Here is the daily technology #threadcast for 5/18/25. The goal is to make this a technology "reddit".
Drop all question, comments, and articles relating to #technology and the future. The goal is make it a technology center.
Here is the daily technology #threadcast for 5/18/25. The goal is to make this a technology "reddit".
Drop all question, comments, and articles relating to #technology and the future. The goal is make it a technology center.
Part 1: HIve is a superior money transfer system then the current fiat based transfer system.
because
Why?
Hive is virtual, so it can actually be sent over the internet. Money is technically physical, so it can't be sent over the internet.
Why is this important?
Part 3 Hive. money transfer is superior to traditional transfer in this regard
Part 2: The Tradition FInancial system iexcludes almost half the world from participation.
Why?
The Traditional FInance system can't send real money, only a promise to pay money. So this system relies on trustworthiness, credit worthiness and a third party guranteeing both parties performance. This limits where it go and who it can benefit.
The IMF reports almost half the world's population can't be served by SWIFT and similar systems of the traditional money transfer system. The IMF thinks this has a big impact on global economic development, and hinders the IMF from erradicating poverty.
Paragraphs
With the help of tools like hot-wire anemometers (measure turbulence), pressure sensors, and far-field microphones to capture both the way air moved through the engine and the noise it produced. What they discovered was that the irritating sound wasn’t just about volume. It had to do with how the sound energy was spread out.
They identified two types of noise patterns. First, called duct haystacking, happened during cruising, when the engine was at low thrust. Here, the boundary layer air flows gently into the engine and interacts mostly with the duct, the tube around the fan. This created a fuzzy sound.
The second noise, called fan haystacking, occurred during take-off, when the engine worked at high thrust. Powerful suction pulled in rougher, more chaotic air, which slammed into a large portion of the spinning fan blades. The result was even more scattered and harsh noise.
These findings can help engineers trace each noise pattern back to its aerodynamic cause and allow them to design engines that truly sound quieter to people, not just look quiet on paper. “By linking turbulent flow ingestion patterns to how people perceive noise, we are giving engineers the tools to design future aircraft that truly sound as quiet as they look,” Feroz Ahmed, lead researcher, said.
According to a report recently published by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), the NIF had achieved ignition for the seventh time in February 2025, and the latest achievement seems to have emerged from the eighth time. However, there is no official communique on this matter.
“On Feb. 23, 2025, NIF achieved ignition for the seventh time while setting a new target gain record (energy yield vs. energy on target) of 2.44. The 2.05 MJ shot yielded 5.0 MJ, highest for a 2.05 MJ shot and the second highest overall,” LLNL had noted earlier.
Progress over previous milestone
This surge in energy production marks a pivotal development, substantially building upon the NIF’s landmark 2022 success.
It was then that scientists first achieved a controlled fusion reaction that demonstrably released more energy (3.15 megajoules) than the 2.05 megajoules of laser energy directly applied to the fuel target. This was the first controlled fusion experiment to do so.
Despite the reported increases in yield, the energy produced is not sufficient for grid-scale power generation, nor does it offset the total energy consumed by the NIF to conduct the experiments.
Inertial confinement is one of the primary methods being researched globally to achieve controlled fusion. The other main approach, magnetic confinement, uses strong magnetic fields to contain and compress plasma to induce fusion.
“For the last six decades, LLNL researchers and their colleagues have been working to achieve one of the most challenging goals in all of science and a primary objective of NIF: fusion ignition,” remarked the Lab.
The facility was not designed for continuous power output; for example, the 2022 net-positive shot required approximately 300 megajoules to operate the laser system alone. The experiments serve as continued demonstrations of controlled nuclear fusion principles.
Mexican navy ship crashes into Brooklyn Bridge killing two crew members
In a post on X, New York City mayor Eric Adams stated that preliminary inspection confirmed the bridge sustained no damage and has been reopened to the public.
A large Mexican navy tall ship on an international goodwill visit to New York struck the Brooklyn Bridge late Saturday, snapping all three of its towering masts in a dramatic crash that left two crew members dead and at least 19 injured—including two in critical condition.
While the exact cause of the collision is under investigation, a few reports have suggested that the ship faced a power outage causing it to veer off its path. In a post on social media platform X, New York City mayor Eric Adams stated that preliminary inspection confirmed the bridge sustained no damage and has since reopened to the public.
