Tag Archives: Telecommunications

Technology

One Of The Best-Selling Steam Games Last Month Was A Police Sim

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Image: Aesir Interactive

Valve just updated its list of the top new releases on Steam for November. There are the usual suspects like Crysis 2 and 3, Spider-Man: Miles Morales, and Sonic Frontiers. There’s also my favorite single player game of the year, Pentiment, and a neat little pixely extraction shooter that caught our eye a few months ago called Zero Sievert. But one of the top 20 best-selling Steam games last month was, of all things, a fucking police sim.

Released last month, Police Simulator: Patrol Officers takes place in the fictional U.S. city of Brighton. The game asks you to “take up the badge” as a cop, which actually means harassing citizens with traffic violation citations, arresting them for possession of drugs, “chasing graffiti sprayers,” and other cop things. It’s currently holding a “very positive” review status, with several active and former law enforcement officers chiming in to the comments, and others who didn’t get enough of a kick out of bullying people in childhood weighing in, as well.

One reviewer sums up a typical experience in Police Simulator. It’s written out like a poem (and you should read it as such):

I started my first shift.
I saw a lady jay walking, so I stopped her.
She seemed nervous, so I asked for her ID.
I decided then to search her.
She ran.
I shot her with my stun gun.
I found a switch blade and human teeth, so I arrested her.
I called for back up, and they threw her in the patty wagon.
Cleaning the streets, one person at a time.

I mean where to even begin with this? Honestly, this makes that Call of Duty level from the last game look tame. And what is with the human teeth? Do the devs assume people carry such things around, and do that regular ol’ street cops spend most of their time thwarting murders with a penchant for taking teeth? “First person I searched I found human teeth. 10/10” reads another review.

Other reviews suggest this is a pretty straightforward, somewhat buggy and feature-lacking civil duty sim. Such a boring job, it seems, isn’t up to everyone’s hopes. Another Steam review reads:

Pro’s[sic]: Be a cop.

Con’s[sic]: Can’t be a bad cop.

First thing I did was pull out my pistol and shoot a lady that was jaywalking and I got booted off the job. I couldn’t even do the remaining 16 bullets in my mag before reloading and yelling at her not to move.

Fun game, but a bit unrealistic.

7/10 – worth it for ramming your policecar [sic] into randoms and fleeing the scene.

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“Shoot first talk later” reads another review. “This game was pretty fun at first” laments a negative review, “but unlike LSPDFR mod in Grand Theft Auto V, you HAVE to play by a real Cop’s duties. You have no real freedom to goof around.”

I’ve played a ton of GTA, a game where you regularly do horrible things to people, but this one strikes me as a little odd. I probably shouldn’t throw stones, and there are other examples of questionably tone deaf uses of police imagery in games. But it’s hard not to read comments from people bemoaning that a game meant to simulate daily police work which is mostly, boring civil offenses like traffic violations is not exciting enough because it doesn’t give you enough opportunities to shoot people.

 

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Entertainment

5 of Trashiest Emails Parler Has Sent Me

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Photo: Parler

In fall 2020 I was making a lot of really bad life decisions. I don’t know if it was the stress of the pandemic, the chaos in my personal life, or my journalistic obligations to stay up on tech news, but for some reason I decided to sign up for Parler. That wasn’t the biggest mistake I made that year, but it’s one that still haunts my inbox. My Parler account came with an unexpected perk: an invite to the company’s whiny, spam-ridden email list.

Parler is a self described “uncancelable [sic?] free speech platform,” i.e., a social media service for conservatives that won’t ban you for hate speech. The barely-used website made headlines this week when Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, announced he’s buying the platform. The news came days after Ye’s tweeted promise to “go death con 3 on Jewish people,” which got his Twitter and Instagram accounts suspended.

Agreements to buy companies typically don’t happen overnight, so you have to imagine the Parler deal has been in the works for a while. Of course, the timing is just a coincidence. Ye just happened to feel like tweeting something that seems tailor-made to get your account suspended, and he just happened to think of it one week before buying a social media platform that doesn’t censor what he calls “conservative opinions.” Ya’ know, conservative opinions like “Jews are bad.” Definitely not a cynical manufactured controversy. Just a big, antisemitic coincidence.

