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• New terahertz wireless transmission tech has broken a world record
• Researchers streamed high-definition video over 1.2 kilometers
• The record breaking test shows promise for the future of wireless comms

A research team led by the Purple Mountain Observatory of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) has successfully conducted the first-ever kilometer-level terahertz wireless communication transmission.

Carried out at the submillimeter wave astronomical observation base of Xueshan Pasture in Haixi Prefecture, Qinghai Province, the test used superconducting receiving technology to transmit high-definition video signals over a distance of 1.2 kilometres.

This marks a significant breakthrough in the field of future communications technology, setting a world record for the longest-distance terahertz transmission above the 0.5THz frequency band.

Terahertz technology is the future of communications

Terahertz communication, positioned between microwaves and light waves, is widely regarded as the "new frontier" in future communication systems. It offers strong penetration, an extremely wide bandwidth, and the potential for higher data transmission rates than current technologies.

Given its exceptional capabilities, terahertz technology is seen as crucial to the development of next-generation communication systems, including applications in space communications, medical imaging, and astronomical observations.

One of the key challenges in terahertz communication is the significant signal attenuation that occurs during transmission, making long-distance communication particularly difficult. To address this issue, the research team utilized superconducting receiver technology, which provides high sensitivity and minimal signal loss.

The experiment took place at an altitude of over 4,000 meters on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. Despite the transmitting end having a signal power of just 10 microwatts — equivalent to one-millionth of the transmission intensity of a mobile phone base station — the superconducting receiver successfully captured the signals.

This achievement is the result of more than 30 years of research by Chinese scientists. Since the 1990s, China has been studying terahertz astronomical detection technology, with a focus on superconducting detector technology. Li Jing, a researcher from the Purple Mountain Observatory, likened the shift from microwave to terahertz communication to upgrading from a two-lane road to a six- or eight-lane highway.

The successful demonstration of terahertz communication technology opens new possibilities for its application in various fields, from high-speed data transmission to telemedicine and security monitoring.

Via Mydrivers

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In the wake of the US election, millions of users have been joining Bluesky every day. A decentralized rival to X (formerly Twitter), the platform now has more than 20 million users. According to data from Similarweb, daily usage grew by more than 500% after the election.

In a recent interview with NPR, Bluesky CEO Jay Graber said the network had been “growing by about a million users a day”. That surge can be attributed in large part to the dissatisfaction of countless X (formerly Twitter) users.

It’s been two years since Elon Musk bought Twitter for $44 billion and rebranded it as X. A number of controversial policy changes in that time – including the decision to allow companies to train their AI models on users’ posts – have triggered a mass exodus to pastures new.

While it still has a way to go to compete with the 275 million active monthly users on Threads, Bluesky has won big off the back of the US presidential election.

That being said, not everyone has heard of Bluesky. If the name's new to you, we’ve pulled together all the answers here – including what makes Bluesky different and how you can switch over from X.

What is Bluesky?

Bluesky is a social media platform which began life as Twitter project, created when Jack Dorsey was CEO in 2019. It then became a separate company in 2021. Bluesky’s majority owner is now CEO, Jay Graber.

Bluesky’s main differentiator is that it’s open and decentralized. It’s built on the AT protocol, an open-source framework which creates a standard format for “user identity, follows, and data on social apps”.

The original idea was that this standard would be adopted by Twitter. Elon Musk’s acquisition of the platform put paid to that plan, leading to Bluesky to branch out as an independent social app.

(Image credit: Bluesky) TL;DR – What is Bluesky?

Bluesky is a social network that was inspired by Twitter, but works in a different way. Rather than being centralized, it's open and decentralized – which means no single company controls it.

Bluesky also gives account holders a lot more control over the moderation of content on their own feeds. Users have the ability to choose the algorithm that drives their experience on the platform, with the option to create custom feeds for different topics or interests.

