SpaceX delayed its second astronaut flight by a day because of high wind and weather conditions that could jeopardize the recovery and recycling of the rocket booster, pushing the launch to Sunday.

Friday’s postponement news came after SpaceX chief Elon Musk disclosed he had gotten mixed test results for COVID-19 and was awaiting the outcome of a more definitive test.

NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine said anyone testing positive for COVID-19 must quarantine under NASA policy and remain isolated. Officials said contact tracing by SpaceX found no link between Musk and any personnel in close touch with the four astronauts, who remain cleared for flight.

“I can assure everyone that we’re looking good for the (crew) launch and all of the critical personnel involved,” said SpaceX’s Benji Reed, senior director for human spaceflight.

It wasn’t immediately known if Musk would be allowed at the Kennedy Space Center launching site even if later tests came up negative.

Norm Knight, a deputy manager at NASA, said the guidelines are rigid for restricting access to astronauts before flight in order to keep them safe and healthy.

“No one’s above this access. It doesn’t matter if you’re Elon Musk or Jim Bridenstine,” Knight said at a news conference Friday night. “If you have not met those protocols, or if any of those protocols have been compromised, then we’re not going to let you near the crew.”

Musk said via Twitter that he tested positive for coronavirus, then negative twice, then positive again. He said he wasn’t feeling too well the past few days — sniffles, cough, low fever — but currently had no symptoms.

“So ‘Elon Musk Tests Negative for Covid’ is an equally correct title,” he tweeted.

Musk said his first tests were rapid tests, and he was awaiting the results of lab tests. The 15-minute rapid tests are less sensitive than the lab tests, which take hours longer to process.

NASA and SpaceX representatives wouldn’t say where Musk was Friday, although officials confirmed he was not at Kennedy. His company is based in Southern California, where he makes his home. He was inside Kennedy’s Launch Control last May for SpaceX’s first astronaut flight last May.

Four astronauts — three Americans and one Japanese — are scheduled to rocket to the International Space Station on Sunday night.

One of the test pilots on SpaceX’s first astronaut flight, Doug Hurley, said he’s certain Musk will be involved with the launch — regardless of where he is.

“Knowing Elon the way I do, they will figure out a way for him to be very much connected,” Hurley told The Associated Press from Houston.

The upcoming crew flight comes just three months after the end of the test flight with Hurley and Bob Behnken, both NASA astronauts. The four astronauts are going up for a full space station stay of five to six months. They will be replaced in the spring by yet another crew launched by SpaceX.

The latest launch was bumped a day in order to give SpaceX’s booster-landing platform enough time to get into position in the Atlantic, given the rough seas in the wake of Tropical Storm Eta. NASA and SpaceX are especially eager to retrieve this first-stage booster; it will be used for the next crew launch.

NASA turned over space station ferry trips to SpaceX and Boeing, which has yet to launch anyone, following the retirement of the shuttle fleet in 2011. The space agency is looking to save big by no longer having to buy seats on Russian Soyuz capsules for U.S. astronauts. The last ticket, used by a NASA astronaut launched from Kazakhstan in October, cost $90 million.

One launch pad over, meanwhile, an Atlas V rocket thundered into the sunset Friday with a classified spy satellite for the National Reconnaissance Office. The launch from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station had been delayed repeatedly by pad and weather issues.

Samsung Bangladesh has recently launched a service for "out of warranty" spare parts of its consumer products and mobile phones. 

Samsung Country Manager Seungwon Youn said, "The initiative will give customers peace of mind, especially those who worry about the warranty running out or paying extra." 

Any customer repairing products with an appropriate charge will get 90 days' warranty on spare parts from the repair date.

Although Samsung provides such service for most of its products, it will not apply to batteries and accessories. 

Customers will enjoy 90 days' warranty – the industry's highest in Bangladesh – from the day of receiving service from Samsung Service Centers. 

However, the warranty will only apply to any functional or manufacturing defect. It will be void if the parts are damaged due to negligence, such as water clogging or any other external impact. 

Also, customers cannot enjoy the warranty on replacing parts if the product was purchased from outside Bangladesh, reads a press release.

Also read: Samsung 8K Smart QLED TV Price in Bangladesh: Grab Your Home Theater

Huawei, in partnership with Bangladesh Computer Council (BCC) and Bangladesh Hi-Tech Park Authority (BHTPA), is going to launch four ICT programs with the vision to accelerate the growth of the ICT industry and to facilitate ICT talents in Bangladesh.

A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed on Thursday between these three parties at BCC Auditorium in Agargaon, said a press release.

The core purpose of the MoU is to initiate four programs namely ‘Bangladesh ICT Competition 2020’, ‘ICT Joint Innovation Center’, ‘Huawei ICT Academy’, and ‘Curating Bangladeshi Startups’. Among these projects, BCC will be working together with Huawei on Bangladesh ICT Competition 2020, ICT Joint Innovation Center, and Curating Bangladeshi Startups.

Huawei ICT Academy will be conducted by BHTPA and Huawei. The responsible parties will be managing these projects for at least three years from the days of its inauguration.

