Bill Nye’s LightSail has Finally Deployed After Multiple Setbacks

As reported by the Washington Post: Since launching on May 20, the Planetary Society's solar sail prototype -- called LightSail and inspired by an idea Carl Sagan championed decades ago -- hasn't exactly had smooth seas.

A glitch made the tiny satellite holding the folded sail unreachable from Earth for a time. Even after communications were reestablished, it took days to get the spacecraft to do the one thing it was sent up to do -- deploy its sail, proving that a propulsion system thinner than human hair could be packed away and unfurled safely in space.

On June 7, the Planetary Society reports, the sail finally unfurled.

Motor is running! Sail is Deploying!!! 39 Years after Prof. Sagan spoke of it!

— Bill Nye (@BillNye) June 7, 2015

Mission control expected another opportunity to communicate with LightSail early on June 8, during which time engineers on the ground hoped to confirm that the deployment procedure had been completed. Once we get those updates, we may have pictures of the great unfurling as well.

We were actually meant to wait a full 28 days for this deployment. The original plan for LightSail's first test was to let it spend a month orbiting Earth, allowing teams on the ground to monitor how it fared. Unfortunately, it didn't fare all that well: After recovering from the glitch that made it incommunicado, the LightSail spacecraft had to recover from a battery malfunction. With things looking less than certain, the team chose to deploy the sail at the earliest opportunity.

Sometime during the next year or so, Nye and his colleagues will send another satellite into orbit. This one won't just unfurl a delicate mylar sail: It will use that sail to propel itself through space. Solar sails work by using the physical force of particles emitted by the sun, catching their momentum the way a ship's sail catches the wind. It's not very forceful, but it's continuous. Nye hopes the technology will allow small research vessels -- and one day perhaps larger spacecraft -- to operate more efficiently.

The Planetary Society already has more than quadrupled its $200,000 goal for the project on Kickstarter. Now that this first test's deployment has been confirmed, it seems all systems are go for LightSail's next round.

Google Maps Now Offers Dragon, Loch Ness Monster As Public Transportation Options in the UK

As reported by Huffington Post: Google Maps now provides people in Great Britain with real-time information about the best and quickest ways to get places -- regardless of whether commuters choose to travel by train, tube, bus, boat, dragon or Loch Ness Monster.

Take the journey from Snowdon, the highest mountain in Wales, to the Welsh mountain range, Brecon Beacons. According to Google, it would either take you about 3 and a half hours to drive. Or 32 minutes by dragon. Just hop onto one of the mythical creatures at Snowdonia Dragon Station, and enjoy the ride.

Another noteworthy route is the journey between Fort Augustus and Urquhart Castlein the Scottish Highlands. You can either take a bus, which will take you around 33 minutes, or the Loch Ness Monster -- a 22 minute ride.

Google Maps has been known to hide cheeky easter eggs in its app. Previously, it’s told travelers to swim across the Atlantic Ocean or jet-ski across the Pacific.

As Buzzfeed notes, Google Maps' new easter eggs include traveling by “royal carriage” from Buckingham Palace to Windsor Castle, and by “punt” in Oxford and Cambridge. A punt is a flat-bottomed boat that’s commonly used for leisurely rides in both cities.

Google Maps has had real-time public transportation information for bigger British cities like London for a while now, but according to Google, that information is now available across Britain.

“You can now check the best time and route for millions of departures for trains, tubes, trams, buses and ferries every day. In total, 17,000 different routes across the UK are featured,” the company wrote in a blog post.

We’re thinking even Daenerys Targaryen will be pleased with the update.

Power Sector Finds a New Set of Customers: Cars

As reported by MIT Technology Review: Lawmakers in Washington state this month passed a bill that opens up the electric-vehicle charging sector to a group of players who have thus far been mostly absent: power utilities.

The goal is to help the EV market get beyond its chicken-and-egg problem: EV charging stations are expensive to install, and there’s not yet enough of a critical mass of EVs on the road to make deploying them widely profitable; with few publicly accessible charging stations, meanwhile, many potential EV purchasers are still hesitant to trade in their gas guzzlers.

Sponsored by Republican state representative Chad Magendanz, the bill enables investor-owned utilities in the state to invest in EV charging infrastructure and pass along those costs to ratepayers, subject to the approval of the state Utility and Transportation Commission.

“We want people to be able to buy electric vehicles without regard to whether they can install a charging station at their home or afford the cost,” says Magendanz. “This is particularly directed at urban dwellers who live in condos or apartments, and need to be able to charge their vehicles at home or at work. If we can unlock that market, this could be a model for the rest of the country.”

Others have tried to address the so-called “range anxiety” that’s holding back potential buyers of electric vehicles. Several startups appeared in the 2000s to build privately owned charging networks, but viable business models have not emerged, and some, like Ecotality and 350Green, have flamed out in spectacular fashion. High-end EV maker Tesla has solved this dilemma by building its own proprietary network of free stations known as Superchargers.

