Snapdragon 8 Elite —Qualcomm’s new SoC was launched during the company’s Summit 2024 event in Maui on Monday. During the keynote, Xiaomi’s senior vice president Adam Zeng announced that its next flagship Xiaomi 15 will be the first smartphone to feature the latest chip. The Xiaomi 14 successor will be unveiled by the end of this month. The Snapdragon 8 Elite SoC is built on TSMC’s 3nm process and has prime cores capped at 4.32GHz.
Xiaomi senior Vice President Adam Zeng announced that Xiaomi 15 will be the first smartphone to come with the Snapdragon 8 Elite SoC in global markets. Qualcomm unveiled the new chipset at its ongoing annual Snapdragon Summit in Hawaii. It gets a dedicated Hexagon neural processing unit (NPU), second-generation custom-built Qualcomm Oryon CPU, and enhanced AI image signal processing (ISP) unit.
The Xiaomi 15 will boast Snapdragon 8 Elite paired with Xiaomi’s HyperCore technology. Zeng states this new technology covers performance, graphics, networking, and security areas. This combination is said to reduce Xiaomi 15’s power consumption by 29.7 percent. The upcoming phone is claimed to run 3 degrees Celsius cooler at peak temperatures compared to previous generation phones.
Xiaomi 15 to Launch at the End of October
Zeng also confirmed that the Xiaomi 15 series will launch “at the end of October.” Besides the Xiaomi 15 series, the OnePlus 13, which is scheduled to debut on October 31 and the Asus ROG Phone 9 that is set to launch in November, are also confirmed to use the Snapdragon 8 Elite chip.
However, the Xiaomi 15 will be the first across the line to reveal the capabilities of the new chipset in global markets outside China. In India, the Realme GT 7 Pro has been confirmed to be the first phone to get the new chipset.
Major American indices have been at or near record territory since the US election.
The Dow rocketed to a fresh record Friday, extending a post-election US equity rally while the euro retreated against the dollar following weak eurozone data. The blue-chip index piled on one percent to end the day at 44,296.51, narrowly overtaking a record set earlier this month. Major American indices have been at or near record territory since the US election, with investors betting that President-elect Donald Trump‘s program of tax cuts and regulatory scale-back would more than offset the drag from expected tariff increases.
Assembly Election Results
“The trading most of this week has been influenced by the growth agenda,” said Jack Ablin, chief investment officer at Cresset Capital Management. Market watchers have been cheered this week by a broadening of the rally beyond the tech names that dominated earlier in the year. The dollar also continued to strengthen, reflecting less certainty about additional Federal Reserve interest rate cuts and the US currency’s status as a haven asset amid escalating tensions in the Russia-Ukraine war. The euro was also battered by a closely watched survey showing contractions in November business activity in the eurozone. The HCOB Flash Eurozone purchasing managers’ index (PMI) published by S&P Global dropped to 48.1 compared to 50.0 in October, the most marked rate of contraction in 10 months. Any reading above 50 indicates growth, while a figure below 50 shows contraction. “Things could hardly have turned out much worse,” said Cyrus de la Rubia, chief economist at Hamburg Commercial Bank. “The eurozone’s manufacturing sector is sinking deeper into recession, and now the services sector is starting to struggle after two months of marginal growth.” But as the euro fell both Paris and Frankfurt stocks managed to recover their losses and advance. “The eurozone data has increased the chance of more rate cuts from the ECB next year,” said Kathleen Brooks, research director at XTB, as well a cut of 50 basis points next month. “Investors have been jolted into recalibrating interest rate expectations on the back of this bleak economic news,” she added. London managed to gain 1.4 percent despite data showing that retail sales figures for October undershot forecasts, as the pound fell against the dollar. In Asia, Tokyo climbed as the government prepared to announce a $140 billion stimulus package to kickstart the country’s stuttering economy. However, Hong Kong and Shanghai sank on a sell-off in tech firms caused by weak earnings from firms including Temu-owner PDD Holdings and internet giant Baidu. Bitcoin set a new record high above $99,500 Friday, before easing back slightly. The leading digital currency is expected to soon burst through $100,000 as investors grow increasingly hopeful that Trump will pass measures to deregulate the crypto sector. Bitcoin has soared more than 40 percent since the Republican’s election victory this month and has more than doubled since the turn of the year. The recent surge has also been “driven by news that Trump could set up an official crypto department that would sit in the heart of US government,” said XTB’s Brooks.
