“Amazon Music launched podcasts in September 2020, and together with Wondery, we hope to accelerate the growth and evolution of podcasts by bringing creators, hosts and immersive experiences to even more listeners across the globe, just as we do with music,” the company said. “This is a pivotal moment to expand the Amazon Music offering beyond music as listener habits evolve.”

In the near term, Amazon says the acquisition won’t change anything for Wondery listeners. When the deal closes, you’ll still be able to listen to all of the network’s podcasts through your favorite app. However, with Amazon’s resources at its disposal, the company says Wondery will be able to produce even better content than it already does.

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Source: https://www.engadget.com/amazon-acquires-wondery-182737211.html

NASA will take part in two heliophysics missions that could give us the data needed to better understand solar winds and explosions, or space weather as a whole. The agency has officially announced its participation in the Extreme Ultraviolet High-Throughput Spectroscopic Telescope Epsilon Mission (EUVST) and the Electrojet Zeeman Imaging Explorer (EZIE) program. They were two of the three space weather-related proposals NASA selected in September 2019 to receive $400,000 for a nine-month mission concept study.

EUVST is a solar telescope project that will look more closely into how the sun’s atmosphere releases solar winds and spews out solar materials, which affect space radiation levels. The project, which is scheduled for launch in 2026, is led by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), but NASA will pour $55 million into the mission. Its contributions include hardware like UV detectors, support electronics, spectrograph components and a guide telescope.

Source: https://www.engadget.com/nasa-approves-space-weather-missions-072036747.html

After seeing record COVID-19 deaths and hospitalizations, Los Angeles County will use technology to help residents track and prove their vaccination records, Bloomberg reports. The public health department has teamed with startup Healthvana on an app that will that will store vaccination records in Google or Apple wallets. It will remind residents to get a second shot, while providing them with a vaccination record “to prove to airlines, to prove to schools, to prove to whoever needs it,” Healthvana CEO Ramin Bastani told Bloomberg.

Pfizer allocated 82,875 COVID-19 vaccine doses in the region and nearly half have been distributed to emergency workers, health service providers and long-term facility residents. However, LA County is one of the largest in the US with over 10 million residents, so once vaccinations ramp up next year, keeping track will become a challenge. On top of that, deaths in the county are approaching 10,000, so hospitals and clinics are already overwhelmed — and it’s expected to get much worse in January 2021.

Source: https://www.engadget.com/apple-wallet-will-provide-proof-of-vaccination-for-la-residents-092322652.html