When we were kids and we needed an answer to a question, we asked mom. When we were teenagers, and we needed an answer to a question, we asked Google. Today when we need an answer to a question we ask ChatGPT. So, who will we asked tomorrow? I guess Microsoft knows the answer. They presented new AI-powered Bing search engine powered by GPT-3.5 technologies.
Illustration 1. Microsoft Bing LOGO.
To start with, what is Microsoft Bing? It is a search engine launched in 2009, owned and operated by Microsoft. Currently, it is the second most popular search service in the world. Bing powers some Microsoft products such as the Cortana and Microsoft Edge. Previously, Bing had some advantages over competitors, but they were not significant enough to fight Google. But seems like something is going to change. Microsoft announced updated version of Bing powered by new generation of Generative Pre-trained Transformer (GPT-3.5) by OpenAI.
So, what can Bling powered by AI offer users?
Improved search precess: Bing providing more relevant results that best match your request.
Complete answers: Bing reviews and summarises answers on the question that you have asked, and gives you complete answer.
AI Communication: Bing has interactive chat for complicated tasks, for instance smartphone selection or vocation planning. Through communication process you can specify some parameters, ask clarifying questions and so on.
Creative tasks: Bing also can generate content based on some information from web. For example you can ask him to write an email or essay, create a travel plan, or make a quiz. Moreover, it will give you the list of references (links) used during the process creation.
New AI abilities on the webpages: using Microsoft Edge you can summarise article or any information given, receive brief retelling and ask some clarifying questions. You can also ask Edge to help you compose content. Furthermore, AI can interact with the page interface, so you can ask it to perform some actions.
Also, it should be mentioned that new Bing is based on the new generation of GPT-3.5 created by OpenAI (Illustration 2), which is more powerful than the one used in ChatGPT and customised directly for searching process. Combined with Microsoft Prometheus model, it gives more relevant and targeted results (let me remind that ChatGPT had problems with the analysis of information that has appeared over the past couple of years.
Illustration 2. OpenAI LOGO.
Microsoft and OpenAI were expected to work closely together, due to financial and technical support Microsoft provided to OpenAI. But I was surprised an how quickly this happened and how extensively they integrate new technologies in their products. In conclusion, it seems like Microsoft is trying to beat the competitors like Google (Google Search), Apple (Siri), Yahoo and so on. AI technologies implementation is high potential, but still risky. But Microsoft and OpenAI has started this game, and now the move of other companies.
The South Korean company Hanwha and the American corporation Microsoft have agreed to cooperate in the field of solar energy. Microsoft is entering into “electricity purchase agreements” with energy suppliers to encourage the development of new solar and wind energy projects. This was done in order to try to achieve the set goals in the field of clean energy. The deal was struck due to supply chain issues and allegations of workplace abuse, which made it more difficult to introduce solar power across the US.
It is planned that solar energy heavyweight Cells will provide developers cooperating with Microsoft with more than 2.5 gigawatts of solar panels and additional services. According to Microsoft, this should be enough to power about 400,000 homes.
Microsoft aims to cut greenhouse gas emissions by more than half by around 2030. That is, by the end of the decade, Microsoft plans to fully receive energy from zero-carbon sources in the areas where they work. There are also plans to counteract the already existing pollution by trying to remove it from the atmosphere.
Since 2012, Microsoft has technically purchased enough clean energy to match its electricity consumption. But this does not mean and does not guarantee that the company’s activities are really carried out on renewable energy sources on a permanent basis.
Complicating the situation is that the solar industry is facing serious problems in the supply chain — especially in the United States. Solar energy production is concentrated in China, which supplies about 80 percent of the world’s solar panels. This concentration makes the solar energy supply chain more vulnerable to bottlenecks, and the main one recently has been accusations of forced labor in the autonomous region of China. The US blocked more than 1,000 shipments of solar energy parts between June and October last year after banning imports from the area. These trade barriers have significantly slowed the development of solar installations in the United States.
Cooperation with the South Korean manufacturer is part of Microsoft’s strategy to switch to the use of exclusively renewable energy sources in all its divisions by 2025 and achieve climate neutrality by 2030.
The issue of climate problems is really very important and worries people in recent years. So I wonder what the results of such an agreement and cooperation will be.
