(Mirror Daily, United States) – Archaeologists and researchers have been unendingly searching the chambers of the Great Pyramid of Giza, hoping they might find some secret corners hidden inside it. Now, after observing a series of mysterious subatomic particles, a team of scientists spotted the presence of a new structure within the pyramid. The discovery is major, as it might provide some answers to the great mystery of how an ancient civilization managed to build such an imposing structure.

The Great Pyramid of Giza is hiding a gaping void beneath its walls

The Great Pyramid of Giza is 4,500 years old, but its interiors still remain a mystery. However, researchers managed to find a sophisticated technique which allowed them to take a peek inside its vaults. This technology could measure the strange particles called muons, and discovered a void gaping open within the pyramid walls.

Researchers nicknamed this hole the Big Void, and it spreads over 100 feet right in the center of the pyramid. The void lays above the Grand Gallery, a passage which links the two main chambers of the structure, the Queen’s and the King’s room.

What are muons?

These mysterious muons are created with the breaking down of cosmic rays. They can easily float into the air, but have a hard time escaping from behind materials like stone. Researchers discovered that, by measuring how many muons can get through the stone, they could detect the presence of gaps and voids. This technique is really similar to X-ray monitoring.

Unfortunately, they cannot create a clear image of how this void should look like. They cannot tell if it is horizontal, if it’s made up of several empty spaces gathered together, or if it’s just a big hall. More importantly, they cannot tell why it hides beneath the walls of the Great Pyramid of Giza.

To find out more, researchers are now planning to design a robot which can enter the pyramid and better explore the void. This way, they might find out how such an ancient civilization, with less sophisticated technology, could erect such a formation like the Great Pyramid of Giza.

The study on the mysterious structure has been published in the journal Nature.
Image Source: Wikimedia Commons

(Mirror Daily, United States) – Microsoft was aiming to reach new records in their cloud business field, and its attempt were marked by a huge success. The company has just declared it can easily project an annual revenue of more than $20 billion. This is an important achievement, which will definitely help the company step forward.

Microsoft reached its $20 billion target

In 2015, Satya Nadella became the company’s CEO. At that moment, Microsoft earned about $6.3 billion revenue, and the new CEO wanted to hit the $20 billion milestone in 2018. Given the fact that the 2018 fiscal year started in July, then the revenue increase arrived just when it should have, or maybe even a bit earlier.

Microsoft has just announced the figures for this year, marking the reaching of their target. More precisely, the annual revenue was of $24.5 billion, with a profit of $6.6 billion. The increase can be observed even when comparing the reports with the earnings of last year. Back then, the revenue was of $20.4 billion, and the profit $4.7 billion.

The revenue increase was given by the prolific cloud business

The biggest contribution to this fruitful increase is given by the cloud business, as it brought $6.9 billion of the entire earnings. When assessing cloud’s contribution over more years, it accounts for about 14 percent of the increase, which is quite important. Microsoft is currently at the top of the cloud market, but many other companies are rapidly coming from behind.

However, cloud is the business of tomorrow, while the business of today is still represented by PC. Unfortunately, this field could have been better for Microsoft. Their revenue from gaming and Windows was a bit static, while the mobile business went off, as the company no longer produces smartphones. Even so, we can say this has been a prolific year for Microsoft, and good days are ahead of it.
Image Source: Wikimedia Commons

(Mirror Daily, United States) – Are you worried about your friends’ safety? Now WhatsApp lets you be up-to-date to whatever they do with the new live location tracker. This way, you can track the movements of your friends and make sure they are fine, or easily get directions to find them.

The live location tracker comes to WhatsApp

Location tracking is used by many people for different purposes but, no matter why you need to use it, it’s always useful. WhatsApp decided to join the ranks of the apps which use a live location tracker, so an encrypted feature is now available for all users to exploit. Before sharing a location, they can select a certain timespan when it should remain active. Also, whenever they want to stop the tracking, they can do it.

