Welcome to the December 4, 2024 edition of ACM TechNews, providing timely information for computer professionals three times a week.

HEADLINES AT A GLANCE

• China Hits U.S. with Ban on Critical Minerals Used in Tech Manufacturing
• TikTok, Meta Brace for Australian Social Media Ban Fallout
• U.S. Officials Urge Americans to Use Encryption amid Cyberattack
• Paralyzed Patients Walk After Electrodes Implanted in Their Brains
• Intel’s Chief Executive Is Out amid Chipmaker’s Struggles
• Amazon to Pilot AI-Designed Material for Carbon Removal
• Robots Could Manufacture Cyborg Cockroaches
• Germany Plans €2 Billion in New Chip Subsidies
• Abstract, Theoretical Computing Qualifications Turn Off U.K. Teens
• Inside the AI Back-Channel Between China and the West
• Indigenous Engineers Use AI to Preserve Their Culture
• Tor Needs 200 New WebTunnel Bridges to Fight Censorship
• The Highest-Paying Tech Jobs in Every State

China Hits U.S. with Ban on Critical Minerals Used in Tech Manufacturing

After the U.S. expanded the range of Chinese businesses prohibited from accessing foreign products containing even a single chip manufactured in the U.S., China's Ministry of Commerce has responded with a ban on exports of "dual-use items" involving gallium, germanium, antimony, and superhard materials to the U.S., effective immediately. These rare-earth metals are essential to tech manufacturing.
[ » Read full article ]

TikTok, Meta Brace for Australian Social Media Ban Fallout

Australia's social media ban for youth under age 16, which will take effect next year, is garnering criticism from big tech companies and academics. The law will impose penalties on digital platforms that fail to enforce the age limit. However, tech companies are unsure how age verification will work, given that the government has ruled out the use of official documents due to privacy concerns.
[ » Read full article *May Require Paid Registration ]

U.S. Officials Urge Americans to Use Encryption amid Cyberattack

U.S. officials are recommending that Americans use encrypted messaging to ensure their communications stay hidden from foreign hackers, amid a cyberattack on telecommunications companies by China-backed hackers. Officials on a news call Tuesday refused to set a timetable for declaring the country’s telecommunications systems free of intruders, and recommended using encrypted messaging apps to minimize risks of interception.
[ » Read full article ]

Paralyzed Patients Walk After Electrodes Implanted in Their Brains

Surgeons for the first time have used deep brain stimulation to "re-awaken" dormant nerve fibers in the spinal cord and re-establish control of the leg muscles, enabling two paralyzed patients to walk short distances after electrodes were implanted in their brains. The breakthrough came after neuroscientists at the Swiss Federal Technology Institute in Lausanne used AI to map the neurons in the brains of rats and mice that help them walk, which surprisingly revealed that a region called the lateral hypothalamus played a role.
[ » Read full article ]

Intel’s Chief Executive Is Out amid Chipmaker’s Struggles

Intel Chief Executive Officer Pat Gelsinger has resigned after nearly four years leading the semiconductor company. He will be replaced by two Intel executives while the company searches for a permanent replacement. Intel lost its lead in developing manufacturing technology to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company toward the end of the last decade. It also missed out on supplying processors for mobile phones and, more recently, the booming market for AI applications.
[ » Read full article *May Require Free Registration ]

Amazon to Pilot AI-Designed Material for Carbon Removal

Amazon intends to pilot a new carbon-removal material developed with the help of AI for its datacenters. As part of a three-year partnership with startup Orbital Materials, Amazon Web Services will begin using the carbon-filtering substance next year. The new material ”is like a sponge at the atomic level,” said Orbital Materials chief executive Jonathan Godwin. “Each cavity in that sponge has a specific size opening that interacts well with CO2, that doesn’t interact with other things.”
[ » Read full article ]

Robots Could Manufacture Cyborg Cockroaches

Researchers at Singapore's Nanyang Technological University have automated the process of creating swarms of cyborg cockroaches for search-and-rescue missions using a computer vision system and a robotic arm. The system implants electrodes into the soft membrane underneath cockroaches' hard exoskeleton and connects each cockroach to an electronic backpack that communicates with external computers via a microchip.
[ » Read full article *May Require Paid Registration ]

Germany Plans €2 Billion in New Chip Subsidies

Germany's economic ministry has called for chip companies to apply for new subsidies through the European Chips Act, with sources estimating the total investment at about €2 billion. The new round of subsidies follows recent setbacks in Germany's chip sector, including Intel's withdrawal of a plan to build a chip factory in Magdeburg, and Wolfspeed Inc. and ZF Friedrichshafen's withdrawal of a planned chip venture in western Germany.
[ » Read full article *May Require Paid Registration ]

Abstract, Theoretical Computing Qualifications Turn Off U.K. Teens

The British Computer Society (BCS) is calling for a more inclusive digital literacy qualification to be offered alongside an improved Computer Science General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) qualification. BCS found 94% of girls and 79% of boys in the U.K. drop computing classes at age 14, prior to taking the Computer Science GCSE at age 16. Said the BCS, "The current GCSE in Computer Science is theoretical and demanding, emphasizing recall of knowledge rather than application, and not serving the subject well."
[ » Read full article ]

Inside the AI Back-Channel Between China and the West

University of California, Berkeley computer scientist Stuart Russell has assembled a group of AI experts, with the help of ACM A.M. Turing Award laureates Yoshua Bengio and Andrew Yao, focused on identifying guardrails for cutting-edge AI models. An agreement between the U.S. and Chinese governments to impose AI safeguards is unlikely given that each is focused on achieving technological superiority.
[ » Read full article *May Require Paid Registration ]

Indigenous Engineers Use AI to Preserve Their Culture

Indigenous researchers are working to preserve endangered Indigenous languages using AI. Indigenous in AI founder Michael Running Wolf is head of the Mila-Quebec Artificial Intelligence Institute's First Languages AI Reality initiative, which is working to develop speech recognition models for more than 200 endangered North American Indigenous languages. Running Wolf said a major challenge is the lack of Indigenous computer scientist graduates who understand the language and culture.
[ » Read full article ]

Tor Needs 200 New WebTunnel Bridges to Fight Censorship

The Tor Project is seeking volunteers to deploy 200 new WebTunnel bridges by year's end to bolster its efforts to combat government censorship. These WebTunnel bridges run over a Web server with a valid SSL/TLS certificate, which makes Tor traffic appear as regular HTTPS traffic. The Tor Project currently operates 143 WebTunnel bridges in heavily censored regions to help users bypass Internet access restrictions and website blocks.
[ » Read full article ]

The Highest-Paying Tech Jobs in Every State

A report by AI education platform DataCamp identified database architect as the highest-paid tech job in 19 states, while computer network architect was the highest-paid role in 15 states. The report was based on 2023 salary data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Said DataCamp co-founder Martijn Theuwissen, "The tech industry is rapidly changing every day, and the diversity in the highest-paid roles across states reflects the different needs and priorities of businesses in various regions."
[ » Read full article ]