Technologies

Why SpaceX’s Inspiration4 mission matters to everyone

Commentary: It’s arguably the biggest mission in the so-called billionaire space race of 2021 and a key step to a more high-flying future.

Imagine getting a call saying that if you want, you can join the rare group of less than a thousand humans who’ve not only visited space but orbited this planet. Oh, and the mission blasts off in about six months.

That’s the call three Americans received earlier this year. And the offer wasn’t for the type of 15-minute joyride to the edge of space we recently saw from Blue Origin and Virgin Galactic. We’re talking about a three-day sojourn in orbit, the sort of thing NASA astronauts spend their entire lives preparing for.

Sure, civilians have flown to the International Space Station before, but it typically required a personal fortune, a little influence and months or even years of training. The idea of plucking people from obscurity, Wonka-style, and sending them into orbit has been the stuff of science fiction.

Until now.

As I wrote this, physician’s assistant Hayley Arceneaux and data engineer Chris Sembroski, both of whom had zero reason as of a year agoto expect they’d ever visit space, were whipping around this planet roughly every 90 minutes.

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They were joined by billionaire entrepreneur Jared Isaacman and geologist Sian Proctor, who both have experience as pilots but no spaceflight experience.

The quartet makes up the entirety of the crew of the Inspiration4 mission that splashed back down to Earth on Saturday. There was no professional astronaut chaperone from NASA on board, just four space novices cruising above Earth, performing research and making history. The mission is also billed as a fundraiser for St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital, where Arceneaux was a patient as a child and now works as a medical professional.

This was all bankrolled by Isaacman and possible thanks to SpaceX and its autonomous Crew Dragon spacecraft, the first new crewed spaceship (outside of China) that we’ve seen since the space shuttle made its debut decades ago.

For space fanatics, this mission is a big deal, but several billion other humans can be forgiven for wondering why it matters that yet another wealthy person has financed a trip to space and invited a few randos to ride along.

Inspiration for who?

First, it’s important to remember that new methods of transport have typically gone through the same process — trains and planes started out as elite experiences went on to revolutionize our lives. This suggests the Inspiration4 crew could be just the first of many regular people to go to orbit or beyond. (SpaceX didn’t respond to a request for comment.)

Elon Musk has suggested his next-generation Starship could eventually be used for super quick international flights via orbit, possibly with less of a carbon footprint than current commercial jetliners.

Inspiration4 lays the groundwork for the idea of making it to orbit as a passive passenger and opening up space for transportation and other possible uses.

If you believe, as I do, that expanding humanity’s footprint beyond our planet is likely to improve life on our planet, Inspiration4 is an important milestone on that generations-long journey.

I’m not sure Mars is the best place to build a city or that living on orbiting space stations will be practical anytime soon.

But a few things I do know: Industrialization on Earth often comes at the detriment of the planet’s delicate ecosystems, and some of that industry could be moved into space. Billionaires in space today could be the first step toward factories or power plants in orbit tomorrow that help us finally mitigate climate change.

Also, the original space race of the 1950s through 1970s didn’t just put people on the moon, it spawned loads of innovation that undergirds our civilization today.

The GPS on your phone that gets you where you need to go and our satellite-based society that moves all sorts of information around the globe at the speed of light can be traced directly back to the Mercury and Apollo programs and the founding of NASA.

It’s exciting to imagine what parts of daily life in 2050 will owe their prominence to SpaceX and Inspiration4.

Technologies

iOS Gets More AI as Chrome Adds Google’s Gemini for iPhones

iPad users also won’t need to go elsewhere for their AI needs.

Google is adding its artificial intelligence tool Gemini to the Chrome browser on iPhones and iPads across the US, meaning you’ll be able to use Google’s AI functionality in Chrome instead of having to go to the Google app on your devices.

The integration comes a few months after Google rolled out Gemini in Chrome to Windows and Mac desktop users in the US in September. At the time, the company said that it would eventually be doing the same thing with iPhones and iPads.

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Before now, if you wanted to use Gemini on your iPhone and iPad, you were not able to do so from Chrome — you would have had to go to the Google app or Google website.

Folks using Android phones already have Gemini on their Chrome browsers, which is the default browser on Android devices.

