SpaceX is taking on its most complicated mission yet; an illegal Airbnb ring has been unearthed in New York City; and WIRED wants to free you from streaming subscription hell. Here's the news you need to know, in two minutes or less.
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SpaceX is launching a solar sail the size of a boxing ring
Late tonight, SpaceX is expected to launch its Falcon Heavy rocket on its most complicated mission yet: bringing two dozen satellites to three different orbits. While there's all kinds of technology on board, the star of the show is the Lightsail 2, a cubesat the size of a bread loaf that will eventually deploy a mylar sail—thinner than human hair and the width of a boxing ring—that will help it use light particles to push it further into orbit.
Nine people built an illegal Airbnb empire in New York
A group in New York City created a network of appealing Airbnb listings, using descriptions like "Newly Renovated Apt Next to East River, NYC View!" and "Clean and Comfy Room With Balcony, 15min to NYC!" But the spaces were actually shoddily built rooms that a New York City investigation claims were dangerous and unsanitary. In Airbnb reviews, some guests described them as “packed with garbage,” “broken furniture,” and plagued by ants, centipedes, and black mold.
Imagine what would happen if your computer gave you the blue screen of death as you were trying to guide a spacecraft to the surface of the moon. For Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong on Apollo 11, that's basically what happened—over and over again—to their navigation computer. It turns out, the mission that changed everything 50 years ago didn't go as smoothly as we thought.
Cutting the cable cord sounds awfully nice, but now it seems we're just strapped with even more decisions when it comes to streaming services and how much we spend on them. So we put together a list of free streaming options so you can cut the price too.
How fear, misinformation, and measles spread in Brooklyn.
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