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NASA officials admitted today the Space Launch System — the agency’s next big rocket — is a vehicle without a mission plan NASA Spaceflight reports. The agency acknowledged what is essentially an empty flight manifest for the SLS at NASA's Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida, during an all-hands meeting on Monday.

The meeting was held to discuss uncertainty about the SLS. Its first test flight with humans aboard has already been delayed once, and the schedule for the SLS’s tests are shaky — there is no definitive launch schedule for the rocket beyond its first uncrewed test flight, which is slated for September 30th, 2018. After that, the SLS's next flight dates are mostly tentative, and the rocket doesn't have any definitive mission plans — only the promise of going to an asteroid and then to Mars someday.

The SLS was born out of NASA's now-defunct Constellation program, an effort aimed at returning humans to the Moon. Though it was once considered the replacement for the Space Shuttle program, the group far exceeded its budget. President Obama cancelled the initiative in 2010, and out of its ashes, the SLS concept was created — both as a way to salvage parts of Constellation and to provide NASA with a primary vehicle for sending astronauts deep into space. It was also a way to save the jobs of thousands of NASA employees who had been working on Constellation.

But the SLS is expensive, and NASA's budget is at the lowest it has been in decades, even with the new budget allotment of $19.3 billion for the 2016 fiscal year. The cost of developing the SLS through 2017 is expected to total $18 billion. And once the rocket is built, each launch is going to cost somewhere between $500 and $700 million, which makes it unlikely that the rocket will carry astronauts more than once a year.

By comparison, Elon Musk has said that that SpaceX could build the Mars Colonial Transporter(MCT), a vehicle in the 140-150 t payload range, for $2.5 billion, or $300 million per launch. If Musk is going to build the MCT anyways, does NASA need to continue the SLS?

In addition, video services NOT INCLUDED IN BINGE-ON are also being throttled

This is at the users request (the user enables binge on and the throttling setting).

To quote an EFF article:

T-Mobile's Binge On service could have been great. Giving customers a choice about how to use their data so that they can stream more video without hitting their data cap is a wonderful idea. Unfortunately, T-Mobile botched the roll out. Without asking, they made it the default for all of their customers.

I also found a The Verge article that confirms that throttling goes away once Binge On is disabled:

T-Mobile was throttling all video traffic over its network, including video downloads, for all customers who had not disabled the Binge On feature that the company automatically enabled for everyone in November.

All in all, I think this is a mountain out of a molehill. The biggest problem was how T-Mobile rolled it out. If they would have made it opt-in at roll out instead of opt-out, the issue would be much more clear, and I don't think it would have become a net neutrality matter.

I'm not sure if it's a bugbear that non-Binge On videos get throttled when Binge On is active. I could go either way on that one. (Or better yet, T-Mobile should have made it an option.)

Actually, what I really want to know is why T-Mobile doesn't just apologize and disable it for everybody. Problem solved imho.

Imagine trying to deal with this.

A two-day pumping operation has left the cable vault mostly dry, but it doesn’t look right. Cable insulation has been stripped back in areas, cords are cut, chunks of cables lie on the ground, and splice boxes have been torn open. Levendos explains to me that before crews could even begin removing water, they needed to repair ground-level fuel pumps to feed backup diesel generators on the upper floors.

The summary is BS. It says the Republicans are trying to change the definition, when what's being argued with is the FCC arbitrarily changing their previous definition:
    "As part of its 2015 Broadband Progress Report, the Federal Communications Commission has voted to change the definition of broadband by raising the minimum download speeds needed from 4Mbps to 25Mbps, and the minimum upload speed from 1Mbps to 3Mbps, which effectively triples the number of US households without broadband access."

You may want people to have faster speeds, but changing what terms mean isn't an honest way to go about it. Anything over dial-up or ISDN speeds is technically broadband. If you want to have a standard for 25 MBs internet, call it "4K TV speed" or something, but don't pretend that suddenly the definition of broadband has changed and thus overnight there are 3 times as many people "without broadband" as there were the day before, even though their access speeds didn't change.

When Sun open sourced Java and encouraged companies to use it free of charge, you can't call that "stealing" if companies took them on the offer. The problem was Orace then bought Sun and changed their minds about what could be done with Java. The last CEO of Sun, Jonathan Schwartz, did not think Google did anything wrong.

GM has missed the boat on this one. Uber already went in and poached all of CMU's top robotics individuals. The same CMU team that failed to finish DARPA 2004. GM has had the last decade to hire away self driving car experts but decided to make deadly design decisions instead.

Uber can find a body builder easier than GM is going to find Uber's expertise.