Apple is said to be working on several foldable devices, with a clamshell foldable iPhone, a foldable iPad and an unspecified foldable product with a larger display rumoured to be in the works. New information, however, suggests that the company’s first foldable could be a MacBook. A reliable Apple analyst has claimed that the Cupertino, California-based company is working on a foldable MacBook. The update comes after Apple was said to have halted development on its foldable phone last month.
In a post on X (formerly Twitter) on Thursday, TF Securities Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said that a MacBook was Apple’s only foldable product with a clear development schedule at the moment. If true, this would put the rumoured foldable iPhone and a foldable iPad further down the pipeline. According to Kuo, the foldable Mac would sport a 20.3-inch screen and would likely enter mass production in 2027.
“Recently, I’ve received many inquiries about whether Apple plans to mass-produce the foldable iPhone or iPad in 2025 or 2026,” Kuo said in his post. “My latest survey indicates that currently, Apple’s only foldable product with a clear development schedule is the 20.3-inch MacBook, expected to enter mass production in 2027.”
The new information suggests that Apple’s foldable products are still a few years away from hitting the market. Meanwhile, Samsung, Apple’s biggest rival in the mobile space, already has five generations of its clamshell and book-style foldable phones out. Google, too, released the Pixel Fold last year and is said to be working on a second-generation device.
There are no details yet available about a purported foldable MacBook, or how the folding mechanism would be integrated into the device, considering all laptops are inherently foldables. Apple has not confirmed its plans for a foldable product. Most recently, the company launched two new 13-inch and 15-inch MacBook Air models, both powered by its in-house M3 chipset.
A report last month had said that Apple was developing a foldable device larger than an iPhone, which could suggest a foldable Mac in the works, in line with Kuo’s claim. The report had said that the large-screen foldable could arrive in the form of a notebook or a tablet.
A tipster also claimed last month that Apple had paused development on a foldable phone over issues with the folding display. But the company has been reported to be working on both a clamshell-style foldable phone and a foldable iPad, with both devices said to be in early development stage.
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A preserved fossil bird from the Mesozoic Era is providing unprecedented insights into the evolution of avian intelligence. Discovered in Brazil and identified as Navaornis hestiae, this 80-million-year-old bird fossil could hold the keys to understanding the evolutionary development of the modern bird brain, according to a study led by researchers at the University of Cambridge and the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County.
A Unique Fossil from Ancient Brazil
The study reveals that the fossil, which includes a near-intact skull, offers a rare look at early bird anatomy, marking it as one of the most complete finds of its kind. Discovered by William Nava, Director of the Museu de Paleontologia de Marília, at a site in Presidente Prudente, this specimen appears to have been preserved in dry creek conditions millions of years ago. The research team used advanced micro-CT scanning to digitally reconstruct the bird’s brain, revealing important evolutionary details.
Co-lead author Dr Guillermo Navalón, from Cambridge’s Department of Earth Sciences, told Science Daily that Navaornis as a critical piece in understanding the transition from early bird-like dinosaurs to the sophisticated bird brains seen today. Dr Luis Chiappe, another co-lead from the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, stated that Navaornis had a larger cerebrum than the 150-million-year-old Archaeopteryx, an early bird-like dinosaur, suggesting more advanced cognitive capabilities, though it lacked some of the complex brain structures necessary for modern bird flight.
