List of All Articles with Tag 'tech'

Bitcoin dropped 7.2% to $26,634 at 21:45 GMT on Thursday, losing $2,067 from its previous close. Bitcoin, the

Applied Materials Inc., the largest US maker of chipmaking machinery, gave a bullish forecast for the current quarter,

WhatsApp will finally stop ruining people’s photos. The messaging app is a hugely popular way of sharing images and videos with friends. But it also shrinks those photos and clips down into a much smaller size, meaning that they are lower quality when they arrive on people’s phones. Now WhatsApp says it is rolling out an update that will let people send pictures in “HD quality” and “high resolution”. The update is coming for images in the “next few weeks”, WhatsApp said. HD videos will be “coming soon”, presumably on a longer timescale. All of the images will be protected with end-to-end encryption, as with messages sent on the app. WhatsApp will still make standard quality the default option when people are sending photos. It said that remains the way to “ensure sharing photos over WhatsApp remains fast and reliable”. Users will also have the option to receive images in standard definition – even if it has been sent in HD. If a person is being sent pictures but have a bad connection, they will receive it in standard quality and be given the option to upgrade it to full resolution. WhatsApp has long offered the option to change the quality that images are sent in, or to have the phone automatically choose between sending better images or saving data, depending on the connection. But even choosing the “best quality” option means that they are heavily compressed, and will lose the details and resolution of the original picture. Until now, users have been forced to use a complicated workaround to get images to send in full quality. That meant using WhatsApp’s options for sharing documents, and then sending an image through that – a fix that will no longer be required. WhatsApp has required some notoriety for shrinking down and compressing the images that are sent through it. Most other messaging platforms – including those made by Meta, such as Instagram and Messenger – are much better at preserving the quality of images sent through them. Read More WhatsApp rolls out AI tool for creating custom art iPhone 15: Global smartphone demand collapses as Apple aims to take top spot World’s first ‘superfast’ battery offers 400km range from 10 mins charge

Amazon.com Inc., looking to amp up its TikTok-like shopping feed, has called on influencers to make hundreds of

Brisk growth in China for chip-design company Synopsys Inc. could be even greater without export restrictions, outgoing Chief

A large network of accounts on Facebook and Instagram have been promoting Russia's Wagner mercenary group to hundreds of thousands of followers, months after Meta vowed to remove content glorifying the group, according to a new report by disinformation experts.

In 1995, Microsoft Corp. co-founder Bill Gates sent a memo calling the internet a “tidal wave” that would

Global smartphone shipments are set to fall to their lowest level in a decade this year, according to new research. Preliminary figures from market research firm Counterpoint forecast a 6 per cent decline to 1.15 billion units in 2023, down from a peak of 1.57 billion shipments in 2017. The slump in shipments comes amid economic uncertainties that have seen demand drop significantly in the US and China. Despite declining smartphone shipments, Apple may be in a good position to become the world’s number one brand for the first time ever, according to the figures, with Counterpoint observing both a premium and ultra-premium growth trend globally in 2023. Apple is set to unveil its latest iPhone 15 in September, offering an opportunity to boost its market share. “So far this year it’s been record low upgrades across all carriers,” said Jeff Fieldhack, a research director at Counterpoint Research. “The iPhone 15 launch is a window for carriers to steal high-value customers. And with that big iPhone 12 installed base up for grabs, promos are going to be aggressive, leaving Apple in a good spot.” Mr Fieldhack added: “It’s the closest Apple’s been to the top spot. We’re talking about a spread that’s literally a few days’ worth of sales. Assuming Apple doesn’t run into production problems like it did last year, it’s really a toss up at this point.” High inflation and relatively modest upgrades across the smartphone sector mean consumers are “hesitant to upgrade their devices”, according to Counterpoint’s report. Upgrades for Apple’s iPhone 15 range of phones are expected to be substantial, with new hardware features like a USB-C port, a multi-action button and periscope cameras. The US smartphone giant is expected to announce its next-generation iPhone 15 on 12 September or 13 September, with the devices going on sale on 22 September. Read More iPhone owners to receive payouts from Apple Something unexpected is happening to people’s iPhone 14s, owners claim Apple is working on a mysterious new project called ‘Watch X’, report claims Apple iPhone 15 rumours: Pro and Pro Max release date, price, cameras, specs and more

