SoylentNews

Freeman writes:

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2024/10/212-million-contract-will-finally-get-san-francisco-trains-off-floppy-disks/

The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) board has agreed to spend $212 million to get its Muni Metro light rail off floppy disks.

The Muni Metro's Automatic Train Control System (ATCS) has required 5¼-inch floppy disks since 1998, when it was installed at San Francisco's Market Street subway station. The system uses three floppy disks for loading DOS software that controls the system's central servers.
[...]
After starting initial planning in 2018, the SFMTA originally expected to move to a floppy-disk-free train control system by 2028. But with COVID-19 preventing work for 18 months, the estimated completion date was delayed.

On October 15, the SFMTA moved closer to ditching floppies when its board approved a contract with Hitachi Rail for implementing a new train control system that doesn't use floppy disks, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.
[...]
Further illustrating the light rail's dated tech, the current ATCS was designed to last 20 to 25 years, meaning its expected expiration date was in 2023. The system still works fine, but the risk of floppy disk data degradation and challenges in maintaining expertise in 1990s programming languages have further encouraged the SFMTA to seek upgrades.
[...]
The SFMTA plans to spend $700 million (including the $212 million Hitachi contract) to overhaul the light rail's control system. This includes replacing the loop cable system for sending data across the servers and trains. The cables are said to be a more pressing concern than the use of floppy disks. The aging cables are fragile, with "less bandwidth than an old AOL dial-up modem," Roccaforte previously told Ars.
[...]
The SFMTA's website says that the current estimated completion date for the complete overhaul is "2033/2034."
[...]
Various other organizations have also been slow to ditch the dated storage format, including Japan, which only stopped using floppy disks in governmental systems in June, and the German navy, which is still trying to figure out a replacement for 8-inch floppies.

Snotnose writes:

This isn't really tech-centric but, sadly, it reflects on the times. A Texas board has declared a non-fiction book as fiction so it can be banned.

[...] this new twist belongs to one county in Texas, which has given certain people the power to unilaterally decide what is or isn't factual.

• [A] decision made this month in a county near Houston left us stunned. The Montgomery County Commissioners Court ordered librarians there to reclassify the nonfiction children's book "Colonization and the Wampanoag Story" as fiction.

• This reclassification decision is a consequence of a contentious policy change in March. Right-wing activists pressured the Montgomery County Commissioners Court to remove librarians from the review process for challenged children's, young adult and parenting books.

• [...] Shortly thereafter, the newly formed Montgomery County "Citizens Review Committee" reclassified "Colonization and the Wampanoag Story" as fiction. The committee reviewed the book in a closed meeting — all its meetings are closed to the public — and it offered no explanation for its decision. The new policy does not allow decisions made by the Citizens Review Committee to be appealed.

That's how you start erasing your own history. You take the librarians out of the equation. Next, you remove the public from the conversation by making these discussions private. Then you give only the citizens you want to hear from — including any non-residents who want to challenge content they don't like — the only invitation to the discussion: the blanket permission to challenge books and/or their classifications. Then you seal it with a court order and pretend this is just citizens protecting each other, rather than the government engaging in censorship on behalf of people who love censorship as long as it only silences the people they don't like.

Original Submission

fliptop writes:

The bad news continues as the rental giant tries to untangle itself from its failed electric vehicle strategy:

Ryan Brinkman, automotive equity research analyst with J.P. Morgan, downgraded Hertz Global Holdings from neutral to underweight Monday.

The assessment, Seeking Alpha reports, comes as the company tries to reverse course from its failed EV strategy, which has cost the company as much as $1 billion. The losses stem from the vehicle's high depreciation rates and high collision repair costs. The lack of spare parts for repairs is also undermining utilizations of the company's electric fleet.

As reported on Yahoo! News:

The challenges don't stop there. Hertz's heavy debt load is tying its hands, potentially forcing the company to navigate choppy waters without the lifeline of share buybacks. With used-vehicle prices on shaky ground and high refinancing costs, Hertz is bracing for more cash outflows. Throw in a recent adverse court ruling that resurrected litigation risks from its bankruptcy, and the financial landscape looks even more daunting. The path to stability isn't just steep; it's laden with obstacles.

Previously:

• Hertz is Selling 20,000 Electric Vehicles to Buy Gasoline Cars Instead
• Hertz to Purchase 175,000 General Motors EVs Over the Next Five Years
• Hertz Plans to Buy 65,000 EVs From Polestar Over Five Years

Original Submission

Arthur T Knackerbracket has processed the following story:

China's semiconductor industry is speeding up in response to US export controls, according to research by a specialist in intellectual property.