“Earlier tonight, the Mexican Navy tall ship Cuauhtémoc lost power and crashed into the Brooklyn Bridge. At this time, of the 277 on board, 19 sustained injuries, 2 of which remain in critical condition, and 2 more have sadly passed away from their injuries,” NYC mayor Adams posted.
The Mexican navy stated on X that the Cuauhtémoc is an academy training ship. It confirmed 22 injuries, with 19 requiring medical care. The country’s President Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo expressed condolences for the two crew members who died in the incident, offering support to their families.
Telegram Founder Says he Rejected Request to 'Silence' Conservative Voices in Romania
Telegram founder says he rejected a Western request to 'silence' conservative voices in Romania
The founder of the Telegram messaging app, Pavel Durov, said on Sunday he had refused a request by a Western government, which he did not name, to "silence" conservative voices in Romania ahead of a presidential election run-off there.
Romanians were voting on Sunday in a run-off that pits a hard-right eurosceptic against a centrist independent. The outcome of the contest will have significant implications for both Romania's struggling economy and European Union unity.
"You can't 'defend democracy' by destroying democracy. You can't 'fight election interference' by interfering with elections. You either have freedom of speech and fair elections — or you don't. And the Romanian people deserve both," he said.
Durov, born in Russia but now a French national, was detained last year in France amid an investigation into crimes related to child pornography, drug trafficking and fraudulent transactions associated with the app.
In March Durov, who denied any wrongdoing, returned to Dubai. Telegram is widely used in Russia, including by the authorities and officials, and in Eastern Europe.
Federal Officials Launch Investigation Into Mexican Tall Ship That Struck Brooklyn Bridge
Federal transportation officials have launched an investigation into why a Mexican navy tall ship hit the Brooklyn Bridge in a collision that snapped the vessel's three masts, killed two crew members and left some sailors dangling from harnesses high in the air.
The ship known as the Cuauhtemoc was visiting New York on a global goodwill tour when the accident occurred Saturday evening. The vessel could be seen in multiple eyewitness videos traveling swiftly in reverse toward the bridge near the Brooklyn side of the East River. Then its three masts struck the bridge and snapped, one by one, as the ship kept moving.
The vessel, which was flying a giant Mexican flag and had 277 people aboard, then drifted into a pier on the riverbank as onlookers scrambled away.
Sailors could be seen aloft in the rigging on the damaged masts but, remarkably, no one fell into the water, officials said.
Sydney Neidell and Lily Katz told The Associated Press they were sitting outside to watch the sunset when they saw the vessel strike the bridge.
“We saw someone dangling, and I couldn’t tell if it was just blurry or my eyes. And we were able to zoom in on our phone, and there was someone dangling from the harness from the top for like at least like 15 minutes before they were able to rescue them,” Katz said.
Just before the collision, Nick Corso took his phone out to capture the backdrop of the ship and the bridge against a sunset, Instead, he heard what sounded like the loud snapping of a “big twig." Several more snaps followed.
People in his vicinity began running and “pandemonium” erupted aboard the ship, he said. He later saw a handful of people dangling from a mast.
“I didn’t know what to think, I was like, is this a movie?” he said.
The Mexican navy said in a post on the social platform X that the Cuauhtemoc was a training vessel. It said a total of 22 people were injured.
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum lamented the loss of the two crew members.
He said an initial report was that the ship lost power due to a mechanical problem, though officials cautioned that the information was preliminary. Videos show a tugboat was close to the Cuauhtemoc at the time of the crash.
As midnight approached, the broken boat was moved slowly up the East River, going under and past the Manhattan Bridge, aided by a series of tugboats, before docking at a pier. Onlookers continued to gather on the waterfront to watch the spectacle.
Each year the Cuauhtemoc sets out at the end of classes at the naval military school to finish cadets' training. This year it left the Mexican port of Acapulco, on the Pacific coast, on April 6, the navy said.
China develops new fibre-optic gyroscope that can withstand a range of temperatures
The new gyroscope comprises hollow air-core fibers instead of solid ones which makes the instrument better suited for harsh environments like outer space or deep-sea exploration.
