Some environmentalists are sadly anti-human: Elon Musk

San Francisco, Aug 27 (IANS) Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk on Saturday slammed some environmentalists for being "anti-human" when it comes to increasing nuclear power generation that could replace fossil fuels in the future.

In a tweet, Musk said that the countries should be increasing nuclear power generation.

"It is insane from a national security standpoint and bad for the environment to shut them down," said Musk.

A Twitter follower replied, saying that nuclear is clean, efficient and could replace fossil fuels entirely if it was embraced but is not happening "because so-called environmentalists aren't pro clean energy, they are anti-human".

Musk posted: "Some (environmentalists) are indeed sadly anti-human".

A clean energy advocate, he has said time and again that it's a mistake to stigmatise nuclear energy, especially as renewables like solar and batteries are still ramping up.

In July this year, he said that "I'm actually pro-nuclear as well".

"I think nuclear has a bad rap. People shouldn't be shutting down nuclear power stations, in my view, unless they're in a location that's prone to natural disasters. In which case, you know you can't just be like, 'we're just waiting for the real but once in a century situation'," he said during an interview on the 'Getting Stoned' podcast.

"Like the Fukushima situation. Well, you know there's a lot of tsunamis and stuff, so it's probably not great to have nuclear power where there's natural disasters. But for example, in places like France or Germany and many parts of the US, there's really no meaningful risk of a natural disaster that could affect nuclear power plants. So we shouldn't shut them down in that case," Musk had stressed.

According to him, efforts to shut down nuclear power plants are "crazy" and "madness."

(Except for the headline, the rest of this IANS article is un-edited)

For more technology news, product reviews, sci-tech features and updates, keep reading Digit.in

from Apps News https://ift.tt/9JldCjh

New Meta VR headset set to launch in Oct: CEO

San Francisco, Aug 26 (IANS) Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has confirmed that the tech giant's upcoming virtual reality (VR) headset will arrive this year in October.

According to Zuckerberg's statements on Joe Rogan's podcast, the headset would probably launch around the company's annual Connect event, reports The Verge.

"For the next device that's coming out in October, there are a few big features," Zuckerberg was quoted as saying.

He proceeded to describe new social options that would be enabled by eye and facial tracking, the report said.

"The ability to now have kind of eye contact in virtual reality," Zuckerberg said as part of the feature list.

"Have your face be tracked so that way your avatar -- it is not just this still thing, but if you smile or if you frown or if you pout, or whatever your expression is, have that translate in real-time to your avatar," he added.

The headset, most likely codenamed "Project Cambria", is supposed to be "significantly" more expensive than the existing Quest, which recently got a price hike to $399.

As per the report, the tech giant had previously stated that the device will be released sometime this year.

(Except for the headline, the rest of this IANS article is un-edited)

For more technology news, product reviews, sci-tech features and updates, keep reading Digit.in

from VR and AR News https://ift.tt/eVcYUpG

NASA detects carbon dioxide in exoplanet atmosphere in 1st clear evidence

Washington, Aug 26 (IANS) NASA's James Webb Space Telescope has captured the first-ever clear evidence for carbon dioxide in the atmosphere of a planet outside the solar system.

The finding, to be published in the journal Nature, offers hope that in the future, Webb may be able to detect and measure carbon dioxide in the thinner atmospheres of smaller rocky planets.

This observation of a gas giant planet named 'WASP-39 b' which is orbiting a Sun-like star 700 light-years away provides important insights into the composition and formation of the planet, the US space agency said in a statement late on Thursday.

"As soon as the data appeared on my screen, the whopping carbon dioxide feature grabbed me. It was a special moment, crossing an important threshold in exoplanet sciences," said Zafar Rustamkulov, a graduate student at Johns Hopkins University.

WASP-39 b is a hot gas giant with a mass roughly one-quarter that of Jupiter (about the same as Saturn) and a diameter 1.3 times greater than Jupiter.

Previous observations from other telescopes, including NASA's Hubble and Spitzer space telescopes, revealed the presence of water vapor, sodium, and potassium in the planet's atmosphere.

Webb's unmatched infrared sensitivity has now confirmed the presence of carbon dioxide on this planet as well.

"Detecting such a clear signal of carbon dioxide on WASP-39 b bodes well for the detection of atmospheres on smaller, terrestrial-sized planets," said Natalie Batalha of the University of California at Santa Cruz, who leads the team.

Understanding the composition of a planet's atmosphere is important because it tells us something about the origin of the planet and how it evolved.

"Carbon dioxide molecules are sensitive tracers of the story of planet formation," said Mike Line of Arizona State University.

(Except for the headline, the rest of this IANS article is un-edited)

For more technology news, product reviews, sci-tech features and updates, keep reading Digit.in

from Science and Technology News https://ift.tt/z89drTi

eFootball 2023 Is Out Now, AC Milan and Inter Part of Licensed Clubs: All Details

eFootball 2023 is out now across all major platforms and mobile, Konami has confirmed. The free-to-play football simulation title brings officially licensed AC Milan and Inter to the game, alongside the Liga BBVA MX (Mexican league). New features include the Manager Pack for Dream Team and new player cards.

from Gadgets 360 https://ift.tt/6gbY94m

US judge rejects Musks absurd demand to give all Twitter users data

San Francisco, Aug 26 (IANS) A US judge has rejected Elon Musk's absurd demand to ask Twitter to hand over all data for approximately 200 million user accounts for the last three years.

