Meta’s new Twitter rival Threads has racked up over five million signups within the first four hours of its launch, the tech giant’s chief Mark Zuckerberg said. Threads arrives at a particularly difficult time for Elon Musk’s Twitter. The site has faced a range of technical issues in recent days, which it has blamed on AI services scraping its site. “Threads, an Instagram app” is already listed on the App Store. It aims to take on the app with a range of features that are similar to those offered by Twitter, according to its App Store listing. “Threads is where communities come together to discuss everything from the topics you care about today to what’ll be trending tomorrow,” it reads. “Whatever it is you’re interested in, you can follow and connect directly with your favourite creators and others who love the same things — or build a loyal following of your own to share your ideas, opinions and creativity with the world.” It is the latest in a long line of apps to try and take over from the increasingly troubled Twitter in offering text-based updates. Read More Instagram Threads: Meta launches its new Twitter rival amid terrible week for Elon Musk Instagram Threads: How to sign up for and use Meta’s new Twitter competitor New Meta app Threads launches in UK

The Atlantic has had 73 days in which a named storm has been spinning in its waters so

Most presidents, current and former, typically spend America’s Independence Day celebrating the values of US society that bring its citizens together, joining in the festive and unifying themes of the national holiday. And then there’s Donald Trump. The former president spent July 4 fuming at his enemies on Truth Social, resharing a vulgar message aimed at President Joe Biden and the tens of millions of Americans who voted for him in 2020. ““F**k Biden and f**k you for voting for him”, read the post. Later, he continued his holiday rant by branding the president a “very dangerous idiot in the White House”. He also posted a bizarre image of himself imposed into the Revolutionary War, prompting social media users to suggest he is more like Benedict Arnold – the infamous US traitor – than the Founding Fathers. In other Trumpworld news, the company planning to merge with Truth Social has reached an $18m settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Digital World Acquisition Corp (DWAC) announced the tentative settlement on Monday, ending an SEC probe looking into whether it held talks with Truth Social’s parent company before going public – a violation of regulations. Read More Trump marks Independence Day by sharing vulgar attack on Biden and ominous 2024 warning Trump-appointed judge blocks Biden agencies from communicating with social media platforms Ex-New York congressman pardoned by Trump is planning to run again in Florida Truth Social’s merger partner reaches $18m settlement with SEC

SpaceX has hinted that flight tests of its Mars-bound Starship rocket system could begin to occur on a more frequent basis following a successful launch on Saturday. The tallest and most powerful rocket ever built lifted off from SpaceX’s Starbase facility in Boca Chica, Texas, on Saturday, seven months after the first launch attempt. Unlike the first attempt, both parts of the rocket were able to separate in mid-air without immediately exploding, while the newly-built launch pad was also able to withstand the force of the 33 Raptor engines firing simultaneously. “Just inspected the Starship launch pad and it is in great condition,” SpaceX boss Elon Musk posted on X on Sunday. “No refurbishment needed to the water-cooled steel plate for next launch. Congrats to SpaceX team and contractors for engineering and building such a robust system so rapidly!” The second flight test of the fully-stacked Starship rocket was beset by delays due to the high levels of debris from the destroyed launchpad and exploded rocket following the failed first attempt. Regulators said they would be working with SpaceX before a third flight test takes place, with the US Federal Aviation Administration confirming that no injuries or property damage was reported following Saturday’s launch. The fully-stacked Starship rocket system was the first to successfully perform a hot-stage separation, which saw the upper second stage launch away from the Super Heavy Booster mid-flight. Both parts of the rocket were destroyed shortly after they achieved separation, however SpaceX already has two Super Heavy boosters and three upper-stage vehicles currently undergoing preliminary testing, according to Next Spaceflight. Mr Musk has previously outlined his plans to build a fleet of hundreds of Starship rockets, with the hope of using them to establish a permanent human colony on Mars by 2050. SpaceX has already secured a multi-billion dollar contract with Nasa to develop Starship for the US space agency’s Artemis program, which will return humans to the surface of the Moon for the first time in 50 years. Read More SpaceX launches ‘zero fuel’ engine into space SpaceX Starship rocket loses contact after reaching space: Live updates Air Force officer breaks silence over ‘red, glowing’ UFO sighting: ‘Not a joke’

VoiD was crowned the 'Greatest Gamer in the World' in Ludwig Ahgren's event by showcasing his versatile gaming skills across 11 different titles