Users initially had to be invited to join Bluesky, but accounts became publicly available in February. Interestingly, Bluesky allows users to have website URLs as handles, which has the potential to serve as a verification tool.

Bluesky vs Twitter: what are the main differences?

Bluesky’s interface is visually very similar to X. There’s a vertical feed featuring posts that you can reply to, retweet and like. You can also create posts of up to 256 characters. Likewise, profiles on Bluesky borrow heavily from the platform’s Twitter roots.

As mentioned above, one of Bluesky’s biggest selling points is that it’s decentralized. It’s essentially a protocol that can be used to create content feeds, meaning it would be hard for a single person or company to control. In contrast, X centralizes data processing and content moderation, taking it out of the hands of users.

(Image credit: Bluesky)

The other key difference is the degree of control given to individual users. This manifests in the way that content is pushed to your feed. On X, users can choose between the “For you” and “Following” feeds, but they have no influence over the algorithm that drives content to those feeds.

Bluesky vs Twitter: key differences

Bluesky: decentralized, user-controlled, customizable feeds, user owns their data.
Twitter: centralized, feeds controlled by X, data locked into X with little portability.

In contrast, Bluesky lets you choose how you want to filter content. By default, there are two feeds on Bluesky: one for accounts you follow and a Discover feed, which shows a bespoke feed of trending content based on your interests and network.

But Bluesky goes further, giving you algorithmic choice by allowing you to create your own custom feeds. While some knowledge of the AT protocol is required to create custom feeds, Bluesky sees this as the future of the platform, with “an open marketplace of feeds” giving users access to content in whatever way they want. Graber claims that more than 50,000 feeds are currently available, catering to all kinds interests and themes.

(Image credit: Bluesky)

As Bluesky continues to gain more users, the number of custom feeds available will increase.

While its current user count of 20 million pales in comparison to the 500 million monthly active users that X claims to have, its rapid growth is only likely to result in the greater availability of niche feeds. This reflects the user experience on Bluesky, which is centered around building close communities from the ground up, based on specific shared interests.

One of the key factors driving users away from X has been the platform’s move towards deregulation, including changes which allow blocked users to still view your posts and profile. In contrast, Bluesky has a traditional block feature, as well as a number of “anti-toxicity” features designed to actively combat harassment. These include the option to detach your original post from someone else’s quote post, giving you control over threads started by you.

Reflecting its decentralized approach, Bluesky does not run adverts, nor does it harvest user data to train generative AI models – unlike X, which does both.

Bluesky vs Threads: what are the main differences?

Like Bluesky, Threads is a relatively new microblogging platform born out of the recent controversies surrounding Twitter/X. Developed and owned by Meta, users can sign in to Threads using their Instagram account details. Because of this integration, it grew rapidly to now boast an active monthly user count north of 275 million.

Visually, Threads has a stripped-back user interface with an aesthetic very similar to Instagram. That close integration makes it easy to find and follow friends, but Threads has also struggled with wider community engagement.

(Image credit: Bluesky)

That’s something it’s trying to address with new features. Inspired by Bluesky, Threads is rolling out support for custom feeds based on topics. These are easy to create: you search for a topic, tap the three dots next to the search bar and select “Create new feed.” You can also add individual accounts to custom feeds, giving you additional flexibility to curate the content you see.

To further foster a sense of community, Threads has also tweaked its algorithm to show users more posts from the people they follow. This “rebalancing” should mean that the “For you” feed shows more content that you care about.

How substantively this will change the feel of Threads remains to be seen, but the speed of the response from Meta is an indication of the impact that Bluesky’s open approach is having.

How to switch from X

(Image credit: Bluesky)

To join Bluesky, all you need to do is set up an account with your email address. You can do this online at bsky.app or by downloading the app from the App Store or Google Play Store. Signing up is straightforward.

Migrating an X account over to Bluesky is a little trickier. We’ve written a feature on how to switch from Bluesky to X. There’s no official method to make this happen, but there is a workaround.

