MCLEAN, Va.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jul 26, 2023--

China has called accusations that a China-based hacking group breached government-linked email accounts “disinformation,” saying they were meant to divert attention from U.S. cyber activities

SUNNYVALE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jul 25, 2023--

Chinese internet giant Tencent announced on Wednesday a 41 percent year-on-year jump in second-quarter net income, but missed...

Apple has opened pre-orders for the new iPhone 15 and 15 Pro. The new handsets were revealed at a livestreamed event this week, and will go on sale next Friday, 22 September. Pre-orders opened at 5am local pacific time, or 1pm in the UK. That is a little later than it used to be: Apple would open sales at midnight local time, which meant that customers on the east coast of the US had to wake up in the middle of the night if they wanted to ensure they were first in line. In the hours before those pre-orders opened, Apple took its store offline. Those attempting to buy anything saw a message reading “we can’t wait either”, and telling customers to come back later on. Apple was also once famous – and sometimes criticised – for the long lines that would appear outside of its stores ahead of the release of the iPhone, and the loud reception that customers received when they came to buy one. These days, however, it encourages people to buy the phone online if they can, and those queues have largely become a thing of the past. Nowadays, the company offers a range of ways to pre-order, many of which are intended to avoid queueing either online or at stores. Customers could line up their pre-order in advance, for instance – through a system called ‘Get Ready’ that lets them choose which iPhone and financing options they want, so that they are waiting when pre-orders actually open. Apple also lets people order their new products online and pick them up at a store, or to go to a store and have any out-of-stock products sent to them from there, in another measure that helps avoids lines or waiting. As well as buying the new iPhone directly from Apple, various networks are offering their own deals. Carriers largely run on the same schedule, opening pre-orders on 15 September and then making the phones available a week later. The iPhone 15 starts at £799, and the Pro version starts at £999. There had been considerable rumours in advance of the event that Apple was planning significant price rises – but prices actually fell slightly in the UK, while staying largely the same in the US. The normal iPhone 15 largely brings last year’s iPhone 14 Pro upgrades to the less expensive phones, including the Dynamic Island and its processor, as well as new colours. The iPhone 15 Pro gets a faster chip, improved cameras, and a new titanium material. The rest of the products unveiled during Apple’s ‘Wanderlust’ event – the Apple Watch Series 9, Apple Watch Ultra 2 and new AirPods Pro – are already available to order. Read More iPhone 12 is not emitting dangerous radiation, Apple says, amid fears of Europe ban France’s iPhone 12 ban could spread across Europe, regulators say Everything Apple killed off at iPhone 15 event

US President Joe Biden and senior executives from top American tech firms including Google and Intel will meet Vietnamese business leaders Monday after the two countries agreed to deepen cooperation in...

Nasa’s James Webb Space Telescope has spotted a “fluffy” planet with an atmosphere made up of a collection of intriguing materials. The planet has a similar water and cloud cycle to that of our own Earth. But the clouds are made of sand and the clouds are made of silicate. Other parts of the atmosphere are more like our own and could be an intriguing hint of the telescope’s ability to investigate planets that might be home to distant alien life. Data gathered using the telescope revealed that WASP-107b - a planet 200 lightyears away that orbits a star in the constellation of Virgo - has a dynamic atmosphere made up of water vapour, sulphur dioxide, and sand clouds. Scientists say this exoplanet - a planet outside the Solar System - has a cloud cycle similar to Earth, except the droplets are made of sand instead of water vapour. While clouds have been inferred on other exoplanets, the researchers said their work, published in the journal Nature, is the first instance where astronomers have been able to identify the chemical composition of clouds in a distant planet. Study author Dr Achrene Dyrek, an astronomer at CEA - a French government-funded research organisation in Paris, said: “JWST enables a deep atmospheric characterisation of an exoplanet that does not have any counterpart in our Solar System, we are unravelling new worlds!” European astronomers used JWST’s Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI) to peer deep into WASP-107b’s atmosphere. WASP-107b is just a little smaller than Jupiter but its mass is less than 10% of the gas giant. This makes it one of the lowest density exoplanets known, thus earning the label “fluffy” - like candyfloss. The fluffiness of this exoplanet allowed astronomers to look much deeper into the atmosphere - roughly 50 times deeper compared to Jupiter - revealing its complex chemical composition. While the team found the presence of water vapour, SO2, and silicate clouds, they said the greenhouse gas methane (CH4) was notably absent, hinting at “a potentially warm interior”. Just like clouds on Earth, the sand clouds high in WASP-107b’s atmosphere undergo a continuous cycle of sublimation and condensation. Study author Dr Michiel Min, a senior scientist at the SRON Netherlands Institute for Space Research, said: “The fact that we see these sand clouds high up in the atmosphere must mean that the sand rain droplets evaporate in deeper, very hot layers and the resulting silicate vapour is efficiently moved back up, where they recondense to form silicate clouds once more. “This is very similar to the water vapour and cloud cycle on our own Earth but with droplets made of sand.” The researchers said their work marks “a significant milestone” in understanding more about the climatic conditions of other exotic worlds. Study author Professor Leen Decin, of KU Leuven in Belgium, said: “The discovery of clouds of sand, water, and sulphur dioxide on this fluffy exoplanet by JWST’s MIRI instrument is a pivotal milestone. “It reshapes our understanding of planetary formation and evolution, shedding new light on our own Solar System.” Additional reporting by agencies Read More Ring to preview security features with abuse charity to boost safety WhatsApp users warned they will soon have to pay to keep old messages and photos TikTok launches feature to save songs to music apps like Spotify Ring to preview security features with abuse charity to boost safety WhatsApp users warned they will soon have to pay to keep old messages and photos TikTok launches feature to save songs to music apps like Spotify

This comes after IShowSpeed sent the Internet into a frenzy when he accidentally flashed himself during a live stream, shocking his 25,000 viewers

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has entered the 2024 presidential race

Self-driving car pioneer Waymo is teaming up with ride-hailing leader Uber in the Phoenix area to transport passengers and deliver food in robotic cars that triggered a bitter technological dispute between the two companies

Two of the main coders at Kim Dotcom’s infamous Megaupload website have been sentenced to prison, the New

Excessive heat warnings and heat advisories stretch from southern Arizona to the Florida Panhandle, covering most of Texas