List of All Articles with Tag 'tec'

Advertisers are refusing to return to X – formerly Twitter – after the platform’s owner Elon Musk told them to “go f*** yourselves” if they try to pull their marketing from the microblogging site. After Mr Musk was accused of antisemitism last month, a number of the world’s biggest companies and X’s biggest advertisers, including Apple and IBM, pulled their marketing from the platform. While the Tesla chief initially said he was “sorry” and denied any suggestion he was antisemitic, he later added that advertisers who withdrew their marketing from X because of his tweet should “go f*** yourselves”. “If someone is going to try to blackmail me with advertising, blackmail me with money? Go f*** yourself. Go f*** yourself. Is that clear? I hope it is,” Mr Musk said at the New York Times’ Dealbook Summit. “The whole world will know that those advertisers killed the company and we’ll document it in great detail,” he added. Now, a number of marketing agencies say the brands they represent are firmly against returning to advertising on X. “Thank you Elon Musk, for making it very clear how seriously you take advertisers concerns... Advertisers, judge for yourselves if this is a man who you can do business with,” Lou Paskalis, the founder and chief of the marketing consultancy AJL Advisory, posted on X. “There is no advertising value that would offset the reputational risk of going back on the platform,” Mr Paskalis told NYT. Advertisers are unlikely to step in to support X, said Ruben Schreurs, the chief strategy officer at marketing firm Ebiquity. The row began last month after Mr Musk endorsed a post claiming that Jewish people “have been pushing the exact kind of dialectical hatred against whites that they claim to want people to stop using against them” as the “actual truth”. In response, a number of top companies, including Apple, Disney and Coca Cola, have since removed paid ads from X – moves that could slash the company’s revenue by millions of dollars. Watchdog Media Matters also published a report alleging that ads on X were being placed next to posts supporing Nazism, in response to which the social media company filed a defamation claim against the group. Mr Musk’s rank at the Dealbook Summit came come on Wednesday. “I will certainly not pander,” the multibillionaire said. He even took a direct jab at Disney chief Bob Iger who had earlier explained why the entertainment company had pulled advertising from X. Just hours after Mr Musk’s expletive-laden comment on Wednesday, X chief Linda Yaccarino attempted to soften the damage, sharing the owner’s apology on the platform and appealing to advertisers to return. “Here’s my perspective when it comes to advertising: X is standing at a unique and amazing intersection of Free Speech and Main Street — and the X community is powerful and here to welcome you,” Ms Yaccarino said. “Businesses are simply full of people, and people like to be treated well, respected and dealt with with dignity,” Steve Boehler, founder of marketing management consultancy Mercer Island Group, told NYT. Read More Everything we know about Tesla’s Cybertruck after first cars are delivered Musk says antisemitic tweet was ‘foolish’ – but blames media for angry reaction Elon Musk believes OpenAI may have made ‘dangerous’ discovery OpenAI may have made a ‘dangerous’ artificial intelligence discovery, Elon Musk says Elon Musk publicly tells advertisers to ‘go f*** yourselves’ Elon Musk mocked for trying to resurrect QAnon Pizzagate conspiracy

Tesla has revealed the prices and features of different versions of its highly-anticipated Cybertruck at a delivery event in Austin where the company finally handed over to customers the first 13 electric pickup trucks. The deliveries to a select group of customers come six years after Tesla boss Elon Musk tweeted about building a truck, and 4 years after a version of the Cybertruck was unveiled for the first time in 2019. At the short livestream of Thursday’s delivery event, Tesla also redemonstrated the toughness of the Cybertruck after its 2019 demo awkwardly shattered the windows of the truck. The event started with the Tesla boss driving the truck on a stage in darkness and hopping out to talk about it. The electric pickup truck’s angular body is made of a stainless steel alloy developed by Tesla with Mr Musk calling it the “most unique thing on the road”. “Finally the future will look like the future,” he told the attendees, consisting of Tesla investors. The Cybertruck, dubbed “an armoured personal carrier from the future,” will eventually be available in three different configurations with the cheapest version starting at a $60,990 base price, Mr Musk said. He said the pickup truck can carry over a ton in its bed and tow over 5,000kg (11,000 pounds). However, this ”rear-wheel version” with a range of 250 miles and acceleration from zero to 60mph in about 7 seconds, would not be available until 2025, the company said. An all-wheel drive version of the Cybertruck, Tesla announced, would have an estimated 341-mile range, top speed of 112 mph, and a starting price of $79,990. The third version announced on Thursday is what’s called the “Cyberbeast” – slated to arrive in 2024 – with a range of 320 miles and 845 horsepower, travelling from 0 to 60 mph in 2.6 seconds at an estimated price of $99,990. All these models are much more expensive than the $39,900 starting price Tesla announced for the base version in 2019. Tesla also announced that it would offer a range extender to push the all-wheel drive Cybertruck to about 470 miles and the Cyberbeast to a range of over 440 miles. The range extender, Mr Musk explained later in a post on X, is an “optional pack” that fits in about a third of the truck’s bed. “Still room for plenty of of cargo. It’s meant for very long trips or towing heavy things up mountains,” he said. “Massive congrats to the incredible Tesla team, from design through to manufacturing, for making Cybertruck real! I love you,” the multibillionaire said. At the event, the Tesla boss also invited the electric vehicle company’s chief designer Franz Von Holzhausen to re-do the demonstration of the toughness of the Cybertruck that was botched in 2019. This time, instead of throwing a metal ball at the vehicles glass, Mr Von Holzhausen threw an ordinary baseball – rather weakly – showing the glass could the projectile. Tesla has said the glass will not shatter in the face of a 70mph baseball strike. This definitely wasn’t that. The livestream event ended after about 30 minutes, once Mr Musk had listed the features and performance capabilities of the Cybertruck’s different versions and its bulletproof exterior. It was followed by the Tesla boss assisting some of the first customers in driving off in their trucks. Mr Musk has played down hopes that the Cybertruck would revive profits for the carmaker in the near future. He told investors and analysts in an earnings call in October that it could take at least 18 months for the truck to become profitable. “There will be enormous challenges in reaching volume production with Cybertruck and making the Cybertruck cash flow positive,” he said. Read More When and where to watch Tesla’s highly anticipated Cybertruck delivery event Google users urged not to press button Nasa has received a signal from 10 million miles away Google users urged not to press button Nasa has received a signal from 10 million miles away Magazine under fire for publishing AI-written articles with fake author headshots

