List of All Articles with Tag 'tech'

Thousands of published authors are requesting payment from tech companies for the use of their copyrighted works in training artificial intelligence tools, marking the latest intellectual property critique to target AI development.

A rare six-foot “earthquake fish” dubbed a “harbinger of doom” has been spotted, sparking doomsday theories. A group of divers have come across an enormous deep-sea creature with chunks bitten out of its body. The Russell's oarfish, regarded by some as a sign of forthcoming bad news, had several round bite marks believed to have been caused by a cookiecutter shark. It was spotted near the ocean surface and divers believe the large fish was about to die. Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Diving instructor Wang Cheng-Ru said: “It must have been dying so it swam into shallower waters.” However, some locals believe oarfish swim to the surface just before an earthquake hits. Wang took images of the oarfish off the coast of Ruifang, in Taiwan. He said it was the first time he had ever encountered one in all his years of scuba diving. The injured Russell's oarfish appeared to be about two metres in length. Due to their size and shape, oarfish resemble ‘sea serpents’ and are considered harbingers of earthquakes and misfortune in Japanese mythology. The myth was rekindled in 2011 after the Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami. Shortly before the disaster, at least a dozen of the rarely seen fish washed ashore in Japan in late 2009 and 2010. Despite their links to natural disasters, the Ecuadoran Geophysical Institute said the myth has no validity in any scientific study carried out as of August 2022. Oarfish are considered one of the longest fish in the ocean and can measure up to 17 metres (56 ft) in length and weigh over 200 kgs (441 lbs). Their body is scaleless and the skin has a slimy, silvery protective coating known as guanine. Their dorsal fin starts between its eyes and reaches its tail. Due to its ability to adapt to different temperatures, oarfish are found in most of the world's oceans with the exception of the poles. They live at depths of up to 1,000 metres (3,280 feet) and sightings are not very common. Sometimes they wash up on beaches after a storm or when they suffer a serious injury. 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.

Netflix has got rid of its ‘Basic’ plan, the cheapest option to watch without ads. Until recently, Netflix had the option to pay £6.99 or $6.99 for its cheapest normal tier, which came with some restrictions including watching only in HD and on one device at a time. The company had already axed a similar offering in Canada. And now it has removed the option to join that plan in the US and UK. Instead, users will have to choose between watching with ads – which costs $6.99 in the US, or £4.99 in the UK – or paying the much higher price of $15.49 or £10.99 for the “standard” plan. People who already subscribed to the basic plan will be allowed to stay on it, so long as they make no changes to their subscription. But the offering will no longer be available to new users. Netflix had already hidden the option behind a button on its website, and had seemed to discourage people from taking it up. In an earnings call this week, in which Netflix also announcing surging subscription growth that suggests its crackdown on password sharing is working, the company’s co-CEO Greg Peters said that it was looking to “optimise” its plan structure. He said that the company wants “to give consumers access across a wide range”, and pointed to the lower “entry prices” on offer to customers. Those customers must watch ads if they wish to opt for the lower prices, however. Read More Netflix’s password sharing crackdown is going much better than people expected Stolen ChatGPT accounts for sale on the dark web Geothermal breakthrough uses oil drilling tech to tap renewable energy

