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upstart writes:

Move over JavaScript: Back-end languages are coming to the front-end:

In the early days of networked computing, mainframes did all the heavy lifting: users connected to massive machines with video terminals that could do little more than send and receive text. Then in the 1970s, personal computers came along and made it possible to do serious computing on the client-side as servers handled tasks like authentication and storage in many networks. The rise of the internet in the 1990s swung the pendulum back to the server, with web browsers taking on a role not unlike terminals in the mainframe era.

The client-side made a come back over the past decade as developers built "single-page applications" (SPAs) with JavaScript. But a new crop of tools is sending the pendulum swinging back towards the server.

At the vanguard of these tools is Phoenix, a framework for the programming language Elixir, and a feature called LiveView. Using LiveView and a bit of JavaScript, developers can create browser-based interfaces for real-time applications like chat rooms or Twitter-style status updates. All UI elements are rendered on the server first and sent to the browser, ready-to-display. The only JavaScript required is a small amount of code that opens a WebSockets connection that handles sending input from the browser and receiving refreshed HTML/CSS from the server.

Phoenix isn't the first platform to offer a way for back-end developers to create front-end interfaces—Microsoft's ASP.NET Web Forms for Microsoft .NET existed back in 2002—but it did inspire many new tools. Caldara for Node.js, Livewire for the PHP framework Laravel, and StimulusReflex for Ruby on Rails, to name a few. Microsoft, meanwhile, released a new .NET feature called Blazor Server that modernizes the old Web Forms idea.

"My goal is not to get rid of single-page applications, but to obviate them for a large class of applications," Phoenix creator Chris McCord says.

There is a lot more in the full article.

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upstart writes:

EU joins chips race with 42 bn euro bid to rival Asia:

The production of semiconductors, also known as chips, has become a strategic priority in Europe as well as the United States, after the shock of the pandemic choked off supply, bringing factories to a standstill and emptying stores of products.

The manufacturing of chips overwhelmingly takes place in Taiwan, China and South Korea and the European Union's 27 member states want factories and companies inside the bloc to take on a bigger role.

Thierry Breton, the EU's industry commissioner, on Tuesday will press Europeans to be as ambitious as possible and match similar plans in the United States, where the Biden administration is asking Congress to approve $52 billion.

upstart writes:

SpaceX Starlink satellites doomed after geomagnetic storm hits Earth:

As many as 40 Starlink satellites from Thursday's SpaceX launch are set to smash back into Earth's atmosphere and disintegrate in the atmosphere, according to a SpaceX update on Tuesday.

[...] But after launch on Thursday, a geomagnetic storm slammed into Earth's atmosphere. Geomagnetic storms are caused by the sun spewing out solar wind particles that eventually crash into Earth. The particles mess with the planet's magnetic field and disrupt satellites, increasing drag and messing with their orbits.

That's exactly what happened to potentially 40 Starlink satellites just after they were deployed into their intended orbit, SpaceX has said.

[...] SpaceX said the satellites will "reenter or already have reentered the Earth's atmosphere" on Tuesday, effectively ending their short lives. When the satellites collide with the atmosphere, they're designed to burn up entirely, so no debris reaches the ground. SpaceX also says they pose no risk to other satellites.

So why is it just Starlink satellites that are reporting a problem?

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upstart writes:

Speeding Through Semiconductor Nanowires: New Basis for Ultrafast Transistors:

Smaller chips, faster computers, less energy consumption. Novel concepts based on semiconductor nanowires are expected to make transistors in microelectronic circuits better and more efficient. Electron mobility plays a key role in this: The faster electrons can accelerate in these tiny wires, the faster a transistor can switch and the less energy it requires. A team of researchers from the Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR), the TU Dresden, and NaMLab has now succeeded in experimentally demonstrating that electron mobility in nanowires is remarkably enhanced when the shell places the wire core under tensile strain. This phenomenon offers novel opportunities for the development of ultrafast transistors.

Nanowires have a unique property: These ultra-thin wires can sustain very high elastic strains without damaging the crystal structure of the material. And yet the materials themselves are not unusual. Gallium arsenide, for example, is widely used in industrial manufacturing, and is known to have a high intrinsic electron mobility.

