Daily Archives: April 11, 2020

Cannonball Record Broken During Coronavirus – 26 Hours 38 Minutes

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Only a few months have passed since we reported that the New York-to-Los Angeles Cannonball record was broken. It’s allegedly been broken again. The 26 hour, 38 minute time—which beats the record set in November by more than 45 minutes—appears to be legitimate, according to Ed Bolian, a Cannonball insider and driver who set his own 28 hour, 50 minute record in 2013. Alex Roy, who set the first modern NYC-to-LA record in 2006, also said the new claim is credible based on his analysis of multiple sources.

“It was not me,” Bolian was quick to point out to Road & Track, eager to quell an Internet-generated rumor that perhaps he had been the one to pull it off.

All we know about this new set of scofflaws is that there were three, maybe four of them, and that they were driving a white 2019 Audi A8 sedan with a pair of red plastic marine fuel tanks ratchet-strapped into its trunk. They started at the Red Ball Garage in New York City at 11:15 pm on April 4, and ended less than 27 hours later at the Portofino Hotel & Marina in Redondo Beach, California, the traditional start and end points of a Cannonball attempt.

We also know that their timing was awful. It doesn’t seem likely that the new record-holders were keen to have news reach the public so soon, especially at a time when so many people are understandably on edge. But an exuberant friend posted a picture of the Audi on Facebook this week—situated among a number of other high-dollar cars, with its trunk open to show the auxiliary fuel tanks—along with the team’s alleged time. Within a day, hundreds of people had shared the post, and social media chat groups were abuzz with Cannonball aficionados offering up opinions on the matter.

Source: Cannonball Record Broken During Coronavirus – 26 Hours 38 Minutes

There’s some whining about it being in poor taste or something. Whatever.

The US Senate reportedly advised members to stop using Zoom

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US senators have been advised not to use videoconferencing platform Zoom over security concerns, the Financial Times reports.

According to three people briefed on the matter, the Senate sergeant-at-arms – whose job it is to run law enforcement and security on the Capitol – told senators to find alternative methods for remote working, although he did not implement an outright ban.

With the coronavirus outbreak forcing millions to work from home, Zoom has seen a 1,900% increase in use between December and March to 200 million daily users. This has been accompanied by a string of bad press about its security and privacy practices, to the point where CEO Eric Yuan was forced to publicly apologize last week.

This week the company admitted to “mistakenly” routing data through China in a bid to secure more server space to deal with skyrocketing demand. “We failed to fully implement our usual geo-fencing best practices. As a result, it is possible certain meetings were allowed to connect to systems in China, where they should not have been able to connect,” Yuan said.

The news sparked outrage among some senators, and Senate Democrat Richard Blumenthal called for the FTC to launch an investigation into the company.

“As Zoom becomes embedded in Americans’ daily lives, we urgently need a full & transparent investigation of its privacy and security,” the senator tweeted.

The slew of privacy issues has also prompted the Taiwanese government to ban its officials from using Zoom, and Google banned use of the app on work computers due to its “security vulnerabilities.”

While the Senate has told its members to stay away from Zoom, the Pentagon told the FT that it would continue to allow its staff to use the platform. A memo sent to top cybersecurity officials from the Department of Homeland Security said that the company was being responsive when questioned about concerns over the security of its software, Reuters reported.

Source: The US Senate reportedly advised members to stop using Zoom

Singapore stops teachers using Zoom app after ‘very serious incidents’ (Zoom bombing)

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Singapore has suspended the use of video-conferencing tool Zoom by teachers after “very serious incidents” in the first week of a coronavirus lockdown that has seen schools move to home-based learning.

FILE PHOTO: FILE PHOTO: Zoom logo is seen in front of diplayed coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in this illustration taken March 19, 2020. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration

One incident involved obscene images appearing on screens and strange men making lewd comments during the streaming of a geography lesson with teenage girls, media said.

Zoom Video Communications Inc (ZM.O) has faced safety and privacy concerns over its conferencing app, use of which has surged in offices and schools worldwide after they shut to try and curb virus infections.

“These are very serious incidents,” Aaron Loh of the education ministry’s technology division said on Friday, without giving details.

“The Ministry of Education (MOE) is currently investigating both breaches and will lodge a police report if warranted.

“As a precautionary measure, our teachers will suspend their use of Zoom until these security issues are ironed out.”

Loh said they ministry would further advise teachers on security protocols, such as requiring secure log-ins and not sharing the meeting link beyond the students in the class.

Source: Singapore stops teachers using Zoom app after ‘very serious incidents’ – Reuters

After 50 Years of Effort, Researchers Made Silicon Emit Light, could improve computer speeds vastly

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Modern transistors, which function as a computer’s brain cells, are only a few atoms long. If they are packed too tightly, that can cause all sorts of problems: electron traffic jams, overheating, and strange quantum effects. One solution is to replace some electronic circuits with optical connections that use photons instead of electrons to carry data around a chip. There’s just one problem: Silicon, the main material in computer chips, is terrible at emitting light.

Now, a team of European researchers says they have finally overcome this hurdle. On Wednesday, a research team led by Erik Bakkers, a physicist at Eindhoven University of Technology in the Netherlands, published a paper in Nature that details how they grew silicon alloy nanowires that can emit light. It’s a problem that physicists have grappled with for decades, but Bakkers says his lab is already using the technique to develop a tiny silicon laser that can be built into computer chips. Integrating photonic circuits on conventional electronic chips would enable faster data transfer and lower energy consumption without raising the chip’s temperature, which could make it particularly useful for data-intensive applications like machine learning.

“It’s a big breakthrough that they were able to demonstrate light emission from nanowires made of a silicon mixture, because these materials are compatible with the fabrication processes used in the computer chip industry,” says Pascal Del’Haye, who leads the microphotonics group at the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light and was not involved in the research. “In the future, this might enable the production of microchips that combine both optical and electronic circuits.”

Source: After 50 Years of Effort, Researchers Made Silicon Emit Light | WIRED