Pakistan News Club

OpenAI&rsquo;s ChatGPT will &lsquo;see, hear and speak&rsquo; in major update

OpenAI’s ChatGPT is getting a major update that will enable the viral chatbot to have voice conversations with users and interact using images, moving it closer to popular artificial intelligence (AI) assistants like Apple’s Siri.nThe voice feature “opens doors to many creative and accessibility-focused applications”, OpenAI said in a <a rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" class="link–external" href="https://openai.com/blog/chatgpt-can-now-see-hear-and-speak">blog post</a> on Monday.nSimilar AI services like Siri, Google voice assistant and Amazon.com’s Alexa are integrated with the devices they run on and are often used to set alarms and reminders and deliver information off the internet.nSince its debut last year, ChatGPT has been adopted by companies for a wide range of tasks from summarising documents to writing computer code, <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1773372">setting off a race</a> amongst Big Tech companies to launch their own offerings based on generative AI.nChatGPT’s new voice feature can also narrate bedtime stories, settle debates at the dinner table and speak out loud text input from users.nThe technology behind it is being used by Spotify for the platform’s podcasters to translate their content into different languages, OpenAI said.n <figure class='media sm:w-1/2 w-full media–right media–embed media–uneven'>n <div class='media__item media__item–newskitlink '> <iframen class="nk-iframe" onload="setInterval(()=>{try{this.style.height=this.contentWindow.document.body.scrollHeight+'px';}catch{}}, 100)"n width="100%" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="height:400px;position:relative"n src="https://www.dawn.com/news/card/1775773"n sandbox="allow-same-origin allow-scripts allow-popups allow-modals allow-forms"></iframe></div>n n </figure>nWith image support, users can take pictures of things around them and ask the chatbot to “troubleshoot why your grill won’t start, explore the contents of your fridge to plan a meal, or analyse a complex graph for work-related data”.nAlphabet’s Google Lens is currently the popular choice for gaining information on images.nThe new ChatGPT features will be released for subscribers of its Plus and Enterprise plans over the next two weeks.

September 25, 2023

In a first, Nasa capsule brings major asteroid sample to Earth

<figure class='media sm:w-full w-full media–stretch media–uneven media–stretch'>n <div class='media__item '><picture></picture></div>n <figcaption class='media__caption '>This shot off a Nasa live feed shows the organisation’s safety team working beside the capsule that brought the asteroid sample, on Sunday.—AFP</figcaption>n </figure>nDUGWAY: A seven-year space voyage came to its climactic end on Sunday when a Nasa capsule landed in the desert in the US state of Utah, carrying to Earth the largest asteroid samples ever collected.nScientists have high hopes for the sample, saying it will provide a better understanding of the formation of our solar system and how Earth became habitable.n“Touchdown of the Osiris-Rex sample return capsule!” a commentator said on Nasa’s live video webcast of the landing, as engineers and team members applauded at a nearby mission control center.nCompleting a 3.86-billion-mile (6.21bn-kilometre) journey, it marked the United States’ first sample return mission of its kind, the US space agency said in a post on X, the former Twitter.n <figure class='media w-full w-full media–stretch media–embed media–uneven'>n <div class='media__item media__item–twitter '>n <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en">n <a href="https://twitter.com/NASA/status/1706082527809540448"></a>n </blockquote>n</div>n n </figure>n<blockquote class="blockquote-level-1">nScientists say 250 grams of dust will give insight into formation of solar systemn</blockquote>nNasa (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) chief Bill Nelson hailed the mission and said the asteroid dust “will give scientists an extraordinary glimpse into the beginnings of our solar system”. The Osiris-Rex probe’s final, fiery descent through Earth’s atmosphere was perilous, but Nasa managed to engineer a soft landing at 8:52 am local time (1452 GMT), in the military’s Utah Test and Training Range.nFour years after its 2016 launch, the probe had landed on the asteroid Bennu and collected what Nasa estimated is roughly nine ounces (250 grams) of dust from its rocky surface.nEven that small amount, Nasa says, should “help us better understand the types of asteroids that could threaten Earth”. The sample return “is really historic,” Nasa scientist Amy Simon said.n“This is going to be the biggest sample we’ve brought back since the Apollo moon rocks” were returned to Earth.nOsiris-Rex released its capsule early Sunday from an altitude of more than 67,000 miles.nThe fiery passage through the atmosphere came only in the last 13 minutes, as the capsule hurtled downward at a speed of more than 27,000 miles per hour, with temperatures of up to 5,000 Fahrenheit (2,760 Celsius).nIts rapid descent was supposed to be slowed by two successive parachutes as it made its way to the 37-mile by nine-mile landing zone.nThe main chute, however, deployed “much higher than was originally anticipated,” at about 20,000 feet (6,100 metres) rather than 5,000 feet, Nasa said.nNasa images showed the tire-sized capsule on the ground in a desert wash, with scientists approaching the device and taking readings.nEventually they concluded the capsule was not breached, meaning its all-important air-tight seal remained intact, avoiding any contamination of the sample with desert sands.nThe team then lifted the capsule by helicopter to a nearby “clean room”.nMeanwhile, the probe that made the space journey fired its engines and shifted course away from Earth, Nasa said, “on its way” for a date with another asteroid, known as Apophis. Scientists predict that asteroid will come within 20,000 miles of Earth in 2029.nJapanese samplesnOn Monday, the sample heads to Johnson Space Center in Houston for additional study, and Nasa plans to announce its first results at a news conference on Oct 11.nMost of the sample will be conserved for study by future generations. Roughly one-fourth will be immediately used in experiments, and a small amount will be sent to mission partners Japan and Canada.nJapan had earlier given Nasa a few grains from asteroid Ryugu, after bringing 0.2 ounces of dust to Earth in 2020 during the Hayabusa-2 mission. Ten years before, it had brought back a microscopic quantity from another asteroid.nEarth’s origin storynAsteroids are composed of the original materials of the solar system, dating back some 4.5 billion years, and have remained relatively intact.nThey “can give us clues about how the solar system formed and evolved,” said Osiris-Rex program executive Melissa Morris.n“It’s our own origin story.” By striking Earth’s surface, “we do believe asteroids and comets delivered organic material, potentially water, that helped life flourish here on Earth,” she said.nPublished in Dawn, September 25th, 2023

Nasa&rsquo;s asteroid sample on track for parachute landing

LOS ANGELES: A Nasa space capsule carrying a sample of rocky material plucked from the surface of an asteroid three years ago hurtled towards Earth this weekend headed for a fiery plunge through the atmosphere and a parachute landing in the Utah desert on Sunday.nnWeather forecasts were favourable and the robotic spacecraft OSIRIS-REx was on course to release the sample-return capsule for final descent as planned, with no further adjustments to its flight path needed, Nasa officials said at a news briefing on Friday.nnMission managers are expecting a “spot-on” touchdown on the US military’s vast Utah Test and Training range, west of Salt Lake City, said Sandra Freund, programme manager at Lockheed Martin, which designed and built the spacecraft.nnThe round, gumdrop-shaped capsule is scheduled to land by parachute at 10:55am, about 13 minutes after streaking into the top of the atmosphere at roughly 35 times the speed of sound, capping a seven-year voyage.nnIf successful, the OSIRIS-REx mission, a joint effort between Nasa and scientists at the University of Arizona, would mark the third asteroid sample, and by far the largest, ever returned to Earth for analysis, following two similar missions by Japan’s space agency over the past 13 years.nnOSIRIS-REx collected its specimen from Bennu, a carbon-rich asteroid discovered in 1999 and classified as a “near-Earth object” because it passes relatively close to our planet every six years. nnBennu is small as asteroids go, measuring just 1,600 feet in diameter.nnIt holds valuable clues to the origins and development of rocky planets such as Earth.nnOSIRIS-REx launched in September 2016 and reached Bennu in 2018, then spent nearly two years orbiting the asteroid before venturing close enough to sink its robot arm into the loose surface on Oct 20, 2020, in a grab-and-go maneuver.nnThe spacecraft embarked on a 1.2-billion-mile cruise back to Earth in May 2021.nnThe Bennu sample is estimated at 250 grams, far surpassing the amount of material carried back from asteroid Ryugu in 2020 and asteroid Itokawa in 2010.nnOn arrival, the new sample will be flown by helicopter to a “clean room” set up at the Utah test range.nnPublished in Dawn, September 24rd, 2023

September 24, 2023

OpenAI sued over copyright

NEW YORK: A trade group for US authors has sued OpenAI in Manhattan federal court on behalf of prominent writers including John Grisham, Jonathan Franzen, George Saunders, Jodi Picault and Game of Thrones novelist George R.R. Martin, accusing the company of unlawfully training its popular artificial-intelligence based chatbot ChatGPT on their work. nnPublished in Dawn, September 21st, 2023

September 21, 2023

Climate panel backs moratorium on tech to dim Sun

PARIS: Former political leaders and heads of international organisations called on Thursday for national moratoriums on deploying technologies to slow global warming by dimming the impact of the Sun.nnThe Climate Overshoot Commission said research and experiments into so-called solar radiation modification (SRM) should move forward, but only under international supervision and in jurisdictions with strong environmental safeguards.nnCurrently, there is no formal global governance for the development or deployment of such technologies, and an incomplete understanding of the risks they carry.nn“We need a moratorium,” commission member Laurence Tubiana, head of the European Climate Foundation and an architect of the Paris Agreement, said.nn<blockquote>n Artificial cooling of Earth’s surface likely to disrupt monsoon rains in South Asia and western African</blockquote>nn“We know the risks — this is not a silver bullet solution.” The failure to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions that drive global heating has led to suggestions that solar geoengineering — widely dismissed a decade ago as unnecessarily risky — could buy time while the world scales up emissions reductions and CO2 removal.nnBarely 1.2 degrees Celsius of warming so far has boosted the intensity, frequency and duration of deadly and destructive heatwaves, droughts and mega-storms.nnThe 2015 Paris climate treaty calls for capping the rise in Earth’s surface temperature to 1.5C above mid-19th century levels to avoid catastrophic impacts.nnThe commission takes its name from the strong likelihood that warming will breach, or “overshoot”, that target, probably within a decade, according to the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).nnIn 2018, the IPCC concluded that greenhouse gas emissions must drop 43 per cent by 2030 in order to cap global warming at the 1.5C threshold. Solar radiation modification methods include brightening marine clouds by seeding them with salt particles from the ocean, and placing giant mirrors in space to reflect away Earth-bound sunlight.nnBut the technique thought to have the highest potential is injecting aerosols — especially sulphur particles — into the stratosphere to reflect sunlight back into space.nnNature sometimes does the same: the violent 1991 eruption of Mount Pinatubo in the Philippines — which spewed millions of tonnes of dust and debris — lowered global temperatures for about a year, especially in the Northern Hemisphere.nnBut there is growing evidence that the advantages of cooling Earth’s surface must be weighed against unwanted side effects.nnArtificially dimming the Sun’s radiative force is likely to disrupt monsoon rains in South Asia and western Africa and could ravage the rain-fed crops upon which hundreds of millions depend for nourishment, several studies have shown.nnIt could also reverse progress in the recovery of the ozone layer that shields life on Earth from deadly ultraviolent radiation, according to the Scientific Assessment of Ozone Depletion report earlier this year.nnScientists likewise warn that Earth’s surface would heat rapidly if seeding nnthe atmosphere with Sun-blocking particles were to suddenly stop, known as “termination shock”.nnPublished in Dawn, September 15th, 2023

September 15, 2023

ChatGPT diagnoses patients &lsquo;like a human doctor&rsquo;

THE HAGUE: Artificial intelligence chatbot ChatGPT diagnosed patients rushed to emergency at least as well as doctors and in some cases outperformed them, Dutch researchers have found, saying AI could “revolutionise the medical field”.nnBut the report published on Wednesday also stressed ER doctors needn’t hang up their scrubs just yet, with the chatbot potentially able to speed up diagnosis but not replace human medical judgement and experience.nnScientists examined 30 cases treated in an emergency service in the Netherlands in 2022, feeding in anonymised patient history, lab tests and the doctors’ own observations to ChatGPT, asking it to provide five possible diagnoses.nnThey then compared the chatbot’s shortlist to the same five diagnoses suggested by ER doctors with access to the same information, then cross-checked with the correct diagnosis in each case.nnDoctors had the correct diagnosis in the top five in 87 per cent of cases, compared to 97pc for ChatGPT version 3.5 and 87pc for version 4.0.nn“Simply put, this indicates that ChatGPT was able to suggest medical diagnoses much like a human doctor would,” said Hidde ten Berg, from the emergency medicine department at the Netherlands’ Jeroen Bosch Hospital.nnCo-author Steef Kurstjens said the survey did not indicate that computers could one day be running the ER, but that AI can play a vital role in assisting under-pressure medics.nnPublished in Dawn, September 14th, 2023

September 14, 2023

France orders iPhone 12 sales halted over radiation

PARIS: French regulators on Tuesday ordered Apple to halt sales of the iPhone 12 for emitting too much electromagnetic radiation, and to fix existing handsets.nnThe French agency that regulates radio frequencies, the ANFR, said testing found that the model emits more electromagnetic waves susceptible to be absorbed by the body than permitted.nnThe ANFR said it “ordered Apple to remove the iPhone 12 from the French market from September 12 due to the model exceeding the limit” for electromagnetic absorption by the body.nnIt said accredited labs had found absorption of electromagnetic energy by the body at 5.74 watts per kilogram during tests simulating when the phone was being held in the hand or kept in a pocket.nn<blockquote>n Apple disputes findings, says cell phone meets radiation rulesn</blockquote>nnThe European standard is a specific absorption rate of 4.0 watts per kilogram in such tests.nn“Concerning phones already sold, Apple must in the briefest of delays take corrective measures to bring the affected phones into compliance,” said the ANFR in a statement on its website.nn“Otherwise, Apple will have to recall them.” ANFR noted that tests that measure the electromagnetic radiation absorbed at a distance of five centimetres was in compliance with the limit of 2.0 watts per kilogram.nnANFR said its agents would verify beginning that iPhone 12 models were no longer being offered for sale in France.nnDispute findingsnnApple said on Wednesday in a statement that the iPhone 12, launched in 2020, was certified by multiple international bodies as compliant with global radiation standards, that it had provided several Apple and third-party lab results proving the phone’s compliance to the French agency, and that it was contesting its findings.nnResearchers have conducted a vast number of studies over the last two decades to assess health risks resulting from mobile phones. According to the World Health Organisation, no adverse health effects have so far been established as being caused by mobile phone use.nnIndustry experts said there were no safety risks as regulatory limits on SAR were set well below levels where scientists have found evidence of harm.nn“From a health and safety point of view, it is not as if this is putting anyone at risk,” said Professor Rodney Croft, the chair of the International Commission on Non-Ionising Radiation Protection (ICNIRP), which sets global guidelines on the SAR limits.nnThe limits – based on the risk of burns or heatstroke from the phone’s radiation – are already set ten times below the level where scientists found evidence of harm.nnCroft said the French findings could differ from those recorded by other regulators because ANFR assesses radiation with a method that assumes direct skin contact, without intermediate textile layers, between the device and user.nnA French government source also said the French test was different from the method used by Apple.nnSmartphone radiation tests have so far led to 42 sales stops in the country. It is the first time Apple has been affected by such a move.nnGermany’s radiation watchdog BfS also said the French decision could have implications for all of Europe.nnFrance’s junior minister for the digital economy, Jean-Noel Barrot, said a software update would be sufficient to fix the radiation issues.nn“Apple is expected to respond within two weeks”, he told daily Le Parisien in an interview on Tuesday, adding: “If they fail to do so, I am prepared to order a recall of all iPhones 12 in circulation. nnPublished in Dawn, September 14th, 2023

