Are Computers Headed For A Quantum Leap?

Enlarge (credit: Axelle/Bauer-Griffin / Contributor | FilmMagic) Elon Musk confirmed Monday that X (formerly Twitter) plans to start charging new users to post on the platform, TechCrunch reported. "Unfortunately, a small fee for new user write access is the only way to curb the relentless onslaught of bots," Musk wrote on X. In October, X confirmed that it was testing whether users would pay a small annual fee to access the platform by suddenly charging new users in New Zealand and the Philippines $1.

Enlarge / The star's orbit, shown here in light, is influenced by the far more massive black hole, indicated by the red orbit. (credit: ESO/L. Calçada) As far as black holes go, there are two categories: supermassive ones that live at the center of the galaxies (and we're unsure about how they got there) and stellar mass ones that formed through the supernovae that end the lives of massive stars. Prior to the advent of gravitational wave detectors, the heaviest stellar-mass black hole we knew about was only a bit more than a dozen times the mass of the Sun.

Enlarge / The Marina Palms condo development in Miami recently added an ADS-TEC ChargeBox DC fast charger for its residents. (credit: ADS-TEC) Right now, the electric vehicle ownership experience is optimized for the owner who lives in a single-family home. A level 2 home AC charger costs a few hundred dollars, and with a garage or carport, an EV that gets plugged in each night is an EV that starts each day with a 100 percent charged battery pack.

Enlarge / O. B., aka Ouroboros, in Marvel's Loki show, which streams on Disney+. (credit: Marvel) Despite promises of new and improved TV and movie viewing experiences, streaming services remain focused on growing revenue and app usage. As a result of that focus, streaming companies are mimicking the industry they sought to replace—cable. On Monday, The Information reported that Disney plans to add "a series" of channels to the Disney+ app.

Enlarge (credit: Getty Images | Chris McGrath ) YouTube is putting third-party ad-blocking apps on notice. An ominous post on the official YouTube Community Help forum titled "Enforcement on Third Party Apps" says the company is "strengthening our enforcement on third-party apps that violate YouTube’s Terms of Service, specifically ad-blocking apps." Google would really like it if you all paid for YouTube Premium. YouTube has been coming down on third-party apps, which often enable YouTube ad blocking.

Enlarge (credit: IAN HOOTON/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY | Science Photo Library) Meta continues to slowly adapt Facebook and Instagram policies to account for increasing AI harms, this week confronting how it handles explicit deepfakes spreading on its platforms. On Tuesday, the Meta Oversight Board announced it will be reviewing two cases involving AI-generated sexualized images of female celebrities that Meta initially handled unevenly to "assess whether Meta’s policies and its enforcement practices are effective at addressing explicit AI-generated imagery." The board is not naming the famous women whose deepfakes are being reviewed in hopes of mitigating "risks of furthering harassment," the board said.