SpaceX cannot pay for the Starlink services in Ukraine anymore, writes letter to Pentagon asking seeking funds

On October 14, 2022, CNN reported that SpaceX’s charitable contributions to the Ukrainian army could end. The Starlink division of SpaceX has warned that it will stop providing broadband service in Ukraine unless the United States military and Pentagon take over the funding. Recently, Musk’s peace plan for Ukraine and Russia received criticism, not only from netizens but from Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky. 

SpaceX’s official writes to Pentagon seeking funding for Starlink services in Ukraine

As per documents obtained by the publication, SpaceX’s director of government sales wrote a letter to the Pentagon last month. In the letter, the official writes, “we are not in a position to further donate terminals to Ukraine or fund the existing terminals for an indefinite period of time.” 

Bad reporting by FT. This article falsely claims that Starlink terminals & service were paid for, when only a small percentage have been. This operation has cost SpaceX $80M & will exceed $100M by end of year. As for what’s happening on the battlefield, that’s classified.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 7, 2022

Clearing out the timeline, Russia attacked Ukraine in February 2022, after which several nations worldwide sent help to the country in eastern Europe. In March 2022, SpaceX’s Starlink announced that it had sent thousands of satellite internet kits to Ukraine to “ensure people are still communicating,” said company president Gwynne Shotwell.

How much did it cost for SpaceX to send satellite terminals to Ukraine?

After Russia’s invasion, SpaceX sent Starlink satellite terminals as aid to the Ukrainian military. Since then, Ukraine’s military has relied heavily on the bandwidth provided by Starlink for its ground operations. Initially, the United States provided $3 million to Starlink for the cause; the Musk-led company has been bearing all the expenses. 

On October 7, 2022, Musk tweeted in reply to a FT journalist that the Ukrainian Starlink operation has “cost SpaceX $80M & will exceed $100M by end of year,” and could cost as much as $400 million for the next 12 months. Musk also highlighted that only a “small percentage” of the terminals and services provided to the affected country was paid for by other organisations. 

By June 2022, SpaceX had sent over 15,000 Starlink kits to Ukraine, which had been extremely useful for the country’s officials. At the moment, the Ukrainian sky has about 20,000 Starlink satellites. However, contrary to Musk's tweet, the CNN report says that “the vast majority of the 20,000 terminals have received full or partial funding from outside sources, including the US government, the UK and Poland.” 

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Google Meet to automatically zoom in on your face for more visibility

New Delhi, Oct 15 (IANS) Tech giant Google has announced a new feature for Meet users to improve visibility by automatically framing the video.

Before a user attends a meeting, Meet will automatically frame the video to ensure that everyone is equally visible, the company said in a blogpost.

There are no motion disturbances that could draw attention away from the meeting's subject because the automatic framing only happens once. But the video can be reframed manually at any time.

This feature does not have an admin control. By default, this function will be disabled, however, it can be turned on by the user.

The new feature is scheduled to roll out on November 2, the company said.

The feature was first announced during the Google Cloud Next 2022.

Earlier, the company had announced a Meet feature that enable users to unmute themselves by holding down the spacebar and to mute themselves again by releasing it.

The company said it will make it easier for users to participate in their meetings by quickly unmuting to say something.

"This feature helps in situations where you forget to mute again after unmuting yourself. This feature is OFF by default and can be enabled in the Google Meet settings," the company said.

The company said it changed how the "Hey Google" voice control works for Google Meet hardware devices.

With this update, the Google Assistant will only be active when a device is not in a meeting and within 10 minutes of an upcoming meeting.

(Except for the headline and cover image, the rest of this IANS article is un-edited)

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Gaming May Result in Life-Threatening Cardiac Arrhythmias in Vulnerable Children, Says Study

Computer gaming might create life-threatening cardiac arrhythmias in vulnerable youngsters whose tendency may have previously gone unreported, according to a new study. The researchers observed an uncommon yet distinct pattern in children who lose consciousness while playing video games.

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Apple AR headset may use iris scan to identify people

San Francisco, Oct 15 (IANS) Tech giant Apple's upcoming AR (augmented reality) headsets may use iris scan instead of Face ID or Touch ID to identify people.

In the company's forthcoming AR gadgets, iris scanning is likely to be used to recognise a user when they put on the headset, reports AppleInsider.

"The capability will make it easier for multiple people to use the same device and allow them to quickly make payments inside the headset," quoted in the report.

"Just like iPhones, it allows people to confirm payments using scans of their fingerprints or faces", it added.

It is expected that iris scanning will enable Apple Pay use, if it is used as a new biometric method for user authentication.

The design of the upcoming AR device is expected to feature mesh fabrics, aluminium, and glass. It is likely to be thinner and lighter than Meta's new Quest Pro.

