Webtagr - Technology News Summarizer

Trump's Academic Purge: A Return to Anti-Intellectualism

2025-03-31

This article traces the history of anti-intellectualism and xenophobia in American academia, from Thomas Jefferson's founding of the University of Virginia to the Trump administration's crackdown on international students. The author argues that a long-standing tradition of nativism and hostility towards intellectualism has repeatedly hampered academic progress and international collaboration. From the early discrimination against mathematician James Joseph Sylvester to McCarthyism and the current expulsion of international students, the internationalization of American higher education has faced numerous setbacks. This anti-intellectualism, the author contends, not only makes America stupider and more provincial, but also weakens its global competitiveness. The article further criticizes the Democratic leadership's stance on Israel as hindering their effective protection of international students.

(www.thenation.com)

Tech anti-intellectualism international students

Kagi Family Plan: A Safer Search Experience for Kids

2025-03-31

Kagi's new Family Plan prioritizes a safe and private search experience for families. It features a kid-friendly interface, parental controls (including whitelisting and blacklisting websites), and AI-powered quick answers with safety warnings and content filtering. Kagi also uses fun avatars, like a poop emoji, to teach kids about online identity and privacy. The plan's unique approach emphasizes child online safety and promotes responsible tech use through engaging, lighthearted methods.

(help.kagi.com)

Tech family search engine

Honey Extension Loses 4 Million Users After Shady Practices Exposed

2025-03-31

PayPal's Honey browser extension, known for finding coupon codes, lost over 4 million Chrome users after a YouTube video exposed its shady practices. Honey was found to hijack affiliate links, benefiting itself at the expense of other referrers, even without offering users comparable value. While Honey has updated its extension with disclosures and the behavior is no longer present, the damage is done, highlighting the importance of transparency in browser extensions and user rights.

(9to5google.com)

Tech

Micron's Price Hike: AI Fuels Memory Chip Surge

2025-03-31

Micron Technology has announced price increases for DRAM and NAND flash memory, citing robust demand in the coming years. This price hike, expected to last through 2026, is driven by soaring demand from AI, data centers, and consumer electronics, coupled with supply constraints. A key driver is the surging demand for High Bandwidth Memory (HBM), crucial for AI accelerators and next-gen GPUs, fueled by advancements from Nvidia, AMD, and Intel. Micron is investing $7 billion in a new HBM assembly facility in Singapore to meet this demand. The resurgence of the PC and smartphone markets further bolsters memory demand, suggesting a sustained upward price trend.

(www.tomshardware.com)

Tech memory prices

France Slaps Apple with €150M Fine Over App Tracking Transparency

2025-03-31

France's competition authority fined Apple €150 million for violating competition law with its App Tracking Transparency (ATT) framework. The authority argues that ATT disproportionately harms smaller publishers because Apple's own ad tracking requires only single consent, while others need double consent. While the fine is insignificant to Apple's revenue, Apple must modify ATT to comply. Apple maintains that ATT is consistent for all developers and enjoys broad support.

(arstechnica.com)

Tech

Microsoft Shuts Down Shanghai IoT & AI Lab Amidst Growing Tensions

2025-03-31

Microsoft has quietly closed its Internet of Things (IoT) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) Insider Lab in Shanghai's Zhangjiang Hi-Tech Park, marking another step back from China amid rising geopolitical tensions. Opened in 2019 to support domestic development of IoT and AI technologies, the lab was reportedly shut down earlier this year, with equipment removed and the logo gone. The closure highlights the increasing challenges faced by tech companies operating in the complex Chinese environment.

(www.scmp.com)

Tech China withdrawal geopolitical tensions

Paying Peer Reviewers: Faster Reviews, Same Quality?

2025-03-31

Two recent studies suggest that paying peer reviewers around $250 can significantly speed up the review process without compromising quality. An experiment by *Critical Care Medicine* showed that offering payment increased acceptance rates and review speed. *Biology Open* conducted a similar experiment with higher payment amounts, yielding similar results. While the studies are small-scale, they provide initial data on paid peer review, sparking debate about this model and its potential impact on scientific publishing.

(www.nature.com)

Tech payment

Apple Hit with $162M Fine in France Over App Tracking Transparency

2025-03-31

France's antitrust authority fined Apple €150 million ($162 million) for abusing its dominant position in the mobile app market. The fine targets Apple's App Tracking Transparency (ATT) feature, introduced in April 2021, which requires apps to ask users for permission before tracking their data. While the feature aims to enhance privacy, the regulator ruled that its implementation was excessively complex and disproportionately harmed smaller app developers who rely on data collection. Apple maintains that ATT offers improved user control and has received widespread support, but the fine stands.

