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Nintendo wants you to join its next mysterious Switch Online playtest

Nintendo wants you to join its next mysterious Switch Online playtest

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Late last year, Nintendo hosted a mysterious Switch Online playtest, and on Thursday, the company announced that it would be doing another test as part of the “Nintendo Switch Online: Playtest Program” and that it will be opening applications soon. This second round will be a test of the “same service” as before.

Last time, Nintendo asked participants not to share details about the playtest, but leaks appeared anyway indicating that the test was for some kind of MMO-style game.

Applications for this next playtest will be open to users 18 or older with an active Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack as of Thursday at 6PM ET and with a Nintendo Account registered in Japan, United States, United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Canada, Brazil, or Mexico. Users can apply as individuals or as a group of up to four people “if everyone in the group meets the Application Qualifications,” according to Nintendo.

You can prepare your application on Nintendo’s website from Friday, July 18th at 6PM ET to Monday, July 21st at 10:59AM ET.

You can actually submit your application from Monday, July 21st at 11AM ET to Wednesday, July 23rd at 10:59AM ET, though Nintendo says applications will be accepted “on a first-come, first-served basis.”

Nintendo expects to accept “as many as 40,000 participants worldwide,” a big jump from the 10,000 participants allowed for the October test. If you participated in that playtest, you can participate in this next one, too, Nintendo says.

The playtest itself will run from Monday, July 28th at 9PM ET to Sunday, August 10th at 8:59PM ET.

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Elon Musk’s SpaceX spent an eye-watering $18.4 billion in its first quarter as a publicly traded company and warned investors to expect similarly high spending in the next two financial quarters, sending the stock price down more than 8% in late trading on Tuesday evening. A whopping $15.8 billion of that spending was to power its artificial intelligence efforts, a division that ended the quarter with a $1.3 billion net operating loss.

The figure comes from the company’s first earnings report since the record-setting initial public offering hit the market in mid-June. Although the IPO was surely an amazing day for Musk, who briefly became the world’s first trillionaire, things have not been all peachy since then, with the stock price currently well below its IPO price. As of last week, the company’s stock was so far down from its IPO highs that the value it shed was roughly equal to Musk’s other company, Tesla’s, market capitalization. Tuesday’s stock sales are unlikely to help that scenario, and neither is the fact that the company’s first lockup period ends on Thursday, meaning some company insiders will be able to sell more than $100 billion worth of stock for the first time since SpaceX went public.

To ease some of those worries, Musk promised dramatic AI advancements.

“Our rate of growth certainly is faster than anyone else, and our efficiency of compute deployment I think is also the highest,” Musk claimed. “So we expect to end this year with over two gigawatts of compute, and probably our cumulative compute online by the end of next year will be several times higher.”

Those compute plans are ambitious, but Musk struck a defiant tone against any doubters in the earnings call on Tuesday.

“The terrestrial data centers are a trivial problem compared to making gigantic reusable rockets which are launched frequently,” Musk said.

Musk said SpaceX’s data centers will be exclusively built on Nvidia chips. The two companies are also partnering to build Starmind AI satellites, a part of SpaceX’s even more ambitious plan to put a giant colony of up to a million AI data centers in Earth’s orbit. Some experts are hesitant that Musk and his company will be able to pull off the space-based data center colony plan, while many have also raised concerns about the environmental, economic, and social impact of such a huge launch program if it does pan out as promised.

On the call, Musk said that SpaceX would begin launching the Starmind AI satellites in 2027.

The company will also be unveiling Grok 5 before the end of the year, which Musk said would be trained on “all the data that SpaceX has ever produced,” making the chatbot “by far the best engineer.” Musk has previously claimed the yet-to-be-unveiled LLM will be AGI-level, aka a contested hypothetical AI that would theoretically equal or beat all human capabilities.

“We expect the cadence of AI development to improve dramatically,” Musk said. “I think, by the end of next year, it’s not clear to me that there’s anything digital at least that AI won’t be able to do based on the current rate of improvement.”

All of this comes with a huge, obvious caveat: Musk has long had a penchant for overpromising. His hefty promises extended beyond the AI sphere on Tuesday as well, with the CEO claiming that the company’s space business would be launching a rocket a day by next year and that there will be robots working in manufacturing operations on the literal Moon.

“I know this sounds totally nuts, but you can probably scale to a thousand times the economy of Earth in terms of intelligence launched to space, but probably maybe even a million times,” Musk claimed. “We’re going to build the factories on the Moon; the robots will be helpful with that.

