Webtagr - Technology News Summarizer

Let's Encrypt to Offer 6-Day Certificates and IP Address Support in 2025

2025-01-16

Let's Encrypt announced plans to introduce two new certificate options in 2025: short-lived certificates with a six-day lifetime and support for IP addresses. Six-day certificates significantly enhance security by minimizing the window of vulnerability. IP address support enables secure TLS connections for IP-accessible services using publicly trusted certificates, eliminating the need for domain names. The rollout will be phased, with general availability expected by the end of 2025. Users will need an ACME client supporting certificate profiles to obtain the short-lived certificates.

(letsencrypt.org)

Tech SSL Certificates

Microsoft Patches Critical Windows Secure Boot Vulnerability

2025-01-16

Microsoft has patched a critical vulnerability that allowed attackers to bypass Windows Secure Boot. The vulnerability, present in system recovery software from multiple vendors, involved a mis-signed UEFI application that allowed malicious firmware to be installed before the OS even loads. The patch revokes the problematic signature. The status of Linux systems remains unclear.

(arstechnica.com)

Tech

Nvidia's Secret Weapon: The DLSS Supercomputer

2025-01-16

Nvidia has been secretly running a supercomputer with thousands of its latest GPUs for six years, continuously training and optimizing its DLSS upscaling technology. This machine analyzes DLSS model failures – like ghosting, flickering, and blurriness – constantly improving the training dataset and leading to significant quality improvements. This relentless effort, combined with the new transformer model in DLSS 4, has yielded remarkable results.

(www.pcgamer.com)

Tech

Blogger Offers Free Mentoring in AI and Tech

2025-01-16

A blogger is conducting an experimental project offering free 30-minute mentoring sessions (three sessions total) to three volunteers. Topics range from statistics and science to AI, self-improvement, and more. Applicants should describe their goals and how they hope the mentor can help. The blogger will prioritize applicants where they believe they can provide the most assistance and contribute to the greater good. This experiment aims to explore the value of mentoring and may result in a follow-up sharing experiences and results.

(dynomight.substack.com)

Tech mentoring experiment

California's Housing Crisis After the Fires: Rebuild or Collapse?

2025-01-16

Recent wildfires in California have destroyed thousands of homes, exacerbating an already dire housing crisis. Los Angeles and other areas have extremely low vacancy rates, making finding rental properties difficult even at high prices. The fires have also caused insurance premiums to skyrocket, leaving many homeowners facing exorbitant costs or losing coverage altogether. This could lead to widespread foreclosures and homelessness. While the government has taken some steps to speed up rebuilding, experts argue these measures are insufficient. The real solution lies in transforming urban planning, increasing high-density, fire-resistant housing, requiring significant policy changes.

(www.vox.com)

Tech Housing Crisis Insurance Crisis

PubPeer Review: TRF2-S Protein Regulates Axonal mRNA Transport

2025-01-16

A PubPeer post discusses a research article on TRF2-S, a novel RNA- and FMRP-binding protein crucial for regulating axonal mRNA transport and presynaptic plasticity. Published in Nature Communications, the study reveals how TRF2-S influences neuronal growth and function by impacting mRNA trafficking and local translation. This research sheds light on neural mechanisms and potentially offers new avenues for neurological disease treatment.

(pubpeer.com)

Tech Neuroscience RNA-binding protein Axonal transport

Biden's Last-Minute Cybersecurity EO: AI, Microsoft, and More

2025-01-16

In a parting shot, President Biden issued a sweeping cybersecurity executive order aimed at bolstering federal cybersecurity, regulating government AI use, and subtly targeting Microsoft's dominance. The 40-page order mandates improvements in government network monitoring, software procurement, AI implementation, and the punishment of foreign hackers. It seeks to leverage AI's benefits, introduce digital identities for US citizens, and close vulnerabilities exploited by adversaries like China and Russia. Key provisions include requiring software vendors to prove secure development practices, enhancing cloud authentication key protection (in response to incidents like the Microsoft server breach), and boosting CISA's network monitoring capabilities. The order also promotes AI research for cybersecurity and aims to streamline citizen services through digital identity documents.

(www.wired.com)

Tech executive order

Rule-Breaking Neutron Star Spins Once Every Six Hours

2025-01-16

Australian scientists have discovered a neutron star, ASKAP J1839-075, with an incredibly slow rotation period of 6.5 hours – thousands of times slower than expected. This challenges our understanding of neutron star evolution, as it's believed pulsars stop emitting radio waves as they slow down. This one, however, continues to emit. The discovery, made using the ASKAP radio telescope, was a lucky find, and future telescopes like SKA-Low are expected to reveal more about these extreme objects.