To further enhance this mobility, the Dresden researchers produced nanowires consisting of a gallium arsenide core and an indium aluminum arsenide shell. The different chemical ingredients result in the crystal structures in the shell and the core having slightly different lattice spacings. This causes the shell to exert a high mechanical strain on the much thinner core. The gallium arsenide in the core changes its electronic properties. "We influence the effective mass of electrons in the core. The electrons become lighter, so to speak, which makes them more mobile," explained Dr. Emmanouil Dimakis, scientist at the HZDR's Institute of Ion Beam Physics and Materials Research and initiator of the recently published study.

upstart writes:

North Korea: Missile programme funded through stolen crypto, UN report says:

Between 2020 and mid-2021 cyber-attackers stole more than $50m (£37m) of digital assets, investigators found.

Such attacks are an "important revenue source" for Pyongyang's nuclear and ballistic missile programme, they said.

The findings were reportedly handed to the UN's sanctions committee on Friday.

The cyber-attacks targeted at least three cryptocurrency exchanges in North America, Europe and Asia.

The report also referenced a study published last month by the security firm Chainalysis that suggested North Korean cyberattacks could have netted as much as $400m worth of digital assets last year.

And in 2019, the UN reported that North Korea had accumulated an estimated $2bn for its weapons of mass destruction programmes by using sophisticated cyber-attacks.

Previously:
North Korea Hackers Stole $400m of Cryptocurrency in 2021, Report Says

Original Submission

upstart writes:

IRS abandons facial recognition plan after firestorm of criticism:

The Internal Revenue Service has abandoned its plan to require millions of Americans to submit to a facial recognition check through a private company to access their online tax accounts following a firestorm of criticism from privacy advocates and members of Congress.

The IRS said Monday it would "transition away" from using a face-scanning service offered by the company ID.me in the coming weeks and would develop an additional authentication process that does not involve facial recognition. The IRS said it would also continue to work with "cross-government partners" on additional methods of authentication, but it did not provide a precise time frame for the change or say what the additional authentication process might entail.

The agency originally had said that starting this summer all taxpayers would need to submit a "video selfie" to ID.me to access their tax records and other services on the IRS website. But lawmakers and advocates slammed the idea of mandating the technology's use nationwide, saying it would unfairly burden Americans without smartphones or computer cameras, would make sensitive data vulnerable to hackers and would subject people of color to a system known to work less accurately on darker skin.

"The IRS takes taxpayer privacy and security seriously, and we understand the concerns that have been raised," IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig said in a statement announcing the decision. "Everyone should feel comfortable with how their personal information is secured, and we are quickly pursuing short-term options that do not involve facial recognition."

Previously:
IRS Plan to Scan Your Face

Original Submission

Freeman writes:

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Chie Ferrelli loved her Subaru SUV, which she bought in 2020 because it made her feel safe. So when it was time for her husband, Marc, to purchase his own new car last summer, they returned to the Subaru dealer near their home in southeast Massachusetts. But there was a catch, one that made the couple mad: Marc's sedan wouldn't have access to the company's telematics system and the app that went along with it. No remote engine start in the freezing New England winter; no emergency assistance; no automated messages when the tire pressure was low or the oil needed changing. The worst part was that if the Ferrellis lived just a mile away, in Rhode Island, they would have the features. They bought the car. But thinking back, Marc says, if he had known about the issue before stepping into the dealership he "probably would have gone with Toyota."

Subaru disabled the telematics system and associated features on new cars registered in Massachusetts last year as part of a spat over a right-to-repair ballot measure approved, overwhelmingly, by the state's voters in 2020. The measure, which has been held up in the courts, required automakers to give car owners and independent mechanics more access to data about the car's internal systems.

Original Submission

upstart writes:

$66 billion deal for Nvidia to purchase Arm collapses:

SoftBank's $66 billion sale of UK-based chip business Arm to Nvidia collapsed on Monday after regulators in the US, UK, and EU raised serious concerns about its effects on competition in the global semiconductor industry, according to three people with direct knowledge of the transaction.

The deal, the largest ever in the chip sector, would have given California-based Nvidia control of a company that makes technology at the heart of most of the world's mobile devices. A handful of Big Tech companies that rely on Arm's chip designs, including Qualcomm and Microsoft, had objected to the purchase.