The screen of the headset will be able to function at low refresh rates, much like the iPhone and Apple Watch, which have always-on screens. It would be specifically for battery conservation in the case of the headset.

It is rumoured that the company is working on three different AR headsets.

One of the headgear is likely to launch in 2023. It might cost up to $3,000 and include a pair of 4K OLED panels as well as 15 side-facing camera modules.

(Except for the headline and cover image, the rest of this IANS article is un-edited)

For more technology news, product reviews, sci-tech features and updates, keep reading Digit.in.

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Samsung and Google announce partnership on cross-platform compatibility for smart devices

On October 13, 2022, South Korean tech giant Samsung announced its partnership with the Alphabet-owned Google “to elevate smart home experiences.” As a part of the partnership, the companies are working towards making it easier to control smart home devices made by different makers. Samsung and Google have achieved the same by developing the Matter protocol, which acts as a bridge between the Google Home and Samsung SmartThings devices. 

How does the Matter protocol co-developed by Samsung and Google work?

As the Matter protocol comes in place, users opening the SmartThings app will get information about the Matter-enabled devices initially set up with Google Home. Then, users can easily onboard those devices to SmartThings app, and the same is true for Google Home. Essentially, this eliminates the cross-platform compatibility limitations that prevailed and allows users to experience an open ecosystem wherein devices manufactured by different companies support each other. 

As stated by Samsung, the Matter protocol will be rolled out in the coming weeks. It will be helpful for people who own a few smart home devices manufactured by different companies. Once it is rolled out, users won’t have to worry about which smart device they should purchase. Previously, one had to check the maker, the supported app, and the ecosystem before investing in a smart home device. 

The multi-admin feature seems to be the key highlight of the new Matter protocol

In the official press release, Samsung mentions that “Matter standard’s multi-admin capabilities provide the foundation for connecting devices directly to multiple apps and ecosystems, giving consumers more flexibility and choice.” Further, the company adds that it is building on “multi-admin, allowing users to seamlessly find, choose to connect and control Matter-enabled devices through SmartThings or Google Home apps on Android.”

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Samsung Galaxy S22 series new OS One UI 50, Android 13 upgrade releases in October

The South Korean tech giant hosted the Samsung Developer Conference 2022 and announced that the new Galaxy S22 series would be the first model to upgrade to the latest Android 13-based One UI 5.0 OS by October. 

Samsung launched the Galaxy S22 series earlier this year. The series included three models - Galaxy S22, Galaxy S22+ and Galaxy S22 Ultra, and so far, Samsung has rolled out four beta editions of the new OS for the S22 series. However, whether the fourth beta update will be the final one is unknown. 

OS One UI 5.0 new update offers

The One UI 5.0 brings along some new features for the users, like the Bixby Text Call, which will allow the users to answer phone calls by typing a message. In addition, it can also convert text to audio and share it with the caller and will display what the caller is saying by converting their voice to text.

The new update will also enable modes customisation for sleeping, relaxing, exercising, and driving. In addition, One UI 5.0 offers deeper integration of Android 13's "Material You design". Other features include stacked widgets, extracting text from images, Quick Share, Smart View, Samsung DeX, a security and privacy dashboard, a new Dynamic lock screen, multi-user support, etc. 

For more technology news, product reviews, sci-tech features and updates, keep reading Digit.in.

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Google finishes iOS 16 Lock Screen tools rollout with Maps, Search update

San Francisco, Oct 14 (IANS) Tech giant Google has completed iOS 16 lock screen widgets rollout with Maps and Search update.

The company announced to update six lock screen widgets on iOS 16 launch day, out of which, four widgets were updated recently.

Google Maps' 6.40 update adds two iOS 16 Lock Screen widgets - Frequent Trips and Search, reports 9To5Google.

"Frequent Trips" give directions and expected time of arrival for frequent trips. Whereas, the "Search" option helps to find restaurants, gas stations, and more.

The updated Search adds 4 new widgets to iOS 16 - Search, Voice Search, Lens and Lens Shortcuts, the report said.

"Search" gives access to Google Search from the Lock Screen, whereas, with the "Voice Search" you can ask a question, hum a song, or search for content with the voice.

"Lens" helps to search with the camera or any image. Meanwhile, "Lens Shortcuts" provide easy access to any lens.

Recently, the company rolled out "Passkey" support to both Android and Chrome for better safety.

Passkeys are a safer alternative to passwords and other phishable forms of authentication.

"They cannot be reused, don't leak in server breaches, and protect users from phishing attacks," the company recently said in a blog post.

(Except for the headline and cover image, the rest of this IANS article is un-edited)

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