Today: 7 February 2026
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Moon Rocket Breakthroughs, Starship’s Comeback & Cosmic Surprises: Space News Roundup (Aug 16–17, 2025)

Moon Rocket Breakthroughs, Starship’s Comeback & Cosmic Surprises: Space News Roundup (Aug 16–17, 2025)

Launches and Rocket Test Highlights Space Station & Mission Updates New Discoveries and Space Science Highlights Industry and Policy Developments In summary, the period of August 16–17, 2025 was packed with noteworthy space events across the board. From rocket launches (and explosions) to pioneering science findings and significant policy moves, the global space community had a busy weekend. New rockets roared to life – or were grounded for another day – and spacefarers in orbit ventured outside their vehicles. Astronomers extended our cosmic horizon with record-breaking discoveries, even as Earthbound engineers planted the seeds (literally) for sustaining life on future
17 August 2025
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AI Breakthroughs, Backlash & Bold Moves: Global AI News Roundup (Aug 16–17, 2025)

AI Breakthroughs, Backlash & Bold Moves: Global AI News Roundup (Aug 16–17, 2025)

OpenAI released GPT-5 and rolled it out to all 700 million ChatGPT users, with Sam Altman describing it as the first mainline model that feels like a PhD‑level expert and capable of generating full working software on demand. China’s Pan Jianwei‑led team arranged over 2,000 neutral-atom qubits into precise arrays in 1/60,000th of a second, using AI to position rubidium atoms and creating an array 10× larger than the previous record. NVIDIA released Granary, an open dataset of approximately 1 million hours of audio spanning 25 European languages, and trained Canary (1B parameters) and Parakeet (600M parameters) that achieve state-of-the-art
17 August 2025
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Brazil’s Drone Laws 2025: Ultimate Guide to Regulations, Rules & Penalties

Brazil’s Drone Laws 2025: Ultimate Guide to Regulations, Rules & Penalties

ANAC is Brazil’s primary regulator for drones, issuing RBAC-E No. 94 and overseeing registrations, pilot licensing, and airworthiness certification. DECEA manages airspace and flight permissions through the SARPAS system, including required distances from airports of 5.4 km at low altitude and about 9 km when flying up to 120 m. ANATEL regulates drone radio equipment and requires ANATEL certification labels on controllers and transmitters, with non-certified gear subject to fines or seizure. Drones in Brazil are classified by weight into Class 3 up to 25 kg, Class 2 from 25 kg to 150 kg, and Class 1 above 150 kg.
16 August 2025
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Comparing the Canon EOS R8, EOS R7, and EOS R50 V (2025 Edition)

Comparing the Canon EOS R8, EOS R7, and EOS R50 V (2025 Edition)

Canon EOS R8 is a full-frame 24.2 MP camera with no IBIS, 6 fps mechanical, 40 fps electronic shutter, 30 fps RAW burst, 4K60 with 10-bit internal recording (C-Log3/HDR PQ), and weather sealing. Canon EOS R7 is a high-end APS-C camera with a 32.5 MP sensor, 5-axis IBIS up to 7–8 stops, dual SD UHS-II slots, 15 fps mechanical and 30 fps electronic bursts, 4K30 oversampled and 4K60 with a 1.81× crop, plus Dual Pixel CMOS AF II with subject detection. Canon EOS R50 V is a video-centric APS-C camera using the same 24 MP sensor as the R50, with
16 August 2025
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Miracle Drugs, Mega Mergers & Outbreak Alerts – Biotech & Health News Roundup (Aug 15–16, 2025)

Miracle Drugs, Mega Mergers & Outbreak Alerts – Biotech & Health News Roundup (Aug 15–16, 2025)

Wegovy (semaglutide) received FDA accelerated approval to treat metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis (MASH), becoming the first GLP-1 therapy cleared for MASH in a patient population estimated at about 5% of U.S. adults, based on part 1 of an ongoing trial showing liver health improvement. Tonix Pharmaceuticals’ Tonmya, or TNX-102 SL, was approved August 15 for fibromyalgia, the first new fibromyalgia therapy in 15 years, with two Phase 3 trials showing significantly reduced daily pain versus placebo at 14 weeks and a potential peak U.S. sales of about $800 million. Pfizer’s inclacumab, a P-selectin inhibitor acquired via the 2022 $5.4 billion Global
16 August 2025
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Billion-Dollar Deals, AI Shakeups & Record Highs – Global Business News Roundup (Aug 15–16, 2025)

