Welcome to the April 29, 2024 edition of ACM TechNews, providing timely information for computer professionals three times a week.

HEADLINES AT A GLANCE

• Precision Attacks Target Intel, AMD Processors
• In Race to Build AI, Tech Plans Plumbing Upgrade
• Tech Companies Plug into India's Smaller Cities
• China Unveils Homegrown Brain-Machine Interface System
• Net Neutrality Is Back as FCC Votes to Regulate Internet Providers
• How TikTok's Algorithm Personalizes What You See
• High-Resolution LiDAR with Low-Power Laser
• Chip Safeguards Data, Enables Efficient Computing on Smartphone
• Saudi Arabia Spends Big to Become an AI Superpower
• A Holographic Glimpse into an Immersive Future
• Racers Struggle at First Autonomous Racing League Race

Precision Attacks Target Intel, AMD Processors

A team led by computer scientists at the University of California San Diego uncovered two novel types of attacks that target the conditional branch predictor found in high-end Intel processors. The attack is the first known to target a feature in the Path History Register (PHR), exposing more information with more precision than prior attacks. The researchers also introduced a precise Spectre-style poisoning attack, enabling attackers to induce intricate patterns of branch mispredictions within victim code. Intel and AMD were informed of these findings.
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In Race to Build AI, Tech Plans Plumbing Upgrade

Big Tech is investing heavily in the infrastructure and hardware needed to support its AI ambitions. Microsoft, Meta, and Alphabet disclosed last week that they had spent more than $32 billion combined on datacenters and other capital expenses in just the first three months of this year. The companies all said they had no plans to reduce their AI-related spending. Meta said it needed to spend billions more on the chips and datacenters for AI than it had previously indicated.
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Tech Companies Plug into India's Smaller Cities

Indian tech companies increasingly are expanding into smaller cities to tap a larger pool of workers and take advantage of lower land prices, rents, wages, and government incentives. The shift to smaller cities is helping tech firms reduce costs and attrition during a period of weak sales growth and global economic uncertainty. Cushman & Wakefield's Anshul Jain said, "What we're seeing is improving lifestyles in secondary cities."
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China Unveils Homegrown Brain-Machine Interface System

A brain-machine interface (BMI) developed by researchers at the Chinese Institute for Brain Research and NeuCyber NeuroTech (Beijing) Co. Ltd. features a high-throughput flexible microelectrode array, a thousand-channel high-speed neural signal acquisition system, and a generative neural decoding algorithm based on a feedforward control mechanism. At the 2024 Zhongguancun Forum on Thursday in Beijing, a video demonstration showed a monkey controlling an isolated robotic arm using the NeuCyber Array BMI System.
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Net Neutrality Is Back as FCC Votes to Regulate Internet Providers

The U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) adopted net neutrality regulations on April 26 prohibiting Internet service providers (ISPs) from selectively speeding up, slowing down, or blocking customers' Internet traffic. The rules reflect those imposed by the FCC in 2015 but rescinded by the Trump administration in 2017. Among other things, the rules will prevent ISPs from selling customers' personal data or sharing it with tech firms to train AI models.
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How TikTok's Algorithm Personalizes What You See

University of Washington (UW) researchers analyzed TikTok to better understand how its recommendation algorithm works and its impact. Using data from 347 TikTok users who contributed 9.2 million video recommendations, they found up to half of the first 1,000 videos shown are based on the platform's predictions of users' preferences, and that users' average daily time on TikTok rose from 29 minutes the first day to 50 minutes after 120 days. Said UW's Franziska Roesner, "The platform designs are not neutral, and they influence how long you watch and what you watch."
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High-Resolution LiDAR with Low-Power Laser

A single-photon LiDAR system developed by researchers at the University of Science and Technology of China can produce high-resolution 3D images in an airborne configuration with a low-power laser. The compact, lightweight system could be used for terrain mapping, environmental monitoring, and object identification. To shrink an entire LiDAR system, the researchers used single-photon avalanche diode arrays and small telescopes with an optical aperture of 47 mm.
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Chip Safeguards Data, Enables Efficient Computing on Smartphone

Researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and the MIT-IBM Watson AI Lab developed a chip that can efficiently accelerate machine learning workloads on edge devices like smartphones while protecting sensitive user data from side-channel and bus-probing attacks. To accomplish this, the team split data in an in-memory compute chip into random pieces, used a lightweight cipher that encrypts the model stored in off-chip memory, and generated the key that decrypts the cipher directly on the chip.
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Saudi Arabia Spends Big to Become an AI Superpower

Saudi Arabia's efforts to become an AI superpower have raised concerns among U.S. officials, especially if the kingdom provides computing power to Chinese researchers and companies. Saudi Arabia created a $100-billion fund this year to invest in AI and other technology and is in talks with investors to put an additional $40 billion into AI companies. In March, the government said it would invest $1 billion in a Silicon Valley-inspired start-up accelerator to lure AI entrepreneurs to the kingdom.
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A Holographic Glimpse into an Immersive Future

Princeton University and Meta researchers developed an immersive VR and AR display that uses high-definition 3D holographic images and can be viewed with an ordinary pair of eyeglasses. The researchers created a device that works alongside the spatial light modulator traditionally used to generate holographic images. It broadens the field of view while maintaining the image's stability and fidelity by filtering light from the spatial light modulator. This results in a larger image without a substantial decline in quality.
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Racers Struggle at First Autonomous Racing League Race

In the first race of the Abu Dhabi Autonomous Racing League (A2RL) over the weekend, driverless Dallara Super Formula racers outfitted with cameras and software struggled to complete a lap during qualifying time trials on the Yas Marina Abu Dhabi Grand Prix Formula 1 track. In the actual race, lead racer Polimove spun out on the fourth of eight laps; the second car, Tum, passed it safely, while other two AI-driven cars came to a halt when officials threw up a yellow flag. After about an hour, Tum crossed the finish line.
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