Musk calls for AI &lsquo;referee&rsquo;

WASHINGTON: American technology leaders including Tesla CEO Elon Musk, Meta Platforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai met with lawmakers at Capitol Hill on Wednesday for a closed-door forum that focused on regulating artificial intelligence.nnLawmakers are grappling with how to mitigate the dangers of the emerging technology, which has experienced a boom in investment and consumer popularity since the release of OpenAI’s ChatGPT chatbot.nn“It’s important for us to have a referee,” Musk told reporters, adding that a regulator was needed “to ensure that companies take actions that are safe and in the general interest of the public.” New Jersey Senator Cory Booker praised the discussion, saying all the participants agreed “the government has a regulatory role” but crafting legislation would be a challenge.nnLawmakers want safeguards against potentially dangerous deepfakes such as bogus videos, election interference and attacks on critical infrastructure.nn“Today, we begin an enormous and complex and vital undertaking: building a foundation for bipartisan AI policy that Congress can pass,” US Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, a Democrat, said in opening remarks. nn“Congress must play a role, because without Congress we will neither maximize AI’s benefits, nor minimize its risks.” Other attendees included Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, IBM CEO Arvind Krishna, former Microsoft CEO Bill Gates, and AFL-CIO labor federation President Liz Shuler.nnSchumer, who discussed AI with Musk in April, said attendees would talk “about why Congress must act, what questions to ask, and how to build a consensus for safe innovation.” In March, Musk and a group of AI experts and executives called for a six-month pause in developing systems more powerful than OpenAI’s GPT-4, citing potential risks to society.nnThis week, Congress is holding three separate hearings on AI. Microsoft President Brad Smith told a Senate Judiciary subcommittee on Tuesday that Congress should “require safety brakes for AI that controls or manages critical infrastructure.”nnPublished in Dawn, September 14th, 2023

Apple, Huawei battle rages on social media

BEIJING: Apple’s iPhone 15 drew mixed reactions in its third largest market of China on Wednesday, with many online users liking its faster chip and improved gaming capabilities while others preferred Huawei’s new smartphone.nChina remains key for the US tech giant, which <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1775642/apple-unveils-iphone-15-pro-with-titanium-case-holds-line-on-prices">unveiled</a> its new iPhone lineup on Tuesday. The company occupies a leading position in China’s premium smartphone market, in part due to the decimation of Huawei Technologies’ smartphone business by US export controls, but has also come under scrutiny in the run-up to the iPhone 15 launch.nShares in Apple and its suppliers were battered last week after reports that Chinese government agencies and state firms were banning staff from using the phone and Huawei <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1775020/what-is-in-huaweis-new-smartphone-challenger-to-apple">launched</a> a new smartphone with an advanced chip, seen as an effort by the Chinese firm for a comeback.nThe unveiling of Apple’s iPhone 15 attracted intense discussion online on Wednesday, as new models have done in the past. The new phone goes on sale online in China on Alibaba’s Tmall marketplace on Sept 15, and in-stores on Sept 22.n<blockquote class="blockquote-level-1">nBeijing denies any official ban on use, purchase of iPhonesn</blockquote>nTopics discussing the new launch attracted 380 million views on social media platform Weibo, with more than 800,000 discussions, including posts, comments and likes, on the iPhone 15. Many cheered the iPhone 15 Pro’s new 3-nanometer chip and Apple’s pitch that console-quality games such as “Resident Evil 4 Remake”, can be played on the device, appealing to China’s army of mobile gamers.nBut several social media users had misgivings about choosing an American brand over a domestically made rival, especially after state media applauded the rollout of Huawei’s Mate 60 Pro earlier this month as a triumph by China over US sanctions.nA survey by Chinese news portal Sina on the social media platform asking participants if they would buy the Mate 60 or iPhone 15 saw 61,000 votes for the Huawei device versus 24,000 for the iPhone 15.n“The iPhone 15 can only send SOS messages via satellite, using last-generation technology already deployed in Huawei’s Mate 60, which supports full satellite calling,” one user wrote.nChina’s smartphone market, like the sector globally, is in the midst of a slump and analysts cautioned that this, and the country’s slowing economy, could also weigh on sales of the iPhone 15.nArchie Zhang, a research analyst at Counterpoint, said, “Before Huawei’s surprise launch, we projected Apple’s sales in China Q3 and Q4 to be flat or slightly weaker than last year.” Will Wong, an analyst with industry research group IDC, saw recent public sector developments and Huawei posing a challenge for Apple.n“Sales (of the iPhone 15) are not going to be easy, especially since Chinese consumers are either being cautious in spending or shifted their focus to leisure or travel,” he added.nIDC expects Apple’s share in China’s premium phone market will gradually decline due to increased competition from Huawei.nNo ban on iPhone purchase, usenChina on Wednesday denied there was any ban on officials purchasing or using foreign phones, including iPhones, after reports said Beijing was prohibiting civil servants from using Apple handsets.n“China has not issued any laws, regulations, and policy documents prohibiting the purchase and use of foreign brand smartphones, including iPhone,” foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning told a regular briefing.nPublished in Dawn, September 14th, 2023

Apple unveils iPhone 15 Pro with titanium case, holds line on prices

Apple launched a new series of iPhones that included a new titanium shell, a faster chip and improved video game playing abilities.nThe biggest surprise with the iPhone 15 that will come out Sept 22: It did not raise prices, reflecting the global smartphone slump.nThe event at Apple’s Cupertino, California, headquarters comes amid lingering economic uncertainty, especially in China, Apple’s third-largest market where it faces challenges from expanded restrictions on using its iPhones in government offices and the first new flagship phone in several years from Huawei Technologies.n <figure class=’media sm:w-1/2 w-full media–right media–embed media–uneven’>n <div class=’media__item media__item–newskitlink ‘> <iframen class="nk-iframe" onload="setInterval(()=>{try{this.style.height=this.contentWindow.document.body.scrollHeight+’px’;}catch{}}, 100)"n width="100%" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="height:400px;position:relative"n src="https://www.dawn.com/news/card/1775020"n sandbox="allow-same-origin allow-scripts allow-popups allow-modals allow-forms"></iframe></div>n n </figure>nHuawei raised its second-half shipment target for the new Mate 60 series smartphone, which has satellite capability, by 20 per cent, the country’s official Securities Times reported on Tuesday shortly before the Apple event.nApple did not deliver any blockbuster surprises, and shares closed down 1.7pc after event.n <figure class=’media w-full w-full media–stretch media–embed media–uneven’>n <div class=’media__item media__item–twitter ‘>n <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en">n <a href="https://twitter.com/tim_cook/status/1701664311779713306"></a>n </blockquote>n</div>n n </figure>n<h2><a id="apple-embedding-machine-learning" href="#apple-embedding-machine-learning" class="heading-permalink" aria-hidden="true" title="Permalink"></a>Apple embedding machine learning</h2>nWhile Apple avoids the terms artificial intelligence, or AI, the technology was the driver of several new features.nAn Apple executive said the company used machine learning to detect a person in the frame, allowing users to turn a picture into a portrait immediately or later in the Photos app.nApple also showed off new watches, including a Series 9 Watch with a feature called “double tap” where users tap thumb and finger together twice, without touching the watch, in order to perform tasks like answering a phone call.nIt uses machine learning to detect tiny changes in blood flow when the user taps their fingers together, freeing up the other hand for other tasks like walking a dog or holding a cup of coffee, said Apple Chief Operating Officer Jeff Williams.n<h2><a id="iphone-15-launch" href="#iphone-15-launch" class="heading-permalink" aria-hidden="true" title="Permalink"></a>IPhone 15 launch</h2>nBoth the Pro and other iPhone 15 models will have a brighter display and a 48-megapixel camera as well as 100pc recycled cobalt in their batteries.n <figure class=’media w-full w-full media–stretch media–embed media–uneven’>n <div class=’media__item media__item–twitter ‘>n <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en">n <a href="https://twitter.com/ijustine/status/1701719223297610209"></a>n </blockquote>n</div>n n </figure>nApple said the iPhone 15’s satellite connectivity can now be used to summon roadside assistance. It is rolling out the feature out with the American Automobile Association (AAA) in the United States.nApple said that USB-C charging cables are coming to both its iPhone 15 and the charging case of its AirPods Pro devices. The move reflects requirements from European regulators to use USB-C and allows the use of the same charging cables already used for iPads and Macs.n <figure class=’media w-full w-full media–stretch media–embed media–uneven’>n <div class=’media__item media__item–twitter ‘>n <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en">n <a href="https://twitter.com/ijustine/status/1701720111449821285"></a>n </blockquote>n</div>n n </figure>n“I was expecting Apple to try and spin the all USB-C decision in a certain way but they didn’t. They were very matter of fact in the way they talked about it,” said Carolina Milanesi, an analyst with Creative Strategies.nShe said the shift “brought some differentiation to the iPhone Pro, because there’s faster throughput for data transfer. That is going to be valuable for people” who use the device for professional photography, Milanesi said.nApple also said the iPhone 15 Pro can capture what it calls “spatial videos” by using two of the device’s cameras to capture a three-dimensional video.nThose videos will be viewable on <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1758270">Apple’s Vision Pro headset</a> that is due out early next year, marketing chief Greg Joswiak said.nThe Pro’s use of titanium makes it lighter and stronger than previous models of other metals.nBob O’Donnell, head of TECHnalysis Research said the steady prices were a surprise.n“I think both Apple and the carriers recognise that with consumers feeling pressure on their budget and the lack of dramatic changes its getting harder to convince people to upgrade. Keeping prices stable should help with that,” he said.nThe iPhone 15 costs $799, the iPhone 15 Plus starts at $899 and the Pro series starts at $999. The Pro Max starts at $1,199, the same prices as last year for the same levels of storage. Last year, Apple offered a $1,099 iPhone Pro Max model with less memory.nApple still relies on iPhone for more than half of its sales, but the global smartphone market has slumped from shipping 294.5 million total phones to 268 million in the second quarter. Apple’s shipments declined the least of any major smartphone maker, dropping from 46.5 million phones to 45.3 million, according to data from Counterpoint Research.n<h2><a id="new-watch-out" href="#new-watch-out" class="heading-permalink" aria-hidden="true" title="Permalink"></a>New watch out</h2>n <figure class=’media sm:w-1/2 w-full media–right ‘>n <div class=’media__item ‘><picture></picture></div>n <figcaption class=’media__caption ‘>Brand new Apple Watches are displayed during an Apple event on September 12 in Cupertino, California. — AFP</figcaption>n </figure>nThe outdoor sports-focused Apple Watch Ultra 2 has new features for cycling and diving and what Apple said is the brightest screen it has ever made. The Series 9 will start at $399 and the Ultra 2 watch will start at $799 and be available Sept. 22.nApple will no longer use leather in any of its products, said Lisa Jackson, the company’s environmental chief. The company is replacing some of those products with a textile called “FineWoven” that it says feel like suede.nApple made its effort to become carbon neutral by 2030 a focus of the event, including launches of lower-carbon watches.

September 13, 2023

US takes on Google in landmark antitrust trial

A landmark case pitting the US government against Google over the dominance of the company’s world-dominating search engine kicked off in a Washington courtroom on Tuesday.n“This case is about the future of the internet and whether Google will ever face meaningful competition in search,” said Justice Department lawyer Kenneth Dintzer as the United States government began making its case against the tech titan.nOver the course of 10 weeks of testimony involving more than 100 witnesses, Google will try to persuade judge Amit P Mehta that the landmark case brought by the Department of Justice is without merit.nHeld in a Washington courtroom, the trial is the biggest US antitrust case against a big tech company since the same department took on Microsoft more than two decades ago over the dominance of its Windows operating system.n“Even for Washington DC, I think we have the highest concentration of blue suits in any location here today,” Mehta joked, observing the dozens of lawyers packed into his courtroom.nThe Google case centres on the government’s contention that the tech titan unfairly gained its domination of online search by forging exclusivity contracts with device makers, mobile operators and other companies that left rivals no chance to compete.nDintzer told Judge Mehta that Google pays out $10 billion every year to Apple and others to secure its search engine default status on phones and web browsers, thereby burying upstarts before they have a chance to grow.nOver the past decade, this created what the government calls a “feedback loop” in which Google’s dominance of search grew ever bigger because of its monopolist access to user data that rivals could never match.nThat dominance has made Google parent Alphabet one of the world’s richest companies, with search ads generating nearly 60 per cent of the company’s revenue, dwarfing income from other activities such as YouTube or Android phones.n“We will track what Google did to maintain its monopoly … It’s not about what it could have done or should have done, it’s about what they did,” Dintzer told the court.n<h2><a id="court-cannot-intervene" href="#court-cannot-intervene" class="heading-permalink" aria-hidden="true" title="Permalink"></a>Court ‘cannot intervene’</h2>nGoogle firmly rejected the US case saying that its search engine was successful because of its quality and the huge investments made over the years.n“Google has for decades innovated and improved its search engine, plaintiffs escape this inescapable truth,” Google’s lawyer John Schmidtlein argued before the court.n“This court cannot intervene in the market and say ‘Google you are not allowed to compete.’ That is anathema to US antitrust law,” he said.nSchmidtlein insisted that testimony from executives at Apple and others will demonstrate that Google won the coveted default status on iPhone and the Safari browser “on the merits”.nThe biggest alleged victims in the case are rival search engines that have yet to eke out a meaningful market share for search or search ads against Google, like Microsoft’s Bing and DuckDuckGo.nGoogle remains the world’s go-to search engine, capturing 90pc of the market in the United States and across the globe, much of which comes through mobile usage on iPhones and phones running on Google-owned Android.nMehta’s ruling is expected many months after the roughly three months of expected hearings.nHe could dismiss the government’s arguments or order drastic remedial action such as a breakup of Google’s businesses or a revamp of the way it operates.nWhatever the outcome, the ruling will almost certainly be appealed by either side, potentially dragging the case on for years.nLaunched in 1998, Washington’s case against Microsoft ended in a settlement in 2001 after an appeal reversed an order that the company be split up.nThe US government launched its case against Google during the Trump administration and the suit carried over in the transition to President Joe Biden.nBiden has also made a point of challenging tech giants and nominated well-known tech critics to key posts, but with little yet to show for it.nIn January, Biden’s Department of Justice launched a separate case against Google <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1733513">involving its advertising business</a> and this could go to trial next year.nThe company also faces various lawsuits from US states that accuse it of abusing monopolies in ad tech and blocking competition in its Google Play app store.

