UPDATE: Sep. 11, 2023, 5:00 a.m. EDT This article has been updated with the latest

A potentially dangerous setting on Android phones means that emergency phone lines are being pocket dialled, a Metropolitan Police officer has warned. Android devices have a setting called ‘Emergency SOS’ that is intended to make it easier for people to call for help. If a person presses the power button fives times or more, it starts a series of emergency actions like calling for help. Users can choose what that setting does. But by default the phone calls the police number, so that they will be alerted to any issue. The ease with which the setting can be activated means that 999 lines in the UK are getting called by accident, according Met Police chief superintendent Dan Ivey. The button is being pressed while people’s phones are in their pockets, further filling up already stretched emergency call handlers. He asked that people disable the feature to help reduce demand. He described the setting as a “problem”, though some users may opt to keep it active if they feel that it is likely to be used in an emergency. Mr Ivey said that on Saturday the Met Police had received an “unprecedented” 9,500 calls through 999, and 3,000 on non-emergency lines. Only 20 per cent of them had required police to be sent in emergency response mode, he said. “There is a problem with SOS auto mode on Android devices, so we are asking for your help,” Mr Ivey said, describing the issue. He asked that people turn off the feature by going to settings and then choosing “Emergency SOS”, where the feature can be turned off or changed so that it does not ring 999. He asked people to ensure they only call 999 when they need police urgently, on blue lights, in situations where there is a danger to life, someone is using or there is immediate threat of serious violence, or there is serious injury to a person or serious damage to a property. Mr Ivey was responding a to post from the London Ambulance Service in which it said it was also receiving historic numbers of calls. It said that on Monday it had received 7,751 999 calls, the highest since New Year’s Eve 2021, and also asked people to keep 999 for life-threatening emergencies only. The iPhone also has its own Emergency SOS feature, though its design may mean that it is less likely to be triggered by accident. On newer phones it is activated by pressing a volume and power button, and on older ones it is used by pressing the power button fives times; in both cases, however, it also requires users to then push across a slider that will actually activate the emergency call. Read More Reddit says people will get over outrage and causes further outrage LinkedIn bans ‘wonder kid’ SpaceX engineer, 14, hired by Elon Musk Reddit hit by more outages as the fight over its future escalates

Valorant Patch 6.11 drops on June 9 with changes to Pearl B Site, Chamber's abilities, and new weapon adjustments.

FREMONT, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jun 6, 2023--

LONDON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jun 14, 2023--

Days after OpenAI CEO Sam Altman testified in front of Congress and proposed creating a new federal agency to regulate artificial intelligence, a US senator has introduced a bill to do just that.

After it was discovered that the OceanGate submersible imploded during its expedition to the Titanic, some have wondered why the Titanic did not reach the same fate when it sank. Last Thursday (June 22), the U.S. Coast Guard had announced that the OceanGate submersible which contained five people, had suffered a "catastrophic implosion" that killed all onboard. Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Since learning about the news, some have asked why the sub imploded but the Titanic didn't as it sank. One user took to Twitter to ask the question that was on many minds: Many quickly replied to help explain why the Titanic didn't implode, the answer being that because the Titanic wasn't pressurised, the lack of pressure differential means that the sinking would not result in an implosion. Writing for Northeastern Global News, Arun Bansil, professor of physics, explained that "when a submersible is deep in the ocean it experiences the force on its surface due to water pressure. When this force becomes large than the hull can withstand, the vessel implodes violently." Many also took the opportunity to inform that some parts of the Titanic actually did implode. The stern (the rear) of the ship imploded roughly 60 metres (200 feet) below the surface of the water. Lots of air was trapped in the back of the ship, so when the external pressure got high enough, it imploded. Whereas the air had been released from the front of the ship, which caused the pressure to be equal on the outside and inside, therefore no implosion occurred. As one user explained: Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

Whether you're worried about your carbon footprint or are just looking to take control of

When Tim Cook took over as Apple CEO from Steve Jobs nearly 12 years ago, some thought the company was already at its peak.

E-commerce behemoth Amazon increased its net sales 11% to $134.4 billion in the second quarter as analysts monitor consumer spending in both the cloud and retail markets.

Scientists have managed to simulate their very own black hole in their lab and witnessed how it began to glow. The black hole event horizon was created by a team of physicists from the University of Amsterdam, who used a chain of atoms in a single file to gain further understanding about the behaviour of a black hole. Its creation managed to prove Stephen Hawking's theory from 1974 where the black hole emitted a rare form of radiation. Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter They studied the properties of Hawking radiation through the creation of a black hole analog in the lab. According to Science Alert, Hawking radiation happens when "particles born from disturbances in the quantum fluctuations caused by the black hole's break in spacetime." The fact that the radiation exhibits a glow itself is in a strange space anomaly, as the event horizon of a black hole is supposed to be where neither light nor matter is able to get out. We all learn about the strength of a black hole in science class – and how we would all be inevitably sucked in as a result. This is possible due to its density within a certain range of the centre, so even an attempt at travelling beyond light speed (or any velocity in the universe for the matter) would not make this unavoidable. The fake black hole event also caused a rise in temperature that matched theoretical expectations of an equivalent black hole system, - but only when part of the chain extended beyond the event horizon, Science Alert reported. As a result, it is believed perhaps this entanglement of particles that straddle the event horizon plays a big role in generating Hawking radiation. Under simulations that began by mimicking spacetime thought of as "flat," scientists say the radiation was only thermal for a certain range of 'hop amplitudes'. So there may be certain situations where Hawking radiation can emit thermally - and could only be the case where gravity causes a change in the warp of space-time. "This can open a venue for exploring fundamental quantum-mechanical aspects alongside gravity and curved spacetimes in various condensed matter settings," the scientists wrote in their paper published by Physical Review Research. Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings

By David Shepardson WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. government offices in the Washington area closed early on Monday due to approaching thunderstorms