The sporadic emails Parler sends me and the other sorry individuals on its listserv are a good sample of what you’ll see if you’re one of the few people who actually use the “uncancelable” social network: nastiness, a lot of cry baby complaining, and charlatans trying to bilk innocent people out of their money.

Here are five of of the worst examples.

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Business

Ray Dalio says watch out for rates reaching this level, because Wall Street stocks will take a 20% hit

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After that CPI shock earlier in the week, Wall Street is fielding a fresh batch of data on Thursday, with the headline retail sales number coming in stronger than expected. And a disastrous rail strike may be inverted.

But there’s no cheering up billionaire investor and hedge-fund manager Ray Dalio who in our call of the day asserts the Fed has no choice but to keep driving up interest rates, at a high price to stocks.

And he’s putting some fairly precise guesswork out there. “I estimate that a rise in rates from where they are to about 4.5% will produce about a 20% negative impact on equity prices,” Dalio said in a LinkedIn post dated Tuesday.

Some are forecasting the Fed could hike interest rates by 100 basis points next week, a move not seen since the likewise inflationary 80s. The central bank’s short-term rate hovers between 2.25% to 2.5%, but Nomura, for one, sees that rate headed to 4.75% by 2023.

But Dalio thinks interest rates could even reach the higher end of a 4.5%-to-6% range. “This will bring private sector credit growth down, which will bring private sector spending, and hence the economy down with it,” he says.

Behind this prediction is the Bridgewater Associates founder belief that the market is severely underestimating where inflation will end up — at 2.6% over the next 10 years versus what he sees as 4.5% to 5% in the medium term, barring shocks.

Read: Why a single U.S. inflation report roiled global financial markets — and what comes next

As for what happens when people start losing money in the markets — the so-called “wealth effect” — he expects less spending as they and their lenders grow more cautious.

“The upshot is that it looks likely to me that the inflation rate will stay significantly above what people and the Fed want it to be (while the year-over-year inflation rate will fall), that interest rates will go up, that other markets will go down, and that the economy will be weaker than expected, and that is without consideration given to the worsening trends in internal and external conflicts and their effects.”

The markets

Stock futures
ES00,
-0.25%

YM00,
+0.02%

NQ00,
-0.48%
are slightly lower post data, as Treasury yields
TMUBMUSD10Y,
3.437%

TMUBMUSD02Y,
3.852%
keep climbinging and the dollar
DXY,
-0.10%
firms up.

Oil prices
CL.1,
-1.63%
are lower, along with gold
GC00,
-0.83%.
China stocks
SHCOMP,
-1.16%

HSI,
+0.44%
slipped after the country’s central bank left rates unchanged. European natural-gas prices
GWM00,
+4.13%
are on the rise again. Bitcoin
BTCUSD,
+0.64%
is trading at just over $20,000.

The buzz

Shares of Union Pacific
UNP,
-3.69%,
Norfolk Southern 
NSC,
-2.16%
and CSX
CSX,
-1.05%
 are rallying in premarket after the White House said it has reached a tentative railway agreement with unions. No deal by Friday would mean strikes and havoc for supply chains, grain markets and even the coming holidays. Read more here.

August retail sales rose a stronger-than-expected 0.3% as Americans spent on new cars while weekly jobless claims came in lower for a fifth-straight week and import prices dropped 1%. Elsewhere, the Empire State manufacturing index perked up on the heels of a deep negative reading, but the Philly Fed factory index worsened. Industrial production and business inventories are still to come.

Adobe shares
ADBE,
+0.85%
are dropping after a report the software company is mulling a $20 billion deal to buy graphic design startup Figma .

Vitalik Buterin, one of the co-founders of Ethereum, says the so-called “merge” is done, meaning the birth of a more environmentally friendly crypto. Ethereum
ETHUSD,
-1.22%
is up just a little right now.

A new lawsuit claims Tesla
TSLA,
+3.59%
has made false promises over Autopilot and Full Self Driving features. And move over Tesla, Apple
AAPL,
+0.96%
is now Wall Street’s biggest short bet.