#SpaceX #Stock #Drops #Earnings #Call #Musk #Fails #Woo #Investors #Goalscapex,Elon Musk,SPACEX">SpaceX Stock Drops After First Earnings Call as Musk Fails to Woo Investors With AI Goals Elon Musk’s SpaceX spent an eye-watering .4 billion in its first quarter as a publicly traded company and warned investors to expect similarly high spending in the next two financial quarters, sending the stock price down more than 8% in late trading on Tuesday evening. A whopping .8 billion of that spending was to power its artificial intelligence efforts, a division that ended the quarter with a .3 billion net operating loss. The figure comes from the company’s first earnings report since the record-setting initial public offering hit the market in mid-June. Although the IPO was surely an amazing day for Musk, who briefly became the world’s first trillionaire, things have not been all peachy since then, with the stock price currently well below its IPO price. As of last week, the company’s stock was so far down from its IPO highs that the value it shed was roughly equal to Musk’s other company, Tesla’s, market capitalization. Tuesday’s stock sales are unlikely to help that scenario, and neither is the fact that the company’s first lockup period ends on Thursday, meaning some company insiders will be able to sell more than 0 billion worth of stock for the first time since SpaceX went public. To ease some of those worries, Musk promised dramatic AI advancements. “Our rate of growth certainly is faster than anyone else, and our efficiency of compute deployment I think is also the highest,” Musk claimed. “So we expect to end this year with over two gigawatts of compute, and probably our cumulative compute online by the end of next year will be several times higher.” Those compute plans are ambitious, but Musk struck a defiant tone against any doubters in the earnings call on Tuesday. “The terrestrial data centers are a trivial problem compared to making gigantic reusable rockets which are launched frequently,” Musk said. Musk said SpaceX’s data centers will be exclusively built on Nvidia chips. The two companies are also partnering to build Starmind AI satellites, a part of SpaceX’s even more ambitious plan to put a giant colony of up to a million AI data centers in Earth’s orbit. Some experts are hesitant that Musk and his company will be able to pull off the space-based data center colony plan, while many have also raised concerns about the environmental, economic, and social impact of such a huge launch program if it does pan out as promised. On the call, Musk said that SpaceX would begin launching the Starmind AI satellites in 2027. The company will also be unveiling Grok 5 before the end of the year, which Musk said would be trained on “all the data that SpaceX has ever produced,” making the chatbot “by far the best engineer.” Musk has previously claimed the yet-to-be-unveiled LLM will be AGI-level, aka a contested hypothetical AI that would theoretically equal or beat all human capabilities. “We expect the cadence of AI development to improve dramatically,” Musk said. “I think, by the end of next year, it’s not clear to me that there’s anything digital at least that AI won’t be able to do based on the current rate of improvement.” All of this comes with a huge, obvious caveat: Musk has long had a penchant for overpromising. His hefty promises extended beyond the AI sphere on Tuesday as well, with the CEO claiming that the company’s space business would be launching a rocket a day by next year and that there will be robots working in manufacturing operations on the literal Moon. “I know this sounds totally nuts, but you can probably scale to a thousand times the economy of Earth in terms of intelligence launched to space, but probably maybe even a million times,” Musk claimed. “We’re going to build the factories on the Moon; the robots will be helpful with that. #SpaceX #Stock #Drops #Earnings #Call #Musk #Fails #Woo #Investors #Goalscapex,Elon Musk,SPACEX

down more than 8% in late trading on Tuesday evening. A whopping $15.8 billion of that spending was to power its artificial intelligence efforts, a division that ended the quarter with a $1.3 billion net operating loss.

The figure comes from the company’s first earnings report since the record-setting initial public offering hit the market in mid-June. Although the IPO was surely an amazing day for Musk, who briefly became the world’s first trillionaire, things have not been all peachy since then, with the stock price currently well below its IPO price. As of last week, the company’s stock was so far down from its IPO highs that the value it shed was roughly equal to Musk’s other company, Tesla’s, market capitalization. Tuesday’s stock sales are unlikely to help that scenario, and neither is the fact that the company’s first lockup period ends on Thursday, meaning some company insiders will be able to sell more than $100 billion worth of stock for the first time since SpaceX went public.

To ease some of those worries, Musk promised dramatic AI advancements.

“Our rate of growth certainly is faster than anyone else, and our efficiency of compute deployment I think is also the highest,” Musk claimed. “So we expect to end this year with over two gigawatts of compute, and probably our cumulative compute online by the end of next year will be several times higher.”

Those compute plans are ambitious, but Musk struck a defiant tone against any doubters in the earnings call on Tuesday.

“The terrestrial data centers are a trivial problem compared to making gigantic reusable rockets which are launched frequently,” Musk said.

Musk said SpaceX’s data centers will be exclusively built on Nvidia chips. The two companies are also partnering to build Starmind AI satellites, a part of SpaceX’s even more ambitious plan to put a giant colony of up to a million AI data centers in Earth’s orbit. Some experts are hesitant that Musk and his company will be able to pull off the space-based data center colony plan, while many have also raised concerns about the environmental, economic, and social impact of such a huge launch program if it does pan out as promised.

On the call, Musk said that SpaceX would begin launching the Starmind AI satellites in 2027.

The company will also be unveiling Grok 5 before the end of the year, which Musk said would be trained on “all the data that SpaceX has ever produced,” making the chatbot “by far the best engineer.” Musk has previously claimed the yet-to-be-unveiled LLM will be AGI-level, aka a contested hypothetical AI that would theoretically equal or beat all human capabilities.

“We expect the cadence of AI development to improve dramatically,” Musk said. “I think, by the end of next year, it’s not clear to me that there’s anything digital at least that AI won’t be able to do based on the current rate of improvement.”

All of this comes with a huge, obvious caveat: Musk has long had a penchant for overpromising. His hefty promises extended beyond the AI sphere on Tuesday as well, with the CEO claiming that the company’s space business would be launching a rocket a day by next year and that there will be robots working in manufacturing operations on the literal Moon.

“I know this sounds totally nuts, but you can probably scale to a thousand times the economy of Earth in terms of intelligence launched to space, but probably maybe even a million times,” Musk claimed. “We’re going to build the factories on the Moon; the robots will be helpful with that.