Sky Follower Bridge is an extension that's available for Chrome and Firefox. It allows new Bluesky users to find users who they previously followed (and were followed by) on X.

To use it, you’ll need to add the extension, run it while signed in to Bluesky, then head to X. Head to your Following or Followers page and the extension will scrape the information to give you a list of matched Bluesky accounts.

It’s worth bearing in mind that X is taking steps to prevent screen scraping, so there’s no guarantee how long Sky Follower Bridge will be functional for.

Bluesky private accounts: is it possible to have one?

One thing to bear in mind before joining Bluesky is that there is currently no way to have a private profile.

Bluesky describes itself as a “public social network”, with the AT Protocol “designed to support public conversations”. That means anyone on the web can see them, including your posts and likes. Bluesky says to treat your posts as blog posts.

As a result, you can’t lock your profile. If you want a private profile, you’ll need to stick with X and protect your posts, or sign up for a private profile on Threads.

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• MIT creates nanoscale transistors for efficient electronics
• Quantum tunneling delivers low-voltage, high-performance
• The technology has the potential to replace silicon

MIT researchers have developed a nanoscale transistor that could potentially pave the way for electronics more efficient than silicon-based devices.

Traditional silicon transistors, critical in most electronic devices, face a physical constraint known as “Boltzmann tyranny,” which prevents them from operating below a certain voltage.

This limitation restricts energy efficiency, especially as modern applications like AI push for faster and more powerful computation.

Nanowire heterostructures

To address these limitations, the MIT team created a new three-dimensional transistor using ultrathin semiconductor materials, including gallium antimonide and indium arsenide.

The design leverages a quantum mechanical phenomenon known as quantum tunneling, allowing electrons to travel through an energy barrier rather than over it. This structure, consisting of vertical nanowires just a few nanometers wide, allows these transistors to operate at much lower voltages while maintaining performance on par with state-of-the-art silicon transistors.

“This is a technology with the potential to replace silicon, so you could use it with all the functions that silicon currently has, but with much better energy efficiency,” Yanjie Shao, an MIT postdoc and lead author of the study, told MIT News. By relying on tunneling transistors, the device achieves a sharp transition between “off” and “on” states with lower voltage, something silicon transistors cannot do as efficiently.

The transistors are engineered using quantum confinement, where electrons are controlled within a tiny space, enhancing their ability to tunnel through barriers. MIT’s advanced facility, MIT.nano, allowed researchers to craft the precise 3D geometry necessary for this effect, creating vertical nanowire heterostructures with diameters as small as 6 nanometers, the tiniest 3D transistors reported to date.

“We have a lot of flexibility to design these material heterostructures so we can achieve a very thin tunneling barrier, which enables us to get very high current,” explains Shao. This design supports a steep switching slope, enabling the device to operate below the voltage limit of conventional silicon.

According to Jesús del Alamo, senior author and Donner Professor of Engineering, “With conventional physics, there is only so far you can go. The work of Yanjie shows that we can do better than that, but we have to use different physics. There are many challenges yet to be overcome for this approach to be commercial in the future, but conceptually, it really is a breakthrough.”

The research team, which includes MIT professors Ju Li, Marco Pala, and David Esseni, has now shifted focus to improving fabrication methods for greater uniformity across chips. Small inconsistencies, even at the nanometer level, can impact device performance, so they are exploring alternative vertical designs that could enhance consistency. The study, published in Nature Electronics, was funded in part by Intel Corporation, reflecting an industry interest in exploring solutions beyond traditional silicon technology.

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Netflix has pulled a poster for season two of its popular show Arcane as fans noticed that AI had been used to make the promotional art. Arcane is made by Riot Games and French animation studio Fortiche for Netflix and is a critical darling for its visual artistry, combining digital and hand-drawn artwork.

That's why a fan thought a weirdly shaped hand on a poster when the show is paused seemed out of character for Arcane and asked people behind the show about it on X. Arcane brand lead Alex Shahmiri confirmed the AI origin of the art and that it was a mistake because Arcane has a strict rule against using AI art for the series.

