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Virgin Galactic leases part of the facility. The flight marked a long-delayed breakthrough for Virgin Galactic Holding Inc (SPCE.N), finally inaugurating commercial service after nearly 20 years of fraught by development setbacks. Rounding out the crew was their Virgin Galactic trainer, Colin Bennett, the company's lead "astronaut instructor," and Unity's two pilots, Michael Masucci and Nicola Pecile. Virgin Galactic said Unity topped out its flight at an altitude of nearly 52.9 miles (85.1 km). An earlier prototype of the Virgin Galactic rocket plane crashed during a test flight over California's Mojave Desert in 2014, killing one pilot and seriously injuring another.

Persons: Richard Branson, Joe, Branson, Burt Rutan, Jeff Bezos's, Elon Musk's, Walter Villadei, Angelo Landolfi, Pantaleone, Colin Bennett, Michael Masucci, Nicola Pecile, Bezos, Shepard rocketship, Jose Luis Gonzalez, Steve Gorman, Will Dunham, Nick Zieminski Organizations: Virgin, REUTERS, Virgin Galactic, National Research Council, VSS Unity, America, Galactic, Virgin Galactic Holding Inc, . Virgin, Elon Musk's SpaceX, Italian Air Force, International Space, Air Force, Unity, NASA, U.S . Air Force, Thomson Locations: New Mexico, U.S, Italy, Mexico, Italian, Los Angeles

Virgin Galactic leases part of the facility. The flight marked a long-delayed breakthrough for Virgin Galactic Holding Inc (SPCE.N), finally inaugurating commercial service after nearly 20 years fraught by development setbacks. Virgin Galactic said Unity topped out its flight at an altitude of nearly 52.9 miles (85.1 km). A final crewed test flight to space was conducted with little fanfare five weeks ago. An earlier prototype of the Virgin Galactic rocket plane crashed during a test flight over California's Mojave Desert in 2014, killing one pilot and seriously injuring another.

The flight, dubbed Galactic 01, comes two years after Branson himself rode along with five other Virgin Galactic Holdings Inc (SPCE.N) personnel for the company's first fully crewed test spaceflight of its rocket plane, VSS Unity. Back then, Virgin Galactic officials said they expected to begin regular commercial operations in 2022 following additional test flights. Virgin Galactic had projected booking its first 1,000 paying customers, charging about $250,000 per seat, by the time commercial service opened. An earlier prototype of Virgin Galactic's rocket plane crashed during a test flight over California's Mojave Desert in 2014, killing one pilot and seriously injuring another. Billionaire rival Jeff Bezos, whose astro-tourist venture Blue Origin has already flown several commercial passenger flights, has disparaged Virgin Galactic as falling short of a true spaceflight experience.

Persons: Richard Branson, Joe Skipper, Branson, Walter Villadei, Angelo Landolfi, Pantaleone, Colin Bennett, Michael Masucci, Nicola Pecile, Branson's, Jeff Bezos, Virgin, Shepard rocketship, Jose Luis Gonzalez, Steve Gorman, Will Dunham Organizations: Virgin, Unity, REUTERS, Virgin Galactic, National Research Council, Virgin Galactic Holdings Inc, VSS, Galactic, SpaceX, Origin, Italian Air Force, International Space, Air Force, . Air Force, America, Corporate, NASA, U.S . Air Force, Thomson Locations: New Mexico, U.S, Italy, Mexico, Italian, Branson, Bezos, Los Angeles

REUTERS/Nathan FrandinoMOUNTAIN VIEW, California, June 26 (Reuters) - Google parent Alphabet (GOOGL.O) has already tried and failed to bring internet access to rural and remote areas by using high-altitude balloons in the stratosphere. But now, the company is delivering internet service to remote areas by using beams of light. It was initiated in 2016 after attempts at using stratospheric balloons to deliver internet ran into problems due to high costs, company executives said. Taara executives and Bharti Airtel (BRTI.NS), one of India's largest telecommunications and internet providers, told Reuters they are now moving toward larger-scale deployment of the new laser internet technology in India. Bharti Airtel's chief technology officer, Randeep Sekhon, said Taara will also help deliver faster internet service in urban areas in developed countries.

