Lisbon (Portugal),

Elon Musk has given assurances to Ukraine that he will keep funding its access to a crucial satellite network providing Kyiv with battlefield and humanitarian communications in its war with Russia, a senior Ukrainian official said on Wednesday.

Elon Musk “told me personally that he will continue to support Ukraine and continue to provide Starlink to Ukraine”, Mykhailo Fedorov, Ukraine’s Vice Prime Minister and Minister of Digital Transformation, told The Associated Press.

“There are no problems for now with Starlink,” Fedorov said through an interpreter.

Doubts arose last month about whether Musk would continue to offer the SpaceX Starlink system to Ukraine. Its more than 2,200 low-orbiting satellites provide a broadband internet service to more than 150,000 Ukrainian ground stations.

But Musk tweeted in mid-October that it was costing SpaceX USD 20 million a month to support Ukraine’s communications needs. He also noted his company has to create, launch, maintain and replenish satellites and ground stations. Musk, the world’s richest man, also spent billions to take control of Twitter last week.

US officials confirmed at the time that Musk had asked the Defence Department to take over funding for the service Starlink provides in Ukraine.

The Starlink satellite internet’s role is central to Ukraine’s defence. For example, it helps front-line reconnaissance drone operators target artillery strikes on Russian assets and positions. The fighting in Ukraine is Europe’s first major war of the internet age.

Fedorov, speaking to the AP on the sidelines of an international tech conference in Lisbon, Portugal, wouldn’t lift the lid on how Starlink assists Ukraine’s military.

He noted that its importance stretches beyond military use, allowing soldiers to call home, permitting humanitarian operations and enabling the Ukraine government to continue rolling out e-services for its citizens, even in wartime.

“Starlink is now crucial for all the critical state services,” he said.

 Toronto,

Triclosan, a chemical often included in household items like hand soaps, toothpastes and cleaning products to fight off bacteria, has now been linked to antibiotic resistance.

According to the study by assistant professor Hui Peng's research group at University of Toronto, among thousands of co-occurring chemicals in the sludge, triclosan was found to be the predominant antibacterial compound impacting E coli.

Antibiotic-resistant bacteria -- also commonly known as "superbugs" -- are strains of bacteria that are not killed by antibiotics.

They are produced when continuous exposure to antibiotics causes bacteria to evolve over several generations to survive antibiotic effects.

These bacteria can be very dangerous to humans, especially those with impaired immune systems. Between 2014 and 2016, there were seven lakh deaths around the world attributed to antibiotic resistance.

"Since there are so many different antibiotics in the sewage sludge, we were surprised to find that the majority of antibacterial activity of the sludge could be directly linked to triclosan alone," said Holly Barrett, a PhD candidate in the Peng group and lead author on the study.

 BMW Motorrad India’s latest offering in the sub-500 cc class — the newly launched BMW G 310 RR — has proven to be a big hit in India. More than 1,000 units of the smart road racer have been delivered to customers since launch on July 15.

Moreover, an additional 2,200 bookings have been collected during the festive season. Deliveries will commence soon.

India is the first market for the BMW 310 RR. With the combination of a superbike design and modern technology, it is a road bike that one can take racing as well.

The BMW G 310 R, BMW G 310 GS and the BMW G 310 RR have been developed in Munich, Germany, by BMW Motorrad and are locally made by TVS Motor Company.

 Before the pandemic, lipsticks were trying to escape its form factor in way of markers and squeezable plastic vials instead of the traditional twist-up metal tubes. The experimentation sort of stopped because the sale of lipsticks went down in the era of masks (thankfully things are looking up). Here’s a tech company taking cue from the design of the lipstick case to achieve a simple objective — make tech fun.

Nothing, the London-based company from Carl Pei, has a third product (after Ear 1 and Phone 1) — the Ear Stick, a new truly wireless audio product. To make things clear, it’s not a replacement or successor to Ear 1 because the feature set is different here. (A question for Team Nothing: Why isn’t it called Ear Stick 1?)

Design dive

The design team at Nothing obviously had a lot of fun working on the Ear Stick and the inspiration is obvious — the lipstick. There are a few advantages the new design enjoys. First, it’s so slim and compact that it can fit into any pocket or bag. Second, if the device falls from your hand, unlike the usual earbuds, the box won’t open up, making the sound cans fly out. Third, it’s a fun design and women may love it more than men.