Billion-Dollar Deals, AI Shakeups & Record Highs – Global Business News Roundup (Aug 15–16, 2025)

Dow Jones Industrial Average hit an intraday record and closed up 0.08% on Friday, while the S&P 500 fell 0.3% and the Nasdaq dropped 0.4%. The U.S. 10-year Treasury yield rose to about 4.32% as traders priced in Fed rate cuts later this year. San Francisco Fed President Mary Daly said two rate cuts sometime this year could be appropriate given cooling labor markets and above-target inflation. Gold rose to around $3,340 per ounce, near record highs. Bitcoin briefly traded at a record $124,500 on Thursday before retreating to about $117,000 on Friday. OpenAI unveiled GPT-5 and Anthropic released Claude
16 August 2025
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AI Stock Frenzy: Big Tech Bets, Billion-Dollar Deals & Market Shifts (Aug 15–16, 2025)

AI Stock Frenzy: Big Tech Bets, Billion-Dollar Deals & Market Shifts (Aug 15–16, 2025)

In Q2 2025, Ray Dalio’s Bridgewater more than doubled its Nvidia stake and added to Alphabet and Microsoft. Chase Coleman’s Tiger Global bought millions more Amazon shares and increased positions in Alphabet, Nvidia, Microsoft and Meta. A Bank of America fund manager survey in August 2025 named “long the Magnificent 7” the world’s most crowded trade, with 45% of respondents. On August 14, 2025, Oracle and Alphabet’s Google Cloud announced a partnership to offer Google’s Gemini AI models through Oracle Cloud, with Vertex AI integrated on the back-end. Insiders revealed talks to sell about $6 billion of OpenAI shares to
16 August 2025
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Robots Fight for Gold, New Carbon Allotrope Created, and Record Black Hole – Science News Roundup (15–16 August 2025)

Robots Fight for Gold, New Carbon Allotrope Created, and Record Black Hole – Science News Roundup (15–16 August 2025)

Space and Astronomy Medicine and Public Health Climate and Environment Physics and Chemistry Artificial Intelligence and Robotics Sources: NASA, University of Texas at Austin, University of Oxford, CURE (Cancer Updates), Scientific American, NASA JPL, The News International science.nasa.gov scitechdaily.com chem.ox.ac.uk curetoday.com scientificamerican.com scitechdaily.com thenews.com.pk.
16 August 2025
Cosmic Weekend Spectacle: Meteors, Planets, and Aurora Hints Light Up Aug 16–17, 2025

Cosmic Weekend Spectacle: Meteors, Planets, and Aurora Hints Light Up Aug 16–17, 2025

The Perseid meteor shower remains active on August 16–17, even though its peak occurred on August 12–13. The meteors originate from debris of Comet 109P/Swift-Tuttle, an ancient celestial body well over 5 billion years old. Moonlight washes out fainter meteors, but a few bright Perseid fireballs have still been observed. Meteor rates predawn are expected to be around a dozen per hour at mid-northern latitudes, with the American Meteor Society estimating about 15–20 meteors per hour in ideal conditions (though moonlight will reduce that). Minor sources like the kappa Cygnids contribute about 1 meteor per hour. Venus and Jupiter form
16 August 2025
Techquake Weekend: Tariffs, Rocket Failures & a 1,000-Mile EV – Global Tech News Roundup (Aug 15–16, 2025)

Techquake Weekend: Tariffs, Rocket Failures & a 1,000-Mile EV – Global Tech News Roundup (Aug 15–16, 2025)

Consumer Technology Enterprise IT & Software Telecommunications Cybersecurity Automotive Technology Space Technology Semiconductors & Hardware Fintech & Crypto Biotechnology & Health Tech Robotics & Tech Culture Sources: Reuters, TechCrunch, FDA, FierceBiotech, company press releases, and other reputable outlets as cited above techcrunch.com reuters.com reuters.com reuters.com. This report covers major tech developments around the world from August 15–16, 2025, spanning consumer gadgets, enterprise IT, telecom, cybersecurity, automotive, space, semiconductor policy, fintech, biotech, and more – everything except AI.
16 August 2025
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AI Storm: Breakthroughs, Backlash & Billion-Dollar Bets (Global AI News Roundup, Aug 15–16, 2025)