Persons: Nathan, Mahesh Krishnaswamy, Taara, Krishnaswamy, Astro Teller, moonshots, Teller, Bharti, Randeep Sekhon, Jane Lanhee Lee, Nathan Frandino, Kenneth Li, Matthew Lewis Organizations: REUTERS, Bharti Airtel, Reuters, Econet Group, Liquid Telecom, Bluetown, Digicel, Airtel, Sciences, Bharti Airtel's, Google, Thomson Locations: Alphabet's, View , California, U.S, California, India, Australia, Kenya, Fiji, Africa, Pacific, Osur, Chennai, Mountain View

TOKYO, June 21 (Reuters) - SoftBank Group (9984.T) CEO Masayoshi Son said on Wednesday that his tech investing conglomerate plans to shift its stance to "offence mode" amid excitement over advances in artificial intelligence. "The time has come to shift to offence mode," Son told shareholders at the group's annual general meeting. SoftBank reported a net loss of 970 billion yen ($6.85 billion) for the year ended March 31, cushioning losses at the Vision Fund unit by selling down its stake in Alibaba (9988.HK). SoftBank's liquid assets, which include cash, cash equivalents and an undrawn commitment line, rose to 5.1 trillion yen at March-end compared to 2.9 trillion yen a year earlier. SoftBank aims to list Arm on Nasdaq later this year and is seeking to raise between $8 billion and $10 billion, Reuters has reported.

Persons: Masayoshi Son, Son, SoftBank, Yoshimitsu Goto, ChatGPT, Astro, Tezuka Osamu, Sam Nussey, Anton, Muralikumar Anantharaman, Sonali Paul Organizations: SoftBank, Vision Fund, Vision, HK, Astro Boy, Nasdaq, Reuters, Intel, Thomson Locations: TOKYO, Alibaba

☆ From Titanic tours to space exploration: extreme tourism is on the rise
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-21 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

[1/2] Kukenan (L) and Roraima mounts are seen from the Tec Camp, near Venezuela's border with Brazil January 14, 2015. REUTERS/Carlos Garcia Rawlins/File PhotoJune 21 (Reuters) - The $250,000-a-head expedition that vanished this week en route to the deep-sea wreck of the Titanic ocean liner is just one example of extreme tourism that is becoming more commonplace for those who can afford it. Branson's Virgin Galactic Holdings said last week its first commercial spaceflight, called "Galactic 01", would launch between June 27 and June 30. Before he set his sights on space, Branson was one of an elite group of extreme hot-air balloon travelers, becoming the first to traverse the Pacific Ocean in a balloon in 1991. Reporting by Julia Harte; editing by Donna Bryson and Rosalba O'BrienOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Carlos Garcia Rawlins, Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, Richard Branson, Branson, Arthur Conan Doyle's, Julia Harte, Donna Bryson, Rosalba O'Brien Organizations: Tec, REUTERS, SPACE, Virgin Galactic Holdings, SpaceX, Heli, Thomson Locations: Roraima, Venezuela's, Brazil, Indian Kashmir, India, Pakistan, New Delhi, Mount Roraima, Venezuela

☆ UK clears Amazon's $1.7 billion deal for Roomba-maker iRobot
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-16 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

June 16 (Reuters) - Britain's competition regulator on Friday cleared Amazon.com Inc's (AMZN.O) planned $1.7 billion acquisition of iRobot Corp (IRBT.O), maker of the Roomba vacuum cleaner. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said it had concluded that the deal would not lead to competition concerns in the UK. "We're pleased with the UK Competition and Markets Authority's decision and are committed to supporting regulatory bodies in their work," a spokesperson for Amazon said. The news sent shares in U.S-listed iRobot up 12% in pre-market trade, while Amazon's stock was marginally down. EU antitrust regulators will decide by July 6 whether to clear the deal, while the U.S. Federal Trade Commission is also examining the acquisition.