#SpaceX #Stock #Drops #Earnings #Call #Musk #Fails #Woo #Investors #Goalscapex,Elon Musk,SPACEX">SpaceX Stock Drops After First Earnings Call as Musk Fails to Woo Investors With AI GoalsSpaceX Stock Drops After First Earnings Call as Musk Fails to Woo Investors With AI Goals Elon Musk’s SpaceX spent an eye-watering $18.4 billion in its first quarter as a publicly traded company and warned investors to expect similarly high spending in the next two financial quarters, sending the stock price down more than 8% in late trading on Tuesday evening. A whopping $15.8 billion of that spending was to power its artificial intelligence efforts, a division that ended the quarter with a $1.3 billion net operating loss. The figure comes from the company’s first earnings report since the record-setting initial public offering hit the market in mid-June. Although the IPO was surely an amazing day for Musk, who briefly became the world’s first trillionaire, things have not been all peachy since then, with the stock price currently well below its IPO price. As of last week, the company’s stock was so far down from its IPO highs that the value it shed was roughly equal to Musk’s other company, Tesla’s, market capitalization. Tuesday’s stock sales are unlikely to help that scenario, and neither is the fact that the company’s first lockup period ends on Thursday, meaning some company insiders will be able to sell more than $100 billion worth of stock for the first time since SpaceX went public. To ease some of those worries, Musk promised dramatic AI advancements. “Our rate of growth certainly is faster than anyone else, and our efficiency of compute deployment I think is also the highest,” Musk claimed. “So we expect to end this year with over two gigawatts of compute, and probably our cumulative compute online by the end of next year will be several times higher.” Those compute plans are ambitious, but Musk struck a defiant tone against any doubters in the earnings call on Tuesday. “The terrestrial data centers are a trivial problem compared to making gigantic reusable rockets which are launched frequently,” Musk said. Musk said SpaceX’s data centers will be exclusively built on Nvidia chips. The two companies are also partnering to build Starmind AI satellites, a part of SpaceX’s even more ambitious plan to put a giant colony of up to a million AI data centers in Earth’s orbit. Some experts are hesitant that Musk and his company will be able to pull off the space-based data center colony plan, while many have also raised concerns about the environmental, economic, and social impact of such a huge launch program if it does pan out as promised. On the call, Musk said that SpaceX would begin launching the Starmind AI satellites in 2027. The company will also be unveiling Grok 5 before the end of the year, which Musk said would be trained on “all the data that SpaceX has ever produced,” making the chatbot “by far the best engineer.” Musk has previously claimed the yet-to-be-unveiled LLM will be AGI-level, aka a contested hypothetical AI that would theoretically equal or beat all human capabilities. “We expect the cadence of AI development to improve dramatically,” Musk said. “I think, by the end of next year, it’s not clear to me that there’s anything digital at least that AI won’t be able to do based on the current rate of improvement.” All of this comes with a huge, obvious caveat: Musk has long had a penchant for overpromising. His hefty promises extended beyond the AI sphere on Tuesday as well, with the CEO claiming that the company’s space business would be launching a rocket a day by next year and that there will be robots working in manufacturing operations on the literal Moon. “I know this sounds totally nuts, but you can probably scale to a thousand times the economy of Earth in terms of intelligence launched to space, but probably maybe even a million times,” Musk claimed. “We’re going to build the factories on the Moon; the robots will be helpful with that. #SpaceX #Stock #Drops #Earnings #Call #Musk #Fails #Woo #Investors #Goalscapex,Elon Musk,SPACEX

Elon Musk’s SpaceX spent an eye-watering $18.4 billion in its first quarter as a publicly traded company and warned investors to expect similarly high spending in the next two financial quarters, sending the stock price down more than 8% in late trading on Tuesday evening. A whopping $15.8 billion of that spending was to power its artificial intelligence efforts, a division that ended the quarter with a $1.3 billion net operating loss.

The figure comes from the company’s first earnings report since the record-setting initial public offering hit the market in mid-June. Although the IPO was surely an amazing day for Musk, who briefly became the world’s first trillionaire, things have not been all peachy since then, with the stock price currently well below its IPO price. As of last week, the company’s stock was so far down from its IPO highs that the value it shed was roughly equal to Musk’s other company, Tesla’s, market capitalization. Tuesday’s stock sales are unlikely to help that scenario, and neither is the fact that the company’s first lockup period ends on Thursday, meaning some company insiders will be able to sell more than $100 billion worth of stock for the first time since SpaceX went public.

To ease some of those worries, Musk promised dramatic AI advancements.

“Our rate of growth certainly is faster than anyone else, and our efficiency of compute deployment I think is also the highest,” Musk claimed. “So we expect to end this year with over two gigawatts of compute, and probably our cumulative compute online by the end of next year will be several times higher.”

Those compute plans are ambitious, but Musk struck a defiant tone against any doubters in the earnings call on Tuesday.

“The terrestrial data centers are a trivial problem compared to making gigantic reusable rockets which are launched frequently,” Musk said.

Musk said SpaceX’s data centers will be exclusively built on Nvidia chips. The two companies are also partnering to build Starmind AI satellites, a part of SpaceX’s even more ambitious plan to put a giant colony of up to a million AI data centers in Earth’s orbit. Some experts are hesitant that Musk and his company will be able to pull off the space-based data center colony plan, while many have also raised concerns about the environmental, economic, and social impact of such a huge launch program if it does pan out as promised.

