a few ways to put more songs or podcast episodes onto your ad-hoc playlist. You can tap the add to queue icon next to a track or hold down the dial when you have a song highlighted. There's voice ]support as well, so you can say something like "Hey Spotify, queue 'Happier Than Ever'" or any other song you'd like to hear. You can view the queue with a voice command or by holding down the dial in the Now Playing view.

Also new is a way to generate a playlist based on a genre, mood or activity. You can say something like "Hey Spotify, play upbeat Sunday morning pop" and the platform will put together a personalized playlist on the fly that fits those criteria. The feature is available on all platforms with Hey Spotify support.

Elsewhere, there are a couple more Car Thing features that should prove useful. You'll be able to see, answer and reject incoming calls. There's also a way to play and control other media. You can switch back to Spotify control by tapping the screen, using presets or issuing a voice command. These two features are iOS-only for now. They'll be available for Android later. Updates to Car Thing, which requires a Premium Spotify subscription, also roll out automatically for iOS users.