AI Storm: Breakthroughs, Backlash & Billion-Dollar Bets (Global AI News Roundup, Aug 15–16, 2025)

In mid-August 2025, OpenAI unveiled GPT-5, a “major upgrade” with PhD-level expertise across coding to medicine and rolling out to all 700 million ChatGPT users; Sam Altman said it feels like you can ask a legitimate expert about anything, but it cannot learn on its own. A team led by Pan Jianwei in China arranged more than 2,000 neutral-atom qubits into a perfect array—roughly 10× larger than prior systems—and positioned rubidium atoms in precise patterns in about 1/60,000th of a second using AI-driven optimization. On August 14, 2025, the White House released an “America’s AI Action Plan” to boost U.S.
16 August 2025
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Battle of the Hybrid Cinema Cameras: Sony FX3 vs Canon EOS R5 C vs Panasonic Lumix GH7 – Which Cinematic Powerhouse Reigns Supreme in 2025?

Sony FX3 vs FX6 vs A7S III – The 2025 Comprehensive Comparison

The Sony A7S III, FX3, and FX6 all use a 12 MP-class full-frame sensor family; the A7S III and FX3 use a 12.1 MP Exmor R sensor, while the FX6’s spec is listed as 10.2 MP effective for 4K video. They all employ dual-base ISO: the A7S III and FX3 offer 640 (low) and 12,800 (high) in S-Log3, while the FX6 in Cine EI mode uses 800 and 12,800. Low-light performance is highlighted by 8.4 µm pixels and low read noise, with ISO ranges claimed up to 409,600 and realistically usable up to 51,200–102,400. All three support S-Cinetone and, by
16 August 2025
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The Ultimate Fujifilm Showdown: X-T5 vs X-H2 vs X-H2S – Battle of the APS-C Titans

The Ultimate Fujifilm Showdown: X-T5 vs X-H2 vs X-H2S – Battle of the APS-C Titans

All three cameras—X-T5, X-H2, and X-H2S—use the same X-Processor 5 and offer 7-stop in-body stabilization, with the X-T5 and X-H2 using 40.2MP X-Trans CMOS 5 HR sensors and the X-H2S using a 26.1MP X-Trans CMOS 5 HS stacked sensor. The burst performance differs: the X-T5 is 15 fps mechanical and 20 fps with electronic shutter (1.23x crop), the X-H2 is 15 fps mechanical and 20 fps electronic (1.29x crop), and the X-H2S can reach 40 fps electronic with AF/AE and minimal rolling shutter. In video, the X-H2 offers internal 8K up to 30p with 10-bit 4:2:2 and ProRes internal via
16 August 2025
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Fujifilm X100VI vs X-T50 vs X-S20: The Ultimate Fujifilm Camera Showdown

Fujifilm X100VI vs X-T50 vs X-S20: The Ultimate Fujifilm Camera Showdown

The Fujifilm X100VI, launched in early 2024, uses a 40.2MP X-Trans CMOS 5 HR APS-C sensor and a fixed 23mm f/2 lens. The X100VI is the first X100 to add in-body image stabilization, delivering up to 6 stops of shake reduction. The X100VI can record 6.2K/30p 10-bit video and 4K/60p, with F-Log2, plus a built-in 4-stop ND filter and digital teleconverters 1.4x and 2x. The X100VI uses a hybrid OVF/EVF with a 0.5× optical finder, a 3.69M-dot EVF, and a 1.62M-dot two-way tilting LCD. The X100VI weighs about 520g with battery and is priced around $1,799. The Fujifilm X-T50, launched
16 August 2025
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Monaco’s 2025 Internet Revolution: 10 Gbps Fiber, 5G Everywhere – and Even SpaceX Starlink

Monaco’s 2025 Internet Revolution: 10 Gbps Fiber, 5G Everywhere – and Even SpaceX Starlink

Monaco reached 100% fiber-optic broadband coverage in 2023, with copper DSL retired at the end of 2023 under the Extended Monaco program. Monaco Telecom is the sole major fixed broadband provider, with the state owning 45% and NJJ Holding owning the remainder. Residential fiber speeds include 100 Mbps for €39.99/month, 1 Gbps for about €59.99/month, and 10 Gbps for around €99.99/month, with installation free and bundles that include TV and landline. Business fiber offerings reach up to 10 Gbps with symmetric uploads up to 2 Gbps, plus static IPs, cloud storage, and service level agreements for reliability. Monaco’s 2 km²
16 August 2025
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Don’t Miss SpaceX’s Dazzling Starlink “Satellite Train” – Here’s How to Watch It