“You don’t have seamless, available charging facilities, unless you own a Tesla,” says Mark Duvall, the director of energy utilization at the Electric Power Research Institute, an independent research organization for the power utility industry. “What’s lacking is consistent, adequate access to reliable charging infrastructure that’s not dependent on the kind of car you drive.”

Utilities, which already operate ubiquitous electrical grids and have the capital to invest in major infrastructure projects without an immediate return on the investment, would seem to be ideal candidates to build out charging networks. But in many states, regulators either have not ruled or have explicitly prohibited investor-owned utilities from selling electricity at retail charging stations. In Indiana, for instance, an EV car-sharing service called Blue Indy has been stalled by utility commissioners’ refusal to allow charging investments by the local utility.  

According to the U.S. Department of Energy, which has invested more than $130 million to help establish a network of privately owned charging stations, there are now nearly 23,000 public charging outlets in the United States. That is not enough to keep up with accelerating demand—or, at least, to alleviate motorists’ range anxiety.

In states where such participation is allowed, utilities have been surprisingly nimble in leaping into the market: Kansas City Power & Light, for instance, plans to install 1,000 public EV charging stations in Kansas City by the end of summer 2015—in a state where total EVs number fewer than 3,000.

In California, meanwhile, the world’s largest market for EVs will soon be served by an extensive network of charging stations owned or supported by utilities. In late 2014 the state reversed its earlier stance banning utility participation in the market, and the state’s three largest utilities—Southern Cal Edison, Pacific Gas & Electric, and San Diego Gas & Electric—have proposed programs that would deploy a combined total of nearly 60,000 stations, at a cost of nearly $1 billion. If approved by regulators, those facilities would outnumber gas stations by a wide margin.

“The utilities excel at planning big infrastructure projects, at building systems that are reliable and durable,” says Duvall. “If they’re able and choose to get involved, they can provide a regional framework with uniform access, consistent pricing, and most importantly, reliability and longevity.”

Duvall and utility executives also acknowledge that EV charging could offer an important element of the business model for electricity providers. That model is changing rapidly as demand for power flattens and more consumers generate their own electricity via solar panels or other distributed resources. While regulated utilities in California are “decoupled”—meaning that their revenues are not dependent on selling more electrons—moving into the transportation market would spread their fixed costs over a broader customer base, while helping to mitigate the impact of thousands of new EVs on the power grid.

The next phase for utilities would be the growth of the vehicle-to-grid market, known as V2G: vehicles could essentially serve as mobile electricity storage devices, charging during off-peak hours and transmitting power back onto the grid when it’s needed. Once that happens, the rollout of utility-owned charging infrastructure will have benefits for all ratepayers—not just those looking to top off their EV batteries.

Sprint and T-Mobile Form Alliance to Raise Spectrum Reserve

As reported by Wireless Week: Sprint and T-Mobile have formed a rebel alliance of sorts to thwart AT&T and Verizon from garnering more low-band spectrum.

The nation’s third- and fourth-largest carriers, along with a number of rural carriers and consumer advocacy groups, have launched a website that aims to increase the FCC’s reserve of 600 MHz spectrum in the upcoming incentive auction. 

The new website features letters written to the FCC by T-Mobile CTO Neville Ray, as well as one by Charter, among others. There’s also a call to action, where visitors to the website are asked to make their voices heard via a form letter addressed to the FCC. 

“I am writing in support of wireless choice and to make sure Verizon and AT&T do not control the future of wireless by dominating the nation’s airwaves and limiting consumer choice,” the form letter reads. “For the next auction of low-band spectrum, the FCC needs to do more to protect the quantity and quality of the low-band spectrum that’s available for competitive carriers challenging AT&T and Verizon in the marketplace.”

Sprint, T-Mobile and Charter have all been vocal proponents of increasing the amount of spectrum reserved for smaller carriers. Sprint and T-mobile are arguing that 50 percent of the valuable low-band 600 MHz airwaves be set aside for smaller carriers. The two companies are also asking that the FCC not impose further delays on the auction. 

The new website is part of an ongoing battle that some say is about evening the playing field between Verizon and AT&T, and everyone else. 

A report from Reuters late last month stated that the FCC would not raise the reserve and would likely keep just 30 percent of the available spectrum for smaller carriers. 

AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon have all made public plans to participate in the auctions. Sprint is still undecided and has sat out the previous two FCC spectrum auctions, including the record-smashing AWS-3 auction that pulled in more than $40 billion in revenue.

After the AWS-3 auction netted a much higher revenue than anticipated, expectations are higher for the 600 MHz auction. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) is predicting $10 billion to $40 billion in net proceeds from the auction will go toward paying down the national deficit.

The CBO expects anywhere from 20-100 MHz of broadcast spectrum will be cleared and open for bidding.

SpaceX is Ready to Test Internet Service Satellites

As reported by Time: Elon Musk’s SpaceX is planning a new network of satellites, and they’ll come with an interesting function: an Internet connection.

According to an application filed with the FCC last week and first spotted by a Reddit user, the Hawthorne, Calif.-based space company wants to launch a network of satellites that will beam down Internet access to regions with little or no connection to the web.

The application describes two satellites, the first of up to eight trial satellites that are each expected to last up to 12 months.

