Google asks India’s Supreme Court to block $161.9 million Android antitrust ruling

Google has turned to India’s Supreme Court as a “last hope” to block an order that has the potential to reshape the Android ecosystem. Last October, the Competition Commission of India (CCI) fined Google $161.9 million and barred the search giant from …

Roland’s 50th Anniversary Concept Piano has flying speakers for some reason

2022 marked the 50th anniversary of storied instrument maker Roland. But, even though we’ve switched over to our 2023 calendars, the company took the opportunity at CES to take one more victory lap by showing off its 50th Anniversary Concept Piano. It’…

A dead NASA satellite is returning to Earth after 38 years in space

After nearly four decades in space, NASA’s retried Earth Radiation Budget Satellite (ERBS) is about to fall from the sky. On Friday, the agency said the likelihood of wreckage from ERBS harming anyone on Earth is “very low.” NASA expects most of the 5,400-pound satellite will burn up upon re-entry. Earlier this week, the Defense Department predicted ERBS would re-enter the Earth’s atmosphere on Sunday at approximately 6:40PM ET, give or take 17 hours.

While it may not be a household name, the Earth Radiation Budget Satellite had anything but a dull history. Per Phys.org, the Space Shuttle Challenger carried the satellite to space in 1984, a little more than a year before Challenger’s heartbreaking demise in early 1986. Astronaut Sally Ride, the first American woman to fly to space, released ERBS from Challenger’s cargo hold using the spacecraft’s robotic arm. During that same mission, Ride’s crewmate, Kathryn Sullivan, became the first American woman to perform a space walk. It was also the first mission to see two female astronauts fly to space together. As for ERBS, it went on to collect ozone and atmospheric measurements until 2005. Scientists used that data to study how Earth absorbs and radiates solar energy. ERBS’s contribution to science is even more impressive when you consider NASA initially expected it would only stay functional for two years.

The tech pioneer behind Sound Blaster has passed away

Singaporean inventor and tech pioneer Sim Wong Hoo passed away on January 4th at the age of 67. Sim may not be a household name these days, but he founded Creative Technology (or Creative Labs in the US), the company behind the Sound Blaster brand of sound cards, back in 1981. Sound Blasters were some of the first sound cards available to consumers, and there was a time when you had to make sure your system worked with them if you wanted to listen to music and play games.

Sim established his business in the US and started selling Sound Blasters a few years later, after which Creative became the first Singaporean company to be listed on the Nasdaq exchange. The integration of sound boards into the motherboard ended Sound Blaster’s popularity, but Bloomberg says the cards provided audio for more than 400 million PCs. 

Under his leadership, Creative also launched a range of MP3 players, and Sim once tried to take on Apple by spending $100 million on advertising and marketing in its bid to dethrone the iPod. In 2006, Creative sued Apple for violating its patent for portable media system menus. The companies filed more lawsuits against each other after that before Apple settled with Creative and paid the company $100 million for the technology outlined in its patent. 

Creative confirmed Sim’s passing on its website, calling him “a visionary, inventor, and entrepreneur who gave the PC a voice.” In a press release published by the company, interim CEO Song Siow Hui said in a statement:

“I have known and worked with Mr. Sim for over 30 years. This is a sad and sudden development and we feel a great loss especially since Mr. Sim and I recently had extensive discussions on the future direction of the Company. During those discussions, Mr. Sim was full of fresh vision. Even on the night before, he had a long discussion with the Engineering team and was scheduled to meet with the Online Sales team the next day. The best thing to do now is to ensure the continued smooth running of the Company, and also to execute and realise the vision and strategy that Mr. Sim had for the Company.”

There was a lot of pee on the CES 2023 show floor

One swallow doesn’t make a summer, and I’m not sure if you can count four instances of a product as a trend, but it’s certainly an interesting thread at this year’s CES. At this year’s show, a quartet of companies are showing off urine analysis tools d…