KAP10 Weekly Update - SpaceX’s Starship Milestone, Adobe AI Innovations, and Google’s Nuclear Power Plans

SpaceX’s Historic Starship Breakthrough

Last Sunday, SpaceX achieved a monumental engineering milestone with the fifth test flight of its massive Starship rocket. In a world first, the company successfully recovered the booster just seven minutes after launch, using robotic arms on the Texas launchpad. This accomplishment is crucial for SpaceX’s long-term vision of rapid rocket reuse, which could open doors to regular human expeditions to the Moon and Mars. The launch began with a breathtaking liftoff of the 121-meter-tall rocket, followed by a supersonic descent of the booster, marking a key step toward achieving rapid reuse.

Google’s Nuclear Partnership with Kairos Power

Google made waves with its announcement of a partnership with nuclear startup Kairos Power. Together, they plan to build seven small modular reactors (SMRs) that will generate approximately 500 MW of carbon-free electricity for Google’s U.S. data centers. Set to be operational by 2030, these reactors are designed using molten salt cooling technology, which aims to reduce costs and speed up construction. The collaboration highlights Google’s commitment to addressing the energy demands of its ever-growing AI and data center infrastructure.

Adobe Max 2024: AI-Powered Tools

Adobe’s annual Max conference introduced new AI-powered tools that are set to revolutionize its Creative Cloud suite. Photoshop’s new distraction removal tool uses AI to automatically eliminate unwanted elements like people or cables from photos. Additionally, Illustrator gains the ability to arrange objects along paths, while InDesign now offers generative expansion for optimized layouts. Premiere Pro, on the other hand, is testing a beta tool to extend video sequences and fix minor issues without reshoots, showing Adobe’s push toward integrating AI for creative efficiency.

Spotify Expands into French Audiobook Market

Spotify is entering the French audiobook market, offering subscribers 12 hours of audiobook listening as part of their plan. Starting October 14, users can buy additional hours at €9.99 for 10 extra hours. The catalog boasts 15,000 French-language titles out of 200,000 total audiobooks. However, concerns have arisen regarding how authors will be compensated, as reports suggest that payments may be lower than those for music streaming.

Apple’s New iPad Mini

Apple quietly launched a new iPad Mini, the first update for its smallest tablet since 2021. The new model features the powerful A17 Pro chip, boosting CPU speeds by 30%, GPU by 25%, and doubling the speed of the neural engine. The iPad Mini now includes support for the Apple Pencil Pro, 128GB base storage, and new connectivity options like Wi-Fi 6E and a faster USB-C port. Despite minimal design changes, new colors (blue and purple) and improved performance make this a significant update for fans of smaller tablets.

Android 15 Rollout with Privacy and Security Enhancements

Android 15 is now available for Pixel devices, offering improved privacy and security features, particularly for foldables and tablets. A standout feature is the ability to create private spaces for apps that don’t appear in recent apps or notifications. Enhanced taskbar functionality for foldables, side-by-side app pairing, and a new theft detection system make this update a major boost for security-conscious users.

Intel and AMD’s X86 Advisory Group

Intel and AMD, traditionally fierce competitors, have joined forces to create the X86 advisory group. This initiative seeks to standardize X86 products and improve compatibility in response to growing competition from ARM-based chips. With the participation of Microsoft, Google, Meta, and Lenovo, the group aims to ensure that X86 architecture remains competitive in a tech landscape increasingly dominated by ARM processors, particularly with Apple and Qualcomm’s successes.

Google Chrome Disables uBlock Origin

Google Chrome has started disabling the popular ad blocker uBlock Origin due to its incompatibility with Chrome’s new Manifest Version 3. While uBlock Origin Lite has been released to function within the new framework, it is less effective than the original. This change has impacted many users as Google phases out older Manifest V2-based extensions, with most ad blockers already having adapted to the new version.