Ericsson
ERIC,
-3.32%

ERIC.A,
-1.78%

ERIC.B,
-3.34%
is dropping after a double downgrade at Credit Suisse, who cited inflationary headwinds. Analysts lifted Nokia
NOKIA,
-0.51%

NOK,
-0.40%
to outperform, though the stock is barely moving.

Cathie Wood’s Ark Investment Management went on a dip-buying spree after Tuesday’s market meltdown, scooping up chiefly Roku
ROKU,
+0.44%.

Opinion: Pinterest never considered itself a social network. Until now.

Patagonia billionaire Yvon Chouinard is donating his entire company — worth $3 billion — to the climate fight.

Best of the web

No U.S. shale rescue for Europe.

Turkey finds an extra $24.4 billion laying around.

Queue to pay respects to Queen is 2.6 miles long and counting.

The tickers

These were the top-searched tickers on MarketWatch as of 6 a.m. Eastern Time:

Ticker Security name
TSLA,
+3.59% 		Tesla
GME,
+1.01% 		GameStop
AMC,
+1.95% 		AMC Entertainment
BBBY,
+4.66% 		Bed Bath & Beyond
HKD,
+311.78% 		AMTD Digital
NIO,
-0.14% 		NIO
AAPL,
+0.96% 		Apple
APE,
+0.94% 		AMC Entertainment preferred shares
AMZN,
+1.36% 		Amazon
NVDA,
-0.02% 		Nvidia
Random reads

Scientists try to teach robots comedic timing

Sausage, mozzarella, batter. Meet South Korea’s hot dog.

Need to Know starts early and is updated until the opening bell, but sign up here to get it delivered once to your email box. The emailed version will be sent out at about 7:30 a.m. Eastern.

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Business

Verizon Stock Set for Worst Week Since 2008. Time to Buy?

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Yesterday it was AT&T  (T) – Get AT&T Inc. Report; today it’s Verizon  (VZ) – Get Verizon Communications Inc. Report. 

The stocks of the country’s two largest telecom companies are uncharacteristically volatile as they report second-quarter earnings.

On Thursday, Verizon shares fell 2.9% in sympathy with AT&T’s earnings selloff. While AT&T beat on earnings expectations, its full-year free cash flow guidance disappointed investors after a trim to $14 billion from $16 billion.

This morning, Verizon delivered its own disappointment as well. The shares are down more than 7% on the report, as earnings missed expectations and the company cut its profit outlook.

For what it’s worth, Verizon stock also fell 1.5% on Monday and 2.75% on Wednesday. Now Verizon stock is down for the fourth session in the past five and off about 14% this week — double its worst weekly performance from March 2020. 

This will also mark the stock’s largest one-week decline since October 2008. 

But don’t fret, bulls: Support may not be too far off.

Trading Verizon Stock

Daily chart of Verizon stock.

Chart courtesy of TrendSpider.com

Verizon stock this morning looked as if it presented an opportunity, particularly if it had opened below the $45.55 level. That was the May low and the 2022 low so far this year.

Scroll to Continue

Had Verizon stock broken below or opened below this level and reclaimed it, the bulls could get long at reasonable risk. 

Instead, it continued lower.

On the plus side, Verizon is now trading down into the 200-month moving average. This measure has not been tested since 2015, but at the time it was very strong support.

I want to see Verizon hold above the $44 level. If Verizon can do that and bounce from the 200-week moving average, a move back up through $45.50 could be attractive to the bulls.

That could open the door to the 10-day moving average as its first test of active resistance. Ultimately, it could put two gap fill levels in play, at $46.68 and $49.

But make no mistake on the chart: This is not a good look.

There isn’t any bullish divergence on the RSI reading and Verizon stock is free-falling its way down to new 2022 lows. 

If it can find its footing, great. But just like Snap  (SNAP) – Get Snap Inc. Class A Report, the charts are a bit broken right now, although Verizon looks much better than Snap and has a near-6% yield to boot. (And don’t forget, Verizon has now increased its dividend payment for 15 years in a row.)

If Verizon can hold the $44 level and 200-month moving average, the bulls may find something constructive to work with. Otherwise, let’s give this one some more time. 



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Business

AT&T earnings were ‘actually good’ despite stock selloff, says analyst

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AT&T Inc.’s shares fell sharply Thursday after the telecommunications giant cut its free-cash-flow forecast for the year, but one analyst said the latest report wasn’t all bad.