The satellites will likely be built using the $1 billion that SpaceX raised mostly from Google earlier this year.

For these first tests, the launch location will likely be Vandenberg Air Force Base on the California coast rather than Cape Canaveral in Florida, according to the orbital parameters in the application.

The test satellites will beam Internet broadband to three locations: Redmond, Wash., (as Musk has said he wants to build satellites and plan launches in Seattle); Fremont, Calif., where Musk’s Tesla factory is located; and Hawthone, Calif., which is SpaceX’s hometown.

Whether we’ll truly be able to connect to a SpaceX-provided Internet connection someday (it will likely take a long time before that gets approved) is still unclear. But Musk has said in the past that he believes such a communication system will be necessary for travel to Mars, his ultimate goal for SpaceX.

Uber will let Drivers Track Your Location, But Only if You Agree

As reported by Engadget: Uber has rewritten its privacy policy to make it easier to grok and added some very important changes. According to the updated guidelines, the ride-sharing app will soon give drivers the power to track your location if you allow it to, so long as it remains running in the background. This, Uber claims, will allow them to pick you up a lot faster than just dropping a pin to signal where you're waiting. Drivers will be able to meet you on the way, for instance, or right out the door you used to exit a large building. Also, the app will start asking for permission to access your contact list, so the service can send promotional materials to your friends and family.

This update comes after an external review of Uber's privacy program, prompted by a series of issues and PR catastrophes involving customer privacy. If you recall, some Uber employees used the "God View" tracker embedded in the app to spy on the whereabouts of a Buzzfeed reporter and a high-profile venture capitalist last year. All its corporate employees (but not its drivers) reportedly had access to God View and could monitor a user's activities. Let's not forget the time an exec made a remark about hiring a team todig up personal dirt on journalists that criticize the service, as well.

In addition to the aforementioned changes, the new privacy policy lists what kind of data it collects from customers. It makes clear that Uber keeps a record of your transactions (amount, distance traveled, date and time, et cetera) and gathers info about your device (model, OS version, serial number, UDID, mobile network, preferred language and more). Uber can access any call and SMS details between the driver and yourself, as well as see your device's IP address, browser, the website you visited before it, so on and so forth.

The new Privacy Statement will take effect on July 15th, so expect to see the app asking you for permission to switch on real-time tracking and to access your address book by then. If you're not exactly fond of these changes, don't worry: the company told TechCrunch that the app will work just fine even if you choose not to switch them on.

Apple Watch App Lets You Talk to Your Tesla Model S Electric Car

As reported by Transport Evolved: Just under a month ago, shortly after the launch of Apple’s highly-anticipated Apple Watch, we told you about Allen Wong, self-made app developer turned millionaire, car nut, and Tesla Model S owner.

Working for what he said was three or four days of non-stop coding after his Apple Watch arrived, Wong — who codes under the Rego Apps and Smartest Apps company names — produced a fully-functioning Apple Watch app that enabled remote control of the Tesla Model S electric car. At the time — despite selling it online for $9.99 — Wong said that his Remote S Apple Watch app was built as something of a “fun hobby” rather than a commercial app that he expected to make much money out of.

Despite treating this particular app as a hobby, we note from Wong’s YouTube channel (which we’ve been keeping an eye on) that he’s been busy, building an update to the Apple Watch App less than two weeks after the app debuted in the App store.

This time, he’s added voice control too, as the above video — uploaded about seven hours ago — shows.

In the video, Wong uses the standard “Hey Siri” phrase known to Apple Users everywhere to activate the Apple Watch’s voice recognition mode. After the watch has responded to his voice, he then shows us the car responding to some simple commands.

“Hey Siri…HVAC On,” he says, followed by a short pause while his iPhone and Apple Watch work together to accomplish the command.

“Hey Siri… Unlock Car,” results in a similar pause, followed by the unlocking of his red Tesla Model S P85D.
Wong also demonstrates the car’s keyless remote functionality by telling his watch to start the car. Sure enough, there’s a small pause, and the car turns itself on. Similarly, the video shows him remotely opening the car’s panoramic sunroof, all by voice commands.

It’s an impressive update to the app, which Wong says he’s still in the process of training to accept a number of different commands.

“I realize now that it sounds weird to say ‘Start Car’ instead of ‘Start the Car’,” Wong says in his description to his latest YouTube video. “I’ll change it to that phrase when I publish the app. I’m currently training my app so that it can understand multiple phrases, so you can say ‘KITT, start the car’ or ‘Start my Tesla’ or ‘Horn the horn at those morons,’ and the app will understand what you want it to do.”

Wong says he hasn’t yet submitted the updated code to the App store, but will do at some point in the near future.

“I’m just waiting for Tesla to implement the ‘summon car’ feature, so I can code the app that allows you to speak into your Apple Watch to make your Tesla drive up to you,” he adds, half-jokingly.

As some of those who have already watched the video note, the time delay between the command being spoken and the app responding isn’t quite as quick as perhaps some might like. But hey, for those who grew up with Michael Knight and KITT, that’s really not important, is it?