Let’s start with the fact that the inhabitants of the world of information technology did not have time to discuss the new chat bot ChatGPT, which they had already dubbed the “Google killer”, as a competitor launched its own bot Bard, also based on the principle of artificial intelligence. Bard is based on Google’s already existing large language platform called Lama, which is said to be so human-like in its responses that it seems reasonable.
On the day of the presentation of a new chatbot, Google makes a fatal mistake that costs them $100 billion.
On February 6, Google announced its AI chat-bot Bard, a ChatGPT competitor from OpenAI, which will be available in the coming weeks. However, in the promotional video, the technology made a mistake by providing false information as a result of the request.
Google has published a GIF in which the chatbot answers the question: “What new discoveries of the James Webb Space Telescope can I tell my 9-year-old child about?”. Bard offered three options, including the claim that the telescope “took the first photographs of a planet outside the solar system.”
Astronomers immediately reacted to the presentation and NASA wrote about this situation on their website. The thing is that the first picture of the exoplanet was taken back in 2004, which indicates errors in the video presentation of the chatbot.
“I’m sure Bard will still amaze us, but for the record: JWST did not take the “first image of a planet outside our solar system,” astrophysicist Grant Tremblay wrote on Twitter.
Bruce McIntosh, director of the UC Observatory, also pointed out the error: “I speak as someone who photographed an exoplanet 14 years before the launch of JWST. Don’t you think a better example could be found?”
Tremblay tweeted that the biggest problem with chatbots like ChatGPT and Bard is their tendency to confidently provide incorrect information as fact. And often they just come up with data, because in essence they are autocomplete systems.
Everyone is well aware that there is already a lot of false information on the Internet, but everything is complicated by the desire of Microsoft and Google to use these tools as search engines. Where the answers of chatbots acquire the authority of a smart machine “know-it-all”.
The promotional video with the error was viewed by 1.6 million people on Twitter. And almost immediately after its publication, Alphabet shares fell by 9%, and the market value decreased by $100 billion.
Pedestrians are the most vulnerable road-users and ensuring their safety has become a challenge throughout the globe. They are facing the most significant risks from traffic accidents than other transportations, and the consequences of the injuries may be devastating.
According to the World Health Organization, approximately 1.35 million people die each year as a result of road traffic crashes. Unfortunately, pedestrians account for about 26% of these deaths. That is why, their safety is considered to be a crucial issue that affects the quality of life and well-being of each and every member of our society.
In this article, I would like to explore some of the most out of the ordinary measures that can be taken to make our streets safer for all. But firstly, let us take a glance at something more classic.
WHAT ARE THE CLASSIC SUSTAINABLE WAYS TO IMPROVE PEDESTRIAN SAFETY?
As written above, improving pedestrian safety must be key to creating a more sustainable community. Of course, there are many different measures that can be taken in order to achieve this goal. Some strategies are already being applied in some cities showing and demonstrating outstanding effects. What are the standard practices for making the streets of our cities safer for pedestrians?
Reducing vehicle speeds The concept of reducing the speed of vehicles and speed management is considered to be one of the most effective ways to improve pedestrian safety.
Focusing On Left-Turn Collisions Left turns usually pose a major threat to pedestrians as left-turning drivers are often distracted by watching oncoming traffic. Which is why, this strategy in the end may lead to decreasing number of intersection-related accidents.
Improving the visibility of pedestrian-crossers Pedestrian collisions are often caused by poor lighting conditions. As a matter of course, the measures aiming at increasing pedestrian visibility to drivers should be implemented.
Providing immediate care for injured pedestrians, reducing exposure to vehicular traffic and law enforcement also add up to the crucial attributes of pedestrian safety.
However, those are the most obvious and typical ways all of us are familiar with…
HOW ABOUT SOME MORE INNOVATIVE APPROACHES?
At the moment, there are a lot of companies on the market offering their innovative solutions that are aimed at improving the level of pedestrian safety and some of them especially caught my attention.
Pedestrian Detection
Imagine if a computer system could automatically detect and recognize pedestrians in images and videos, and even understand their intentions in real-time, such as when they intend to cross the road. This kind of system would incredibly enhance the safety of autonomous cars, enabling them to avoid dangerous situations and significantly reduce the number of road accidents. To detect pedestrians, computer vision systems are expected to use bounding boxes and different types of features, such as motion-based, texture-based, etc.
A lot of companies have already introduced a pedestrian recognition system and a vehicle reaction in the event of a dangerous situation. Of course the systems are still far from perfect, error prone and require learning.