A Missing Link in Avian Evolution
The research, published in the journal Nature, positions Navaornis within a 70-million-year evolutionary gap. This “intermediate” brain structure is believed to have influenced the development of cognitive abilities crucial to modern birds, like advanced problem-solving and social behaviours. Professor Daniel Field, the study’s senior author from Cambridge’s Department of Earth Sciences, said the discovery addresses a long-standing mystery in vertebrate evolution, highlighting how this fossil provides a clearer timeline of brain development from Archaeopteryx to today’s birds.
New Directions for Bird Evolution Research
The researchers hope that further finds from the Brazilian site will uncover additional details about the evolution of birds and their brains. With more studies planned, the team anticipates Navaornis will continue to play a pivotal role in piecing together the evolution of avian intelligence, offering fresh insights into the origins of cognitive abilities among today’s bird species.
The Maharashtra victory confirms the dominance of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Indian politics and its ability to leverage power to win elections. Within the BJP, this strengthens Narendra Modi and Amit Shah’s control over the party. Within the larger Sangh Parivar, this ensures a continued reassessment of the relationship between the party and its ideological guru and fraternal organisations, which was set in motion after the Lok Sabha decision on more collaborative terms. Within the political economy of India, this allows the BJP to continue to exert tremendous influence over corporate India. And the results show the opposition that relying on Lok Sabha achievements will not get them very far.
The results from Maharashtra and Jharkhand also establish the centrality of welfare schemes generally – particularly cash transfers to women – as a formula for winning elections, which has serious political economic consequences. The results, when combined with the BJP’s success in the Uttar Pradesh by-elections, show that Hindutva can work, or fail, depending on the local context, but it remains a central message for BJP politics. Will remain. The results show the continued prominence of caste, subcaste and tribal identities in shaping voter preferences, but also how they operate in their locally specific settings.
Let us examine each of these implications of Saturday’s decision separately in three broad baskets – on the politics of the BJP, on the national opposition, and on the broader direction of Indian politics, in terms of both the identity and development axes.
A renewed BJP
Despite the setback in Jharkhand – and make no mistake, the party is disappointed by what happened in Ranchi – the BJP is pleased. And he is pleased because the Maharashtra results, followed by Haryana’s success last month, are setting the party up to demolish the narrative that was generated by the Lok Sabha decision. That narrative was about how 2024 marked the beginning of the end of BJP’s dominance; The state election results have led the BJP to suggest, not without reason, that the party’s deep social roots, organizational strength and ability to act on feedback mean that 2024 will be part of a post-2014 continuity. remains, a phase marked by party dominance. ,
Look at last year’s elections. BJP does not just have power at the Centre; The national map is turning saffron again. The party won all three states (Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh) late last year; It became part of the ruling coalition in Andhra, won Odisha for the first time and retained Arunachal in the state elections held along with the parliamentary elections; She returned to power in Haryana for the third time under extremely adverse circumstances; And it has recently achieved record victories in Maharashtra, proving beyond any doubt that it is the leading party in the state, an achievement if you go back to the history of Maharashtra where the BJP has been in power for most of its existence. Was Shiva’s junior partner for. Army. The BJP remains the principal opposition in Delhi, where elections are due next, and is part of the ruling coalition in Bihar, where elections are due in late 2025.
Within the party, this success means that Modi’s leadership, and through the authority he derives from Modi as well as his own electoral track record, Shah’s control remains largely unchallenged. If there were voices that could be heard warning against this deregulation in the wake of the Lok Sabha decision, expect them to become quieter going forward. This will also allow Modi and Shah to appoint anyone of their choice as the next party president; Not replacing JP Nadda immediately after the Lok Sabha decision was a gamble, as failures in Haryana and Maharashtra would have seen other power centers press for a candidate who could be seen as more autonomous than the top two. Was. But this renewed political legitimacy allows Modi and Shah to run the party as they wish.
Also, the Maharashtra result shows that relations between the RSS leadership, RSS allies and the BJP will continue to improve after the Lok Sabha. There is now enough evidence to suggest that parts of the Sangh machine were demoralized, and excluded, over the summer, and statements highlighting the BJP’s arrogance and unilateralism did not help. But differences also increased because ideologically, the Sangh has never seen its vision fulfilled to this extent and organisationally, there has never been such a large influx of people belonging to different allies into the government and the ruling party. What was missing was a greater spirit of collaboration, greater engagement, greater receptivity to feedback at the top and greater coordination at the ground level. In its centenary year, the RSS leadership knows that having a strong Modi and a friendly government in its home state is ideal. The resolution of differences and better cooperation will continue.