In fact, LightShed Partners analyst Walt Piecyk titled his research note: “AT&T’s Q2 Was Actually Good. Here’s Why.”

Admittedly, AT&T’s
T,
-7.62%
management team didn’t win points from Piecyk for its handling of cash-flow forecasting over the past few months. Piecyk recalled flagging issues with AT&T’s older free-cash forecast back in March, namely a “liberal use of rounding, aversion to simply stating a cash tax estimate for presumably political reasons, and ultimately the use of working capital and DirecTV distributions in their free-cash-flow presentation.”

AT&T said Thursday that various trends contributed to the lowered forecast, including slower customer payment times and higher-than-expected cash expenses related to its own device purchases from suppliers.

“It’s startling that the stock would sell off this steeply on working capital, but management is largely to blame,” Piecyk wrote. “Free-cash-flow guidance should not be this complex and investors shouldn’t include ephemeral working capital benefits in their calculations.”

Elsewhere, however, he saw positives in the report. AT&T’s free-cash-flow metric is important to investors because the company pays a large dividend, but Piecyk doesn’t think that the company will need to cut its dividend any more.

“Its core business is performing well and the 5G capex cycle should be winding down,” he wrote. “In 2023, we believe AT&T can generate over $12 billion of free-cash flow. The full-year benefit of the dividend cut means that $12 billion covers ~$8.2 billion of expected dividend payments,” before taking into account working-capital impacts or about $3 billion in anticipated DirecTV distributions.

Piecyk also had an upbeat view on the company’s wireless performance, especially in light of investor debate about the company’s pricing and promotional strategies.

“The increased pricing on its rate plans did not spike churn and helped deliver post-paid phone ARPU [average revenue per user] growth for the first time in over two years,” he wrote. “This also sends a signal to the wireless industry that there is pricing power in this market.”

Piecyk sees additional room for the company to grow ARPU as the year progresses.

He acknowledged that “[i]nvestors are understandably concerned that AT&T is buying revenue growth with handset subsidies to both new and existing subscribers” but noted that the company was able to grow wireless earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (Ebitda) in the latest quarter. In addition, the company’s upgrade rate fell relative to a year earlier, suggesting that the upgrade cycle is stretching out.

While AT&T is feeling some pain in its business wireline business, Piecyk was impressed by the performance of the company’s fiber business, with net adds up 25% relative to a year before. “This further validates our industry assumptions of target market share for fiber overbuilders and the increased share that can be obtained in legacy markets,” he wrote.

Overall, Piecyk sees opportunities for AT&T moving forward, especially given what the latest numbers indicated about pricing actions. “We continue to believe wireless operators can increase price and cut costs,” he wrote, including through a potential curtailing of device subsidies.

Piecyk rates the stock a buy with a $26 target price.

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Technology

Dead By Daylight Devs Announce Killer Dating Sim Hooked On You

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Come on in, the water’s fine.
Image: Behaviour Interactive

Yesterday the ever-evolving 2022 bingo card got even more unpredictable when Behaviour Interactive, the developer behind popular asymmetrical multiplayer horror game Dead by Daylight, revealed that it’s making a spin-off game in which you can romance your favorite Dead by Daylight killers.

Hooked on You: A Dead by Daylight Dating Sim, is an upcoming dating sim that lets you finally nuzzle up to and romance Dead by Daylight’s murder husbandos and waifus, become platonic friends, or suffer the unyielding fate of deadly awkward silences. The game has multiple “unique endings” wherein, if you play your cards right, you’ll unearth “deeply intimate” facets of the Dead by Daylight killers’ hard-to-read personalities.

How did this little dating sim come into existence? A rep for Behaviour Interactive told Kotaku that Dead by Daylight ran a community survey last year asking players if there was any other type of experience within the world of the game that players were interested in. Turns out, the DbD fandom’s top choice was a dating sim.

“Because it is so completely out there and crazy, we thought we had to do it immediately,” the rep told Kotaku, noting the funny looks and laughter the idea prompted in meetings before they stopped and realized that it was “in fact, genius.”