Netflix has seen its subscriber base grow rapidly – suggesting its crackdown on password sharing has gone even better than expected. The company has launched a range of schemes intended to encourage more people to sign up, amid slumping user numbers. They include a cheaper version of the streaming service with ads, but also a password sharing crackdown that proved controversial among users who characterised it as invasive or mean. It appears to have worked to encourage users to sign up, however. The company said in its latest results that it had added 5.9 million users, almost three times what analysts had expected. Netflix ended June with 238.4 million worldwide subscribers. Investors seemed unsatisfied, perhaps rattled by management commentary in a shareholder letter warning “quite a competitive battle” continuing to unfold against the backdrop of ongoing strikes by both the writers and actors union in the US that is already bogging down much of Hollywood and threatening to clog the pipelines feeding entertainment to streaming services. Netflix's stock price fell 4 per cent in Wednesday's extended trading. The decline also could have reflected some investor locking in profits that have accrued while the shares have climbed by more than 50 per cent so far this year. The second-quarter performance marked Netflix’s biggest spring —- traditionally the company's slowest stretch of growth — since gaining 10 million subscribers during the same period in 2020 under dramatically different market conditions. In 2020, people were still largely stuck at home and looking for ways to keep themselves entertained while governments around the world struggled to find a way to contain the spread of pandemic. Now, Netflix finds itself trying to bounce back from a growth slowdown amid stiff video streaming competition and inflationary pressures that have caused many households to clamp down on spending, especially on discretionary items such as entertainment. As an antidote, Netflix last year introduced a low-priced option that includes commercials and then began to block the rampant sharing of passwords that has enabled an estimated 100 million people worldwide to watch its TV series and films for free. Freeloading viewers are now being required to open their own accounts unless a subscriber with a standard or premium plan agrees to pay an $8 monthly surcharge to allow more people living in different households to watch. In its shareholder letter, management said the crackdown on password sharing is resulting in a “healthy conversion of borrower households into full paying Netflix memberships.” And Netflix still isn’t done tinkering. As part of Wednesday’s earnings release, Netflix also revealed it’s phasing out its cheapest ad-free plan – a service that costs $10 in the U.S. Existing subscribers already paying for this basic plan will be allowed to keep it. The shift appears designed to get more people to switch to the $7 monthly plan that includes commercials in hopes of boosting ad revenue or sign up for its $15.50 monthly standard plan or $20 monthly premium plan. “While we’ve made steady progress this year, we have more work to do to reaccelerate our growth,” Netflix management told shareholders in its letter. The pricing changes that have already been made helped Netflix boost its second-quarter revenue by 3% from the same time last year to $8.2 billon, falling below analyst forecasts. Netflix earned $1.49 billion during the period, compared with $1.44 billion last year. But earnings per share came in at $3.29 per share, eclipsing the average analyst estimate of $2.85 per share, according to FactSet. Netflix didn't delve into the potential fallout from the current walkout by in the U.S. by writers and actors. The dispute revolves revolve largely around the payment system used in video streaming and the rise of artificial intelligence technology threatening to exploit the work of humans and eventually replace them. Unlike traditional movie and TV studios in the U.S., Netflix has been able to keep feeding its entertainment pipeline with shows that it has been able to use to keep luring in and retaining subscribers. Additional reporting by AP Read More Stolen ChatGPT accounts for sale on the dark web Geothermal breakthrough uses oil drilling tech to tap renewable energy Solar panel tech breakthrough generates electricity from rain Stolen ChatGPT accounts for sale on the dark web Geothermal breakthrough uses oil drilling tech to tap renewable energy Solar panel tech breakthrough generates electricity from rain

A UFO hunter claims there is a huge spaceship hidden beneath one of the world’s major landmarks because it is “too big to move”. Ross Coulthart, an investigative journalist and UFO expert, said a “non-human” spacecraft is being stashed beneath a purpose-built structure – though he won't tell us where it is. Speaking in an interview, he said: “Some of these objects are not capable of being moved because they’re too bloody big.” Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter “I know exactly where it is. I thought it was b*****ks when I heard it, too.” Coulthart was previously a reporter on the news and current affairs program 60 Minutes on Channel Nine in Australia and has since gone on to write a number of books including In Plain Sight: An investigation into UFOs and Impossible Science. The UFO hunter community’s response to his claims has been a mixture of disbelief and desperation to find out where the landmark is. Some people seem to think it’s in South Korea, while others think it’s likely to be in an air defence military base. Coulthart has already made headlines this year after interviewing a whistleblower, who claimed that the US military had several crashed spacecraft in its possession, along with alien bodies. The Pentagon has said it hasn't discovered any information to substantiate this claim – but Congress is taking it seriously. In a twist that would have made even fans of The X Files raise an eyebrow, the Congressional House Oversight Committee is to hold a hearing on the issue next week after Republican congressmen and women promised to look deeper into the issue. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy was asked on Monday if he believes in aliens, in light of the hearing. "I will continue to see," McCarthy said. "But I think if we had found a UFO, I think the Department of Defense would tell us because they would probably want to request more money." "I'd love to see whatever facts and information we have," McCarthy added. "I'm very supportive of letting the American people see what we have, where we go." 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.

