Welcome to the November 6, 2024 edition of ACM TechNews, providing timely information for computer professionals three times a week.

HEADLINES AT A GLANCE

• How Many Jobs Are Available in Technology in the U.S.?
• Japan Taps U.S. Chip Startup to Train Engineers
• Disinformation Watchdog Under Pressure, Refuses to Stop
• Satellite Tool Scans for Plastic Pollution on Beaches
• Bugs Expose Smart Factory Gear to Cyberattack
• Microsoft Tries to Whittle Down Its Carbon Footprint
• Drone with Nervous System Transmits Real-Time Data via Light
• Space-Based Sensor Captures Lightning Data
• Meta Permits Its AI Models to Be Used for U.S. Military Purposes
• Amazon's Nuclear Datacenter Dreams Stall as Watchdog Rejects Power Deal
• Gamers Become Ukraine's Deadliest Drone Pilots
• Geospatial Technology Uncovers Mexico's Clandestine Graves

How Many Jobs Are Available in Technology in the U.S.?

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported a slight increase in the tech unemployment rate in October to 2.6%, from 2.5% in September, while the overall unemployment rate reached 4.1%. According to non-profit CompTIA, active employer job postings for tech positions totaled 528,402 in October, including nearly 223,000 new listings. The biggest month-to-month increases were in positions for database architects and network and computer system administrators, up 10% and 6%, respectively.
[ » Read full article ]

Japan Taps U.S. Chip Startup to Train Engineers

Silicon Valley AI chip startup Tenstorrent will train as many as 200 Japanese chip designers at its U.S. offices over five years, as part of a deal with the Japanese government to bolster its lagging semiconductor industry. The effort is intended to jumpstart business for Japan's Rapidus chip factory, which is slated to begin mass production by 2027. Under the terms of the agreement, Japanese engineers will be taught to create chip blueprints using the free and open chip design technology RISC-V.
[ » Read full article ]

Disinformation Watchdog Under Pressure, Refuses to Stop

Facing political and legal pressure, the University of Washington's Center for an Informed Public continues to work to combat online misinformation, with a team of undergraduates using commercially available tools to scour the Internet for election-related rumors. Kate Starbird, one of the center's founders, said, "We have to triage and decide which ones we want to cover, which ones do we think are most impactful, which ones are going to have legs, which ones could become the canon of the next 'stop the steal' effort."
[ » Read full article *May Require Paid Registration ]

Satellite Tool Scans for Plastic Pollution on Beaches

An algorithm developed by researchers at Australia's Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) can identify plastic litter on beaches using satellite images from 617 kilometers (383 miles) overhead. The Beached Plastic Debris Index algorithm can distinguish differences in how light is reflected by sand, plastic, and water. Said RMIT’s Jenna Guffogg, "We find plastics everywhere from the Arctic to the Antarctic; from the tops of mountains to the ocean floor."
[ » Read full article ]

Bugs Expose Smart Factory Gear to Cyberattack

The U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) said factory automation software from Mitsubishi Electric and Rockwell Automation have critical security flaws that could enable remote code execution, authentication bypass, product tampering, or denial-of-service. The Mitsubishi Electric vulnerability could let an attacker call a function with a path to a malicious library while connected to the device, with the Rockwell Automation vulnerability could enable an attacker with network access to exploit a missing authentication check to send crafted messages to a device.
[ » Read full article ]

Microsoft Tries to Whittle Down Its Carbon Footprint

Microsoft is using engineered timber products in the construction of two datacenters in Northern Virginia. The material is comprised of timber sheets bonded together, each layer alternating the direction of the grain. The software giant said the facilities, which also will incorporate steel and concrete, will have a carbon footprint that is 35% lower than a similar, mostly steel facility and 65% lower than a similar facility comprised mainly of precast concrete.
[ » Read full article ]

Drone with Nervous System Transmits Real-Time Data via Light

A drone developed by researchers at the U.K.'s University of Southampton requires less-frequent maintenance inspections and is made safer and more efficient through the use of advanced optical fibers. The optical fiber system acts like the human nervous system in continuously checking the drone's structure. University of Southampton's Chris Holmes said the drone relays its real-time information using light, “which avoids problems that electronic systems have with interference from radio frequencies."
[ » Read full article ]

Space-Based Sensor Captures Lightning Data

A tool developed by researchers at Australia's Western Sydney University and the University of Iowa utilizes a pair of neuromorphic vision sensors to capture images of lightning strikes from space. The Falcon Neuro tool records visible and near-IR light and notes changes in light levels within a scene. Tests on the International Space Station showed the device could gather details of lightning strikes at data rates of just 3 to 4 megabits per second.
[ » Read full article ]

Meta Permits Its AI Models to Be Used for U.S. Military Purposes

Meta announced Nov. 4 it would allow its AI models to be used by U.S. government agencies and contractors working on national security for military purposes. Previously, Meta's "acceptable use policy" prohibited the use of its AI software for military, warfare, or nuclear applications. Meta said it will share its Llama open-source AI models with the Five Eyes intelligence alliance: the U.S., U.K., Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.
[ » Read full article *May Require Paid Registration ]

Amazon's Nuclear Datacenter Dreams Stall as Watchdog Rejects Power Deal

The U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) rejected a deal to allow Amazon to obtain additional power from the Susquehanna nuclear plant in Pennsylvania for new datacenters at its Cumulus datacenter complex located next to the plant. FERC officials expressed concern that approval would set a precedent that could drive up energy costs and impact grid reliability.
[ » Read full article ]

Gamers Become Ukraine's Deadliest Drone Pilots

Among the most lethal soldiers in Ukraine are aerial-drone pilots, with the nation's military increasingly relying on them amid a shortage of artillery ammunition. Typically male gamers in their 20s, these drone pilots have the dexterity to operate first-person view drones (FPVs) equipped with explosives and fly them into Russian targets. Drone teams operate like tech startups, with command centers monitoring feeds from reconnaissance drones and coordinating strike drones and workshops where team members innovate and repair equipment.
[ » Read full article *May Require Paid Registration ]

Geospatial Technology Uncovers Mexico's Clandestine Graves

At Mexico's Center for Research in Geospatial Information Sciences, researchers use drones, hyperspectral images, spectroradiometers, and other technological approaches to locate the clandestine graves of missing persons. The researchers also have trained mathematical models with the coordinates of previously identified graves and site characteristics preferred by criminals, and developed tools that can detect sites with high concentrations of nitrogen (an indicator of decomposing bodies) in satellite images.
[ » Read full article ]