The Wall Street Journal
The U.S. departments of Commerce, Defense, and Justice are investigating home Internet routers manufactured by China's TP-Link, which have been linked to recent cyberattacks. If the agencies determine there is a national security risk, they could ban the sale of TP-Link routers in the U.S. next year. The Department of Justice reportedly is investigating whether TP-Link violated a federal law prohibiting the sale of products for less than their manufacturing costs in an attempt to create a monopoly.
From "U.S. Weighs Ban on Chinese-Made Routers"
The Wall Street Journal (12/18/24) Heather Somerville; Dustin Volz; Aruna Viswanatha
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The White House
Research by the White House Council of Economic Advisers found that algorithmic pricing costs renters an average of $70 per month across the U.S., and more than $100 per month in six major metro areas. The researchers said the use of algorithms to facilitate price coordination hinders competition and decreases market efficiency. The U.S. Department of Justice has accused the primary provider of multifamily rental pricing algorithms of ensuring its software automatically accepts price recommendations and making it difficult to for users to reject them.
From "The Cost of Anticompetitive Pricing Algorithms in Rental Housing"
The White House (12/17/24)
Reuters
In written guidance released on Wednesday, the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency said "individuals who are in senior government or senior political positions" should "immediately review and apply" a series of best practices around the use of mobile devices, following intrusions at American telecom companies attributed to Chinese hackers. The guidance included a warning to avoid traditional phone calls and text messages and advocated the use of end-to-end encrypted communications.
From "U.S. Tells Officials, Politicians to Ditch Regular Calls, Texts"
Reuters (12/18/24) Raphael Satter; A.J. Vicens
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Taipei Times
At the 12th quadrennial National Science and Technology Conference in Taipei, Taiwan National Science and Technology Council Minister Wu Cheng-wen (pictured) unveiled the Chip Team Taiwan initiative, intended to reduce its reliance on China by establishing supply chains for robotics, drones, and the space industry. Wu said chipmakers would collaborate through the initiative to meet Taiwan's smart tech, innovative economy, social balance, and net zero carbon emission goals.
From "Chip Team Taiwan Initiative Unveiled"
Taipei Times (12/19/24) Jonathan Chin
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Ars Technica
A new open source computer simulation system that lets robots practice tasks in simulated reality 430,000 times faster than in the real world was unveiled Thursday by a team of university and private industry researchers led by Zhou Xian of Carnegie Mellon University. The Genesis system processes physics calculations up to 80 times faster than existing robot simulators. It uses graphics cards similar to those that power video games to run up to 100,000 copies of a simulation at once.
From "Physics Sim Trains Robots 430,000 Times Faster Than Reality"
Ars Technica (12/19/24) Benj Edwards
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The Jerusalem Post
The Israel Innovation Authority, Israel Aerospace Industries, and Hebrew University and its Yissum technology transfer company unveiled Israel's first domestically built quantum computer. Now operational, the 20-qubit computer features a supercomputer-based quantum computer infrastructure and will be used for both defense and civilian applications.
From "First Israeli-Built Quantum Computer Goes Live"
The Jerusalem Post (12/18/24)
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