Quantum computing enables simulations to unravel mysteries of magnetic materials

A multi-institutional team became the first to generate accurate results from materials science simulations on a quantum computer that can be verified with neutron scattering experiments and other practical techniques. …

Hacker Increased Chemical Level At Florida City’s Water Supply, Police Say

An anonymous reader quotes a report from WTSP: hacker gained access to Oldsmar’s water treatment plant, bumping the sodium hydroxide in the water to a “dangerous” level, according to Pinellas County’s sheriff. In a press conference Monday, Sheriff Bob Gualtieri said his deputies, along with the FBI and U.S. Secret Service, are investigating the breach as it is unclear if it…

Ban on Wireless Modems In Voting Machines Should be Optional, Suggests US Election Agency

The U.S. agency overseeing elections has “quietly weakened a key element of proposed security standards…” reports the Associated Press, “raising concern among voting-integrity experts that many such systems will remain vulnerable to hacking.” The Election Assistance Commission (EAC) is poised to approve its first new security standards in 15 years after an arduous process involving multiple technical and elections community bodies…

Has Section 230 Created a ‘Vast Web of Vengeance’?

Slashdot reader GatorSnake shares “Another take of the implications of Section 230… One person poisoned the online personas of multiple people who had ‘wronged’ her, with it being nearly impossible to have the false accusations removed from the sites or from Google’s search results.” The New York Times reports:
Mr. Babcock, a software engineer, got off the phone and Googled himself. The…

IBM Quantum Computers Now Finish Some Tasks In Hours, Not Months

IBM has found a way to combine a new program execution environment, Qiskit, with a balance of “classical” and quantum computing to deliver a 100 times speedup for tasks that depend on iterative circuit execution. Computations that take months now will take mere hours, IBM said. Engadget reports: Qiskit by itself allows more circuits to run at a “much faster” rate,…

Nissan’s ‘Office Pod’ Imagines a New Kind of Remote Working

Nissan has unveiled a concept vehicle that features a retractable office for remote workers and digital nomads. CNN reports: Dubbed Office Pod Concept, the mobile workspace comes with a modified Cosm chair by US furniture-maker Herman Miller, and desk space big enough for a large computer monitor. Those seeking privacy can set up inside the pod with the doors closed. Ambient…

Google Chrome Sync Feature Can Be Abused For C&C and Data Exfiltration

Threat actors have discovered they can abuse the Google Chrome sync feature to send commands to infected browsers and steal data from infected systems, bypassing traditional firewalls and other network defenses. From a report: For non-Chrome users, Chrome sync is a feature of the Chrome web browser that stores copies of a user’s Chrome bookmarks, browsing history, passwords, and browser and…

Quantum systems learn joint computing

Today’s quantum computers contain up to several dozen memory and processing units, the so-called qubits. Severin Daiss, Stefan Langenfeld, and colleagues from the Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics in Garching have successfully interconnected two such qubits located in different labs to a distributed quantum computer by linking the qubits with a 60-meter-long optical fiber. Over such a distance they realized…

Tesla Recalls Roughly 135,000 Vehicles Over Touchscreen Failures

After being asked by the NHTSA, Tesla is recalling 135,000 Model S and Model X vehicles because their large center touchscreens can fail. “The recall applies to some 2012 through 2018 Model S and 2016 through 2018 Model X vehicles,” notes CNN. From the report: Under the recall, which will begin on March 30, Tesla must notify owners of cars with…

Smart speakers could hear your heart beating from across the room

By broadcasting ultrasound waves and analysing the reflections, a computer can detect the chest movements caused by a human heartbeat – and the system could run on a smart speaker Source: https://www.newscientist.com/article/2266373-smart-speakers-could-hear-your-heart-beating-from-across-the-room/?utm_campaign=RSS%7CNSNS&utm_source=NSNS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_content=home…