Lifeboat Foundation

No multi-billion-dollar acquisitions occurred in the world of AI chips in 2021.

Instead, the leading AI chip startups all raised rounds at multi-billion-dollar valuations, making clear that they aspire not to get acquired but to become large standalone public companies.

In our predictions last December, we identified three startups in particular as likely acquisition targets. Of these: SambaNova raised a $670 million Series D at a $5 billion valuation in April; Cerebras raised a $250 million Series F at a $4 billion valuation last month; and Graphcore raised $220 million at a valuation close to $3 billion amid rumors of an upcoming IPO.

Continue reading “2021 AI Predictions: What We Got Right And Wrong” »

A Martian asteroid-like moon appears to be making waves in the stream of particles the sun sends across the universe. From space, a European Space Agency spacecraft did an experiment to confirm a weird effect first observed at the moon, which is called Phobos, in 2008. The Mars Express spacecraft noticed Phobos “backscattering” or reflecting solar particles during one flyby, but has been unable to spot this again despite zooming by the moon several more times over the years.

Scientists thought they saw more backscattering during a 2016 flyby, but the position of Mars Express at that time led to another hypothesis: maybe the spacecraft itself had caused the effect. So this led to another weird trick: why not do some “fake” flybys of the moon to see if the spacecraft can induce backscattering on another world?

That led to a fun sequence in 2017, the European Space Agency stated, when Mars Express replicated the exact same solar array adjustments and control maneuvers in space with no nearby target except for the solar wind.

SpaceX’s Crew Dragon is just going to get busier shuttling astronauts in the coming years.

NASA announced it intends to issue a sole-source modification to SpaceX’s long-term contract to send astronauts to the International Space Station. This follows an agency call for proposals back in October for more flight options to send people to space.

Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft, which is the other major system, is not quite yet ready for humans following a difficult uncrewed test flight in 2019 that never saw the spacecraft reach the ISS. Starliner has spent some time fixing computer glitches and other issues (including a valve problem that delayed an expected 2021 launch) and is now expecting a second uncrewed test flight by 2022.

Continue reading “SpaceX Tapped For 3 More Possible Commercial Crew Flights To Space” »

The Prawn Nebula is an emission nebula located 6,000 light-years from Earth. A new Hubble Space Telescope image captures a stunning view of the nebula’s vast star-forming region.

Hackers have taken $196 million from crypto trading platform Bitmart, a security firm said Saturday.

Bitmart confirmed the hack in an official statement Saturday night, calling it “a large-scale security breach” and writing that hackers withdrew about $150 million in assets. However, blockchain security and data analytics firm Peckshield estimates that the loss is closer to $200 million.

Continue reading “Hackers take $196 million from crypto exchange Bitmart, security firm says” »

After evaluating more than 12,000 applications, we’ll introduce our 2021 astronaut candidates live at a ceremony at Ellington Field near NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston.

After completing training, these women and men could be eligible for a variety of flight assignments including missions on and around the Moon under Artemis.

Continue reading “NASA Announces 2021 Class of Astronaut Candidates” »

Bitcoin Vs Gold: Peter Schiff Vs Anthony Scaramucci.

Peter Shiff makes several points about gold:

Continue reading “Debate: Bitcoin vs Gold with Anthony Scaramucci and Peter Schiff” »

British engineering company White Motorcycle Concepts (WMC) has unveiled its revolutionary new electric hybrid scooter – the WMC300FR. The new hybrid three-wheeled scooter is designed especially for use as a fully operational first response vehicle that will help bring emergency services into line with new national objectives to combat the effects of climate change and cost reduction.

The electric scooter uses the same patented technology central to its all-electric WMC250EV high-speed demonstrator, with which it intends to break the world electric land speed record over the next 12 months. In the case of First Responder, however, the key objectives are not so much to achieve ultimate speed as to significantly increase range and viability while reducing CO₂ footprint and running costs for emergency service fleets. It can reduce carbon emissions by up to 50% of that of comparable conventional motorcycles and scooters.

Continue reading “WMC unveils new electric hybrid scooter designed for first responders” »

Tue, Dec 21 at 5 PM PST.

Avi Loeb, Professor of Science at Harvard University – Extraterrestrial Life: Are We the Sharpest Cookies in the Jar?