WASHINGTON — SkyWatch, a satellite data distributor based in Ontario, Canada, announced a new imagery product that combines radar and optical images. SkyWatch operates a platform called EarthCache that gives its customers access to commercial satellite data. The company said there is now a growing demand for integrated images that combine visually appealing pictures from optical satellites with data from synthetic aperture radar (SAR) satellites that can see at night and through clouds. “At any given point in time, the majority of the Earth’s surface is experiencing atmospheric conditions that make optical capture challenging, if not impossible,” David Proulx, chief…
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WASHINGTON — Momentus recently cut its workforce by 30% as the cash-strapped company seeks to reduce its costs while looking for “strategic options” to raise funding. In an Aug. 14 earnings call about its second quarter financial results, Eric Williams, chief financial officer of Momentus, said that the company reduced its headcount, including both full-time employees and contractors, by 30% late in the second quarter. The move, he said, was designed to “substantially reduce our burn rate while retaining the talent we need to execute our key near-term initiatives.” He did not go into further details about the layoffs, including…
TAMPA, Fla. — Terran Orbital expects to get $180 million this year from Rivada Space as it prepares to build 300 satellites for the venture, even as plans to fund the full $2.4 billion manufacturing contract remain under wraps. It would be the first significant revenues Terran Orbital has gained from Rivada under a contract set to deliver most of the $2.6 billion in sales in the manufacturer’s pipeline, providing a major boost for a company that raised less than hoped in its stock market debut last year. Declan Ganley, CEO of U.S.-based wireless technology firm Rivada Networks, which owns…
WASHINGTON — BAE Systems, a defense and security conglomerate based in the United Kingdom, announced Aug. 17 it intends to acquire Ball Aerospace for $5.5 billion. Ball Aerospace, based in Westminster, Colorado, is a manufacturer of spacecraft, components and other systems for military, civil and commercial space applications. The acquisition would give BAE Systems “strong growth potential in areas aligned with the U.S. intelligence community and Department of Defense’s highest priorities,” the company said in a statement. With $26 billion in annual revenues, BAE Systems has a significant U.S. presence. The U.S. government is now its largest customer. BAE’s U.S.…
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Space Force intends to award Northrop Grumman a sole-source contract to develop two ground-based radar sites to track space objects. These would be the second and third sites of the Space Force’s planned network of sensors known as the Deep Space Advanced Radar Capability (DARC). Northrop Grumman in February 2022 won a $341 million contract to develop the first DARC site in the Indo-Pacific region. The second and third are expected to be located in Europe and in the continental United States. The Space Systems Command in a “special notice” published Aug. 7 said it “intends…
Instagram may have some new features up its sleeves for its users within the coming days. The social media platform is testing a feature that will let users tag a group of people on Instagram Stories via just a single mention. With the creator economy booming on Instagram at an international level, the platform keeps updating its feature palette to cater to a diverse range of user requirements. As of August, this year, the platform is estimated to have over 2.3 billion active users from around the world.Adam Mosseri, the head of Instagram, disclosed some information about this upcoming feature…
X — Elon Musk-led microblogging website formerly known as Twitter — is in a big transition phase. Its blue bird logo has been replaced with an X logo in July. Now recently, a user pointed out that URLs generated from the share sheet of the X app on iOS now begin with X.com instead of the earlier domain, twitter.com. Billionaire Elon Musk rebranded Twitter as X last month. The mobile application icon for Twitter on both Android and iOS platforms is now shown as X. The company later named tweets as posts.Musk’s X might have started to shift towards X.com.…
Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta, says it’s “time to move on” from the speculation on a cage fight with Elon Musk, whom he said is not serious about it. Taking to his Threads account, Zuckerberg said, “I think we can all agree Elon isn’t serious and it’s time to move on. I offered a real date. Dana White offered to make this a legit competition for charity. Elon won’t confirm a date, then says he needs surgery, and now asks to do a practice round in my backyard instead. If Elon ever gets serious about a real date and official…
A new twist has emerged in Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg’s most anticipated cage fight. On Sunday, Meta Chief Mark Zuckerberg apparently called off his cage fight with the Twitter owner. In a post on Threads, he said that he was going to “focus on competing with people who take the sport seriously”.”I think we can all agree Elon isn’t serious and it’s time to move on. I offered a real date. Dana White offered to make this a legit competition for charity. Elon won’t confirm a date, then says he needs surgery, and now asks to do a practice…
