Normally we share updates through long articles, but writing about photography is like dancing about math. What if we share it in a video? (Spoiler: we are not launching a video app.) If you dig the new format, let us know in the video comments or through Halide@mastodon.social

Most of the ancient underground aqueducts that enabled humans to settle in the world’s hottest and driest regions have been lost over time. Now, archaeologists are rediscovering them by using artificial intelligence to analyse spy satellite images taken during the cold war.

The oldest known underground aqueducts that are found across much of North Africa and the Middle East are called qanats and are up to 3000 years old. They were designed to carry water from highland or mountain…

Host Andrew McDougall sits down with technology experts Jason Thomson and Thomas Slide to discuss the future of generative AI. What can brands do to connect with consumers using the latest generative AI technology? How will this change the way consumers look for information, and what is the next “big” breakthrough in this space? Listen to find out more.

The highly anticipated horror flick 28 Years Later was shot entirely on the iPhone 15, Wired claimed in a report on Thursday, noting that with a budget of $75 million, it’s is the biggest movie yet to use a smartphone for filming.

The main filming for the Danny Boyle movie finished up last month and the final product is expected to land in theaters in June 2025. Those working on set had reportedly been instructed to sign a non-disclosure agreement to ensure news didn’t leak about the use of the iPhone. It’s possible that Apple and the moviemakers had been planning a big reveal to highlight the powerful capabilities of the iPhone when it comes to capturing moving pictures, but Wired’s report may impact that plan.

It was first suggested that Boyle was using a smartphone for at least some of the shots for 28 Years Later after a photo of the movie set taken by a paparazzi in July revealed, on close inspection, a protective cage holding something that was most definitely not a regular movie camera but instead, quite possibly, a high-end smartphone.

Wired investigated further and received confirmation from several people linked to the movie that Boyle had indeed been using a number of iPhone 15 Pro Max handsets — connected to elaborate rigs — to film scenes for 28 Years Later.

Having a prominent moviemaker like Danny Boyle use an iPhone for a big-budget movie is a real boon for Apple, which sells a lot of its smartphones off the back of the handset’s strong reputation for producing excellent imagery.

Apple itself also showed off the phone’s ability to record footage for elaborate productions during its Scary Fast event last October in which introduced the new MacBook Pro and iMac with M3 chips. All of the presenters, locations, and drone footage in the online presentation were filmed using the iPhone 15 Pro Max, though as many reports noted at the time — and which also applies to 28 Years Later — the phone was supported by a plethora of advanced moviemaking equipment such as lighting, dollies, and cranes, and also had a highly experienced post-production team to craft the footage into something compelling. The results are astonishing for such a tiny device, so we’re eager to see what Boyle has managed to do with it.

Google has backed FireSat, a constellation of satellites intended to detect, track, and perhaps even prevent wildfires from spreading. The first satellite in the FireSat program is expected to launch early next year.

Google is backing the FireSat satellite launch

Google Maps and Search services have been alerting users about nearby wildfire boundaries since 2020. The search giant has been mapping the wildfires in detail ensuring users are aware of the potential danger. Google also sends notifications and instructions on how to stay safe.

Google has infused $13m into an initiative led by the Earth Fire Alliance that aims to “detect and track wildfires the size of a classroom within 20 minutes”. A blog post published this week details FireSat. Essentially, it is a new constellation of satellites to monitor, detect, and track early-stage wildfires.

In addition to financially backing FireSat, Google Research will also contribute to this project. The entire platform will have Artificial Intelligence (AI) to provide a better way to monitor and manage wildfires.

Google has indicated that the Google Research team will plug relevant data into Machine Learning (ML) technology. This would help develop AI-driven enhancements aimed at detecting wildfires when they are small.

How will FireSat help detect wildfires and save lives?

Wildfires are notoriously difficult to detect. Oftentimes, there are false alarms. Moreover, current-generation satellite imagery used for wildfire detection has low-resolution imagery and infrequent updates.

