Tag: starts
Covid inquiry starts to examine Boris Johnson’s pandemic decisions
Mercedes-Benz starts production of its first electric SUV in the US
Mercedes-Benz has officially launched production of its all-electric EQS SUV at its Tuscaloosa, Alabama production plant, the company announced today. Earlier this year the German automaker previewed the vehicle — its very first electric SUV — and promised it would be built in the US and available later this fall. While supply chain bottlenecks have delayed launches of other new EVs, Mercedes has a couple of factors working in its favor. The company already secured its battery materials by partnering with the Canadian government this month. It also plans to produce its batteries locally, at its own factory in nearby Bibb County, Alabama.
Our preview of the EQS SUV noted that its battery range works out to a little over 300 miles. The automaker has yet to disclose the price of the car, which, as Electreknotes, will determine whether the SUV is eligible for a 2023 EV tax credit or not. Currently, new SUVs must be assembled in North America and priced under $80,000 to qualify for next year’s tax credit. Given that Mercedes’ EQS sedan started at a little over $103,000, it’s probably safe to say that the price of its new electric SUV will trump that — and won’t qualify for any tax rebates. Seems like EQS SUV drivers will have to resign themselves to saving money on fuel.
Corsair Voyager a1600 gaming laptop launches, pricing starts at $2,699
The Corsair Voyager a1600 gaming laptop is now available, following a surprise launch event hosted by the company earlier today. There are four SKUs to choose from, each packing an AMD Radeon RX 6800M GPU and pricing starts from $2,699 USD / £2,699.99 GBP / €3,299.99.
RELATED LINKS: Corsair HS70 headset review, Corsair K70 RGB Mk2 review, Best gaming keyboard
Airbnb starts testing anti-party tech in the US and Canada
Airbnb is starting to test anti-party technology in the US and Canada. It announced a permanent ban on all parties and events at host properties worldwide back in June. Airbnb brought in such rules on a temporary basis after the COVID-19 pandemic hit to abide by social distancing restrictions.
The company began trialing similar tech in Australia last October. Airbnb says it was able to reduce the number of unauthorized parties in areas where it was using the tools by 35 percent. It’s now rolling out the system more broadly in that country.
The anti-party tools look at several factors to detect “potentially high-risk reservations.” They consider elements such as how long the prospective guest has had an Airbnb account, how far away the listing is from where they’re based and their history of positive reviews. The system will also bear in mind the length of the trip and whether someone is trying to make a booking during the week or over the weekend.
It may, for instance, flag a planned stay of one or two nights over a weekend in the same city where the guest lives. Airbnb says that users who are precluded from staying at an entire home because of these measures can still book a hotel room or a private room. The host is more likely to be at the property in the latter case.
The company says it’s trying to tackle unauthorized parties to the best of its ability. This system builds on tools that had a narrower focus on guests aged under 25, particularly those who wanted to stay nearby and didn’t have positive reviews. Airbnb notes that the tools can’t entirely prevent parties from taking place at listings. It has a tip line for neighbors to contact staff if they believe a party is taking place at a nearby host property or they have other concerns.
“We anticipate that this new system will help prevent more bad actors on our platform while having less of a blunt impact on guests who are not trying to throw a party,” Airbnb wrote in a blog post. “While we are consistently willing to make trade-offs in the interests of building trust, our goal is to make these systems as precise and fair as possible to support our hosts and guests.” Looking ahead, the company says it will detail the results of the test in the US and Canada and reveal other measures it plans to take to stamp out unauthorized parties.
NASA’s first 4 miles to the moon starts today. Here’s how to watch.
NASA has never stopped sending probes into the cosmos, but it is about to renew its legacy as human deep space explorers.
The U.S. space agency will take its mega moon rocket out of storage on Tuesday before its inaugural Artemis I mission, an uncrewed expedition around the moon, which is scheduled to leave Earth as early as Aug. 29.
The first leg of that trip, which NASA hasn’t undertaken since the last Apollo mission in 1972, starts Tuesday with the slow crawl of the rocket and spacecraft to the launchpad in Cape Canaveral, Florida.
