Speaker 0: Hello. It's October eighteenth, Saturday, and you're listening
Speaker 0: to the Geek News Central podcast. This is
Speaker 0: Ray speaking. I'm gonna be your I'm gonna
Speaker 0: be your co your host tonight. We got
Speaker 0: a couple of cool articles lined up for
Speaker 0: you folks this afternoon, at least afternoon for
Speaker 0: me. I know what time of day you
Speaker 0: guys are tuning in, but thanks for tuning
Speaker 0: in. OpenAI allows mature content for verified users.
Speaker 0: This is gonna be a pretty cool opening
Speaker 0: article. OpenAI is preparing to allow mature or
Speaker 0: adult content access for ChatGVT by verified adult
Speaker 0: users starting December twenty twenty five. This change
Speaker 0: aims to loosen content restrictions for users who
Speaker 0: verify their age, enabling broader flexibility in the
Speaker 0: kinds of conversations and creative works permitted. So
Speaker 0: this kinda sounds interesting. I'm not really sure,
Speaker 0: what your guys' principles on are on mature
Speaker 0: content, especially in generating mature content. But I
Speaker 0: can imagine that not all AI has been
Speaker 0: used to develop, purely good content. Right? And,
Speaker 0: you know, I guess good is arguable here.
Speaker 0: Right? But let's get into the article. OpenAI
Speaker 0: to allow mature content on ChatGPT for adult
Speaker 0: verified users starting December. This one's from Reuters,
Speaker 0: rooters dot com. This was posted on October
Speaker 0: fourteenth. OpenAI will allow mature content for ChatGPT
Speaker 0: users who verify their age on the platform
Speaker 0: starting in December, CEO Sam Altman said, after
Speaker 0: the chatbot was made restrictive for users in
Speaker 0: mental distress. As we roll out age gating
Speaker 0: more fully and as part of our adult
Speaker 0: as part of our treat adult users like
Speaker 0: adults principle, we will allow even more like
Speaker 0: erotica for verified adults, Altman wrote in a
Speaker 0: post on X on Tuesday. Altman said that
Speaker 0: OpenAI had made ChatGPT pretty restrictive to make
Speaker 0: sure it was being careful with mental health
Speaker 0: issues, though that had made the chatbot less
Speaker 0: useful slash enjoyable to many users who had
Speaker 0: no mental health problems. OpenAI has been able
Speaker 0: to mitigate mental health issues and has new
Speaker 0: tools, Altman said, adding that it is going
Speaker 0: to safely relax restrictions in most cases. In
Speaker 0: the coming weeks, it'll OpenAI will release a
Speaker 0: version of ChatGPT that will allow people to
Speaker 0: better dictate the tone and personality of the
Speaker 0: chatbot, Altman said. If you want your chat
Speaker 0: g p t to respond in a very
Speaker 0: human like way or use a ton of
Speaker 0: emoji or act like a friend, chat g
Speaker 0: t chat g p t should do it,
Speaker 0: but only if you want it, not because
Speaker 0: we are usage maxing. Oh, wow. Crazy to
Speaker 0: see that term in here, maxing. Earlier on
Speaker 0: Tuesday, Meta unveiled a new system to limit
Speaker 0: what users under eighteen can see on Instagram
Speaker 0: and its generative AI tools using filters inspired
Speaker 0: by PG thirteen movie rating systems. So, this
Speaker 0: is kinda interesting. Definitely moving more control into
Speaker 0: the user's hands. I don't know if you
Speaker 0: guys have ever used chat gbt, but it
Speaker 0: is very, like, tuned to be your friend.
Speaker 0: And sometimes that can feel weird, especially if
Speaker 0: you're, like, trying to understand content and and
Speaker 0: and there's there's emojis everywhere, explaining it to
Speaker 0: you in a way that is a little
Speaker 0: bit too descriptive. So I don't know. Kind
Speaker 0: of interesting. I didn't know that they have
Speaker 0: those types of filters on chat g p
Speaker 0: t to make it so that it was,
Speaker 0: like, it would they like, they were restrictive
Speaker 0: and careful with mental health issues, but it
Speaker 0: makes sense being that, like, I remember last
Speaker 0: year they had announced that one of the
Speaker 0: top usages was for, you know, like, a
Speaker 0: a type of therapy bot almost, which is
Speaker 0: concerning to some degree. But I'm I I
Speaker 0: don't know. I'm not really a mental health
Speaker 0: professional, so I can't really speak much on
Speaker 0: that. But really interesting. Let's take a second
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Speaker 0: Now let's get into the next article. I've
Speaker 0: got a pretty cool one, lined up for
Speaker 0: you folks. This one's gonna be these are
Speaker 0: not the one I was looking for. It's
Speaker 0: gonna be X Real One AR glasses. It's
Speaker 0: gonna be a little review and reality check.