By Sam Nussey and Miho Uranaka TOKYO Japanese air conditioner maker Daikin Industries is turning to custom-made semiconductors

By David Shepardson (Reuters) -A U.S. judge late on Thursday blocked Montana's first-of-its kind state ban on the use of

The Biden administration has forced a Saudi Aramco venture capital firm to sell its shares in a Silicon

By Victoria Klesty HAMAR, Norway TikTok has taken possession of a facility in Norway built by data centre

Elon Musk has admitted that his endorsement of an antisemitic conspiracy theory on his social media site X, previously known as Twitter, was a “mistake” and “one of the most foolish” things he had done on the platform. The world’s richest man said he had “no problem being hated” but also blamed members of the media for much of the outrage surrounding the post, which is thought to have contributed to major investors in the platform pulling funding. Earlier this month, Mr Musk responded to a Twitter/X user who accused Jewish people of hating white people by saying it was “the actual truth.” His actions sparked global outrage, with several world leaders condemning his endorsement of the conspiracy theory. Speaking at the New York Times’ Dealbook Summit this week, Mr Musk discussed the post and said that the outrage caused was “not my intention”. “[It was] one of the most foolish — if not the most foolish — thing I’ve done on the platform,” he said. “I should in retrospect not have replied to that one person and should have written in greater length what I meant,” he said. “But those clarifications were ignored by the media and essentially I handed a loaded gun to those who hate me and arguably to those who are antisemitic. And for that I’m quite sorry, that was not my intention.” Earlier this week, Mr Musk visited Israel and toured a kibbutz attacked by Hamas, meeting with Israel’s prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The pair visited the Kfar Aza kibbutz, which Hamas attacked on 7 October, killing an estimated 52 residents. Another 20 people are reported as missing. Mr Musk said witnessing the scenes of the massacre was “jarring”, during a live event on Twitter/X with Mr Netanyahu after the tour. Speaking at the Dealbook Summit, he denied that the visit had been – as some had described it – an “apology tour”. “[The trip to Israel] wasn’t in response to that at all,” Mr Musk said, adding: “I have no problem being hated.” Mr Musk later went further, addressing companies that had pulled marketing from X over concerns related to far-right content and accusing them of “blackmail”. “Don’t advertise,” he said at the New York Times’ Dealbook Summit. “If someone is going to try to blackmail me with advertising, blackmail me with money? Go f*** yourself. Go f*** yourself. Is that clear? I hope it is.” Read More Elon Musk believes OpenAI may have made ‘dangerous’ discovery OpenAI may have made a ‘dangerous’ artificial intelligence discovery, Elon Musk says Elon Musk publicly tells advertisers to ‘go f*** yourselves’ Elon Musk mocked for trying to resurrect QAnon Pizzagate conspiracy Elon Musk set to meet Netanyahu and hostage families in Israel Elon Musk weighs in on Dublin riots claiming country’s PM ‘hates the Irish people’

Microsoft Corp. is talking to partners to help launch a mobile gaming store that will take on Apple

