• India’s proposed privacy law aims to ease cross-border data transfers

    Two months after withdrawing a draft data privacy law, the Indian government has published a new proposal that could impact how tech giants such as Facebook and Google process and transfer data in one of the world's most populated nations.  If approved, the new law would allow companies to transfer some users' data abroad, while giving the federal government powers to exempt state agencies from the law in the interests of national security. The government will “notify such countries or territories outside India to which a data fiduciary may transfer personal data”, according to the draft law.  The proposed legislation stipulates that consent is necessary before collecting personal data and establishes harsher penalties for persons and companies that fail to prevent data breaches, including…

  • Tuvalu turns to the metaverse to guarantee islands’ survival

    Tuvalu's foreign minister Simon Kofe has revealed the nation's plans to build a digital twin of the country and upload it to the metaverse , an interoperable online platform that relies on augmented and virtual reality (VR) to help users interact.  The announcement - made at the Cop27 climate summit - aims to preserve Tuvalu's history and culture before the nation is submerged underwater.  "As our land disappears, we have no choice but to become the world’s first digital nation," said Tuvalu's foreign minister Simon Kofe in a speech given at the climate summit, delivered against the backdrop of a digital island. "Our land, our ocean, our culture are the most precious assets of our people - and to keep them safe from harm, no matter what happens in the physical world, we'll move them to…

  • Musk’s Twitter in chaos, as office closes and more staff leave

    Hundreds of the firm's remaining staff rejected Musk’s ultimatum of agreeing to work "more intensely" in order to keep their jobs at the company, an industry expert has said. This standoff raises the very real possibility of Twitter being knocked offline, an event likelihood that has “dramatically increased” in the past 24 hours.   Matt Navarra, a social media consultant and industry analyst, said it was unlikely the site would go down in the next few days, but he warned that the service was under increased strain as key engineers charged with maintaining the site have left the company, just as a major event for Twitter – the FIFA World Cup in Qatar – begins this weekend. Concerns have grown over the site’s ability to stay online after Musk fired half of the company’s 7,500 workers, as…

    E+T Magazine
    E+T Magazine

  • Blasting rock with microwaves could unlock the key to geothermal energy

    The deepest hole drilled to date - the Kola borehole - went 7.6 miles down. It took 20 years to complete because conventional equipment like mechanical drill bits can’t withstand the conditions at those depths. Massachusetts-based Quaise Energy has been developing a technology to blast rock with microwaves that could make it easier to drill the deepest holes on Earth. Speaking at a TEDX event in Boston, the firm’s co-founder Matt Houde said: “The total energy content of the heat stored underground exceeds our annual energy demand as a planet by a factor of a billion. “Tapping into a fraction of that is more than enough to meet our energy needs for the foreseeable future.” According to Quaise Energy, if holes could be dug ten miles down, temperatures can be accessed that could be used…

  • EU agrees to support €6bn European satellite system

    The European Union has reached a deal to build and operate a €6bn (£5.2bn) satellite internet system, driven by the bloc's push to boost its own space and communications sectors and ensure security by cutting its reliance on foreign suppliers.  The initiative was first proposed in February, but the 27-nation bloc only agreed to it today (18 November).  In order to fund the scheme, the Commission wants to divert £2.4bn from various EU programmes and use unspent money from other EU projects. The private sector is expected to also contribute by providing the remaining £3.6bn.  “Space plays a growing role in our daily lives, our economic growth, our security, and our geopolitical weight," said Thierry Breton, Commissioner for the Internal Market, when the project was first announced.  …

  • Japan extends ISS participation to 2030; India launches first private rocket

    Last year, Nasa said the space station would remain operational until at least January 2031 in yet another extension of its lifespan. Nagaoka has now confirmed that his country will help Nasa maintain this commitment as space rivals China bolster their own Tiangong space station through the launch of additional modules. In November 2020, the ISS surpassed its 20-year milestone of continuous human presence and has provided unique opportunities for research in space. Japan’s announcement comes just days after Nasa’s Artemis rocket blasted off from Cape Canaveral, Florida, as part of its plans to return humans to the Moon once again. The crewless voyage, which marks the start of the Artemis programme, also saw Japan participating. “ISS is inevitable as a place to verify technologies…