(www.abc.net.au)

Tech Neutron Star Pulsar Radio Telescope

The RNA World: Solving Life's Chicken-or-Egg Problem

2025-01-16

The 'chicken or the egg' dilemma of life's origin—the interdependence of DNA and proteins—has long puzzled scientists. New research suggests RNA may have played both roles. Early life may have consisted solely of RNA, capable of both storing genetic information and catalyzing chemical reactions, enabling self-replication. This 'RNA world' hypothesis resolves the paradox, offering insights into how life emerged from simple chemistry. Further research focuses on early Earth environments—soda lakes or impact crater lakes—that could have fostered RNA and other building blocks, providing more clues to unlock the mystery of life's origin.

(nautil.us)

Tech RNA world biochemistry

Red Hat Undercuts VMware With OpenShift Virtualization Engine

2025-01-16

Following Broadcom's acquisition of VMware and subsequent pricing changes, many enterprise users are seeking alternatives. Red Hat is capitalizing on this with the launch of OpenShift Virtualization Engine (OVE), a virtualization-focused platform designed to attract VMware customers. OVE leverages the OpenShift platform, removing container capabilities to provide a pure virtualization solution. Integrated with Advanced Cluster Management (ACM) and Ansible automation, OVE simplifies VM migration and management. Red Hat also offers migration tools and professional services to ease the transition, particularly for large enterprises with substantial VM deployments.

(www.nextplatform.com)

Tech

Stanford's Off-Grid Ammonia Generator: Powering the Future with Thin Air

2025-01-16

Researchers from Stanford University and King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals have developed a groundbreaking device that generates ammonia from ambient air and water vapor without any external power source. Utilizing a catalyst-coated mesh, the system combines atmospheric nitrogen and water vapor to produce ammonia at room temperature and pressure. This ammonia can be used directly as fertilizer or processed into a sustainable green fuel, offering a revolutionary approach to fertilizer production and energy generation. The technology promises to significantly impact both developing nations and industrial applications.

(spectrum.ieee.org)

Tech green energy ammonia

Ditch the Algorithm, Embrace RSS: Reclaim Your Information Feed

2025-01-16

Tired of social media algorithms dictating your content? This article details how to use RSS to curate a high-quality information stream, bypassing the noise. The author explains how to subscribe to platforms like YouTube, IGN, Hacker News, and Reddit using RSS, and employs advanced filtering techniques to remove low-quality content. For example, they show how to filter Reddit posts to get only high-upvote, text-based content. The core benefit of RSS is user control, allowing efficient reading without the inefficiencies of algorithm-driven feeds.

(joeyehand.com)

Tech content filtering efficient reading

Why Some UK Gov Services Are Offline at Night: A Legacy Tech Nightmare

2025-01-16

This post explores why some DVLA (UK Driver & Vehicle Licensing Agency) digital services are offline overnight. The root cause lies in a complex legacy system, including a 1980s IBM mainframe and a partially completed modernization effort. Facing a choice between years of rebuilding infrastructure or launching a service with nighttime limitations, DVLA chose the latter to deliver value quickly. The article highlights the challenges of digital transformation in large organizations grappling with legacy technology and the difficult decisions involved in balancing speed and long-term stability. The situation underscores how tricky government digitalization can be, even a decade after initial modernization efforts.

(dafyddvaughan.uk)

Tech legacy systems government services

EU Accuses Apple of Failing to Comply with DMA Interoperability Rules

2025-01-16

EU digital rights advocacy groups accuse Apple of failing to meet its interoperability obligations under the EU's Digital Markets Act (DMA). In a letter, they urge the European Commission to take stronger action to ensure Apple's compliance with Article 6(7) of the DMA, which requires gatekeepers to provide non-discriminatory access to or interoperability with designated software and hardware. The groups propose several recommendations, including prohibiting Apple from unilaterally imposing NDAs, creating a standardized interoperability request form, and revisiting DMA clauses allowing Apple to hide frameworks and libraries for security reasons. They also criticize Apple's 'Feedback Assistant' and lack of a public bug tracking system. Apple counters that DMA's interoperability requirements could expose personal data.

(www.theregister.com)

Tech

UN Security Council Debates Commercial Spyware Regulation for the First Time

2025-01-16

The UN Security Council held its first-ever meeting on the dangers of commercial spyware, with the US and 15 other countries calling for regulation. While no concrete proposals emerged, most nations agreed on the need for action to control its proliferation and misuse. Citizen Lab highlighted a secretive global ecosystem of spyware developers, citing Europe as a hotspot for abuse. Russia and China criticized the meeting; Russia blamed the US, while China argued that government-developed cyberweapons pose a greater threat.