Innovative 3-D Pedestrian Crossings
This is a pedestrian crossing that is aimed at fooling driver with the help of cleverly-detailed optical illusion.
The technology looks so realistic that it seems to drivers that white blocks have hung over the road and cast a shadow on it. The floating zebra stripes immediately get the attention of drivers, who will be sure to slow down their speed once they spot the illusional crossing. The technology has already begun to be applied in some countries, moreover, in some of them it’s not showing good outcomes, as drivers get used to the three-dimensional zebras and pass them the same way as before, without stopping.
The crossing of the future
It is worth paying tribute to a group of British designers who, in terms of road safety, were ahead of the rest and have proposed a new concept of zebra crossing. They invented the so-called Starling Crossing – a smart pedestrian crossing.
This is the same zebra that we are used to, but built into the roadway and at the same time being a traffic light. Initially it’s not visible on the pavement, the marking appears only at the moment when it is safe for all road users to drive along it. It is activated and starts working the moment a pedestrian approaches the edge of the roadway.
By using a combination of tiles, cameras, and sensors, road and pedestrian traffic can be detected, and their positions, directions, and speeds can be calculated. This information, combined with millions of previous data points, allows for the anticipation of future movements. As a result, signs can be reconfigured in real time, including their size and direction, to increase pedestrian safety.
Laser Crosswalk Adds A Virtual Wall On Pedestrian Lanes
Sure, as for now it’s only a concept but turning this idea into reality sounds like one of the best innovation I’ve ever seen in keeping pedestrian lanes safe. Regardless, the Laser Crosswalk, which adds a virtual wall of light between motorists and people crossing the street.
For many countries in the world, pedestrian lanes are considered to be are unsafe place, especially at night when a lot of drivers are either sleepy or tired after the whole day. The Laser Crosswalk is a perfect fit for such places as it is a technology that adds a virtual wall of light between vehicles and people crossing the street. This kind of illusion, unlike ordinary traffic lights which people can instinctively ignore, immediately triggers instincts that make you stop. As if a real wall suddenly appeared before the driver’s eyes.
Innovative technologies are beginning to make a significant contribution to improving pedestrian safety, offering various solutions to reduce accidents and fatalities. Thanks to artificial intelligence, advanced computer vision, and a huge variety of predictive algorithms, we can now better detect and anticipate pedestrian traffic. From my point of view, I genuinely believe that the potential of these innovations, combined with the classic typical ways of improving safety, which have been used in our society for a long time, is leading us to increasingly high level of safety on the roads.
Tell me which of these innovation is your favorite! Perhaps, there are any other innovative approaches in this area that have caught your attention? Share them with us in the comments down below!
…to improve performance in specific tasks and domains
GPT3 is a powerful language generation model, making it ideal for building chatbots, conversational interfaces, as well as other driven applications such as automated content creation. We can also use GPT3 to generate code, art and even to compose music. The main advantage in most cases is the ability to ask the right questions. While in more advanced projects, knowing how to use the GPT3 API to generate automated tools can greatly speed up our business or academic tasks.
This is one of the reasons why tuning GPT3 is so important. Doing this for specific tasks or domains involves training a model on a similar data set that is specific to the task or domain of interest. This process is also known as transfer learning and allows the model you are using for chat to adapt to new tasks by adjusting the weights of the free-training model to better fit the new data and emphasize a specific topic.
Take the example of tuning GPT3 for sentiment analysis. If we wanted to use chat for this we would train the model on a data set or text labeled with sentiment. Remembering that sentiment can be positive, negative or neutral. This is useful for, among other things, the work of a data analyst when he or she wants to find the sentiment of different tweets against, for example, a statement or the general character of a given politician.
GPT3 tuning can be done using various steps, and learning libraries such as TensorFlow or PyTorch. This can be done by adjusting the parameters of a pre-trained model using new data. This process can take anywhere from a few hours to a few days, depending on the size of the dataset and computational resources.
During a usual chat with ChatPT3, you may notice that the chat remembers what you asked it a few messages ago and is able to make changes based on its pre-generated statements. The chat also learns from our conversations. Tuning works in almost the same way, but on a much larger scale. Moving into the programming area, we can tune ChatGPT3 using the OpenAI API model, which includes GPT3 chat features.
The tuning process requires access to a dataset and a development environment to train the model, which is not directly provided in the GPT chat. So, to tune GPT3 you need to create an OpenAI API key and use it to evaluate the GPT3 model.
