Long-time Slashdot reader AmiMoJo shares this report from Ars Technica: Amazon's competitor to SpaceX Starlink is moving through the prototype-development phase, with the company announcing yesterday that it has "completed initial development on the antenna for our low-cost customer terminal." Amazon said its "Ka-band phased-array antenna is based on a new architecture capable of delivering high-speed, low-latency broadband in a form factor that is smaller and lighter than legacy antenna designs" and the "prototype is already delivering speeds up to 400Mbps." Performance will get better in future versions, Amazon said.

Amazon in July received Federal Communications Commission approval to launch 3,236 low-Earth orbit satellites. The company says it plans to invest over $10 billion in its satellite-broadband division, which it calls Project Kuiper... Amazon didn't provide any updates on when Kuiper will be ready for customers. FCC rules give Amazon six years to launch and operate 50 percent of its licensed satellites, with a deadline date of July 30, 2026. Amazon would have to launch the rest of the licensed satellites by July 30, 2029. Amazon previously said it plans to offer broadband to customers "once the first 578 satellites are launched."
"Custom-built antenna architecture will allow Amazon to deliver a small, affordable customer terminal to connect unserved and underserved communities around the world," explains Amazon's announcement.

Facebook added banner ads criticizing Apple into some of its iOS apps, 9to5Mac reports, in its ongoing war against Apple's new privacy changes: By tapping the Learn More button, the app opens an article written by Facebook in which the company says Apple's policies announced at WWDC 2020 with iOS 14 will "harm the growth of business and the free internet." Facebook refers both to the new App Store privacy labels and also an option in iOS 14 that prevents apps from tracking users.

The fact that Facebook is now showing these messages in its iOS apps criticizing Apple demonstrates that the company is trying to get popular appeal to change Apple's mind about its new App Store privacy rules. That's because Facebook is one of the companies that will be most impacted by Apple's new privacy policies as its social networks rely heavily on ads and personal data from users.

In a statement to 9to5Mac, Apple said it doesn't want to force Facebook to change its business model, but the company expects Facebook to be more transparent about how it collects data from users and let them choose whether or not to offer such data.

Slashdot reader destinyland writes: The U.S. Space Force celebrated its one-year anniversary Friday with a new announcement: that members of this branch of the military will be referred to as "guardians." They're describing it as "A name chosen by space professionals, for space professionals." The site Space.com notes that the phrase is a nod to the original long-standing "Space Command" branch of the Air Force (founded in 1982), whose motto had been "Guardians of the High Frontier."

In other news, the Space Force now has one member who is actually in outer space — astronaut Michael Hopkins. Launched by SpaceX to the International Space Station in the Crew-1 capsule, Hopkins agreed to join the Space Force in a ceremony in space which a Space Force official said would "spotlight the decades-long partnership" between NASA and America's Defense Department (which oversees its armed forces).

NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine pointed out that 60% of the astronaut corps comes from the military, according to Space.com, which adds that "At least one other member of NASA's active astronaut corps, Air Force Col. Nick Hague, has also requested to transfer to the Space Force."

Boeing officials "inappropriately coached" test pilots during recertification efforts after two fatal 737 MAX crashes killed 346 people, according to a lengthy congressional report released on Friday. Reuters reports: The report from the Senate Commerce Committee Republican staff said testing this year of a key safety system known as MCAS tied to both fatal crashes was contrary to proper protocol. The committee concluded Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and Boeing officials "had established a pre-determined outcome to reaffirm a long-held human factor assumption related to pilot reaction time ... It appears, in this instance, FAA and Boeing were attempting to cover up important information that may have contributed to the 737 MAX tragedies."

The report citing a whistleblower who alleged Boeing officials encouraged test pilots to "remember, get right on that pickle switch" prior to the exercise that resulted in pilot reaction in approximately four seconds, while another pilot in a separate test reacted in approximately 16 seconds. The report also noted Southwest Airlines was able to operate more than 150,000 flights carrying 17.2 million passengers on jets without confirmation that required maintenance had been completed. The Senate report said the Southwest flights "put millions of passengers at potential risk." Boeing said Friday it takes "seriously the committee's findings and will continue to review the report in full."

