This year, billionaire CEO Elon Musk reached several milestones across Tesla, SpaceX and Starlink. WSJ reporters Rebecca Elliott and Micah Maidenberg break down some of his biggest moments in 2021 and what’s to come in 2022. Illustration: Tom Grillo.
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In a recent interview, Elon Musk rejected the claims about Starlink satellites crowding the space.
Couple of days ago, China complained to the UN that their space station had two close encounters with Starlink satellites and for safety reasons they implemented preventive collision avoidance control. China’s complain stated that the first incident occurred on 1st July and the second one was on 21st October 2021.
For your information, Starlink is the satellite internet constellation started by Elon Musk’s SpaceX and it aims to provide low cost high speed broadband internet service in every corner of the world, especially in rural places where cell services are not that advance. Currently there are over 1200+ Starlink satellites in space.
An echo chamber is an infinity of mirrors. Photo: Robert Brook via Getty Images
“One way the internet distorts our picture of ourselves is by feeding the human tendency to overestimate our knowledge of how the world works,” writes philosophy professor Michael Patrick Lynch, author of the book The Internet of Us: Knowing More and Understanding Less in the Age of Big Data, in The Chronicle of Higher Education. “The Internet of Us becomes one big reinforcement mechanism, getting us all the information we are already biased to believe, and encouraging us to regard those in other bubbles as misinformed miscreants. We know it all—the internet tells us so.”
Since the commercialization of 5G network, there has been a rapid spread of this communication network. However, there are still critics who believe that there is no real need for 5G. Some of these critics believe that 4G LTE can do just what 5G can handle. However, this really depends on what the user does with the network. Have you used 5G network? How do you feel about the internet speed?
Trivergence is starting to affect every industry. In financial services, the wallet has become a smart app that can collect data and learn. On a blockchain, users can exchange, save, borrow, invest and protect this digital money peer-to-peer without the intermediation of banks. In manufacturing, 3D printers are manufacturing aircraft parts in a Boeing facility with a blockchain network facilitating all the patented files, contracting and payments peer-to-peer. Telecommunications companies are no longer negotiating complex, costly and ever-changing roaming agreements, but using blockchain-based smart contracts among providers to automate the web of payments and settlement globally.
Over time, the Trivergence will usher in a next-generation internet where nearly every animate and inanimate object on Earth generates data, a distributed ledger records and secures this data and AI analyzes the data, communicates with the objects, alerts their owners and continuously adjusts and improves the efficiency of the economy and the sustainability of its effects on the environment.
New business models enabled by this Trivergence are beginning to disrupt many industries and provide platforms for innovation in the economy for decades ahead. This second era has weighty implications for every business, government and individual, as well as technology strategy, architecture and leadership. If we can overcome the dark side — and that’s a big “if” — this Trivergence helps us reclaim our digital identities, effectively fight climate change and help solve some of the world’s most intractable problems.
Starlink satellites have twice approached Tiangong in orbit, prompting avoidance manoeuvres, although SpaceX says the satellites are built to avoid collisions.
It’s been a few years since we’ve heard from AR company Vuzix. In early 2019, it came out with its first pair of. After staying relatively quiet over the past two years, it’s now partnering with Verizon. The two didn’t share many details about their collaboration. What they did say is that they plan to find ways to commercialize AR technology for use in sports and gaming scenarios, especially those involving the need for training. The partnership will combine Vuzix’s new Shield smart glasses and the capabilities of Verizon’s 5G network.
It’s hard to say if we’ll see anything impactful come out of this agreement, but it’s not a surprise to see Verizon. Augmented, virtual and mixed reality wearables have been consistently positioned as one of the primary beneficiaries of the speed and latency enhancements promised by 5G networks. Likewise, the focus on gaming and sports isn’t surprising either. Some of the earliest locations where Verizon had 5G service was in. They’re one of few places where the carrier’s mmWave deployments shine since there’s enough density there to justify building out all the small cells required to blanket even a small area with ultrafast 5G coverage.
Circa 2018
19-year-old Erik Finman, a self-made Bitcoin millionaire, took some free time to make a functional Dr. Octopus suit. Besides looking so cool, it also works as a prosthetic prototype.
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Posted in Elon Musk, health, internet, satellites | Leave a Comment on Elon Musk Faces Backlash In China After ‘Close Encounters’ Between His Starlink Satellites And Chinese Space Station
Billionaire Elon Musk is facing criticism in China after the country recently complained that its budding space station, which is still in construction, had two “close encounters” with satellites launched by SpaceX’s Starlink program earlier this year. The Chinese space station was twice forced to take evasive action in order to avoid collision with satellites launched by Musk’s rocket company SpaceX, according to a document submitted by China to the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs earlier this month.
Though the claims have not been independently verified and SpaceX is yet to respond, China alleges that its space station had to implement “preventive collision avoidance control” both on July 1 and October 21 when faced with oncoming Starlink satellites.
According to the document, China informed the U.N. Secretary-General that the close encounters with Starlink satellites “constituted dangers to the life or health of astronauts aboard the China Space Station.”
Emerging technologies including AI, virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), 5G, and blockchain (and related digital currencies) have all progressed on their own merits and timeline. Each has found a degree of application, though clearly AI has progressed the furthest. Each technology is maturing while overcoming challenges ranging from blockchain’s energy consumption to VR’s propensity for inducing nausea. They will likely converge in readiness over the next several years, underpinned by the now ubiquitous cloud computing for elasticity and scale. And in that convergence, the sum will be far greater than the parts. The catalyst for this convergence will be the metaverse — a connected network of always-on 3D virtual worlds.
The metaverse concept has wide-sweeping potential. On one level, it could be a 3D social media channel with messaging targeted perfectly to every user by AI. That’s the Meta (previously Facebook) vision. It also has the potential to be an all-encompassing platform for information, entertainment, and work.
There will be multiple metaverses, at least initially, with some tailored to specific interests such as gaming or sports. The key distinction between current technology and the metaverse is the immersive possibilities the metaverse offers, which is why Meta, Microsoft, Nvidia, and others are investing so heavily in it. It may also become the next version of the Internet.
