Pavel Varenka We have the end of the week here, and with it the long-awaited weekend and the beautiful sight of the fact that we will most likely remain locked at home this time as well. Of course, you can go out into nature, but how about watching a live broadcast of a SpaceX rocket launch instead, this time with Starlink satellites on board? After all, a similar opportunity will not be repeated for a long time. Or you can play the legendary mobile game Alto, which will take your breath away, for example, with its beautiful graphics. And if even that doesn't convince you to leave the house, you can be mesmerized by the virtual reality that Volvo uses to test cars. We won't linger any longer and jump right into today's summary.
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SpaceX leaned back nicely into the launch. It will send more Starlink satellites into orbit
It wouldn't be a good day if we don't at least once mention some other space mission that will bring us an inch closer to an imaginary milestone. This time, it is not about testing megalomaniacal rockets that aim to take us to Mars or the Moon, but only about a way to deliver several Starlink satellites into orbit. The company SpaceX talked about this technology a few years ago, but many skeptics took Elon Musk's words with a grain of salt and did not attach much importance to them. Fortunately, the legendary visionary convinced them otherwise and in the last few months sent several satellites into orbit with the aim of bringing the Internet to the most remote corners of the planet.
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Although it might seem that in principle this is an exaggerated and overly ambitious project, the fascinating thing is that the plans really work. After all, a few beta testers got the opportunity to use the satellite connection, and as it turned out, we have a bright future ahead of us. One way or another, Elon Musk continues to send satellites and after the last mission, he intends to send another batch into orbit on Saturday of this week, the sixteenth in a row. This is a fairly common routine that the Falcon 9 rocket has already performed seven times, and that's for a "single use". Even so, SpaceX has a really busy weekend ahead of it. On the same day, another rocket will be launched, in cooperation with NASA and ESA, when these three giants will try to deliver the Sentinel 6 satellite, which will monitor the ocean level, into orbit.
The excellent audiovisual game Alto is headed to the Nintendo Switch
If you are not a supporter of the opinion that you can only play properly on consoles and PCs, then you have certainly come across the excellent Alto series in the case of mobile games, especially the Odyssey and Adventure parts, which have enchanted millions of players around the world. Although it might seem that reporting on one average mobile game is somehow misguided, we simply have to make an exception for Alto. In addition to the breathtaking audiovisual side and meditative gameplay, the title also offers a perfect soundtrack that you won't easily forget and a revolutionary level design. In principle, this is a kind of definition of meditation, when you just run around in a beautiful environment and listen to frighteningly hypnotic music.
Anyway, luckily, the developers relented and released the game in August for computers and PlayStation and Xbox consoles. However, more and more fans were also calling for a version for the Nintendo Switch, i.e. the popular portable console, which has already sold over 60 million units. The Alto Collection will eventually make its way to the displays of this Japanese toy for just $10. The developers promised that the game would cost the same on all platforms - and as they promised, they also kept it. In any case, we recommend that you reach for this game, whether you have a Nintendo Switch console or any other gaming device.
Volvo uses advanced virtual reality in car design. Even with a haptic suit
A few years ago, virtual reality was being talked about quite lavishly, and many experts as well as fans and technology enthusiasts were expecting a massive release to the public. Unfortunately, this did not happen completely, and in the end only a few customers who believed in the technology reached for a VR headset. This fact was partially changed by the Oculus Quest headset and its second generation, but still VR remained more the domain of industry and specialized sectors. For example, the automotive industry largely relies on the use of virtual reality, as shown by the Volvo car company, which uses this method for safer testing of its cars.
But if you think Volvo simply bought a ton of Oculus Quest headsets and a couple of controllers, you'd be wrong. The engineers raised everything to a significantly higher level and came up with a detailed description of how they use the technology. VR technology was provided to Volvo by the Finnish company Varjo, and to make matters worse, the automaker reached for several TeslaSuit haptic suits. Although these suits are too expensive for the public, they are a fairly frequently used solution in industry. There is also a specially modified Unity engine and a whole host of systems combining virtual and augmented reality, thanks to which the tester can evaluate all eventualities in real time. We'll see if other companies catch on to the trend.