Apple, Google, Microsoft and Mozilla have teamed up to block the Kazakhstan government's attempts to force its citizens to install a "national security certificate" on every internet-capable device in the country. "That government-issued root certificate would allow authorities to keep tabs on people's online traffic, essentially becoming a back door to access citizens' data," reports Engadget. From the report: In its announcement, Mozilla said it was recently informed that ISPs in Kazakhstan have recently started telling customers that they're required to install the digital certificate to be able to access foreign websites. ZDNet reported earlier this month that Kazakh IPS have been cutting people's access to websites like Google, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Netflix unless they install the certificate.

When users in Kazakhstan who complied with their ISPs' demand try to access websites on their devices, they'll get an error telling them that the certificate shouldn't be trusted. The companies are also encouraging those users to research the use if VPN or the Tor Browser for web browsing and to change the passwords for their accounts. The Kazakhstan's government made a similar attempt back in 2015 and then again in 2019, but tech giants did what they're doing now to put a stop to those plans.

The Justice Department's antitrust lawsuit against Google likely won't go to trial until late 2023, Judge Amit Mehta said at a status hearing on Friday. Both parties agreed that seemed like a likely timeline and the judge set September 12, 2023, as a tentative date to start the trial. CNBC reports: The proposed timeline shows just how long Google (and likely Facebook) will be fighting antitrust challenges from the U.S. government. Google now faces three lawsuits from different groups of states and the DOJ, some of which could be consolidated before the same judge. That means both that scrutiny of Google's business is likely to remain in the spotlight for several years, and that any changes potentially ordered by the court would also take a long time. In the short-term, that's good news for investors, who don't have to worry about immediate structural changes that could hurt the company's value, such as spin-offs of key business units. But it also means that Google will be facing a major distraction, and could be tentative about entering new business areas and making big acquisitions, for years to come.

Mehta had indicated at previous status hearings that he wants to keep the case moving along quickly. But the proposed timeframe shows that even a relatively fast process can take years. A lawyer for the DOJ estimated the trial could last ten to 12 weeks, though a lawyer for Google said he expected it would take much less time assuming the case goes to trial. Mehta said he was setting "the over/under" line at five and a half weeks.

An anonymous reader shares an investigative report by LA Times: The plane had begun its descent into Boston. Inside the cockpit, the captain was slumped in his seat. Sitting beside him, copilot Eric Tellmann was starting to pass out. Tellmann managed to strap on his oxygen mask, then grabbed the captain's arm and forced him to follow suit. Reviving slowly, the captain looked at Tellmann through his mask, and his eyes grew wide with fear. A strange smell had permeated the plane that day. Passengers and flight attendants were coughing and wiping teary eyes. The pilots briefly lifted their masks and could still smell the odor as the runway drew nearer. Tellmann and the captain parked the Airbus A319 at the gate. But they had no memory of landing or taxiing Spirit Airlines Flight 708. Tellmann went to the hospital for treatment and spent the next week at home in bed, vomiting and shaking and feeling "like a freight train had run over us," he said in a letter to his union about the July 2015 event. A mysterious smell. Strange symptoms. A trip to the emergency room. The signs were all there: Something had gone seriously wrong with the plane's air supply.

The air you breathe on airplanes comes directly from the jet engines. Known as bleed air, it is safe, unless there is a mechanical issue -- a faulty seal, for instance. When that happens, heated jet engine oil can leak into the air supply, potentially releasing toxic gases into the plane. For decades, the airline industry and its regulators have known about these incidents -- called fume events -- and have maintained that they are rare and that the toxic chemical levels are too low to pose serious health risks. But a Times investigation found that vapors from oil and other fluids seep into planes with alarming frequency across all airlines, at times creating chaos and confusion: Flight attendants vomit and pass out. Passengers struggle to breathe. Children get rushed to hospitals. Pilots reach for oxygen masks or gasp for air from opened cockpit windows. Such events are documented in airport paramedic records, NASA safety reports, federal aviation records and other filings reviewed by The Times. Tellmann, the Spirit Airlines pilot, was one of hundreds of airline crew members and passengers who reported being sickened or impaired on flights in recent years. A Times analysis of NASA safety reports from January 2018 to December 2019 identified 362 fume events that airline crew members reported to the agency, with nearly 400 pilots, flight attendants and passengers receiving medical attention. During at least 73 of those flights, pilots used emergency oxygen. Four dozen pilots were described as impaired to the point of being unable to perform their duties. Because they're made voluntarily, the NASA safety reports are the "tip of the iceberg," according to a recent study by a researcher from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health.

