A new supernova has turned into the most watched phenomenon in the May night sky. The close proximity of the stellar explosion and the vast amount of observations gathered since the discovery promise to advance astronomers’ understanding of stellar evolution and could even lead to major advances in supernova forecasting.
Supernovas are powerful explosions in which very massive stars, at least eight times more massive than our sun, die when they use up all the hydrogen fuel in their cores. The discovery of this latest exploding star, known officially as 2023ifx, was a serendipitous one.
Kevin kelly, wired magazine | pioneering visions of a high-tech future.
In this episode of Foresight’s Existential Hope Podcast, our special guest is Kevin Kelly, an influential figure in technology, culture, and optimism for the future. As the founding executive editor of Wired and former editor of Whole Earth Review, Kelly’s ideas and perspectives have shaped generations of thinkers and technologists.
Join our hosts Allison Duettmann and Beatrice Erkers as they delve into Kelly’s philosophies and experiences, from witnessing technological shifts over the decades to fostering optimism about the future. Kelly shares details about his latest book, a collection of optimistic advice in tweet form, and talks about his current project envisioning a desirable hi-tech future 100 years from now.
He also discusses the transformative power of the internet as an accelerant for learning, the underestimated long-term effects of being online, and the culture-changing potential of platforms like YouTube. If you’re interested in the intersection of technology, optimism, and the future, this is a must-see.
At a certain point, it was starting to feel like Netflix’s proposed crackdown on password sharing was a bluff, that they would never actually go through with it, right?
Well, the time has come, and the new anti-password sharing system has reached the US at last. No more testing, it’s time to nuke those extra accounts.
Meta had to sell GIPHY after UK regulator blocked the deal last year.
Shutterstock announced Tuesday that it will buy animated-image platform GIPHY from Meta for $53 million in cash. The deal is a significant loss for Meta, which had reportedly paid around $400 million to acquire the New York-based GIF search engine in 2020.
This development comes a year after the deal was challenged by the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority, which had ordered Meta to sell Giphy over anti-competitive practices.
Meta has taken a more than $300 million loss on Giphy – selling off the gif search engine to the stock image service Shutterstock for $53m after the deal was blocked by UK regulators.
“Alexa, play back that dream I had about Kirsten last week.” That’s a command that may not be too far off in the future, as researchers close in on technology that can tap into our minds and retrieve the imagery of our thoughts.
Researchers at the National University of Singapore and the Chinese University of Hong Kong reported last week that they have developed a process capable of generating video from brain scans. The research is published on the arXiv preprint server.
Using a process called functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), researchers Jiaxin Qing, Zijiao Chen and Juan Helen Zhou coupled data retrieved through imaging with the deep learning model Stable Diffusion to create smooth, high quality videos.
Oh hey, AI enthusiasts and futurism fans! I’d love to share with you an article I recently wrote on my Substack. It takes you on a journey from the ancient Greek device known as the Antikythera mechanism, all the way to the generative AI explosion of 2023, tracing the history of computation and AI.
For more than a decade, I’ve been writing about technology, society, and the future, aiming to provide thoughtful analysis and critical thinking on the latest trends and their implications. I’ve been following these topics for over 15 years, and I am enthusiastic about initiating a meaningful conversation with you about the changing world and its intersection with technology.
Whether sitting or hanging, the surface of a protein-containing droplet changes as the water escapes, an effect researchers link to the pull of gravity.
A study of drops falling on a thin liquid film finds that splash behavior depends on film thickness—a result that could impact our understanding of stalagmite formation.
