List of All Articles with Tag 'tech'

Scientist have discovered a fly that... can't fly. In December 2021, the John Midgley and Burgert Muller from the Diversity of Pollinating Diptera in South African Biodiversity Hotspots project went to Lesotho, the only country in the world that has its entire territory located at an altitude of 1,000 metres and higher to see what they could find. At the Afriski mountain resort, they found 51 male specimens of Atherimorpha latipennis (a species discovered in 1956 but whose female had never been described) and a for the first time a female belonging to the same species which couldn't get off the ground. “It’s not unheard of for only the female of a species to be flightless,” says Midgley. “But there were no examples in this fly’s family, let alone its genus.” Martin Hauser, a senior dipterologist at the California Department of Food and Agriculture, who was not involved in the research, told the Guardian: “Active flight has only originated four times in the last three billion years, so it’s always interesting when a species loses the ability to fly. It isn’t super surprising to find flightless species. But it is remarkable when the first case of flightlessness is reported in a family.” Scientists could only make educated guesses about why the female had lost the ability to fly. Despite it being much faster than walking, allowing flies to escape predators. “flight is also costly,” said Midgley. “You have to grow wings, and it uses a lot more energy than walking.” “For the males it is worth flying around and being able to search a larger area for females,” said Hauser. “Even if, while flying, they are exposed to birds and other predators, and risk being blown off the mountain and ending up in a hot valley with no females.” Meanwhile, there are other species that can't fly like ostriches, kiwi and emus. It is thought they evolved to lose flight after the dinosaurs became extinct because there were no predators big enough to hunt them. Fly - you had one job... Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter 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.

Tim Cook has seen “the entire third season of Ted Lasso” on the Apple Vision Pro headset as he confirmed the company’s new and highly anticipated product is set to release on schedule. The headset, announced in June this year, is a virtual reality tool that allows people to see apps projected on top of the room around them. Apple said it allows apps to be “freed from the confines of a display” and mark a shift towards “spatial computing”. During the launch event in June, the tech giant said the headset would cost a whopping $3,499 and be available early next year in the US. In an interview with CBS Sunday Morning, the tech giant’s boss emphatically said the headset, deemed one of Apple’s most important products since the iPhone, is on track for release. Mr Cook was asked whether the product was still set for release in early 2024. The Apple boss replied saying “it is on track”, and added that he was “using it on a regular basis”. “I watched the entire third season of Ted lasso on the Vision Pro,” he said. “And of course there’s some things that I have access to that other people don’t have. “It is more complex and requires innovation not only in development but also in the manufacturing,” he said. Mr Cook also discussed Apple’s environmental initiatives, including plans to power 100,000 homes in Brown County, Texas with clean energy. While announcing the Vision Pro headset, Apple had said the device is the “most ambitious” product it has ever created. The headset has glass on the front and inside and an aluminium frame and a soft band that raps around the head. Apple said during the product’s announcement that its ambitious display is detailed enough to show 4K video natively. With the headset, Mr Cook said users will be able to “interact with digital content just like it’s in your physical space”, and will no longer be “limited by the display”. Apple also announced the new Apple watch last week – its first “totally carbon neutral” product. Read More iPhone 15 and Pro: Apple opens pre-orders for new handset What is USB-C, the charging socket that replaced Apple's Lightning cable? Apple unveils Watch Series 9 with new processor and hands-free features Apple Store goes offline as Apple opens pre-orders for iPhone 15 Apple to update iPhone 12 after fears over radiation iPhone 12 is not emitting dangerous radiation, Apple says, amid fears of Europe ban

JOHANNESBURG Dutch-listed technology investor Prosus NV and its South African parent Naspers said on Monday Bob van Dijk

Prosus NV and Naspers Chief Executive Officer Bob van Dijk is stepping down as the head of the

Cryptocurrency platform JPEX shut down some trading during an ongoing investigation by the Hong Kong police. Users won’t

Apple Inc. partner Foxconn Technology Group plans to double its investment and employment in India, highlighting an accelerating

There's no easy way to say it, but your Fitbit might have a little poop on it.