On the call, Musk said that SpaceX would begin launching the Starmind AI satellites in 2027.

The company will also be unveiling Grok 5 before the end of the year, which Musk said would be trained on “all the data that SpaceX has ever produced,” making the chatbot “by far the best engineer.” Musk has previously claimed the yet-to-be-unveiled LLM will be AGI-level, aka a contested hypothetical AI that would theoretically equal or beat all human capabilities.

“We expect the cadence of AI development to improve dramatically,” Musk said. “I think, by the end of next year, it’s not clear to me that there’s anything digital at least that AI won’t be able to do based on the current rate of improvement.”

All of this comes with a huge, obvious caveat: Musk has long had a penchant for overpromising. His hefty promises extended beyond the AI sphere on Tuesday as well, with the CEO claiming that the company’s space business would be launching a rocket a day by next year and that there will be robots working in manufacturing operations on the literal Moon.

“I know this sounds totally nuts, but you can probably scale to a thousand times the economy of Earth in terms of intelligence launched to space, but probably maybe even a million times,” Musk claimed. “We’re going to build the factories on the Moon; the robots will be helpful with that.

#SpaceX #Stock #Drops #Earnings #Call #Musk #Fails #Woo #Investors #Goalscapex,Elon Musk,SPACEX

real-life ray gun into a 747 to shoot down ballistic missiles and stuck a laser on top of a Humvee to zap roadside bombs. For more than 50 years, the United States military and its researchers have tried to develop laser weapons. None of them panned out.

But now, the US Army is about to make a working laser weapon an official part of its arsenal. The Pentagon is poised to sign a contract to acquire and rapidly deploy what’s called an Enduring High Energy Laser in and around bases across the world to defend them from drone attacks, according to sources familiar with the matter. The official announcement could come as early as this week. When the deal is signed, it will mark the first time that the US military will have committed to equipping its forces with laser weapons in significant numbers.

“For years, lasers were going to be the future, and they never really came to their own. Now, they’re actually coming to their own,” Mark J. Lewis, the former Air Force chief scientist, tells WIRED.

The Iran and Ukraine wars have shown that drones are now so cheap, so plentiful, and so deadly that they’re impossible to stop with any single countermeasure. Some of the traditional ones have been particularly clunky. During the early days of the Iran conflict, the US even resorted to firing $4 million Patriot missiles at $35,000 Iranian drones—a waste of money, and a move that depleted the American interceptor stockpile.

Modern lasers, on the other hand, never run out of ammunition. “Basically, you can keep firing them as long as you’ve got power,” Lewis says. “There are some other issues with lasers, including how rapidly you can refire and recharge. But if you solve those problems, then suddenly you’ve got a pretty nifty way to help counteract things like a drone swarm attack.”

That’s one reason why the US military, at this moment, has either deployed or is actively testing a half-dozen laser weapons systems, according to the Laser Wars newsletter. The Navy has installed laser “dazzlers” on two of its ships to blind drones’ electro-optical sensors. The Air Force’s command for Europe and Africa has sent Boeing’s Compact Laser Weapons System “to locations across the theater.” In late June, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth traveled to the Army’s test range in White Sands, New Mexico, for a demonstration of all sorts of directed-energy weapon projects.

The deployments haven’t all gone great. Four vehicles equipped with Raytheon air-defense lasers were yanked from the Middle East after poor reviews from soldiers. One laser, built by the defense contractor AeroVironment and positioned along the southern US border, accidentally zapped a party balloon in February, causing the Federal Aviation Administration to briefly close the airspace around El Paso, Texas. Once it was reopened, the laser shot down a Border Patrol drone by mistake.

Despite such mishaps, the Army appears ready to go beyond the one-offs and the experiments. In fact, in some ways, the accidental kill helped make the case for the laser, proving it could actually take out such a drone.

The Pentagon and its suppliers had been scrambling to field something, anything to defend against mass-produced, low-cost attack drones. They’ve rolled out radio frequency jammers, microwave weapons, an array of missiles, drones designed to kill other drones, even copies of the Iranian robots. None of them in isolation have been enough. On March 1, an Iranian drone killed six US service members and injured 30 others.