You can then use the API to tune the model on your specific task or domain by providing a dataset or using the API to train and update the model. You can always get pre-trained models that are tuned for specific domains or tasks, which are available from a number of different providers such as https://huggingface.co/models and more. You can use these models without training your own data set and simply add them as an add-on to GPT3 chat.
Another advanced tuning technique is data augmentation, which is a technique that is used to improve the performance of GPT3 models. This technique is used to artificially increase the size and variety of the training data. This can be done by using various techniques such as adding noise to the data, rotating and inverting the images and creating new data by combining existing and old data. This can help to make the model more robust and reduce overfitting.
For example, using data augmentation techniques artificially increases the size and diversity of the medical dataset and can help GPT3 learn medical-specific language and terminology. Transfer learning, on the other hand, allows the model to adapt more efficiently to a new task or domain. I strongly encourage you to experiment with ChatGPT as it can save us many hours of tedious work and improve the end result.
What if we could develop a system that harnesses the kinetic energy of people walking on paving slabs and converts it into electricity? Could such technology make a significant contribution to meeting our energy needs? Those questions led Pavegen to launch their own project and revolutionize the power generation industry.
WHAT IS THE HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF THE PROJECT?
The British company Pavegen Systems Ltd., currently directed by Lawrence Kemball-Cook, is engaged in the production and sale of its unique technology – paving slabs that generate energy thanks to pedestrians walking on it, literally around the world.
WHAT ARE THE SLABS MADE OF?
Simply speaking, the tiles are made from recycled rubber and polymer concrete. In a little more detail, the innovative tile is made from a flexible waterproof material obtained from the recycling of used car tires, which gives the tile strength and makes it resistant to abrasion. The body of the tile is made of special stainless steel. When pressed, the top edge flexes by 5 millimeters, and causes the integrated converter to generate electricity.
HOW DOES THE TECHNOLOGY WORK?
The technology of the detailed functioning of the plates is kept secret, because in this way the company strengthens its competitive advantage. However, the engineers did make a few claims, noting that their technology is different from classic piezoelectric transducers. Why? The time between peaks that piezoelectric generators require makes it difficult to convert to direct current. Pavegan technology, in turn, reduces the gaps between the “peaks”, and thanks to this, it allows you to get more direct current.
The developers also shared information that their solution allows you to effectively capture and store energy after it is converted into a 12-volt supply. Thus, the top sheet of the tile deviates by 5 mm, and it is this movement that is converted into electricity.
Lawrence’s original idea was to provide power for street lamps and street signs. However, in just three years, the company managed to reach such a level that their products are widely used around the world. The electricity collected using these tiles can be sent directly to power various bus stops, advertising banners and signs, shop windows, and so on, or simply stored in a lithium battery for further use. Thus, the project allows you to convert kinetic energy into electricity, which can be stored for later use for various purposes.
This technology is best suited for the crowded pedestrian streets of modern metropolitan areas. It can be considered that this technology is the first significant step for people on the path to generating clean energy everywhere, literally everywhere, where there are paving slabs. The system they invented makes it possible to modernize existing pavement surfaces, and can be used in the construction of new footpaths.
HOW DOES THE PROJECT LOOK LIKE NOW?
Since the inception of Pavegen, Lawrence has moved towards becoming the market leader in the energy-harvesting pedestrian sector, bringing the issue to the attention of society on a global scale. He managed to convince several commercial properties that were still in the pipeline, after which they picked up Lawrence’s idea, transforming his concept and design into real products.
Pavegen received its first commercial order for the creation of electric generating paving slabs for one of the largest shopping centers in Europe – Westfield Stratford City, which is located near the Olympic site in London. In 2012, during the Summer Olympics in London, tiles produced by Pavegen were already installed on several crowded streets, and in a couple of weeks they collected 20 megajoules of electricity, which was enough to power the lighting of the capital’s streets.
By this time, the company had already managed to conclude an agreement and begin distributing its technology to many parts of the world from Brazil to Vietnam itself.
Lawrence is confident that the company is not even close to the peak of its capabilities. He argues that power sources for consumer devices can be embedded in clothing, and stoves located on the streets of the city are just the beginning in the renewable energy sector.
In my personal opinion, it is almost impossible to predict the exact amount of electricity that will be generated by the Pavegen project at the moment, as it depends on a huge number of different factors. Moreover, both external and internal within the company itself. Moreover, a lot of tests will be needed in order to understand how safe such a coating is for pedestrians, whether it deforms the foot and gait, whether it is dangerous for high heels and small vehicles such as scooters because the walking surface will not be flat.
