Here's a look at some of the interesting developments from the world of science and technology this week.
Microsoft Outlook, Teams suffer global outage
Microsoft Outlook and Teams users worldwide reported a massive outage on 25 January. Multiple users took to social media to point this out, and in a status update Microsoft reported “service degrada- tion” for a number of its Microsoft 365 services, which included Teams, Outlook, the Azure cloud computing service and the XBox Live online gaming service. There was no fix on the number of users affected, but, according to Reuters, Microsoft Teams, used by more than 280 million people globally, forms an integral part of daily operations for businesses and schools. Microsoft said in a tweet that it had rolled back a network change that it believed was causing the issue. “We’re monitoring the service as the rollback takes effect,” the tweet said.
OnePlus 11 launch inches closer
The next OnePlus flagship launch is right around the corner but there could be a surprise in store. Apart from the OnePlus 11 phone, and Buds Pro 2, the company is expected to launch the mid-range One Plus 11R smartphone as well. A report on the technology web- site GSMArena said that Amazon had revealed the launch date for the device—7 February. As expected, there is quite a lot of excitement around the OnePlus 11, which, according to a Mint report on Wednesday, could be the cheapest Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 phone in India. Apart from the two phones, OnePlus is also expected to launch the OnePlus TV Q2 Pro smart TV and its first keyboard.
Earth’s inner core rotating slower than surface
A new study revealed on 25 January that Earth’s inner core has stopped spinning faster than the planet’s surface and might now be rotating slower than it. According to the new research, published in the journal Nature Geoscience, which analysed seismic waves from repeating earthquakes over the last six decades, the inner core started rotating slightly faster than the rest of the planet in the early 1970s. It had been slowing down before coming in sync with Earth’s rotation around 2009, it added. There has been a “negative trend” since, meaning the inner core is now rotating slower than the surface, an AFP report explained. The researchers predicted the next change would occur in the mid-2040s and that this rotation timeline roughly lines up with changes in what is called the “length of day”—small variations in the exact time it takes Earth to rotate on its axis.
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