#Landmark #Deal #Officially #Add #Laser #Weapons #Army #Arsenallasers,drones,weapons and ammo,iran,military,military tech,army">Landmark Deal Would Officially Add Laser Weapons to US Army ArsenalThey stuffed a real-life ray gun into a 747 to shoot down ballistic missiles and stuck a laser on top of a Humvee to zap roadside bombs. For more than 50 years, the United States military and its researchers have tried to develop laser weapons. None of them panned out.But now, the US Army is about to make a working laser weapon an official part of its arsenal. The Pentagon is poised to sign a contract to acquire and rapidly deploy what’s called an Enduring High Energy Laser in and around bases across the world to defend them from drone attacks, according to sources familiar with the matter. The official announcement could come as early as this week. When the deal is signed, it will mark the first time that the US military will have committed to equipping its forces with laser weapons in significant numbers.“For years, lasers were going to be the future, and they never really came to their own. Now, they’re actually coming to their own,” Mark J. Lewis, the former Air Force chief scientist, tells WIRED.The Iran and Ukraine wars have shown that drones are now so cheap, so plentiful, and so deadly that they’re impossible to stop with any single countermeasure. Some of the traditional ones have been particularly clunky. During the early days of the Iran conflict, the US even resorted to firing million Patriot missiles at ,000 Iranian drones—a waste of money, and a move that depleted the American interceptor stockpile.Modern lasers, on the other hand, never run out of ammunition. “Basically, you can keep firing them as long as you’ve got power,” Lewis says. “There are some other issues with lasers, including how rapidly you can refire and recharge. But if you solve those problems, then suddenly you’ve got a pretty nifty way to help counteract things like a drone swarm attack.”That’s one reason why the US military, at this moment, has either deployed or is actively testing a half-dozen laser weapons systems, according to the Laser Wars newsletter. The Navy has installed laser “dazzlers” on two of its ships to blind drones’ electro-optical sensors. The Air Force’s command for Europe and Africa has sent Boeing’s Compact Laser Weapons System “to locations across the theater.” In late June, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth traveled to the Army’s test range in White Sands, New Mexico, for a demonstration of all sorts of directed-energy weapon projects.The deployments haven’t all gone great. Four vehicles equipped with Raytheon air-defense lasers were yanked from the Middle East after poor reviews from soldiers. One laser, built by the defense contractor AeroVironment and positioned along the southern US border, accidentally zapped a party balloon in February, causing the Federal Aviation Administration to briefly close the airspace around El Paso, Texas. Once it was reopened, the laser shot down a Border Patrol drone by mistake.Despite such mishaps, the Army appears ready to go beyond the one-offs and the experiments. In fact, in some ways, the accidental kill helped make the case for the laser, proving it could actually take out such a drone.The Pentagon and its suppliers had been scrambling to field something, anything to defend against mass-produced, low-cost attack drones. They’ve rolled out radio frequency jammers, microwave weapons, an array of missiles, drones designed to kill other drones, even copies of the Iranian robots. None of them in isolation have been enough. On March 1, an Iranian drone killed six US service members and injured 30 others.#Landmark #Deal #Officially #Add #Laser #Weapons #Army #Arsenallasers,drones,weapons and ammo,iran,military,military tech,army

to shoot down ballistic missiles and stuck a laser on top of a Humvee to zap roadside bombs. For more than 50 years, the United States military and its researchers have tried to develop laser weapons. None of them panned out.

But now, the US Army is about to make a working laser weapon an official part of its arsenal. The Pentagon is poised to sign a contract to acquire and rapidly deploy what’s called an Enduring High Energy Laser in and around bases across the world to defend them from drone attacks, according to sources familiar with the matter. The official announcement could come as early as this week. When the deal is signed, it will mark the first time that the US military will have committed to equipping its forces with laser weapons in significant numbers.

“For years, lasers were going to be the future, and they never really came to their own. Now, they’re actually coming to their own,” Mark J. Lewis, the former Air Force chief scientist, tells WIRED.

The Iran and Ukraine wars have shown that drones are now so cheap, so plentiful, and so deadly that they’re impossible to stop with any single countermeasure. Some of the traditional ones have been particularly clunky. During the early days of the Iran conflict, the US even resorted to firing $4 million Patriot missiles at $35,000 Iranian drones—a waste of money, and a move that depleted the American interceptor stockpile.

Modern lasers, on the other hand, never run out of ammunition. “Basically, you can keep firing them as long as you’ve got power,” Lewis says. “There are some other issues with lasers, including how rapidly you can refire and recharge. But if you solve those problems, then suddenly you’ve got a pretty nifty way to help counteract things like a drone swarm attack.”

That’s one reason why the US military, at this moment, has either deployed or is actively testing a half-dozen laser weapons systems, according to the Laser Wars newsletter. The Navy has installed laser “dazzlers” on two of its ships to blind drones’ electro-optical sensors. The Air Force’s command for Europe and Africa has sent Boeing’s Compact Laser Weapons System “to locations across the theater.” In late June, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth traveled to the Army’s test range in White Sands, New Mexico, for a demonstration of all sorts of directed-energy weapon projects.

The deployments haven’t all gone great. Four vehicles equipped with Raytheon air-defense lasers were yanked from the Middle East after poor reviews from soldiers. One laser, built by the defense contractor AeroVironment and positioned along the southern US border, accidentally zapped a party balloon in February, causing the Federal Aviation Administration to briefly close the airspace around El Paso, Texas. Once it was reopened, the laser shot down a Border Patrol drone by mistake.

Despite such mishaps, the Army appears ready to go beyond the one-offs and the experiments. In fact, in some ways, the accidental kill helped make the case for the laser, proving it could actually take out such a drone.

The Pentagon and its suppliers had been scrambling to field something, anything to defend against mass-produced, low-cost attack drones. They’ve rolled out radio frequency jammers, microwave weapons, an array of missiles, drones designed to kill other drones, even copies of the Iranian robots. None of them in isolation have been enough. On March 1, an Iranian drone killed six US service members and injured 30 others.

#Landmark #Deal #Officially #Add #Laser #Weapons #Army #Arsenallasers,drones,weapons and ammo,iran,military,military tech,army">Landmark Deal Would Officially Add Laser Weapons to US Army Arsenal

They stuffed a real-life ray gun into a 747 to shoot down ballistic missiles and stuck a laser on top of a Humvee to zap roadside bombs. For more than 50 years, the United States military and its researchers have tried to develop laser weapons. None of them panned out.