Hundreds of thousands of stolen login credentials for ChatGPT are being listed for sale on dark web markets, security researchers have warned. Cyber security firm Flare discovered over 200,000 OpenAI logins on the dark web – a section of the internet unreachable through conventional web browsers – offering criminals a way to access users’ accounts or simply use the premium version of the AI tool for free. The Independent has reached out to OpenAI for further information and comment. The AI firm previously defended its security practices after a smaller batch of credentials were discovered online. “OpenAI maintains industry best practices for authenticating and authorising users to services including ChatGPT,” a spokesperson said last month. “We encourage our users to use strong passwords and install only verified and trusted software to personal computers.” The listings come amid a surge in interest in generative artificial intelligence from malicious actors, with discussions about ChatGPT and other AI chatbots flooding criminal forums. Research published in March found that the number of new posts about ChatGPT on the dark web grew seven-fold between January and February this year. Security firm NordVPN described the exploitation of ChatGPT as “the dark web’s hottest topic”, with cyber criminals seeking to “weaponise” the technology. Among the topics under discussion were how to create malware with ChatGPT and ways to hack the AI tool to make it carry out cyber attacks. Earlier this month, researchers discovered a ChatGPT-style AI tool with “no ethical boundaries or limitations” called WormGPT. It was described as ChatGPT’s “evil twin”, allowing hackers to perform attacks on a never-before-seen scale. “ChatGPT has carried out certain measures to limit nefarious use of its application but it was inevitable that a competitor platform would soon take advantage of using technology for illicit gain,” Jake Moore, an advisor at the cyber security firm ESET, told The Independent. “AI chat tools create a powerful tool but we are wandering into the next phase which casts a dark cloud over the technology as a whole.” Read More Llama 2: How Mark Zuckerberg’s new ChatGPT rival could lead to ‘obscene’ AI ChatGPT creator withholds latest AI over fears it’s too powerful Meta unveils its ChatGPT rival Llama Elon Musk reveals plan to use AI to reveal mysteries of the universe

Google is developing an artificial intelligence tool for news publishers that can generate article text and headlines, the company said, highlighting how the technology may soon transform the journalism industry.

A Texas startup has made a major breakthrough towards achieving next-generation geothermal power after using oil drilling technology to tap the renewable energy source. Houston-based Fervo Energy successfully completed a trial of the system, which saw a drill plunge 2.3km (7,700 feet) into the Earth’s surface in order to pump water into them. Heated by high temperatures deep underground, the water was then pumped back to the surface where turbines converted the heat into electricity. The 30-day well test produced record-breaking power output for an enhanced geothermal system of 3.5 megawatts of electric production – enough to power more than 2,500 homes. “By applying drilling technology from the oil and gas industry, we have proven that we can produce 24/7 carbon-free energy resources in new geographies across the world,” said Tim Latimer, co-founder and chief executive of Fervo Energy. “The incredible results we share today are the product of many years of dedicated work and commitment from Fervo employees and industry partners.” One of these partners is Google, who signed an agreement in 2021 to develop the technology to provide carbon-free energy for its Cloud region in Las Vegas. Current geothermal energy production is mostly limited to locations near tectonic plates, such as Iceland, where magma close to the Earth’s surface is easier to reach. The latest feat marks a key milestone towards Fervo Energy’s plans to construct a 400MW project using its next-generation geothermal technology, which is expected to be online by 2028. “Power systems modelling confirms that geothermal can be a critical player in a fully decarbonised grid,” said Jesse Jenkins, an assistant professor and leader of the Zero-carbon Energy systems Research and Optimisation (ZERO) lab at Princeton University. “Fervo’s successful commercial pilot takes next-generation geothermal technology from the realm of models into the real world and starts us on a path to unlock geothermal’s full potential.” Read More Scientists invent double-sided solar panel that generates vastly more electricity ‘It is electrifyingly exciting’: How Britain could be freed from fossil fuels forever

