SpaceX's all-civilian Inspiration4 spaceflight is coming to an end, and the company wants to be sure you see those last moments. The firm is livestreaming its Crew Dragon capsule's return to Earth starting at 6PM Eastern, with an expected splashdown in the Atlantic Ocean near Florida at 7:06PM. You can watch the stream below.

The mission saw Shift4 chief Jared Isaacman and three other civilian crew members (Hayley Arceneaux, Sian Proctor and Chris Sembroski) conduct scientific research around the effects of spaceflight on the human body. It also served as a fundraising campaign for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, which relies primarily on donations to advance cancer-fighting medicine.

This is the shortest occupied Crew Dragon flight to date. The earlier Demo-2, Crew-1 and Crew-2 missions were all planned to dock with the International Space Station and last between nine weeks to six months — Inspiration4's three days is a blip in comparison. Not that SpaceX is complaining. This not only demonstrates the viability of sending civilian-only crews to space, but could serve as a sales pitch to clients who might only want a brief amount of time in orbit.

The Russian government still has a strong influence on Telegram despite lifting a ban last year. RadioFreeEuropereports Telegram has temporarily blocked all of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny's Telegram chat bots during voting in the country's parliamentary election this weekend. Company founder Pavel Durov said Telegram would obey an election law barring campaigning during elections, calling the law "legitimate."

The move comes despite the nature of the bots and Durov's past statements. One of the bots, Smart Voting, was only meant to identify candidates that could unseat the dominant United Russia party, not just Navalny's Russia of the Future party. Durov also decried Apple and Google removing the Smart Voting mobile app from their respective app stores, calling it a "dangerous precedent" that tolerated censorship.

Russia under Vladimir Putin has routinely cracked down on any political dissent, including actions against Navalny himself (such as an attempted assassination linked to Russian agents) and a long-running effort to quash the broader Smart Voting effort. Officials both threatened Apple and Google with fines and have gone so far as to try and throttle internet infrastructure providing access to Smart Voting.

Whatever the motivations, the decision underscores the fine line tech firms tend to walk in Russia. While they might object to the Putin regime's tight grips on politics and speech, they also can't afford to antagonize the government if they want to have any kind of presence in the country. Telegram may object to Russia's policies, but it risks depriving residents of a relatively safe avenue for free expression if it defies Russian laws.

Don't worry if you were disappointed that Harley-Davidson's first e-bikes didn't include that eye-catching vintage model. As Electreknotes, Harley's Serial 1 brand now plans to sell a highly similar retro bike, the MOSH/TRIBUTE, in "late Q4" (read: December). Pre-order it for $5,999 and you'll get the MOSH/CTY's underpinnings with looks that would seem right at home in the 1950s, including fat white Schwalbe Super Moto-X tires, a honey-hued leather saddle and similar grips.

The functionality remains the same as the more contemporary-looking model, including the Gates carbon belt drive, built-in lighting and TRP hydraulic disc brakes. The removable 529Wh battery is estimated to deliver up to 105 miles of range, although that can shrink to 35 miles depending on your ride mode, biking style and road choices.

You'll have to act quickly if you want one. Serial 1 is making just 650 MOSH/TRIBUTE units split evenly between the US and Europe. The Harley brand has promised more special edition e-bikes "in the future," though, so you needn't give up hope if you're too late.

Have you noticed some well-known tech accessory makers disappearing from Amazon? Those aren't just rare incidents — they're part of a larger campaign. In a response to The Verge, Amazon has confirmed a South China Morning Postreport that the internet giant has banned over 600 Chinese brands (spread across 3,000 seller accounts) over review fraud incidents. These firms intentionally and repeatedly violated review policies banning incentivized reviews, Amazon said.

The online retailer first broke word of the figure in an interview with VP Cindy Tai on the state-controlled network China Central Television. It had previously kept relatively quiet on the broader effort.

The crackdown began in earnest five months earlier, but it received wider attention when Amazon banned Aukey and Mpow. The venders were caught offering rewards, including gift cards, for customers leaving reviews. Amazon later booted RAVPower, Vava and other relatively well-known brands for similar behavior. It's not clear how many non-Chinese brands have faced bans.

There are signs these vendors are either dodging bans or have otherwise escaped some detection, such as Aukey earbuds under the Key Series brand. However, it's safe to say the wider anti-fraud strategy has significantly changed Amazon's marketplace — much to the chagrin of banned companies that heavily depended on Amazon-based sales.

SpaceX's Starlink satellite broadband might not be considered a test for much longer. Elon Musk told Twitter users that Starlink should exit beta "next month" — that is, sometime in October. You could theoretically could use the quicker-than-usual service in more countries, or at least without the stigma of beta testing involved.

The company had aimed for complete worldwide coverage by September. To date, the beta has been largely limited to North America and parts of Europe, with notable exceptions like Australia, Chile and New Zealand. Planned expansions are so far limited to Mexico and Japan, but SpaceX has registered subsidiaries in countries like the Philippines and South Africa.

The formal launch could be crucial. SpaceX said it had shipped 100,000 Starlink terminals as of late August, but that number is likely to swell as the beta label disappears and more countries get access. And while satellite service is far from new, Starlink's high bandwidth and low latency could help close the gap for broadband in rural areas and developing countries where conventional internet access is either unavailable or too slow to be practical.

This is, of course, provided Starlink arrives as promised. Musk and his companies have a history of optimistic timetables for projects that get stalled by technical hurdles and other practical realities. An October launch certainly isn't out of the question, but you might not want to plan your schedule around that launch just yet.

