Welcome to the April 15, 2024 edition of ACM TechNews, providing timely information for computer professionals three times a week.

HEADLINES AT A GLANCE

• Race for AI Supremacy in Middle East Measured in Datacenters
• Rust Flaw Enables Windows Command Injection Attacks
• Breakthrough May Herald Secure Quantum Computing
• 35-Gram Hopcopter Hops, Flies
• Small Browsers Gain Market Share Under EU Tech Law
• Algorithm Turns iPhones into Holographic Projectors
• Go Language Shines for AI-Powered Workloads
• Premier League to Use Semi-Automated Offside Tech
• AI Helps Protect Wild Animals from Road Accidents
• Apple Lifts Some Restrictions on iPhone Repairs
• Humanoid Robots Show Off Football Skills

Race for AI Supremacy in Middle East Measured in Datacenters

A rivalry between Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates to become the regional AI superpower has ignited a race to build expensive desert datacenters to support the technology. At the end of last year, the UAE had 235 megawatts of datacenter capacity and Saudi Arabia had 123 megawatts, compared to Germany’s 1,060 megawatts, according to research firm DC Byte. To close the gap, the UAE is planning to expand capacity by 343 megawatts, while Saudi Arabia says it wants to add 467 megawatts over the next few years.
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Rust Flaw Enables Windows Command Injection Attacks

A security flaw in the Rust standard library could be used by hackers to launch command injection attacks targeting Windows systems. The vulnerability stems from OS command and argument injection weaknesses. The Rust Security Response Working Group said it was notified that the Rust standard library did not properly escape arguments when invoking batch files on Windows using the Command API. Flatt Security engineer RyotaK, who discovered the vulnerability, said it also impacts other major programming languages.
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Breakthrough May Herald Secure Quantum Computing

Scientists at the U.K.'s University of Oxford used "blind quantum computing" to connect two quantum computing entities securely. The team created a system comprised of an ordinary fiber network link that connected a quantum computing server and a simple device set up to detect photons at an independent client computer that remotely accessed the server. Using a unique combination of quantum memory and photons, the researchers remotely performed computations using sample data on the server, without the server seeing any of the data at any point.
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35-Gram Hopcopter Hops, Flies

A hybrid robot developed by City University of Hong Kong researchers can jump, fly, and spin. The 35-gram Hopcopter is a mini-quadcopter with a passive telescopic leg that relies on its existing rotors to actuate while airborne. The Hopcopter can leap up to 1.63 meters and vertical hop at an average speed of 2.38 meters per second. It also can adjust its speed and direction quickly to avoid collisions.
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Small Browsers Gain Market Share Under EU Tech Law

Following implementation of the EU's Digital Markets Act on March 7, there has been an increase in users of independent browsers. The law requires Google, Microsoft, and Apple to allow mobile device users to choose from a list of available Web browsers as a means of increasing competition. The addition of a "choice screen" has boosted user numbers for Cyprus' Aloha Browser, Norway's Vivaldi and Opera, Germany's Ecosia, and U.S.-based Brave and DuckDuckGo.
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Algorithm Turns iPhones into Holographic Projectors

Researchers led by Ryoichi Horisaki of Japan's University of Tokyo created a method to produce 3D full-color holographic images using smartphone screens. Using an algorithm they developed, the team used an iPhone and an optical component called a spatial light modulator to reproduce a 3D color image that consisted of two holographic layers. The image generated measured a few millimeters on each side.
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Go Language Shines for AI-Powered Workloads

The Go Developer Survey for the first half of 2024, conducted by Google's Go team, revealed that developers of AI-powered applications and services view the Go programming language as a robust platform for running those workloads. However, most begin AI-powered work in Python before transitioning to a more "production-ready" language. Of the 6,224 developers polled, 93% of respondents expressed satisfaction with Go during the past year, while 42% cited concerns about insecure coding practices when working on Go services.
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Premier League to Use Semi-Automated Offside Tech

The U.K.'s Premier League will roll out semi-automated offside technology beginning next season. During trials, the technology cut the amount of time it takes for decisions by video assistant referees (VARs) by 31 seconds on average. The system determines the position of players during a potential offside using camera footage and tracking software. VARs will no longer need to add lines to camera images manually, though they may be needed to make offside decisions when a goal is scored.
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AI Helps Protect Wild Animals from Road Accidents

Researchers at the University of São Paulo's Institute of Mathematics and Computer Sciences in Brazil developed a computer vision model that can protect wildfire from road accidents. The model was trained on a comprehensive database of Brazilian mammals vulnerable to traffic accidents and leverages the You Only Look Once (YOLO) algorithm's real-time object detection capabilities. The system, which combines a portable computer and roadside cameras, can alert drivers to take preventive measures to avoid collisions with wildlife.
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Apple Lifts Some Restrictions on iPhone Repairs

Apple said that it would relax limits on repairing newer iPhones with used parts, a reversal from its previous practice of using software to encourage people to work with new and more expensive Apple-approved parts. The change comes after Oregon passed a law outlawing Apple’s practice of tying parts to software. Similar bills are being considered in more than a dozen other states.
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Humanoid Robots Show Off Football Skills

Google DeepMind researchers used deep reinforcement learning to train two-legged robots to walk, turn to kick a ball, and get up after falling. After 240 hours of deep reinforcement learning, the battery-powered Robotis OP3 robots could walk 181% faster, turn 302% faster, kick a ball 34% harder, and get up 63% more quickly than robots working from pre-scripted skills. The researchers used a physics engine to simulate training cases, instead of having the robots learn by repeatedly attempting tasks.
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