(finance.yahoo.com)

Tech

Oracle Security Incident: Hacker Claims Breach and Data Leak

2025-03-31

A hacker, claiming to be rose87168, has allegedly breached Oracle's internal systems and leaked sensitive information, including customer data. The hacker provided evidence including credentials to access Oracle Access Manager, recordings of internal meetings, and internal Oracle configuration files. While Oracle denies a cloud breach, multiple security firms and media outlets have confirmed the data leak, including employee email addresses and customer data. The hacker remains active, releasing more data and threatening further disclosures.

(doublepulsar.com)

Tech

1995's Predictions for 2025: Hits and Misses

2025-03-31

This article revisits predictions made in 1995 about life in 2025. Some predictions, such as the widespread adoption of the internet and mobile devices, were surprisingly accurate. Others, like supersonic passenger planes and a Mars colony, completely missed the mark. The article explores the relationship between prediction accuracy and the context of the time, noting that technological advancements don't always translate to increased leisure time.

(newslttrs.com)

Tech tech predictions futurism

Bangkok Basin's Long-Period Ground Motion: A Love Wave Story

2025-03-31

This study analyzes horizontal elastic response spectra of earthquake ground motion in the Bangkok basin. It finds significant amplification of spectral energy at long periods (0.5-2s) within the basin, linked to surface wave arrivals. Analysis of different parts of accelerograms confirms that long-period energy is associated with surface wave propagation, not source effects. HVSR analysis reveals predominant frequencies between 5.1-5.5s for basin stations, consistent with elastic spectra. Analysis of the 2008 Mw 7.9 event shows that low-frequency ground motion (0.1-0.3Hz) in the basin is influenced by locally generated surface waves, particularly Love waves. Further research is recommended, including large-array observations with reliable low-frequency seismometers and 2D/3D basin-structure ground motion modeling.

(geoenvironmental-disasters.springeropen.com)

Tech Earthquake Ground Motion Basin Effect

Unexpectedly Large Isospin Symmetry Violation Found at CERN

2025-03-31

Analysis of data from CERN's NA61/SHINE collaboration revealed a surprising anomaly: a significant imbalance between charged and neutral kaons produced in argon-scandium collisions. Charged kaons were produced 18.4% more frequently than neutral kaons, suggesting a much larger violation of isospin symmetry than predicted by existing models. This challenges our understanding of the strong interaction and quantum chromodynamics (QCD), opening avenues for further research into the role of electromagnetic interactions and quark behavior. The 4.7σ significance of the result demands further investigation and theoretical explanations.

(phys.org)

Tech Quark Isospin Symmetry

Nvidia's GTC Reveal: Will DGX Spark and Station Disrupt the PC Market?

2025-03-31

Nvidia unveiled two new workstations at its GTC event, the DGX Spark and DGX Station, aimed at AI developers. DGX Spark is a compact desktop, while DGX Station is a more powerful workstation-class machine, both offering significant AI compute power. While analysts believe Nvidia is attempting to expand its enterprise footprint, the high price point and niche market focus raise questions about their potential to truly "disrupt" the broader PC market. Nvidia's strategy appears more focused on empowering developers with powerful AI tools than targeting the general consumer market. Concurrently, Nvidia is aggressively expanding into software and networking infrastructure, aiming to build a complete enterprise-grade AI ecosystem.

(www.theregister.com)

Tech

Attack Hidden in Plain Sight: Tenant-Level Security Analysis Unmasks Malicious Activity

2025-03-31

A security team uncovered a seemingly ordinary user login that masked a sophisticated attack targeting 24 users. The attacker used the Microsoft Azure CLI, attempting logins from a Mexican data center with no more than two attempts per user to avoid brute-force detection. They also utilized IPs from the 2001:0470:c8e0::/48 range to evade IOC-based detection. By analyzing login activity at the tenant level, rather than focusing on individual users, the team successfully identified the attack. This highlights the importance of tenant-wide log analysis to uncover malicious activities hidden within seemingly normal user behavior.

(petrasecurity.substack.com)

Tech security analysis Azure security malicious login

Microrobot Takes Flight: Tiny, Untethered Flying Robot Achieves New Milestone

2025-03-31

Researchers at UC Berkeley have developed a tiny, untethered flying robot with a wingspan of less than a centimeter. Powered wirelessly by external magnetic fields, its current range is limited, but the team suggests improvements could extend its capabilities. This breakthrough opens possibilities for search and rescue, industrial inspection, and even pollination, setting a new record for the smallest flying robot.

