TOP TECH NEWS 2019
1#Dragonfly: Drone helicopter to fly on Saturn's moon, Titan
Nasa will fly a drone helicopter mission to cost $1bn (£800m) on Saturn's moon, Titan, in the 2030s. The rotorcraft will visit dozens of promising locations on Titan to investigate the chemistry that could lead to life. Titan plays host to many of the chemical processes that could have sparked biology on the early Earth. The eight-rotor drone will be launched to the Saturnian moon in 2026 and arrive in 2034. It will take advantage of Titan's thick atmosphere to fly to different sites of interest. Dragonfly was selected as the next mission in Nasa's New Frontiers program of medium-class planetary science missions. It was in competition with the Comet Astrobiology Exploration Sample Return (CAESAR) mission, which would have delivered a sample from a comet to Earth. Titan has wind, rivers, seas, and lakes, just like Earth - but with an exotic twist. The huge moon (it is second only in size to Jupiter's moon, Ganymede) has its own seasonal cycle, where wind and rain have shaped the surface to form river channels, seas, dunes, and shorelines. The average temperature of -179C (-290F) means that mountains are made of ice, and liquid methane assumes many of the roles played by water on Earth. Dragonfly will first land at the "Shangri-La" dune fields, which are similar to the linear dunes found in Namibia in southern Africa. The drone will explore this region in short flights, building up to a series of longer "leapfrog" flights of up to 8km (5 miles), stopping along the way to take samples. "Flying on Titan is actually easier than flying on Earth," said the mission's principal investigator Elizabeth "Zibi" Turtle, from Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Maryland. "The atmosphere is four times denser at the surface than the atmosphere at the surface of Earth and the gravity is about one-seventh of the gravity here on Earth." She added: "Its the best way to travel and the best way to go long distances so that we can make measurements in a variety of different geologic environments."
2# Nokia distances itself from boss's warning over Huawei 5G kit
Telecoms giant Nokia has disowned the comments one of its senior executives made about rival Huawei. Nokia's chief technology officer Marcus Weldon told the BBC that the UK should be wary of using the Chinese hardware. He said Huawei's telecoms kit had vulnerabilities that meant it posed a risk to 5G networks. In a statement issued after the BBC story was published, the Finnish firm said his comments do "not reflect the official position of Nokia". It added: "Nokia is focused on the integrity of its own products and services and does not have its own assessment of any potential vulnerabilities associated with its competitors." The statement undermines assertions made by Mr. Weldon in which he said Huawei's failings were serious. He pointed to a new report from US security firm Finite State, which detailed vulnerabilities in Huawei enterprise networking equipment. "In virtually all categories we studied," the report said, "we found Huawei devices to be less secure than comparable devices from other vendors." Mr. Weldon added: "Some of it seems to be just sloppiness, honestly, that they haven't patched things, they haven't upgraded. But some of it is real obfuscation, where they make it look like they have the secure version when they don't." In the UK, Huawei equipment has been subject to close scrutiny by a unit staffed by GCHQ. It has produced reports severely critical of the security of some software, although it has not found backdoors in the firm's products. "We read those reports and we think OK, we're doing a much better job than they are," said Mr. Weldon. He conceded that Nokia's equipment was not subject to the same checks in the UK as Huawei, but said it did face scrutiny around the world. He said Nokia's equipment was "a safer bet" for mobile operators. Huawei has denied that its equipment poses a security risk, with a spokesman calling Mr. Weldon's comments "misleading". US Huawei supplier resumes some shipments Huawei smartphone sales hit amid US curbs 5G: Finally, it's here in the UK - so what? In a separate statement given after Nokia disowned the tech boss's comments, Huawei said Nokia's had recognized that "ill-informed loose talk does not help our customers or the industry more widely". It added: "We win new business by fair competition and on the basis of our technology and customer focus, not by denigrating our competitors. "The best way to improve cybersecurity and ensure network resilience is for all vendors to agree to independent testing of their equipment and source code - just as we have done in the UK," it said. Tough competition Nokia and Sweden's Ericsson are competing with Huawei to sell next-generation telecoms equipment. Huawei is seen as leading the race in many markets, but the US is putting pressure on allies, including the UK, to bar the firm over security fears. Mr. Weldon said the pressure from the US was serving as a counterbalance to unfair financial advantages that Huawei had enjoyed in the past. "It's fairness returning to the market," he told the BBC. "We were disadvantaged in the past relative to the practices that the Chinese were allowed to have in terms of funding mechanisms." A Huawei spokesman said: "We believe secure, resilient networks can only be delivered by collaboration across the whole industry, working to common standards on privacy protection and cyber-security, so that all participants can be judged equally. "We have a proven track record of delivering secure, trustworthy and high-quality products to every major telecoms operator in Europe. Cyber-security remains Huawei's top priority and here, in the UK, we are subject to the most rigorous oversight compared to any competitors in our sector." The UK government has been conducting a review into the security of Huawei's telecoms supply chain and Mr. Weldon said: "That means being wary of adding Chinese vendors into the network infrastructure, as long as these security vulnerabilities are either provably there or likely to be there based on past practices." He said Huawei represented a risk relative to Nokia and Ericsson.