The downsides of the design cannot be overlooked. First, you can’t keep it flat on the table because it will roll off. Second, not having a flat side means no wireless charging but to give Nothing credit, they have planned the product for those who don’t need wireless charging. Third (and only time will tell), it doesn’t appear easy to clean. Fourth, inside the pocket of men’s trousers, the shape of the device may look odd.

Zero compromise on sound

To get the buds out, the box opens up with a swivel and the transparent stems are as stunning as on the Ear 1. The first thing you will notice is the absence of rubber tips, which obviously has an effect on sound. There are people who like active noise cancellation and for them a rubber seal is needed. Personally, I am a fan of ANC because I tend to use sound cans while travelling and like to cut myself off from the noises around me. My wife hates ANC and prefers an open-ear design, which is what Ear Stick offers. So, the world is divided, perhaps down the middle, on ANC versus open ear.

Either way, the fit is fantastic and even after hours of listening to music over the weekend I didn’t have any earache. Expect roughly seven hours from the earbuds and up to 29 hours from the charging case, which is as good as from any big brand.

How is the sound? It’s excellent. In case you find a better product in the market, chances are you would be spending two-three times the price of the Ear Stick.

There is a custom-designed 12.6mm dynamic driver, which offers a well-balanced sound. The bass is rich and the highs are nice and clear. The treble is just right while the entire soundstage shines. Listening to the mid-tempo Break My Soul from Beyonce on the Ear Stick captures the keyboard bass sound well while the dirty blues sound of the ZZ Top repertoire has a wow feel. Since there is no rubber tip, there will be sound leakage but the software, in a way, tackles it with something called Bass Lock. The software tweaks the equaliser curve to reduce the lack of a full seal. I also like the custom EQ which allows adjustment to the bass, mids and trebles but I miss granular controls.

There are three high-definition mics with an upgraded algorithm. It can filter out louder background sounds more than Nothing Ear 1. It isolates and amplifies your voice and it should help in street environment or windy places. Does it beat the AirPods? Not yet but Ear Stick does a far better job than most brands in the market.

Nothing keeps listening to suggestion and perhaps that’s best seen in the touch controls. This time there are no accidental touches; you need to make a purposeful touch to make features work.

There is in-ear detection, so music will stop as soon as you take the earbuds out and resume as soon as the earbuds are back in the ears. Plus, you have support for Google Fast Pair and Microsoft Swift Pair while you can use it with any Android Phone (running Android 5.1 and above) or the iPhone (running iOS 11 and above).

Should you buy it?

Make no mistake, this is a conversation starter and technology that’s fun and engaging. There are many who don’t like ANC, making this device a great choice. The sound is great and the microphone quality is more than good. There is also IP54 dust and water resistance. My only two quibbles — keeping it flat on the table is difficult and no multipoint connectivity support. Nothing Ear Stick shows that the company is thinking out of the box to make tech fun.

 Researchers at the Indian Institute of Technology, Rourkee, have come up with an affordable novel material that can remove arsenic as well as other heavy materials from water. Arsenic contamination of groundwater is a major problem in West Bengal as well as in other parts of the country, and scientists have long been working on making cheap and easy-to-use products that will remove arsenic from water and make it safe for drinking.

 New Delhi, October 30

Elon Musk on Sunday said that Twitter can soon expand or even get rid of the 280-character limit on the platform.

He also confirmed that the company under him will look into increasing the length of videos so that users can post longer videos.

Responding to a user who asked if we can get rid of character limits, or at least greatly expand it, Musk said: “Absolutely”.

Another user asked him about posting longer videos on Twitter, to which he said: “100 per cent”.

Musk, who has acquired Twitter for $44 billion after a bitter battle, said in April this year that the micro-blogging platform needs long-form tweets which is “way overdue”.

Twitter currently allows people to post in 280 characters.

Reacting to a follower’s tweet thread, Musk said: “My most immediate takeaway from this novella of a thread is that Twitter is way overdue for long form tweets!” Earlier, Musk demanded an Edit button, and the micro-blogging platform announced that it is working on such a feature that will allow users to correct errors in their tweets, albeit with some rules.

Twitter launched 280 characters in November 2017 to all users in supported languages, including English.