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“We’ve known for years of our fans’ thirst and some of the more intense fanfic that was created. We want to give them what they want but we also need to present this the right way, with all the seriousness it deserves,” the spokesperson said before noting that the dating sim is being developed in collaboration with Psyop, the folks who brought us the KFC dating sim I Love You, Colonel Sanders!

And now, the moment you’ve been waiting for: the eligible killers in Hooked on You. First up is Evan MacMillan, also known as The Trapper. You should call him the Thirst Trapper because he’s stanced up in a form-fitting singlet swimsuit that leaves nothing to the imagination in his Hooked on You iteration. This is a “Fab Five”-esque upgrade from the bloody disgusting pair of overalls he’s rocking in Dead by Daylight. Y’know what we call that? Growth. Ignore the red stuff on his hands, he was clearly smashing berries before your seaside picnic date.

Next up is the absolute beefcake The Huntress. I have no witty remark on deck for her because I’m twitterpated by her herculean biceps, though I did notice she also has berries smeared on her bunny mask. I guess great minds think alike. The second DbD bachelor is the Nigerian dreamboat, Philip Ojomo, aka The Wraith. He’s repping a matching Hawaiian button-up shirt and swim trunks that I’m about 90 percent sure he bought from The Gap. I’m preemptively deducting points for The Wraith’s basic-bitch fashion sense, though he does have a winning smile. Last, and certainly not least, we have the ever-elusive Spirit, Rin Yamaoka, sporting a sleek silk kimono and an elegant black sun hat ordained with a red spider lily symbolizing the “final goodbye” of your single life.

When asked whether Hooked on You might get more romanceable characters in the future, the spokesperson said, “So many of our fans have their favorite character and they are really looking forward to spending some special time with them. We get it. And while this is the first visual novel in the Dead by Daylight universe, I sense that it is certainly not the last time we tell these sorts of stories. We’ve opened a box here that our fans will never let us close again. Not that we would want to anyway.”

Personally, I’m jockeying for an eventual Hooked on You/Silent Hill crossover with a dummy thicc Pyramid Head rocking a Virgin Killer sweater. It’s not like Konami is doing anything with him. It’s what he deserves.

Hooked on You is slated to release this summer on Steam.

   

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Business

Here is what AT&T is giving investors in WarnerMedia spinoff, and how it will work

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AT&T Inc. detailed its plans for the spinoff of WarnerMedia on Friday, with investors eventually expected to receive a share of the new streaming-media entity for every four AT&T shares they own.

AT&T
T,
+2.19%
is in the process of spinning off its WarnerMedia business in a combination with Discovery Inc.
DISCA,
+0.85%,
which executives have said would allow AT&T to refocus attention on core telecommunications efforts. The company expects the deal to close in April, and executives declared plans for a stock dividend to its investors for April 5 at the close of business.

AT&T explained in a Friday release that those who own AT&T shares as of the end of trading April 5 will be able to receive shares of WarnerMedia SpinCo representing 100% of AT&T’s interest in the business. After the transaction closes, expected sometime in April, investors will receive an estimated 0.24 shares of the newly created WarnerBros. Discovery for each share of AT&T they own.

See also: AT&T issues new guidance as WarnerMedia spin draws nearer

The shares created represent about 71% of WarnerBros. Discovery, which will trade under the ticker symbol “WBD” after the spinoff completes. Shareholders “do not need to take any action” as the SpinCo shares will be automatically exchanged on the date the transaction closes, the company reported.

The potential period between the stock dividend and the closing of the deal could create confusion for anyone who wants to buy or sell the stock. The company noted that between April 4, the trading day before the record date for its spinoff distribution, and the closing of the combination with Discovery, there will be two markets for AT&T’s common stock on the New York Stock Exchange.

Those who choose to sell a share of AT&T’s common stock through the “regular way” market will sell both the AT&T share and the right to receive WarnerBros. Discovery shares through the transaction. Those who participate in the “ex-distribution” market will be selling AT&T’s stock while keeping the right to receive WarnerBros. Discovery shares.

Additionally, in the two-way trading window, those who wish to keep AT&T shares while selling the right to receive WarnerBros. Discovery can use a temporary when-issued option that will be available on the Nasdaq.

