Explainer-What is Nasdaq's special rebalancing and its impact?
By Sruthi Shankar and Medha Singh A "special rebalance" of the Nasdaq 100 index will take place later
2023-07-12 01:15
Amazon makes first Big Tech challenge to EU online content rules
By Foo Yun Chee BRUSSELS Amazon is challenging its inclusion in a group of companies subject to tough
2023-07-11 22:26
India to impose 28% tax on turnover of online gaming firms
By Nikunj Ohri NEW DELHI (Reuters) -India on Tuesday decided to impose a 28% indirect tax on the turnover of
2023-07-11 22:17
EU looks to take lead in metaverse world, avoid Big Tech dominance
By Foo Yun Chee BRUSSELS The European Commission on Tuesday set out a plan in a bid to
2023-07-11 21:52
Meituan Faces Battle with ByteDance to Revive Shares
Meituan’s 30% slide this year shows that troubles are deepening for the Chinese food-delivery firm as it faces
2023-07-11 21:51
Miami Mayor Doubles Wealth, Buys Boat as Side Gigs Multiply
Miami Mayor Francis Suarez makes $126,000 working for the city, converting it into crypto. Despite last year’s market
2023-07-11 21:28
Salesforce to raise prices of some cloud products from August
Salesforce will raise prices for some of its cloud and marketing tools by an average 9% from August,
2023-07-11 21:24
Deutsche Bank, Commerzbank, ING Data Breached in MOVEit Hack
Deutsche Bank AG, Commerzbank AG and ING Groep NV are among dozens of companies worldwide whose client data
2023-07-11 20:55
Why Amazon's Prime Day is in July
Amazon Prime Day is back again starting Tuesday. But a random couple of days in July does, indeed, feel a bit random. Here's why Amazon made the seemingly nonsensical decision to throw what could be one of its biggest sales days into the middle of the summer.
2023-07-11 19:45
Record-breaking sugar battery could supercharge transition to renewable energy
Scientists have used sugar to create a record-breaking battery capable of storing grid-scale energy for more than a year. The breakthrough could help speed up the transition to renewable energy sources, which require vast amounts of battery storage in order to avoid relying on fossil fuels to meet demand when solar or wind output is low. A team from the US Department of Energy’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) made the latest discovery while researching flow batteries, which use two liquid-filled chambers to produce an electrochemical reaction to store and release energy. Flow batteries have the potential to be scaled up to the size of football fields, capable of storing vast amounts of energy, however current methods for creating them rely on mined minerals that are difficult and costly to obtain. “This is a brand new approach to developing flow battery electrolyte,” said Wei Wang, a battery researcher who led the investigation into the new method. “We showed that you can use a totally different type of catalyst designed to accelerate energy conversion.” The researchers used a dissolved simple sugar called β-cyclodextrin, which is a derivative of starch, in order to boost their flow battery’s longevity and capacity. The system achieved 60 per cent more peak power than current methods, while also being capable of storing and releasing energy for more than a year continuously. The latest advance makes the next-generation battery design “a candidate for scale up”, according to the researchers. “We cannot always dig the Earth for new materials,” said Imre Gyuk, director of energy storage research at DOE’s Office of Electricity. “We need to develop a sustainable approach with chemicals that we can sythesize in large amounts – just like the pharmaceutical and the food industries.” A study detailing the research, titled ‘Proton-regulated alcohol oxidation for high-capacity ketone-based flow battery anolyte’, was published in the scientific journal Joule. Read More How tech could turn our homes into renewable energy power stations ‘Miracle material’ smashes solar panel efficiency threshold Mineral discovery could meet global battery and solar panel demand for next 100 years Why the Battle of the Boyne has made its way into your iPhone Twitter gets strange endorsement from Taliban over rival Threads
2023-07-11 18:56
Battle of the Boyne: Why is it in the iPhone calendar and what is it?
The Battle of the Boyne has arrived – a moment greeted with incredible significance by some people in the UK, and confusion by others. The event is a public holiday in Northern Ireland and marks one of the most controversial and important parts of British history. And it is marked by a message in people's iPhone calendar, which has the tendency to confuse some people who see it. For people in Northern Ireland, that fact is obvious: they have the day off, and the controversial celebrations are hard to miss. But for the rest of the UK, the only reminder might be a cryptic note inside their iPhone calendar. What is the Battle of the Boyne? Historically, the name refers to the 1690 event where the Catholic King James II's troops were defeated by the Protestant William III. Nowadays, it is an annual bank holiday that commemorates the same battle. The original battle was of incredible significance not only to the history of Ireland but across Europe. It brought about the conclusion of a fight for the throne in England and is a key part of the ascendency of Protestants in Ireland. Now each year, the holiday takes place on 12 July, an event known as "The Twelfth". It is commemorated by the Protestant community, and it is often marked by confrontations in Northern Ireland. Why is it in my iPhone? The iPhone keeps a full log off all the public or bank holidays in the UK, or wherever else your phone happens to be. That can be very useful because Except sometimes it will throw up strange examples, such as the Battle of the Boyne. The reminder might be very useful for people in Northern Ireland – but for the rest of the UK, where people don't have the day off, it probably mostly useless. That's because the calendar counts every holiday in the UK, even if it does not apply to you. The different parts of the UK have different holidays, and each of them show up in the calendar. It doesn't just include the Battle of the Boyne. The calendar will also show all of the Scottish bank holidays – such as the extra day off at New Year, and the different summer bank holiday – as well as St Patrick's Day, for which people in Northern Ireland are given a holiday too. How do I get rid of it? In short, you can't. The calendar isn't really yours, but is created by Apple, meaning that you can't change it either. You can get rid of the calendar entirely – that is done by clicking the "Calendars" button at the bottom of the screen and deleting or hiding the UK bank holidays one – but that will mean you'll also lose the entire calendar along with it. You could of course recreate the functionality by adding the dates yourself, but that is difficult since some bank holidays tend to move around depending on how days line up. You can add and subscribe to custom calendars on your iPhone, using links that can be found on the internet. The trouble is that all of the examples for bank holidays – such as the one provided by the UK government – also include the Battle of the Boyne. You can make the event slightly less irritating, by turning off any alarms that are associated with it. That is done by clicking on the event on your iPhone and pressing the "alert" button, where you can choose "none". But either the event stays, or you lose all the other bank holidays. Read More New iPhone software stops hackers getting into handsets through USB Why the Battle of the Boyne has made its way into your iPhone Twitter gets strange endorsement from Taliban over rival Threads Instagram Threads hits 100 million users
2023-07-11 17:47
Foxconn pulls out of $19 billion chipmaking project in India
Foxconn says it is exiting an ambitious project to help build one of India's first chip factories.
2023-07-11 16:30