The first batch of 27 Project Kuiper space internet satellites are scheduled to launch next week. Amazon has secured 80 such launch missions that will each deliver dozens of satellites into low earth orbit (LEO) to create a constellation capable of competing with Elon Musks Starlink juggernaut. Amazon says it expects to begin offering high-speed, low-latency internet service later this year.The KA-01 mission satellites short for Kuiper Atlas 1 will launch on an Atlas V rocket from United Launch Alliance. Its currently scheduled for 12pm ET on Wednesday, April 9th, assuming weather and technology cooperate at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. Amazons other Project Kuiper launch partners include Arianespace, Blue Origin, and yes, SpaceX.As a global service offering, Amazons space internet service will eventually be available from virtually any location on the planet. Users will need terminal antennas to tap into the satellite constellation. In 2023, Amazon said that its smallest dish, a seven-inch square design weighing just one pound, would offer speeds up to 100Mbps, making it a Starlink Mini alternative. Amazon will further compete with SpaceX by offering larger dishes for residential and enterprise use offering speeds up to 1Gbps. Amazon expects to produce the terminals for less than $400 each, which may or may not be subsidized to attract users.Amazon will offer terminals for mobile, residential, and enterprise use. Image: AmazonAmazons first-generation satellite system will eventually consist of more than 3,200 LEO satellites, all flying at 17,000 mph (27,359 km/h), 392 miles (630km) above the Earth, and circling the planet in about 90 minutes. SpaceXs Starlink constellation currently exceeds 7,000 LEO satellites, the first of which launched in 2019.Notably, the satellites flying on KA-01 are coated in a dielectric mirror film unique to Kuiper that scatters reflected sunlight. That should help make them less visible to ground-based astronomers, according to Amazon.Although Amazon already launched a pair of Project Kuiper prototype satellites, its upcoming mission will include a number of firsts that introduce risk. Weve done extensive testing on the ground to prepare for this first mission, but there are some things you can only learn in flight, and this will be the first time weve flown our final satellite design and the first time weve deployed so many satellites at once, said Rajeev Badyal, vice president of Project Kuiper.No matter how the mission unfolds, this is just the start of our journey, and we have all the pieces in place to learn and adapt as we prepare to launch again and again over the coming years.See More:

"There's a lot of advancements that have been made".Months of rumours and leaks meant that yesterday's announcement that Nintendo Switch 2 will come with an LCD screen wasn't all that big of a surprise. We had been preparing to say goodbye to the OLED for a while now, but Nintendo is keen to point out that the change isn't a decision that the team took lightly.During a roundtable discussion with Kouichi Kawamoto, Takuhiro Dohta and Tetsuya Sasaki at yesterday's Nintendo Switch 2 hands-on event in New York, Sasaki admitted that "There's been a lot of advancement that has been made in LCD screen technology" since the release of the Switch 1, and the team "took a look at the LCD technology that is available to us now" during Switch 2 development.Read the full article on nintendolife.com

HD-hyah!Folks, I am not a graphics or frame rate snob. I grew up playing 50hz games and my main system of choice is an eight-year-old tablet. I love style and art over visuals, and sometimes I even tolerate rough framerates. I might be a little more unforgiving in 2025 than I was a few years ago, but look, I want good games, good experiences, not pristine visual experiences.Playing Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom on Switch 2 might have changed that, though. I might be becoming a frame rate snob. And I honestly can't believe how much better both games look and run on Switch 2.Read the full article on nintendolife.com

Amazon is introducing a new Recaps feature for Kindle users to help them recall plot points and character arcs before picking up the latest book in a series. While the companys press release for the new feature doesnt mention AI, Amazon confirmed to TechCrunch that recaps are AI-generated. We use technology, including GenAI and Amazon moderators, to create short recaps of books that accurately reflect book content, Amazon spokesperson Ale Iraheta said in an emailed statement.Users have taken to Reddit to share their concerns about the use of AI for the feature, with some questioning how accurate recaps will be. Although the company has said that it ensures recaps accurately reflect content, TechCrunch has asked for more information about the process. Kindle device users in the United States can now view short recaps for books theyve either purchased or borrowed for thousands of best-selling English-language eBooks in series. Amazon plans to bring the recaps feature to the Kindle app for iOS soon.Image Credits:AmazonTo access recaps, users need to be on the latest Kindle software. Users can check if a series has a recap by looking for the View Recaps button on the series page in their Kindle Library or through the View Recaps option within the series grouping three-dot menu.Before you can read the recap, you will be warned that it includes spoilers about major plot points and characters. Once you acknowledge this, you will be taken to the recap.By adding a new level of convenience to series reading, the Recaps feature enables readers to dive deeper into complex worlds and characters without losing the joy of discovery, all while ensuring an uninterrupted reading experience across every genre, Amazon wrote in a blog post. The company says recaps are available for all sorts of series, from epic fantasy series to mystery thrillers, including trending titles and longtime favorites.

