Technology

A shakeup at China's central bank has poured cold water on speculation that the nation may be about to loosen a ban on digital-asset trading.Industry executives including Circle Internet Financial Ltd. Chief Executive Jeremy Allaire have seized on Beijing's quiet backing of Hong Kong's push to become a crypto hub to argue that the mainland may reverse its policy. They got a reminder about the risks of such extrapolations when Pan Gongsheng was named the top Communist Party official at the People's Bank of China. The move…

Nothing Phone 2 has surfaced in a video on YouTube, days ahead of its debut. After weeks of teasing the smartphone's specifications and design, the UK-based startup has revealed the design of handset via a popular YouTube content creator. The smartphone bears an uncanny resemblance to the first-generation Nothing phone along with some noteworthy upgrades to the Glyph Interface, the company's unique LED notification system for the handset. Meanwhile, the company is also considering developing features exclusive to Nothing…

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EU antitrust regulators will decide by August 7 whether to clear Adobe's $20 billion (roughly Rs. 1,63,900 crore) bid for cloud-based designer platform Figma after a preliminary review, according to a European Commission filing on Monday.Photoshop maker Adobe sought EU approval last Friday. A request made a month before the summer holidays suggests the company expects the EU competition enforcer to open a full-scale investigation following its initial scrutiny.The Commission earlier this year warned the deal threatens to…

To counter the potential threat that is posed by asteroids, NASA has already made efforts in planetary protection with its DART Test. Moreover, the International Asteroid Warning Network (IAWN) and the Space Mission Planning Advisory Group (SMPAG) have joined hands in order to eliminate planetary threats. While IAWN is tasked with establishing protocols and developing communication plans to aid in decision-making, SMPAG is responsible for selecting the technology that is needed for the deflection of Near-Earth Objects…

Itel P40+ was unveiled in India on Monday as the latest budget-friendly offering from the Chinese smartphone brand. The new handset sports an LCD display with a hole punch cutout and features a 13-megapixel dual rear camera unit. The Itel P40+ runs on a Unisoc T606 SoC, along with 4GB of RAM and 128GB of inbuilt storage. Like the company's recently launched handsets, the Itel P40+ also offers support for the Memory Fusion technology to expand the onboard memory by utilising unused storage. The…

As we enter July, the solar data from the previous month has been published and the number is terrifying. In June 2023, the average number of sunspots was counted to be 163. As a result, 2023 has also broken a 21-year record for the highest number of sunspots. And it has only been one half of a year. The current projection will make the peak of Solar Cycle 25 far greater than its predecessor, even as initial predictions said it would be weaker than Solar Cycle 24. With the rising intensity of solar activity, researchers…

Over the last few months, we have heard about this new Twitter rival app called Threads, which is being built by Instagram. We have seen a couple of leaked screenshots that highlighted that while the visual aesthetics of the platform will be similar to Instagram, the functionality is close to what Twitter offers. Additionally, just like some other Twitter rivals that have emerged recently such as Bluesky and Mastodon, Threads is also likely to be a decentralized platform. And now, reports have revealed that after all the…

Attention sky gazers! You will be able to watch a mesmerizing view of the evening sky in mid-July. This month, our Moon will pass close to the neighboring planets and two large planets in the solar system - it will look like that. If there are clear skies, you will be able to see all five planets as well as the moon from anywhere on Earth. You can carry binoculars or a telescope to get a clearer look at the event.The giant planets Saturn and Jupiter will be visible first next to the moon in early July, note that this…

It's been exactly a year since Rajeev Misra stepped back as the top boss of Japanese multi-billion dollar conglomerate SoftBank’s tech-focussed Vision Fund. ETtech’s Samidha Sharma and Digbijay Mishra caught up with Misra to talk about his new fund One IM. This and more in today’s ETtech Morning Dispatch.Also in this letter:■ ZestMoney gets funding lifeline■ Groww launches UPI-based Groww Pay■ Big IT battles deal rampdowns Rajeev Misra’s $7 biliion fund eyes more India play post Shapoorji Pallonji deal debut Hi,…