Category Science & Technology

What important events happened in technology in 2022?

TECHNOLOGY: Though the year 2022 saw the routine rounds of gadget launches-from upgraded cellphones to smart watches, the big surprise came in the form of some tech-related news that made it to the front pages. Remember Elon Musk turning chief twit, mass global lay-offs by companies, an Al tool that mimics the human brain, and the crypto collapse?

1. 5G, finally!

Prime Minister Narendra Modi officially announced the launch of the first phase of 5G services in 13 cities across the country, at the India Mobile Congress event in New Delhi, in October 2022. 5G is the fifth-generation technology standard for broadband cellular networks. "5G technology will provide seamless coverage, high data rate, low latency and highly reliable communications. It will increase energy efficiency, spectrum efficiency and network efficiency," he tweeted. The cumulative economic impact of 5G on the country is expected to touch $450 billion by 2035. The 5G coverage will progressively cover the entire country over the next couple of years.

2. Fried!

Sam Bankman-Fried's crypto empire collapsed in November 2022. The reason – a run-on deposit that left his crypto exchange FTX with a shortfall of $8 billion. This forced FTX to file for bankruptcy, and the company struggled to raise money to stall its collapse as traders rushed to withdraw $6 billion in less than 72 hours! Fried was arrested in the Bahamas after being criminally charged by the U.S. prosecutors. The shocking end to the successful FTX story had a rippling effect across the already shaken crypto industry, destabilising other companies and spreading distrust among the public about the technology.

3. Did it sink in?

Elon Musk dominated the headlines by first announcing his bid to buy Twitter and then backing out. Eventually, the Tesla and Spacex chief was forced to honour the agreement, and he took over the microblogging platform in October 2022 for $44 billion. Top executives left the company or were fired. Twitter also made mass global lay-offs. But confusion prevailed on the site. He courted controversy by reinstating Donald Trump's account, introducing paid blue ticks, and banning some journalists from the site. After conducting a poll on whether he must step down as Twitter CEO, in true Musk style, he said he'll do so when he finds "someone foolish enough to take the job".

4. ChatGPT

It answers the most complicated questions, writes sonnets, creates computer codes, and even comes up with interesting menus! Welcome to the world of Generative Pre-trained Transformer, ChatGPT for short. Launched by the American firm OpenAl in November 2022, the Al tool is today used by millions to generate a variety of content- all in a few seconds or minutes! ChatGPT isn't without flaws. Biases in certain communications have already been reported. It robs us of the creative process – particularly in communication. Can it replace human ingenuity? The verdict isn't out yet, but enthusiastic folks are already having a lot of fun with this chatbot that's said to mimic the human brain.

Picture Credit : Google 

India Post successfully delivers mail by drone for the first time

The Department of Posts in India delivered mail using a drone for the first time in Gujarat’s Kutch district. On May 27, Gurugram based TechEagle’s VertiplaneX3 drone delivered a medical parcel from Habay village in Bhuj taluka to Ner village in Bhachau taluka, covering 46 kms in 25 minutes. The 100 km range VertiplaneX3 has a payload capacity of 3 kgs and a top speed of 120 km/hour. “It was the longest drone delivery in a single flight and that too in a harsh weather environment with a wind speed of more than 30 km/ hour,” said Vikram Singh Meena, Founder-CEO, TechEagle. The project is aimed at enabling faster deliveries across the country, be it in urban cities or any rural village.

Picture Credit : Google

What is 5G?

Smartphones have become ubiquitous. Whether you need it or not, there is an app for everything. And that has been made possible regardless of whether it is good or not-as we live in a hyper-connected world. Mobile networks have made it possible for us to access the Internet literally anytime, anywhere.

5G is the latest advancement in the telecommunications industry. The 5th generation mobile network is a new global wireless standard after 1G, 2G, 3G, and 4G networks. Designed for connectivity, 5G tech is expected to deliver higher speeds, have lower latency, greater availability and network capacity. affording uniform access, even in crowded areas.

Nearly one for every decade

While 1G delivered analog voices in the 1980s, 2G introduced digital voice in the 1990s. Early 2000s brought mobile data through 3G, and 4G came around in 2010s, ushering in the era of mobile broadband. Global operators started launching 5G networks, which is based on OFDM (orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing), in 2019, and it is expected to provide better connectivity than ever before.

All major phone manufacturers have started producing compatible handsets as 5G has been deployed in over 60 countries. With the buzz among consumers about even faster speeds and lower latencies, adoption too has been faster, when compared to 4G.

5G roll out in India

As for India, 5G is likely to be launched this year, with some expecting it to be rolled out as early as next month. Work on related hardware is already under way. thanks to the major telecom operators in the country – Reliance Jio, Airtel, and Vi.

The 5G spectrum auction in India has already been completed and it has been valued at Rs. 1.5 lakh crore. Initially expected to be rolled out in 13 cities, competitive pricing of 5G plans is expected in order to make it even more attractive.

