Education on technology

Elon Musk's brain-implant company Neuralink on Thursday said the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) had given the green light to its first-in-human clinical trial, a critical milestone after earlier struggles to gain approval. The FDA nod "represents an important first step that will one day allow our technology to help many people," Neuralink said in a tweet. It did not elaborate on the aims of the study, saying only that it was not recruiting yet and more details would be available soon. Neuralink and the FDA did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment. Musk envisions brain implants could cure a range of conditions including obesity, autism, depression, and schizophrenia as well as enabling web browsing and telepathy. He made headlines late last year when he said he was so confident in the devices' safety that he would be willing to implant them in his children. On at least four occasions since 2019, Musk predicted Neuralink would begin hum...

OTT platforms may soon be mandated to display anti-tobacco warnings and disclaimers as are seen in movies screened in theatres and in television programmes with the Health Ministry likely to amend the relevant rules, officials sources said on Thursday. The ministry is actively considering amending the Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products (Prohibition of Advertisement and Regulation of Trade and Commerce, Production, Supply and Distribution) Rules, 2004, and a notification in this regard is likely to be issued soon, they said. According to the draft notification, publishers of online curated content displaying tobacco products or their use will be required to display anti-tobacco health spots each of a minimum of 30 seconds at the beginning and middle of the programme, an official source told PTI. They shall also be required to exhibit an anti-tobacco health warning as a prominent static message at the bottom of the screen when tobacco products or their use are displayed during the p...

Dubai, that in recent years has established itself as a modern infrastructural marvel, is set to host the first Bitcoin Tower in the world. Essentially, this Bitcoin Tower will be a hotel, with its shape inspired by the first cryptocurrency to ever exist. This architectural wonder will be loaded with a bunch of pro-blockchain and Web3-supportive services and offerings, with the aim of innovating and trying multiple use cases of these up-and-coming next-gen technologies. With Artificial Intelligence (AI) , this one-of-its-kind facility aims to eradicate the use of paper and other eco-concerning factors from its business operations by largely relying on the blockchain technology for day-to-day work. Salvatore Leggiero, the real estate developer behind this Bitcoin Tower project in Dubai, shared details on the project along with visual glimpses of what it would be designed like, at the COP28 meeting that was held in Dubai on May 24, a report by Finbold noted. As a tribute to Bitcoin ...

State-sponsored Chinese hackers have infiltrated critical US infrastructure networks, the United States, its Western allies and Microsoft said Wednesday while warning that similar espionage attacks could be occurring globally. Microsoft highlighted Guam, a US territory in the Pacific Ocean with a vital military outpost, as one of the targets, but said "malicious" activity had also been detected elsewhere in the United States. It said the hacking, dubbed "Volt Typhoon", had started in mid-2021 and was likely aimed at hampering the United States if there was conflict in the region. "Microsoft assesses with moderate confidence that this Volt Typhoon campaign is pursuing development of capabilities that could disrupt critical communications infrastructure between the United States and Asia region during future crises," the statement said. "In this campaign, the affected organizations span the communications, manufacturing, utility, transportation, co...

BSNL has started rolling out of 4G network with 200 sites, and after a three-month trial, it will launch an average of 200 sites per day, Union IT and Communications Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said on Wednesday. The minister said the 4G network of BSNL will be upgraded to 5G by November-December. "The 4G-5G telecom stack we have developed in India. That stack deployment started with BSNL. Between Chandigarh and Dehradun, 200 sites installations have been done and within the next maximum of two weeks, it will go live," Vaishnaw said. BSNL has placed an advance purchase order of over Rs. 19,000 crore with Tata Consultancy Services and ITI Limited for the deployment of a 4G network, comprising more than 1.23 lakh sites. "The speed at which BSNL will deploy, you will be surprised. After testing for three months, we will be doing 200 sites a day. That is the average at which we will go. BSNL network will work initially like 4G. Very soon, somewhere around November- Dec...

Meta Platforms started carrying out the last batch of a three-part round of layoffs on Wednesday, according to a source familiar with the matter, as part of a plan announced in March to eliminate 10,000 roles. Meta in March became the first Big Tech company to announce a second round of mass layoffs, after showing more than 11,000 employees the door in the fall. The cuts brought the company's headcount down to where it stood as of about mid-2021, following a hiring spree that doubled its workforce since 2020. Some employees took to platforms such as LinkedIn on Wednesday to announce that they were laid off in a round that was expected to cut deeply into the ad sales, marketing and partnerships teams. Meta Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg in March said that the bulk of the layoffs in the company's second round would take place in three "moments" over several months, largely finishing in May. Some smaller rounds could continue after that, he said. Overall the cuts ...

Ride-hailing app Uber on Wednesday announced partnerships with various electric vehicle makers and other entities in India to accelerate the transition of its partners towards sustainable mobility. The company said it has expanded its partnership with EV fleet partners Lithium Urban Technologies, Everest Fleet Pvt Ltd and Moove in order to deploy 25,000 electric cars in India on the Uber platform over the next two years. Besides, Uber said it has teamed up with Zypp Electric for 10,000 EV two-wheelers in Delhi by 2024. The company also announced a partnership with SIDBI to unlock Rs. 1,000 crore in EV financing. Uber said it is also bringing its global partnership with BP to India through Jio-bp and has also tied up with GMR Green Energy for fast charging Uber EVs. As part of the sustainability push, the San Francisco-based firm also announced the rollout of Uber Green in Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru, starting June. The Uber Green initiative allows passengers to request an all-...