According to IP firm Mathys & Squire, semiconductor patent applications worldwide spiked by 22 percent, jumping from 66,416 in 2022-23 to 80,892 in 2023-24. Leading the charge is China, whose filings surged by 42 percent from 32,840 to 46,591, outstripping every other region.

Why the rush? In short, Washington's export controls. With restrictions cutting China off from the world's most advanced semiconductors and concerns of further tightening on the horizon, China's domestic chip sector is on a mission. Beijing has made it clear – the tech sector must innovate to avoid getting caught in the semiconductor dependency trap. Semiconductors have been pushed to the top of the tech priority list, and the results are showing up in the patent numbers.

"The US-China semiconductor rivalry is heating up," said Dr Edd Cavanna, partner at Mathys & Squire. "Export restrictions are pushing China to invest more in homegrown semiconductor R&D, and this is now reflected in their patent filings." China appears to be in a hurry to innovate its way around US sanctions and ensure its semiconductor sector isn't left trailing in the dust.

China is still very much playing catchup, with local designs trailing the bleeding edge by several years.

Chinese chip designer Loongson last week teased products it claimed will deliver the same performance as AMD and Intel products from five years ago. Its chairman, Hu Weiwu, reportedly told senior government figures that it had an upcoming 3B6600 desktop processor in the works that "can reach the performance of the x86 processor under the 7nm process."

And a teardown of Huawei's Pura 70 smartphone by an IC research firm earlier this year revealed the Chinese tech giant is relying on Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp's HiSilicon Kirin 9010 processor, likely because US sanctions mean the Chinese company can't buy from other sources.

Rich writes:

About a dozen developers based in Russia have been removed in a commit by Greg Kroah-Hartman to the Linux Kernel MAINTAINERS file, Phoronix reports: https://www.phoronix.com/news/Russian-Linux-Maintainers-Drop. The reason given for the removal is vague: "Remove some entries due to various compliance requirements."

Controversial Linux VLogger Bryan Lunduke reports that this has happened due to US presidential executive order 14071, which sanctions IT collaborations with Russian residents (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L5Ec5jrpLVk).

Linus himself backed the actions, The Register quotes him with "I'm Finnish. Did you think I'd be *supporting* Russian aggression?" https://www.theregister.com/2024/10/23/linus_torvalds_affirms_expulsion_of/

This will likely have far reaching consequences, going vastly beyond the Linux kernel, with any FLOSS organization in the US or under direct US influence having to ban Russian contributors before the end of the year.

Original Submission

Freeman writes:

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2024/10/peter-todd-in-hiding-after-being-unmasked-as-bitcoin-creator/

When Canadian developer Peter Todd found out that a new HBO documentary, Money Electric: The Bitcoin Mystery, was set to identify him as Satoshi Nakamoto, the creator of Bitcoin, he was mostly just pissed. "This was clearly going to be a circus," Todd told WIRED in an email.
[...]
The mystery has proved all the more irresistible for the trove of bitcoin Satoshi is widely believed to have controlled, suspected to be worth many billions of dollars today. When the documentary was released on October 8, Todd joined a long line of alleged Satoshis.
[...]
Since the documentary aired, Todd has repeatedly and categorically denied that he created Bitcoin: "For the record, I am not Satoshi," he alleges. "I think Cullen made the Satoshi accusation for marketing. He needed a way to get attention for his film."
[...]
The search for the creator of Bitcoin has dragged into its orbit a colorful cast of characters, among them Hal Finney, recipient of the first ever bitcoin transaction; Adam Back, designer of a precursor technology cited in the Bitcoin white paper; and cryptographer Nick Szabo, to name just a few. Journalists at Newsweek, The New York Times, and WIRED, among others, have all taken stabs at solving the Satoshi riddle. But irrefutable proof has never been unearthed.
[...]
The case for Sassaman was first outlined in 2021 by Evan Hatch, founder of crypto gaming platform Worlds. Whenever speculation about Sassaman bubbles periodically to the surface, the spotlight is thrown on his widow, software developer Meredith Patterson, who believes the theory is unfounded.

