Lifeboat Foundation

A new side-channel attack known as Hertzbleed allows remote attackers to steal full cryptographic keys by observing variations in CPU frequency enabled by dynamic voltage and frequency scaling (DVFS).

This is possible because, on modern Intel (CVE-2022–24436) and AMD (CVE-2022–23823) x86 processors, the dynamic frequency scaling depends on the power consumption and the data being processed.

DVFS is a power management throttling feature used by modern CPUs to ensure that the system doesn’t go over thermal and power limits during high loads, as well as to reduce overall power consumption during low CPU loads.

Online platforms like Twitter 0, Facebook and Tiktok will be required to register and open offices in Nigeria and appoint contact persons with the government, draft regulations from the information technology development agency show. The code of practice for “interactive computer service platforms/internet intermediaries” was meant to curb online abuse, including disinformation and misinformation, the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) said in the regulations posted on its website.

A statement from the agency’s spokesperson dated June 13 said the regulations were developed with input from Twitter, Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram, Google and TikTok, among others. The platforms are popular in Nigeria, Africa’s most populous nation with more than 200 million people.

NIDTA said the platforms would be required to provide to users or authorised government agencies relevant information, including for purposing of preserving security and public order. They would also have to file annual reports to NITDA with the number of registered users in Nigeria, number of complaints received and content taken down due to disinformation and misinformation.

A University of Minnesota Twin Cities-led research team has solved a longstanding mystery surrounding strontium titanate, an unusual metal oxide that can be an insulator, a semiconductor, or a metal. The research provides insight for future applications of this material to electronic devices and data storage.

The paper is published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

When an insulator like strontium titanate is placed between oppositely charged metal plates, the electric field between the plates causes the negatively charged electrons and the positive nuclei to line up in the direction of the field. This orderly lining up of electrons and nuclei is resisted by thermal vibrations, and the degree of order is measured by a fundamental quantity called the dielectric constant. At low temperature, where the thermal vibrations are weak, the dielectric constant is larger.

Moving beyond I2C, Renesas is introducing a new I3C intelligent switch family to boost performance and speed in the data center.

Few fields are as dynamic and fast-evolving as the data center. With new software, use-cases, and applications popping up every year, the underlying hardware has become increasingly difficult to keep up with.

One relatively new technology designed to improve upon legacy hardware is I3C, the successor to conventional I2C. Boasting improvements on I2C, I3C has still yet to become widespread in the data center, a place where its value could be significant.

Alongside a new upgrade kit, the company is also introducing a second-generation Framework laptop with a stronger lid.

AMD has shown off Zen 4 overclocking at Computex but questions remain about the chip’s long-term potential and OC performance.

APIs have catalyzed the evolution of the internet and could evolve into the brain-computer interface-driven metaverse reality on the horizon.

It’s amazing how simple designs can save you from hours of frustration and embarrassment, even virtually.

Work and School from Home arrangements have forced many people to get used to video meetings, virtual classrooms, and online presentations. As if those weren’t stressful enough already, the horrors of discovering that you have been speaking for the past 10 minutes to half an hour when you’re mic has been on mute all the time only adds to feelings of dread. Unfortunately, computers and software haven’t adjusted yet to these new demands on life, lacking clear indicators on the status of the mic. While there might be some sophisticated and complicated software that could try to guess whether you actually need to be muted or not, it actually takes a dead-simple idea to give that peace of mind at very little extra cost.

Designer: Yaman Gupta