Judge Kathaleen McCormick said no to Musk's legal team's "absurdly broad" request, saying that Twitter must hand over the 9,000 accounts it reviewed for its audit in the fourth quarter of 2021, reports The Verge.

"Plaintiff (Twitter) has difficulty quantifying the burden of responding to that request because no one in their right mind has ever tried to undertake such an effort. It suffices to say, Plaintiff has demonstrated that such a request is overly burdensome," the judge ruled late on Thursday.

Twitter will now need to hand over "a small additional set of data from its review database", said the judge.

In addition, the judge also agreed to Twitter's request for documents from Musk's side, like the data analysis Musk performed before he announced to terminate the $44 billion takeover deal.

Musk and Twitter will get engaged to a proper courtroom battle from October 17 for five days.

Musk's team has also submitted a subpoena for evidence from former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey.

Meanwhile, Twitter's former head of security, Peiter "Mudge" Zatko, has claimed that the Parag Agrawal-led platform lied about the actual number of bots on its platform and misled federal regulators about users' safety, creating a storm.

(Except for the headline, the rest of this IANS article is un-edited)

For more technology news, product reviews, sci-tech features and updates, keep reading Digit.in

from Science and Technology News https://ift.tt/z3CJLaA

Instagram will automatically restrict sensitive content for new teen users

San Francisco, Aug 26 (IANS) Meta-owned photo and video sharing platform Instagram has announced that it will limit sensitive content for new teen users by default on the platform.

Instagram said that the Sensitive Content Control has only two options for teens -- "Standard" and "Less".

"New teens on Instagram under 16 years old will be defaulted into the 'Less' state. For teens already on Instagram, we will send a prompt encouraging them to select the 'Less' experience," the platform said in a blogpost.

"This will make it more difficult for young people to come across potentially sensitive content or accounts in Search, Explore, Hashtag Pages, Reels, Feed Recommendations and Suggested Accounts," it added.

In addition, Instagram said it is testing a new way to encourage teens to update their safety and privacy settings.

It will show prompts asking teens to review their settings including -- controlling who can reshare their content, who can message and contact them, what content they can see and how they can manage their time spent on Instagram.

"We are continuously developing controls to help people personalize their experience on Instagram," the company said.

"Last summer, we launched the Sensitive Content Control so people could choose how much or how little sensitive content to see in Explore from accounts they do not follow. Today, we are announcing updates to this control," it added.

In addition to Explore, users will now be able to control the amount of sensitive content and accounts they see in Search, Reels, Accounts You Might Follow, Hashtag Pages and In-Feed Recommendations.

This update will be available to everyone in the coming weeks.

(Except for the headline, the rest of this IANS article is un-edited)

For more technology news, product reviews, sci-tech features and updates, keep reading Digit.in

from Apps News https://ift.tt/otOdEvB

Mobile phones in remote areas will connect to Starlink internet next year

San Francisco, Aug 26 (IANS) Mobile phones will connect to SpaceX's new Starlink satellites next year, providing around 2 to 4 Megabits per second connection (total) across a given coverage area, T-Mobile CEO Mike Sievert and Tesla CEO Elon Musk have announced.

To provide this service, the companies will create a new network, broadcast from Starlink's satellites using T-Mobile's mid-band spectrum nationwide.

This satellite-to-cellular service will provide nearly complete coverage almost anywhere a customer can see the sky, US telecom carrier T-Mobile said in a statement late on Thursday.

This will help people text, send MMS messages, and even use "select messaging apps" whenever they have a clear view of the sky.

The service is scheduled to launch in beta by the end of next year in "select areas".

"More than just a groundbreaking alliance, this represents two industry-shaking innovators challenging the old ways of doing things to create something entirely new that will further connect customers and scare competitors," said Sievert.

According to Musk, Starlink V2, launching next year, "will transmit directly to mobile phones, eliminating dead zones worldwide".

"Note, connectivity will be 2 to 4 Mbits per cell zone, so will work great for texting and voice calls, but not high bandwidth," he tweeted.

Musk said that Tesla will also use the new technology for the premium connectivity feature in its electric vehicles.

Leveraging Starlink, SpaceX's constellation of satellites in low Earth orbit, and T-Mobile's industry-leading wireless network, the carrier plans to provide near complete coverage in most places in the US, even in many of the most remote locations previously unreachable by traditional cell signals.

"From the middle of Death Valley to the Great Smokey Mountains or even that persistent neighbourhood dead zone, T-Mobile and SpaceX have the vision to give customers a crucial additional layer of connectivity in areas previously unreachable by cell signals from any provider," said the company.

The vast majority of smartphones already on T-Mobile's network will be compatible with the new service using the device's existing radio.

"The important thing about this is that it means there are no dead zones anywhere in the world for your cell phone," said Musk.

In addition, the CEOs shared their vision for expanding 'Coverage Above and Beyond' globally, issuing an open invitation to the world's carriers to collaborate for truly global connectivity.

(Except for the headline, the rest of this IANS article is un-edited)

For more technology news, product reviews, sci-tech features and updates, keep reading Digit.in

from Apps News https://ift.tt/1iYZIR4