"People used to be really fucking nosy and entitled. I'd get people writing me with a two-page list of dates and locations, asking where I was at such and such a time or place," says Patterson. "Where do you get off? A complete stranger walking up to a widow and trying to interrogate her. It's like, fuck off Sergeant Joe Friday."
[...]
"I was relieved for myself and my family that they named Peter Todd," says Patterson. "But I feel sorry for Peter Todd. Frankly, nobody deserves getting a target painted on their back."
[...]
Todd expects that "continued harassment by crazy people" will become the indefinite status quo. But he says the potential personal safety implications are his chief concern—and the reason he has gone into hiding.
[...]
Hoback sees things very differently. Though there have been cases where violent extortionists have targeted crypto holders, plenty of people have been unmasked as Satoshi before—and nothing terrible is known to have happened to them, he argues. "I think the idea that it puts their life [at risk] is a little overblown," says Hoback.

owl writes:

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2024/10/lawsuit-city-cameras-make-it-impossible-to-drive-anywhere-without-being-tracked/

Police use of automated license-plate reader cameras is being challenged in a lawsuit alleging that the cameras enable warrantless surveillance in violation of the Fourth Amendment. The city of Norfolk, Virginia, was sued yesterday by plaintiffs represented by the Institute for Justice, a nonprofit public-interest law firm.

Norfolk, a city with about 238,000 residents, "has installed a network of cameras that make it functionally impossible for people to drive anywhere without having their movements tracked, photographed, and stored in an AI-assisted database that enables the warrantless surveillance of their every move. This civil rights lawsuit seeks to end this dragnet surveillance program," said the complaint filed in US District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia.

Like many other cities, Norfolk uses cameras made by the company Flock Safety. A 404 Media article said Institute for Justice lawyer Robert Frommer "told 404 Media that the lawsuit could have easily been filed in any of the more than 5,000 communities where Flock is active, but that Norfolk made sense because the Fourth Circuit of Appeals—which Norfolk is part of—recently held that persistent, warrantless drone surveillance in Baltimore is unconstitutional under the Fourth Amendment in a case called Beautiful Struggle v Baltimore Police Department."

Original Submission

Freeman writes:

https://arstechnica.com/science/2024/10/effort-to-bring-back-the-tasmanian-tiger-builds-steam/

Colossal, the company founded to try to restore the mammoth to the Arctic tundra, has also decided to tackle a number of other species that have gone extinct relatively recently: the dodo and the thylacine. Because of significant differences in biology, not the least of which is the generation time of Proboscideans, these other efforts may reach many critical milestones well in advance of the work on mammoths.
[...]
Colossal has branched out from its original de-extinction mission to include efforts to keep species from ever needing its services. In the case of marsupial predators, the de-extinction effort is incorporating work that will benefit existing marsupial predators: generating resistance to the toxins found on the cane toad, an invasive species that has spread widely across Australia.
[...]
For the de-extinction process, the goal would be to ensure that the thylacine could survive in the presence of the cane toad. But Colossal has also begun a conservation effort, called the Colossal foundation, that aims to keep threatened species from needing its services in the future.
[...]
Colossal has obtained a nearly complete genome sequence from a thylacine sample that was preserved in ethanol a bit over a century ago. According to Pask, this sample contains both the short fragments typical of older DNA samples (typically just a few hundred base pairs long), but also some DNA molecules that were above 10,000 bases long. This allowed them to do both short- and long-read sequencing, leaving them with just 45 gaps in the total genome sequence, which the team expects to close shortly.
[...]
The final thing the company announced was that it was working on getting dunnart embryos to develop outside of the womb.
[...]
At this point, they've got immature neural cells and have started forming the cells that will go on to form muscles and the vertebrae. But many critical events need to happen in the remaining one-third of the pregnancy, and Colossal isn't ready to talk about what goes wrong to stop development here.
[...]
Hopefully, over time, the company will continue to submit some of its work to peer-reviewed journals.

In the meantime, the clear indications of progress suggest that some of the unique features of the marsupials—relatively rapid generation times, accessible reproductive system, and many similarities to well-studied placental mammals—are helping this project move ahead at a reasonably rapid clip.

Previously on SoylentNews:
Scientists Try to Bring Australian 'Tiger' Back From Extinction - 20220531
Tasmanian Tigers Were in Poor Genetic Health Prior to Extinction - 20171212

Original Submission

Arthur T Knackerbracket has processed the following story:

It’s not easy to study quantum systems — collections of particles that follow the counterintuitive rules of quantum mechanics. Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle, a cornerstone of quantum theory, says it’s impossible to simultaneously measure a particle’s exact position and its speed — pretty important information for understanding what’s going on.

