Sci-Tech

Elon Musk tweet may cost him job as Tesla CEO

NEW YORK, United States (AFP) — The standoff between US stock regulators and mercurial Tesla chief Elon Musk has taken a dramatic turn over a tweet that could cost the entrepreneur his job as CEO of the electric carmaker. Musk, 47, is a visionary and inventive boss but is also highly unpredictable, especially on social network Twitter, where he often communicates in defiance of rules imposed on executives of publicly-traded companies. The Securities and Exchange […]

Foldable phone outlook hinges on price

by Daniel SILVA Agence France-Presse BARCELONA, Spain (AFP) — Handset makers are racing to launch their first smartphones with folding screens but analysts warn the technology is still too rudimentary — and expensive — to woo consumers in large numbers for now. Samsung, the world’s biggest seller of smartphones, unveiled a handset that folds open like a book to be a tablet at an event in San Francisco on Wednesday, becoming the first major manufacturer […]

Touchdown: Japan probe Hayabusa2 lands on distant asteroid

by Kyoko HASEGAWA Agence France-Presse TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — A Japanese probe sent to collect samples from an asteroid 300 million kilometers away for clues about the origin of life and the solar system landed successfully on Friday, scientists said. Hayabusa2 touched down briefly on the Ryugu asteroid, fired a bullet into the surface to puff up dust for collection and blasted back to its holding position, said officials from the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency […]

Israeli spacecraft aims to make history by landing on Moon

by Ivan Couronne Agence France Presse WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — A rocket will take off from Cape Canaveral in Florida on Thursday night carrying Israel’s Beresheet spacecraft, which aims to make history twice: as the first private-sector landing on the Moon, and the first from the Jewish state. The 585-kilogram (1,290-pound) Beresheet, which means “Genesis” in Hebrew, is to lift off at 8:45 pm (0145 GMT Friday) atop a Falcon 9 rocket from the […]

Japan probe Hayabusa2 set for asteroid landing

by Kyoko HASEGAWA Agence France Presse TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — A Japanese probe is expected to land on a distant asteroid Friday, aiming to blast a “bullet” into the surface to collect clues about the origins of Earth and the solar system. The Hayabusa2 probe is scheduled to touch down at 8:25 am local time (2325 GMT Thursday) on the Ryugu asteroid, some 300 million kilometers from the Earth, according to officials at the Japan […]

Israel’s first lunar mission to launch this week

TEL AVIV, Israel (AFP) — Israel is to launch its first moon mission this week, sending an unmanned spacecraft to collect data to be shared with NASA, organizers said Monday. The 585-kilogram (1,290-pound) Beresheet (Genesis) spacecraft is to lift off atop a Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral, Florida at around 0145 GMT on Friday. Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) and technology NGO SpaceIL announced the date at a press conference. Mission control will be in […]

New Universe map unearths 300,000 more galaxies

by Patrick GALEY Agence France Presse PARIS, France (AFP) — The known Universe just got a lot bigger. A new map of the night sky published Tuesday charts hundreds of thousands of previously unknown galaxies discovered using a telescope that can detect light sources optical instruments cannot see. The international team behind the unprecedented space survey said their discovery literally shed new light on some of the Universe’s deepest secrets, including the physics of black […]

Russia’s RT fumes after Facebook blocks ‘popular’ page “In The Now”

  MOSCOW, Russia (AFP) — Facebook has blocked a popular page run by Russian state TV channel RT, the channel’s editor said Monday, criticizing the move as an attack on media rights. “We had a subsidiary project in English, In the Now. The project was wildly popular — 2.5 billion views and four million subscribers on Facebook alone!” RT editor-in-chief Margarita Simonyan said on her Telegram social network account. She said a report aired by […]

Japan upgrades downpour forecasts before Tokyo 2020

TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — With an eye on the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, Japanese researchers are developing a new system to accurately forecast torrential downpours — known in Japan as ‘guerilla rainstorms’ — 30 minutes before they strike. Scientists have created a high-tech radar capable of producing a three-dimensional map of a rain cloud in 30 to 60 seconds. They say this is a significant improvement on existing systems that measure only parts of a cloud […]

Amazon invests in electric vehicle startup Rivian

SAN FRANCISCO, United States (AFP) — Electric vehicle startup Rivian on Friday announced a $700 million investment round led by Amazon, which recently pumped money into a young self-driving car technology firm. Details of Amazon’s stake in US-based Rivian were not disclosed, but the company said it will remain independent. The potential Tesla rival late last year unveiled an electric pickup truck and an electric sport utility vehicle at an auto show in Los Angeles. […]

Roblox, the game platform teaching young kids to code

by Julie JAMMOT Agence France-Presse PARIS, France (AFP) — With its Lego-like avatars and easy-to-learn coding for budding programmers, the online gaming app Roblox has cornered the market in younger gamers, with 80 million monthly users, many of them under 16. Now the platform, which has already taken the United States by storm, is setting its sights on Europe and Asia to become a global giant. Kids log on to the mobile app after school to guide their […]