Jackie Wattles

It turns out, an ultra-powerful computer can function just fine in the harsh environment of outer space — even if it hasn’t been bolstered with extra protection. That’s what scientists learned when the Spacebourne Computer — a supercomputer built by Hewlett Packard Enterprise — was switched on at the International Space Station last week for a new experiment by HPE and NASA. HPE announced the success on Wednesday. When the computer’s lights flickered on, it was a big moment. Before then, scientists weren’t sure if a commercial off-the-shelf supercomputer would even be able to power on in space. “My...

The starting pay is pretty good, depending on experience. The jobs are hard to get, and a lot of people want them. It’s the job of an NASA astronaut. America is gearing up for a new era of human spaceflight — with plans to try to reach beyond the moon and perhaps to Mars. There’s a thriving commercial sector driven by companies like Boeing and Space X. When NASA went looking for a new class of astronaut trainees, it got 18,300 applications. Only 12 were selected. They reported for duty last month for a grueling training program. CNNMoney wanted...

Hackers were able to access personal data of 143 million Equifax customers. How did it happen? Much is still unknown. But it came down to a flaw in a tool designed to build web applications, the company said in a press release this week. And Equifax admitted it was aware the security flaw a full two months before the company says hackers first gained accessed to its data. Some of the information hackers had access to includes names, Social Security numbers, birth dates, addresses and some driver’s license numbers. The tool is called Apache Struts, and it’s used by...

The world just got a glimpse of the suits astronauts may one day wear when they travel to the International Space Station aboard a SpaceX craft. Elon Musk — the billionaire serial entrepreneur behind SpaceX — shared a photo Wednesday of an astronaut wearing a crisp white suit with black paneling, and a helmet with a large, tinted face shield. Musk said via an Instagram post that the suit pictured is an actual, functioning version of what the company will one day give to astronauts. “Worth noting that this actually works (not a mockup),” he wrote. “Was incredibly hard...

A spacecraft is on its way to deliver one of the most high-tech payloads ever to the International Space Station. About ten minutes after launching from Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Monday, a Dragon spacecraft separated from SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket — beginning its two-day trek through orbital space to the space station. Cargo missions are always packed with some interesting payloads — typically several tons of experimental equipment, food and other provisions. But this mission will deliver something the space station has never seen before: A supercomputer built by Hewlett Packard Enterprise, dubbed the “Spaceborne Computer.” If...

A SpaceX rocket is ready to deliver one of the most high-tech payloads ever to the International Space Station. When the Falcon 9 rocket blasts off on Monday, one of the items on board will be a supercomputer built by Hewlett Packard Enterprise, dubbed the “Spaceborne Computer.” If it works, it could be the most powerful commercial, off-the-shelf computer ever to operate in space. Astronauts aboard the space station already have a bunch of devices you’d find at your local electronics store — including HP laptops. But a supercomputer is something different. It’s a much more powerful piece of...

An artificial intelligence program just annihilated its human competition at a world championship video game contest. The AI win stunned the gaming community, because bots are generally considered inferior to expert human players. This one from Open AI — a nonprofit artificial intelligence research firm known mainly for its backing by serial entrepreneur Elon Musk, of Tesla and SpaceX fame — is a different story, and possibly a cautionary one. Open AI says its mission is to promote “responsible” AI development. Or, as Musk puts it, to ensure that AI doesn’t grow unchecked and become the death of humanity....

FaceApp, the popular photo-filter application, said it is removing new “ethnicity filters” after angry users condemned the update as racist. The feature prompted users to alter selfies with “black,” “Indian” and “Asian” filters. It gained widespread attention this week as social media lit up with comments that called the feature offensive. “FaceApp’s ‘ethnicity filters’ are a pretty terrible idea. Like, maybe one of the worst ideas,” one Twitter user wrote. Another user accused the company of “setting the bar for racist [augmented reality] with its awful new update.” CEO Yaroslav Goncharov responded in a statement Wednesday saying “the new...

Google executives have responded to a 3,300-word manifesto written by one of its male engineers that argues women aren’t suited for tech jobs for “biological” reasons. The document has been circulating inside Google for some time, but it was made public by Motherboard on Saturday. Recode and Gizmodo published the document in full. Over the weekend, Google diversity vice president Danielle Brown and engineering VP Ari Balogh addressed the controversial document in separate messages to Google employees. Brown and Balogh condemned the document’s assertions and defended Google’s diversity efforts. Related: Google struggles to increase workforce diversity The issue immediately...