The Hubble Space Telescope has gone into “safe mode” for the third time in a week. The ageing, floating observatory – which was launched in 1990, with an expected lifespan of 15 years, and was last serviced by the space shuttle in 2009 – occasionally needs to be fixed from the ground when it runs into issues. This time, Nasa said it had entered safe mode because of an “ongoing gyroscope issue”. The space agency is “working to resume science operations”, it said. The current problems had begun 23 November, it said, and it is still not online. The telescope had been hit with the same issue twice in the days before, when it was also sent into safe mode – but came back online. Nasa said Hubble was otherwise in good health, and that its instruments were stable. It is able to operate with just one working gyroscope, but is less efficient when it does. When the spacecraft was serviced on the fifth and final visit from the space shuttle, in 2009, astronauts installed six new gyroscopes on Hubble. Three of those are still in operation, including the one currently having issues. The gyroscopes are used to aim the telescope around space. They measure Hubble’s turning and help it work out where it is pointing, so that it can be moved around in space. Nasa says that it believes Hubble will continue working, alongside other telescopes such as Webb, “throughout this decade and possibly into the next”. When it is no longer operational, Hubble will re-enter Earth’s atmosphere, though that is not expected to happen until the mid to late 2030s at the earliest. It is expected to have a propulsion system attached to it which will either push it down for a controlled fall into the Pacific Ocean or carry it further up into a higher orbit. Read More Nasa has received a signal from 10 million miles away SpaceX hints next Starship launch attempt could be soon Elon Musk believes OpenAI may have made ‘dangerous’ discovery

By Dietrich Knauth NEW YORK Crypto lender Celsius Network may have to seek a new creditor vote on

A meteorite which smashed into earth 29m years ago may be behind a strange yellow glass found in a certain part of the desert in southeast Libya and southwestern Egypt, according to researchers. The Great Sand Sea Desert stretches over about 72,000 square kilometres across the two countries, and is the only place where the mysterious yellow material is found on Earth. Researchers first described it in a 1933 scientific paper, calling it Libyan desert glass. Mineral collectors have long valued it for its beauty and mysterious qualities – and it was even found in a pendant in Egyptian pharaoh Tutankhamun’s tomb. The origin of the glass has been a mystery for centuries, but researchers writing in the journal De Gruyter used new advanced microscopy technology to get answers. Elizaveta Kovaleva, a lecturer at the University of the Western Cape, wrote that the glass was caused by “the impact of a meteorite on the Earth's surface”. Writing in The Conversation, she said: “Space collisions are a primary process in the solar system, as planets and their natural satellites accreted via the asteroids and planet embryos (also called planetesimals) colliding with each other. These impacts helped our planet to assemble, too.” She said: “We studied the samples with a state-of-the-art transmission electron microscopy technique, which allows us to see tiny particles of material – 20,000 times smaller than the thickness of a paper sheet. “Using this super-high magnification technique, we found small minerals in this glass: different types of zirconium oxide (ZrO₂).” One of the types of this mineral found in the glass can only form at temperatures between 2,250 celsius and 2,700 celsius. Toasty. Kovaleva said: “Such conditions can only be obtained in the Earth's crust by a meteorite impact or the explosion of an atomic bomb.” However, she wrote, there are just as many questions as there are answers. The nearest known meteorite craters are too far away and too small to be the cause of that much glass all concentrated in one part of the world. “So, while we've solved part of the mystery, more questions remain. Where is the parental crater? How big is it – and where is it? Could it have been eroded, deformed or covered by sand?” Safe to say, the scientists will keep on looking until they have the answers. How to join the indy100's free WhatsApp channel Sign up to our free indy100 weekly newsletter Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

Life forms surviving under sea ice have it pretty tough at the best of times, but they face a threat rarely caught on camera which is as terrifying as anything on the planet. BBC crew captured a brinicle on film for the first time for the BBC series Frozen Planet in 2011 and the natural feature resembling a deathly ice finger is the stuff of nightmares. A brinicle forms under sheets of sea ice, pushing downwards and posing existential risks to life forms on the ocean floor. As shown in footage captured for BBC Earth Unplugged, the natural formations can trap creatures and prove deadly – but how do they form? Well, salty water surrounding sea ice can form channels and inlets within blocks of ice. Ice then protrudes through the salty water and heads downwards as the salty water is heavier than the water around it. The salt water also freezes at a lower temperature to the water around it, meaning that it freezes everything it touches as it descends. Safe to say, if you see one of these heading towards you, you’d better start praying. It comes after it was discovered that the world’s biggest iceberg is drifting away from the Antarctic after having been grounded there for more than 30 years. The iceberg, which has the catchy name A23a, split from the Antarctic’s giant Filchner Ice Shelf in 1986, but has been stuck to the ocean floor since shortly after that time. Now, according to the British Antarctic Survey, it is on the move. Sign up for our free Indy100 weekly newsletter How to join the indy100's free WhatsApp channel Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings