Welcome to the January 13, 2023, edition of ACM TechNews, providing timely information for IT professionals three times a week.

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An airport flight board shows cancelled flights. Software Maintenance Mistake Center of Major FAA Computer Meltdown
ABC News
Sam Sweeney; Jon Haworth; Kevin Shalvey
January 11, 2023; et al.


A senior official at the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) blamed a software maintenance error for a computer breakdown this past week that grounded domestic flights. FAA officials said earlier the affected Notice To all Air Missions (NOTAM) system sends notifications to pilots of flight hazards and real-time restrictions. The senior official said the breakdown occurred when an engineer unwittingly "replaced one file with another," triggering a series of cascading information technology failures because an updated NOTAM system that lacked redundancies was not in place. The FAA emphasized that a cyberattack was not indicated, while Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said a full investigation is required to prevent future mistakes.

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A self-driving car in a tunnel, with blurred lines suggesting speed. Computers Powering Self-Driving Cars Could Drive Global Carbon Emissions
MIT News
Adam Zewe
January 13, 2023


Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) researchers determined the computers powering self-driving vehicles could produce as many greenhouse gas emissions as all currently operating datacenters worldwide. The International Energy Agency estimates those datacenters presently generate about 0.3% of global carbon emissions. The MIT researchers' statistical model calculated that the emissions of 1 billion autonomous vehicles could equal datacenters’ global emissions volume if each vehicle equipped with a computer consuming 840 watts drove just one hour daily. More than 90% of simulations showed each vehicle's computer would require more efficient hardware.to prevent autonomous vehicles’ aggregated emissions from exceeding those of datacenters.

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Spin Control Method Brings Billion-Qubit Quantum Chips Closer
UNSW Sydney Newsroom (Australia)
January 13, 2023


Engineers at Australia's University of New South Wales, Sydney (UNSW Sydney) and quantum computing spin-off Diraq have found a new approach for controlling single-electron spins in quantum dots with precision. The researchers can manipulate a single quantum bit (qubit)'s quantum state using electric fields rather than magnetic fields. The intrinsic spin-orbit electric dipole spin resonance effect "removes the requirement of placing extra structures around each [logic] gate," according to Diraq's Will Gilbert. UNSW's Andrew Dzurak said, "Since it's based on the same CMOS [complementary metal-oxide semiconductor] technology as today's computer industry, our approach will make it easier and faster to scale up for commercial production and achieve our goal of fabricating billions of qubits on a single chip."

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When connected to a laser, the thin-film circuit produces finely tailorable terahertz-frequency waves. Integrated Photonic Circuits Could Help Close the 'Terahertz Gap'
EPFL News (Switzerland)
Celia Luterbacher
December 1, 2023


Scientists at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Lausanne (EPFL), ETH Zurich, and Harvard University created a thin-film circuit that generates custom-tailored terahertz-frequency waves in conjunction with a laser beam. This achievement could help bridge the so-called terahertz (THz) gap situated between approximately 300 gigahertz (GHz) and 30,000 GHz (30 THz) on the electromagnetic spectrum. The chip features an integrated photonic circuit fabricated from lithium niobate. Said EPFL's Cristina Benea-Chelmus, "The fact that our device already makes use of a standard optical signal is really an advantage, because it means that these new chips can be used with traditional lasers, which work very well and are very well understood. It means our device is telecommunications-compatible."

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An exhibitor displays OVR Technology’s ION 3 wearable device, which delivers scents using cartridges during virtual activities. Smelling, Touching Take Center Stage in Metaverse
Associated Press
Haleluya Hadero; Rio Yamat
January 8, 2023


Metaverse technologies unveiled at the 2023 Consumer Electronics Show (CES 2023) included sensory products that can replicate sensations and even odors in virtual reality (VR). VR developer OVR Technology demonstrated a headset containing a cartridge with eight smells that can be combined into different scents, for release later this year. The company is marketing the product as a kind of digital spa combined with Instagram, with the goal of helping consumers relax. Aurora Townsend at VR game developer FireFlare said her team aims to enhance the company's upcoming Planet Theta VR dating application with touch and other sensations. Metaverse expert Matthew Ball doubts such products will see wider use in coming years, outside of fields with large budgets and specific needs like bomb disposal units using haptics, and medical workers.

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Microsoft's AI Program Can Clone Voice from Three-Second Audio Clip
PC Magazine
Michael Kan
January 10, 2023


Microsoft's VALL-E text-to-speech synthesis program can duplicate, or “clone,” a person's voice from a three-second audio clip. Microsoft researchers trained VALL-E on 60,000 hours of English audiobook narration from more than 7,000 different speakers. The model interprets audio speech as "discrete tokens," then replicates the token to speak with different text. VALL-E can control the cloned voice to say anything desired, as well as reproducing emotion or configuring the voice into different speaking styles. However, the research acknowledged, "Since VALL-E could synthesize speech that maintains speaker identity, it may carry potential risks in misuse of the model, such as spoofing voice identification or impersonating a specific speaker."

