Every day we wake up, drink a cup of coffee, and get ready for work. Following are a handful of stories from around the tech world condensed to fit into one single cup of coffee. These are the things you need to know before you step foot out of your door (or in front of a webcam) and into the real world this morning.
So sit back, grab a cup, and start your morning off right with a few “Quick Bytes” from Innovation & Tech Today.
Astronomers Have Discovered the Biggest Galaxy in the Universe
Astronomers have just discovered what is now the largest known galaxy in the universe. Get ready for some mind-boggling numbers.
The giant radio galaxy, called Alcyoneus, is about 16.3 million light-years long, which is 153 times the size of the Milky Way. It is located deep in the cosmos – about 3 billion light-years from Earth.
Radio galaxies contain a strong source of electromagnetic radiation or radio waves and emit massive jets and lobes from their center. The presence of the jets suggests there is a supermassive black hole at the newfound galaxy’s heart.
The discovery could help to advance our understanding of colossal radio galaxies, black holes, and quasars and act as another piece in the intergalactic puzzle we have just begun to put together.
Cargo Ship Fire Fueled by Electric Vehicles Finally Dying Down
The fire that set a cargo ship off the coast of Portugal ablaze for 5 days is finally dying down.
The Felicity Ace was carrying nearly 4,000 electric vehicles to a port in Rhode Island when it caught fire and began drifting into the mid-Atlantic Ocean. The cause of the fire has yet to be determined, so it’s unclear whether the EV batteries were the catalyst. What is certain is that the batteries turned the ship into an unrelenting inferno that made extinguishing the blaze extremely difficult.
Salvage teams are only managing to douse the flames now because “there is little left combustible material left to burn,” captain João Mendes Cabeças said.
All 22 crew members were evacuated Wednesday before major damage was done to the vessel, but the loss of revenue for Volkswagen, Porsche, Bentley, and Audi is around $225 million, according to MSN.
Tesla’s German Gigafactory Plans on Pause
Elon Musk’s plan to open its first European gigafactory in Grünheide, Germany, has been delayed – again. According to Tesla Inc. officials, machinery is in place but the EV company can’t move forward with plans to produce vehicles in Germany until it has the required permits.
The plant will have a 500,000 vehicle per year capacity and will expand growth in Germany, Europe’s industrial center, while raising profitability for Tesla. Analysts forecast the company could sell up to 1.5 million cars worldwide in 2022, according to the Wall Street Journal. With a broken supply chain and rising shipping costs, Tesla’s European endeavors could substantially eat into the company’s profit margin. Demand is continuing to rise, and the delay of the gigafactory could mean extended wait times for the latest models.
Cleaning Out Your (Digital) Closet
Spring cleaning doesn’t just mean getting rid of old furniture and finally organizing the garage anymore. For many of us, cleaning out our old posts on social media should be on the ever-expanding to-do list.
If you’re looking for a new job – as many people are after the great resignation – old feuds between family members or less than professional photos from that epic bachelor party need to go.
Fortunately, its pretty easy to remove old posts, tweets, or photos from most platforms. And now, Instagram has made it even easier.
Instagram recently changed its settings to give users the ability to delete posts, stories, videos and reels, and interactions with people in bulk rather than manually deleting them one by one. Posts can be filtered by data and also archived in a folder only the user can see. With spring approaching, Instagram’s software update comes as a timely surprise.