Mission leaders refer to this final rollout as “the first four miles of NASA’s return to the moon,” said Michael Bolger, exploration ground systems manager at Kennedy Space Center, in a news briefing earlier this year.
As of 4:30 p.m. ET, the ground crew had opened the enormous Wizard of Oz-like bay doors on the Vehicle Assembly Building to let the beast out.
Watch a live broadcast of the skyscraper on wheels below or on NASA’s Kennedy Space Center YouTube channel. The livestream began at 3 p.m. ET on Aug. 16, with the roll beginning at about 9 p.m. ET:
Here’s what the imposing behemoth looked like moving down the “crawlerway” in March for a launch rehearsal.
Credit: NASA / Kim Shiflett
It’s been a long time since NASA had a rocket of this magnitude, capable of sending heavy loads of cargo and astronauts into deep space. Not only is the 32-story, 5.75 million-pound rocket — officially known as the Space Launch System or SLS — built to travel to the moon, it’s expected to one day send the first crewed flight to Mars. Robotic scientific journeys to Saturn and Jupiter also could be in its future.
Artemis I, the first in a series of planned voyages named after the Greek goddess and twin of Apollo, is a more than $4 billion launch to fly the Orion capsule farther than any spacecraft built for humans has ever flown.
Though this test mission won’t include astronauts, the 42-day spaceflight will allow the United States to send a crew on the next, more complex mission, Artemis II. The first moonwalk of a woman and person of color is expected to happen during Artemis III, planned for around 2026.
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For Artemis I, an uncrewed Orion will fly a total of some 1.3 million miles, including 40,000 miles beyond the moon as it tests different orbits. Forty-two days after liftoff, the capsule will splash down in the Pacific Ocean. A primary purpose of this first mission is to test Orion’s ability to safely reenter Earth’s atmosphere and drop into the correct spot for the Navy to recover, said Bill Nelson, NASA’s administrator.
“After its long flight test, Orion will come home faster and hotter than any spacecraft has before. It’s coming back at 32 Mach [speed]. It’s going to hit the Earth’s atmosphere at 32 times the speed of sound. It’s going to dip into the atmosphere and bleed off some of that speed before it starts descending through the atmosphere,” said the former astronaut during a briefing on Aug. 3. “On the Space Shuttle, we were at 25 Mach, which is about 17,500 miles an hour.”
But the mega moon rocket has to warm up to that. It’ll never travel over 1 mph on its crawl to the launchpad.
Basilisk (BSX) starts trading on Kraken today – deposit now
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Uber starts showing more US drivers how much they will earn on potential trips
Uber has launched a couple of features designed to improve the experience of and increase transparency for drivers. A few months ago, the ride-hailing giant started piloting a feature called “Upfront Fares” in a handful of cities. Now it’s expanding its availability and rolling it out to most of the US over the coming months. When they get access to the features, drivers will see how much they’ll earn and where they’re going for a trip on the request screen before they accept the booking.
According to the Help page explaining how Upfront Fares work, Uber calculates the amount it shows using several factors, “including base fares, estimated trip length and duration, pickup distance and surge pricing.” Uber will also show drivers the cross streets closest to the pick up and drop-off points to help them make a decision. In addition, Uber will also expand the availability of “Trip Radar,” a feature that shows drivers a list of possible trips nearby, along with Upfront Fares. They’ll still get individual trip requests, but now they can pick another booking that might suit them better.
Uber is positioning these new features as a way to support its drivers, but as Axios notes, the impact they may have on customers remains unclear. They could end up being misused and lead to the increase of rider and trip discrimination if drivers look at them as tools to avoid specific neighborhoods. That said, the features could also prevent canceled trips, because they allow drivers to make a conscious decision when accepting trips.
The company has also launched a new Uber Pro debit card that will enable drivers to earn cashbacks for getting gas at select stations. Back in March, Uber added a fuel surcharge to rides and deliveries, as well, to help drivers keep up with skyrocketing gas prices.