September 12, 2023

Musk biography portrays troubled tycoon driven by demons

WASHINGTON: A hotly anticipated biography of Elon Musk describes the turbulent tycoon as a man driven by childhood demons, obsessed with bringing human life to Mars and who demands that staff be “hardcore”.nElon Musk is written by star biographer Walter Isaacson, a former editor in chief of Time magazine who is best known for his best-selling portrayal of Apple founder Steve Jobs as well as his looks into the lives of science-focused men such as Albert Einstein and Leonardo da Vinci.nSome US media outlets got early access to the more-than-600-page book ahead of its official global release on Tuesday, and several excerpts were also published in recent days.nHours before its release on Amazon, advance orders had made Elon Musk the second best-selling book in the United States, behind a self-help title co-written by Oprah Winfrey.nMuch of Musk’s early life is already publicly well known, with attention focused on his abusive father Errol Musk, who Musk despises.nMany of the previously unknown nuggets come from a more recent period, when Isaacson shadowed his subject with fly-on-the-wall access into his everyday life.nA widely reported passage recounts how Musk personally scuttled a plan by the Ukrainian military to carry out a major operation in Crimea by denying Starlink internet access, drawing a furious response from Kyiv.nBut Isaacson was forced to walk back his description of the episode after Musk tweeted that the Starlink access was not yet up and running in Crimea at the time of his decision.nMusk’s chaotic and impulse-driven takeover of Twitter also gets a lot of attention, with the billionaire seen as struggling to recognise that technology and willpower would not be enough to reverse the platform’s fortunes.nAlso a recurring theme in Isaacson’s telling is Musk’s vindictive tendencies toward doubters and critics.nAfter acquiring Twitter late last year, Musk and his closest lieutenants combed through email and social media and fired dozens of employees who had criticised the new owner.nIn another episode, Musk defied the warnings of executives and with the help of a small team moved critical servers out of a Sacramento data centre to cut costs, which led to a series of major outages.nHe also refused to join forces with Bill Gates on charity endeavours because the Microsoft founder had bet against the success of Tesla on the stock market.nThe book also says that Musk, who frets about depopulation, now has 10 children, including a previously unknown child with on-and-off-again partner Grimes.nMixed reviewsnReviews have been mixed, with the Washington Post praising the reporting, but disappointed that Isaacson “prioritised revealing anecdotes and behind-the-scenes reportage over a sophisticated critical lens”.nInfluential US tech pundit and Musk critic Kara Swisher said the book told the story of a “sad and smart son (who) slowly morphs into (the) mentally abusive father he abhors”.n“Often right, sometimes wrong, petty jerk always,” she said of Musk’s portrayal in the book.nPublished in Dawn, September 12th, 2023

What is in Huawei&rsquo;s new smartphone challenger to Apple?

BEIJING: A new series of smartphones launched by China’s Huawei Technologies has drawn global attention for containing technology that indicates the company has managed to overcome US sanctions and could come back as a rival to Apple.nnIn late August, the company unveiled the Mate 60 and Mate 60 Pro, and on Sept 9 launched two more smartphones, the Mate X5 which is a new version of its foldable phones, and the Mate 60 Pro+.nnThe Mate 60 is priced from 5,999 yuan ($817.70), the same as Apple’s iPhone 14 in China.nnHere are some key things to know about Huawei’s new phones, their suppliers, and what they could mean for the world’s largest smartphone market: nnWhat is the Mate 60 series capable of?nnHuawei has mainly advertised the smartphones’ ability to support satellite communications which allow users to place calls or send messages even in areas where there are no mobile signals or internet, such as on mountains or at sea. It has not disclosed details of the chips used, but analysis firm TechInsights has found that the phone is powered by a new Kirin 9000s chip that was made in China by Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (SMIC).nnSpeed tests shared by buyers on Chinese social media have suggested that the Mate 60 Pro is capable of download speeds exceeding those of top-of-the-line 5G phones.nnChinese buyers comparing the phones to Apple’s latest iPhone 14 have posted reviews online saying they have comparable specifications like storage and memory. Huawei’s launch also comes days before Apple is expected to launch its new iPhone 15 on Sept 12.nnWho are the Mate 60’s suppliers?nnHuawei has not officially named the suppliers for the phones’ components, though apart from SMIC, TechInsights also said it found South Korea’s SK Hynix’s DRAM and NAND components in the phone.nnSK Hynix, which said it stopped doing business with Huawei since the United States introduced restrictions on the firm in 2019, has said it is investigating. The Mate 60 Pro contains more Chinese-made chip components than previous models, TechInsights also said.nnLists of possible Chinese suppliers have been widely circulated online, with shares of companies touted as possible candidates soaring on the speculation.nnMost of these are existing suppliers to Huawei. Shares in Dongguan Chitwing Technology Co. Ltd, which makes molds, for instance rose by the daily upward limit of 10 per cent in the days after Huawei’s launch. It did not respond to a Reuters’ request for comment.nnSuzhou-based display maker Visionox Technology, whose shares have risen by 15pc since the new smartphones were launched on Aug 29, told Reuters it was a supplier for the new Mate 60 series.nnWhat could it mean for Apple in China’s smartphone market?nnHuawei was once the world’s largest smartphone firm by sales but saw its market share steadily slump after the United States cut its access to chip-making tools essential for producing the most advanced handset models. The company was left only able to sell limited batches of 5G models using stockpiled chips.nnIts market share in China, the world’s largest smartphone market, has fallen to 11pc so far this year compared to 27pc in 2020, in part also due to its move to sell its budget brand Honor in what it described then as a bid to ensure its survival.nnThe US restrictions left Apple as the main maker of premium smartphones in China. Over the same period, Apple’s market share in China rose to 19pc from 11pc according to data from research firm Counterpoint.nnAnalysts say the Mate 60 might mark Huawei’s comeback as a rival, with sales helped by patriotic fervour as state media and internet users cheer the launch as a blow against the United States amid rising tensions between Washington and Beijing.nnMing-Chi Kuo, an analyst with TF International Securities, said he expects the Mate 60 Pro to ship between 5.5 to 6 million units for the second half of this year, up 20pc from previously planned volumes.nnAnd cumulative shipments of Mate 60 Pro could reach at least 12 million units 12 months after launch, according to Kuo.nnPublished in Dawn, September 10th, 2023

September 10, 2023

Musk&rsquo;s X sues over having to post moderation policies

SAN FRANCISCO: Elon Musk’s X Corp on Friday sued the state of California over a law requiring social media companies to publicly post their policies regarding hate speech, disinformation, harassment and extremism.nThe parent company of X, formerly known as Twitter, argued in a federal suit that the law referred to as AB 587 violates its free speech rights.n“The true intent of AB 587 is to pressure social media platforms to eliminate certain constitutionally-protected content viewed by the State as problematic,” the suit contended.n“The state is compelling social media companies to take public positions on controversial and politically charged issues.”nThe suit railed against the law, which requires social media companies to publicly post policies regarding hate speech, disinformation, harassment and extremism on their platforms, and report data on their enforcement of the policies.n“California will not stand by as social media is weaponized to spread hate and disinformation that threaten our communities and foundational values as a country,” California Governor Gavin Newsom said when he signed the bill into law a year ago.n“Californians deserve to know how these platforms are impacting our public discourse, and this action brings much-needed transparency and accountability to the policies that shape the social media content we consume every day.” Musk early this week said he is considering suing the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), a leading anti-hate group, arguing that its accusations of anti-Semitism have led X to lose revenue.nMusk accused the US-based Jewish organization of making unfounded complaints against him and X that have scared away advertisers.n“Advertisers avoid controversy, so all that is needed for ADL to crush our US & European ad revenue is to make unfounded accusations,” Musk wrote in a long X thread that started with a clarification that he favors free speech but is “against anti-Semitism of any kind.” In a 2016 report, the ADL said anti-Semitic attacks against journalists had exploded on Twitter, “thanks to the rhetoric in the 2016 presidential campaign.” It accused the social network of failing to control its “trolling problem.” Billionaire Musk has been accused of fueling anti-Semitic tropes, including attacks against Jewish philanthropist George Soros.nAccording to the ADL and the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH), problematic and racist speech has sharply risen on X since Musk completed his $44 billion takeover in October.nSince then, the Tesla boss has fired thousands of the platform’s employees, cut content moderation and reinstated former president Donald Trump’s account.nPublished in Dawn, September 10th, 2023

Japan launches &lsquo;Moon Sniper&rsquo; lander into space

TOKYO: Japan’s “Moon Sniper” mission blasted off on Thursday as the country’s space programme looks to bounce back from a string of recent mishaps, weeks after India’s historic lunar triumph.nOnly the United States, Russia, China and as of last month <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1771717">India</a> have successfully landed a probe on the Moon, with two failed <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1725799">Japanese missions</a> — one public and one private.nWatched by 35,000 people online, the H-IIA rocket lifted off early on Thursday from the southern island of Tanegashima carrying the lander, which is expected to touch down on the lunar surface in early 2024.n <figure class=’media w-full w-full media–stretch media–embed media–uneven’>n <div class=’media__item media__item–twitter ‘>n <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en">n <a href="https://twitter.com/esascience/status/1699674581835935946?s=20"></a>n </blockquote>n</div>n n </figure>nTo cheers and applause at mission control, the “SLIM” Moon probe and the XRISM space research satellite developed with the US and European space agencies both separated soon afterwards.n <figure class=’media w-full w-full media–stretch media–embed media–uneven’>n <div class=’media__item media__item–twitter ‘>n <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en">n <a href="https://twitter.com/esascience/status/1699674887072129140?s=20"></a>n </blockquote>n</div>n n </figure>nThe launch had already been postponed three times because of bad weather.n<blockquote class="blockquote-level-1">nSatellite will perform ‘high-resolution’ X-ray observations of hot gas plasma winds in the universen</blockquote>nThe Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM) is nicknamed the “Moon Sniper” because it is designed to land within 100 metres of a specific target on the surface.nThat is much less than the usual range of several kilometres.n“By creating the SLIM lander, humans will make a qualitative shift towards being able to land where we want and not just where it is easy to land,” Japanese space agency JAXA said before the launch.n“By achieving this, it will become possible to land on planets even more resource-scarce than the Moon.” Globally, “there are no previous instances of pinpoint landing on celestial bodies with significant gravity such as the Moon,” the agency added.nXRISM will perform “high-resolution X-ray spectroscopic observations of the hot gas plasma wind that blows through the galaxies in the universe”, according to JAXA.nThese will help study “the flows of mass and energy, revealing the composition and evolution of celestial objects”.nSerious toynThe lander is equipped with spherical probe that was developed with a toy company. Slightly bigger than a tennis ball, it can change its shape to move on the lunar surface.nIndia last month landed a craft near the Moon’s south pole, a historic triumph for its low-cost space programme.nIts success came days after a Russian probe crashed in the same region, and four years after a previous Indian attempt failed at the last moment.nIndia on Saturday also launched a probe carrying scientific instruments to observe the Sun’s outermost layers in a four-month journey.nJapan’s past attempts have also gone wrong, including last year when it sent a lunar probe named Omotenashi as part of the United States’ Artemis 1 mission.nThe size of a backpack, Omotenashi would have been the world’s smallest Moon lander but it was lost.nAnd in April, Japanese startup ispace failed in an ambitious attempt to become the first private company to land on the Moon, losing communication with its craft after what it described as a “hard landing”.nJapan has also had problems with its launch rockets, with failures after liftoff of the next-generation H3 in March and the normally reliable solid-fuel Epsilon last October. In July, the test of an Epsilon S rocket, an improved version of the Epsilon, ended in an explosion 50 seconds after ignition.nPublished in Dawn, September 8th, 2023

September 8, 2023

China using AI to sway US voters, alleges Microsoft

SHANGHAI: Microsoft researchers said on Thursday they found what they believe is a network of fake, Chinese-controlled social media accounts seeking to influence US voters by using artificial intelligence.nnA Chinese embassy spokesperson in Washington said that accusations of China using AI to create fake social media accounts were “full of prejudice and malicious speculation” and that China advocates for the safe use of AI.nnIn a new research report, Microsoft said the social media accounts were part of a suspected Chinese information operation. The campaign bore similarities to activity which the US Department of Justice has attributed to “an elite group within (China’s) Ministry of Public Security,” Microsoft said.nnThe researchers did not specify which social media platforms were affected, but screenshots in their report showed posts from what appeared to be Facebook and Twitter, now known as X.nn<blockquote>n Beijing says accusations are ‘full of prejudice and malicious speculation’n</blockquote>nnThe report highlights a fraught social media environment as Americans prepare for the 2024 presidential election. The US government has accused Russia of meddling in the 2016 election with a covert social media campaign and has warned of subsequent efforts by China, Russia and Iran to influence voters.nnThe report provided limited examples of the recent activity and did not explain in detail how researchers attributed the posts to China.nnA Microsoft spokesperson said that the company’s researcher used a “multifaceted attribution model,” which relies on “technical evidence, behavioural evidence and contextual evidence.” The campaign began using generative artificial intelligence technology in about March 2023 to create politically charged content in English and “mimic US voters,” Microsoft said. Generative AI can create images, text and other media from scratch.nnThe new content is much more “eye-catching than the awkward visuals used in previous campaigns by Chinese nation-state actors, which relied on digital drawings, stock photo collages, and other manual graphic designs,” the researchers wrote.nnThe paper cited an example of one AI-generated image, which Microsoft said came from a Chinese account, that depicts the Statue of Liberty holding an assault rifle with the caption: “Everything is being thrown away. THE GODDESS OF VIOLENCE.” The Microsoft spokesperson said the identified accounts had attempted to appear American by listing their public location as within the United States, posting American political slogans, and sharing hashtags relating to domestic political issues.nnComparable to ChatGPTnnChinese tech giant Tencent on Thursday claimed its new chatbot had some capabilities on par with top US rival ChatGPT, as the global artificial intelligence race heats up.nnTencent’s “Hunyuan Aide”, which it released to the public on Thursday, follows the similar ERNIE Bot rolled out by fellow Chinese company Baidu last month.nnBeijing introduced fresh regulations last month for AI developers, aiming to allow them to stay in the race with the likes of ChatGPT maker OpenAI and Microsoft while tightly controlling information online.nnPublished in Dawn, September 8th, 2023

Tencent claims new AI chat bot skills comparable to ChatGPT

Chinese tech giant Tencent on Thursday claimed its new chatbot had some capabilities on par with top US rival ChatGPT, as the global artificial intelligence race heats up.nTencent’s “Hunyuan Aide”, which it released to the public on Thursday, follows the similar ERNIE Bot <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1773372">rolled out by fellow Chinese company Baidu last month</a>.nBeijing introduced <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1770804">fresh regulations</a> last month for AI developers, aiming to allow them to stay in the race with the likes of ChatGPT maker OpenAI and Microsoft while tightly controlling information online.nTencent on Thursday gave a live demonstration of Hunyuan Aide’s capabilities, with the bot introducing itself in response to questions typed by an employee on a laptop, and solving a simple arithmetic problem.nVice President Jiang Jie said at the livestreamed summit that the bot outperformed US-based Open AI’s earlier model GPT-3.5 and was on par with GPT-4 in identifying trick questions such as “what is the safe way to speed”.nIt even exceeded the latter when answering questions from the Chinese university entrance exam, he said.nAFP was not able to independently verify the claims.n“Compared to the open-source large language models common on the market presently, (our) method effectively reduces the hallucination rate by 30 to 50 per cent,” Jiang said, referring to the false and nonsensical content frequently churned out by AI.nTrained on more than two trillion tokens and equipped with more than 100 billion parameters — units of language and the variables connecting them — from up until July this year, Hunyuan Aide’s data set will be continuously updated, Jiang said.nHunyuan Aide has “powerful Chinese language writing ability, the ability to make logical inferences in complicated linguistic contexts, and reliable task execution ability”, Tencent, which owns the WeChat super-app, said in a statement on Thursday.nThe artificial intelligence-powered ChatGPT, created by San Francisco company OpenAI, has caused a sensation for its ability to write essays, poems or programming code on demand within seconds, sparking widespread fears of cheating or of professions becoming obsolete.n <figure class=’media sm:w-1/2 w-full media–right media–embed media–uneven’>n <div class=’media__item media__item–newskitlink ‘> <iframen class="nk-iframe" onload="setInterval(()=>{try{this.style.height=this.contentWindow.document.body.scrollHeight+’px’;}catch{}}, 100)"n width="100%" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="height:400px;position:relative"n src="https://www.dawn.com/news/card/1742843"n sandbox="allow-same-origin allow-scripts allow-popups allow-modals allow-forms"></iframe></div>n n </figure>nChinese tech giants have joined the global rush to develop rival software, with e-commerce stalwarts Alibaba and JD.com also announcing similar projects.nA programme on WeChat allowing users to access a beta version of Hunyuan Aide went online this week, though there was still a waiting list on Thursday to try out the chatbot.