Speaker 0: This is from the Guardian. Kinda cool context
Speaker 0: here. The Xero one are augmented reality glasses
Speaker 0: designed to overlay digital visuals into your real
Speaker 0: world, a virtual monitor floating in front of
Speaker 0: you, or immersive HUD style info. The review
Speaker 0: digs into comfort, display clarity, battery life, and
Speaker 0: real world usability. So, last episode, Chris did
Speaker 0: kinda bring up the Apple Vision Pro, which
Speaker 0: if you guys haven't heard, another one just
Speaker 0: got rolled out with the slew of products
Speaker 0: Apple just rolled out. But, it seems like
Speaker 0: we're gonna be continuing on this trend of
Speaker 0: trying to build, you know, visual a visual
Speaker 0: HUD. We're creeping closer to a world where
Speaker 0: screens don't, have to be flat displays. Productivity,
Speaker 0: gaming, notifications, and stuff, all that could shift
Speaker 0: to your glasses, and and that would change
Speaker 0: how you interact with your devices in general.
Speaker 0: I mean, who knows? You might not if
Speaker 0: if you have the glasses, do you even
Speaker 0: need a phone screen anymore? You You know?
Speaker 0: Could you just carry around the device? So
Speaker 0: that could be an interesting change. So we'll
Speaker 0: see kinda how that changes in in the
Speaker 0: future. Will everyone wanna be wearing glasses all
Speaker 0: the time? I don't know. That's hard to
Speaker 0: say as well. But these glasses make economy
Speaker 0: class bearable with their virtual one forty seven
Speaker 0: inch screen. If you have to be stuck
Speaker 0: on a plane without any space to spare,
Speaker 0: you can at least bring your own personal
Speaker 0: movie theater. As tech writer and workaholic, I've
Speaker 0: tried a lot oh, this is written by
Speaker 0: let's see if we can get a name
Speaker 0: before we start. Adam Dudd on The Guardian.
Speaker 0: As a tech writer and workaholic, I've tried
Speaker 0: a lot of different gadgets and techniques to
Speaker 0: get things done on a flight. I don't
Speaker 0: need a Goliath screen or powerful processor, just
Speaker 0: a keyboard and a way to see what
Speaker 0: I'm writing. But as a bigger guy, there's
Speaker 0: simply no space to work on a laptop
Speaker 0: in economy class. Flights have been a nonstarter
Speaker 0: for me. Then I discovered a device that
Speaker 0: absolutely changed the way I fly. The X
Speaker 0: Real ONE AR glasses have literally opened up
Speaker 0: a whole new world for me in the
Speaker 0: sky. On the most basic level, these glasses
Speaker 0: can replace your laptop screen with a virtual
Speaker 0: floating window in front of your eyes. When
Speaker 0: you move your head, the screen stays fixed
Speaker 0: in space, like it's it's like connecting a
Speaker 0: portable monitor to your laptop, but only you
Speaker 0: can only you can see it. Oh, that's
Speaker 0: kinda sick, honestly. Suddenly, you're Tom Cruise and
Speaker 0: minority report, but with fewer hand gestures and
Speaker 0: less fortune telling. You can configure your laptop
Speaker 0: to either mirror your computer display, effectively replacing
Speaker 0: it, or extend it by acting as a
Speaker 0: second screen. On a plane, mirroring is definitely
Speaker 0: the way to go. I can crack my
Speaker 0: laptop open just enough to get my hands
Speaker 0: on the keyboard and use the glasses as
Speaker 0: the sole screen. I'm no longer constrained by
Speaker 0: how far the person in front of me
Speaker 0: decides to lay their seat back. And with
Speaker 0: my laptop screen at minimum brightness, I avoid
Speaker 0: disturbing other passengers at night. No laptop. XReal
Speaker 0: sells a companion device called the XReal Beam
Speaker 0: Pro that can power them instead. It looks
Speaker 0: like a a lot like a phone, and
Speaker 0: you can even use it as one. But
Speaker 0: when you plug in the X Real One
Speaker 0: glasses, the Beam Pro does all the work.
Speaker 0: You get a customized three d interface on
Speaker 0: Android that allows you to open up two
Speaker 0: apps side by side. That's kinda cool. So
Speaker 0: the X Real one AR glasses are going
Speaker 0: for four ninety nine, four hundred ninety nine
Speaker 0: dollars at on, xreal dot com and Amazon.
