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Welcome to the March 18, 2024 edition of ACM TechNews, providing timely information for computer professionals three times a week.

Malaysia Rises as Crucial Link in Chip Supply Chain More European and U.S. technology companies are expanding their supply chains and production capabilities into Malaysia. Andreas Gerstenmayer of AT&S, which manufactures high-end printed circuit boards and substrates, said Malaysia's knowledge of the semiconductor industry, "a well-developed ecosystem in the universities, in education, labor force, supply chain," and government support were behind the company's decision to locate a new production site there. Malaysia's popularity has risen amid supply chain weaknesses that emerged during the pandemic and a move among Western companies to diversify out of China.
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The New York Times; Patricia Cohen (March 13, 2024)

Mercedes Hires Humanoid Robots to Work at Factories Mercedes-Benz is adding Apollo humanoid robots from Texas company Apptronik to its factories, the German car maker announced Friday. Apollo is 5'8” in height, weighs 160 pounds, and can lift up to 55 pounds, according to the company's website. Said Mercedes' Jörg Burzer, "This is a new frontier and we want to understand the potential both for robotics and automotive manufacturing to fill labor gaps in areas such as low skill, repetitive, and physically demanding work."
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PC Magazine; Kate Irwin (March 15, 2024)

Science Sleuths Track Down Bad Research Image-scanning software tools like Imagetwin and Proofig AI increasingly are being used to identify deceptive images in scientific studies. The software automates the process of detecting duplicate or manipulated images. Imagetwin, for instance, can compare images against a database of 51 million images going back two decades to identify photos taken from previous studies. Proofig compares images within a paper and identifies signs of copying or manipulation within minutes.
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The Wall Street Journal; Nidhi Subbaraman (March 13, 2024)
Microsoft plans to launch Copilot for Security April 1 following a year-long trial with corporate customers. Leveraging OpenAI and the large amount of security-specific data collected by Microsoft, Copilot can be integrated with Microsoft's security and privacy software to generate suspicious incident summaries, answer questions, and determine attackers' intentions. Tests of Copilot showed a 26% increase in performance speed and a 35% increase in accuracy among newer security workers.
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Bloomberg; Dina Bass (March 13, 2024)

Pi Calculated to 105 Trillion Digits On Pi Day (March 14), California-based data storage company Solidigm revealed that it had computationally decoded the value of pi to 105 trillion digits. The previous year, Solidigm matched the record of 100 trillion digits of pi, which was calculated by Google Cloud in 2022. The most recent calculation took about 75 days to complete and was carried out with 36 of the company's proprietary solid-state drives that together stored approximately 1 petabyte of data.
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LiveScience; Harry Baker (March 15, 2024)
The U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) named ACM Fellow Gregory D. Hager to head up its Directorate for Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE). Hager is a professor of computer science at Johns Hopkins University. His research covers many areas of AI and machine learning, including activity recognition and detection from video data; collaborative and vision-based robotics; and medical applications of machine learning, image analysis, and robotics.
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HPCwire (March 15, 2024)

Miniature Furniture 3D-Printed Using Ink Made from Recycled Wood Rice University's Muhammad Rahman and colleagues reconstituted waste wood into a form of ink that can be using in 3D printing. The team used the ink to create miniature furniture and honeycomb structures. Said Rahman, “We need to rethink how we can make structures without cutting down trees. If we can recycle waste wood using 3D printing instead of conventional manufacturing, that would be a good step forward."
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New Scientist; Chen Ly (March 15, 2024)
A study by the New York Federal Reserve found that computer engineering majors had the highest incomes of college graduates five years post-graduation, with an annual median salary of $80,000. Computer science majors ranked third, with an annual median salary of $78,000, respectively. For mid-career workers between the ages of 35 and 45, computer engineering ranked second, with an annual median salary of $135,000, and computer science ranked sixth, with an annual median salary of $110,000. U.S. Department of Labor projections indicate STEM jobs are expected to grow twice as fast as non-STEM occupations through 2031.
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CNBC; Mike Winters (March 14, 2024)
To support the development of a skilled workforce for the semiconductor industry, the Indian government is providing electronic design automation (EDA) tools from Siemens EDA, Synopsys, and Cadence to 103 colleges and startups. Through its Chips to Startups initiative, the government will provide training in large-scale integration and embedded system design to 85,000 people through January 2027.
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The Economic Times (India); Suraksha P (March 11, 2024)

Sticker Reads Smallest Motions A wearable sticker developed by researchers at China's Guilin University of Electronic Technology and Beijing Normal University can transform movements of hands, fingers, or mouths into words or commands. This could help improve communication for people with disabilities, and those recovering from strokes. The 2-centimeter by 4-centimeter sensor made from flexible silicone rubber is embedded with optical fibers that detect even the smallest movements.
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IEEE Spectrum; Charles Q. Choi (March 14, 2024)
The U.K. announced on March 13 that it is joining an EU initiative to develop and manufacture advanced semiconductors in Europe amid efforts to develop a domestic semiconductor supply chain. The U.K. has pledged £35 million ($45 million) to the €1.3-billion ($1.4-billion) research and innovation fund. Joining the initiative will enable U.K. semiconductor firms to bid for grants from the fund.
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Reuters; Farouq Suleiman (March 13, 2024)
A report by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) Office of Inspector General stressed the need for the agency to "reinvigorate" its high-end computing (HEC) efforts, indicating its supercomputers are "oversubscribed and overburdened." The assessment of NASA’s HEC capabilities found that the agency “also lacks a comprehensive strategy for when to use HEC assets on the premises versus when to utilize cloud computing options, or a widespread understanding of the cost implications for each choice."
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The Register; Simon Sharwood (March 15, 2024)
ACM/SIGCSE Seek Editor-In-Chief (EICs) for ACM Inroads Magazine
 
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