Persons: We're, Colin Angle, Eva Mathews, Devika Syamnath, Jason Neely Organizations: Amazon.com, iRobot Corp, Markets Authority, Competition, Amazon, CMA, Regulators, Big Tech, U.S . Federal Trade Commission, Thomson Locations: U.S, Bengaluru

☆ Amazon's iRobot deal faces July 6 EU antitrust deadline
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-01 | by ( Foo Yun Chee | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

BRUSSELS, June 1 (Reuters) - EU antitrust regulators will decide by July 6 whether to clear Amazon.com Inc's (AMZN.O) $1.7 billion acquisition of the maker of robot vacuum cleaner iRobot Corp (IRBT.O), according to a European Commission filing on Thursday. The EU competition enforcer can either clear the deal with or without remedies after its preliminary review or it can open a four-month long investigation if it has serious concerns. "We’re working cooperatively with the relevant regulators in their review of this merger," an Amazon spokesperson said. Amazon has said it would continue to supply iRobot products to other retailers and keep them compatible with other companies' voice assistants. Critics say the iRobot acquisition presents a privacy nightmare because it would expand personal home information in the company's arsenal.

Persons: Alexa, Foo Yun Chee, Kirsten Donovan Organizations: Amazon, EU, U.S . Federal Trade Commission, Regulators, Big Tech, Thomson Locations: BRUSSELS

☆ Private astronaut crew, including first Arab woman in orbit, heads for splashdown
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-30 | by ( Steve Gorman | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

REUTERS/Joe Skipper/File... Read moreMay 30 (Reuters) - An all-private astronaut team of two Americans and two Saudis, including the first Arab woman ever sent into orbit, headed for splashdown off Florida's coast on Tuesday, capping an eight-day research mission aboard the International Space Station (ISS). The SpaceX Crew Dragon vessel carrying the foursome, undocked from the ISS late on Tuesday morning to begin its 12-hour return flight. The return flight concludes the second space station mission organized, equipped and trained entirely at private expense by Axiom Space, a 7-year-old Houston-based company headed by NASA's former ISS program manager. In August 2022, Sara Sabry became the first Arab woman and the first Egyptian to fly to space on a brief suborbital ride operated by the Blue Origin astro-tourist venture of Jeff Bezos. NASA furnished the launch site at its Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, and assumed responsibility for the Axiom crew during their stay aboard the space station, orbiting some 250 miles (400 km) above Earth.

Persons: Peggy Whitson, John Shoffner, Ali Alqarni, Joe Skipper, Read, NASA's, Rayyanah Barnawi, Sara Sabry, Jeff Bezos, Barnawi, Sultan Alneyadi, Elon Musk, Steve Gorman, Howard Goller Organizations: International, Kennedy Space Center, REUTERS, Space, SpaceX, ISS, NASA, U.S, Royal Saudi Air Force, United Arab, Twitter, Tesla Inc, Thomson Locations: Saudi Arabia, Florida, U.S, Florida's, Gulf of Mexico, Panama City , Florida, Houston, Alaska, Saudi, Gulf, United Arab Emirates, California, Cape Canaveral , Florida, Los Angeles

☆ Amazon looks to adapt Alexa to the rise of ChatGPT
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-23 | by ( Samantha Murphy Kelly | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

Limp did not elaborate on how generative AI could be used in Alexa products, but there are clear possibilities. The effort to continue updating the technology that powers Alexa comes at a difficult moment for Amazon. The Amazon Echo Pop lineup AmazonBut generative AI remains a key focus for the company. Amazon is also rumored to be planning to use generative AI to bring conversational language to a home robot. The concept remains a “hard technical challenge,” he said, but one that is “more tractable” with generative AI.

Persons: Alexa, ”, Dave Limp, “ We’ve, Limp, “ We’re, Siri, Cortana, ChatGPT, Star ”, “, ” Limp, Andy Jassy, “ There’s Organizations: CNN, Alexa, Big Tech, Amazon, Star, Echo

☆ Amazon VP in charge of the Astro home robot leaves after less than 2 years, leaked email shows
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-15 | by ( Eugene Kim | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Ken Washington, VP of consumer robotics, is leaving Amazon. Amazon's VP of consumer robotics Ken Washington is leaving the company, according to an internal email seen by Insider. At Amazon, he was in charge of the consumer robotics unit, which oversees Astro, the home monitoring robot that remains invite-only 18 months after its launch. Amazon executive Dave Limp AP/Jeff ChiuIn an email to Insider, Amazon's spokesperson confirmed Washington's departure. Amazon's spokesperson told Insider the invite requests for Astro "remain strong" and it plans to add "even more new features."