At present, the electricity that the tiles can generate is relatively small, but after installing tiles in multiple places with heavy traffic, the amount of electricity generated can increase. Of course, technology is unlikely to completely replace traditional energy sources. However, it seems to me that in the future, this project will be able to generate a decent amount of electricity, especially in urban areas with heavy traffic, and become a significant additional source of energy for us.
Don’t hesitate to leave comments down below. I would love to hear your opinion on that!
Data analysts, who are entrusted with converting raw data into insights that can be used to assist decision-making, are the unsung heroes of the data industry. Large amounts of data need to be gathered, cleaned and analyzed as part of their profession in order to find trends, patterns, and linkages that could otherwise go missed. In a time when data is king, data analysts are essential in assisting businesses in making sense of the massive volumes of data they produce every day.
A data analyst’s day can be varied and difficult, involving everything from gathering and cleaning data to examining and visualizing it to developing and testing predictive models. In addition to having a solid grasp of statistics, data visualization, and machine learning, data analysts must be able to concisely and clearly convey their findings to stakeholders. In order to comprehend the business context of the data and guarantee that their research meets the objectives of the stakeholders, they must also be able to work collaboratively with cross-functional teams that include engineers, product managers, and business analysts.
One of the most important tools in the data analyst’s arsenal is the programming language Python, which has become the de facto language for data analysis and data science. Python offers a wealth of libraries and tools that make it easy to perform data analysis tasks, such as collecting data, cleaning data, exploring data, and building predictive models.
Python, a programming language that has established itself as the standard for data analysis and data science, is one of the most crucial weapons in the toolbox of the data analyst. Python has an abundance of modules and tools that make it simple to carry out data analysis tasks like gathering data, cleaning data, examining data, and developing predictive models.
Here are some of the most common Python libraries used for data analysis:
Pandas: A fast, flexible, and powerful data analysis and manipulation library, used for tasks such as data cleaning, aggregation, and transformation.
Numpy: A library for numerical computing in Python, used for tasks such as linear algebra, random number generation, and array operations.
Matplotlib: A 2D plotting library for Python, used for tasks such as data visualization, histograms, and scatter plots.
Seaborn: A data visualization library based on Matplotlib, used for tasks such as regression plots, heatmaps, and violin plots.
Scikit-learn: An open-source library for machine learning in Python, providing a wide range of algorithms for classification, regression, clustering, and dimensionality reduction.
TensorFlow: A popular open-source platform for developing and training ML models, used for a wide range of tasks including image recognition, natural language processing, and time series forecasting.
PyTorch: An open-source ML framework for building and training deep learning models, used for tasks such as image classification, sequence analysis, and recommendation systems.
To conclude, data analysts are essential to helping businesses understand the enormous amounts of data they produce every day. To transform data into insights and encourage reasoned decision-making, they combine technical abilities, like Python programming and machine learning, with soft skills, like cooperation and communication. The world of data is an exciting and gratifying place to be, and there are endless opportunities for growth and development whether you are an experienced data analyst or just getting started.
There is a new policy for Netflix users. Users have to set a ‘primary location’ where every member of the household using the network in that area can log in to the same Netflix account. Users will have to pay more if they want to add profiles of people who do not live in that particular house and are referred to as ‘extra members’. The policy was first introduced in Chile, Costa Rica, Peru, Argentina, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras. Canada, New Zealand, Portugal and Spain are the additional four nations where Netflix is imposing restrictions on password sharing. The price to add a new person will be $5.96 in Canada, $5.09 in New Zealand, and in Portugal and Spain, respectively, $4.30 and $6.45.
Netflix estimates one hundred million people around the world use shared accounts. Netflix’s claimed that its ability to invest in new content was limited by the loss of revenue from shared accounts. It reported that it intends to expand the new strategy to more nations in the coming months.
In 2022, Netflix saw its subscriber numbers fall sharply due to concerns about subscription streaming fatigue and increased competition from Disney or Apple.