We're going to see a major shakeup in transportation across the board in the next 15-20 years, I wouldn't be surprised if GM didn't survive (or got broken apart and acquired). They've missed the boat on quite literally everything.

It's an established fact that Google already does this for child pornography. This became public back in 2014. So it's not much of a stretch to move into scanning for this. Some would call it a "slippery slope", but that's the world we find ourselves in.

...but in some chinese backyard?

Look. I'm all for "green progress". But just pushing things to where environmental laws are cheaper ain't fair. And thinking we can keep up our perceived "standard of living" (two leaf blowers for one household? hello?) while staying whithin our sustainable envelope is just criminally naive.

If he means he is willing to accept full liability for any and all problems that's one thing. But I doubt we will have autonomous cars that can replace drivers in anything but freeway and some limited pre mapped city driving situations any time soon.

if he's willing to sell a car as "self driving" and accept liability for its driving, then that car had better be able to handle all driving conditions, or Tesla won't survive long under all of the liability lawsuits.

It's difficult for computers to solve visual captchas humans solve easily, likewise humans navigate better than computers today with far inferior sensors.

It often takes me several tries to complete a Capcha, while Google says that they've got AI that can solve their own capchas:

http://www.theverge.com/2014/4...

They're way ahead of you. Musk has stated that they're going to keep it on the ground

On a completely unlimited T-Mobile plan right now, and they haven't "weaseled out of it" ...

I'll add "yet" just to be nice, but it was sold last year, not some 15 year old unlimited grandfathered thing from Verizon or AT&T that someone is trying to keep limping along and not get it cancelled... a real unlimited plan.

They did stop selling them, I believe.

http://www.theverge.com/2014/1...

Still seem quite happy to take my money and let me use it, however.

Yeah. It's total overreach e.e

Idiots who fly drones/rc planes/helicopters in occupied areas deserve a hell of a lot more than $5 reg fee every three years.

Not so long ago, the news was full of fear-based "reporting" on all the evils of the internet.

Yeah that didn't go away.

A year ago Yahoo eliminated its test and quality assurance team, as part of project Warp Drive, its move to continuous delivery of code.

LOL Yeah, how's that working out for your bottom line?

Bordering on off-topic but tangentially related, I followed the link to the article and, I confess, I read it. I am sorry. I didn't really mean to but there was nothing posted and I'm not a first post kind of guy normally. Anyhow, it led me (by curiosity) to an "interesting" article on transhumanism. It turns out, it's not what I was expecting and I learned something. I mean something other than they're batshit insane.

http://www.theverge.com/a/tran...

That, I think, would have made a better article than this. We could actually have an interesting discussion concerning that. It's a long, but not bad, read. I know, 'tis off-topic (and I'll post as me so you can happily mod me as such as I certainly deserve it) but it is kind of interesting. If I weren't so lazy, I'd submit it. Maybe someone else is interested in it? I'm not so good at that summary thing.

Did I mention they're batshit crazy? They've even got in-fighting and a presidential candidate but it would appear that not many people like him. He has a family and they tolerate him. It's a whole bowl of insanity but it's all very much tech related. It's all about tech, it seems. That and living forever. Oh, and batshit crazy seems to be mandatory. I'd ride around on the bus with him but that's because I'm easily amused. Hell, I'd even donate to his cause to ride around with him if I had time.

Anyhow, if you're bored and want something really tech related then there's an interesting article. I'd never looked into it but I always thought transhumanism was what those furry and vampire people were into. It turns out they're just people who want to augment their body with tech and, mostly, live forever.

I guess I'm not sorry for the OT post (if I was sorry, I'd not do it) but yeah, it's a far more interesting subject than someone editing Wikipedia and getting into a back-stage after-party using mostly social engineering and the people who were there actually opting to tolerate it. I expected it to be a not-so-attentive security guard opting to let them through without checking but it turns out that they did and that the band members let them get away with it. It's not really as exciting as it might have been and will teach me to not read the article. In all fairness, I was bored while awaiting some uploads to finish. FTP is still ungodly slow.

http://www.theverge.com/2015/1...

All chiclet style keyboards die in a fire and (at least for desktop computers where 'slimness' isn't either needed or a virtue, all keyboards must have a decent tactile feel. Something like the IBM Model M. http://www.theverge.com/2014/1...

Exactly. And of all the folks that tech-minded individuals shouldn't be fawning over, it's him.

http://www.theverge.com/2014/1...

Fuck you Mr. Cuban. And for that please donate another $15k in my name, "Anonymous Peon".

Found the taxi shill - posting a lie over and over won't make it true.

Apparently those were rumors quickly proven false:
http://www.theverge.com/2015/1...
Do you happen to drive a taxi?

