Plus a debate on where space begins |
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Today's newsletter is a bit of a weird one. First up, we've got a story about the ongoing debate among spacefaring billionaires about where space actually begins, followed by an interview with a Brooklyn-based art collective that's selling desk toys for dead startups. Enjoy! |
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THE BILLIONAIRE SPACE RACE |
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Amazon founder Jeff Bezos is ready to grab headlines by taking a trip to space later this month. He will be a part of the first crewed mission for his company, Blue Origin, when it launches its New Shepard rocket later this month on July 20. However, Bezos recently got scooped by Virgin Galactic founder Richard Branson, who made the trip this past weekend aboard his company's VSS Unity.
This seems to have sparked some animosity between the two companies, as Blue Origin has recently made the argument that Virgin Galactic's successful mission doesn't technically count as a trip to space.
The issue at the core of the debate is where the official boundary for space lies. Most of the world uses the Kármán line as the designated end of Earth's atmosphere and the beginning of space, which is 100 kilometers above the average sea level. However, organizations in the U.S. such as the Air Force consider the start of space to be 50 miles above average sea level, which is around 80 km.
So which is it? |
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Silicon Valley has a strange relationship with failure. The Valley rewards success first and foremost, of course. It loves its "unicorns," its college dropouts-turned-twentysomething-billionaires, and its disruptors with no time for the status quo. But it also doesn't, at least not outwardly, penalize failures. Whether it's a comeback story like that of Steve Jobs or the popular mantra of "fail fast, fail often," past failure is a badge of honor to be shown off like in the scar comparison scene from Jaws. If you're not failing, you're probably not trying — and certainly not innovating.
However, there are some failures that cross a line and keep on sprinting. These aren't underperformers or startups that never quite start up. They're the monumental disasters that remain on people's lips, the ones that transition at lightning pace from the source of whispered sweet nothings from venture capitalists to out-and-out punch lines. Now they're getting dusted off for another turn under the spotlight, courtesy of MSCHF.
MSCHF, for those unfamiliar, is the Brooklyn-based "ideas factory" that regularly unleashes a stream of meme products on an unsuspecting internet, like a gaggle of Banksys fattened up on a diet of 4chan. Previous MSCHF "drops" have included a dog collar that transforms your pooch's barks into a torrent of swear words, Nike "Jesus Shoes" sneakers filled with holy water, and — recently — a remote control Boston Dynamics Spot robot with a paintball gun and audio books of classic novels read by a deepfaked Gucci Mane.
Its latest offering — which launches today — doesn't require too much in the way of cranking up the absurdity meter, though. Instead, MSCHF has picked five infamous tech failures and created miniature desk toys out of their most notorious products. "Because," as Kevin Wiesner, chief creative officer at MSCHF, told Digital Trends, "you definitely can't get the real ones anymore." |
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If Samsung doesn't release a new Galaxy Note smartphone in 2021, which is looking highly likely, should you still consider buying the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra? Released at the end of August in 2020, the phone received our coveted Editor's Choice award at the time, but has since been largely passed by the excellent Galaxy S21 Ultra.
Should it be forgotten this way? I've been using the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra for a week and can confidently say it's still an excellent smartphone in all but one, rather important, area. It's a big deal, and along with the shadow of the S21 Ultra hanging over it, means not even the Note 20 Ultra's many positive points can make it an absolute must-buy today, a shock when it's barely a year into its life. |
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TIPS, TRICKS, & TECHNIQUES |
Keeping your data private and tightly controlled has gone from being something niche to an absolute necessity in recent years, and few companies have gone as hard into data protection as Apple. The last few years have seen the iPhone and iPad gain a wide swathe of privacy-ensuring options, including the email-protecting Sign in with Apple and App Tracking Transparency.
iOS 15 is set to introduce a number of new features, and one of the best for the privacy-conscious is one that blocks trackers in emails. Named Mail Privacy Protection, this setting helps to cut down on the data gathered by advertisers from your own email inbox. These trackers can check whether you've opened an email, what you did in there, and for how long you left it open. If you're looking to keep a tight rein on your data, then you'll want this setting on. Here's how to use Mail Privacy Protection in iOS 15. |
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