Tech Corner: Project Kuiper, Pokémon Go, and Apple Phones
Amazon launched the first two satellites of its planned Project Kuiper constellation to compete with SpaceX’s Starlink system.
Ahh….like a zombie, crawling from the grave, Tech Corner returns! My last column was…oh, let’s see…December 25, 2013. It covered the scintillating Facebook and ways to use Adblocker to keep Facebook from showing so many ads in the sidebar. Sidebar? Wow, that’s been a long time.
But Tech Corner is back. My interests have changed, and so will my coverage. In the coming weeks and months, you’ll be reading about AI, spaceships, virtual reality, nasty Tik Tok trends, Apple products, celebrity deepfakes, and monkeys with brain implants as we explore the world of technology.
Amazon is getting into the satellite business
Last week, Amazon launched the first two satellites of its planned Project Kuiper constellation to compete with SpaceX’s Starlink system. The launch from Cape Canaveral went off without a hitch aboard United Launch Alliance’s Atlas 5 rocket. These first two satellites are prototypes, designed to demonstrate and test the systems while in orbit. Amazon said in 2019 they planned to invest upwards of $10 billion to create a satellite network to provide high-speed, low-latency broadband to customers.
Starlink, a constellation built by SpaceX, is far ahead of Amazon in the race to provide satellite-based broadband. SpaceX has hoisted nearly 5,000 satellites using their reusable Falcon 9 rockets, which can launch, deploy the satellites, and then return to Earth, often landing on floating drone ships to be refueled and launched again. According to the Wall Street Journal, Starlink already has two million active customers in 60 countries, generating $1.4 billion in revenue last year. In an effort to compete, Amazon reportedly plans to invest $120 million to build a satellite-processing facility in Florida.
Pokémon Go Routes—now in Tipp City
Pokémon Go. Yup, there are still people playing this game, including yours truly. I love it. When you see people wandering around downtown, half bent over and staring at their phones, there’s a good chance they’re searching for Pikachu or trying to capture a downtown gym.
Pokémon Go is a digital game that lets you “catch” Pokémon, or “pocket monsters,” on your phone and add them to your collection. There are also “stops” and “gyms” – the stops are places you can visit to collect goodies like candy for your Pokémon. The gyms are competitive locations where teams of players battle to control that particular location. It’s all in good fun and encourages walking and exploration.
Recently, Pokémon Go released an update that includes Routes, a particular path that players can follow to collect special rewards. I was happy to find that, in addition to two Routes in Kyle Park, several new Routes have appeared in the downtown, including one that starts near the Roger Pressley trail. Have fun out there!
Apple’s new phone is burning up the charts
Apple recently launched the latest in their popular line of Phones, the 15 and 15 Pro, and reportedly the phone is hot. No, not hot like “OMG that phone is HOT”—no, in some cases, reports are surfacing that the phone itself is hot to the touch, reaching upwards of 112 degrees in some cases while doing “processor-intensive tasks,” according to the Wall Street Journal. Apple has said their latest operating system, iOS 17, has a bug that “will be addressed in a software update” to correct the phones running warmer than expected. They also mentioned that some apps can cause the phone to run hotter than normal, such as Instagram and Uber. Instagram issued a fix to their app two weeks ago, so make sure to keep your apps up to date—to do this, go under the App Store, click on your profile picture in the top right, then click on “Update All” at the bottom above the list of apps with available updates.
That’s it for this week. Got a topic you want me to cover? Tech question? Email me at greg@tippgazette.com and you might see your topic or question in a future paper!