And finally, for the party, having a government in Mumbai means greater control over corporate India. Following the Lok Sabha decision, businesses had begun to play coy, unsure of the stability of the current government and bracing themselves for a possible re-emergence of the Congress. The recent US allegations against the Adani Group coincide with Rahul Gandhi’s attempt to position the rest of corporate India as a victim of the government’s alleged crony capitalism. But Maharashtra’s decision says two things. Within the broader opposition, this will raise doubts about the power of this narrative that focuses on politics-business relations and its appeal among the broader electorate, especially since all parties appear compromised; And the sentiment in the broader corporate world will continue to be that Modi is here to stay. Both help BJP.
And that is why, in terms of political narrative, electoral map, control over the party, coordination within the larger ideological family and influence over sources of finance, Maharashtra victory is very good news for the BJP.
A huge blow to the opposition
A ray of hope for the anti-BJP forces came from Ranchi on Saturday.
The Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM)-led alliance returned to power in a context where the BJP had used its most senior leaders and tremendous resources to regain power, after the BJP had arrested top leaders of the ruling party and the Chief Minister of the state. and where the BJP had deployed its most senior leaders and tremendous resources to gain power. The BJP was engaged in a communal campaign targeting other Muslims in the name of fighting illegal immigrants. Given the social realities of the state and the presence of a substantial tribal population, the economic realities of the state and the possibility of rent-seeking through natural resource extraction contracts, and the political realities where a loss would have left the opposition in power. Across eastern India including Bengal (Bihar, Odisha and Assam are already in the NDA tent), this victory is a huge source of relief for JMM, Congress and Rashtriya Janata Dal, who will hope that the decision will benefit them. Impact in Bihar next year.
But this cannot overcome the bigger shock that Maharashtra presents in three ways.
Congress’s ability to compete with BJP has once again come under serious doubt. This will make it difficult for Rahul Gandhi to unite the parliamentary opposition behind him and all other parties behind the issues he feels are central to taking on the BJP; This will deprive the Congress of electoral opportunities where it is a strong dominant party until the Assam elections in mid-2026; This will destroy the possibilities of raising funds; This makes it extremely difficult for the party to make a comeback in Maharashtra, a state it had long dominated and where it ruled for 15 years until 2014; And this once again raises questions about the continuity of the Congress, its organizational cohesion and the appeal of its ideological platform.
The second implication is the dimming of Sharad Pawar’s political star. The decline of his faction of the party may have been a Maharashtra-specific trend, but Pawar’s stature extended beyond his party and he remained a man who commanded respect across the opposition. The electoral setback does not mean that others will not listen to him, but it does mean that Pawar’s ability to unite the opposition against the BJP has now effectively ended.
And finally, the biggest blow to the opposition is that the trick that had enabled it to surge and gain ground during the Lok Sabha elections is perhaps now working its way out on both the development and identity axes.
Interrelationship between Hindutva, caste and cash
There is no single strategy that works in elections. And the varying impact of Hindutva politics, which is essentially code for consolidating the Hindu vote by showing the threat of Muslims, in different geographical settings is an example of this.
In Maharashtra, “Ek hain to surakshit hain” – “If we are united we are safe”, a slogan which, in polite company, can be understood as a call for unity of all, but in grassroots politics it has been interpreted as A warning to Hindus that allowing caste division would create existential challenges for Muslims appears to be working to some extent. Modi even doubled it in his victory speech. In UP, Yogi Adityanath’s “Batenge to Katenge” call was to polarize the society. Also, the relentless effort to pit tribals against Muslims in Jharkhand failed spectacularly and the BJP was wiped out in the tribal belt. Hindutva will remain the BJP’s preferred political platform, but it may work in some cases, and it may not work in others electorally. On the other hand, “secular parties” will continue to rely solely on Muslim integration, even as they seek to split Hindu votes by appealing to specific caste or regional identities. This formula also works in some cases and not in some cases.