There's a narrative that the tech industry's future lies in Texas and Florida. That tech workers and executives -- sick of California's oppressive policies and sky-high real estate costs -- are moving en masse to Miami and Austin this year. That these cities are building dominant talent foundations that will persist for years due to the pandemic. That narrative is wrong. From a report: The story crumbles when placed next to new LinkedIn data showing where tech workers are actually moving in 2020. The key beneficiaries of this year's tech migration are less buzzy cities like Madison, Wisconsin; Richmond, Virginia; and Sacramento, California. These places don't get much play in the news, but they're attracting tech talent at significantly higher rates than they were last year. Austin, conversely, is gaining tech workers more slowly. The new LinkedIn data, which Big Technology is first publishing here, examines several hundred thousand tech workers in the U.S. It breaks down the ratio at which they're moving into a city vs. moving out, something LinkedIn calls the inflow/outflow ratio. The data ranges from April to October, comparing 2020 with 2019. It encompasses the core months people left their cities due to the pandemic.

The country's biggest tech migration increase took place in Madison. The city was gaining 1.02 tech workers for each one that left last year, and it's now gaining 1.77, a 74% jump. Sacramento and Richmond, meanwhile, were losing tech workers before the pandemic and have turned it around. Sacramento was adding a fraction of a tech worker -- 0.87 -- for each one that left last year, and now it's adding 1.02. Richmond was adding 0.95 last year, and it's adding 1.06 this year. Other Midwest cities, including Minneapolis, Minnesota, and Cleveland, Ohio, have significantly reduced the rate at which tech workers were leaving their cities.

Terence Eden: I am concerned that -- despite the hard work of the AC -- Google has limited interest in that goal. When I joined, I wondered whether I could make a difference. I hope that I have been a critical friend. The AC has encouraged AMP to think more about user needs -- rather than Google's needs. And changes to the search carousel were also a concern of the committee which have been partly addressed.

Google's thesis is that the mobile-web is dying and people prefer to use apps -- therefore making the web faster and more app-like will retain users. Google doesn't publish data about this, so I can't directly criticise their motives. But I do not think AMP, in its current implementation, helps make the web better. I remain convinced that AMP is poorly implemented, hostile to the interests of both users and publishers, and a proprietary & unnecessary incursion into the open web. I am glad that I tried to make it better, but I'm sad to have failed.

Earlier this week, a team of researchers announced that they successfully teleported qubits of photons across approximately 27 miles of fiber-optic cable. Engadget reports: While other scientists have worked on similar projects, this group is the first to beam quantum information across such a great distance. What's more, they did so across two separate networks and with a fidelity greater than 90 percent. One of the researchers on the team told Motherboard they built the networks using "off-the-shelf" components, and that their tech is compatible with existing telecommunications equipment.

In PRX Quantum, where the team published its findings, they say their work provides "a realistic foundation for a high-fidelity quantum Internet with practical devices." They added, "this is a key achievement on the way to building a technology that will redefine how we conduct global communication." Experts believe a quantum internet could revolutionize a variety of computing fields, including cryptography and search. [...] With two 13-mile networks under their belts, the Caltech and Fermilab teams plan to build a city-scale network called the Illinois Express Quantum Network in Chicago next.