The company first announced the controversial plan to move beyond its traditional 140 characters in September 2017 with a small group of users.

Several Twitter users had argued that 280 characters would make Twitter less readable as the platform’s defining characteristic is the brevity of posts.

However, Twitter’s decision to double its character count from 140 to 280 characters did not dramatically change the length of Twitter posts.

According to the company, Twitter is still a place for briefer thoughts.

Only 1 per cent of tweets hit the 280-character limit, and only 12 per cent of tweets were longer than 140 characters, according to the data provided by the company a couple of years back. Only 5 per cent of tweets were longer than 190 characters.

 Growing up in the Netherlands, with its network of pathways, its flat landscape and its bicycle-friendly traffic laws, brothers Ties and Taco Carlier were commuting with their parents on bikes by age 4. Many families in the country didn’t own cars.

आज देश की परमाणु टेक्नोलॉजी के बीजपुरुष  महान वैज्ञानिक डॉक्टर होमी जहांगीर भाभा का जन्म दिवस है, आपका जन्म ३० अक्टूबर १९०९ को मुंबई के एक संपन्न पारसी परिवार में हुआ था , उनके पिता जहांगीर होर्मूसजी भाभा मुंबई के जाने माने वकील थे , भाभा बचपन से ही विज्ञान के प्रति जिज्ञासु थे तथा रॉयल इंस्टीटूट ऑफ़ साइंस से उन्होंने बी ऐस सी की  परन्तु उनके पिता उन्हें एक इंजीनियर बनाना चाहते थे , पिता की इच्छाओं को पूरा करने के लिए उन्होंने कैंब्रिज से मैकेनिकल इंजीनियरिंग में डिग्री प्राप्त की लेकिन 'फिजिक्स'  से उनका स्वाभाविक लगाव था, इस वजह से वे फिर अपनी चाहत वाली कैवेंडिश लैब में लौटे जिसे उस समय के प्रसिद्ध भौतिक विज्ञानी हेनरी कैवेंडिश ने स्थापित किया था जो की कैंब्रिज यूनिवर्सिटी का हिस्सा थी ,  इसी लैब में जेम्स चाडविक जैसे वैज्ञानिकों ने नाभिक के महत्वपूर्ण कण न्यूट्रॉन की खोज की थी , यही से आपका झुकाव  नाभिकीय भौतिकी की ओर हुआ फलस्वरूप  १९३३ में आपने कैंब्रिज से  नाभिकीय भौतिकी में डॉक्टरेट किया , लेकिन द्वितीय विश्व युद्ध के बाद उन्होंने ब्रिटैन छोड़ दिया तथा देश के लिए कुछ करने का निश्चय किया , तथा १९३९ में  प्रसिद्ध  विज्ञानी सर सी  वी रमन के मार्गदर्शन में आपने इंडियन इंस्टीटूट ऑफ़ साइंस बंगलोर को ज्वाइन कर लिया तथा यही से भारत के लिए परमाणु कार्क्रमों का उनका सफर प्रारम्भ हुआ ,आपने ही प्रसिद्ध उद्योगपति जे आर दी टाटा के सहयोग से  टाटा इंस्टिट्यूट ऑफ़ फंडामेंटल रिसर्च तथा परमाणु ऊर्जा आयोग, ट्राम्बे परमाणु ऊर्जा संस्थान   की स्थापना की जो देश के विकास में मील का पथ्थर साबित हुआ  आपको उस समय के तत्कालीन प्रधानमंत्री जवाहरलाल नेहरू का भरपूर सहयोग मिला ,भाभा के ही प्रयासों का परिणाम था की भारत ने १९७४ में अपना पहला  सफल परमाणु परीक्षण किया तथा देश परमाणु ऊर्जा के क्षेत्र में आत्मनिर्भर बना , इसमें सबसे ख़ास यह था की परमाणु ऊर्जा के लिए यूरेनियम की आवश्यकता होती है लेकिन भाभा ने अपने शोध से इसके  एक विकल्प थोरियम की सहायता से परमाणु शोध को आगे बढ़ाया था जिसकी देश में प्रचुरता थी , लेकिन २४ जनवरी  १९६६ को एक विमान दुर्घटना में आल्प्स पहाड़ियों के आस पास  संदिग्ध परिस्थितियों में आपकी मृत्यु हो गयी जब आप जिनेवा जा रहे थे , भाभा की मौत  सी आई  ए  की सुनियोजित षड़यंत्र का एक हिस्सा थी , क्योंकिं भारत परमाणु ऊर्जा के क्षेत्र में अपने कार्यक्रम में पूरे एशिया में काफी आगे चल रहा था तथा वह भी अपने दम पर , अमेरिका भारत  से उस समय बेहद सौतेला व्यवहार अपनाये हुए था ,  बहुत कम लोगों को मालूम है की २०१२ में आल्प्स पर्वत से एक बैग बरामद हुआ था जो की भाभा का था उसमें कुछ कागजात भी मिले थे , भाभा एक  अच्छे पेंटर , पर्यावरण  प्रेमी भी थे , देश ने एक होनहार , दूरदर्शी , कर्मठ तथा एक देशप्रेमी वैज्ञानिक को भाभा के रूप में खो दिया , भाभा का योगदान देश के इतिहास में स्वर्णाक्षरों में लिखा जाएगा जो अमर है तथा अमर रहेगा|