In order to study, say, a particular collection of electrons, researchers have to be clever about it. They might take a box of electrons, poke at it in various ways, then take a snapshot of what it looks like at the end. In doing so, they hope to reconstruct the internal quantum dynamics at work.

But there’s a catch: They can’t measure all the system’s properties at the same time. So they iterate. They’ll start with their system, poke, then measure. Then they’ll do it again. Every iteration, they’ll measure some new set of properties. Build together enough snapshots, and machine learning algorithms can help reconstruct the full properties of the original system — or at least get really close.

This is a tedious process. But in theory, quantum computers could help. These machines, which work according to quantum rules, have the potential to be much better than ordinary computers at modeling the workings of quantum systems. They can also store information not in classic binary memory, but in a more complex form called quantum memory. This allows for far richer and more accurate descriptions of particles. It also means that the computer could keep multiple copies of a quantum state in its working memory.

[...] Now, two independent teams have come up with ways of getting by with far less quantum memory. In the first paper, Sitan Chen, a computer scientist at Harvard University, and his co-authors showed that just two copies of the quantum state could exponentially reduce the number of times you need to take a snapshot of your quantum system. Quantum memory, in other words, is almost always worth the investment.

“These two- or three-copy measurements, they’re more powerful than one might think,” said Richard Kueng, a computer scientist at Johannes Kepler University Linz in Austria.

Arthur T Knackerbracket has processed the following story:

First came the nanny cams and home assistants, then came the security doorbells, now it's the age of the hacked vacuums.

First reported by ABC News Australia, owners of robot vacuums across multiple U.S. states experienced invasive hacking of their devices by individuals who took physical control of the cleaning bots and used their internal audio features to shout racial slurs at people in their homes. Owners first heard garbled voices coming from their devices, then noticed the vacuum's live feed camera and remote controls were turned on via the device's app.

All of the affected devices were manufactured by brand Ecovac, specifically the company's Deebot X2 model. The hack was confirmed to one customer after they filed a complaint through customer support.

Smart devices have long worried security experts and users for their potential vulnerabilities. In August, cyber security researchers uncovered multiple vulnerabilities in Ecovacs products (including lawn mowers) that could allow hackers to take control of microphones and cameras via mobile Bluetooth connections — to put it simply, researchers concluded the company's security was "really, really, really, really bad."

Design elements intended to protect users, like an audio alert that lets individuals know the vacuum's camera is on, could be easily switched off.

Original Submission

Arthur T Knackerbracket has processed the following story:

Intel had a solution ready to add 64-bit features to the "classic" 32-bit x86 ISA, but the company chose to push forward with the Itanium operation instead. A new snippet of technology history has recently emerged from a year-old Quora discussion. Intel's former "chief x86 architect," Bob Colwell, provides a fascinating tidbit of previously unknown information.

AMD engineer Phil Park was researching the history behind the x86-64 transition, when he discovered the conversation. Colwell revealed that Intel had an inactive internal version of the x86-64 ISA embedded in Pentium 4 chips. The company's management forced the engineering team to "fuse off" the features.

The functionality was there, but users could not access it. Intel decided to focus on the 64-bit native architecture developed for Itanium instead of x86-64. The company felt that a 64-bit Pentium 4 would have damaged Itanium's chances to win the PC market. Management allegedly told Colwell "not once, but twice" to stop going on about 64-bits on x86 if he wanted to keep his job.

The engineer decided to compromise, leaving the logic gates related to x86-64 features "hidden" in the hardware design. Colwell bet that Intel would need to chase after AMD and quickly implement its version of the x86-64 ISA, and he was right. Itanium CPUs had no native backward compatibility with 16-bit and 32-bit x86 software, so the architecture was one of the worst commercial (and technology) failures in Intel's history.

[...] Bob Colwell made significant contributions to Intel's history, managing the development of popular PC CPUs such as Pentium Pro, Pentium II, Pentium III, and Pentium 4 before retiring in 2000. Meanwhile, today's x86 chips marketed by Intel and AMD still retain full backward hardware compatibility with nearly every program developed for the x86 architecture.

Original Submission

Arthur T Knackerbracket has processed the following story:

A new concept from Hyundai's parts division, Hyundai Mobis, developed in partnership with optics specialists Zeiss, aims to transform your entire windshield into one massive display. Dubbed the "Holographic Windshield Display," it takes the modest head-up displays we've seen for decades and dramatically expands their scope.

Rather than just projecting basic information like speed or turn-based directions onto a small part of the windshield, this system envisions menus, apps, videos, and even games spanning the full width of the glass in front of you.

