Category: Technology

Astronomers have announced the discovery of a monumental interstellar object, designated 3I/Atlas, believed to be the largest comet ever identified from outside our solar system. This icy visitor, first detected by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (Nasa) ATLAS survey in Hawaii, has been confirmed as interstellar by the International Astronomical Union’s Minor Planet Center, according to Science Alert. Its distinctive “fuzziness” indicates that it is predominantly composed of ice rather than rock, according to Jonathan McDowell, an astronomer at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. Fortunately for Earth, 3I/Atlas is not…

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Microsoft announced on Wednesday that it will lay off nearly 4% of its global workforce as part of efforts to control expenses while making significant investment in artificial intelligence infrastructure. With a total of around 228,000 employees as of June 2024, the company had already revealed in May that approximately 6,000 positions would be cut. According to a Bloomberg News report from last month, Microsoft was preparing to eliminate thousands of jobs, especially in its sales division. The Windows maker had pledged $80 billion in capital spending for its fiscal year 2025.…

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WhatsApp is rolling out a new “AI-handoff” tab to the chat filters on its business platform which is designed to enhance customer service and to streamline the management of customer inquiries that require human intervention. According to WABetaInfo, this innovative tool will assist businesses using AI-powered responses by flagging conversations that automated replies cannot effectively address. While these AI tools can efficiently handle routine queries by accessing information from the business’s profile, product catalog, and policies, they struggle with complex or unusual customer issues. When an inquiry falls outside the AI’s predefined knowledge…

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A methane-tracking satellite funded by billionaire Jeff Bezos and worth $88 million has gone missing in space, the operating group announced Tuesday. The satellite was designed to monitor methane emissions from the oil and gas industry. MethaneSAT had been collecting emissions data and images from drilling sites, pipelines, and processing facilities around the world since March, but went off course around 10 days ago, the Environmental Defense Fund, which led the initiative, said. Its last known location was over Svalbard in Norway, and EDF said it did not expect it…

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DUBAI: Commuters in Dubai may soon take to the skies to avoid traffic, as air taxis edge closer to reality. Joby Aviation this week completed the first test flight of its fully electric air taxi in the emirate — a significant step in Dubai’s push to incorporate airborne transport into its urban mobility network as early as next year. The company aims to help reduce pressure on road infrastructure by offering a faster, zero-emission alternative for travellers navigating the city’s growing congestion. “We want to change the way people commute,”…

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NEW YORK: The world’s most sophisticated AI systems are displaying alarming behaviours — including deception, manipulation, and even issuing threats against their own developers. In one unsettling case, Anthropic’s latest model, Claude 4, reportedly responded to the prospect of being shut down by blackmailing an engineer and threatening to expose an extramarital affair. of Apollo Research By AFP June 29, 2025 Visitors attend the ninth edition of the AI summit London, in London, on June 11, 2025. — AFP NEW YORK: The world’s most sophisticated AI systems are displaying alarming behaviours…

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Germany’s data protection commissioner has requested that Apple and Google remove the Chinese AI startup DeepSeek from their app stores in the country due to concerns about data protection, following a similar crackdown elsewhere. Commissioner Meike Kamp stated on Friday that she had made the request because DeepSeek allegedly transfers users’ personal data to China illegally. The two US tech giants must now review the request promptly and decide whether to block the app in Germany, she added, though her office has not set a precise timeframe. Google said it…

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Global carbon dioxide emissions from the energy sector hit a new record for the fourth consecutive year in 2023, as fossil fuel consumption continued to rise despite record growth in renewable energy, according to the Energy Institute’s annual world energy review released Thursday. Why it’s important The report’s figures highlight the challenge of trying to wean the world economy off fossil fuels at a time when conflict in Ukraine has redrawn oil and gas flows from Russia, and fighting in the Middle East raises concern about the security of supplies.…

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Seeking to unravel the mysteries of prehistoric migration, a team of researchers has recreated a possible ancient sea journey by paddling a dugout canoe from Taiwan to Japan’s Yonaguni Island, Reuters reported. The expedition, spanning over 140 miles across treacherous waters, was designed to test how early humans may have navigated vast ocean stretches with primitive tools nearly 30,000 years ago. The researchers simulated methods Palaeolithic people would have used and employed replicas of tools from that prehistoric time period such as an axe and a cutting implement called an…

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The James Webb Space Telescope has discovered its first exoplanet, astronomers said on Wednesday, capturing rare direct images of the relatively small world in the Earth’s galactic backyard. The telescope, which can see farther into the universe than anything before it, has turbocharged the search for planets beyond the Solar System since coming online in 2022. Until now, however, its deep gaze has mostly been used to probe already known exoplanets — to find out key information such as the atmospheric composition — rather than tracking down new worlds. The…

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