The UK is inviting Elon Musk to discuss his plans for Twitter

Elon Musk’s $44 billion Twitter acquisition hasn’t even been finalized yet, but UK’s MPs are already inviting him to discuss the changes he wants to implement for the website. The UK House of Commons Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) Select Committee MPs told Musk in a letter (PDF) that they’re particularly interested in hearing about his intention to roll out verification for all users. They said it echoes their calls on the government as part of a proposed legislation. 

Committee Chairperson Julian Knight also wrote:

“Our 2020 Report on Misinformation in the Covid ‘Infodemic’ called for greater transparency of bots and automated and spam accounts, whilst our recent Report on the UK’s Online Safety Bill discussed ways to balance civil liberties like freedom of expression with the need to tackle pernicious, pervasive online child sexual exploitation and abuse.”

That suggests that the MPs are looking to discuss the balance between freedom of speech and censorship on the platform and how Musk plans to tackle it. The multi-company exec previously described himself as a “free-speech absolutist,” and it remains to be see if and how that will change Twitter’s moderation practices. 

Twitter under Musk might start charging users to embed tweets from verified accounts, according to a report from Reuters. He also reportedly suggested changes to Twitter Blue, the website’s subscription service, to make it more appealing to paying users. In addition, he reportedly floated the idea of job cuts in talks with banks to secure financing for his buyout. More recently, he tweeted that the website will remain free for casual users, but that it might start charging commercial entities and government agencies.

The MPs letter is only an invitation, however, and Musk isn’t legally required to attend. Their committee has a history of summoning CEOs that don’t show up, but that hasn’t stopped them from trying to get execs to talk. Meta chief Mark Zuckerberg, for instance, previously refused their requests and only sent a representative to appear before the committee.

Samsung’s new phone storage standard is twice as fast

Samsung has introduced the latest iteration of its Universal Flash Storage product, which it says is much, much faster than its predecessor. The UFS specification was already developed to enable SSD speeds for cameras, phones and other devices, but this version — called UFS 4.0 — has a speed that reaches 23.2Gbps per lane. That’s double the speed of UFS 3.1, the standard used by Samsung’s S22 flagship phones. The tech giant says its huge bandwidth makes it perfect for 5G smartphones that typically require huge amounts of data processing. Samsung also expects it to be adopted for use in the automotive industry, as well as for augmented and virtual reality devices.

The flash storage features Samsung’s 7th-generation V-NAND solution and proprietary controller, and the company says those help it deliver sequential read speeds of up to 4,200MB/s and sequential write speeds of up to 2,800MB/s. It’s a lot more power efficient, as well, with a 46 percent improvement over the previous generation that could translate to longer battery life. Samsung’s USF 4.0 devices will have max measurements of 11mm x 13mm x 1mm and will come in several capacities up to 1TB.

The company will begin mass producing UFS 4.0 storage products in the third quarter of 2022. Right now, Samsung says it’s “collaborating with smartphone and consumer device manufacturers globally” and “working vigorously to foster an ecosystem for UFS 4.0 to drive the market for high-performance mobile storage solutions.”

YouTube Go will no longer be available starting this August

YouTube Go is going away for good in August. The YouTube Team has announced that it’s retiring the lightweight alternative to its main app, mainly because it has become unnecessary over the years. YouTube developed the Go application for users where connectivity is spotty, mobile data prices are prohibitive and low-end phones that couldn’t run the main app as well as more expensive devices could were common. The team explained that since Go was first launched in 2016, YouTube has rolled out a number of performance improvements to the main app.

Some of those upgrades allow the main app to run more efficiently on entry-level devices and for people with slow networks. The team says it’s also working on new controls that would help people lower their mobile data usage if they have limited access to it, though it didn’t say when the new feature will be available. It’s now advising Go users to download the main application, which unlike the lightweight version allows people to comment, post, create content and use the dark theme.

YouTube Go was initially available in India and Indonesia before making its way out of beta and into wide release back in 2017. In 2018, YouTube rolled it out to over 130 countries, so more users can download the 10MB app. Now it’s time to bid it farewell. As 9to5Google notes, this raises questions about the need for Android Go in the future. The OS allows cheap phones to run faster, but there may come a time when the main Android platform can run as efficiently on low-end devices. 

Amazon will reimburse employee travel for abortions and non-life threatening treatments

Amazon already has a policy in place to reimburse employees up to $10,000 for travel expenses if they’re having treatments for life-threatening issues. Now, it has also introduced a policy that will benefit those seeking other kinds of treatment. According to Reuters, the e-commerce giant has told its employees in the US that it will offer up to $4,000 in annual travel reimbursements for non-life threatening medical treatments, including cellular gene therapies, substance-abuse disorder services and abortions. 

Politico recently obtained an initial draft majority opinion written by Justice Samuel Alito, showing that the Supreme Court has voted to overturn the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion across the US. If Roe v. Wade truly gets overturned, then it’s up to local state governments to decide whether to legalize or restrict abortion — and conservative states like Alabama, where Amazon has facilities, are expected to limit access to the procedure. 