When and how religious integration works depends on another variable that was once again in play on Saturday – the strength of caste identity. If the Lok Sabha results reflect the national opposition’s success in sowing the seeds of doubt among backward communities, Dalits and tribals about the BJP’s commitment to reservations, then Maharashtra’s decision to form a broad multi-caste alliance may at least partly reflect It is the result of BJP’s capability. , a difficult balancing act given the contradictions between the two over their claims for reservation, based on assurance of representation and political voice to the OBC subgroups and the Marathas. The victory of the JMM-led alliance in Jharkhand is a reflection of the smart and broad caste and social coalition that non-BJP forces were able to build, including tribals, Dalits and backward classes.
But if there is one lesson that all parties will learn from the results, it will not be the power of party organizations or even identity politics. This is the power of distributional plans. India’s welfare model has now changed decisively at two levels. One, the trend of direct cash transfers has now become stronger. Second, cash transfers to women are seen as a winner. It is difficult to imagine that the political shock of the Lok Sabha results would have been reversed if the NDA had not launched the cash transfer scheme in Maharashtra or if the JMM had not won without its version of the cash transfer scheme.
The good news is that the Indian political system can see the crisis, it can see the gendered nature of the crisis, and it has the political imagination and electoral imperative to offer help. The bad news is that the scale of the crisis remains deep, structural solutions to address the crisis are absent or limited, and payments to specific demographic groups, at the expense of fiscal discipline, are becoming the preferred path for politicians. Indian democracy won again on Saturday, but whether it came close to providing deep answers to India’s real governance challenges is uncertain.
Baldur’s Gate III is prepared to receive its first patch and by the looks of it, it seems like a huge one. Larian Studios CEO Swen Vincke confirmed a roadmap on Twitter, promising to fix issues and make relevant tweaks to ability balances, based on user suggestions. First up, is hotfix #4, which would make some emergency fixes to crashes and progressions blocks, in addition to any bugs that hinder the general interface. That will be followed by the massive patch, boasting over 1,000 fixes, followed by patch 2, which will ‘incorporate some requests.’ It’s unclear what those requests could be, but we already know that the team is planning an update that would let players change their character’s appearance mid-game.
That claim comes from Michael Douse, Director of Publishing, Larian Studios, who responded to a fan’s tweet requesting the ability to change their look in the game. Once you lock in a suited appearance at the start of your Baldur’s Gate 3 journey, the game simply doesn’t let you change it — forcing you to stick with whatever tattoos, hairstyle, or makeup you chose, leading up to the end game. This does not seem to be the case with character classes, which you can respec by simply interacting with the NPC Withers at your campsite in exchange for 100 gold pieces. It’s a wild anomaly for a role-playing game, considering how much customisation is present in other aspects of the game — some even tied to story elements. I’m going to assume that this has to do with hard coding one’s appearance to work flawlessly with all cutscenes from the moment they were created.
We’re all very enthused by your feedback. It’s very rewarding. Our focus now is fixing any issues you report, but we are listening to suggestions. Current roadmap: a) Hotfix 4, b) Patch 1 (+1000 fixes and tweaks), c) Patch 2. The latter will already incorporate some requests.
Another reason I could think of why a person would want to change their appearance has to do with its lighting effects, where any punkish colours such as teal or pink might look fine in the character creation screen, but once they’re set against the game’s environment, it ends up looking way too dull or bright. When Larian does implement the update in the future, I feel like there are more creative ways to do it. For instance, instead of opening a menu or interacting with an NPC, we can walk over to the rogue Astarion’s tent and use his mirror to change our appearance — akin to the mirror at the Roundtable Hold in Elden Ring. I think it would also be great if there are no limits to how often you can change your looks or if it doesn’t ask for any in-game currency or consumables for it.