Researchers have come up with a new way to generate electricity with solar panel technology by harvesting the energy produced by raindrops. The method, proposed by a team from Tsinghua University in China, involves a device called a triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG) that creates electrification from liquid-solid contact. These are typically used to harvest energy from waves, as droplet-based TENGs (D-TENGs) have previously faced technical limitations that prevented them from working at any significant scale. By using solar panel bridge arrays, the researchers discovered such barriers could be overcome “Referring to the design of solar panels in which multiple solar power generation units are connected in parallel to supply the load, we are proposing a simple and effective method for raindrop harvesting,” said Professor Zong Li, who led the research. “The peak power output of the bridge array generators is nearly five times higher than that of the conventional large-area raindrop energy harvesting. The results of this study will provide a feasible scheme for large-area raindrop energy harvesting.” A study detailing the breakthrough, titled ‘Rational TENG arrays as a panel for harvesting large-scale raindrop energy’, was published in the journal iEnergy. “As an important part of the natural energy and water cycle, rainfall contains abundant renewable energy,” the study notes. “However, this kind of renewable energy lacks effective utilisation today... Therefore, finding a reasonable topology to relieve the inherent constraints of D-TENGs is of great significance for realising the large-scale raindrop energy harvesting.” It is one of a number of promising advances with solar panel technology in recent months, with an Australian team of researchers developing self-healing cells capable of recovering 100 per cent of their original efficiency after suffering degradation from space radiation. Earlier this week, scientist’s at the US Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) unveiled a design for a double-sided solar panel capable of boosting efficiency rates by up to 20 per cent by harvesting reflected sunlight. Read More Scientists invent double-sided solar panel that generates vastly more electricity How tech could turn our homes into renewable energy power stations Scientists invent double-sided solar panel that generates vastly more electricity Scientists invent self-healing solar panels with ‘miracle material’ ‘Miracle material’ smashes solar panel efficiency threshold

A care home in Manchester has introduced VR as part of their activities roster for elderly residents, to help them 'unlock memories' and 'try' things they never got to. Downing House trialled the VR headsets on a one-off basis, and found it to be so successful (and bring residents so much joy) that they now offer it for an hour, once a month. "If you're getting a little bit older and you're a bit knackered, you can't climb Mount Kilimanjaro... but you can... with this", one resident, Bernard, joked in an interview with the BBC. Sign up to our new free Indy100 weekly newsletter

By Devjyot Ghoshal BANGKOK Chinese automakers dominated Southeast Asia's fast-growing electric vehicle market, selling three out of every

A Republican Congresswoman has shared an image of what appears to be a Batman balloon, claiming that it is an unidentified flying object, ahead of a debate on UFOs in Washington next week. Anna Paulina Luna tweeted about the material she has gathered for the House Oversight UFO hearing, consisting of pictures of several alleged sightings. But a number of Twitter users questioned the credibility of one of the images that shows an object in the air shaped like Batman’s face, leading to speculation that officials have confused a party balloon for a UFO. Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter “The military ‘leaked’ a photo of a Batman party balloon and claimed it was a UFO. That seriously made me doubt their ability to analyze anything,” said one person. Another said: “My father was a pilot for 20 years, they make mistakes all the time. I just showed you a picture of when a fighter pilot confused a Batman party balloon for a UFO that had no signs of propulsion.” But, one user who believes it is a UFO, said: “I think there is a massive difference between a hot air balloon and a Batman balloon you buy at Dollar Tree for $4.99 and I am pretty sure you know that! Pilots are not mistaking a Batman balloon as a UFO & the balloon ain’t making it to 25-30 thousand feet” “The pic with a blue background near the center is definitely a UFO and not just a party balloon,” argued another. The debate around UFOs is gaining pace in the US. The House Oversight Committee will hold a hearing on the issue next week after Republican congressmen and women promised to look deeper into the issue. It comes after unconfirmed claims from a former intelligence official that the US military had found crashed alien spacecraft. The Pentagon has said it hasn't discovered any information to substantiate this claim. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy was asked on Monday if he believes in aliens, in light of the hearing. "I will continue to see," McCarthy said. "But I think if we had found a UFO, I think the Department of Defense would tell us because they would probably want to request more money." "I'd love to see whatever facts and information we have," McCarthy added. "I'm very supportive of letting the American people see what we have, where we go." 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.