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Submission + - Payloads used to dictate the terms of launch. That's finally changing. (arstechnica.com)

Submitted by schwit1
schwit1 writes:

A new report from the Aerospace Corporation helps elucidate why satellite companies are optimizing for Starship. It’s big and reusable, and once operational, it could cut the cost of launching a kilogram of payload into orbit by an order of magnitude from the Falcon 9. This means costs could come down from a few thousand dollars per kilogram to a few hundred.

Karen Jones, a space economist and lead author of the paper, said her research supports some of those optimistic cost projections. She outlines three scenarios, two of which assume an initial launch cost of $100 million for each fully reusable Starship and Super Heavy booster, with marginal costs of 20 or 35 percent. This is in line with the marginal costs of the smaller, partially reusable Falcon 9, which SpaceX can launch for as little as $15 million per flight on a dedicated Starlink mission.

This would bring the per-kilogram launch cost for a fully loaded Starship down to $133 to $233 after 10 reuse cycles. A more optimistic scenario with a $50 million initial launch cost and 20 percent marginal cost would reduce payload costs to $67 per kilogram for a Starship/Super Heavy launch at full capacity after nine use cycles. That’s less than it costs to fill the gas tanks of most SUVs. If SpaceX can make these more optimistic ambitions a reality, it would validate a claim made by Elon Musk in 2022 that a Starship flight could eventually cost as little as $10 million.

“I actually thought I would basically disprove that [claim], and on my first try, I got to $67 per kilogram after nine use cycles,” Jones told Ars. “It’s based upon some significant assumptions in the paper, but it’s not something that’s completely crazy. It certainly wouldn’t be something they’d reach on the first few times, on their first model; but over time, and with a learning curve, why not? I think it’s possible.

“These [Wall Street] analyst dweebs just have no clue what daily orbital access at under $100/kg means.”
— veteran aerospace engineer Will Collier

Submission + - Once Unimaginable, Publishers Are Preparing to Opt Out of Google Search (adweek.com)

Submitted by schwit1
schwit1 writes: For decades, publishers have done everything in their power, from the legal to the not-explicitly illegal, to rank as highly in Google Search as possible. For many websites, traffic from the search engine was their single greatest source of audience and, as a result, revenue.

Now though, a handful of influential players in the digital media ecosystem have begun moving in the opposite direction, laying the groundwork for what was once unthinkable: removing themselves from Google Search.

Last week, the content delivery network Cloudflare, which hosts roughly one-fifth of the websites in the world, gave Google an ultimatum.

The nuclear option is gaining traction as web traffic collapses and Google refuses to negotiate with content creators

Beginning Sept. 15, all new websites signing up for Cloudflare, as well as all the customers on its free tier, will have the default settings in their bot management protocol set to block “multi-purpose crawlers” on any webpage that has ads. This means that any crawler that scrapes for both search indexing and AI training will be turned away at the door, unless the site owner decides otherwise.

“We’ve been clear about what we want,” said Cloudflare chief strategy officer Stephanie Cohen. “We want a technical solution that allows you to be discoverable without having to give your content away for free.”

While a handful of crawlers fit this description—Apple and Bing, among others—the primary, unnamed target of this action is Google, which infamously uses one crawler to both index sites and train its AI models.

In doing so, Google forces publishers to make an impossible choice: They either allow both functions, enabling Google to scrape their content to train the AI products that are regurgitating their data without compensation; or they shut off both functions and disappear from Google Search, presumably losing their largest source of traffic in the process.

Submission + - Morgan Stanley Agrees SpaceX Can Deploy 8 Gigawatts of AI Data Center by 2028 (substack.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Adam Jonas projects about 8 Gigawatts of SpaceX AI data center in 2028 and 16 Gigawatts by 2030. Very little of that AI data center comes from AI data centers in space.

Morgan Stanley has this in a 142 page report on SpaceX that has several material inconsistencies between its high-level assumptions about orbital compute scale, mass/payload, capex, and monetization and the known technical specifications for Starship launches, satellite power density, and real-world AI compute deals.

I agree that 8 gigawatts of AI data center is very doable for SpaceX in 2028-2030. They already have the natural gas turbines on order from Doosan in South Korea, all of the APR Energy production and 60-70% of the Solaris mobile turbines. Twelve 380 MW doosan turbines are on order and those are 4.5 GW. 1 GW per year from APR Energy and the Caterpillar joint venture is 6.5 GW plus the 2 Gigawatts that are already installed.

