List of All Articles with Tag 'tec'

Bitcoin dropped below $29,000 for the first time in over a month as the recent exorbitance over ETFs

A new planet has been discovered and apparently it is pretty fluffy - like candy floss. The exoplanet, WASP-193b, was discovered 1,232 light-years away and while it's nearly 50 percent bigger than Jupiter, it's light and fluffy making it as dense as the sweet treat. According to a team led by astronomer Khalid Barkaoui of the University of Liège in Belgium, the planet orbits a Sun-like star named WASP-193. This star is around 1.1 times the mass and 1.2 times the radius of the Sun and is very close to the Sun in temperature and age. The planet orbits the star around once every 6.25 days. Barkaoui and his colleagues also found its radius is around 1.46 times the radius of Jupiter. But its mass is incredibly small by comparison: just 0.139 times Jupiter's. Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter From these properties, the researchers derived the exoplanet's density: 0.059 grams per cubic centimeter. This is a lot less dense than other planets like Jupiter and Earth. And as a point of comparison, cotton candy has a density of 0.05 grams per cubic centimeter which is why they made the link. There are few other examples of a planet like this existing but its close proximity to a star may give an indication as to how it came to exist as its heat is likely to have warmed up the planet's puffy atmosphere, which is mostly made up of hydrogen and helium. This state of the planet is only set to last for around a few ten million years as the temperatures and winds emitted from the star are only likely to strip back the atmosphere further. Due to this scientists cannot fully recreate or determine what is causing WASP-193b's unique atmosphere but is it likely to be a continued source of study to try and determine the cause of this phenomenon. You probably won't find this planet sold at fairgrounds any time soon though. Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

The creator of the hugely popular AI bot ChatGPT has launched a controversial project that offers users a free share of cryptocurrency in exchange for their biometric data. Nearly four years after founding Worldcoin, OpenAI boss Sam Altman announced on Monday that the crypto wallet and app is now available in countries where it is not banned for regulatory or legal reasons. More than 1.5 million people signed up to the venture prior to its official launch, each receiving a share of Worldcoin tokens in exchange for scanning their iris using a silver orb developed by the startup. The biometric data was used to verify each individual’s “unique personhood” and ensure that no one signed up more than once. Each person will now be able to use the Worldcoin token, which is currently valued at $2.59 (£2), according to CoinMarketCap, having begun trading on Monday just below $2. Worldcoin (WLD) is similar to other cryptocurrencies like bitcoin, in that it uses blockchain technology to enable digital transactions. According to its website, people can use it for “remittances, [to] tip artists, [and] buy and sell goods and services”. The main differentiator is the way that users sign up, with privacy advocates warning that it could lead to a black market of people’s iris scans. Worldcoin has defended its technology by claiming that its orb is only used to check that a person is unique and has not signed up before. The startup’s website states: “We don’t want to know who you are, just that you are unique”. Worldcoin co-founder Alex Blania wrote in a note published on Monday that he believed Worldcoin “could drastically increase economic opportunity, scale a reliable solution for distinguishing humans from AI online while preserving privacy, enable democratic processes, and eventually show a potential path to AI-funded universal basic income.” He added: “Worldcoin is an attempt at global scale alignment, the journey will be challenging and outcome is uncertain. But finding new ways to broadly share the coming technological prosperity is a critical challenge of our time.” Worldcoin does not list the countries in which it operates – The Independent has reached out for further information – though it is not yet available in Mr Altman’s native US. The startup founder was only able to sign up himself on a trip to Europe earlier this year. “Like any really ambitious project, maybe it works out and maybe it doesn’t, but trying stuff like this is how progress happens,” Mr Altman tweeted following Worldcoin’s launch. “In either case, we especially love our haters, it gives us energy, please keep it coming.” Read More What is superintelligence? How AI could wipe out humanity – and why the boss of ChatGPT is doomsday prepping How bad is bitcoin for the environment really? Crypto experts discuss bitcoin price predictions What is Solana? The crypto rising 200-times faster than bitcoin

