by Kerry SHERIDAN Agence France-Presse MIAMI, United States (AFP) — SpaceX on Sunday blasted off its Falcon 9 rocket carrying the unmanned Dragon cargo ship, packed with food and supplies for the six astronauts living at the International Space Station. The white rocket soared into the cloudy, gray skies over Cape Canaveral, Florida at 9:38 am (1438 GMT). The mission was the first to take off from NASA’s historic launchpad 39A, the origin of the […]
Sci-Tech
Climate study delivers dire warning on Alpine snow
PARIS, France (AFP) — The Alpine skiing season may be much shorter by century’s end, and limited to a smaller area, said a climate study Thursday warning of snow cover loss as high as 70 percent. Most climate models predict increased winter precipitation due to global warming, scientists wrote in the European Geosciences Union (EGU) journal The Cryosphere. But with temperatures rising too, the is likely to be in the form of rain rather than […]
Yahoo notifies users of sophisticated breach methods
SAN FRANCISCO, United States (AFP) — Yahoo said Wednesday it was notifying some users that hackers may have been able to use a maneuver to break into their accounts without stealing passwords. The latest notifications were in response to the record breach disclosed late last year affecting an estimated one billion users — which involved forging of “cookies” or files used to authenticate users when they log into their accounts. The notification indicates the investigation […]
Tokyo collects old phones to recycle into 2020 Olympics medals
TOKYO, Japan (Reuters) — Over a hundred of people gathered at the Tokyo Metropolitan Government building on Thursday (February 16) to donate their old mobile phones, which will be recycled into medals for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. The Tokyo 2020 organizing committee hopes to gather as much as eight tonnes of metal from outdated mobile phones and small appliances. This effort, the first of its kind for the Olympics, will extract 40 kg of gold, 2,930 […]
New Facebook job-hunting features challenge LinkedIn
SAN FRANCISCO, United States (AFP) — Facebook on Wednesday began letting businesses in the US or Canada post jobs and take applications from jobseekers, posing a challenge to Microsoft-owned LinkedIn. The platform’s users will be able to find help-wanted posts at business pages on Facebook or by looking in a new ‘jobs’ bookmark on the leading social network’s mobile application. “Businesses and people already use Facebook to fill and find jobs, so we’re rolling out […]
Music and film streaming on social media – good or bad?
QUEZON City, Philippines (February 15) – Of all the forms of entertainment, it is safe to say that music and movies are the most consumed by the people. Some even say that music is not just music; it’s a way of life. When it comes to movies, the saying “you are what you eat” may also apply, you are what you watch. As such, it is almost inevitable that one day, there will be music and […]
WWII shipwrecks off Malaysia broken for scrap: divers
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AFP) — Three World War II shipwrecks off the coast of Malaysia — the final resting place of dozens of seamen — have almost disappeared, local divers say, with the finger pointing at possible scrap metal scavengers. The Japanese cargo vessels, which went down with their crews off the coast of Sabah in 1944, had become popular dive sites, teeming with fish and coral. But local operators say the wrecks have been reduced […]
Astronomers zoom in on megastar’s juvenile outburst
by Mariëtte Le Roux Agence France Presse PARIS, France (AFP) — A long time ago, in a galaxy far away, a supergiant red star ended its life in a spectacular explosion known as a supernova. The light from that event took 160 million years to reach Earth where, in a stroke of luck, robot telescopes scanning the night sky happened upon it on October 6, 2013. On Monday, astronomers said the chance discovery allowed them […]
Piccadilly lights out for renovations
(Eagle News) — Lights go out at London’s iconic Piccadilly Circus — it’ll go off for an extended period for the first time since the blitz to allow a complete overhaul. The Piccadilly lights have been switched off for its renovations. Eagle News Service London Bureau, LoveAnne Sison
Record-breaking solar panels could slash power costs
LAUSANNE, SWITZERLAND (Reuters) — Solar panels designed by a start-up offshoot of Switzerland’s EPFL institute have achieved the highest efficiency ever recorded, in independent tests. In tests conducted by the Fraunhofer Institute in Germany, Insolight’s panels scored a yield of 36.4 percent, almost double what current solutions on the market achieve. “Our key innovation is that you do not need to rotate the panel in order to follow the sun,” explained Insolight co-founder and chief […]
Tech firms must do more against ‘fake news’: Apple boss
London, United Kingdom (AFP) — Technology firms must up their game in tackling “fake news”, Apple chief executive Tim Cook said Saturday, calling for a major public information campaign. “All of us technology companies need to create some tools that help diminish the volume of fake news,” the US tech giant boss told the Daily Telegraph in an interview. “We must try to squeeze this without stepping on freedom of speech and of the press, […]
Digital TV switches on in the Philippines
The migration from analog to digital TV broadcasting is finally happening in the Philippines. With the theme, “Bringing New Dimensions to the Broadcasting Experience of Filipinos,” the Digital TV Summit 2017 will formally launch the Digital Terrestrial Television Broadcasting (DTTB) plan with a ceremonial switch on to digital TV at the Novotel Manila Araneta Center on February 14-15, 2017. “Filipino viewers can explore and enjoy the multitude of features of digital broadcasting that were […]