Speaker 0: And then they this companion device is going
Speaker 0: for one ninety nine, two hundred bucks on
Speaker 0: both Xreal one and Amazon. And, you know,
Speaker 0: I guess on top of that, you also
Speaker 0: have to have some earbuds, which most of
Speaker 0: us already own, but, you know, it it
Speaker 0: it's trying to become like a set type
Speaker 0: of thing because, you know, a lot of
Speaker 0: this is you need one device to power
Speaker 0: the other device. And, realistically, if you don't
Speaker 0: really wanna use your laptop screen, you could
Speaker 0: even buy one of those, keyboards that, like,
Speaker 0: flip open. Oh, yeah. They have one on
Speaker 0: here too. Yeah. So the proto arc x
Speaker 0: k o one t p folding Bluetooth keyboard
Speaker 0: for, you know okay. Perfect. You have forty
Speaker 0: six bucks. It's pretty reasonable for a on
Speaker 0: the go keyboard, but it folds. So you
Speaker 0: need to pull it out, unfold it, activate
Speaker 0: your device, and and start working. This is
Speaker 0: a pretty cool, development, and I I'm I
Speaker 0: still don't know. Like, you know, when you're
Speaker 0: looking at his little video here, you can
Speaker 0: see that there's still a cable that's kinda,
Speaker 0: like, connected to the computer, so it's still
Speaker 0: being driven like that. I'm looking for the
Speaker 0: day where it's just where they've got it
Speaker 0: all packed into those into the side of
Speaker 0: your glasses, and it it you don't need
Speaker 0: to do anything but put them on. That
Speaker 0: would be the day. But would you wear
Speaker 0: AR glasses daily if, if they replace your
Speaker 0: phone screen? What do you guys think about
Speaker 0: that? Is that, still too sci fi? What
Speaker 0: if we just had, like, circular pad that
Speaker 0: act as, like, a mouse? You could touch
Speaker 0: it and you you could click the screen
Speaker 0: like that instead of reaching up. So it's
Speaker 0: a little more, you know, subtle. I feel
Speaker 0: like that'd be kinda cool, but, we might
Speaker 0: be a little ways away from that. We'll
Speaker 0: see. Alright. Next article I got for you
Speaker 0: guys, this browser fuses Chrome and Comet into
Speaker 0: one, and it's replacing them both for me.
Speaker 0: It's from x dadevelopers dot com. I'm not
Speaker 0: sure if you guys remember, but last episode,
Speaker 0: we talked about the Comet browser, or at
Speaker 0: least last time I hosted and how it's
Speaker 0: free now. So people have already started taking
Speaker 0: that and going further beyond. This is by
Speaker 0: Manur Faisal, published a few days ago, five
Speaker 0: days ago. Agentic browsers are the latest trend
Speaker 0: in the AI world, and, honestly, I'm all
Speaker 0: for it. I've never been a fan of
Speaker 0: companies shoehorning AI into every possible feature, but
Speaker 0: my stance is simple. If a feature is
Speaker 0: genuinely useful and actually makes a difference, I'm
Speaker 0: going to use it. Fair enough. Though I've
Speaker 0: tested my fair share of AI browsers and
Speaker 0: have been using Comet as my primary browser,
Speaker 0: the very first one I tried was Opera's
Speaker 0: Neon. Back when I first tried it, it
Speaker 0: was a concept browser, and I was lucky
Speaker 0: enough to get the developer build to go
Speaker 0: hands on with it. From the moment I
Speaker 0: tried it, I was impressed. However, since Neon
Speaker 0: was still in developer build, I really couldn't
Speaker 0: make it my daily driver. A few days
Speaker 0: ago, Opera finally launched Neon officially. Though there's
Speaker 0: still a wait list you need to join
Speaker 0: to get access, Opera has beaten begun inviting
Speaker 0: its first batch of users, and I was
Speaker 0: lucky enough to become be among them. I've
Speaker 0: been using it ever since, and it genuinely
Speaker 0: feels like Chrome and Comet fused into one.
Speaker 0: Okay. Now I haven't used Comet Browser yet.
Speaker 0: I definitely brought it to the constraints of
Speaker 0: my device, but I I I don't I
Speaker 0: mean, I could definitely try running it on
Speaker 0: this guy, but I'm not I just I
Speaker 0: don't I haven't it's hard to say anything
Speaker 0: bad about it because I haven't tried it,
Speaker 0: so I I don't see the benefit yet.
Speaker 0: Right? But based on some of these images,
Speaker 0: it's pretty cool, just having a lot of
Speaker 0: this built in. The AI basically replaces your
Speaker 0: search and your and your your daily driver
Speaker 0: in terms of, like, to do lists and,
Speaker 0: things to make or if you wanna chat.
