“Ninety-nine red balloons Floating in the summer sky Panic bells, it’s red alert! There’s something here from somewhere else! The war machine springs to life Opens up one eager eye Focusing it on the sky When ninety-nine red balloons go by” Why am I quoting song lyrics at you, you ask? Dear reader, I do this to make a very […]
In the current age of technology, everything and everyone seems to be hyperconnected. Internet phone calls allow for family and friends half a world away to hear each other with crystal clarity, and everything from cars to homes to lights have a little breath of automation in them. Indeed, it is as current Intel Corporation Chief Executive Officer Patrick Gelsinger […]
Catch up on the nine month saga of Apple and Epic Games
2nd Degree Murder, 3rd Degree Murder, and 2nd Degree Manslauter. These were the charges for former Minnesota Police Officer Derek Chauvin. On April 20, 2021, Chauvin was found guilty by the jury on all three counts. There was a large crowd outside of the courthouse in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and when the verdict was read, cheers and chants of “All Three […]
The Suez Canal: 30% of all goods traded worldwide travel through this passage, a naval bridge between the cultures and goods of the East and the West. Located in Egypt, this 193 km man made waterway is essential to trade because it connects the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea. Generally, issues in the Suez Canal negatively impact global trade […]
As I sit writing this, the tap of my fingers on laptop keys triggers massive strings of circuit defined logic which lighten or darken any of several hundred thousand pixels so that the words I type can be encoded by yet more processes and read by another brick of circuit logic before being translated by a process parallel to mine […]
Rovers have already given us the ability to see and touch, and sensors provide taste and smell. The only part we’ve been missing is the ability to hear on Mars, but that will change with Perseverance! The new rover has been outfitted with two microphones in order to hear the red planet. Two other rovers in the past have had […]
On February 18th, 2021, NASA’s latest Mars rover, dubbed Perseverance, touched down on the dusty rock of the red planet. In the tradition of NASA’s Viking missions and many others since, Perseverance immediately began taking photos, video, and audio to send back to Earth. If you want to learn more about the Perseverance mission or the transmitted audio, you can […]
According to the National Weather Service, the United States is seeing an “arctic outbreak”. This conundrum is due to the lack of low pressure systems up north, which allowed arctic air to travel through Canada and into the US. Texas, a state known for its droughts, deserts and excruciating heat waves, is unexpectedly one of the states most affected by […]
Back in July, the Epic Games corporation sued Apple and Google over their app store practices, a story we’ve covered a few times already. Now, however, after the complaint failed to fare well in early stages in US courts, Epic Games has announced that they have also formally filed an antitrust complaint against Apple in the European Union court system. […]
As more and more students every year aspire to attend top universities like Harvard, Princeton, and MIT, the number of coveted acceptance letters will disappear – but thankfully, so will SAT subject tests and the essay-writing part of the SAT. SAT Subject tests have been losing popularity for years. They are essentially hour long, multiple choice tests that cover 21 […]
Milky Way Galaxy, Sol System, Planet Earth, Utah, [Redacted]”N [Redacted]”W: On a bright November day, the Department of Wildlife Resources dispatched a helicopter crew to assess wild sheep populations in a remote part of the Utah desert. What they found instead was something inexplicable: a 12 foot tall, featureless steel monolith tucked inside an isolated canyon, nearly impossible to find […]
Ahhhh, Thanksgiving. For many people, the last week has been a time of joyous celebration, reflection with gratitude on the past year, feasting with those closest to us, and appreciation for the blessings we have received. These traditions bring people closer together. During times of COVID-19, however, many of these traditions are simply impractical, and were moved to virtual zoom […]
This past Sunday marked the second ever manned flight of a SpaceX spacecraft! The launch carried astronauts Michael Hopkins, Victor Glover, Shannon Walker, and Soichi Noguchi to the International Space Station. While the team was en route, a live stream revealed another passenger aboard the craft, Baby Yoda from The Mandalorian! Or at least a plush version of him! Astronauts […]
Despite being the most popular video conferencing choice for online classes at City, and one of the global leaders in the industry, Zoom has come into conflict with the Federal Trade Commission for “deceptive practices”. Zoom has long claimed in its advertising that its calls are protected by “end-to-end encryption”, but according to the FTC this is misleading. According to […]
Did you forget about the war between Apple & Epic Games? Don’t worry, you’re not alone. But luckily for you, the City Voice is here to keep you up on every detail of this long and complicated story. If you forgot why Apple and Epic Games were arguing, here is a somewhat-brief summary: Epic Games noticed that Apple was taking […]