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Welcome to the November 27, 2024 edition of ACM TechNews, providing timely information for computer professionals three times a week.
Please note: In observance of Thanksgiving, ACM TechNews will not be published on Friday, Nov. 29. Publication will resume Monday, Dec. 2.
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EU lawmaker Valérie Hayer wants TikTok's chief executive to appear before the European Parliament to answer questions about the platform's role in Sunday's Romanian presidential election. The first-round victory of the ultranationalist and pro-Russian Calin Georgescu has triggered concerns over how a TikTok campaign managed to propel the relatively unknown candidate to a win using thousands of fake accounts.
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Politico EU Influence; Nicholas Vinocur; Pieter Haeck (November 26, 2024)
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The U.S. will give chipmaker Intel Corp. nearly $11 billion in federal grants to increase production of high-end semiconductors at domestic factories, as the Biden administration rushes to allocate money set aside under the Chips and Science Act before Donald Trump takes office. Intel will receive $7.86 billion to build out its core manufacturing facilities, plus an additional $3 billion that was announced in September for projects with the Defense Department.
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The Washington Post; Gerrit De Vynck (November 26, 2024)
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 Starbucks said the recent ransomware attack at Arizona-based cloud services provider Blue Yonder has forced it to manually track and manage its baristas' schedules to ensure they are paid properly. Blue Yonder's cloud services are used by a number of multinational corporations to manage their supply chains. Automaker Ford and top grocery chains in the U.K. are among other companies potentially impacted by the attack.
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CNN; Sean Lyngaas (November 25, 2024)
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Rideshare giant Uber Technologies’ gig-economy workforce now includes programmers, allowing businesses to outsource AI development to its independent contractors. The new AI training and data labeling Scaled Solutions division builds on an internal team that tackles large-scale annotation tasks for Uber’s rideshare, food delivery, and freight units. According to its website, Scaled Solutions already is serving other companies that also need high-quality datasets.
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Bloomberg; Natalie Lung (November 26, 2024)
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A lickable lollipop-shaped device developed by researchers at the City University of Hong Kong can simulate taste in virtual reality. The device contains food-grade chemicals embedded in agarose gel, which are transported to the surface of the device in liquid form when voltage is applied to the gel. The liquid mixes with the user's saliva to produce nine flavors: sugar, salt, citric acid, cherry, passion fruit, green tea, milk, durian, and grapefruit.
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IEEE Spectrum; Gwendolyn Rak (November 25, 2024)
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A 3D printer and a nanoink developed by Iowa State University researchers can be used to produce electric components under zero gravity. The nanoink, comprised of silver nanoparticles synthesized with biobased polymers, can be used to print complex electronic circuits when heated to activate its electrical properties. The 3D printer uses electrohydrodynamic printing to print at resolutions in the millionth-meter range.
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Interesting Engineering; Mrigakshi Dixit (November 22, 2024)
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A pigeon-inspired robot designed by David Lentink at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands and colleagues has solved the mystery of how birds fly without the vertical tail fins on which human-designed aircraft rely. The researchers programmed a computer to control the nine servomotors in Pigeonbot II to steer it using propellers on each wing, but also to automatically twist and fan the tail to create the stability that would normally come from a vertical fin.
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New Scientist; Matthew Sparkes (November 20, 2024)
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A device developed by researchers at Princeton University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology uses radar to decode vibrations created by underwater acoustic signals on the water's surface. The researchers developed algorithms that leverage the differences between radar and sonar to decode messages without needing to communicate with the underwater transmitter. In tests on New Jersey’s Lake Carnegie, the device decoded messages despite wave and wind interference, and identified the modulation type with an accuracy rate of 97.58%.
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Princeton Engineering News; Alaina O'Regan (November 21, 2024)
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Interpol arrested 1,006 suspects in Africa during a two-month operation clamping down on cybercrime that left tens of thousands of victims, the global police organization said Tuesday. Operation Serengeti, a joint operation with African Union police agency Afripol, ran in 19 African countries and targeted criminals behind ransomware, business email compromises, digital extortion, and online scams, the agency said. Afripol’s Jalel Chelba said his group's focus includes emerging threats like AI-driven malware and advanced cyberattack techniques.
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Associated Press; Mark Banchereau (November 26, 2024)
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The Cyberspace Administration of China said it will crack down on unfair and non-compliant Internet practices through a special program that takes aim at "information cocoons," through which platforms show results to users based on expressed interests, tastes, and preferences. The program, which runs through Feb. 24, 2025, will target homogeneous push notifications, the manipulation and interference of topic rankings, and the infringement of individuals' rights to conduct business via the Internet.
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Bloomberg (November 24, 2024)
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 Google is backing a project to install a subsea cable to connect Darwin, Australia, to Christmas Island, an Australian territory in the Indian Ocean. Another subsea cable is planned to link Melbourne to Perth, then to connect to Christmas Island and Singapore. Australia is seeking to reduce its exposure to digital disruption by building more subsea cable pathways to Asia to its west, and through the South Pacific to the U.S.
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Reuters; Kirsty Needham (November 25, 2024)
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SWIM (Sensing With Independent Microswimmers) robots developed by researchers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) demonstrated their maneuverability in tests in a swimming pool at the California Institute of Technology. The mini robots, comprised of 3D-printed plastics and low-cost commercial motors and electronics, were able to move in a "lawnmower" pattern and spell out "JPL."
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Space.com; Sharmila Kuthunur (November 25, 2024)
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Drones and AI helped researchers uncover 303 previously uncharted geoglyphs made by the Nazca, a pre-Inca civilization in present-day Peru. To identify the new geoglyphs, which are smaller than earlier examples, the researchers used an application capable of discerning the outlines from aerial photographs, no matter how faint. “The AI was able to eliminate 98% of the imagery,” said IBM’s Marcus Freitag. “Human experts now only need to confirm or reject plausible candidates.”
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The New York Times; Franz Lidz (November 26, 2024)
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