September 7, 2023

Tencent claims new AI chat bot skills comparable to ChatGPT

Chinese tech giant Tencent on Thursday claimed its new chatbot had some capabilities on par with top US rival ChatGPT, as the global artificial intelligence race heats up.nTencent’s “Hunyuan Aide”, which it released to the public on Thursday, follows the similar ERNIE Bot <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1773372">rolled out by fellow Chinese company Baidu last month</a>.nBeijing introduced <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1770804">fresh regulations</a> last month for AI developers, aiming to allow them to stay in the race with the likes of ChatGPT maker OpenAI and Microsoft while tightly controlling information online.nTencent on Thursday gave a live demonstration of Hunyuan Aide’s capabilities, with the bot introducing itself in response to questions typed by an employee on a laptop, and solving a simple arithmetic problem.nVice President Jiang Jie said at the livestreamed summit that the bot outperformed US-based Open AI’s earlier model GPT-3.5 and was on par with GPT-4 in identifying trick questions such as “what is the safe way to speed”.nIt even exceeded the latter when answering questions from the Chinese university entrance exam, he said.nAFP was not able to independently verify the claims.n“Compared to the open-source large language models common on the market presently, (our) method effectively reduces the hallucination rate by 30 to 50 per cent,” Jiang said, referring to the false and nonsensical content frequently churned out by AI.nTrained on more than two trillion tokens and equipped with more than 100 billion parameters — units of language and the variables connecting them — from up until July this year, Hunyuan Aide’s data set will be continuously updated, Jiang said.nHunyuan Aide has “powerful Chinese language writing ability, the ability to make logical inferences in complicated linguistic contexts, and reliable task execution ability”, Tencent, which owns the WeChat super-app, said in a statement on Thursday.nThe artificial intelligence-powered ChatGPT, created by San Francisco company OpenAI, has caused a sensation for its ability to write essays, poems or programming code on demand within seconds, sparking widespread fears of cheating or of professions becoming obsolete.n <figure class=’media sm:w-1/2 w-full media–right media–embed media–uneven’>n <div class=’media__item media__item–newskitlink ‘> <iframen class="nk-iframe" onload="setInterval(()=>{try{this.style.height=this.contentWindow.document.body.scrollHeight+’px’;}catch{}}, 100)"n width="100%" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="height:400px;position:relative"n src="https://www.dawn.com/news/card/1742843"n sandbox="allow-same-origin allow-scripts allow-popups allow-modals allow-forms"></iframe></div>n n </figure>nChinese tech giants have joined the global rush to develop rival software, with e-commerce stalwarts Alibaba and JD.com also announcing similar projects.nA programme on WeChat allowing users to access a beta version of Hunyuan Aide went online this week, though there was still a waiting list on Thursday to try out the chatbot.

Tencent claims new AI chat bot skills comparable to ChatGPT

Chinese tech giant Tencent on Thursday claimed its new chatbot had some capabilities on par with top US rival ChatGPT, as the global artificial intelligence race heats up.nTencent’s “Hunyuan Aide”, which it released to the public on Thursday, follows the similar ERNIE Bot <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1773372">rolled out by fellow Chinese company Baidu last month</a>.nBeijing introduced <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1770804">fresh regulations</a> last month for AI developers, aiming to allow them to stay in the race with the likes of ChatGPT maker OpenAI and Microsoft while tightly controlling information online.nTencent on Thursday gave a live demonstration of Hunyuan Aide’s capabilities, with the bot introducing itself in response to questions typed by an employee on a laptop, and solving a simple arithmetic problem.nVice President Jiang Jie said at the livestreamed summit that the bot outperformed US-based Open AI’s earlier model GPT-3.5 and was on par with GPT-4 in identifying trick questions such as “what is the safe way to speed”.nIt even exceeded the latter when answering questions from the Chinese university entrance exam, he said.nAFP was not able to independently verify the claims.n“Compared to the open-source large language models common on the market presently, (our) method effectively reduces the hallucination rate by 30 to 50 per cent,” Jiang said, referring to the false and nonsensical content frequently churned out by AI.nTrained on more than two trillion tokens and equipped with more than 100 billion parameters — units of language and the variables connecting them — from up until July this year, Hunyuan Aide’s data set will be continuously updated, Jiang said.nHunyuan Aide has “powerful Chinese language writing ability, the ability to make logical inferences in complicated linguistic contexts, and reliable task execution ability”, Tencent, which owns the WeChat super-app, said in a statement on Thursday.nThe artificial intelligence-powered ChatGPT, created by San Francisco company OpenAI, has caused a sensation for its ability to write essays, poems or programming code on demand within seconds, sparking widespread fears of cheating or of professions becoming obsolete.n <figure class=’media sm:w-1/2 w-full media–right media–embed media–uneven’>n <div class=’media__item media__item–newskitlink ‘> <iframen class="nk-iframe" onload="setInterval(()=>{try{this.style.height=this.contentWindow.document.body.scrollHeight+’px’;}catch{}}, 100)"n width="100%" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="height:400px;position:relative"n src="https://www.dawn.com/news/card/1742843"n sandbox="allow-same-origin allow-scripts allow-popups allow-modals allow-forms"></iframe></div>n n </figure>nChinese tech giants have joined the global rush to develop rival software, with e-commerce stalwarts Alibaba and JD.com also announcing similar projects.nA programme on WeChat allowing users to access a beta version of Hunyuan Aide went online this week, though there was still a waiting list on Thursday to try out the chatbot.

Tencent claims new AI chat bot skills comparable to ChatGPT

Chinese tech giant Tencent on Thursday claimed its new chatbot had some capabilities on par with top US rival ChatGPT, as the global artificial intelligence race heats up.nTencent’s “Hunyuan Aide”, which it released to the public on Thursday, follows the similar ERNIE Bot <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1773372">rolled out by fellow Chinese company Baidu last month</a>.nBeijing introduced <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1770804">fresh regulations</a> last month for AI developers, aiming to allow them to stay in the race with the likes of ChatGPT maker OpenAI and Microsoft while tightly controlling information online.nTencent on Thursday gave a live demonstration of Hunyuan Aide’s capabilities, with the bot introducing itself in response to questions typed by an employee on a laptop, and solving a simple arithmetic problem.nVice President Jiang Jie said at the livestreamed summit that the bot outperformed US-based Open AI’s earlier model GPT-3.5 and was on par with GPT-4 in identifying trick questions such as “what is the safe way to speed”.nIt even exceeded the latter when answering questions from the Chinese university entrance exam, he said.nAFP was not able to independently verify the claims.n“Compared to the open-source large language models common on the market presently, (our) method effectively reduces the hallucination rate by 30 to 50 per cent,” Jiang said, referring to the false and nonsensical content frequently churned out by AI.nTrained on more than two trillion tokens and equipped with more than 100 billion parameters — units of language and the variables connecting them — from up until July this year, Hunyuan Aide’s data set will be continuously updated, Jiang said.nHunyuan Aide has “powerful Chinese language writing ability, the ability to make logical inferences in complicated linguistic contexts, and reliable task execution ability”, Tencent, which owns the WeChat super-app, said in a statement on Thursday.nThe artificial intelligence-powered ChatGPT, created by San Francisco company OpenAI, has caused a sensation for its ability to write essays, poems or programming code on demand within seconds, sparking widespread fears of cheating or of professions becoming obsolete.n <figure class=’media sm:w-1/2 w-full media–right media–embed media–uneven’>n <div class=’media__item media__item–newskitlink ‘> <iframen class="nk-iframe" onload="setInterval(()=>{try{this.style.height=this.contentWindow.document.body.scrollHeight+’px’;}catch{}}, 100)"n width="100%" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="height:400px;position:relative"n src="https://www.dawn.com/news/card/1742843"n sandbox="allow-same-origin allow-scripts allow-popups allow-modals allow-forms"></iframe></div>n n </figure>nChinese tech giants have joined the global rush to develop rival software, with e-commerce stalwarts Alibaba and JD.com also announcing similar projects.nA programme on WeChat allowing users to access a beta version of Hunyuan Aide went online this week, though there was still a waiting list on Thursday to try out the chatbot.

&lsquo;X&rsquo; accused of helping Saudi Arabia commit rights abuses

THE social media company X, formerly known as Twitter, has been accused in a civil US lawsuit of helping Saudi Arabia commit grave human rights abuses against its users, The Guardian <a rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" class="link–external" href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/sep/04/twitter-saudi-arabia-human-rights-abuses">reported</a>.nThe report accuses the social media firm of, among other things, disclosing confidential user data at the request of Saudi authorities in July and December 2015 at a much higher rate than it has for the US, UK, or Canada.nThe lawsuit was brought last May, by Areej al-Sadhan, the sister of a Saudi aid worker who was forcibly disappeared and then later sentenced to 20 years in jail.nIt centres on the events surrounding the infiltration of the California company by three Saudi agents, two who were posing as Twitter employees in 2014 and 2015, which ultimately led to the arrest of al-Sadhan’s brother, Abdulrahman, and the exposure of the identity of thousands of anonymous Twitter users, some of whom were later reportedly detained and tortured as part of the government’s crackdown on dissent, the report said.nLawyers for Al-Sadhan updated their claim last week to include new allegations about how Twitter, under the leadership of then-chief executive Jack Dorsey, willfully ignored or had knowledge of the Saudi government’s campaign to ferret out critics but — because of financial considerations and efforts to keep close ties to the Saudi government, a top investor in the company — provided assistance to the kingdom, The Guardian reported.nThe convicted man, Muhammad al-Ghamdi, 54, is the brother of a Saudi scholar and government critic living in exile in the UK. Saudi court records examined by HRW showed that al-Ghamdi was accused of having two accounts, which had a total of 10 followers combined.nThe Saudi crackdown can be traced back to December 2014, as Ahmad Abouammo — who was later convicted in the US for secretly acting as a Saudi agent and lying to the FBI — began accessing and sending confidential user data to Saudi Arabian officials.nIn the new lawsuit, it is claimed that he sent a message to Saud al-Qahtani, a close aide to Mohammed bin Salman, via the social media company’s messaging system, saying “proactively and reactively we will delete evil, my brother”.nIt was a reference, the lawsuit claims, to the identification and harming of perceived Saudi dissidents who were using the platform. Al-Qahtani was later accused by the US of being a mastermind behind the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018.n“Twitter was either aware of this message — brazenly sent on its own platform — or was deliberately ignorant to it,” the revised lawsuit states.nAfter Abouammo resigned in May 2015, he continued to contact Twitter to field requests he was receiving for the identity of confidential users. He made clear to the company, the lawsuit alleges, that the requests were on behalf of his “old partners in the Saudi government”.nThe lawsuit also alleges that Twitter had “ample notice” of security risks to internal personal data, and that there was a threat of insiders illegally accessing it, based on public reporting at the time.nTwitter “did not simply ignore all these red flags … it was aware of the malign campaign”, the lawsuit claims.nPublished in Dawn, September 5th, 2023

September 5, 2023

TikTok to help Pakistani creators understand its guidelines

KARACHI: The video-sharing app TikTok will host a series of workshops across Pakistan under an initiative launched on Friday to help creators better understand its community guidelines, the company said in a statement.nIt said that as part of its ongoing commitment to the safety and well-being of its community, this campaign underscored TikTok’s efforts to foster a safe and vibrant environment for its users while encouraging responsible content creation practices and cultivating a safer digital space.nTikTok said its community guidelines served as a comprehensive framework that outlined the rules and standards governing the platform’s usage.nThese guidelines were also designed to adapt to emerging trends and potential hazards, enabling the platform to effectively mitigate risks associated with evolving online behaviours, it said.nThe most recent updates, effective since April 21 of this year, were refreshed in consultation with over 100 organisations across the globe and members of the TikTok community.nThe app is also partnering with some of Pakistan’s most popular content creators, who will create content and help drive awareness of the platform’s community guidelines.nPublished in Dawn, September 2nd, 2023

September 2, 2023

Nasa spots new crater on Moon

WASHINGTON: Nasa has spotted a small new crater on the Moon that was likely caused by a Russian probe crash landing on the surface around two weeks ago.nThe finding was made by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) by comparing before and after images of the estimated impact point, provided by Russian space agency Roscosmos.n <figure class=’media sm:w-1/2 w-full media–right media–embed media–uneven’>n <div class=’media__item media__item–newskitlink ‘> <iframen class="nk-iframe" onload="setInterval(()=>{try{this.style.height=this.contentWindow.document.body.scrollHeight+’px’;}catch{}}, 100)"n width="100%" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="height:400px;position:relative"n src="https://www.dawn.com/news/card/1771215"n sandbox="allow-same-origin allow-scripts allow-popups allow-modals allow-forms"></iframe></div>n n </figure>nThe Luna-25 probe <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1771215#:~:text=Russia’s%20first%20lunar%20mission%20in%2047%20years%20smashes%20into%20the%20moon%20in%20failure,-Reuters%20Published%20August&text=Russia’s%20first%20moon%20mission%20in,a%20once%20mighty%20space%20programme.">crashed</a> on Aug 19.nLRO, which has been in orbit over the Moon since 2009, took its most recent “before” image in June 2022.nThis was compared to an image taken on Aug 24, 2023.n“Since this new crater is close to the Luna 25 estimated impact point, the LRO team concludes it is likely to be from that mission, rather than a natural impactor,” a Nasa statement said.nPublished in Dawn, September 2nd, 2023

Nasa spots new crater on Moon

WASHINGTON: Nasa has spotted a small new crater on the Moon that was likely caused by a Russian probe crash landing on the surface around two weeks ago.nThe finding was made by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) by comparing before and after images of the estimated impact point, provided by Russian space agency Roscosmos.n <figure class=’media sm:w-1/2 w-full media–right media–embed media–uneven’>n <div class=’media__item media__item–newskitlink ‘> <iframen class="nk-iframe" onload="setInterval(()=>{try{this.style.height=this.contentWindow.document.body.scrollHeight+’px’;}catch{}}, 100)"n width="100%" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="height:400px;position:relative"n src="https://www.dawn.com/news/card/1771215"n sandbox="allow-same-origin allow-scripts allow-popups allow-modals allow-forms"></iframe></div>n n </figure>nThe Luna-25 probe <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1771215#:~:text=Russia’s%20first%20lunar%20mission%20in%2047%20years%20smashes%20into%20the%20moon%20in%20failure,-Reuters%20Published%20August&text=Russia’s%20first%20moon%20mission%20in,a%20once%20mighty%20space%20programme.">crashed</a> on Aug 19.nLRO, which has been in orbit over the Moon since 2009, took its most recent “before” image in June 2022.nThis was compared to an image taken on Aug 24, 2023.n“Since this new crater is close to the Luna 25 estimated impact point, the LRO team concludes it is likely to be from that mission, rather than a natural impactor,” a Nasa statement said.nPublished in Dawn, September 2nd, 2023

