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Watch the world's largest plane hit 46MPH in latest taxi tests
While Stratolaunch didn't meet its original 2016 launch goal, the company has been putting its massive plane through one test after another over the past year. During its most recent tests, the 500,000-pound aircraft with a 385-foot wingspan has successfully reached a top taxi speed of 46MPH. It still hasn't taken to skies, but that's a huge improvement over the 28MPH it hit during the first taxi tests the space transportation company conducted in December.
Airbus' drone taxi takes to the skies for the first time
When Airbus first announced its plans to develop a self-flying taxi, it sounded like a fever dream of a sci-fi fan. Now, the aerospace giant has proven that it wasn't joking: Airbus' Vahana team have successfully flown their autonomous air taxi dubbed "Alpha One" for the first time. Sure, it only reached an altitude of 16 feet and remained in the air for 53 seconds before descending, but it did so while fully self-piloted. The team conducted another test flight the day after, and by the sound of things, that one also went well.
SpaceX tests the Falcon Heavy's 27 engines ahead of first launch (updated)
Today, SpaceX performed a static fire test on its Falcon Heavy rocket. Also called the hold-down test, it involved loading the rocket with propellant and firing all of its 27 engines at once while the rocket was secured to the launch pad. The test appears to have been successful, though we are waiting on confirmation from SpaceX.
High-end Roombas will find your home's WiFi dead spots
That fancy new Roomba you got over the holidays could help suss out your home's WiFi weak spots this month. A forthcoming patch will add a wireless coverage map to the Roomba's vacuum heat map. From the sounds of it, the test group for this new feature could be relatively tiny.
SpaceX shows a video flyby of its Falcon Heavy rocket
SpaceX is getting ready to launch the secret Zuma mission on January 5th, but that Falcon 9 launch is small potatoes compared to what's to come later this month. It's putting the Falcon Heavy through static firing tests ahead of its debut launch (possibly in January), with an early Tesla Roadster on board. To build up some hype, SpaceX has unveiled a drone video of the triple-booster craft perched on its test-firing pad.
Renault's concept EV drove me at 80MPH while I wore a VR headset
I'm driving the multimillion-dollar Symbioz EV concept on a highway in France when Renault-Nissan Senior VP Ogi Redzik hands me an Oculus VR headset. "Put it on. Do you see an image yet?" he asks me. "Not yet. Ahh, yes, now I see it," I reply nervously. A minute ago I was on a real road, but now I'm rolling down a fake forested highway in a simulation created by Ubisoft. Meanwhile, Renault's Level 4 autonomous system has taken the piloting chores (with a professional, joystick-equipped driver backing it up in the passenger seat).
Waymo’s autonomous cars have driven 4 million miles
Lest anyone think that Waymo hasn't been preparing to launch its own autonomous ride-sharing service at some point, the Google spinoff just announced that its self-driving cars have driven a collective 4 million miles on public roads. But it's not just the milestone the company is celebrating, it's the pace: While it took the company 18 months to reach one million, then 14 to reach two, then 8 months to reach three and finally six months to reach the four million mile marker.
Voyage tests its self-driving cars in retirement communities
Online learning company Udacity decided to redirect the engineers it's training into a new spun-off self-driving tech company, Voyage, back in April. Now they're starting to test their autonomous technology with folks who could be greatly empowered by autonomous vehicles: Retirees in San Jose.
Twitter tests lightweight mobile app for countries with slow data
It's not just Facebook and Google who are slimming down their mobile apps for the sake of regions where data is slow or spotty. Twitter has confirmed to TechCrunch that it's testing a native Android equivalent to its Lite website in the Philippines, where slower phone networks and limited phone storage make the standard app less practical. While many of the core Twitter functions are still there, the focus is on cutting out all the media that chews up valuable bandwidth. There's a "Data Saver" mode that avoids displaying pictures and videos unless you opt to see them, and Twitter says it can use up to 70 percent less data overall. Even the app itself occupies just 3MB of space.
Instagram is testing direct 'Stories' sharing to Facebook
You can mock Instagram for pilfering the Stories concept (and name) from Snapchat, but the popular feature quickly dwarfed the entire Snapchat platform. A very similar feature arrived to Facebook earlier this year, but has reportedly met with less success. That might explain why Instagram is testing an option for direct Stories sharing to Facebook, as spotted by TNW's Matt Navarra and confirmed by TechCrunch and others. It'll let die-hard Instagrammers post Stories to their granny on Facebook without the pain of doing it twice.
