Blue Origin is BACK in space

Welcome, Tech enthusiasts.

After a lengthy wait following a previous failed mission, Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin finally took to space once again.

One small step for Blue Origin, one (potential) giant leap for space tourism. Let’s dig in...

In today’s tech rundown:

• Blue Origin soars back to space with successful launch

• Delivery bots promise high-tech holiday season

• 8 new products

• Google agrees to $700M antitrust settlement

• Xfinity confirms major data breach

• BlackRock updates Bitcoin ETF as potential SEC approval looms

Read time: 3 minutes

TODAY’S HEADLINES

BLUE ORIGIN

🚀 Blue Origin soars back to space with successful launch

The Rundown: Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin relaunched its fully reusable, suborbital New Shepard rocket from West Texas, successfully carrying scientific payloads to the edge of space in its first flight since a failed mission destroyed a booster in September 2022.

The details:

• Engineers traced last year's launch failure to an engine nozzle issue and implemented design fixes — with the upgraded new rocket acing the landing.

• No passengers were aboard this time, but officials say crewed missions will resume "soon."

• The successful launch caps a long road back for Blue Origin after speculation swirled about the program's future amid lengthy delays.

• Blue Origin also has another massive rocket waiting in the wings for 2024 called New Glenn.

Why it matters: After a tense waiting period, Blue Origin is running again — with the potential for space ‘tourism’ inching closer with each successful mission. And with both Musk and Bezos vying for space dominance, things could get pretty wild. Check out the replay of New Shepard launch here.

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ROBOTICS

🎅 Delivery bots promise high-tech holiday season

The Rundown: From sidewalk rovers to medical drones, a robotic delivery revolution is set to accelerate in 2024 — promising to transform holiday convenience and remake logistics.

The details:

• Firms like Starship Technologies have brought cute, singing delivery robots mainstream in cities across Europe, through pilots on university campuses and partnerships with convenience stores.

• Drone-delivery firm Zipline is expanding operations into groceries and meals, spanning across Africa, the U.S., and Japan.

• Sidewalk delivery robots are coming to Finland, South Korea, and the U.S., while Amazon hopes to deliver millions of packages by drone by the end of the decade.

• Relaxing regulation is helping increase adoption, with better measures in place for operating safely and avoiding aircraft and other hazards.

The relevance: It feels inevitable that robot couriers will be the norm very soon — especially given the insane development we’ve seen in robotics and AI over the last year. Don’t be surprised if your holiday shopping orders are dropped off by a friendly robot in the next few years.

NEW PRODUCTS

📊 Openlayer- Get real-time alerts when things go sideways with your AI model (link)*

📜 AI Contract Analysis- Navigate legal documents affordably across 57 languages using AI (link)

📰 News Sentinel by Blockbrain- Streamlines cryptocurrency insights by filtering out unnecessary information (link)

💻 Wave- A sleek, open-source terminal for macOS and Linux users (link)

🦸 Superbooking- Book your favorite services quickly & easily with AI (link)

🦄 Screen Story- Create video demos, tutorials, education videos, gifs, and promo videos (link)

🧑‍⚖️ AI Lawyer- Personal AI lawyer at your fingertips (link)

👾 Dante- Custom GPT chatbots trained on your data (link)

Browse the most popular tools ever featured with our tool database.

* = This is sponsored content

SNIPPETS

Meta's Oversight Board criticized the company's automated content moderation for inappropriately removing videos related to the Israel-Hamas conflict.

Google agrees to pay a $700 million settlement and implement modest Play Store changes after a multistate antitrust lawsuit.

NASA's GUSTO mission will utilize a high-altitude balloon to gather terahertz frequency data from the cosmic interstellar medium to assist in creating a 3D map of the Milky Way.

Xfinity confirmed a significant data breach in October, potentially exposing customer usernames, hashed passwords, and other sensitive information.

Southwest Airlines faces a $140 million fine for consumer protection violations after a significant IT outage disrupted travel during Christmas 2022.

Play ransomware has impacted around 300 entities over the past year according to a joint advisory from the FBI, CISA, and others.

BlackRock has updated its proposed Bitcoin spot ETF to feature cash redemptions, aiming to align with regulatory requirements and potentially secure SEC approval.

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THAT’S A WRAP

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