Lithium-ion batteries are widely used in home electronics and are now being used to power electric vehicles and store energy for the power grid. But their limited number of recharge cycles and tendency to degrade in capacity over their lifetime have spurred a great deal of research into improving the …
Read More »Snap is laying off about 100 engineers
Snap is laying off about 100 engineers — nearly 10 percent of the team — CNBC has learned. The company has seen smaller rounds of layoffs in recent months in its marketing, recruiting and content divisions. These layoffs would be Snap’s largest yet and the first to hit the company’s …
Read More »Amazon has figured out what’s behind Alexa’s random laugh that was freaking people out
SAN FRANCISCO — Alexa, Amazon’s digital assistant, has been busting out with a weird laugh at random intervals for some users, freaking them out. Posting on Twitter, Alexa users have described the laugh as “creepy,” “evil,” “bone-chilling” and “freaky.” By Wednesday Amazon had gotten to the bottom of the mystery. …
Read More »WeChat accounts cross one billion mark, says CEO Pony Ma
BEIJING: WeChat’s worldwide accounts have crossed the one billion mark, according to the chief executive of its parent company Tencent. The all-in-one app is a daily necessity for most Chinese, bringing together messaging, social media, mobile payment, games, news and other services. “WeChat’s worldwide monthly active users have surpassed the …
Read More »SpaceX carries out 50th launch of Falcon 9 rocket
MIAMI: SpaceX carried out the 50th launch of its signature Falcon 9 rocket early Tuesday, a swift ascent to a milestone which many aerospace giants take far longer to attain. The launch of the Falcon 9 carrying a Hispasat Spanish-language telecommunications and broadband satellite took place on schedule at 12:33 …
Read More »Machine Learning Algorithm Personalizes Control Strategies for Wearable Exosuits
When it comes to soft assistive devices — like the wearable exosuit being created by the Harvard Biodesign Lab — the wearer and the robot need to be in sync. But every human moves a bit differently, and tailoring the robot’s parameters to an individual user is a time-consuming and …
Read More »Evidence of universe’s earliest-known stars detected
WASHINGTON: A ground-based radio antenna in western Australia that resembles a dining room table has detected evidence of the earliest-known stars that illuminated an infant universe shrouded in darkness following its formation in the Big Bang. Scientists said on Wednesday faint signals of hydrogen gas spotted by the instrument indicated …
Read More »World’s biggest plane Stratolaunch takes next test flight
World’s biggest airplane, Stratolaunch, attempted its next test flight. The colossal appearing as a fabulous white passenger plane, isn’t destined to transport passengers. However, the twin fuselage airpad is a good news bearer in other capacities and it includes allowing payloads to reach space faster and at a lower cost …
Read More »Saturn Photo-bombs Show New Images Of Mars Moons Phobos, Deimos
New images of Mars’ two moons, Phobos and Deimos, could help shed light on how the mysterious rock operates in their orbit. The photos, which the European Space Agency released this week, show the moons’ cratered surfaces and gave scientists a chance to update calculations about how they are positioned …
Read More »New Laser-Induced Graphene Technique Opens Door for Edible Electronics
Electronics, the lifeblood of the modern world, could soon be part of our daily diet. In a study appearing in ACS Nano, scientists report that they have developed a way to write graphene patterns onto virtually any surface including food. They say the new technique could lay the groundwork for …
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