Technologies

How to Watch a Stadium-Size ‘Potentially Hazardous’ Asteroid Zip by Earth Today

Don’t worry, it doesn’t pose any actual threat.

A space rock measuring a fifth of a mile across (about a third of a kilometer) is set to fly by Earth on Monday, and one online observatory is offering a close-up look.

The asteroid named 1999 VF22 will officially be nearest to our planet at 11:54 p.m. PT, when it zips past at a distance over 3.3 million miles (5.4 million kilometers), its closest pass in over a century. For comparison, our moon orbits at less than 250,000 miles (400,000 kilometers) away most of the time.

That means this aircraft carrier-sized asteroid poses absolutely no threat to any person or planet you know. But it is still considered «potentially hazardous» by NASA’s definition. This label doesn’t take into account any actual degree of risk or threat to our world. Basically, anything coming closer than 4.6 million miles that’s big enough to have a brightness of at least magnitude 22 gets tagged «potentially hazardous.»

The size of 1999 VF22 also means astronomers will be able to study it using radar and telescopes. The Virtual Telescope Project, based in Rome, will be sharing its observations online Monday.

NASA Solar System Ambassador Eddie Irizarry also writes for EarthSky that «you can use a (large) backyard telescope to watch it slide past.»

As the name suggests, 1999 VF22 was originally discovered in 1999, by the Catalina Sky Survey in Arizona.

The online watch party starts at 4 p.m. PT and you can join below. If you miss it this time around, it will be a long wait before this particular asteroid returns for a slightly closer pass, in 2150.

Technologies

AT&T Says It’s Pumping $250 Billion Into New Infrastructure Improvements

Technologies

Apple’s New Smart Home Display Delayed Until Fall Over Siri Issues

It has been nearly a year and a half since the company announced the AI-powered product.

Your home could get smarter with Apple’s Siri, but it will have to wait a few more months. Bloomberg reported the iPad-shaped AI home hub won’t be ready until September, several months after the company was hoping to launch it this spring. Apple engineers first need to complete work on a new and improved Siri assistant for the home device, code-named J490, according to Bloomberg.

Apple was hoping to release J490 this month, along with a slew of other new devices, including the iPhone 17e, MacBook Neo, MacBook Air M5, new Pro models, and iPad Air M4. Apple first teased the smart home display in November 2024.

A representative for Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Siri is Apple’s virtual assistant that uses voice recognition and AI to fulfill a variety of tasks and commands, along with intriguing uses. You might use Siri to find your iPhone — «Hey Siri, where are you?» — or to hear the weather forecast — «Siri, what will the weather be today?» Siri is available on iPhones, MacBooks and iPads. It was launched in 2011 as a feature of the iPhone 4S.

As CNET reported last month, Apple engineers have struggled to push the upgraded Siri assistant out the door. It isn’t fast enough, gets confused by complex commands and doesn’t interact well with other Apple AI models. The company is also wrestling with how much personal data to access to inform the AI, and the new Siri is not yet able to complete in-app tasks, such as finding a photo and posting it to socials, all with one command.

It has been nearly two years since Apple announced that it would give Siri a major upgrade. In the meantime, competitors like Alexa Plus and Gemini for Home have entered the marketplace.

Tech tester Jon Rettinger, whose YouTube channel has 1.66 million subscribers, says the repeated delays in upgrading Siri can «erode» confidence in Apple’s ability to keep up in the AI race.

«Apple as a whole is still one of the strongest companies on the planet. But their AI play is clearly the weakest link in an otherwise very strong chain,» Rettinger told CNET.

Rettinger said he has had issues getting Siri to complete basic commands, such as setting two alarms at the same time, and that it’s a bit of «a mess» right now.

«Having said that, the iPhone has such massive market penetration that I’m not sure it will actually matter in the end. Which is kind of wild when you think about it,» Rettinger said.

Facial recognition for residents

The hardware for the forthcoming smart home display has already been finished. It resembles an iPad and can be either attached to a wall or rest on a half-domed-shaped base, the Bloomberg report said.

The device will be equipped with facial recognition, so when residents walk up to it, they will be shown personalized data such as music preferences, news headlines, appointments, reminders, tasks and so on.

The screen interface will include a bunch of circular app icons, similar to the display on an Apple Watch. The Bloomberg report said the smart home display will be the first of several home devices by Apple. Future products include a tabletop robotic limb with a 9-inch screen, a smart security camera and a Face ID-enabled smart doorbell.