  • Hunt pledges to make UK ‘the world’s next Silicon Valley’ in Autumn Statement

    Amid increases in windfall taxes and a new 45 per cent levy on low-carbon electricity generators, the chancellor in his highly anticipated Autumn Statement also laid out the government’s plan to protect the country's research budget.  Hunt’s Autumn Statement saw major tax changes for energy companies, fossil fuel providers and electric vehicles, as well as R&D projects, in order to facilitate the chancellor's goal of combining  “our technology and science brilliance with our formidable financial services”. The 2017 Tory manifesto included a commitment to investing  2.4 per cent of the UK's GDP in research and development (R&D) initiatives by 2027, increasing from the 2018 level of 1.7 per cent of GDP invested in R&D.  However, the cost-of-living crisis and historic inflation levels had…

  • Autumn Statement slaps taxes on EVs, fossil fuels and more

    The chancellor Jeremy Hunt has increased the windfall tax on oil and gas giants from 25 to 35 per cent and given it a two-year extension, so that it will now run until March 2028. A 45 per cent levy on low-carbon electricity generators has also been announced, which is estimated will raise £14bn next year. While not reliant on generating energy from fossil fuels, low-carbon facilities such as nuclear power plants, windfarms, solar farms, hydro projects and biomass burners have nevertheless enjoyed bumper profits this year, with high wholesale gas prices pushing up the price of electricity generated from any source. The announcement saw shares in SSE, which runs gas-fired power stations alongside hydroelectric plants and windfarms, drop by 3.75 per cent just one day after it reported a…

    E+T Magazine
    E+T Magazine

  • MPs' phones considered a ‘potential goldmine’ for hostile states

    Tom Tugendhat gave the stark assessment of the situation after Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle issued MPs with advice from the government’s National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) to minimise their security risks. “If hackers have switched on the microphone on one phone, everyone in the room might be overheard,” Hoyle wrote to MPs. The NCSC advice includes suggestions that MPs should set up multi-factor verification in their phones, as well as update software and delete old messages. The organisation also advised senior politicians not to take their phones into sensitive meetings, as only one person’s phone camera or microphone needed to be compromised for everyone in a room to be put at risk. The assessment follows reports of Liz Truss’s personal phone being hacked during the Tory leadership…

  • Chinese takeover of Newport Wafer blocked by British regulators

    UK Business Secretary Grant Shapps has ordered Nexperia to sell its majority stake in Newport Wafer Fab, the Welsh semiconductor firm it acquired for £63m.  Nexperia is based in the Netherlands but owned by  Wingtech, a company partially backed by the Chinese government and listed in Shanghai. In  July 2021, the firm completed its acquisition of Newport Wafer Fab, after purchasing 86 per cent of company shares, in addition to the 14 per cent it already possessed.  The firm subsequently changed its name to Nexperia Newport Limited, or NNL. Earlier this year the UK government launched a national security probe into the deal, using powers that allow it to review and block foreign takeovers or investments in sensitive sectors. The government said yesterday (Wednesday, 17 November) that…

  • AI tool calculates value of bank bailouts during financial crises

    Developed by a team at UCL and Queen Mary University of London, the tool assesses not only if a bailout is the best strategy for taxpayers, but also how much should be invested in the bank and which bank or banks should be bailed out at any given time. The algorithm was tested using data from the European Banking Authority on a network of 35 European financial institutions judged to be the most important to the global financial system. Dr Neofytos Rodosthenous, corresponding author of the paper, said: “Government bank bailouts are complex decisions that have financial, social and political implications. We believe the AI approach we have developed can be an important tool for governments, helping officials assess specifically financial implications – this means checking if a bailout is…

  • UK meteorite ‘holds clues as to how oceans and life originated on Earth’

    An analysis of the space rock, which crashed onto a driveway in the Winchcombe area of Gloucestershire, has revealed that it contains 11 per cent water and 2 per cent carbon. The experts said their findings show that asteroids played a key role in “delivering the ingredients needed to kickstart oceans and life on the early Earth”. Dr Luke Daly, a lecturer in planetary geoscience at the University of Glasgow and author on the paper said: “One of the biggest questions asked of the scientific community is: how did we get here? “This analysis on the Winchcombe meteorite gives insight into how the Earth came to have water – the source of so much life. “Researchers will continue to work on this specimen for years to come, unlocking more secrets into the origins of our solar system.” The…

