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Amazons Project Kuiper is reportedly way behind schedule, according to an investigation by Bloomberg. This is the companys satellite internet service, which intends to rival SpaceX and Starlink. The issue seems to be one of scale, as the company has had trouble increasing production of the actual satellites. The reporting indicates that the Kuiper team has only managed to manufacture a few dozen of these satellites. As a comparison, there are currently over 7,000 Starlink satellites in orbit. The initial production of the Kuiper satellites was delayed until the tail-end of last year, so Amazon hasnt had too much time to ramp things up. Beta testing didnt start until earlier this year. Amazon had planned for an initial launch on April 8 for 27 satellites, but that got delayed until April 28. Project Kuiper hopes to eventually provide broadband connectivity to at least 400 million households, in addition to providing service in remote areas. However, it needs to launch over 3,000 satellites to reach that goal. Additionally, it secured a government contract with a deadline to put 1,600 satellites in orbit by next summer. Insiders suggest that it will probably have to seek an extension from the FCC. "Weve designed some of the most advanced communications satellites ever built, and our primary objective is to build and launch enough of them to begin delivering service to customers later this year," an Amazon spokesperson told Seeking Alpha. "Our manufacturing schedule is on track to support this target, and well continue to increase our production and launch rates as we begin a full-scale deployment of our network." It did manage to launch a pair of prototype satellites into space in late 2023. This was followed by successful tests of an optical mesh network that linked the two satellites in low Earth orbit. The company is scheduled to conduct a number of launches throughout the year, with help from Arianespace, Blue Origin and SpaceX. United Launch Alliance, a joint venture between Boeing and Lockheed Martin, will handle the April 28 launch. Amazon hasnt indicated why satellite production has hit this hiccup. We reached out to the company and will update this post when we learn more.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/science/space/amazons-starlink-rival-project-kuiper-is-reportedly-way-behind-schedule-153514471.html?src=rss
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Marketing and Advertising
More people worldwide will be seeing ads on Threads in the future. Back in January, Meta launched a small test of ads visible to a subset of users in the US and Japan, which included a handful of brands. Threads was completely ad-free since it became available a year-and-a-half before that, though Meta had been planning to put ads on the service months before the test began. Now, Meta is rolling out ads on Threads to over 30 countries globally. That means the advertisements will reach a bigger percentage of its 300 million users, though it will be interesting to see if their rollout will have any impact on the service's steady growth. Meta didn't list out those 30 countries, and it also didn't say how often ads will show up in people's feeds. Like in the initial test period though, the advertisements will appear in between organic content or posts from people and friends users follow. Meta is opening up ads on Threads to all its eligible advertisers around the world, as well, so users will be seeing placements from more companies, including ones local to their countries. The company told us that it's adopting a phased approach to its rollout, so advertisements might appear more and more frequently on the service as time goes on. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/meta-expands-ads-to-threads-users-in-over-30-countries-150535654.html?src=rss
Category:
Marketing and Advertising
WhatsApp is introducing a new feature called Advanced Chat Privacy that can block participants from sharing the contents of a conversation. This is an opt-in tool thats available for both traditional chats and groups. Once selected, the toolset will prevent anyone in the chat from sharing anything outside of the app. This means itll block all chat exports, but thats just the beginning. The software also prevents a smartphone from auto-downloading media and will stop integration with AI assistants. Basically, what happens on WhatsApp stays on WhatsApp. However, it's unclear if it prevents screenshotting. We've reached out to Meta and will update this post when we hear back. The platform says this is "best used when talking with groups where you may not know everyone closely but are nevertheless sensitive in nature." It gives examples like a support group about health challenges and a chat about community organizing. WhatsApp says this is just the first version of the tool and that itll be adding "more protections" in the future. Its rolling out right now across the globe, though it could take a month or two to reach everyone. The platform is already known for being privacy-focused, as it uses end-to-end encryption. It also leverages related software tools like disappearing messages and chats that require device authentication.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/apps/whatsapp-introduces-a-feature-that-blocks-chat-participants-from-sharing-content-150042001.html?src=rss
Category:
Marketing and Advertising
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