ACM TechNews, Wednesday, August 28, 2024

Welcome to the August 28, 2024 edition of ACM TechNews, providing timely information for computer professionals three times a week.

GitHub Survey Finds Nearly All Developers Use AI Coding Tools

Nearly all (97%) of the 2,000 developers, engineers, and programmers polled by GitHub across the U.S., Brazil, Germany, and India said they have used AI coding tools at work. Most respondents said they perceived a boost in code quality when using AI tools, and 60% to 71% of those polled said adopting a new programming language or understanding an existing codebase was "easy" with AI coding tools.
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Israeli Researchers Say Wearable Sensors Could Cut Spread of Contagious Disease

Smartwatches that track biomarkers can provide early detection of infectious diseases to help stem the spread of infections, according to researchers at Israel’s Tel Aviv University. The study involved 4,795 Israeli adults wearing smartwatches continuously monitoring their vital signs, supplemented by daily questionnaires about their physical/mental health. The two-year study identified 490 cases of influenza, 2,206 cases of COVID-19, and 320 cases of group A streptococcus.
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How Tech Companies Obscure AI's Real Carbon Footprint

A Bloomberg Green analysis found that Amazon, Microsoft, and Meta are buying millions of unbundled renewable energy certificates (RECs) so they can claim emission reductions. Although current carbon accounting rules factor these credits into a company's carbon footprint calculations, research indicates carbon savings on paper fail to translate into actual emissions reductions in the atmosphere.
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China's Robot Makers Chase Tesla to Deliver Humanoid Workers

At the recent World Robot Conference in Beijing, numerous humanoid robots for factory and warehouse use were on display, along with their domestically manufactured precision parts. Also on display was Tesla's Optimum robot. Chinese analysts and rival firms acknowledge Tesla's lead in AI, but touted China's ability to reduce production costs substantially.
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Scientists Enable Hydrogel to Play, Improve at Pong Video Game

Researchers at the U.K.'s University of Reading showed that a hydrogel can play the video game Pong and improve over time. The researchers placed an electroactive polymer hydrogel between two plates containing 3x3 arrays of electrodes connected to a computer that simulated Pong. Said Reading's Vincent Strong, "Over time the ion concentrations increase where the ball is most, acting as a kind of muscle memory."
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Struggling to Unlock Your Phone? You Might Have Lost Your Fingerprints

Fingerprints increasingly are being used in security applications, but this can pose a problem for people who lose their fingerprints. This can occur as people age, as well as from "microtrauma," such as repeated wear on the fingertips from gaming, typing, construction work, and rock climbing, among other things. Forensic scientist Glenn Langenburg said the use of multiple biometric factors, such as retinal scans or face ID, could help address fingerprint issues.
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Navigating by Sight

Four cubesats launched by NASA in July as part of the Starling Formation-Flying Optical Experiment (StarFOX) have demonstrated the ability to navigate "without a priori information and without maneuvers to improve navigation accuracy," according to Stanford University’s Simone D’Amico. The cubesats use the angles-only Absolute and Relative Trajectory Measurement System (ARTMS), which merges algorithms for image-processing, initial orbit determination, and refining estimates on the state of the swarm over time.
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Science Treasures from Microsoft Mogul Up for Auction — and Researchers Are Salivating

Virtual bidding is underway for science-history treasures from the estate of Microsoft's Paul Allen. The items that are of most interest to researchers and curators include a four-rotor Enigma cipher machine from 1941, which Griffin Museum of Science and Industry's Voula Saridakis said was central to the "dawn of computing." An Apple I personal computer from 1976, which once sat in Apple co-founder Steve Job's office, and astronaut Ed White's backup spacesuit also are expected to generate interest.
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Computer Scientists Discover Vulnerabilities in Popular Security Protocol

University of California San Diego computer scientists led a research team that identified a decades' old flaw in the Remote Authentication Dial-In User Service (RADIUS) protocol. The Blast-RADIUS vulnerability could allow for "a man in the middle" to attack communication between a RADIUS client or networked device and the RADIUS server. The researchers attributed the flaw to RADIUS being developed prior to an understanding of cryptographic protocol design. Short-term patches have been issued by vendors.
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China's AI Engineers Secretly Access Banned Nvidia Chips

Chinese AI developers increasingly are skirting U.S. export controls that prevent them from directly importing Nvidia chips by working with brokers to access them overseas. The users' identities are concealed through "smart contracts" via the blockchain, and the transactions are paid for using cryptocurrency. Experts say these arrangements do not break any laws.
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The Year of the AI Election That Wasn't

More than two dozen tech companies offer AI products geared toward political campaigns, with the ability to reorganize voter rolls, handle campaign emails and robocalls, and produce AI-generated likenesses of candidates for virtual meet-and-greets. However, interviews with tech companies and political campaigns indicate that the technology has not taken off, largely due to a distrust for AI among voters.
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DNA Tech Offering Both Data Storage, Computing Functions

DNA-based technology developed by North Carolina State University and Johns Hopkins University researchers can perform both data storage and computing functions. The researchers created dendricolloids, microscale polymer structures that branch off from each other to form a network of nanoscale fibers on which DNA can be deposited and stored. This "primordial DNA store and compute engine" can solve basic sudoku and chess problems.
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Tourists Scaling Great Wall of China Can Now Get Takeout Delivered by Drone

Chinese food delivery company Meituan has launched a drone delivery service that enables tourists at the Great Wall of China to receive food, drinks, medical supplies, and other items. Orders are picked up by a Meituan worker and brought to a nearby hotel rooftop, where they are attached the drone and flown via autopilot to a watchtower on Badaling, the Great Wall's southern extension. The drones can carry around 5 pounds and make the trip in about five minutes.
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