3# Twitter will hide rule-breaking politicians tweets
Nasa will fly a drone helicopter mission to cost $1bn (£800m) on Saturn's moon, Titan, in the 2030s. The rotorcraft will visit dozens of promising locations on Titan to investigate the chemistry that could lead to life. Titan plays host to many of the chemical processes that could have sparked biology on the early Earth. The eight-rotor drone will be launched to the Saturnian moon in 2026 and arrive in 2034. It will take advantage of Titan's thick atmosphere to fly to different sites of interest. Dragonfly was selected as the next mission in Nasa's New Frontiers program of medium-class planetary science missions. It was in competition with the Comet Astrobiology Exploration Sample Return (CAESAR) mission, which would have delivered a sample from a comet to Earth. Titan has wind, rivers, seas, and lakes, just like Earth - but with an exotic twist. The huge moon (it is second only in size to Jupiter's moon, Ganymede) has its own seasonal cycle, where wind and rain have shaped the surface to form river channels, seas, dunes, and shorelines. The average temperature of -179C (-290F) means that mountains are made of ice, and liquid methane assumes many of the roles played by water on Earth. Dragonfly will first land at the "Shangri-La" dune fields, which are similar to the linear dunes found in Namibia in southern Africa. The drone will explore this region in short flights, building up to a series of longer "leapfrog" flights of up to 8km (5 miles), stopping along the way to take samples. "Flying on Titan is actually easier than flying on Earth," said the mission's principal investigator Elizabeth "Zibi" Turtle, from Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Maryland. "The atmosphere is four times denser at the surface than the atmosphere at the surface of Earth and the gravity is about one-seventh of the gravity here on Earth." She added: "Its the best way to travel and the best way to go long distances so that we can make measurements in a variety of different geologic environments."
2# Nokia distances itself from boss's warning over Huawei 5G kit
Telecoms giant Nokia has disowned the comments one of its senior executives made about rival Huawei. Nokia's chief technology officer Marcus Weldon told the BBC that the UK should be wary of using the Chinese hardware. He said Huawei's telecoms kit had vulnerabilities that meant it posed a risk to 5G networks. In a statement issued after the BBC story was published, the Finnish firm said his comments do "not reflect the official position of Nokia". It added: "Nokia is focused on the integrity of its own products and services and does not have its own assessment of any potential vulnerabilities associated with its competitors." The statement undermines assertions made by Mr. Weldon in which he said Huawei's failings were serious. He pointed to a new report from US security firm Finite State, which detailed vulnerabilities in Huawei enterprise networking equipment. "In virtually all categories we studied," the report said, "we found Huawei devices to be less secure than comparable devices from other vendors." Mr. Weldon added: "Some of it seems to be just sloppiness, honestly, that they haven't patched things, they haven't upgraded. But some of it is real obfuscation, where they make it look like they have the secure version when they don't." In the UK, Huawei equipment has been subject to close scrutiny by a unit staffed by GCHQ. It has produced reports severely critical of the security of some software, although it has not found backdoors in the firm's products. "We read those reports and we think OK, we're doing a much better job than they are," said Mr. Weldon. He conceded that Nokia's equipment was not subject to the same checks in the UK as Huawei, but said it did face scrutiny around the world. He said Nokia's equipment was "a safer bet" for mobile operators. Huawei has denied that its equipment poses a security risk, with a spokesman calling Mr. Weldon's comments "misleading". US Huawei supplier resumes some shipments Huawei smartphone sales hit amid US curbs 5G: Finally, it's here in the UK - so what? In a separate statement given after Nokia disowned the tech boss's comments, Huawei said Nokia's had recognized that "ill-informed loose talk does not help our customers or the industry more widely". It added: "We win new business by fair competition and on the basis of our technology and customer focus, not by denigrating our competitors. "The best way to improve cybersecurity and ensure network resilience is for all vendors to agree to independent testing of their equipment and source code - just as we have done in the UK," it said. Tough competition Nokia and Sweden's Ericsson are competing with Huawei to sell next-generation telecoms equipment. Huawei is seen as leading the race in many markets, but the US is putting pressure on allies, including the UK, to bar the firm over security fears. Mr. Weldon said the pressure from the US was serving as a counterbalance to unfair financial advantages that Huawei had enjoyed in the past. "It's fairness returning to the market," he told the BBC. "We were disadvantaged in the past relative to the practices that the Chinese were allowed to have in terms of funding mechanisms." A Huawei spokesman said: "We believe secure, resilient networks can only be delivered by collaboration across the whole industry, working to common standards on privacy protection and cyber-security, so that all participants can be judged equally. "We have a proven track record of delivering secure, trustworthy and high-quality products to every major telecoms operator in Europe. Cyber-security remains Huawei's top priority and here, in the UK, we are subject to the most rigorous oversight compared to any competitors in our sector." The UK government has been conducting a review into the security of Huawei's telecoms supply chain and Mr. Weldon said: "That means being wary of adding Chinese vendors into the network infrastructure, as long as these security vulnerabilities are either provably there or likely to be there based on past practices." He said Huawei represented a risk relative to Nokia and Ericsson.
3# Twitter will hide rule-breaking politicians tweets
No comments