Weekly Digest - 2020.50

13 December 2020

Cyberpunk 2077 released

CD Project Red, after 9 years of development, finally released the Cyberpunk 2077. First reviews are very positive. CDP Red once again delivered very solid game, although it is far from being perfect. The game is hunted by many little bugs. Bugs are not unexpected as the game is huge, but they make the experience less pleasant. Overall it looks like Cyberpunk is solid game and it somehow met the expectations.

Starship launch

Space X has performed a test flight of the Starship. The launch was verifying following scenario:

✅ Launch Starship,
✅ Achieve altitude of 12.5 KM,
✅ Shutdown engines and rotate rocket on it's belly,
✅ Fall free,
✅ Turn on engines and rotate the rocket to the vertical position,
❌ Land on the ground.

The test ran perfectly until the landing. The pressure in fuel cells was too low, which resulted in higher touch down speed than anticipated, which ultimately caused an explosion.

Despite the fact, that Starship is gone, the test was successful.

AirPods Max

Apple announce AirPods Max - the over-ear noise-canceling headphones. Here are selected features:

Active Noise Cancellation,
Spatial audio with dynamic head tracking,
Audio Sharing,
Digital Crown for controlling volume and playback,
Magnetic ear cups,
Apple H1 chip, in each ear cup, for fast connecting with Apple devices and device switching,
Sensors in each cup can detect whether they are placed on a user’s head and pause playback when removed,
Bluetooth 5 compatible,
20h of battery life,
Come in five colors: space gray, silver, sky blue, green, and pink.

AirPods Max will be available from December 15th for $549.

New ARM macs in 2021

According to latest rumors, Apple is working on new 32-core chip, that will be shipped with upcoming iMacs and 16-inch MacBook Pros. Looking at performance of the current M1 chip, it is something worth waiting for.

Apple Fitness+

Apple also announced that Fitness+ will launch on December 14th. The workout service will be available only in Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, the UK, and the US for $9.99 per month or $79.99 per year.

Disney plans

Disney have unveiled their plans for the foreseeable future.

Star Wars:

Star Wars: Andor (TV); 2022,
Obi-Wan Kenobi (TV); 2022,
Ahsoka (TV),
Rangers of the New Republic (TV),
Star Wars: The Bad Batch (TV),
The Acolyte (TV),
Star Wars: Lando (TV),
Droid Story (TV),
Star Wars: Visions (TV),
Rogue Squadron (Movie); 12.2023,
Untitled Taika Waititi Film; 12.2025.

Marvel:

WandaVision (TV); 15.01.2021,
Falcon and the Winter Soldier (TV); 03.2020,
Loki (TV); 05.2021,
Hawkeye; 2021,
She-Hulk (TV),
Ironheart (TV),
What-if? (TV),
Moon Knight (TV),
Miss Marvel (TV),
Secret Invasion (TV),
Armor Wars (TV),
Black Panther 2 (Movie), 07.2022,
Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (Movie),
Fantastic Four (Movie).

Dope links

Image credits: Apple

Weekly Digest - 2020.47

22 November 2020

SpaceX Crew-1

For the second time, SpaceX and NASA launched the Crew Dragon capsule with people onboard. Following the successful Demo-2 mission, NASA gave SpaceX's Crew Dragon an operational status, and the Crew-1 mission is the first flight with such status. Crew of 4 astronauts launched on Sunday, and docked to the International Space Station the next day. According to NASA plans, astronauts will spend in space about 180 days.

Apple reduces AppStore tax to 15%

Apple announced, that from January 1st, the AppStore tax will be reduce from 30% to 15% to all developers that during a year made under $1 million. If the developer exceeds the $1 million threshold then the 30% tax will be applied.

This is huge for the most of the developers. The change from 30% to 15% cut, by then increases developers revenue for about 20%.

ARM Macs delivers

Apple started shipping new ARM powered Macs and the first benchmarks started showing up. It looks like, all Apple claims about new hardware are true. New macs are not only the fastest, but also super efficient, which improves battery life. Now, the only thing that might stop a customer from choosing an ARM mac is a software compatibility. But even that should not be a big issue for the most users. And if a particular application is not ready yet, it should be very soon.

Dope links

Image credits: NASA/SpaceX

Weekly Digest - 2020.44

1 November 2020

Mandalorian Season 2

It's finally here. Mando is on a quest of uniting the Child with its kind. And if rumors are true, he will meet interesting characters along the way. First episode started very strong. If the rest of the episodes are on the same level, we will have superb season ahead of us. This is the way.

SpaceX 100 successful launches

SpaceX reached 100 successful launches with latest Starlink mission. It all started in September 2008 with flight of a Falcon 1 booster. Twelve years later, SpaceX has a fleet of reusable Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy rockets, that not only sent cargo into space, but also humans.

If everything will go according to SpaceX's plans, then we might see 200th launch within next 3 years.

Dope links

Image credits: Lucasfilm

Weekly Digest - 2020.31

3 August 2020

Nasa launched Mars 2020 Perseverance Rover

Mars 2020 rover launched from Cape Canaveral on Thursday, and if everything goes as planned, the rove will land on Red Planed on 18 February 2021.

It's mission includes studying Mars' habitability, seeking signs of past microbial life, collecting and caching samples, and preparing for future human missions.

The rover itself is the most sophisticated ever created. It's tightly packed with latest technologies, including a freaking helicopter 🚀.

Crew Dragon returned home

SpaceX's Crew Dragon Demo-2 mission has successfully ended after 63 days. Capsule Endeavour, with Douglas Hurley and Robert Behnken onboard, undocked from International Space Station on August 1st. After 19 hours of deorbiting, capsule splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico.

Mission that started on May 30th is a huge success for the SpaceX and Nasa. SpaceX proved that a private company can launch man into space and safely bring them home. Not only that, they can do this much more cheaper, thanks to the reusable rockets.

Hopefully, launching men into space, not only by private companies, will become more frequent. At the moment, the next crew mission is planned for the end of September.

Apple Testifies in U.S. Antitrust Hearing

In last couple of month there was a lot of going on regarding Apple's 30% cut in the AppStore. Already EU commission is investigating the issue, now also US government started. You can read the coverage of the testimony here, but long story short, Apple is convinced they are right, despite some contradicting evidence.

iPhone 12 delayed!

Apple's CFO Luca Maestri confirmed rumors about iPhone 12 delay. During earnings call, Maestri shared that new device won't be available late September, but a few weeks later. Although the launch of the headset is delayed, Apple is still expected to unveil the device during an event in September.