☆ Amazon is working on a secret AI home robot that can understand things and monitor whether kids had friends over after school
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-15 | by ( Eugene Kim | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Amazon is working on a new home robot that comes with ChatGPT-like AI features. Potential uses include identifying an unattended burning stove, or which of your kids' friends came over after school. The upgrade would be another example of Amazon incorporating generative AI into its productsAmazon's Astro home robot is up for a major upgrade, with ChatGPT-like features that can help it observe and understand things like a human does, Insider has learned. It's also the latest example of Amazon adding generative AI and LLM technology into its existing products and services, following the explosive popularity of chatbot sensation ChatGPT. Burnham may not be limited to just the one robot product either.

☆ 10 Things in Tech: Amazon is offering money to pick up your order, ChatGPT writes a “Succession” scene, and tips from an OnlyFans creator
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-10 | by ( Diamond Naga Siu | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Amazon Astro Amazon1. Internal documents revealed that Amazon plans to make Astro "more intelligent, more useful, and conversational." The project is internally called "Burnham" and is the latest example of Amazon's push to bring AI to its services and products. Internal documents signal that Amazon is pretty confident that this is a major upgrade to the home robot. Amazon is offering $10 for you to pick up your own order.

☆ Fact Check-Video shows astronaut conducting an experiment in front of a grid background
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-09 | by ( Reuters Fact Check | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The grid is used similarly to graph paper to conduct experiments in space, according to the National Space Centre. The first few seconds of the video shows European Space Agency astronaut Tim Peake on the middle screen in the background, in front of a grid background. It shows Peake conducting an experiment with a green ball. “It’s not a chroma key background,” Paul Millington, a representative for the National Space Centre, said in an email to Reuters. The video does not show an astronaut in front of a chroma key background with the purpose of falsifying space travel.

☆ Codename Burnham: Amazon has a secret new home robot with ChatGPT-like features that understands a lot more of its surroundings.
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-09 | by ( Eugene Kim | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Amazon is working on an upgraded version of its home robot Astro, powered by 'Burnham' technology. The robot has ChatGPT-like features, using large language models and other advanced AI. This is a new phase for Astro and the latest example of Amazon adding AI models to existing products. In one of these documents related to Burnham, Amazon describes an Astro product that costs $995. As LLMs were growing in scale, they started demonstrating "emergent skills in both inference and problem-solving," one of the Amazon documents stated.

☆ K-pop singer Moonbin, member of boy band Astro, dies aged 25
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-20 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

SEOUL, April 20 (Reuters) - South Korean singer Moonbin, a member of K-pop boy band Astro, has died at the age of 25, his music label Fantagio said on Thursday. Mooonbin was a child actor before making his debut as a member of Astro in 2016. Local media reported that the singer was found dead at his home in the Gangnam district of Seoul and that suicide was suspected. Following the news about the death of Moonbin, "all idols" trended on Twitter in South Korea. In 2017, Kim Jong-hyun, the lead singer of top South Korean boy band SHINee died in an apparent suicide aged 27.

REUTERS/Joe SkipperLOS ANGELES, April 20 (Reuters) - The spectacular explosion of SpaceX's new Starship rocket minutes after it soared off its launch pad on a first flight test is the latest vivid illustration of a "successful failure" business formula that serves Elon Musk's company well, experts said on Thursday. PRACTICE MAKES PERFECTAt least two experts in aerospace engineering and planetary science who spoke with Reuters agreed that the test flight delivered benefits. "This is a classical SpaceX successful failure," said Garrett Reisman, an astronautical engineering professor at the University of Southern California who is a former NASA astronaut and is also a senior adviser to SpaceX. Reisman called the Starship test flight a hallmark of a SpaceX strategy that sets Musk's company apart from traditional aerospace companies and even NASA by "this embracing of failure when the consequences of failure are low." She said the risks of a single flight test were small in comparison to the ambitious gains at stake.

☆ Moonbin, Member of K-Pop Band ASTRO, Dies at 25
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-19 | by ( Livia Albeck-Ripka | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Moonbin, a member of the K-pop band ASTRO, died on Wednesday at his home in Seoul. The pop star’s death was confirmed by the band and its management agency in a statement in Korean posted to Twitter. “On April 19, ASTRO member Moonbin suddenly left us and has now become a star in the sky,” the agency said. Moonbin, born Jan. 26, 1998, was an actor, dancer and model as well as a singer, who also performed as part of the band Moonbin & Sanha. ASTRO, originally a six-person male K-Pop group, shot to fame in 2016 with their debut EP “Spring Up.” They were named to Billboard’s top 10 list of new K-Pop groups that year.