Google plans to shut down Android Things, a stripped-down version of Android designed for smart home devices. The OS never really got off the ground, so this isn't all that much of a loss, but it is yet another entry in Google's expansive graveyard of shut-down projects. The Verge reports: The smart home project got its start in 2015 under the name Brillo, which was meant to provide the "underlying operating system for the internet of things." In 2016, Google revamped Brillo and relaunched the initiative as Android Things, which was likewise meant to run on products like connected speakers, security cameras, and routers. By relying on Android, the OS was supposed to be familiar to developers and easy to get started with. Then nothing happened. In 2018, some initial smart speakers and smart displays came out using the underlying OS. It seems no other companies were interested, because in February 2019, Google announced it was "refocusing" Android Things to cater specifically to smart speakers and smart displays.

Nearly two years later, and Android Things is now on track to be shut down. The Android Things Console, which lets developers push updates to their devices, will stop accepting new non-commercial projects starting January 5th, 2021. A year later, on January 5th, 2022, "the console will be turned down completely and all project data will be permanently deleted." That essentially means developers have a year to wind down any Android Things projects they already have set up.

A bipartisan coalition of states sued Alphabet's Google Thursday alleging broad antitrust violations in the online search market, marking the third U.S. case against the search giant in two months. From a report: The lawsuit, led by Colorado, Iowa and other states, marks the latest escalation of the antitrust battle against Google. It comes a day after 10 Republican state attorneys general led by Texas sued the company for anticompetitive practices, and follows an October complaint by the Justice Department. "Combined with the other recent lawsuits filed against Google, never before have so many states and the federal government come together to challenge a company with such power," Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller said a statement. "Google has more data on consumers, and more variety of information, than perhaps any entity in history." The lawsuit, filed by 38 attorneys general, accuses Google of illegally monopolizing internet search and search advertising through a series of anticompetitive contracts and conduct, hurting consumers and advertisers in the process.

Google won European Union approval for its $2.1 billion takeover of health tracker Fitbit, days after regulators proposed tougher rules to curb powerful technology firms' push into new services. From a report: The European Commission said Google's pledge to maintain access for rival health and fitness apps and device makers for 10 years removed its concerns about the U.S. tech giant's move into health data and devices. Smaller rivals previously complained that the company's promises might not go far enough to stop Google shutting off access in future to rival products or services.

"The commitments will determine how Google can use the data collected for ad purposes, how interoperability between competing wearables and Android will be safeguarded and how users can continue to share health and fitness data, if they choose to," Margrethe Vestager, the EU's antitrust chief, said in a statement Thursday. Approval comes in a harsh climate when Google and others are facing mounting scrutiny of acquisitions that help them push into new areas. Google announced its plans to buy Fitbit in November 2019, describing the bid for the smartwatch maker as a boost to its lagging hardware business.

In Huntsville, Alabama, there is a room with green walls and a green ceiling. Dangling down the center is a fishing line attached to a motor mounted to the ceiling, which moves a procession of guns tied to the translucent line. From a report: The staff at Arcarithm bought each of the 10 best-selling firearm models in the U.S.: Rugers, Glocks, Sig Sauers. Pistols and long guns are dangled from the line. The motor rotates them around the room, helping a camera mounted to a mobile platform photograph them from multiple angles. "It's just like a movie set," said Arcarithm president and CEO Randy E. Riley. This process creates about 5,000 images of each gun floating ethereally. Arcarithm's computer programmers then replace the green backdrop with different environments, like fields, forests, and city streets. They add rain or snow or fog or sun. A program then randomly distorts the images. The result is 30,000 to 50,000 images of the same gun, from multiple angles, in different synthetic settings and of varying degrees of visibility.

The point of creating this vast portfolio of digital gun art is to feed an algorithm made to detect a firearm as soon as a security camera catches it being drawn by synthetically creating tens of thousands of ways each gun may appear. Arcarithm is one of several companies developing automated active shooter detection technology in the hopes of selling it to schools, hotels, entertainment venues and the owners of any location that could be the site of one of America's 15,000 annual gun murders and 29,000 gun injuries. Among the other sellers are Omnilert, a longtime vendor of safety notification software, and newcomers ZeroEyes, Defendry, and Athena Securities. Some cities employ a surveillance system of acoustic sensors to instantly detect gunshots. These companies promise to do one better and save precious minutes by alerting police or security personnel before the first shot is fired.

