schwit1 shares a report from ZDNet: Cyberattackers have turned to search engine optimization (SEO) techniques to deploy malware payloads to as many victims as possible. According to Sophos, the so-called search engine “deoptimization” method includes both SEO tricks and the abuse of human psychology to push websites that have been compromised up Google’s rankings. SEO optimization is used by webmasters to…
Tag: optimization
Implementing a quantum approximate optimization algorithm on a 53-qubit NISQ device
A large team of researchers working with Google Inc. and affiliated with a host of institutions in the U.S., one in Germany and one in the Netherlands has implemented a quantum approximate optimization algorithm (QAOA) on a 53-qubit noisy intermediate-scale quantum (NISQ) device. In their paper published in the journal Nature Physics,, the group describes their method of studying the performance…
Tiny quantum computer solves real optimization problem
Quantum computers have already managed to surpass ordinary computers in solving certain tasks—unfortunately, totally useless ones. The next milestone is to get them to do useful things. Researchers at Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden, have now shown that they can solve a small part of a real logistics problem with their small, but well-functioning quantum computer. …
Does Digital Advertising Actually Work?
“This week’s Freakonomics podcast goes into depth at asking if digital advertising actually works,” writes Slashdot reader Thelasko:
Economist Steve Tadelis [a professor at U.C. Berkeley’s business school] was interested in answering that question while working for eBay. So, when eBay, in planning to renegotiate their deal with Bing, turned off their brand-keyword advertising, it created a natural experiment. TADELIS: “We could…
Preparing for a human mission to Mars
Future human missions to Mars depend on field research in an environment similar to that of Mars. It will enable the evaluation of operational concepts and optimization of strategies. The goals and results of the AMADEE-18 Mars analog mission are detailed in a special collection of articles in the peer-reviewed journal Astrobiology. Source: https://phys.org/news/2020-11-human-mission-mars.html…
The Digital Nomads Did Not Prepare for This
They moved to exotic locales to work through the pandemic in style. But now tax trouble, breakups and Covid guilt are setting in. From a report: For a certain kind of worker, the pandemic presented a rupture in the space-time-career continuum. Many Americans were stuck, tied down by children or lost income or obligations to take care of the sick. But…
New Benchmark Shows iPhones Throttle So Hard They Lose Their Edge Over Android
MojoKid writes: Apple has repeatedly asserted its dominance in terms of performance versus competitive mobile platforms. And it has been historically true that, in cross-platform benchmarks, iPhones generally can beat out Android phones in both CPU and GPU (graphics) performance. However, a new benchmark recently released from trusted benchmark suite developer UL Benchmarks sheds light on what could be the iPhone’s…
Computer Scientists Break Traveling Salesperson Record
After 44 years, there’s finally a better way to find approximate solutions to the notoriously difficult traveling salesperson problem. From a report: When Nathan Klein started graduate school two years ago, his advisers proposed a modest plan: to work together on one of the most famous, long-standing problems in theoretical computer science. Even if they didn’t manage to solve it, they…
Microsoft Tests Fix For Bug That Defrags SSD Drives Too Often
An anonymous reader shares a report: Windows 10 May 2020 Update, otherwise known as version 2004, was released in May with at least ten known issues. Microsoft later expanded the list of the problems and acknowledged that this feature update is also plagued with a bug that breaks Drive Optimize tool. After upgrading to Windows 10 version 2004, users observed that…
Frances E. Allen, the First Woman To Win the Turing Award, Dies At 88
Frances “Fran” Allen, a pioneer in the world of computing, the first female IBM Fellow and the first woman to win the Turing Award, died on August 4, 2020, the day of her 88th birthday. IBM writes in a blog post remembering Allen: As a pioneer in compiler organization and optimization algorithms, Fran made seminal contributions to the world of computing….