They have shown that they can build faster than anyone else and they have the power supply issues solved with suppliers and contracts for natural gas turbines that are already being installed.

Submission + - In 503 New York City schools, majority of students failed both math and reading (freebeacon.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: "These are not schools teetering at the edge of success. They are schools that have been massively failing — persistently, systemically, and at staggering public expense — for years, and in many cases for decades," says the report, titled "By Any Honest Measure: New York City's Long Record of School Failure — and the Price We Keep Paying."

"The cost is enormous. New York City spent $40 billion on public education in 2024 — $36,293 per pupil, double the national average of $17,619," the report says. "The city is now committed to billions more to fund a class-size mandate that the evidence does not support, while propping up hundreds of vacant schools that drain resources at a premium rate with no return."

Particularly haunting is the appendix listing the 503 "double fail" schools, which are failing to get majority pass rates on standardized tests in math and in English. The schools are named after some distinguished Americans—abolitionists Frederick Douglass and William Lloyd Garrison, Zionist Henrietta Szold, baseball player Roberto Clemente, founding father Benjamin Franklin, Presidents Abraham Lincoln and Franklin Roosevelt, poets Walt Whitman and Langston Hughes, and physicist Albert Einstein. Or they carry names full of ambition and ideals—"Leaders of Tomorrow," "School of Leadership Development," "Renaissance School of the Arts," and "Brooklyn Democracy Academy."

"Imagine a hospital where more than half of patients died from routine procedures. A fire department that failed to respond to more than half its calls. A municipal water utility that delivered contaminated water to more than half its residents, or air traffic controllers whose lack of oversight regularly resulted in massive casualties," the report says. "No other public institution would be permitted to operate in this way."

Submission + - Legal torpedoes headed for Meta (reuters.com)

Submitted by Sparkatron
Sparkatron writes: A coalition of US states is suing Meta for damages of $1.4 TRILLION dollars. Yeah, you read that right, TRILLION. It is just a coincidence that this is very close to Meta's entire market capitalization of $1.5T. The suit alleges that Facebook and Instagram were deliberately designed to be addictive to under-age children, and that Meta deliberately concealed evidence of harm to children. A lawsuit with a price-tag this big would seem to be aimed more at creating headlines than seriously obtaining compensation. So far the Stock Market has initially ignored the lawsuit. But in this day and age of seemingly irrational verdicts, like the ~$1Billion defamation award against Joe Rogan, maybe that isn't so wise. Who knows? For those of us that quit face-bvtt years ago because Mark Zuckerberg is a reptilian alien attempting to destroy the human race, this lawsuit seems virtuous. For others this might seem like an abuse of the courts. Worth keeping an eye on, its success could encourage more ludicrous lawsuits to punish other technology companies.

Submission + - This factory was severely short on workers. Then it offered flexible work. (npr.org) 1

Submitted by Tony Isaac
Tony Isaac writes: Flexible, appbased scheduling at GE Appliances’ Roper plant lets a large pool of parttime workers choose fourhour shifts and even select the type of work they prefer, a system born during the pandemic when the factory faced severe labor shortages. The MyWorkChoice model now supplies hundreds of trained workers each week, stabilizing production and enabling major expansion, while giving people—from retirees to sidejob hustlers to longtime employees—control over their hours even though pay and benefits are lower than traditional fulltime roles.

Submission + - Europe's New Entry/Exit System Is a Mess, and It's Not Going Away (nytimes.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: European bureaucrats are standing firm on a security program that has led to long lines, confusion and missed flights at airports this summer, despite an urgent plea from the aviation industry to suspend it.

The Entry/Exit System, or E.E.S., requires members of the 29-country Schengen open-border area to collect biometrics like face photos and fingerprints from travelers upon arrival and to confirm their identities upon exit. Since the system took full effect in April, airports and airlines have reported widespread chaos — including hourslong security checkpoint lines and confusion over procedures — and have feared the headaches could worsen as peak travel season begins.

The problems led senior officials from the European aviation industry last week to ask the European Union to suspend the E.E.S. requirement this summer. The system is "undermining Europe’s reputation, European tourism and connectivity," said the open letter to the president of the European Commission.

But on Tuesday, European Commission bureaucrats officially rejected the request in a meeting with industry stakeholders, saying that the new system’s security advantages outweighed its inconveniences.

E.E.S. is used in the 29-country Schengen area, which includes 25 European Union members as well as Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland. The system applies to most visitors to those countries who are traveling for a short stay (up to 90 days in a 180-day period), regardless of whether they have a visa.

