Posts with «venture capital» label

Steve Wozniak's latest moonshot is a private space company

Steve Wozniak has started a company called Privateer Space. The Apple co-founder announced the private space firm on late Sunday. Unfortunately, other than to promise his company would be “unlike the others,” Woz didn’t provide many details on the venture.

A Private space company is starting up, unlike the others. https://t.co/6s8J32mjuF

— Steve Wozniak (@stevewoz) September 13, 2021

A teaser Privateer released on YouTube mentions the startup was co-founded by former Apple engineer Alex Fielding. Wozniak and Fielding have collaborated frequently over the years. Back in 2002, they co-founded a company called Wheels of Zeus (WoZ), which worked on GPS smart tags. Wozniak later sat on the board of directors of Ripcord Networks, the robotics startup Fielding founded after Wheel of Zeus shut down in 2006.

On its website, Privateer says it will have more to share at the upcoming AMOS tech conference in Maui, Hawaii that’s scheduled to start on September 14th. What's clear is Woz and company are about to enter a highly competitive market that is dominated by billionaires like Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos. That's not an easy space to succeed in. 

'Overwatch' gets 120Hz options on Xbox Series X and S

Overwatch just received an important visual upgrade if you're an Xbox Series Xor S owner. Blizzard has released a patch that, among the usual fixes and tweaks, optimizes the graphics for Microsoft's latest consoles. You now have a "Preferred Mode" option that lets you prioritize resolution, frame rate, or a balance between the two — and the improvements could be substantial regardless of the system you own.

The "Resolution" mode focuses on sharpness at the potential expense of image quality, topping out at 4K and 60Hz on the Xbox Series X and 1440p (also 60Hz) on the Series S. "Balanced," as the name implies, prefers image quality while maintaining a strong resolution, hitting 1440p at 60Hz on the Series X and 1080p at that speed on the Series S. "Framerate," meanwhile, pushes the game to a highly responsive 120Hz while sacrificing both image fidelity and resolution (1440p on Series X, 1080p on Series S). You'll need a TV with 120Hz or variable refresh rate support to benefit from that last mode, of course.

There's no mention of a corresponding PlayStation 5 update at this stage, unfortunately, although it's more likely to be a matter of "when" than "if."

It's not a true overhaul, but the update could still make a huge difference for Overwatch. The character-driven team shooter depends on lightning-quick reaction times, and 120Hz could make the difference between landing a snapshot and meeting an untimely end. As it stands, this is now one of the handful of console games with a 120FPS mode — worth considering if you refuse to compromise on frame rate just because you're playing on the couch instead of your PC.

Makers in Space: What Was Old Is New Again

Setting the record straight on the history of Do-It-Yourself satellites.

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