Don’t Miss SpaceX’s Dazzling Starlink “Satellite Train” – Here’s How to Watch It

As of August 2025, there are over 8,000 Starlink satellites in orbit, with about 8,075 currently functioning and accounting for roughly 65% of all active satellites. Starlink satellites orbit at roughly 550 km (340 miles) altitude and are launched in batches of 50+ on SpaceX Falcon 9 rockets, with each satellite weighing 260–800 kg depending on version. They are visible because they reflect sunlight, best seen in the hour after sunset or before sunrise when the sun is 10–30 degrees below the horizon, appearing as a moving train of lights. Early satellites were extremely bright, leading SpaceX to test DarkSat
16 August 2025
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You Won’t Believe How Easily You Can Spot the ISS – Ultimate International Space Station Viewing Guide

You Won’t Believe How Easily You Can Spot the ISS – Ultimate International Space Station Viewing Guide

The ISS is roughly football-field-sized, sits about 250 miles above Earth, travels at about 17,500 mph, and completes an orbit every ~92 minutes, circling Earth about 16 times per day. Its orbit is inclined about 51.6° to the equator, so its ground track passes over more than 90% of Earth’s population and it never goes farther north than 51.6° N or south than 51.6° S. It shines by reflected sunlight, is often the third-brightest object after the Sun and Moon, appears as a steady white dot with no blinking, and can flare slightly when sunlight glints off its solar panels.
16 August 2025
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The Ultimate Flagship Showdown: iPhone 16 Pro Max vs iPhone 15 Pro Max vs iPhone 14 Pro Max vs Galaxy S25 Ultra

Battle of 2025’s Ultra Flagships: iPhone 16 Pro Max vs Huawei P70 Pro vs Xiaomi 15 Ultra

The iPhone 16 Pro Max uses a Grade 5 titanium frame, is 6.9 inches tall—the largest iPhone ever—with Ceramic Shield, IP68, four finishes including Desert Titanium, and a reintroduced Dynamic Island plus a new Action Button. Its display is a 6.9-inch 2868×1320 OLED with ProMotion 120Hz, up to 3000 nits peak brightness, Always-On, and wide color P3 calibration for rich, accurate visuals. Powering the iPhone is the A18 Pro on a 3nm process with a 6-core CPU, a 5-core GPU, roughly 2x AI performance in the Neural Engine, and Apple Intelligence delivering on-device AI features plus 5+ years of software
16 August 2025
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Stock Market Today

Semiconductor stocks surge as AI capex stays high; Nvidia and AMD lead into next week

Semiconductor stocks surge as AI capex stays high; Nvidia and AMD lead into next week

7 February 2026
The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index jumped 5.7% to 8,048.6 on Friday, with Nvidia up 7.87% and AMD rising 8.28%. The surge followed new forecasts showing global chip sales could hit $1 trillion in 2026. Amazon expects a 50% increase in capital spending this year, fueling demand for chips. The Dow Jones crossed 50,000, helped by gains in chipmakers.
Oil stocks jump on Iran risk lift for crude — what to watch before Monday

Oil stocks jump on Iran risk lift for crude — what to watch before Monday

7 February 2026
U.S. oil stocks surged Friday as crude prices rose on renewed Middle East tensions. Exxon Mobil gained 2.0%, ConocoPhillips 2.5%, and Occidental Petroleum 2.7%. Refiners rallied after a national union deal eased strike risk, though BP’s Whiting plant faces a local dispute. Brent settled at $68.05 a barrel, up 0.74%.
Silver price rebound masks fresh stress after CME lifts margins again

Silver price rebound masks fresh stress after CME lifts margins again

7 February 2026
Spot silver surged 8.6% to $77.33 an ounce Friday after dropping below $65, but still lost over 8.7% for the week. CME Group raised margin requirements for COMEX silver futures to 18% from 15%, effective after Feb. 6. China’s UBS SDIC Silver Futures Fund hit its 10% down limit for a fifth session. Traders await key U.S. jobs and inflation data next week.
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