"Appreciate you bringing this to our attention. we have a strict stance of no ai for anything relating to arcane cause it's disrespectful to the incredible artists who worked on the show. this image was a mistake and has since been removed. ty again for calling it out," Shahmri wrote on X in response to the AI art discovery. "I can only speak to what i work on. from a purely personal level, i'm not a fan of ai because what makes art so special is the human connection and feeling. be it through art, music, or any creative medium - it's something i never want to see replaced by ai."

appreciate you bringing this to our attention. we have a strict stance of no ai for anything relating to arcane cause it's disrespectful to the incredible artists who worked on the show. this image was a mistake and has since been removed. ty again for calling it outNovember 22, 2024

AI Art Fight

Netflix pulling the poster off of the show is fitting, but Arcane isn't unique in facing questions of AI art being used, with or without the permission of the creatives behind the show. Disney dealt with a similar issue when the Marvel show Secret Invasion used AI-generated art when displaying the credits for the show. Both fans and artists criticized Disney for the choice. Method Studios, who designed the credits, said at the time that the AI tools replaced no jobs, but it undoubtedly left a sour taste in many people who would otherwise enjoy the show.

Using AI to make images is often easier, faster, and cheaper than hiring human artists. That doesn't mean it's better, though. The debate over AI’s role in art crosses commercial, cultural, and aesthetic issues that are sometimes hard to quantify. How much money do you need to save by using AI to make up for turning off viewers? How degraded is a show using AI art, and is the speed of completion worth it not looking as good as it could have with humans designing it? AI tools like DALL-E and MidJourney may have opened new doors for creators, but what's fine for a marketing campaign or personal amusement is not always good enough for a project that seeks artistic integrity and commercial success.

That's before even addressing how AI image makers are often trained on existing artworks in a way that sometimes looks a lot like plagiarism. Amusingly, the backlash against AI art is producing its own market.

Digital art app Procreate explicitly declared against using generative AI in art and promised never to use it in its own features. AI art may still pop up from big companies like Netflix and Disney. Still, if creators stick to refusing to employ it in their projects for the big companies, it won't take over, just be a regular irritant in marketing and promotional material every so often. A cautionary tale about expediency over quality.

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It’s still routine practice to christen a ship by cracking a bottle of the finest champagne along the bow, but for Disney’s latest cruise ship – the Treasure – a regular old bottle wouldn’t be enough.

Instead, the Disney team anchored the Treasure in the Hudson River and did the christening very on-point by kicking things off with a 65-foot-tall bottle of champagne. No, it wasn’t a feat of wine-bottle engineering, but one created by 1,000 drones high up in the night sky. Simply, it was eye-popping…but those drones weren’t just programmed to rock a bottle of champagne.

Those 1,000 drones were spinning above the Hudson River in New York City, creating iconic Disney scenes and icons, including a magic lamp and a genie – yes, that one – and various moments from Coco and Moana. The latter is likely a nod to the forthcoming Moana 2 film that opens in theaters later in November.

But for Disney fans, what stood out the most was a floating head and three hitch-hiking ghosts from the Haunted Mansion attraction. But did you know the Treasure also boasts a bar themed around that very attraction?

(Image credit: Disney)

All in all, it was an eye-catching experience and one that caught the attention of unsuspecting New Yorkers, as evidenced by TikToks posted. You can also catch the entire christening ceremony and drone show below. This isn’t Disney’s first drone show either; the company routinely uses drones and fireworks during nighttime spectacles, most notably with the ‘Nighttime Electrical Parade’ at Disneyland Paris, and earlier this year, it offered a drone show at Disney Springs in Orlando, Florida.

Might Disney add a drone show as a regular treat for customers onboard its cruises? That remains to be seen, but the Treasure’s first voyage is set for December 21, 2024.

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