It's Friday, September 15th, and it was a teary morning at NASA today as the Cassini spacecraft launched nearly two decades ago to suss out the mysteries of Saturn literally became one with the giant ringed planet as it plunged into the atmosphere in a fiery final swan dive of exploration out of fuel after billions of miles of travel without really any major mishaps or failures.

Cassini's radio signal went silent at 7:55 a.m. Pacific time, marking the end of the mission that had been ongoing since its launch on October 15, 1997. NASA chose to end the Cassini mission this way to avoid potentially contaminating any of the icy moons of Saturn, which could possibly harbor life with any earth-born microbes that may have hitched a ride on the plucky space probe.

Before its final plunge, Cassini gave researchers literally decade's worth of data and discoveries to sift through from the mysteries of Saturn's amazing rings to the Huygens Lander it left behind on the giant moon Titan. The mission had been instrumental in shedding light on many aspects of Saturn's ring system, including its composition, size, and orbital patterns.

Cassini continued to do science right up to the end, sniffing the chemical makeup of Saturn's atmosphere and sending the data home even as it met its demise. This steady stream of information has provided scientists with a wealth of new insights into the Saturnian system, allowing them to refine their understanding of this complex and fascinating world.

Meanwhile back on earth, the war for your attention while online continues unabated, and the latest annoyance is the growing use of autoplay videos. Something we can probably all agree that no one likes - not only can the unexpected audio jar you out of a blissful silence for mobile users, but it can also eat up those precious data caps.

Google says they are going to do something about it according to their chromium blog, and users will be better able to manage and block autoplay videos on both desktop and mobile browsers. Not only that, but you'll also be able to block the sites that serve up the things which may be motivation for them to stop doing so. Google says the changes will hit in versions 63 and 64, so seeing as we're at version 61 right now, we hope to see those tools soon.

It's Friday of course, and that means movie night for a lot of people, us included. Rather than talk about the latest things to hit theaters, we've got a fun article on how well science fiction films have predicted the future from 2000 ones. There was rather terrifying prediction of AI behavior in The Matrix, touch computers in Minority Report, and Johnny cabin total recall - there's been no shortage of hits and misses when it comes to Hollywood predicting the tech future.

Check out our list of who got it right at the link, and maybe rewatch one of these classics tonight just for fun. That's it for DT daily today we've got all the latest tech news at Digital Trends calm more fun stuff on our Facebook page and YouTube channel - I'm sure to tune into between the streams our live entertainment podcast at 2 p.m. Pacific today, thanks for watching, we'll see you next week.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enit's Friday September 15th and it was a teary morning at NASA today as the Cassini spacecraft launched nearly two decades ago to suss out the mysteries of Saturn literally became one with the giant ringed planet as it plunged into the atmosphere in a fiery final swan dive of exploration out of fuel after billions of miles of travel without really any major mishaps or failures Cassini's radio signal went silent at 7:55 a.m. Pacific time NASA chose to end the Cassini mission this way to avoid potentially contaminating any of the icy moons of Saturn which could possibly Harbor life with any earth born microbes that may have hitched a ride on the plucky space probe but before that final ride Cassini gave researchers literally decade's worth of data and discoveries to sift through from the mysteries of Saturn's amazing rings to the Huygens Lander it left behind on the giant moon Titan Cassini continued to do science right up to the end sniffing the chemical makeup of Saturn's atmosphere and sending the data home even as it met its demise check out our coverage of Cassini at the link and of course at NASA's comprehensive website meanwhile back on earth the war for your attention while online continues unabated and the latest annoyance is the growing use of autoplay videos something we can probably all agree that no one mics not only can the unexpected audio jar you out of a blissful silence for mobile users it can eat up those precious data caps now Google says they are going to do something about it according to their chromium blog users will be better able to manage and block autoplay videos on both desktop and mobile browsers not only that but you'll also be able to block the sites that serve up the things which may be motivation for them to stop doing so Google says the changes will hit in versions 63 and 64 so seeing as we're at version 61 right now we hope to see those tools soon it's Friday of course and that means movie night for a lot of people us included but rather than talk about the latest things to hit theaters we've got a fun article on how well science fiction films have predicted the future from 2000 ones rather terrifying prediction of AI behavior to the touch computer in Minority Report to Jonny cabin total recall there's been no shortage of hits and misses when it comes to Hollywood predicting the tech future check out our list of who got it right at the link and maybe rewatch one of these classics tonight just for fun that's it for DT daily today we've got all the latest tech news at digital trends calm more fun stuff on our Facebook page and YouTube channel I'm sure to tune into between the streams our live entertainment podcast at 2 p.m. Pacific today thanks for watching we'll see you next weekit's Friday September 15th and it was a teary morning at NASA today as the Cassini spacecraft launched nearly two decades ago to suss out the mysteries of Saturn literally became one with the giant ringed planet as it plunged into the atmosphere in a fiery final swan dive of exploration out of fuel after billions of miles of travel without really any major mishaps or failures Cassini's radio signal went silent at 7:55 a.m. Pacific time NASA chose to end the Cassini mission this way to avoid potentially contaminating any of the icy moons of Saturn which could possibly Harbor life with any earth born microbes that may have hitched a ride on the plucky space probe but before that final ride Cassini gave researchers literally decade's worth of data and discoveries to sift through from the mysteries of Saturn's amazing rings to the Huygens Lander it left behind on the giant moon Titan Cassini continued to do science right up to the end sniffing the chemical makeup of Saturn's atmosphere and sending the data home even as it met its demise check out our coverage of Cassini at the link and of course at NASA's comprehensive website meanwhile back on earth the war for your attention while online continues unabated and the latest annoyance is the growing use of autoplay videos something we can probably all agree that no one mics not only can the unexpected audio jar you out of a blissful silence for mobile users it can eat up those precious data caps now Google says they are going to do something about it according to their chromium blog users will be better able to manage and block autoplay videos on both desktop and mobile browsers not only that but you'll also be able to block the sites that serve up the things which may be motivation for them to stop doing so Google says the changes will hit in versions 63 and 64 so seeing as we're at version 61 right now we hope to see those tools soon it's Friday of course and that means movie night for a lot of people us included but rather than talk about the latest things to hit theaters we've got a fun article on how well science fiction films have predicted the future from 2000 ones rather terrifying prediction of AI behavior to the touch computer in Minority Report to Jonny cabin total recall there's been no shortage of hits and misses when it comes to Hollywood predicting the tech future check out our list of who got it right at the link and maybe rewatch one of these classics tonight just for fun that's it for DT daily today we've got all the latest tech news at digital trends calm more fun stuff on our Facebook page and YouTube channel I'm sure to tune into between the streams our live entertainment podcast at 2 p.m. Pacific today thanks for watching we'll see you next week\n"