(spectrum.ieee.org)

Tech microrobot flying robot magnetic field propulsion

Vietnamese Banking Apps Caught Using Private iOS APIs to Spy on Users

2025-03-31

Two popular Vietnamese banking apps, BIDV SmartBanking and Agribank Plus, have been found to use hidden private iOS APIs to detect other apps installed on users' iPhones. Security researchers discovered that the apps, developed by VNPay, leverage commercial mobile app protection software and custom code called "VNPay Runtime Protection." This code exploits a side-channel vulnerability in a private iOS API to identify apps and uses weak XOR encryption to hide API strings. This violates Apple's App Store policies and risks app removal, impacting millions of users. The incident is unrelated to a mobile security solution, BShield.

(blog.verichains.io)

Tech iOS privacy app security private APIs

California Surpasses Gas Stations in EV Chargers

2025-03-31

California has reached a major milestone: 178,549 public and shared private EV chargers, exceeding the number of gas nozzles by 48%. Governor Newsom highlighted this achievement, contrasting California's pro-EV stance with federal policies. The California Energy Commission estimates over 162,000 Level 2 and nearly 17,000 DC fast chargers, plus an estimated 700,000+ Level 2 home chargers. A $1.4 billion investment plan is expanding zero-emission infrastructure, including projects like the Fast Charge California Project installing DC fast chargers in public spaces.

(electrek.co)

Tech

Bell Labs Holmdel: From Research Hub to Thriving Tech Community

2025-03-31

The Bell Labs Holmdel Complex in New Jersey, a former research and development facility for Bell System and Bell Labs, underwent a remarkable transformation. This iconic Eero Saarinen–designed building, once home to thousands of engineers and researchers and the site of Nobel Prize-winning work, was repurposed into Bell Works, a vibrant mixed-use development. Now a thriving community, it houses tech startups, residential spaces, retail, and entertainment, seamlessly blending its mid-century modern architecture with contemporary design.

(en.wikipedia.org)

Tech Adaptive Reuse Tech Campus Urban Renewal

The Eco Cycle: How Tech Turns from Miracle to Burden

2025-03-31

This article explores the 'Eco Cycle,' where technology initially offers convenience and innovation but eventually becomes a burden as it becomes mainstream. Using examples like fax machines, email, cars, and smartphones, the author illustrates how technology shifts from an empowering tool to a source of disruption. It argues that traffic jams aren't a technological problem, but rather a consequence of humanity's endless pursuit of convenience. Ultimately, the author calls for a rejection of constant connection and a liberation from technological dependence to achieve true freedom.

(maksimizmaylov.com)

Tech tech philosophy

Nvidia's AI Power Play: Moore's Law is Dead, Long Live the 600kW Rack

2025-03-31

At Nvidia's GTC, Jensen Huang unveiled Nvidia's next three generations of GPUs, including the Blackwell and Rubin processors, and a massive 600kW rack-scale system. This reveals Nvidia's strategy to pursue massive compute power expansion by stacking more silicon, increasing memory bandwidth, and lowering precision, post-Moore's Law. However, this brings immense power consumption and cooling challenges, necessitating the construction of specialized "AI factories." Nvidia's move also paves the way for competitors, signaling a new era of ultra-dense computing in data centers.

(www.theregister.com)

Tech AI Compute

Downloading Games from the Radio in the 1980s: A Forgotten Chapter of Computing History

2025-03-31

In the 1980s UK, amidst economic recession, the BBC launched a public education initiative: The Computer Literacy Project. Beyond the famous BBC Micro and TV programs, a lesser-known Radio 4 series, 'The Chip Shop Takeaway,' utilized BASICODE, a system allowing software to run on various home computers. This involved broadcasting programs, including simple text-based games, that listeners could record and play. Though largely forgotten, this unique software distribution method highlights the ingenuity and limitations of early home computing.

(newslttrs.com)

Tech

Electric School Buses Fuel V2X Market Boom

2025-03-31

Electric school buses are driving significant growth in the vehicle-to-everything (V2X) market, poised to double capacity to 40 megawatts by 2025, according to a new Wood Mackenzie report. Their predictable schedules, large batteries, and downtime make them ideal for V2X applications. However, challenges remain, including unclear utility interconnection processes and a lack of compensation mechanisms. While European energy companies are forming partnerships to explore V2X business models, mass adoption hinges on standardizing charging protocols and reducing hardware costs. Many 2025 passenger EVs will feature vehicle-to-load (V2L) capabilities, a stepping stone to broader AC V2X adoption.

(electrek.co)

Tech Electric School Buses Energy

Chrome Root Program Enhances Web PKI Security with Mandatory MPIC and Linting

2025-03-31

Google's Chrome team announced that its Root Program is mandating two key security improvements: Multi-Perspective Issuance Corroboration (MPIC) and certificate linting. MPIC mitigates the risk of fraudulently issued certificates due to BGP attacks by verifying domain control from multiple geographic locations, while linting automates the detection of certificate errors, improving security. Both are mandatory for publicly trusted certificates from March 15, 2025, strengthening the web PKI ecosystem's security and stability, and reducing certificate mis-issuance. The Chrome team also plans to sunset weak domain validation methods and actively explore solutions for a post-quantum cryptography world.