The newest hotfix (#3) makes it so that your dog Scratch now finds digging spots by himself, in addition to resolving several bugs in Act 3, some of which prevented game completion. Since its launch, earlier this month, Baldur’s Gate 3 has become a quick success, garnering 875,343 peak concurrent players on Steam, cementing its position as the ninth-highest-ranking PC game, sitting right beneath Hogwarts Legacy. In an interview, Larian boss Svencke claimed that since the RPG was already playable in early access for three years, he believed that the game had already peaked. For this reason, he was expecting the full launch to break only 100,000 players, only to be surprised with eight times the amount.
Baldur’s Gate 3 is out now on PC. The PS5 version releases September 6, while the Xbox platforms might not see a release before 2024.
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iQOO 13 will launch in China this month and the company has now revealed the exact date of the handset’s unveiling. iQOO also confirmed the colour options of the handset. It will see an India launch as well, but the company has yet to announce the India launch date. However, iQOO has revealed the the availability details of the upcoming phone in the country. The handset will be equipped with Qualcomm’s latest octa-core Snapdragon 8 Elite SoC paired with iQOO’s Q2 gaming chipset.
iQOO 13 Launch Date, Colour Options, Design
The iQOO 13 will launch in China on October 30 at 4pm local time (1:30pm IST), the company confirmed in a Weibo post. The phone is confirmed to be offered in four colour options — black, green, grey, and white.
iQOO 13 appears to be similar in design to the preceding iQOO 12, with a squircle camera unit placed on the upper left corner of the rear panel. The power button and volume rocker are placed on the right edge. Previous teasers show the display sporting slim, uniform bezels with a centred hole-punch slot at the top for the front camera.
iQOO 13 India Availability
The iQOO 13 was recently teased to launch in India by the company’s country head Nipun Marya. Now the company has announced that the phone will be available for purchase in the country via Amazon and the iQOO India website.
Several key features of the iQOO 13 have been revealed ahead of its launch. It is confirmed to be powered by the Snapdragon 8 Elite SoC paired with a Q2 gaming chipset. The phone will be equipped with a Q10 OLED display.
iQOO will house a 6,150mAh battery in the iQOO 13 with support for 120W wired fast charging. The Chinese variant is expected to run on OriginOS 5, while the Indian and international versions are likely to ship with Funtouch OS 15 based on Android 15.
Lenovo launched its latest Yoga series laptop, the Yoga Slim 7i, in India on Tuesday. The laptop was first unveiled at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2024 in January, and now it has also been introduced in the country. The successor to the Yoga Slim 6i is powered by the Intel Core Ultra 7 processor paired with Intel Arc-integrated graphics and features a 14-inch OLED screen. The Lenovo Yoga Slim 7i weighs 1.39kg and measures 14.9mm in thickness.
Lenovo Yoga Slim 7i price in India, availability
Lenovo Yoga Slim 7i price in India has been set at Rs. 1,04,999 for the single 32GB LPDDR5X RAM and 1TB SSD M.2 PCIe Gen 4 inbuilt storage. The laptop is available in the Lunar Grey colour option.
Interested users can purchase the laptop from Lenovo’s website, Lenovo Exclusive Stores, major e-commerce platforms, and other offline retail stores. The company has offered a 10 percent discount on using HDFC bank cards as well as no-cost EMI options.
Lenovo Yoga Slim 7i specifications, features
With a thickness of 14.9mm and weighing 1.39kg, the Lenovo Yoga Slim 7i gets an aluminium chassis with MIL-STD 810H grade durability protection from damage. It features a 14-inch WUXGA OLED display with a 1,920 x 1,200 pixels resolution, a refresh rate of 60Hz, and a peak brightness of 400 nits. Offering thin bezels, the display supports Dolby Vision and has the TUV Rheinland low blue light certification. Alongside, the Yoga series laptop carries quad 2W stereo speakers with support for Dolby Atmos.