Scientists have detected huge waves in outer space that measure three times the size of our sun. The waves are being formed on a star system called MACHO 80.7443.1718, found around 169,000 light-years from Earth in the Large Magellanic Cloud. The waves are formed in a similar way to waves on Earth. Just like ones on our planet are formed due to the gravitational pull of the moon, a nearby celestial object stretches the star and causes enormous waves in the system MACHO 80.7443.1718. Experts have studied the star’s unusual behaviour and published a paper in the journal Nature Astronomy. The experts stated that MACHO 80.7443.1718 contains a "heartbreak" star, which is a term they use to describe the way plasma is influenced by the pull of a nearby object to unleash incredible waves of energy. The sheer power of these waves is, itself, difficult to imagine. In fact, just one of them would end life on Earth in an instant. "Each crash of the star’s towering tidal waves releases enough energy to disintegrate our entire planet several hundred times over," MacLeod said. "This heartbreak star could just be the first of a growing class of astronomical objects," MacLeod added. "We’re already planning a search for more heartbreak stars, looking for the glowing atmospheres flung off by their breaking waves." The scale in general is far beyond human comprehension – at least ours, anyway. In fact, the waves of plasma measure around 2.5 million miles above the surface of the primary star – which itself has a radius of 10.4 million miles, around 24 times the size of the sun. 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.

The world’s largest battery maker has launched what it claims is the first ever “superfast charging” battery capable of delivering 400 kilometres (249 miles) of range from just a 10 minute charge. China’s Contemporary Amperex Technology Limited (CATL) said its new lithium-ion battery would open up a new era for electric cars and eliminate range anxiety for owners. On a full charge, the battery holds enough charge to travel over 700 km without needing to recharge – roughly 60 per cent further than the average electric vehicle in 2023. CATL said the increase in battery capacity and charge time was achieved through a “brand-new superconducting electrolyte formula” that results in improved conductivity. “The future of the EV battery technology must remain steadfastly anchored at the global technology frontier, as well as the economic benefits,” said Dr Wu Kai, chief scientist at CATL. “As EV consumers shift from pioneering users to ordinary users, we should make advanced technology accessible for all and enable everyone to savour the fruits of innovation.” CATL, which manufactured more lithium-ion batteries than any of its competitors in 2022, plans to begin mass production of its next-generation battery later this year. The company did not reveal which automakers would be the first to receive the batteries, though its customers include BMW, Daimler AG, Honda, Tesla, Toyota, Volkswagen and Volvo. Electric car sales have experienced record-breaking growth in recent years, with more than 10 million sold last year, however they still account for less than a fifth of all car sales. Range anxiety remains one of the main barriers for consumers when considering the purchase of an electric vehicle, according to the International Energy Agency, which has led manufacturers like CATL to invest heavily in overcoming this obstacle. Other challenges include access to battery materials and battery degradation, though CATL claims this second pain point is not an issue with its latest battery. Most major carmakers have set targets to phase out cars with internal combustion engines entirely by 2040 and estimates from the IEA suggest electric car sales will overtake fossil fuel-powered car sales within the next 15 years, though battery breakthroughs could reduce this time scale even further. Read More Battery breakthroughs are about to trigger a transport revolution Streaming services now cost more than cable TV Hozier would consider striking over AI threat to music industry Google is getting ready for the ‘quantum apocalypse’

The effects of long Covid are still being uncovered by experts, and now doctors have been studying a rare complication that saw a man’s legs turn purple. A new research paper has been released which looks into the case of a 33-year-old man who had been infected with Covid 18 months earlier and experienced difficulties when standing up. His legs would turn purple when he did so, as well as tingling and itching, but things would return to normal when he lay down. The odd condition was diagnosed as POTS dysautonomia. This was determined after his pulse was found to rise to 127 beats per minute when standing, as well as feeling shaky and unsteady on his feet. The paper leads on from previous studies, which detected POTS in 20 people after they developed a Covid-19 infection. According to the new study published in The Lancet, there is "evidence is growing of a link between long Covid and POTS dysautonomia”. The paper’s co-author Dr Manoj Sivan said in a statement: "This was a striking case of acrocyanosis in a patient who had not experienced it before his Covid-19 infection. "Patients experiencing this may not be aware that it can be a symptom of long Covid and dysautonomia and may feel concerned about what they are seeing. Similarly, clinicians may not be aware of the link between acrocyanosis and long Covid." Dr Sivan added: "We need to ensure that there is more awareness of dysautonomia in long Covid so that clinicians have the tools they need to manage patients appropriately." 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.

By Jesus Calero and Marie Mannes STOCKHOLM (Reuters) -Swedish games developer Embracer on Thursday reported slightly weaker than expected operating