Still not broadband. It's not even what was considered broadband before 2015. Is Comcast trying to inflate the statistic "households to which the incumbent last mile monopoly refuses to provide broadband"?

What secret? I'm perfectly happy to stand behind my comments.

You're trying to deflect the argument with a non-sequitur. Your original, highly antagonistic and accusatory post, that the original commenter was literally a paid shill for Apple, was based on you being unable to comprehend a basic piece of English language.

For example, here is a piece from the verge using the same turn of phrase: http://www.theverge.com/2015/9...

Here's Cnet talking about Windows 10 using the same phrase structure in a video: http://www.cnet.com/videos/bes...

Here's Extreme Tech using the same turn of phrase to discuss the iPhone 6: http://www.extremetech.com/mob...

Like I said, it was a pretty basic construction that is used frequently in common English, especially when paired with a qualifier as it was in the original poster's comment.

You either deliberately took the comment out of context to try and claim he was a shill or you just didn't understand the phrase. Either way you were wrong and have been trying to twist in the wind to try and bluster your way out of the argument. There's no way out though - your original comment was plain wrong.

... but you'd better hurry up, the political landscape will most likely change in the next 18 months.

How so? The US will still be run by the ultra-rich, privileged upper-class aided by their well-fed lackeys, the lobbying companies. Oh, you mean the puppets office will be different? Doesn't really count.

To hazard a guess, I think he means most of us are getting fed up with the so-called social "justice" warriors who are continuously up in arms and having hissy fits over any perceived (though probably not real) slight. Yesterday provided a perfect example. Two guys on twitter made up a #boycottstarwarsvii hashtag, claiming the movie was racist against white people. Of course, SJWs went apoplectic with self-righteous indignation, and it even made CNN & The Daily Show, but it turns out it was all just a troll from the get-go. SJWs seem to go full retard every day.

You might even have a theme song like Beagle 2 did.

http://www.theverge.com/2015/8/26/9209949/windows-10-75-million-machines

I'll take a few of those failures, thanks.

I'm sorry that you left AT&T and its unlimited plan. I've been with AT&T since 2008 and its unlimited plan. I pay $70/month, inclusive of everything.

> Look for sponsored articles in the media soon
> about how ad-blocking is "theft" or "stealing".

No need to wait. They've been saying that for years, and they're pounding that drum louder than ever.

"As abetted by for-profit technology companies, ad blocking is robbery, plain and simple..."

http://adage.com/article/digitalnext/ad-blocking-unnecessary-internet-apocalypse/300470/

And this douche thinks the problem is with device makers and browsers. Yeah. It's Apple's fault that a Verge article is 9.5 MB and 263 HTTP requests.

Both the article and summary explicitly state that this is about what data is sent back to the companies, not what data is available to the apps for use in-car. From the article (emphasis mine):

[...] Android Auto tracks variables including vehicle speed, throttle position, fluid temperatures, and engine revs, information that is collated and then sent back to Google. Apple's CarPlay, on the other hand, only checks with the car's powertrain control module to ensure that the vehicle is moving.

That said, the article has been updated with a link to a report on Google's denial of the allegations. Google denies that they collect that information, but they do say that users can opt-in to sharing data. That alone may be what Porsche had an issue with (assuming the original report is to be believed), since they may be concerned that their users will opt-in to sending back information that Porsche would rather keep in-house, instead of allowing a separate company making cars--Google--to get their hands on it.

Or, the actual article. That seems like a stub.

http://www.theverge.com/2015/1...

http://www.theverge.com/2015/1...

I thought the Dish Auto Hop embargo got stretched out to 3 or 7 days for several key channels as a condition imposed by the networks for affordable retransmission rights.

"With their exclusive rights protected by the Public Carriage Office, and their rivals held back, London black cabs behave like any cartel — they squeeze their advantages for all their worth." http://www.spectator.co.uk/fea...

Uber is cheaper and quicker than black cabs: http://www.independent.co.uk/v...

In the age of GPS "The Knowledge" is a needlessly hard test which keeps most people out. https://www.washingtonpost.com...

London drivers say "The Knowledge" is better than a GPS http://www.theguardian.com/wor... but even before the age of GPS, most cities on the planet regulated taxi without such a test. Doctors do something similar with entrance boards which decide how many new doctors can enter a field. http://wallstreetpit.com/5769-... Rudimentary economics: any profession which restricts their numbers can charge more. Imagine if nurses, paramedics, firemen and cops set up their own mandatory boards what it could do for them.

