United Launch Alliance has a target date for its Vulcan Centaur rocket's inaugural flight: May 4th, 2023. Company chief Tory Bruno has announced the four-day launch window starting on May 4th in a call with reporters, where he explained the factors that prompted the company to come up with the schedule. 

According to Parabolic Arc, the primary "pacing item" for the launch is Blue Origin's BE-4 engine, which will power the rocket's first stage. The companies are still working on its qualifications, since they found some inconsistencies among the ones ULA has tested. While the performance variation wasn't huge, the ULA wants to make sure it's not a symptom of a bigger issue. 

ULA still also has to conduct a series tests for the heavy-lift launch vehicle, including a wet dress rehearsal, wherein it will be fully loaded with propellants and has to complete a practice countdown. Finally, Vulcan Centaur's main payload, Astrobotic Technology's Peregrine lunar lander, needs to head to space within a specific window of time each month to be able to fly its desired trajectory to the moon. 

Vulcan Centaur was supposed to have its maiden flight in 2022, but Astrobotic asked ULA to delay its launch to give it more time to finish the NASA-funded lunar lander. Bruno said Astrobotic has just finished testing the Peregrine and will soon be making final preparations before shipping it to the rocket's launch location at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.

In addition to the lunar lander, the rocket will also carry two prototype satellites for Amazon's Project Kuiper constellation to space. The demo satellites' deployment will give Amazon the opportunity gather real-world data to be able to finalize the design and operation plans for its broadband satellite system. 

If Vulcan Centaur successfully flies for the first time on May 4th, it will mark the beginning of a new era for ULA. It plans to eventually replace the Delta IV Heavy and Atlas rockets with the Vulcan Centaur once it's done with its remaining launch obligations. 

Some YouTube viewers have reported seeing a new option for video quality in the website's drop-down menu. In addition to the basic 1080p playback option, they're also seeing another one labeled 1080p Premium with a note beneath it that says it offers "Enhanced bitrate." A spokesperson told The Verge that the website is testing the new video quality, which is currently available to "a small group of YouTube Premium subscribers." They described it as an "enhanced bitrate version of 1080p which provides more information per pixel that results in a higher quality viewing experience." Also, there's supposed to be no change to the quality of the standard 1080p resolution, which some people might not consider the good news YouTube deems it to be. 

Based on several comments on the Reddit thread discussing the test, viewers find the standard 1080p resolution on the website to be poor in quality. But a higher bitrate, which is used as a measurement for the amount of video data transferred within a certain timeframe, could mean getting better images without having to bump up the resolution. As XDA Developers notes, switching to 4K would give users access to better and sharper-looking videos, but they'd have to stream a much bigger file that could cost them more or eat up more of their data allowance. 

The enhanced 1080p option is just a test feature at this point, though, and YouTube might not approve it for a wide rollout at all. If it does make its way out of the experimental phase, only viewers paying for YouTube Premium will be able to access it. The subscription service will cost users $12 a month for an individual account or $23 a month for a family plan. 

MediaTek is set to demonstrate its new technology that can put two-way satellite communications on smartphones at this year's Mobile World Congress (MWC), which will take place from February 28th to March 3rd. Some of the devices that will show whether the semiconductor's product actually works will come from Motorola. The manufacturer will debut two satellite smartphones, the defy 2 and CAT S75, as well as a Bluetooth accessory that comes equipped with MediaTek's chip at the event. 

The company's response to Qualcomm's and Apple's satellite technologies is a standalone chipset that can be added to any 4G or 5G phone. It uses the 3GPP Non-Terrestrial Network standard instead of proprietary technologies like Qualcomm's and Apple's do, which means it can be used with any network that complies with the standard. MediaTek teamed up with a company called Bullitt to use the latter's Satellite Connect service and enable the satellite messaging feature on the aforementioned Motorola devices.

Another difference is that MediaTek's chips connect to Geosynchronous Equatorial Orbit satellites instead of to satellites in Low Earth Orbit. The chipmaker says its technology enables not just emergency SOS texts like Apple's can, but also full two-way messaging. That means it can actually receive messages sent via satellite connection and not just send them. The iPhone 14, which debuted Apple's satellite tech, can't receive messages without a traditional cellular connection yet. Meanwhile, devices using Qualcomm's Snapdragon Satellite tech will need to be manually refreshed for new messages.

The Motorola defy 2 smartphone and defy Bluetooth accessory will be released in the second quarter of the year across North America, Latin America and Canada and will be the first devices to offer MediaTek's satellite capabilities. 

MediaTek

The Department of Justice (DOJ) is accusing Google of routinely destroying internal messaging chat histories, which the company is required to preserve under federal rules for an antitrust lawsuit. Google is grappling with not just one, but a couple of antitrust lawsuits filed by the DOJ and groups of states. This particular case pertains to the lawsuit the department filed back in 2020 for "unlawfully maintaining monopolies" around search and search-related advertising.