(security.googleblog.com)

Tech Web Security Digital Certificates

F-35B Ejection: A Pilot's Choice and the Betrayal That Followed

2025-03-31

Marine Colonel Charles "Tre" Del Pizzo was forced to eject from his malfunctioning F-35B fighter jet after multiple systems failed during a training sortie. Despite investigations concluding that the systems failures were primarily responsible and Del Pizzo acted appropriately, he was later relieved of his command, sparking debate about pilot safety, system reliability, and whether the military over-punishes pilots. This article delves into the incident and its aftermath.

(www.postandcourier.com)

Tech pilot safety military investigation

The 1700 Orphan Tsunami: A Transpacific Scientific Detective Story

2025-03-31

A mysterious tsunami struck Japan in January 1700, its origin initially a puzzle. Only in the mid-1990s, through a series of discoveries investigated in both North America and Japan, did scientists uncover the truth: the tsunami stemmed from an earthquake along the coast of northwestern North America. The book, "The Orphan Tsunami of 1700," recounts this transpacific scientific detective story. Its discoveries underpin many of today's precautions against earthquakes and tsunamis in the Cascadia region, and provides a stark contrast and warning when compared to the 2011 Japanese tsunami.

(pubs.usgs.gov)

Tech earthquake

Cambridge University Uses Tech to Unfold a Fragile 16th-Century Manuscript

2025-03-31

A team at Cambridge University Library faced a challenge: a fragile, folded 16th-century manuscript fragment. Instead of risking damage through traditional methods, they used cutting-edge technology. Multispectral imaging, computed tomography (CT) scanning, and 3D modeling allowed for virtual unfolding and digitization. This preserved the historical artifact and revealed 16th-century archival binding techniques, showcasing a groundbreaking approach in digital humanities.

(www.cam.ac.uk)

Tech artifact preservation technological archaeology

Trump's Unprecedented Assault on the First Amendment

2025-03-31

Following his re-election, the Trump administration has launched an unprecedented attack on the five pillars of the First Amendment: the right to petition, freedom of assembly, freedom of the press, freedom of speech, and freedom of religion. Through actions such as firing those processing FOIA requests, threatening sanctions against lawyers suing the government, defunding universities, suing news organizations, restricting government employee language, and rescinding protections for religious sites, the administration systematically erodes these fundamental rights. This mirrors the repressive tactics of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, raising serious concerns about the future of American democracy.

(krebsonsecurity.com)

Tech

LA Schools' Accidental Experiment: Air Filters Boost Test Scores

2025-03-31

Following a near-miss emergency caused by the 2015 Aliso Canyon gas leak, many Los Angeles schools installed air filters. Surprisingly, student test scores significantly increased, with gains sustained into the following year. Research suggests that even in areas with normal air pollution levels, simple air filters improved student performance, offering a cost-effective strategy for boosting educational outcomes. This finding highlights the link between air quality and cognitive function and suggests a new avenue for addressing educational equity.

(www.vox.com)

Tech student performance

Trump Admin Ends Paper Checks, Goes All-Digital

2025-03-31

President Trump's executive order, effective September 30th, eliminates paper checks for all US Treasury disbursements. This includes tax refunds, vendor payments, benefits, and intergovernmental transfers. The move aims to combat waste, fraud, and abuse, citing that paper checks are 16 times more likely to be lost, stolen, or altered than electronic transfers. Maintaining the paper check system cost $657 million in 2024. While check usage declines, fraud is rising, prompting the American Bankers Association to applaud the change and encourage digital banking. Exceptions will be made for those lacking banking access, emergencies, law enforcement, and other specified cases.

(bankingjournal.aba.com)

Tech fraud prevention

Ancient Hittite Texts Get a Digital Boost

2025-03-31

The Thesaurus Linguarum Hethaeorum Digitalis (TLHdig), a digital tool providing access to ancient Hittite cuneiform texts, has received a major update. TLHdig 0.2 now includes over 98% of all published sources—approximately 22,000 XML text documents, comprising almost 400,000 transliterated lines. Researchers can search and filter texts in transliteration or cuneiform. Furthermore, an online submission pipeline allows scholars to contribute new texts, ensuring TLHdig remains a dynamic, constantly expanding resource for Hittitology research, including AI-driven approaches. The upcoming TLHdig 1.0 promises complete coverage of all published texts.

(phys.org)

Tech Hittite cuneiform

Category: Tech