Speaker 0: So it's kinda interesting. By now, you probably
Speaker 0: understood that Neon is Opera's own Agentic browser.
Speaker 0: Though Opera formally announced this browser towards the
Speaker 0: end of May twenty twenty five, the company
Speaker 0: has been working on Agentic AI for the
Speaker 0: past two years. They first announced Browser Operator,
Speaker 0: which was an AI agent that could browse
Speaker 0: and actually do things for you. Think ordering
Speaker 0: a pair of socks for you or finding
Speaker 0: the cheapest ticket to Hawaii and booking it
Speaker 0: for you. The company then decided to merge
Speaker 0: this idea into a full fledged browser experience,
Speaker 0: and that's how Neon was born. Opera introduced
Speaker 0: Neon with the hope of reimagining what a
Speaker 0: browser can be in the age of intelligence
Speaker 0: or intelligence agents. The end goal here wasn't
Speaker 0: a browser that just had AI tools to
Speaker 0: summarize a web page you're browsing or a
Speaker 0: built in chat area where you could quickly
Speaker 0: ask a word a ask a word's definition.
Speaker 0: Instead, Neon is meant to act as a
Speaker 0: true assistant and is built with Agentic AI
Speaker 0: at its core, similar to when the browser
Speaker 0: was first launched. Neon's core functionality comes down
Speaker 0: to three use cases, chat, do, make. Okay.
Speaker 0: So, looks like Neon's actually a premium subscription
Speaker 0: product, so it's gonna be retailing for twenty
Speaker 0: dollars a month. You can't subscribe just yet
Speaker 0: even if you wanted to. This is all
Speaker 0: still being launched. There's definitely more to the
Speaker 0: article here, but I don't know. What do
Speaker 0: you guys think about the Adjantic browsers? I
Speaker 0: don't think I'm not a huge fan of
Speaker 0: Opera. I I don't know. I I know
Speaker 0: they've been in the game for a long
Speaker 0: time in terms of, like, browsers and whatnot,
Speaker 0: but I I just haven't really used it
Speaker 0: that much to become a fan. So I'm
Speaker 0: not really sure how I feel about their
Speaker 0: products or their devices. Let me know what
Speaker 0: you guys think. Who's used the Opera browser
Speaker 0: before? Who who runs that as their main?
Speaker 0: And tell me why. I'd love to hear
Speaker 0: your feedback. Let's move on. I got this
Speaker 0: really cool one. It'll load. Holographic TV is
Speaker 0: here. Award winning Portal Graph instantly turns any
Speaker 0: screen into a three d VR display. Now
Speaker 0: this is cool. BelieveVision has unveiled its Portal
Speaker 0: Graph headset free immersive display technology. Okay. Let's
Speaker 0: say that again. Portal Graph. It's Portal Graph
Speaker 0: headset free immersive display technology. Okay. Which the
Speaker 0: company says it can instantly turn any screen
Speaker 0: into an interactive three d VR display. Unlike
Speaker 0: VR headsets that isolate the user from their
Speaker 0: immediate surroundings, PortoGraph operates in the real world,
Speaker 0: allowing the viewer to interact simultaneously with the
Speaker 0: display, the environment, and even other viewers. The
Speaker 0: award winning virtual reality display company behind this
Speaker 0: potential revolutionary technology said that they are already
Speaker 0: working with the entertainment and gaming industry to
Speaker 0: create customized portal graph content. This includes developing
Speaker 0: and testing new tools, cameras, and software that
Speaker 0: enable users to watch movies, concerts, and sporting
Speaker 0: events in a full immersive VR format without
Speaker 0: isolating the viewer from their immediate environment. Okay.
Speaker 0: So we're continuing on this trend of changing
Speaker 0: reality and how we interact with our, you
Speaker 0: know, media in general. Autograph blends the magic
Speaker 0: of three d world with your with the
Speaker 0: comfort of your living room, said Joe Wallace,
Speaker 0: founder of Believe Vision. By removing the headset,
Speaker 0: we're making immersive technology accessible to everyone, not
Speaker 0: just gamers. In an email to the debrief,
Speaker 0: BelieveVision's chief product officer Leon Sievers noted that
Speaker 0: one of the benefits of photographs is that
Speaker 0: consumers don't need to purchase specialized hardware or
Speaker 0: equipment. Instead, it is designed to integrate with
Speaker 0: conventional displays, such as a projector, an LED
Speaker 0: TV, or even a standard computer monitor. And
Speaker 0: there's a little image here, and, yeah, it
Speaker 0: it does look kind of like three d,
Speaker 0: which is crazy. It it looks like they're
Speaker 0: standing, like, on a platform in the screen.