(Reuters) -Shares of Wall Street's most valuable companies were mixed on Friday ahead of a rebalance of the Nasdaq 100

Spotify Technology said on Monday it was raising the prices for its premium plans by $1 each in

SoftBank Group Corp. is setting up an artificial intelligence-oriented warehousing joint venture with Symbotic Inc. and buying more

Apple Inc. is asking suppliers to produce about 85 million units of the iPhone 15 this year, roughly

Elon Musk’s plan to build an “everything app” is underway. After rebranding Twitter to X, the tech billionaire encouraged users to rethink the “whole concept” of what the platform is. Before he even purchased Twitter in October 2022, Mr Musk said that buying the site was an “accelerant” to creating a super app akin to China’s WeChat, India’s PayTM and Indonesia’s GoJek. These apps offer users the ability to not just make posts, but also send and receive payments, watch and listen to content, and even access services like booking taxis or ordering food deliveries. Earlier this month, Mr Musk reportedly secured money-transmitting licenses in three US states, suggesting it is already preparing to become a payments business. Linda Yaccarino, who took over as the chief executive of Twitter last month, gave more details about what the new X app will become, tweeting on Sunday that the rebranding was part of the company’s goal to “transform the global town square” beyond a social network. “X is the future state of unlimited interactivity – centred in audio, video, messaging, payments/banking – creating a global marketplace for ideas, goods, services, and opportunities. Powered by AI, X will connect us all in ways we’re just beginning to imagine,” she tweeted. “For years, fans and critics alike have pushed Twitter to dream bigger, to innovate faster, and to fulfil our great potential. X will do that and more. We’ve already started to see X take shape over the past 8 months through our rapid feature launches, but we’re just getting started.” X did not respond to a request for further information from The Independent about when such changes might take place. Shortly before his takeover of Twitter was complete, Mr Musk tweeted: “Twitter probably accelerates X by three to five years, but I could be wrong.” Mr Musk has had access to the X.com domain since 2000, during which time he was working on PayPal. Before rebranding Twitter, the website simply showed the letter ‘X’, but now redirects to Twitter.com. Earlier this year, Twitter changed its business name to X Corp to align with Mr Musk’s “everything app” vision, but social media experts have questioned whether such a concept could ever work outside of Asia. “I’ll believe it when I see it,” industry commentator Matt Navarra said at the time of Mr Musk’s takeover. “Super apps, as they are known in the industry, are not a new thing. They’ve been hugely successful in Asia, but have not really caught on elsewhere. Could Twitter form part of a super app that lets you buy goods, chat to friends, get news updates, book a taxi etc.? Sure. Can Elon Musk make it work? Possibly. Will Elon actually do it? Who knows. He seems to have commitment issues.” Others have raised concerns about whether ditching the Twitter brand and associated bird logo could further damage the platform’s reputation, which has been under heavy scrutiny since Mr Musk’s takeover last year. “By changing Twitter’s app name, Elon Musk will have single handedly wiped out over fifteen years of a brand name that has secured its place in our cultural lexicon,” Mike Proulx, a research director at advisory firm Forrester, told The Independent. “This is an extremely risky move because with ‘X,’ Musk is essentially starting over while its competition is afoot.” Read More Twitter rebrands to X as part of Elon Musk’s plan to create an ‘everything app’ Twitter no longer exists as a company Twitter rebrands to X as part of Elon Musk’s plan to create an ‘everything app’ DMs may come to Threads soon as app’s user base grows to one-fifth of Twitter’s Twitter in negative cash flow due to 50% drop in advertising revenue, says Elon Musk

It’s shaping up to be a pivotal week for global stocks, as companies with a combined $27 trillion

In a radical rebranding, Twitter owner Elon Musk has begun the process of replacing Twitter's iconic bird logo with X.

Royal Philips NV fell after a decline in new orders and ongoing uncertainties on costs related to a

By Anna Tong (Reuters) -Worldcoin, a cryptocurrency project founded by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, launches on Monday. The project’s core