Most cities restrict taxi numbers usually by restricting the number of licenses issued.
http://www.theverge.com/2015/6... FRANCE $270,000
http://globalnews.ca/news/1780... CANADA Was $360,000
http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/cost... AUSTRALIA Was $425,000
http://www.scmp.com/business/m... HONG KONG $1M
http://www.washingtonpost.com/... USA $1.2M

The summary doesn't say what size, and the article merely says "40 atoms in width" (presumable carbon atoms? Who knows?)
Apparently it's a technology that will coincide with the 7nm node.

He didn't just design them. He built them. An earlier post mentions the museum where they're displayed.

Really? Did you even RTFA?

Then why does the article linked to the slashdot entry state:

As a result, his ideas for his super-accurate pendulum clock were forgotten until the 1970s, when interest in the clockmaker and his remarkable timepieces was re-awakened. The artist and clockmaker, Martin Burgess, – working on attempts to decipher Harrison’s plans – produced two versions of his great clock. It is the second of these, Clock B, that has been the focus of attempts to bring it to its maximum accuracy in the past year. “Essentially we have been fine-tuning the clock so that we can bring it to its full potential and accuracy,” said McEvoy.

The article is about the SUPER-ACCURATE PENDULUM CLOCK, not about this shipworthy chronometers. Sure sounds like Harrison never built his super accurate pendulum clock.

So I decided to do some googling/binging/altavistaing/meh myself and not just take the word of slashdotters like you that post no references... and surprise, surprise, what did I find?!? The answer to my question, which just so happens to contradict your statement... The clock that was tested was built using modern materials, and most likely using modern manufacturing techniques.

According to this article: https://www.theverge.com/2015/...

Martin Burgess, a master clockmaker, used Harrison's mechanism and design along with modern materials like duralumin to construct the Martin Burgess Clock B,

And according to this article on the Greenwich Royal Museum website: http://blogs.rmg.co.uk/longitu...

‘Clock B’ is one of two clocks made from modern materials, chiefly duraluminium and invar, that follow the perceived format laid out in Harrison’s convoluted text: Concerning such mechanism

True. And not only did Dean Murphy's app net $75,000 from customers who thought they were paying for an ad-free experience, but the extra cash to allow ads is being paid to him by Adblock Plus themselves! http://www.theverge.com/2015/9...

iTunes says nothing about letting certain ads through: "Crystal is a content blocker for iPhone & iPad designed to make the mobile web a great experience. It blocks Adverts, User Tracking and improves speed, data use and battery life of your device as a result." Deceptive advertising!

His Twitter handle is ''Crafty Deano''. Figures! https://twitter.com/CraftyDean...^google|twcamp^serp|twgr^author

I ask because multiple sources confirm, split-view multitasking only works on iPad Air 2 and newer.

If it's working on your iPad Air 1, you must have one of those rare ones that lacks a mute slider; e.g. an Air 2.

I thought car makers were using the DMCA to send the Copyright Police(tm) around to kick in your door in the middle of the night to gas your dog with Zyklon B for having the audacity to read your odometer without their permission (and licensing fee).

What the hell is going on here? Is this some kind of sting? IT'S A CONSPIRACY!!!

Indie film makers tend to use video cameras, not cell phone cameras.

What the fuck good is 4k video quality when the image is shaky all to hell because the camera isn't mounted on a steadycam, or at least a tripod?

Actually, I seem to remember an indie film that was quite well received at Sundance this year, that was shot completely on an iPhone 5s.

And there are examples going back to the 4s, too.

In fact, there's even an iPhone Film Festival now.

So, suck it.

> Citations or screenshots please.

Fuck off citation-needer AC shill. It is well documented that these things are an absolute shit parade. At this point, the burden of proof is on any apologists.

But, here's some articles, shillfuck!

The lockscreen assault...
http://www.extremetech.com/com...
http://www.theverge.com/2015/4...

OP claimed that he's getting advertised Office. You claim he needs proof. While this debate rages, here's tutorial on how to make Microsoft STOP advertising Office. Which, of fucking COURSE it does.

http://www.howtogeek.com/22632...

Presumably, the "Get Skype" app is the one to disable to stop the Skype stuff he complains about.

Oh, and if you NEED Skype, here's how to disable ads in Skype. Uh, this worked a year ago? I don't know if it is current.
http://community.skype.com/t5/...

Shills shilling, shills shilling, shills shilling.....

Yes, yes they can

Doubleclick isn't exactly your eastern europe shaddy site : http://www.theverge.com/2014/9...

You are probably not responsible and involved, and thank you for the informative post, I am sorry but your "we are vetting ad" in view of big network serving malware, sounds more like trying to stem the flow of the blood while pretending one is not wounded.

