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Showing posts from November, 2021

NASA details intent to replace the International Space Station with a commercial space station by 2030

NASA’s auditing body, the Office of Audits, has produced a report detailing the agency’s commitment to replacing the International Space Station (ISS) with one or more commercial space stations once the orbiting lab is retired — an event scheduled for 2024 right now, but all indications are that the ISS’s operational life will be extended to 2030, which is when the agency is assuming it’ll be able to hand off human occupation of an on-orbit science facility to a private company. This audit basically details the current costs of maintenance and operation of the ISS, and also explains why it thinks that there will still be an essential need for a research facility that can provide a test bed for prolonged human exposure to space, as well as for development and demonstration of tech key to helping people explore deep space, including the establishment of a more permanent presence on the Moon and exploration of Mars. The conclusion is that NASA hopes to see a commercial station operation

Dow falls 652 points on Fed chief Powell's tapering comments and Omicron variant concerns

US stocks looked set to rally on Monday. Spencer Platt/Getty Images US stocks tumbled Tuesday after tapering comments from Fed Chair Jerome Powell stoked rate-hike fears. Investors' nerves were already rattled after Moderna's CEO expressed reservations about the efficacy of the company's vaccine against the new strain. The 10-year Treasury note yield slid to 1.444% from Monday's 1.529%. Sign up here for our daily newsletter, 10 Things Before the Opening Bell US stocks tumbled Tuesday following new comments from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell who signaled an earlier-than-expected end to monthly bond purchases. In a turnaround, he also remarked that inflation can no longer be considered "transitory." Further shaking investor confidence were comments from the central bank chief that warned investors against the Omicron strain, which he said threatens to slow down the country's economic recovery and increase "uncertainty for inflation.&qu

Why the buyer of Beeple's $69 million NFT wants everyone to make free copies of the digital art

Beeple's NFT collection. Business Insider In March, Vignesh Sundaresan spent $69 million for the NFT of Beeple's "Everydays." Now, he says he would be happy if everyone had a free copy of the artwork. That's because he said information on the internet wants to be free, and paywalls don't work.  In March, Beeple sold a digital collection of his art as an NFT for a record $69 million. Now, the buyer wants everyone to have a free copy.  The buyer, Vignesh Sundaresan, who's also known as MetaKovan, told Bloomberg he'd be happy if everyone downloaded a copy of the multi-million dollar non-fungible token, "Everydays: The First 5,000 Days." That's because Sundaresan, a crypto investor who cofounded bitcoin ATM company BitAccess, told Bloomberg "information wants to be free," and keeping things on the internet inside walled gardens like paywalls doesn't work well. To him, everyone should be able to enjoy an NFT, a digi

High-speed space junk risk prompts NASA to abruptly delay spacewalk on the International Space Station

European Space Agency astronaut Thomas Pesquet conducts a spacewalk outside the International Space Station on June 20, 2021. NASA NASA delayed an astronaut spacewalk Tuesday, citing potential debris  near the International Space Station . Russia blew up a satellite this month, adding a cloud of dangerous , high-speed shrapnel to space. It's unclear if debris from the Russian test threatened NASA's spacewalk, but space junk is worsening. NASA postponed a spacewalk on Tuesday due to a threat that's becoming routine: space debris that might fly too close to the International Space Station (ISS). A pair of astronauts was supposed to don spacesuits, drift out of the ISS, and spend six-and-a-half hours replacing a faulty antenna system. But NASA announced early Tuesday that it had received a "debris notification" for the ISS the night before. It's unclear what the debris notification indicated, including when or at what distance debris was expecte

Sen. Joe Manchin isn't committing to extending the Biden child tax credit that 346,000 West Virginia children are getting

Sen. Joe Manchin tried and failed to get Senate Republicans on board with expansive voting rights legislation. Scott J. Applewhite/AP Sen. Joe Manchin is noncommittal on extending the child tax credit. On Tuesday, he told Insider "everybody's still talking and working. It's a work in progress." Millions of children are receiving the CTC, hundreds of thousands of them in Manchin's home state. On Tuesday, Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia didn't commit to approving the one-year child tax credit expansion as it's laid out in the $2 trillion House-approved social spending package. It raises the prospect of further changes to the proposed cash benefit. "Everybody's still talking," Manchin told Insider. "Everybody's still talking and working. It's a work in progress." He'd previously pushed for a work requirement as a condition to receiving the federal help. Manchin's noncommittal approach to the benefit under

How to set up WhatsApp Web and use the messaging platform from your computer

WhatsApp's web version and desktop app offer certain advantages over the mobile app. Tara Moore/Getty Images You can use WhatsApp Web from your computer's browser by linking your account through a QR code from the WhatsApp mobile app. You can also use WhatsApp from your computer by installing the WhatsApp desktop application. You can open multiple WhatsApp accounts on your computer as long as you use a different browser window for each one.  Visit Insider's Tech Reference library for more stories . Most people are familiar with using WhatsApp via a mobile app on their phone, but not everyone is aware that it's also possible to use WhatsApp on the computer desktop — either in a web browser or using a desktop app. The main difference? You still need to log into WhatsApp on the computer using your WhatsApp mobile app.  How to access WhatsApp Web or the desktop app There are two ways to access your WhatsApp account on your PC or Mac computer: Use the web app.