Since the system began to roll out across Europe in October, travelers have encountered an inconsistent set of procedures, taking anywhere from a few minutes to several hours. Some airports have self-service kiosks where travelers can register their biometrics. At others, border control officers manually register travelers. Only two countries, Sweden and Portugal, currently allow travelers to use a dedicated app. E.E.S. is intended to be an automated system, eventually.

"At present, the system is failing to deliver one of its core objectives: facilitating efficient border crossings while maintaining the smooth functioning of Europe’s transport network," the aviation officials wrote in the open letter urging the European Union to act.

Summer travelers are being forced to “endure needless passport control chaos,” Neal McMahon, Ryanair’s chief operations officer, said in a statement.

“Passengers and families should not be used as guinea pigs for a half-baked passport control system that risks creating long queues, missed flights and unnecessary stress at airports this summer,” he added.

In Rome, the airports have already been suspending biometrics collection on a near-daily basis this summer, said a spokesman for Aeroporti di Roma, which operates the city’s airports. Rome Fiumicino, Italy’s busiest airport, expects around 11 million passengers in June and July, which could be up to 180,000 passengers on peak days, the spokesman said.

Submission + - Apple to spend another $30 billion on US chip manufacturing with Broadcom (nerds.xyz)

Submitted by BrianFagioli
BrianFagioli writes: Apple announced a new multiyear agreement with Broadcom expected to exceed $30 billion. The deal will result in more than 15 billion chips being manufactured in the United States while funding a $1.5 billion expansion of Broadcoms facility in Fort Collins, Colorado.

The components produced there include advanced radio frequency technologies and wireless connectivity hardware used across Apples product lineup. Apple says the agreement is its largest commitment yet under the companys American Manufacturing Program and will support hundreds of US jobs.

Despite the investment, this does not mean iPhones or Macs will suddenly be assembled in America. Instead, the announcement focuses on increasing domestic production of key components that go inside Apple devices.

Submission + - Over 1000 More Hours of J6 Body Cam Footage Have Been Released (thenationalpulse.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Judicial Watch has made public extensive bodycam footage from the January 6 Capitol events following a court ruling favoring transparency. PULSE POINTS ?

WHAT HAPPENED: The Washington, DC, Metropolitan Police Department has released over 1,000 hours of body-worn camera footage from the January 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol event. This release follows a court ruling in April 2026 that mandated the disclosure of these videos under a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit filed by Judicial Watch in 2021. The new footage can be viewed here.?

DETAIL: The court ruling rejected the DC Police's attempt to blur and censor the footage, emphasizing the public's right to transparency over minimal privacy concerns. Judicial Watch filed a lawsuit in June 2024 after a denied request for the footage in August 2021.?

KEY QUOTE: "The release of these previously secret DC Police January 6 bodycam videos are the result of a hard-fought victory for transparency by Judicial Watch," said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton.?

IMPACT: The release of this footage is expected to provide a more comprehensive understanding of the events of January 6, potentially influencing public opinion and ongoing legal proceedings.

Submission + - Study finds 88% of students fake leftist views to appease liberal teachers (campusreform.org)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: College students at Northwestern and the University of Michigan increasingly hide their conservative beliefs, with 88 percent admitting to faking progressive views to succeed academically or socially.

Researchers warn that this climate of ideological conformity suppresses authentic expression and encourages performative morality among both students and professors.

Submission + - Scientists Built Cancer Kill Switch That Turns On With Flash of Light (studyfinds.com)

Submitted by fjo3
fjo3 writes: Cancer has a dirty trick: it can put itself to sleep. When tumor cells slip into a kind of biological hibernation, they become hard to kill, shrugging off treatment and lying low until conditions improve, then waking up and bringing the disease back. For decades, researchers have struggled to shut down this hiding strategy without causing serious harm elsewhere in the body. A team in Switzerland has now built a molecule that flips on and off with flashes of light, giving scientists a precise new way to probe, and possibly disrupt, the way sleeping cancer cells hide.

Behind this cellular sleep state, at least in certain cancers, sits a protein called the glucocorticoid receptor, a sensor inside cells that reacts to stress hormones. When it switches on, it can push cancer cells, especially in some solid tumors such as lung cancer, into a drug-resistant, dormant state. The obvious fix would be to destroy the receptor outright, but there is a catch: the same receptor does important jobs all over the body, including calming inflammation. Removing it everywhere would cause real damage. What was needed was a way to hit the receptor inside a tumor and leave the rest of the body alone.

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