Alphabet's Google waived a 1.1 billion-pound loan ($1.5 billion) to DeepMind in 2019 after the U.K.-based artificial intelligence lab continued to ramp up the scale of its research and development. From a report: Revenue jumped 158% in 2019, DeepMind said in a financial filing this week. Sales were 265.5 million pounds, up from 102.8 million pounds a year earlier. Its losses also widened, increasing 1.4% to 476.6 million pounds. DeepMind's parent has agreed to continue funding the company for at least a year after the report's approval. Alphabet's Google Ireland unit waived repayments and interest from the loan to help cover DeepMind's losses. Google acquired DeepMind in 2014 in a 400 million-pound acquisition that gave the Silicon Valley search giant access to cutting edge AI research. DeepMind Chief Executive Officer Demis Hassabis's goal is to produce general-purpose intelligence that can solve an array of problems. It develops products used by its parent company -- like its system for making data centers more energy efficient and a program to improve the accuracy of travel times on Google Maps -- as well as AI with broader applications.

Facebook is stepping up its campaign against Apple's privacy changes with a second full-page newspaper ad today. This new ad claims Apple's iOS 14 privacy changes "will change the internet as we know it," and force websites and blogs "to start charging you subscription fees" or add in-app purchases due to a lack of personalized ads. From a report: It follows a similar full-page newspaper ad in the The Wall Street Journal, New York Times, and the Washington Post yesterday. Apple is planning to make changes to iOS 14 early next year that will require developers to ask for permission to gather data and track users across mobile apps and websites on an iPhone or iPad. Apple revealed how iOS 14 users will be prompted to opt into tracking in apps this week, noting that developers like Facebook can explain to users why they should allow tracking within the prompt. These changes will impact Facebook's lucrative ad business, but the social networking giant is framing them as something far larger that could impact small businesses. Unsurprisingly, Apple doesn't agree. "We believe that this is a simple matter of standing up for our users," said an Apple spokesperson in response to Facebook's first full-page newspaper ad yesterday. "Users should know when their data is being collected and shared across other apps and websites -- and they should have the choice to allow that or not."

Connecticut-based company LiquidPiston is developing a portable generator for the US Army that uses its X-Engine, a fresh and extremely powerful take on the rotary engine that'll deliver as much power as the Army's current-gen-set at one-fifth the size. New Atlas reports: We've written a few times before about the fascinating LiquidPiston rotary engine. It's not a Wankel -- indeed, it's closer to an inside-out Wankel -- and with only two moving parts, it's able to deliver extraordinary power density at up to 1.5 horsepower per pound (0.45 kg). According to co-founder and CEO Alec Schkolnik, the X Engine design combines the high compression ratio and direct injection of a diesel engine with the constant volume combustion process of an Otto cycle engine and the over-expansion abilities of an Atkinson cycle engine, while solving the lubrication and sealing issues of the Wankel rotary engine and delivering huge power and efficiency. Check out the design being used in a go-kart and an unmanned aircraft in the video below.

LiquidPiston demonstrated the technology for the US Army by building a Compact Artillery Power System (CAPS) generator unit designed to power the digital fire control system on an M777 Howitzer artillery piece. It replaced a generator that needed a truck to move it around with something 20 percent the size: a 41-lb (18.6-kg), 1.5-cubic foot (28.3-L) box about the size of a gaming PC that can easily be carried by two men. Smartly designed to work in conjunction with a battery in a hybrid system, the 2-kW CAPS generator impressed the Army enough that LiquidPiston has been awarded a Small Business Innovation Research contract to develop it further as a 2-5 kW Small Tactical Generator for a range of military use cases, running on diesel with compression ignition.