(techcrunch.com)

Tech UN Security Council

AI Designs Proteins to Neutralize Snake Venom

2025-01-16

Researchers, including Nobel laureate David Baker, used AI to design novel proteins that inhibit certain snake venom toxins. Employing AI tools like RFdiffusion and ProteinMPNN, they created proteins that bind to 'three-finger toxins' found in snake venom. AlphaFold2 and Rosetta software predicted the binding strength. Experiments showed the designed proteins effectively protected mice from neurotoxins, suggesting a new approach to antivenom development. However, inhibitors targeting a different toxin that disrupts cell membranes proved ineffective, highlighting gaps in our understanding of protein-membrane interactions.

(arstechnica.com)

Tech Biotechnology

100 Billion Pixels on the Moon: A Permanent Record of Humanity

2025-01-16

An international project called 'Sanctuary on the Moon' aims to create a lunar time capsule containing 100 billion pixels of information, offering a detailed guide to our civilization. Backed by NASA, UNESCO, and the French government, the project seeks to leave a lasting legacy for future humanity. The capsule consists of 24 sapphire discs, each engraved with information on specific aspects of human knowledge, including the human genome. The project focuses on preserving information in a way that will be easily decipherable by future humans, even millions of years from now, ensuring the survival of crucial knowledge and artistic achievements.

(www.aljazeera.com)

Tech Time Capsule Human Civilization

Blue Origin's New Glenn Rocket Achieves Orbit on Maiden Flight

2025-01-16

After several delays, Blue Origin's massive New Glenn rocket successfully launched and reached orbit. The launch overcame engine chilling issues and a boat that strayed into the restricted zone. While the first stage booster failed to return to Earth, this marks Blue Origin's first-ever orbital flight in nearly 25 years of existence, a monumental achievement for the private space industry. This success is a major win for Blue Origin and its founder Jeff Bezos, injecting new hope into the future of space exploration.

(arstechnica.com)

Tech Orbital Flight

Ashburn: How a Virginia Town Became the Data Center Capital of the World

2025-01-16

Ashburn, Virginia, a town just 34 miles from Washington D.C., has become the undisputed data center capital of the world. Its rise is a story of strategic location, low land and electricity costs, a highly skilled workforce, and supportive government policies. This combination has attracted tech giants like Amazon, Google, and Microsoft, resulting in Ashburn handling an estimated 70% of the world's internet traffic. The availability of cheap power, robust fiber infrastructure, and proactive local government initiatives have fueled this phenomenal growth.

(www.datacenters.com)

Tech Ashburn

FDA Bans Cancer-Linked Red Dye No. 3

2025-01-16

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has banned the artificial food coloring Red No. 3, linked to cancer, from being used in food and drugs. The ban takes effect January 15, 2027, for food products, with drug manufacturers given an extended deadline to reformulate. This impacts numerous products containing the dye, from candy to cold medicine, prompting concerns within the food industry.

(www.bloomberg.com)

Tech carcinogen

Intel Open Sources Tofino P4 Software, Ushering in a New Era for Programmable Networks

2025-01-16

Intel has announced the open-sourcing of its Tofino P4 software, a significant milestone. The Tofino family of programmable Ethernet switches has been at the forefront of network innovation, offering unparalleled programmability that allows organizations to shape their networks like never before. This open-sourcing invites the global developer community to participate in shaping the future of networking. It democratizes access to high-performance networking tools, benefiting startups, academic institutions, and developers in under-resourced regions.

(p4.org)

Tech Programmable Networking

California Passive House Survives Wildfire: Design Details Save the Day

2025-01-16

Amidst the devastating California wildfires, a 2024-built passive house stood unscathed. Architect Greg Chasen attributes its survival to fire-resistant design features aligned with passive house principles. These include the absence of eaves and overhangs, a metal roof with fire-resistant underlayment, and a vegetation-free protected zone. The airtight construction prevented embers from entering, while high-performance glazing and insulation provided further protection. While passive houses have higher upfront costs, their energy efficiency and fire resilience make them an increasingly attractive option.

(www.yahoo.com)

Tech Passive House Fire Resistance

Colossal Secures $200M to De-Extinct Woolly Mammoths, Thylacines, and Dodos

2025-01-16

Colossal BioSciences raised $200 million to bring back extinct species like the woolly mammoth, thylacine, and dodo. The company uses genetic engineering, AI, and computational biology to achieve its ambitious goals. Significant progress has been made, including assembling complete genomes for several target species. Beyond de-extinction, Colossal is also focused on species preservation and human healthcare. The funding will expand the team, support technology development, and broaden the list of species targeted for de-extinction.