Speaker 0: So that's kinda cool. By processing the visual
Speaker 0: data in a new way, PortalGraph can deliver
Speaker 0: a multidimensional effect on devices people already own,
Speaker 0: Sievers explained. This means that the barrier to
Speaker 0: entry is extremely low, and users can begin
Speaker 0: experiencing headset free immersive media without any major
Speaker 0: investment in new equipment. Portal graph represents the
Speaker 0: next step in immersive media, making it simple,
Speaker 0: inclusive, and available to anyone with a screen.
Speaker 0: The Believe Vision team suggests several use cases
Speaker 0: for their technology by turning by turning stages
Speaker 0: into immersive three d worlds visible from every
Speaker 0: seat. This is kinda cool. Can I so
Speaker 0: how does it work? Yeah. So they're already
Speaker 0: in the early stages of introducing it to
Speaker 0: the market. But when asked about the future
Speaker 0: of the company's technology, including plans to improve
Speaker 0: the portal graph experience, Sievers told the debrief
Speaker 0: that the competitors are already making effort in
Speaker 0: efforts to introduce new entertainment options for VR
Speaker 0: headsets. However, he also noted that the technology's
Speaker 0: bulky nature has limited ad up adoption. And,
Speaker 0: yeah, we've talked about this with like, especially
Speaker 0: even with the previous glasses I just brought
Speaker 0: up. They they are much more slick than
Speaker 0: the Apple Vision Pro, but at the same
Speaker 0: time, they're they're still bulky on the ears.
Speaker 0: They still have a wire connected to them
Speaker 0: to to connect to your computer. So it's
Speaker 0: still not the fully blended experience that most
Speaker 0: people want, you know, that full comfort. By
Speaker 0: shifting the immersive experience onto everyday screens, we're
Speaker 0: removing one of the biggest obstacles that has
Speaker 0: limited mainstream adoption of VR technology, the company
Speaker 0: executive explained. Moving forward, the BelieveVision is already
Speaker 0: working with content creators to offer specialized programming
Speaker 0: that offers an even more immersive experience than
Speaker 0: currently available. Severs told the debrief the company
Speaker 0: is also engaging directly with content creators and
Speaker 0: empowering them to experiment with the platform and
Speaker 0: build a library of experiences. And and and
Speaker 0: just think about the applications of this. I
Speaker 0: mean, it says it works with a projector.
Speaker 0: I mean, you could play even basketball games
Speaker 0: or some like, if you had a a
Speaker 0: court, anywhere, you you could put the the
Speaker 0: basketball game up with a with with, like,
Speaker 0: a a projector, like, as a hologram. That
Speaker 0: would be sick. Although the system works with
Speaker 0: current tech, the company executive says they are
Speaker 0: also actively exploring partnerships with content creators back
Speaker 0: broadcasters and production companies who are experimenting with
Speaker 0: advanced camera systems that could further improve the
Speaker 0: technology's ability to adapt to specially design custom
Speaker 0: customized content. I can definitely see a world
Speaker 0: where, you know, yeah, if people host events
Speaker 0: where a basketball game or football game, like
Speaker 0: a like a professional one is is played
Speaker 0: live at on a real field for people
Speaker 0: to watch. I I can definitely see that.
Speaker 0: That's kinda terrifying because, also, what would that
Speaker 0: entail in terms of, like, cost to stream
Speaker 0: that, like, digital rights and whatnot? So that
Speaker 0: that could also be, really interesting. How do
Speaker 0: you put it, pushback that we might see
Speaker 0: with this in the future where people try
Speaker 0: to stream live content, in a space for
Speaker 0: people to enjoy, and, you know, the the
Speaker 0: server of that content doesn't want them to
Speaker 0: do that, maybe because it's taking away from
Speaker 0: their own viewership. So it might be interesting
Speaker 0: to see how that, will change going forward.
Speaker 0: But let's move on. NASA is planning to
Speaker 0: retire the International Space Stations in twenty or
Speaker 0: the International Space Station in twenty thirty, paving
Speaker 0: the way for commercially run space stations to
Speaker 0: pick up the slack. This signals a transition
Speaker 0: from government led to privatized orbital infrastructure. Interesting.
Speaker 0: This is from the conversation. NASA to retire
Speaker 0: ISS in twenty thirty commercial stations take over.
Speaker 0: What does that mean? So let's get into
Speaker 0: the article and find out. For twenty four
Speaker 0: hours a day, seven days a week since
Speaker 0: November two thousand, NASA and its international partners
Speaker 0: have sustained a continuous human presence in low
Speaker 0: Earth orbit, including at least one American, a
Speaker 0: streak that will soon reach twenty five years.