लेखक- सतेंद्र मिश्रा

 A lot is happening in the satellite internet space in India right now, and it would be no exaggeration to call it the next big thing after the 5G services rollout. Several communication bigwigs, from Elon Musk’s Starlink to Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Jio, have made strides to offer satellite-based internet services to remote corners of the country where cable and fibre internet are yet to reach. A satellite internet connection provides high-speed internet connections using satellites orbiting in space.

The frontrunner
In September, Hughes Communications India, in partnership with the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), announced the launch of its first high throughput satellite (HTS) broadband internet service in India. Hughes Communications India is a joint venture entity between Hughes Network Systems, US, and Sunil Mittal’s Bharti Airtel. The launch is aimed at offering satellite internet services in India’s remote locations.

For the service, it will use ISRO’s geosynchronous satellite (GSAT)-11 and GSAT-29. The Indian space research body launched the two satellites in 2018, intending to offer higher bandwidth satellite connectivity. Following the launch, K Sivan, then ISRO chairman, said the satellite is capable to offer a peak data bandwidth of 14 Gbps through satellite networks. The service launched by Hughes Communications India reportedly can offer internet connectivity bandwidth of up to 100Mbps. Notably, Bharti Airtel in October became the first company to launch 5G services in India.

In the fray
Joining the still nascent satellite internet space in the country is Reliance Jio, which announced its foray into this space in February this year. For this, it has partnered with Luxembourg-based SES, under the name Jio Space Technology Limited. In September, the company received the department of telecommunications’ (DoT) nod to start high-speed broadband-from-space services in the country.

 For more than a decade, social media platforms have seen extreme highs when it comes to advertisement revenues and user growth but are things the same? Elon Musk is capable of thinking out of the box and may change the social media game. Let’s look at how the game can play out.

Twitter

Musk will need to take a hard look at the bottom line and come up with ways to make investors happy as well as pay the money Twitter owes banks. Expect Twitter to promote its Twitter Blue package.

The problem at hand: He has to deal with staff revolt and many may leave as soon as he makes his presence felt. The top management is undergoing a massive change.

Hope floats: Now that Twitter will stop being a publicly-traded company, he won’t have pressures of the market. He can come up with ways to push Twitter Blue subscription and offer an out-of-the-box cure for the platform, which has rarely turned in big profits.

Meta

Meta has spent huge amounts of money in its rebranding as well as investing in the so-called metaverse. Its Oculus dreams around the metaverse can best be described as an emerging technology and it won’t make investors happy in the short run. Young users in the West are spending more hours on TikTok and the loyalty of creators seems to have shifted. Further, Meta has also lost billions of dollars in advertising revenue because of changes Apple made in 2021 to its mobile operating system, which made it harder for apps to track users across the Internet.

The problem at hand: Control costs, win back users from TikTok.

Hope floats: Mark Zuckerberg has always managed to make a comeback and the company’s future technology looks promising.

Snapchat

The platform continues to be attractive among the youth but its advertising business has taken a hit and the company recently laid off roughly 20 per cent of its workers. Snapchat too has been a victim of Apple’s privacy changes but Snap is not complaining as much as Meta.

The problem at hand: Rebooting its ad business.

Hope floats: Youngsters are still using Snapchat and daily active users continue to grow.