Valve didn't wait long to hold its second Steam Next Fest. The Vergereports the games extravaganza (formerly the Steam Game Festival) is now slated to take place October 1st through October 7th. You'll see a range of upcoming games, including livestreams and chats, but the highlight may be the demos. Most notably, IGNsays you'll get to try No Man's Sky creator Hello Games' Steam release of The Last Campfire.

Other game demos will include Ludomotion's Unexplored 2, The Artistocrats' Starship Troopers — Terran Command and Andrew Shouldice's action adventure Tunic.

Steam Next Fest, like Summer Game Fest and other virtual events, is a substitute for real-world gaming conferences and expos that can't happen due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This gives independent creators an opportunity to promote and refine games that might otherwise get little attention compared to blockbuster titles. It also helps Valve, of course — you may be more likely to buy these games and otherwise view Steam as a go-to source for indie releases.

Countries have assassinated people with drones, but those attacks now appear to include robotic weapons on the ground. The New York Timessources claim Israel assassinated top Iranian nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh on November 27th, 2020 using a remotely-controlled, AI-assisted machine gun. Israel reportedly mounted the gun on a pickup truck by the side of the road and, when Fakhrizadeh's car approached had a distant operator fire the gun using a satellite link.

The attack was precise, sparing Fakhrizadeh's wife, but may not have used facial recognition to assist with aiming as unnamed Iranian officials said. While Israel purportedly used the AI to compensate for the satellite system's lag and gun recoil, operatives identified Fakhrizadeh by staging a decoy car with a camera to force a U-turn and get a clear image.

Neither government has publicly confirmed the use of a robotic gun, although The Times' story is based in part on the Fakhrizadeh family's statements to the media. Iranian investigators only determined the nature of the attack by chance, according to the sources. The Israeli operatives exploded the truck in a bid to destroy the evidence, but the equipment remained intact (if inoperable).

The use of this technology isn't surprising. While the remote gun was supposedly difficult to set up (Israel smuggled parts in very gradually), it both kept agents out of harm's way and avoided raising alarms like a drone. If the gun had been destroyed as planned, Iran might have been unable to determine the assassination method.

If accurate, the report might point to the future of espionage. Assassins can now use robotics to take out targets with little risk to themselves, little warning to enemies and a greater chance of deniability. You won't necessarily see a surge of assassinations as a result (Fakhrizadeh ignored multiple security recommendations), but there's a real chance this won't be the last kill of its kind.

The tech industry just lost one of its best-known inventors. The Guardianreports Sir Clive Sinclair died early on September 16th at 81 following a long illness. He's best known for his namesake company's ZX computers, which thrived in the UK during the early 1980s — he succeeded in making home PCs accessible at a time when most models were still major expenses. A ZX Spectrum 16K, for instance, cost £125 where Apple launched the Apple II for $1,298 just a few years earlier.

Sinclair is also widely credited with having invented the first pocket calculator, the Sinclair Executive, in 1972. Texas Instruments' first programmable calculator (the HP-65) didn't arrive until 1974. He was an early pioneer of electric transportation, too, having developed the C5 electric tricycle in 1985.

Like many inventors, his projects didn't always succeed. Sinclair's computer business ran into trouble in 1984 with the ill-fated QL, and he sold the company to Amstrad in 1985. And while the C5 may have been decades ahead of its time, that didn't translate to sales. Sinclairs' vehicle business ran aground less than a year after the C5's debut.

Sinclair's legacy is clear, however. For many gamers and game developers, Sinclair's computers represented a watershed moment. McGill University noted that many famous creators and studios, including Peter Molyneux, David Perry and Rare, cut their teeth on ZX Spectrums. Pocket calculators are still useful even in the smartphone era. And it's safe to say EVs are here to stay, including open-air rides. There's a real chance Sinclar's work has affected the technology in your life, even if you've never touched one of his products.

Are you tired of game developers releasing launchers that feel redundant? Too bad, you're getting another one. Riot Games has revealed plans to roll out a launcher for its games, Riot Client. It's not strictly new (games have been quietly using a limited version of the launcher for a while), but you now have access to all of Riot's desktop titles with a single sign-in. You can hop from Valorant to League of Legends with little trouble, for instance.

The client will first be available on September 20th. All gamers should receive the new software on October 4th, assuming Riot is confident in the client's stability. You'll still see dedicated pages for each game, including news and events.

Riot stressed that your existing shortcuts to individual games will still work, and that this won't chew up significantly more drive space. It's not quite the classic case of inserting another layer between you and the games you want to play. At the same time, there's little doubt this helps Riot control the experience. A client like this will make it that much easier for Riot to keep you within its game universe — why jump to Counter-Strike when Valorant is that much easier to reach?

OpenSea isn't wasting much time after its head of product was accused of exploiting insider information to turn a profit on non-fungible tokens. The marketplace has asked for and accepted Nate Chastain's resignation following claims he used secret Ethereum wallets to buy front-page NFT releases before they were available to the public. Chastain's reported actions broke a promise to foster the NFT market "responsibly and diligently," OpenSea said.

The company also tapped an unnamed third party to review its approach to unethical behavior and recommend changes. OpenSea promised to "quickly" implement any recommendations. It had already launched policies barring both the use of confidential info for NFT trading and for buying or selling from promoted creators and collections.

Chastain might not face further repercussions. As the law firm McMillan noted in a recent analysis, there aren't any laws in North America regulating NFT sales. This incident and the response do set expectations for other NFT marketplaces, though, and they might invite more regulation from governments that otherwise left NFTs untouched.