A team of Chinese scientists has reportedly developed a new fibre-optic gyroscope that is stable across a wide range of temperatures. The development could prove crucial for military, deep-sea, or space navigation, where satellite signals can be blocked or are unreliable. Gyroscopes are critical pieces of equipment used in navigation of planes, ships, submarines, and oil rigs.
A gyroscope measures orientation and rotation. Simply put, it tells you which way you’re pointing, moving or how you’re turning without the need for GPS or satellites. To this end, you can think of it like an extremely accurate internal compass and turn tracker.
Modern high-precision gyroscopes use solid optical fibers that bend light to measure movement. However, these fibers are easily affected by heat, radiation, and magnetic fields, especially in extreme environments.
Flying taxi engines produce weird sound, but scientists have found a fix
Engineers want to use next-generation BLI engines in electric flying vehicles, but a noise issue still needs to be fixed.
Ever wonder why some machines just sound so horrible, not just loud, but truly irritating to the ear? You may not believe it, but future electric aircraft engines, especially those being developed for air taxis and eco-friendly planes, might suffer from this exact problem.
A new study from researchers at the University of Bristol and the University of Salford reveals the hidden physics behind the unpleasant sound of a new type of engine called a boundary layer ingesting (BLI) engine.
These engines promise better fuel efficiency and lower emissions, making them vital for green aviation. However, there’s been one major issue; they make a strange, buzzing noise that people find particularly annoying, even more than traditional engines. Thanks to the new study, now we know exactly why, and more importantly, how to design quieter versions.
Until now, engineers designing next-generation electric aircraft engines could measure how loud these engines were, but they couldn’t explain why the noise felt unpleasant to human ears. To solve this dilemma, the study authors focused on BLI engines.
These engines are built to swallow the slow, messy layer of air that clings to the aircraft’s body during flight. This design helps improve efficiency and reduce drag. However, the downside is that it pulls in turbulent air, which ends up making noise.
The researchers wanted to find out exactly how this disturbed airflow leads to sound, and more importantly, why that sound feels so annoying to people. They set up a high-tech wind tunnel experiment to mimic real flying conditions.
!summarize #ai #chatgpt #stephenwolfram
Microsoft’s long-awaited memory feature is here: The tech giant’s Recall tool just landed on all AI-enabled PCs after nearly a year of delays due to security concerns. The feature could completely change how we use computers, making it easier to find documents, websites, and screenshots from weeks or months ago. Recall essentially gives your PC “photographic memory,” meaning you can use phrases like “the chart about quarterly revenue from last week” to resurface your past sessions.
https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/04/microsoft-rolls-windows-recall-out-to-the-public-nearly-a-year-after-announcing-it
China’s viral AI agent gets major funding boost: Last month, a little-known startup called Butterfly Effect stunned everyone with Manus, a general-purpose agent that seemed to beat OpenAI and other well-resourced rivals — recalling the DeepSeek surprise from earlier this year. Now, it’s just landed $75M in new funding, bringing its valuation to $500M. But it faces some stiff competition, the latest being Simular, whose AI assistant can supposedly shop, do taxes, and scour the web alongside you.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-04-25/chinese-ai-startup-manus-scores-funding-at-500-million-value
Two new audio models blur reality: To show off its new lip-syncing model, AI startup Tavus turned a monologue from HBO’s The White Lotus into a rant about LLMs. Hummingbird-0 lets you transform your subject’s mouth movements using a short reference clip and audio of your choice. Meanwhile, a startup called Rime just unveiled Arcana, which can capture the “nuances of real human speech,” including accents, vocal stumbles, and more, with unprecedented realism.
https://www.tavus.io/post/introducing-hummingbird-0-a-leap-in-lip-sync
!summarize
#robots #lipsync
Meta is sending Llama to outer space: The social media giant teamed up with tech consultancy Booz Allen Hamilton to make a special version of its LLM available to astronauts aboard the International Space Station, which orbits about 250 miles above the Earth’s surface.
https://about.fb.com/news/2025/04/space-llama-metas-open-source-ai-model-heading-into-orbit
Boost remote team productivity
Prompt: Act as a remote team productivity expert and async collaboration strategist. Help me discover proven productivity hacks specifically for remote teams working across time zones. Suggest both individual and team-level strategies to improve focus, accountability, communication, and output. Include a mix of tools, workflows, and techniques. Recommend ways to reduce Zoom fatigue, keep remote employees engaged, and maintain a strong sense of team culture. Add creative tips from high-performing remote-first companies and end with a weekly productivity checklist we can implement right away. If possible, include one idea to boost joy or connection in the remote workday.