While AT&T shareholders will still own the same number of AT&T shares after the transaction close that they did just before the transaction close, the company’s stock price is expected to adjust after the deal is complete, reflecting the spinoff.

AT&T’s board of directors also declared a second-quarter dividend of 27.75 cents a share, the first quarterly dividend under a reduced annual payout that executives outlined last month. The dividend will be payable on May 2 for shareholders of record as of April 14.

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Business

Meta says today’s cellular networks aren’t ready for the metaverse

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Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Facebook, speaks during the virtual Facebook Connect event, where the company announced its rebranding as Meta, in New York on Oct. 28, 2021.

Michael Nagle | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Meta, formerly Facebook, has said that its grand ambition of building the ultimate “metaverse” won’t be possible if there aren’t drastic improvements in today’s telecoms networks.

The metaverse is a buzzword that’s being hyped up as the next big thing in tech. Broadly speaking, the concept refers to a seamless virtual world where people can work, shop and play with their colleagues, friends and family.

Dan Rabinovitsj, VP of connectivity at Meta, told CNBC at the Mobile World Congress tech event Monday that home networks and cellular networks aren’t yet ready for the metaverse.

“We’re working closely with our colleagues to think about what’s the next step in terms of innovation,” he said, adding that Meta is also working with cellular partners.

“If you really look at the pace of innovation in the telecom world, compared to other markets, it’s been harder to go faster in this space,” Rabinovitsj said. “One of the things that we’ve tried to change is that trajectory of innovation.”

While a true metaverse does not exist yet, there are some early projects underway that give an insight into what it’s all about. Meta’s Oculus virtual reality headsets have been hailed as a gateway to some of these new metaverse experiences. But the experiences require low latency and higher upload and download speeds.

“We need to develop a common language around the performance of networks,” Rabinovitsj said. “We’re actually big believers in measurement as foundational in this next phase of work.”

Mark Zuckerberg, Meta’s founder and CEO, said in a statement Sunday that “creating a true sense of presence in virtual worlds delivered to smart glasses and VR headsets will require massive advances in connectivity.”

Zuckerberg said this will need to be “bigger than any of the step changes we’ve seen before,” adding that things like wide-scale immersive video streaming will take entirely new types of networks. 

In response, AT&T Executive Vice President David Christopher told CNBC that 5G is being deployed faster than 4G was, adding that there is “massive investment across operators.”

He claimed that networks already offer low latency, consistent speeds and high capacity. “This will only improve over this next decade to support many use cases across many industries, including immersive and metaverse-like experiences,” Christopher said.

“However the Metaverse develops, it will depend on innovation and interoperability across many sectors, with advanced connectivity from 5G as an essential element.”   

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Science

Astronomers Rally to Stop Satellite Megaconstellations From Ruining the Sky

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A long-exposure image showing a Starlink satellite train as viewed from Kansas on May 6, 2021.
Photo: Reed Hoffmann (AP)

A new center established by the International Astronomical Union is seeking to protect the interests of astronomers as the number of satellites in Earth orbit continues to climb.

The Center for the Protection of the Dark and Quiet Sky from Satellite Constellation Interference, announced February 2, will be hosted by the National Optical-Infrared Astronomy Research Laboratory (NOIRLab) and the Square Kilometre Array Organization (SKAO). NOIRLab will concern itself with optical astronomy, while SKAO will look into issues related to radio astronomy.

“The new Centre is an important step towards ensuring that technological advances do not inadvertently impede our study and enjoyment of the sky,” Debra Elmegreen, the president of IAU, said in a statement. “I am confident that the Centre co-hosts can facilitate global coordination and bring together the necessary expertise from many sectors for this vital effort.”

The Centre will encourage satellite providers to minimize light pollution and other forms of astronomical interference, encourage governments and state officials to better regulate this blooming industry, and support the global community of astronomers who are now having to deal with problems caused by satellite interference.

Jessica West, a senior researcher on space security at Project Ploughshares, a Canadian peace and security research institute, said we’re reaching the point where our ability to observe space is being significantly harmed.

“This is a big problem,” she wrote to me in an email. “Astronomy is key to our exploration and use of space, deep space navigation, planetary defence from asteroids, and our knowledge of the Earth, Solar System, and Universe. And watching the night sky is core to who we are as humans. Losing that is a loss for every single person around the world.”

