Bluesky is a decentralized social app that was launched this year as an alternative to X (formerly Twitter). The app was co-founded by former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey. Notably, since Musk's takeover of Twitter, whenever he says something shocking, it sparks an exodus of users from his platform to rivals like Bluesky. This has happened again. The app on September 19, 2023, saw a massive spike in new user signup after Musk made a shocking comment about making X a paid-only app for everyone. It immediately saw Bluesky log a fantastic new record of the most signups in a day on the portal. While it is not clear what caused the increase in users in a single day, but the comment might have had an impact on users' minds. Know how many new users joined X competitor Bluesky.
Aditya-L1 mission to unravel the secrets of solar storms that destroyed Elon Musk’s satellites
02.09.2023 - 05:41 / tech.hindustantimes.com / Elon Musk
In just a few hours, India's first-ever space mission to study the Sun and the space weather, Aditya-L1, will take off. Once it completes its long journey to its destination of the L1 Lagrange point, it will begin observing the Sun using the seven payloads that will collect data from it. Apart from observing the Sun, its corona, and its dynamic patterns, it will also study space weather, in particular the effect of solar winds and coronal mass ejection (CME) in causing solar storms. Understanding this phenomenon is crucial, as it contains the destructive potential to damage all satellites in space. In fact, it did exactly that in February 2022 when Elon Musk's SpaceX lost 40 of its Starlink satellites to solar storms.
According to an update by SpaceX, the solar storm struck just a day after the Starlink satellites were launched. The update confirmed that a solar storm was behind the company losing its fleet of satellites as it increased air drag in the upper atmosphere. It stated, “Preliminary analysis shows the increased drag at the low altitudes prevented the satellites from leaving safe mode to begin orbit-raising maneuvers, and up to 40 of the satellites will reenter or already have reentered the Earth's atmosphere”.
Now, a year and a half later, ISRO is launching the Aditya-L1 mission to study and uncover the secrets of space weather that have confused humans for more than two centuries. Even today, many solar observatories such as NASA's Solar Dynamic Observatory as well as Solar and Heliospheric Observatory, and ESA's Solar Orbiter continue to watch the Sun to improve both our analysis and prediction models for solar storm, but so far, there has been no breakthrough.
It is because there is still so much we do not know. We don't know how solar flares erupt in sunspot regions, or what the early onset signs of such eruptions are. We also do not know how to predict the amount of solar material, also known as CME, that can be dislodged during an eruption, and how it travels through space to hit the Earth.
We need these answers as soon as possible as the Sun is nearing the peak of its solar cycle and solar storms like the one that destroyed Musk's satellites can be more frequent now. However, if we can find a reliable way to predict such storms, we can move satellites out of their path, shut down power grids, and even stop wireless communication till the storm passes over.
Among the seven payloads onboard the Aditya-L1 spacecraft, the Aditya Solar wind Particle EXperiment (ASPEX) and Plasma Analyser Package for Aditya (PAPA) are capable of studying the solar wind and energetic ions, as well as their energy distribution. Additionally, the Solar Low Energy X-ray Spectrometer (SoLEXS) and The High Energy
Elon Musk, Neuralink and the horrifying death of test monkeys: What’s the truth?
Neuralink, Elon Musk's neurotechnology company on Tuesday announced that it would be commencing human trials soon after getting FDA approval a few months ago. For a study, called ‘PRIME Study', which is expected to last 6 years, the company is recruiting test subjects with a specific focus on people with quadriplegia, a form of paralysis which affects people from the neck down. However, the company has been in deep waters this month with questions over the nature of the death of Neuralink's test monkeys. While Musk earlier this month had claimed on X that no test monkey had died due to a Neuralink implant, an alarming report from Wired suggests otherwise.
Elon Musk considers charging all X users monthly fee
Elon Musk has suggested charging all users of his social media platform X, which would be the biggest shake-up since he took over the site then known as Twitter last October, but experts say he might struggle to get users on board.
Elon Musk's X Corp Agrees to Try to Settle Lawsuits Over Mass Layoffs at Twitter
Elon Musk's X Corp. has agreed to try to settle claims by thousands of former Twitter employees who say they were cheated of severance pay, according to a memo by a lawyer for the workers seen by Bloomberg News.
CCDH says X failed to act on 86% of hate speech posts, says report; Elon Musk calls it "psy ops"
The social media platform X owned by billionaire Elon Musk, has again made the headlines for the wrong reasons - this time for not taking corrective action against hateful posts present on the app. Experts revealed about 300 hate speech posts that violated the company's content policy, but X took no action against them. It was reported that X had previously sued the organization called Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH) for sharing misinformation.
Tech CEO Summit at US Senate: Elon Musk Calls AI Double-Edged Sword
Elon Musk called artificial intelligence a double-edged sword, telling US senators Wednesday that the technology can be a tremendous source for good but warning about risks to civilization, according to a person in the closed-door session. The billionaire owner of X, formerly known as Twitter, was among more than 20 tech and civil society leaders attending the summit focused on AI.
Sam Altman heaps praise on Elon Musk for remarkable success of OpenAI, calls him 'magnet'
When ChatGPT was unveiled in November 2022, the world was amazed by its capabilities. People used it for crafting content, poetry, music, and generating ideas. OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT, and its CEO, Sam Altman, became well-known globally because of this AI tool. Over time, more details emerged, revealing that Twitter's owner, Elon Musk, was also involved with OpenAI a few years ago. Musk, however, left the company in 2018, long before the AI chatbot's rise to fame.
Elon Musk's X sues over having to post moderation policies
Elon Musk's X Corp.on Friday sued the state of California over a law requiring social media companies to publicly post their policies regarding hate speech, disinformation, harassment and extremism.
Elon Musk Goes Full Scorch-Earth Against Anti-Defamation League (ADL), Blames the Jewish Advocacy Group for Wiping $22 Billion Off X
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Apple iPhone 14 SOS satellite service to get Elon Musk-led SpaceX boost
It's been almost a year since Apple introduced the iPhone 14, which brought a special feature called "Emergency SOS via Satellite." This nifty feature lets people call for help in places without regular cell phone signals. Now, thanks to a partnership between Globalstar, Apple's satellite provider, and Elon Musk's SpaceX, this emergency service might soon cover more areas.
Tech Briefing today: Aditya-L1 launched successfully, boon for creators on X, more
Tech Briefing today: It was a big day for India in the space tech sector as the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) launched the Aditya-L1 mission, the country's first space-based solar observatory. It is now moving to Lagrange point 1 (L1) where it will be spending the next 5 years. Meanwhile, anticipation is growing with the release of new leaks about the upcoming iPhone 15 Pro, which has surfaced mere weeks ahead of Apple's September 12 event. This and more in today's Tech briefing. Let us take a look.
Elon Musk rushes to rescue friend Larry Ellison over Twitter (X) password problem
In a surprising turn of events, Elon Musk came to the rescue of his longtime friend and Oracle co-founder, Larry Ellison, when Ellison found himself locked out of his X (formerly Twitter) account due to a forgotten password. This act of friendship unfolded as Ellison pledged a whopping $1 billion towards Musk's ambitious $44 billion takeover of Twitter, which has since been rebranded as "X."