If the weather remains favorable and no technical issues stop it, the New Shepard vehicle carrying six people will be lifting off today at 9:45AM Eastern time. It's Blue Origin's third ever crewed mission and the first time that a flight will be at full capacity with six passengers onboard. One of those passengers is Laura Shepard Churchley, daughter of Alan Shepard who's known for being the first American to go to space. She'll be making the trip with Good Morning America co-host Michael Strahan as guests of the Jeff Bezos-owned aerospace company.

The trip's paying passengers are technology-focused venture fund founder Lane Bess and his child Cameron Bass aka MeepsKitten on Twitch, Voyager Space CEO Dylan Taylor and engineer/Starfighters Aerospace volunteer pilot Evan Dick. Blue Origin NS-19 was supposed to make the trip to suborbital space on December 9th, but it was pushed back due strong winds.

The company launched its first crewed spaceflight in July, carrying Jeff Bezos and his brother above the Kármán line. In October it flew William Shatner into space for its second crewed flight. Mission NS-19 isn't only the third crewed Blue Origin flight this year, it's also one of the many across space agencies and private space companies, including SpaceX and Virgin Galactic. As Jennifer Levasseur, a curator at the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, told The Washington Post, it's "the busiest year in human spaceflight." She added: "We're entering a new phase of activity that we've never, frankly, seen before. And it creates a lot of excitement."

You can watch the launch and the preparations before it below when broadcast begins at 8:15AM ET.

Ford CEO Jim Farley tweeted that it's been tough keeping up with the "incredible demand" for the company's all-electric Mustang Mach-E, but the automaker's going to try. In the tweet, he said Ford is increasing production of the Mach-E to 200,000 vehicles per year in the US starting in 2022 and in Europe by 2023. That's triple the units the company manufactured in 2021. While Farley didn't detail how Ford plans to make that happen, Automotive News has reported that the company will delay its Explorer and Aviator EVs to make way for Mach-E production. 

According to the publication, Ford sent a memo to suppliers telling them that the electric vehicles would be delayed by 18 months. Further, the EVs will no longer be manufactured at Ford's Cuautitlan, Mexico plant, which will now be dedicated to manufacturing the Mustang Mach-Es. The Explorer and Aviator EVs were supposed to be the company's next major EV launch after the F-150 Lightning and were scheduled to start production by mid-2023. The 18-month delay means it won't be rolling off the production line until December 2024 — Ford also has yet to announce which factory will manufacture the new vehicles. 

Farley previously said the Ford has decided to double its EV output to 600,000 electric vehicles per year by the end of 2023 as part of its efforts to become the biggest EV manufacturer in the US. Back then, Automotive News reported that production will be spread across the Mustang Mach-E, F-150 Lightning and E-Transit.

If you missed the chance to get Apple's latest AirPods model last Black Friday, it may have been a blessing in disguise. It sold for $150 that weekend, which is a great deal for the new model, but it now costs even less on Amazon. You can get the third-gen Apple AirPods for $140 right now, which is the lowest price we've seen for the wireless earbuds. Amazon still lists the unit at $170 or just $9 lower than its original retail price of $179, but the website will apply a total of $39 in savings upon checkout. 

We gave the third-gen AirPods a score of 88 in our review and praised them for being a complete redesign of the earbuds. They have a new "contoured" form factor with a tapered silhouette that's more comfortable and fits better, and they're now sweat and water resistant like the Pro model. The earbuds are now also better at determining whether they're in your ear for more accurate auto-pause capability. 

Apple's H1 chip enables one-touch fast pairing that makes connecting them to an iPhone as easy as tapping the screen. Further, the chip gives the earbuds the capability to run always-on Siri, allowing you to issue voice commands without having to use your phone. They also have the same actions as the Pro version, with the options to play/pause and skip tracks, as well as to accept calls with a series of taps on the earbuds. And, perhaps most importantly, the model has much better audio quality than its predecessors. 

That said, if you want something even cheaper, the second-gen AirPods are also currently on sale for $100. In case you have your heart set on the AirPods Pro and don't mind paying a bit more, you can also get that one for $179 right now. 

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LG's latest OLED TV was created for those who prefer something with an unusual design and wouldn't look out of place with their furniture and painting collection. The Korean company has given its 65-inch LG OLED Evo TV a makeover, made it part of its Object Collection and gave it a cover that you can move up or down using a dedicated remote control.

If you're not watching anything and just want to use the TV as a clock or to play music — the device's speaker has an 80-watt output — you can roll down the cover halfway and only show a part of the screen. That said, you can choose from the themes LG provides if you want the whole display to be visible. Since it's meant to invoke the look of an art piece, the model is mounted on a metal easel and can simply be leaned against a wall instead of hanged. Even its moving cover resembles canvas, since it uses fabric, particularly fabric by Danish premium textile brand Kvadrat. 

