Here’s a look at what made news in the world of science and technology this week.
Elon Musk, the owner of social media platform X, announced yet another controversial change on 18 August when he said that the ability to block an account will be deleted as a feature on the platform. Replying to a handle on Friday, Musk said that “Block is going to be deleted as a 'feature', except for DMs.” The announcement has already attracted a barrage of criticism from users who emphasised the importance of the feature in stopping threats and messages from online trolls. X CEO Linda Yaccarino, responding to a post from anti-bullying activist Monica Lewinsky, who urged X to keep the "critical tool to keep people safe online", defended Musk's move, a Reuters report said. "Our users' safety on X is our number one priority. And we're building something better than the current state of block and mute. Please keep the feedback coming," Yaccarino posted.
India’s third lunar exploration mission Chandrayaan-3 inched closer to the Moon earlier this week when its Vikram lander module separated from the spacecraft’s propulsion module. Space agency Isro (Indian Space Research Organisation) on 18 August released a set of visuals of the Moon captured by cameras positioned on the lander module of Chandrayaan-3, a Press Trust of India report said. The images, captured after the separation of the lander module from the propulsion module on Thursday, showed the craters on the Moon's surface, which were marked as 'Fabry', 'Giordano Bruno' and 'Harkhebi J'. Isro shared these images on X (formerly known as Twitter). The spacecraft is aiming to make a soft landing on the lunar south pole region by 23 August.
A pet peeve for many WhatsApp users is the fact that the app often compresses the quality of pictures you send to someone. But now, the Meta-owned instant messaging app is now rolling out a feature that will allow users to share higher-quality, high-definition (HD) images with each other. As per a Livemint report, Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg announced this update through his Meta broadcast channel on Instagram earlier this week. A report in The Verge said that the feature is rolling out worldwide over the next few weeks and users will be able to send higher-quality images (which will likely still be compressed from the original format) from Android, iOS, or the web. Recipients will see a small icon indicating the higher quality of a sent image. According to Meta, support for HD videos is also expected to come soon, the report said.
(With inputs from agencies and news reports)
Also read: Explained: All you need to know about the Isro Aditya-L1 mission