The cost of launching rockets and building satellites has never been lower. This is resulting in a mad rush to claim prime real estate in Earth orbit, as it now represents a viable place to do business. The private sector’s use of large fleets of interconnected satellites to provide broadband internet to paying customers is currently the most dominant example. Elon Musk has taken an early lead in this race for space, as SpaceX has now launched more than 2,000 Starlink satellites, with plans to launch at least 2,400 more. London-based OneWeb has launched hundreds of similar satellites, while Jeff Bezos’s Project Kuiper and the European Union intend to do the same.

The problem with so many satellites up there is that they’re messing with optical and radio observations. Long exposures at optical wavelengths are particularly affected; research from last month found a dramatic increase in the number of images taken during the twilight hours that contained streaks caused by Starlink satellites. That’s a problem for astronomy, but also for our security; views of the horizon at dusk and dawn are critical for detecting threatening near-Earth objects. At the same time, radio interference produced by satellite data downlinks could make it difficult to study the cosmic microwave background, for example.

Hence this coordinated response from astronomers. The IAU is positioning the new Center as the “the leading voice for astronomical matters that relate to the protection of the dark and quiet sky from satellite constellations and to act as a hub of information and resources to which any stakeholder group will be able to contribute and from which they can draw in support of their own activities.”

Accordingly, the group will call upon astronomers, satellite operators, government regulators, and the wider community to get involved. Satellite companies will be asked to provide more information about their space-based assets, such as coordinates and predicted movements. The group will also help astronomers to deal with associated problems, like providing software to remove visual artifacts from telescope images. The Centre will also encourage an open forum to discuss voluntary measures, such as reducing the reflectivity of satellites and for satellite companies to use higher, less obtrusive orbits.

West agrees that solutions exist.

“It’s a not a question of satellites versus astronomy, but rather how to mediate the different needs and interests and values that coalesce in outer space, including those that are less powerful,” she explained. “This requires open dialogue and coordinated and collective action. The international astronomy community is showing us how to do this. And the world is listening. This is a critical moment for space governance.”

This is a good and necessary starting point. Astronomers and regulators are currently behind in this struggle for space, if that’s a fair way to describe it, with satellite operators, for the most part, currently setting the rules. And by rules, I mean no rules—hence the problem. The IAU’s new Center has very good intentions. Let’s hope the relevant stakeholders are listening and willing to respond.

More: Elon Musk’s Starlink Is Causing More Streaks to Appear in Space Images.

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Business

The FAA Found A Workaround To Most Airplanes’ 5G Issues

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Photo: Patrick T. Fallon (Getty Images)

The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration seems to have found a workaround for the 5G issues that started to impact flights a few weeks ago: It just approved additional altimeters that will allow about 90 percent of the U.S. commercial aviation fleet to perform low-visibility landings at airports near 5G hubs.

According to Reuters, the FAA said it cleared seven more altimeters, bringing the total number of approved altimeters to 20.

Radio altimeters are used to give data on height above ground for bad-weather plane landings. The issue was essentially that the FAA and certain airlines feared planes wouldn’t be able to safely land in low-visibility conditions, since the 5G waves were broadcast on a very similar radio wavelength.

Earlier this month, communication giants AT&T and Verizon agreed to delay the implementation of new telecom towers near some airports as they rolled it out all over the rest of the country. Before this, thousands of flights were delayed over fears from airlines.

Verizon agreed to temporarily not turn on about 500 towers near airports, according to Reuters.

Some U.S, airlines are still concerned about Verizon’s plans to turn them on February 1.

On Tuesday, the FAA also published an airworthiness directive on the Boeing 777 and 747-8 aircrafts. It said the interference may impact multiple airplane systems using radio altimeter data. However, the directive doesn’t prevent any operations at nearly all large U.S. airports.

But why is 5G causing all of this interference? Well, it comes down to radio waves — C-band to be specific. The frequencies of both 5G and airline altimeters are very close to one another and could theoretically interfere with one another.

It led to quite the back and forth between the FAA, airlines and telecommunications companies. Only time will tell if these new altimeters are just a stop-gap fix or a more permanent solution to these issues.

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