Astronomers famously snapped the first ever direct image of a black hole in 2019, thanks to material glowing in its presence. But many black holes are actually near impossible to detect. Now another team using the Hubble Space Telescope seems to have finally found something nobody has seen before: a black hole which is completely invisible. The research, which has been posted online and submitted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal, is yet to be peer-reviewed. Black holes are what’s lef
A US-based science group intends to use a “crowd sale” to distribute brain-computer interfaces to a community of hackers. Dun-dun-dunnnnn! Another way of putting it: A PhD student and an artificial intelligence expert are planning to sell some nifty brain-computer interfaces they cobbled together. And, for some weird reason, they’ve called their company Hacker BCI and given it the tagline: “from hackers for hackers.” Per the duo’s website: In our definition “Hackers” are creative problem-solvers
Update February 8, 2022 3.30PM IST: Nvidia’s deal to buy ARM has officially been called off. In a statement, Softbank said “significant regulatory challenges” prevented the acquisition. The Japanese conglomerate also mentioned that it’s planning to take ARM public by March 31, 2023. Softbank will receive $1.25 billion as agreed upon with Nvidia during the announcement of the deal. Geoff Blaber, CEO of CCS Insights said an IPO is the best option for ARM: Finding a way to appease regulators whi
The Web3 community is in uproar over a curious case of “doxxing.” The victims of this exposure are two founders of Yuga Labs, the company behind the Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC). The NFT collection has generated over $1bn in sales, but the creators of Yuga Labs had been pseudoanonymized — until now. The duo, Greg Solano and Wylie Aronow, showed their faces publicly on Friday after BuzzFeed News revealed their identities. The revelations sparked a fiery mix of condemnation and admiration. Got doxe
You might not be very familiar with the name Joby, but chances are you’ve seen some of their products before. Specifically, you’ve probably come across the company’s funky-looking GorillaPods before: Though the company has long been focused on the camera accessory business, it’s recently expanded into the audio business in a big way, with a series of accessories aimed specifically at podcasters, YouTubers, streamers, and other creators. I’ve recently been able to spend time with the company’s de
The 2021 Lucid Air shook up the EV market with its whopping 837km range, but now there’s a new player in town with an even higher number: the Norwegian company Fresco Motors. Meet the Fresco XL Let’s start with the most impressive spec: the Fresco XL is slated to come with a single charge range of 1,000km. That’s enough to get you from Amsterdam to Paris — and back. According to the company, this has been made possible thanks to the vehicle’s aerodynamic trims and extra-large battery pack. Henc
Cryptocurrency is becoming a more familiar way to pay for things. One option is as part of a crowd, through a decentralized autonomous organization. In this relatively new kind of group, also called a DAO, decisions and choices are governed by holders of one kind of cryptocurrency token, such as Ethereum or Bitcoin. DAOs also use “smart contracts” that make decisions through online votes by all participants who wish to weigh in and other forms of automation. DAOs are essentially clubs that harne
They say it’s a person’s flaws we fall in love with. That explains how I feel about the AirPods Max then. Apple’s over-ear headphones are one of the more intriguing products the company has released in recent years — and I’ve found them both wonderful and frustrating. Yet, I find myself feeling warm towards them. For every misstep with something like that appalling case, there’s a positive point. And one of those was the digital crown, a little control dial on the headphones. I’m on my knees, sc
Are we alone in the Universe? Billions of dollars are being spent trying to answer that simple question. The implications of finding evidence for life beyond Earth are staggering. The “before and after” mark would punctuate human history. Mars is currently the most popular exploration target to search for evidence of life elsewhere. Yet little is known about its early history. Our research on a Martian meteorite provides new clues about early surface conditions on the red planet. Windows into th
Apple has finally explained how it will allow Dutch dating apps to use alternative payment systems. The headline is this: Apple will take a 27% commission from these purchases — down from the 30% it collects through the App Store. Developers across the world are mad at this nominal discount from the iPhone maker, and rightly so — especially when the new directive is incredibly complex. We’ll get into all this, but first, here’s a refresher of what has happened so far. How did Apple get here? Las