In my opinion, it is difficult to predict whether Netflix’s new policy will improve its market situation. Firstly, there are plenty of options for consumers to choose from in the streaming platform industry, so they do not have to choose Netflix. Furthermore, there is a lack of content for some users. Netflix is removing many films and cancelling many series due to lower profits. In addition, introducing the new policy will make a lot of consumers dissatisfied. Many of them are friends who share the account and do not live together, so they would have to pay much more from now on, and that may prompt them to cancel their subscriptions. I have already read plenty of Netflix consumers commenting that when the day comes for the new policy to be introduced in their country, they will immediately cancel their subscriptions. On the other hand, the new policy will make people pay more, and therefore Netflix can create more content, which many people do not find satisfying at the moment.
Thanks for your time. Feel free to comment below 🙂
Robotics and Artificial Intelligence (AI) have been around for decades, but these industries have recently experienced a surge of growth in recent years. One of the most impressive robots created is called Atlas from Boston Dynamics.
Atlas is a humanoid robot that was developed by Boston Dynamics in 2016. It stands at 180 cm, weighs 80 kg, and is powered by hydraulics and electric motors. The primary objective of Atlas is the creation of a robot that can navigate challenging terrain while carrying out tasks such as lifting objects or navigating obstacles. Atlas’s incredible agility and motion smoothness set it apart from other robots, which allows it to jump over logs, balance on one leg, walk up stairs and even do backflips.
Atlas has certainly earned its place as a leader among robots. Thanks to recent advances in programming, it can now use human-like hands with sensors to manipulate objects more precisely and dexterously than before. Boston Dynamics robot can now adapt to different object shapes and sizes, allowing it to securely grip and hold them while performing various tasks with great precision. This improved capability has greatly expanded the range of duties Atlas can undertake, making it an even more powerful tool for diverse applications.
Demonstration of Atlas manual abilities
In addition to its physical capabilities, Atlas also boasts advanced AI algorithms that enable it to learn from its environment and make decisions based on the data it collects. This makes it possible for the robot to carry out complex tasks without direct human supervision. For example, researchers have used Atlas to complete challenging obstacle courses with minimal human assistance.
The rise of humanoid robots like Atlas has brought with it incredible potential for the future. Not only can such developments improve the overall capabilities of robots, but they can also help us better understand how to create machines that work safely next to humans and provide efficient solutions to many problems. From responding to natural disasters and using robots in construction sites to providing assistance during complex surgical procedures, the development of humanoid robots could have far-reaching implications on our daily lives and our ability to solve long-standing challenges.
Atlas from Boston Dynamics stands as a remarkable example of human innovation, representing a huge leap forward by combining cutting-edge technology and advanced artificial intelligence algorithms. Its ability to move freely through complex environments and interact with objects as well as perform tasks shows it is an impressive feat of both engineering and programming. In our ever-changing world, Atlas has the potential to revolutionize many industries and drastically alter how we live and work in years to come due to its capabilities. It truly opens up vast possibilities for the future, broadening our ideas of what can be achieved.
Fast Internet anywhere in the world sounds promising, right? But what is Starlink system and how does this system work?
STARLINK – WHAT IS THAT?
Starlink is a satellite system in Earth orbit developed by Elon Musk’s SpaceX. Simply speaking, Starlink is a satellite constellation system that aims to deliver global internet coverage. With the help of these satellites, a person can access high-speed Internet from literally anywhere in the world. However, provided that he has the equipment available and paid a certain tariff.
SpaceX began work on the project began back in 2015. Three years later, they placed the first prototypes in orbit, and in 2019 they have launched a full-fledged program that included 60 working satellites. According to some reports, by the beginning of 2022, there were already more than 2 thousand satellites in the Starlink constellation, which means that the project is developing quite quickly and by 2027 SpaceX wants to place about 40 thousand of their satellites in orbit.
Of course, the presence of so many Musk satellites in orbit will make scientists start to worry. SpaceX equipment is now the brightest object in the sky, which makes it way more difficult to observe space space. However, the company promised to fix this problem before the massive expansion of its constellation.
It is also worth noting that Elon Musk was not the pioneer of the idea of the space Internet, but his project is clearly considered to be the fastest space provider. SpaceX achieved a similar effect by placing their satellites at a relatively low altitude from the Earth’s surface. What’s more, Starlink’s low altitude has another added benefit: if any satellite fails, it’s much less likely to collide with another spacecraft.
HOW DOES STARLINK WORK?
The Internet that we are used to works on wires – it is either cable technology or fiber optic. It is through these wires that the connection with the world wide web passes. Unlike them, Starlink technology uses radio signals from ground gateway stations to satellites instead of conditional wires, which send it back to Starlink user terminals on Earth. The terminal is connected to the Starlink Wi-Fi router, which is included in the kit package and provides the user with the Internet.