A man who stayed awake for 11 straight days to set a world record has spoken about how he experienced his brain starting to ‘break down’. Englishman Tony Wright went an incredible 266 hours without sleep back in 2007 and set a new record – only to see it broken by someone else just a month later. Wright spoke about his experience in a clip posted by the YouTube channel Sleep Gods, saying that an entirely different part of his brain was activated during his record attempt. "Basically, you're starving the rational mind, the egotistical mind of sleep, and it's battery is running down. And of course, it doesn't feel very good, it feels tired. Wright added: "But if you push beyond that, its ability to stay in charge starts to break down as well. And that's where you can start to get glimpses of access to the other side of the brain, the other self." Man Who Didn't Sleep For 11 Days Explains Sleep Deprivation www.youtube.com "I've spoken to a lot of people about this. Most people have recollections where they've been partying, or they've been working hard, and sure they get tired, but within that they get glimpses of something else.” He went on to say: "That kind of softness, or a more relaxed state - often more emotional, because again, there's more access to that emotional side of the brain. "Even feeling quite good, quite an altered state for brief windows, or getting a second wind even. You know, be really, really tired, no sleep, and then suddenly feeling fine for half an hour or an hour. "So all I really did, or what I was interested in, is making sense of that. And is it possible to exploit that and bring in combining techniques to tie the left side of the brain up, which initially doesn't feel great, but the reward on the other side of that makes it worth the effort." Sign up for our free Indy100 weekly newsletter 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 father of 14-year-old Molly Russell – who took her own life after viewing suicide content online – has called on Ofcom to be “bold and act fast” once the Online Safety Bill becomes law. Ian Russell said he believed the Bill, which has been years in the drafting and imposes new legal duties on big tech companies and service providers, would “make the online world safer”. He said the regulator would need to take action immediately to ensure the Bill, which is expected to be made law soon by Parliament, was enforced. I hope Molly would be proud and we hope that this step, the new Online Safety Bill, will mean there are fewer of those families with stories like Molly's in the future Ian Russell Speaking on BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg, he said: “It’s not perfect but it’s an important step, and it’s a step that has been needed for years to to counter this new technology, to counter these changes that are happening so fast that society doesn’t quite know what to do with.” Last September, a coroner ruled schoolgirl Molly, from Harrow, north-west London, died from “an act of self-harm while suffering from depression and the negative effects of online content” in November 2017. Calling on Ofcom to take immediate action once the Bill is passed, Mr Russell said: “There are many other families, too many tragic stories to tell, some like Molly’s and some quite different, but if the Bill fails to stop online harms that all our children saw, then it will have failed. “Once this becomes law, we’re in a new phase where Ofcom as the regulator appointed by the Government to police the internet, to regulate the tech industry, has to get out of the blocks really fast. “It can’t waste time, it has to move fast and be bold and enact the clauses set out in the Bill in order to make the online world safer for children.” Mr Russell said he was “confident” the Bill would be effective as it was designed to be “future-proof” by not being “technology specific”. He said: “Ofcom have got a really tough job. They’re going up against some of the biggest, most well-funded corporations on the planet. “But they have already been staffing up, they’ve got hundreds of people working on online safety already, I’m sure they will be recruiting more people.” Mr Russell said he believed possible sanctions including jail terms for those in charge of technology firms would be an important part of the new law. He said: “Jail terms for tech bosses are important, not because I think tech bosses will ever end up going to jail, but I think it focuses their minds. “What is really needed is a change of corporate culture at these big institutions. In two decades of social media, nothing’s really changed.” Describing his personal motivation for campaigning on the issue, he said: “I hope Molly would be proud and we hope that this step, the new Online Safety Bill, will mean there are fewer of those families with stories like Molly’s in the future.” An Ofcom spokesman said: “We’re ready to start and very soon after the Bill receives royal assent we’ll set out the first set of standards that we’ll expect tech firms to meet in tackling illegal online harms.” Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Warning over criminals using digital switchover to scam vulnerable people Stadiums and tourism hotspots to test new 5G networks in £88 million scheme Chatbots ‘able to outperform most humans at creative thinking task’

(Reuters) -SoftBank is looking for deals in artificial intelligence, including a potential investment in OpenAI, after the blockbuster listing of

Chinese car imports will help the UK hit its net zero goal but could damage its own car industry.

By Diane Bartz WASHINGTON The Justice Department's first witness when the government kicks off the second week of