Nasa spots new crater on Moon

WASHINGTON: Nasa has spotted a small new crater on the Moon that was likely caused by a Russian probe crash landing on the surface around two weeks ago.nThe finding was made by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) by comparing before and after images of the estimated impact point, provided by Russian space agency Roscosmos.n <figure class=’media sm:w-1/2 w-full media–right media–embed media–uneven’>n <div class=’media__item media__item–newskitlink ‘> <iframen class="nk-iframe" onload="setInterval(()=>{try{this.style.height=this.contentWindow.document.body.scrollHeight+’px’;}catch{}}, 100)"n width="100%" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="height:400px;position:relative"n src="https://www.dawn.com/news/card/1771215"n sandbox="allow-same-origin allow-scripts allow-popups allow-modals allow-forms"></iframe></div>n n </figure>nThe Luna-25 probe <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1771215#:~:text=Russia’s%20first%20lunar%20mission%20in%2047%20years%20smashes%20into%20the%20moon%20in%20failure,-Reuters%20Published%20August&text=Russia’s%20first%20moon%20mission%20in,a%20once%20mighty%20space%20programme.">crashed</a> on Aug 19.nLRO, which has been in orbit over the Moon since 2009, took its most recent “before” image in June 2022.nThis was compared to an image taken on Aug 24, 2023.n“Since this new crater is close to the Luna 25 estimated impact point, the LRO team concludes it is likely to be from that mission, rather than a natural impactor,” a Nasa statement said.nPublished in Dawn, September 2nd, 2023

After the moon, India launches rocket to study the sun

Following the success of India’s moon landing, the country’s space agency launched a rocket on Saturday to study the sun in its first solar mission.nThe rocket left a trail of smoke and fire as scientists clapped, a live broadcast on the Indian Space Research Organisation’s (ISRO) website showed.n <figure class=’media w-full w-full media–stretch media–embed media–uneven’>n <div class=’media__item media__item–twitter ‘>n <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en">n <a href="https://twitter.com/ANI/status/1697857372495233078"></a>n </blockquote>n</div>n n </figure>nThe broadcast was watched by nearly 500,000 viewers, while thousands gathered at a viewing gallery near the launch site to see the lift-off of the probe, which will aim to study solar winds, which can cause disturbance on Earth commonly seen as auroras.nNamed after the Hindi word for the sun, the Aditya-L1 launch follows India beating Russia late last month to become the first country to land on the south pole of the moon.n <figure class=’media sm:w-1/2 w-full media–right media–embed media–uneven’>n <div class=’media__item media__item–newskitlink ‘> <iframen class="nk-iframe" onload="setInterval(()=>{try{this.style.height=this.contentWindow.document.body.scrollHeight+’px’;}catch{}}, 100)"n width="100%" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="height:400px;position:relative"n src="https://www.dawn.com/news/card/1771717"n sandbox="allow-same-origin allow-scripts allow-popups allow-modals allow-forms"></iframe></div>n n </figure>nWhile Russia had a more powerful rocket, India’s Chandrayaan-3 out-endured the Luna-25 to execute a textbook landing.nThe Aditya-L1 spacecraft is designed to travel about 1.5 million km (930,000 miles) over four months to a kind of parking lot in space where objects tend to stay put because of balancing gravitational forces, reducing fuel consumption for the spacecraft.nThose positions are called Lagrange Points, named after Italian-French mathematician Joseph-Louis Lagrange.nThe mission has the capacity to make a “big bang in terms of science,” said Somak Raychaudhury, who was involved in the development of some components of the observatory, adding that energy particles emitted by the sun can hit satellites that control communications on Earth.n“There have been episodes when major communications have gone down because a satellite has been hit by a big corona emission. Satellites in low earth orbit are the main focus of global private players, which makes the Aditya L1 mission a very important project,” he said.nScientists hope to learn more about the effect of solar radiation on the thousands of satellites in orbit, a number growing with the success of ventures like the Starlink communications network of Elon Musk’s SpaceX.n“The low earth orbit has been heavily polluted due to private participation, so understanding how to safeguard satellites there will have special importance in today’s space environment,” said Rama Rao Nidamanuri, head of the Department of Earth and Space Sciences at the Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology.nLonger term, data from the mission could help better understand the sun’s impact on Earth’s climate patterns and the origins of solar wind, the stream of particles that flow from the sun through the solar system, ISRO scientists have said.nPushed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, India has <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1767083">privatised space launches</a> and is looking to open the sector to foreign investment as it targets a five-fold increase in its share of the global launch market within the next decade.nAs space turns into a global business, the country is also banking on the success of ISRO to showcase its prowess in the sector.

Nasa spots new crater on Moon

WASHINGTON: Nasa has spotted a small new crater on the Moon that was likely caused by a Russian probe crash landing on the surface around two weeks ago.nThe finding was made by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) by comparing before and after images of the estimated impact point, provided by Russian space agency Roscosmos.n <figure class=’media sm:w-1/2 w-full media–right media–embed media–uneven’>n <div class=’media__item media__item–newskitlink ‘> <iframen class="nk-iframe" onload="setInterval(()=>{try{this.style.height=this.contentWindow.document.body.scrollHeight+’px’;}catch{}}, 100)"n width="100%" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="height:400px;position:relative"n src="https://www.dawn.com/news/card/1771215"n sandbox="allow-same-origin allow-scripts allow-popups allow-modals allow-forms"></iframe></div>n n </figure>nThe Luna-25 probe <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1771215#:~:text=Russia’s%20first%20lunar%20mission%20in%2047%20years%20smashes%20into%20the%20moon%20in%20failure,-Reuters%20Published%20August&text=Russia’s%20first%20moon%20mission%20in,a%20once%20mighty%20space%20programme.">crashed</a> on Aug 19.nLRO, which has been in orbit over the Moon since 2009, took its most recent “before” image in June 2022.nThis was compared to an image taken on Aug 24, 2023.n“Since this new crater is close to the Luna 25 estimated impact point, the LRO team concludes it is likely to be from that mission, rather than a natural impactor,” a Nasa statement said.nPublished in Dawn, September 2nd, 2023

After the moon, India launches rocket to study the sun

Following the success of India’s moon landing, the country’s space agency launched a rocket on Saturday to study the sun in its first solar mission.nThe rocket left a trail of smoke and fire as scientists clapped, a live broadcast on the Indian Space Research Organisation’s (ISRO) website showed.n <figure class=’media w-full w-full media–stretch media–embed media–uneven’>n <div class=’media__item media__item–twitter ‘>n <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en">n <a href="https://twitter.com/ANI/status/1697857372495233078"></a>n </blockquote>n</div>n n </figure>nThe broadcast was watched by nearly 500,000 viewers, while thousands gathered at a viewing gallery near the launch site to see the lift-off of the probe, which will aim to study solar winds, which can cause disturbance on Earth commonly seen as auroras.nNamed after the Hindi word for the sun, the Aditya-L1 launch follows India beating Russia late last month to become the first country to land on the south pole of the moon.n <figure class=’media sm:w-1/2 w-full media–right media–embed media–uneven’>n <div class=’media__item media__item–newskitlink ‘> <iframen class="nk-iframe" onload="setInterval(()=>{try{this.style.height=this.contentWindow.document.body.scrollHeight+’px’;}catch{}}, 100)"n width="100%" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="height:400px;position:relative"n src="https://www.dawn.com/news/card/1771717"n sandbox="allow-same-origin allow-scripts allow-popups allow-modals allow-forms"></iframe></div>n n </figure>nWhile Russia had a more powerful rocket, India’s Chandrayaan-3 out-endured the Luna-25 to execute a textbook landing.nThe Aditya-L1 spacecraft is designed to travel about 1.5 million km (930,000 miles) over four months to a kind of parking lot in space where objects tend to stay put because of balancing gravitational forces, reducing fuel consumption for the spacecraft.nThose positions are called Lagrange Points, named after Italian-French mathematician Joseph-Louis Lagrange.nThe mission has the capacity to make a “big bang in terms of science,” said Somak Raychaudhury, who was involved in the development of some components of the observatory, adding that energy particles emitted by the sun can hit satellites that control communications on Earth.n“There have been episodes when major communications have gone down because a satellite has been hit by a big corona emission. Satellites in low earth orbit are the main focus of global private players, which makes the Aditya L1 mission a very important project,” he said.nScientists hope to learn more about the effect of solar radiation on the thousands of satellites in orbit, a number growing with the success of ventures like the Starlink communications network of Elon Musk’s SpaceX.n“The low earth orbit has been heavily polluted due to private participation, so understanding how to safeguard satellites there will have special importance in today’s space environment,” said Rama Rao Nidamanuri, head of the Department of Earth and Space Sciences at the Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology.nLonger term, data from the mission could help better understand the sun’s impact on Earth’s climate patterns and the origins of solar wind, the stream of particles that flow from the sun through the solar system, ISRO scientists have said.nPushed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, India has <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1767083">privatised space launches</a> and is looking to open the sector to foreign investment as it targets a five-fold increase in its share of the global launch market within the next decade.nAs space turns into a global business, the country is also banking on the success of ISRO to showcase its prowess in the sector.

After the moon, India launches rocket to study the sun

Following the success of India’s moon landing, the country’s space agency launched a rocket on Saturday to study the sun in its first solar mission.nThe rocket left a trail of smoke and fire as scientists clapped, a live broadcast on the Indian Space Research Organisation’s (ISRO) website showed.n <figure class=’media w-full w-full media–stretch media–embed media–uneven’>n <div class=’media__item media__item–twitter ‘>n <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en">n <a href="https://twitter.com/ANI/status/1697857372495233078"></a>n </blockquote>n</div>n n </figure>nThe broadcast was watched by nearly 500,000 viewers, while thousands gathered at a viewing gallery near the launch site to see the lift-off of the probe, which will aim to study solar winds, which can cause disturbance on Earth commonly seen as auroras.nNamed after the Hindi word for the sun, the Aditya-L1 launch follows India beating Russia late last month to become the first country to land on the south pole of the moon.n <figure class=’media sm:w-1/2 w-full media–right media–embed media–uneven’>n <div class=’media__item media__item–newskitlink ‘> <iframen class="nk-iframe" onload="setInterval(()=>{try{this.style.height=this.contentWindow.document.body.scrollHeight+’px’;}catch{}}, 100)"n width="100%" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="height:400px;position:relative"n src="https://www.dawn.com/news/card/1771717"n sandbox="allow-same-origin allow-scripts allow-popups allow-modals allow-forms"></iframe></div>n n </figure>nWhile Russia had a more powerful rocket, India’s Chandrayaan-3 out-endured the Luna-25 to execute a textbook landing.nThe Aditya-L1 spacecraft is designed to travel about 1.5 million km (930,000 miles) over four months to a kind of parking lot in space where objects tend to stay put because of balancing gravitational forces, reducing fuel consumption for the spacecraft.nThose positions are called Lagrange Points, named after Italian-French mathematician Joseph-Louis Lagrange.nThe mission has the capacity to make a “big bang in terms of science,” said Somak Raychaudhury, who was involved in the development of some components of the observatory, adding that energy particles emitted by the sun can hit satellites that control communications on Earth.n“There have been episodes when major communications have gone down because a satellite has been hit by a big corona emission. Satellites in low earth orbit are the main focus of global private players, which makes the Aditya L1 mission a very important project,” he said.nScientists hope to learn more about the effect of solar radiation on the thousands of satellites in orbit, a number growing with the success of ventures like the Starlink communications network of Elon Musk’s SpaceX.n“The low earth orbit has been heavily polluted due to private participation, so understanding how to safeguard satellites there will have special importance in today’s space environment,” said Rama Rao Nidamanuri, head of the Department of Earth and Space Sciences at the Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology.nLonger term, data from the mission could help better understand the sun’s impact on Earth’s climate patterns and the origins of solar wind, the stream of particles that flow from the sun through the solar system, ISRO scientists have said.nPushed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, India has <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1767083">privatised space launches</a> and is looking to open the sector to foreign investment as it targets a five-fold increase in its share of the global launch market within the next decade.nAs space turns into a global business, the country is also banking on the success of ISRO to showcase its prowess in the sector.

After the moon, India launches rocket to study the sun

Following the success of India’s moon landing, the country’s space agency launched a rocket on Saturday to study the sun in its first solar mission.nThe rocket left a trail of smoke and fire as scientists clapped, a live broadcast on the Indian Space Research Organisation’s (ISRO) website showed.n <figure class=’media w-full w-full media–stretch media–embed media–uneven’>n <div class=’media__item media__item–twitter ‘>n <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en">n <a href="https://twitter.com/ANI/status/1697857372495233078"></a>n </blockquote>n</div>n n </figure>nThe broadcast was watched by nearly 500,000 viewers, while thousands gathered at a viewing gallery near the launch site to see the lift-off of the probe, which will aim to study solar winds, which can cause disturbance on Earth commonly seen as auroras.nNamed after the Hindi word for the sun, the Aditya-L1 launch follows India beating Russia late last month to become the first country to land on the south pole of the moon.n <figure class=’media sm:w-1/2 w-full media–right media–embed media–uneven’>n <div class=’media__item media__item–newskitlink ‘> <iframen class="nk-iframe" onload="setInterval(()=>{try{this.style.height=this.contentWindow.document.body.scrollHeight+’px’;}catch{}}, 100)"n width="100%" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="height:400px;position:relative"n src="https://www.dawn.com/news/card/1771717"n sandbox="allow-same-origin allow-scripts allow-popups allow-modals allow-forms"></iframe></div>n n </figure>nWhile Russia had a more powerful rocket, India’s Chandrayaan-3 out-endured the Luna-25 to execute a textbook landing.nThe Aditya-L1 spacecraft is designed to travel about 1.5 million km (930,000 miles) over four months to a kind of parking lot in space where objects tend to stay put because of balancing gravitational forces, reducing fuel consumption for the spacecraft.nThose positions are called Lagrange Points, named after Italian-French mathematician Joseph-Louis Lagrange.nThe mission has the capacity to make a “big bang in terms of science,” said Somak Raychaudhury, who was involved in the development of some components of the observatory, adding that energy particles emitted by the sun can hit satellites that control communications on Earth.n“There have been episodes when major communications have gone down because a satellite has been hit by a big corona emission. Satellites in low earth orbit are the main focus of global private players, which makes the Aditya L1 mission a very important project,” he said.nScientists hope to learn more about the effect of solar radiation on the thousands of satellites in orbit, a number growing with the success of ventures like the Starlink communications network of Elon Musk’s SpaceX.n“The low earth orbit has been heavily polluted due to private participation, so understanding how to safeguard satellites there will have special importance in today’s space environment,” said Rama Rao Nidamanuri, head of the Department of Earth and Space Sciences at the Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology.nLonger term, data from the mission could help better understand the sun’s impact on Earth’s climate patterns and the origins of solar wind, the stream of particles that flow from the sun through the solar system, ISRO scientists have said.nPushed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, India has <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1767083">privatised space launches</a> and is looking to open the sector to foreign investment as it targets a five-fold increase in its share of the global launch market within the next decade.nAs space turns into a global business, the country is also banking on the success of ISRO to showcase its prowess in the sector.