CNN —K-pop star Moon Bin, a member of the boy band Astro, has died at the age of 25, his music label Fantagio said Thursday. Members of K-pop band Astro, Yoon San-Ha, MJ, Moon Bin, Cha Eun-Woo, attend the 26th High1 Seoul Music Awards at Jamsil Arena on January 19, 2017. The Chosunilbo JNS/ImaZinS/Getty ImagesMoon Bin debuted with Astro in 2016. The other members of the group are Jinjin, MJ, Cha Eun-woo and Yoon San-ha. Moon Bin also performed as part of a subgroup called Moon Bin & Sanha, which toured in Asia in recent months.

☆ MSCHF's latest release is a double-ended sneaker that makes fun of our obsession with putting shoes on fast
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-11 | by ( Danni Santana | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

The MSCHF BWD releases April 11 via a one-hour draw on the art collective's website and mobile app. Actor and music artist Donald Glover sported the MSCHF BWD shoes at a recent NBA game. Similar to its Big Red Boot release in February, MSCHF organized a photoshoot for the new BWD sneaker. MSCHFMSCHF additionally commissioned a photo shoot of a model wearing the BWD shoes around New York City. But not all of MSCHF's creations are as wacky as that, or even its upcoming BWD shoes.

WASHINGTON, Feb 9 (Reuters) - Blue Origin, the private space company founded by billionaire Jeff Bezos, was awarded its first interplanetary NASA contract on Thursday to launch a mission next year to study the magnetic field around Mars, the U.S. space agency and company said. Blue Origin has flown previous NASA missions with its smaller, suborbital New Shepard rocket, which can carry research payloads on short, microgravity trips to the edge of space and back. Blue Origin, known for its astro-tourism business for wealthy customers and celebrities, is one of 13 firms NASA chose last year for its Venture-class Acquisition of Dedicated and Rideshare missions (VADR) program. VADR essentially is intended to spur private development of private space launch vehicles by assigning lower-cost NASA science missions to new rockets with an unproven record and higher chance of failure. Blue Origin also declined to discuss financial details.

☆ Why these absurd red boots are suddenly all over TikTok and Twitter — and listing for as much as $1,000 on StockX
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-08 | by ( Danni Santana | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

MSCHF's oversized big red boots, releasing on February 16, have taken social media by storm. The latest viral release from the company is their "Big Red Boot," which goes on sale February 16 for $350. In a release describing the boots, MSCHF said the boots were made of TPUrubber shell, EVA foam, along with 'Red' and 'Big.' MSCHF calls these shoes "Cartoon boots for a Cool 3D World." Big Red Boots are REALLY not shaped like feet, but they are EXTREMELY shaped like boots."

☆ Samsung launches new Galaxy S23 smartphone lineup with improved camera, gaming capabilities
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-01 | by ( Ryan Browne | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

The Galaxy S23 smartphone lineup features three new models: the standard S23, a slightly more expensive S23+ and the top-of-the-line S23 Ultra. Samsung typically releases its flagship Galaxy S models in the first half of the year and its Galaxy Z line of folding phones in the second half. The S23 Ultra houses a huge 5,000 mAh, or milliampere hour, battery. The S23 Plus and S23 come with 4,700 mAh and 3,900 mAh batteries, respectively. Users can also pair the Book3 with Samsung tablets to use the latter as a second screen, Samsung said.

☆ We got an exclusive look at the pitch deck Y Combinator alum Howdy, a workplace hiring startup, used to raise $18 million
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-12 | by ( Madeline Renbarger | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Howdy is a workplace staffing startup that matches developers in Latin America with jobs in the US. Now, the company has raised a total of $18 million for its Series A round and extension. Howdy also offers mentorship services for its developers to help bridge any cultural gap they may have at their new workplace. Greycroft also participated in the round, Samira told Insider. Check out the 31-slide pitch deck that Howdy used to raise $18 million:

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