Devin Coldewey
Writer & Photographer
The Latest from Devin Coldewey
Watch BepiColombo’s twin spacecraft launch tonight on a mission to Mercury
Humanity is about to return to the hottest planet in the solar system. BepiColombo is a mission to Mercury conducted jointly by the European and Japanese space agencies, due to launch in just a few ho
Vector speeds toward orbital launch capability with $70M in new funding
The market for small satellites in low Earth orbit is expanding faster than the gas in a thruster nozzle, and Vector aims to be the go-to launch platform for companies looking to put a bird in the air
The space pen became the space pen 50 years ago
Everyone knows about the space pen. NASA spent millions on R&D to create the ultimate pen that would work in zero gravity and the result was this incredible machine. Well, no. In fact it was made by a
This 3D-printed prosthetic hand combines speed and strength with simplicity
Prosthetic limbs have come a long way from the heavy, solid hands and legs of yesteryear, but it's still difficult to pack a range of motion into them without complex or bulky machinery. But new resea
Pokémon GO update bringing ‘mon from the Sinnoh region is live
If you've been laying off the Pokémon Go for a while due to a lack of new monsters, prepare to be glued to your phone again. Niantic is now adding pokémon from the rugged Sinnoh region that first ap
Major browsers simultaneously drop support for old security standards
Firefox, Chrome, Edge, Internet Explorer, and Safari are all dropping support for older versions of the the online security protocol TLS, used in practically any encrypted exchange online. While few p
Winamp returns in 2019 to whip the llama’s ass harder than ever
The charmingly outdated media player Winamp is being reinvented as a platform-agnostic audio mobile app that brings together all your music, podcasts, and streaming services to a single location. It's
Make your own phone with MakerPhone (some soldering required)
There's no shortage of interesting electronics kits out there to occupy an idle Sunday, but with this one you get a phone out of the bargain. The MakerPhone is a kit looking for funds on Kickstarter t
NASA plans ‘on schedule’ Soyuz launch despite failure of Russian rocket
The high-profile failure of a normally reliable Soyuz rocket during a crewed mission to the International Space Station earlier this week spooked the space community in more ways than one, but NASA ad
FCC resorts to the usual malarkey defending itself against Mozilla lawsuit
Mozilla filed a lawsuit in August alleging the FCC had unlawfully overturned 2015's net neutrality rules, by among other things "fundamentally mischaracteriz[ing] how internet access works." The FCC h
At 10 trillion frames per second, this camera captures light in slow motion
Light is the fastest thing in the universe, so trying to catch it on the move is necessarily something of a challenge. We've had some success, but a new rig built by Caltech scientists pulls down a mi
Take ten seconds now to make sure you’re registered to vote
Fellow citizens! An important election is approaching, and you should vote in it. But are you registered? Are you sure? Why don't you take ten seconds now to check?
Facebook bans hundreds of clickbait farms for ‘coordinated inauthentic behavior’
Facebook has announced a relatively small but significant purge of bad actors from the platform: 810 pages and accounts that have "consistently broken our rules against spam and coordinated inauthenti
DARPA wants to teach and test ‘common sense’ for AI
It's a funny thing, AI. It can identify objects in a fraction of a second, imitate the human voice, and recommend new music, but most machine "intelligence" lacks the most basic understanding of every
Astronauts land safely after Soyuz launch fails at 20 miles up
A fault in a Soyuz rocket booster has resulted in an aborted crew mission to the International Space Station, but fortunately no loss of life. The astronauts in the capsule, Nick Hague (US) and Alexey
Copyright compromise: Music Modernization Act signed into law
Musicians are celebrating as the Music Modernization Act, an attempt to drag copyright and royalty rules into the 21st century, is signed into law after unanimous passage through Congress. The act aim
Apple reportedly plans to give away its TV content, because that worked well with U2
Apple has answered two questions in one day, or rather a CNBC report citing someone within the company has. Why are the shows it's planning so allegedly boring? And what does it plan to do to get a fo
Nintendo’s ‘souped-up’ NES Zelda loads you with gear for an easier adventure
Nintendo has set a strange new precedent with the release of Legend of Zelda SP on the Switch: it's essentially the original NES game but Link starts loaded up with good gear and cash. In a way it's n
Accion Systems takes on $3M in Boeing-led round to advance its tiny satellite thrusters
Accion Systems, the startup aiming to reinvent satellite propulsion with an innovative and tiny new thruster, has attracted significant investment from Boeing's HorizonX Ventures. The $3 million round
Indie farm-em-up Stardew Valley is coming to iOS and Android
Stardew Valley, the hit indie farming game made by one guy in his spare time, is coming to mobile. I've dropped dozens of hours into this charming little spiritual successor to Harvest Moon, and now I