Sci-Tech

Trump pledges to safeguard Chinese telecoms jobs

    by Issam Ahmed © Agence France-Presse WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — US President Donald Trump said Sunday he was working with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping to prevent telecom giant ZTE from going out of business after it was hit by an American technology sales ban. Writing on Twitter, Trump said he had issued instructions for officials to come up with a rescue plan, saying too many jobs were at risk. “President Xi of […]

The challenge of space gardening: One giant ‘leaf’ for mankind

  Kerry Sheridan Agence France Presse MIAMI, Florida, United States (AFP) — It’s not easy having a green thumb in space. Without gravity, seeds can float away. Water doesn’t pour, but globs up and may drown the roots. And artificial lights and fans must be rigged just right to replicate the sun and wind. But NASA has decided that gardening in space will be crucial for the next generation of explorers, who need to feed […]

NASA plans to send mini-helicopter to Mars

  by Kerry Sheridan Agence France Presse TAMPA, United States (AFP) — The US space agency said Friday it plans to launch the first-ever helicopter to Mars in 2020, a miniature, unmanned drone-like chopper that could boost our understanding of the Red Planet. Known simply as “The Mars Helicopter,” the device weighs less than four pounds (1.8 kilograms), and its main body section, or fuselage, is about the size of a softball. It will be […]

Helicopter taxi apps offer escape from traffic-choked megacities

by Elizabeth Law with Harry Pearl in Jakarta Agence France-Presse Within minutes of using an app to book a ride, Agostino Fernandes was looking down on lush greenery from a helicopter taxi high above Bangalore — one of several Uber-style chopper services taking off to help commuters tackle increasingly congested megacities. In under 30 minutes — a quarter of the time it would have taken from downtown Bangalore by road — Fernandes was strolling through […]

Facebook makes major management overhaul

SAN FRANCISCO, United States (AFP) — Facebook on Tuesday confirmed an unprecedented management team shakeup in the aftermath of a major data privacy scandal that has rocked the social network. Co-founder Mark Zuckerberg remained chief of Facebook, with chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg his second-in-command. Chris Cox, a longtime member of Zuckerberg’s inner circle, was put in charge of Facebook’s core application as well as smartphone services Instagram, WhatsApp, and Messenger, the California-based company confirmed. […]

Uber shows off its vision for future ‘flying taxi’

LOS ANGELES, United States (AFP) — It’s not a bird, nor a plane. But Uber’s new prototype vehicle unveiled Tuesday shows off its vision of the future of transportation — a “flying taxi” that aims to alleviate urban congestion. A model of Uber’s electric vertical take-off and landing vehicle concept (eVTOL) — a cross between a helicopter and a drone — was displayed at the second annual Uber Elevate Summit in Los Angeles. “Our goal […]

SpaceX’s Dragon cargo ship heads back to Earth

TAMPA, United States (AFP) — SpaceX’s unmanned Dragon cargo ship left the International Space Station Saturday carrying 4,000 pounds (1,800 kilograms) of gear and prepared to splash down in the Pacific Ocean by mid-afternoon, NASA said. The white supply vessel detached from the orbiting outpost at 9:23 am (1323 GMT), fired its engines three times and slowly began its journey to Earth. “Release confirmed,” said commentator Rob Navias on NASA TV, noting that separation occurred […]

NASA blasts off Mars-bound spacecraft to study quakes

VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, United States (AFP) –NASA on Saturday blasted off its latest Mars lander, InSight, designed to perch on the surface and listen for “Marsquakes” ahead of eventual human missions to explore the Red Planet. “Three, two, one, liftoff!” said a NASA commentator as the spacecraft launched on a dark, foggy morning atop an Atlas V rocket at 4:05 am Pacific time (1105 GMT) from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, marking NASA’s […]

NASA counts down to liftoff of Mars lander, InSight

by Kerry SHERIDAN Agence France Presse TAMPA, United States (AFP) — NASA counted down Saturday to the long-awaited launch of its latest Mars lander, InSight, designed to perch on the surface of the Red Planet and listen for “Marsquakes.” The spacecraft was scheduled to blast off atop an Atlas V rocket at 4:05 am Pacific time (1105 GMT) from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. Foggy weather was the only technical concern ahead of the […]

Twitter urges users to change ‘unmasked’ passwords

by Glenn Chapman Agence France-Presse SAN FRANCISCO, United States (AFP) — Twitter on Thursday urged its more than 300 million users to change their passwords, saying they had been unintentionally “unmasked” inside the company by a software bug. The social media site said it found no sign that hackers accessed the exposed data, but advised users to change their passwords to be safe. Twitter practice is to store passwords encrypted, or “hashed,” so they are […]

Scientists shocked as NASA cuts only moon rover

by Kerry Sheridan Agence France Presse TAMPA, United States (AFP) — In a move that shocked lunar scientists, canceled the only robotic vehicle under development to explore the surface of the Moon, despite President Donald Trump’s vow to return people there. Scientists working on the Resource Prospector (RP) mission, a robotic rover that had been in development for about a decade to explore a polar region of the Moon, expressed astonishment at the decision. “We […]

Profits up at Facebook, no impact from privacy scandal

  by Glenn Chapman Agence France Presse SAN FRANCISCO, United States (AFP) — Facebook on Wednesday reported a sharp jump in profits in the past quarter, with gains in its user base and strong ad growth as the social network appeared to see no impact from a controversy over privacy. Profit in the first quarter of 2018 leapt 63 percent from a year ago to $5 billion, and total revenues increased 49 percent to $11.97 […]