Grace, an insurance company for luxury goods, announced a $6.4 million (5.9 million) seed round led by FinTechCollective and Speedinvest.Grace, an insurance company for luxury goods, works with luxury brands to protect purchased consumer goods. If an item is stolen or damaged, a consumer can create a claim through the Grace app. For the brand, the Grace app also provides fraud detection, claim processing, and logistic coordination. On Wednesday the company announced a $6.4 million (5.9 million) seed round led by FinTechCollective and Speedinvest.It confirmed that it is working with at least one major luxury brand in Europe, though it declined to share the name.Co-founder and President Lou Dana said that she and her co-founders Quentin Roy, CEO, and Martin Lenweiter, Graces CTO decided to launch this company after seeing how unprotected many luxury goods still are, especially when people are traveling abroad.There was clearly a massive gap between the service levels luxury brands promise and what happens post-purchase when something goes wrong, Dana said.The number of stolen luxury goods has just about tripled in the past few years, and its becoming costly for fashion houses to keep up with. Grace says it is already working with Chubb, a world leader in insurance, to underwrite and secure its services.But convincing luxury houses to adopt new technology hasnt always been the easiest of tasks to complete. Roy said that brands have struggled to control what happens to their products after a sale, especially when it goes wrong. We werent just offering protection, Roy said about the companys pitch. We were helping elevate their brand.There are other types of insurance companies for consumer goods, such as Zing Cover, which also provides specialist insurance for luxury goods. Roy said that Grace doesnt compete with just one company as it stands at the intersection of embedded insurance, luxury services, and post-purchase protection. Kima, BPI France, and FirstMinuteCapital all participated in the round.Dana said the fresh capital would be used to help the company scale across Europe and hire more people in product engineering. It hopes to cover more than 200,000 luxury items by the end of this year.

You can download here https://www.patreon.com/c/renzosolorzanoVFX3DHi! This is a FREE Unity VFX package. An Aura Shield! with different versions. I hope you like it!I also wanted to make the gift animation so it looks great. FREE Unity VFX Package See you with more content! Full Video 1 post - 1 participant Read full topic

Picking on (and apart) New York City subway maps is a metropolitan pastime, no different from kvetching over the Mayors latest scandal, or that new banal building on your block. Massimo Vignelli, who architects know for , rolled out his famous MTA map in 1972, only for it to be replaced seven years later (and then again in 1998) by a less abstract version ideated by Michael Hertz Associates. The decision to pull the iteration by Vignelli, Bob Noorda, and Joan Charsyn has long been a sore spot for designers, while the choice was well received by the public. Not long after the famous We New York logo flop, which revisited Milton Glasers iconic 1976 campaignto jumpstart the citys tourism industry after COVID, New Yorkers awoke this week to again relish and debate a piece of Drop Dead 1970s lore. The MTA formally unveiled yesterday its new map that will go up in subway stations and cars all over town, replacing the Hertz drawing. This latest version pays homage to the one Vignelli envisioned, reprinted in 2012 by Waterhouse Cifuentesit utilizes a diagrammatic style, employing bold, straight lines making it much easier for the eye to follow and more suitable for digital users, the MTA said.This week the MTA rolled out a new map of the New York City subway. (Courtesy MTA)The new subway map was drawn in-house by the MTAs Creative Services Mapping Department. The white background, bold colors, horizontal writing and use of black dots make the map more ADA-friendly and easier for people with low-vision or cognitive disabilities to read, the MTA said.Designers also focused on text legibility, keeping text on one line wherever possible making better use of open space to alleviate crowding and using a black subway bullet with a white character to provide maximum contrast for easier reading, MTA added. The legend on the map is now more detailed and includes accessibility, transfer, and safety information, as well as a QR code that leads users to the MTA website. Vignelli v. HertzThe baby wasnt thrown out with the bath water, however. While the new map indeed evokes Vignellis prowess, it maintains certain elements that worked from the Hertz version. Or, to quote Pentagrams Michael Bierut on social media, the new official version mitigates some of the things normal people (i.e. non-designers) found aggravating about the 1972 version, but it is still beautifully faithful to its precise geometric logic.To Bieruts point, the Creative Services Mapping Department kept the official brand colors established by the 1979 and 1998 Hertz maps, making this iteration a hybrid between old and new, diagrammatic and figurative. The water in this new version is blue, for instance, and the parks are green, just like the Hertz map, instead of the murky beiges and grays Vignellis respectively had, which bewildered New Yorkers at the time. I support the decision! Criticism of Vignellis subway map largely stemmed from its abstract representation of geography and topography, which created confusion for users, said Taylor Loutsis, founder of Studio Loutsis, the Brooklyn office which designs AN Interior. At the time, this was understandableboth locals and tourists relied heavily on the map to orient themselves within the city. However, in the 21st century, most subway riders carry smartphones with GPS and step-by-step directions, making the need for geographically accurate maps less essential.Today, maps are used differently: theyre less about providing spatial context and more about supplementing the directions already provided by our devices, Loutsis told AN. The issue is no longer about whether the average person can interpret abstract geography, but how maps function alongside the mobile tools everyone now uses to navigate urban environments.The famous Massimo Vignelli subway map lasted between 1972 and 1979. (Courtesy MTA)The subsequent 1979 and 1998 maps were designed by Michael Hertz Associates. (Courtesy MTA)The new subway map has already been employed at select stations since 2021, while testing on station digital screens started in 2024. All physical maps will be swapped out of R211 rolling stock and MTA stations over the next few weeks. This will be accompanied by the increased frequency of real-time data, where platform trackers will be updated every five seconds to better reflect train arrival times. These improvements are based on customer feedback, surveys, and analysis of all 472 New York City subway stations, MTA continued.The swap comes around the same time the MTA phases out MetroCards, those yellow rubbery things you have to swipe just right in order to board your train on time. The MTA is now transitioning to the OMNY contactless fare payment system, a maneuver praised by many thats been criticized by transit advocates, who question how those without smartphones will be able to ride. The MTA is also expected to raise fares from $2.90 per ride to $3 by August 2025, sparking further protests.While the city that never sleeps tosses and turns over rising prices, and we count the days until the next mayoral election, one thing is for certain. To quote AN contributor Antonio Pacheco: 53 years later Massimo Vignelli is victorious, and vindicated.