Zunaid Ahmed Palak, State Minister of ICT Division, was the chief guest in the MoU signing event chaired by Md Rezaul Karim, ndc, Director General, DSA, Project Director, LICT Project. Zhang Zhengjun, CEO, Huawei Technologies (Bangladesh) Limited, inaugurated the event.

Zunaid Ahmed Palak said “All of our initiatives and projects are focusing on youth, ICT and employment. This agreement will be able to provide proper training to the young students, our researchers, and our innovators at the university level.”

“At the same time they will have the opportunity to experience the world's latest technologies, invented by Huawei. And also will be able to bridge the gap between industry and academia under this agreement.”, Palak said.

“Secondly we are going to set up a permanent academy at CUET and KUET. Over there our teachers and students will get a chance to connect the university with the industry like Huawei and also they will have the chance to have the financial support from venture capital companies.”, he said.

“We are really grateful to Huawei Technologies for their contribution for building Digital Bangladesh.” he added.

Zhang Zhengjun, CEO of Huawei Technologies (Bangladesh) Limited, said “Digital infrastructure is the basis for any industry and economy in the modern age. Hence, to adapt to this new, intelligent world and boost the nation's growth, it has become critical for the youth to enhance their skills and become experts in the ICT field.”

Hosne Ara Begum, ndc, Managing Director (Secretary), BHTPA said, “Our Honorable Prime Minister declared her ‘Vision 2021’ to establish a digital country. The ICT division is working relentlessly to make this vision come true.”

Parthapratim Deb, Executive Director, BCC said, “I express my heartfelt thanks to Huawei for helping us consolidate our position in establishing a startup ecosystem, and to a large extent, reap the advantage of Chinese technology.”

Also read: Huawei partners to build 5G automobile ecosphere

Bangladeshi handset maker Walton has started taking pre orders for its new smartphone 'Primo RM4' that comes with various attractive features including powerful battery, RAM and ROM along with triple back cameras.

Asifur Rahman Khan, Chief of Walton Cellular Phone sales department, said the regular price of the phone is Tk 10,599, said a press release.

However, customers who go for pre-book will get it only at Tk 9,599 with Tk 1,000 discount. Customers can place pre-orders from Walton's online shop eplaza.waltonbd.com for free.

Besides, they can also book the device depositing only taka 1k at all Walton Plaza and Walton Mobile brand and retail outlets across the country.

The Primo RM4 features a massive battery of 5950 mAh with reverse charging facility. It has 13MP, 5 MP and 0.3 MP triple back cameras equipped with PDAF technology and 5P lens with LED flash. It features another 8 MP front camera for selfies with PDAF technology and 4P lens.

Runs on Android 10 operating system, the dual 4G VoLTE SIM supported handset features a 6.5-inch V-Notch HD+ display with 1600X720 pixel screen resolutions. It sports a 1.8 GHz Octa-Core processor, IMG Power VR GE8320 GPU, 4 GB RAM, 64 GB ROM with expandable storage up to 256 GB, fingerprint, face unlock, OTG etc.

The device comes in three different colors of Dark Green, Night Blue and Black. Customers will get instant replacement warranty for 30 days along with one-year regular service warranty for the device.

Also read: Walton shares Tk 77cr profits with employees

Huawei has launched Huawei Cloud Meeting, its full-scenario, secure, and reliable global video conferencing solution in Bangladesh as well as the Asia Pacific region, allowing effective internal and external meetings for up to 1,000 concurrent participants over the Internet, from any terminal or device.

With device-cloud synergy technology, the solution enables one-click data sharing and transfer among PCs, mobile phones, tablets, meeting room terminals, and smart TVs. It supports the ultra-fast wireless projection of documents, audio, and video with the best results, the company said in a press release.

Huawei said ita Cloud Meeting “redefines the digital conferencing experience” with all-scenario collaboration across myriad industrial applications.

“Focused on revolutionizing meeting experiences, Huawei Cloud Meeting wants to make remote communications as seamless as face-to-face communications. To this end, we will continue to invest in core audio and video capabilities to simplify collaboration, improve operational efficiencies, and speed up decision-making,” said Daniel Zhou, President of Cloud & AI at Huawei APAC.

Huawei Cloud Meeting provides comprehensive protection for Cloud and device access, data sharing, and transmission backed by trustworthy processes from design, research, and development process control to operations and management data monitoring.

It ensures data sovereignty with tenanted data isolation and AES265 encryption of contacts and meeting recording. The revolutionary design has been recognised by the Red Dot 2020 award.

Designed for efficient communication and intelligent collaboration, Huawei Cloud Meeting delivers ultra-HD, stable, and smooth meeting experiences that are secure and reliable. Easy to manage with simplified, intelligent controls, it offers fully open APIs that integrate easily with third-party applications and web platforms — empowering one-click native cloud meetings for easy on-the-go collaboration.

To try out Huawei Cloud Meeting, new users in the Asia Pacific can claim a free US$100 coupon at https://rebrand.ly/hwCM1fb

Also read: ‘Huawei Watch Fit’ coming to Bangladesh