Up, Up and Away: The Urban Air Mobility (UAM) space is literally taking off. Slovakian company Klein Vision is preparing to test its AirCar 2 this summer, with plans to bring it to market next year. The reported pricing model is pretty steep, with vehicles expected to range from $800,000 to $1M. The first generation of the car was officially certified for airworthiness in 2021 after completing 70 hours of flight testing and an inter-city trip between Slovak airports.
https://www.iflscience.com/a-flying-car-that-can-reach-over-155-mph-in-air-might-come-to-market-in-2026-79182
Midas Touch: Physicists have accidentally realized an age-old dream of medieval alchemy by turning lead into gold. While smashing lead atoms together at near-light speed to mimic the Big Bang, they noticed that the collisions were producing gold when atoms lost exactly three protons during near-misses. This isn’t really something you can start as your next side hustle though — each experiment only produces about 29 trillionths of a gram of gold that fragments in a fraction of a second.
https://www.the-independent.com/news/science/large-hadron-collider-lead-gold-b2749928.html
Wonder Wood: Maryland-based startup Inventwood just hacked ordinary wood to outmuscle steel. The company is about to mass-produce "Superwood," a treated timber material with 50% more tensile strength than steel but a strength-to-weight ratio that's 10x better. InventWood's process compresses the natural cellulose fibers in wood to create a material that's fire, rot, and pest resistant. The company just picked up $15M to build its first commercial plant, with the material slated to hit markets this summer.
https://techcrunch.com/2025/05/12/inventwood-is-about-to-mass-produce-wood-thats-stronger-than-steel
Venus Vagrant: After much anticipation, the Soviet spacecraft Kosmos-482, originally bound for Venus in 1972, finally returned to Earth after 53 years stranded in orbit. Built to withstand Venus's crushing atmosphere, experts believe the craft's ultra-durable lander may have remained intact during re-entry. The vessel splashed down in the Indian Ocean, serving as a physical reminder of the Soviet Venus program’s remarkable achievements and an era of intense space wars between the two superpowers.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/10/science/kosmos-482-crash-soviet-spacecraft.html
Gene Trouble: 9-month-old KJ Muldoon was diagnosed with a rare genetic condition, affecting just 1 in 1.3M babies. Faced with a grim prognosis (half of babies with the condition die within a week), doctors developed a customized gene-editing treatment that could spot and fix a single DNA letter among 3 billion in the human genome. Three infusions later, the infant is now reportedly meeting developmental milestones — potentially offering a blueprint to treat similar rare genetic conditions.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/15/health/gene-editing-personalized-rare-disorders.html
Virtual Voice: A new augmented reality (AR) system called HoloBoard is helping nonspeaking autistic people communicate independently by typing in midair. Built by researchers from the University of Virginia and University of Calgary, the AR keyboard hovers in front of users wearing Microsoft's HoloLens 2 headset, allowing them to type letters one by one without assistance. For the estimated one-third of autistic people who cannot communicate effectively, this technology offers a path to greater autonomy.
https://spectrum.ieee.org/nonverbal-autism
Pain Warrior: Scientists have created a drug that can tackle the debilitating pre-headache symptoms that appear before a migraine. In phase III trials, the medication helped alleviate early "prodrome" symptoms — fatigue, light sensitivity, neck pain, etc — that begin hours or days before the headache begins. The breakthrough marks the first time a medication directly targets the early warning system of migraines, potentially freeing patients from symptoms that can be as disabling as the headache itself.
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-025-01503-3
Screening Shift: The FDA has green-lit America's first at-home cervical cancer screening device, potentially transforming women's preventive care. Similar self-collection methods have already boosted screening rates in countries like Australia. With an estimated 13,360 new cervical cancer cases and 4,320 deaths expected in 2025, experts believe this innovation could significantly ramp up screenings among women who avoid traditional pap smears due to discomfort, stigma, or logistical barriers.
https://interestingengineering.com/health/fda-oks-first-at-home-cervical-cancer-test