Science, Gadgets, and Tech
US TV provider given first-ever space debris fine
US authorities have issued a "breakthrough" first-ever fine over space debris, officials said Monday, slapping a $150,000 penalty on a TV company that failed to properly dispose of a satellite
UN warns against 'excessive' tech use in classrooms
Heavy reliance on technology in education may be unproductive, or even detrimental, if it interferes with the acquisition of basic skills such as reading, the UN warned on Wednesday
Twitter website replaces bird logo with X
Twitter launched its new logo on Monday, replacing the blue bird with a white X on a black background as the company moves toward rebranding as X
Musk, top exec say Twitter to be renamed X, get big makeover
Twitter owner Elon Musk and the chief executive he brought aboard just a month ago say the social media network will ditch the bird logo, rebrand the platform with the name X and move quickly into payments, banking and commerce
Twitter challenger Threads struggles for traction
After a wildly successful first few days, Threads popularity has waned in the weeks since Meta launched its challenge to Twitter, which lives on despite its problems
AI news presenters: What they mean for the future of newsroom
Since the debut of the country's first-ever artificial intelligence news presenter named 'Aparajita', there has been a raging debate regarding whether AI news presenters will take over the job of human news presenters in Bangladesh.
Netflix adds 6 million subscribers after password crackdown
Netflix on Wednesday said subscriptions to the media streaming service climbed by nearly 6 million in the wake of its crackdown on password sharing
Musk says Twitter has lost half its advertising revenue
Twitter owner Elon Musk said Saturday that the social media platform he bought for $44 billion last October has lost roughly half of its advertising revenue
Bangladesh bags six awards in WITSA 2020
Six Bangladeshi initiatives were awarded by the World Information Technology and Services Alliance (WITSA) at World Congress of IT at their first-ever Virtual Global ICT Excellence Awards on November 19, 2020. This event, popularly dubbed as the technology Olympics in the region, was hosted in conjunction with the “Road to WCIT Malaysia”.
Record number of govt requests for Facebook user data in first half of 2020
The Bangladesh government made 241 requests for data to Facebook in the first half of 2020, a new record high.
Climate change devastated dinosaurs not once, but twice
Most people know that land-dwelling dinosaurs were wiped out some 66 million years ago when an asteroid roughly twice the diameter of Paris crashed into Earth. If the explosive fireball didn't get them, the plunge in global temperature on a planet with little or no ice -- caused by a blanket of heat-shielding debris in the atmosphere -- did.
Former Yahoo CEO Mayer makes comeback with new contacts app
Former Yahoo chief executive Marissa Mayer began her comeback to the tech scene Wednesday with the launch of a new mobile app aimed at helping people organize their contacts. The startup created by Mayer after her departure from Yahoo in 2017 unveiled its app called Sunshine Contacts, which “automatically creates a comprehensive set of your personal and professional contacts from disparate places like your phone, online address books, and email,” according to the company.
Arecibo telescope, star of the astronomy world, to be decommissioned
The renowned Arecibo telescope in Puerto Rico will be dismantled after 57 years of service due to the rupture of cables that have led to the threat of collapse, the US National Science Foundation announced Thursday. Two cables supporting the 900-ton instruments for the telescope above a radio dish 1,000 feet (305 meters) in diameter broke on August 10 and November 6.
Google launches end-to-end encryption for Android messages
Google said Thursday it will be rolling out end-to-end encryption for Android users, making it harder for anyone -- including law enforcement -- to read the content of messages.
Coursera builds online education in Bangladesh
With 482,000 learners, Bangladesh is in the top ten countries in APAC for Coursera, and the registered learner base is growing at 196% year-on-year.
New James Bond game in the works from Hitman developers
IO Interactive, the creator of the Hitman Franchise, announced they are working on a James bond game.
Facebook to sue ‘facebook.com.bd’ domain in Bangladesh
Facebook, the global social media giant, is preparing to file a lawsuit -- in a Bangladeshi court -- against a Bangladesh Telecommunications Company Limited (BTCL) owned domain called “facebook.com.bd”.
'More power than traditional media': Facebook, Twitter policies attacked
Republican senators on Tuesday attacked the chief executives of Facebook and Twitter for what they called censorship of President Trump and his allies during the U.S. election while Democrats bemoaned the spread of misinformation on social media.