China’s rocket makes a splash
China successfully delivered another piece of its Tiangong space station to orbit recently. The lab module will provide crew members with space and short-term living quarters. It will also be the main entry/exit point for extravehicular activities. The other result of this milestone is some rocket debris in the Indian Ocean. The country used one of its Long March 5B rockets to launch its module into orbit. But as soon as it had done the job, it was swiftly discarded.
Which meant roughly twenty tonnes of rocket came hurtling back to Earth. Some of it was burned up on reentry and the rest splashed down in the Indian Ocean. While a little unsettling, it did make for a pretty spectacle. China is a little behind when it comes to its rockets. The Long March 5B rockets it uses can’t be reused, which causes concern every time the country launches one. Although no one was harmed this time, NASA Administrator Bill Nelson had some strong thoughts about China’s lack of transparency.
Source: Engadget
Nike updates Training Club with more accessible workouts
Nike has updated its fitness app to better serve people with disabilities. The apparel brand has introduced adaptive workout sessions to its Training Club app for people with and without disabilities. The set consists of seven sessions which range from yoga to upper-body workouts using dumbbells. This is in addition to the program it offers for pregnant women. The workouts are led by Amy Bream, a Nike limb loss athlete. Users are also nudged in the right direction by an adaptive training-focused physiotherapist.
While this is a good first step for Nike, there’s still more to do. Apple, for example, introduced workouts for seniors last year and also offers wheelchair workout tracking with the Apple Watch. We’re hoping Nike is just getting warmed up with its adaptive workouts.
Source: Engadget
Twitter’s pain is starting to show
You might’ve heard of Twitter Blue by now, the $3/m (R50/m) subscription service that gives subscribers a few extra features. Well, that’s about to get slightly more expensive for the handful of people that opt to pay more for Twitter and still have ads. Luckily for South Africans, the price of Twitter Blue remains at R0.00 because it is only available in a few countries (SA isn’t one of them) despite having launched over a year ago. An extra $2 isn’t that much but when you aren’t getting anything in return, it is a lot harder to justify.
This is the latest development in the ongoing decline of the social media platform. Since Musk asked to buy the company for way more than it was worth at the time, to noping out of that decision, the platform is starting to feel some additional pressure.
Source: The Verge
Spotify adds a social streaming Friends Mix playlist
Spotify recently announced a new algorithmic playlist for everyone so we can all celebrate International Friendship day… which was apparently on 30 July. If you missed that, don’t feel bad. Your friends probably forgot as well. The playlist functions similarly to the algorithmic offerings you already use like Release Radar and Discover Weekly. But this one also contains what your Spotify friends are listening to. It sounds similar to collaborative playlists feature except it does all the work for you. How well it’ll work depends on you and your friends’ music tastes.
Spotify also released a similar feature called Blend last year. That’s slightly different in that you pick one specific friend and it makes a once-off playlist based on what you are both listening to at the time. The feature started rolling out on 30 July so it might take some time before it appears for you. But don’t expect it to if you don’t have any friends.
Source: Digital Trends