But now, the US Army is about to make a working laser weapon an official part of its arsenal. The Pentagon is poised to sign a contract to acquire and rapidly deploy what’s called an Enduring High Energy Laser in and around bases across the world to defend them from drone attacks, according to sources familiar with the matter. The official announcement could come as early as this week. When the deal is signed, it will mark the first time that the US military will have committed to equipping its forces with laser weapons in significant numbers.

“For years, lasers were going to be the future, and they never really came to their own. Now, they’re actually coming to their own,” Mark J. Lewis, the former Air Force chief scientist, tells WIRED.

The Iran and Ukraine wars have shown that drones are now so cheap, so plentiful, and so deadly that they’re impossible to stop with any single countermeasure. Some of the traditional ones have been particularly clunky. During the early days of the Iran conflict, the US even resorted to firing $4 million Patriot missiles at $35,000 Iranian drones—a waste of money, and a move that depleted the American interceptor stockpile.

Modern lasers, on the other hand, never run out of ammunition. “Basically, you can keep firing them as long as you’ve got power,” Lewis says. “There are some other issues with lasers, including how rapidly you can refire and recharge. But if you solve those problems, then suddenly you’ve got a pretty nifty way to help counteract things like a drone swarm attack.”

That’s one reason why the US military, at this moment, has either deployed or is actively testing a half-dozen laser weapons systems, according to the Laser Wars newsletter. The Navy has installed laser “dazzlers” on two of its ships to blind drones’ electro-optical sensors. The Air Force’s command for Europe and Africa has sent Boeing’s Compact Laser Weapons System “to locations across the theater.” In late June, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth traveled to the Army’s test range in White Sands, New Mexico, for a demonstration of all sorts of directed-energy weapon projects.

The deployments haven’t all gone great. Four vehicles equipped with Raytheon air-defense lasers were yanked from the Middle East after poor reviews from soldiers. One laser, built by the defense contractor AeroVironment and positioned along the southern US border, accidentally zapped a party balloon in February, causing the Federal Aviation Administration to briefly close the airspace around El Paso, Texas. Once it was reopened, the laser shot down a Border Patrol drone by mistake.

Despite such mishaps, the Army appears ready to go beyond the one-offs and the experiments. In fact, in some ways, the accidental kill helped make the case for the laser, proving it could actually take out such a drone.

The Pentagon and its suppliers had been scrambling to field something, anything to defend against mass-produced, low-cost attack drones. They’ve rolled out radio frequency jammers, microwave weapons, an array of missiles, drones designed to kill other drones, even copies of the Iranian robots. None of them in isolation have been enough. On March 1, an Iranian drone killed six US service members and injured 30 others.

#Landmark #Deal #Officially #Add #Laser #Weapons #Army #Arsenallasers,drones,weapons and ammo,iran,military,military tech,army

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  3. Select Settings, followed by Site settings and Notifications.

  4. Make sure notifications are enabled.

  5. Return to Mashable. Tap the site information icon to the left of the address bar, select Permissions, and set Notifications to Allow.

Google Chrome on a PC or Mac

  1. Visit Mashable.com.

  2. Click the View site information icon to the left of the URL in your address bar.

  3. Select Site settings from the menu.

  4. Find Notifications and select Allow from the dropdown menu.

  5. Return to Mashable and refresh the page.

That’s it. We’ll take it from here.

Safari on a Mac

  1. Open Safari and visit Mashable.com.

  2. When Safari asks whether you would like to receive notifications from Mashable, select Allow.

  3. If the request doesn’t appear, go to Safari > Settings > Websites > Notifications. Find Mashable and select Allow. You should also make sure Allow websites to ask for permission to send notifications is turned on.

Microsoft Edge

  1. Visit Mashable.com.

  2. Click the site information icon to the left of the URL.

  3. Open Permissions for this site.

  4. Find Notifications and select Allow.

  5. Return to Mashable and refresh the page.

Mozilla Firefox

  1. Visit Mashable.com.

  2. When Firefox asks whether Mashable can send notifications, select Allow.

  3. If you don’t see the prompt, open the Firefox menu and go to Settings > Privacy & Security. Scroll to Permissions, find Notifications, and click Settings. Locate Mashable, change its status to Allow, and save your changes.

Help! I signed up, but I’m not receiving notifications

If you followed the steps above but Mashable alerts remain suspiciously absent, don’t worry. A browser or device setting may be getting in the way.

1. Check your browser settings

Start by returning to Mashable.com and clicking the site information icon beside the URL. Make sure Notifications is set to Allow.

You can also check the notification permissions in your browser’s settings:

  • Chrome: Settings > Privacy and security > Site settings > Notifications

  • Firefox: Settings > Privacy & Security > Permissions > Notifications

  • Safari: Settings > Websites > Notifications

  • Edge: Settings > Cookies and site permissions > Notifications

Find Mashable and confirm that notifications are allowed.

2. Check your device settings

Your browser may have permission to send alerts while your computer is quietly blocking them.

On a Mac, open System Settings > Notifications. Select the browser you used to sign up, turn on Allow notifications, and choose Banners or Alerts as the notification style. On older versions of macOS, you may find these controls under System Preferences.

On a Windows PC, open Settings > System > Notifications. Make sure notifications are turned on for Chrome, Firefox, Edge, or whichever browser you used.