Under the hood, the Lenovo Yoga Slim 7i is equipped with the Intel Core Ultra 7 155H chipset which is paired with Intel Arc graphics. The latest Intel processor also brings multiple artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities to the laptop with the Lenovo AI Engine+. The laptop packs 32GB of LPDDR5X RAM and 1TB SSD M.2 PCIe Gen 4 inbuilt storage. It runs on Microsoft’s Windows 11 Home, which comes pre-installed.
The Lenovo Yoga Slim 7i is backed by a four-cell 65Whr battery with 65W wired charging support. On connectivity, it supports WiFi 6E, Bluetooth 5.1, HDMI 2.1 port, two USB Type-C ports, one USB Type-A port, as well as a headphone jack. It also features a full-HD IR webcam with a privacy shutter.
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NASA’s Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory has detected a unique signal from two enormous black holes, locked in a cosmic dance that disturbs a dense gas cloud at the centre of a distant galaxy. The phenomenon, known as AT 2021hdr, has sparked considerable interest among astronomers, with researchers observing an unusual cycle of gas disruptions as the black holes orbit one another.
This gas-churning event was first documented in March 2021 by the Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF) at the Palomar Observatory, California. Led by Dr Lorena Hernández-García, astrophysicist at the Millennium Institute of Astrophysics and the University of Valparaíso in Chile, a study into AT 2021hdr reveals a recurring flare, a pattern that scientists suggest results from the black holes’ gravitational influence on a massive gas cloud. The findings, which appear in the journal Astronomy and Astrophysics, describe how these giant objects tug and heat the gas, triggering light oscillations across different wavelengths.
Uncovering the Source of AT 2021hdr
Located in galaxy 2MASX J21240027+3409114, about 1 billion light-years away in the Cygnus constellation, these black holes together possess a mass 40 million times that of the Sun. Their close proximity—just 16 billion miles apart—produces observable light variations every 130 days. This frequency, scientists predict, could eventually culminate in the black holes’ merger in approximately 70,000 years.
Initially considered a supernova, the recurring nature of these outbursts led astronomers to reevaluate their assumptions. Dr Alejandra Muñoz-Arancibia, a researcher with ALeRCE and the University of Chile, noted that frequent observations over 2022 helped to develop a more precise understanding of this phenomenon. Since November 2022, Swift’s ultraviolet and X-ray observations have aligned with ZTF’s findings in visible light, reinforcing the theory of an orbiting gas cloud undergoing a cyclical disturbance by the black holes’ gravitational forces.
Future Studies and Implications
This discovery offers a unique perspective on supermassive black hole interactions. Continued studies of AT 2021hdr and its host galaxy—currently merging with another—are expected to provide new insights into galactic evolution and black hole behaviour.
OpenAI said on Wednesday it had acquired digital products company Global Illumination, in what comes as the first known acquisition by the storied artificial intelligence firm.
Financial details of the deal were not disclosed.
“The entire (Global Illumination) team has joined OpenAI to work on our core products including ChatGPT,” OpenAI said.
New York-based Global Illumination was founded in 2021 by Thomas Dimson, Taylor Gordon and Joey Flynn, all of whom have previously worked at Meta Platforms‘ Instagram.
Global Illumination most recently worked on open-source technology related to online game production. Dimson is credited with drafting some of the original code for Instagram’s content ranking algorithms, according to his personal website.
Meanwhile, many workers across the US are turning to ChatGPT to help with basic tasks, a Reuters/Ipsos poll found, despite fears that have led employers such as Microsoft and Google to curb its use. Companies worldwide are considering how to best make use of ChatGPT, a chatbot program that uses generative AI to hold conversations with users and answer myriad prompts. Security firms and companies have raised concerns, however, that it could result in intellectual property and strategy leaks.
Anecdotal examples of people using ChatGPT to help with their day-to-day work including drafting emails, summarising documents, and doing preliminary research.
Some 28 percent of respondents to the online poll on artificial intelligence (AI) between July 11 and 17 said they regularly use ChatGPT at work, while only 22 percent said their employers explicitly allowed such external tools.
