Sci-Tech

“Driverless” shuttle launched in northern France

VILLENEUVE D’ASCQ, France (AFP) — A driverless, electric and street-based shuttle has been launched on the campus of the University of Lille. For one year, the Transpole public transport authority will experiment with the driverless vehicle, although an “operator” will always be present in the vehicle for safety. https://youtu.be/Fu6WaCkEU-k

Filipino techpreneurial spirit ablaze in VIA Startup Summit

by Emily Manuel Contributor, Eagle News MANILA — Key experts and industry leaders gathered at the VIA Startup Summit held at the Green Sun Hotel, Makati City, last 28 November 2018 to recognize the valuable contribution of startups to the local economy and discuss ways to foster their development. Among them were Director Senen Perlada from the Export Marketing Bureau of Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), Dentsu Aegis Network Philippines’ Country CEO, Donald Lim, […]

Virgin Galactic’s new flight test to soar closer to edge of space

WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — Virgin Galactic is preparing for a new flight test Thursday that aims to fly higher and faster than before toward the edge of space. The US company run by British tycoon Richard Branson is aiming to be the first to take tourists on brief trips into microgravity. Virgin Galactic’s fourth flight test on the VSS Unity is scheduled for Thursday, weather permitting. The flight will take off from a spaceport […]

NASA’s Voyager 2 reaches interstellar space

WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — NASA’s Voyager 2 probe has left the protective bubble around the Sun and is flying through interstellar space, becoming the second human-made object to travel so far, the US space agency said Monday. The announcement came six years after its twin spacecraft, Voyager 1, broke the outer boundary of the heliopause, where the hot solar wind meets the cold, dense space between stars, known as the interstellar medium. Voyager 2 […]

NASA’s InSight lander ‘hears’ wind on Mars

TAMPA, United States (AFP) — Humans can now hear the haunting, low rumble of wind on Mars for the first time, after NASA’s InSight lander captured vibrations from the breeze on the Red Planet, the US space agency said Friday. The strong gusts of wind, blowing between 10 to 15 mph (five to seven meters a second), were captured as they moved over the solar panels on InSight, an unmanned lander that touched down on […]

China launches rover for first far side of the moon landing

by Ryan MCMORROW Agence France Presse BEIJING, China (AFP) — China launched a rover early Saturday destined to land on the far side of the moon, a global first that would boost Beijing’s ambitions to become a space superpower, state media said. The Chang’e-4 lunar probe mission — named after the moon goddess in Chinese mythology — launched on a Long March 3B rocket from the southwestern Xichang launch center at 2:23 am (1823 GMT), […]

Google launches AI-driven audio news feed

SAN FRANCISCO, United States (AFP) — Google said Thursday it was launching a radio-style, on-demand audio news feed available on smart speakers, personalized with the help of artificial intelligence. The technology giant said it had partnerships with more than a dozen news organizations to deliver an audio feed in the same manner as its smartphone news feed. “This new experience will bring you an audio news playlist assembled in that moment, for you,” Google product […]

Microsoft unveils facial recognition principles, urges new laws

WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — Microsoft said Thursday it was adopting a set of principles for deployment of facial recognition technology, calling on industry rivals to follow suit and for new laws to avert a dystopian future. Microsoft president Brad Smith made the announcement at a Brookings Institution speech and an accompanying blog post, saying it was urgent to begin placing limits on facial recognition to avoid the surveillance state described in George Orwell’s “1984.” […]

Zuckerberg defends Facebook in new data breach controversy

by Dmitry ZAKS Agence France-Presse LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) — Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg pushed back Wednesday against emails showing the social media giant offering Netflix and other popular apps preferential access to people’s data even after it had tightened its privacy rules. A British parliamentary committee investigating whether the social media behemoth was being used to manipulate the results of elections published 250 pages of internal Facebook documents earlier Wednesday. They show executives holding […]

SpaceX launches cargo, but fails to land rocket

by Kerry SHERIDAN Agence France Presse TAMPA, United States (AFP) — SpaceX on Wednesday blasted off its unmanned Dragon cargo ship, loaded with supplies, science experiments and food for the astronauts living at the International Space Station but failed to successfully land its booster afterwards. “We have had a great liftoff,” said SpaceX commentator John Insprucker, as the Falcon 9 rocket soared into the sunny, blue sky over Cape Canaveral, Florida at 1:16 pm (1816 […]

NEU senior HS students win top prize in DOST-ACER Philippines science competition

  (Eagle News) — New Era University made it to the top three winners of this year’s “IMake, WeMake: Create, Innovate, Collaborate” project of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) in collaboration with ACER Philippines. Three senior high school students from Grades 11 and 12 from NEU competed along with representatives from 16 other schools in the competition that challenges young Filipinos to use their creativity. With their submitted prototype for the “Automated Irrigation […]

Turning the page: Japan’s last pager service ends after 50 years

TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — The end of the pager era is nigh in Japan after five decades as the country’s last provider announced on Monday it would be scrapping its service next year. Tokyo Telemessage, the only pager service provider left standing, said it had decided to terminate its service to Tokyo and three neighboring regions in September 2019 — describing the development as “very regrettable.” “Pagers were once a huge hit… but the number […]