SoftBank will receive a break-up fee of up to $1.25 billion and is seeking to unload Arm through an initial public offering before the end of the year, said one of the people.

The failure is set to result in a management upheaval at Arm, with chief executive Simon Segars being replaced by Rene Haas, head of the company's intellectual property unit, the person added.

The collapse of the deal robs SoftBank of a big windfall it would have earned thanks to a boom in Nvidia's stock price.

Original Submission

upstart writes:

Large Hadron Collider Experiments Step Up the Data Processing Game With GPUs:

Analyzing as many as one billion proton collisions per second or tens of thousands of very complex lead collisions is not an easy job for a traditional computer farm. With the latest upgrades of the LHC experiments due to come into action next year, their demand for data processing potential has significantly increased. As their new computational challenges might not be met using traditional central processing units (CPUs), the four large experiments are adopting graphics processing units (GPUs).

GPUs are highly efficient processors, specialized in image processing, and were originally designed to accelerate the rendering of three-dimensional computer graphics. Their use has been studied in the past couple of years by the LHC experiments, the Worldwide LHC Computing Grid (WLCG), and CERN openlab. Increasing the use of GPUs in high-energy physics will improve not only the quality and size of the computing infrastructure, but also the overall energy efficiency.

"The LHC's ambitious upgrade program poses a range of exciting computing challenges; GPUs can play an important role in supporting machine-learning approaches to tackling many of these," says Enrica Porcari, Head of the CERN IT department. "Since 2020, the CERN IT department has provided access to GPU platforms in the data center, which have proven popular for a range of applications. On top of this, CERN openlab is carrying out important investigations into the use of GPUs for machine learning through collaborative R&D projects with industry, and the Scientific Computing Collaborations group is working to help port – and optimize – key code from the experiments."

upstart writes:

Toshiba set to split into two companies:

Toshiba has officially decided to split itself up into two smaller companies after months of internal wrangling.

The two standalone companies, both of which will be publicly traded, will be: Infrastructure Service, which covers energy, transportation, batteries, and other areas; and Device, which covers digital devices, semiconductors, and storage.

As Bloomberg reports, the original plan – which faced opposition from shareholders – was to separate out its infrastructure operations, which will now instead continue under Toshiba.

[...] The iconic Japanese company has been under increasing pressure over recent years after a series of scandals and mismanagement. An expansion into nuclear power, for example, forced the company into selling its crown jewel semiconductor business.

Original Submission

upstart writes:

Widespread Megaripple Activity Detected Across the North Polar Region of Mars:

Megaripples, intermediate-scale bedforms caused by the action of the wind, have been studied extensively and thought to be largely inactive relics of past climates, save for a few exceptions. A new paper by Planetary Science Institute Research Scientist Matthew Chojnacki shows that abundant megaripple populations were identified across the north polar region of Mars and were found to be migrating with dunes and ripples.

Megaripples on Mars are about 1 to 2 meters tall and have 5 to 40 meter spacing, where there size falls between ripples that are about 40 centimeters tall with 1 to 5 meter spacing and dunes that can reach hundreds of meters in height with spacing of 100 to 300 meters. Whereas the megaripples migration rates are slow in comparison (average of 0.13 meters per Earth year), some of the nearby ripples were found to migrate an average equivalent of 9.6 meters per year over just 22 days in northern summer – unprecedented rates for Mars. These high rates of sand movement help explain the megaripple activity.

"Using repeat HiRISE images acquired over long durations – six Mars years or 13 Earth years – we examined the dynamic activity of polar bedforms. We found the thin Martian atmosphere can mobilize some coarse-grained megaripples, overturning prior notions that these were static relic landforms from a past climate. We mapped megaripples and adjacent bedforms across the north polar sand seas, the most expansive collection of dune fields on Mars," said Chojnacki, lead author of "Widespread Megaripple Activity Across the North Polar Ergs of Mars" that appears in Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets.

Journal Reference:
Matthew Chojnacki, David A. Vaz, Simone Silvestro, et al. Widespread Megaripple Activity Across the North Polar Ergs of Mars, Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets (DOI: 10.1029/2021JE006970)

Original Submission

upstart writes:

DuckDuckGo founder says privacy needs to be as simple as a single button press:

The success of the quest to establish a more private web will depend upon the ability to create a new path of least resistance for users, the founder of search engine DuckDuckGo has said.