Social media company X, formerly known as Twitter, delayed access to links to content on the Reuters and New York Times websites as well as rivals like Bluesky, Facebook, and Instagram, according to a Washington Post report on Tuesday.Clicking a link on X to one of the affected websites resulted in a delay of about five seconds before the webpage loaded, the Washington Post reported, citing tests it conducted on Tuesday. Reuters also saw a similar delay in the tests it ran.By late Tuesday afternoon, X appeared to have eliminated the delay. When contacted for comment, X confirmed the delay…
WhatsApp beta updates typically add new features or improve existing ones for testers to try out before they are rolled out to users on the stable channel, and the company has added support for WhatsApp AI stickers that are generated using prompts on the latest beta version of its Android app — this is the first user facing feature that uses artificial intelligence on WhatsApp. Meanwhile, the beta version of WhatsApp Web has started pushing out a security feature for its web interface. It will allow users to prevent unauthorised access to their chats when they are away from their screen.After…
Social media company X, formerly known as Twitter, will no longer allow advertisers to promote their accounts within the platform’s timeline to attract new followers, Axios reported on Tuesday, citing an email to advertising clients.Promoted accounts, or “Follower Objective” ads, generate more than $100 million (roughly Rs. 831 crore) annually in global revenue for X, according to the report.X did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.Advertisers largely rely on promoted follower ads to drive business on the platform and target certain audiences.CEO Linda Yaccarino, the former advertising chief at NBCUniversal, has been trying to rebrand the company’s…
Telegram on Monday announced that Stories are now available to all users. The tool was initially introduced to Premium subscribers last month and is now accessible to all users on the platform. This feature comes with certain tweaks and enhancements compared to the ones found on rival social media platforms. Alongside new privacy settings, the social media platform is also introducing a new camera feature that can be used while posting Stories. While all users also can get more detailed statistics than any other platforms, Telegram Premium users are also offered a unique Stealth mode on Telegram.In a blog post, Telegram announced…
Russia on Tuesday fined social media site Reddit for the first time for not deleting “banned content” that it said contained “fake” information about Russia’s military campaign in Ukraine, RIA reported on Tuesday, citing a Moscow court.Reddit joins a list of sites under scrutiny in Russia for failing to remove content that Moscow deems illegal, including Wikimedia, streaming service Twitch, and Google.RIA said the court had fined Reddit 2 million roubles ($20,365 or roughly Rs. 16 lakh). Reddit did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment.Also on Tuesday, the court fined the Wikimedia Foundation, which owns Wikipedia, 2…
Close to half of American adults support a ban on the Chinese-owned social media app TikTok, according to a new Reuters/Ipsos survey that also asked questions about national security concerns and China.TikTok, owned by Chinese tech giant ByteDance and used by tens of millions of Americans, has faced calls from US lawmakers for a nationwide ban over concerns about possible Chinese government influence.Some 47 percent of respondents to the two-day poll, which concluded on Tuesday, said they at least somewhat supported “banning the social media application, TikTok, from use in the United States,” while 36 percent opposed a ban and…
U.S. President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden disembark Air Force One while traveling to visit families affected by devastation from recent flooding, as they arrive at Blue Grass Airport in Lexington, Kentucky, U.S., August 8, 2022.Kevin Lamarque | ReutersPresident Joe Biden will travel Monday to Maui, where a wildfire has ravaged the island and killed more than 100 people.Biden and first lady Jill Biden will meet with first responders, survivors and government officials and take stock of the damage, the White House said Wednesday.”The president continues to marshal a whole-of-government response to the deadly Maui fires, and he…
U.S. Rep. George Santos leaves the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York in Central Islip, New York, May 10, 2023.Barry Williams | New York Daily News | Getty ImagesA man who was a paid campaign fundraiser for Rep. George Santos was indicted in New York on federal criminal charges related to his allegedly impersonating a top aide to House Speaker Kevin McCarthy as he solicited donations for Santos.The fundraiser, Samuel Miele, allegedly sent a letter to Santos Sept. 26 of last year “in which he admitted to ‘faking my identity to a big donor,’ but stated…
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis poses for a portrait in Atlanta, April 19, 2023.Brynn Anderson | APFulton County District Attorney Fani Willis on Wednesday proposed a March 4 trial date for her case accusing former President Donald Trump and others of trying to overturn Georgia’s 2020 election results.Willis also suggested that Trump and the 18 other defendants in the state-level election interference case should be arraigned during the week of Sept. 5, a court filing showed.The Atlanta-area prosecutor had previously given the defendants until noon on Aug. 25 to voluntarily surrender to Georgia authorities.Trump is likely to challenge the…