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Twitter says it will relax ban on political advertising

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(Last Updated On: January 5, 2023)

Twitter says it will ease up on its 3-year-old ban on political advertising, the latest change by Elon Musk as he tries to pump up revenue after purchasing the social media platform last year, AP reported.

The company tweeted late Tuesday that “we’re relaxing our ads policy for cause-based ads in the US.”

“We also plan to expand the political advertising we permit in the coming weeks,” the company said from its Twitter Safety account.

Twitter banned all political advertising in 2019, reacting to growing concern about misinformation spreading on social media.

At the time, then-CEO Jack Dorsey said that while internet ads are powerful and effective for commercial advertisers, “that power brings significant risks to politics, where it can be used to influence votes to affect the lives of millions.”

Political advertising made up a sliver of Twitter’s overall revenue, accounting for less than $3 million of total spending for the 2018 US midterm election.

Facebook in March 2021 lifted its ban on political and social issue ads that was put in place after the 2020 U.S. presidential election.

Musk bills himself as a free-speech warrior and bought Twitter because he apparently believed it wasn’t living up to its potential as a free speech platform. But the billionaire Tesla CEO has been forced to make huge cost cuts and scramble to find more sources of revenue to justify the $44 billion purchase.

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Microsoft introduces AI-powered cybersecurity assistant

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(Last Updated On: March 28, 2023)

Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O) on Tuesday launched a tool to help cybersecurity professionals identify breaches, threat signals and better analyze data, using OpenAI’s latest GPT-4 generative artificial intelligence model.

The tool, named ‘Security Copilot’, is a simple prompt box that will help security analysts with tasks like summarizing incidents, analyzing vulnerabilities and sharing information with co-workers on a pinboard, Reuters reported.

The assistant will use Microsoft’s security-specific model, which the company described as “a growing set of security-specific skills” that is fed with more than 65 trillion signals every day.

The launch comes amid a flurry of announcements from Microsoft to integrate the AI into its most popular offerings.

The company has sought to outpace peers through multi-billion dollar investments in ChatGPT owner OpenAI, which recently released GPT-4 to perform a range of tasks from creating a real website through a hand-drawn mock up to helping individuals calculate their taxes.

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Asteroid that could wipe out a city is near, but don’t fear

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(Last Updated On: March 24, 2023)

An asteroid big enough to wipe out a city will zip harmlessly between Earth and the moon’s orbit this weekend, missing both celestial bodies.

Saturday’s close encounter will offer astronomers the chance to study a space rock from just over 100,000 miles (168,000 kilometers) away. That’s less than half the distance from here to the moon, making it visible through binoculars and small telescopes, AP reported.

While asteroid flybys are common, NASA said it’s rare for one so big to come so close — about once a decade. Scientists estimate its size somewhere between 130 feet and 300 feet (40 meters and 90 meters).

Discovered a month ago, the asteroid known as 2023 DZ2 will pass within 320,000 miles (515,000 kilometers) of the moon on Saturday and, several hours later, buzz the Indian Ocean at about 17,500 mph (28,000 kph).

“There is no chance of this ‘city killer’ striking Earth, but its close approach offers a great opportunity for observations,” the European Space Agency’s planetary defense chief Richard Moissl said in a statement.

Astronomers with the International Asteroid Warning Network see it as good practice for planetary defense if and when a dangerous asteroid heads our way, according to NASA.

The Virtual Telescope Project will provide a live webcast of the close approach.

The asteroid won’t be back our way again until 2026. Although there initially seemed to be a slight chance it might strike Earth then, scientists have since ruled that out.

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Launch of 3D-printed rocket ends in failure

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(Last Updated On: March 23, 2023)

A rocket made almost entirely of 3D-printed parts made its launch debut Wednesday night, lifting off amid fanfare but failing three minutes into flight — far short of orbit.

There was nothing aboard Relativity Space’s test flight except for the company’s first metal 3D print made six years ago, The Associated Press reported.

The startup wanted to put the souvenir into a 200-kilometer-high orbit for several days before having it plunge through the atmosphere and burn up along with the upper stage of the rocket.

As it turned out, the first stage did its job following liftoff from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station and separated as planned. But the upper stage appeared to ignite and then shut down, sending it crashing into the Atlantic.

It was the third launch attempt from what once was a missile site. Relativity Space came within a half-second of blasting off earlier this month, with the rocket’s engines igniting before abruptly shutting down.

Although the upper stage malfunctioned and the mission did not reach orbit, “maiden launches are always exciting and today’s flight was no exception,” Relativity Space launch commentator Arwa Tizani Kelly said after Wednesday’s launch.

Most of the 33-meter rocket, including its engines, came out of the company’s huge 3D printers in Long Beach, California.

Relativity Space said 3D-printed metal parts made up 85% of the rocket, named Terran. Larger versions of the rocket will have even more and also be reusable for multiple flights.

Other space companies also also rely on 3D-printing, but the pieces make up only a small part of their rockets.

Founded in 2015 by a pair of young aerospace engineers, Relativity Space has attracted the attention of investors and venture capitalists.

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