In the DOJ's filing, it said company employees typically used their internal chatroom, which was set to delete history every 24 hours, to discuss "substantive and sensitive business." Apparently, the agency expected Google to change its chat history setting in 2019 when the company "reasonably anticipated [the] litigation," but it left the decision to individual employees. Only a few people deemed their chat histories relevant to the case and preserved theirs for the court, and Google continued deleting most people's chats even after the lawsuit was filed. 

Despite that, Google reportedly told the government that it had already "put a legal hold in place" to suspend auto-deletion on its chat tool. The DOJ alleges that the company's claim was a lie and that it only truly stopped deleting chat histories this week after it was warned that the agency would file a motion for sanctions. It's now asking the court to rule that Google had violated a federal rule and to order a hearing that would determine how the company would be sanctioned. The DOJ also wants the court to order Google to provide more information about its chat practices. 

Google, however, denies the DOJ's allegations. A spokesperson told The Wall Street Journal: "Our teams have conscientiously worked for years to respond to inquiries and litigation. In fact, we have produced over 4 million documents in this case alone, and millions more to regulators around the world."

YouTube viewers from around the world might start finding more videos with audio in their native language. The video-hosting website has launched a new feature that gives creators the capability to add voice tracks to their new and existing content in multiple languages. YouTube has been testing multi-language dubs with a handful of creators over the past year, but it's now expanding the feature's reach and making it accessible to thousands more. 

The website presents the new feature as a tool creators can use to grow their audiences around the world. Early testers apparently uploaded 3,500 videos in over 40 languages last month, and viewers watched over 2 million hours of dubbed video everyday in January. The creators who tested feature also found that around 15 percent of their watch time came from viewers playing their videos in another language. 

One of the most notable creators who tested YouTube's multi-language tool was MrBeast, who has over 130 million subscribers worldwide. MrBeast runs multiple channels in 11 different languages, but in an interview, he said that it would be much easier to maintain just one. It's also probably a plus that anybody clicking on a link shared by someone speaking another language will be able to understand it simply by changing the dubbed audio. 

After switching to their preferred language for the first time, the website will default to it whenever they watch videos with dubs. Viewers will also be able to search for content dubbed in their language, even if the video's primary tongue is different, through translated titles and descriptions. YouTube didn't say how it chose the thousands of creators getting access to the feature today, but we asked the website for an idea how it will roll out multi-language dubs until it's available to everyone. 

You may not know the name Tohru Okada, but if you've ever owned a PlayStation console, you'll be familiar with one of his most iconic creations: The sound that plays every time the PS logo appears. According to Japanese-language sources (via GameSpot), Okada has passed away on the 14th due to heart failure. He was 73 years old. Okada was reportedly hospitalized early last year due to a compression fracture and was undergoing rehabilitation in hopes of performing at a music festival in April.

In addition to the PlayStation logo sound, Okada also composed the music for a series of Crash Bandicoot advertisements that aired in the '90s, as well as for some anime titles like Mobile Suit SD Gundam. For long-time fans of Japanese rock, though, he was more than just a game and anime composer. He was the keyboardist for a rock band called Moonriders, where he played with Keiichi Suzuki, who made music for Nintendo's Mother series that's also known as EarthBound outside Japan.

While the PS "bing" sound is short and unobtrusive, Sony has been using it for over 25 years. You can watch the video below to hear what it sounded like for various PS ads and loading screens from the very first PlayStation. 

The James Webb Telescope has been giving us clearer views of celestial objects and exposing hidden features since it became operational last year. Now, according to a study conducted by an international team of astrophysicists, it may also completely change our understanding of the cosmos. 

Upon looking at images taken by the telescope near the Big Dipper, the scientists found six potential galaxies that formed just 500 to 700 million years after the Big Bang. That they could be almost 13 billion years old wasn't what makes them odd, though, it's that they could have as many stars as the Milky Way according to the team's calculations. The scientists explained that they should not exist under current cosmological theory, because there shouldn't be enough matter at the time for the galaxies to form as many stars as ours has. 

What the scientists saw in the images is a few fuzzy but very bright dots of light that look red to our instruments, indicating that they're old. Joel Leja, one of the authors of the study, told Space that scientists typically expect to see young and small galaxies that glow blue when peering into the ancient universe, since they appear to us as "objects which have just recently formed out of the primordial cosmic soup." (Don't forget that it takes time for light to reach Earth, so we're essentially looking back in time when we view telescopic images.) 

"We looked into the very early universe for the first time and had no idea what we were going to find. It turns out we found something so unexpected it actually creates problems for science. It calls the whole picture of early galaxy formation into question," Leja said. James Webb previously captured images of even older galaxies that formed around 350 million years after the Big Bang. But they're tiny and don't challenge our knowledge of astrophysics. 