WHAT ARE STARLINK’S SPEEDS?
Starlink proffers unconstrained high-velocity data through an array of inconsequential satellites that distribute up to 150 Megabits per second (Mbps) of internet speed. SpaceX blueprints to double this rate in the coming months. What is more, as for now, Starlink provides its service to over 1 million active customers across 54 countries.
WHAT ARE THE PROS AND CONS OF SUCH A TECHNOLOGY?
If we are talking about the advantages of Starlink project, here are some of the most obvious ones:
It is cheap. SpaceX are definitely using cost leadership strategy to gain their competitive advantage. It is cheaper than cable and satellite internet in suburban amd rural areas. Moreover, in many places and locations, suburban citizens pay the same amount as their city counterparts but receive far slower internet.
Is it available everywhere worldwide. Starlink covers most of the planet, from Antarctica to the middle of the ocean. Thousands of low earth satellite orbiting above us. Its signal reaches every part of this world. Whether you are in a remote suburb, middle of the ocean, or the sky, Starlink internet is available.
It is fast. Obviously, some users may experience slower speeds due to their network issues, but genrrslly, Starlink internet delivers 50 to 200 Mbps speeds, which is considered to be pretty fast.
Easy to install. The Starlink technology is pretty simple to install as the company provides you with all the necessary tools and the dish doesn’t require any specialized knowledge to do so.
On the other hand, Starlink also turns out to have its drawbacks:
It is not portable. Comparing to cellular internet all of us got used to, Starlink service isn’t portable, which means it is attached to a particular place.
Disruption due to bad weather. However, this kind of disruption is pretty typical and common for cable internet as well.
Starlink satellites interfere and will interfere with astronomers. The whole problem is that at dusk the satellites are very bright and make it difficult to monitor asteroids and other space objects that are potentially dangerous for our planet Earth. What is more, satellites use almost the same radio frequencies used by astronomers.
STARLINK IS A THREAT TO TOTALITARIAN REGIMES
Starlink technologies have faced a rather harsh reaction from totalitarian regimes. After all, the presence and such an active development of Musk’s satellites greatly worried China and Russia.
China: A group of Chinese scientists accused SpaceX of violating space traffic safety rules. Scientists have calculated that Starlink satellites transmitting data via laser communication are less than five kilometers apart. The authors of the study called this distance unacceptable.
Later, сhinese military researchers have called for the development of a “hard kill” weapon to destroy Elon Musk’s Starlink satellite system if it threatens China’s national security. Chinese scientists have simulated the possibility of delivering a precision nuclear strike capable of destroying the satellites of the Starlink project. According to chinese scientists, for this it is necessary to detonate a 10 megaton nuclear warhead at a given height – about 80 kilometers above the Earth. The choice of this height is due to the fact that there is still air here, which will contribute to the formation of a radioactive cloud. Within a few minutes after the explosion, the cloud will rise to a height of 500 kilometers and spread over an area of about 140,000 square kilometers.
Russia: After the outbreak of war in Ukraine, Elon Musk’s Starlink satellite Internet terminals began to operate, which became a vital source of communication for the Ukrainian military, allowing them to fight and stay connected even when cellular and Internet networks were destroyed.Outer space has become the latest theater of war in Russia’s campaign to subjugate Ukraine, and Elon Musk’s space internet provider Starlink is now considered a legitimate military target in Moscow’s eyes.
The russian government indirectly warned Elon Musk that it would shoot down his satellites, which as Moscow says represent an “extremely dangerous trend” towards a “full-fledged arms race in space.”
COMPETITION AND MONOPOLY
Will SpaceX project Starlink destroy regular internet providers in the near future?
From my personal perspective, at the moment it is quite difficult to predict how much this technology will affect the industry. After all, whether Starlink will be able to oust the usual Internet providers from the market depends on a fairly large number of factors, such as the availability and reliability of the service, the area of its distribution, the speed of development, and so on. Which is why, how these two will interact is definitely to be seen.
To sum up everything that’s been written above, the Starlings are definitely revolutionizing the internet service industry. Whether it is worth it and whether terrestrial technologies will be able to coexist with them remains to be seen, but the price of innovation is always high. New technologies are changing the old market patterns and creating new requirements for the industry. Lemme know your opinion on this issue in the comment down below!