In the concept render shown, there's no central touchscreen – everything is displayed on the windshield. This suggests that voice and gesture controls will likely be the primary input methods, since you can't exactly reach out and touch your windshield.

Mobis describes the technology as "navigation and driving information unfolding like a panorama across the wide, transparent windshield" in its press release. Meanwhile, passengers could watch movies or video call friends, who appear as holograms on the glass.

To prevent distractions, what's displayed to the driver would differ from what passengers see. For example, the driver may only see directions and essential info, while passengers could binge-watch their favorite shows.

Original Submission

Arthur T Knackerbracket has processed the following story:

Last week, the California Coastal Commission rejected a plan for SpaceX to launch up to 50 rockets this year at the Vandenberg Space Force Base in Santa Barbara County. The company responded yesterday with a lawsuit, alleging that the state agency's denial was overreaching its authority and discriminating against its CEO.

The Commission's goal is to protect California's coasts and beaches, as well as the animals living in them. The agency has control over private companies' requests to use the state coastline, but it can't deny activities by federal departments. The denied launch request was actually made by the US Space Force on behalf of SpaceX, asking that the company be allowed to launch 50 of its Falcon 9 rockets, up from 36.

While the commissioners did raise concerns about SpaceX CEO Elon Musk's political screed and the spotty safety records at his companies during their review of the launch request, the assessment focused on the relationship between SpaceX and Space Force. The Space Force case is that "because it is a customer of — and reliant on — SpaceX’s launches and satellite network, SpaceX launches are a federal agency activity," the Commission review stated. "However, this does not align with how federal agency activities are defined in the Coastal Zone Management Act’s regulations or the manner in the Commission has historically implemented those regulations." The California Coastal Commission claimed that at least 80 percent of the SpaceX rockets contain payloads for Musk's Starlink company rather than payloads for government clients.

The SpaceX suit filed with the Central District of California court is seeking an order to designate the launches as federal activity, which would cut the Commission's oversight out of its future launch plans.

Original Submission

Arthur T Knackerbracket has processed the following story:

As Intel struggles with a falling stock price and revenue failing to meet expectations, there were reports last month that Qualcomm had approached Chipzilla with an acquisition offer.

According to people familiar with the matter who spoke to Bloomberg, Qualcomm has decided to wait until after the election before deciding its next move. Such a massive deal would undoubtedly face intense scrutiny from regulators, both domestic and globally. The company wants to see how the next administration's policies affect factors that could impact the acquisition, such as antitrust rules and US-China relations.

China is an important market for both Qualcomm and Intel. In the same month that it first approached Intel, Qualcomm met with antitrust regulators in China to gauge any potential response to the deal. The company hasn't received any feedback from Chinese authorities, who are apparently waiting to see if Qualcomm makes a formal offer for Intel.

In the US, where Intel is the key player in the government's plan to reignite the country's domestic chip manufacturing industry, White House support for the deal would be crucial.

Intel is set to become the biggest beneficiary of the Chips act, receiving $8.5 billion in grants as well as $11 billion in low-interest loans, provided it proceeds with its factory construction plans. It's been six months since the government announced the award and Intel is still waiting for the funding. Qualcomm has been in discussions with US regulators and believes that an all-American merger could alleviate any concerns, according to the report.

Original Submission

fliptop writes:

Recent headlines have proclaimed that Chinese scientists have hacked "military-grade encryption" using quantum computers, sparking concern and speculation about the future of cybersecurity. The claims, largely stemming from a recent South China Morning Post article about a Chinese academic paper published in May, was picked up by many more serious publications.

However, a closer examination reveals that while Chinese researchers have made incremental advances in quantum computing, the news reports are a huge overstatement:

"Factoring a 50-bit number using a hybrid quantum-classical approach is a far cry from breaking 'military-grade encryption'," said Dr. Erik Garcell, Head of Technical Marketing at Classiq, a quantum algorithm design company.

While advancements have indeed been made, the progress represents incremental steps rather than a paradigm-shifting breakthrough that renders current cryptographic systems obsolete.

"This kind of overstatement does more harm than good," Dr. Garcell said. "Misrepresenting current capabilities as 'breaking military-grade encryption' is not just inaccurate—it's potentially damaging to the field's credibility."

Originally spotted on Schneier on Security. Dept. stolen from AC.

Previously: Chinese Researchers Claim Quantum Encryption Attack

Original Submission