Speaker 0: When viewed in the history of spaceflight, the
Speaker 0: International Space Station is perhaps one of humanity's
Speaker 0: most amazing accomplishments and a a shining example
Speaker 0: of cooperation in space among United States, Europe,
Speaker 0: Canada, Japan, Russia. Well, all good things must
Speaker 0: come to an end. In twenty thirty, the
Speaker 0: International Space Station will be deorbited, driven into
Speaker 0: a remote area of the Pacific Ocean. I'm
Speaker 0: an aerospace engineer who has helped build a
Speaker 0: range of hardware and experiments for the ISS.
Speaker 0: As a member of the spaceflight community for
Speaker 0: over thirty years and seventeen and a seventeen
Speaker 0: year member of the NASA community, it would
Speaker 0: be hard for me to see the ISS
Speaker 0: come to an end. Since the first pieces
Speaker 0: of the International Space Station were launched in
Speaker 0: nineteen ninety eight, the station has become a
Speaker 0: home to significant research accomplish accomplishments across domains
Speaker 0: that include material science, biotechnology, astronomy, and astrophysics,
Speaker 0: earth science, combustion, and more. Astronauts performing research
Speaker 0: inside the space station and payload experiments attached
Speaker 0: to the station's exterior have generated many publications
Speaker 0: in peer reviewed science journals. Some of them
Speaker 0: have advanced our understanding of thunderstorms, but to
Speaker 0: improvements in crystallization process of key cancer fighting
Speaker 0: drugs, detailed how to grow artificial retinas in
Speaker 0: space, explored the process of ultra pure optical
Speaker 0: fibers, and explained how to sequence DNA in
Speaker 0: orbit. In total, more than four thousand experiments
Speaker 0: have been conducted aboard the ISS resulting in
Speaker 0: more than forty four hundred research publications dedicated
Speaker 0: to advancing and improving life on Earth and
Speaker 0: helping forge a path for future space exploration
Speaker 0: activities. The ISS has proven the value of
Speaker 0: conduct conducting research in the unique environment of
Speaker 0: space flight, which is very low gravity, a
Speaker 0: vacuum, extreme temperature cycles, and radiation to advance
Speaker 0: scientists' understanding of a wide range of important
Speaker 0: physical, chemical, and biological processes. It's kinda interesting.
Speaker 0: I always wondered how they, like, came up
Speaker 0: with, oh, we should research this. Like, who
Speaker 0: is thinking to themselves, like, how do we
Speaker 0: sequence DNA in orbit? And why would you
Speaker 0: think yourself it's, like, different from sequencing DNA,
Speaker 0: like, in atmosphere? I mean, definitely now that
Speaker 0: I'm saying it, yes. I yeah. That that
Speaker 0: makes sense, especially with the environment being so
Speaker 0: different, but still, you know, how did how
Speaker 0: did we come up with these ideas? How
Speaker 0: did we come up with these experiments? You
Speaker 0: know? What was the driver? I'd love to
Speaker 0: hear about that. But let's move on to
Speaker 0: the next part of the article, keeping a
Speaker 0: presence in orbit. But in in the wake
Speaker 0: of Station's work retirement, NASA and its international
Speaker 0: partners are not abandoning their outpost in low
Speaker 0: Earth orbit. Instead, they are looking for alternatives
Speaker 0: to continue to take advantage of low Earth
Speaker 0: orbit's promise as a unique research laboratory and
Speaker 0: to extend the continuous twenty five year human
Speaker 0: presence some two hundred fifty miles above the
Speaker 0: Earth's surface or four hundred two kilometers. In
Speaker 0: December twenty twenty one, NASA announced three awards
Speaker 0: to help develop privately owned commercial operated space
Speaker 0: stations in low earth orbit. For years, NASA
Speaker 0: has successfully sent supplies to International Space Station
Speaker 0: using commercial partners and the agency recently began
Speaker 0: similar business arrangements with SpaceX and Boeing for
Speaker 0: transporting crews aboard the Dragon and the Starliner
Speaker 0: spacecraft respectively. Based on the success of these
Speaker 0: programs, NASA invested more than four hundred million
Speaker 0: to stimulate the development of commercial space stations
Speaker 0: and hopefully launch and activate them before the
Speaker 0: ISS is decommissioned. In September twenty twenty five,
Speaker 0: NASA NASA issued a draft announcement for phase
Speaker 0: two partnership proposals for commercial space stations. Companies
Speaker 0: that are selected will receive funding to support
Speaker 0: critical design reviews and demonstrate stations with four
Speaker 0: people in orbit for at least thirty days.