Many thought about the security concerns put by a live location feature. However, WhatsApp explained the situation. This feature is a reaction to Snapchat’s Map, where active users’ location is displayed for everybody to see. Here, users can choose the person to share their location with, and the sharing is only temporary.

You can avoid having your location shared when you are not willing to

The feature already underwent some testing in January, but it should soon reach the users. It’s easy to activate the live location tracker and to make sure it doesn’t work for a longer period of time than you want to. Once you open a new message, you can tap on the plus sign in the right corner from the bottom.

Among the options you can choose, there is location. If you choose to send it, the live location tracker becomes active. Also, before sending it to the contact, you can choose for how long you share it. This way, you can avoid being tracked even when you no longer want it.
Image Source: Pixabay

(Mirror Daily, United States) – Together with the iOS 11.1 update, Apple decided to release some new emojis, to make our conversations more interesting. The Unicode Consortium has already approved these exquisite designs, and soon we will be able to send orange hearts to our friends or, in the spirit of the times we live in, gender neutral characters.

Which are the new emojis?

All Apple users have received the iOS 11.1 update which, apart from many features, will also broaden their possibility of expressing themselves by using images. Therefore, as soon as the beta version becomes active, users will get a heart emoji in a brand new color, orange.

For those who like sending animal emojis, their list features the following additions. A giraffe and a cricket are among the new animals, but also a cute hedgehog. In case you have always wanted a dinosaur emoji, here it comes, since a sauropod is also among the new symbols.

The food category will also add the popular apple pie, but also a dumpling or a broccoli, for the healthy eaters. You must have also noticed not all countries have their flag among the emojis, so the latest additions are England, Wales, and Scotland.

Apple has been teasing the gender neutral emoji for quite a while

The most awaited emojis are probably those featuring characters. Among the new mythical creatures, there are a fairy, a mermaid and merman, a vampire, or a wizard. If you are familiar with World Emoji Day, then you must have waited for the bearded man, the woman wearing a headscarf, or the zombie. Now, the time has come for them to become available for all Apple users.

However, the most remarkable choice is really appropriate for the times we live in. Nowadays, there are plenty of people who do not identify with the gender they have been born with. Therefore, to respect these people’s identity, Apple decided to add the gender neutral face among the emojis. All of these symbols are already available together with the iOS 11.1 update.
Image Source: Flickr

(Mirror Daily, United States) – Siri, Apple’s AI-powered smart assistant, has recently made an error which went viral, but people still cannot understand how the assistant ended up making such a mistake. When asked what the national anthem of Bulgaria was, Siri offered as a response the most streamed song in the world, Despacito.

No one knows how this error occurred

This error has been first discovered by a Reddit user, wandreylust, but it quickly went viral all over the internet. Soon after that, many other people tried asking Siri the same question, and she offered the same amusing but wrong response. However, it is unclear how she came to do that.

When you ask Siri a question, she usually gets her sources from the internet. One such primary source is Wikipedia which, most of the time, is considered reliable. However, the European country’s Wikipedia page doesn’t display any erroneous information.

Under the field ‘National Anthem’, Wikipedia displays the correct answer. Bulgaria’s anthem is an opera song called “Mila Rodino”. In English, the title means “Dear Motherland”, and bears absolutely no resemblance to the hit song Despacito.

The error seems to have popped up after Siri switched from Bing to Google

Also, there’s no other mention on Bulgaria’s Wikipedia page regarding the song. When Siri offers its wrong answer, it also sends a link to Despacito’s Wikipedia page but, again, there’s no info on the page mentioning a connection with Bulgaria’s national anthem, or with any other country’s anthem, for that matter.

In the meantime, Apple fixed the issue, and Siri now offers the correct answer. However, the company didn’t explain what the problem was. So far, the smart assistant used Bing as its default browser, and only recently did it switch to Google. This error seemed to have appeared when this switch took place.