For these six galaxies to appear old and massive means they were forming hundreds of stars a year shortly after the Big Bang. In comparison, the Milky Way only forms around one to two new stars every year. Further, these potential galaxies are about 30 times more compact in size than ours despite having as many stars. 

The scientists admit that there's a possibility that the fuzzy red dots they saw are something else, such as faint quasars or supermassive black holes. They could also be smaller in reality compared to the projected size the scientists got from their calculations. The team needs more data and to verify their findings through spectroscopy, but they think they could have official confirmation sometime next year. 

Uber has rolled out an update for its iPhone app that gives you the capability to see at a glance whether it's time to head out the door and meet the ride you ordered. The company has launched support for Live Activities, an iOS 16 feature that puts real time events from compatible apps on top of the lock screen and on the iPhone 14 Dynamic Island when your device is unlocked. 

Uber's take on Live Activities is a window that includes the live progress of a ride, its latest estimated time of arrival and the trip status, such as whether your driver is already waiting for you and if the ride has been completed. It also shows the vehicle type and the license plate number of the ride you're waiting for. As MacRumors notes, Apple announced that Uber would support Live Activities at WWDC last year, and the feature has been in testing in select regions over the past months. This is a wide release that gives you access to the feature anywhere in the world. A company spokesperson also told the publication that the Uber Eats app will support Live Activities in the coming months.

In addition to Live Activities, Uber has updated its app to simplify the homescreen experience, as well. It has a new Services tab where you can find all of the company's services available in your city, as well as a new Activity Hub that tracks past and upcoming rides and Eats orders. 

For autonomous vehicle developers, every mile driven serves as proof that their technology works and as an opportunity to gather data for further improvement. Which is why Cruise, which has just announced that it has completed 1 million fully driverless miles, calls the achievement one of its biggest milestones yet. A spokesperson told us that those were miles driven with no safety driver behind the wheel and that most of them were collected in San Francisco.

If you'll recall, the GM subsidiary started testing fully driverless rides in the city back in November 2021. It was also the first company to ever receive a driverless deployment permit from the California Public Utilities Commission, allowing it to charge passengers for robotaxi rides by June last year. Based on the disengagement reports it submitted to the California DMV, it only had around 30 cars or so operating at the beginning of 2022. CNN said it was maintaining a fleet of 100 vehicles by September last year and was seeking to add 5,000 more. 

Mo Elshenawy, Cruise's SVP of engineering, said each one of those miles "has been packed with complex scenarios that have set Cruise up for rapid scale." Since San Francisco streets are often chaotic and packed with people, the company was able to gather tons of useful data it can use to better its technology. "For example," Elshenawy wrote in a blog post, "stop sign blow-throughs are 46x times more frequent in San Francisco than in suburban areas."

Cruise has been feeding data from each drive into a continuous learning machine that creates millions of permutations of real-world scenarios on the road. That allows the technology to learn from simulated drives and then apply what it learns in real life. "When you consider our safety record, the gravity of our team’s achievement comes into sharper focus," Elshenawy continued. "To date, riders have taken tens of thousands of rides in Cruise AVs. In the coming years, millions of people will experience this fully driverless future for themselves."

Cruise's announcement comes almost a month after San Francisco officials sent a letter to California regulators, asking them to slow Cruise's (and Waymo's) expansion plans. They reportedly wanted a better understanding of autonomous vehicles first and were worried about "the hazards and network impacts caused by planned and unplanned AV stops that obstruct traffic." As The New York Times said in a recent report, stalled Cruise and Waymo vehicles have caused traffic jams in San Francisco several times in the past. Officials believe these companies have to significantly improve their technologies before expanding, or else they "could quickly exhaust emergency response resources and could undermine public confidence in all automated driving technology."

Last year, Samsung introduced a feature called "Text Call" for Bixby with One UI 5, which essentially transforms voice calls into written text and vice versa. It was initially available in Korean, but now the company has launched support for the feature in (US) English. The feature lets users answer calls by typing a message that Bixby will then read out loud to the caller. It can also transcribe what the caller says, making it a pretty useful tool for those hard of hearing or for anyone taking a call in a noisy environment. 

While Bixby has several voice options, Samsung is giving users the capability to personalize the voice it uses to answer calls. They can use the new Bixby Custom Voice Creator to record a few sentences, allowing the assistant to analyze their voice and tone and then use artificial intelligence to mimic what they sound like. At the moment, though, both features come with limitations: Voice creator is only available in Korean on the Galaxy S23 series. Meanwhile, Text Call as a whole can only be accessed on Galaxy S23 devices, the Z Fold 4 and the Z Flip 4.

In addition to English support for Text Call, Samsung has also rolled out the capability to customize Bixby's wake word into whatever the user wants. The assistant can now also play music that fits whatever workout is playing on Samsung Health and save schedules on the Calendar app. Finally, Samsung has expanded the things it can do offline, including setting timers, taking screenshots and switching on the flashlight.