Sayula (2025), oil on canvas, 30 x 34 inches. All images courtesy of Anna Ortiz, shared with permissionIn Mythic Paintings, Anna Ortiz Conjures the Uncanny of the BorderlandsApril 3, 2025ArtGrace EbertFor Anna Ortiz, the borderlands are a rich source for the uncanny. The Mexican-American artist (previously) was raised in Worcester, Massachusetts, but visited her family in Guadalajara often. There, she was immersed in her ancestral landscape and introduced to her familys history as artistsher grandfather painted portraits, while her aunt was a professional sculptor.These formative experiences offered a contrast to her life in the Northeast and the dichotomous relationship between the two continues to influence her thinking and practice today.Al Otro Lado de Texcoco (2025), oil on canvas, 48 x 72 inchesFor her upcoming solo exhibition at Mindy Solomon Gallery, Ortiz conjures a surreal borderland that suspends time. Awash in saturated color palettes of pink, blue, and green, the paintings in Prophecy Here and Gone reference Aztec histories and how their influence continues to shape the landscape.In the diptych Al Otro Lado de Texcoco, for example, a gleaming lake peeks through dense clusters of cacti. Nested at the base of the volcano La Malinche, the body of water greeted the Aztecs when they moved to whats now known as Mexico City. When the Spanish arrived, they drained the lake in a failed attempt to farm the land.Ortiz tells Colossal that she frequently paints pairs as a way to consider unfulfilled destinies and paths not chosen. Twin agaves appear in Pareja, while Tula depicts a couple of totemic sculptures that appear to be standing guard. Flat butterflies grace their chests, a reference to the statues found at the capital of the Aztecs ancestors, the Toltecs. The artist similarly incorporates doubling through reflections, as a majestic jaguar is mirrored in the aquatic foregrounds of several paintings.World-building and offering an entry point into ancient prophecies is key to this body of work. Interested in the ways civilization and the landscape interact and shape one another, Ortiz shares that loss is a central themeI was once very close to my Mexican heritage, and I lost it. I grew up fluent in Spanish but because of family strife, I lost that fluency. Tula (2025), oil on canvas, 28 x 22 inchesOrtizs paintings both honor the ancient peoples and cultures that once occupied the land and present an alternative universe in which their myths and prophecies had different outcomes. Vibrant and uncanny, the works portray the lives we were unable to live but (that) happened without us, she adds.Prophecy Here and Gone is on view from April 5 to May 10 in Miami. Find more from Ortiz on her website and Instagram.Agaves Bailando (2024), oil on canvas, 38 x 32 inchesReflejada (2025), oil on canvas, 40 x 48 inchesSacrificio (2023), oil on canvas, 48 x 40 inchesPareja (2025), oil on canvas, 30 x 34 inchesGemelos Amaranto (2025), oil on canvas, 38 x 32 inchesEn Orbita (2025), oil on canvas, 22 x 28 inchesCihuacoatl (2025), oil on canvas, 28 x 22 inchesNahual (2025), oil on canvas, 38 x 32 inchesNext article

With Intel Unison being retired in June, you'll have to turn to another app to sync your iPhone or Android phone with Windows 11.

The carrier is offering a free phone, too, but don't skip the fine print.