  • How to create momentum for your circular economy strategy

    Sustainability is increasingly becoming non-negotiable for modern manufacturers and distributors. While business goals remain front of mind, the industry recognises the importance of introducing environmental-focused goals into the mix as part of environmental social and governance (ESG) programmes. The circular economy is changing the game. Manufacturers’ commitment to eliminating waste through a cyclical model of ‘make, use, reuse, remake, recycle’ is already resulting in real rewards. Yet despite a widespread understanding of the benefits, many manufacturers and distributors are struggling to shift towards a sustainable circular economy strategy as they face big industry challenges. The immediate need to address higher costs, supply chain disruption, the move to ‘just in case’ inventory…

  • Scotland publishes first Code of Practice for use of biometric data

    The code of practice, which came into force today (Wednesday 16 November), gives guidance to the police on how biometric data and related forensic technologies can be used ethically in a criminal justice setting.  The use of biometric data - including faces, fingerprints, voices, DNA profiles and other measurements related to the body - is becoming increasingly common in new technologies, particularly those related to facial recognition. However, these applications have led to civil rights challenges and condemnation from human rights groups, who argue that the technology is often mistaken and biased . The Scottish framework aims to address these concerns by setting out 12 principles and ethical considerations detailing how biometric data can be acquired, retained, used and destroyed…

  • Ultra-accurate navigation uses mobile towers instead of satellites

    Created as the result of work researchers at Delft University of Technology, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam and VSL, the working prototype achieved a location accuracy of 10 centimetres. The new technology could be important for the implementation of a range of location-based applications, including automated vehicles, quantum communication and next-generation mobile communication systems. A lot of vital infrastructure relies on global navigation satellite systems such as the US’s GPS and the EU’s Galileo. Reliance on satellites means both have their limitations and vulnerabilities. Their radio signals are weak when received on Earth, and accurate positioning is no longer possible if the radio signals are reflected or blocked by buildings. “This can make GPS unreliable in urban settings…

  • Book review: ‘Power and Prediction’

    Not many authors start their new book with the frank admission that their previous one was fundamentally in error. “We were wrong,” say Ajay Agrawal, Joshua Gans and Avi Goldfarb in their preface to ‘Power and Prediction’ (Harvard Business Review Press, £22, ISBN 9781647824198), a compelling essay on the disruptive economics of artificial intelligence. But you can’t really blame them for partially missing the mark in 2017’s ‘Prediction Machines’ – some might say they’re being too hard on themselves here – because their starting position was solid enough: technologies will always evolve, while sturdy and reliable economics will obey the same rules it always has done. Again, to be fair, ‘Prediction Machines’ came out five years ago and a lot has happened in the world of AI since then. While…

  • Nasa’s Artemis rocket lifts off for historic Moon mission

    After several failed attempts, Nasa’s ‘Space Launch System’ (SLS) rocket has launched from the agency's Kennedy Space Centre in Florida,  propelling the Orion spacecraft in the Moon's direction.  The uncrewed mission is the first in the space agency's Artemis programme, which aims to take humans back to the Moon and establish a lunar colony in the Earth's only natural satellite.  “We rise together, back to the Moon and beyond,” said Nasa’s official commentator as the 98-metre rocket took off in a cloud of smoke.  The SLS is the most powerful rocket Nasa has ever built. In this crucial testing phase, it will fly further than any spacecraft built for humans: 40,000 miles past the far side of the Moon and 280,000 miles from Earth. When we go, we go together. The #Artemis team wants…

  • Autonomous robot finds its way through pipe networks to find leaks

    Much of the infrastructure for water, sewage and gas runs in pipes under the ground that require regular inspection to find the source of leaks or needed repairs. This often requires expensive excavation work that is estimated to cost £5.5bn a year in the UK alone, as well as causing disruption to traffic and nuisance to people living nearby. The team has developed a robot called Joey that can navigate by itself through mazes of pipes as narrow as 7.5cm across without needing a camera. Weighing just 70g, it’s small enough to fit in the palm of your hand. Image credit: TL Nguyen, A Blight, A Pickering, A Barber, GH Jackson-Mills, JH Boyle, R Richardson, M Dogar, N Cohen “Underground water and sewer networks are some of the least hospitable environments, not only…

