Solar panels and screens could become vastly more easy to make after a major breakthrough, according to the scientists who found it. The new discovery swaps an everyday material for one almost as rare as gold, the researchers say, and so could drastically cut the price of manufacturing the technology that relies on it. The breakthrough came after scientists discovered that chromium compounds can replace the metals osmium and ruthenium, which are used to harvest energy from the Sun and to create displays for uses such as mobile phones. Chromium is a relatively common material, best known for its use in chromium steel in the kitchen, or for the shiny look of motorcycles. It is also relatively easy to find: chromium is 20,000 times more prevalent in the Earth’s crust than osmium, and much cheaper to make. Scientists hope that it can be used for a variety of purposes, including a kind of artificial photosynthesis that will produce solar fuels. Plants are able to use that process to convert energy from sunlights into energy-rich glucose – and the scientists behind the new study say that it could help us do the same. The findings are described in a new paper, ‘Photoredox-active Cr(0) luminophores featuring photophysical properties competitive with Ru(II) and Os(II) complexes’, published in Nature Chemistry. Read More Astronomer uncovers ‘direct evidence’ of gravity breaking down in the universe Mark Zuckerberg hits out at Elon Musk for wasting time over cage fight Vote to empower autonomous ‘robotaxis’ from Cruise and Waymo divides San Francisco

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Bluesky has hit a new milestone as it has passed over one million registered users. The social media platform, created by Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey, has surged in popularity as an alternative to X after users sought to leave the Elon Musk-owned app. Under Mr Musk, Twitter has been rebranded as X. Bluesky hit the milestone on Tuesday, with Rose Wang, who works on strategy and operations at the platform, sharing a screenshot of the moment it gained over a million users. Bluesky still seems to be in its early stages, taking a careful approach and growing slowly as it caters to its cohort of initial adopters. Choosing this cautious approach, access to the app is extended via a waitlist and through invitations from existing users. The app was first announced by Mr Dorsey when he was still in charge of Twitter, tasking developers to build a “decentralised standard” for social media. “The biggest and long-term goal is to build a durable and open protocol for public conversation. That it not be owned by any one organisation but contributed by as many as possible. And that it is born and evolved on the internet with the same principles,” Mr Dorsey wrote on the app in 2020. Bluesky has seen upticks in requests for signups following Mr Musk’s takeover of X, as the Tesla titan brought about sweeping changes to his platform, including initiating mass layoffs, the removal of blue checkmarks for non-paying users and modifications to content rules. At one point in July, Bluesky had to halt sign-ups due to a huge surge in demand, following Mr Musk imposing limits on the number of tweets people could read on X – a move that was later reversed. Bluesky’s approach to carefully onboard users is also in contrast to Meta’s Threads platform, which has emerged as another one of Twitter’s competitors in recent times. Meta’s decision to cross-promote Threads to existing Instagram users led to the app racking up close to 30 million signups in less than 24 hours, and over 100 million users within the first five days. But even with the recent roll-out of a web app – a much-anticipated feature – Threads’ traffic appears to be on a worrying dip, with its number of daily active users much lower than during its heyday just after it launched. Read More Elon Musk’s Twitter slows down access to rival websites $44 billion and eight months later. It’s finally all over for Elon Musk Musk, Zuckerberg and the bitter battle for the future of social media Volcano discovery could power electric cars for decades, scientists say New invention will lead to ‘battery revolution’, scientists say Putin praises Musk days after report Tesla boss stopped Ukrainian attack

FOUNTAIN VALLEY, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sep 5, 2023--

