Facebook boosts security of its emails to you with encryption

Facebook might be the hub of oversharing but that doesn’t mean they don’t want to keep communications with you secure. The company announced that it’s allowing users to add PGP keys to profiles so the emails Facebook sends you can be encrypted. If you aren’t convinced about the legitimacy of the project, one of the testers for this program is security expert and former Tor lead Runa Sandvik.

Source: Facebook | Via: Engadget

Foursquare now supports Android Wear

The latest update for Foursquare brings Android Wear support to the app. Not only do you get a dedicated app on your smartwatch, you now get push notifications when you’re with vicinity of interesting places to visit. You can conduct voice searchers with the app or find suggestions for places to eat at.

Source: Greenbot | Download: Google Play Store (Free)

Google to discontinue Calendar text alerts for regular users

Google’s taking away Calendar’s text message alerts for regular users starting June 27^th. Those who use Google education, work, and government still have access to the feature though. If you’ve been relying on this feature to get updates, you’re going to have to start weaning yourself off of this reliance. Google opted to discontinue this feature because smartphones these days are said to give “richer, more reliable” notifications.

Source: Google | Via: Engadget

Bill Nye’s LightSail spacecraft reboots and gets in touch with Earth

Josh Spradling / The Planetary Society

Bill Nye’s sunbeam-powered spacecraft caused quite a scare for him and his company Planetary Society when it lost the ability to send information back to earth. LightSail got cut off from communications a week after it launched on May 20^th due to a software glitch. They couldn’t get it to reboot remotely and so the engineers put their hope in the “natural reboot” that would happen when it collides with stray charged particles. Thankfully, that happened and they re-established connection with the spacecraft.

LightSail was inspired by Carl Sagan’s solar sailing idea, which imagines a spacecraft using the sun in the same way a sailboat uses the wind. This month’s test hopes to prove it can unfurl it sails. If successful, a second test run will happen in April next year. LightSail is built with a small satellite and four Mylar sails to ride solar radiation. The scientists hope to prove that solar propulsion can get rid of the need for boosters or fuel reserves in spaceflight.

Source: The Verge