  • The UK grants first-ever spaceport licence

    The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has confirmed that Spaceport Cornwall, in Newquay, can be used for sending satellites into space, paving the way for the launch of the LauncherOne rocket into space.  The launch will see Virgin Orbit’s jumbo, known as Cosmic Girl, carrying LauncherOne, to an altitude of approximately 35,000ft (10km) and then dropping it. Once released into the atmosphere, the LauncherOne rocket will accelerate to 8,000mph (12,875km/h) before deploying seven satellites into orbit with a variety of civil and defence applications. The jumbo – a repurposed Virgin Atlantic Boeing 747 aircraft – recently travelled from California in the US to Spaceport Cornwall, and is expected to lift off in the coming weeks.  CAA chief executive Richard Moriarty described the awarding of…

  • Musk ‘fired Twitter staff for criticising him’

    As many as 20 employees have allegedly been told that their behaviour violated company policy and that their employment was being terminated immediately. According to reports in the US, a number of staff using Slack - a messaging platform used officially by staff inside Twitter - had criticised or questioned some of Musk’s recent tweets about the Twitter app’s “slow” performance. Earlier this week, a Twitter engineer who publicly disagreed with the billionaire’s tweets was said to have been laid off, with Musk later tweeting, “he’s fired”. Musk even appeared to mock staff who had been fired, tweeting in reply to a link to the story: “I would like to apologise for firing these geniuses. Their immense talent will no doubt be of great use elsewhere.” Critics of the Tesla and SpaceX boss…

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    E+T Magazine

  • UK’s failure on heat pump installations has left it ‘gas addicted’

    Heat pumps have already replaced about 20 per cent of the boilers in Europe, but the war in Ukraine is resulting in even more consumers turning to the electric heating systems as a way to reduce demand for gas whose price as increased significantly. Estonia sold 1,583 heat pumps per 100,000 people in 2021 and Poland sold 259 per 100,000 people, 25 times and 4 times more than the UK’s 63 respectively. The ECIU estimated that if the UK had already installed the same amount of heat pumps per 100,000 people as Estonia, the UK’s domestic gas use would be 107TWh or 34 per cent lower than in 2021 and gas imports in 2021 could have been cut by a fifth. Total numbers of heat pumps are also a lot higher in most of Europe compared to the UK, which has just 280,000 heat pumps installed. For example…

  • Hands-on review: OneOdio Monitor 60 pro wired headphones

    While sales of in-ear wired earbuds have been tanking in recent years, their bigger, over-ear wired brothers have seen an uptick in sales. Driven partly by the pandemic, and partly by the rise (and rise) of social media platforms and the cult of the influencer, more and more people have got involved with creating content – as opposed to passively consuming it – be it videos for TikTok and YouTube, audio podcasts or self-produced songs and beats. This trend has, in turn, driven an increase in sales of pro audio equipment – the tools you need to do your best work. Acknowledging this shift in consumer behaviour, Chinese firm OneOdio has released the Monitor 60, billed as "professional wired headphones". These ear goggles are strictly for direct wired connection only. There's no Bluetooth,…

  • View from India: Path-breaking research fetches laurels

    The Infosys Prize is awarded by the Infosys Science Foundation (ISF), a not-for-profit trust set up in 2009. The annual award goes towards the outstanding achievements of contemporary researchers and scientists in six categories: Engineering and Computer Science, Humanities, Life Sciences, Mathematical Sciences, Physical Sciences, and Social Sciences. Panels of jurors comprising world-renowned scholars and experts shortlisted the winners of the Infosys Prize 2022 from 218 nominations. Each prize consists of a gold medal, a citation and a purse of US$100,000. The award intends to celebrate success in research and stand as a marker of excellence in these fields. Over the past 13 years, ISF has recognised the accomplishments of some of the best and creative scientific research that has contributed…

    E+T Magazine
    E+T Magazine

  • Google fined nearly $400m for breaching location tracking rules in the US

    The case leading to the multistate payout was instigated by Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel, along with 39 other attorneys general. It is the largest multistate privacy settlement in the history of the US, with Michigan alone receiving close to $12m from the settlement. “Google makes the majority of its revenue from using the personal data of those who search in its browsers and use its apps,” Nessel said. “The company’s online reach enables it to target consumers without the consumer’s knowledge or permission. However, the transparency requirements of this settlement will ensure that Google not only makes users aware of how their location data is being used, but also how to change their account settings if they wish to disable location-related account settings, delete the data collected…

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