The LG OLED Evo TV Object Collection costs a lot more than its ordinary OLED Evo counterpart, as you probably already expected. It will be available starting on the 15th in Korea for US$8,381 and will have three Kvadrat cover colors to choose from: beige, redwood and green. Customers will also be able to purchase extra covers if they want, so they can change it according to their space's current color scheme.

The Epic Games vs. Apple trials brought to light how Microsoft tried to conjure up solutions on how to make Xbox games available from the App Store. Apple revised its guidelines last year so that companies like Microsoft and Google can make their games available on iOS. That said, they can only do so by releasing each game as an app that users can download. Microsoft previously said that forcing users to download hundreds of game apps is "a bad experience," but it would've reportedly done so if Apple had agreed to its proposal. 

According to private emails seen by The Verge, the Xbox head of business development Lori Wright laid out a proposal for Apple, which would allow Microsoft to put individual game apps on the iOS store without taking up all of a user's storage space. Wright asked Apple to allow Microsoft to put its streaming tech inside the Gaming Pass app alone. That would give the company a way to make the game apps themselves around 30 MB in size instead of the 150 MB that they would be if its streaming tech was incorporated into each of them. 

Instead of using the device's processing power, the games would stream out of remote servers powered by Xbox One and Xbox Series X processors. Wright also apparently offered to make Xbox-exclusives available for iOS users in an effort to convince Apple. "This would be an incredibly exciting opportunity for iOS users to get access to these exclusive AAA titles in addition to the Game Pass games," she wrote in an email. 

Microsoft told The Verge that Apple rejected its solution and wanted the company to incorporate its streaming tech into every game application. As for Apple, it told the publication that Microsoft's proposal didn't adhere to its App Store Review Guidelines, "specifically the requirement to use in-app purchase to unlock additional features or functionality within an app." Microsoft denied that in-app purchases factored into Apple's rejection.

In the end, Microsoft eventually shifted its development focus and gave iOS users access to xCloud via Safari. Xbox Cloud Gaming CVP Kareem Choudhry told The Verge, however, that the company "will continue to look for viable resolutions that [will] allow [its games] into the App Store."

Back in November, Apple engineer Cher Scarlett left the tech giant. Scarlett was one of the lead organizers of the #AppleToo movement and aired fellow employees' and workers' grievances against the company on their behalf. She also filed a complaint against Apple with the National Labor Relations Board for allegedly suppressing workers' organizing efforts and interfering with surveys involving gender pay equity. The former Apple engineer was supposed to withdraw her complaint as part of the settlement when she left. Now, though, she told Forbes that she's no longer withdrawing her complaint because of the way Apple chose to execute the terms it agreed to. 

Under the terms of their settlement, Scarlett would receive a one-year severance package if she withdraws her complaint with the NLRB. Apple also agreed to publicly acknowledge workers' rights to talk about their salaries and workplace conditions. "One of the requests I made was for there to be a very public, visible affirmation that employees are allowed to discuss their workplace conditions and compensation, both internally and externally," she told Forbes.

While Apple did acknowledge workers' rights to discuss pay, the company only posted its stance on its internal human resources page. Also, it allegedly made the post on November 19th, the weekend before employees' Thanksgiving vacation, when people may not be paying attention to anything work-related. The company also took the post down by Monday after the holidays when employees have only just started coming back to work.

In addition, Scarlett said Apple refused to make the 22 changes in the settlement document that the NLRB had requested. One of those changes involve a part in the settlement that asks Scarlett not to "solicit, encourage or incite anyone to file any charge or complaint with any administrative agency or Court against Apple" for a year after the settlement is executed. Apparently, the NLRB requested for the words "encourage or incite" to be removed from the paragraph. Scarlett says that kind of language would prevent her from helping Apple employees organize or file complaints against the company. 

So far, Scarlett has reportedly only received less than half of the settlement she was promised, and she'd likely no longer get the rest now that she isn't withdrawing her labor board complaint anymore. Apple is also facing another NLRB complaint filed by former senior engineering program manager Ashley Gjøvik who was fired in September. Gjøvik previously said that she was put on indefinite paid administrative leave after raising concerns about sexism in the workplace, as well as dealing with an unsafe and hostile work environment. 

Back in October, Facebook (now Meta) launched a small pilot test of its cryptocurrency wallet Novi in the US and Guatemala. Pilot testers have been able to send each other personal payments through the service since then. Now, the company has announced that a limited number of people in the US will also be able to send and receive Novi payments from within WhatsApp.

The development doesn't come as a surprise: Novi co-founder David Marcus previously said that Meta will roll out Novi payments to all of its subsidiaries, namely Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp. For WhatsApp, sending money is almost as easy as sending a message — users won't even need to leave the application. It's also a simple way to send money without incurring fees. To do so, users will have to find their intended contact within WhatsApp, tap the paper clip icon on Android or the + icon on iOS in the text bar, select Payment and follow instructions on how to log into their Novi account. 

Head of Novi Stephane Kasriel said on Twitter: "We often hear that people use WhatsApp to coordinate sending money to loved ones, and Novi enables people to do that securely, instantly and with no fees. Payments will appear directly in people’s chat."