All these restrictions usually mean wildfires remain undetected until they become as large as football fields. Needless to say, such delays allow wildfires to rapidly expand, destroy habitats, and threaten nearby towns. Google and the FireSat constellation aim to bring down, or perhaps eliminate, the aforementioned limitations, and speed up detection.

The first FireSat satellite, which Google is helping launch, is expected to happen early next year. Fully deployed, this constellation should have 50 satellites in low-earth orbit.

The FireSat satellites are equipped with infrared sensors that detect small fires. Some reports suggest the constellation could eventually detect a fire as small as 5 by 5 meters or about the size of a classroom.

FireSat should be able to provide accurate and actionable information about the location, size, and intensity of early-stage wildfires. This early detection, coupled with real-time updates, could mean agencies can douse wildfires before they pose any serious threat.

Wellington, New Zealand — Spade-toothed whales are the world’s rarest, with no live sightings ever recorded. No one knows how many there are, what they eat, or even where they live in the vast expanse of the southern Pacific Ocean. However, scientists in New Zealand may have finally caught a break.

The country’s conservation agency said Monday a creature that washed up on a South Island beach this month is believed to be a spade-toothed whale. The five-meter-long creature, a type of beaked whale, was identified after it washed ashore on Otago beach from its color patterns and the shape of its skull, beak and teeth

“We know very little, practically nothing” about the creatures, Hannah Hendriks, Marine Technical Advisor for the Department of Conservation, told The Associated Press. “This is going to lead to some amazing science and world-first information.”

If the cetacean is confirmed to be the elusive spade-toothed whale, it would be the first specimen found in a state that would permit scientists to dissect it, allowing them to map the relationship of the whale to the few others of the species found and learn what it eats and perhaps lead to clues about where they live.

Only six other spade-toothed whales have ever been pinpointed, and those found intact on New Zealand’s North Island beaches had been buried before DNA testing could verify their identification, Hendriks said, thwarting any chance to study them.

This time, the beached whale was quickly transported to cold storage and researchers will work with local Māori iwi (tribes) to plan how it will be examined, the conservation agency said.

New Zealand’s Indigenous people consider whales a taonga – a sacred treasure – of cultural significance. In April, Pacific Indigenous leaders signed a treaty recognizing whales as “legal persons,” although such a declaration is not reflected in the laws of participating nations.

Nothing is currently known about the whales’ habitat. The creatures deep-dive for food and likely surface so rarely that it has been impossible to narrow their location further than the southern Pacific Ocean, home to some of the world’s deepest ocean trenches, Hendriks said.

“It’s very hard to do research on marine mammals if you don’t see them at sea,” she said. “It’s a bit of a needle in a haystack. You don’t know where to look.”

The conservation agency said the genetic testing to confirm the whale’s identification could take months.

It took “many years and a mammoth amount of effort by researchers and local people” to identify the “incredibly cryptic” mammals, Kirsten Young, a senior lecturer at the University of Exeter who has studied spade-toothed whales, said in emailed remarks.

The fresh discovery “makes me wonder – how many are out in the deep ocean and how do they live?” Young said.

The first spade-toothed whale bones were found in 1872 on New Zealand’s Pitt Island. Another discovery was made at an offshore island in the 1950s, and the bones of a third were found on Chile’s Robinson Crusoe Island in 1986. DNA sequencing in 2002 proved that all three specimens were of the same species – and that it was one distinct from other beaked whales.

Researchers studying the mammal couldn’t confirm if the species went extinct. Then in 2010, two whole spade-toothed whales, both dead, washed up on a New Zealand beach. Firstly mistaken for one of New Zealand’s 13 other more common types of beaked whale, tissue samples – taken after they were buried – revealed them as the enigmatic species.

New Zealand is a whale-stranding hotspot, with more than 5,000 episodes recorded since 1840, according to the Department of Conservation.