Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Space
  3. News

Samsung reports robust pre-orders for Galaxy S8 smartphone

Bill Roberson
By
What Note 7 fiasco?

It looks like Samsung has a hit on their hands with the new Galaxy S8 smartphone, if pre-order data is an indication. BGR reports that early figures show strong demand for the S8, with Samsung saying early orders are far outpacing previous pre-order numbers for the S7 and other top-of-the-line phones. Exact numbers weren’t released, but BGR said an official told them that over 725,000 preorders were placed in South Korea alone.

Another key data point: many people are ordering the 128gb model, even though the price is over $1,000 each. Looks like not everyone is big on that “keep all your stuff in the cloud” concept quite yet. The Galaxy S8 is set to arrive in retail store on April 21st.

10…9….8…. uh, wait a sec….

Excited for Jeff Bezo’s blue Origin sub-orbital space flights? Well, take your protein pill and put your helmet on, and don’t forget to visit the rest room before boarding.

Tech Times is reporting that Jeff Bezos told a recent symposium that there won’t be any, uh, “facilities” on board the spacious crew capsules that will take well-heeled thrill-seekers on an 11-minute sub-orbital free-fall for around 200 grand a ticket. 11 minutes, no big deal right? Well, that doesn’t include the 30 or so minutes passengers will sit strapped into their seats on top of a highly-explosive rocket as the tension builds ahead of blast-off.

Oh, that might make you nervous? Well, some people do have to “go” when they get nervous, so we hope some of those infamous NASA astronaut diapers are tucked under the seats.

My watch just said to eat a Twix

Apple CEO Tim Cook has made it clear with software like HealthKit and the Apple Watch that he wants to bring more medical monitoring capabilities to Apple products, and now CNBC is reporting Cupertino is working hard on developing a device that would be a boon to those with diabetes: a needle-free through-the-skin method to measure blood glucose. Diabetics must prick their skin daily at the least and use a small blood sugar analyzer to check their levels.

CNBC says a 30-member team has been working on the problem, and while you might assume the eventual tech could end up in the Apple Watch, that may not be the case – at least, not yet. The Apple Watch would have to be FDA approved, which is an arduous process that doesn’t quite fit the schedule of the rapidly evolving smartwatch tech. Instead, Apple may be developing a stand-alone medical device of some sort, or a software-driven solution.

Whatever happens with the research, it looks like more and more medical diagnostic and reporting features will be heading for our watches and phones in the very near future.

We’ve got more news on our Facebook page and YouTube channel, and be sure to tune in to this week’s DT podcasts: Close to the Metal (computers and such) on Tuesday, Trends with Benefits (general tech shenanigans)  on Thursdays, and Between the Streams (movie and TV topics) every Friday.

Topics
Bill Roberson
Bill Roberson
Former Digital Trends Contributor
I focus on producing Digital Trends' 'DT Daily' video news program along with photographing items we get in for review. I…
First indications of a rare, rainbow ‘glory effect’ on hellish exoplanet
For the first time, potential signs of the rainbow-like ‘glory effect’ have been detected on a planet outside our Solar System. Glory are colourful concentric rings of light that occur only under peculiar conditions. Data from ESA’s sensitive Characterising ExOplanet Satellite, Cheops, along with several other ESA and NASA missions, suggest this delicate phenomenon is beaming straight at Earth from the hellish atmosphere of ultra-hot gas giant WASP-76b, 637 light-years away.

Just from looking at our own solar system, we can see that planets come in a wide variety of colors -- from the dusty red of Mars to the bright blues of Uranus and Neptune. Planets like Jupiter have beautiful bands of color caused by variations in the atmosphere, while it's hard to even see the surface of Venus because its atmosphere is so thick. But there are other variations in color which planets can display, like a stunning rainbow-hued set of circular rings called a glory.

Glories are observed on Earth, and have been seen just once on another planet, Venus. But now, researchers believe they may have identified a glory on a planet outside our solar system for the first time. The extreme exoplanet WASP-76b could be host to the first known extrasolar glory, observed by the European Space Agency (ESA)'s Characterising ExOplanet Satellite (Cheops).

Read more
Total solar eclipse: NASA’s most important piece of advice
A total solar eclipse.

North America is just hours away from Monday’s total solar eclipse when the moon will come between the sun and Earth, dramatically dimming natural daylight along a 115-wide path of totality from Maine to Texas.

Millions of people are expected to witness the celestial phenomenon, with many making their way from across the U.S. -- and beyond -- to a place inside the path of totality where the effect of the eclipse will be at its most prominent.

Read more
Watch SpaceX blast its megarocket engines in spectacular test
SpaceX's Super Heavy booster during a static fire test.

SpaceX recently lit all 33 Raptor engines on the Super Heavy booster in a static fire test ahead of its fourth flight.

The tethered test took place at SpaceX’s Starbase facility in Boca Chica, Texas, and was performed without the Starship spacecraft atop the booster. The company shared a video showing the engines firing up:

Read more