Techin' Geek

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has introduced a new pilot initiative that will enable electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) startups to assess certain operations prior to obtaining complete regulatory certification.

This represents a significant shift for these firms, as they have dedicated the previous years to conducting restricted test flights of their vehicles while seeking FAA authorization. Nonetheless, there are constraints to the program.

Companies must collaborate with state, local, tribal, or territorial authorities to apply for the initiative. The FAA states it will endorse at least five projects that can operate for as long as three years, focusing on short-distance air taxis, extended-range fixed-wing flights, cargo transport, logistics and supply for emergency or medical uses, and “enhancing automation safety.”

The FAA is looking for participants “who can achieve successful results by collaborating with various entities, which will expedite these projects in line with the high safety standards that the public anticipates from the aviation sector,” as per the official solicitation documentation.

“Once these projects succeed, they are expected to provide valuable data and insights to shape the wider regulatory framework that will support and govern the AAM [advanced air mobility] sector,” the agency states.

As of Friday, Joby Aviation and Archer Aviation have confirmed their intentions to apply to the pilot initiative. Neither company has specified which governmental body they plan to partner with, although Archer mentioned it will collaborate with its current partner (and investor) United Airlines. Submissions are due by December 11, 2025, and the pilot programs could commence as early as 2026.

Mastodon, a decentralized, open-source alternative to X, is set to launch a somewhat contentious feature next week that introduces quote posts. This capability enables users to quote another person’s post and share it along with their own thoughts or commentary, contributing to a culture of “dunking” on X, where individuals frequently mock others using sarcasm or humorous insults.

In response to this issue, Mastodon has stated it will implement quote posts with safety measures.

These safeguards are intended to ensure quote posts are utilized in a responsible manner, aimed at “broadening discussions, fostering new connections, and amplifying marginalized voices,” according to the platform.

Mastodon offers users various options to manage how their posts can be quoted. First, the platform allows users to specify who is permitted to quote them via a settings option where defaults can be adjusted. Users can set permissions to either “Anyone,” “Followers only,” or “Just me.” Furthermore, users have control over the visibility of quote posts, allowing them to choose if they wish for these to be public, visible only to followers, or placed in a “quiet public” setting that makes them public yet removes them from Mastodon’s search results, trends, and public timeline.

Additionally, users can modify their default settings for individual posts by going to the “Visibility and interaction settings” within the composer interface. This feature is advantageous when preparing to share something sensitive or controversial that could attract unwanted responses from dissenting opinions, for instance.

Moreover, users retain control over their content even after it has been quoted, as explained in the Mastodon blog post regarding the new feature.

When a post is quoted, the original poster receives a notification in the app, allowing them to remove their original content from the quote post. This option is available through the Options menu (indicated by three dots). From this point, users can modify the quote settings for any further quoting of their content. They also have the ability to block users to stop them from accessing or quoting their posts in the future.

The rollout of quote post support will commence over the upcoming week for the larger Mastodon servers at mastodon.online and mastodon.social. Subsequently, it will be included in the 4.5 software update for Mastodon.

To quote a post, users will discover the new feature under Mastodon’s Boost option (similar to the repost/retweet function on X). As the fediverse, or open social web, comprises a network of servers with varying software, quote posts may not appear immediately across all platforms, and some services may not update to adopt the technical standards required for quote post support right away.

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