Reuters says Amazon will reimburse travel under the new policy if a procedure is not available within 100 miles of an employees’ home and long-distance/virtual treatment isn’t possible. It will apply to both office and warehouse employees, as well as their dependents enrolled in Premera or Aetna health plans. It will also be retroactively applied to eligible travel that took place within this year, starting on January 1st. As the news organization notes, it shows Amazon’s efforts when it comes to retaining and attracting talent for the company.

That said, Amazon has also recently ended its paid COVID leave policy for workers. It will no longer pay time off for workers that test positive for the virus and will only offer them up to five days of unpaid leave going forward.

Listen to the sound of a black hole feeding on stellar material

A team of MIT scientists is looking for black hole echoes in an effort to shed some light on the regions of spacetime that largely remain a mystery to us. See, black holes only show any semblance of activity when they feed on gas and dust from one of their orbiting stars. When they do, they give off bursts of X-ray light that echo off the gas being consumed and which illuminate their surroundings. That’s what a black hole echo is. While it’s technically an X-ray echo, the team worked with MIT education and music scholars to turn the emission into audible sound waves you can listen to below.

For their new study, the astronomers developed an automated search tool called “Reverberation Machine” to comb through data gathered by NASA’s Neutron star Interior Composition Explorer, the X-ray telescope aboard the ISS. Their algorithm identified 26 black hole X-ray binary systems, which are systems with a star that’s being consumed by a black hole at times. Ten of them are close enough for the echoes to be observable, and eight were previously not known to emit echoes. 

So what did the team find out by analyzing the echoes? They found that the black holes initially go through a “hard” state upon feeding, wherein it forms a corona of high-energy photons and launches a jet of high-energy particles close to the speed of light. This state lasts for several weeks. After one last high-energy flash when the corona and jet die out, the black hole enters a “soft,” low-energy state. 

The scientists believe that these findings can help explain how supermassive black holes at the center of galaxies can help shape their formation. As Erin Kara, assistant professor of physics at MIT, said:

“The role of black holes in galaxy evolution is an outstanding question in modern astrophysics. Interestingly, these black hole binaries appear to be ‘mini’ supermassive black holes, and so by understanding the outbursts in these small, nearby systems, we can understand how similar outbursts in supermassive black holes affect the galaxies in which they reside.”

Rocket Lab captures booster in mid-air with a helicopter for the first time

Rocket Lab has taken a huge step towards making its Electron orbital launch vehicle a reusable rocket. The company has successfully captured Electron’s first stage mid-air with a helicopter for the first time upon its return to Earth after deploying 34 satellites to orbit. To ensure that the first stage will survive its re-entry into the atmosphere, Rocket Lab re-oriented it into the ideal angle that would give it the best chances to withstand tremendous heat and pressure. A drogue parachute then deployed to increase drag before the main parachute opened up in the final part of its descent.

The company sent a Sikorsky S-92 helicopter to rendezvous with the returning stage at 6,500 feet in the air, using a hook on a cable to capture the booster’s parachute line. While the catch was a success, Rocket Lab CEO Peter Beck said on Twitter that the pilots weren’t happy with the way the booster was hanging below the helicopter and opted to drop it into the ocean. It was eventually retrieved and loaded onto a vessel for transport back to Rocket Lab’s HQ for re-flight assessment. 

Rocket Lab says the test gave its helicopter pilot “different load characteristics than previously experienced in testing” and will provide important information for future helicopter captures. The goal is to be able to grab the booster mid-air and bring it straight back to land instead of having to drop it into the sea, since salt water could damage the booster. If the company successfully proves that it can reuse its boosters similar to what SpaceX can do, it can ramp up launch frequency and reduce mission costs for small satellites.

Rocket Lab CEO Peter Beck said:

“Bringing a rocket back from space and catching it with a helicopter is something of a supersonic ballet. A tremendous number of factors have to align and many systems have to work together flawlessly, so I am incredibly proud of the stellar efforts of our Recovery Team and all of our engineers who made this mission and our first catch a success. From here we’ll assess the stage and determine what changes we might want to make to the system and procedures for the next helicopter catch and eventual re-flight.”

The company has another launch scheduled for May, but it’s unclear if it will attempt another helicopter recovery.

New York lawmakers want to limit warehouse productivity quotas

New York State Senator Jessica Ramos and Assembly Member Latoya Joyner have introduced a new bill meant to limit production quotas for warehouse workers. The bill, called the Warehouse Worker Protection Act, takes aim at Amazon’s labor practices. It expands upon and strengthens the language of a similar bill in California that was signed into law back in 2021, making the state the first in the US to have legislation that regulates warehouse quotas.

Productivity quotas prevent workers from complying with safety standards and contribute to rising injury rates in warehouse, Ramos notes in a statement. She explains that if the bill passes, it can “ease the bargaining process” for workers seeking to make demands for health purposes in their workplace. Warehouses will have to go through an ergonomic assessment of all tasks if the bill becomes a law, and companies could face penalties if they’re found to be lacking. The New York State Department of Labor will enforce rules established under the bill. 

