Category: Technology

NASA has reported that an asteroid, named 2024 YR4, now has a 3.1% chance of striking Earth on December 22, 2032, a threat it calls the most significant ever recorded by modern forecasting, AFP reported. While these odds might sound alarming, experts assure the public that there’s no need to panic. According to Bruce Betts, the chief scientist for the Planetary Society, though the probability is rising, it is likely to fluctuate before eventually dropping to zero as more data is gathered. The asteroid was first detected on December 27,…

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PARIS: Facebook and Instagram parent company Meta has said it will lay an undersea cable stretching across five continents to carry data, including for developing artificial intelligence. The cable will run for more than 50,000 kilometres (31,000 miles) between the US, South Africa, India, Brazil and “other regions”, Meta wrote in a blog on Friday. Global digital communication relies on a vast network of undersea conduits, with roughly 1.2 million kilometres of cable already installed, according to a 2024 report by the US-based Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).…

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Pakistan will make its debut in lunar exploration in 2028 with the launch of its first-ever rover as part of China’s Chang’E 8 mission, showcasing the country’s expanding capabilities in space technology and international cooperation. This development marks a historic collaboration, which will not only advance research on the Moon but also position Pakistan among the few nations contributing to space exploration through homegrown technological innovation. To celebrate this achievement and engage the nation, the Pakistan Space and Upper Atmosphere Research Commission (SUPARCO) has announced a nationwide contest, with a…

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In a bid to give users an option to priortise comments, Instagram is planning to roll out a “dislike button”, Instagram boss Adam Mosseri in a post on social media site Threads. He said the new feature aimed at giving “people a private way to signal that they don’t feel good about that particular comment”. The button is a downward-facing arrow next to the like button in the comments. “I want to be clear: this is a test, there is no dislike count, nor will anyone know if you tap…

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Chinese AI app DeepSeek will not be available to download in South Korea pending a review of its handling of user data, Seoul authorities said on Monday. DeepSeek’s R1 chatbot stunned investors and industry insiders with its ability to match the functions of its Western competitors at a fraction of the cost. But a number of countries have questioned DeepSeek’s storage of user data, which the firm says is collected in “secure servers located in the People’s Republic of China”. On Monday, Seoul’s Personal Information Protection Commission said DeepSeek would…

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WASHINGTON: Elon Musk said his startup xAI will release its Grok 3 chatbot on Monday and billed it as the “smartest AI on Earth” in a fiercely competitive market. The company’s flagship artificial intelligence product will go live with a demonstration on Monday night at 8:00pm Pacific time (0400 GMT), the tech billionaire wrote on Saturday on his social media platform X. Grok 3 was trained on synthetic data and is capable of reflecting on errors it makes by going over data in order to reach logical consistency. “Will be…

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WhatsApp is set to enhance user experience with a new feature that will keep chat list filters permanently visible, allowing users to easily access chat filters. The new update, which is currently being rolled out to select beta testers, allows users to access chat filters at the top of their chats, eliminating the need for users to scroll to find them, as required previously. Users can immediately see which filters contain new messages rather than manually scrolling through the conversation list each time, WABetaInfo reported. This significant change streamlines chat navigation in…

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OpenAI’s board chairman on Friday said it has unanimously rejected an Elon Musk-led offer to buy the hot artificial intelligence company for $97.4 billion. “OpenAI is not for sale, and the board has unanimously rejected Mr Musk’s latest attempt to disrupt his competition,” chairman of the board Bret Taylor said in a statement posted by the company on Musk-owned X, formerly Twitter. “Any potential reorganisation of OpenAI will strengthen our nonprofit and its mission to ensure AGI (artificial general intelligence) benefits all of humanity,” the statement continued. Musk filed court…

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PARIS: The first-ever astronaut with a physical disability is ready to launch into space after receiving a green light for a mission onboard the International Space Station (ISS), the European Space Agency (ESA) announced on Friday. John McFall is a British surgeon and former Paralympian who lost a leg in a motorbike accident when he was 19-years-old, says he is “hugely proud” of clearing the hurdle. Since the ESA announced McFall as a member of its astronaut reserve in 2022, it has been assessing the feasibility of someone with a prosthesis becoming…

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After President Donald Trump postponed a ban on the Chinese social media application, TikTok, and promised the technology giants they wouldn’t face fines for distributing or maintaining it, TikTok made a comeback to the US app stores of Android and Apple on Thursday. Around 50% American citizens use the well-known short video app, which went offline for a short while last month before a regulation went into force on January 19 requiring its Chinese owner, ByteDance, to either sell it on national security grounds or risk being banned. The following…

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