Social media platform X to offer video, audio calls: Musk

The social media platform X will begin offering video and audio calling, owner Elon Musk announced on Thursday, a step towards turning the former Twitter into an “everything app”.n“Video & audio calls coming to X,” Musk wrote in a post on the platform, without specifying when the new features would be available.n <figure class=’media w-full w-full media–stretch media–embed media–uneven’>n <div class=’media__item media__item–twitter ‘>n <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en">n <a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1697145283472244974"></a>n </blockquote>n</div>n n </figure>nThe calling features would work on iOS, Android, Mac and PC systems, and no phone number would be needed, he said.n“X is the effective global address book,” the billionaire added. “That set of factors is unique.”nLast month, Musk and his newly hired chief executive Linda Yaccarino announced the <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1766566">rebranding of Twitter as X</a>, saying it would become an “everything app” inspired by China’s WeChat that would allow users to socialize as well as handle their finances.nX’s payment branch Twitter Payments LLC was granted a “crucial” currency transmitter license from the US state of Rhode Island on Monday, allowing it to “engage in cryptocurrency-related activities” such as exchanges, wallets and payment processors, the crypto website CoinWire <a rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" class="link–external" href="https://coinwire.com/x-former-twitter-gains-license-for-crypto-services/">reported</a> this week.nThe license allows X to “securely store, transfer, and facilitate the exchange of digital assets on behalf of its users,” according to CoinWire.n <figure class=’media sm:w-1/2 w-full media–right media–embed media–uneven’>n <div class=’media__item media__item–newskitlink ‘> <iframen class="nk-iframe" onload="setInterval(()=>{try{this.style.height=this.contentWindow.document.body.scrollHeight+’px’;}catch{}}, 100)"n width="100%" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="height:400px;position:relative"n src="https://www.dawn.com/news/card/1686851"n sandbox="allow-same-origin allow-scripts allow-popups allow-modals allow-forms"></iframe></div>n n </figure>nSince Musk bought Twitter last October, the platform’s advertising business has collapsed as marketers soured on his management style and mass firings that gutted content moderation.nIn response, the tycoon has moved towards building a subscriber base and pay model in a search for new revenue.nMany users and advertisers alike have responded adversely to the site’s new charges for previously free services, as well as its changes to content moderation and the return of previously banned far-right accounts.nMusk also killed off the Twitter logo, replacing its globally recognized blue bird with a white X.

August 31, 2023

Social media platform X to offer video, audio calls: Musk

The social media platform X will begin offering video and audio calling, owner Elon Musk announced on Thursday, a step towards turning the former Twitter into an “everything app”.n“Video & audio calls coming to X,” Musk wrote in a post on the platform, without specifying when the new features would be available.n <figure class=’media w-full w-full media–stretch media–embed media–uneven’>n <div class=’media__item media__item–twitter ‘>n <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en">n <a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1697145283472244974"></a>n </blockquote>n</div>n n </figure>nThe calling features would work on iOS, Android, Mac and PC systems, and no phone number would be needed, he said.n“X is the effective global address book,” the billionaire added. “That set of factors is unique.”nLast month, Musk and his newly hired chief executive Linda Yaccarino announced the <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1766566">rebranding of Twitter as X</a>, saying it would become an “everything app” inspired by China’s WeChat that would allow users to socialize as well as handle their finances.nX’s payment branch Twitter Payments LLC was granted a “crucial” currency transmitter license from the US state of Rhode Island on Monday, allowing it to “engage in cryptocurrency-related activities” such as exchanges, wallets and payment processors, the crypto website CoinWire <a rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" class="link–external" href="https://coinwire.com/x-former-twitter-gains-license-for-crypto-services/">reported</a> this week.nThe license allows X to “securely store, transfer, and facilitate the exchange of digital assets on behalf of its users,” according to CoinWire.n <figure class=’media sm:w-1/2 w-full media–right media–embed media–uneven’>n <div class=’media__item media__item–newskitlink ‘> <iframen class="nk-iframe" onload="setInterval(()=>{try{this.style.height=this.contentWindow.document.body.scrollHeight+’px’;}catch{}}, 100)"n width="100%" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="height:400px;position:relative"n src="https://www.dawn.com/news/card/1686851"n sandbox="allow-same-origin allow-scripts allow-popups allow-modals allow-forms"></iframe></div>n n </figure>nSince Musk bought Twitter last October, the platform’s advertising business has collapsed as marketers soured on his management style and mass firings that gutted content moderation.nIn response, the tycoon has moved towards building a subscriber base and pay model in a search for new revenue.nMany users and advertisers alike have responded adversely to the site’s new charges for previously free services, as well as its changes to content moderation and the return of previously banned far-right accounts.nMusk also killed off the Twitter logo, replacing its globally recognized blue bird with a white X.

Social media platform X to offer video, audio calls: Musk

The social media platform X will begin offering video and audio calling, owner Elon Musk announced on Thursday, a step towards turning the former Twitter into an “everything app”.n“Video & audio calls coming to X,” Musk wrote in a post on the platform, without specifying when the new features would be available.n <figure class=’media w-full w-full media–stretch media–embed media–uneven’>n <div class=’media__item media__item–twitter ‘>n <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en">n <a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1697145283472244974"></a>n </blockquote>n</div>n n </figure>nThe calling features would work on iOS, Android, Mac and PC systems, and no phone number would be needed, he said.n“X is the effective global address book,” the billionaire added. “That set of factors is unique.”nLast month, Musk and his newly hired chief executive Linda Yaccarino announced the <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1766566">rebranding of Twitter as X</a>, saying it would become an “everything app” inspired by China’s WeChat that would allow users to socialize as well as handle their finances.nX’s payment branch Twitter Payments LLC was granted a “crucial” currency transmitter license from the US state of Rhode Island on Monday, allowing it to “engage in cryptocurrency-related activities” such as exchanges, wallets and payment processors, the crypto website CoinWire <a rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" class="link–external" href="https://coinwire.com/x-former-twitter-gains-license-for-crypto-services/">reported</a> this week.nThe license allows X to “securely store, transfer, and facilitate the exchange of digital assets on behalf of its users,” according to CoinWire.n <figure class=’media sm:w-1/2 w-full media–right media–embed media–uneven’>n <div class=’media__item media__item–newskitlink ‘> <iframen class="nk-iframe" onload="setInterval(()=>{try{this.style.height=this.contentWindow.document.body.scrollHeight+’px’;}catch{}}, 100)"n width="100%" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="height:400px;position:relative"n src="https://www.dawn.com/news/card/1686851"n sandbox="allow-same-origin allow-scripts allow-popups allow-modals allow-forms"></iframe></div>n n </figure>nSince Musk bought Twitter last October, the platform’s advertising business has collapsed as marketers soured on his management style and mass firings that gutted content moderation.nIn response, the tycoon has moved towards building a subscriber base and pay model in a search for new revenue.nMany users and advertisers alike have responded adversely to the site’s new charges for previously free services, as well as its changes to content moderation and the return of previously banned far-right accounts.nMusk also killed off the Twitter logo, replacing its globally recognized blue bird with a white X.

Social media platform X to offer video, audio calls: Musk

The social media platform X will begin offering video and audio calling, owner Elon Musk announced on Thursday, a step towards turning the former Twitter into an “everything app”.n“Video & audio calls coming to X,” Musk wrote in a post on the platform, without specifying when the new features would be available.n <figure class=’media w-full w-full media–stretch media–embed media–uneven’>n <div class=’media__item media__item–twitter ‘>n <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en">n <a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1697145283472244974"></a>n </blockquote>n</div>n n </figure>nThe calling features would work on iOS, Android, Mac and PC systems, and no phone number would be needed, he said.n“X is the effective global address book,” the billionaire added. “That set of factors is unique.”nLast month, Musk and his newly hired chief executive Linda Yaccarino announced the <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1766566">rebranding of Twitter as X</a>, saying it would become an “everything app” inspired by China’s WeChat that would allow users to socialize as well as handle their finances.nX’s payment branch Twitter Payments LLC was granted a “crucial” currency transmitter license from the US state of Rhode Island on Monday, allowing it to “engage in cryptocurrency-related activities” such as exchanges, wallets and payment processors, the crypto website CoinWire <a rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" class="link–external" href="https://coinwire.com/x-former-twitter-gains-license-for-crypto-services/">reported</a> this week.nThe license allows X to “securely store, transfer, and facilitate the exchange of digital assets on behalf of its users,” according to CoinWire.n <figure class=’media sm:w-1/2 w-full media–right media–embed media–uneven’>n <div class=’media__item media__item–newskitlink ‘> <iframen class="nk-iframe" onload="setInterval(()=>{try{this.style.height=this.contentWindow.document.body.scrollHeight+’px’;}catch{}}, 100)"n width="100%" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="height:400px;position:relative"n src="https://www.dawn.com/news/card/1686851"n sandbox="allow-same-origin allow-scripts allow-popups allow-modals allow-forms"></iframe></div>n n </figure>nSince Musk bought Twitter last October, the platform’s advertising business has collapsed as marketers soured on his management style and mass firings that gutted content moderation.nIn response, the tycoon has moved towards building a subscriber base and pay model in a search for new revenue.nMany users and advertisers alike have responded adversely to the site’s new charges for previously free services, as well as its changes to content moderation and the return of previously banned far-right accounts.nMusk also killed off the Twitter logo, replacing its globally recognized blue bird with a white X.

Indian rover confirms sulphur on Moon&rsquo;s south pole

India’s Moon rover has confirmed the presence of sulphur on the lunar south pole, the country’s space agency said.nLast week, India <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1771717">became the first country</a> to land a craft near the largely unexplored south pole, and just the fourth nation to land on the Moon.n“The Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS) instrument onboard Chandrayaan-3 Rover has made the first-ever in-situ measurements on the elemental composition of the lunar surface near the south pole,” the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) said in a statement dated Monday.n“These in-situ measurements confirm the presence of sulphur in the region unambiguously, something that was not feasible by the instruments onboard the orbiters,” it said.n <figure class=’media sm:w-1/2 w-full media–right media–embed media–uneven’>n <div class=’media__item media__item–newskitlink ‘> <iframen class="nk-iframe" onload="setInterval(()=>{try{this.style.height=this.contentWindow.document.body.scrollHeight+’px’;}catch{}}, 100)"n width="100%" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="height:400px;position:relative"n src="https://www.dawn.com/news/card/1772700"n sandbox="allow-same-origin allow-scripts allow-popups allow-modals allow-forms"></iframe></div>n n </figure>nThe spectrographic analysis also confirmed the presence of aluminium, calcium, iron, chromium and titanium on the lunar surface, ISRO added, with additional measurements showing the presence of manganese, silicon and oxygen.nThe six-wheeled solar-powered rover Pragyan — “Wisdom” in Sanskrit — will amble around the relatively unmapped south pole and transmit images and scientific data over its two-week lifespan.nIndia has been steadily matching the achievements of other space programmes at a fraction of their cost, despite suffering some setbacks.nFour years ago, the previous Indian lunar mission failed during its final descent, in what was seen at the time as a huge setback for the programme.nChandrayaan-3 has captivated public attention since launching nearly six weeks ago in front of thousands of cheering spectators, and its successful touchdown on the Moon last week came just days after a Russian lander <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1771215">crashed in the same region</a>.nIn 2014, India became the first Asian nation to put a craft into orbit around Mars and plans to send a probe towards the sun in September.nISRO is slated to launch a three-day crewed mission into Earth’s orbit by next year.nIt also plans a joint mission with Japan to send another probe to the Moon by 2025 and an orbital mission to Venus within the next two years.

August 30, 2023

Indian rover confirms sulphur on Moon&rsquo;s south pole

India’s Moon rover has confirmed the presence of sulphur on the lunar south pole, the country’s space agency said.nLast week, India <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1771717">became the first country</a> to land a craft near the largely unexplored south pole, and just the fourth nation to land on the Moon.n“The Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS) instrument onboard Chandrayaan-3 Rover has made the first-ever in-situ measurements on the elemental composition of the lunar surface near the south pole,” the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) said in a statement dated Monday.n“These in-situ measurements confirm the presence of sulphur in the region unambiguously, something that was not feasible by the instruments onboard the orbiters,” it said.n <figure class=’media sm:w-1/2 w-full media–right media–embed media–uneven’>n <div class=’media__item media__item–newskitlink ‘> <iframen class="nk-iframe" onload="setInterval(()=>{try{this.style.height=this.contentWindow.document.body.scrollHeight+’px’;}catch{}}, 100)"n width="100%" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="height:400px;position:relative"n src="https://www.dawn.com/news/card/1772700"n sandbox="allow-same-origin allow-scripts allow-popups allow-modals allow-forms"></iframe></div>n n </figure>nThe spectrographic analysis also confirmed the presence of aluminium, calcium, iron, chromium and titanium on the lunar surface, ISRO added, with additional measurements showing the presence of manganese, silicon and oxygen.nThe six-wheeled solar-powered rover Pragyan — “Wisdom” in Sanskrit — will amble around the relatively unmapped south pole and transmit images and scientific data over its two-week lifespan.nIndia has been steadily matching the achievements of other space programmes at a fraction of their cost, despite suffering some setbacks.nFour years ago, the previous Indian lunar mission failed during its final descent, in what was seen at the time as a huge setback for the programme.nChandrayaan-3 has captivated public attention since launching nearly six weeks ago in front of thousands of cheering spectators, and its successful touchdown on the Moon last week came just days after a Russian lander <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1771215">crashed in the same region</a>.nIn 2014, India became the first Asian nation to put a craft into orbit around Mars and plans to send a probe towards the sun in September.nISRO is slated to launch a three-day crewed mission into Earth’s orbit by next year.nIt also plans a joint mission with Japan to send another probe to the Moon by 2025 and an orbital mission to Venus within the next two years.

Indian rover confirms sulphur on Moon&rsquo;s south pole

India’s Moon rover has confirmed the presence of sulphur on the lunar south pole, the country’s space agency said.nLast week, India <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1771717">became the first country</a> to land a craft near the largely unexplored south pole, and just the fourth nation to land on the Moon.n“The Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS) instrument onboard Chandrayaan-3 Rover has made the first-ever in-situ measurements on the elemental composition of the lunar surface near the south pole,” the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) said in a statement dated Monday.n“These in-situ measurements confirm the presence of sulphur in the region unambiguously, something that was not feasible by the instruments onboard the orbiters,” it said.n <figure class=’media sm:w-1/2 w-full media–right media–embed media–uneven’>n <div class=’media__item media__item–newskitlink ‘> <iframen class="nk-iframe" onload="setInterval(()=>{try{this.style.height=this.contentWindow.document.body.scrollHeight+’px’;}catch{}}, 100)"n width="100%" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="height:400px;position:relative"n src="https://www.dawn.com/news/card/1772700"n sandbox="allow-same-origin allow-scripts allow-popups allow-modals allow-forms"></iframe></div>n n </figure>nThe spectrographic analysis also confirmed the presence of aluminium, calcium, iron, chromium and titanium on the lunar surface, ISRO added, with additional measurements showing the presence of manganese, silicon and oxygen.nThe six-wheeled solar-powered rover Pragyan — “Wisdom” in Sanskrit — will amble around the relatively unmapped south pole and transmit images and scientific data over its two-week lifespan.nIndia has been steadily matching the achievements of other space programmes at a fraction of their cost, despite suffering some setbacks.nFour years ago, the previous Indian lunar mission failed during its final descent, in what was seen at the time as a huge setback for the programme.nChandrayaan-3 has captivated public attention since launching nearly six weeks ago in front of thousands of cheering spectators, and its successful touchdown on the Moon last week came just days after a Russian lander <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1771215">crashed in the same region</a>.nIn 2014, India became the first Asian nation to put a craft into orbit around Mars and plans to send a probe towards the sun in September.nISRO is slated to launch a three-day crewed mission into Earth’s orbit by next year.nIt also plans a joint mission with Japan to send another probe to the Moon by 2025 and an orbital mission to Venus within the next two years.