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Apple is holding what is set to be a “scary” event next week, in which it will introduce mystery products. The “Scary Fast” event is unusual in a number of ways. It begins very late, at midnight UK time; it is also unusually late in the month, on 30 October and just a day before Hallowe’en; and Apple also announced it late, inviting the world less than a week before it actually started. But it is also unusual in that it is very hard to predict what might actually be announced. It seems clear that it will involved the Mac in some way – the invitation included strong hints, such as a reference to the logo of the Finder app that is on all of Apple’s computers – but the event remains largely mysterious beyond that. Here are the best guesses at what might be coming in Apple’s unexpected, potentially spooky launch live stream. New chips Apple started designing its own Mac processors in 2020, in a programme it called Apple Silicon. Since then, Macs have been updated around their processors, rather than the other way around. The Apple processors began with the M1, which was put into a host of computers that were released in November of 2020. It then introduced different variations: the M1 Pro, Max and Ultra, which are used in the higher-end computers. Last June, Apple revealed the M2, which has gradually replaced the M1. And at the beginning of this year it revealed updates to those higher-end versions: an M2 and M2 Max in January, and an Ultra in June. If Apple is to reveal an M3, and maybe even M3 Pro and Max, then it would be doing so much more quickly than the previous update cycle, and much sooner than most expected. But Apple Silicon is so young that there is no sense of how its cycle goes. What’s more, it seems unlikely that Apple would hold an event of this kind without a big update to announce – and the obvious big update that’s waiting is the M3. If it is coming, then expect it to bring speed improvements. The M2 ran a little more hot than the previous version, so Apple might address that too. New iMac The most widely expected new computer is an updated version of the 24-inch iMac. That was first introduced in April 2021, and hasn’t been updated at all since. The original computer was released to widespread acclaim, though some questions of how many people wanted such a computer today, with the popularity of laptops. Apple may have avoided updating in part for that reason. But now it looks set to finally get an update, skipping the M2 chip line and going straight onto the M3. It is not clear whether it will get any other upgrades beyond that. Faster high-end MacBook Pro Some rumours have suggested that Apple will update its whole chip line-up at once – not releasing the M3 first and then slowly adding the higher-end chips, as it has in the past. If that is the case, then it would be expected to put them into its 14- and 16-inch MacBook Pro. Those computers were first introduced almost exactly two years ago, when they used the M1 series, but were last updated at the beginning of the year to get the M2 Pro and Max. Apple could switch the chips out to the new family, rumours have suggested. Beyond that, big updates to the MacBook Pro are unlikely, given how recently it was changed. But there have been some rumours that they could receive small tweaks to their display. Other Apple computers do also rely on those higher-end chips, with the Mac Studio being most notable among them. That was updated even more recently, however – in June of this year – and so seems even less likely to get yet another refresh. Refreshed other laptops If Apple is introducing a new base-level M3 chip, then it could come to all of its computers at once. At the moment, the M2 is found in a host of other Macs – the smaller and larger MacBook Air, the 13-inch MacBook Pro and the Mac mini – and so they could all potentially be updated to the new generation. Entirely new Macs? Apple might not only refresh its existing Macs, but could launch entirely new ones, too. Some rumours have suggested that Apple is working on a new version of the iMac that could be bigger (at 30-inch), faster (with a Pro or Max processor), or both in one. Apple offered this kind of computer for a few years, in the form of the iMac Pro. That was the large model of the iMac but sold in a darker finish, with matching accessories and a range of performance improvements. It was only sold between 2017 and 2021, a period when Apple’s Mac Pro offering went largely without updates and plenty of criticism. Part of the job of the iMac Pro was to fill that role while Apple worked on other solutions, and the Mac Studio that was first introduced last year now does much the same job Non-Macs The event does seem to be primarily focused on Macs. And Apple has already released another product – the confusing new Apple Pencil – that might have been expected to be included if it didn’t want to focus only on the computers. There are other products waiting to be updated: no iPad has seen an update all year, for instance, and the line-up is now a little complicated as well as behind. But this event looks set to focus on computers rather than tablets. Apple might however choose to give an update on the Vision Pro, the augmented reality headset that it first revealed this June and which it has said is on track to arrive early next year. That headset does rely on a Mac processor – it was announced with the M2, though perhaps that could be updated to an M3 before it actually comes out – and so could potentially be tied into a Mac focused event. Read More Apple announces surprise event: ‘Scary fast’ Apple ‘is planning surprise Mac announcement soon’ Apple just released a new Pencil after days of excitement Sadiq Khan, Met Commissioner to ask phone companies to ‘design out’ theft Apple is planning to make a cheaper Vision Pro headset without key features ‘We are broken’: Armenia looks to technology to rebuild

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