You learn something new every day! from iphone

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(Mirror Daily, United States) – Lately, WhatsApp has had plenty of conflicts with the Chinese authorities, which eventually led to a ban on the service in the entire country. The severe censorship in the country has waged war on the instant messaging service, and now most users within the Chinese borders can no longer use the app.

WhatsApp is now completely disabled in China

The Chinese government has started attacking WhatsApp when, in July, the sending of photos and videos has temporarily been disabled. Now, it seems to have taken the fight one step forward, as nobody in the country is able to use the service. Therefore, apart from photos and videos, they can no longer send messages either.

The government’s latest efforts against the messaging service started last week. Some users might still see the app is available and functional. However, until the beginning of next week, it is expected to go down in the entire country.

The authorities are not happy with the platform’s encryption

In fact, the Chinese authorities have started blocking the service some time ago. However, it took them some time to figure out how to overcome the encryptions used by WhatsApp to send messages. They managed to build a firewall which can detect the encryptions, and prevent the service from delivering the messages.

WhatsApp uses end-to-end encryption, which is extremely secure and private. This attracted the attention of the Chinese authorities, who decided to take it down. Too much encryption prevents them from keeping a close eye on their citizens, so they decided to ban the secure alternatives and force people to use something chosen by them.

This is a serious blow for the messaging platform. WhatsApp might have billions of users worldwide, but suddenly losing ground in a country like China can seriously affect the business. Facebook will suffer as well, since the website and app have already been banned in the country for a long time.
Image Source: Wikimedia Commons

(Mirror Daily, United States) – Last year, Nintendo baffled everybody with the announcement that the top game Doom will receive a Switch version. The game scored one of the biggest releases of 2016 and, apart from refined gameplay and mechanics, sported advanced graphics which seemed impossible to reproduce on Switch. However, a sneak peek at this version proves everybody wrong.

Doom seemed impossible to convert into a Switch version

Doom is, indeed, a big game, but many doubted Bethesda’s capabilities to convert the game into a Switch-friendly version. Now, the company offered a quick view at how this is going to look like, and it left everybody speechless. Many publications who reviewed it found it identical to all the other versions of the game.

Many fans were afraid Nintendo would want to “sugarcoat” Doom, and ask Bethesda to remove some of the blood and violence so typical of the original game. Fortunately, it didn’t happen, so the Switch version preserves all the savageness and breathtaking action Doom is known for.

The fast-paced action gets preserved even at smaller resolution

However, you might feel at a loss at a certain point. The action remains intense, indeed, but using Joy-Cons might prevent you from experiencing the violence and suspense at its full intensity. Therefore, if you want the best game experience you’ve ever had on the console, you should get your hands on a Pro Controller.

Also, Bethesda didn’t reveal the resolution available for Doom. The demos which have been released so far present the game in the typical Switch resolution, namely 720p. However, we cannot say if the actual version will be improved, or will retain a classic appearance.

What you need to keep in mind is that reviews are extremely good, and Bethesda appears to have done a great job in converting Doom for Nintendo Switch. Even if this might not be the final form of the game, everything looks incredibly promising, and we are actually expecting more surprises.
Image Source: Flickr

(Mirror Daily, United States) – Square Enix has recently made a great announcement, which brings twice the excitement. A new title is in the making, and it is called Left Alive. However, it won’t be like any regular game, since it has some of the greatest video game veterans involved in its production. So, it will be hard to contain our impatience, since details on the game are quite scarce at the moment.

Left Alive gathers many golden video game veterans

The video game studio revealed the new title during the PlayStation Tokyo Game Show. However, to the disappointment of many, we only know it will be called Left Alive, and not many other things. Fortunately, they released a teaser trailer meant to make the wait a bit more bearable.

Fans are already hyped, since many golden names are involved in this project. The teaser revealed one of the artists who is going to work on Left Alive, namely Yoji Shinkawa, veteran well-known for working on the Metal Gears series. The studio used his artwork for the trailer, as well as on the official wallpaper.