In an exclusive interview with TechRadar Pro, Gabriel Weinberg said that the audience for privacy-preserving products will only reach a critical mass once it becomes simpler for people to make the switch.

"Most people currently say they care about privacy, but only half actually take action. We think this figure will continue to grow as consumers understand more and more about privacy harms," he told us.

"However, bringing web users from one group to the other will also be about helping people appreciate there's something they can do about these problems. We're trying to be the easy button for privacy."

Do people really care, or do they just want their pron and kitten videos?

Original Submission

upstart writes:

Human Spinal Cord Implants: Breakthrough May Enable People With Paralysis To Walk Again:

[...] For the first time in the world, researchers from Sagol Center for Regenerative Biotechnology at Tel Aviv University have engineered 3D human spinal cord tissues and implanted them in lab model with long-term chronic paralysis. The results were highly encouraging: an approximately 80% success rate in restoring walking abilities. Now the researchers are preparing for the next stage of the study: clinical trials in human patients. They hope that within a few years the engineered tissues will be implanted in paralyzed individuals enabling them to stand up and walk again.

[...] Prof. Dvir explains: "Our technology is based on taking a small biopsy of belly fat tissue from the patient. This tissue, like all tissues in our body, consists of cells together with an extracellular matrix (comprising substances like collagens and sugars). After separating the cells from the extracellular matrix we used genetic engineering to reprogram the cells, reverting them to a state that resembles embryonic stem cells – namely cells capable of becoming any type of cell in the body. From the extracellular matrix we produced a personalized hydrogel, that would evoke no immune response or rejection after implantation. We then encapsulated the stem cells in the hydrogel and in a process that mimics the embryonic development of the spinal cord we turned the cells into 3D implants of neuronal networks containing motor neurons."

The human spinal cord implants were then implanted in lab models, divided into two groups: those who had only recently been paralyzed (the acute model) and those who had been paralyzed for a long time – equivalent to a year in human terms (the chronic model). Following the implantation, 100% of the lab models with acute paralysis and 80% of those with chronic paralysis regained their ability to walk.

Journal Reference:
Lior Wertheim, Reuven Edri, Yona Goldshmit, et al. Regenerating the Injured Spinal Cord at the Chronic Phase by Engineered iPSCs‐Derived 3D Neuronal Networks [open], Advanced Science (DOI: 10.1002/advs.202105694)

Original Submission

upstart writes:

Facebook loses users for the first time in its history:

Facebook parent Meta's quarterly earnings report on Wednesday revealed a startling statistic: For the first time ever, the company's growth is stagnating around the world.

Facebook lost daily users for the first time in its 18-year history — falling by about half a million users in the last three months of 2021, to 1.93 billion logging in each day. The loss was greatest in Africa, Latin America and India, suggesting that the company's product is saturated globally — and that its long quest to add as many users as possible has peaked.

Meta's stock price had plummeted more than 26 percent by Thursday afternoon, shaving $220 billion off its market value and costing the company the biggest one-day loss in its 18-year history. The company is facing challenges on multiple fronts, as competitor TikTok booms, federal and international regulators scrutinize its business practices, and it begins a lofty transition to focus on the "metaverse."

Original Submission

upstart writes:

NSO Group: Israel launches inquiry into police hacking claims:

Israel's government will set up a commission of inquiry to examine allegations that the police used spyware to hack the phones of Israeli public figures without authorisation.

Officials, protesters, journalists and a son of former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu were targeted without court orders, the newspaper Calcalist said.

A witness in Mr Netanyahu's corruption trial was also allegedly hacked. Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said the reports were "very serious, if true".

Reports say the police used Pegasus software, developed by NSO, an Israeli surveillance firm. NSO has faced widespread allegations that the product has been sold to and misused by authoritarian governments across the world.

The company has insisted that it does not operate the software once it is sold to clients and has previously stated that it could not be used to track Israeli citizens. It has not commented on the latest development.

Pegasus infects phones, allowing operators to extract messages, photos and emails, record calls and secretly activate microphones and cameras.

Original Submission