Facebook has been teasing its digital wallet and the Diem (formerly Libra) cryptocurrency it was supposed to support for years. After facing pushback from regulators around the world, though, the Diem Association shifted its focus, and Novi ended up using a stablecoin called the Pax Dollar (USDP) that's backed by the US dollar. On Novi, 1 USDP is equivalent to 1 USD. People won't be buying cryptocurrency when they use it, and it's simply money transfers that use stablecoin as an instrument. While sending USDP via Novi on WhatsApp has extremely limited availability for now, Kasriel said the service will look to expand its reach after getting feedback from users about the experience. 

Before Amazon's Alexa became known as the e-commerce giant's voice assistant, it was the name of the company's web ranking site. It was established in 1996 and became famous sometime ago for analyzing web traffic and listing the most popular websites around the world. The service also offers paid subscriptions for those who want detailed SEO analytics and insights. Now, Amazon has announced that it's retiring Alexa.com on May 1st, 2022, just a month after it celebrates its 26th anniversary. 

In its announcement, the company said:

"Twenty-five years ago, we founded Alexa Internet. After two decades of helping you find, reach, and convert your digital audience, we’ve made the difficult decision to retire Alexa.com on May 1, 2022. Thank you for making us your go-to resource for content research, competitive analysis, keyword research, and so much more."

While Amazon didn't explicitly say why it's shutting down the service, Alexa Internet's traffic has been on the decline over the past decade based on data from Semrush, as Bleeping Computer notes. It's also been a while since anybody's been concerned about their Alexa ranking, so Amazon may have decided it was time to bid it farewell.

The e-commerce giant has already stopped accepting new subscriptions for Alexa's paid tier, but current subscribers will be able to access their account until May 1st, 2022. They'll lose access after that date, but they'll be able to export their data from the service's various tools if they wish. 

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket has blasted off with NASA's Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) satellite. First announced in 2017, the IXPE is the first satellite capable of measuring the polarization of X-rays that come from cosmic sources, such as black holes and neutron stars. 

The fridge-sized satellite has three telescopes that can track and measure the direction, arrival time, energy, and polarization of light. When data from all those telescopes is combined, NASA can form images that could give us more insight into how mysterious celestial objects — those that emit X-ray — work. For instance, they're hoping it can give us a more thorough look at the structure of the Crab Nebula, a supernova remnant with a neutron star rapidly spinning in its center.

By observing black holes, the IXPE will help scientists gain more insight and broaden humanity's knowledge on the regions of space we still barely know. It could provide clues on why they spin and how they gobble up cosmic materials, though it could also lead to new discoveries. Martin Weisskopf, the mission's principal investigator, said during a briefing: "IXPE will help us test and refine our current theories of how the universe works. We may even discover more exciting theories about these exotic objects than what we've hypothesized." 

SpaceX used a Falcon 9 rocket from a previous mission for this launch. If all goes well, the rocket's first stage will land on the company's drone ship "Just Read the Instructions" after ferrying IXPE to space.

Apple was forced to cease iPhone and iPad production for several days when it was supposed to kick into high gear, according to a report from Nikkei Asia. It's no secret that Apple hasn't been immune to the global supply chain shortages despite its enormous purchasing power. The tech giant previously lowered its iPhone 13 production goals for the year and had to cut back on the iPad's production to allocate more parts for its mobile flagship devices. But this is reportedly the first time in a decade that the company had to cease operations at its factories during China's Golden Week. 

Apple factories typically ramp up production during the Chinese holidays that take place at the beginning of October, running 24 hour shifts so that it can keep up with holiday shopping demands. This year, though, it reportedly gave its workers some time off instead. A supply chain manager told the publication that it made no sense to pay workers overtime for working during the holidays when there were very limited component and chips to work with. As a result, people who may be thinking of getting a new iPad or a new iPhone as a Christmas gift for loved ones or themselves may not get it in time for the season. 

Nikkei Asia says that supply chain issues started way before the pandemic, when Chinese companies blacklisted by the United States hoarded inventories to survive crackdowns. That said, the COVID-19 lockdowns implemented in Malaysia and Vietnam due to the Delta variant heavily affected the production of numerous electrical components and chips. 

In many cases, bottlenecks weren't caused by the lack of a device's most expensive components, but its cheaper peripheral parts. Component manufacturers that don't have as much purchasing power as tech giants fall to the back of the list when it comes to raw materials, after all. For the iPhone 13 Max, for instance, tiny peripherals that only cost a few cents each are what's causing the delay. 

Apple chief Tim Cook previously said that the company lost $6 billion for the quarter ending in September due to supply chain constraints, and that he believes that it could lose more in the final quarter of the year. It still remains to be seen if Apple would still enjoy the same level of demand by the time it has the components to manufacture its devices. Nikkei Asia says Apple told suppliers that demand persists for the iPhone 13 and to reaccelerate their component production for November, December and January. According to a previous Bloomberg report, though, Apple warned suppliers that demand for its biggest revenue source has already weakened just before the holidays.