As Motherboard reports, the Warehouse Worker Protection Act will require employers with at least 50 employees in a single warehouse or 500 workers statewide to describe their productivity quotas in a written description. They also have to explain how their quotas are developed and how they can be used for disciplinary purposes. If the bill passes, it can make sure employees are giving their workers bathroom breaks and rest periods, as well.

Amazon made it to the National Council for Occupational Safety and Health’s most dangerous workplaces in the US for the third time this year. The advocacy group included Amazon for having an injury rate more than double the industry average and highlighted the deaths that took place in its facility in Bessemer, Alabama. Workers’ rights advocates also recently accused the e-commerce giant of using its charity work placement scheme to conceal true injury rates in its warehouses.

Intel CEO says chip shortage could continue until 2024

Experts and tech industry veterans have long expected the global semiconductor shortage to last for years, but Intel chief Pat Gelsinger now says it could go on longer than previously expected. The CEO told CNBC’s TechCheck that he expects the issue to drag on until 2024, because the shortage has now hit equipment manufacturing. That could make it difficult for companies to obtain key manufacturing tools and hit production goals that might be bigger than before due to growing demand. 

Gelsinger told the publication:

“That’s part of the reason that we believe the overall semiconductor shortage will now drift into 2024, from our earlier estimates in 2023, just because the shortages have now hit equipment and some of those factory ramps will be more challenged.”

Lockdowns tied to the COVID-19 pandemic had severely impacted the chip industry at a time when demand was ramping up. It forced not just tech companies, but also automakers like GM and Ford, to limit and even to suspend production. Apple’s MacBook and iPad shipments faced delays due to component shortages, and smartphone shipments in general fell in late 2021. This negative impact on the tech and auto industries translated to devastating economic consequences — according to CBS News, the global chip shortage cost the United States $240 billion in 2021 based on expert estimates.

Gelsinger previously said that he believes the situation will last until 2023, which falls in line with analysts’ and other industry execs’ expectations. After Gelsinger became Intel’s CEO, the company had announced several massive investments meant to expand chip manufacturing outside Asia. (To note, a Bloomberg report from back in late 2021 claimed that the White House “strongly discouraged” Intel from ramping up its chip production in China.) Intel said it’s spending $20 billion to build two chip factories in Arizona, and another $20 billion at least to build “the largest silicon manufacturing location on the planet” in Ohio.

Apple extends update deadline for outdated apps in danger of being deleted

Apple recently sent notices to some indie developers, warning them that their app will be pulled from the App Store if it’s not updated within 30 days. The tech giant has had a policy in place against outdated and abandoned applications since 2016, but the move suggests that it’s now more rigorously enforcing that rule. Some of the letters’ recipients criticized the policy for being a barrier to indie developers, what with how tough it is to keep up with platform changes and how much work it takes to roll out even a minor update. Now, Apple has published a post clarifying why some old apps are in danger of being removed, along with the announcement that it’s giving developers more time to update their applications. 

In the post, the company said that it will only send removal notices to developers whose apps haven’t been updated in three years, as well as to devs whose apps have not “been downloaded at all or extremely few times during a rolling 12 month period.” Apple said that dropping outdated apps makes newer ones more discoverable and also ensures users can enjoy games and tools that have been optimized for its latest OS and devices. 

As a lot of people know, there are older apps don’t work as well on the latest generation of phones, tablets and laptops anymore, delivering a subpar user experience. Still, 30 days might not be nowhere near enough time for smaller developers to conjure up an update. The good news is that Apple has extended its grace period and is now giving them up to 90 days to update their applications. Users will get to keep apps that are already installed on their devices even if they end up getting deleted, and developers can continue earning from them through microtransactions. 

NASA photos show the debris Perseverance’s landing left on Mars

Back in February 2021, the Perseverance rover landed on Martian soil after a seven-month journey. A cone-shaped backshell protected it while traveling in deep space and during its fiery descent, while a parachute with a secret message that says “Dare mighty things” slowed it down enough for a safe landing. Perseverance had to leave those components behind when it started roaming the planet. On April 19th, the rover’s companion helicopter, the Ingenuity, took photos of the debris left on the landing site — and now NASA has shared images showing what it looks like.

JPL’s Ian Clark said Perseverance had the best-documented landing in history so far, but Ingenuity’s photos offer a different perspective that could help ensure safer landing for future spacecraft. That includes the Mars Sample Return Lander mission, which will retrieve the samples Perseverance collects so they could be sent back to Earth for analysis. The program’s engineers were the ones who asked whether Ingenuity can take photos of the debris.

“If [the images] either reinforce that our systems worked as we think they worked or provide even one dataset of engineering information we can use for Mars Sample Return planning, it will be amazing. And if not, the pictures are still phenomenal and inspiring,” Clark explained. 

In the photo above, you’ll see what remains of the backshell and the overall result of the spacecraft hitting the surface at 78 mph. NASA notes that the shell’s protective coating remains intact, and so are the suspension lines linking the shell to the parachute that’s now buried in dirt. The agency’s scientists will analyze the images over the next weeks to determine a final verdict, which will likely include information that could aid future missions.