Chrome is the most widely used web browser in the US; StatCounter said that as of November, Chrome had a 54% market share of browsers in the US, followed by Apple’s Safari (28%) and Microsoft Edge (7%). There are other smaller browsers that people use to search the internet, including Firefox, Brave, Opera, Vivaldi and Arc.

Gemini is Google’s family of AI products and competes with ChatGPT, Microsoft Copilot, Anthropic’s Claude, Perplexity AI, Mistral AI, Meta AI and Grok in the realm of chatbots, content creation and AI integration.

‘Gap’ has been filled

Jason Howell, host of the Android Faithful Podcast and a former CNET staffer, said Google has filled «a noticeable gap» in AI for Chrome for the millions of iPhone and iPad users in the US.

«Giving Gemini awareness of what’s happening inside the Chrome browser has real utility, and placing that spark icon front and center will nudge a lot of people to try it who might not have otherwise,» Howell said. «It’s a smart distribution play. Put your AI in an app that millions already have installed, and you’re giving them an enticing reason to test it.»

Howell said adding Gemini into Chrome for iOS could give Google the edge on, well, Edge.

«Microsoft already brings Copilot to iOS through its dedicated apps and even inside the Edge browser, so this isn’t Google pulling ahead so much as it is Google catching up in an important and highly visible place,» Howell said. «Having said that, Chrome has a much larger footprint on iOS compared to Edge, so it’s using its scale to put Gemini in front of far more iPhone and iPad users, which could meaningfully shift adoption among third-party AI assistants.»

What can you do with Gemini?

Gemini in Chrome is not immediately available to everyone using iOS devices, but it is gradually rolling out across the US. To be able to get it, you need to be running Chrome version 143, sign into your account and make sure the browser language is set to English; you also cannot be in Incognito mode.

Chrome users in iOS will know they have Gemini when the Google Lens icon (which looks like a camera with a dot in the middle) to the left of the address bar is replaced by the Gemini icon (which looks like a sparkle).

When you tap or press the Gemini icon, two options will appear on a «Page tools» screen that slides up: Search screen and Ask Gemini. Two shortcuts that will appear are Summarize page and Create FAQ about this topic.

Let’s say your web page is about the top news events of 2025. You could ask Gemini, «Give me a list of the top events for each month,» or, «List out the top political news of 2025.» Maybe you’re looking at a great meal to prepare but you need substitutes for certain ingredients — you could ask Gemini to provide suggestions. Just remember to double-check everything an AI tool tells you because AIs have been known to hallucinate.

Gemini for Chrome in iOS will also make checkout easier with biometrics instead of a CVC code during online shopping.

Technologies

Strike a Pose: Here’s How to Use Google’s Upgraded Virtual Try-On Feature

The refined Google shopping feature now works without a full-body photo. Instead, it generates one virtually.

Say goodbye to awkward dressing-room selfies. Google is upgrading its existing AI-powered try-on tool, which allows you to skip an in-person shopping trip and view yourself in clothes virtually with the help of AI.

The update, announced on Thursday, adds the option to generate a complete digital version of yourself, rather than providing a full-body photo. So, if you have a great selfie but happen to be sitting down in the image or it’s a head-and-shoulders-only photo, you can now use it. The tool will ask what size body you want it to create, from XS to 4XL+, and create a full-body avatar with your image. So, even if you don’t have a need to wear a full-length, formal satin gown or black leather pants, you can see how you might look if you did.

You must be in the US, so if you are, upload a selfie to the website and select a size, and Nano Banana — Google’s Gemini 2.5 Flash Image model — will generate a full-length image, allowing you to click around and try out outfits.

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Google initially introduced its AI try-on feature in May at its I/O developers conference. You’ll still be able to virtually try on clothes using a full-body photo if you prefer.

Technologies

Today’s Wordle Hints, Answer and Help for Dec. 12, #1637

Here are hints and the answer for today’s Wordle for Dec. 12, No. 1,637.

Looking for the most recent Wordle answer? Click here for today’s Wordle hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Connections, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands puzzles.

Today’s Wordle puzzle came fairly easy to me. It’s a common word, and the letters are ones I guess right away. If you need a new starter word, check out our list of which letters show up the most in English words. If you need hints and the answer, read on.