(venturebeat.com)

Tech genetic engineering de-extinction

Nvidia's Desktop AI Ambitions: Bringing Billion-Parameter Models Home

2025-01-16

At CES, Nvidia unveiled 'Project Digits,' a desktop AI supercomputer based on its Grace Blackwell architecture. Priced at around $3,000, it can run 200-billion parameter AI models locally. This is seen as Nvidia's attempt to replicate its gaming success in the desktop AI market. While initially targeting data scientists and AI researchers, its affordable price and ease of use (supporting Windows and Mac) suggest a potential expansion to a broader consumer market. Nvidia's mature GPU ecosystem and hardware partnerships will aid in building a similar AI product line, but the maturity of the software ecosystem will be crucial to its success.

(www.theangle.com)

Tech

Razer to Refund Customers for Falsely Advertised N95 Masks

2025-01-16

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is issuing refunds to over 6,700 customers who purchased Razer's Zephyr mask, which was falsely advertised as meeting N95 standards. Razer, which launched the RGB-lit mask in 2021, never submitted it for certification. The FTC secured a settlement of over $1 million, with refunds now being distributed via check and PayPal. While Razer disputes the FTC's allegations, the refunds are being issued nonetheless.

(www.gamespot.com)

Tech Razer N95 Mask FTC Settlement

Pro-Ukraine Hackers Hit Russia's Biggest State Procurement Platform

2025-01-16

A pro-Ukraine hacking group, Yellow Drift, claimed responsibility for a cyberattack on Roseltorg, Russia's largest electronic trading platform for government and corporate procurement. The group allegedly deleted 550 terabytes of data. While Roseltorg initially attributed the outage to maintenance, they later confirmed the attack, stating data and infrastructure have been restored. The attack impacted major Russian corporations and government agencies, including the Ministry of Defense and Roskomnadzor. This incident highlights the ongoing cyberwar between Russia and Ukraine and the potential disruptive impact of cyberattacks on critical infrastructure.

(therecord.media)

Tech cyberattack Russia-Ukraine conflict

OpenAI Misses Deadline for Photographer Opt-Out System

2025-01-16

OpenAI has failed to deliver on its promise of a tool allowing photographers to opt out of having their work used in its AI training data by its self-imposed 2025 deadline. The planned Media Manager tool was meant to address copyright concerns and avoid legal disputes. However, its development appears stalled, with a former employee stating it wasn't a priority. This leaves photographers feeling exploited, their work used without permission or compensation. The situation highlights the ongoing challenges of managing copyright in AI training data.

(petapixel.com)

Tech AI training data

Startup Necromancy: Exploiting Abandoned Google Apps Domains

2025-01-15

A security researcher discovered a critical vulnerability: improperly shutting down Google Workspace accounts leaves defunct startup domains vulnerable. New owners can reactivate former employees' Google accounts, granting access to third-party services (Slack, ChatGPT, Zoom, etc.) accessed via Google OAuth. Sensitive data, including tax documents and internal communications, becomes exposed. Google initially dismissed it, but after the researcher's Shmoocon presentation, they reevaluated, offering a bounty. This highlights the risk of insufficient account closure procedures and potential weaknesses within OAuth authentication.

(arstechnica.com)

Tech

Bluesky's New Photo-Sharing App, Flashes, Launches Soon

2025-01-15

Independent developer Sebastian Vogelsang is building Flashes, a new photo-sharing app for the decentralized social network Bluesky. Leveraging the AT Protocol and code from his previous Bluesky client, Skeets, Flashes aims to offer an alternative to Instagram. It supports multi-photo posts and short videos, syncing content to the main Bluesky platform. This provides an alternative for users seeking to escape Meta's ecosystem and those interested in visual content sharing, offering a fresh entry point for new Bluesky users.

(techcrunch.com)

Tech Decentralized Social

Sweden Rethinks Tech-Heavy Education, Brings Back Books and Pencils

2025-01-15

Concerns over declining basic skills among Swedish students have prompted a shift in the country's digital education strategy. Years of emphasizing tablets and digital tools in schools have come under scrutiny following a drop in reading scores. In response, the government is increasing investment in physical books and encouraging a return to traditional teaching methods like handwriting practice and quiet reading time. While some experts support this back-to-basics approach, others argue it's an overreaction, emphasizing that technology is just one factor in a complex educational ecosystem.

(apnews.com)

Tech Sweden

Category: Tech