Indian rover confirms sulphur on Moon&rsquo;s south pole

India’s Moon rover has confirmed the presence of sulphur on the lunar south pole, the country’s space agency said.nLast week, India <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1771717">became the first country</a> to land a craft near the largely unexplored south pole, and just the fourth nation to land on the Moon.n“The Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS) instrument onboard Chandrayaan-3 Rover has made the first-ever in-situ measurements on the elemental composition of the lunar surface near the south pole,” the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) said in a statement dated Monday.n“These in-situ measurements confirm the presence of sulphur in the region unambiguously, something that was not feasible by the instruments onboard the orbiters,” it said.n <figure class=’media sm:w-1/2 w-full media–right media–embed media–uneven’>n <div class=’media__item media__item–newskitlink ‘> <iframen class="nk-iframe" onload="setInterval(()=>{try{this.style.height=this.contentWindow.document.body.scrollHeight+’px’;}catch{}}, 100)"n width="100%" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="height:400px;position:relative"n src="https://www.dawn.com/news/card/1772700"n sandbox="allow-same-origin allow-scripts allow-popups allow-modals allow-forms"></iframe></div>n n </figure>nThe spectrographic analysis also confirmed the presence of aluminium, calcium, iron, chromium and titanium on the lunar surface, ISRO added, with additional measurements showing the presence of manganese, silicon and oxygen.nThe six-wheeled solar-powered rover Pragyan — “Wisdom” in Sanskrit — will amble around the relatively unmapped south pole and transmit images and scientific data over its two-week lifespan.nIndia has been steadily matching the achievements of other space programmes at a fraction of their cost, despite suffering some setbacks.nFour years ago, the previous Indian lunar mission failed during its final descent, in what was seen at the time as a huge setback for the programme.nChandrayaan-3 has captivated public attention since launching nearly six weeks ago in front of thousands of cheering spectators, and its successful touchdown on the Moon last week came just days after a Russian lander <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1771215">crashed in the same region</a>.nIn 2014, India became the first Asian nation to put a craft into orbit around Mars and plans to send a probe towards the sun in September.nISRO is slated to launch a three-day crewed mission into Earth’s orbit by next year.nIt also plans a joint mission with Japan to send another probe to the Moon by 2025 and an orbital mission to Venus within the next two years.

After Moon landing, India eyes the Sun

Days after becoming the first nation to land a craft near the Moon’s largely unexplored south pole, India’s space agency said on Monday it will launch a satellite to survey the Sun.n“The launch of Aditya-L1, the first space-based Indian observatory to study the Sun, is scheduled for September 2,” the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) said on X, formerly known as Twitter.n <figure class=’media w-full w-full media–stretch media–embed media–uneven’>n <div class=’media__item media__item–twitter ‘>n <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en">n <a href="https://twitter.com/isro/status/1696097793616793910"></a>n </blockquote>n</div>n n </figure>nAditya, meaning “sun” in Hindi, will be fired into a halo orbit in a region of space about 1.5 million kilometres (930,000 miles) from Earth, providing the craft with a continuous clear view of the Sun.n“This will provide a greater advantage of observing the solar activities and its effect on space weather in real-time,” ISRO said.nThe spacecraft will be carrying seven payloads to observe the Sun’s outermost layers — known as the photosphere and chromosphere — including by using electromagnetic and particle field detectors.nAmong several objectives, it will study the drivers for space weather, including to better understand the dynamics of solar wind.nWhile Nasa and the European Space Agency (ESA) have previously placed orbiters to study the Sun, it will be the first such mission for India.n <figure class=’media sm:w-1/2 w-full media–right media–embed media–uneven’>n <div class=’media__item media__item–newskitlink ‘> <iframen class="nk-iframe" onload="setInterval(()=>{try{this.style.height=this.contentWindow.document.body.scrollHeight+’px’;}catch{}}, 100)"n width="100%" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="height:400px;position:relative"n src="https://www.dawn.com/news/card/1771717"n sandbox="allow-same-origin allow-scripts allow-popups allow-modals allow-forms"></iframe></div>n n </figure>nThe unmanned Chandrayaan-3 — “Mooncraft” in Sanskrit — touched down on the lunar surface last week, making India only the fourth country behind the United States, Russia and China to land successfully on the Moon.nThat marked the latest milestone in India’s ambitious but cut-price space programme, sparking celebrations across the world’s most populous country.nIndia has a comparatively low-budget space programme but one that has grown considerably in size and momentum since it first sent a probe to orbit the Moon in 2008.nExperts say India can keep costs low by copying and adapting existing technology, and thanks to an abundance of highly skilled engineers who earn a fraction of the wages of their foreign counterparts.nIn 2014, India became the first Asian nation to put a craft into orbit around Mars and it is slated to launch a three-day crewed mission into the Earth’s orbit by next year.nIt also plans a joint mission with Japan to send another probe to the Moon by 2025 and an orbital mission to Venus within the next two years.

August 28, 2023

Nasa and SpaceX crew of four blast off to ISS

KENNEDY CENTER: Nasa and SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft blasted off on Saturday carrying four astronauts to the International Space Station.nThe Crew-7 mission is commanded by American Jasmin Moghbeli and includes Andreas Mogensen of Denmark, Satoshi Furukawa of Japan and Konstantin Borisov of Russia.nThe Dragon spacecraft carried by a Falcon 9 rocket lifted off at 3:27am from Launch Complex 39A at Nasa’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, in front of around 10,000 people gathered to watch the launch. “We have liftoff!” Nasa said on X, formerly known as Twitter.nCheers could be heard in the mission control room soon after the Dragon craft separated from the Falcon 9 rocket with the crew in orbit.n“We may have four crew members on board from four different nations… but we’re a united team with a common mission,” Moghbeli said after the separation.nThe launch was pushed back to Saturday to give engineers an extra day to review a component of the Crew Dragon capsule’s environmental control and life support system, Nasa said in a blog post. It is the first space mission for both Moghbeli and Borisov.n“This is something I’ve wanted to do for as long as I can remember,” said Moghbeli, a Naval test pilot, during a media call last month. “One of the things I’m most excited about is looking back at our beautiful planet,” added the 40-year-old American.nPublished in Dawn, August 27th, 2023

August 27, 2023

US Justice Dept sues SpaceX over hiring practices

WASHINGTON: The US Justice Department sued Elon Musk-owned rocket and satellite company SpaceX on Thursday for allegedly discriminating against asylum seekers and refugees in hiring.n“The lawsuit alleges that, from at least September 2018 to May 2022, SpaceX routinely discouraged asylees and refugees from applying and refused to hire or consider them, because of their citizenship status, in violation of the Immigration and Nationality Act,” the Justice Department said in a statement.nIn job postings and public statements over several years, SpaceX wrongly claimed that under federal regulations known as export control laws, SpaceX could hire only US citizens and lawful permanent residents, sometimes referred to as “green card holders,” the Justice Department said.nThe Justice Department also pointed to online posts from the company’s billionaire owner Musk as example of “discriminatory public statements.”nThe lawsuit cited a June 2020 post on X, formerly called Twitter, by CEO Musk to his then 36 million followers that said: “US law requires at least a green card to be hired at SpaceX, as rockets are advanced weapons technology.” SpaceX did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the lawsuit.nPublished in Dawn, August 25th, 2023

August 25, 2023

AI risks repeating social media era&rsquo;s mistakes: Microsoft president

Breakneck development of artificial intelligence risked repeating mistakes made by the tech industry at the start of the social media era, Microsoft president Brad Smith told a business forum on Friday.nRapid advancements in AI have stoked global alarm over the technology’s potential for disinformation, misuse and upheaval of the labour market.nBut Smith suggested these misgivings were not reflected by the developers of the potentially revolutionary technology, whose optimism reminded him of the early years of social media platforms.nBack then, the tech industry “became a little too euphoric about all the good things that social media would bring to the world — and there have been many — without thinking about the risks as well,” he said.n“We need to be clear-eyed, we need to be excited about the opportunities, but thoughtful, perhaps even concerned, about the downside. And we need to construct the guardrails from the outset,” he added.nThe rise of AI has raised both excitement and concerns about its potential to improve or replace tasks done by humans.nAI tools have shown in recent months the ability to generate essays, create realistic images, mimic voices of famous singers and even pass medical exams, among a slew of uses.nBut there are also worries that chatbots could flood the internet with disinformation, that biased algorithms will churn out racist material or that AI-powered automation could lay waste to entire industries.nA United Nations <a rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" class="link–external" href="https://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/—dgreports/—inst/documents/publication/wcms_890761.pdf">report</a> this week said AI was more likely to augment jobs than to destroy them, adding nonetheless that the tech would alter work intensity and the autonomy of workers.nIt also said the effects of technology would vary greatly between professions and regions, with clerical workers facing the most exposure to changes and women more likely than men to see their jobs affected.nSmith said it was clear the public “want to be confident that this new technology will remain under human control”.nMastercard chief executive Michael Miebach said companies needed to build trust over use of the tech and take action to address issues such as AI bias.nBut he also said he believed that the risks around AI were “not terribly new” and should not impede further development of the technology.n“Naturally regulation will be behind,” he said. “But that shouldn’t slow us down.”nBoth men were speaking in New Delhi alongside other world industry leaders at a meeting that is serving as a prelude to next month’s G20 summit in the Indian capital.

Japan&rsquo;s &lsquo;Moon Sniper&rsquo; mission looks to match Indian success

Hot on the heels of India’s <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1771717">historic</a> lunar landing, Japan’s space programme is hoping to rebound from a string of setbacks next week with the launch of its own mission: “Moon Sniper”.nThe rocket will carry a lander expected to reach the Moon’s surface in four to six months as well as an X-ray imaging satellite designed to investigate the evolution of the universe.nThe launch is scheduled to take place on Monday after bad weather pushed it back by a day, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) said on Friday.nJapan’s space programme is one of the world’s largest, but its first attempt to put a lander on the Moon <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1714753">failed</a> in November 2022, and a new type of rocket exploded during a test last month.nJAXA’s hopes are now centred on the “Smart Lander for Investigating Moon”.nAs its acronym suggests, SLIM is small and light, standing 2.4 metres high, 2.7 metres wide and 1.7 metres long, and weighing around 700 kilogrammes.nDubbed the “Moon Sniper” for its precision, JAXA is aiming to land it within 100 metres of a specific target on the Moon, far less than the usual range of several kilometres.nUsing a palm-sized mini rover that can change shape, the probe — developed with a toy company — aims to investigate how the Moon was formed by examining exposed pieces of the lunar mantle.n“Lunar landing remains a very difficult technology,” Shinichiro Sakai from the SLIM project team told reporters on Thursday while paying homage to India’s success.n“To follow suit, we will do our best in our own operations,” Sakai said.n<h2><a id="indias-success" href="#indias-success" class="heading-permalink" aria-hidden="true" title="Permalink"></a>India’s success</h2>nOn Wednesday, India landed a craft near the Moon’s south pole, a historic triumph for the world’s most populous nation and its low-cost space programme.nPreviously, only the United States, Russia and China had managed to put a spacecraft on the lunar surface, and none on the south pole.n <figure class=’media w-full w-full media–stretch media–embed media–uneven’>n <div class=’media__item media__item–newskitlink ‘> <iframen class="nk-iframe" onload="setInterval(()=>{try{this.style.height=this.contentWindow.document.body.scrollHeight+’px’;}catch{}}, 100)"n width="100%" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="height:400px;position:relative"n src="https://www.dawn.com/news/card/1771897"n sandbox="allow-same-origin allow-scripts allow-popups allow-modals allow-forms"></iframe></div>n n </figure>nIndia’s success came days after a Russian probe crashed in the same region and four years after the previous Indian attempt failed at the last moment.nJapan has also tried before, attempting last year to land a lunar probe named Omotenashi, carried on NASA’s Artemis 1, but the mission went wrong and communications were lost.nAnd in April, Japanese start-up ispace failed in an ambitious attempt to become the first private company to land on the Moon, losing communication after what the firm called a “hard landing”.nJapan has also had problems with launch rockets, with failures after liftoff of the next-generation H3 model in March and the normally reliable solid-fuel Epsilon the previous October.n <figure class=’media w-full w-full media–stretch media–embed media–uneven’>n <div class=’media__item media__item–twitter ‘>n <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en">n <a href="https://twitter.com/business/status/1694827337777385477?s=20"></a>n </blockquote>n</div>n n </figure>nLast month, the test of an Epsilon S rocket, an improved version of the Epsilon, ended in an explosion 50 seconds after ignition.n<h2><a id="plasma-wind" href="#plasma-wind" class="heading-permalink" aria-hidden="true" title="Permalink"></a>Plasma wind</h2>nThe workhorse H2-A rocket launching from Tanegashima in southern Japan on Monday will also carry the X-Ray Imaging and Spectroscopy Mission (XRISM) developed by JAXA, NASA and the European Space Agency.nThe satellite’s high-resolution X-ray spectroscopic observations of the hot gas plasma wind that blows through the universe will help study the flows of mass and energy as well as the composition and evolution of celestial objects.n“There is a theory that dark matter is preventing galaxies from expanding,” explained XRISM project manager Hironori Maejima.n“The question of why dark matter does not converge, and what are the forces that spread it, is expected to be clarified by measuring plasma with XRISM. “

Japan&rsquo;s &lsquo;Moon Sniper&rsquo; mission looks to match Indian success

Hot on the heels of India’s <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1771717">historic</a> lunar landing, Japan’s space programme is hoping to rebound from a string of setbacks next week with the launch of its own mission: “Moon Sniper”.nThe rocket will carry a lander expected to reach the Moon’s surface in four to six months as well as an X-ray imaging satellite designed to investigate the evolution of the universe.nThe launch is scheduled to take place on Monday after bad weather pushed it back by a day, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) said on Friday.nJapan’s space programme is one of the world’s largest, but its first attempt to put a lander on the Moon <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1714753">failed</a> in November 2022, and a new type of rocket exploded during a test last month.nJAXA’s hopes are now centred on the “Smart Lander for Investigating Moon”.nAs its acronym suggests, SLIM is small and light, standing 2.4 metres high, 2.7 metres wide and 1.7 metres long, and weighing around 700 kilogrammes.nDubbed the “Moon Sniper” for its precision, JAXA is aiming to land it within 100 metres of a specific target on the Moon, far less than the usual range of several kilometres.nUsing a palm-sized mini rover that can change shape, the probe — developed with a toy company — aims to investigate how the Moon was formed by examining exposed pieces of the lunar mantle.n“Lunar landing remains a very difficult technology,” Shinichiro Sakai from the SLIM project team told reporters on Thursday while paying homage to India’s success.n“To follow suit, we will do our best in our own operations,” Sakai said.n<h2><a id="indias-success" href="#indias-success" class="heading-permalink" aria-hidden="true" title="Permalink"></a>India’s success</h2>nOn Wednesday, India landed a craft near the Moon’s south pole, a historic triumph for the world’s most populous nation and its low-cost space programme.nPreviously, only the United States, Russia and China had managed to put a spacecraft on the lunar surface, and none on the south pole.n <figure class=’media w-full w-full media–stretch media–embed media–uneven’>n <div class=’media__item media__item–newskitlink ‘> <iframen class="nk-iframe" onload="setInterval(()=>{try{this.style.height=this.contentWindow.document.body.scrollHeight+’px’;}catch{}}, 100)"n width="100%" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="height:400px;position:relative"n src="https://www.dawn.com/news/card/1771897"n sandbox="allow-same-origin allow-scripts allow-popups allow-modals allow-forms"></iframe></div>n n </figure>nIndia’s success came days after a Russian probe crashed in the same region and four years after the previous Indian attempt failed at the last moment.nJapan has also tried before, attempting last year to land a lunar probe named Omotenashi, carried on NASA’s Artemis 1, but the mission went wrong and communications were lost.nAnd in April, Japanese start-up ispace failed in an ambitious attempt to become the first private company to land on the Moon, losing communication after what the firm called a “hard landing”.nJapan has also had problems with launch rockets, with failures after liftoff of the next-generation H3 model in March and the normally reliable solid-fuel Epsilon the previous October.n <figure class=’media w-full w-full media–stretch media–embed media–uneven’>n <div class=’media__item media__item–twitter ‘>n <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en">n <a href="https://twitter.com/business/status/1694827337777385477?s=20"></a>n </blockquote>n</div>n n </figure>nLast month, the test of an Epsilon S rocket, an improved version of the Epsilon, ended in an explosion 50 seconds after ignition.n<h2><a id="plasma-wind" href="#plasma-wind" class="heading-permalink" aria-hidden="true" title="Permalink"></a>Plasma wind</h2>nThe workhorse H2-A rocket launching from Tanegashima in southern Japan on Monday will also carry the X-Ray Imaging and Spectroscopy Mission (XRISM) developed by JAXA, NASA and the European Space Agency.nThe satellite’s high-resolution X-ray spectroscopic observations of the hot gas plasma wind that blows through the universe will help study the flows of mass and energy as well as the composition and evolution of celestial objects.n“There is a theory that dark matter is preventing galaxies from expanding,” explained XRISM project manager Hironori Maejima.n“The question of why dark matter does not converge, and what are the forces that spread it, is expected to be clarified by measuring plasma with XRISM. “

