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There are days where it feels like nothing will ever change and the best thing you can do is just learn to tolerate mediocrity. Today is not one of those days. Public Knowledge announced that the US Copyright Office granted an exemption request from the non-profit public interest group and the DIY repair site iFixit to allow McDonalds franchise owners to hire a third-party to repair their McFlurry and soft service ice cream machines. Franchise owners legally couldnt hire any outside business to work on the machine because of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). McDonalds soft serve ice cream machines have a digital lock and Section 1201 of the DMCA makes it illegal for anyone to bypass the lock on a copyrighted work even if no copyright infringement occurs. Only the original manufacturer of the machine can repair a copyrighted device with a digital lock. The recent exemption overrules the digital lock law. If youve ever pulled up to a McDonalds drive-thru window and couldnt get an ice cream treat like a McFlurry, it probably wasnt an anomaly. Franchises had to wait on the McDonalds corporation to send an approved repair person to fix the machines. The problem caught the attention of the Federal Trade Commission in 2021 under a directive by President Joe Biden to draft new regulations to allow consumers to legally repair their own devices and hire third-parties to fix them. The FTC contacted McDonalds franchise owners to learn more about the ice cream machines and the difficulties in repairing them. iFixit did a teardown of a McDonalds ice cream dispenser last year and found it had lots of easily replaceable parts but they couldnt be fixed without earning the wrath of federal copyright laws. The teardown prompted the companyto work with Public Knowledge to obtain a copyright exemption to repair them. The repair website also compiled a video explaining the machines innerworkings in more detail. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/mcdonalds-restaurants-can-finally-repair-their-own-mcflurry-machines-183006996.html?src=rss
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NASA spent the last two weeks hoisting a 103-ton component onto a simulator and installing it to help prepare for the next Moon missions. Crews fitted the interstage simulator component onto the Thad Cochran Test Stand at Stennis Space Center near Bay St. Louis, Mississippi. The connecting section mimics the same SLS (Space Launch System) part that will help protect the rockets upper stage, which will propel the Orion spacecraft on its planned Artemis launches. The Thad Cochran Test Stand is where NASA sets up the SLS components and conducts thorough testing to ensure theyll be safe and operating as intended on the versions that fly into space. The new section was installed onto the B-2 position of the testing center and is now fitted with all the necessary piping, tubing and electrical systems for future test runs. NASA The interstage section will protect electrical and propulsion systems and support the SLSs EUS (Exploration Upper Stage) in the rockets latest design iteration, Block 1B. It will replace the current Block 1 version and offer a 40 percent bigger payload. The EUS will support 38 tons of cargo with a crew or 42 tons without a crew, compared to 27 tons of crew and cargo in the Block 1 iteration. (Progress!) Four RL10 engines, made by contractor L3Harris, will power the new EUS. The interstage simulator section NASA spent mid-October installing weighs 103 tons and measures 31 feet in diameter and 33 feet tall. The sections top portion will absorb the EUS hot fire thrust, transferring it back to the test stand so the test stand doesnt collapse under the four engines more than 97,000 pounds of thrust. NASAs testing at Stennis Space Center will prepare the SLS for the Artemis IV mission, which will send four astronauts aboard the Orion spacecraft to the Lunar Gateway space station to install a new module. After that, theyll descend to the Moons surface in the Starship HLS (Human Landing System) lunar lander. You can catch some glimpses into NASAs heavy lifting in the video below: This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/science/space/nasa-spent-october-hoisting-a-103-ton-simulator-section-onto-a-test-stand-to-prep-for-the-next-moon-mission-173008826.html?src=rss
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Waymo has raised another huge chunk of change from investors. The company announced on its blog that it secured an oversubscribed investment round of $5.6 billion in funding, the largest of which came from Google's parent company Alphabet. The company is working with Uber to expand to Austin and Atlanta by the early part of next year. Waymo says it plans to use this latest infusion of capital for the expansions. This latest round brings Waymos total capital fundraising to $11.1 billion, with the $5.5 billion it picked up in two earlier rounds in 2020 and 2021. Waymo currently operates in San Francisco, Los Angeles and Phoenix with a curbside transport service for Sky Harbor International Airport through its Waymo One driving system for businesses. The company announced its also started offering fully autonomous freeway operations in Phoenix and San Francisco. The new funding will also help Waymo advance its Waymo One system, an adaptable autonomous driving system for different businesses. Waymo wrote on its blog it plans to support a variety of business applications over time through Waymo One. Alphabet ponied up $5 billion for Waymo back in July as part of what Alphabets chief financial officer Ruth Porat called a multi-year investment. The driverless vehicle fleet logged a total of 25 million miles in July outpacing companies like Uber, which sold its self-driving unit four years ago before joining forces with Waymo.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/transportation/waymo-raises-56-billion-to-fund-austin-and-atlanta-expansion-172031686.html?src=rss
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