Companies around the globe are launching an increasing number of satellites, crowding Earth's orbit in an effort to satisfy the ravenous on-demand desire for more broadband, satellite television and communications, but there's nobody directing the traffic. Although the Pentagon tracks objects orbiting the globe and warns of close approaches, some members of Congress say a civilian agency, such as the Federal Aviation Administration, should be made responsible for managing satellite traffic.

There have only been three relatively minor collisions from space junk in the last 20 years, and only once have two intact satellites crashed into one another by accident. The problem is expected to get worse as more companies scramble to expand their fleets of satellites. For example, Boeing filed an application last month with the FCC that would allow it to send up nearly 3,000 satellites for broadband services.

In an effort to help manage the rapid expansion of satellites, Rep. Jim Bridenstine (R-Okla.) has introduced legislation that would give the FAA authority to monitor objects in space and play the role of traffic cop. "As space becomes more congested and contested and competitive, there needs to be an agency with unambiguous authority that can compel somebody to maneuver," Bridenstine said. Douglas Loverro, the deputy assistant secretary of defense for space policy, agrees: "It's clear that we're going to need a way to regulate that traffic just as we have a way to regulate air traffic," he said.

Google is claiming that updates to apps in the Android Play Store may soon become much smaller due to their use of a new algorithm named "Courgette" developed from bsdiff. The algorithm can reduce the size of patches by up to 50% according to Google, and they have previously been using it for updates to the desktop Chrome browser.

Previously when an app needed to be updated the entire app would have to be downloaded and installed, essentially replacing the existing version. Google has been using diff versioning since 2012, but this new algorithm takes advantage of the ways in which compiled native code changes between versions. This is most effective when libraries are stored uncompressed, but even compressed code can still potentially see a 5% decrease in data usage. Although a 5% savings isn't a dramatic change, every little bit helps, especially with limited data plans.