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A padlock in a scary red color. Fear Can Inspire Remote Workers to Protect IT Resources
Washington State University
Will Ferguson
January 11, 2023


A study by researchers at Washington State University (WSU), the University of North Texas, and Oklahoma State University found that remote workers are most motivated to protect their employer's IT security when they fear the consequences of a security breach and understand the seriousness of potential security threats. The study compared protection motivation theory, which involves encouraging secure behaviors using fear appeals and threat messages; stewardship theory, which involves motivating employee behavior through moral responsibility; and a combination of the two. In a survey of 339 workers, the researchers found an approach that focused on fear and threats was more effective than a stewardship-based approach, but that promoting the stewardship theory's sense of collectivism increased the efficacy of protection motivation-based methods.

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OpenAI Booms, Even Amid Tech Gloom
The New York Times
Erin Griffith; Cade Metz
January 7, 2023


OpenAI, whose ChatGPT has seen over 1 million users since its release, is in talks to complete a potential deal in which $300 million in existing company shares would be sold in a tender offer. Amid the hype over generative artificial intelligence (AI) tools like ChatGPT, sources say the deal would value OpenAI at about $29 billion, more than double its 2021 valuation. Despite a dismal year for the tech industry in 2022 that involved mass layoffs and other cuts, tech investors are excited about generative AI. PitchBook reported generative AI companies received at least $1.37 billion from investors in 78 deals last year, an amount nearly equal to investments made in the previous five years combined.

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Computer Scientist Says AI 'Artist' Deserves Its Own Copyrights
Reuters
Blake Brittain
January 11, 2023


Computer scientist Stephen Thaler has requested the Washington, DC, District Court to rule his Creativity Machine artificial intelligence (AI) system deserves copyrights for art it produces. Thaler asked the court to rescind a U.S. Copyright Office ruling decreeing that copyrightable creative works can only be human-made. His lawyer, Ryan Abbott of Brown Neri Smith & Khan, said the case has a "real financial importance" that may have been previously overlooked, and the protection of AI-created art would serve the goals of copyright law. Said Thaler in his court filing, "The fact that various courts have referred to creative activity in human-centric terms, based on the fact that creativity has traditionally been human-centric and romanticized, is very different than there being a legal requirement for human creativity."

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Color-coded computer code on a computer screen. GitHub Code Scanning Tech Should Make It Easier to Spot Security Flaws
TechRadar
Sead Fadilpašic
January 10, 2023


A new feature on GitHub allows software developers to scan code for the "default setup" repository to detect incipient security vulnerabilities. The information technology service management company says developers will be able to format the repository automatically, with a minimum of effort. During its beta testing stage, the tool scanned more than 12,000 repositories 1.4 million times and spotted more than 20,000 security flaws; among them were high-severity bugs, including remote code execution, SQL injection, and cross-site scripting. The code scanner is powered by GitHub's CodeQL engine, which is currently available exclusively for Python, JavaScript, and Ruby. GitHub's Walker Chabbott said the company aims to support additional languages by summer.

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An inside view of an autonomous ship’s bridge. Sailor-Less Ships Head to Port on AI Wave
Yahoo! News
Juliette Michel
January 6, 2023


Artificial intelligence (AI)-powered unmanned boat technology was among the technologies showcased at the 2023 Consumer Electronics Show (CES 2023). U.S. marine industrial company Brunswick showed its prototype vessel that provides the optimal pathway to enter a port, avoid collisions, and find available berths for docking, all without human assistance. South Korean automaker Hyundai's Avikus division has developed software that executive Carl Johansson said can enhance pleasure cruises while saving fuel by positioning a boat in the best orientation for sunbathing or viewing sunsets, among other options. Crew-less sailing is currently in the experimental stage for merchant mariners, although John Cross at Canada's Memorial University said reducing crew numbers is the goal for many merchant marine companies.

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A rendering of massively parallel universal linear transformations using a wavelength-multiplexed diffractive deep neural network. Deep-Learning-Designed Diffractive Processor Computes Hundreds of Transformations in Parallel
SPIE Newsroom
January 9, 2023


University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) researchers demonstrated that a broadband diffractive processor can perform parallel linear transformation operations by applying a wavelength multiplexing scheme in a diffractive optical network. The input and output information are encoded by a predetermined group of Nw discrete wavelengths, with each dedicated to a specific target function or complex-valued linear transformation. Said UCLA's Aydogan Ozcan, such transformations “can be specifically assigned for distinct functions such as image classification and segmentation, or they can be dedicated to computing different convolutional filter operations or fully connected layers in a neural network. All these linear transforms or desired functions are executed simultaneously at the speed of light, where each desired function is assigned to a unique wavelength. This allows the broadband optical processor to compute with extreme throughput and parallelism."

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