Speaker 0: NASA will then move forward with formal design
Speaker 0: acceptance and certification to ensure that these stations
Speaker 0: meet NASA's stringent safety requirements. The outcome will
Speaker 0: allow NASA to purchase missions and other services
Speaker 0: aboard these stations on a commercial basis, similar
Speaker 0: to how NASA gets cargo and crew to
Speaker 0: the ISS today. Okay. So they were commissioning
Speaker 0: the people up there to do the research
Speaker 0: for these things. And maybe they were selecting
Speaker 0: the team specifically to do these types of
Speaker 0: research. So now they'll have privatized companies that
Speaker 0: have their own commissioned space stations, and NASA
Speaker 0: will commission them to do research on stuff.
Speaker 0: That could be kinda cool. While these stations
Speaker 0: are being built, Chinese astronauts will continue to
Speaker 0: live and work aboard their Tiangong Space Station,
Speaker 0: a three person, permanently crewed facility orbiting approximately
Speaker 0: two hundred fifty miles or four hundred kilometers
Speaker 0: above Earth's surface. Consequently, if the ISS's occupied
Speaker 0: treaty comes to an end, China and Tiangong
Speaker 0: will take over as the longest continually inhabited
Speaker 0: space station in operation. It's been occupied for
Speaker 0: approximately four years and counting. In the meantime,
Speaker 0: enjoy the view. It will be several years
Speaker 0: before any of these new commercial space stations
Speaker 0: circle the Earth around at around seventeen thousand
Speaker 0: five hundred miles per hour and several years
Speaker 0: before the ISS is deorbited in twenty thirty.
Speaker 0: So So while you have a chance, take
Speaker 0: a look up and enjoy the view. On
Speaker 0: most nights when the ISS flies over, it
Speaker 0: is simply magnificent. Brilliant blue white point of
Speaker 0: light, usually the brightest object in the sky
Speaker 0: silently executing a graceful arc across the sky.
Speaker 0: Our ancestors could hardly have imagined that one
Speaker 0: day, one of the brightest objects in the
Speaker 0: night sky would have been conceived by the
Speaker 0: human mind and built by human hands. Cool
Speaker 0: cool article by the conversation. You know, like,
Speaker 0: that it was a really good way to
Speaker 0: put it there at the end with the
Speaker 0: look up at the sky now because I
Speaker 0: I know we've talked about this before on
Speaker 0: the show. The light pollution that is gonna
Speaker 0: come from these systems being up there is
Speaker 0: gonna be interesting. So I guess we'll we'll
Speaker 0: kinda see how that changes in the next
Speaker 0: five to ten years, as they start to
Speaker 0: commission new space stations, you know, privately owned
Speaker 0: space stations. It's kinda cool. Alright. I got
Speaker 0: one final article for you folks tonight. YouTube's
Speaker 0: second chance policy for banned creators by Ars
Speaker 0: Technica. YouTube is rolling out a pathway for
Speaker 0: creators who have been banned, giving them a
Speaker 0: second chance under stricter rules or probation. The
Speaker 0: details include review mechanisms, appeals, and reinstatement possibilities.
Speaker 0: Was this never a thing? People maybe it's
Speaker 0: more of an official thing now, but I'm
Speaker 0: sure people have been unbanned before by, you
Speaker 0: know, submitting an appeal. I'm sure. Let's see.
Speaker 0: YouTube will evaluate each request individually, but copyright
Speaker 0: violators need not apply. Oh, little drink of
Speaker 0: my coffee there. A few weeks ago, Google
Speaker 0: told US rep Jim Jordan that it would
Speaker 0: allow creators banned for COVID and election misinformation
Speaker 0: and rejoined the platform. Oh, is is that
Speaker 0: specifically for that? It didn't offer many details
Speaker 0: in the letter, but now YouTube has explained
Speaker 0: the restoration process. YouTube's second chances are actually
Speaker 0: more expansive than the latter made it seem.
Speaker 0: Going forward, almost anyone banned from YouTube will
Speaker 0: have the opportunity to request a new channel.
Speaker 0: The company doesn't guarantee approval, but you can
Speaker 0: expect to see plenty of banned creators back
Speaker 0: on Google's platform in the coming months. YouTube
Speaker 0: will now allow banned creators to request reinstatement,
Speaker 0: but this is a separate form from appealing
Speaker 0: a ban. Okay. So you can appeal the
Speaker 0: ban, and then you have to request the
Speaker 0: reinstatement. If a channel is banned, creators continue
Speaker 0: to have the option of appealing the ban.