Japan&rsquo;s &lsquo;Moon Sniper&rsquo; mission looks to match Indian success

Hot on the heels of India’s <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1771717">historic</a> lunar landing, Japan’s space programme is hoping to rebound from a string of setbacks next week with the launch of its own mission: “Moon Sniper”.nThe rocket will carry a lander expected to reach the Moon’s surface in four to six months as well as an X-ray imaging satellite designed to investigate the evolution of the universe.nThe launch is scheduled to take place on Monday after bad weather pushed it back by a day, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) said on Friday.nJapan’s space programme is one of the world’s largest, but its first attempt to put a lander on the Moon <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1714753">failed</a> in November 2022, and a new type of rocket exploded during a test last month.nJAXA’s hopes are now centred on the “Smart Lander for Investigating Moon”.nAs its acronym suggests, SLIM is small and light, standing 2.4 metres high, 2.7 metres wide and 1.7 metres long, and weighing around 700 kilogrammes.nDubbed the “Moon Sniper” for its precision, JAXA is aiming to land it within 100 metres of a specific target on the Moon, far less than the usual range of several kilometres.nUsing a palm-sized mini rover that can change shape, the probe — developed with a toy company — aims to investigate how the Moon was formed by examining exposed pieces of the lunar mantle.n“Lunar landing remains a very difficult technology,” Shinichiro Sakai from the SLIM project team told reporters on Thursday while paying homage to India’s success.n“To follow suit, we will do our best in our own operations,” Sakai said.n<h2><a id="indias-success" href="#indias-success" class="heading-permalink" aria-hidden="true" title="Permalink"></a>India’s success</h2>nOn Wednesday, India landed a craft near the Moon’s south pole, a historic triumph for the world’s most populous nation and its low-cost space programme.nPreviously, only the United States, Russia and China had managed to put a spacecraft on the lunar surface, and none on the south pole.n <figure class=’media w-full w-full media–stretch media–embed media–uneven’>n <div class=’media__item media__item–newskitlink ‘> <iframen class="nk-iframe" onload="setInterval(()=>{try{this.style.height=this.contentWindow.document.body.scrollHeight+’px’;}catch{}}, 100)"n width="100%" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="height:400px;position:relative"n src="https://www.dawn.com/news/card/1771897"n sandbox="allow-same-origin allow-scripts allow-popups allow-modals allow-forms"></iframe></div>n n </figure>nIndia’s success came days after a Russian probe crashed in the same region and four years after the previous Indian attempt failed at the last moment.nJapan has also tried before, attempting last year to land a lunar probe named Omotenashi, carried on NASA’s Artemis 1, but the mission went wrong and communications were lost.nAnd in April, Japanese start-up ispace failed in an ambitious attempt to become the first private company to land on the Moon, losing communication after what the firm called a “hard landing”.nJapan has also had problems with launch rockets, with failures after liftoff of the next-generation H3 model in March and the normally reliable solid-fuel Epsilon the previous October.n <figure class=’media w-full w-full media–stretch media–embed media–uneven’>n <div class=’media__item media__item–twitter ‘>n <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en">n <a href="https://twitter.com/business/status/1694827337777385477?s=20"></a>n </blockquote>n</div>n n </figure>nLast month, the test of an Epsilon S rocket, an improved version of the Epsilon, ended in an explosion 50 seconds after ignition.n<h2><a id="plasma-wind" href="#plasma-wind" class="heading-permalink" aria-hidden="true" title="Permalink"></a>Plasma wind</h2>nThe workhorse H2-A rocket launching from Tanegashima in southern Japan on Monday will also carry the X-Ray Imaging and Spectroscopy Mission (XRISM) developed by JAXA, NASA and the European Space Agency.nThe satellite’s high-resolution X-ray spectroscopic observations of the hot gas plasma wind that blows through the universe will help study the flows of mass and energy as well as the composition and evolution of celestial objects.n“There is a theory that dark matter is preventing galaxies from expanding,” explained XRISM project manager Hironori Maejima.n“The question of why dark matter does not converge, and what are the forces that spread it, is expected to be clarified by measuring plasma with XRISM. “

Japan&rsquo;s &lsquo;Moon Sniper&rsquo; mission looks to match Indian success

Hot on the heels of India’s <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1771717">historic</a> lunar landing, Japan’s space programme is hoping to rebound from a string of setbacks next week with the launch of its own mission: “Moon Sniper”.nThe rocket will carry a lander expected to reach the Moon’s surface in four to six months as well as an X-ray imaging satellite designed to investigate the evolution of the universe.nThe launch is scheduled to take place on Monday after bad weather pushed it back by a day, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) said on Friday.nJapan’s space programme is one of the world’s largest, but its first attempt to put a lander on the Moon <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1714753">failed</a> in November 2022, and a new type of rocket exploded during a test last month.nJAXA’s hopes are now centred on the “Smart Lander for Investigating Moon”.nAs its acronym suggests, SLIM is small and light, standing 2.4 metres high, 2.7 metres wide and 1.7 metres long, and weighing around 700 kilogrammes.nDubbed the “Moon Sniper” for its precision, JAXA is aiming to land it within 100 metres of a specific target on the Moon, far less than the usual range of several kilometres.nUsing a palm-sized mini rover that can change shape, the probe — developed with a toy company — aims to investigate how the Moon was formed by examining exposed pieces of the lunar mantle.n“Lunar landing remains a very difficult technology,” Shinichiro Sakai from the SLIM project team told reporters on Thursday while paying homage to India’s success.n“To follow suit, we will do our best in our own operations,” Sakai said.n<h2><a id="indias-success" href="#indias-success" class="heading-permalink" aria-hidden="true" title="Permalink"></a>India’s success</h2>nOn Wednesday, India landed a craft near the Moon’s south pole, a historic triumph for the world’s most populous nation and its low-cost space programme.nPreviously, only the United States, Russia and China had managed to put a spacecraft on the lunar surface, and none on the south pole.n <figure class=’media w-full w-full media–stretch media–embed media–uneven’>n <div class=’media__item media__item–newskitlink ‘> <iframen class="nk-iframe" onload="setInterval(()=>{try{this.style.height=this.contentWindow.document.body.scrollHeight+’px’;}catch{}}, 100)"n width="100%" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="height:400px;position:relative"n src="https://www.dawn.com/news/card/1771897"n sandbox="allow-same-origin allow-scripts allow-popups allow-modals allow-forms"></iframe></div>n n </figure>nIndia’s success came days after a Russian probe crashed in the same region and four years after the previous Indian attempt failed at the last moment.nJapan has also tried before, attempting last year to land a lunar probe named Omotenashi, carried on NASA’s Artemis 1, but the mission went wrong and communications were lost.nAnd in April, Japanese start-up ispace failed in an ambitious attempt to become the first private company to land on the Moon, losing communication after what the firm called a “hard landing”.nJapan has also had problems with launch rockets, with failures after liftoff of the next-generation H3 model in March and the normally reliable solid-fuel Epsilon the previous October.n <figure class=’media w-full w-full media–stretch media–embed media–uneven’>n <div class=’media__item media__item–twitter ‘>n <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en">n <a href="https://twitter.com/business/status/1694827337777385477?s=20"></a>n </blockquote>n</div>n n </figure>nLast month, the test of an Epsilon S rocket, an improved version of the Epsilon, ended in an explosion 50 seconds after ignition.n<h2><a id="plasma-wind" href="#plasma-wind" class="heading-permalink" aria-hidden="true" title="Permalink"></a>Plasma wind</h2>nThe workhorse H2-A rocket launching from Tanegashima in southern Japan on Monday will also carry the X-Ray Imaging and Spectroscopy Mission (XRISM) developed by JAXA, NASA and the European Space Agency.nThe satellite’s high-resolution X-ray spectroscopic observations of the hot gas plasma wind that blows through the universe will help study the flows of mass and energy as well as the composition and evolution of celestial objects.n“There is a theory that dark matter is preventing galaxies from expanding,” explained XRISM project manager Hironori Maejima.n“The question of why dark matter does not converge, and what are the forces that spread it, is expected to be clarified by measuring plasma with XRISM. “

Indian rover begins exploring Moon&rsquo;s south pole

India began exploring the Moon’s surface with a rover on Thursday, a day after it became the <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1771717">first nation to land a craft near the largely unexplored lunar south pole</a>.nPragyan — “Wisdom” in Sanskrit — rolled out of the lander hours after the latest milestone in India’s ambitious but cut-price space programme sparked huge celebrations across the country.n“Rover ramped down the lander and India took a walk on the moon!” the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, on Thursday.n <figure class=’media w-full w-full media–stretch media–embed media–uneven’>n <div class=’media__item media__item–twitter ‘>n <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en">n <a href="https://twitter.com/isro/status/1694545322251571687"></a>n </blockquote>n</div>n n </figure>nThe six-wheeled, solar-powered rover will amble around the relatively unmapped region and transmit images and scientific data over its two-week lifespan.nThe successful touchdown of the Chandrayaan-3 ( “Mooncraft-3 “) mission came just days after a <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1771215">Russian lander crashed in the same region</a>.nIt also comes four years after the previous Indian lunar mission failed during final descent, in what was seen at the time as a huge setback for its space programme.nHowever, India is steadily matching the achievements of established spacefaring nations.nChandrayaan-3 has captivated public attention since launching nearly six weeks ago in front of thousands of cheering spectators.nPoliticians staged Hindu prayer rituals to wish for the mission’s success and schoolchildren followed the final moments of its descent from live broadcasts in classrooms.nPrime Minister Narendra Modi said on Wednesday that the successful lunar landing — previously achieved only by the United States, Russia and China — was a triumph for “all of humanity”.nElon Musk, whose firm SpaceX is a leader in commercial space launches, hailed the landing as “super cool”.n <figure class=’media w-full w-full media–stretch media–embed media–uneven’>n <div class=’media__item media__item–twitter ‘>n <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en">n <a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1694437635668787609"></a>n </blockquote>n</div>n n </figure>nThe Indian mission took much longer to reach the Moon than the Apollo missions in the 1960s and 1970s, which arrived in a matter of days.nChandrayaan-3 was launched on a less-powerful rocket and had to orbit the Earth several times to gain speed before embarking on its month-long journey.n<h2><a id="future-goals" href="#future-goals" class="heading-permalink" aria-hidden="true" title="Permalink"></a>Future goals</h2>nIndia has a comparatively low-budget space programme, but one that has grown considerably in size and momentum since it first sent a probe to orbit the Moon in 2008.nChandrayaan-3 has a cost of $74.6 million — far lower than many missions from other countries and a testament to India’s frugal space engineering.nExperts say India can keep costs low by copying and adapting existing technology, and thanks to an abundance of highly skilled engineers who earn a fraction of their foreign counterparts’ wages.nIn 2014, India became the first Asian nation to put a craft into orbit around Mars and plans to send a probe towards the sun in September.nISRO is slated to launch a three-day crewed mission into Earth’s orbit by next year.nIt also plans a joint mission with Japan to send another probe to the Moon by 2025 and an orbital mission to Venus within the next two years.

August 24, 2023

Brain implants provide hope for those unable to speak

PARIS: Restoring the power of speech to those who have lost it through illness or accident is becoming an ever more plausible concept, based on results from two brain implants that show encouraging results, researchers say.nPat Bennett, 68, was a dynamic and sporty human resources senior executive before being diagnosed more than a decade ago with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, a neural disorder resulting from damage to nerves that transmit data from the brain and spinal cord to and from the rest of the body.nThe ailment, which attacks neutrons controlling movement, is neurodegenerative and progressively shuts down a patient’s movement to the point of paralysis.nPat started out experiencing difficulty in enunciating words, then eventually lost the ability to speak entirely.nBut important advances are being made in tackling such disorders through implants.nThe journal Nature reported on Wednesday that researchers from Stanford University’s department of neuroscience in March last year implanted into Pat’s brain four small squares of 64 micro-electrodes made of silicone.nPenetrating a mere 1.5 millimetres into the cerebral cortex, they record electrical signals produced by the areas of the brain that are linked to the production of language.nThe signals produced are conveyed outside the skull via a bundle of cables and processed by an algorithm.n‘Fluid conversation’nOver four months the system “learned” to interpret the signals’ meanings by associating them with phonemes — units of sound that distinguish one word from another — and processing them with the help of a language model.n“With these new studies it is now possible to imagine a future where we can restore fluid conversation with someone with paralysis,” Frank Willett, Stanford professor and co-author of the study, told reporters.nUsing her brain-computer interface (BCI) machine, Pat Bennett can speak via a screen at more than 60 words a minute.nThat is short of the 150 to 200 words per minute for a standard conversation, but still more than three times faster than the previous machine-aided mark from 2021, when the Stanford team took charge of her case.nMoreover, the error rate for a 50-word vocabulary has dropped to below 10 per cent from 20pc previously.nAvatarnIn a second test, Edward Chang, chair of neurological surgery at the University of California San Francisco and his team used a device resting on a thin strip of 253 electrodes placed on cortical material.nIts performance proved comparable to that of the Stanford team’s system in obtaining a median of 78 words per minute, or five times faster than before.nIt was a major leap forward for the patient, a paraplegic since suffering a brainstem haemorrhage who had previously been able to communicate only at a maximum 14 words per minute, through a technique relying on interpreting head movements.nIn both these two tests the rate of error rises to around 25pc when patients use a vocabulary extending to thousands of words.nThe particularity of Chang’s system is that it is based on analysis of the signals emitted not only in brain areas directly linked to language but also more broadly in the sensorimotor cortex.nPublished in Dawn, August 24th, 2023

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