On December 15, the United States Air Force successfully flew an AI copilot on a U-2 spy plane in California, marking the first time AI has controlled a U.S. military system. Dr. Will Roper, the Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics, reveals how he and his team made history: With call sign ARTUu, we trained uZero -- a world-leading computer program that dominates chess, Go, and even video games without prior knowledge of their rules -- to operate a U-2 spy plane. Though lacking those lively beeps and squeaks, ARTUu surpassed its motion picture namesake in one distinctive feature: it was the mission commander, the final decision authority on the human-machine team. And given the high stakes of global AI, surpassing science fiction must become our military norm. Our demo flew a reconnaissance mission during a simulated missile strike at Beale Air Force Base on Tuesday. ARTUu searched for enemy launchers while our pilot searched for threatening aircraft, both sharing the U-2's radar. With no pilot override, ARTUu made final calls on devoting the radar to missile hunting versus self-protection. Luke Skywalker certainly never took such orders from his X-Wing sidekick!

The fact ARTUu was in command was less about any particular mission than how completely our military must embrace AI to maintain the battlefield decision advantage. Unlike Han Solo's "never-tell-me-the-odds" snub of C-3PO's asteroid field survival rate (approximately 3,720 to 1), our warfighters need to know the odds in dizzyingly-complex combat scenarios. Teaming with trusted AI across all facets of conflict -- even occasionally putting it in charge -- could tip those odds in our favor. But to trust AI, software design is key. Like a breaker box for code, the U-2 gave ARTUu complete radar control while "switching off" access to other subsystems. Had the scenario been navigating an asteroid field -- or more likely field of enemy radars -- those "on-off" switches could adjust. The design allows operators to choose what AI won't do to accept the operational risk of what it will. Creating this software breaker box -- instead of Pandora's -- has been an Air Force journey of more than a few parsecs...

Elon Musk's tunneling venture, The Boring Company, is planning a massive citywide expansion of the currently modest underground transportation system it's building in Las Vegas. The Verge reports: The startup now wants to build a 10-mile sub-surface "loop" that serves the famous Las Vegas Strip of casino hotels and reaches the city's downtown area as well as McCarran International Airport, all with Tesla vehicles. The Boring Company also wants to build an additional loop that connects properties owned by Caesars Entertainment. The proposed new tunnels would make it possible to go from the Las Vegas Convention Center to Mandalay Bay in just three minutes, as opposed to 30 minutes by surface roads during peak traffic hours, the company claims.

The plans, first reported by the Las Vegas Review-Journal, were detailed in proposals submitted to Clark County officials on Monday. The Boring Company's expansion push comes just days after the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority (LVCVA) finished buying the Las Vegas Monorail, which filed for bankruptcy in September after shutting down in March. Following the acquisition, the LVCVA killed a noncompete agreement that had previously kept The Boring Company from digging any tunnels that served the same areas reached by the monorail. The monorail is not expected to reopen until at least May 2021.

As many as 3 million people have been infected by Chrome and Edge browser extensions that steal personal data and redirect users to ad or phishing sites, a security firm said on Wednesday. Ars Technica reports: In all, researchers from Prague-based Avast said they found 28 extensions for the Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge browsers that contained malware. The add-ons billed themselves as a way to download pictures, videos, or other content from sites including Facebook, Instagram, Vimeo, and Spotify. At the time this post went live, some, but not all, of the malicious extensions remained available for download from Google and Microsoft. Avast researchers found malicious code in the JavaScript-based extensions that allows them to download malware onto an infected computer.

In a post, the researchers wrote: "Users have also reported that these extensions are manipulating their internet experience and redirecting them to other websites. Anytime a user clicks on a link, the extensions send information about the click to the attacker's control server, which can optionally send a command to redirect the victim from the real link target to a new hijacked URL before later redirecting them to the actual website they wanted to visit. User's privacy is compromised by this procedure since a log of all clicks is being sent to these third party intermediary websites. The actors also exfiltrate and collect the user's birth dates, email addresses, and device information, including first sign in time, last login time, name of the device, operating system, used browser and its version, even IP addresses (which could be used to find the approximate geographical location history of the user)."

The researchers don't yet know if the extensions came with the malicious code preinstalled or if the developers waited for the extensions to gain a critical mass of users and only then pushed a malicious update. It's also possible that legitimate developers created the add-ons and then unknowingly sold them to someone who intended to use them maliciously. [...] The list Avast provides in its blog post includes links to download locations for both Chrome and Edge. Anyone who has downloaded one of these add-ons should remove it immediately and run a virus scan.