Speaker 0: If successful, your channel comes back as if
Speaker 0: nothing happened. After one year, creators will now
Speaker 0: have the second chance option. We know many
Speaker 0: terminated creators deserve a second chance, the blog
Speaker 0: post reads, noting that YouTube itself doesn't always
Speaker 0: get things right the first time. The option
Speaker 0: for getting a new channel will appear in
Speaker 0: YouTube Studio on the desktop. The Google expects
Speaker 0: and Google expects to be sending out these
Speaker 0: notices in the coming months. However, anyone terminated
Speaker 0: for copyright violations is out of luck. Google
Speaker 0: does not forgive such infringement easily as it
Speaker 0: does claiming that COVID is a hoax. The
Speaker 0: readmission process will still come with a review
Speaker 0: by YouTube staff, and the company says it
Speaker 0: will take multiple factors into consideration, including whether
Speaker 0: or not the behavior that got the channel
Speaker 0: banned is still against the rules. This is
Speaker 0: clearly a reference to COVID and election misinformation,
Speaker 0: which Google did not allow on YouTube for
Speaker 0: several years but has since stopped policing. The
Speaker 0: site will also consider factors like how severe
Speaker 0: or persistent the violations were and whether the
Speaker 0: creator's actions harmed or may continue to harm
Speaker 0: the YouTube community. A shiny new channel. Someone
Speaker 0: who successfully appeals a ban gets their channel
Speaker 0: back with all its videos and subscribers. However,
Speaker 0: returning to YouTube with a new program is
Speaker 0: like getting a new channel. Creators will have
Speaker 0: to rebuild their following, but they can reupload
Speaker 0: videos from their original channel, even the ones
Speaker 0: that got them banned. Wow. That's crazy. Provided
Speaker 0: that content is not against YouTube's current rules.
Speaker 0: This comes just weeks after Google and YouTube
Speaker 0: parent company Alphabet agreed to a twenty four
Speaker 0: point five million settlement with Trump over suspending
Speaker 0: his channel following the twenty twenty one US
Speaker 0: Capitol riot. Trump's channel was reinstated by Google
Speaker 0: in twenty twenty three as he ramped up
Speaker 0: his third bid for the White House. Creators
Speaker 0: who get a new channel under this pilot
Speaker 0: program will find all its all is effectively
Speaker 0: forgiven. While they will need to rebuild their
Speaker 0: subscriber base, they will be permitted to apply
Speaker 0: for monetization as soon as they reach the
Speaker 0: necessary channel criteria. Google has often limited monetization
Speaker 0: on inflammatory content as a way to steer
Speaker 0: behavior before resorting to an outright ban. It
Speaker 0: seems certain that Google will be policing content
Speaker 0: less than it has in recent years. Well,
Speaker 0: as long as you're not infringing copyright, which
Speaker 0: remains an unforgivable sin on YouTube. Well, that's
Speaker 0: a good article. Thanks, Ryan Whitman from, Arf
Speaker 0: Tecnica for that article. But that's all I
Speaker 0: got for you guys this week. Thank you
Speaker 0: so much for tuning in. A little bit,
Speaker 0: I guess, more on personal level, what's been
Speaker 0: going on with me. Yeah. I don't know.
Speaker 0: Another week of school. Been doing a lot
Speaker 0: of busy work. Caught up on a lot
Speaker 0: of my calc homework, and it's, you know,
Speaker 0: getting into a good rhythm here. Just trying
Speaker 0: to, like, maintain my, movement. It's been hard
Speaker 0: to find time to, you know, put an
Speaker 0: hour or two in for the show. I've
Speaker 0: been gathering articles through the week and reading
Speaker 0: through them, but, we're gonna try to keep
Speaker 0: it as consistent as possible for you guys.
Speaker 0: I know it's a Saturday that I'm releasing
Speaker 0: this on, so I do apologize. But this
Speaker 0: was the best time for me to kinda
Speaker 0: record this. If you guys would rather have
Speaker 0: it so that we're recording it and still
Speaker 0: releasing it on, you know, specific days, then
Speaker 0: I can try to do that and maybe
Speaker 0: record episodes ahead of time and then post
Speaker 0: them on those days. But I I don't
Speaker 0: know. It just feels like such a waste
Speaker 0: to kinda hold back on the news, because
Speaker 0: new stuff's gonna be coming out when I
Speaker 0: post that, and what I'm talking about on
Speaker 0: that night might already be old. I mean,
Speaker 0: this article came out on October ninth. It's
Speaker 0: over a week old. Most people maybe heard
Speaker 0: about the band creator program already, so who
Speaker 0: knows? But I do still appreciate you guys
Speaker 0: tuning in for the episode. Thank you very,
Speaker 0: very much. Give us some feedback. Link up
Speaker 0: with us at geek news central or geek
Speaker 0: news central dot com or geek news at
Speaker 0: g mail dot com. Thank you again for
Speaker 0: tuning in. Have a phenomenal, phenomenal week, and