Google has scrapped its latest augmented reality (AR) headset that was meant to rival headsets from Apple and Meta, according to reports. The search giant’s ‘Project Iris’ was abandoned earlier this year, Insider reported, making it the second major set of smart glasses to be ditched following Google Glass. The latest AR glasses were first teased last year at Google I/O, with a video showing wearers using the device to translate conversations in real-time. “What we’re working on is technology that enables us to break down language barriers,” Max Spear, a product manager at Google, said in the video. “Making access to information just instant and intuitive, and by doing that technology fades into the background.” Since the glasses were teased, Apple has unveiled its Vision Pro headset and Meta has shown off its latest Quest 3 goggles, which will be available later this year. Google’s aborted project comes eight years after the firm discontinued its Glass smart glasses for consumers, and just months after it stopped producing the enterprise version. It follows the departure of Clay Bavor, Google’s chief of augmented and virtual reality, with the company’s focus now switching to AR software rather than hardware. One AR software platform is Android XR, which is being built for a headset under development at Samsung. A Micro XR platform is also rumoured to be in the works, which is expected to run on AR smart glasses rather than larger mixed reality goggles. One unnamed employee told Insider that Google was aiming to created the “Android for AR”, referring to the tech giant’s hugely popular mobile operating system. A spokesperson for Google declined to comment. Samsung announced at its Galaxy Unpacked event in February that it had partnered with Google and Qualcomm to make a mixed reality platform. No details were given about what the product might look like, with the company saying more information would be given later this year. “We are working to create a new era of highly immersive digital experiences that blur the line between our physical and digital worlds,” said Qualcomm’s Cristiano Amon. “With our Snapdragon XR tech, Samsung’s amazing products, and Google experiences, we have the foundation to make this opportunity a reality.” Read More ‘I saw the future. It left me in tears’ Apple releases urgent update to iPhone and iPad users Apple starts letting developers make apps for its upcoming headset The Apple Watch is getting some major changes this year – here’s why

TOKYO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jul 18, 2023--

Scientists have discovered a way to store the Sun’s energy in rocks and convert the heat into electricity. Using an approach called concentrated solar power, a team of researchers from Tanzania found that certain granite and soapstones could store solar heat at a sufficiently high density to serve as a primitive form of battery. Thermal energy storage has been touted as a low-cost way of storing and harvesting energy from the Sun, even when it’s no longer shining. Last year, scientists from Sweden and China came up with a way to store solar energy for nearly two decades using an ultra-thin chip, which serves as a thermoelectric generator. The innovative system could technically be integrated into electronics, however it remains too costly to implement at scale. By contrast, the granite and soapstone samples offer a low cost and readily available method of storing solar energy, the researchers said. “Using rocks as a storage medium offers the potential of affordability due to the abundance and low cost of rocks,” the researchers noted in a paper outlining their findings. “An air-rock bed has low investment cost, high reliability and efficiency, is environmentally friendly, and does not require the use of heat exchangers.” The rock bed captures and collects solar thermal energy up to 600 °C, which is then used to boil liquid into steam that powers a generator turbine to produce electricity. The results were detailed in a study, titled ‘Experimental Investigation of Soapstone and Granite Rocks as Energy-Storage Materials for Concentrated Solar Power Generation and Solar Drying Technology’, published by the American Chemical Society. Other thermal energy storage systems have focussed on salt and water, with researchers at Eindhoven University of Technology unveiling a heat battery last year that they claim could work at scale. Rather than capturing heat from the Sun, the system instead collects industrial residual heat. “While the potential is great, we have also seen many great potential technologies that have not made it,” the scientists said at the time. “So we’re going to keep our feet on the ground and take this one step at a time.” Read More Scientists break world record for solar power window material Scientists smash world record for solar power window material Nasa holds urgent meeting about sightings of UFOs Opinion: The real reason companies are warning that AI is as bad as nuclear war

Former President Donald Trump said Wednesday he wants to close the Department of Education and have state governments "run the education of our children," pushing for a long-held Republican goal that has been endorsed by several other 2024 GOP candidates.

BLAST.tv Paris Major 2023 Challengers Stage results live and up-to-date at the final CS:GO Major.

AEW Fight Forever is available on Steam Deck for players to wrestle on the go, but the game is not yet fully supported on the device.

Belem, a city in Brazil’s Amazon rainforest region, will host the United Nations’ annual climate change summit in