3. Make sure notifications aren’t silenced

Finally, check whether a focus setting has put your alerts on mute.

On a Mac, open Control Center > Focus and make sure Do Not Disturb is turned off.

On Windows 11, go to Settings > System > Notifications and check that Do not disturb is disabled. If you’re using Windows 10, open Focus assist and make sure it is not set to Alarms only.

Once those settings are cleared, Mashable notifications should be free to make their grand entrance.

Want more tech and digital culture news delivered to your inbox daily? Sign up for Mashable’s Top Stories newsletter today.

Barbara Pavone contributed to this article.

#sign #Mashable #push #notifications">How to sign up for Mashable push notifications The internet moves fast. Fortunately, you don’t have to spend all day refreshing your browser to keep up with it.Mashable push notifications deliver our latest news, trending stories, and hottest deals directly to your screen. Here’s how to turn them on in just a few clicks.Google Chrome on AndroidOpen Chrome and visit Mashable.com.Tap the three-dot menu to the right of the address bar.Select Settings, followed by Site settings and Notifications.Make sure notifications are enabled.Return to Mashable. Tap the site information icon to the left of the address bar, select Permissions, and set Notifications to Allow.Google Chrome on a PC or MacVisit Mashable.com.Click the View site information icon to the left of the URL in your address bar.Select Site settings from the menu.Find Notifications and select Allow from the dropdown menu.Return to Mashable and refresh the page.That’s it. We’ll take it from here. Safari on a MacOpen Safari and visit Mashable.com.When Safari asks whether you would like to receive notifications from Mashable, select Allow.If the request doesn’t appear, go to Safari > Settings > Websites > Notifications. Find Mashable and select Allow. You should also make sure Allow websites to ask for permission to send notifications is turned on.Microsoft EdgeVisit Mashable.com.Click the site information icon to the left of the URL.Open Permissions for this site.Find Notifications and select Allow.Return to Mashable and refresh the page.Mozilla FirefoxVisit Mashable.com.When Firefox asks whether Mashable can send notifications, select Allow.If you don’t see the prompt, open the Firefox menu and go to Settings > Privacy & Security. Scroll to Permissions, find Notifications, and click Settings. Locate Mashable, change its status to Allow, and save your changes.Help! I signed up, but I’m not receiving notificationsIf you followed the steps above but Mashable alerts remain suspiciously absent, don’t worry. A browser or device setting may be getting in the way.1. Check your browser settingsStart by returning to Mashable.com and clicking the site information icon beside the URL. Make sure Notifications is set to Allow.You can also check the notification permissions in your browser’s settings:Chrome: Settings > Privacy and security > Site settings > NotificationsFirefox: Settings > Privacy & Security > Permissions > NotificationsSafari: Settings > Websites > NotificationsEdge: Settings > Cookies and site permissions > NotificationsFind Mashable and confirm that notifications are allowed. Mashable Trend Report 2. Check your device settingsYour browser may have permission to send alerts while your computer is quietly blocking them.On a Mac, open System Settings > Notifications. Select the browser you used to sign up, turn on Allow notifications, and choose Banners or Alerts as the notification style. On older versions of macOS, you may find these controls under System Preferences.On a Windows PC, open Settings > System > Notifications. Make sure notifications are turned on for Chrome, Firefox, Edge, or whichever browser you used.3. Make sure notifications aren’t silencedFinally, check whether a focus setting has put your alerts on mute.On a Mac, open Control Center > Focus and make sure Do Not Disturb is turned off.On Windows 11, go to Settings > System > Notifications and check that Do not disturb is disabled. If you’re using Windows 10, open Focus assist and make sure it is not set to Alarms only.Once those settings are cleared, Mashable notifications should be free to make their grand entrance.Want more tech and digital culture news delivered to your inbox daily? Sign up for Mashable’s Top Stories newsletter today.Barbara Pavone contributed to this article. #sign #Mashable #push #notifications

  1. Mashable.com.

  2. Tap the three-dot menu to the right of the address bar.

  3. Select Settings, followed by Site settings and Notifications.

  4. Make sure notifications are enabled.

  5. Return to Mashable. Tap the site information icon to the left of the address bar, select Permissions, and set Notifications to Allow.

Google Chrome on a PC or Mac

  1. Visit Mashable.com.

  2. Click the View site information icon to the left of the URL in your address bar.

  3. Select Site settings from the menu.

  4. Find Notifications and select Allow from the dropdown menu.

  5. Return to Mashable and refresh the page.

That’s it. We’ll take it from here.

Safari on a Mac

  1. Open Safari and visit Mashable.com.

  2. When Safari asks whether you would like to receive notifications from Mashable, select Allow.

  3. If the request doesn’t appear, go to Safari > Settings > Websites > Notifications. Find Mashable and select Allow. You should also make sure Allow websites to ask for permission to send notifications is turned on.

Microsoft Edge

  1. Visit Mashable.com.

  2. Click the site information icon to the left of the URL.

  3. Open Permissions for this site.

  4. Find Notifications and select Allow.

  5. Return to Mashable and refresh the page.

Mozilla Firefox

  1. Visit Mashable.com.

  2. When Firefox asks whether Mashable can send notifications, select Allow.

  3. If you don’t see the prompt, open the Firefox menu and go to Settings > Privacy & Security. Scroll to Permissions, find Notifications, and click Settings. Locate Mashable, change its status to Allow, and save your changes.