"The only real market solution is to whitelist a certain number of ad networks"
No the real only solution is to blacklist *all* ad network until they accept responsibility and utterly disable any scripting in their advertising, only serving sanitized text and sanitized image. And that is the minimum.

There are 32 Comments

I learned about Popcorn Time from the CEO of Netflix when he claimed they were one of their biggest competitors.This software is designed from the ground up to distribute illegal copies of movies and TV shows. How are the owners of the Popcorn Time software not being held accountable? It's pretty blatant they're in it for the piracy, they even link you to VPN services that are compatible with their product for fucks sake. I have no words to describe the feeling I have for the idiots who actually wanted to see the Cobbler bad enough to pirate it.

I suppose the man that makes the hammer is not responsible for what the carpenter hits with it.

Uh...I believe the "company" in question is JAXA--the Japanese equivalent of NASA. That's like saying that the National Weather Service gets heavy tax "incentives" for predicting the weather. They're a government organization.

About the only thing Space-X got--which I believe saved their bacon--was a contract from NASA to send supplies to ISS. Of course, so did Orbital Sciences.

Or is you one of them "big gubmint"-types who thinks the gubmint should be doing everything?

> The future of graphics APIs lies in DirectX 12 and Vulkan,

Well that's a marketing statement if I ever heard one.

Vulcan (sic), maybe. It's open platform. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

DirectX 12, as if!!! Microsoft screwed up terribly tying DirectX to Vista where they denied DirectX upgrades to customers who wouldn't "upgrade" to Vista -- nearly everyone! And their Windows 8 disaster chased developers off the Windows platform and onto mobile devices where OpenGL rules supreme. DirectX still has its place for the Xbox and Windows PC games only (( developers also targeting the Mac will use cross platform OpenGL )) -- but DirectX is definitely *not* "the future of graphics" despite OP's claim

PS Nice way to fumble the ball at kickoff on Windows 10, Microsoft. Your peeping tom privacy policy for Windows 10 is a great reason not to upgrade. Look: "Microsoft's Windows 10 privacy headache extends into gaming" http://www.theverge.com/2015/8...

Moto X Pure Edition is a tremendous phone (or, at least based on the pre-release specs, it is).

Starting at $399 with no carrier lock-in. Pure Android experience.
microSD up to 128GB.

To hell with carrier lock-in.
To hell with the horrible crapware that comes pre-installed from Samsung and the carriers.

Avail Sep 3rd, according to TheVerge

Government lobbyists and lawyers.
According to the Post, local lobbying registration records indicate the company hired private lobbyists in at least 50 US cities and states and has hired at least 161 people to lobby for its interests. In Sacramento alone, Uber spent $475,000 over five months to influence California lawmakers, the Post reports.
And that was nearly a year ago. Promoting and defending their disruptive business model against entrenched interests requires a lot of legal help.

Uber will be nothing but a joke you say when you dont have enough wind to pass.

Which is why they've teamed up with Carnegie Mellon. (Those same guys that made the big red HMMWV autonomous in 2004). Then 3 months after teaming up with them poached their best.

Uber's current business model is to outsource a bunch of data acquisition for the lowest cost possible. Right now the rides are just another datapoint they collect for where future automated parking garages need to be built. I'm sure there are people at Uber right now looking at heatmaps of pickup locations cheap 3-phase power and cheap property values.

Google already has their 'car'. I wouldn't be shocked that at the next auto show Uber unveiled their 'taxi of the future'. They'll put a few in where it's legal and make another version. It's why every auto maker is rushing to have their stuff out first. There will be a transition period where people will still insist on driving but then can't live without the automation.

When Delphi was selling cruise control they made a contest that sent the dealership with the most cruise control upgrades sold would get a trip to Hawaii. Every year more and more cars got sold with it and Delphi stopped giving out free trips to Hawaii. The demand and word of mouth had it that *everyone* wanted it. There are kids this year that will never learn to drive a car, ever.

Turns out, high up in the stratosphere the winds are predictable and have just the patterns they need. They did simulations using real-world wind data and found it was quite feasible to navigate balloons effectively to maintain coverage using only prevailing winds.

Since 2012 they've been trialling in New Zealand, Brazil and other places, they've increased balloon flight times from 50 days to over 6 months (despite expert scepticism), and now they're close to ready to roll out a commercial service. Pretty sure they've done their research by now.

I think the biggest reason is not that they want to move from Android, it's that Samsung pays Microsoft about $4 for every Android phone they sell.With their profits dropping, if they can change to Tizen and keep the same look and feel of Android with TouchWiz they will save big money. There are many sources when a search is performed. Here's one: http://www.theverge.com/2015/2...