Smartphones have become ubiquitous. Whether you need it or not, there is an app for everything. And that has been made possible regardless of whether it is good or not-as we live in a hyper-connected world. Mobile networks have made it possible for us to access the Internet literally anytime, anywhere.

5G is the latest advancement in the telecommunications industry. The 5th generation mobile network is a new global wireless standard after 1G, 2G, 3G, and 4G networks. Designed for connectivity, 5G tech is expected to deliver higher speeds, have lower latency, greater availability and network capacity. affording uniform access, even in crowded areas.

Nearly one for every decade

While 1G delivered analog voices in the 1980s, 2G introduced digital voice in the 1990s. Early 2000s brought mobile data through 3G, and 4G came around in 2010s, ushering in the era of mobile broadband. Global operators started launching 5G networks, which is based on OFDM (orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing), in 2019, and it is expected to provide better connectivity than ever before.

All major phone manufacturers have started producing compatible handsets as 5G has been deployed in over 60 countries. With the buzz among consumers about even faster speeds and lower latencies, adoption too has been faster, when compared to 4G.

5G roll out in India

As for India, 5G is likely to be launched this year, with some expecting it to be rolled out as early as next month. Work on related hardware is already under way. thanks to the major telecom operators in the country – Reliance Jio, Airtel, and Vi.

The 5G spectrum auction in India has already been completed and it has been valued at Rs. 1.5 lakh crore. Initially expected to be rolled out in 13 cities, competitive pricing of 5G plans is expected in order to make it even more attractive.

Picture Credit : Google 

Where nuclear power is used to generate electricity in Europe?

An important world record in the field of nuclear science is held by Britain, where the world’s first atomic power station was built in 1956 at Calder Hall.

Since then, the generation of electric power by atomic or nuclear reactors has become increasingly important in Europe, where over 10 percent of total generating capacity is now nuclear. This is a higher proportion than in any other continent.

The leading European nuclear country in terms of nuclear power stations is France, which generates about a third of its electricity from nuclear fuels. Then come Germany, Britain, Sweden, Finland, Spain, Switzerland, Belgium, Bulgaria, Italy, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia and The Netherlands.

British nuclear power stations use a variety of different kinds of reactors, including an experimental fast breeder reactor at Dounreay. This is a kind of reactor that produces more fuel than it consumes and it could in theory generate immense amounts of power in the future.

However the technological problems involved have proved extremely difficult to solve and it is now doubtful whether the fast breeder will ever fulfil its early promise. Although nuclear power stations have to date worked well and safely throughout Europe, there is a mounting problem of radioactive waste disposal.                                                                                                                                                                                                          

 

Picture Credit : Google

How computers are used in industry?

The electronic computer is used in many fields of activity and is extremely valuable in doing complicated work accurately and quickly. It has removed much of the drudgery from such routine tasks as telephone se wonderful machines work? We can see in the simple example of checking the stocks held by a warehouse.

In large scale industries it costs a great deal of money to keep a large number of goods in store. Nevertheless a company must always know how many goods it has at a given time in case it runs out of any item. So there must always be a reserve level below which stocks must not go. When that level is reached the company orders more goods to be delivered.

One way of keeping a check is to use a punched-card system. Each article which is delivered to the warehouse has its own card punched with required information which may relate to style, colour, price, size or other relevant details, and this is fed into computer.

When the article is sold and leaves the warehouse the computer is fed with this information too. At any time the computer can show exactly how many of those articles are in stock and if the stocks have to be replenished. The computer does this job with great speed and accuracy and can give an account of exactly how many articles of many different types are in stock.

The initial effect of computers is as an efficient means of performing complicated or routine tasks. In the long term, however, they will make new and different activities possible for instance, education and many occupations will be greatly affected as methods of storing and retrieving vast quantities of information are further developed.

 

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What is deepfake app?

Deepfake generally refers to images on videos in which the face and/or voice of a person, usually a public figure has been manipulated using artificial intelligence software to generate visual and audio content with a high potential to deceive. Deepfakes are a source of concern because they are created to be intentionally misleading, such as by making it look like a politician said something they didn’t, or making it appear like a celebrity was in a video they weren’t in.

Everyone from academic and industrial researchers to amateur enthusiasts, visual effects studios and porn producers. Governments might be dabbling in the technology, too, as part of their online strategies to discredit and disrupt extremist groups, or make contact with targeted individuals, for example.

It is hard to make a good deepfake on a standard computer. Most are created on high-end desktops with powerful graphics cards or better still with computing power in the cloud. This reduces the processing time from days and weeks to hours. But it takes expertise, too, not least to touch up completed videos to reduce flicker and other visual defects. That said, plenty of tools are now available to help people make deepfakes. Several companies will make them for you and do all the processing in the cloud. There’s even a mobile phone app, Zao, that lets users add their faces to a list of TV and movie characters on which the system has trained.

 

Picture Credit : Google