Help! I signed up, but I’m not receiving notifications

If you followed the steps above but Mashable alerts remain suspiciously absent, don’t worry. A browser or device setting may be getting in the way.

1. Check your browser settings

Start by returning to Mashable.com and clicking the site information icon beside the URL. Make sure Notifications is set to Allow.

You can also check the notification permissions in your browser’s settings:

  • Chrome: Settings > Privacy and security > Site settings > Notifications

  • Firefox: Settings > Privacy & Security > Permissions > Notifications

  • Safari: Settings > Websites > Notifications

  • Edge: Settings > Cookies and site permissions > Notifications

Find Mashable and confirm that notifications are allowed.

2. Check your device settings

Your browser may have permission to send alerts while your computer is quietly blocking them.

On a Mac, open System Settings > Notifications. Select the browser you used to sign up, turn on Allow notifications, and choose Banners or Alerts as the notification style. On older versions of macOS, you may find these controls under System Preferences.

On a Windows PC, open Settings > System > Notifications. Make sure notifications are turned on for Chrome, Firefox, Edge, or whichever browser you used.

3. Make sure notifications aren’t silenced

Finally, check whether a focus setting has put your alerts on mute.

On a Mac, open Control Center > Focus and make sure Do Not Disturb is turned off.

On Windows 11, go to Settings > System > Notifications and check that Do not disturb is disabled. If you’re using Windows 10, open Focus assist and make sure it is not set to Alarms only.

Once those settings are cleared, Mashable notifications should be free to make their grand entrance.

Want more tech and digital culture news delivered to your inbox daily? Sign up for Mashable’s Top Stories newsletter today.

Barbara Pavone contributed to this article.

#sign #Mashable #push #notifications">How to sign up for Mashable push notifications

The internet moves fast. Fortunately, you don’t have to spend all day refreshing your browser to keep up with it.

Mashable push notifications deliver our latest news, trending stories, and hottest deals directly to your screen. Here’s how to turn them on in just a few clicks.

Google Chrome on Android

  1. Open Chrome and visit Mashable.com.

  2. Tap the three-dot menu to the right of the address bar.

  3. Select Settings, followed by Site settings and Notifications.

  4. Make sure notifications are enabled.

  5. Return to Mashable. Tap the site information icon to the left of the address bar, select Permissions, and set Notifications to Allow.

Google Chrome on a PC or Mac

  1. Visit Mashable.com.

  2. Click the View site information icon to the left of the URL in your address bar.

  3. Select Site settings from the menu.

  4. Find Notifications and select Allow from the dropdown menu.

  5. Return to Mashable and refresh the page.

That’s it. We’ll take it from here.

Safari on a Mac

  1. Open Safari and visit Mashable.com.

  2. When Safari asks whether you would like to receive notifications from Mashable, select Allow.

  3. If the request doesn’t appear, go to Safari > Settings > Websites > Notifications. Find Mashable and select Allow. You should also make sure Allow websites to ask for permission to send notifications is turned on.

Microsoft Edge

  1. Visit Mashable.com.

  2. Click the site information icon to the left of the URL.

  3. Open Permissions for this site.

  4. Find Notifications and select Allow.

  5. Return to Mashable and refresh the page.

Mozilla Firefox

  1. Visit Mashable.com.

  2. When Firefox asks whether Mashable can send notifications, select Allow.

  3. If you don’t see the prompt, open the Firefox menu and go to Settings > Privacy & Security. Scroll to Permissions, find Notifications, and click Settings. Locate Mashable, change its status to Allow, and save your changes.

Help! I signed up, but I’m not receiving notifications

If you followed the steps above but Mashable alerts remain suspiciously absent, don’t worry. A browser or device setting may be getting in the way.

1. Check your browser settings

Start by returning to Mashable.com and clicking the site information icon beside the URL. Make sure Notifications is set to Allow.

You can also check the notification permissions in your browser’s settings:

  • Chrome: Settings > Privacy and security > Site settings > Notifications

  • Firefox: Settings > Privacy & Security > Permissions > Notifications

  • Safari: Settings > Websites > Notifications

  • Edge: Settings > Cookies and site permissions > Notifications

Find Mashable and confirm that notifications are allowed.

2. Check your device settings

Your browser may have permission to send alerts while your computer is quietly blocking them.

On a Mac, open System Settings > Notifications. Select the browser you used to sign up, turn on Allow notifications, and choose Banners or Alerts as the notification style. On older versions of macOS, you may find these controls under System Preferences.

On a Windows PC, open Settings > System > Notifications. Make sure notifications are turned on for Chrome, Firefox, Edge, or whichever browser you used.

3. Make sure notifications aren’t silenced

Finally, check whether a focus setting has put your alerts on mute.

On a Mac, open Control Center > Focus and make sure Do Not Disturb is turned off.

On Windows 11, go to Settings > System > Notifications and check that Do not disturb is disabled. If you’re using Windows 10, open Focus assist and make sure it is not set to Alarms only.

Once those settings are cleared, Mashable notifications should be free to make their grand entrance.

Want more tech and digital culture news delivered to your inbox daily? Sign up for Mashable’s Top Stories newsletter today.

Barbara Pavone contributed to this article.

#sign #Mashable #push #notifications

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