The teaser present a post-apocalyptic universe

The producer of Left Alive is no other than Shinji Hashimoto, who was also involved in popular franchises like Kingdom Hearts or Final Fantasy. It might already sound amazing, but this is not all. Other big names associated with the project are Takayuki Yanase, known for Xenoblade Chronicles X and Ghost in the Shell, or Toshifumi Nabeshima, of the Armored Core series.

As the teaser trailer reveals, Left Alive should take place in a post-apocalyptic future, where only few survived a terrible calamity. We should find out more as the release date approaches, meaning sometime in 2018. Square Enix didn’t offer a set date for the release, but we can say the game will be available on PS4 and PC.

Image Source: Wikimedia Commons

(Mirror Daily, United States) – Overwatch features a complex in-game meta which has suffered several changes lately. Recently, Blizzard rolled out some buffs to two characters among the Australian Junkers, which significantly increased their playtime in the meta. Moreover, the update brings a new escort map, called Junkertown, and a comic called Wasted Land.

Junkertown and the recent changes boosted the popularity of the Australian heroes

The new map Junkertown is currently available in the Public Test Realm, while the comic has already entered the game. Both of these releases have contributed to the increase in popularity of the two characters. They seem to have been the new favorites lately in the game, and had an increase both in playtime and in the number of wins. These characters are Junkrat and Roadhog.

Omnic Meta ran some analyses and statistics, and discovered Junkrat was the most popular DPS hero at that moment. It occupied the first place in the Grandmaster top, as well as in mostly every tier. Junkrat has always been preferred by fans but, since it received the recent improvements, his popularity increased.

Junkrat and Roadhog are at the top, but how long is it going to last?

This sudden change in Junkrat’s popularity affected other heroes as well. Among these heroes, there are Soldier: 76, Reaper, or Doomfist, whose popularity went down. Overall, most tops in Competitive Play are dominated by Junkrat.

One more Australian hero faced a sudden plunge in the in-game meta, and this one is Roadhog. He also received great boosts, such as survivability improvements, which are really tempting for players. As a result, Junkrat and Roadhog occupy the first places in the Competitive Play top.

However, the Public Test Realm will soon go live, and the meta will most definitely be affected by it. This means that the supremacy of the two Australian heroes might not last long, and the charts will again suffer sudden changes.
Image Source: Wikimedia Commons

(Mirror Daily, United States) – Religious writings are always puzzling, as researchers usually never manage to decode everything that they might be hiding. However, if they choose to look beyond what’s written in them, they might make amazing discoveries. An 800-year-old Vatican manuscript was covered in some weird purple spots, and Italian researchers claim to have finally found their secret.

The Vatican manuscript was covered in mysterious purple stains

The Vatican manuscript in question was written on a goatskin about 800 years ago, and was found in Secret Archive of the Vatican. At the time of its discovery, researchers were more fascinated by the purple spots which stained the parchment than by other elements. These stains, dating back to different times and places, have remained a mystery until recently.

Scientists established marine bacteria were responsible for the purple stains. However, this finding led to another surprising one. It turned out the Vatican manuscript didn’t come into contact with any seawater. They were expecting this, somehow, as the scroll couldn’t have been kept in water without being completely destroyed.

The organisms behind the spots were marine bacteria

The manuscript tells the story of the sanctity of Laurentius Loricatus. After killing a man accidentally, he lived the rest of his life punishing himself for the horrible sin. This convinced the people in his village to preserve his story on a goatskin. But how did marine bacteria end up on it?

It seems the organisms date back to the time the goatskin was washed, prior writing. Over the centuries, the bacteria thrived, and left these purple spots. This caused several bits of the Vatican manuscript to degrade and flake off. The bits were produced as the old bacteria died off, and new ones came to take its place. In fact, these bits helped the researchers unravel the mystery of the purple spots.

These purple stains are not unusual among ancient scrolls, so scientists hope their discovery would be useful. They hope they were able to help conservators avoid the destruction of parchments affected by these bacteria.
Image Source: Wikimedia Commons