Automated English visa test struggles to understand English
An Irish veterinarian's application for an Australian visa has been rejected after she failed to pass an automated English proficiency test, despite completing it in her native language of... English. Louise Kennedy, who has two degrees (both obtained in English), wanted to apply for permanent residency in the country on the grounds of her job, which is classed as a shortage profession. Despite acing the reading and writing parts of the test she didn't score highly enough on oral fluency, as it seems the machines couldn't understand her accent. The Pearson Test of English (PTE) Academic is an automated system that asks applicants a number of questions and records their vocal responses which are analyzed and scored. The Australian government demands a score of at least 79 points. Kennedy scored 74.
Spotify may finally make the leap to Xbox One this fall (updated)
Sony and Spotify have been pretty cozy for the past few years on PlayStation, but it looks like the streaming service is going to show Xbox fans some love soon too. Reddit's unblinking eyes spotted Xbox's Larry "Major Nelson" Hryb using the app on Xbox Live. The Verge independently confirmed with its off the record sources that an app for the Swedish music service was being tested internally, with a wide roll-out planned before the Xbox One X's launch November 7th. Now to speculate whether Microsoft will abandon Groove Music for Spotify the way that Sony did its Music Unlimited service.
Hyperloop One claims its first successful test run
The potential of Hyperloop is an easy sell, but until now we haven't seen Hyperloop One's proposed mag-lev transit system in action. The company has announced that on May 12th it completed its first full-scale test. The sled hit 70 MPH, in a vacuum, at the company's Nevada testing facility, according to The Verge. No, it's nowhere near the ultimate 750 MPH goal, but like the SpaceX project and its myriad test launches, this represents an important milestone along the path toward rapid travel. Next up? Getting the newly designed aluminum-and-carbon-fiber pods to 250 MPH. Baby steps.
Insurance group: Tesla's Model S is safe, but not super safe
Tesla has always made a big deal about how safe its electric cars are, and frequently boast about how they have the highest ratings at the NHTSA. But the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, a vehicle testing outfit run by the insurance industry, threw some shade on the company in its latest report. The body says that Tesla's Model S falls just short of winning its top safety award, which was scooped by the Mercedes-Benz E Class, Lincoln Continental and the Toyota Avalon.
Instagram tests sharing posts with only your closest friends
Instagram's algorithmic timeline is an abject failure if you actually want to see all of your friends' posts. As a way of seemingly admitting that, the photo-and-video-minded social network is testing a new feature called "favorites," according to The Verge. The idea is pretty simple: you make a list of the people you want to see your post as soon as possible, and then send it to them privately, either as a Story or the timeline. It sounds a lot like sending photos to your friends on Snapchat versus pushing them to that service's Story. Hrm. Posts that go out to your friends list will appear in their timelines and will have a green check mark in them.
Self-driving cars to prove their mettle on an Ohio highway
When you think of American states that are crucial to the future of transportation, you probably think of California, Michigan and maybe Nevada. Ohio, however, is determined to put itself on the map. Thanks to a mix of federal and local funds, the state is wiring a 35-mile portion of Route 33 for vehicle-to-infrastructure communication tests. Ideally, this will solve traffic issues by helping connected and self-driving cars talk to both highway systems and each other. With enough test data, these smarter cars could both take better advantage of the available lanes and drive in closely-packed platoons.
Facebook topics could be the antidote to news echo chambers
Facebook, like Twitter, can often serve as a personal echo chamber. Users add people they have things in common with, while following and Liking pages that they perceive to be trustworthy. As the debate around fake news continues, the social media giant is testing a new way of surfacing information that a user may otherwise not see. It's called "Topics to Follow" and it works by delivering content from a number of publishers based around a specific theme, rather than a specific outlet.
Facebook is tweaking the News Feed to make room for fact checkers
In its own way, Facebook is taking responsibility for the spread of misinformation and changing how its products deliver news. The next phase of that is a test that "might" populate the News Feed with articles related to the one all your friends are sharing. As the GIF below illustrates, there's a box below shared news story and it has a handful of links to articles about the same subject, but from different publishers and even fact checkers. The idea here is to give people more information on a topic before they mash the "share" button.
Netflix has a new translation test to avoid subtitle fails
Netflix supports over 20 languages, many of which aren't dubbed, so subtitles are often the only way for foreign viewers to follow the plot. While the streaming company holds itself to a high standard, the internet abounds with tales of wonky translations. That's why it has developed Hermes, the first-ever proficiency test for caption translators by a major content provider. The aim is to identify subtitlers that understand the subtleties of a language and won't translate "Smashing Pumpkins" to "Pumpkin Puree" (above).
Watch these declassified nuclear test films on YouTube
There's something both beautiful and unnerving about a mushroom cloud. The United States conducted around 216 atmospheric nuclear tests between 1945 and 1992, many taking place in Nevada and the Pacific Proving Grounds. Now, rare videos of those detonations are declassified and available to the public for the first time.
