ACM TechNews, Friday, Aug. 16, 2024

Welcome to the August 16, 2024 edition of ACM TechNews, providing timely information for computer professionals three times a week.

A man with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) who had lost his ability to speak has been able to communicate with a Blackrock Neurotech text-to-speech brain implant. Researchers implanted four microelectrode arrays to record neural activity, using 256 intracortical electrodes. Decoder software could be trained rapidly and recalibrated online. Words were displayed on a screen and then vocalized with the use of software designed to sound like the man's pre-ALS voice.
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Ke Fan of the University of Illinois at Chicago and Daniel Nichols of the University of Maryland are the recipients of the 2024 ACM-IEEE CS George Michael Memorial HPC Fellowships. Fan is recognized for her research in optimizing the performance of MPI collectives, enhancing the performance of irregular parallel I/O operations, and improving the scalability of performance-introspection frameworks. Nichols is recognized for advancements in machine-learning-based performance modeling and the advancement of large language models for HPC and scientific codes.
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Germany's Federal Office for Information Security (BSI) wants changes in the way Microsoft gives security providers access to its Windows kernel and the way CrowdStrike and other cyber firms design their tools, in hopes of curbing that access. The agency says that its efforts are focused on reducing the likelihood of a massive tech outage, like the one that resulted from faulty CrowdStrike software last month.
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Meta Platforms on Wednesday shut down CrowdTangle, a tool widely used by researchers, watchdog organizations, and journalists to track how misinformation spreads on the company’s platforms. In May, dozens of groups sent a letter to the company asking that it keep the tool running through at least January so it would be available through the U.S. presidential elections. Meta has released an alternative, called the Meta Content Library, but access is limited to academic researchers and nonprofits, which excludes most news organizations.
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ACM launched the Luiz André Barroso Award to recognize researchers from historically underrepresented communities who have made fundamental contributions to computer science. Barroso was a Brazilian computer engineer who pioneered the design of the modern data center. Recipients of the annual award will give a one-hour invited talk at a major ACM conference of their choice and receive a cash prize of $40,000, plus an additional $10,000 cash contribution to an approved charity of the awardee’s choice.
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Amazon Web Services' deal to purchase an additional 180MW of power from the Susquehanna Steam Electric Station to power its Berick, PA-based datacenter remains embroiled in a regulatory battle. Amazon purposely located the datacenter adjacent to the nuclear energy provider in a move known as co-location, which allows datacenters to draw power directly from power plants instead of connecting to the grid. Co-location provides steady, low-cost, and carbon-free power for datacenters but raises concerns about energy security and equity.
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A robotic submarine dubbed "Boaty McBoatface" completed a record journey from Iceland to Scotland to study "marine snow," tiny waste particles from microscopic animals that contain large amounts of carbon and sink to the ocean floor. The robot, controlled via text message by researchers at the U.K.'s National Oceanography Centre, contains more than 20 sensors that monitor biological and chemical conditions.
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A threat actor known as Fenice has leaked the most complete version of the nearly 2.7 billion records of personal information for U.S. residents stolen earlier this year from National Public Data. The data can be accessed for free via the Breached hacking forum. Made available in two text files totaling 277GB, the data includes names, Social Security numbers, mailing addresses, and possible aliases. The data was scraped from public sources and sold for use in background checks, criminal records searches, and by private investigators.
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San Francisco-based software engineer Sophia Tung launched a livestream earlier this month showing the late-night activity in a parking lot rented by Waymo for its robotaxis. Tung noted that the parking lot generally fills up with the robotaxis around 4 a.m., with an hour or so of honking as the vehicles back up and pull in or out. Waymo's Chris Bonelli said the company is "aware that in some scenarios our vehicles may briefly honk while navigating our parking lots" and is working to fix the behavior.
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The U.K. Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has picked six projects to test the use of drones in deliveries, inspection of infrastructure, and emergency services. Currently, drone users in Britain are only permitted to fly beyond the visual line of sight as part of trials with strict restrictions. As part of the trials announced by the CAA, selected projects would be able to fly their drones at distances beyond the flyer's ability to see them, using advanced technologies for navigation, control, and aircraft detection.
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Relatively inexpensive hardware can be used to hack the Shimano Di2 wireless gear-shifting systems used by cyclists, according to researchers at the University of California San Diego and Northeastern University. They tested the eavesdrop-and-replay attack with a $1,500 USRP software-defined radio, an antenna, and a laptop but said the setup could be miniaturized. Attackers could spoof signals from up to 30 feet away, causing the target bike to shift gears unexpectedly or lock into the wrong gear. Shimano has released a firmware update to remedy the issue.
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Fast casual burger chain Shake Shack and Serve Robotics announced a partnership to deliver meals in Los Angeles through autonomous delivery robots via the Uber Eats app. The robots, which are shaped like a shopping cart and have four wheels, will travel on sidewalks. Serve robots have already been delivering food from restaurants in the Los Angeles area through Uber Eats since 2022.
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An air-powered computer can monitor intermittent pneumatic compression (IPC) devices and sound an alarm if the devices fail. Developed by researchers at University of California, Riverside, the computer uses air to issue these alerts, blowing a whistle when a problem is detected. The goal is to provide a more reliable method to prevent blood clots and strokes at a lower cost by eliminating electronic sensors.
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